Chapter 66: The Imperial City

  "Brave warriors of the Great Qing, charge for me!"

  As soon as the two sides met, they fell into a fierce hand-to-hand combat. Suddenly, a joyful expression appeared on their faces. Firearms might not be effective against them, but the Qing army had never been afraid of close combat.

  The weak Han people were not opponents at all. More and more Qing soldiers rushed up, and the two sides engaged in a fierce battle, even to the point of fighting with their lives, while the tenacity of the An Guo Army exceeded imagination.

  A soldier's soft rib was stabbed, he did not retreat, but instead swung the knife in his hand fiercely, chopping off the Qing soldier's neck, and the two people rolled on the ground, dying together.

  With knives, with hands and feet, even with teeth, they were killing each other, every person seemed to have turned into a beast, eyes red with blood. Using all means to eliminate the enemy in front of them.

  Gu Zhenhua personally supervised the battle. He was also very respectful of these brave soldiers, and it was indeed true that Zhou Yuji was able to train such warriors.

  However, Gu Zhenhua also saw the problem. These people were still stuck in the level of single combat, each relying on their skilled martial arts to fight against the Qing soldiers one-on-one, with little close coordination between them, unable to form a united force. For now, they could only borrow momentum, and when there was an opportunity to recruit new soldiers, they would have to retrain and truly establish a strong army.

  As the battle continued, the Qing army surpassed the Anqing army in physical strength, equipment and experience. More and more soldiers of the Anqing army fell down, and the entire front line was on the verge of collapse.

  Gu Zhenhua shook his head and put aside the idea of military reform. The most important thing was to get through this current crisis.

  Suddenly, Niu Chuan Zhang Jing led a few elite white armored soldiers and horseback riding armored soldiers, forming an arrowhead. They successively killed five or six Anguo army soldiers, creating a gap in the battle array, and were rapidly advancing forward.

  Gu Zhenhua happened to see this scene, his long knife pointed out, shouting: "Kill!"

  He led the Imperial Guard to charge forward. The Qing soldiers, from young to old, were all seasoned veterans who had crawled out of the flames of war, their experience and discipline far surpassing those of the Anqing Army. By Zhang Jing's side, two armored cavalrymen wielded shields, creating a whirlwind that kept water out, blocking all long spears outside.

  Zhang Jing charged forward boldly, cutting down two or three soldiers in a row. At this moment, Gu Zhenhua rushed over. He seized the opportunity and swung his long knife towards the cavalryman on the left. The cavalryman was caught off guard and could only raise his shield to block the attack.

  Gu Zhenhua's strength was astonishing, and with one slash of his knife, the shield was split in two. The horse armor was also cut down. Originally, the arrowheads were tightly sealed, but now they finally had a gap. Gu Zhenhua swung his long knife again, slashing towards Zhang Jing's neck.

  This guy wasn't easy to deal with either, and he hastily swung his sword to meet the attack. The blades clashed, and this guy retreated two steps. But Gu Zhenhua didn't retreat, instead advancing forward again with a ruthless slash of his knife.

  Zhang Jing was also frightened and his face changed greatly. He had never encountered such a powerful Ming army before, and in the chaos, he wanted to dodge. However, unfortunately, there was a long spearman next to him who seized the opportunity and stabbed over with a loud shout, directly piercing his thigh.

  Suddenly fresh blood flowed, Zhang Jing cried out in pain and fell to the ground. Gu Zhenhua rushed up and with one swing of his knife, beheaded him.

  After killing the guy, Gu Zhenhua did not stop and rushed towards other Qing soldiers. The remaining Qing soldiers saw Gu Zhenhua's bravery and were intimidated, unable to help but retreat.

  But Gu Zhenhua was also ruthless, his war knife dancing in his hand, cutting down three white armored soldiers one after another, forcing the Qing army to retreat step by step.

  "An Country Army, kill!"

  Seeing Gu Zhenhua being so fierce, the soldiers' morale also surged, and everyone was filled with energy, shouting together with Gu Zhenhua.

  "Kill!"

  "Kill!"

  "Kill!"

  The neat and uniform ranks on the battlefield are a great encouragement to soldiers, reminding them that they are not alone, with countless brothers by their side, fighting together in blood!

  Man is a social animal. With a unified shout, everyone's panic was greatly reduced, and the entire front line stabilized again.

  Just then, Xie Bin and Zhou Yingjie also got their arquebusiers in order. These arquebusiers charged forward again, starting from both ends of the phalanx formation, firing dense volleys of scorching bullets.

  The Qing army was like an arrowhead at this time, with the most elite soldiers entangled in a fierce battle with Gu Zhenhua. The two sides were precisely the weakest, and almost all of the soldiers had no armor, occasionally only leather armor, which could not withstand lead bullets.

  Three volleys, and in an instant more than two hundred soldiers fell to the ground, all of them shot to pieces, their bodies flying everywhere. At this time, Xie Bin's original selected sharpshooters all rushed up from the gaps in the battle array, their black gun muzzles aimed at the Qing soldiers. Due to the distance being only ten or twenty paces, the accuracy was quite astonishing. The Manchu elite's white armor and horse armor fell one after another, and officers like Boshikou died even more miserably.

  With the addition of Huo Yuhao's strength, Gu Zhenhua's position became even more solid, and the Qing army had to retreat in large strides. The balance of war tilted once again in favor of Gu Zhenhua.

