Chapter 161: Attack

The batch of equipment in Zhang Deqing's mind was the new creation developed by Manager Jin, who had officially been promoted to the Minister of Works, along with his subordinate craftsmen. The function of this device was actually quite similar to the modern tripwire landmine. It was also triggered by a tripwire, and once triggered, the gunpowder hidden inside the mine would be ignited. While producing a loud explosion, it would shatter the inner compartment containing kerosene within the mine and ignite the kerosene. After the kerosene deflagrated, the remaining unburned kerosene would be sprayed out from the mouth of the mine and ignited while still in the air.

In other words, once this type of tripwire mine was triggered, it could form a fountain of fire. Moreover, after Manager Jin added some other small seasoning ingredients into it, the kerosene could burn brighter and also burn longer. Because the troops under Li Wenyuan's command were currently stationed in three different directions, the largest and most combat-effective force among them was the western route stationed on the Western Turkic battlefield; the remaining two locations were the Wuwei Commandery direction and the Great Wall defense line direction. These tripwire mines, which could not be used for offense but only for defense and early warning purposes, were respectively sent by Li Wenyuan to the Great Wall defense line and the Wuwei Commandery defense line for corresponding testing.

This time, Zhang Deqing happened to witness the battlefield debut of this equipment. Upon returning to the command post, Zhang Deqing wrote an official dispatch in his own hand, stating to Li Wenyuan that this new weapon could provide more security for the city-defending troops at night. He also felt that when the army camped in the field, this equipment could also be used to guard the barracks and prevent enemy night raids. After finishing the official dispatch, he sent someone to deliver it overnight to Dunhuang Commandery. Having finished dealing with this, Zhang Deqing felt somewhat tired. So, after confirming that the on-duty staff officer was still holding his post and handling the affairs of the defense line, he returned to his quarters in the command post, lay down on the couch fully clothed, and awaited the attack of the Turks the next day.

In the blink of an eye, the night passed. Just as day was breaking the next day, Zhang Deqing was awakened by a loud noise coming from north of the Great Wall. At this moment, his brain had just awakened from sleep, and before he even had time to react to what had happened, the door was pushed open by a staff officer. Subsequently, a staff officer rushed into the room and said to Zhang Deqing, "General, the Turks are attacking the city!"

By this time, alarm bells were already ringing wildly all along the Great Wall defense line. Startled by the sound triggered by the tripwire mines buried outside the city, the sentries stuck their heads out of the battlements one after another, looking toward the northern sector of the city. As far as the eye could see, it was a dense, dark sea of people. Unlike last night's raid, this time the Turks were truly raising an army to attack the city.

Thus, the sentries pulled the ropes beside them, the other ends of which led to the alarm bells in the watchtowers atop the city. For a time, the sound of alarm bells echoed across the entire Great Wall. Soldiers resting in the watchtowers were awakened by the sound of the alarms. They hurriedly put on their armor and returned to their designated positions on the Great Wall, grasping their weapons tightly in their hands as they looked nervously at the Turks coming to attack the city from outside.

At this moment, Zhang Deqing was still inside the command post listening to the staff officers report on the conditions of each section of the city defense, and he did not rush to the Great Wall defense line in the first instance. Right now, the military commanders of each defending unit along the Great Wall were handling the emergency situation before them independently, under the coordination of the duty staff officer on the Great Wall defense line. Under the command of the staff officer on duty, all the powerful bows and rigid crossbows on the city wall successively opened fire on the attacking Turks. Arrows rained down like a storm for a time, and the charging Turks under the city were struck by arrows and fell one after another, suffering heavy casualties.

Under normal circumstances, these Turks might have retreated and reorganized for the next attack. But for some reason, this time the Turks ignored the massive casualties as if nothing were happening, and still charged fearlessly toward the Great Wall defense line. Some units carrying scaling ladders were shot down in their entirety, and the scaling ladders dropped right onto their corpses. The Turkic units rushing up from behind did not hesitate at all to pick up the scaling ladders, hoist them directly onto their shoulders, and continue their assault on the Great Wall defense line.

The corpses of the Turks almost paved the road of their charge, and the Turks charging behind practically stepped over the bodies of their comrades who had been previously shot dead by the Great Wall defenders to continue their charge forward. It must be said that this strategy of human-wave charges was extremely effective in the age of cold weapons. At this point, having lost a portion of their scaling manpower, the Turks finally hooked the scaling ladders onto the battlements of the Great Wall. Subsequently, under the cover of Turkic archers and crossbowmen below the city, the Turkic troops began their city-scaling operations.

Although the Turks had already hooked the scaling ladders onto the city battlements by this time, the Great Wall garrison soldiers did not show the slightest bit of panic. First, because they were all veteran soldiers who had been stationed at the Great Wall for at least ten years—while calling them battle-hardened veterans might be an exaggeration, at the very least every single soldier had experienced more than a dozen battles; second, because this kind of situation had already been encountered during their intensive training, and they had long since prepared a complete set of countermeasures.

At this moment, a portion of the Great Wall garrison soldiers near the scaling ladders on the city wall put down the bows and crossbows in their hands, and erected wooden-roofed sheds at the spots where the scaling ladders were mounted to fend off the arrows shot upward by the Turkic troops below the city. Then, they picked up the firearms beside them, leaned their bodies out of the battlements, aimed their firearms at the Turks climbing up the ladders, and opened fire without hesitation.

For the convenience of climbing, the Turks were currently carrying only light wooden shields designed solely to defend against arrow fire. These wooden shields could only protect against arrows shot from the city battlements, and could even be smashed open if a rolling stone hit them with moderate accuracy, let alone firearms capable of piercing armor.

For a time, thick black smoke rose on the Great Wall, and the sound of gunfire shook the air. The Turks climbing up the ladders were struck by bullets one after another and fell backward off the ladders, crashing to the ground with their fates unknown. Although these flintlock firearms had a relatively long reloading time, the Turks could only use the scaling ladders already hooked onto the city battlements as their sole path to ascend the city. Therefore, as long as five, ten, or twenty people blocked a scaling ladder and fired in rotation, they could ensure an uninterrupted stream of firepower. Coupled with the cover of the wooden-roofed sheds, the damage that the crossbowmen covering the Turkic ascent below the city could inflict upon the city defenders was extremely limited.

The attacking Turkic troops below the city were clearly intimidated by this unprecedented weapon, and for a moment the pace of their city assault slowed down. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the defenders on the wall used battering poles to successively overturn several scaling ladders that had already hooked onto the battlements, pushing them down to the ground along with the Turks on the ladders.

For a moment, the Turkic army attacking the Great Wall found themselves in a dilemma of neither being able to advance nor retreat.