Chapter 82: Peerless Warrior

The Jiannu’s main attack was not aimed at the city gates, but at a previously collapsed section on the eastern side of the city.

“He certainly knows Shenyang inside out!”

Yang Xin said, watching the Jiannu forming ranks and advancing outside.

Wild Boar Skin knew this city better than he did.

The surging Jiannu army headed straight for the weakest point of the city’s defenses. At the very front were the cannon fodder—those who had surrendered earlier in Kaiyuan and Tieling. Since they had chosen Wild Boar Skin, this was their moment to prove their loyalty. To help their master achieve his dream, they pushed carts forward to fill the moat!

The moat of Shenyang was very deep.

To the west of the city was the Yongli Sluice Gate.

When this gate, which drew water from the Puhe River and also helped raise the river’s water level, was opened, Shenyang’s moat would quickly fill up. The deep, head-submerging water was the first obstacle the Jiannu had to face. Those cannon fodder driven forward, pushing carts filled with earth and stones, carrying similar loads on shoulder poles, and even hauling logs, were forced by the advancing cavalry arrayed behind them to shiver and tremble as they rushed toward the moat.

Soon they entered the cannon’s range.

On the city towers and corner towers, the Frankish Cannons fired first. This classical version of a breech-loading cannon could be said to be the Ming Army’s favorite. Currently, they were almost everywhere in every Ming Army forward fortress. Their low price was their greatest advantage.

Ten taels of silver!

Just ten taels for one Frankish Cannon plus six cartridges to take away.

As for their power…

They were fine for blasting cannon fodder.

A dozen Frankish Cannons about a mile apart fired solid cannonballs first, which crisscrossed and fell among the cannon fodder, creating several corpses. Then some among the cannon fodder tried to flee, only to be immediately pinned to the ground by the spears of the cavalry behind them.

The surviving cannon fodder had no choice but to continue forward.

The Frankish Cannons on the city walls quickly switched to grapeshot. Even those miscellaneous small cannons like the Tiger Crouching Cannons opened fire. The dense grapeshot felled more and more cannon fodder, and even some cavalry behind them were hit and fell. But the cavalry arrayed forward still pressed them onward. Finally, the cannon fodder began to run wildly. The cavalry also controlled their horses to advance. Behind them, the arrayed heavy infantry began to move forward—these were the true main attackers.

The cavalry and cannon fodder entered the range of weapons like Bird Guns, bows and arrows, and crossbows.

Their casualties suddenly increased.

But the bows and arrows in the hands of the cavalry also began to return fire. Casualties appeared on the city walls as well. The fighting between the two sides did not stop the Jiannu from continuing forward, pressing the cannon fodder to surge into the moat, filling it to create attack passageways, even throwing themselves in as well…

This was filling the moat.

Using the bodies of cannon fodder worked the same.

To their masters, they were no different from stones, logs, or dirt.

The cannon fodder, along with the materials they carried, were continuously pushed into the moat. The clever and lucky ones avoided this fate and slipped through the gaps in the cavalry to escape back. But most were simply unlucky. Their only value was to fill the moat.

Those who surrendered to a foreign tribe had to be prepared to fill trenches.

At this time, there was no Eight Banners Han Army. Those who surrendered to the Jiannu, apart from upper-level individuals like Li Yongfang, were all slaves. Even Fan Wencheng, who actively went over to join them, had the status of a slave. So when Dodo played with his wife, he could only stand by and cheer for his master.

Yang Xin watched all this indifferently.

Attack passageways over the moat were quickly filled by the cannon fodder. Immediately after, the cavalry who had been exchanging fire with those on the walls withdrew to both sides, making way for the infantry archers on the flanks behind them. The latter, in formation behind wooden shield arrays, continuously shot dense flights of arrows toward the battlements with their strong bows. Among them, the main attackers in heavy armor with long knives carried ladders and rushed toward the attack passageways that the cannon fodder had filled with their lives.

Yang Xin continued to watch indifferently.

The defenders on both sides of this originally partially collapsed gap also kept returning fire with bows and crossbows.

Corpses of Jiannu heavy infantry continuously fell during the charge, but the survivors still bravely pushed forward. They stepped over the dead bodies of the cannon fodder, rushed across the moat, then set up ladders against the gap that had already been patched with mud, and climbed desperately upward under the cover of their shields. There were no Ming soldiers above them; the entire gap was undefended. The attacking Jiannu did not understand why, but they had no time to worry about it. Driven by the excitement of slaughter and plunder after breaking the city, they each rushed up the city wall at top speed.

The first Jiannu to scale the wall cheered and jumped off the ladder…

Then he was dumbfounded.

Because he suddenly sank into knee-deep yellow mud.

Yang Xin, who had rushed to repair the wall in less than twenty-four hours, had actually only ordered his soldiers to drive dense rows of wooden stakes into the inner and outer edges of the city’s foundation to serve as retaining walls, then pour bucket after bucket of mixed yellow mud directly into the middle.

The top layer had been there for less than two hours; in this season, of course, it could not have dried.

The Jiannu vanguard, roaring with the excitement of breaching the city and charging onto the wall, sank into the yellow mud deep enough to submerge their knees as if falling into a swamp. Then, pushed forward by comrades behind them who were unaware of the situation, they struggled to pull their feet forward, causing more comrades behind to also sink into this quagmire.

