Chapter 572

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Amidst the booming cannons, Lu Fei observed the situation in Huaizhou City through his telescope.

At this moment, Luo Hong returned on horseback. Dismounting, he said to Lu Fei, “General, all four city walls of Huaizhou City have now been breached by us. Not a single powerful family member in the city can escape. Should we now order the soldiers to attack the city?”

Lu Fei nodded. Huaizhou City was located in the heartland, and like cities such as Cangzhou and Laizhou, the local garrison was small. This victory over the Pengzhou army had already dealt a heavy blow to the Prince of Wei’s army.

According to intelligence from the secret service, the garrison of Huaizhou City was originally only five thousand men, but after Pengzhou City was captured, the Prince of Wei urgently recruited soldiers locally and dispatched another thirty thousand men to reinforce Huaizhou, all very hastily.

In his opinion, these hastily assembled soldiers were no match for the Pengzhou army.

“Withdraw the soldiers from the South Gate.” Lu Fei said contemplatively.

Luo Hong was surprised. “General, this is an opportunity to annihilate the Huaizhou army completely. Why withdraw?”

Lu Fei had read many military treatises and war examples at Bowen Academy these days. He said to Luo Hong, “Pengzhou City has fallen, and the Huaizhou generals must be terrified. After all, we could easily capture Pengzhou City, and Huaizhou City is no exception. Moreover, the troops reinforcing Huaizhou this time were dispatched from other prefectures and counties; they lack conviction in defending Huaizhou. If we besiege them from all sides, they might fight to the death out of desperation, but if we leave them a way out, they will surely rout.”

Luo Hong suddenly understood. He felt ashamed. He had been very confident after arriving in Qingzhou, but after interacting with these Qingzhou generals, he felt increasingly inferior.

Not only were these generals proficient in the use of firearms, but they were also well-versed in military strategy, which was very different from the generals in other armies of Great Yu Empire.

“I understand. His Highness wants us to take Huaizhou City as quickly as possible, so there’s no need to entangle with the city’s defenders,” Luo Hong said.

“Exactly. However, I have no intention of letting them go. After the southern army withdraws, immediately set up an ambush along the southern official road. Furthermore, have Bai Mu coordinate with you to ensure this relief army is annihilated. We must make the Prince of Wei unable to recover.”

“Yes, General.”

Luo Hong was initially somewhat unconvinced by Lu Fei. After all, he came from the imperial guards, while Lu Fei was purely a self-taught talent. Now, he truly realized that Lu Fei did have some ability.

Watching Luo Hong depart, Lu Fei again observed the defenders on the city wall. Under the Southern Expedition Army’s bombardment, all four city gates had now been blasted open. In front of cannons, city gates were no different from paper cutouts.

And after the city gates were breached, the Huaizhou army was already in complete disarray. There was no decent resistance on the city wall now. Facing this scene, Lu Fei fell into contemplation.

Whether it was Pengzhou City or Huaizhou City, these two campaigns made him realize that other vassal kings, who currently seemed aggressive, were actually just superficially powerful.

Moreover, against armies with firearms, these armies still stuck in the cold weapon era had no adequate countermeasures.

After this Battle of Huaizhou, he must send a letter to Xiao Ming explaining the current situation, so that Xiao Ming can correctly judge the current situation.

As Lu Fei expected, when Luo Hong withdrew the soldiers from the South Gate, the resistance on the city wall weakened again.

At this point, he issued the order to charge.

The sound of the charge bugle rang out, and the Southern Expedition Army soldiers, like hungry wolves, attacked the city from the north, east, and west gates. For a while, gunshots erupted throughout the city.

Huaizhou City was already in chaos, with corpses of Huaizhou army soldiers scattered everywhere near the city walls due to the Southern Expeditionary Army’s bombardment.

Upon entering the city, the Southern Expeditionary Army immediately occupied the city walls near the city tower. Then, the soldiers turned the cannons on the city walls and furiously bombarded the troops within the city.

At the same time, mortars were also brought onto the city wall. This time, the Southern Expeditionary Army no longer fired lime bombs, but switched to another type of shell. These shells were not filled with lime, but with individual lead balls.

When the shell exploded, the lead balls inside would scatter, causing area damage. However, despite their different effects, their principles were the same; this was the most primitive shrapnel shell.

The only drawback was that timing control was difficult, making precise explosions impossible, but even so, it was enough to intimidate the enemy.

Moreover, this batch of shells had just arrived and had not yet been used. Luo Xin specifically had the artillery use them in this battle.

“Boom…”

The mortar on the city wall emitted a dull thud. The shell, with a wooden plug at its front, landed among the resisting Huaizhou army.

Like lime bombs, this type of shell also required cutting a fuse to time its explosion. When the shell landed among the Huaizhou army, it merely struck one person and rolled to the ground.

The surrounding Huaizhou army was startled by this shell, but seeing it lying motionless on the ground, they paid it no mind. But just then, the shell on the ground exploded with a “boom.”

“Ah…”

A burst of white smoke and flames erupted within the crowd, accompanied by screams of agony. A large number of Huaizhou army soldiers around the shell fell, many clutching their wounds where they had been hit by the lead balls, screaming.

This scene made the other Huaizhou army soldiers turn pale with fear, but then more shells fell into the dense crowd.

Facing heavy casualties, the Huaizhou army, organized by the powerful families, completely lost its will to fight and began to rout.

“There are no enemy troops at the South Gate!”

At this moment, someone shouted, and the Huaizhou army, upon learning this news, immediately routed towards the South Gate.

At this time, the Southern Expeditionary Army had completely controlled the city towers on the north, east, and west city walls. The soldiers who entered the city also drove the Prince of Wei’s army within the city southward like herding ducks.

On the official road at the South Gate of Huaizhou City, Luo Hong and Bai Mu were ambushed twenty li outside the city. There was a forest here, convenient for hidden troops.

At this time, they had been waiting here for two hours. They had launched their attack in the morning, and it was now afternoon.

Just as Luo Hong was getting a bit impatient from waiting, a scout reported, “Commander, the routed enemy troops are heading this way!”

Luo Hong and Bai Mu exchanged glances and nodded.

This time, they not only wanted to take Huaizhou City but also to maximize the annihilation of the Prince of Wei’s forces.

Like a hawk waiting for its prey, soon, a scattered formation of routed soldiers and families of powerful clans appeared in Luo Hong’s and Bai Mu’s sight.

In war, a rout meant that the army had lost its command and organization. Such a headless force was simply unable to organize a counterattack. Precisely because of this, throughout history, closely pursuing routed troops always resulted in small losses and great gains.

“Attack!”

Seeing the routed troops getting closer, Luo Hong suddenly shouted loudly. At this time, he only had five thousand musketeers, but for him, no matter how many routed troops there were, they were nothing but a disorganized rabble, not worth mentioning.

Compared to his musketeers, Bai Mu’s cavalry was more agile. Leading three thousand cavalry, Bai Mu charged out first.