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

Chapter 52 Ambush
As night deepened, the hour of Chou (1-3 AM) quietly arrived, and it was so dark that one could not see their own hand in front of their face.

Jiang Han had made arrangements well in advance. At this moment, he led Hei Zi and two elite teams to silently climb the cliff, hide in the shadows, and wait for the best opportunity.

At the same time, two of Dong Erzhu's men, carrying heavy explosive packs, crouched low and stealthily made their way from the darkness toward the city gate.

The two dared not light a fire, fearing they would be discovered by the guards. They could only rely on their hands to carefully feel around the base of the city wall, searching for any gaps.

After some searching, the two finally reached the city gate. Overjoyed, they carefully stuffed the explosive charge into the gap under the gate.

Just as they were blowing on the tinderbox and preparing to light the fuse, they suddenly heard several "whoosh" sounds overhead, and more than a dozen cold arrows pierced through the air!

One of them felt a tightness in his throat, let out a muffled groan, and was accurately pierced through the throat by an arrow. Blood gushed out, and he fell to the ground and died on the spot.

The other person was caught off guard and was shot in the thigh with an arrow. The pain was excruciating, his legs went weak, and he fell heavily to the ground.

On the city wall, Zhao Hongbin had been waiting for a long time. He originally thought that the thieves would sneak up the city wall at night, but he did not expect that they wanted to blow open the city gate.

Fortunately, he received a tip and dared not relax his vigilance, so he specially increased the number of people on night patrols, otherwise they would have really succeeded.

He whispered the instructions to the guards beside him:

"Quickly, lower a few men down to check if the bandits are truly dead!"

However, he underestimated the wounded soldier's fighting spirit.

The injured man endured the excruciating pain, gritted his teeth, and dragged his badly injured thigh to his companion's body, picking up the tinder that had rolled to the side.

The firelight illuminated his face, which was covered in cold sweat. He gritted his teeth, resolutely lit the fuse, and stuffed the explosive charge back into the crack in the door.

"boom!"

With a deafening roar, the explosives detonated, flames shot into the sky, the city walls trembled, and debris flew everywhere.

Standing on the city wall, Zhao Hongbin was so shocked by the explosion that his ears were ringing, his legs went weak, and he almost lost his balance.

His expression changed, and he roared urgently:
"Quickly! Block the city gates!"

"Archers and musketeers, take your positions! Check the crenellations! The enemy is about to attack the city!"

Meanwhile, Dong Erzhu, Li Laowai, and others in the distance were anxiously waiting for a signal.

A loud "boom" came from afar, shaking the ground slightly, but the two men who had been sent out did not return for a long time.

Dong Erzhu frowned, wanting to wait a little longer, but Li Laowai couldn't sit still any longer:
"We can't wait any longer! Lord Jiang and the others will be coming down from the cliff in about an incense stick's time. We need to act quickly and draw the guards' attention!"

So he blew the horn and led the vanguard troops, carrying heavy battering rams, straight towards the city gate.

However, just as they rushed to the city walls, countless torches suddenly lit up, their light illuminating half the sky. Then, a dense barrage of arrows rained down like a storm.

Li Laowai's heart sank. Years of battlefield experience told him that this momentum could not have been achieved by just a few hundred people; there must have been nearly a thousand!
But with the die already cast, he had no choice but to bite the bullet and face the challenge, otherwise Jiang Han's side would be surrounded.

Fortunately, I was well prepared this time. I brought a shield and wore double armor, which effectively reduced the lethality of the arrows.

He ordered his auxiliary soldiers to raise their swallowtail shields, while he himself carried the battering ram and charged towards the city gate. Once the gate was breached and they could fight their way in, everything would be fine!
Seeing the blazing fire and rain of arrows on the city wall, Dong Erzhu and Shao Yong immediately realized that they had been ambushed!

