met free Chapter 632 Hand-to-hand combat
Chapter 632 Hand-to-hand combat
Countless armored soldiers charged towards the Second Regiment's ranks, only to fall one after another under the fierce artillery fire and bullets. At the same time, the soldiers of the Second Regiment were also hit by heavy arrows. The thin two-row line seemed unable to withstand the enemy's close-range explosive charge. As soldiers fell one after another, the line became sparse at a visible speed.
Liu Ye decisively ordered: "The Second Regiment cannot be left to bear the attack alone. Except for the artillery, the First Regiment and the Independent Regiment will all go. Disrupt the regimental structure and fill any gaps to maintain uninterrupted firepower. If the enemy gets close, fix bayonets. If the bayonets break, bite them with your teeth. We must make Ajige's Bordered White Banner bleed dry on this front!"
The battle quickly escalated to a fever pitch. The sounds of gunfire and shouts of battle were deafening. Countless Later Jin troops surged towards the narrow horizontal line like a tidal wave, heavy arrows and lead bullets crisscrossing the air, reaping lives from one another.
Ajige personally led Bayara to supervise the battle from the rear, brandishing his saber and roaring: "Charge forward and cut off the heads of the barbarians! Each head will be rewarded with fifty taels of silver and three bondservants. Anyone who hesitates or retreats will be put to death!"
Liu Ye also appeared at the rear and shouted, "We can lose our heads and shed our blood, but we cannot lose this position! No one is allowed to retreat! Even if we die, we will die in our positions!"
The First Regiment and the Independent Regiment moved to their respective positions as reserves and immediately reinforced the weak lines. The gradually thinning firepower was reinstated, and the armored soldiers were unable to move an inch at a distance of thirty or forty paces due to the dense barrage of bullets. The enemy was so close, yet still out of reach.
Ajige moved the archers on both sides to fire light arrows from behind the charging armored soldiers. He didn't care about the risk of friendly fire at such close range.
The deafening gunfire drowned out the sound of arrows piercing the air. The dark rain of arrows seemed to silently pass over the heads of the armored soldiers, drawing an arc as it rained down on the Qionghai army's lines.
The sounds of blades piercing flesh and the clanging of metal echoed incessantly as volleys of arrows indiscriminately covered both sides within a thirty-step radius. Qionghai naval soldiers firing their guns and Later Jin armored soldiers shooting arrows fell in droves. Even with the protection of armor, the arrows, amplified by gravity, still pierced the thin armor plates protecting the head, neck, and shoulders. The proportion of armored soldiers dying from their own arrows was not much lower than that of their unarmored opponents.
Liu Ye, seeing this from behind, gasped. This Ajige was truly ruthless, killing even his own men. However, this tactic was very effective; the suicidal indiscriminate attack significantly reduced the firepower in front, allowing the armored soldiers to close in.
At the same time, the mournful sound of conch shells rang out, and Abatai and Yangguli in the rear also moved. They led a large group of cavalry around the battlefield in front and launched an attack on the Qionghai Navy from the flank. Liu Ye's heart tightened; the real test had arrived. Because they were using the "thin red line" tactic of a horizontal formation to fight Ajige, without setting up a hollow square formation with an emphasis on defense, their flanks were not adequately protected. If the cavalry were allowed to charge indiscriminately, it would be a massacre.
He turned his gaze to Shanxi Town and Xuanfu Town on either side. Wang Pu was useless; now it all depended on whether these two allied forces could prove effective.
Fortunately, Hu Dawei and Yang Guozhu did not disappoint him. Each army dispatched several thousand cavalry to meet Yang Guli and Abatai's forces, preventing them from attacking the flanks of the Qionghai Army.
"Good!" Liu Ye clenched his fist. The Ming army always had some men who hadn't lost their fighting spirit and could be trusted in crucial moments.
With no worries about their flanks, the Qionghai Navy can now devote itself entirely to the battle against Ajige.
While the cavalry on both sides were locked in combat, many soldiers of the Bordered White Banner, under the cover of a hail of arrows, charged into the enemy ranks on the main battlefield in the center, and close-quarters melee began in some areas.
Ajige, excitedly brandishing his sword and shouting wildly, charged into the enemy ranks, practically sealing their fate. In close combat, the warriors of the Great Jin were unmatched; the ensuing battle was destined to be a one-sided massacre. Although the firearms of these Cantonese barbarians far exceeded his expectations, and the casualties suffered in this battle far surpassed anticipated, the outcome was still a foregone conclusion.
Abatai, watching from afar, glanced in their direction and, seeing Ajige's excited expression, sneered, thinking: "You think the battle is over? It's only just begun. The hand-to-hand combat skills of Qionghai Town far exceed your expectations, Prince Ying." For some reason, his heart swayed towards the enemy, and he desperately wanted the Qionghai Navy to teach the arrogant Ajige a lesson, lest the guy continue to mock his incompetence.
As expected, the Qionghai Army did not disappoint Abatai. After being approached by a large group of armored soldiers and their formation was disrupted, the soldiers calmly picked up their rifles and formed combat teams of five or ten men on the spot, using their collective strength to fight against their fierce opponents.
Although the individual combat strength of the Later Jin soldiers was far superior to that of the Qionghai Army, they could not gain the upper hand against the bayonet formation. The heavy maces and sharp blades flew up and down, but they did not hit many people. Instead, they were stabbed one after another by the neatly arranged bayonets, and fell to the ground screaming.
As the gunfire gradually subsided, the entire battle line slowly descended into hand-to-hand combat. Fierce battle cries echoed across the battlefield, interspersed with the clanging of metal against metal. Under the officers' command, the jagged combat squads slowly converged, their ranks, disrupted by the enemy's advance, gradually reformed into a neat line, standing firm against the dense onslaught of armored soldiers.
Xu Yifan, on the front line, issued a strict order to the battalion commanders: "The general has ordered: the position must not be lost; even if you die, die in your own position. Anyone who retreats without authorization will be punished according to military law!"
Although the Qionghai Army lacked the supervisory teams of the Later Jin's Bayara and didn't employ bloody methods like on-the-spot beheadings, its military discipline was no less stringent, relying instead on a relatively comprehensive welfare system. Families of fallen soldiers received generous compensation, and their members enjoyed preferential treatment in farming, labor, and commerce. Conversely, deserters faced severe punishment from the military law authorities, ranging from flogging and expulsion from the army to execution, depending on the severity of the consequences. Their families were also expelled from the Qionghai Army's jurisdiction throughout the entire Ming Dynasty. The common people likely fared no better under Qionghai's rule. Being expelled meant falling from heaven to hell, returning to a chaotic world where human life was cheap.
One step forward, heaven; one step back, hell—the choice wasn't difficult. Even for the sake of their families' well-being, the soldiers had no reason to retreat. Roaring, they unleashed astonishing power, fighting to the death against the robust hunters from the land of Changbai Mountains and Heilongjiang, never yielding an inch.