Chapter 177: Bombardment

In a mere moment.

Over ten Iron-Clad Giant Ships, capable of lording over the seas, sank amidst the gale and the surging river currents; even the life rafts deployed by each ship were not spared, all of them capsized.

Thousands of Sunlight soldiers fell into the water in sheer terror, swimming toward the shore regardless of anything else, but under the violent waves, the vast majority could not withstand the sweep of the raging torrents and drowned in the river one after another, with dense masses of corpses surfacing.

Of course, there were a very small number of lucky ones with excellent swimming skills, or cultivation experts within the Rizhao Army, who barely managed to break free from the tidal surge and swim to the shore, escaping the disaster.

Seeing this scene, He Yuanzhang and a team of his elite subordinates immediately reacted, roaring in ecstatic shock:

"Brothers, do not let these dwarf thieves get ashore!"

"Kill, kill, kill—!"

He and his hundreds of elite soldiers charged out from the ruins amidst shouts of slaughter; over ten military experts from Sunlight Country had just crawled ashore in panic, only to be met with an overwhelming rain of bullets, instantly being riddled like a sieve.

Many Sunlight soldiers still in the river were terrified and all swam back, but at this moment, Lu Yuan swept over from low altitude; with just a pinch of an incantation seal, a massive gale stirred the river surface, forming layers of surging angry waves, which then actually washed the Sunlight soldiers in the water directly onto the riverbank!

How could He Yuanzhang and his elite subordinates miss such a good opportunity? Long guns, short cannons, and even two machine guns spat out fierce tongues of fire, greeting these Sunlight soldiers without the slightest mercy.

With their weapons soaked and trapped in an open area like the riverbank, neither martial arts experts nor ordinary soldiers had any room to dodge or counterattack; one by one, the Sunlight soldiers screamed miserably as blood sprayed from their bodies and they fell to the ground.

Before long, when the gunfire finally ceased, not a single standing Sunlight soldier could be found on this stretch of the riverbank; everywhere were riddled, floating corpses, and the scarlet pools of blood flowing out gathered into streams that poured into the river water, staining half the river surface red.

With this, the entire full-strength fleet was completely wiped out, and the nearly ten thousand Sunlight soldiers on board were also basically annihilated.

After exterminating all these escaping Sunlight soldiers, He Yuanzhang hurriedly led his personal guards to arrive below Lu Yuan, kneeling on the ground as if revering a god, and spoke with excitement:

"The Immortal's Dharma Power is boundless, suppressing the rivers and mountains, slaughtering the bandit invaders; this is a great fortune for Shenzhou!"

"We soldiers are mere mortals, filled with gratitude and tears yet having no way to repay you, we can only kowtow in thanks to the Immortal!"

Saying this, led by He Yuanzhang, hundreds of soldiers faced Lu Yuan and began to kowtow fanatically; that kind of reverence and excitement was beyond words.

It was no wonder they reacted this way.

After all, the power of the Sunlight Country's ironclad fleet was plain for all to see; the shame of the Jing Dynasty's New Navy being completely wiped out in a battle over half a year ago had caused confidence among both the populace and the military to suffer an unprecedented blow, and they feared the Sunlight Country's ironclad fleet deeply.

Yet today, they had witnessed with their own eyes Lu Yuan using his own strength to destroy an entire full-strength fleet on the river surface; such earth-shattering, terrifying Supernatural Power made them all turn into the most fanatical believers.

"Enough, stop with the kneeling."

Lu Yuan stood in the void, frowning as he said:

"Enough idle talk, prepare yourselves, and follow me to take Jin People City."

Having witnessed the earth-shattering scene just now, the confidence of He Yuanzhang and his soldiers was now at an unprecedented high, even reaching a blind level; everyone was impatiently roaring at the top of their lungs:

"Yes, we obey your command!"

Meanwhile.

In the Jin People City of Shangdu.

The so-called Jin People City was in the center of Shangdu; this area was established with low city walls on four sides, and the interior was entirely the residence of the Golden Clan.

At this moment, the circle of city walls on the outskirts of this area was nothing but broken walls and ruins; within the debris, one could vaguely see corpses of all kinds—some of the Golden Clan, and others of ordinary Shangdu commoners and soldiers.

Only after these ruins extended inward for two or three miles could one see relatively intact buildings, as well as defensive works like trenches and bunkers blocking the main thoroughfares.

