Chapter 66: The Bloody Battle Between the Rat Tails

The sortie led by Jin Taiji and his nephew ended in failure, which was no surprise.

As for Yang Xin…

The Yehe Tribe would not let a guest take to the battlefield.

He, along with Nangnuke and the three hundred Mongolian soldiers, watched the battle of rat tails he had dreamed of from the top of the Yehe West City wall. The scene of countless rat tails clashing was like a dream. Unfortunately, happiness was always fleeting. As soon as the two sides engaged, a cavalry force claiming to be Mongolian reinforcements appeared from the south and charged straight toward Yehe East City.

This was, of course, a lie.

Even without Yang Xin’s reminder, Jin Taiji knew Mongolian cavalry could not come from that route.

He retreated at the fastest speed and split from Boo Yanggu. Each guarded their own city. Yang Xin and his companions followed Jin Taiji to the East City, while Nangnuke and his men stayed at the West City. Soon after, Wild Boar Skin’s two armies arrived one after another. Daišan, leading the force that entered through the mountain pass, surrounded Yehe West City, while Wild Boar Skin, leading the main force, surrounded Yehe East City. Both Jiannu armies attacked simultaneously. Their time was tight; after all, Ming Army troops were behind them, and Mongols were watching nearby. Wild Boar Skin had to break through the two Yehe cities as quickly as possible…

“Arrows!”

Yang Xin shouted from behind the wooden wall.

This was the first line of defense outside the East City, precisely a wall made of logs. A scaffold was built on the inside for soldiers to stand on and shoot arrows outward.

To his left and right were rat tails, each holding bows and shooting arrows outward. Their targets were also rat tails. Countless Jiannu in heavy armor surged forward one after another, braving the dense rain of arrows. Archers lined up behind them also shot arrows continuously toward the wall. Occasionally, Yehe Tribe soldiers were hit by arrows and fell, but the losses outside were far greater than theirs.

This scene made Yang Xin extremely excited.

A Yehe Tribe woman behind him quickly handed him a quiver of arrows.

Yang Xin swiftly drew his bow and took aim…

“Number twelve!”

He shouted to Zhou Yuji not far away.

Immediately, he released his fingers. The arrow with an armor-piercing tip instantly pierced the right eye of a Jiannu twenty meters away. The corpse fell. Zhou Yuji also shot his arrow, hitting a Jiannu square in the face ten meters away…

“Number nine!”

He said with a bit of helplessness.

The two were competing to see who could kill more!

Suddenly, an arrow whistled toward him. Yang Xin instinctively sidestepped. The arrow struck his chest but was deflected by the forged iron plate of his full iron armor breastplate. Yang Xin quickly located the one who shot at him and aimed back at full speed. His arrow again hit the target’s eye, and the Jiannu immediately fell.

But sharpshooters only brought a slight boost in morale to the Yehe Tribe soldiers. Facing the seemingly endless enemies outside the city, their defense was ultimately insufficient.

To annihilate the Yehe Tribe in one strike, Wild Boar Skin mobilized a full fifty thousand troops—fifty thousand of the Jiannu’s most elite soldiers at their peak. These were not the useless Eight Banners of the late Qing Dynasty, nor had they degraded after entering the passes. These were all in their most ferocious state. They completely ignored death, each protected by heavy armor, charging forward like zombies besieging a city.

Soon, the first wave of Jiannu reached the wooden wall and began climbing upward.

The Yehe Tribe soldiers resisted bravely.

The sight of countless rat tails stabbing each other with long spears across a wooden wall made Yang Xin forget he was in a battle. However, he soon spotted something unusual among the Jiannu.

A trail of smoke rose from the crowd.

In the next moment, all the Jiannu around the smoke frantically turned and fled. The Yehe Tribe soldiers above stared blankly at a smoking wooden barrel below…

“Retreat!”

Yang Xin roared without hesitation.

Then, he was the first to jump down, followed immediately by Zhou Yuji. The two sprinted toward a wooden bridge spanning a trench behind them. Immediately, an earth-shattering explosion sounded from behind. Along with a blast of flames, a section of the wooden wall was blown into fragments and scattered backward. A blown-off arm even slammed into Yang Xin’s back. He had no interest in worrying about this. He leaped and cleared the trench in one jump. Behind him, all the Yehe Tribe soldiers on the wooden wall retreated, crossing the wooden bridges over the trench at full speed.

At that moment, accompanied by fierce war cries, Jiannu soldiers poured in through the newly blasted gap.

Thus, the wooden wall was breached.

But the real city wall lay behind.

“Get me another bow! This one is still too weak!”

Yang Xin shouted to Jin Taiji, who was commanding from the earthen wall.

“If all Ming Army soldiers were like you two, we wouldn’t have suffered such a crushing defeat at Sarhu!”

Jin Taiji said in praise.

“If all Ming Army soldiers were like us, Wild Boar Skin would still be lying obediently at the emperor’s feet, shouting ‘long live the emperor’ to him! Back then, he was more submissive than all of you. Among all Jurchen tribes, he paid tribute to the Great Ming Dynasty the most diligently. This really shows that time reveals a person’s true heart.”

Yang Xin said.

“If it weren’t for Li Chengliang, he would never have reached this point today!”

Jin Taiji sneered.

