The Ming Dynasty: Starting with the border troops, it was overthrown and the Qing Dynasty was destro

Chapter 226 Shaking the Yellow Army

Huge wooden curtains were hoisted high and hung in front of the siege engine, acting as a moving city wall and perfectly blocking arrows and gunfire from the city walls.

Seeing that his usual attacks had failed, Guo Zhenchen, the garrison commander of Baizhang Pass, grew anxious. His eyes were bloodshot as he roared at his personal guards beside him:
"Where are the cannons? Where are the cannons on the city wall? Have they all gone silent?"

"Bomb that ladder down!"

But the soldiers searched the city walls for a long time and found that there were still only a few intact cannons left.
Under normal circumstances, the cannons on the city walls were fixed in place and their firing parameters were marked in advance to facilitate the repelling of invading bandits.

However, these old cannons had long been bombarded by Dong Erzhu's artillery battalion, reduced to pieces and almost nothing but scrap metal.

Since occupying Long'an Prefecture, Zhuang Qirong of the Ministry of Works, along with the artillery craftsmen of the Ordnance Bureau, has rushed to produce a number of heavy cannons weighing 500 jin each.

This cannon, with its weight, could be considered the heaviest field gun of the 17th century.

In that era, there were no tractor-trailers, and the entire supply train relied on people and animals to carry supplies with the army, sometimes even oxcarts.

Although they were called field artillery, these cannons were more than enough to attack Baizhang Pass.

Baizhang Pass was not on the Liaodong front line, nor was it a provincial capital like Chengdu Prefecture, so it did not have powerful weapons like the Hongyi cannons for defense.

Jiang Han's artillery battalion's firing range could easily cover the entire city wall of Baizhang Pass.

As the enemy's ladders drew ever closer, Guo Zhenchen was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan.

He rolled up his sleeves and personally dug out a relatively intact ball-powered cannon from a pile of rubble, mounted it on the rampart, and aimed it at the massive machine that was slowly advancing in front of him.

"Quick! Load up the cannonballs!"

The guards standing nearby, seeing this, turned ashen-faced and clung tightly to Guo Zhenchen's arm.

"General, no, this thing is unusable!"

"Look at this cannon barrel, it's covered in cracks. It could explode if we're not careful!"

"Let's wait for the enemy soldiers."

Before the guard could finish speaking, Guo Zhenchen glared at him and kicked him away:

"Bullshit! What are we waiting for?"

"Are we waiting for the enemy's elite troops to scale the city walls and engage in melee combat?"

“Look closely at those people, they’re all fully armored. With our tattered clothes, how are we supposed to fight these bandits hand-to-hand?!”

"Stop talking nonsense, load up the guns! Fire them!"

boom!
Guo Zhenchen was lucky; the cannon in his hand withstood the pressure and successfully fired a cannonball weighing more than four pounds with a loud bang.

The cannonball slammed heavily onto the wooden curtain in front of them.

The immense impact sent the wooden curtain flying backward, sending a soldier responsible for supporting it tumbling down the tall ladder. He crashed to the ground, breaking his bones and screaming in agony.

Upon seeing this, Cao Er's eyes turned bloodshot.

He sheathed his longsword at his waist, ordered two archers to stand below and protect him with powerful bows, gritted his teeth, raised his vine shield in one hand, climbed the ladder, and charged up again!
The two archers he pointed out dared not be negligent. They immediately turned sideways, drew their bows, and hid behind the wooden curtain, keeping a close eye on the movements of the defenders on the city wall. When they found an opportunity, they would release a stray arrow and immediately retreat back into their hiding places.

The two men fired heavy, steady arrows, plow-shaped arrows specifically designed to pierce armor and smash walls, wildly volleying them at the crenellations on the city wall.

The plowshare arrow is a type of heavy arrow.

Its arrowheads are broad like plowshares, flat and heavy, without sharp edges. They rely mainly on their enormous kinetic energy to create blunt impacts, thereby killing enemies and destroying fortifications.

After a few arrows, ordinary rammed earth mounds would be no match for them, easily smashing earth and rocks into flying everywhere.

