Chapter 58: The Dead Warrior

  Wu Sangui returned to Shanhai Pass under the protection of the Qing army, but after entering, Wu Sangui was also shocked. Inside the pass city, there were killings everywhere, and there were rebellious soldiers everywhere.

  Right before their eyes, two groups of soldiers wearing the same uniform of the Guanning Army were slaughtering each other, chopping at one another with abandon, corpses littering the ground everywhere, and yet they were even more ruthless than towards sworn enemies.

  "What are you doing? Don't make me use force!"

  The authority of Wu Sangui and others, usually a word from them would be enough to settle any matter, but now it's useless. After he finished shouting, several people suddenly stared at him.

  "Brothers, this traitorous dog has surrendered to the Qing dynasty, beheaded Wu Sangui and presented his head to the Roaming King!"

  These people shouted and rushed towards Wu Sangui, the big traitor's eyebrows also stood up, and he could only swing his treasure sword to cut down these guys. The people around Yang Kun were also merciless, chopping and killing fiercely.

  The remaining troops of the Guanning Army all knelt down in front of Wu Sangui, crying and wailing: "General, rumors are rampant inside the city that you have surrendered to the Qing, and the bandits' cavalry has entered, many people have defected to the bandits, turned against each other, and killed each other. General, if you don't come back, the Guanning Army will be finished!"

  Wu Sangui gazed at these people, took a long breath and asked loudly: "If the commander tells you that it's not a rumor, what will you do?"

  These people suddenly stunned, looked up at the Qing army behind Wu Sangui, they also understood what was going on. Several leading soldiers rushed to the ground and knocked their heads several times.

  "General, no matter what, I will follow you to death and never betray you."

  "General, rest assured, wherever you go, we will follow."

  These soldiers kept kowtowing, and Wu Sangui finally felt a little comforted, knowing that there were still people loyal to him.

  Just then, Ai Jiang Ma Bao suddenly brought the defeated soldiers and fled in a hurry. This group of people was almost all smoked black, and Ma Bao was like a little devil from hell, without a helmet, his hair was burned to a yellowish brown, emitting a foul odor.

  He saw Wu Sangui, Ma Bao directly rolled down from the war horse, and didn't care about the pain all over his body. He fell to the ground at Wu Sangui's feet: "General, something big has gone wrong! The warehouse was burned down, and all the grain is gone!"

  "What?" Wu Sangui almost fell off his war horse upon hearing this. Food was a crucial matter; without it, how could they survive?

  "Gao Di, he's not in charge of food supplies, how did he still manage to burn them? I'm going to settle the score with him."

  "Don't look anymore, General Gao is already dead!"

  This sentence was like a thunderbolt, blasting onto Wu Sangui's head, stunning him so that he was dizzy and disoriented, almost falling off his horse.

  Three major giants of the Guanning Army, Liaodong Governor Li Yutian has been killed by him, and now Shanhaiguan General Gao Di is dead, it's really beyond endurance.

  "Who is it, who exactly killed General Gao?" Wu Sangui said gritting his teeth.

  "General, I've only heard it's true, is..."

  "Who is it? Tell me!"

  "It was led by Mr. Li Jibai, and it seems that General Gao died at the hands of Gu Zhenhua."

  Ah!

  Wu Sangui let out a pained cry, and the wound on his mouth began to bleed again, filling his entire mouth with blood. He looked like a bloodthirsty demon, ferocious and terrifying. Wu Sangui ignored all this, gritting his teeth as he shouted: "Gu Zhenhua, you despicable rat! I will tear you apart!"

  ……

  At this time, Gu Zhenhua still did not know that his masterpiece had almost driven Wu Sangui mad, and all his thoughts were focused on the battle with Manchu.

  Just after Gu Zhenhua led the cavalry to join the Dashun Army, the Qing army also came out of the city gate, lined up in formation, and Duoduo personally commanded the Eight Banners soldiers to launch an attack.

  Thousands of war horses, in perfect rhythm, pressed towards the Great Shun Army. Their speed was not particularly fast, but every step shook the heart. Through the ground, shockwaves reached the hearts of every soldier, making them tremble with fear.

  As the two sides drew closer, the distance was almost within a hundred paces, the Qing cavalry suddenly stopped, drew their bows and shot arrows, a dense rain of arrows flew towards the Dashun army.

  The Qing army's heavy crossbow force was astonishing, and in an instant, more than a hundred soldiers fell to the ground with arrows. Even if they were lucky enough not to die, they completely lost their combat effectiveness. However, the Dashun Army was also extremely tenacious, even though they suffered heavy casualties, but they did not lose their formation.

  With one blow, the Qing cavalry quickly mounted their horses and urged them on. In an instant, it was as if the mountains were collapsing and the earth was cracking open, and the cavalry poured in like a flood of water bursting through a dam, surging towards the Dashun army.

  When the two sides were about thirty steps apart, the firelock hand of Dashun Army finally pulled the trigger. The lead bullet hit the Qing soldier who was charging forward. However, these bullets were not powerful enough to penetrate the thick armor of the Manchu cavalry, and only a few people fell off their war horses, while the rest of the cavalry continued to charge forward.

  Gu Zhenhua also watched from behind, and his eyebrows immediately furrowed. The firelocks of the Dashun Army were still those trashy ones from the Ming army. One round of shooting didn't hurt many Qing soldiers, but instead because of the explosion, they themselves suffered heavy casualties. Inferior military firearms are killing people!

  Time was pressing, the enemy was closing in fast, and the short distance allowed the Qing cannons to fire only one round before they had to retreat, leaving behind the halberdiers to face the Manchu army.

