Saving the Ming Dynasty: I can exchange bodies with Chongzhen

Chapter 256: Shengjing City Defense Collapse
A loud bang resounded throughout Shengjing’s city defenses.

After every loud blast of the artillery, the Tartars were left with blood and flesh flying everywhere.

A large amount of iron pieces are added to the new type of artillery shells, and the shock wave killing power is only a small part of it. The greater casualties come from the killing power of the shrapnel scattered when the shells explode.

In addition to the artillery, there were also muskets and palm bombs that were constantly thrown from the sky.

In the camp of the Manchu Tartars, a black tide of fire and blood continued to surge.

The fighting lasted from day to night, and Daishan's Zhenghong Banner was completely wiped out.

The Eight Banners of the Qing Dynasty were no longer able to organize a large-scale counterattack, and were left with only the scattered charges and defenses organized according to the Niuluwei system.

Also, due to the siege by the Mongolian troops from the south of the desert and the Korean troops from the east, a large number of Mongolian Eight Banners and Korean troops were defeated and fled.

The Mongolian tribes south of the desert scolded the Eight Banners of Mongolia for surrendering in Mongolian, while the Korean headquarters cursed the Korean soldiers in Shengjing City in another way.

To the west of Shengjing, the Ming Dynasty's five major camps, the Pinglu Army, and the elite troops of the Nine Frontiers continued to advance with artillery and muskets, and the momentum of the entire Qing Dynasty's defeat was inevitable.

But they remained connected and continued to resist the "charge" of the Ming army. Snowflakes were falling from the sky, and large groups of soldiers collided with each other and formed a line.

The fighting lasted from day till night, with flames constantly bursting out in the darkness.

The artillery and musket shells of both sides were constantly consumed, and the Tatars had used up all of them, but there was no will to stop the battle, and both camps were swallowed up like a meat grinder.

November 9th,
The inner city walls of Shengjing collapsed, and everyone understood that the final decisive battle had arrived.

In the Pinglu Army, Sun Kewang and Li Dingguo were exhausted and in pain after two days of fighting. But when the city wall collapsed, everyone's spirits were lifted.

After so many years of rebellion, whether being coerced or kidnapped by hunger and hardship, all those who rebelled were worried about the future, and their confusion about the situation has never diminished.

From childhood to adulthood, they witnessed their neighbors starving to death, saw bones scattered all over the ground, witnessed the invasion of the Tartars, men being killed, and women being insulted. They hated this world and the gentry and landlords, but they had nowhere to hide.

That's why they rebelled frantically until they met King Xin, but with King Xin's "betrayal", they were lost again.

They were confused because they saw the good of the Ming Dynasty. They saw how the Ming Dynasty punished corrupt officials, gentry and landlords, and provided grain to the people so that they had enough food and clothing.

Their confusion also made them realize how difficult it would be for them to rebel again and become enemies of the Ming Dynasty.

This feeling continued until they left Shanhaiguan, and a completely different road suddenly appeared before them.

foreign enemy!

Rather than wasting time internally, it is better to kill external enemies.

At this moment, all the pressure and confusion found an outlet and a source.

They found their own way out, and their previously lost fighting spirit was rekindled. They were fortunate to follow behind King Xin and saw an easy path to take.

Being granted a title of nobility is just around the corner!
"Try harder, we will soon enter the inner city." Li Dingguo's hoarse voice echoed throughout the ladder. Although his voice sounded difficult and tired, it was more filled with strength.

"Use all your strength. Once you enter Shengjing City, you will have plenty of time to rest."

"One more step forward!~"

"Damn it..."

The voices that came one after another, some cursing, some sneering to cheer themselves up, all revealed their hardship and fatigue. They had been fighting for two days and two nights in a row, and had almost exhausted all their strength.

Some were so tired that they couldn't even stand up. When they heard everyone's voices, they struggled to get up and shouted loudly: "There are no cowards in the Pinglu Army!"

Holding his musket, he joined the formation again.

Push forward.

Boom! With a loud bang, a shell landed in front of him, brushing past his calf and hitting him. In an instant, he fell to the ground in a bloody mess.

"What happened?" His companion turned his head sharply and looked at him in horror, "You...you..."

"No...it's okay, just a scrape." He stood up again, raised his musket with burning eyes and pulled the trigger at a Tartar.

"Another one. That's seven now. I've killed seven."

He muttered, but the darkness swallowed up his vision and power. He only felt his legs and didn't know that there was an arrow stuck in his neck.

The death of this brave soldier seemed to arouse the fighting spirit of more people, and more people stood up and launched a desperate attack on the Tartars.

The battlefield stretched out in the distance. At a glance, it was a sea of ​​hundreds of thousands of people. The figures were noisy and dense. Daishan kept coughing, "The situation is hopeless!"

