Chapter Nineteenth: Seizing the Gate (Continued)

  The most lethal thing about the fire lance is its rate of fire, loading gunpowder, loading bullets, ramming, shooting, and after firing, cleaning the barrel, it takes more than a minute to fire one shot. Because of this, the tactic of three-stage shooting was born, soldiers were divided into three rows, taking turns shooting and loading, thus ensuring the rate of fire.

  The Ming army was no stranger to this, and as early as the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, Mu Ying used the three-stage strike tactic in Yunnan to deal with the elephant troops of the indigenous people.

  Xie Bin, a seasoned warrior from the Imperial Guard, was always well-prepared and had his troops trained regularly. As the enemy forces gathered to form their battle array, he ordered his men to get ready for a barrage of gunfire. Thirty black muzzles of firearms were aimed at the Dashun army, and with one simultaneous shot, over ten enemies fell to the ground.

  Xie Bin was greatly encouraged: "Brothers aim and fire!"

  The second round of gunfire came immediately, and the scorching bullets shot towards the Dashun Army like hailstones. Liu Zongmin had been through many battles before, so when he saw the flash of fire on the opposite side, he knew there would be gunfire.

  However, Liu Zongmin did not mind, and he was not unfamiliar with the firearms of the Ming army. To be honest, the intimidating effect was far greater than actual combat. Moreover, it could intimidate others as well as oneself. When the fire gunner fired a shot, they would even close their eyes, and no one knew whether the barrel would burst or not!

  But this time, Liu Zongmin miscalculated, the batch of fire guns that Gu Zhenhua got were all high-quality goods, with a long range, great power, and more reliability. At a distance of twenty or thirty steps, one round of shooting, there were more than ten people who fell down, some unlucky ones were even blown to pieces, their bodies were bloody and blurred.

  Liu Zongmin felt a chill run down his spine, the black muzzle of the gun was pointed directly at him. In desperation, Liu Zongmin kicked off his stirrups and used his warhorse as a shield.

  Clap! Clap! Clap!

  The cannon fired, and Liu Zongmin's war horse was hit by five lead bullets, blowing its flesh and blood into a pulp, and the huge horse head was blown to pieces. Liu Zongmin, who was hiding behind, was unscathed but covered in cold sweat, and he didn't care about anything else, turning around and running away immediately.

  At this time, the soldiers in the third row had already crouched down and aimed, ready to fire. Liu Zongmin was indeed a fierce general who came out of a pile of dead men, his reaction was superhuman, he grabbed a soldier with one hand while escaping, and carried him on his back as a human shield.

  Two bullets hit the meat shield, Liu Zongmin only felt like a heavy hammer hitting his body, stumbled a few steps, but fortunately there was no danger to his life. There happened to be a cavalryman in front of him, he unceremoniously pulled the other down, got on the war horse and fled precipitously.

  "It's not that easy to run!"

  Gu Zhenhua had just suffered a loss at Liu Zongmin's hands, and his ribs were still throbbing with pain. He wouldn't let Liu Zongmin off so easily. Moreover, if he allowed him to regroup and bring more people to attack, they would never be able to leave the city.

  Let's go!

  Gu Zhenhua suddenly spurred the horse, like a flash of lightning, and chased after. He ran while taking out his bow. Shooting arrows on horseback requires at least three to five years of practice, otherwise it's impossible to master. But after Gu Zhenhua crossed over, not only did his physical fitness greatly improve, but he also had an astonishing talent for archery on horseback. Sun Cheng just pointed it out once, and he already looked like a pro!

  Squinting his eyes, Gu Zhenhua roughly estimated the distance between the two people. He suddenly loosened his hand, and an arrow drew a beautiful arc, shooting towards Liu Zongmin one hundred steps away.

  Having been on the battlefield for a long time, Liu Zongmin seemed to have had a premonition and unconsciously turned his head. A feathered arrow happened to shoot past his left ear, with an astonishing force that took half of his ear away. In pain, Liu Zongmin let out a loud cry, with blood gushing all over his face and neck, staining them red, and his sturdy body almost fell off the horse.

  With great difficulty, Liu Zongmin grasped the reins and, as if gone mad, stabbed the warhorse with his knife tip. The pain stimulated the horse to speed up by another threefold. At this moment, Gu Zhenhua shot out two more arrows in succession, one of which fell short and the other hit the horse's leg.

  Both the men and horses were injured, Liu Zongmin also knew it was not good, he looked to the side and saw that there were dozens of horse-drawn carriages parked on the roadside, all of which had just been looted. Liu Zongmin, in a state of urgency, didn't care about these treasures and women anymore, and hastily shouted loudly: "Block the road for me, quickly!"

  Having heard the general's order, those carters were afraid but could only obey. They whipped their horses and drove them to the middle of the road, instantly blocking it.

