Chapter 175

"Sir, be careful." The soldier protected Lin Shuge.

Arrows rained down from the city wall, and soldiers around him were shot and fell down. Lin Shuge said, "Don't worry about me. Where is the catapult?"

"Sir, the Huns are approaching and the catapults are ready," the soldier replied.

"Let go." Lin Shuge glanced at the soldiers lying on the ground around him and spoke in a cold voice.

Fireballs were thrown out with flames. The Xiongnu cavalry watched in horror as the fireballs fell around them. They immediately scattered and fled. The leader shouted, "Keep your formation and follow me."

The smell of burnt flesh in the flames was creepy. The Hun cavalry gritted their teeth and continued to charge forward, but who knew there would be a few more thunder-like "booms".

Something fell at their feet and exploded with a loud bang. Everything went dark before their eyes. When they came to their senses, they found that there were wreckage all around them.

The big boss had heard of this thing a long time ago. He watched with bloodshot eyes as the soldiers charging in front of him were blown away one by one. The soldiers who finally rushed forward were killed by arrows shot from the city wall.

He picked up a crossbow and aimed at the man on the city wall. He had excellent eyesight and could see that the county was being defended under the command of this man. He should be the county magistrate. If he could kill this man.

His eyes were as fast as lightning. He pulled the bowstring tight and the arrow shot out with a whoosh.

Lin Shuge was in a trance, and he could hear Lu Yuechuan's frightened roar in his ears, "Sir, get out of the way."

The soldiers guarding Lin Shuge all ran towards him. At the critical moment, Lin Shuge dodged and the arrow brushed his ear and shot into the crack in the wall next to him, with the arrow feathers making a buzzing sound.

A strand of Lin Shuge's long hair was cut off and fell to the ground. Everyone was still in shock. Lu Yuechuan also sat on the ground gasping for breath. Lin Shuge seemed a little frightened.

"My lord, my lord, are you all right?"

"It's okay, don't worry about me. Let's fight one more round and try to deplete their troops." Lin Shuge slowly stood up with the help of the wall.

When the soldiers saw that the Huns actually shot Lin Shuge with arrows, they were furious and threw thunder bombs at him like they were free.

"Da Danghu, these Yan people have too much gunpowder. We really can't attack them. If we continue like this, I'm afraid..." a soldier said to the Xiongnu Da Danghu.

"I don't believe that when their gunpowder is not used up, what will happen to A Yuanmu and the others?"

"Lord A Yuanmu has already led his troops to attack the South Gate and the North Gate." the soldier replied.

The big man laughed and said, "Continue attacking."

Under his command, the Hun soldiers launched another offensive and attacked the city wall.

"Sir, the north gate was attacked." A soldier came to report.

Lin Shuge said: "Tell County Magistrate Yang to guard it well."

"Sir, the South Gate is attacked by a large number of Hun soldiers." Another soldier came to report.

Lin Shuge's forehead was covered with sweat, "Where is Xiangli Gu? Ask Xiangli Gu to come over."

Xiang Li Gu was carried over by two soldiers. Lin Shuge said, "Send the artillery to the south gate and the north gate. I can still hold on here."

"Sir, the performance of the artillery is unstable, and..." He glanced at Lin Shuge, whose hair was disheveled, and then at the fierce attack of the Huns outside the city, "Okay."

South gate.

At Chu Xu's order, the soldiers poured kerosene from the city wall, and the Hun soldiers who were about to climb up the wall slipped down in an instant.

"Light the fire." Chu Xu looked serious. He tightened the bowstring and shot a Hun soldier who was about to climb up off the city wall.

The raging fire was accompanied by a burning smell, and waves of wailing came from the bottom of the city.

"Archers, keep shooting arrows." Chu Xu gave another order.

In an instant, arrows rained down, and another layer of Hun soldiers' corpses appeared under the city.

"Boom boom", Chu Xu heard the sound of wheels rolling on the ground. He looked back and saw Xiangli Gu and several craftsmen carrying something up.

"What is this?" Chu Xu asked.

"Left Lieutenant Chu, Lord Lin asked me to transport the cannon," Xiang Ligu tore off the cloth covering the cannon, revealing a huge cannon barrel. The caliber of the cannon barrel was several times larger than that of a musket. The muzzle was raised and mounted on a wooden balance car.

Chu Xu was shocked and said, "How...how do I use this?"

Xiang Li Gu went up to add gunpowder into the barrel and compacted it with a tamping machine. Then he filled it with a solid iron bullet and compacted it.

"Zhu Zuowei, ask people to move aside." Xiangli Gu ordered.

"Everyone disperse." Chu Xu said loudly.

Xiangli Gu looked coldly at the Hun soldiers who were still attacking fiercely, lit the fuse of the cannon, and the gunpowder in the barrel exploded in an instant. Xiangli Gu dodged to the side at an extremely fast speed. The huge recoil caused the artillery and the balance vehicle to suddenly retreat a distance.

The soldiers around had their ears numbed by the shock and could not help but stare blankly at the place where the shell landed. There was a huge smoke and dust rising from there. When the smoke and dust settled, the charred land was littered with corpses and blood.

Although the Huns were cruel and murderous, the scene before them was too horrifying. The brothers who had fought side by side with them the moment before were instantly reduced to broken limbs and corpses, and the sound of explosions continued to ring in their ears.

The Hun soldiers who were climbing the city wall with ladders were frightened out of their wits. Most of them dropped their weapons and fled. The leader's loud shouting was of no use.

Chu Xu swallowed hard, looked at Xiangli Gu with horror, and after a while he said, "Xiangli, what was that just now?"

