On this kind of battlefield, bullets are truly everywhere, covering every blind spot; every place is attacked. Even if you have exceptional agility, you can't dodge them!
Because, at a glance, they're everywhere; how can you hide? Unless you can fly or teleport! Otherwise, there's really not much difference between a master of innate cultivation and an ordinary soldier. At most, they can only rely on their protective inner energy to block a few bullets.
"Such precise marksmanship! Zhu Ni's troops are indeed very elite. There are so many sharpshooters! Where did he get so many sharpshooters?" Tacha asked, puzzled.
Although the range of this foreign gun couldn't compare to that of the precious carved bow in Old Man Tachar's hands. This precious carved bow was a gift from the Emperor, with a strength of ten stones. When fully drawn, it could shoot an arrow a thousand meters. Moreover, it was incredibly accurate, hitting exactly where it was pointed.
Therefore, Master Tachar looked down on foreign guns. But how many people in the entire Eight Banners possessed archery skills comparable to Tachar's? Probably quite a few. Well, perhaps, seemingly, possibly all eight banner chiefs possessed such skill.
At the 300-step mark, the vanguard of the town, consisting of 3,000 men, had already begun to suffer heavy casualties.
At 250 paces, 300 of the 3,000 men had already been killed or wounded. Under normal circumstances, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the Green Standard Army would have already begun their retreat by this point in the battle.
However, this time they had already received money for risking their lives, and quite a lot at that. Therefore, the Green Camp men thought about the money on their hands and had no choice but to grit their teeth and keep going.
Two hundred paces later, only two thousand four hundred of the three thousand men remained. The casualty rate had reached a staggering two-tenths. That is to say, two out of every ten people had perished. Such a massive loss of life naturally had a profound impact.
As a result, the charging speed of many soldiers suddenly slowed down. Everyone hoped that the soldiers in front would charge faster and die faster.
Seeing this, the garrison commander lost face and shouted, "Hurry up, all of you! Don't forget, there's an imperial edict behind us. Anyone who retreats will die!"
Hearing his words, the remaining town guards had no choice but to grit their teeth, lower their heads, and continue running with their shields raised. The problem was, these damned wooden shields were utterly useless against Zhu Ni's bullets!
"Heh heh, this general is quite loyal. Organize dozens of sharpshooters and shoot him dead," Old Pierre said with a laugh.
As soon as the order was given, dozens of sharpshooters, boosted by military morale, all aimed at the loyal general.
After a volley of fire, the general injured his left hand.
Two volleys of fire killed a third of the guards around him.
After three volleys, the guards either fled or were dead. In any case, the unfortunate general once again appeared empty-handed in the sharpshooter's sight.
During the fourth volley, the general, whose cultivation had reached the fifth rank, was severely wounded and lay on the ground, bleeding profusely. He was barely breathing. Anyone with eyes could see that he wouldn't live much longer.
By this time, the town's troops had reached within 150 paces, and their casualties had reached 1,000. Coupled with the death of the general, they finally succumbed to the immense pressure.
The general is dead.
"Run!"
Run!
No one knows who shouted those words, but as soon as they were uttered, many soldiers turned and ran. At first, some didn't react. But seeing their comrades fleeing in unison, they instinctively followed suit.
“Useless! A bunch of useless trash! Han Chinese, truly incompetent! They can’t even get a hundred paces in, what use are they? Men, kill all the officers of the rank of centurion and above! Also, conscript all the soldiers without wounds, let’s set it at one in ten.” Tacha said coldly.
Upon hearing this, Sai Shang'a drew his imperial sword and stepped forward. The centurions among the routed soldiers killed them one by one. In no time, they had killed dozens.
As for the 1,500 who escaped (there were 2,000 when they fled, and another 500 died during the escape), they were now tied up and whipped!
"What should we do?" Although Saisanga didn't say anything, Tachar could tell what he was thinking just from his eyes.
