Chapter 329: Within the Range of the Cannon, All Is Truth

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In fact, Zhao Yu and his ministers had long known that the Jin were attacking Goryeo.

Hmm… but it wasn't exactly long ago.

Earlier, Wanyan Aguda had concealed his movements extremely well, deceiving Zhao Yu and his ministers.

Yet Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang were key Jin generals; their sudden disappearance with forty to fifty thousand troops could not have escaped the suspicion of Song spies embedded in Jin. What if Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang planned to launch a surprise attack on the Song?

During that time, Liu Fa was exceptionally cautious, fearing Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang might suddenly lead troops to strike the Song army.

At the same time, Liu Fa wrote to Xiao Puxian Nü, urging her to order Liao forces to intensify their attacks on the Jin, even coordinating with Liao troops to assault the Jin, hoping to force Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang to reveal themselves.

But no matter how dire the Jin's situation became, Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang, along with the forty to fifty thousand troops they had taken, never appeared.

More than a month later, Song spies finally learned that Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang had launched a surprise attack on Goryeo.

The Song spies swiftly reported this up the chain, until the report reached Zhao Yu.

To be honest, Zhao Yu never expected that, under such dire circumstances, Wanyan Aguda would dare fight on two fronts.

This clearly showed that Wanyan Aguda was indeed one of the greatest heroes of his era.

After consulting with his ministers and strategists, Zhao Yu issued an imperial edict to Liu Fa, ordering him to join forces with the Liao army and launch a fierce assault on Liaodong, ideally capturing the entire region.

Zhao Yu also issued an edict to Xiao Puxian Nü, instructing her to use the pretext that the Song would help the Liao reclaim the Eastern Capital, and order Yelu Chun to mobilize the Liao army to coordinate with the Song in attacking Liaodong.

Zhao Yu even dispatched Hu Yanqing to lead the Song navy in seizing Jin's Jinzhou and Fuzhou regions—the Liaodongbandao.

Liaodong broadly refers to the region east of the Liao River, forming the northeastern frontier of central plain dynasties; the State of Yan first established the Liaodong Commandery, and the Yan, Qin, Han, Wei built fortifications for defense; the Sui and Tang established the An Dong Protectorate; during the Liao and Jin periods, it became a multi-ethnic fusion zone; historically, after the Later Jin took control, they moved their capital to Shenyang; the Ming established a military command; the Qing changed it to the Shengjing General. Its scope, in the broad sense, encompasses most of modern Liaoning and parts of Jilin and Heilongjiang, extending eastward to the Sea of Japan.

Liaodong has always been the hub of exchange between the central plains and Northeast Asia, a must-contested land for central plain dynasties vying for dominance in Northeast Asia.

Originally, Zhao Yu had never intended to seize Liaodong so quickly, for greed leads to indigestion.

But now that Jin had dragged Goryeo into the conflict, if the Song failed to seize Liaodong, they would be forced into a passive position in the Northeast Asian power struggle.

Of course, Zhao Yu also did not forget to send envoys to Goryeo, attempting to persuade them not to yield to Jin's threats or collude with them; he instructed his envoys to tell Wang Yu and his ministers that the Song was already attacking Liaodong, and that if Goryeo held firm, the Jin army would surely retreat in frustration.

This was also one of the reasons Zhao Yu and his ministers decided to seize Liaodong.

Yet Zhao Yu and his ministers had not anticipated that Goryeo, like Northern Song in history, would be overrun by Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang with only several ten thousand troops and large numbers of surrendered soldiers, reaching the capital; moreover, due to Goryeo's tiny territory, Wang Yu and his ministers had nowhere to flee, and were thus trapped like fish in a barrel, extorted mercilessly and forced to sign the Chengxiazhi Alliance.

By the time Zhao Yu's envoys arrived in Goryeo, everything had already been settled.

Under the watchful eyes of Wanyan Zonghan and Wanyan Zongwang, Wang Yu could only issue an edict to behead Zhao Yu's envoys and display their heads on the city walls, demonstrating Goryeo's resolve to ally with Jin and sever all ties with the Song.

Throughout this process, Wang Yu did not allow the Song envoys to speak a single word; Goryeo's ministers, from Li Ziqian downward, remained silent, tacitly acknowledging that Jin was their ally and the Song their enemy.