In this war zone, thousands of exhausted figures were still continuously digging trenches and building small bunkers.

A burly and imposing Golden Clan man with a braid at the back of his head patrolled various places with large groups of young, able-bodied men, swinging a whip while scolding:

"Everyone put in more effort, do not stop, and certainly do not slack off!"

"We are now in a life-or-death struggle with those Han camp scum; nearly three hundred thousand of our clansmen are behind us. If we cannot hold this Jin People City, not only I, but you, and even everyone's parents and relatives, will likely be slaughtered by the Han people!"

"You need not be afraid either; now we have the support of the Sunlight people, and weapons, Pills, and even food are in ample supply! As long as we fight step by step, not only will those Han soldiers not be able to break in, but as soon as our people in other cities react, they can immediately come to support us and retake our Golden Clan's empire!"

These words were clearly meant to inspire and encourage, and the exhausted Golden Clan youths perked up and responded one after another; their morale indeed seemed to have improved quite a bit.

Seeing this, the whip-wielding man said no more, but instead led a few elite subordinates into a temporarily erected tent, sighing heavily:

"Once upon a time, the people of our Great Jin were full of martial spirit, everyone skilled in riding and shooting; how did we become like this now?"

"If it weren't for the fact that most of the able-bodied men in this Jin People City have let their Martial Arts decay and are weak-willed and unfit for use, why would I need to be trapped in this city? If I were given three thousand battle-hardened men, with the artillery support of the Sunlight people, I could completely crush, or even wipe out, that New Army of He Yuanzhang!"

"Hateful!"

The man was named Wuhetai, a Banner Person of the Upper Three Banners, holding the title of Rong'en General; although he had no real power, because of the great achievements of his ancestors, he was highly respected and revered by ten thousand people in this Shangdu.

After the Old Buddha died, Shenzhou was in turmoil with smoke of war everywhere; these dignitaries of Jin People City soon received contact from the Sunlight people in their panic and obtained a batch of weapons and equipment aid.

Following that, as expected, the Han people made continuous moves; He Yuanzhang even slaughtered the Golden Clan military governor of Shangdu to seize power, then purged the Golden Clan soldiers, and after reorganizing, led his troops to attack Jin People City.

Although Jin People City had nearly three hundred thousand people, most were the families of the Golden Clan soldiers—all old, weak, women, and children;

And the few able-bodied men were mostly addicted to wine, lust, wealth, and status, spending their days smoking, drinking, or walking birds and fighting dogs; there were not many usable people to be found.

It was under such circumstances that, led by Wuhetai, this rabble had extremely arduously repelled He Yuanzhang's first few waves of attacks; it was only because the Sunlight warships intervened in time to support them that they finally reversed the decline and firmly held this position of Jin People City.

"General, why do you think those Sunlight people just watch and don't take action, only providing artillery support from the riverbank?"

A confidant beside Wuhetai could not help but express his dissatisfaction:

"With over a dozen ships in the fleet, there must be nearly ten thousand soldiers in total; if they joined forces with us to encircle and suppress, it would definitely not be difficult to wipe out He Yuanzhang and his army."

Wuhetai sneered:

"Need you ask? The Sunlight people certainly do not want to enter the fray directly; they only want to watch us kill each other with the weapons they provided, and only when both sides are nearly dead will they step in to clean up the mess. By then, even if we exterminate the rebels and regain power, we will have suffered heavy losses, and if they then propose conditions, how could we have any room to refuse? In the final analysis, Shenzhou is in great chaos now, and they just want to be the fisherman who wins it all."

The confidant lamented:

"Monsters have descended from Heaven, surrounded by packs of wolves; with the Old Buddha dead, we are a group of dragons without a head, and the Great Jin empire is on the verge of collapse. What are we to do in the future!"

Wuhetai said irritably:

"What are you mourning for? Back when we entered the pass, our Golden Clan people were not even one-twentieth of the Jing Dynasty, yet we were still able to sweep across the world and seize the power of the state; now..."

"General, General, something terrible has happened!?"

Before he could finish his words, he saw a few subordinates running over in a panic from not far away, shouting:

"The ships have sunk, the Sunlight people's ships have all sunk!?"

Wuhetai did not understand for a moment, and with a whip, he struck a thunderclap out of thin air, scolding:

"What nonsense are you spouting? What ships have sunk? Speak clearly!"

