Pu Jiadi frantically brushed aside the hair covering his forehead, gasped for breath, and stared wide-eyed with bloodshot eyes. If Zheng Quchi were in front of him right now, he probably would have wanted to devour her alive.
However, Pu Jiadi was a seasoned general with many years of experience and a deep understanding of strategy. He knew that his anger at his incompetence would not solve anything, and that only a calm mind was the key to victory. Clearly, today's campaign had not gone well.
Ancient wisdom says that in war, courage is paramount. One must strike with full force at the first drumbeat, for the second will be weaker, and the third will be exhausted. Now, they are in the open while the enemy is in the dark. Under such circumstances, they have suffered a great blow. This is undoubtedly a case of the enemy being strong while we are exhausted, and thus we can defeat them.
He suppressed his anger and made a decisive decision.
"All personnel, evacuate!"
At his command, he tightened the reins and charged ahead on horseback. The soldiers retreated and split up to make way for him, but he paid no heed to the fact that some soldiers might not be able to get out of the way in time and die under his iron hooves.
At this moment, all he felt was intense hatred for the humiliation he had suffered—he would remember this grudge!
Upon hearing their commander's order, the soldiers of the Northern Abyss Kingdom who were nearby followed without hesitation, while the troops on both flanks were directed to retreat by the flag bearers. The Northern Abyss army turned around and returned to where they had come from.
...Until that "black and red tide" completely receded, Zheng Quchi, watching the Beiyuan army retreat, did not order a continued attack, but instead watched the enemy retreat with a serious expression.
Fu Rong was dumbfounded. He asked incredulously, "...Why did they retreat? Why did they retreat?"
Are you not going to put up a fight anymore? Although he admitted that the artillery was somewhat frightening—well, not somewhat, but extremely frightening—the enemy had hundreds of thousands of well-trained troops. How many people had they lost so far? In a direct assault and a hard-fought battle, the outcome was still uncertain.
But seeing how cleanly and efficiently the enemy retreated, it didn't seem like they were just afraid of artillery, but rather that some terrifying monster was chasing them, which is why they quickly fled. Especially the commander of the Northern Abyss Kingdom, who was spouting nonsense and acting arrogantly just a second ago, but the next second his retreat was as if he had been trained, without any hesitation or delay.
After a brief moment of astonishment, the soldiers inside the fortress cheered with joy, as if they had survived a calamity. Although they were still covered in cold sweat from the fright, being able to win without a fight against such a powerful opponent as the Northern Abyss Kingdom and achieve initial victory was a cause for celebration that could bring honor to their ancestors.
Joy, excitement, and a strong sense of pride filled their hearts, directly overwhelming their fear and trepidation. The thought that their Ye Kingdom also had its own mysterious and deadly weapon made them all want to roar to the sky to express their ecstatic joy.
Zheng Quchi glanced at him sideways and said slowly, "Do you really want to fight them?"
Judging from his tone, he seemed somewhat regretful, but wasn't he the one who was so frightened that he almost deserted?
Fu Rong quickly shut his mouth. His eyes darted around and he couldn't help but be attracted by the strangely black, black-looking thing on the turret that was shooting black balls. He excitedly stepped forward and asked, "What kind of magical thing is this cannon?"
As he spoke, he reached out to touch it, but the moment he touched it, his skin was almost burned off. Zheng Quchi reacted a step too slowly and pulled his hand away.
"Don't touch it. The cannon is very hot after it's been fired, don't you know?" she said sternly.
“…I understand now.” Fu Rong looked at his palms, which were scalded red, and felt like crying.
Wei Yao seized the opportunity to mock, "Ignorant."
Although he only just found out, if he doesn't admit it, who will know?
Fu Rong was playing the horn and ignored Wei Yao, but asked Zheng Quchi curiously, "Madam, we have cannons, why don't we continue the attack?"
Wei Yao was also puzzled by this. As long as they kept firing cannons, they would surely inflict heavy damage on the Beiyuan army. At that time, the Ye army would no longer be afraid of the Beiyuan army and would no longer be threatened by the Beiyuan Kingdom. However, just now they watched helplessly as the other side reorganized its army and withdrew far away. They felt an unpleasant feeling of having wasted such a good opportunity.
After all, this time they won because of the surprise attack. The enemy had never seen artillery before and had no idea how to deal with it. But if the Northern Abyss Army invades again, things might not be the same.
Once they have taken appropriate precautions, the Ye army will once again be in a passive position.
Zheng Quchi understood their thoughts, but she could only regretfully tell them one thing.
"We can't attack it," she said helplessly.
Unable to attack?
What does this mean?
"Madam, why?" Fu Rong asked innocently.
Zheng Quchi glanced away to avoid eye contact and told him the truth: "After firing all the shells at once, this cannon needs at least the time it takes to brew a cup of tea to cool down before it can fire again, otherwise it will explode."
Sometimes, she also had a headache about the technological barriers, but there was always a way to solve them. It just required enough time to study them. It was really not easy for her to be able to build a cannon to scare people in a hurry. Improving the various performance aspects of the cannon was not something that could be done in a short time.
After understanding the reason, Fu Rong was stunned for a long time.
But he quickly came to terms with it; it was normal for such a powerful weapon to have a few minor flaws.
"If I had known this would happen, I should have just blown up that commander of the Northern Abyss Army," Fu Rong said with deep regret.
Seven shells were wasted, only to be used against some ordinary soldiers.
Zheng Quchi scratched his face: "I'm afraid that won't work either. Right now, I can only fire the artillery, and it's difficult to accurately determine the distance and direction."
Fu Rong and Wei Yao: "..." Was the choice of attack just like that?
Seeing that they seemed to be floating on air after hearing her frank words, Zheng Quchi quickly added, "Of course, if you could give me and the Ordnance Supervision team more time, we will definitely have better upgraded cannons in the future, which will improve their accuracy."
"...If the Northern Abyss Army hadn't been scared away just now..."
Fu Rong and Wei Yao exchanged a glance, both of them showing a hint of lingering fear.
If they weren't scared away, then it would be their turn to run away at the first sign of trouble.
"So, artillery is only a secondary weapon for now. The real key to victory lies in the compatibility between the fortress, our garrison troops, and the new weapons, and whether the training is perfect during this period," Zheng Quchi said.
Fu Rong turned to Wei Yao and asked, "How many men are there in our Ye army?"
Wei Yao said, "There are fifty thousand."
Fu Rong then asked Wei Yao, "How many men are there in the Beiyuan Army?"
Wei Yao said, "At least tens of thousands."
They originally thought that with such a deadly weapon as artillery, they could turn the tide of battle. However, they did not expect that it had a fatal flaw: once the enemy figured out their tactics, this approach would no longer work.
"Why don't we build a hundred or a thousand of them? If they all fire at once, they could destroy the heavens and the earth."
These two started having wild ideas.
However, Zheng Quchi sighed and had to shatter their wishful thinking: "Do you know why only nine cannons were made? Because with just these nine cannons, the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Revenue couldn't squeeze any money out of them."
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