Chapter 501: A Century Ahead Artillery Fire (5k)
"What did your Excellency say?"
The square-faced Commander Yuan asked, but the mountain wind was too strong and Zhao Duan's muttering was too soft for him to hear clearly.
"Nothing," Zhao Duan smiled. He suddenly reached into his sleeve and pulled out a bright yellow pear. He gnawed on it while gazing at the rebel camp. "Is the so-called 'evil beast' hiding in the enemy camp?"
Zhao Duan learned some information about the Qingzhou army's "secret weapon" from a letter delivered by the imperial eagle on the way.
It is known that King Heng defeated the Five Army Camps by relying on chariots towed by "fang beasts".
"That's right," when mentioning the evil beast, all the generals, led by Yuan Feng, showed fear:
"We had no idea beforehand that Prince Heng's Mansion had secretly raised over a dozen fang beasts, which caught us off guard."
As he spoke, Yuan Feng seemed to be worried that Zhao Duan didn't understand, so he explained:
"South of Yunfu, within the mountains, and outside the borders of the Yu State, there is a foreign tribe called the 'Liao' people. Their men are incredibly strong, far surpassing those of our Great Yu people. Their specialty is a strange beast called the 'Liao'. It's much stronger than tigers and leopards, and extremely ferocious. Warhorses will become paralyzed if they get close to a 'Liao', rendering it difficult to fight. That's why we in Great Yu call this foreign tribe the 'Liao' people."
Zhao Duan said "yes" and said:
"The southwestern border troops led by Zhao Shixiong are stationed in Yunfu Road year-round, suppressing bandits and preventing invasions by the Liao people. Although I've never been to Yunfu, I know all this. In your opinion, could there be some Liao people behind Prince Heng's mansion?"
Yuan Feng shook his head:
"Given the geographical location of Qingzhou, it's too far from Yunfu. Moreover, if they were colluding with the Liao people, it wouldn't make sense for there to be only Liao beasts on the battlefield but no Liao people. Therefore, I think it's highly likely that the Hengwang Mansion had long harbored rebellious intentions and secretly captured a Liao beast cub from Yunfu and raised it carefully.
They secretly trained a matching chariot force and suddenly sent it out, catching us off guard. My Lord, be careful! Once those ferocious beasts take to the battlefield, they will charge recklessly and be hard to hurt by arrows. Coupled with the soldiers in the iron-clad chariots, they can smash into our formation and cause tremendous destructive power."
Zhao Duan took a bite of the pear, and the juice splashed everywhere. He didn't know if he had heard it, so he turned curiously and asked:
"Since this thing is so useful, why didn't the imperial court capture and tame it?"
He didn't quite understand why such a strategic-level weapon would not be equipped in the Beijing camp.
On the contrary, a rebel king can be created.
At this time, a general said angrily:
"Your Excellency, you may not know that this fang beast is extremely difficult to breed. Not to mention the dangers of catching it, just raising it requires a huge amount of money and requires someone who knows how to tame it...
But these are not the key points. The key point is that if the fang beast wants to stimulate its ferocity, it must eat human flesh and blood. If it does not, it will be no different from an ordinary tiger or leopard. "
Zhao Duan paused while eating the pear and looked at him blankly: "Eating people?"
Yuan Feng nodded bitterly:
"That's right. Because taming this beast is against the harmony of nature, the imperial court strictly prohibits its keeping, and naturally, the army won't have it either."
Zhao Duan fell silent.
This was little-known fact that he didn't know.
Therefore, the Heng Palace raised these dozen vicious beasts, and countless lives were lost. Even if those used as food were death row prisoners, they could feed their own kind to wild beasts...
"Hmph." Zhao Duan swallowed a mouthful of pear with great effort and mumbled, "He deserves to die."
No one responded.
Only the cold wind blew across the hills, the green trees rustled, and the clouds in the sky grew thicker.
…
“Rumble, rumble, rumble…”
The sound of war drums rang out, and Zhao Duan looked into the distance and saw that the enemy camp was wide open, and a large group of Qingzhou infantrymen carrying military flags walked out in formation, and in front of the formation.
