MLMD -Chapter 146 The Vicious Later Jin Archers

After seeing the effect of the bombardment, Yue Yang let out a soft sigh. The explosive power of the solid shot was truly disappointing. It seemed he should have people produce some exploding shells next time.

Still, dissatisfied as he was, Yue Yang could not show it. As commander-in-chief of the entire army, every move he made affected the situation on the battlefield.

Frowning slightly, Yue Yang gave the order, “Order the artillery: fire three rapid rounds, then withdraw immediately.”

“Yes!”

“Boom! Boom! Boom—”

Following Yue Yang’s command, the tiger crouching cannons began firing again…

Watching the thunderous cannon fire ahead and the bouncing shot that sent his own men scrambling in all directions, Hafenga was extremely displeased. Though he usually prided himself on his bravery, even someone like him knew that it was impossible to have warriors use their flesh and blood to withstand shot crashing down like meteors. Against such things, even if you were the reincarnation of Xiang Yu of Western Chu, capable of lifting a thousand jin, you would still have to run.

Suppressing his frustration, he continued to command the battle.

Seeing that several shield carts had been destroyed earlier due to the overly tight formation, he waved his hand and shouted loudly, “Spread out—spread out! Watch out for the Ming dogs’ artillery! Speed up, rush to the front of their formation!”

After Hafenga’s order, the Later Jin troops spread out even more. As a result, during the final three rounds of bombardment, the Ming artillery achieved almost no results—aside from a few ricochets that grazed several auxiliary troops holding shields as the shot shattered.

When the artillery finished firing the last three rounds, the shield carts at the very front were only about one hundred and fifty paces from the square formations. The artillery officer did not even have time to observe where the shells landed before urgently ordering the gunners to hammer loose the iron stakes beneath the gun carriages. Two gunners then immediately used large iron tongs to grab the now-scorching tiger crouching cannon and ran toward the rear.

As soon as the artillery withdrew, Feng Xiaoming hurriedly ordered the two square formations to close ranks, with the first rank of musketeers preparing to fire.

At this moment, the Later Jin army had already closed to a distance of one hundred paces. Once within this range, they accelerated again and began their final charge.

Feng Xiaoming pointed his saber forward and shouted, “Fire!”

From left to right, the two hundred musketeers in the first rank of the two formations pulled their triggers simultaneously.

“Boom boom boom—”

The muskets fired in unison. Two hundred guns discharged at once, filling the front of the formation with thick white smoke and flashes of fire.

Although the sound of two hundred muskets firing was tremendous, the thirty-odd shield carts at the front of the Later Jin army were protected by thick wooden boards on the front and top, further covered with layers of leather and cotton quilts. Though the Minié rifles were extremely powerful—capable of piercing Later Jin armor even at two hundred paces—they could not penetrate the shield carts. The first volley from the two hundred musketeers only made the leather and cotton coverings crack loudly, sent shot flying everywhere, and snapped flagpoles one after another. The Later Jin soldiers and archers hiding inside the shield carts, however, remained unharmed.

“Damn it!”

Seeing this, Feng Xiaoming cursed aloud. This was a favorite expletive of Yue Yang ever since his transmigration, and in recent years it had gradually spread throughout the army.

“First rank, fall back! Second rank, forward! Stop firing at the Tartars’ shield carts—shoot the Tartars following behind them!”

The second rank of musketeers stepped forward, aiming at the soldiers and archers advancing behind the shield carts with raised shields, as well as the Later Jin troops and auxiliary laborers closely following behind.

“Fire!”

“Bang bang bang—”

Another burst of fire erupted, and thick white smoke once again spread across the front, obscuring vision.

Soon, as a light breeze passed and the smoke dispersed, everyone could see that this volley had achieved far better results. More than ten Later Jin soldiers’ wooden shields were struck by Minié bullets and shattered on the spot, exposing the soldiers behind them, who were then hit by subsequent bullets and torn apart in a spray of blood and flesh. Some collapsed to the ground, screaming loudly.

The Later Jin army truly was an experienced force. Many of the lower-ranking officers—fenbo shiku and zhuanda—were not intimidated by the casualties around them. On the contrary, they shouted even louder, urging the soldiers to advance more quickly.

“Quick—third rank forward, fire!”

At this point, Feng Xiaoming could no longer worry about anything else and could only order the musketeers to increase their rate of fire.

Each Ming square formation consisted of five hundred musketeers, arranged in five ranks of one hundred men each. Thus, the initial firing sequence of these five ranks was extremely rapid. In less than a minute, all five ranks had fired once.

At a distance of one hundred paces, the firepower of the Minié muskets was fully unleashed. Although shield carts stood at the front of the Later Jin army and the soldiers behind them carried large shields, the Minié rifles had little effect against the thick wooden boards covered in oxhide. Against infantry advancing with handheld shields, however, they were a grave threat.

