the world is at stake

In the face of epoch-making firepower, if you die, you will definitely die!

But the distance was already too close, and it was too late to reload.The elite slaves of Xianglan Banner also realized that the opponent's firearms were really sharp, so they simply hid behind the side of the ship, waiting to jump and siege.

At this moment, the artillerymen did not have time to load the second shell.The fastest Jiannu wooden boat rushed to a distance of several meters, and a bold white-armored guard threw a rope claw lasso from the wooden boat, trying to hold the small steamer or pull the fusiliers into the water.

Zhou Qingfeng has been standing on the bow of the boat, the target is extremely obvious.A Jiannu wooden boat hit directly downstream, and he shouted 'left rudder five'.

The sailor controlling the engine swung the rudder, the stern of the small steamer swung, and the bow shifted accordingly.The Jiannu wooden boat that collided head-on passed by, and the sides of the two boats squeezed together, making a creaking friction sound.

The tonnage of the wooden boat that hit was less than half that of the small steamer. Although it had certain advantages in going downstream, one side of the ship's side was raised and gradually tilted during the squeeze.

Zhou Qingfeng glanced at it, and shouted again: "Right rudder five."

The engineer repeated loudly, and turned the rudder again, making the hull squeeze more violently.

On the squeezed wooden boat, more than a dozen Jiannu white-armored soldiers were like zombies besieging the city, with weapons in their mouths and hands climbing vigorously.But the tilt of the hull made them unstable, and no matter how much they stretched their arms, they couldn't grasp the fixed objects.

As the squeeze continued, the wooden boat tilted more than 45 degrees, and the white armored soldiers on the boat couldn't stand at all. They fell into the water one by one like gourds, bobbing up and down, shouting.

There was a white armored soldier who was probably tall and long-handed. He managed to hold onto the side of the small steamer, gnashing his teeth and trying to turn over on the boat.

Behind the ship's side, more than a dozen fusiliers squatted down to install their bayonets, while avoiding Jiannu's random arrows and throwing weapons.Seeing two hands coming up, a soldier wanted to smash them with a self-defense flintlock pistol.

Wait... The squad leader on the boat shouted, pulled out a dagger from his ankle, and cut off Jiannu's thumb that was pulling the side of the boat.

There was a scream from the side of the ship, and one hand was loose.

The squad leader cut off another thumb.Jiannu, who was on board, screamed again and fell into the water.Only two bloody fingers fell in the cabin of the little steamer.The fusiliers laughed like they were playing.

But at the bow, Zhou Qingfeng didn't have the slightest intention to dodge.The small steamer was still going upstream, and the remaining Jiannu wooden boats had already surrounded it.

Hundreds of white-armored soldiers with blue flags were yelling and cursing, throwing ropes, axes, and shooting arrows, all wanting to overthrow the standing Han general.

Zhou Qingfeng drew out his command saber, and pushed aside all the arrows, axes and machetes.Because he didn't see any white-armored soldiers with firecrackers, he didn't even bother to move his feet.

The calmness and leisure on the battlefield is so infuriating, as if walking in the eye of the storm, ignoring the enemy as nothing.The surrounding Jiannu white armor soldiers cursed at him one after another, shouting for an invitation to fight.

It's just that Zhou Qingfeng couldn't understand the Jurchen's bird language, and he knew it was scolding, but he was unmoved.He just waited for the little steamer to continue upward, and he could blow up these Jurchen savages by turning a corner.

Until Amin, who was wearing exquisite armor and a 'lightning protection' helmet, stood up screaming, pointed at the machete, and shouted loudly: "That Han, I am Amin, the owner of the inlaid blue banner, come to fight me! !"

Oh... I understand the Chinese spoken in this sentence.

Zhou Qingfeng took a glance, felt that the other party was too ugly, and he was not interested in talking, so he pulled out the double-barreled flintlock pistols at his waist, and raised his hand to shoot.

With a bang, the head of Aixinjueluo Amin, the nephew of Nurhaci and the owner of Xianglan Banner, one of the four great Heshuobeiles of the Dajin Kingdom, was smashed to pieces.

