20demayo Chapter 1154 Zhang Yi's Lingering Fear
Chapter 1154 Zhang Yi's Lingering Fear
Faced with the questioning from the Shazhou general, the deputy general of the Qing army did not argue, but simply smiled faintly.
He then looked at the scouts behind him.
"The location of the hidden sentry is roughly here, here."
The scout pointed to two locations on the sand table: "Our men have gone to scout them out. As long as they move quietly enough and choose the right route, they have a chance."
Zhang Yi pondered for a moment, then glanced at everyone: "Who is willing to lead the night raid team?"
There was a moment of silence inside the tent.
Cao Shou, with his bushy beard, said in a deep voice, "This humble general is willing to go! Fifty of my most skillful brothers, with swords, crossbows, and fuel."
“Alright.” Zhang Yi nodded. “You personally select the men. Deputy General, your unit will send twenty scouts skilled in climbing and infiltration to him.”
The deputy general of the Qing army agreed.
Zhang Yi then deployed a feint attack on the front and a main attack echelon, clearly defining the signals and support routes.
His instructions were clear and decisive, revealing the demeanor of a great general.
The deputy general of the Qing army stood by and did not say much, only occasionally adding details, and his attitude was cooperative.
With the plan finalized, everyone dispersed to prepare.
As night fell, the Gobi Desert was bitterly cold.
Cao Shou, leading seventy carefully selected soldiers, disappeared silently from the camp like phantoms blending into the night, heading towards the dark rocky hill.
They had gags in their mouths, and their sword sheaths and crossbows were all ground with charcoal powder to prevent glare.
Inside the fort, Gar was drinking in his earthen room.
He was obese, with puffy eyelids and large patches of unnatural dark skin.
Clearly, the defender's physical condition is not good.
Hearing his subordinates report that tax revenue had decreased recently, he cursed a few times in dissatisfaction and then downed the cheap liquor in his glass.
He was not unaware of the unusual activity in the direction of Shazhou, but he assumed it was just the remnants of the army causing trouble again and did not pay much attention to it.
The news of Liucheng's fall was deliberately suppressed by Li Che, so it had not yet reached this place.
The latter half of the night is when people are most tired.
Gar was so drunk that he collapsed onto the bed and fell into a deep sleep without even taking off his shoes and socks.
After an unknown amount of time, several bursts of fire suddenly erupted from the direction of the rocky hill.
First came the stables, then several sheds near the rock face where hay and other miscellaneous items were stored.
The fire, fanned by the wind, spread rapidly. Startled warhorses neighed and broke through the fence, galloping wildly across the open ground inside the fortress.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
The soldiers on night duty hurriedly rang the alarm bell, waking the Tibetan garrison from their sleep, and they all rushed out of their barracks.
No one knew what was happening; all they saw was a bright fire and chaos within the camp.
Almost simultaneously, the deafening sound of war drums and horns rang out from the front of Wolf's Throat Fortress!
Torches lit up like a forest, illuminating the disciplined ranks of the Shazhou Army, and a rain of arrows poured down on the city walls.
"Hold the front line! Archers!"
The Tibetan officer shouted at the top of his lungs, drawing most of the defenders to the front wall.
In the chaos, Cao Shou's night raiding party moved like venomous snakes along the edge of the shadows at the base of the wall, targeting lone Tibetan soldiers.
They used both knives and crossbows, ruthless and swift.
They set fires everywhere, deliberately creating greater panic, and moved towards the side door.
The personal guards scrambled into Gar's room, shouting, "General! Something terrible has happened! Something terrible has happened!"
Gar had already heard the commotion and was mostly sober.
His fat face twitched, but he remained surprisingly calm: "What's the panic? What's the situation?!"
The guard replied, "The enemy has infiltrated from behind! There's also movement at the side gate!"
"How many enemies are there, and where did they come from?"
"No, I don't know, there are fires everywhere, and people are shouting everywhere!"
"Useless!" Gar kicked aside his personal guard, grabbed his scimitar, and said, "Follow me to the front! It's definitely those rats from Shazhou. They still need to defend the city, so there won't be many of them!"
His judgment was not entirely wrong. Shazhou was under pressure to defend itself, and although it would occasionally launch attacks, its numbers were never large.
But he never expected that Shazhou would become Daqing Shazhou, a complete transformation.
Previously, Shazhou had a small population and adopted an elite force approach, but it couldn't unleash much combat power.
Now, Shazhou has been merged into a division, and it is an elite division with all its soldiers being highly skilled. Its combat power is among the best in the Qing Army.
When Gar and his personal guards rushed to the front of the city wall, they heard a series of muffled thuds coming from the city gate!
The Shazhou Division gathered dozens of heavily armored warriors wielding giant axes and hammers, and under the cover of a hail of arrows, launched an assault on the already weak city gate.
Such a strongman would be highly sought after by nobles in Tibet, and would certainly be well taken care of and treated as a super bodyguard.
However, they managed to gather several dozen men in the Shazhou army!
Gar couldn't fathom how such a barren place as Shazhou could afford to support such a strongman.
Little did they know, this was a strongman from the Qing army.
These big men would normally have had a hard time making a difference in the Qing Army system, but now that they're in the Shazhou Army, they're thriving.
"Hold on! Hold on for me!" Gar immediately took over command.
But with flames everywhere behind them and thunderous impacts at the main gate, many Tibetan soldiers were caught off guard and their morale plummeted.
Those slaves who were usually bullied hid away, none of them willing to fight to the death.
The city gate finally gave way and collapsed inward, creating a huge breach.
"Shazhou Division, advance!" Zhang Yi's voice rang out at the front of the battle.
"kill!!!"
