With 100,000 elite soldiers at the start, what should you call me?

……

The advent of the Maxim machine gun enabled nomadic peoples to become skilled in singing and dancing.

The advent of single-shot rifles and artillery also changed the battlefield situation.

Just like now, the two battalions below, using Hanyang rifles for fire suppression, can keep the defenders on the city walls from even raising their heads.

It was as if this wasn't a war, but rather soldiers practicing shooting at a firing range.

No need to change magazines, just pull the bolt, load, aim, and fire; a shot can be fired in as little as two seconds.

When twenty soldiers take turns firing, the rate of fire is sufficient to reach the theoretical rate of fire of the Maxim machine gun.

Huang Cai was a soldier in Yingtian Prefecture. When the Qing army captured Yangzhou, the Hongguang Emperor was so shocked that he abandoned the city and fled.

Later, the Qing army arrived, and Nanjing was captured not long after. He surrendered in a daze.

After joining the Qing army, he initially hated and feared their brutality.

Especially the Manchu Eight Banners; Han Chinese had to kneel on the ground and act like dogs when they saw them.

If he angered the noble Manchus, even ten heads wouldn't be enough to pay for it.

Although Huang Cai was initially resentful, he still shaved his head and changed his clothes, becoming a bondservant and continuing to fight alongside the Qing army.

But later he found himself gradually growing to like the Qing army's shameless and inhumane style.

After conquering a city and finishing the battle, the Qing army would, according to their custom, carry out a massacre of the city's inhabitants.

This was the opportunity for lower-ranking Green Standard Army soldiers to make a fortune.

Rushing into the city and doing whatever he wanted, Huang Cai unleashed the demon within him for the first time.

Even now, thinking back on that feeling makes my heart pound.

It turns out that the official who usually appears honest and upright has such a large mansion, so many treasures, and such a delicate and beautiful wife, daughters, and servants.

Huang Cai got a taste of what it was like to step on the heads of Ming Dynasty officials, which was very satisfying.

At the same time, the original hatred for the Manchu Eight Banners was transferred to the Ming court.

The officials of the Ming court were all extremely hypocritical. They talked about benevolence and morality, and shouted about recovering lost territories, protecting the people, and driving out the barbarians in the north. But in private, they were all calculating their own interests and fighting openly and covertly in the officialdom. They didn't care about the lives of the people at all.

Once you actually ask them to hand over the money, they all become mute!

Despite possessing such wealth and advanced weaponry, they were still repeatedly defeated by the Qing army.

The Qing army conquered cities and seized all of the south, and Huang Cai made a fortune from it, even becoming a minor officer.

But he later discovered that there seemed to be even more inhumane and terrifying things happening within the Qing army.

Burning, killing, and looting were just basic operations for the Qing army; some high-ranking officers of the Eight Banners even had a habit of cannibalism!

Huang Cai was afraid, because he feared that his master would also eat him.

But all that fear ended, because he was captured, his braid was cut off, and he became bald.

The moment his braid was cut off, he felt a change within himself.

He was no longer a bondservant.

As a member of the first company of the prisoner-of-war camp, he successfully carried the explosive charge to the city walls. He expected to encounter severe resistance, but to his surprise, the defenses on the city walls were firmly suppressed.

He knew it was a special firearm in the hands of the new army. That kind of firearm was really too special, with a long range, great power, and high accuracy. His army was defeated by such firearms.

"Dog! Dig for me! Pockmarked guy, grab the shield and block the top!"

Huang Cai shouted loudly to the people around him.

They rushed to the foot of the city wall, facing a near-death experience.

Stones, logs, and molten gold could fall at any moment.

Several people quickly raised their shields and blocked the heads of the people digging at the corner of the wall.

The defenders on the city wall did not give up and desperately tried to lift the rolling stones and throw them down. However, as soon as they were exposed, they were hit by several bullets. The Ming soldier managed to push the rolling stones down with his last breath.

Boom!

The rolling stones crashed down from the city wall, crushing the man holding the shield next to Huang Cai into a bloody mess.

Huang Cai's pupils contracted sharply as death brushed past him, but he did not stop working, continuing to dig into the soil.

"Second Company of the Prisoner of War Camp, proceed."

Yan Naichao, who was observing the battle situation from the rear, coldly ordered the Second Company of the Prisoner of War Battalion to charge forward.

At this moment, Yan Naichao noticed something unusual on the city wall. In the middle section of the city wall, several bricks had been moved aside, and several dark gun barrels were sticking out.

Several cannons that had been soaked on the city wall were pushed aside and replaced with clean ones. Several soldiers raised their shields for cover as they loaded the cannons.

The Ming army began to retaliate with firearms.

Yan Naichao frowned and immediately ordered, "Send word to Wei Xiaoshuai, the battalion commander of the Second Battalion, to keep an eye on the firing ports on the city wall and the men loading the cannons. We must not allow the Ming army to launch an effective counterattack!"

Shortly after the order was given, several Ming soldiers on the city wall who were about to load cannons were suddenly subjected to intense fire.

However, the breech-loading cannons on the city wall were breech-loading cannons, and they could load the ammunition smoothly by simply crouching down and carefully loading them.

"Grand Master, the cannonballs are loaded!"

A soldier lay on the ground and shouted at Wang Qi.

"Alright! Aim and fire!" Wang Qi crawled forward, and together they pushed the cannon forward, lit the fuse with their hands.

Boom! A deafening cannon shot rang out, drowning out all the gunfire on the scene.

A solid shot landed in the prisoner-of-war camp, instantly killing four or five people, with severed arms and limbs flying everywhere.

Everyone was on edge at that moment.

Yan Naichao was also startled, because the shell was less than 50 meters away from him.

At the same time, several shots rang out from the firing ports on the city wall, but none of them hit any target.

"Commander, retreat a little!" a soldier beside him suggested.

The sound of artillery fire made them realize that the enemy was not without means of retaliation.

Even a rabbit will bite when cornered.

"The third company of prisoners, move forward!" Yan Naichao did not retreat, but instead continued to order reinforcements.

Many Ming soldiers on the city wall began to find their rhythm for counterattack, crouching down under the parapet and throwing molten gold-staining stones and logs down. Some even lit a ceramic "ten thousand enemy" and threw it down from the city wall.

The enemy troops digging at the city walls suffered heavy casualties, but such a counterattack was extremely inefficient.

After two additional waves of reinforcements were sent, many explosive charges were buried under the city walls and then connected together with fuses.

After doing all this, Huang Cai decisively turned around and ran back without looking back.

"Installation complete! Ready to detonate!"

He waved the red cloth strip in his hand, signaling to those behind him.

"Sound the drum." Upon seeing the signal that the explosives had been installed, Yan Naichao immediately sounded the drum, signaling the prisoners in front to detonate the explosives and retreat.

Upon hearing the drumbeats, the prisoners below the city wall immediately retreated, leaving only a few soldiers with torches at the rear. They put down their torches and lit the fuses.

In an instant, flames shot into the sky, and the last few who escaped jumped into the moat to avoid the explosion.

Boom! The earth shook violently, a mushroom cloud rose into the sky, and countless fragments of rock flew everywhere.

The city wall, which had held out for three months, collapsed.

"Let's go into town!"