Fan Wuji tightened the reins, trying his best to keep his warhorse from being startled. The brief surprise in his eyes was quickly replaced by an unwavering determination.
Now that things have come to this, even if it means facing the cannon fire from the walls of the Southern Yue capital, we must conquer Yangcheng and behead Emperor Tiande, Li Zongmin.
Fan Wuji raised his ring-pommel sword high and shouted, "Pass down the order: disperse and attack!"
"The Southern Yue barbarians have a limited number of 'red-coated cannons.' Once they reach the city walls, the red-coated cannons will be helpless against us!"
"Brothers of the Trapped Camp, charge!"
"Kill them!"
After a brief period of panic, the soldiers of the Longcheng Southern Expeditionary Army's Trapped Camp quickly regained their composure and began to disperse and approach the capital of Nanyue.
At the same time, it also accelerated the pace of the charge.
On the other side, General Pang Xianchu, who was commanding the southern expeditionary army from the central command tent in Longcheng, was also startled by the sudden cannon fire from the capital of Nanyue.
They even couldn't help but stand up from their seats.
Previously, his scouts had learned that the Southern Yue Kingdom had invited barbarians from the Atlantic Ocean to help them in the war, and that these barbarians possessed a new type of weapon.
However, Pang Xianchu never expected that the new weapon in the hands of these barbarians would actually be the "Red Cannon" of the Shenji Battalion!
However, the number and power of the red-coated cannons in the hands of these barbarians seemed to be inferior to those of the Shenji Battalion.
Pang Xianchu's heart finally settled down when he saw Fan Wuji, the vanguard commander, remain calm and composed in the face of danger, and how the elite Trapped Camp quickly regained its formation after a brief moment of panic and continued its charge towards the capital of Nanyue.
Pang Xianchu immediately ordered: "Men, convey my order! Have the Shenji Battalion gather all the red-coated cannons and blow up the barbarian cannons on the walls of the Southern Yue capital to clear the last threat and obstacle for the Trapped Camp before they can scale the city walls!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
In fact, without Pang Xianchu's order, Qi Jiguang, the naval commander who personally oversaw the battle from the Shenji Battalion, discovered the bronze cannons on the walls of the Nanyue capital.
He immediately ordered the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion to turn their cannons around and lock onto the bronze cannon positions on the city wall of the Southern Yue capital.
"Report—"
"Reporting to the Commander-in-Chief, the red-coated cannons are all ready. Please give your instructions!"
The commander of the Shenji Battalion immediately reported to Qi Jiguang as soon as the cannon muzzles were turned around.
"fire!"
Qi Jiguang brandished the Seven-Star Dragon Abyss Sword bestowed upon him by the new emperor Chen Huai'an and once again gave the order to fire the cannons.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh!
Boom, boom, boom!
Accompanied by a series of shrill whistles and explosions, the red-coated cannons of the Shenji Battalion unleashed their power once more, firing black shells at the walls of the Southern Yue capital.
Only then did the orders of Pang Xianchu, the commander-in-chief of the southern expeditionary army, reach the front lines of the Shenji Battalion.
On the city wall, the barbarian artillery team, paid for their services, was not to be outdone. They quickly reloaded their gunpowder and projectiles and bombarded the Longcheng army's battalion with their bronze cannons before they could scale the walls.
Boom, boom, boom!
Inside and outside the capital of Nanyue, the battle between the attacking and defending sides has entered a fierce and intense stage.
With the aid of artillery, battlefield casualties that previously only occurred during close-quarters combat were brought forward to the point where soldiers were constantly being killed or wounded by artillery shells even during the final charge.
The cruelty of war far surpasses that of the past.
Until the vanguard of the Trapped Camp placed the siege ladders on the walls of the Southern Yue capital, and the siege engines and battering rams began to violently pound the gates of the Southern Yue capital.
Li Shiyu, the crown prince of Nanyue, who had been watching the battle from the city walls, finally had a chance to use his skills.