The main force of the Shazhou Division, which had been preparing for a long time, surged into the breach like a flood.
Leading the charge were those veterans with bloodshot eyes.
They all harbored deep-seated hatred for Tibet and had waited far too long for this moment.
"Damn it!" Gar's eyes turned cold. "Use the ballista!"
"Yes, sir!" Several Tibetan soldiers quickly responded.
Several Tibetan crossbows were aimed at the breach in the city gate as the Tibetan soldiers vigorously writhed them, the thick crossbow bolts gleaming menacingly.
If they are hit by a barrage of fire, the soldiers who break through will suffer heavy casualties.
"General Zhang! The Tibetan crossbows are at the front!" the guard urgently pointed to one side of the city wall.
Zhang Yi frowned, about to order his archers to concentrate their firepower.
"boom--"
A deafening roar, far more violent than any thunderbolt he had ever heard before, suddenly exploded from his side and rear, causing the ground to tremble.
Zhang Yi quickly turned around.
On a slightly higher earthen slope on the flank of the main camp, several dark iron pipes suddenly recoiled backward, spewing out several feet of blazing flames from their muzzles, with billowing white smoke rising into the air.
The deputy general of the Qing army stood at the front, covering his ears with his hands.
Seeing Zhang Yi looking at him, the deputy general lowered his hands from his ears and bowed slightly to him.
Almost simultaneously, the parapet where the ballista positions were located was struck as if by an invisible, giant hammer from the heavens!
"Bang! Boom—"
Bricks, stones, wood, and human fragments exploded upwards amidst the smoke and gunpowder, scattering everywhere!
The battlements, along with the Tibetan soldiers and crossbows behind them, vanished instantly into a cloud of dust and fire.
Only a broken section remained, emitting black smoke, and scattered fragments of limbs could still be clearly seen hanging on the broken wood.
Zhang Yi's pupils suddenly contracted, and his hand gripping the knife tightened instinctively.
He had seen countless battles and the most brutal carnage, but he had never witnessed such a ruthless method of destruction.
What is that?!
Before he could think it through, even more intense shouts and battle cries erupted from the city gate.
The gap widened under continuous impact, eventually allowing several people to walk side by side, and the Shazhou Division forwards roared as they surged in.
But the Tibetan soldiers inside the fortress knew that this was a matter of life and death. Driven by their officers, they gathered a heavily armored force with spears and charged back towards the breach, howling as they tried to push back the intruders.
The two sides clashed in the narrowest passage, their blades and spears striking each other, blood and flesh flying everywhere, and they instantly reached a stalemate.
At this critical moment, the deputy general of the Qing army arrived at the central command.
He waved to a group of soldiers beside him, dressed in dark battle coats and carrying strange short iron pipes.
The group of about fifty soldiers quickly advanced to a slightly raised mound on the flank of the battle line and formed three columns at lightning speed: the first column was kneeling, the second column was slightly bowed, and the third column was standing upright.
"Ready—" the officer in charge said in a cold, hard voice.
All the iron pipes were raised in unison, their dark openings pointing towards the crowd engaged in a fierce battle.
More precisely, it refers to the rear where the Tibetan troops were most concentrated.
Zhang Yi's heart tightened. Weren't they afraid of accidentally hurting someone?
"put!"
"Bang bang bang bang-"
After a series of crisp, continuous explosions, fifty muskets simultaneously spewed out flashes of fire and thick smoke, the scorching lead bullets forming a deadly storm of metal that instantly pelted the Tibetan ranks.
Puff puff puff puff—
This time there was no earth-shattering collapse, but the effect was just as terrifying.
The Tibetan soldiers at the forefront were unharmed. They were engaged in a fierce battle with the vanguard of the Shazhou army, so the musketeers naturally didn't fire at them.
But the Tibetan troops who had gathered in the rear suffered a terrible fate.
They staggered and fell down in droves, as if struck head-on by an invisible, powerful punch.
Lead bullets can easily tear through leather, embed themselves in lock rings, and tumble and deform inside the body, causing terrible trauma.
The screams rang out, only to be quickly drowned out by the subsequent explosions.
The Qing army musketeers finished firing without pausing.
The first column retreats to reload, the second column moves forward and raises their guns.
"put!"
The second round of volleys followed immediately!
The Tibetan soldiers fell like wheat being harvested, and their ranks visibly fell into disarray.
Lead bullets not only kill the body, but their loud noise also brings tremendous psychological shock.
The Tibetan soldiers who were still fighting fiercely ahead turned around and found that they were not dead, but their comrades behind them were all dead.
This scene looks incredibly eerie.
The soldiers of the Shazhou Division were also stunned by the terrifying scene that was so close at hand, but they were immediately awakened by the officer's roar: "What are you standing there for! Charge! Kill!"
The stalemate at the gap was broken.
With bloodshot eyes, the soldiers of Shazhou pounced on the Tibetan army as they were thrown into chaos.
With swords and spears flying, they completely crushed the counterattacking troops and stormed into a more open area inside the fortress.
Zhang Yi stood there, the buzzing of the muskets still ringing in his ears.
He gazed at the musketeers who had begun their third volley, then at the still-smoking breach in the city wall, his nostrils filled with an unprecedented smell of gunpowder.
He had seen powerful bows and crossbows, but he had never imagined that there were such methods of killing.
The destructive efficiency displayed by the roaring iron pipes and the flame-spitting short clubs in a short moment sent a chill down the spine of this general who prided himself on his knowledge of military affairs.
So this is how Liucheng fell apart.
Thank goodness, thank goodness we didn't choose to oppose the Qing army back then.
Otherwise, wouldn't it be our own people who are being harvested today?