There were more than a dozen giant chariots made of solid wood and covered with iron sheets.
In front of each chariot, there is a strange beast that is two to three meters tall and six to seven meters long.
It is sized like an elephant, with a head like a lion or tiger, but a body like a buffalo. It has sharp and hard horns on its head, bloodthirsty red eyes, and its body is covered with hard phosphorus armor like a crocodile. Its tail hangs down to the ground, and along the spine to the end of the tail, the joints protrude outward, forming bone spurs.
At this moment, the evil beasts stomped their huge hooves with horseshoes on them, and spewed out hot white smoke from their nostrils.
"Your Highness, the enemy has come out. Hey, haven't the soldiers of the Fifth Army Battalion already lost their morale?"
Inside the Qingzhou camp, on the watchtower.
The pampered King Heng, accompanied by his advisers and officials, stood here to watch the battle.
At this moment, a counselor said in surprise with his hands on the awning.
A personal guard general with good eyesight frowned and said:
"Those aren't soldiers from the Fifth Army Battalion! Judging by the flags they're flying, they're clearly soldiers from the Divine Machine Battalion!"
Shenjiying? Reinforcements? So... Zhao Duan is probably real?
King Heng's heart skipped a beat and he squinted his eyes, but at this distance, although he could observe the battlefield, he could not clearly see the words on the flags or the specific attire of the soldiers.
He asked irritably, "Where's the telescope?"
One of the attendants searched for a while and then apologized:
"Your Highness, please forgive me. I already have one, and it's on His Highness the Crown Prince. I'll go get a new one right away!"
"Why don't you go quickly?!" King Heng was furious and almost kicked out, scaring his followers so much that they ran down the watchtower in a panic.
King Heng's face was gloomy. He looked back at the battlefield in front of him again and saw that the tents of the Fifth Army Camp were also wide open, and teams of soldiers from the Shenji Camp with high morale walked out in formation.
Because of the presence of the evil beast, neither side sent out cavalry, mostly infantry.
However, in the Shenji Battalion, there were also several officers riding war horses with extraordinary bloodlines, who could resist the suppression of the beast's aura.
The most eye-catching one among them was wearing a silver helmet and armor, holding a spear, and looked very heroic.
"Judging from his attire, if nothing unexpected happens, he should be Tang Ping, the son of the Duke of Zhenguo." The counselor guessed calmly.
Duke Zhenguo... Prince Heng snorted coldly, his heart sinking again. He suddenly said:
"It is said that Zhao Duan conducted a firearms military exercise in the Shenji Camp last year. It was quite impressive, but the details are unknown to outsiders."
The counselor nodded and said:
"It is true. The Empress attached great importance to that military exercise. However, according to the information we received, it was probably just a slight improvement on the old firearms.
The key point is that it's a musket, and while that thing might be effective against humans, a few bullets aren't much more powerful than arrows, and certainly can't threaten our beast chariots."
Another civil official also laughed and said:
"Firearms, they sound impressive, but when have they ever become mainstream in real combat? Even the Divine Machine Battalion is primarily composed of infantry, which is a clear example."
For this group of Qingzhou people, the impression of firearms still remains in the past.
The State of Yu had enjoyed peace for a long time. Even if there were some banditry, most of them occurred in the southwest and northwest borders, or on the coastal roads, and firearms were rarely used.
Therefore, not only these civil officials and counselors, but even Wei Xianzong, who was in command at the moment, was not sufficiently vigilant against the new firearms of the Shenjiying.
The biggest assumption about it is that it is nothing more than a stronger version of the crossbow. If that is all, the Fierce Fang Chariot is enough to deal with it.
At this moment, the sound of war drums from both sides on the battlefield became louder and louder, and the two armies slowly approached under the watchful eyes of their commanders.
"Commander-in-chief, the enemy doesn't seem to have the intention to launch an offensive." On the battlefield, a Qingzhou general turned his head and looked at Wei Xianzong.
