Chapter 635

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“Boom, boom, boom…”

Hundreds of field guns simultaneously began to bombard the allied cannons that were constantly approaching the Yunzhou army.

As the allied musketeers continuously approached the Yunzhou army, these allied cannons hidden within the army also seized the opportunity to move forward. However, all of this could not be concealed from the signalmen observing from hundreds of meters high in the hydrogen balloon.

The positions of the enemy cannons were continuously relayed to Luo Xin by the signalmen, and Luo Xin immediately directed the cannons to bombard the directions indicated by the signalmen.

After a volley, a swath of allied soldiers covering the cannons fell. The allied cannons were then completely exposed to Luo Xin’s view, and even fiercer cannon fire bombarded the allied cannons, instantly causing screams to erupt.

The tragic situation of the artillery soon reached Cui Huai and the Second Prince. Both their expressions changed upon hearing this. At this moment, a strange glint flashed in their eyes as they looked at the peculiar object rising from Yunzhou City.

“This must be the fabled hot-air balloon,” Cui Huai asked.

The Second Prince nodded, “That’s right. I saw it once in Chang’an. It is said that in the Battle of Jizhou, the Qingzhou army also used this hot-air balloon to scout the barbarian army.”

“Hmph, if I’m not mistaken, there’s a hot-air balloon in Chang’an City, isn’t there?”

“There is one. Xiao Ming gave it to Imperial Father back then. It should be in Prince Zhao’s hands now,” the Second Prince said, displeased. This time, Prince Zhao had dispatched 40,000 cavalry, but he was unwilling to even send the hot-air balloon.

Otherwise, how could they be so passive now?

Zhao Ang’s eyes were fixed on his nose, feigning ignorance. Now that the losses were from Prince Yan’s and Prince Liang’s forces, he seemed to feel a bit of joy.

Cui Huai and the Second Prince naturally felt distressed. On the raised ground not far away, strangely shaped cannons continuously fired round after round of shells. Their artillerymen were completely unable to return fire.

However, at this moment, they also gradually realized that the range of their cannons seemed to be inferior to that of the Qi army’s cannons.

But the suppression of their cannons did not make them abandon their intention to attack. On the contrary, they ordered the army to continue advancing, after all, their soldiers were more than twice the number of the Qi army.

Now that the Qi army was not defending the city but fighting them in the open, it was an opportunity for them to annihilate them in one fell swoop.

The loss of a thousand artillerymen among 350,000 troops would not affect this war at all.

“Rumble, rumble, rumble…” The sound of war drums grew increasingly urgent. The allied musketeers were still 250 meters from the Yunzhou army.

At this moment, Lu Fei, commanding the central army, ordered his soldiers to raise their muskets. This time, the central army was equipped with 6,000 rifled guns, to be used against the allied musketeers.

Although he could order fire at around 400 meters, Lu Fei understood that the closer the distance, the more concentrated firepower could be unleashed. So, he ultimately decided to order fire at 250 meters, as the accuracy at 400 meters was too poor.

“Fire!” Just as the allied musketeers were slowly approaching the Yunzhou army, Lu Fei finally gave the order.

“Bang, bang, bang…”

White smoke accompanied by flames erupted, and a swath of densely marching allied musketeers 200 meters away suddenly fell.

An allied soldier felt something warm splash on his face, and then his comrade beside him fell. Looking at the Yunzhou City army holding muskets directly in front of him, he suddenly felt a chill down his spine.

But he dared not stop, because behind them were overseers with sabers. If they retreated even half a step, they would be instantly beheaded, and their families back home would also be killed. They had received such military orders upon arriving in Bingzhou.

“Bang, bang, bang…”

Another volley. Another batch of allied soldiers fell around them. The number of musketeers dwindled.

Then came the third round, the fourth round. Every time fire and white smoke erupted from the opposite side, a group of them would fall. Finally, after the fifth volley, some musketeers could no longer bear the fear and tried to escape.

But they had not run far before they were killed by the overseers. These screams made more soldiers attempting to flee stop, and they grit their teeth, advancing step by step towards Yunzhou City.

150 meters, 100 meters, 70 meters. When they reached the firing range of the matchlock guns, they raised their matchlock guns.

At the artillery position, Niu Ben watched the allied musketeers. At this moment, his brows were tightly furrowed, and his expression was grim. He noticed the presence of overseers among the allied forces.

If it were in the past, these musketeers would have scattered after losing ten percent of their numbers. But now, the musketeers coming directly at them had suffered forty percent losses and still hadn’t retreated. Instead, they braved the cannon and musket fire and reached a firing distance of 70 meters.

“It seems this will be a tough battle,” Niu Ben said in a deep voice.

Luo Xin’s expression was also somewhat surprised. It seemed Prince Yan and Prince Liang had made a firm decision this time, otherwise, they would not have resorted to such cruel methods to force their soldiers to fight to the death.

“Switch to grapeshot! Have the mortars use lime bombs and explosive shells! Field guns, aim at the overseers!” Niu Ben ordered, trying to minimize casualties.

“Yes.”

Luo Xin immediately ordered the flag signaler to signal. At this time, the artillerymen began to switch to grapeshot. When cannons had a longer range than flintlock guns, cannons were the main force in warfare.

“Boom, boom, boom…” The field guns firing grapeshot began to bombard the allied musketeers.

A grapeshot shell, fired, instantly turned into a rain of hundreds of projectiles. The musketeers, preparing to fire, screamed and fell in waves, the ground filled with the wails of wounded soldiers.

Lu Fei’s expression showed no mercy. They had no personal grudge against these soldiers, but on the battlefield, they were enemies. If they didn’t kill them, they would be killed themselves.

Seventy meters was also the effective range of flintlock guns. After enduring a volley from the allied musketeers, he ordered the rifled flintlock guns and smoothbore flintlock guns to fire simultaneously.

Under the fierce cannon fire and musket volleys, the allied musketeers continuously fell. Finally, after suffering seventy percent losses, the allied musketeers could no longer bear it and collectively retreated.

“Those who retreat die!” The overseers roared, their sabers falling upon every fleeing soldier.

But at this point, the threat of death could no longer stop the soldiers from fleeing.

Luo Xin used his telescope to observe these overseers. He ordered the cannons to heavily bombard these overseers who were trying to prevent the soldiers from retreating.

Gradually, the overseers found their numbers dwindling, and they gradually lost their hold over the army in front. Under the fierce cannon fire of the Yunzhou army, more and more soldiers scattered.

Seeing this, Niu Ben breathed a sigh of relief. However, he also sighed inwardly. If Prince Yan, Prince Liang, and Prince Zhao could have used such methods against the barbarians, how could the barbarians have bullied the Great Yu Empire?

So, at this moment, his resentment towards Prince Yan, Prince Liang, and Prince Zhao grew even stronger. In his opinion, they were nothing more than a group of cruel tyrants.