Due to the underdeveloped transportation and communication of this era, Zhao Yu and his ministers did not learn of Goryeo's execution of the Song envoys until months later.

That is a tale for another time, not recounted here.

Upon receiving Zhao Yu's orders, Hu Yanqing assembled the Shenji Left Army and the Dongfu Army, leading the naval forces of Li Jun the Mixing Dragon, Ruan Xiaoer the Short-Lived Second Son, Ruan Xiao Wu the Standing Earth Tyrant, Ruan Xiaoqi the Living Hell King, Zhang Heng the Boat Fire, and Zhang Shun the Surfing White Skipper, and headed for the Liaodongbandao.

Arriving at Lion's Mouth, the various naval fleets lined their warships in a single row and unleashed a barrage of cannon fire upon the Jin encampment.

Notably, the Li Lin cannons mounted on Song navy warships were not the same as those used on land; they were called the Divine Might Invincible General Li Lin Cannon.

In design, the Divine Might Invincible General Li Lin Cannon had a longer barrel, thicker walls, a larger caliber, and a shape that gradually thickened from muzzle to breech, conforming to the principle of decreasing internal pressure as gunpowder burned. On both sides of the cannon's center of gravity were cylindrical trunnions, allowing the cannon to adjust its elevation angle around this axis, enabling range adjustment through varying gunpowder charges; it featured a front sight and rear sight, calculating trajectories by parabolic principles with high accuracy.

The Divine Might Invincible General Li Lin Cannon actually came in three types: the Light Cannon "Divine Might General" Li Lin Cannon, the Medium Cannon "Divine Skill General" Li Lin Cannon, and the Heavy Cannon "Martial Achievement Eternal Stability General" Li Lin Cannon.

Even the "Divine Might General" Li Lin Cannon had an effective range exceeding two li; the "Divine Skill General" Li Lin Cannon exceeded six li; the "Martial Achievement Eternal Stability General" Li Lin Cannon exceeded ten li.

The Divine Might Invincible General Li Lin Cannon belonged to the long spindle-shaped, muzzle-loading, smoothbore cannon; with the Song's industrial revolution, weapon manufacturing employed powered machine tools for precision machining of gun barrels; standardized, precise production of components and cannonballs; the Song's black powder processing techniques had also greatly improved; cannon firing theory and tactics had advanced under Li Lin's leadership; thus, the power, range, and rate of fire of the Song's Divine Might Invincible General Li Lin Cannon all doubled.

One could even say the Divine Might Invincible General Li Lin Cannon had fully surpassed the Hongyi Cannon of the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Of course, the Divine Might Invincible General Li Lin Cannon had a major flaw: they were extremely heavy, rendering them usable only for coastal, harbor, and shipboard defense—impossible to equip to the army, at least for the short term.

Hu Yanqing's flagship vessels—"Eastern Capital," "Southern Capital," "Western Capital," "Northern Capital"—were the Song's most advanced "Divine Ships," their scale rivaling the Ming dynasty's treasure ships—hull lengths exceeding forty zhang, widths over ten zhang, masts towering into the heavens, decks layered like floating citadels.

More astonishingly, they were equipped with steam engines and the world's most advanced propellers—though the steam engines and propellers were still immature, severely limiting their endurance, at critical moments their speed surpassed that of sails and human rowing.

More crucially, the decks and hulls of these warships were densely packed with Divine Might Invincible General Li Lin Cannons.

At this moment, their black muzzles, like the jaws of beasts, pointed directly at the Jin encampment ashore.

The fleet reached beyond Lion's Mouth; the sea wind carried the briny scent, and the giant ships cut through the waves, anchoring steadily one arrow's range from shore.

Hu Yanqing stood atop the highest watchtower of the "Eastern Capital," waved his command flag, and the flag officer immediately relayed the orders to each ship.

Boom—!

Boom—!

Boom—!

…

The first to fire were the "Martial Achievement Eternal Stability General" Li Lin Cannons on the "Eastern Capital," "Southern Capital," "Western Capital," and "Northern Capital."

The cannon barrels shuddered; flames erupted from the muzzles; each heavy thirty-jin solid shot tore through the sky, screaming sharply, and crashed violently into the Jin encampment.