In front of Uncle Zhou, anyone who commits suicide will surely die!

Chapter 39

After the 'Xinhua' forces were able to make flintlock guns, Zhou Qingfeng made some upgrades to his pistols.When others uniformly used [-]mm caliber ammunition, he used [-]mm caliber ammunition.

The warhead is also specially made, which is a hollow point bullet with excellent stopping effect-the kind that will bloom when shot out, with a large cavity effect and a superb expansion effect.

Only Zhou Qingfeng could use this large-caliber pistol.Wang Xin, who is two meters tall, has a stocky physique. Seeing such a large gun muzzle, and then looking at his own arm, he shook his head to express that he did not want to harm himself.

The effective range of this gun is 15 meters, and the kinetic energy of the muzzle is nearly [-].Zhou Qingfeng used it to hit a bull's head, it can really blow the target's head off.

As a result, one of the only four Heshuobeiles in the Dajin Kingdom had a bad temper and was aggressive. Aixinjueluo Amin, the legendary leader of the Xianglan Banner with extremely powerful combat power, had his head exploded.

A [-]mm caliber gun rang like a cannonball on the river.

Seven or eight wooden boats surrounded the small steamer, and hundreds of white-armored elites with blue flags were screaming to stir up emotions and blood, climbing and jumping desperately.

This deafening thunderclap will silence the uproar.It seems that the noisy disco has been marked off, and the police uncle broke in with a loudspeaker.

Amin's white-armored guards only felt the hot wind blowing past their ears, followed by wet and sticky flesh spray spraying them all over their heads and faces, and some even spattered into their necks, sticky.

The headless corpse immediately fell to the ground.The white-armored guards wiped the blood foam all over their faces. They couldn't believe what they saw, and they all shouted heart-piercingly: "Master, what's wrong with you? Master, why don't you call me back?!"

According to Nurhachi's rules, if the banner owner died in battle, all his guards had to be buried with him.Not only were the guards buried with them, but their family members would also be degraded as slaves and distributed to other people.

Amin is domineering and domineering on weekdays, and the white-armored guards with the inlaid blue flag also show off their power, but they never thought that the owner of his banner would be shot to death on a river.No matter how they yelled, Amin's head was gone, and he would reply with nonsense!

The white-armored guards came back to their senses, and when their brains became hot, they were about to jump to the gang with their teeth and claws.But the front gun of the small steamer was loaded, and the gunner pulled the matchlock.

Boom... The timed fuze of the canned shotgun was directly pinched off, turning into a simple shotgun that disperses as soon as it is fired.The four or five wooden boats squeezed in front of the small steamer were ruined immediately. Both the personnel and the boats were battered and riddled with holes.

This is real shelling, earth-shattering.The scene is very similar to the iron rain falling, and the river water is red.

Amin's white-armored guards also wanted to step over the side of the ship to avenge the banner owner, at least they would be killed in battle, and the family would not be affected.But no matter how sad and angry they were, how passionate they were, they were smashed to pieces in front of the muzzle and lost their lives.

The sound of cannons suppressed the scene, and on the small steamer Zhou Qingfeng was on, the fusiliers hiding behind the side of the ship also poked their heads out, holding short-barreled self-defense firecrackers and shooting outwards.

There was continuous gunfire, and more than a dozen white-armored soldiers with the inlaid blue flag who tried to approach were knocked down.This killing speed is too fast, more cruel than hand-to-hand combat with a knife and a gun.

The surviving soldiers with the inlaid blue banner subconsciously covered their heads to avoid the sound of firecrackers, not daring to face them directly.

The river was still rushing, the engineers were steadily controlling the rudder, and the steam engine was pushing the propeller forward.The little steamer pushed past the shattered Jiannu wooden boat and moved on.

Squatting behind the side of the ship, the fusiliers were busy loading ammunition for their self-defense muskets.Waiting for the little steamer to distance itself from the enemy, they stood up again and reloaded their guns.

Up to now in the battle, less than half of the dozen Jiannu wooden boats have been damaged, and more than [-] people have been killed or injured.They were horrified to find that not only their own banner owner was dead, but also the ship fell downstream, losing their advantage.

