Chapter 25: The Moment of Crisis

  County Magistrate Huang's eyesight wasn't good, and he hadn't seen the two objects clearly. However, having stayed in this small border town for so many years, he naturally knew what "Heaven-shaking Thunder-fire Cannon" meant. As soon as he heard it, his face turned pale.

  "The Heaven-Shaking Thunder Cannon" can be used for defending cities, but it's more suitable for attacking them. The cannonballs are powerful enough to blast open city gates and demolish city walls. Now, with over 3,000 Tartar soldiers gathered below the city, if they can blast open the gate, Chicken Inn will surely fall, but I have no idea where these Tartars got this kind of large cannon from.

  The original attacking troops of Erli Ban, Wuli Puzi and Jiming Yi were led by the main general Bodar Modu, who attacked and broke through Erli Ban, and was burning, killing and looting in the city. When he heard that Bayan Mengke's son Xuelie Benqi had been killed by the Ming army, he immediately ordered his deputy Ji Lindada to lead the troops to rush to Jiming Yi, vowing to slaughter the entire city to avenge this revenge.

  He also knew that the Ji Ming Yi was much harder to defeat than Er Li Ban, so he led over a thousand men, escorting the "Thunderbolt Cannon" from Er Li Ban to Ji Ming Yi. At this time, they had just arrived and heard that the attacking soldiers had already suffered over a thousand casualties. He immediately ordered the army to retreat and planned to use cannons to blast down the county city.

  Although Jiang Bin was brave, at this moment he also knew that the situation had already gone, and he threw two rolled-edged horse knives to the ground, saying to Huang Xian: "Huang sir, abandon the city!"

  Huang Qiyin's face turned pale, his chin-length beard trembling as he said: "Abandon the city? You and I have a duty to defend our territory. If we abandon the city and flee, how can we explain ourselves to His Majesty? Huang would rather die with the city!"

  Jiang Bin's eyes flashed with anger as he roared at the county officials, "Once the city gate is broken, Jiming Inn will inevitably fall! Are you going to throw away your lives for nothing? You failed to make a decision when you should have, and now you're suffering the consequences!" He suddenly turned around and shouted at the soldiers, "Is Lord Min awake? I need to report the military situation to him!"

  The soldier stammered: "Governor Min is still unconscious with a high fever." Jiang Bin's teeth chattered with rage, pacing back and forth in the hall like a caged beast. The officials looked at each other, some of them already showing signs of terror on their faces, but no one dared to be the first to utter the words "abandon the city".

  Yang Ling did not know the severity of it, in his mind, if he couldn't defend, then retreat, why bother with the gains and losses of one city or land? Coming back another day to accumulate strength and return would be enough. However, he didn't know that for ancient people, the two words "personal integrity" were far more important than life itself, so sometimes they did things that seemed extremely foolish in modern times, but were perfectly normal back then.

  He stepped forward and said to the county magistrate Huang: "Sir, since you already know the outcome, why not take advantage of the fact that the enemy has not yet attacked the upper city and withdraw quickly? Although it's too late to bring away supplies, saving everyone's life is more important. As long as we have our lives, we can always find a way to survive."

  Huang Xiancheng did not dare to scold him loudly, he just weakly waved his hand and sighed: "The Tartars are all good horsemen, at this time abandoning the city will also escape. Continuing to defend the city can still kill a few more Tartars."

  Yang Ling said urgently: "Since that's the case, we'll continue to guard this place and delay for time. We'll send a few seniors to organize the people to escape quickly from the north gate. After leaving the city, they will immediately flee to the mountains. The Tartar cavalry is powerful, but it won't be able to kill the people who are scattered all over the mountains. Besides, these Tartars don't have the ability to take our Great Ming Jiangshan, they're just pretending to be strong and coming to plunder. Once they enter the city, they will surely search for civilian property on a large scale, which can also delay their journey."

  Huang Xianchang's eyes lit up, and he said, "Not bad, I was mistaken." He immediately ordered Wang Zhuzhang and the local gentry who had not yet left: "Wang Zhuzhang, you and Ma Yi Xianchang, all the village heads and security guards, organize the people to withdraw from the north gate and disperse into the mountains as soon as they leave the city!"

  "Sir, and you?" said Wang Zhu Bo.

  Huang Xian's teeth were clenched as he said, "Although I am just a scholar, I cannot wield a sword to kill the enemy, but I will live and die with the soldiers defending the city!" Jiang Bin knew that he was determined to sacrifice himself for the city, but also had the intention of supervising and directing the battle. Upon hearing this, he burst out laughing and turned around to face the less than 100 wounded soldiers, sneering at them: "Alright, I'll just stay here with my over a hundred catties (of weight), killing one more will gain me one more, everyone return to their original positions, swearing to fight to the death. Whoever dares to retreat will be killed without pardon!"

  Huang Xian looked at Yang Ling and said: "Xian nephew, you... bring Minister Min with you and withdraw from the city too."

  Yang Ling, on the one hand, admired Huang's old master's demeanor, and on the other hand, thought to himself that even if he managed to escape with his life, his days were numbered anyway. He might as well stay here. At this time, there was no talk of providing relief to the families of martyrs, but if he were to die in battle here, wouldn't Magistrate Min and Master Wang have to take good care of his young daughter?

