It was a huge, dark lump of iron, with a base and metal wheels. A long tube stretched across it. Judging from its appearance alone, it was impossible to tell what it was. They had never seen such a strangely shaped device before, but its heavy casting gave it the awe-inspiring presence of a giant beast standing tall.
Fu Rong's eyes widened: "What...what is this?"
"artillery."
artillery?
The two pondered the name carefully. It sounded somewhat familiar, as if it were similar to the "fire thunder" developed by the Mohist school.
After thinking it over, Wei Yao said with a serious expression, "Madam, I'll have the cavalry escort you back to the camp. Fu Rong and I will handle things here!"
What a joke! Fire and thunder may be powerful, but they might be able to deal with dozens or hundreds of people. With an army of hundreds of thousands pressing in, if they were to hit them, they probably wouldn't even make a ripple.
To everyone's surprise, Zheng Quchi refused decisively: "I'm not leaving."
Fu Rong quickly stepped forward and advised, "Madam, the battlefield is not a place for you. We know you've done enough. Leave the rest to us."
Zheng Quchi was silent for a moment, then said, "Could you two stand aside and wait a bit?"
These polite and courteous words made it seem as if they would be somewhat inhumane if they continued to ramble on.
They assumed Zheng Quchi had something else to say, so they quietly stepped aside, but their anxious and worried gazes remained fixed on her.
At this moment, Zheng Quchi walked to the wooden box, holding a hammer in her hand. She turned her hand around and struck upwards, and the top cover disappeared, facing upwards.
She bent down, took out a black sphere from inside, and then stuffed it into the cannon...
"fire!"
The blue team member immediately handed over a lighter: "Yes."
Next, Zheng Quchi's actions resembled the imminent commencement of a grand feast. She lit the fuse of the cannonball, and after a hissing sound, it ignited, followed by an extremely exaggerated and deafening "Bang!" Then, something flashed past everyone's eyes at an incredible speed—
The next second, a deafening explosion came from afar, accompanied by a terrifying and chaotic cacophony of screams.
Wei Yao and Fu Rong were also startled. After a moment of stiffness, they suddenly turned their heads and looked down from the fortress. They saw that a large open space had suddenly appeared on the left flank of the densely packed Northern Abyss army. People around them crowded and moved away. Even if they couldn't squeeze in, they pushed and shoved each other, all instinctively trying to escape the scene of the incident.
The empty space was filled with clusters of burning black iron rods, the ground in the middle was shattered and cracked, and many corpses lay around it. A patch of bright red blood was smeared on this yellow earth in a terrifying and horrifying way.
At this moment, Wei Yao and Fu Rong were absolutely dumbfounded.
My God, what... what is this? How can it be so powerful?
What were they thinking just now?
Fireballs are useless against the Northern Abyss Army... but compared to artillery, fireballs are simply inferior! No, they're utterly pathetic!
If Wei Yao and Fu Rong above were shocked and overjoyed, then the Bei Yuan army below were filled with shock and fear.
The feeling of your skin going numb and your scalp exploding is hard to understand without experiencing it firsthand. The soldier who had just narrowly escaped death was now seeing himself blown to pieces in his tracks.
Hearing the commotion behind them, the Northern Abyss general at the front immediately turned his horse around, and his soldiers quickly made way for him. The dozen or so men rushed over, and when they saw the enormous destructive power of the astonishing commotion, they were incredulous and stood there stunned for a long time.
"What's this?!"
Some speculated, "Fire and thunder? No, our fire and thunder can't achieve that kind of power!"
To bolster morale, someone fabricated a reason: "This definitely wasn't done by the Ye army, it must have been heavenly lightning. Yes, what happened just now was absolutely a natural phenomenon, just heavenly lightning. I remember..."
"Enough!"
The general regained his senses, his sharp gaze sweeping over the terrified soldiers and the officers whose minds were in disarray. He shouted, "It was just an accident. There's no need to panic. Continue advancing towards Wubao!"
——
War Castle
Zheng Quchi gave the blue team a live demonstration, and afterwards asked them, "Did you understand what I just did?"
Seeing this power, the blue team members' breathing quickened. They swallowed hard, calmed themselves down, and nodded hastily.
"I understand."
"Then go and test the power of the cannons. Apart from the one I just used, I've adjusted the positions of the other eight. Just fire them."
"Me? We'll launch together?" The Blue Team was trembling with excitement.
What would it be like if all eight cannons fired at the same time?
Hell?
They simply couldn't imagine it.
“Single shots are never grand enough. What I need is absolute deterrence. This shot is a warning. If these invading wolves do not restrain themselves and refuse to retreat, then we can only increase the deterrent force,” Zheng Quchi said coldly.
Upon hearing this, the blue team rubbed their hands excitedly and responded loudly, "Yes!"
After the Blue Team took their positions, they went through the process again as Zheng Quchi had taught them, quickly loading the shell. This step was very simple; they just had to align the round shell and insert it. However, they did not expect that this not-so-large shell was solid. It was extremely heavy for one person to hold, unlike how easily the lady had done it earlier.
This time, eight cannon shots fired simultaneously, and the sound of the cannon fire was deafening. Fortunately, Zheng Quchi had made prior preparations and dispersed the nine cannon platforms, which reduced the inevitable firing noise considerably.
This time, Fu Rong and Wei Yao quickly ran forward and carefully observed downwards. They saw that the iron ball that had just been thrown in was flying forward at a speed that was difficult to track with the naked eye, and then the scattered cannon landing points successively rang out with amazing loud explosions.
The rising flames swept outwards like thunderbolts from the wrath of the heavens, but it wasn't a small-scale, single-target attack. Even if you dodged its head-on impact, the explosive shockwave it created upon landing and the resulting airflow was enough to cause blood to flow from all seven orifices. The exploding shells would even scatter sharp, tiny fragments that would penetrate the body, resulting in either death or serious injury.
The Northern Abyss Kingdom, which surged forward like a black and red tide, was torn apart as if by a giant hand, engulfed in a violent storm. It split into several large, disarrayed groups. The once orderly and powerful legion was shattered in the blink of an eye, losing all its former arrogance.
Fu Rong gasped, pressing his pounding heart with excitement, muttering repeatedly, "A miracle has occurred," "No, it's a miracle created by the Madam," "How is this possible?" "My God..."
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