Chapter 389: Liaodong's Giant Cannon (Begging for Tips! Begging for Votes!)

Without taking Shenyang, there was no point in thinking about anything else. Whether heading west or east, there was little he could do on his own—Nurhaci knew this well in his heart.

If he could take Shenyang, the next step would be to take Guangning and pin the Ming army back at Shanhai Pass.

That way, he could march west all the way to eliminate Ligdan Khan. Though his forces were strong and capable, there was one problem he could never solve—too few men. The people he had simply were not enough for him to accomplish anything great.

Nurhaci understood that only by marching west and absorbing the Mongol tribes would there be any hope.

Right now, Xiong Tingbi in Shenyang was like a nail hammered into place. If Nurhaci sent his troops west, Xiong Tingbi would surely take his lair. At that point, with his retreat cut off, Nurhaci would have no hope left.

So taking Shenyang was the most pressing task at hand.

But thinking of Shenyang, and then of Xiong Tingbi, gave Nurhaci a headache. Xiong Tingbi was simply too difficult to defeat. If he still could not take the city this time, he would have to think of other methods—at the very least, he needed to get Xiong Tingbi removed.

As the army marched forward, Nurhaci cast these thoughts aside. Winning this battle before his eyes was what mattered.

Inside the city of Shenyang.

Xiong Tingbi continuously received reports from his scouts, and the fighting spirit within the city grew ever stronger.

Everyone knew this would likely be another great battle. The Wild Boar Skin had raided them several times before, but never on such a massive scale.

Xiong Tingbi naturally understood this very well himself.

Glancing at Li Guangrong beside him, Xiong Tingbi asked directly: "Has Eunuch Wei arrived?"

This Eunuch Wei Chao had not left since arriving in Liaodong, and had become the supervising eunuch of Liaodong. This was something Xiong Tingbi had not anticipated.

If Xiong Tingbi wanted to fight Nurhaci, he first had to obtain Wei Chao's consent. Xiong Tingbi was well aware of this, for this Eunuch Wei had been sent by the court—or rather, sent by the Emperor.

The Emperor had sent Eunuch Wei here for no other purpose than to keep watch over Xiong Tingbi.

The court sending supervising eunuchs was nothing unusual. It was just that this Wei Chao watched in a different direction than others—he watched whether Xiong Tingbi would act recklessly, or rather, whether Xiong Tingbi would fight recklessly.

The Emperor wanted Xiong Tingbi to hold the city in defense. Beyond that, there was no other option.

"Reporting to the Grand Commander, he has arrived. It seems he went to see Li Yan," Li Guangrong said after a moment's thought.

Hearing Li Guangrong's words, Xiong Tingbi nodded.

This man named Li Yan had been sent from the capital. Last time he came to deliver firearms, he stayed in Liaodong, responsible for the use and maintenance of the new-style firearms.

The men Li Yan had brought were truly excellent helpers. They genuinely understood how to handle the cannons and muskets sent from the capital.

Because the two had come from the capital together, Wei Chao and Li Yan had a good relationship. There was nothing strange about the two of them arriving here together.

Before long, there was commotion outside.

Xiong Tingbi knew this meant Eunuch Wei had arrived.

Sure enough, Wei Chao and Li Yan walked in from outside.

Upon seeing Xiong Tingbi, Wei Chao smiled and bowed, saying: "Grand Commander, battle is about to begin. You need not concern yourself with me—I've only come to take a look."

"Eunuch Wei jests. Proper courtesies must still be observed," Xiong Tingbi said with a smile.

Li Yan, standing to the side, also bowed to Xiong Tingbi.

His official rank was not as high as Xiong Tingbi's, so his bearing had to be far more respectful.

After finishing the bow, Li Yan said with a solemn expression: "Grand Commander, is there anything else you need from us?"

Before battle, the firearms certainly had to be inspected, and any problems had to be rearranged.

If Xiong Tingbi had any questions, Li Yan was responsible for answering them. Since Li Yan's arrival in Liaodong, the two sides had always coordinated this way—one could say they were well practiced at it.

Li Yan's question was merely going through the motions, a routine inquiry.

But Xiong Tingbi did have a question.

He looked at Li Yan and asked: "Have you inspected that cannon?"

Hearing Xiong Tingbi's question, Li Yan nodded with a solemn expression and said: "It is ready. I've had it installed, and the shells are plentiful. It can fire at any moment when needed."

Hearing Li Yan's words, Xiong Tingbi nodded with satisfaction and said with a smile: "Then this time, let's give them a real taste of it."

After saying this, Xiong Tingbi turned to Li Guangrong and said: "Have the brothers get ready. If the plan succeeds, we'll charge out and let the Wild Boar Skin know our might."

"Yes, Grand Commander!" Li Guangrong's face was full of joy as he promptly acknowledged.

Xiong Tingbi nodded, then turned to Wei Chao and said: "Eunuch Wei, is there anything else you would like to say?"

