Raid on Jianye
Chapter 100: Raid on Jianye
"Your Majesty, everything is ready."
Qin Feng walked onto the deck and found that the army had already assembled.
"Pass on my military order, set sail!"
Chu Huaibei stood on the deck, watching the ship behind him neatly hoist three sails, taking advantage of the winter northwest wind, going downstream and heading straight for Jianye.
After more than three years of construction, polishing and sea trials, the three-masted sailing ship she designed finally officially entered the historical stage.
The 100,000-strong army, led by Xue Zhan, has already headed to Ancheng, waiting for her order to attack Nan'an Prefecture.
Chu Huaibei led 30,000 naval troops and marched south on the second day after the northwest wind blew in the north.
Each ship could carry a thousand soldiers. Each of the thirty ships was equipped with ten cannons, five on each side, and two hundred rounds of ammunition.
It is also equipped with ten heavy crossbows, twenty Zhuge magic crossbows, and twenty boarding ladders.
Chu Huaibei dropped anchor in a waterway a hundred miles away from Jianye, sent a message to Xue Zhan, and began the attack.
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"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Urgent military intelligence reports from Nan'an Prefecture, eight hundred miles away!"
Eunuch Ji received the letter at the palace gate and ran into the imperial study as fast as he could.
The new emperor stepped forward quickly, snatched the letter from the hand of Eunuch Ji, who was running to death, tore open the envelope on the spot, and read it quickly.
"What a great King Zhenbei! He bumped into me before I even made a move."
"Call the troops! I will personally lead the Imperial Guards to meet the enemy!"
The new emperor was not afraid of the surprise attack by the King of Zhenbei. He was confident that he could win with the same number of troops.
Although he did not develop the thunder bomb, he improved the original kerosene catapult and various crossbows, which were most useful for defending the city.
"Has the spy returned?"
The moon was bright and the stars were sparse. Chu Huaibei leaned on the side of the boat and asked Qin Feng.
"Your Majesty, not yet."
"Um."
As soon as the words fell.
"Your Majesty, General Qin, urgent report."
The guard rushed over from below and saluted in return.
"Bring the person here."
Chu Huaibei turned and looked at the other party.
"Yes, Your Majesty."
"Your Highness, the new emperor ordered his troops to march out yesterday at noon. According to the route they took, they should have reached Nan'an Prefecture by the rapid march."
"Very good, you've worked hard. Go down and rest first."
"Yes, I'll take my leave."
Chu Huaibei looked up and took a deep breath. The Ziwei star in the night sky was so bright that even the bright moonlight could not cover it.
"Qin Feng, pass the order down, set sail, and prepare for battle!"
"Yes, I will obey your orders!"
Qin Feng's eyes were firm and bright in the moonlight. He had been waiting for this moment for a long time!
Chu Huaibei took the water route, bypassing Nan'an Prefecture and heading straight for the north gate of Jianye.
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"Prepare the artillery, aim at the city wall, and fire!"
Following Chu Huaibei's order, the north city wall was hit by a concentrated attack of 150 artillery pieces at midnight.
Amidst continuous explosions, Jianye’s north gate collapsed along with dozens of meters of the city wall.
The imperial guards stationed in Jianye rushed over upon hearing the noise.
No, Captain He, it was Commander He who, the moment he saw the large ship, quickly ordered his soldiers to replace the rockets and fire at the large ship from the ruins of the city wall.
However, the ships were far away from the city gate, and only a few soldiers with amazing arm strength could hit them, so they could easily extinguish the fire.
Chu Huaibei specifically ordered a ceasefire after the city wall collapsed, just to wait for the imperial guards camp in the city to come out.
The new emperor increased the number of the imperial guards to 30,000. Even if he went ashore to fight directly, he would not gain much advantage. Each of his soldiers was very valuable.
"Artillery ready, fire!"
"boom--"
Commander He was affected by the aftermath of the explosion and was knocked to the ground. His subordinates hurriedly helped him up and saw that his commander's right arm was covered in blood.