The plowshare arrows kept hitting the battlements of Baizhang Pass, kicking up waves of earth, stones, and rubble, which terrified the defenders on the city walls, who dared not show their faces.

Seeing that he was only three or four feet away from scaling the city wall, Cao Er drew his long sword from his waist, held it in front of him, and roared down at the crowd below:
"Take down the wooden curtain for me!"

"I'm going to the city!"

The instant the wooden curtain was removed, Cao Er spotted his landing spot, leaped off the ladder, and jumped towards the city wall not far away.

Cao Er leaped over a distance of three or four feet in one bound.

He did a forward roll to dissipate the force and landed steadily among the soldiers guarding the city wall.

At this moment, Guo Zhenchen was holding a newly acquired Tiger Crouching Cannon, intending to bombard the siege ladder in front of him.

But to his utter surprise, the wooden curtain that was in his way was suddenly removed, and a burly bandit soldier jumped over his head.

For a moment, they were stunned and stood there.

Cao Er rolled onto the city wall, shook his somewhat dazed head, looked up and saw Guo Zhenchen still in a daze and the Hudun Cannon in his arms. A surge of anger rushed to the top of his head:
"So you're the one who used cannons to bombard my brothers, right?!"

"You son of a bitch!"

Cao Er was like an enraged wild bull, exuding a terrifying murderous aura.

He gripped his waist knife tightly, pushed off with his feet, and the rammed earth city wall seemed to tremble as he charged towards Guo Zhenchen!
Upon seeing this, Guo Zhenchen instinctively wanted to raise his knife to block, but he forgot that he was carrying a 30-40 pound iron lump in his arms.

In his panic, his hand slipped, and with a "thud," the heavy tiger-squatting cannon struck his right instep squarely.

"Ow!!"

A piercing scream, inhuman in its deafening sound, echoed throughout the entire city wall.

Guo Zhenchen's right foot was twisted at a bizarre angle, and the instep was instantly smashed into a bloody mess, with white bone fragments sticking out.

He could no longer hold on, clutching his foot, collapsing to the ground in pain, writhing in agony.

Seeing this, Cao Er was overjoyed and raised his waist knife, intending to step forward and kill Guo Zhenchen.

At this critical moment, Guo Zhenchen's personal guards finally reacted.
Although they were terrified by Cao Er's ferocity, their eagerness to protect their master compelled them to charge forward, forming a human wall that stood firmly in Cao Er's way.

"Protect your lord!"

Several men simultaneously grabbed their spears and thrust them at the bandits from several different angles on the left and right.

But to their utter surprise, the bandit in front of them was covered in three layers of armor. When the spear pierced the bandit, it only forced him back two steps and did not advance an inch.

Even attacks aimed at vital areas like the armpits were easily blocked.

Cao Er snorted coldly, advancing instead of retreating. He braced his left hand against the rattan shield, while his right hand wielded his waist knife, creating a dazzling display of blade light.

With a series of crisp clangs, several spears were knocked apart.

He took a step forward, lunged forward, and with a single slash, ripped a huge gash into the chest of the soldier in front of him.

The guards were shocked by the sight, not expecting the bandits to be so fierce. For a moment, they could only raise their spears and assume a defensive posture, trying to stop the bandits in front of them.

The commotion on the north gate naturally attracted the attention of many garrison soldiers, who came from all directions in an endless stream to try their best to stop the enemy's advance.

One person falls, and another immediately takes their place.

The guards used their own flesh and blood to form a human wall around Guo Zhenchen, the garrison commander who was lying on the ground groaning in pain, pinning the enemy soldiers to the spot and preventing them from moving.

Just as Cao Er was fighting a fierce battle on the city wall, more and more siege ladders were being erected on the wall.

"Quick! Commander Cao has already charged up!"

"Brothers, keep up!"

Cao Er's personal guards followed suit, grabbing maces and waist knives, climbing the siege ladders, and then leaping over the crenellations to reach the city wall.

As more and more elite troops climbed onto the city walls, the defending forces found it increasingly difficult to hold out.

The garrison at Baizhang Pass was nowhere near as well-equipped and experienced in combat as these elite vanguard troops.

As soon as the elite troops entered the city, without any orders, they rushed towards Cao Er's location and spontaneously surrounded him, forming various military formations.

