General Jackson frowned and covered Lieutenant Colonel Sargent's head with a piece of cloth.
"You only brought back one head?"
The translator was speechless, but Sargent's adjutant carefully explained: "There are too many barbarians, and they are overwhelming. If we stay there any longer, we may die there, so we can only bring Sargent back in a hurry." The Lieutenant Colonel's head."
Jackson repeated, "I'm asking, why did you only bring back one head?
Where are the murderer's heads? They are more savage than those brown-skinned bastards in the rain forest. These people should be executed without even a trial. ”
"With all due respect, General."
Count Sivir stepped forward and said, "You are just wasting your time by trying to reason with the barbarians. What we should do now is to launch a counterattack immediately and capture Jinmen before dark."
"I agree, Count Sivir."
Jackson turned his head and gave orders to everyone in a ruthless tone.
"Everyone go to the square and march!"
As the rumbling sound of cannons gradually approached, all the soldiers in Jinmen also gathered in the square.
Ye Tianpei has begun to abandon the barricades and gather soldiers.
The commander under his command was worried, "My lord, the square is undefendable. If we abandon these barricades and confront the foreigners, the battle will become more difficult."
"Isn't it hard enough now?"
Ye Tianpei glanced at him, "Now we are just waiting to be bombarded by cannons at the barricade. We are so useless. Instead of asking them to pull out the soldiers one by one as nails, why don't we concentrate our current troops and break through bit by bit? .”
"But..."
This commander was one of the few people who was determined to serve his country and was willing to die in Tianjin for this. However, he still had no confidence in this heroic tactic.
"However, our soldiers are not a group of warriors. As soon as they hear the sound of cannons, they will start to sweat. When they see the enemy's gun pointed at them, their legs will become weak. If the enemy has bayonets and charges us , then they will disperse in an instant
Can such soldiers really withstand the frontal impact of foreigners? There was no shelter in the square for them to hide themselves. ”
His worries are not unreasonable, and it is precisely this worry that shows that he is an experienced and meticulous person.
Ye Tianpei unexpectedly put his hand on the junior officer's shoulder. This was an action he had never done before, which made the commander feel uneasy.
However, Ye Tianpei was not angry, and just asked him: "Do you think the first person to escape on the battlefield is the officer or the soldier?"
The commander obviously hesitated for a moment, then nodded and said: "It's an officer. Because soldiers are numb and stupid people, they only follow orders.
Due to the extreme bloodshed and fatigue on the battlefield, they had already lost most of their minds. They only knew that they were fighting, but could not judge the trend of the battle at all. They did not know whether they were winning or losing, because everyone just wanted to survive.
But those of us who can truly see the situation clearly are our commanders and generals who stand tall and see far. ”
"That's right."
Ye Tianpei smiled and said: "So as long as I don't retreat, no one will retreat, and if I don't run away, there won't be so many people running away."
"But."
The commander lowered his head, stared at Ye Tianpei, and whispered: "Who are you?"
Ye Tianpei's smile seemed to freeze for a moment, but to outsiders there was no change at all.
He took his hand back and just smiled: "Is this important?"
The commander hesitated and shook his head, "It's not important, but it is important to guard Jinmen and save the millions of people behind us from catastrophe."
"Don't worry about who I am, but I want you to know that our purpose is the same, which is to guard Jinmen. On this point, you can trust me."
"Of course I can trust you."
There was also a smile on the commander's face, "Because if a person were not to resist the Eight-Nation Allied Forces, he would not pretend to be the General Soldier of the Gyeonggi Province at this time. The General Soldier of the Gyeonggi Province is the most dazzling light in Tianjin, with thousands of eyes staring at it. He, the foreign guns were also aimed at him
This is the most dangerous identity. If you are not careful, you will be shattered to pieces. ”
"Don't worry, I will stand until the last moment."
When the commander heard this, he bent down and clasped his fists: "The general is here to wait for orders."
Ye Tianpei did not make any unnecessary moves, and just said in a deep voice: "Give me the order, assemble the troops, arrange the left, center and right armies, and advance to the square. No unauthorized action is allowed without our military orders."