Instead, the two small steamers turned slowly, and the Han soldiers on board stood up again, showing fierce eyes, and fired wave after wave of guns with flintlocks.

The gunners of the two front-loading bronze cannons worked even harder, pouring firepower at a rate of one round per minute until the barrels became hot and had to cool down.

It's not a big deal to discharge guns, but these two guns are too fierce.It was accurate at close range. Jiannu's wooden boats could not withstand the damage, and one shot would destroy one.

With every sound of the cannon, the blood mist and spray exploded on the river.The solid bullets can occasionally bounce off the water surface, smashing one and then hitting the next one.

The bravery and fearlessness of the Jianzhou Ministry became meaningless.The only thing that can fight back is the weak bow and arrow, shooting a dozen or so from a distance, soft and fluffy, as ridiculous as a child's toy.

Turning the corner, the little steamer slowed down instead, beating the elite Xianglan Banner [-] meters away while maintaining a distance.After two rounds of shelling, these Jianzhou warriors finally couldn't take it anymore, took off their armor, threw away their knives and axes, and jumped into the river one after another.

If you don't jump, you die, but if you jump, you still have a chance to live.

Then there was the double crack of the cannonballs from the steamer, and the cheers of the fusiliers firing freely.The two ships of the expedition team anchored in the Jiannu jumping river, stopped in the river, aimed at the fleeing enemy and shot.

Many white-armored soldiers with blue flags dropped their helmets and took off their armor, and finally swam ashore wet. Before they could hide in the woods on the bank, they were pierced through the back by one or two Mines bullets and fell down.

The encounter at the mouth of the Sancha River lasted less than half an hour. It happened suddenly and ended quickly.The dead bodies drifted down with the current, and the wrecked boat was ups and downs.

At the end of the fight, the fusiliers rushed with enthusiasm, their eyes widened but they had lost their target.

In the dense forest on the bank of the river, the archers of the Bailai Zhengbai Banner held their breath and did not dare to make a sound.Gu Shan'e, who led them, really didn't speak, he could only wave his hands to signal his subordinates to hide, and don't reveal their whereabouts.

Huangtai sent a shooter to help Amin.But when the white-flag soldiers came in a hurry, they saw how powerless the white-armored soldiers with the blue-flanked flag were when they faced Han firearms, and they were brutally tortured over and over again.

The smoking boat can withstand the siege of more than a dozen wooden boats, and the guns are fired, killing and extinction.The people with the inlaid blue flag are also mortal bodies, and they lost a lot.

Amin's chain mail with mountain patterns is too conspicuous, and the scene of him shouting and inviting to fight but being blown off his head was too shocking. It's choking.

The wooden boat with the blue flag was beaten to pieces, and the white-armored soldiers who fell into the water fled in a panic.

Many of them did not escape after going ashore and were beaten to death on the shore.The few who escaped into the woods all hid behind the trees and gasped, as if fleeing from hell to the world.

The Gushan forehead of Zhengbai Banner really dare not move around, the cat is in the woods when the atmosphere is out.The archers under him also had a tacit understanding, all of them looked pale and shrunk their heads.

After a quarter of an hour of chug-chug noises on the river, the Han boats unanchored and headed upstream, from the Ai River to the Cao River, approaching the tower of Phoenix City.

Phoenix City was built on the bank of the Caohe River. The city is 800 meters long and 500 meters wide. It is not a small military town in Liaodong.

The Huangtai class watched Amin's fleet rush towards the Han ships from the tower, followed by firecrackers and cannons, ringing endlessly.Every time there was a sound, he was worried, and he also hoped that Amin could bravely defeat the Han people with his amazing skills and ingenuity.

The scene of Amin's death was too far away, Huang Taiji didn't see it.But he could hear the continuous sound of cannons on the river, and the sunken wooden boats.

If it is said that the end of the Tong family is just the death of a capable slave, then the end of A Min represents the severe damage to the 'Eight Banners'.

