The Revolt of the Three Feudatories: All-in at the start in Beijing

Zhangjiakou, as an important intersection between Datong and Beijing, has a unique northern city wall that faces the enemy. It is 12 meters high, 10 meters wide at the base, and 5 meters wide at the top.

The interior was compacted with rammed earth and then piled with blue bricks. Even with 30 cannons weighing two or three thousand kilograms each, it would take four or five days to blast a localized area into collapse.

Galdan was also seeing such a large ancient city wall for the first time. Seeing that the soldiers on the city wall were all Green Standard Army soldiers, he decided not to use his trump card for the time being, and instead turned his attention to Wanyan Wu beside him.

"Wanyan Wu, challenge them!"

The emperor ordered him to lead the charge, and Wanyan Wu naturally knew what that meant. It was simply to see if the Plain Blue Banner was effective and if it could shake the morale of the Green Standard Army.

This was his first battle after switching sides, and he had to make it look good. Wanyan Wu carried the blue banner with dragon patterns and rode alone to the city.

"Brothers atop the city wall, our Emperor is leading an army of 100,000 south. As the saying goes, those who understand the times are the heroes. Why not open the gates and surrender, so that we may join the Emperor's cause..."

call out!

Before Wanyan Wu could finish speaking, an arrow shot out from the city wall, hurtling towards his neck with lightning speed. Fortunately, Wanyan Wu flipped off his horse and barely managed to dodge it.

Then a Green Standard Army general, nearly fifty years old and dressed in black armor, stepped forward. This man was none other than Wang Jinbao, the newly appointed General of Zhangjiakou.

"How dare these mere Mongol barbarians claim the title of emperor?"

"This is enough to wipe out your families and destroy your entire clan!"

Wang Jinbao knew he was a pawn to be discarded, and that even the Eight Banners troops in the city had already withdrawn. He only had two thousand soldiers available for battle, and the city was simply not going to hold.

However, he was born at the end of the Ming Dynasty and only had enough to eat after joining the Green Standard Army, so he chose to die for his country.

Wanyan Wu, lying on the ground, touched the bloodstains on his face, feeling both shocked and furious. That arrow just now was from a Qing bow weighing at least 130 or 140 jin.

At a distance of only twenty meters, if one were to be hit, the arrow would likely pierce through the armor, which would be completely ineffective.

Wanyan Wu did not linger any longer. He mounted his horse and galloped back, immediately apologizing to Galdan.

"Before I could say another word, the commander on the city wall fired an arrow. On his return, I heard cheers from the city wall. The commander should be Wang Jinbao from the Northwest Green Standard Army. I never expected him to be transferred here!"

"Our campaign has begun in disarray; we beg Your Majesty's punishment!"

Galdan waved his hand to indicate that it was alright. He had a good impression of Wang Jinbao. This guy liked to lead from the front and was incredibly brave and skilled in combat.

He was one of the meritorious officials who quelled the Rebellion of the Three Feudatories during the Qing Dynasty. He should be almost fifty years old now, and he is considered a late bloomer in the military.

It seems we still have to resort to force. With that thought, Galdan immediately gave the order.

"Agula, prepare the Flying Thunder Cannon!"

"This subordinate obeys the order!"

Agula, who had already changed into khaki cloth armor, began to organize his men after receiving the order. Soon, three hundred men were pushing twenty cannons forward.

It seemed to be to conceal something, as the outside was completely blocked by tree branches, and the city wall was a blind spot.

This cannon has an unusually large caliber.

It was a full 1.2 feet long, but only 2 feet long, and the wall thickness was only 0.2 centimeters, so it didn't look like a cannon at all.

After the artillery pieces were advanced 150 meters, the soldiers began to secure the bottom of the artillery pieces with hammers and pins.

Then they stuffed a burlap sack of suitable size into the cannon barrel, and then stuffed in a wooden board to separate it. But that wasn't all; they stuffed in an even thicker burlap sack.

The soldier lit the fuse behind the cannon.

Bang bang bang.

One by one, the burlap sacks flew into the sky like mortars, five of them exploding in mid-air with huge bangs, scaring the Green Standard Army soldiers below into lying on the ground.