"My subordinates take orders!"
……
These few miles were very fast for the Eight-Nation Allied Forces, and it was the smoothest few miles of the day.
In fact, the square is not as open as the commander said. There are barriers on the square, which only reach a person's chest, enough to accommodate dozens of people shooting in a row. Between each barrier are A passage for several people to go out side by side.
Everyone is ready.
The first thing that appeared in their sight was the infantry in red shirts. They held guns in their hands and advanced in a neat queue like a wall.
"These people are soldiers from England." Ren Qi explained to the puzzled people.
Qin Lang was still confused, "I can only identify them by the color of their clothes. With all due respect, foreigners all look exactly the same to me."
"It doesn't matter, as long as you don't mistake the enemy or friend, after all, the Japanese are among them."
"Don't worry, Lord Qi."
Qin Lang made a gesture with his hand to put it on the ground, "Those carrot-headed people are not as high as a gun. I'm afraid that if I don't lower my head, I won't be able to see them."
His words made everyone laugh, which slightly relieved the tense atmosphere.
As the drums and trumpets of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces sounded, the Eight-Nation Allied Forces changed from a marching formation to a combat formation according to the original plan, and began to press towards the square.
"Do you still remember what I said before?" Ren Qi asked Chen Tianyou.
Chen Tianyou nodded, "I will never forget it even if I die. Don't worry, not a single gun will be fired until they get within fifty steps."
As he spoke, he waved his hand, directing the leaders of each route to stand in their respective positions, and commanding their own group of people.
At this time, the previously hidden musketeers had already stood in front, lining up close to the temporary parapets.
They crouched down and hid behind the parapet without revealing their figures.
Ren Qi, like the leaders, was still riding a horse.
It's just that he is further back than others, farther away from the guns.
When everyone moved forward according to their positions, a gray-haired old man approached Ren Qi.
"Brother Ren, do you still remember me?"
Ren Qi said bluntly: "I'm sorry, I have no impression."
"It doesn't matter."
The old man hesitated to speak, and finally whispered: "You killed my son."
Ren Qi's eyes widened and he was speechless for a moment.
"It doesn't matter, that happened a long time ago." The old man said. "But he is your son."
"But you are my brother now, aren't you?"
The old man patted him on the shoulder, "Actually, most of the people here have a grudge against you. We came to Jinmen just to kill you, so out of the ten people, seven are your enemies, and the other two are your enemies." I just want to become famous through you.”
"Where is the other one?" Ren Qi asked.
"There is another one who, like me, treats you as a brother. Brothers can't kill each other, can they?"
The old man suddenly let out a long sigh, "I don't know if this war has come at the right time. If it had come a few days later, I would have died by your sword by now.
And now I'm afraid I'm going to die too, because the foreigners are much stronger than us, but it seems like an honor to be able to fight alongside you at the last moment. ”
Ren Qi was silent for a long time, and finally said frankly: "If I were you, I wouldn't care what you did, but I will definitely take revenge."
"So none of us are you."
The old man shook the reins and drove the horse forward, "Just think that these are some of the old man's murmurs before he died, just talk nonsense."
Ren Qi nodded, "I will return it to you when we get to the underworld."
"Come on!"
The old man shook his hand, "For people like you, a piece of meat is not enough for each person, so what can you give in return?"
He gradually walked away, and the heroes followed him one after another, passing by Ren Qi one after another. Some nodded with Ren Qi, some held fists, and some just walked by with a cold face.
Most of them are well-known in the world, either leaders of a faction, or lone knights, and most of them are unknown people who have not yet made a name for themselves.
However, Ren Qi knew that none of these people were cowards.
The heroes of this generation in Kyushu will all shed their blood here.
As the artillery of the Eight-Nation Allied Forces roared, the dense marching drum beat was like a reminder, telling the Eight-Nation Allied Forces to move forward in a unified rhythm.
Ren Qi rode on his horse and watched the cannonballs fall into the square and into his own ranks.
Every cannonball would cause houses to collapse, parapets to collapse, and many men to die in an instant.