"My lord! My lord! Are you all right?"
"You can't die, let the brothers retreat back to the city, damn King Zhenbei!"
"Yes, sir!"
While helping people retreat into the city, the subordinates ordered everyone to return.
"Qin Feng, pass the order down, follow me ashore and attack Jianye!"
"Yes, Your Majesty!"
Hundreds of boarding ladders were thrown out from the thirty large ships. Chu Huaibei took the lead and rushed to the front, followed by Qin Feng, Jin Jiu and others.
Chu Huaibei used his spear to deflect the arrow shot at her. Oh wow, the people in the Ministry of Works were quite smart. They made a portable magic crossbow.
"Don't save it, just use the grenade to clear the way."
In that case, she won't hide it anymore.
"Yes! Your Majesty!"
The soldiers' answers were loud and revealed a hint of excitement.
Commander He, who was retreating while using crossbows to block the Zhenbei Army's advance, discovered that the people on the opposite side suddenly scattered, and then sparks flashed in the darkness.
"Bang——"
"ah!"·······
With the sound of bangs, wails were heard everywhere.
The grenade designed by Chu Huaibei has limitations. It is not very powerful and takes a long time to detonate. If it falls at someone's feet during the day, as long as the person quickly runs away and increases the distance, at most he will be affected by the exploded nails and suffer minor injuries.
So, she chose to attack at night~
The explosion at close range will basically disable everyone around it. Just follow behind and reap the rewards.
Moreover, she didn't want any of the prisoners from the Imperial Guards Camp.
On the eve of dawn, Chu Huaibei shot Commander He dead with one shot, and the 30,000 imperial guards of Jianye City were completely wiped out.
As long as the people in the city hid at home, Chu Huaibei would not care about them and would not let anyone go in to harass them.
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"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Your Majesty!"
The messenger who escaped death crawled towards the place where the new emperor was.
"When are you panicking? It's so embarrassing!"
Eunuch Ji followed the new emperor to Nan'an Prefecture.
"General Manager! Something terrible has happened! The King of Zhenbei has led his troops into Jianye!"
"What did you say?"
Eunuch Ji thought he was hallucinating.
"General Manager, the King of Zhenbei came from the water. They have large ships and even more powerful thunder bombs. They directly blew down the north city wall and came in!"
The new emperor had been standing behind Eunuch Ji without anyone noticing, with a handsome face with sharp edges and a black face so dark that ink could drip out of it.
"King of Zhenbei!"
No wonder the general who attacked Nan'an Prefecture was Xue Zhan. No wonder Xue Zhan only attacked with heavy crossbows outside the range of the catapults every day. He originally thought that he did this to force him to go out of the city to fight!
He forced himself to swallow the blood rushing up his throat.
"Pass the order down, immediately mobilize 60,000 troops and follow me back to Jianye!"
At this time, Chu Huaibei had already brought his men back to the boat and began to rest.
It was just that it was parked on the south bank of the river before, but now it is parked on the north bank of the river.
Well, by the way, all the boats parked on the north shore were tied to the back of the big ship, and those that could not be tied were all burned.
The new emperor and his men hurried to the riverside, and this was the scene they saw.
Chu Huaibei looked at the person who came and smiled at him.
"put!"
The artillery fire was directed towards the new emperor without mercy.
"Retreat, everyone, retreat!"
When the new emperor heard the messenger say that the thunder bomb could directly blow down the city wall on the river bank, he realized that the King of Zhenbei had improved the thunder bomb so that it could fly farther.
The new emperor pushed away the soldier who had thrown himself in front of him to block the fatal blow, and stood up with the help of Eunuch Ji.
Looking at the thirty large ships in front of him, there were five black holes under the decks of each ship. The thunder bombs just now were fired from here.
This is forcing him to go back and fight Xue Zhan head-on, and it is also his only choice now.
He didn't want to gamble on how many thunder bombs were left on the ship. Even if he won the bet, the number of people lost was not something he could accept right now.