Starting from his father Nurhaci, the Later Jin and the Ming court fought countless battles big and small, but it was always the Manchus who were fierce and the Ming army was timid. No one had ever seen such a fierce Ming army.

What's more, the Ming army's artillery and muskets were more advanced, and their bows and arrows were shot dead before they even touched the enemy.

The Tatar camp was like reeds in the river, swaying continuously and retreating under the attack of the Ming army.

The inner city defense was limited, and every step back meant losing more strategic buffers, but the Ming army's offensive was overwhelming, forcing them to retreat. "Kill, take off Dorgon's head."

"kill……"

The soldiers marched forward like a tide, and with each shout they grew louder, they rolled up thousands of piles of snow and charged towards the Tartars.

The vast and huge battle situation began to collapse under this pressure.

When people are facing desperate situations, if someone wants to retreat, they will fight to the death; if someone wants to fight, someone wants to escape, someone does something, or someone makes trouble, even a million people cannot defeat them.

When the conflict was at its most intense and mottled, a wave of chaos broke out in the Zhenghuang Banner. Two Jiala Zhangjing among them retreated, and the others followed suit involuntarily. Then an avalanche-like rout occurred for unknown reasons.

Li Dingguo led the Pinglu Army into the inner city, instantly causing a chain reaction.

Cannonballs, muskets, bows and arrows, swords and spears were constantly clashing, and there were roars and curses. The atmosphere of the entire battlefield was like a rope that bound everything and then suddenly broke with a bang.

Both sides were exhausted, and suddenly one side burst out with huge destructive power. The result can be imagined.

“Hold on…Hold on!”

Daishan roared, his entire body shaking slightly.

He himself didn't know what was going on. How did the originally stalemate situation turn completely wrong?
At first glance, the Ming army looked like ferocious monsters with brutality in their eyes. They fought hard to break through the Qing army's defense line and break into them... Up to this point, no strategy or tactics were needed. As long as they could push the front line forward, it was enough.

It was almost dusk, but the battle reached its climax.

The whole Shengjing was like a compressed egg yolk. Some of the Tatars retreated into the city, while others fled outside the city. They were squeezed out in groups and then caught up by the Ming army, crushed into scattered pieces, and finally turned into dots.

Finally, he fell to the ground as a cold corpse.

The defeat in the outer areas exposed the central army. Daishan shouted loudly, trying to reverse the situation, but he was knocked to the ground by his own bannermen.

When Daishan turned around, he found that the Ming court's artillery and muskets could cover his position.

It was not until this moment that he realized that the forward line had advanced to his feet, and the sudden pressure and fear upon him became extremely deep and real.

"Prince Li, please retreat. It will be too late if you don't retreat now."

The two Jiala Zhangjing beside Daishan came over to help him up and pleaded.

"No, we can't retreat, especially at this time..." Daishan murmured, trying to push the two men away, but a cannonball exploded beside them, blowing the two Jiala Zhangjing away.

Daishan subconsciously touched his head and said, "I'm still here. I'm not dead. I..."

A voice suddenly sounded not far away, "The Manchu prince in front, can I borrow your head to play with?"

“……” Daishan looked up subconsciously.

Li Dingguo, with his teeth bared and blood all over his body, was the first to rush into the Qing army. His eyes had long been fixed on Daishan. "Damn it, you still want to run?"

Seeing Daishan struggling to run away, Li Dingguo suddenly became angry. He grabbed a spear and threw it out with a "whoosh".

A spear pierced Daishan's back.

Li Dingguo struggled to walk to Daishan, stepped on his back, cut off his head, lifted it up, and shouted at the Tartars: "Stop it... Who is his master to you?"

All the Tatars who were still resisting around stopped.

"Prince Li...Prince Li?"

It was not until this moment that Li Dingguo realized that the person he had killed was Prince Li Daishan!
While he was delighted, he also felt a little regretful. He stuffed the head into his bag and said, "What a pity. I thought it was Dorgon. This military achievement is not enough!"

He sighed, turned around and said, "Brothers, the Qing emperor is in the palace, let's go there."

……

The darkening sky and the spreading smell of blood attracted wolves, insects, tigers and leopards from the fields. They followed the smell of blood with their green eyes.

In winter, even people have nothing to eat, let alone these animals. During the Battle of Songjin, many of the Tatars' corpses had not been cleaned up in time and became food for these wolves, insects, tigers and leopards.

So much so that they followed the direction of the Ming army from a distance, waiting for the war to break out.

But because it was not completely dark yet, and because of the noise of cannons and muskets, they were always cautious and did not dare to move forward.

"Ouch!"

A wild wolf appeared not far from the central army. When Hongniang saw its green eyes, she was so frightened that she jumped up and hung around Chongzhen's neck.

"You..." Chongzhen was stunned on the spot.

The few soldiers who were about to come over to protect Chongzhen and Hongniangzi also quickly turned their heads away when they saw this.

(End of this chapter)