The Xianglan Banner is second only to the Zhenghuang Banner led by Nurhachi, and stronger than the Huangtai-level Zhengbai Banner.But now that the banner owner died in battle, it was equivalent to a dog whose spine was broken, and it would be paralyzed even if it didn't die.

The two smoking ships of the Han stopped on the shore outside Phoenix City, and their muzzles turned to aim at the city tower.Amin's fleet was silent, sinking or drifting, and the victory and defeat were already divided.

The chest of the Huangtai class was bruised, and his eyes were completely red.He grabbed the battlements and opened his mouth to shout angrily, but his throat seemed to be blocked, and he didn't make a sound for a long time, so he could only beat the city wall desperately in hatred.

Realizing that the situation was critical, the servants pushed and dragged their master to escape from the tower.

After a while, cannons rang out by the river, and two solid bullets hit the wooden tower.

In an instant, the rammed-earth battlements crumbled and disintegrated, and debris from the pillars of the tower flew around.Although this shelling has no practical significance, it undoubtedly declares that the Han army has returned strongly, and the Jianzhou Jurchens are only mediocre.

It took more than ten rounds for the artillery to stop.Seeing that there were no targets to attack, Zhou Qingfeng commanded the two ships to return.

For the next week, the 'mosquito' class small steamers would come every day, and they might not necessarily fire, but they would stare at the slave-building troops in Phoenix City, creating great pressure.

At the same time, five "Liao"-class transport ships were dispatched together to transport two newly-organized flintlock battalions to Zhenjiang Fort, with a total of 800 people.In addition to the troops brought in before, Zhou Qingfeng has a regiment of modern troops in his hands.

The Huangtai class couldn't walk or guard in Phoenix City, and was restless like a mouse trapped in a nest.He sent someone to fish up Amin's body and spread the news of Xianglanqi's defeat back to Kuandian.

Fei Yingdong and Mangurtai who were stationed in Kuandian were shocked and found it extremely difficult.Because five of the seven members of the military team have arrived at Zhenjiang Fort, they are divided into two groups to attack Kuandian from the Ai River and the Pushi River against the current.

Phoenix was attacked, and Kuandian was also attacked.

The ships of the Xinhua Expeditionary Team were tough and ruthless, and they were completely invincible on the water surface of the river.Mang Gurtai fought several times, and found that his boat was quickly emptied, and the Han people on the opposite side suffered little casualties.

Huangtai level received an urgent report sent by Fei Yingdong, telling Kuandian that it was difficult to provide support, and asked him to quickly withdraw the [-] Jianzhou army.

"The Han people are good at boats and control waterways. Fortresses along the route are all in their pockets. We guard everywhere, and we are everywhere empty, so we will inevitably be eaten away by them. The only plan for now is to stick to Kuandian and protect ourselves through the winter."

In October, the weather in Liaodong will turn cold rapidly, and the river will freeze.As long as it is dragged until it freezes, the big ships of the Han people will never come.Fighting again will be in March and April next year, maybe there is a way to deal with it.

The Huangtai class agreed with this truth, and immediately decided to withdraw 3000 troops to Kuandian.Before leaving, he set fire to Phoenix City, and also looted thousands of young and strong Han people in the city, and killed all the old, weak, women and children left behind.

Waiting for Zhou Qingfeng to take two battalions of flintlock guns and three battalions of naturalized infantry that had been trained hastily, 'slowly' along the Ai River to prepare to attack Phoenix City, only to find that the entire city had turned into a ghost.

The whole city was burned, and everywhere was scorched.Thousands of charred corpses were dumped in the burned-out streets. The victims had struggled and resisted during their lifetime, and they had different postures after death.

Among the corpses were mothers with babies in their arms, children who ran away and hid, and old women who were begging.Their bodies became hard and brittle, turning into charred fly ash and bones at the slightest touch.

When the soldiers of the expedition team entered the city, it was difficult to breathe. The first thing they did was to contain and bury the corpses.Whether it was a young soldier from the south of the Yangtze River or a local mountain dweller in Liaodong, they were all filled with righteous indignation and tears in their eyes when they saw such a tragic situation.