Eager to avenge the humiliation of the defeat at Yongzhou, Li Shiyu took the lead, drawing his sword and brandishing it, shouting fiercely:
"Wolf warriors of the Southern Yue Kingdom, the opportunity to fight and make a name for yourselves is right before you! Raise your swords, spears, and halberds, and follow me, the Crown Prince, to annihilate the rebels of Longcheng and protect the capital of Southern Yue!"
"A reward of ten taels of silver will be given for each enemy killed in this battle!"
"Kill them!"
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Inspired by the generous rewards offered by Crown Prince Li Shiyu, the Nanyue soldiers defending the city walls were united in their hatred of the enemy. The first to launch a counterattack against the Longcheng army's entrenched camp was the archer on the city walls.
Arrows rained down on the Dragon City army's entrenched camp, like locusts swarming across the land.
Thump, thump, thump!
The soldiers of the Trapped Camp below the city raised their shields to defend themselves, and the arrows struck the shields with a series of thuds.
The soldiers of the Trapped Camp, holding their shields, climbed up the city wall using ladders.
The Nanyue soldiers defending the city were naturally unwilling to sit idly by and wait to die. Seeing that the arrows had limited effect on the soldiers of the Trapped Camp, they immediately switched to rolling stones, logs, and hot oil, throwing them down the city wall as if they were free.
In an instant, the Dragon City army's trapped camp below the city walls suffered heavy casualties, and cries of agony filled the air.
Upon seeing this, the Shenji Battalion soldiers who came to help quickly turned their cannons back to the defenders on the city wall, using artillery fire to suppress the counterattack of the South Vietnamese wolf soldiers defending the city.
In an instant, Yangcheng, the capital of the Southern Yue Kingdom with a history of hundreds of years, was transformed into a brutal hell on earth, with soldiers from both sides dying on the battlefield every minute and every second.
Everywhere there were raging fires and billowing smoke, the cries of wounded soldiers and the pitiful neighing of warhorses intertwined, forming a symphony of fate that inspired awe.
War is cruel; it's either you die or I perish.
In the later stages of the fierce battle, almost all of the Shenji Battalion's one hundred red-coated cannons were no longer able to fire, their barrels glowing red-hot as if they were at risk of exploding at any moment.
On the city walls of the southern Yue capital, the thirty bronze cannons brought by the Yi leader Markel were in no better condition.
Apart from the half of the bronze cannons that were destroyed by the Shenji Battalion, the remaining bronze cannons were also rendered useless due to overheating of the barrels.
In the end, this siege was still a contest of the fighting will of the soldiers on both sides, and it was still a battle between people.
The barbarian leader Markel and his two thousand barbarian mercenaries were quite professional, even after the bronze cannons could no longer be used in battle.
Still carrying his rapier, he ran along the narrow city wall of the Southern Yue capital, assisting the Southern Yue defenders in repelling the Longcheng army's entrapment camp that had stormed the city wall.
"Warriors of the Atlantic Nation, the time has come to uphold the honor of our Atlantic Nation's knights!"
"For the sake of our successful establishment of trading ports in the East, for the sake of gold and spices, and for the sake of our descendants being able to reside permanently in the East, kill!"
"Kill them!"
Under the mobilization of the barbarian leader Markel, his two thousand barbarian mercenaries displayed formidable fighting power.
These foreign mercenaries were tall and wore heavy Crusader armor. They carried Western swords and had the advantage of being on higher ground. They were in no way inferior to the soldiers of the Vanguard Camp.
In several places, where the enemy troops were almost able to scale the city walls, they were instantly driven back by the arrival of the barbarian soldiers.
Outside the city, Fan Wuji, the vanguard general on horseback, kept a close eye on the battle situation on the city wall.
When he discovered that the persistent barbarian soldiers had become the biggest obstacle for the Vanguard Camp to conquer Yangcheng, Fan Wuji immediately decided to personally lead the Imperial Guards to the city to meet these barbarians from the Atlantic Kingdom!
Fan Wuji pointed his ring-pommel sword directly at the city wall and shouted, "Left and Right Guards, listen to my command! Follow me to the city wall!"
"Your subordinate obeys!"
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