Some were holding up shields at the front, while others were throwing spears at the rear. Some even managed to light their three-barreled guns and fire a shot at the densely packed defenders.

They worked together seamlessly, combining offense and defense, like a highly efficient and ruthless meat grinder, steadily advancing forward on the narrow city walls.

Cao Er broke free from the encirclement of the defenders. He fixed his gaze on Guo Zhenchen, who was still groaning in pain on the ground behind him, and his eyes revealed murderous intent.

He roared, his rattan shield knocking over several government soldiers blocking his way. With a sweeping motion of his long sword, he cleared away the soldiers in his path and then headed straight for Guo Zhenchen.

"Come die!"

Cao Er strode up to Guo Zhenchen and brought his knife down.

With a soft "plop," Guo Zhenchen stopped wailing.

A jet of blood shot into the sky, spraying wildly onto Cao Er's body, turning his iron-leaf cotton armor crimson.

With the death of their commander, the morale of the defending troops collapsed. Fortunately, at the critical moment, Commander Tian Shi rushed back from the south city wall.

He led his men to gather the routed soldiers while simultaneously organizing defenses from the corner towers of the city wall, attempting to delay the enemy's advance. Tian Shi knew very well that the northern city wall had already fallen, and his only hope was to rely on the fortifications to drag the enemy into street fighting.

Tian Shi was a man of principle; he knew that a miracle wouldn't happen, and there would be no reinforcements coming to his rescue.

At this moment, his only thought was to kill as many enemy soldiers as possible, slow down the fall of the city, and buy more time for Baoning Prefecture.

"Report! Commander Cao has stormed the city!"

"Report! Commander Cao has already taken control of the north city wall!"

"Report! Commander Cao has killed the enemy general in battle, but some remaining enemy soldiers are still stubbornly resisting from the corner tower on the city wall!"

News from the front lines came back to the central command like snowflakes.

On the hilltop, Jiang Han was holding a telescope, staring intently at the bloody battle raging on the city walls.

He estimated that the battle was nearing its end, so he sent a messenger to find Yang Ping:

"The intensity of the battle is just right now, you lead the team to the city."

"Go up from the south and stab the government troops in the backside."

Yang Ping was overjoyed to receive Jiang Han's order.

Without much preparation, Yang Ping hastily led his peasant army in a final assault on Baizhang Pass.

The peasant soldiers, wearing red headscarves, followed suit and, using siege engines and wooden canopies, climbed up the southern city wall.

At this time, since the defending forces were focused on the north, Yang Ping's troops easily broke through the weak south.

They quickly seized control of a section of the city wall, heading straight for the horse path leading down to the city, where they blocked the fleeing defenders from escaping.

Cao Er, leading a large force, advanced triumphantly all the way to the north.

Tian Shi and his men were no match for the ravenous band of bandits and could only hide in the corner tower in a desperate attempt to put up a last stand.

Cao Er had no intention of persuading him to surrender. With a single glance, his personal guards lit thunderclaps and poured them into the corner tower where Tian Shi was hiding.

boom! boom! boom!
After several loud bangs, no further sound came from the corner tower.

With no other options, the defenders lost the will to fight to the death and laid down their weapons one after another, kneeling down to surrender.

Thus, Baizhang Pass successfully changed hands.

With Jiang Han successfully capturing Baizhang Pass, the northern prefectures and counties of Baoning Prefecture have basically all fallen into his hands.

Except for Nanjiang County, which is closest to the Dabashan Mountains.

Nanjiang County is located in the northeast of Baoning Prefecture, deep in the Daba Mountains, and is also a key node of the Micang Road.

Jiang Han dispatched Dong Erzhu with a detachment, preparing to take advantage of the situation to capture Nanjiang County.

But Jiang Han never expected that Nanjiang County had changed hands.

……

At this time, Nanjiang County had been occupied by a group of rebels called the "Yaohuang Army".

Taking advantage of the fact that the government troops and Jiang Han were engaged in a fierce battle at Baizhang Pass and the city was left undefended, they led a group of starving civilians and successfully captured the city.

