Chapter 1012.
Hanhai Pass, the ninth day of the Yan army’s siege.
Shangguan Wu Ji received a flying eagle transmission from Daye and immediately reported to Princess Qing Yun and Wang Duan.
First was the news of Emperor Shao Wu’s death, on the very day King Jing ascended to the throne, this Heavenly Prince of Great Liang, who had been deposed by his own brother and the Empress Dowager, died in the Forbidden Palace.
The cause of death was a recurrence of heart disease.
This also verified Wang Chen’s earlier hunch.
After King Jing ascended the throne, he granted amnesty to the whole world, changed the country’s name to Yuan Jing, and issued a decree to call the generals of all counties back to the imperial capital to report on their duties.
Currently, Emperor Yuan Jing has learned of the Yan army’s violation of the border and ordered Shangguan Wuji to defend Hanhai Pass at all costs and asked Xihai County to provide full support.
In addition, several counties in the south of the rebellion and paganism, there is a trend of a prairie fire.
A delegation from Daqi is on its way to Daye, and it is highly likely that the two countries will reach an alliance in the near future.
This latter news came from Shangguan Wu Ji’s private channels.
Although this Great General of Zhenxi was stationed at the border, he had his own eyes and ears in Da Ye, making it convenient to keep abreast of the situation in the imperial capital.
“Reinforcements from West Sea County cannot be counted on for the time being.”
Shangguan Wuji said in a deep voice, “Their military is weak and not very strong, at most they will send a cavalry over for show, if we want to hold Hanhai Pass, we can only rely on ourselves.”
Originally, Xihai County possessed an elite light cavalry legion that could provide support for the Hanhai Army at any time, however, over the years, when chaos was rampant in Da Liang, this legion had been frequently drawn out to suppress forces in various parts of the country.
It had long been drained of blood.
In the case where Great Liang and Great Yan were on good terms, this wasn’t a big problem, yet now the two sides had turned against each other.
Shangguan Wu Ji finally asserted, “The Yan army, should attack the city tomorrow!”
The facts proved that this great general’s judgment was correct.
Woo~
The sound of a majestic and low horn broke the early morning tranquility.
“Tiger!”
Hundreds of thousands of Yan troops drew up their camps and slowly advanced towards Hanhai Pass, the flags waving in the wind covered the sky, the intense military formation fury rushed straight into the sky, causing the earth to tremble until it did.
Hundreds of large stone throwers and siege wagons were interspersed amongst the Yan army, their wheels rolling and crushing through the grass, causing people to tremble!
After nine days of waiting and preparation, the mighty Yan army finally launched its attack on Hanhai Pass.
On top of the pass wall, Wang Dust looked at the Yan army that was coming in force, his expression was calm.
However, the soldiers responsible for controlling the cannons were all so nervous that their hands were shaking.
After the joint efforts of the military manufacturing battalion and the many craftsmen in Hanhai City, working tirelessly day and night, seventeen thousands of heavy iron cannons had been set up on the city wall.
It far exceeded Wang Chen’s requirements.
It was just that the gunners were all trained on an ad-hoc basis, they had only mastered the basic methods of gun manipulation, had fired a few live rounds, and were severely inexperienced.
With the current army pressing in, and these gunners shouldering the heavy responsibility, it was inevitable that they were trembling.
“No need to panic.”
Wang Dust patted the shoulder of a gunner next to him and said, “Just aim at the enemy’s stone thrower and hit it, it doesn’t matter if you can’t hit it at first, a few more rounds and you’ll be skilled.”
Sharpshooters were fed with bullets, and gunners were certainly the same.
Wang Dust’s comfort made the gunner immediately relax and nodded vigorously.
Wang Dust smiled faintly and resumed looking at the Yan army.
At this moment, the Yan army had already advanced to within two miles, and then hundreds of stone throwers were pulled to the front.
Accompanying them were tens of thousands of Yan Army longbowmen and axe and shieldmen.
The battle was imminent!
Wang Dust visually measured the distance of the other side, then personally raised the bugle flag, “Cannons ready!”
Yan’s catapults were similar to the ones arranged behind the Hanhai Pass walls, with a range of around 300 to 400 paces, so they had to be advanced to a suitable distance before they could be launched.
The cast iron cannon designed by Wang Chen has an effective range of at least two to three miles, and the maximum range is estimated to be doubled.
In fact earlier he could have directly bombarded the Yan army’s camp with the cannon.
However, in order to maximize the effect, Wang Dust purposely let the Yan army close to the barrier wall, so that the stone throwers and siege vehicles they brought with them all came within the maximum range.
Tens of thousands of Hanhai troops were standing by, each holding their breath.
“Fire!”
Wang Dust’s command seemed like a thunderous explosion, instantly spreading inside and outside the city walls.
The gunners who had long been ready did not think twice about lowering the torches in their hands and igniting the fuses inserted into the guns.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
At the next moment, the seventeen cannons fired in unison, and a shell containing horrific kinetic energy came out, flying towards the Yan army more than a mile away.
At this moment, the Yan army did not anticipate that the Grim Reaper had descended on their heads.
A dozen pounds of fine iron cannonball slammed down in the middle of the axe and shieldmen array, an unlucky axe and shieldman instantly exploded, blood and flesh splattered and flew across the ground.
The cannonball landed on the ground and flew forward again, plowing a bloody path in the blink of an eye.
Since the Yan army was lined up very densely, this cannon directly took away a dozen or so axe and shield men, even spreading to the archers behind them!
In their dreams, they never thought that there was a weapon in this world that could hit so far and be so powerful!
Caught off guard, the Yan army’s vanguard suffered nearly two hundred casualties in the first round of shelling, and the gaping holes in their formation were shocking to the eye.
Boom!
A stone thrower was coincidentally hit by a shell, and was immediately broken apart, the entire structure collapsing.
The originally tightly organized Yan army’s front line was in disarray.
The loss of two hundred men and a single stone thrower was nothing to the huge Yan army, but the intimidating feeling brought about by the cannons that made their debut in this world had a considerable impact on their morale.
“Speed up the advance!”
Seeing the situation, the Yan army general immediately accelerated the forward battalion’s charge towards the city walls.
They then quickly drew a second round of shelling, as well as a crossbow as thick as a child’s arm.
These crossbows came from the bed crossbows arranged on the city wall, and their killing power was not trivial.
Immediately after that, the stone throwers behind the city wall also started to make their presence felt!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The rumbling sound of the cannons became the main theme of this fortress attack and defense battle.
The Hanhai soldiers who were responsible for controlling the iron cannons were all handpicked, not only their own cultivation was not weak, but their minds were not bad either, and after a few rounds of shelling, they became more and more skillful in their operations.
They also hit more and more accurately!
The result was that the Yan army’s stone throwers and siege vehicles were out of luck.
As the primary targets of attack, they were shattered one after another by the shells, turning into expensive trash scattered on the ground.
Not only that, the soldiers who were responsible for protecting the catapults were also out of luck.
Because if the shells missed the carriages, there was a chance that they would fall on their bodies!
The battle between the two sides went white-hot at the very beginning, and the high casualties of the Yan army soon made the commander in the rear unable to sit still.