Chen Qianhu was the first to charge through the breach in the wall.
Behind him came six hundred soldiers from the Guyuan Frontier Army.
Among all the units of the Gao Village militia, these six hundred men were the most terrifying and the strongest.
They were masters of cold weapon combat.
After joining Gao Village, they had also learned how to fight with firearms.
And deep inside their minds still remained the traditional frontier soldier mentality of chasing battle merits and reward money.
Because of that, when they fought, they were far less gentle than the other militia units.
The moment the six hundred monsters rushed through the breach, they all raised their firearms.
Six hundred guns fired blindly into the smoke-filled city.
No one could see anything through the dust anyway.
So why bother aiming?
Just shoot first.
After firing a volley, they casually pulled out grenades and tossed them into the thick smoke ahead.
BOOM!
BOOM!
BOOM!
The smoke only grew thicker.
Suddenly, from behind a broken section of wall, a squad of Zu Dashou's soldiers rushed out.
Each of them held a long spear.
They formed a small spear formation of several dozen men, intending to block the breach.
Under normal circumstances, firearm troops would have shot them down easily.
But right now the battlefield was covered in dust and smoke.
No one saw them coming.
By the time they burst through the smoke, they ran straight into Chen Qianhu.
Chen Qianhu bared his teeth and roared.
"Where is Zu Dashou?"
The spear soldiers were startled.
Several dozen spears thrust toward him at the same time.
Even Chen Qianhu could not fight dozens of spears head on.
He immediately rolled backward across the ground.
While rolling, he calmly lit a grenade and left it on the ground where he had just been.
The spear soldiers chased after him.
They stepped right onto the grenade.
BOOM!
The explosion blasted them into chaos.
Most of them fell to the ground, wounded or dead.
Only a few lucky ones remained standing in confusion.
Chen Qianhu seized the chance.
He jumped up.
One slash cut down a soldier.
Another thrust stabbed a second one to death.
Then he pointed his blade at the last terrified soldier.
"Where is Zu Dashou?"
The man was trembling in fear.
He quickly pointed toward a direction hidden within the smoke.
Chen Qianhu nodded.
"Thanks."
Then he turned and ran toward that direction without killing him.
The soldier blinked in confusion.
You are not killing me?
You are even turning your back to me?
Is this not suicide?
He raised his spear and prepared to stab Chen Qianhu from behind.
Suddenly pain exploded in his lower back.
A blade pierced through his waist and came out of his abdomen.
The attacker even twisted the knife half a circle inside.
The soldier turned his head.
Only then did he realize that Chen Qianhu's subordinates had already arrived.
The man who stabbed him leaned closer and whispered in his ear.
"I was going to capture you and send you to labor reform."
"But you insisted on seeking death."
"Well, that saves me some trouble."
The spear soldier's vision went dark.
He collapsed to the ground.
---
The six hundred Guyuan Frontier soldiers poured into the city.
Right behind them came Cao Bianjiao leading more than two thousand Guanning Cavalry.
Lu Xiangsheng was not willing to fall behind either.
He waved his hand.
Three thousand Tianxiong Army soldiers charged in as well.
Six thousand troops surged into the city at once.
Zu Dashou's soldiers had just been stunned by the explosion.
There was no way they could resist such an assault.
Small battles erupted everywhere near the wall.
Before long, some of Zu Dashou's soldiers began surrendering.
They knelt by the roadside, begging for mercy.
---
Chen Qianhu kept searching for Zu Dashou as he fought his way forward.
He entered the city streets.
Only then did he suddenly realize something.
Damn.
What if the fighting dragged innocent civilians into it?
But then he quickly noticed something strange.
The houses in Jinzhou City were completely empty.
There were no civilians at all.
Not even rats.
Only spiders, centipedes, and other crawling creatures lived inside the abandoned homes.
The wooden doors were rotten.
One kick could shatter them.
Spiders hurriedly pulled back their silk threads and hid in the center of their webs.
Seeing this scene, Chen Qianhu suddenly remembered something.
The civilians had all been eaten.
In the story A Small Soldier of the Ming Army at Daling River, it described how Zu Dashou's troops, when trapped by the Qing army at Daling River City, had eaten all the civilians inside the city.
Chen Qianhu had thought that only happened at Daling River.
He never expected Jinzhou City to be the same.
He roared in fury.
"Zu Dashou!"
"Get out here!"
Suddenly a door beside the street burst open.
A Jinzhou soldier jumped out and swung a blade at Chen Qianhu's back.
CLANG!
The blade struck his back.
But Chen Qianhu wore armor made of aluminum alloy.
The blade bounced off harmlessly.
Chen Qianhu swung backward with his own blade and cut the attacker down.
Then he shouted loudly.
"Everyone listen!"
"There are no civilians left in this city!"
"They were all eaten by these bastards!"
The Tianxiong Army soldiers who had followed behind gasped.
"What?"
"Is the northeast really this brutal?"
The Guanning Cavalry, however, looked much calmer.
"This is the frontier."
"In places like this, all kinds of scum exist."
"The laws of any country can be followed or ignored here."
"Hiss..."
"Then kill these beasts!"
"Forget capturing them for labor reform."
"People who eat humans deserve nothing but death!"
Soon the sound of doors being kicked open echoed everywhere.
Soldiers searched through houses, dragging out hidden Jinzhou troops.
Shouts and the clash of weapons spread across several streets.
---
Chen Qianhu kept cutting down enemies while asking them where Zu Dashou was.
Finally he chased the trail all the way to the north gate of the city.
The gate had just been opened.
Zu Dashou was mounted on a fine horse, preparing to escape.
Chen Qianhu cursed.
"Escape my ass."
He pulled out a firearm.
BANG!
The gunshot rang out.
Zu Dashou's horse screamed and reared up.
It threw him off its back.
His bodyguards quickly rushed over to help him up.
By the time he stood again, Chen Qianhu and a group of Guyuan Frontier soldiers were already standing before him.
There was nowhere left to run.
Zu Dashou drew his blade.
His bodyguards did the same.
Chen Qianhu sneered.
The Guyuan soldiers also drew their blades.
Both sides wore Ming army uniforms.
The only difference was that the Gao Village soldiers all carried small decorations in the colorful symbols of Dao Xuan Tianzun.
The atmosphere became tense.
Heavy.
Oppressive.
If anyone made the first move, it would immediately turn into a massive brawl.
Then suddenly...
One of the Guyuan soldiers muttered.
"Damn. I suddenly can't tell whether we are the good guys or the bad guys."
"Why does it feel like we are following Zu Dashou while attacking Ming troops?"
Another soldier laughed.
"The real Ming soldiers over there even have square faces. They look like honest men."
"Honestly, I am starting to wonder whether we are the good guys or the villains."
Zu Dashou blinked in confusion.
"???"
Chen Qianhu spat angrily.
"This is not the time for jokes!"
"Wait a minute..."
He suddenly remembered something important.
"Where is the reporter?"
"Did our reporter follow us in?"
"If nobody records me killing Zu Dashou, how will anyone prove that I am the good guy?"
At that moment, a soft voice came from behind.
"I am here. I am here."
It was Zhou Daya.
"Brother Chen just focus on fighting."
"Your little sister is filming everything."
Chen Qianhu's spirit soared.
Combat power increased by 320 percent.