The Song Dynasty on the Sand Table

Chapter 506 We've got our footing!
The Jin army was initially confident in their melee combat skills, but the explosion of the small black ball shattered that confidence. Coupled with the precise sniping of the skirmishers, the defending troops on the city walls were almost unable to execute normal defensive tactics.

The few surviving Jin soldiers jumped out of their hiding places, brandishing spears and knives, and fought against the Yan'an soldiers...

The soldiers of Yan'an truly lived up to their name. Years of fighting against the Western Xia army on the northwestern border made them far more daring and courageous than the soldiers of the Central Plains, and their martial arts skills were also far superior. When outnumbered, they had no reason to lose.

In no time, the small number of Jin soldiers on the city wall were annihilated.

The Sui postal troops successfully took to the top of the city wall.

"Form ranks! Form ranks first!" Sui Yi roared. "Shield formations and spear formations, get them ready. More Jin soldiers are coming."

The city wall of Kaifeng was more than five zhang wide, which was enough to form a square formation.

The Yan'an soldiers quickly formed two small square formations on the city wall, facing two different directions.

Between the two formations, a space was left, and a large number of Song soldiers continued to climb up the ladders.

Jin Wuzhu was extremely anxious: "We can't let them gain a foothold on the city wall. We must drive them off the city wall."

Large groups of Jin soldiers rushed in from both sides of the city wall.

The arrows arrived before the person did.

The front rank of the Yan'an soldiers raised their shields and desperately blocked the arrows. In an instant, arrows rained down, and both shield formations were forced to remain pinned down.

While they were being suppressed, the Jin soldiers also deployed their troops on the city walls.

The area was more than five zhang wide. Although it was not possible to set up a super-large military formation like the Eight Trigrams, it was not too difficult to set up a small military formation. Both the Song and Jin sides set up small square formations.

The two armies began to cautiously approach each other, spearmen began to thrust at each other, their spear shafts clashing together with a "crackling" sound, and their shields made a "thudding" sound as they blocked the blows.

Just then...

Peng Ji's men also began climbing the ladders. In no time, Peng Qi stood next to Sui Yi, and his three strongmen led the grenade-throwing battalion to climb up the city wall.

Peng Ji looked to both sides and saw that both armies were under pressure from the Jin army. He quickly shouted, "Grenadiers, go and help!"

The grenadiers who had just climbed onto the city wall immediately understood, lit the small black balls, and threw them into the Jin army formation...

They couldn't throw the grenade too close, because the front ranks of both armies were already engaged in battle, and throwing the grenade too close would definitely blow up their own men, so they had to throw the grenade to the rear of the Jin army.

This led to a very interesting scene...

The Jin soldiers and Yan'an soldiers in the front row were fighting with their spears when they suddenly heard a series of loud explosions behind them, along with the screams and roars of their comrades. When they turned around, they found that their army formation behind them had been blown to pieces.

The army was thrown into chaos, and panic gripped their hearts!
In the heat of battle, how can we afford such distraction?

The Yan'an soldiers seized the opportunity, thrusting their spears forward, the tips of which pierced the hearts of the Jin soldiers.

In an instant, the Jin army's formation collapsed.

"Come up, come up, musketeers, come up quickly!" Peng Qi's men began waving to the people below the city wall.

Meanwhile, Niu Gao's skirmish battalion was operating below the city wall, occasionally firing sniper shots to provide reinforcements. When he saw his comrades on the city wall waving at him, Niu Gao laughed and scolded, "My soldiers are all skirmishers, they can't go up and form ranks. Hold on a little longer. The musketeers will be here soon."

As soon as he finished speaking, a large number of musket-wielding soldiers rushed over.

Leading this musket-wielding unit was Guan Sheng, wielding a great sword, and his deputy, Fan Wen.

Both men were veterans of the Northern Song Dynasty, and their soldiers were all long-time veterans. They were incredibly skilled with smoothbore muskets, and their reloading speed was lightning fast. Even someone who had been single for thirty years would have to kneel before them; it would take someone who had been single for fifty years to challenge them.

The group of smoothbore musketeers climbed up the ladder as quickly as possible.

The fierce battle on the city wall was in full swing. The two armies had just won a wave of attacks with the help of grenadiers, but more Jin soldiers and puppet Qi soldiers rushed over.

Peng Qi roared, "Grenadiers!" A bunch of small black balls were thrown again...

But this time, the Jin army actually reacted. As soon as the Northern Song side threw the small black ball over, someone on the other side quickly picked up the small black ball before the fire rope was completely burned and threw it outside the city wall.

boom!
Someone was too slow to pick it up, and the grenade exploded in his hand, instantly sending the Jin soldier to the sky.

However, some soldiers were quick enough to pick them up, or perhaps the Northern Song soldiers failed to calculate the lead time for the matchlock to burn. When the grenade landed, the matchlock was still quite long, and the Jin soldiers were quick-witted enough to pick it up and throw it over the city wall.

The small black ball exploded outside the city wall, without harming the Jin army in the slightest.

Sure enough, the human brain works very fast.

Some Jin soldiers even brought over kettles and similar items. Since boiling water was a necessity during the defense of the city, and there were many kettles for this purpose on the city walls, they could simply take them. The moment the small black ball landed at their feet, the Jin soldiers nearby simultaneously poured their kettles over...

The grenade immediately went silent!

After all, it's not a modern hand grenade that can be made using rudimentary methods.

"Damn it!" Peng Qi cursed, "How come these dogs are so smart?"

"Don't worry, I'm coming!"

Guan Sheng, wielding a large sword, leaped to Peng Qi and Sui Yi's side in a flash: "My men have arrived."

A large group of musketeers climbed the city wall and set up a musket array behind the Yan'an soldiers...

"Spearmen, retreat first, then shieldmen!"

The soldiers in the front ranks of the Northern Song army began to retreat in stages. A large number of spearmen retreated in the gaps between the musketeers, and then the shield bearers in the front ranks also suddenly pulled back their shields and rolled backwards on the ground to get away from the battlefield.

The Jin soldiers on the other side were fighting fiercely, which greatly reduced the pressure on him from the enemy.

They thought they were going to win and cheered.

Suddenly, the enemy forces ahead transformed into a vast expanse of dark gun barrels...

"Bang bang bang bang!"

A volley of fire from the musketmen laid the Jin army's front-line shield bearers flat; their shields were utterly useless against the muskets.

The city wall was not as flat as the ground. The musketeers fired indiscriminately, leaving the Jin soldiers with no room to escape.

Terrified, the Jin soldiers could only let out a strange cry and jump over the city wall.

The city wall of Kaifeng is four zhang high!
If you jump from that height, you'll definitely crash and get bruised and battered.

"We've stabilized! We've stabilized!"

"We've held our ground on the city wall."

"We've captured a section of the city wall."

Guan Sheng and Yu Fanwen's men shouted loudly, deliberately, to disrupt the enemy's morale.

Sure enough, when the Jin and puppet Qi troops in the city heard the Song army's shouts, they turned around and were all terrified.

The other city walls could originally be defended, but now the morale is wavering. Many soldiers are worried that if the city falls, the enemy will cut off their retreat, and they won't even be able to escape. Then they will be doomed. Many Jin soldiers have taken the lead in fleeing.

They were originally cavalrymen and didn't like infantry combat. Now that they were at a disadvantage in infantry combat, their first thought was to protect their horses.

After retreating from the city wall, I found the warhorse hidden behind it, mounted it, and galloped towards the west gate of Kaifeng...

(End of this chapter)