“Boom!”
The rain has become much lighter.
But there was still a sound of autumn thunder, deafening the sky.
Along with the sound of autumn thunder, cannons outside the north city of Miaochuan burst into brilliant flames.
Even though the artillery crew had 20 members and the tractor was able to unload the force, the terrifying recoil still caused the wheels to tilt backwards, splashing mud.
Hundreds of shells drew an arc in the air, flew towards the distant city walls, and landed inside and outside the city.
The Song army was too powerful, and after the Industrial Revolution, steel mills sprang up like mushrooms after a rain. With no shortage of steel, there was naturally no shortage of artillery and training ammunition.
Therefore, the artillery crew members of the Song Dynasty were very experienced, and their calibration capabilities were far superior to those of the Western Xia artillery, which lacked effective training and live-fire training.
There was no other way. Western Xia was poor, and the raw materials for gunpowder had to be imported from the Liao Kingdom. However, the raw materials that the Liao Kingdom received were already second-hand goods. The Song Dynasty first imported them from Japan and then resold them to the Liao Kingdom. There was very little left when it reached Li Yuanhao.
This resulted in Li Yuanhao having to sell everything he had to buy some artillery, but he also had to live frugally when it came to training. It was very difficult to even train a slightly better artillery crew member, let alone an excellent one.
Under such circumstances, it was considered good enough for the Xixia artillery to be able to fire the shells skillfully, as the error rate was very high.
In contrast, the error rate of the Song Dynasty artillery was much lower.
They were aiming at either the city gate tower or the city gate below. A large number of shells bombarded the city gate, and many large holes were soon made in the gate. The gate was already shaky and would fall down with a push.
The Western Xia army on the city wall was terrified and in chaos. Some of them blew whistles hurriedly, some looked for cover everywhere, and some simply ran away with their heads in their hands.
Although the rain had subsided, the thunder was still there. That autumn thunder covered up a lot of things.
But this cover-up did not last long. Yeli Wangrong did not sleep very well last night. He lived on the city wall of the north gate, vowing to fight to the death with the Song army in the mountains to the north.
In his opinion, this was the only breakthrough point for the Song army. Even if he used up all the ammunition in the city and even if all the artillery in the city exploded, he had to defend this position.
Inside the north gate's gate tower, Yeli Wangrong sat cross-legged on a mat. His face looked a little haggard, but his eyes were fixed on the map on the table. This was his habit to memorize the surrounding terrain.
"The Song army's consistent strategy was to occupy the mountains and increase the range of their artillery by raising the terrain. The longest range could even reach over ten miles."
"As long as I can control the mountains to the north and prevent the Song army from installing artillery there, they will have an advantage in bombarding us from a high position. Then they will be completely helpless against us."
"What a pity! Your Majesty should have withdrawn all his men back to the city. Although setting up camp on the mountain did hold off the Song army for two days, it was ultimately ineffective. So many men and horses were lost in vain. If we want to resist the Song army, we still have to rely on artillery."
"But the Song Dynasty's artillery is indeed much stronger than our Great Xia's. Not only is it well-made, but it's also made entirely of tempered steel. It can withstand the force of gunpowder much better than our artillery made of wrought iron."
"Alas, if only Your Majesty had not fallen out with the State of Song earlier in life. Great Xia is already impoverished, and with years of war, I'm afraid it won't be long before the people of the country are once again in dire straits."
"Hey, what's going on?"
Yeli Wangrong was studying the map, thinking about how to stop the Song army from going up the mountain. At the same time, he was complaining to himself and worried about the future of Western Xia.
Suddenly he felt a faint vibration sound coming from the seat where he was sitting cross-legged, which surprised him.
The thunder was still exploding outside, and the ground beneath him was shaking. Yeli Wangrong couldn't help but say to the deputy general beside him, "Let's go outside and see if they fired the artillery without permission."
The recoil of the artillery was strong, so it was normal for the ground to shake slightly when it was fired. Furthermore, the thunder masked the sound of the artillery, and no one could tell whether someone in Miaochuan City was firing at the distant mountains.
But Yeli Wangrong had already ordered that if any Song army activities were found on the hilltop, he must be notified to observe.
After all, if they fired cannons as soon as a few Song soldiers appeared on the hilltop, the consumption of cannons would be very high. In order to prevent the Song soldiers from cheating with the cannons, he had to confirm it in person before firing cannonballs at the hilltop.
If anyone launches the missile without authorization, he will definitely be punished by military law.
The lieutenant general walked out of the city gate tower and glanced around. No one was moving at the artillery positions on either side. Although they had set up sheds to protect them from the rain, the heavy rain still affected them, and no one dared to open fire without authorization.
But just as the deputy general was puzzled, he turned his head and looked south. In the direction of the South City Gate, about 1.5 kilometers away, dust and smoke seemed to be rising everywhere, and even the rain could not block it out.
Moreover, there was chaos over there, with many soldiers fleeing everywhere, leaving the people at the north gate completely confused.
"Bang bang bang bang!"
There was another faint roar coming from the direction of the South City Gate, which made people shudder.
The deputy general had already heard that it was the sound of artillery.
He immediately sensed something was wrong and quickly ran back to the tower to report to Yeli Wangrong, "It's bad, King Tiandu! The Song army seems to be bombarding the city with artillery outside the South Gate."
"What?"
Yeli Wangrong was horrified. He stood up from his chair and rushed out of the city wall in a hurry.
He also quickly observed the change in direction of the South Gate.
The faint roaring sound continued to ring out, and every time he heard it, his mood sank a little.
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