  Thinking of this, he immediately said with a stern expression: "No, I will also stay here, with Huang Lao and the soldiers to defend the city together." Wang Zhubu had been entrusted with the task of dispersing the civilians, and his heart was indeed much lighter. At this moment, seeing Yang Ling's behavior, he suddenly felt ashamed, and a sense of scholar's integrity surged up, and he immediately said: "I eat your salary, but I cannot share your worries, I am ashamed, it is really in vain to read the books of saints. Master Yang, please take the lord away, I will also stay."

  Yang Ling pointed at him and said, "You have to take care of Han Youniang from now on, how can you bear to let him die? He quickly bowed deeply and said: "The main bookkeeper is responsible for the safety and property of the people and the life of Lord Min. The responsibility is heavy, how can we lightly talk about sacrifice? You quickly take Lord Min away, if you delay, it will be too late. Just... my humble wife Youniang hopes that the lord will take care of her in the future!"

  Wang Zhubu was so moved that his eyes were filled with tears. Seeing him acknowledge himself as a younger brother, he said: "Since this is the case, my virtuous younger brother can rest assured. As long as I have a breath left in me, I will not betray the trust placed in me." After speaking, he immediately ordered someone to go upstairs and bring down Mr. Min.

  Ma Ji Xiang had already shown signs of cowardice, he was just a small official and had only recently arrived in this place, having no feelings for the town of Chicken Cry Post, he couldn't wait to take his son and daughter and flee immediately. Seeing the situation, he hastily stood at the gate and directed the crowd of local gentry and elders to leave immediately, preparing to evacuate the civilians out of the city.

  Yang Ling hastily rushed to the entrance of the building and called out to Han Youniang, "You Niang, the city can no longer be defended. Immediately follow Wang Zhongbo to escort Minister Min out of the city and escape into the mountains."

  "Then what about you, husband?"

  "I'll... you guys go ahead first, I'll follow soon," Yang Ling said casually.

  Han Youniang looked at him with a hint of doubt and said: "No, I'll accompany you. If we leave, let's go together."

  Yang Ling was greatly shocked and shouted loudly: "How can you be so muddled? You don't listen to a single word I say... Are you asking me to divorce you right now?"

  The more he urged, the more Han Youniang was convinced that he had made up his mind to die for the city, only because of a selfish love. The little girl was originally hot-tempered and had never been disobedient in front of him, but now she didn't care about the "three obediences and four virtues" and raised her neck to say: "I have not committed any of the seven grounds for divorce, why do you want to divorce me?"

  "Ah...!" Yang Ling was furious, raising his hand to strike, but Han Youniang stood there with her eyes closed, not dodging at all. Yang Ling raised his hand, saw her tender face, and how could he bring himself to slap her?

  Just then, two loud explosions were heard. Jiang Bin shouted: "The Tartars have opened fire!" Yang Ling didn't think twice, he hugged Han Youniang and knocked her to the ground, pressing himself on top of her.

  There was a loud crash, dust flying everywhere, and the corner of the building was hit, causing half of it to collapse. Bricks, tiles, and wood fell continuously, and the officials inside were hit by flying debris, some more seriously injured than others. The wounded soldiers who had been lying in the corner were buried alive under the rubble.

  It's not just the stupid geese in the house, even the soldiers outside don't know that lying down on the ground can maximize the avoidance of blast injuries. What we now consider to be a simple matter that should have been known since birth was actually discovered through the exploration of several generations.

  Han Youniang was knocked to the ground by him and pressed under his body, she was a bit dizzy, didn't understand what kind of family law her husband had invented. It wasn't until after the explosion that she realized he was afraid of being injured himself. She quickly scrambled out from under Yang Ling's body, saw a large pile of rubble about to fall on Yang Ling's side, with half a window frame pressing down on his body. Frightened, she hurriedly removed the window and anxiously asked: "Husband, are you hurt?"

  At this moment, a scholar who had run to the foot of the city wall suddenly stood up from behind the wall and cried out: "Quickly save him! Ma Yi is buried underneath!" At the same time, Jiang Bin, who was lying on the top of the city wall, suddenly burst into a fit of maniacal laughter: "Haha, great explosion, haha...".

  Is Commander Jiang mad? The ash-covered and dirt-smeared County Magistrate Huang and others glared at him in unison, only to see Commander Jiang bare-chested, pointing at the city below, still laughing maniacally.

  The crowd looked down at the city, and saw that in the Hu barbarian army, those two "Heavenly Thunder Cannons" had been blasted away. One cannon was thrown more than 20 feet away from its original position, with its carriage pointing upwards, smashing into the crowd, causing deaths and injuries everywhere. The other cannon only had a cannon tube left, lying in a large black pit, while one of the wheels of the cannon carriage was still rolling forward on the snowy ground, swaying back and forth, before finally falling to the ground at an angle.

  Everyone was shocked and didn't know what had happened, only to hear Jiang Butong's crazy laughter: "The Tartars don't know how to use our big cannons, they didn't fix them with iron clamps, one cannon flew up, another cannon filled too much gunpowder, damn it, the barrel exploded, hahaha..."

  PS: Got home in the evening, saw everyone's votes, and my courage was instantly doubled, with infinite encouragement. I think I can guard Ji Ming Yi alone now ^_^. Please continue to support me, friends.

  By the way, is writing about Ma Liang's daughter a feminist movement? I never thought of it that way, or else we men wouldn't be able to live. Writing that passage was just to lay the groundwork for her later actions, don't misunderstand.