Wei Xianzong, wearing armor and holding a sword, stood on a high platform. The energy filled his eyes, greatly enhancing his vision, allowing him to see that the generals of the Shenji Camp were ready for battle.
The leader, Tang Ping, lowered his spear and sat on his horse with a stern expression.
"Release the chariots and charge head-on!" Wei Xianzong said decisively. He suspected that the other party was wasting time and was not prepared to give the enemy more time to prepare.
"Send the order! Charge!"
"Charge!"
"Charge!"
Excited shouts spread along the army formation, and the morale of the Qingzhou soldiers was high.
The past three battles had already shattered their impression of the "Beijing Camp." Now, amid the passionate sound of war drums, their blood boiled and they roared in unison:
"Charge!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the dozen or so ferocious beasts in front of the formation seemed to have received a signal, and they exerted force at the same time, spewing out foul air.
The body that was almost invincible to swords and spears pulled the chariot and rushed towards the Shenji Camp with a rumbling sound. Behind the chariot, the Qingzhou soldiers were divided into columns and rushed forward.
The chariots roared and the earth shook.
In the Shenji Camp's plan, Tang Ping sat proudly on his horse, motionless as a mountain, watching the huge chariots approach from afar and step into the buffer zone in the center of the battlefield. He still did not order a charge, nor did he order a defensive formation. He just said in a deep voice:
"Cover your ears!"
The drum sound suddenly changed!
The infantrymen of the Shenjiying Battalion worked in unison, took out cotton from their bodies and plugged their ears.
When Wei Xianzong saw this scene, he was stunned at first, and then he instinctively felt a strong sense of unease.
The word "firearm" suddenly jumped into his mind, but he clearly did not see any firearms within his field of vision.
unless……
Wei Xianzong suddenly looked up at the sky above the battlefield. Through the dense dark clouds, he could vaguely see a group of ant-sized figures standing on a distant hilltop.
Zhao Duan felt the faint sense of being watched, spit out the pear core in his hand, wiped his hands with a handkerchief, glanced at the pale and frightened faces of the large group of generals from the Five Army Camps around him, and said with a smile:
"Cover your ears."
"What?" Yuan Feng and others were stunned and didn't come back to their senses.
But the next second, a huge roar suddenly exploded in a nearby valley, followed by endless thunder, which drowned out all the sounds on the battlefield.
…
On a hidden hill, Chen Gui, the chief officer of the Firearms Bureau, stroked his beard, his eyes flashing coldly on his thin face, and he shouted:
"Shenwei Cannon, fire!"
Behind this military craftsman and military attaché, the waterproof cloth had been removed, and nearly twenty of the latest models of Shenwei red cannons, with their angles adjusted, lay silently on the ground like black beasts.
Black gun barrels of astonishing diameter were raised high, and each barrel was engraved with complex patterns.
At the command, the loader took the shells out of the ammunition box covered with straw and pushed them into the muzzle. The artillerymen at the rear compacted them by hand-cranking the wheel and ignited the fuse with a flint.
Amidst a low and strange humming sound, the patterns on the barrel lit up one after another, and a strong sense of restlessness was brewing.
Finally, with the first roar, the beast that did not belong to this world let out a low growl that was unique to firearms.
…
In the enemy camp, Wei Xianzong saw balls of fire suddenly lit up in the dense forest on the horizon. The fire was extremely bright, like lightning in the sky before a rainstorm.
But at this moment, in his eyes filled with energy, he saw a completely different scene:
In the sudden firelight, one black "bullet" after another rose from the ground at an extremely terrifying speed.
It flew over a precisely calculated parabolic trajectory, crossed a distance of a hundred feet, and accurately fell into the area in the center of the battle between the two armies, where the chariots were charging.
"not good--"
As soon as Wei Xianzong uttered these two words, a huge roar drowned out his voice.
The first shell, packed with the enormous force of gunpowder and a scorching wave of air, hit the head of a fang beast accurately.
