I

  Chapter 693 690【The end of the road】

  Ai Xing'a dropped the luggage, the old and the weak, women and children, and led thousands of people to march quickly. He took the risk of loading the cannon on the boat and went upstream along the Suzi River.

  Suzi River has rapid water flow in some parts, and many rafting projects have been developed hundreds of years later.

   Coincidentally, the river section near Maldun is very turbulent. Mardun is built on a high mountain, and the river is below the cliff. The mountains on both sides stand tall, and the height difference of the river bed is very large.

  Using a ship to transport guns requires not only rowing, but also pulling fibers on the shore.

  Hurry up and hurry up, one of the Tarzi's artillery ships capsized on the way. Time was running out and he didn't bother to salvage. Ai Xing'a landed on the west side of Mardun, and then rushed into the battlefield with a cannon.

  Unfortunately, there are no defensive artillery on the stone walls of Fort Marton at this time, and they were all removed to the main battlefield before.

  Yang Zhenqing could only helplessly, watching the enemy artillery advance.

   "You can't be beaten passively, you have to fight out!" Yang Zhenqing said to the soldiers under his command.

  Leaving five hundred people guarding the stockade, Yang Zhenqing led the remaining hundreds of people to fight out.

  The Qing cannons are being slowly carried up the mountain. In front of the artillery, there are more than 300 Tazi soldiers, which are used to cover the artillery from surprise attacks.

   These more than 300 Tazi soldiers are all the few firecracker troops in the Qing Dynasty.

  The mountain road is narrow and there are not too many people standing.

   Seeing Yang Zhenqing leading troops out, the Eight Banners Army stopped advancing immediately. More than 300 Tartar gunfire soldiers lined up at the front, but they were feinting, and the front row would block the shooting angle of the back row. Even if a few Tazi soldiers squatted in the front row, only the second row could shoot normally.

   Datong Army, the situation is just the opposite, condescending, several rows in front can shoot.

   "Bang bang bang!"

   When you meet, you don't talk nonsense, and both sides open fire directly.

  Tarzi firecrackers fell more than a dozen people, and only one soldier from the independent regiment was shot.

   "Change the fire!"

  The Datong Army, which was unable to shoot in the back row, quickly passed the firecrackers filled with ammunition to the front, and fired a second burst at an extremely fast speed.

  Manchu Qing side, you can not do this.

  Because the firecrackers of the Tartars are still arquebus guns.

   Matchlock guns need to stand scattered when shooting, and the width of the battlefield is seriously insufficient. On the narrow mountain road, it is even more embarrassing. Only three or four people can stand in a row, while the Datong Army can stand in a row with seven or eight people. And fearing that the fire rope would get in the way, the gunfire soldiers all wrapped the fire rope around themselves, and it was very troublesome to pass the fireball out.

  The disadvantage of the terrain and the inferiority of the firearms caused the Tartar firearms to be beaten passively.

   More than 60 people fell down one after another. The front row of the Tartar firearms finally couldn't bear it anymore, and they shouted and asked to retreat to the foot of the mountain first.

  Man Dahai and Aixing are both behind at the moment, and they can't see clearly the battle ahead.

  Man Dahai felt that something was wrong, so he pushed himself forward. He passed the artillery unit with difficulty, almost climbing over the barrel, and finally understood what happened to his gunmen.

   "The Firebolt Battalion resisted, and the rest of the troops, the front army became the rear army, and slowly retreated down the mountain." Man Dahai made a decisive decision and quickly issued an order. If the fight continues like this, the whole army will collapse on the mountain road, and they can only use the lives of the gunfire soldiers to gain time to retreat down the mountain.

   This attack by the Tartars obviously failed again.

  More than 300 Tartar gunfire soldiers were almost wiped out. Only a few dozen people were killed by bullets, and the rest of the Tartar gunfire soldiers died in the pursuit when they were allowed to withdraw.

   "Bayonet on, kill!"

  Man Dahai waited for the artillery to retreat, and then blew the horn to indicate that the gunfire soldiers could withdraw. These Tartars, who had been beaten all the time, scrambled to turn around and run for their lives, and were chased and stabbed randomly by Yang Zhenqing's troops.

  In this battle, the Independent Regiment had 3 dead and 8 wounded, killed more than 300 Tartar soldiers, and picked up many ammunition bags by touching the corpses.

  Back down the mountain, Man Dahai's face was gloomy.

  Marton's wall really couldn't stand the bombardment. But if you want to use the cannon, you must push the cannon to a certain height, otherwise the ghost knows where the cannonball can hit.

   "Where's the car?" Man Dahai asked.

  Ai Xing'a replied: "The car is still on the way, and there are not many of them."

  These Tartars abandoned the city and left with the aim of quickly breaking through the siege. Of course, it was impossible to bring all the heavy chariots with them.

Man Dahai said: "When Taizu attacked Mardun, he was still unable to defeat him. In the end, he blocked the descending passages on both sides and cut off the drinking water in the village, so that the enemies in the village were forced to surrender. But we can't wait, in case the village If the water has been stored in the water for more than ten days, the Nanmanzi behind will catch up."

   "My lord is right." Ai Xing said.

"Our army can only attack by force," Man Dahai continued, "the number of enemy troops in the village should not be large. Thousands of people should be separated and cross the cliffs on the river bank, and cut off the water source at the foot of the mountain in the southeast of the village. Etc. The chariots are coming, and the north and the south are attacking together. The north side uses the chariots to advance and cover the artillery to go up the mountain. The south side cannot be transported by the chariots, but it can also feign an attack to divert the enemy's troops to defend."

  Ai Xing said: "I will immediately send someone to rush the car."

