Chapter 874

The salty, humid scent of the sea breeze wafted over them from the east.

Yao Hongtao stared intently at the steadily approaching imperial soldiers. Unlike their own nervousness, these soldiers seemed utterly confident of victory.

From a distance, they could even hear clear singing, a rousing and inspiring melody.

“Prepare the cannons.”

Yao Hongtao put down his monocular telescope. These items were all purchased by the merchants’ council from Western merchants; almost every general now possessed one.

“Yes, General.” Upon receiving the order, the deputy general immediately had all the artillerymen take their positions, loading their shells and waiting.

At the same time, soldiers with flintlock guns moved back and forth on the city wall, deploying defenses. Each found his firing position.

All preparations complete, the deputy general frowned and said, “General, there seem to be not many Great Yu Empire soldiers, perhaps only about twenty thousand. Perhaps we can defeat them head-on.”

Yao Hongtao glanced at the deputy general. He said calmly, “Do you think the northern imperial army is like Li Chuyuan’s scattered rabble? When these soldiers were defeating the barbarians with flintlock guns in Jizhou, you were probably nowhere to be found!”

The deputy general’s face flushed red. Having successfully repelled several sieges, he was very confident in his current firearm army. In his opinion, defeating Li Chuyuan was only a matter of time.

Precisely because of this, they paid no heed to the army before them. He said, “General, it seems you are giving others courage and diminishing your own prestige. Now, facts prove that the loyalty of soldiers serving feudal lords is far inferior to that of soldiers serving the merchants’ council. Similarly, I believe the common people must also be discontent with the northern corrupt dynasty. Their soldiers will not fight to the death for them.”

“Is that so? Have you been to the north? Do you understand Qingzhou Province?” Yao Hongtao was somewhat displeased. This deputy general was not his own man, but appointed to him by the merchants’ council.

He knew very well that the merchants’ council did not entirely trust him. However, he had chosen to betray the Prince of Chu, and now he had only one path: to follow the merchants’ council. Besides, Cao Kun had promised him a seat as a councilor.

The deputy general was once again speechless. He argued, “General, it seems you still don’t trust the merchants’ council enough. Now, at the suggestion of the Azure Dragon King, the merchants’ council has decided to adopt his method used in Jizhou to win over hearts. You’ll see, soon the common people of Jiangnan will gather around the merchants’ council, just like they did in Jizhou back then.”

“Azure Dragon King.” Yao Hongtao frowned. He had met this Azure Dragon King before. He was a very cold-looking scholar, and what was most terrifying was that this Azure Dragon King was very skilled at inciting people.

When the Prince of Chu had heavily relied on him, he successfully stirred up unrest in Jizhou. However, after failing and returning to the State of Chu, he was sidelined because the Prince of Chu also worried that this Azure Dragon King would bring disaster to the State of Chu.

Now that this Azure Dragon King had defected to the merchants’ council, he could already imagine what would happen when these two oddities combined.

The deputy general, seeing this, immediately smiled. He said, “This Azure Dragon King is indeed skilled at winning over the common people. Now, many common people are defecting to the merchants’ council to avoid taxes and for land redistribution.”

Yao Hongtao suddenly sneered repeatedly upon hearing this. He suddenly felt sorrow for the common people, because he knew very well that this slogan would ultimately become an empty promise.

Since ancient times, when has there ever been a dynasty that did not collect grain? Now, the merchants’ council was merely painting a grand picture to make the common people die for them.

“Pitiable, lamentable.” Yao Hongtao didn’t know if he was referring to the deputy general or himself. He said no more, but stared intently at the approaching imperial soldiers.

Outside the city, Lu Fei was observing the situation in Songjiang City.

Unlike before, the Huben Army now was not arranged in dense formations. Instead, they were spread out in skirmish lines, dispersed outside the eastern city wall of Songjiang City.

“This section of the city wall has twenty cannons, and the city wall is manned by soldiers with flintlock guns. A frontal assault would result in heavy casualties. We only have twenty thousand men; we must exploit the advantage of our breech-loading rifles,” Lu Fei said seriously. Even with cannons, siege warfare was still a headache.

Especially since the soldiers inside the city also used firearms. They could completely rely on the city walls to use firearms to inflict casualties on the attacking soldiers, which was very costly.

So, he continued, “Guo Ming, you are to immediately lead your soldiers to dig trenches, all the way to within fifty meters of the city wall.”

“Yes, General.”

Guo Ming responded. Now, spades had basically become standard equipment for the army, specifically for digging trenches. Upon receiving the order, thousands of soldiers threw themselves into the task.

Thus, Yao Hongtao was very surprised to see the imperial army stop at three hundred meters and begin digging.

“General, what are they doing?” the deputy general asked, startled. They had never encountered such a situation.

Yao Hongtao shook his head. He was also baffled, but he understood that this was certainly not a good sign. He shouted to the artillerymen, “Fire!”

Upon his command, the cannons on the city wall immediately roared. Solid shot flew towards the imperial army like lightning.

But when the cannons roared, the imperial army opposite immediately dispersed, seeking uneven terrain as cover and lying down. At the same time, he saw the imperial soldiers lying on the ground begin to fire.

“Bang, bang, bang…”

Flashes of fire erupted, and bullets flew wildly over the city wall. Some soldiers, unable to dodge, were hit and fell with screams. The city wall immediately fell into chaos.

Even more, cold sweat broke out on Yao Hongtao’s back. Since when could the imperial army’s firearms shoot three hundred meters?

As he was in a frenzy, Lu Fei continuously urged his soldiers to dig trenches. In truth, the accuracy of this firing was not very high, as the precision of target practice at three hundred meters was not great.

In daily training, he had already gained experience. In fact, as the distance increased, the accuracy of soldiers’ shooting continuously decreased. Although the range and accuracy of breech-loading rifles had greatly improved, human vision and operation had their limits.

It was very difficult to accurately hit a person within five hundred meters. The optimal firing range was still within two hundred meters.

So, this firing was merely to suppress the enemy’s artillery, not to kill.

After a round of covering fire, the soldiers dug trenches even faster. No soldier wanted to be crushed into meat paste by the cannons on the city wall.

Three hours later, a winding trench extended to the foot of Songjiang City. Other soldiers entered the trench and continuously expanded the trench works.

After the initial bombardment, the council army quickly stopped firing, because the imperial soldiers hiding in the trenches simply could not be harmed by solid shot.

At this point, Lu Fei ordered all soldiers to enter the trenches, completely surrounding Songjiang City. At the same time, mortars, carried by two men each, also entered the trenches.

They advanced to fifty meters from the city wall.

Upon receiving Lu Fei’s command, they immediately lobbed explosive shells and lime bombs onto the city wall of Songjiang City. Soldiers carrying Falcon Rifles also fired at the city wall from the edge of the trenches.

The Battle of Songjiang City officially began.

The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/caleredhair