Chapter 227: WAR

The eagles were stunned; they had not expected there to be so many cannons on the city walls that could be erected and fired.

The Elm Cannons fired too many small iron balls, which spread out like a great net made of small iron balls, sealing off the sky above the city wall. As the eagles dove down, they ran headlong into these small iron balls, which contained powerful kinetic energy.

"Puchi! Puchi!" Some eagles were directly shredded into pieces by the small iron balls; feathers, fresh blood, and limb fragments scattered across the long sky.

Others had their abdomens pierced by the small iron balls, bleeding all over, and crashed headfirst onto the city wall, only to be easily finished off by the soldiers on the wall using their weapons.

However, those eagles with green feathers mixed into their wings had much larger bodies and extremely fast reaction speeds.

As the small iron balls flew in, these Eagle Monster Beasts tucked in their wings to protect their vital parts, using the feathers on their wings that shimmered with green light to block the incoming small iron balls.

"Peng! Peng! Peng!" The small iron balls struck the eagles' wings, actually emitting a series of metallic clashing sounds.

These eagles were not simple; they were all First-Grade Monsters, their bodies tempered by Demon Power and turned very sturdy, especially those green feathers, which were like steel and iron, capable of resisting the impact of the small iron balls.

The small iron balls had great kinetic energy; although they could not pierce those green feathers, they still knocked the First-Grade eagles off balance and caused them intense pain all over.

The First-Grade eagles' green feathers were sturdy and could block the small iron balls, but they did not have many green feathers on their bodies and could not completely cover every part; the black feathers elsewhere were not as tough, and as soon as they were hit by the small iron balls, they would be torn to shreds and covered in wounds.

The Eagle Monster Beasts let out bursts of miserable shrieks, but even though they were injured, they continued to dive down without fear of death, wanting to tear the soldiers on the city wall into pieces.

These Eagle Monster Beasts had attacked many cities and knew that human cannons were difficult to reload; after firing one shot, it took a long time before they could fire a second.

After the Eagle Monster Beasts withstood the first round of cannon bombardment, they intended to take advantage of the interval between cannon shots to rush over and finish off the humans on the city wall.

But what the Eagle Monster Beasts did not expect was that Meng Yifan was very well prepared; he had long considered the problem of the long firing interval of the cannons, so he had long ago trained the city-defending soldiers to use the three-stage firing tactic.

Bird Guns could be fired in three stages to achieve continuous firepower output.

Elm Cannons firing Shrapnel Shells could do the same; one only needed to divide the soldiers into three groups and fire in batches continuously.

This three-stage cannon tactic required a large number of cannons and rapid reloading; if they were still using the original cannons ignited by matchlocks, it would be impossible to achieve continuous cannonball firing.

Wang Dachui was able to manufacture Flintlocks, so Meng Yifan had him retrofit the Elm Cannons, Tiger Crouching Cannons, and Divine Soul General Cannons to use flint-striking ignition, and they also used thick paper cartridges for quantitative ammunition loading.

This could increase the firing speed of the cannons and also allow more cannons to be placed in the limited space on the city wall.

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" The roaring of the Elm Cannons on the city wall continued incessantly, spraying out countless small iron balls.

The Eagle Monster Beasts suffered heavy casualties before they even approached the city wall, and eagles were constantly being blasted into pieces, but some eagles did reach the city wall; their pitch-black eagle claws grabbed soldiers, and then they spread their wings and flew high, carrying the soldiers directly to an altitude of several hundred meters.

The eagles used their sharp beaks to easily peck open the soldiers' skulls to suck out the brains inside, then their two eagle claws exerted a sudden force, tearing the soldiers in two and throwing the corpses down like trash.

A young soldier on the city wall looked at the corpse torn in two, his eyes splitting with rage and his face streaming with tears, and he roared in agony: "Big Brother!"

The two brothers, the older one named Ding Dalang and the younger one named Ding Erlang, were both refugees who had fled from Dashicun; their other relatives were all dead, leaving only the two brothers to rely on each other.

Later, when Meng Yifan recruited soldiers, the two brothers joined the army; having experienced several great battles, Ding Dalang fought bravely, performed meritorious service, and had already been promoted to Squad Leader.

Meng Yifan expanded Luolong County and built some tenement buildings, allotting one room to each soldier of the Salvation Army; the two brothers had a house to live in and were full of longing for their future life.

A matchmaker had introduced a woman who had fled as a refugee to Ding Dalang; that woman had a large mole on her face, but she had a tall figure and large hips, and one could tell at a glance that she was capable of bearing sons.

Of the three unfilial acts, having no descendants is the greatest; Ding Dalang did not mind the woman, used five jin of grain as a betrothal gift, and married the woman back to start a new family.

That woman was very virtuous and kept the home clean and tidy; every time the two Ding brothers finished training and returned home, there were cooked meals waiting for them.

Two days ago, when the woman was eating, she suddenly vomited, and after having a doctor check her pulse, it was confirmed that she was with child; Ding Dalang and Ding Erlang were both overjoyed—the old Ding family now had an heir, it was truly wonderful.

Unfortunately, before the child was even born, the Demon Beasts suddenly attacked the city; Ding Dalang had just been snatched into the sky by an Eagle Monster Beast, had his head pecked open, his brains sucked out, and then he was torn in two.

"Beast!" Seeing that eagle dive down again, Ding Erlang shouldered the Rocket Launcher beside him and aimed at the eagle; he did not rush to fire, but instead moved the muzzle along with the eagle's flight trajectory.

When the eagle was only fifty meters away from the city wall, Ding Erlang calculated the lead and then fired.

"Whoosh!" The Rocket trailing scorching flames behind it gained speed, striking exactly the eagle that had killed Ding Dalang.

"Boom!" The Rocket exploded violently, directly blasting that eagle into pieces.

"Big Brother, I have avenged you; you can go in peace. I will take good care of Sister-in-law and the unborn child; as long as I have a bite to eat, I won't let them go hungry," Ding Erlang murmured, then picked up a reloaded Elm Cannon and fired again at the eagles in the sky.

The battle entered a white-hot state from the very beginning; there were many soldiers like Ding Dalang, and both the defending soldiers and the Eagle Monster Beasts were dying constantly; the entire city wall was filled with the roar of cannons, billowing smoke, and rivers of blood.

At the same time the eagles launched their attack, the Wild Wolf army also launched a charge; Meng Yifan had been watching the movements below the city, and when the Wild Wolf army approached within two hundred meters of the city wall, Meng Yifan roared: "Light the fire!"

The soldiers who had long been prepared quickly lit the pre-buried fuses, and a few seconds later, the Gunpowder Barrels buried outside the city wall were detonated.