"Tartar, I don't feel complacent if I don't kill them." Wang Xin entered the city with Zhou Qingfeng, seeing such atrocities in war, his lungs were on fire and he was filled with anger.

Zhou Qingfeng has seen many tragedies, so he can remain indifferent to the deaths that have occurred.He only whispered: "Our training of troops is too slow. Capable cadres cannot grow out of the ground."

Wang Xin gave a heavy "hmm" and personally led the team to clean up the corpses and ruins in the city.

The 'Shengguang' team founded the 'Xinhua' force at the end of the Ming Dynasty. Technology, financial resources, and manpower were not the biggest constraints, but qualified managers were the biggest bottleneck.

In the early stage, relying on its own team members can develop at a high speed, but now the scale of influence is so large that it is necessary to control the two places across the ocean, and the management personnel are immediately stretched.

Through the interrogation of the prisoners, Zhou Qingfeng knew that it was the Huangtai class who committed war crimes in Phoenix City.But he could only push forward steadily, watching the Huangtai class retreat to Kuandian with 3000 troops.

The 'Holy Light' military team hated this deeply, but the escaped Huangtai class became even more annoyed.

After returning to Kuandian, in the name of "catching spies", he joined forces with Manggurtai to massacre the local Han people, intending to reduce the reserve soldiers of the Xinhua expedition as much as possible.

During the ten-month period, the number of people massacred exceeded [-], and the Han people throughout Kuandian fled desperately and flocked to the area controlled by the expedition team.The Huangtai class tried in vain to use the most brutal means to deter and show its own strength.

In ancient wars, massacres often achieved miraculous results.

But the 'Holy Light' team didn't like this, and wanted to get rid of this group of barbaric bandits even more.

At the same time, Nurhachi learned of the battle in Kuandian in Hetuala, and sent Hu Erhan, one of the five ministers, to Kuandian with 5000 troops.The five big forts around Kuandian gathered more than 1 Jianzhou troops, second only to Hetuala.

At the beginning of October, Zhou Qingfeng set off from Phoenix City and arrived at Aiyang Fort, where Mao Wenlong was stationed.This place is already northwest of Kuandian, and the terrain is relatively open, suitable for large troops to fight.

At the same time, Nurhachi sent people to Fushun, Shenyang and other places to ask the officials of the Ming court who the Han forces from the south were.How could it be so tyrannical?

Liaodong officials were completely baffled by this question—what?The imperial court sent troops to Dandong?Intending to conquer Dongningwei and other places that were seized by the Jianzhou Ministry?

No such news!

Emperor Wanli passed away last year, and the new emperor has not been enthroned for a year, and Wang Shoufu has just straightened out his officialdom in the capital.When it comes to mobilizing troops to fight, the residence newspaper only says that the Xinhua rebels in the south of the Yangtze River are rampant and difficult to deal with, and they urgently need to be suppressed or appeased by the court.

Wait... the one who hit your Jianzhou Department is called 'Xinhua'?

Can't you?

Could it be that the rebels in Jiangnan were full of food, crossed the sea and ocean, and ran to Liaodong to fight another group of rebels?

Oh, this is really an anecdote from ancient and modern times, which has not been recorded in history books.No wonder the Di reported that the Xinhua rebels had stopped a lot this year, and they only focused on doing business and stopped invading places at will.

It turns out that the Xinhua rebels really went to Liaodong.

It's really double happiness, and I, Daming, remain neutral.

When the news of Liaodong reached the capital, the masters from all walks of life were extremely puzzled, but they breathed a sigh of relief.Only Nurhachi heard the news, and his blood pressure exploded with anger—the one who came to beat me was not the Ming Dynasty army?Another gang of rebels?

Why do rebels make things difficult for rebels?

Chapter 40 Xinhua Infantry

Aiyang Fort is an important place of Liaodong frontier defense and the location of the East Road General. There is an "Aiyang Garrison" under which there are "Zhen Fu", "Hundred Households", and "Ba Zong" and other officers at all levels, with thousands of soldiers.

Zhou Qingfeng set off from Phoenix City and rushed to Aiyang Castle with five battalions of troops. What he saw were two empty castles in the east and west.