  However, the Qing soldiers were not willing to give up. Their archers also began to shoot arrows, all aiming at the hateful firearmsmen. More and more firearmsmen fell to the ground, their bodies filled with arrows.

  "Shield wall!"

  Gu Zhenhua also hastily gave the order, and the halberdiers quickly rushed out, forming a line, using their shields to cover the arquebusiers, while the arquebusiers took advantage of the gaps to shoot at the Qing soldiers.

  These musketeers have also learned their lesson, as long as they are hit by lead bullets, no matter where, most of them will die. Even if they don't die temporarily, the trouble with wounded soldiers is even greater. Therefore, they don't need to aim, expose their heads and shoot, then quickly hide behind shields, greatly reducing casualties.

  Those Qing archers who were not covered suffered heavy casualties, with about ten archers being exchanged for three musketeers. This exchange ratio was simply too cruel, considering that the training cost of an excellent archer was several times that of a musketeer.

  How many households does the Qing government have to withstand such consumption? Bandits are bandits after all, no matter how good their discipline is or how fearless they are of death. In their hearts, there is also a balance scale, that is whether this looting is worth it or not. When they find that the cost and benefit are disproportionate, these people will waver.

  Just like on the prairie, wolf packs always choose to attack the weakest prey. The Qing army's casualties grew larger and larger, with corpses piling up like mountains, and they finally began to retreat in disarray.

  "Advance, Imperial Guards!"

  Gu Zhenhua keenly grasped the changes in the Qing army and issued a decisive order. Li Xu and Guo Yunlong led the cavalry to charge out from both wings, while Sun Chenglu and others also led their troops to press forward.

  On the vast plain, Anguo army soldiers rushed over, everyone holding high their weapons, with high morale. In comparison, the Qing army was in a more miserable state at this time, having suffered heavy losses of elite troops, and the remaining horses and men frequently retreated.

  He Luo was directing from behind, his face changing again and again. He couldn't believe that a defeated army could have such combat power, and actually won the battle against the brave warriors of the Qing Dynasty in a field battle. Even when the Ming Dynasty was still around, this kind of battle was almost unheard of!

  But anyway, he lost this battle.

  "What about Wu Sangui?"

  He Luo was about to retreat when he suddenly turned around and couldn't find Wu Sangui's trace, and he was instantly filled with anger.

  "Your Lordship, General Pingxi was just fighting with the cavalry on both wings, and in the blink of an eye, he's gone who-knows-where!"

  "Hum, I won't let him off. Withdraw!"

  He Luohui reluctantly gave the order, but just as he turned his horse's head and wanted to escape, a cavalry suddenly rushed out from the side, and one person shot an arrow that hit He Luohui's horse leg. The warhorse fell to the ground with a thud, throwing He Luohui heavily to the ground, almost knocking him unconscious.

  The one shooting the arrow was indeed Hou Sanwa. As soon as he saw He Luohui fall to the ground, he was overjoyed and hastily led his men in a charge, clashing with He Luohui's personal guards.

  They were entangled, and Yue Pojun led a cavalry team to break through the blockade of Guanning Army and also killed them. Seeing that there was a big fish here, Yue Pojun was also extremely joyful, cutting down two Qing soldiers in succession, and surrounding He Luoyi with his men.

  At the same time, Guo Yunlong also led his troops to pursue Wu Sangui fiercely. The big traitor did not expect that he would end up in such a situation, and could only lower his head and run wildly. However, after running for less than five miles, a large river suddenly blocked his way. When he turned back again, he saw that the An Guo army had already surrounded him...

  The battle has finally come to an end, the soldiers are still gathering up the scattered cavalry, some from Qing and some from Guanning Army. The sunset is setting in the west, the red glow of the evening clouds can't compare with the bloodiness on the battlefield. The crowd that had just won the victory all gathered together.

  Li Jibo brought Xia Shouli over, Xia Shouli was the "big shrimp" in the horse field. Although this guy looked unassuming, he had been managing the horse warehouse for many years and was extremely skilled in arithmetic, handling matters efficiently.

  "General Gu, roughly estimating, we have killed over 1,100 Qing soldiers, more than 800 of the Gengjing Army, and taken over 300 prisoners. This is a rare and great victory, congratulations!"

  Gu Zhenhua did not show much joy, but instead furrowed his brow and asked: "What are our casualties?"

  "Your Excellency, one hundred and eighty of the firearms troops have been killed, two hundred and forty infantrymen have fallen, over a hundred are wounded, and in addition, more than three hundred cavalrymen were killed in battle with Wu Sangui."

  Roughly estimated, the casualties of Anguo Army were also close to one thousand. Gu Zhenhua's heart was bleeding too; this was his foundation troop, and its combat effectiveness had been weakened by at least 30% in an instant.

  Moreover, Gu Zhenhua was secretly relieved that if he couldn't hold on and was defeated, all his efforts would have been in vain. Thinking of this, Gu Zhenhua's teeth chattered with a "ka-cha" sound.

  "Pass on my orders, behead all the Qing soldiers and hang their heads to form two city gates. One gate will have the words 'Tartar's downfall' written below it, and the other gate will have the words 'A lesson for traitors'!"

  As soon as they heard "Jingguan", everyone present was also shocked. This thing is only found in history books!

  Li Jibai couldn't help but say: "This is probably an insult to Tianhe, isn't it?"

  "Mr. Li, the country is in peril, if not so, it cannot demonstrate the strong will of the An Guo Military to protect the country and defend the home, this must be built!"