“Amateurs. They have absolutely no clue how to properly conduct battle!” spat General Jin as he observed the devastation falling on the incoming enemy. Like a well-oiled and synchronized machine, the Ming divisions prepared to meet them with standard procedure. The hand gunners stepped forward in volley formation. The first line crouched beneath the second line with their weapons ready to fire. As the charging Shan Gui foot soldiers came within range, the gunners unleashed their first, second, and third volleys consecutively with devastating effect. The enemy’s shields had failed to block the storm of scattering rounds, and were shredded from head to toe by the synchronized fire of the Ming troops. Hundreds fell to the bullet storm even as others stumbled over the bodies that already lay scattered over the battlefield. Next, the archers stepped forward, nocked, drew, and loosed the arrows upon command. The Shan Gui raised circular shields and blocked the rain of arrows that fell on them. Only some had managed to pierce through openings and land on target. Again, the archers loosed their arrows but had only achieved the same end.
In predictable fashion, the gunners retreated behind the spear and sword infantry, and prepared for hand to hand combat alongside the archers. The enemy was closing fast and they drew their unique weapons for a head-on collision. Moments before the two armies would finally clash, the Shan Gui foot soldiers unexpectedly parted directions and had completely avoided combat altogether. On all sides of the capital city’s outer circumference, they split to a completely different formation as if to make way for some other unit. Down the “path” they had created, hordes of large beasts the size of oxen with the horns of an antelope and the head of a lion came charging toward the Ming with great speed. It was largely encased with armor and had large iron plows attached to its muzzle and face.
The Shan Gui charge served only as a mask for the incoming, otherworldly beasts, and it was too late by the time General He Jin had made the realization. “What the – Nian?? That’s Impossible!” spat General Jin, who was completely surprised at the beasts’ existence more than the charge itself. There was no time for guns and cannons to take it down and before the infantry could properly react, they mowed through the Ming army’s formations, knocking them down and tossing them aside like they were a swarm of cockroaches. The foreign beast roared and groaned as their heavy hooves shook the ground. Dust flew from underneath them, and they continued to plow through the troops and accelerated toward the capital’s main city gates.
“They’re trying to break through the city gates! Stop them! Take them down!” said the General. Field commanders and captains all over the field echoed the order. Archers and gunners fired at will, trying to bring down the many beasts that stampeded through them. Arrows harmlessly pinged off their armors or harmlessly pierced its outer surface. Bullets punctured through into the beast but were not nearly enough to halt or slow their advance. The Ming cavalry chased after them with their horses in full gallop as they attempted to skewer and impale the beasts with their polearms and spears. Many of the mounted warriors were shoved aside and trampled upon by the superior weight and power of the Nian. Arrows and polearms riddled its body until they closely resembled giant porcupines with horns. Scores of the creatures on all sides of the capital closed in on the large city gates. Eight li soon became seven which soon became six. All efforts to halt the creatures were useless. Mounted commandos charged at the much heavier and more muscular beasts but the collision only proved fatal for the horses, and the warriors who mounted them were left crashing into the dirt.
Several cannons mounted on the city walls fired at the beasts. One round managed to land squarely into one, causing the creature to stumble and crash-land into its own shredded torso. The other cannon balls served to disorient two others, merely cutting their momentum with the impact and kicked-up dust. However, the juggernaut creatures could not be stopped. The rest of the beasts were not deterred by the crashing cannon balls around them. They rapidly closed the distance to the city gates, and toppled over many of the heavy field cannons in the process. They lowered their heads and rammed their horns full force onto the sealed gates. The large wooden barriers bent, buckled, and splintered with the impact. The second beast rammed it again, this time toppling them down and leaving the entrance to the city completely open for siege. The creatures continued their rampage well into the streets and relentlessly rammed and trampled many of the soldiers who were unfortunate enough to have been standing in their way. Those who thought they could stop the creatures suffered the same fate.
The soldiers of the Shan Gui took advantage of the chaos caused by the nian and advanced through the ‘trail’ the monsters blazed through the Ming troops in order to penetrate their formations and take the fight into the city blocks. General Jin and the soldiers in his command struggled to recover from the blow and keep the enemy forces at bay. The second detachment of Shan Gui advanced toward the battle to take advantage of the chaos. They all clashed with the Ming full force and the sound of steel hitting steel filled the air. With discipline, the Ming held their ground and fought back according to their training, but none could deny that they were already exhausted from the previous battle.
The Shan Gui fought completely unorthodox, wielding many unique weapons both large and small at the Ming soldiers. They were stronger and faster not only because of their freshness in the battle, but also due to the enhancing effects of the Terukk elixir with which they have been treated. Despite a courageous and admirable effort, the Ming troops struggled greatly against the Shan Gui who seemed tireless and remarkably well prepared for the fight. Many fought acrobatically, using their superior agility and speed to overwhelm their Ming fighting formations and avoid the long spears of the light infantry.