  Gu Zhenhua's war horse had just caught up, and seeing Liu Zongmin running further and further away, he was also extremely enraged. His anger was all vented on these carters, swinging his waist knife, instantly a head was chopped off, and a whole catty of fresh blood splattered onto the carriage curtain.

  "Ah!"

  A scream of ultra-high decibels came from inside the carriage, and Gu Zhenhua's eyebrows furrowed as he listened. He lifted the curtain with the tip of his knife, and at that moment, the girl inside also raised her head to look outside.

  Four eyes met, and Gu Zhenhua only felt his heart tremble violently. The clear and bright eyes were like stars, seeming to reveal the depths of her inner world. Fear, terror, resentment, sorrow... countless desolate emotions flashed through them, making one unable to help but feel pity.

  Gu Zhenhua was also a young man with many girls, and many female stars couldn't move his heart, but this one glance almost made him lose control.

  It's not the time for romance now, so I hastily threw aside my distractions and looked carefully inside the car. There were three girls huddled together, shivering with fear in the carriage. Two of them, one wearing red and the other green, were petite and identical, obviously a pair of sisters.

  The woman in the middle was the owner of those eyes, tightly clinging to the corner. It could be seen that she seemed to be forcing herself to calm down, but her trembling shoulders showed extreme terror inside. Her pale face, teeth tightly biting her lips, struggled to endure the tears that kept surging up, pitiful and touching.

  Gu Zhenhua had the heart to ask about their origins, but didn't know how to start, just then Xue Biao brought people chasing over, he checked these carriages and his eyes lit up instantly.

  "Fourth brother, these carts are all filled with gold and silver treasures. It must be that Liu Zongmin's gang who robbed them. Should we take them away?"

  "Of course we must!" Gu Zhenhua also came back to his senses, pointing at the horse carriage in front of him and saying to Xue Xiao: "Third brother, let's protect it well and leave the city together."

  Xue Biao heard that and hastily nodded, more than 40 horse-drawn carriages joined Gu Zhenhua's team, rushing towards Chaoyang Gate together.

  "Thanks, Captain. The three moves you just directed were quite skilled. Do you often practice in your daily life?"

  Xie Bin hastily said: "I've practiced, but they're all superficial tricks to fool the higher-ups. I have read Master Qi's 'Ji Xiao Xin Shu' and learned a bit of its surface meaning!"

  Gu Zhenhua nodded and said, "Xie Shuaiwei, you found out that in urban warfare, the distance is closer, and the firepower of three-shot bursts is clearly insufficient. Just now, if Liu Zongmin had brought a few more people, I'm afraid we would have been dispersed already."

  Xie Bin had just rejoiced at defeating a great general, but after hearing Gu Zhenhua's words, he also felt afraid. Indeed, as Gu Zhenhua said, the three-shot shooting still had loopholes.

  "Mr. Gu, do you have any clever ideas?"

  "We've changed it to a five-shot burst, so the firepower density has increased."

  Xie Bin thought that Gu Zhenhua had some clever plan, but after hearing his words, he suddenly felt a bit disappointed and bitterly smiled: "Mr. Gu, the three-shot shooting is not casually determined, three people take turns loading bullets, shooting, can guarantee the shooting speed, and can prevent interference. Suddenly becoming five people, without training, will definitely be busy, affecting each other, and may even affect combat effectiveness, I think it's a bit...not quite right!"

  Gu Zhenhua burst out laughing: "Thanks, Shuaiwei. What I meant by 'five shots' isn't to give five people a shot each, but rather to give all five shots to one person!"

  "Alone?"

  "Yes, when it comes to three-shot shooting, the shooter has to load his own ammunition. We can let him focus solely on shooting and have others handle other tasks."

  Xie Bin's eyes lit up, and he laughed: "Mr. Gu, your method is great! Separating the shooting and loading will definitely save time. With our number of cannons, not to mention five rounds, even ten rounds can be achieved, guaranteeing that the bandits will be defeated and left searching for their teeth everywhere."

  As he spoke, Xie Bin immediately took action and divided his soldiers into loading and shooting groups. The people in the loading group sat on horse-drawn carriages and set to work, loading each musket with a loud clang. The people in the shooting group also had two loaded muskets each, they were armed to the teeth.

  Rushing through a block, Chaoyang Gate was finally in front of him. But at this time, Chaoyang Gate had become a mess, with three to five hundred people fighting together. Gu Zhenhua sat on his horse, looking from afar, and saw that in the midst of the chaos, two men were fighting against a general of the rebel camp.

  The two men were already covered in blood, but they still refused to retreat. Gu Zhenhua suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest, as if he had been stabbed with a needle.

  "Big brother, second brother, little brother is here!"