The Jurchen cavalry was well known for their toughness. Under Huang Taiji's encouragement, the slight psychological fluctuations that had just occurred disappeared in an instant.
"Kill..." the Jurchen army roared and continued to rush towards Ningyuan City.
On the city wall, the Ming army's crossbowmen had already set their bows and arrows, waiting for the Jurchen cavalry to rush within the range of the arrows. Suddenly, the sound of horns came from the center of the city, and the Ming army's crossbowmen raised their bows and crossbows high.
"Flying Arrow Array!"
As this angry order was issued, there was the sound of bow strings being tightened, and then the sound of swishing arrows continued to sound.
In the sky, the black arrows drew a perfect parabola and stabbed at the Jurchen cavalry charging at the front.
The Jurchen cavalry were also on guard. They raised the wooden shields they carried with them in an attempt to block the flying arrows, but unfortunately there were too many arrows, and their directions were not completely fixed. They often blocked their heads and body defenses. Unable to control himself, he guarded his body and was hit by another arrow in his lower limbs. What made the Jurchen cavalry even more frightened was that... just after one round fell, another round followed.
After several rounds of volley fire, the Jurchen cavalry rushing at the front lost nearly 200 people (not counting horses).
Even so, these Jurchen cavalry still charged forward fearlessly. Their companions around them fell one by one, but they seemed not to notice.
Yuan Chonghuan stood on the city wall, overlooking the battle situation. Although the three Hongyi cannons caught the Jurchen army by surprise, there were too many of them and they could not finish the fight.
The Jurchen cavalry who were charging at the front suddenly turned back when they were about to rush to the city.
Yuan Chonghuan patted his thigh and asked doubtfully: "What's going on?"
Ma Xiaoquan took a simple "telescope" he had just made [actually a paper tube], looked at it and said: "No, Nurhachi is on the march."
The martyrs are a unique unit of the Jurchen Army. Although they lack mobility, their defensive power is very high. The martyrs are composed of armored soldiers and marquee carts. The soldiers push the marquee carts, and the marquee carts provide shelter to the soldiers.
The crossbowmen on the city wall were still shooting arrows vigorously, but due to the sudden formation of the Jurchen army, almost all the arrows fired had no effect.
A group of twenty Jurchen martyrs pushed a huge cart. On the roof of the cart were thick defensive wooden boards. The wooden boards were wrapped in cowhide and arrows could not penetrate at all.
Seeing this, Yuan Chonghuan quickly ordered: "Stop the flying arrow array, rocket sky attack, switch to rocket sky attack!"
At the command, the Ming army's crossbowmen put down the ordinary arrows they had just prepared to string, and instead used rocket arrows dipped in kerosene.
Then, dots of fire appeared on the city wall, and then there were continuous fires, all shooting towards the Jurchen soldiers.
The sound of "swish, swish, swish..." continued to sound, and the rockets soaked in kerosene and with burning arrow heads roared towards the Jurchen soldiers.
The Jurchen garrison troops cleverly hid under the garrison cart. No matter how "bang bang bang..." the incoming rockets fired, not a single garrison soldier was injured.
What made Yuan Chonghuan depressed was that he thought that the rocket soaked in kerosene could light the cowhide on the cart. In fact, it did not work at all. The cowhide was too thick and could not be penetrated by the rocket, so it could not be ignited.
When Yuan Chonghuan saw this, he immediately ordered to stop shooting.
"Is the Hongyi Cannon ready?"
"Report to the general, hurry up, it's almost ready~~"
Yuan Chonghuan gritted his teeth anxiously, but he had no choice. Although the Hongyi cannon was powerful, it took a long time to reload and fire each shell.
Sun Yuanhua once calculated that if a cannon fired continuously a day, it could only fire at most twenty rounds.
Ma Xiaoquan said: "Brother Yuan, use the Hongyi cannon to hit the carriage, don't let them get close, don't let them get close!"
Yuan Chonghuan nodded and said: "There are five cannons in each of the five directions on the main city wall. Nurhachi has not decided on the main attack direction at this moment, so he can temporarily push the cannons over!" At this point, Yuan Chonghuan ordered that the four cannons be launched from the southeast, northwest and northwest walls.
Go up, mobilize the four cannons in time, and concentrate them in the center."
Yuan Chonghuan stood in front of a cannon with high spirits, spat at his mouth and said, "Hit me hard~"
"Yes~"
The five Hongyi cannons on the main city wall all turned their muzzles and pointed their sights at the charging cart at the front. They made five loud bangs in a row, and the huge shells (actually large ones)
The iron ball roared and hit the Jurchen carriage.
"Boom..." A shell hit a carriage first. The carriage, which could have perfectly defended itself against rockets and arrows, collapsed and fell apart with a "crash" sound after being hit.
More than a dozen of the soldiers who were sent down were crushed to death because they had no time to escape. The scene was horrific.
It's just that... the reloading speed of the Hongyi cannon is too slow. It's impossible to destroy just five launch vehicles. There are dozens of launch vehicles behind them, rushing towards Ningyuan City in a mighty way, like...
Like a pack of wolves, they surround and kill the lambs they are targeting.
On the east wall of Ningyuan City, Commander-in-Chief Mangui gritted his teeth when he saw the dark carriage, and cursed: "What a fool, guard it for me. If anyone gives in, I will kill his whole family!"
On the south wall, Zu Dashou also gave the same order.
On the west wall and the north wall, two generals, Zhu Fu and Zhu Mei, had already fought with the Jurchen army that was rushing towards them. They also saw the Jurchen army's carriages, and both of them tacitly issued a hold order.
No matter what, Ningyuan City must not be lost. If it is lost, everyone will be done with it.
...
Nurhaci didn't seem to care about the loss of a few carriages. He laughed, pointed ahead and said: "A few small cannons are so arrogant. Send the order and use the crossbow."
As the name suggests, the foot-bow crossbow is a weapon in which a soldier lies down half-lying, pedals a huge crossbow with both feet, and uses a spear or a spear as an arrow to launch it with force. This weapon is considered a heavy weapon in the cold weapon era and is mainly used for offensive purposes.
Used in city or long-range positional warfare.
Hundreds of strong Jurchen soldiers lined up in order, each of them carrying a crossbow that was almost as high as them.
After the order was given, hundreds of Jurchen crossbowmen half-lyed on the ground, with their feet in the air, and they kicked hard on both sides of the crossbow. The next moment, another group of Jurchen crossbowmen standing beside them,
The spear is placed on the crossbow at the foot arch.
The crossbowman hooks the bow string with the help of a short hook and pulls the bow string into his hand. Then he pulls the bow string with both hands and exerts force with his feet again.
The bowstring was fully pulled, making a "buzzing buzzing..." sound. After another command, the crossbowmen let go in unison, and an arrow array composed of hundreds of spears and spears fired in unison.