Many had locked into full hand to hand combat, and grappled and wrestled on the ground. Years of strength and combat training in the army were barely enough to contest the enhanced physical abilities of the Shan Gui. Little by little, the Ming troops were becoming overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the attack. Though they stood toe to toe, the Shan Gui was gaining the upper hand. General Jin and his detachment of mounted armored commandos charged through the ranks of Shan Gui. They circled around the sides and the rear, impaling many with lances and spears and picking off dozens at a time through their masterful archery and marksmanship. For a time, it appeared as if it was making enough difference to turn the tide.
Companies of mounted Crimson Moon agents clad in long tattered black cloaks and ominous cowls came to meet General Jin’s commandos. They charged with a V-shaped formation, spinning chained sickles and scythes in the air as they made their approach. General Jin did the same. It was the first time he had ever experienced engaging enemies from a martial secret society on the battlefield. One hundred commandos raised their bows and launched a salvo or barbed arrows at the incoming Crimson Moon cavalry. None of the projectiles made their target as they were slashed away by fast spinning blades of the enemy. They holstered their bows and raised their spears and lances for a joust. Other lower ranking generals in the battlefield looked to General Jin and his commandos to bear witness to their collision with the enemy.
The spears and lances locked on target and impaled many of the Crimson Moon agents. The sickles and scythes did their damage as well. Piercing and hooking the heavy commandos through their armors. The blows that glanced off the armor dismounted many of the riders. Those who fell to the ground were locked in full hand to hand combat. Long swords, broadswords, halberds, and glaives were drawn and brought to the ready as the commandos attacked the Crimson Moon on foot. Those that survived to remain on their mounts circled around for another charge. The results were the same, but the fighting on the ground proved to be in favor of the commando units. Their strong armor served to deflect and dampen the bladed attacks of the Crimson Moon agents who were clad in nothing more than thick robes and leather vests. Superior weapons and equipment proved to be the deciding factor for victory in open combat. The commandos utilized a
combination of kicks and punches along with their weapons techniques.
The leading officer of the commandos who sported a fearsome bronze war mask and a red tassel upon his helmet was particularly aggressive. With his spear, he spun around and stabbed or impaled the Crimson Moon fighters from multiple positions and angles. In a blur of speed, the commando landed a bone crushing round house kick into the head of the first fighter and finished him off with the spear sinking into his chest. He then turned and engaged the others without hesitation, twirling and spinning his spear against the weapons of two enemies simultaneously. He cut across the neck of the first, and then swept the second of his feet with the spear’s back end. Again, the downward thrust of the spear served to neutralize him permanently.
He tucked away the spear and began using lightning-fast punches and kicks that knocked down and incapacitated the Crimson Moon fighters with single blows. He was careful to throw the full weight of his body with each strike using low stances and full hip rotation. The Crimson Moon fighters could not provide an answer for his martial arts abilities, and began to pull back away from the commando officer. He charged at them anyway, sprinting into the nearest fighter and smashing him into the ground. He then continued to be on the offensive with wheel kicks, spinning back kicks, and furious boxing combinations even as the enemies’ weapons grazed or prodded against his armor. The other commandos followed his example.
Realizing that they did not have the advantage against highly-trained commandos, the Crimson Moon agents stopped simultaneously, leaped backward and formed up in a line. In unison, they performed a martial taolu, and like a callisthenic exercise that resembled a dance, they assumed a different approach to the fight. They centered their internal energy through the forms and breathing exercises while the commandos looked to them in confusion, wondering whether or not to attack and disrupt whatever it was they were attempting.
Battle raged all around them, but the two opposing sides continued to stare each other down for a second round. Unexpectedly, the remaining Crimson Moon agents fought with renewed strength and ability, knocking down some of the commandos and landing fatal blows with little effort, somehow empowered by their legendary abilities to wield internal ‘qi’ energy. Even the commando officer was forced to pull back with his comrades. General Jin took notice of the sudden shift in their advantage.
He barked several coded orders to the commandos, and immediately, they too stepped back from the fight and created distance from the Crimson Moon warriors. They sheathed and tucked away their weapons, to the confusion of the enemy. Out from holsters on their backs, they revealed small hand cannons. Upon attempting to strike a light on a length of fuse, the Crimson Moon fighters had realized what they were attempting to do, and charged to attack before they could finish. Just before they could get within arm’s reach, the commandos, pointed the hand guns, took aim, and lit the touch holes by squeezing a serpentine lever. Every single one of the Crimson Moon fighters who faced them died instantly from the barrage of high caliber lead rounds, leaving only the commandos standing amidst a fog of smoke oozing from the barrels of their weapons, and with the wind blowing through their bright red and white capes.
For the rest of the Ming army, the battle continued to rage more fiercely than ever. Many on both sides perished from the bloody onslaught, but it was the Ming who suffered most dearly. Long Shen continued to fight alongside his brethren. His armor was already torn and tattered, with many of the metal scales dangling off his cuirass’ frame by mere threads. He was covered in blood, cuts, and bruises, and had lost half of his third finger from fighting just one of the Shan Gui. It was only through some ‘luck’ and a near-impossible opportunity that he had managed to defeat him. Several explosions detonated all around the battlefield; from whence they came he could not decipher. One went off a mere stone’s throw from his position, and the blinding flash and the deafening blast had knocked him off his feet, and sent him crashing to the ground. It was the last thing he saw, felt, and heard before darkness and silence overtook him.
