Chapter 811 A Dream of Youth 343

Powerful gunpowder weapons such as cannons, thunderbolts, gunpowder arrows, thunderbolts, and flying fire guns are all available here.

Since the Great Zhou has developed to this point, the Northern Jin certainly cannot remain in the era of cold weapons.

Xie Ning suddenly felt somewhat fortunate, because when she was supporting Wenshui County, she used the more advanced Thunderclap Bomb, which caused great casualties to the enemy and successfully crushed their morale.

The success of this battle was due not only to the surprise attack and the deafening bombs, but also possibly to the fact that the Northern Jin army unit was not familiar with these types of gunpowder bombs.

Otherwise, morale wouldn't have collapsed so quickly.

Given the current situation where the enemy is stronger and we are weaker, Xie Ning plans to produce more gunpowder for city defense. The current gunpowder mainly consists of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal.

In addition to these main ingredients, other things can be added to make fireballs, such as poison.

However, the most common fireballs made are those made from caltrops, mainly to create a dizzying effect.

Making other firearms is difficult now, but Xie Ning can make some rocket launchers. She has modified quite a few before, so she is quite good at it. Moreover, the manufacturing process of rocket launchers is not that complicated.

Gunpowder and firearms were deployed in large quantities on the battlefield, so deafening sounds could be heard throughout the city during this period. At first, the residents were afraid, but later they became numb to it.

The city had not fallen, and life had to go on, so one could see this stark contrast: the defending troops and the Northern Jin army were locked in fierce fighting at the city gates, while the residents inside the city, apart from the occasional look of fear on their faces, were mostly immersed in a peaceful atmosphere.

Whenever he had free time, General Xu would always come to the armory to take a look at the weapons Xie Ning had recently modified.

These past few days, Xie Ning has been modifying crossbows. To be honest, Xie Ning had been studying them since returning from the Western Expedition, but he hadn't had the opportunity to put them into practice.

Now that he finally had the opportunity, he spent every day at the armory improving the range and power of the crossbows, and the power naturally had to be improved by working on the arrows themselves.

Gunpowder arrows are a great design; if they could be made, they would be an excellent weapon for defending cities.

Every time General Xu came, Xie Ning would complain about the lack of materials, which frightened General Xu so much that he didn't dare to step into the armory for several days.

Xu Hongying came every day.

She mainly talked to Xie Ning about the training situation, and she also secretly recruited soldiers, including some women. However, those soldiers are currently doing odd jobs, helping to clean up the battlefield and treat the wounded. Some of them are under Aqi Lan's command and are not very noticeable.

She secretly raised another group of them for training.

"In three days, they should launch a counterattack." Xu Hongying counted the soldiers under her command. They would also be going to the battlefield. The more blood they saw, the more veterans they would become.

"Have reinforcements arrived?"

"Yes, it's said to be General Liu Yuanchang."

Xie Ning breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this; Liu Yuanchang was actually quite reliable.

After General Xu transferred the reinforcements from Shaanxi to support Zhengding, the situation in Bingzhou suddenly became tense. Later, she used improved firearms to ease the tense situation, but the Northern Jin army was not stupid.

They knew how to make firearms, and so did the enemy. Even though the enemy's firearms weren't as advanced as Xie Ning's improvements, they still managed to injure quite a few people.

One side defended, the other attacked, and the stalemate continued.

Xie Ning calculated the time. If the two sides cooperated well and the counterattack was successful, they could drive the Northern Jin army out of Shiling. Then she could proceed to the next step and lead the army back to the capital.

It has been said that all armies are coming to the aid of the emperor, so how can Bingzhou be left out?

Xu Hongying, unaware of Xie Ning's plans, continued recounting the intelligence she had gathered, much of which Xie Qi had discovered: "The Northern Jin's eastern army has penetrated deep into the Central Plains... and almost successfully crossed the river."

The generals who fled south of the Yellow River were beheaded. Just then, the Imperial Secretary's military advisor arrived to reward the troops, and resolutely took on the heavy responsibility of military command, organizing the army to deploy along the river, thus blocking the eastern army on the opposite side.

Xie Ning frowned slightly.

Once they successfully cross the river, they will be at the city gates. However, the Northern Jin army is watching them intently from the other side of the river. I'm afraid many people in the capital will panic and flee south.

A letter had arrived from home, describing the situation in the capital. It stated that the Northern Jin army was able to traverse the vast plains without any obstacles because Yu Tong had failed to defend the city.

If he had stayed behind with tens of thousands of soldiers, the situation in the Great Zhou Dynasty would definitely not be like this.

Perhaps in the eyes of these people, such external threats are also part of the plan.

This was intended to force the court to enthrone King Zhao as soon as possible, so that they could work together to resolve the external threats.