Chapter 59

The second leader looked at the hundreds of local militia who had cut off their retreat, feeling an overwhelming sense of regret. If he had known these officials would be so difficult to deal with, he would never have come down the mountain on his own initiative. He had originally planned to take advantage of the first leader's absence to pull off a grand heist, but now it seemed he might lose his life.

The reinforcements from the rear were even more numerous, at least three to four hundred men, and on both flanks were over a hundred cavalry each. These were not the cowards who had fled in panic earlier. From their neat and steady steps, he knew they were definitely the elite troops of the official army.

Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!

Three loud shouts, and the shield bearers at the front of the Baosheng Fort militia's main battalion slammed their large shields into the ground, halting the advance. The original column formation quickly spread out into a line.

Behind the row of shields, there were numerous matchlock muskets.

The Baosheng Fort main battalion's musket team consisted of ten squads, a total of 120 men, the backbone of the battalion, the elite of the elite. Each man was equipped with an advanced matchlock musket, and each musketeer had at least worn out ten barrels.

Compared to Liu Jun's newly formed unit of just over a month, Mei Zhihuan's musketeers were truly the real deal.

"Aim!" shouted the flag captain, who carried a flag on his back. The 120 musketeers behind the shields completed their loading and began to aim.

The second leader, seeing the rows of black barrels, felt a chill run through his soul. Just a few dozen muskets had caused them to collapse earlier, and now over a hundred were coming at them. Would they not be obliterated? He tried to comfort himself, thinking that these must be the elite of the elite, the best of the best, and surely not as formidable as the previous ones.

As he was still trying to reassure himself, a series of explosions rang out from the opposite side, and a cloud of white smoke rose. Then, his comrades began to fall one by one, screaming in agony.

In an instant, the second leader estimated that at least ten of his men had fallen.

"Damn, those musketeers!" The second leader's heart quaked. He realized that these newly fired musketeers were even more experienced than the previous ones.

At least a hundred paces away, the official army's muskets had felled over a dozen of his men in one volley, and he noticed that not a single musket had misfired. The fact that the official army's muskets did not misfire was highly unusual. Moreover, their aim was incredibly accurate!

Another series of explosions rang out, and three more of his men fell. He didn't even need to turn around to know that more of his men had fallen behind him.

Miraculously, the second leader was not hit in the two rounds of musket fire, but he had no time to celebrate. Just a moment later, another series of explosions came from the official army's shield line, and more of his men fell.

One man was hit in the chin by a lead ball, and his entire jaw was shattered. This man was actually lucky, as it was not a fatal wound. He was left with a shattered jaw, bleeding profusely, and could not utter a single coherent word, his appearance terrifying.

"Charge! Damn it, brothers who don't want to die, follow me!"

At this point, the over a hundred bandits who had come down the mountain were reduced to less than half. Initially, they had killed a group of military households, causing them to cry out in fear, but after that, they were left in a situation where they could only take blows and not retaliate. The official army's firearms were terrifyingly sharp, numerous, and deadly. Especially those large muskets, which were fatal upon impact.

Everyone was in despair, but it was precisely in this hopeless despair that the bandits were driven to their last stand, becoming even more ferocious.

However, the Baosheng Fort militia's main battalion paid no attention to their ferocity. The battalion had already transformed from a column formation based on the Mandarin Duck Formation to a line formation, with a shield wall at the front, followed by archers, hook gunners, and musketeers. Behind them was a row of heavy artillery, including swivel guns, tiger crouch cannons, and even two 300-pound bronze cannons. Mei Zhihuan had led this unit to suppress bandits throughout the region, and the major bandit groups had been largely eliminated.

This militia was highly disciplined and did not take the remaining forty to fifty bandits seriously.

A trumpet sounded, and the front row of shield bearers took a large step forward, slamming their shields into the ground, and shouted in unison, "Tiger!"

They took another step forward and shouted again, "Tiger!"

"Tiger!" for the third step forward.

The entire battalion seemed to be lifted to the highest morale with these three steps and three shouts.

The brothers Lu Yuansun and Lu Yuanrang shouted in the ranks, "Advance! Retreat means death!"

The dozens of bandits, making a desperate last stand, finally reached the front of the formation. The first to greet them was a wave of arrows from the rear of the formation.

About a third of the battalion was equipped with bows, and over a hundred bows fired three arrows each, raining down like a storm.

Over a dozen bandits fell in the desperate charge.

After firing three arrows, the militia put down their bows and picked up various close-combat weapons, including sabers, two-handed long blades, spears, hook guns, tridents, and clubs.

Zhao Cheng, watching the remaining dozens of bandits, looked much more relaxed. However, he said to Mei Zhihuan with some regret, "Sir Mei, why not let the cavalry flank and crush the remaining bandits?"