"Return to Nan'an Prefecture."
After saying this, the new emperor turned around and led his troops back.
At this time, Xue Zhan had already received a message from Chu Huaibei. He pushed out the artillery hidden in the army, directly blasted open the city gate, knocked down the city wall, and after blowing up all the improved catapults on the city wall, he ordered an attack into the city!
One hundred thousand versus fifty thousand. Originally, Nan'an Prefecture was the new border city, and the new emperor sent ten thousand soldiers to be stationed there permanently.
Because the new emperor firmly believed that no matter what happened, he could lead his troops to arrive within a day.
Two against one, there is no suspense, the new recruits cannot beat the veterans who have been stationed in the north for many years.
However, at this moment, a Zhennan Army bypassed Jianye and entered Nan'an Prefecture directly from Nanxi Prefecture, and joined forces with the new emperor's 60,000 troops.
"I am late in coming to your rescue, and I beg Your Majesty to punish me."
The former deputy general of the Marquis of Zhennan is now the new Marquis of Zhennan.
"You've arrived just in time. Marquis Zhennan, please stand up."
The new emperor personally reached out and helped the kneeling person up.
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your grace!"
The Marquis of Zhennan led 50,000 troops, and the remaining 30,000 stayed in southern Xinjiang. He didn't dare to take all his troops away. There have been frequent unrests in southern Xinjiang recently. If southern Xinjiang was lost, the new emperor would kill him.
That is the new emperor's treasury.
Should he fight Xue Zhan's 100,000 troops head-on or retreat to the south first, integrate his forces and recapture Jianye.
The new emperor chose to lead his troops to retreat to the south.
Xue Zhan cleared out the remaining soldiers along the way until he saw a large ship by the river, but he did not meet the new emperor again.
"Your Majesty, the new emperor has run away!"
Xue Zhan was a little bit incredulous, as the original plan was for him and the prince to attack from both sides.
"Well, the spies reported that the Marquis of Zhennan led his army to take a detour through Nanxi Prefecture to meet the new emperor. Since you didn't encounter him, it means that the new emperor and his men fled to the south."
"Your Majesty, what should we do next?"
"Leave someone on the boat to guard it. We will mobilize our army and pursue them southward from Jianye, taking over various prefectures and counties along the way. They will have nowhere to escape."
This was Chu Huaibei's worst plan for this expedition. She originally thought that a surprise attack could quickly end the battle. Apparently, it was because of the new emperor's previous brainless policies that she underestimated him.
It took some time to attack the city at the beginning, but the farther the city was from Jianye, the shorter it took to capture it.
Later, when the people heard that the King of Zhenbei was coming, they killed the officials guarding the city and opened the city gates to welcome the Zhenbei Army into the city.
They chased him all the way to Quanzhou and finally stopped the new emperor.
The new emperor stood on the city wall of Quanzhou, looking at the army of nearly 100,000 led by the King of Zhenbei. He himself now had 110,000 troops. The outcome of this battle was uncertain!
Chu Huaibei took out a specially made bow and arrow, which was completely customized according to her strength.
He drew his bow and shot down the imperial flag on the city wall with one arrow.
The new emperor's face changed drastically. He had never thought that King Zhenbei had such divine power. If he had shot an arrow at him just now, he would probably have fallen.
He is humiliating me!
The moment the imperial flag fell, the morale of the Daxia army began to become restless.
"Attach a grenade to the heavy crossbow and shoot it towards the catapult!"
Following Chu Huaibei's order, thousands of heavy crossbows carrying grenades rushed straight towards the catapults.
Chu Huaibei modified this heavy siege crossbow, reducing the weight of the original crossbow arrows to make the range longer. He tied a grenade to it, and it would be best if it could destroy the catapult. If not, it can at least injure people near the catapult.
"Raise your shield to defend!"
Seeing this, the new emperor quickly gave orders.
It can be resisted, but only head-on. As long as the crossbow arrow flies behind you, the subsequent explosion will directly injure people.