That first Jiannu warrior to scale the wall struggled two steps through the sticky, glue-like yellow mud, then turned his head with grief and indignation to look at the city wall on his right.

Yang Xin was there, giving him a bright smile.

At the same moment, dozens of Bird Guns beside Yang Xin spat fire.

Bullets fired in a straight line from less than ten meters away instantly tore through the heavy armor of the Jiannu. All the Jiannu who had scaled the wall fell.

Those Ming Army Bird Gunners quickly passed their fired Bird Guns to those behind them, then took loaded ones from the hands of the people behind.

The Jiannu below could not see what was happening above. They still kept climbing up one ladder after another, also stepping onto the swamp of the city wall, then falling under the close-range fire of the Ming Army’s Bird Guns. Their corpses piled up more and more, until those following could even step on the dead bodies to move forward. But this did not change the outcome. The Ming Army’s bullets kept shooting out. Like Japanese Teppo Ashigaru, dozens of Ming Army Bird Gunners knelt half-upright on the city wall, protected by the crenellations, constantly taking Bird Guns from behind and firing forward.

The Jiannu below finally woke up.

They simply avoided this obvious trap and rushed toward the two sides.

However…

Yang Xin picked up a large gunpowder satchel.

The outer layer of this gunpowder satchel was covered with outwardly facing iron nails, densely arranged on the multiple layers of coarse cloth wrapping the gunpowder. Because it was specially wrapped into a spherical shape, it also looked like a giant hedgehog. Four fuses led out from the gunpowder inside, which was wrapped layer by layer in silk, and were twisted together.

“I like this!”

Yang Xin said with an evil smile, turning his head.

Behind him, Chen Yujie, trembling, brought a tinder lighter to the fuse. The ignited fuse quickly flared upward with sparks…

“Throw it now!”

He shouted as if breaking down.

“I think we can wait a bit more!”

Yang Xin said sincerely.

The soldiers around him shivered and looked up in silent protest.

Twenty catties of gunpowder!

If you want to wait, let us snuff out the fuse first!

Yang Xin held the gunpowder satchel with its lit fuse, looking over the city wall under a multitude of protesting gazes.

On the attack passageways over the moat, countless Jiannu soldiers were packed together. Wearing heavy armor and holding shields over their heads, they surged forward like besieging zombies. Then, avoiding their originally chosen attack point, they quickly split to both sides, set up ladders, and began climbing. Soldiers on the city walls fired from behind the crenellations, continuously poured boiling “golden soup,” lowered hanging wolf-tooth boards, and threw down wooden rollers studded with triangular spikes, defending the city behind them under a rain of falling arrows.

Overhead, pieces of blue brick flew through the arrow rain.

Below the city wall behind Yang Xin, beside countless simple trebuchets, the able-bodied men kept pulling ropes to launch more blue bricks.

This weapon’s killing effect was obvious.

The heavy armor of the Jiannu main attackers almost made them immune to Ming Army arrows. Although Bird Gun bullets and cannon grapeshot were effective, their rate of fire limited firepower projection, and from a distance they weren’t very effective anyway—after all, Frankish Cannons were not Red Barbarian Cannons.

But these blue bricks were different.

Blue bricks weighing five or six catties falling from a height of over ten meters caused serious injury upon impact; hitting the head meant certain death even with helmet protection. The density of the Jiannu meant that almost none of the thrown blue bricks missed. Equally devastating were the bed crossbows. No matter what heavy armor the Jiannu wore, being hit by a long spear-like crossbow bolt resulted in penetration, sometimes even through more than one person. But none of this could stop the Jiannu assault. These fierce barbarian soldiers simply had no fear of death. They advanced wave upon wave, stepping over their comrades’ corpses to charge the city walls, climbing up ladders, even appearing over the crenellations to hack and slash with the defending soldiers…

“Wild Boar Skin, taste this!”

Yang Xin suddenly roared.

With that, the gunpowder satchel, its fuse now less than a quarter remaining, suddenly flew out.

“Get down!”

He roared immediately after.

Chen Yujie was the first to duck under the crenellations. The soldiers defending the city crouched down in confusion.

Two Jiannu figures immediately appeared over the crenellations. They looked blankly at the prone Ming soldiers. Chen Yujie, the closest, even looked at them with gleeful eyes.

“BOOM!”

An earth-shattering blast erupted outside.

Accompanied by the flash of firelight in the sky, the blast wave struck fiercely, pushing smoke. The two Jiannu were thrown back as if hit by warhorses, screaming as they tumbled down.

Chen Yujie, covering his ears, quickly regained his senses. He picked up his sword, about to stab, but found that both were convulsing, and blood was gushing from their unprotected backs. He quickly used his sword to cut open the clothes on one Jiannu’s back. Blood still poured from two bloody holes.

He immediately stood up and looked outside.

Below the wall, it could be said corpses were piled up. Countless wounded Jiannu struggled among the dead. Within at least a ten-zhang radius, there was not a single Jiannu standing.

Twenty catties of black gunpowder, bound tightly with hundreds of layers of silk.

One thousand outward-facing iron nails.

They swept away nearly a hundred Jiannu packed into this area. Whether standing below, climbing ladders on the city wall, they were either torn apart by the explosion’s force or riddled like sieves by the iron nails.

“See, this is a true Peerless Warrior!”

Yang Xin said with satisfaction, pulling an iron nail that had embedded itself into a blue brick from the crenellation.

“Another one!”

Suddenly, he roared toward the outside.