Deep within the Outer City district, a herd of nian continued to bring chaos and mayhem to the people. Guards have failed to bring down just one of the beasts with hand weapons alone. Martial Academicians arrived at the scene leading squads of Ming troops sprinting down the city blocks. “We must lure them away from the people!” said the Academicians. “Round them up in the city squares!”
Through a combined effort, the Academicians and the Ming troops used hit-and-run tactics and guerilla style harassment to lure the beasts into open spaces and large courtyard expanses. Many civilians and soldiers had died from the process. The armor, thick hide, and sheer bulk of the oversized monsters were simply too much to overcome. They destroyed many buildings, set fires to homes, and delivered death and destruction to the citizens.
One by one, the Ming army and the Academicians who moved on the city’s rooftops firing crossbows, lured the beasts to open spaces where they were ultimately surrounded and locked in. Several of the troops lit bundles of firecrackers and tossed them all around the beast. The noise and smoke cause great distress and confusion for the nian. It circled around and around to seek an exit but was only met by ear-piercing firecrackers at every turn. At the squares’ center the Academicians rolled barrels and boxes packed with explosive powder toward the creature. A grenade was tossed in its midst and it detonated with enough force that even the beasts could not survive. Several of the Ming soldiers were also caught in the powerful, super-heated blast of fire and iron fragmentation. What was left of the beasts however was nothing more than a twisted and charred pile of flesh, bone, and metal.
The other beasts that had ran rampant through Beijing’ streets were also rounded up in a similar fashion and eventually neutralized by relentless barrages of arrow, bolt, and hand cannon fire. Two other beasts had somehow gone missing somewhere in the mega metropolis, and squads of men were dispatched to hunt them down. Reports of their rampage in the city could be seen and heard from afar. Many of the city’s inhabitants fled and scattered from the nians’ paths.
Fighting resumed elsewhere in Beijing between the Shan Gui and the Ming-Martial Academician defense forces. Some took the fight to the rooftops. Scores of Academicians met them above the street to thwart their advance. Ming crossbow units followed close behind. Hundreds of civilians ran to and fro, with many falling into the path of an enemy’s blade. Fires spread, shouts and cries echoed, horns of alarm were blown, and blood soaked the ground. The Academicians fought back without restraint, and forced many of the Shan Gui to fall back. But victory was far from sight when reinforcements from outside the walls came charging past the battle outside, dashing through the Outer City district. They pillaged and desecrated the Temple of Heaven complex, looted its treasures, and set fires wherever the flames could be fed. The Academicians launched flares high into the sky and the explosion signaled them to form up and repel the invaders. They assumed strategic positions in the alleys, in buildings, the streets, and high above on the rooftops in order to meet the enemy’s reinforcements. These reinforcements were different, however. They were clad in robes and colors very different from the Shan Gui.
The Academicians immediately recognized their uniforms and banners, and the emblems that that adorned them. It was the Iron Dragon martial arts school and the Priesthood of the Serpent’s Eye—the former skilled in the forbidden martial arts, the latter well-versed in countless poisons, potions, and blasphemous concoctions.
The Senior Academicians leaped from their positions in an attempt to outflank the incoming attackers. The Iron Dragon fighters, dressed in their trademark uniforms of black, white, and red made no hesitation to fight back. It was as if they expected the Academicians to engage them. The crossed blades and traded blows all across the city streets. Each side matched each other evenly, and a stalemate has led them to fight each other to a standstill. The Iron Dragon unique brand of fighting was tight-knit and straightforward,
relying heavily on linear kicks and punches, and fast, successive attacks. Their techniques extended toward their handling of weapons, and the Academicians’ attempted to answer it with their own prowess.
The Academicians’ approach was making little effect, and so, according to their training to adapt to the circumstances, they utilized joint locks and ground techniques to subdue them. The Iron Dragon School was fierce and even murderous as strikers in the martial arts, but they were not proficient in the intricacies of grappling. They were eventually subdued by the Academicians’ combined efforts, and were finished off with a blade to the neck and chest. Others had broken arms, wrists, legs, and ankles and could not retreat. They too were not allowed to stand, and they died with their faces to the ground. Dozens of them lay dead in the streets in a pool of their own blood, but the Academicians did not win unscathed. Some were slain and others had sustained serious injury. But it was not over.
The Priesthood of the Serpent Eye marched to meet the Academicians after witnessing the defeat of the first detachment from the Iron Dragon School. The lead priest had a following of nearly one hundred, and carried with him a large scepter with the head of a cobra at the top with its body coiled around the staff. One large vertical eye was engraved upon the snake’s head. The Academicians turned their attention to them, anticipating their next move. They initiated the offensive and rapidly closed the distance toward the head priest. Several smoking round balls the size of oranges rolled out their hands and hissed a large amount of toxic gas at an exceptional rate. It spread rapidly through a large radius and many of the Academicians failed to escape in time. As a result, many collapsed within ten paces of the site, and were inflicted with violent seizures and foaming mouths.
Clash of Alliances Page 34