  A Qing soldier sneered, throwing the flying axe in his hand, which happened to hit a shield. He pulled the chain back, and the shield shattered immediately. This guy swung the axe with ease, chopping towards the Dashun Army soldiers, a red splash, and the Dashun Army soldiers were split in half.

  These Tartars' weapons were different, some had knives, some had clubs, some had flying axes, and some had spears. However, without exception, they all had excellent martial skills. With one charge, they crushed the vanguard of the Great Shun Army.

  Li Yan's eyes widened in shock. These were the elite troops of the Great Righteous Army, yet they couldn't even withstand a single round of attack. The combat strength of the Qing army was truly astonishing!

  "Brothers, stop me, don't let me retreat!"

  Li Yan personally ordered, urging the Dashun Army and the Manchu to fight fiercely. The Dashun Army was also an elite force that emerged from countless battles, although their equipment was not as good as that of the Manchu, but they were no less fierce in their fighting spirit, relying on a bloodthirsty courage, completely disregarding casualties, trampling over corpses and surging forward, causing trouble for the Manchu.

  "Your Highness, our warriors are exhausted, let's add more troops."

  Duoduo nodded, this round of attack was just a probe of the fighting power of the Dashun Army. He had a cold smile on his mouth: "Anba, Achang'a, you each lead two hundred soldiers, and charge from both wings!"

  "Yes!"

  Two sturdy Tartar captains jumped out, bringing their subordinates to rush towards the Dashun Army like a storm. The front line was hit by two more heavy blows, and every moment there were soldiers of the Dashun Army falling down, and the corpses on the ground were getting more and more.

  Gu Zhenhua, who was watching the battle, furrowed his brow, he had always considered Manchu as his greatest enemy, but when he really encountered this enemy, he also felt the horror of Manchu.

  Nomadic fishing and hunting nations, able to absorb a large amount of high-quality protein, naturally have physical qualities that far surpass those of farming nations, and also have war horses as the greatest weapon, with mobility beyond imagination.

  Originally, the farming nation had a wise brain and advanced military equipment, which could also achieve balance, or even victory. However, those Han traitors passed on advanced production technology to the Qing dynasty, and after decades of accumulation, the Eight Banners were far ahead of the Ming and Shun armies in terms of equipment, which is absolutely a huge irony.

  The Eight Banners troops had sturdy helmets and heavy armor, sharp weapons, and galloping war horses. All these added together made them an unstoppable force.

  The Taiping Army shouted and charged bravely, but their weak bodies were easily knocked down, lacking armor protection, making them unusually fragile. Despite their bravery in fighting to the death, they still weren't a match for the Qing army; to take out one of the enemy often required five or six lives, sometimes even ten people.

  A painful exchange ratio, piercing every heart! The battlefield situation is becoming increasingly unfavorable for the Dashun Army, with corpses piling up like mountains and elite troops suffering heavy losses, on the verge of collapse.

  "Your Lordship, we should also go. If the Great Righteous Army is defeated, we won't be able to hold on either." Yue Poqiu said anxiously.

  "Kid, you just know how to shout and fight." Li Jibo said bluntly: "Our Master Gu is good at talking big, but it's hard for him to really put in the effort."

  "Old Li, stop spouting nonsense!" Gu Zhenhua also widened his eyes: "It's not that I don't want to help the Dashun Army, but we've been charging for over a day, and our men and horses are exhausted. Moreover, the morale of the troops is not stable. Rushing out now would only be sending ourselves to the Qing army as sacrifices."

  Everyone was silent after hearing this, just as Li Yan suddenly rode over on horseback, staring coldly at Gu Zhenhua: "Lord Gu, since you said we should cooperate, can't have only the Dashun Army fighting to the death!"

  "That's natural, we absolutely won't stand by and do nothing." Gu Zhenhua said: "However, General Li, the Tartars' equipment is excellent, their combat strength surpasses ours, even if we charge forward, the effect will be limited."

  "Is Master Gu trying to shirk responsibility?"

  "Of course not, I was just thinking if there's a better opportunity to give Qing a rebirth."

  Li Yan's eyebrows were tightly locked, to be honest, the sharp Manchu Eight Banners had thoroughly shocked Li Yan, and the soldiers had used all their strength but could not kill these heavily armed men. He couldn't help but think of the tragic phrase "You have wolf-tooth clubs, I have heavenly spirit covers".

  "Master Gu, you really have such a good idea?"

  "There is, but it requires a great sacrifice!" Gu Zhenhua said firmly.

  ……

  "Your Majesty, the bandits can't hold on any longer, our brave warriors are about to break through their formation!"

  Duoduo's triumphant smile was also dispelled by Gu Zhenhua's sinister plot, and he laughed wildly: "The Han people are weak, the whole army is attacking!"

  With a single order from Duo Duo, the long-planned general attack of the Eight Banners Army finally unfolded. Countless cavalrymen trampled the solid ground and charged towards the Dashun Army, this powerful torrent seemed to be about to overwhelm the Dashun Army in one fell swoop.

  Both sides were getting closer and closer, when suddenly more than 400 people surged out of the Da Shun army's troops. Four people formed a team, with the two in front holding up black, shield-like objects, and the two behind carrying wooden buckets, charging towards the Manchu army without hesitation.

  Gu Zhenhua gazed at these martyrs, his eyes moistening. Facing their backs, he shouted loudly: "Brothers, one day I will return to Shanhai Pass and erect a monument for you, so that all our descendants can take pride in your honor!"