Chapter 249: Battle of Xi'an 5
After Wu Sangui finished speaking, he waited for Duoduo's order and then he would be pierced by arrows and die.
Duoduo laughed and said, "In the final analysis, it's because you didn't really surrender to the Qing Dynasty! You just wanted to preserve your strength! Wu Sangui! Go to hell!"
After Duoduo finished speaking, he was about to wave his hand and order the musketeers brought by Jiang Xiang to rob and kill Wu Sangui.
Sure enough, gunshots rang out, and Wu Sangui closed his eyes and waited for death. But after a few seconds, he did not feel the bullet, and the surrounding assassins were still fine.
Wu Sangui opened his eyes and took a closer look. It turned out that Jiang Xiang's firearms soldiers were pointing their guns at Duoduo's guards. The firearms in Jiang Xiang's hands were smoking, and Duoduo's chest was bleeding.
Duoduo opened his eyes wide, unable to believe that he was the one shot. He used up his last bit of strength to say, "Han dog, that's right, unreliable!"
He then fell off his horse, leaving Wu Sangui stunned. Jiang Xiang said, "Wu Sangui, I have received a secret decree from the Ming Emperor, demanding that I rebel at a critical moment and return to the Ming! To gain the Jianlu's trust, I must even borrow the head of your trusted confidant! Prime Minister Xia, I'm sure you and I will take good care of his family."
"Bah! I was planning to make him my son-in-law! Now my daughter is a widow before she even gets married! Get out first, I'll settle the score with you later!" Wu Sangui immediately led Duoduo's mount and jumped on it. Jiang Xiang dismounted, cut off Duoduo's head, and hung it on the horse.
Although they planned to kill Duoduo, there were still many Jianlu soldiers around. They had to seize the opportunity to escape from the Jianlu camp and lead their own troops to escape to Shanxi.
Geng Zhongming, Shang Kexi, and Kong Youde were unclear about their attitudes, so Wu Sangui and Jiang Xiang couldn't care less at this point. They each took their own troops and fled. Now that our fathers are dead and our mothers are married, let's each take care of ourselves!
Wu Sangui and his assassins disguised themselves as ordinary soldiers and infiltrated Jiang Xiang's army. Jiang Xiang, however, didn't make it all the way. Upon seeing a Jianlu officer, he said, "The prince ordered me to return to the camp to guard Wu Sangui's troops! Get out of my way! If you delay the prince's important mission, you'll be in big trouble!" The Jianlu soldiers and generals knew that Jiang Xiang was the prince's most trusted Han general, so they didn't try to stop him.
Suddenly, a large group of soldiers retreated from the city of Xi'an. Li Zicheng felt much less pressured, but upon closer inspection, it was clear that the troops who left were Wu Sangui's Han army. Only the Eight Banners and a small number of Han soldiers remained.
Li Zicheng immediately understood that it must be Wu Sangui who was withdrawing. But why would Wu Sangui withdraw? If anyone was going to leave, it would be Wu Sangui's subordinates, the Eight Banners Army, who would leave first. Could something have happened to the Jianlu camp?
It seemed like a rare opportunity! Li Zicheng immediately ordered his men to lead the cavalry out of the east gate and launch a surprise attack on the Jianlu camp.
By this time, the Jianlu camp was in chaos. The Gushan Ezhen, Jiala Ezhen, and Niulu Ezhen officers, all knowing their master had been murdered, were thrown into disarray. They didn't know what to do. Furthermore, according to regulations, their master was dead, and they hadn't fulfilled their duties, so returning home wouldn't guarantee their survival. So everyone was mulling over the question: Should they attack Xi'an and earn meritorious service while serving their sentence? Or should they escort Duoduo's body back to Beijing? Returning without any merit would mean certain death.
So after Wu Sangui withdrew his troops, the Eight Banners and the remaining Eight Banners of the Han Army organized a crazy attack on the north gate.
What a pity! They are all cavalry and elite armored soldiers. They are very good for field battles, but using them for sieges is a shame! It is also a huge waste!
The countless bodies left at the North Gate finally sobered the Eight Banners generals. The remaining Han generals, such as Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, and Geng Zhongming, were also uneasy. They had surrendered to the Jianlu relatively early, and their treatment and trust were better than those of Wu Sangui and Jiang Xiang. Therefore, even in this situation, they had no intention of rebelling against the Jianlu, only thinking about how to escape punishment.
The three of them were busy writing a memorial to Dorgon, explaining the matter. They tried their best not to get involved, but instead of waiting for Dorgon's wrath, they received news that Zhao Xiaofei's army was approaching Xi'an.
Zhao Xiaofei was also very fast, so he simply sent the tractor-modified chariot team out first. Due to the limitations of ancient transportation conditions, the tracked agricultural vehicles Zhao Xiaofei had purchased from modern society could only travel on major roads and flat roads. Smaller roads still required horse pulling.
Now the road ahead is basically flat, with no steep terrain around. This is the perfect time to use agricultural vehicles as tanks.
Zhao Xiaofei also wanted to emulate the German blitzkrieg tactics. He used chariots converted from farm vehicles to disperse the Eight Banners troops, and then the cavalry behind him would advance and fight for a while. Finally, the elite infantry would surround and strangle them.
Five hundred chariots rumbled into the battlefield, billowing black smoke. They were like sharp knives piercing the Jianlu formation, disrupting it.
What Zhao Xiaofei expected was that the Jianlu would launch a Don Quixote-like charge against his copycat tanks like the Poles, and they appeared at the first moment.
A large number of Jianlu cavalry, armed with sabers, spears, and maces, attacked Zhao Xiaofei's tanks.
Zhao Xiaofei's knockoff tank had a driver and three soldiers in the back compartment. One wielded a musket, firing at the enemy. Another was a crossbowman, using a Western steel crossbow with an effective range of 150 steps. The last wielded a spear, specifically for stabbing any enemy who tried to approach the tank.
Seeing these strange vehicles, the Jianlu soldiers thought the Ming army had recreated Zhuge Liang's wooden ox and flowing horse. They grabbed their weapons and charged. Unfortunately, their weapons were powerless to break these iron objects.
Most of the Jianlu cavalry were shot dead or knocked down by muskets and crossbows before they could even get close to the chariots, and were then crushed into meat patties by other chariots. Their flesh and blood were a mess, and they and their horses were crushed into meat paste and fragments.
However, there were also many who were very skilled in riding and had good luck. They avoided the musketeers' bullets and dodged the crossbow attacks, and came to the side of the chariot. With a slash of the musketeer's spear, he killed a musketeer. Another chariot soldier, seeing his brother sitting next to him dead, immediately took out the crossbow and fired a shot at the Jianlu. With one shot, the Jianlu fell off his horse.
A skilled Jianlu killed two soldiers on the chariot while running. The last soldier on the chariot picked up a spear and stabbed the Jianlu through with one blow.
The chariot soldiers of the Kenan Army were armed with armor-piercing spikes made of the finest materials. The three layers of armor on the elite soldiers of the Jianlu Army were a joke to the Kenan Army.
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