Like the sickle of death or the ox-cart plowing the fields, bloody ravines appeared in the square. People fell down in rows and rows, and then the people behind them took a step forward to fill in the gaps. queue.
However, everyone remained motionless, just standing like trees, letting the violent storm hit.
At one hundred and fifty steps, as orders were issued from the coalition camp, the Eight-Nation Alliance troops lined up and fired the first salvo at Ren Qi's side.
It sounded like the crackling of beans being fried, and it sounded like thunder.
The first to fall were the leaders on horseback. They were shot and fell off their horses one by one, and then the soldiers below were also shot and fell.
The people in the back row immediately filled in.
After firing a round of guns, urged by drumbeats, the Eight-Nation Allied Forces continued to move forward.
After marching a hundred steps, Ren Qi felt a few projectiles fly past his ears, making a reluctant scream as the second round of volley fired.
After the third round of volleys, the coalition's gun array was actually no longer neat.
They were shooting while marching, and their accuracy and discipline in shooting had dropped a lot, and they were no longer as terrifying as before.
Everyone was still suffering casualties in silence, waiting for the opportunity to counterattack.
This is very unbearable and painful.
When Ren Qi witnessed Qin Lang being shot through the chest with a musket and falling from his horse, although the veins in his hands swelled in an instant, he still suppressed his anger and just waited for the Eight-Nation Allied Forces to move forward.
Seventy steps later, the artillery had temporarily stopped in order not to accidentally injure friendly troops.
Ren Qi raised his hand slightly. On the other side, Chen Tianyou also looked at him nervously and raised his hand with him, just waiting for the order to be given.
This moment seemed as long as a century. Although bullets kept flying past him and landing at Ren Qi's feet, his hand remained motionless.
Sixty steps later, an officer in the Eight-Nation Allied Forces saw Ren Qi's face through the smoke and recognized him as his enemy, Sargent's murderer. Therefore, he began to call on the soldiers around him to aim their guns at him.
Fifty steps later, blood splattered on Ren Qi's face, and a projectile flew past his cheekbone.
As Ren Qi's hand made of iron and steel fell, Chen Tianyou immediately shouted.
"Fire!"
"Fire!!"
"Fire!!!"
One by one, the musketeers emerged from behind the breastworks and from behind the brothers blocking them, raising their guns and aiming at the Eight-Nation Allied Forces.
The Eight-Nation Allied Forces were obviously stunned for a moment, and their minds went blank for a moment.
As Chen Tianyou roared again, flames and smoke erupted from the black muzzles of thousands of muskets.
With a clean volley, nearly 800 coalition soldiers fell in an instant.
Blood almost came out of Ren Qi's eyes. He suddenly pulled out his sword and shouted an order that shocked the whole Jinmen in his usually hoarse and gloomy voice.
"Kill!"
"Kill!!"
On the square, there was thunderous killing, and everyone picked up the weapons at hand and rushed toward the coalition forces.
The coalition officers maintained their remaining sanity and directed the soldiers to fight back. They kept shooting at the brave soldiers, causing row after row of people to fall on the charging road.
However, they soon discovered that the terrifying waves formed by the anger were crossing the embankment and pouring down on their heads.
What awaits them is complete disaster.
Jackson's eyes were filled with tears and he hurriedly ordered everyone to retreat.
At this moment, Ren Qi took out a bow from nowhere.
This is a weapon that has lagged behind the times. Even the strongest warrior in the court is proud to be good at using muskets.
However, Ren Qi just took an arrow from the side with an expressionless face and set it on fire.
As Ren Qi drew the bow string, a crackling sound was transmitted from his muscles along his arm to the bow, as if the bow was being torn apart.
Bang!
Ren Qi let go of the bowstring, and the rocket flew across the sky, over everyone's heads, and fell into the jade tower in the distance.
It was a shot of more than three hundred paces, and the sound was louder than any musket.
After the fire disappeared in the jade tower, a pillar of flame rose into the sky.
As the Jade Tower collapsed, igniting nearby streets and residences, General Jackson discovered to his horror that the retreat path of the Eight-Power Allied Forces had been completely covered in flames and blocked.
They have no retreat! (End of chapter)