Yes, what should we do? What should we do? Zhu's army is so elite, what should we do? I guess even the number one rebel in the world today, Chen Ming of Lushan, can't compare.
(The original Chen Ming was not as good as him, but after the Chosen Ones joined Chen Ming's camp, they became comparable.)
Don't panic, I can't panic! As long as I don't panic, there's still a chance. I kept telling myself this while taking deep breaths.
"Right now, if we really compete in terms of strength, although we have more people, we are clearly at a disadvantage. As the art of war says, 'Win by using the orthodox and the unorthodox.' Since the orthodox way is not working, we will have to rely on other means."
"In a moment, all troops will be mobilized at once. Whether it's to exhaust their energy or deplete their ammunition, as long as these Green Standard Army soldiers die with value, that's all that matters."
"Then, we will take the remaining eight thousand cavalry, gather all our experts, and charge at Zhu Ni himself. As long as Zhu Ni retreats even slightly, this battle will be quite long!" Tacha said coldly.
Before today, no one had ever imagined that Zhu Jishi's troops would be so capable of fighting. How could the Zhu family be so good at fighting?
Ancestors, you all made moves against the Ming imperial family, why couldn't you wipe them out completely? Why didn't you eliminate them all? Now, the descendants of the Zhu family have returned for revenge.
What did the newspapers say? Oh, the Yangzhou Massacre, the Jiading Massacre. Although I'm not well-educated and don't know the details, just from the headlines, I knew it couldn't be anything good!
What if Zhu Yuanzhang, after capturing Guangzhou, treats the Manchus the same way? It's said that Chen Shubao, the traitor from Lushan, used the nation as cannon fodder by directly attacking cities. Will this Zhu Yuanzhang follow suit?
Thinking about it this way, Tachar felt a chill in his heart. If he were in Tachar's shoes, he would definitely do the same.
"My lads, behind you lies Guangzhou, and a Manchu city. Many ethnic groups live there, who are your fellow countrymen and elders. Now, the survival of the entire city of Guangzhou depends on the next charge." As he spoke, Tachar felt a pang of sorrow.
Since when did the Eight Banners warriors have to risk their lives to fight a rebel? How many people are there in the entire country, including all the ethnic groups? Two million or three million, I think? And the able-bodied men, I wonder if there are even 800,000 of them. If the whole city were massacred, then…
"charge!"
With a heavy heart, Tacha began the final charge of his life. Many of the Manchu bannermen behind him shared similar sentiments.
"Alright, the Eight Banners cavalry are charging. There are three Grandmaster-level experts, twenty Rank 4 experts, thirty-six Rank 5 experts, and sixty Rank 6 experts mixed in. Among them, the small group in the very center is the strongest. The group on the right rear is the weakest." Lin Yang said calmly, observing the aura of the Eight Banners.
Moreover, Lin Yang was already planning to take action himself. After all, it was a very meaningful activity—killing Tartars—so he should personally participate and try it out.
As for how the Tartars would die, Lin Yang had already figured it out. Hadn't the wildly imaginative screenwriters in those anti-Japanese war dramas of his previous life already provided plenty of hints?
There were those with unparalleled martial arts skills who could tear Japanese soldiers apart with their bare hands; those with extraordinary talent who could throw stones to smash airplanes; and those who could throw grenades to smash airplanes; those who could kill dozens of Japanese soldiers in an instant with throwing knives; and those whose bullets could curve...
With so many miraculous ways to die, Lin Yang felt that with his current martial arts skills, he might not be unable to do it either.
Take tearing apart Japanese soldiers with bare hands, for example. He could do that himself. As for killing dozens of Japanese soldiers with a single throwing knife, he could probably do that now too. Oh, and there's also hiding grenades in one's crotch. Lin Yang felt that he really couldn't do that.
After all, the Japanese devils had committed far fewer atrocities than the Tartars. Therefore, Lin Yang had absolutely no qualms about dealing with these Tartars, who were even worse than the Japanese!
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