As he spoke, one of his men handed him a strong bow. He casually tossed it to Yang Xin. By then, most Yehe Tribe soldiers had retreated to the earthen wall. They dutifully destroyed the wooden bridges over the trench. Actually, they were just a few not-very-thick tree trunks nailed together. A simple push sent them tumbling into the trench. This encircling trench, which wasn’t very watery but was deep, immediately halted the Jiannu’s advance. They didn’t rush to attack either. Instead, they quickly destroyed the wooden wall and filled passages over the trench. As sections of the wooden wall were destroyed, more and more Jiannu assembled.

Soon, they began crossing the trench.

“Fire!”

Following Jin Taiji’s roar, tens of thousands of arrows flew from the city wall.

Countless Jiannu corpses fell.

Archers lined up behind them also unleashed tens of thousands of arrows toward the city wall. A new round of bloody battle thus began between the two sides.

This was a true bloody battle.

Countless Jiannu advanced across the passages over the trench, but they also became the primary targets for attacks from the city wall. Their density meant almost every arrow shot in that direction found its mark. Even with the protection of heavy armor, Jiannu corpses kept falling, even becoming part of the fill for the trench. Those who charged over the corpses of their comrades carried ladders toward the city wall, constantly falling on the charge. Those who reached the base of the wall braved arrows and stones raining down from above, quickly filling passages across the second trench for the assault, then set up ladders and desperately climbed, trying to storm the top of the wall…

“With skills like these, how did they take Kaiyuan and Tieling?”

Yang Xin asked rhetorically, though he already knew the answer.

It must be said that Wild Boar Skin really lacked siege methods at this time.

They relied on the simplest tactic: swarming and storming. They had no cannons, nor did they know how to build complex things like trebuchets. All they had were ladders and that ferocity. Besides being able to carry barrels of gunpowder for blasting, they were even inferior to medieval times. The hasty attack also left no time to build more siege equipment. It could be said that the Jiannu’s offensive methods at this time were inferior even to those of the Three Kingdoms period.

“Without traitors, they couldn’t even take Fushun Pass!”

Zhou Yuji said.

“Then, do you have any traitors?”

Yang Xin suddenly asked Jin Taiji.

“Yehe men are not like the Ming Army!”

Jin Taiji said angrily.

Clearly, he was guilty.

He also knew this was entirely possible. If even the Ming Army had plenty of Wild Boar Skin’s spies, how much more so him? After all, even he himself was related to Wild Boar Skin as brother-in-law and brother-in-law.

“The Ming Army might not be inferior to you!”

Yang Xin said.

After saying that, he casually picked up a wolf-tooth mace and jumped down.

Jin Taiji looked down in surprise. Yang Xin had already landed at the base of the wall. This height posed no problem for him.

The guy let out a roar, swung the wolf-tooth mace, and charged straight at the Jiannu below the wall. In an instant, he sent blood and flesh flying. Like a tyrannosaurus rex crashing into a flock of sheep, he slaughtered savagely and fiercely. The dozens-of-pounds-heavy wolf-tooth mace became black afterimages in his hands. Wherever it touched, blood mist spread. Jiannu corpses fell, shattered beyond recognition, following his steps. Their bravery, in the face of absolute strength, ultimately revealed the nature of flesh and blood. On the city wall, including Zhou Yuji, countless archers provided cover for Yang Xin. Any Jiannu who tried to sneak attack him with arrows was immediately enveloped in a rain of arrows.

Yang Xin swept along the base of the wall like splitting bamboo.

Like a giant broom, he swiftly cleared the Jiannu before him. Above his head, the excited, cheering Yehe Tribe soldiers continuously used dense arrow volleys to clear out peripheral ambushers for him. This perfect combination moved along the base of the wall at high speed.

And left behind countless corpses.

The Jiannu who had reached the base of the wall and were frantically charging upward were scared into fleeing in panic.

After all, the combat prowess Yang Xin displayed was completely beyond human scope. Suddenly encountering such a monster, even the bravest soldiers couldn’t hold on.

“Charge out! Don’t disgrace us Yehe men!”

Jin Taiji on the city wall said to his brother, Qin Chen.

He knew he was the victor.

Boosted by Yang Xin’s morale, the Yehe Tribe soldiers, led by Qin Chen, quickly opened the city gates and charged out. They became the final straw that broke the Jiannu’s back. Even before orders came from the rear, the Jiannu who had reached the base of the wall began a full retreat. However, they only retreated across the trench. They had an absolute advantage in numbers. The two Yehe cities combined had only about ten thousand able-bodied men, but Wild Boar Skin brought fifty thousand troops. A single failed assault couldn’t decide the battle. What they needed was merely to readjust their attack methods.

Especially methods to deal with Yang Xin.

At the same time, the Jiannu’s attack on the West City also failed.

Ultimately, their siege methods were truly backward. As long as the defenders truly resisted stubbornly, they almost couldn’t breach a real fortress. Since Wild Boar Skin rebelled, all the fortresses they captured were done through traitors. Not a single one was taken by pure assault alone. The Jiannu only gained real siege capability after acquiring Red Barbarian Cannons. Before that, forget fortresses of Liaoyang’s level; even a small fortress like Xiping Fort had to wait until the defenders ran out of gunpowder.

That was just a fort.

In the Ming Army’s defense system, it was at most a small outpost on the periphery of a fortress.

And yet, they had to use lives to exhaust Luo Yiguan’s gunpowder before they could breach it.

Now, their magic weapon was traitors.

Kaiyuan had traitors. Tieling had traitors. Even a place like Fushun Pass relied on Li Yongfang’s surrender. But Jin Taiji and his nephew Boo Yanggu would not surrender, and no traitors had appeared yet, so Wild Boar Skin could do nothing.