Many wooden shields were blasted into fragments by the crackling hail of lead bullets. Even when a shield was not completely shattered, the tremendous kinetic energy carried by the bullets battered the auxiliary troops holding them, leaving them in miserable straits.

“Fire—!”

“Fire—!”

Seeing that the Later Jin army was about to enter the seventy-pace range, Feng Xiaoming grew anxious. Once they crossed seventy paces, it would mean the enemy could begin counterattacking effectively.

Under Feng Xiaoming’s command, a rain of lead bullets poured toward the Later Jin army. Many bullets struck the shield carts, making them crack loudly; despite the thick wooden boards and leather protection, wood chips still flew everywhere.

The Later Jin troops following behind the shield carts fared even worse. In past engagements with the Ming, these wooden shields had effectively blocked Ming arrows and musket fire. Today, however, under such dense and powerful fire, the shields could no longer hold. Many were shattered into pieces, and the fate of the soldiers who lost their protection was easy to imagine.

Standing atop the tall command wagon, Yue Yang watched as the Later Jin forces pushed forward through mounting casualties toward his formations, his heart pounding violently. This was the moment when both sides were simply trading losses.

“To hell with it—let’s go all out. I want to see just how many casualties these Tartars can endure!”

With that thought, Yue Yang ordered grimly, “Supply troops, prepare yourselves. As soon as our side takes casualties, immediately carry the wounded back for treatment.”

As he was considering this, the shield carts at the front finally stopped at a distance of sixty paces from the formations. From within them jumped out a group of archers wearing padded armor. Each held a heavy bow and loosed arrows toward the Ming formations.

The twang of bowstrings rang out, and the first wave—more than sixty sharp arrows—flew toward the first rank of musketeers.

Almost immediately, screams rose up nearly simultaneously from both the Ming formations and the Later Jin ranks.

The Later Jin archers, having lost the protection of the shield carts, instantly became prime targets for the Ming musketeers who had long been lying in wait.

Amid the thunderous gunfire, at least thirty archers were struck by lead bullets. Wearing only a single layer of padded armor, how could they withstand such powerful rounds? One after another, they fell to the ground. The lucky ones died on the spot; the unlucky ones had arms or legs blown off, or were ripped open, collapsing on the ground and wailing in agony.

Within the Ming formations, the arrows of the Later Jin archers also arrived almost at the same time, striking several musketeers.

The Jurchen arrows were extremely vicious. Their arrowheads usually weighed as much as four liang, were long, and thus had excellent penetrating power. When fired, they carried tremendous momentum. Although the Ming musketeers all wore Gothic armor forged from fine steel by Yue Yang, it still could not guarantee absolute safety.

Feng Xiaoming, commanding between the two formations, suddenly heard a whistling sound tearing through the air. He dodged swiftly as an arrow flew past his ear. A guard behind him was struck—the arrowhead hit the guard’s helmet with a piercing clang. The guard collapsed on the spot, his fate unknown.

Around him, more than ten musketeers were also hit by arrows. One musketeer was struck directly in the right eye. The force of the arrow was so great that it knocked him back several steps before he fell dead on the spot.

The most tragic was one musketeer who was hit in the face by four arrows at once. He screamed in agony, was driven back several meters by the force, and then fell backward, lifeless.

From atop the command wagon, Yue Yang saw the situation clearly. With a cold expression, he shouted, “Order the supply troops—immediately send one hundred men forward to carry back the wounded!”

As soon as the two sides made contact, the battle entered a white-hot phase, and the Ming army began to take casualties.

Fortunately, under the protection of the fine steel armor Yue Yang had commissioned, Ming losses were not too severe. As long as arrows did not strike vital areas such as the face or eyes, even hits to the chest or other parts were mostly unable to penetrate the armor and were usually deflected by the thick plates.

What enraged Yue Yang, however, was the report soon brought by the accompanying physicians: the arrowheads used by the Later Jin archers had all been soaked in horse manure. Once someone was hit, the wound easily festered. Worse still, their shooting was frighteningly accurate—they aimed for the face, the neck, or the eyes—making the mortality rate among those struck in these areas extremely high.

Still, there was good news as well. What comforted Yue Yang was that his own musketeers were no pushovers. Armed with modern weapons, they dealt the Jurchens a devastating blow. After three or four rounds of exchange with the Ming, the first batch of Jurchen archers who had jumped out from the shield carts was virtually wiped out. For quite some time afterward, the enemy failed to fire a single arrow toward the Ming side.

The same scene, however, sent Hafenga into a towering rage.

“Trash! A bunch of useless trash! What are you all standing around for? Order those damned slaves to press forward—all of them! If we can’t break the Ming army, we’ll all die!”