Wei Chao smiled and shook his head, speaking in a casual tone: "I don't meddle in matters of war. When I left the capital, His Majesty gave me instructions—if I interfered with the Grand Commander's command, His Majesty would not forgive me."

"There is one thing I must make clear. That you intend to fight, I know. But Grand Commander Xiong, you must think carefully. The imperial decree His Majesty gave you was to hold Shenyang, not to annihilate the Wild Boar Skin. You must weigh the gravity of this carefully."

Hearing these words, Xiong Tingbi felt a weight lift from his heart.

Clearly, Wei Chao was already showing him consideration. In the past, Wei Chao probably would not have agreed.

At the same time, Xiong Tingbi understood that Wei Chao was indeed afraid of bearing the charge of interfering with command.

As for why he was so afraid, it was simply that he feared Xiong Tingbi would impeach him.

Clearly, his own standing before His Majesty truly mattered—this was evident from Wei Chao's reaction.

So Xiong Tingbi nodded and said with a smile: "Eunuch Wei, rest assured. I will not trade my brothers' lives for merit. With His Majesty's imperial decree in place, I naturally will not act recklessly."

Seeing Wei Chao nod, Xiong Tingbi directly looked at Li Yan and said: "Let us go to the city wall and take a look."

"Yes, Grand Commander." Li Yan acknowledged, then stepped aside and stood, waiting for Xiong Tingbi to go first.

The group left the building and climbed directly onto the city wall.

On the city wall, the group did not pause, walking straight to the front of a massive object.

Looking at the thing before him, Xiong Tingbi's eyes were gleaming.

This was a huge cannon, one Xiong Tingbi had never seen before.

When this great cannon had first been transported to Liaodong, Xiong Tingbi had been startled.

It was said that transporting it here had required tremendous effort, and many parts had only been assembled after arriving in Liaodong. Moving the whole thing was simply impossible.

The Hundred Works Institute had even sent people specially, bringing many tools—otherwise, even installation would have been impossible.

Looking at Li Yan beside him, Xiong Tingbi said with a smile: "Lord Li, this time we'll be counting on it."

"Rest assured, Grand Commander. There will be no problem at all," Li Yan said with full confidence.

This was the latest cannon from the Hundred Crafts Institute. Of course, that wasn't the most crucial part. The most crucial thing was that this cannon was simply too large, and it carried a heavy charge with an extremely long range.

As for the material used in this cannon, it was said to be a copper alloy—a newly developed material with moderate softness suitable for casting, yet hard enough that it wouldn't easily burst.

The loading method also differed from before, employing the Frankish-style sabot round, and it fired explosive shells—one could say it was devastatingly powerful.

Most importantly, this cannon had rifling inside its barrel. This was the newest development from the Hundred Crafts Institute, and originally it had only been a prototype cannon.

The reason it was cast so large was mainly to study the rifling and to test the new material. After it was manufactured, this cannon basically had no great practical use.

For the current Hundred Crafts Institute, any trial-produced weapon that wasn't broken and could still be used was sent to Liaodong.

The cannon before them was exactly such a product—placed here, it couldn't be moved. Because it weighed over three thousand catties, it was extremely heavy and simply impossible to transport.

Using that newly developed shell, its range could reach twelve li—truly formidable. For this reason, there had always been debate within the Hundred Crafts Workshop over whether to manufacture this type of cannon.

After this cannon was built, many people were excited, feeling this was the direction of the future. Bigger, longer range, greater power.

But some felt that something so heavy couldn't be transported or moved, and conducting field warfare with it in the wild was basically impossible.

So they believed that lightweighting the cannon was the key—it had to be easy to move and easy to fire. Once that achievement was reached, it could be equipped on a large scale, using quantity to make up for shortcomings.

The two sides fell into debate, and this cannon was sent to Liaodong partly as an experiment.

In fact, there were already quite a few cannons in Liaodong now—one only needed to look at the city walls to see that.

Along all four city walls, a cannon stood every few paces—one could say they were deployed very densely. Li Yan certainly didn't believe any army could take the city under such artillery fire.

Xiong Tingbi stroked the cannon, his gaze extremely gentle, like caressing a beloved woman.

Originally Xiong Tingbi had no intention of fighting outside the city, but with this cannon in hand, his resolve had begun to waver.

After all, the wild boar hide didn't know such a cannon existed. When Xiong Tingbi first saw this cannon, the shock in his heart was still fresh in his memory.

If he could land one shot from this cannon on Nurhaci, Xiong Tingbi believed it would produce an unexpected effect.

Moreover, every cannon on the city walls had already been zeroed in with firing data. There was no need to adjust angles on the spot—the soldiers on the walls all knew exactly where each cannon would strike when fired.

When the time came, the artillery barrage would sweep over them and surely give them a great surprise. If this cannon's range was long enough, and he could blast Nurhaci to death with a single shot, Xiong Tingbi would then lead his troops in a charge.