According to their pre-war plan, with a garrison of three to five hundred men, at most half of them would stand on the city wall during the battle, while the other half would have to block the city gate to ensure its safety.

But now there are people moving around on the city wall, and judging by the number of people, there are at least several hundred or even a thousand.

Then there's only one possibility: the city's garrison had been hiding for a long time, waiting for them to walk right into their trap!

But things had come to this point, so they had no choice but to bite the bullet and go for it, otherwise Li Laowai ahead and Jiang Han down the cliff would both be wiped out.

Shao Yong acted decisively, leading the archers forward, drawing their bows and unleashing a fierce volley of arrows at the city wall.

The night was too dark, so they could only shoot at the firelight. The defenders on the city wall reacted quickly; after the first volley of arrows, they all retreated behind the crenellations, away from the firelight.

However, this also reduced their visibility, forcing them to rely on the faint light to launch a counterattack.

However, the defenders on the city wall clearly had the advantage. They had the advantage of high ground, better archery positions, better protection, and torches for illumination. They quickly adjusted their positions, found the right direction, and began to fight back.

After several rounds, many of Shao Yong's men were hit by arrows and fell to the ground, groaning in pain.

Upon seeing this, Dong Erzhu immediately ordered his men to place the few shields they had in front of Shao Yong and the others, while he led his reserve team into the battlefield to join Li Laowai's siege force.

At the very moment the explosives detonated, Jiang Han, perched on the cliff, kept a close eye on what was below.

According to the plan, he was supposed to wait until the time it takes for an incense stick to burn before descending, but the sudden appearance of a large number of guards on the city wall made his heart tighten:
"broken!"

He slapped his thigh and ordered Hei Zi:
"Quickly, get ready to go down and support them!"

Hei Zi was taken aback:
"Chief, it's too dangerous to go down now. Let's wait until they fight a bit more and lure the garrison away before we go down!"

Jiang Han gritted his teeth and said:

"No, judging from this situation, the enemy probably already knew we were going to attack the city! Damn it, we've fallen into their trap!"

"Li Laowai and his men have already started fighting down there. If we don't go down soon, they won't be able to hold on!"

Hei Zi nodded after hearing this, then blew a low whistle behind him, signaling the border soldiers behind him to prepare to go down and take the lead.

Jiang Han looked at the group and whispered his instructions:

"I'll emphasize this again! Once we're down there, try not to make a sound, and don't rush in. We're launching a surprise attack, so the later we're discovered, the better!"

"First, scan the area around the landing point to see if there are any guards, then clear out the guards in the corner tower ahead, and advance step by step!"

The brothers at the front exchanged glances, nodded, took a deep breath, tied the ropes, and had the men behind them lower them down.

Just as Jiang Han and the others were quietly lowering people down the cliff, Lü Ming and Lou Xiang were slacking off in a corner at the bottom of the cliff.

Since the start of the war, the two of them have deliberately chosen a dark corner to hide in.

To avoid being discovered, the two didn't even bring torches, but huddled in the darkness, peering at the distant battle through the peepholes in the ramparts.

Hearing the muffled thuds from the repeated impacts on the city gate, Lü Ming felt uneasy and whispered:
"We're not going? Avoiding battle means losing our heads!"

Lou Xiang rolled his eyes:
"Go to hell! I'm wounded right now, my ear still hurts!"

"Besides, we're just on night patrol duty. We should just keep an eye on our posts. Why bother with all that other stuff?"

He secretly hoped that the bandit army would storm in, turn Wangzhuang upside down, and then chop up that guy surnamed Sun.

At that point, he might as well become a thief.

I heard that a band of mounted bandits came from Yan'an Prefecture last time. They can eat three meals a day, and many of my brothers have joined them.

When Lou Xiang heard the news, it was too late by the time he arrived. He was filled with regret and slapped his thigh repeatedly.

"What kind of thief can eat three meals a day? That's a damn righteous army!"

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(End of this chapter)