  Man Dahai said: "I can't wait any longer, I just need to select the elite to attack. We can no longer use musketeers to cover the cannons up the mountain. We must use infantry elites in front, filling them with human lives, and the artillerymen stepping over the corpses!"

   "This... can this work?" Aixing expressed doubts.

   Facing the firecrackers of the Datong Army, the elite retreating armor charged on the narrow mountain road. I'm afraid that before rushing to melee, the infantry elite will die, or they will collapse before they die.

  Man Dahai gritted his teeth and said, "We must try it, go and choose a warrior."

  Ai Xing’a hadn’t even set off yet, when a shout came from the hillside.

Anba, who surrendered, stood on the hillside holding a tin horn and shouted: "Jurchen brothers down the mountain, listen, I am also a Jurchen. My name is Anba, and I am the guard over the small fort. Just put down your weapons and surrender. , you have a chance to live. Look at me, don’t I live a good life? I have also been reused and can continue to fight and make meritorious service..."

   "Hetuala is gone, the queen mother and the emperor have died in the rebellion, and the Qing court is gone. The Qing Dynasty is gone, who are you still working for?"

"Put down your weapons and surrender quickly. If you don't surrender, it will be too late. The 200,000 main force of the Datong Heavenly Soldiers is rushing over from Sarhu. At the latest, you will be able to kill Mardun in a day or two. By then, you will be killed. Flank!"

   "Those who want to surrender can follow the cliffs along the river bank, climb to the southeast mountain, and throw away their weapons to surrender at Nanzhaimen..."

   On the side of the Tartars, the whole army is noisy.

   Shouting on the hillside can be heard clearly down the mountain. There are two important things that make them flustered. One is that the Empress Dowager and the emperor are dead, and the other is that the main force of the Datong Army will arrive soon.

  The Datong army has occupied Maldun and blocked the back of the Tartars, so these two news are very likely to be true.

  Ai Xing'a roared: "It's all rumors, don't believe it!"

  The soldiers of the Eight Banners Army were still panicking, and there were many discussions in private, and even the nobles of the Eight Banners wanted to escape for their lives.

   "What a vicious scheme!" Man Dahai was almost blown out of his lungs.

  He originally wanted to send another force along the river bank cliff to the southeast side of Mardun. Then, the Northern and Southern Qi attacked and filled the village with human lives.

  Unexpectedly, Yang Zhenqing made people shout, and those who said they would surrender ran along the cliff to the south.

   This made Man Dahai hesitate. If he sent thousands of people there, the Tazi soldiers who went to the south would think about surrendering before the north and south were attacked by then.

  Man Dahai said to Ai Xing'a: "You lead the troops to the south yourself!"

   "I..." Aixing also reacted, and immediately said, "Okay, I'll go!"

  Ai Xing'a persuaded some Eight Banners nobles not to believe the rumors, and then took their own Niu Lu and walked along the cliffs along the river bank together.

  Although the bank of the river is a cliff, it is still passable, because the "side road" was built in the Nurhachi era.

  Those sidewalks are usually used by trackers.

  When Nurhachi returned in triumph, the river here was rushing, and the materials needed to be pulled by trackers before they could be shipped back to Hetuala.

  Ai Xing did not dare to wear armor, and walked tremblingly on the cliffs by the shore. Only one person can pass, and sometimes there is no room for both feet, only one foot can step on the ground. Fortunately for him, the bottom of the cliff was concave, so even if the Datong army on the mountain threw stones, they would hardly hit the people below.

   "There are a lot of barbarians ahead!"

  A Eight Banners nobleman exclaimed, Ai Xing'a was paying attention to his feet, he quickly raised his head to look forward, and suddenly shouted in fright: "Quickly retreat!"

  It was the main force of the independent regiment. After taking over Hetuala, the peasants and soldiers who accompanied the army were left to guard the city, and finally came to reinforce with the peasants and luggage.

  The Eight Banners Army led by Ai Xing'a is all on the cliff at the moment. If they continue to move forward, they will be blocked by the independent regiment.

  When Ai Xing'a returned to the camp, Man Dahai had already selected a death squad.

   "Why are you back?" Man Dahai asked.

  Ai Xing's face was bitter: "The barbarians have come to reinforce the soldiers, and there are probably tens of thousands of people (including the food transporters)."

  Man Dahai hesitated to speak, and finally sighed: "There is no way to fight. Abandon the luggage, and each person takes some food with him. Let's all go to the ravine in the north. As many as we can get out alive."

  Behind them, there are indeed several ravines in the north, but after the ravines are completed, they have to climb over the mountains, and it is impossible for the army to take away the supplies.

  Ai Xing'a said: "If we don't set up an ambush in the ravine, maybe the enemy will rush in and we will win again."

   "I can only try it." Man Dahai expressed no hope for this.

  The Datong Army is not an army of the Ming Dynasty, even if they set up an ambush and win a game, it is impossible to defeat all the main forces of the Datong Army.

  Man Dahai missed the time when he fought with the Ming army. The Ming army killed tens of thousands of people. As long as the Eight Banners army defeated one part, the rest of the Ming army would take the initiative to flee. Moreover, when the Eight Banners Army attacked a part of the Ming Army, other units of the Ming Army rarely took the initiative to rescue, and the Eight Banners Army could move around the battlefield calmly.

  The Datong Army is different, each department is like a mad dog. Don't just sit back and watch the friendly army be attacked, even if the Eight Banners Army doesn't provoke it, the Datong Army will take the initiative to attack.

   "The whole army retreats into the mountains." Man Dahai ordered helplessly.

  They retreated the same way and joined most of the Tartars. With the old, weak, sick, disabled and luggage, they plunged into the valley to the north.

  It was a dead end, only a few miles long, and there were mountains beyond.

  (end of this chapter)