Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 305 Broken City

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Without the "harassment" of the Hongyi cannons, and with no decent archers, the Qiongzhou camp, under no pressure, quickly closed in and formed ranks within a hundred meters of the city.

As agreed upon by the two battalion commanders, the task of opening the city gates was assigned to the Second Battalion, and the First Battalion would take over as the vanguard of the attack after the city fell. This was a more reasonable approach in terms of both ammunition consumption and stamina allocation.

They already had experience in how to breach a small, poorly defended city without heavy weapons when they attacked Changhua County: the key was to suppress the city walls with firepower and use explosives to blast open the city gates.

The soldiers of the Second Battalion calmly arranged themselves into formation, with each company forming a horizontal rank of two companies, creating three double-rank horizontal ranks. Two companies and the artillery company were left in reserve. Because they were firing upwards at the city wall, there was no need to worry about accidentally hitting the front ranks, allowing them to form such dense ranks and ensure sufficient firepower delivery.

The soldiers in charge of the demolition were ready, a full ten soldiers, each carrying two explosive charges, standing by—far exceeding the strength of a city gate. This arrangement was made to ensure a sufficient number of explosive charges were available even if casualties occurred during the placement of the charges.

Although Zheng Zhilong was unfamiliar with the Qiongzhou Camp's siege tactics, he could tell from their confident demeanor that they must have a plan to attack the city, and he certainly couldn't just sit idly by and wait to die. He looked at Matos and his black guards waiting behind him with considerable hesitation, and a struggle began in his mind: should he deploy this guard to defend the city or save it for a last-ditch effort to save his life?

At this point, the Zheng clan members began to urge the leader to send musketeers to the city walls to suppress the enemy. Zheng Zhilong began to waver. After all, they hadn't reached a dead end. If they held onto this only musketeer unit, even if they managed to keep the city intact, it would alienate their brothers and men. After much consideration, he ordered Matos to lead his men to the city walls to set up defenses.

Upon seeing the black man with a matchlock gun appear on the wall, Xu Yifan smiled faintly: "I thought there would be no resistance, but it turns out someone is still here to deplete our ammunition."

Regardless of how the Zheng family responds, the Qiongzhou Camp's combat tactics will not change. After all the infantry were ready, Xu Yifan issued the order: "All troops, target the city wall, provide fire suppression, fire freely until the order is given."

Six companies of infantrymen simultaneously raised their rifles, aiming them at the wall. Aside from the clanging of guns, there wasn't a sound. A forest of rifles stood motionless, pointed at the wall, and behind the dark muzzles were calm, serious faces. This strict discipline sent a chill down the spines of the defenders on the wall; they hadn't seen an army like this in years.

Matos secretly admired them; these infantrymen were even more elite than his former employer, Portugal's army, but unfortunately, they were his opponents. He wasn't sure if he could withstand the enemy's attack, so he could only do his duty, sacrificing his own and his men's lives if necessary, just to be worthy of his employer.

The Black soldiers began the tedious process of loading ammunition and lighting the matchlock. Normally, it took about a minute from receiving the order to firing a matchlock musket, but the Qiongzhou battalion completed these actions in about twenty seconds, with the most elite infantry even managing to do so in under fifteen seconds. This severe imbalance in weaponry destined it to be an unequal battle.

Before the fire even started on the wall, Xu Yifan's command sword had already come down: "Fire!"

"Bang bang bang..." Six hundred men pulled the trigger at the same time, and a dense hail of lead bullets instantly enveloped the city wall. Many black men who were loading ammunition were hit and fell down screaming.

The soldiers were ordered to fire freely, so without waiting for the next salvo, they began reloading and firing a second and third round. Although the gunfire was no longer synchronized, the continuity of the firepower greatly increased, completely disrupting the rhythm of the Black men. It wasn't until the Qiongzhou Battalion soldiers generally fired their third shots that the soldiers returned fire for the first time.

At this moment, the distinctive smoke of gunpowder enveloped the air above both sides, resulting in neither side being able to clearly see the other. The Qiongzhou camp could only judge the impact point of their shots by the blurry shadows of the city walls and the direction from which the screams came, while the black men could only hide behind the crenellations to load their ammunition, then turn around and light the fuses at a large mass of dark figures below the city.

After several rounds of exchange of fire, due to the lack of cover and the dense formation of the Qiongzhou camp, even though the enemy's fire was several times slower, some soldiers were still hit and casualties occurred. However, the situation was even worse for the black musketeers. As long as they showed their heads, the casualty rate remained high; if they did not show their heads, they could not fire effectively. In their own hands, others would have been on the verge of collapse long ago, but the black men persevered with their racially unique endurance and the obedience of their enslaved origins.

Seeing that the time was right, Xu Yifan ordered the city gate to be blown up. Ten soldiers, each carrying a 30-40 pound explosive pack, crouched low and charged forward. Some were hit by stray bullets halfway there, but seven of them managed to reach the city gate.

After lighting the long fuse, the demolition team quickly retreated, losing two more men along the way. Only half of them successfully placed the explosives and returned. Xu Yifan frowned. It seemed he would need to find ways to increase the survival rate of the demolition team in the future; otherwise, this temporary unit would have the highest casualty rate in the entire Qiongzhou Camp, bar none.

In the smoke, the black men continued to fight back mechanically, but as casualties increased and their strength declined, the speed and density of their shooting gradually decreased. They did not know that with the explosion of the explosive charge, everything they had done would be in vain.

"Boom boom boom!" Several loud explosions followed, and several explosive charges detonated almost simultaneously. The flimsy city gate was reduced to dust by the violent explosions, and the tiles on the city tower were shaken off and smashed to pieces. The black musketeers on the wall and other members of the Zheng family were knocked to the ground by the energy of the explosions, and many of them had blood flowing from their mouths and noses.

The sudden turn of events left the entire garrison stunned. By the time they finally reacted, the Qiongzhou camp had already launched their attack under the cover of smoke and dust, and in the blink of an eye, they had stormed through the city gates. The Zhongzuo Garrison City was easily breached after less than an hour of resistance.

No one expected the city to fall so quickly, leaving them completely bewildered, let alone able to organize any resistance. After Shi Ying led a battalion into the city, most of the Zheng family members scattered like birds and beasts, offering almost no resistance. Remembering Liu Ye's instructions, he headed straight for the government office. His most important objective was to kill Zheng Zhilong; nothing else mattered.