Eight more landed on the wall, blasting the blue bricks and creating numerous cracks in the wall.

The remaining seven all landed on the city wall.

The shockwave from the explosion caused more than a dozen Green Standard Army soldiers nearby to die instantly, bleeding from all seven orifices. At the same time, irregular iron balls were shot out, crippling those twenty meters away.

The ten medium-sized cannons on the city wall were so shaken that their carriages collapsed and their barrels rolled onto the city wall.

This Flying Thunder Cannon is actually a heartless cannon.

Later generations used industrial oil drums.

Galdan had no choice but to use copper instead. He first hammered the copper into the shape of sheet metal, then polished it smooth, and wrapped two pieces of copper sheet metal together to form the cannon barrel. The joint was made using the ancient method of interlocking and rivets.

The process involves rolling up a sheet of copper, striking it flat, then piercing the copper sheet with an iron nail, heating it until red-hot, and striking it flat again.

To reduce the risk of barrel explosion.

It was then bound by wrought iron sheets on the outside.

Once mounted on the gun carriage, it becomes a mobile cannon, with each load containing twenty pounds of gunpowder pellets.

Seeing such immense power, even Agula, who had practiced it more than thirty times, was excited and gave the order again.

"Clean the gun barrel and change the ammunition!"

The most excited person was Wanyan Wu. Before, he had been skeptical about attacking Beijing because he saw that the Han army did not have firearms. Now, he could only say that he was full of confidence.

Remembering the task Galdan had given him, Wanyan Wu immediately stepped forward, knelt on one knee, clasped his hands, and asked for permission to take on the task.

"Your Majesty, this humble general is willing to lead the Plain Blue Banner to the city walls!"

Galdan was quite pleased with himself and nodded.

"allow!"

Soon, three makeshift ladder trucks were launched, and propelled by more than 300 blue-armored soldiers, they quickly rushed toward the city wall.

The reason it's described as rudimentary is that the pine bark on the ladder hadn't been completely removed, let alone the precise mortise and tenon joints; it was barely usable.

At this moment, Wang Jinbao on the city wall pushed away his personal guards, shook his head, and lay down on the arrow emplacement. If his personal guards hadn't caught him, he would probably be dead already.

"Quickly, send a messenger to Juyong Pass to report that the Dzungar Mongols possess an incredibly powerful cannon, and that Juyong Pass is absolutely indefensible. Your Majesty, please make preparations immediately!"

"Meanwhile, let others defend the city!"

Wang Jinbao had barely finished speaking when he collapsed to the ground, unconscious. He had only managed to hold on by sheer willpower, which shows just how strong his willpower was.

"A true warrior indeed!"

Galdan, who was watching the battle from a distance using a monocular telescope, couldn't help but sigh at the sight.

If it weren't for the well-prepared flying thunder cannons, and with Wang Jinbao present, the Han Dynasty would have lost at least tens of thousands of infantrymen to breach Zhangjiakou.

"ignition!"

Agula did not fire a second shot until the ladder truck was thirty meters away from the city wall before ordering the cannons to fire.

With data to refer to this time, after adjusting the angle, all twelve explosive charges landed evenly on the city wall, detonating a 100-meter section of the wall.

Those Green Standard Army soldiers who had just climbed onto the city wall had not yet figured out what was going on when they were bombed to almost nothing.

"Brothers, charge!"

With a bang, the ladder truck crashed into the city wall, and the iron hook at the top got caught on the top of the wall. Wanyan Wu drew his waist knife and was the first to rush towards the top of the wall.

As a result, the city walls at this point were filled with nothing but corpses and dismembered limbs, apart from the wounded and wailing Green Standard Army soldiers; the stench of blood and gunpowder filled the air.

Such a cruel and bloody scene made even the battle-hardened Wanyan Wu swallow hard; if he hadn't surrendered earlier, he probably would have been blown up too.

"Open the city gates! The rest of you, keep charging!"

Wanyan Wu shook his head, clearing his mind of distractions, and then charged towards the Green Standard Army soldiers on the city ladder while giving the order.