"Cannon." Xiang Ligu did not explain too much, but just looked at the cannon quietly. He was still calculating the shortcomings and deficiencies after the cannon explosion.

There was complete silence all around. Even the soldiers who had seen the power of gunpowder were shocked. They looked at Xiangli Gu with a mixture of admiration and fear. How could such an unprepossessing man like Xiangli come up with such a thing?

Fortunately, fortunately, such things are in our hands.

This should be the voice of all the soldiers present, but the Qiang soldiers thought more about how fortunately they followed the right people, otherwise they would be the ones to be hit by the artillery fire.

"My lord, the Huns have retreated."

Everyone then put their minds back to the city. The Xiongnu soldiers had already retreated, leaving only corpses all over the ground. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief and then said happily: "The Xiongnu retreated, we won, we won."

Chu Xu approached the cannon cautiously and said hesitantly, "Xiangli, can I touch it?" As he spoke his hand had already reached out, and Xiangli Gu had no time to stop him.

"careful."

Chu Xu hissed, holding his scalded hand and smiling, "When did you invent this thing? Why didn't you bring it out earlier?"

Xiang Li Gu glanced at him and said, "This thing is unstable and can hurt people. It took so long to build only five, and the county can only use two. My lord heard that the South Gate and the North Gate were attacked, so he asked me to transport it here to help Zuo Wei."

Moreover, when changing gunpowder, the remaining gunpowder residue must be cleaned up, so the artillery cannot fire continuously. This is a major disadvantage of the artillery. There are many people here and many eyes, so Xiang Ligu kept his mouth shut and did not say much.

"Sir, the Huns at the South Gate and the North Gate have retreated." The soldier reported.

Lu Yuechuan said happily: "Great, it was saved."

The Xiongnu leader under the city listened to the battle report and felt extremely angry. He looked at the young man standing on the tall city wall from afar. Who was this man? Why such a big move? When he came, he thought it was just a small county town with no elite soldiers or generals guarding it, and it could be taken in half a day at most. But today, they have been unable to take it after a long siege, and their subordinates have suffered heavy casualties. With such a huge price paid, the casualties of the Yan army are minimal. If he couldn't take this small town, he would have to take a detour to capture other towns in Dingyuan. How could he not be angry?

"Rest first, then we'll fight again." The pawnbroker turned his horse around, looked back at Lin Shuge on the city wall and said.

"Sir, the Huns have retreated. Go and rest first." Lu Yuechuan supported Lin Shuge.

Lin Shuge's highly tense nerves finally relaxed. "Achuan, I'm fine. Let the guards at each city gate take turns on duty. If there is any news, notify me immediately."

Lin Shuge came down from the city wall, and Su Cheng hurried forward and said, "Sir, the people in the county have come to help voluntarily, and the food for the soldiers has been prepared."

Lin Shuge patted him on the shoulder and said to the people around him: "Everyone has worked hard. Thanks to your help today, we were able to stop the Xiongnu's attack."

Someone in the crowd said, "We are not tired, but you gentlemen and the soldiers guarding the city are tired."

Lin Shuge's heart was in turmoil. The physical fatigue and mental pressure were relieved by the sounds of hard work. He waved his hand and asked Su Cheng to take the servants and the common people to deliver food to the soldiers. Seeing that the soldiers were already sitting on the ground and eating, he and Lu Yuechuan found a place to sit down and prepare to eat.

"Sir, please have some food." Wen Yuan said softly, holding a bowl of hot food in her hand.

"Why are you here too?" Lin Shuge took it and looked at Chen Yao and others who were following Wen Yuan.

"The county is in trouble. We don't know how to fight, but we know how to light a fire and cook. We want to help as much as we can." Wen Yuan handed another bowl of food to Lu Yuechuan, "Lord Lu."

After they finished talking, they did not stay for long. They worked together to carry the wooden barrel to deliver food to the surrounding soldiers.

Lu Yuechuan ate a bowl of hot rice and felt relieved. "The Xiongnu's attack was thwarted this time. They may come again, but we have artillery to deter them." He looked excited. "It's worth the time and effort we spent on it."

"It's a pity that too few were built." Lu Yuechuan continued to sigh.

Lin Shuge laughed and said, "Xiang Ligu wanted to die when he heard what you said." He leaned against the wall behind him and closed his eyes for a while, and heard a loud noise in his ears.

They are Chu Xu and Chen Yuanrong.

"Sir, we have fulfilled our mission and defended the city gate." Chu's eyes were smiling. He had just won a game, and his eyes were full of youthful spirit. Chen Yuanrong was dressed in military uniform, looking heroic.

Lin Shuge said: "Let the soldiers have a good rest and be careful when patrolling at night. Where is Yuanzhou?" Lin Shuge asked when he didn't see Mu Yuanzhou coming.

"Lord Mu is leading people to clean up the battlefield." Chen Yuanrong said. It was her first time to be on a battlefield in the true sense, and she also saw artillery. At this moment, her mind was shocked and she admired Lin Shuge very much. After Lin Shuge told a few people to be on guard, the others had already left but she still followed Lin Shuge.

"What does Arong want to say?" Lin Shuge smiled helplessly.

"Sir, after we drive away the Huns, I..." She rubbed her fingers together, "Can I go and practice artillery? Or can I be a soldier?"

Lin Shuge looked at her without saying anything, and Chen Yuanrong felt nervous. Suddenly, Lin Shuge laughed, "Okay, General Wei has a musket team under his command, Arong, if we can all survive, I will form an artillery team for you."

"Sir, you must keep your word." Chen Yuanrong said in a clear voice. After getting a satisfactory answer, he said goodbye to Lin Shuge and went back to continue defending the city.

"We all have to survive." Lin Shuge whispered.