The Yaohuang Army has two leaders: the elder brother is named Yaotiandong and the younger brother is named Huanglong. Therefore, the troops under their command are called the Yaohuang Army.

This "Yaohuang Army" was the original group of the "Thirteen Yaohuang Families" that later stirred up trouble in northern Sichuan.

However, in the sixth year of the Chongzhen reign, the thirteen families of Yaohuang had not yet formed a joint operation; they were merely operating in the Dabashan area of ​​northern Sichuan in a loose alliance.

"Big brother!"

"A brother came to report that Baizhang Pass in the west has been breached!"

“There is a team heading towards our Nanjiang County.”

Inside the county government office, Huang Long, the second-in-command, rushed in hurriedly.

Upon hearing this, Yao Tiandong, who was wiping his weapons in the hall, suddenly looked up:

"really?"

"Is it those people from Long'an Prefecture who attacked?"

Huang Long nodded, his expression grave:

"That's probably true. There aren't many influential rebel armies in Sichuan."

"Only these out-of-towners from the Northwest have the ability to break through the Jianzhou line so quickly."

"I heard that even the seemingly impregnable Baizhang Pass couldn't hold out for more than a few days."

Yao Tiandong frowned, looking somewhat uneasy.

"Do you think they're here to wipe us out, or...?"

Huang Long shook his head:

"Probably not?"

"We are all rebels against the Ming Dynasty, and we have no prior conflicts."

"Even if these people are unreasonable, they shouldn't just start hitting me right away, right?"

Despite saying that, Yao Tiandong was still completely uncertain.

To put it bluntly, this group of people were actually just a bunch of street vendors who roamed the land.

They had virtually no combat capability and could only rely on the terrain advantage of the Dabashan Mountains to hold their own against the government troops.

Not to mention dealing with these border troops from the Northwest.

"Paotanjiang" is a dialect term used in Sichuan to refer to a special group of people.

These people typically do not have a fixed residence or stable job, and are characterized by making a living by moving from place to place. "Running on the beach" describes their wandering around like drifting on a riverbank.

Taking the group of people who swayed the yellow earth as an example, they included porters and boatmen who did hard labor.
There were repairmen, barbers, and storytellers/opera singers who worked in the service industry;

There were also peddlers who roamed the streets and alleys, fortune tellers, and word diviners, etc.
Yaotian was a porter before, while Huanglong was a barber.

During the late Ming Dynasty, this group of people, having no land of their own and unable to endure the exploitation by officials in the city, turned to bandits in the Daba Mountains to fight against the government.

Their main methods were plundering government grain routes and wealthy households, while they also raised the banner of "robbing the rich to help the poor".

Later, after Zhang Xianzhong entered Sichuan and established the Great Western regime, the thirteen families of Yaohuang also briefly submitted to the Great Western regime.

After Zhang Xianzhong's death, the Yaohuang Army merged with the Thirteen Families of Kuidong and other anti-Qing armed forces, and was eventually wiped out by the Qing army.

After hesitating for a long time in the hall, Yao Tiandong finally made up his mind:

"Second brother, what do you think about us simply submitting to them?"

Huang Long was taken aback:
"Submission?"

"Brother, I've heard that there are many rules in Long'an Prefecture. We're used to being wild, so wouldn't it be a bit rash to go there without permission?"

"Besides, they're all soldiers from the Northwest Frontier Army, why would they look down on us?"

After thinking for a long time, Yao Tian suddenly had a flash of inspiration:
What do you think of a marriage alliance?

Huang Long was somewhat puzzled after hearing this:

"What kind of marriage alliance?"

"Brother, please explain more clearly."

Yao Tiandong chuckled, a mysterious expression on his face:

"What I mean is, our Huang Army can form a marriage alliance with those people in Long'an Prefecture."

"I heard that the leader of that group is surnamed Jiang, he's in his mid-twenties, and still a bachelor."

“Our third sister is beautiful and gentle, a perfect match for him!”

Upon hearing this, Huang Long curled his lip.

She certainly has a beautiful face, but as for being "gentle and considerate"...
He recalled his third sister's fierce and shrewish demeanor as she brandished swords and spears, and couldn't help but shudder.

　After hundreds of thousands of words, a woman is finally about to appear.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)