This beast, which could withstand the volley of arrows, was bloodthirsty, brutal, and extremely ferocious, and seemed to have no idea what the shells were. At the moment before death, it raised its head, grinned, and showed its fangs, trying to bite.
But the next second, its hard phosphorus armor suddenly caved in. If time were slowed down countless times, one could clearly see how the hard flesh was crushed into ripples of flesh and blood like water waves.
With the combined power of gunpowder and precision barrels, even ordinary iron now has the power to destroy layers of heavy armor.
Without any surprise, the beast's head exploded with a "pop", blood splattering. Without the control of its brain, its huge body continued to run wildly under instinct and inertia, but it did not run far before it tilted to one side and fell.
Inside the chariot, the hidden soldiers, holding sharp blades, fell and rolled along with the chariot in horror, as if they were not on a land battlefield, but on the sea, riding on a bumpy ship that was overturned by the waves.
At this moment, the sturdy chariot became a grave that cut off their escape.
This was the only shell that hit the fangs beast with such precision. More shells were fired according to calculations, evenly covering the entire battlefield.
Some of the evil beasts were hit and fell down even though they were not dead. Others roared in fear and instinctively turned their heads and ran away in all directions, crashing into the array of Qingzhou soldiers who were following behind them to kill them.
"No--"
The Qingzhou soldiers thought it would be another easy hunt, but unexpectedly the beast turned around, and the roar of artillery fire made them even more confused. Almost in the blink of an eye, the Qingzhou rebel formation collapsed.
Even though the officers shouted orders, it was of no avail. The soldiers shouted in fear and fled in all directions. The Qingzhou troops were not elite to begin with, and now that they had suffered a setback, their true colors were immediately exposed and they became a group of scattered sand.
Some elite teams were also unable to stop this scene.
"Firearms... Firearms... Is this Zhao Duan's confidence..." Amid the sound of artillery fire, Wei Xianzong muttered to himself, staring at the front. The chariot that had been invincible was defeated in an instant.
He clenched his fists and his heart was beating like a drum.
"Commander! What should we do? The formation in front has collapsed!" The military officers around him all looked panicked.
“clang!”
Wei Xianzong suddenly drew his sword, and a burst of sword energy exploded, raising a cloud of dust on the ground.
The generals subconsciously stopped talking and met Wei Xianzong's extremely calm eyes:
"Why are you panicking? It's just a charge. Pass the order down. Stop the fleeing soldiers. Anyone who dares to flee will be killed immediately! We can't let these people break up the rear!"
After saying this, he turned his head and looked towards the side of the Fifth Army Camp, and said harshly:
"The assault team should have arrived by now. The Shenji Camp arrived not long ago, and there must be a large number of officers and soldiers in the Five Army Camp with broken morale. Their defenses are lax. As long as we break into the camp and attack from both sides, we can devour the Shenji Camp!"
Chariot? He never placed all his bets on the front lines.
…
On the side of the Fifth Army Camp, in a forest.
A large group of elite Qingzhou soldiers, all wearing soft armor, carrying crossbows on their backs, holding swords, rushed out from the mountains and forests with dense footsteps.
The leading general looked out at the camp not far away, listening to the thunderous booms in his ears, and said calmly:
"Prepare to attack the camp!"
From their position, they had no idea what was happening on the front battlefield, but they knew it must be related to the firearms of the Shenji Camp.
But this is not important. As a pair of elite troops that Wei Xianzong took great pains to train, the quality of this team is in no way inferior to the imperial guards.
"The commander has ordered that no matter what happens, we have only one mission, which is to launch a surprise attack on the enemy camp." The leading officer whispered to comfort the soldiers behind him.
Everyone nodded, stopped, and moved in unison, removing the crossbows from their backs and loading the arrows.
They drew their swords again, and a group of people moved silently and quickly towards the quiet camp like a tide.
But just as they were about to reach the high wooden wall outside the barracks, suddenly, without any warning, a soldier from the Shenji Camp suddenly stood up above the long wooden wall!
They seemed to have been lying in ambush here for a long time, and only now did they reveal themselves. These soldiers were not holding knives or crossbows, but each of them was holding a rifle.