"Load the crossbows and fight back!"
King Zhenbei, what you have, I also have!
The improved light crossbow also has a greatly increased range, almost right within the range.
Chu Huaibei ordered the people on the city wall to start moving the crossbows and immediately gave the order.
"Raise your shield!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the soldiers in the first two rows quickly took off the shields on their backs, and the shields in the back row were connected to the shields in the front row. An extra-large curved shield appeared in front of the new emperor.
All that could be heard was the clanging sound of the crossbow arrows hitting the shields, and the impact of the crossbow arrows was dissipated by the strength supported by thousands of people.
The damage was pitifully small.
After finally blowing up all the catapults on the city wall, Chu Huaibei ordered his troops to advance with shields raised.
"Change the giant crossbow for me!"
He didn't believe that he couldn't shoot through the turtle shell!
The impact of the giant crossbow directly dented the shield, and the soldiers standing behind the shield were shocked and vomited blood.
The people behind replaced the injured soldiers, and this process continued in turns until they finally reached the range of the artillery.
"Hold, gunners, get ready, fire!"
As the first thunder bomb landed, the new emperor on the city wall was immediately escorted down.
The city gate was quickly blown open, and concentrated firepower expanded the gate to a width large enough for five artillery carts to enter side by side. Only then did Chu Huaibei order a halt.
"Zhenbei Army, follow me into the city!"
Chu Huaibei took the lead and led Xue Zhan and Qin Feng into the city, engaging in a melee with the troops of Daxia.
The personal guards followed behind the prince, like a sharp sword piercing into the crowd, heading straight for the new emperor's position.
"Your Majesty, quickly mount your horse. I will take you away from the pursuit of the King of Zhenbei!"
Seeing that the situation was not good, Marquis Zhennan wanted to persuade the new emperor to leave first.
The new emperor held a sword in his hand and was surrounded by a group of loyal soldiers.
"Follow me to kill the traitor King Zhenbei!"
The new emperor did not retreat but advanced, leading the soldiers who had regained their morale to fight desperately.
The Marquis of Zhennan's eyes went dark, and he felt that there was no light ahead. He gritted his teeth and followed the new emperor's steps, and fell into the melee.
Chu Huaibei breathed a sigh of relief when she saw that the new emperor did not escape. If she ran again, the military rations she brought would not be enough.
"Sun Zehao!"
"You bold traitor! Do you think you can call His Majesty by his name?"
Marquis Zhennan scolded him upon hearing this.
The new emperor just wants this stupid Marquis of Zhennan to shut up!
Is this because they think he is not conspicuous enough and want to locate him personally?
Here it is!
Chu Huaibei led the team in the direction of the sound.
The new emperor deliberately avoided the attack and led his men to the other side.
It was just unfortunate that the two teams met right in the middle.
Chu Huaibei said nothing and shot directly at the new emperor's throat.
The new emperor rolled over and dodged the attack, but because the impact was too great, he lost control of his body and fell off his horse.
In Chu Huaibei's eyes, the new emperor dodged his fatal blow in a flash, and then rolled over on the back of his head as if he had eyes to avoid the downward shot.
The new emperor was surrounded by people, and it would be difficult for Chu Huaibei to kill him with one shot.
The two groups of people fought in a group. Finally, after Chu Huaibei eliminated everyone around the new emperor, he shot the new emperor through the heart.
The new emperor spat out a mouthful of black blood and fell to the ground when Chu Huaibei pulled out the gun.
His gradually unfocused eyes revealed a huge unwillingness, and he would not be able to close his eyes even if he died.
"The emperor is dead, do you still want to resist?"
"Put down your weapons, and I promise not to kill you."
"Anyone who continues to resist will be killed without mercy!"
As Chu Huaibei finished his words, the soldiers who saw the new emperor being killed dropped their weapons, and the sound of weapons hitting the ground continued.
Until the last soldier of Daxia laid down his arms.
The war that lasted for more than half a year finally ended.
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