"The cavalry is more for mobility, support, and pursuit, and for protecting the main force and flanking the enemy. The cavalry is precious, so we must rely on the infantry to eliminate the bandits. With only a few dozen bandits left, there's no need to use the cavalry." Mei Zhihuan trained the militia with strict discipline. Although he had cavalry and artillery, these were his trump cards, and he would not use them lightly. In this situation, he would let the infantry handle it, which would also enhance their combat skills in real combat.

The cavalry remained on the flanks of the infantry, not engaging.

The bandits had already reached the front of the formation, and the spear bearers behind the shield wall shouted and thrust out a row of long bamboo spears. These bamboo spears were a unique weapon of southern armies, made from the local bamboo, each over ten feet long. The dry bamboo spears were lighter than wooden spears but more durable and better at withstanding cuts. They were also cheaper to produce, as bamboo was abundant in the south.

Dozens of bamboo spears suddenly thrust out, and the bloodthirsty bandits, unable to stop in time, were like they had deliberately run into a thicket of thorns that suddenly bloomed on the shield wall.

The sound of bamboo spears piercing flesh echoed, and the sharp spears brutally pierced the chests of the charging bandits, instantly killing five or six.

Liu Jun watched through his telescope, amazed by the calm and strength of the spear bearers. His own troops could use long-range firepower to break weaker opponents in the early stages of combat, but for close-quarters combat, he truly admired the strength of the other side.

The bamboo spears were much longer than ordinary wooden spears. Even if the bandits also had wooden spears, there was still a distance of at least one person's length between the two types of spears.

They were impaled on the bamboo spears, but their wooden spears were still several feet away from the spear bearers behind the shield wall.

They died without being able to reach the spear bearers.

A few bandits, not yet dead, clung to the spear shafts with their hands, preventing the spear bearers from pulling them back. The bandits behind them seized the opportunity to rush forward, trying to break through the shield wall. The longer the weapon, the more vulnerable it was to close combat.

For the spear bearers, distance was both an advantage and a disadvantage. If they could maintain a certain distance, they were invincible, but if the distance was breached, their long spears became ineffective, and they had to draw their sabers or short swords to fight.

However, the Baosheng Fort spear bearers did not panic when the bandits tried to close in.

Next to the spear bearers were the shield and saber bearers. They were both the shield for the spear bearers and their close-combat protectors. The bandits had no time to celebrate, as the shield and saber bearers behind the shields swung their sabers and fiercely slashed at the approaching bandits.

One bandit, having narrowly avoided a spear, rushed to the shield wall and was immediately struck by a saber from above. He raised his weapon to block, but a hook gun thrust out from behind the shield and hooked his leg.

A sharp pain shot through him as his foot was pulled inward, his ankle severely injured and bleeding profusely. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. The saber bearer took the opportunity to strike again, and this time the bandit was powerless to resist. The saber cut through his neck, severing half of it, and he died instantly, blood gushing out.

The bandits' desperate struggle was indeed fierce, but against the skilled and coordinated combat of the Baosheng Fort militia, they were killed one by one in front of the shield wall.

"This is the difference between bandits and the army. Even local militia, when well-trained and using formations and coordination, can defeat fierce and stubborn bandits." Liu Jun watched the remaining bandits make a suicidal charge and be cut down one by one by the militia, and he sighed to the officers of the Nine-Headed Bird watching with him.

"One-on-one, those militia might not be a match for these fierce bandits, but when they fight in formation, the bandits are powerless. Why? Coordination. The army relies on coordination to leverage the strength of the whole, not on individual bravery. No matter how brave an individual is, they are nothing against the collective strength of the army. Remember this."

In the end, the remaining dozen bandits completely broke down, kneeling before the shield wall and raising their hands in surrender. However, they were met with the merciless spears of the spear bearers!

"The military commissioner has ordered that the thousand-household Zhu Chong be allowed to atone for his sins by leading his troops as the vanguard to immediately attack the stronghold gate!"

One of Zhao Cheng's retainers rushed to Zhu Chong and loudly conveyed the new order. Zhu Chong's face darkened even more. He had just finished counting and found that out of his fifty retainers and 150 military households, 37 military households and 2 retainers had been lost in the previous battle. Four of them were killed by the Baosheng Fort militia, resulting in a total loss of 39 men, while his own achievements were only two kills and one wound.

Losing 37 military households meant losing 37 tenant farmers, and the death of two retainers, whom he had spent a fortune to maintain, left him in deep pain. He was also worried about the consequences of the collapse of his forces.

Now, hearing that he was allowed to atone for his sins, he felt a slight relief, but immediately began to worry about another defeat or further casualties among his men, his fat face filled with pain.