"There's an ambush!" The Qingzhou rebels were startled, but they dispersed as they were well-trained, quickening their pace and trying to rush into the wooden wall to attack the blind spot.
"Don't worry, the muskets fire slowly. Just dodge the first round and we'll be fine..." shouted the leading rebel military officer.
But the next moment, the musketeers of the Shenji Camp on the wall silently pointed their guns at them and pulled the triggers.
There is no longer a fuse that was difficult to ignite during the previous "military exercises". The new and improved firing pin has replaced the outdated firing device of the past.
"Bang bang bang bang..."
Dense gunfire suddenly broke out, and the charging rebels had no power to resist. They fell down like a sickle harvesting wheat straw.
"How is that possible?" The rebel leader's pupils trembled and he shouted, "Retreat!"
However, it was too late. The tightly closed wooden wall suddenly opened, and the commander Shi Meng himself led a group of musketeers waiting here with a smile:
"It's exactly as Lord Zhao expected. You knew he was here, so you must have spared no effort in this attack. It's very likely a sneak attack..."
The rebels were terrified and turned around to run, but how could they outrun the bullets that were ready to be fired?
After two more rounds of bullets, all the elite soldiers fell. Only a few military officers with training survived, but they were easily suppressed by officers such as Shi Meng.
“We are quite well prepared.”
Shi Meng pulled out a "flare" from the rebel leader, grinned, stepped on the other's seriously injured and bloody body with his boots, and slowly and methodically lit this specially made "firework" in the army.
“Whoosh!”
A bunch of fireworks rose from the ground and flew into the sky, and could be seen clearly from a long distance.
…
Rebel headquarters.
Wei Xianzong paced back and forth anxiously. Suddenly, a flash of red fireworks suddenly rose from the sky, attracting his attention.
Fireworks appeared, but the camp of the Fifth Army Camp opposite was silent.
Wei Xianzong's heart suddenly sank to the bottom of the valley. Realizing what had happened, he was stunned for a moment, and suddenly went crazy and shouted:
"Send the word, beat the drums! Charge! Abandon the fang beasts and charge the camp! Charge with all your forces!"
The people around were horrified: "Commander?"
They suspected that the commander had gone crazy. How could he charge under the artillery fire under such circumstances?
Wei Xianzong almost roared and shouted anxiously:
"As long as we rush to their front and fight with the people from the Shenji Camp, those firearms will be useless! They won't dare to bomb us along with their own people!
On the contrary, retreating will only lead to being covered by the enemy's firearms and being completely defeated! We only have one way, charge forward! The Shenji Camp definitely doesn't have enough troops, we have more people, and we can still win by fighting in close combat! "
At this moment, facing the crushing of advanced firearms for the first time, this unknown commander found the biggest flaw of artillery fire in just a short time.
Keeping the distance will lead to death, while closing the distance will make the firearms soldiers afraid to use their weapons and stop firing.
However, facing his order, these generals hesitated:
Who would charge, with flesh and blood, through that artillery-covered area?
Wei Xianzong stared at this group of military officers who were afraid of fighting and did not move, and anger rose in his heart. He pushed them away and was about to lead the charge himself.
However, at this moment, the artillery fire suddenly stopped on the opposite side of the battlefield.
Young Master Tang Ping, who had been waiting in formation at his ease from the beginning, scratched his ear, which was numb from the shock, with his little finger and muttered:
"Chen Gui, your uncle..."
Immediately, Tang Ping suddenly raised his spear and charged forward:
"Shenji Battalion! Charge with me!"
"Kill!" Behind him, young military officers shouted in unison, leading the soldiers behind them to launch a final attack on the Qingzhou rebels who were on the verge of collapse.
…
On the distant hilltop.
Zhao Duan squatted on the top of the hill, and with a smile, he planted the core of another fresh pear into the soil. He clapped his hands, stood up, and said to the stunned generals behind him with a smile:
"It seems that I won."
(End of this chapter)
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