The subordinate stood in place, gasping for breath as he said:

"Warships, the Rizhao Fleet warships have all sunk!"

"Just a moment ago, the brothers on the watchtower vaguely saw that the Rizhao Fleet on the Neijiang river surface was attacked by something unknown, and they all sank one after another!"

What!?

Wuhetai was terrified by this, suddenly stood up, and without another word, sprinted toward the direction of the watchtower.

The watchtower was not too far from here, just a block away; after he arrived with his men, he quickly climbed up and looked out.

The river was at least ten miles away from this place, but the low-lying civilian houses and buildings did not obstruct the view; Wuhetai immediately saw from afar that the river surface was sparkling, and the Rizhao Fleet that had been cruising in the Neijiang for this period of time had completely vanished without a trace.

"What is going on!?"

With an ashen face, he observed for a while longer with a Single-tube Telescope, then looked at the two watchmen trembling in the corner:

"What did you see?"

The two watchmen looked at each other, and one who seemed slightly sharper hesitated and said:

"We were just changing shifts at the time, and suddenly noticed that the sound of the Rizhao people's cannons seemed to have stopped for a long time, so we took a look."

"Then we saw from afar that there seemed to be wind and waves on the river, and for some reason, the Rizhao Fleet all sank; I even thought my eyes were playing tricks on me."

"Wind and waves, sinking?"

Wuhetai was even more furious upon hearing this:

"Bastard, what kind of joke are you playing on me? How could ten-thousand-ton battleships..."

"General, General, look, look quickly!"

Before he could finish, his confidants beside him all let out startled cries; Wuhetai turned his head instinctively, and immediately saw a figure at the edge of the sky, wrapped in Immortal light, flying over at high speed.

Wuhetai's mouth hung open, his eyes filled with terror and shock, as if he had seen the most terrifying thing in the world:

"Flying through the air, it's that demon..."

"He has come to Shangdu!?"

The events that occurred at the World Martial Arts Tournament were widely discussed; there was almost no one in the world who did not know that an Immortal had appeared in the world, one who could ride the wind and fly, defeat the strong experts of the great powers without any effort, and publicly execute Xici, shocking the world.

But hearing about it was one thing, witnessing it with one's own eyes was an entirely different feeling; as the backbone of Jin People City today, Wuhetai immediately let out a sharp roar:

"Enemy attack, enemy attack!"

"Pass the order down, the enemy is in the sky, everyone prepare to meet the enemy immediately!"

After the order was given, his confidants and messengers immediately sprinted down the watchtower, beating gongs and shouting at the top of their lungs; under the shrill sound of the gongs and the terrified shouts, whether they were fully armed patrolling soldiers or laborers digging trenches and building fortifications, all looked up in shock.

Subsequently, some of them saw a figure wreathed in Immortal light streak rapidly across the high sky above their heads, and then a large number of pitch-black, round objects fell from the sky, attacking them.

Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom—!

Before these people could distinguish clearly, the pitch-black objects fell and struck the rooftops and the ground, instantly triggering violent explosions; for a moment, it was like ten thousand fireworks blooming, the bursting firelight and shockwaves tearing through the air in an instant, sweeping in all directions!

In an instant, it was as if they were being bombarded by hundreds of Cannons; this district shook violently, the firelight merging into one, and under the sweep of the violent air currents, the entire earth trembled uncontrollably, while thousands of Jin Clan soldiers in this area were blown to pieces by the explosions, suffering heavy casualties!

"Is this Heaven-Shattering Thunder?"

"How could he carry so many Heaven-Shattering Thunder on his body!?"

Atop the watchtower, Wuhetai also clearly saw the objects scattered by that terrifying figure after it flew past through the Single-tube Telescope, and he could not help but feel his soul flee in terror, as if falling into an ice cellar.

Because he saw clearly that in one round trip, that figure had scattered at least dozens of Heaven-Shattering Thunder, and each Heaven-Shattering Thunder was about the size of a hydrangea; it was impossible for a person to carry so many with their bare hands!

Amidst incomparable panic and shock, Wuhetai then continued to watch as that figure wreathed in Immortal light streaked across the sky like a celestial horse, passing rapidly over one defensive work and line after another, and then large amounts of Heaven-Shattering Thunder were scattered from the sky, triggering a series of violent explosions.

Under such fierce bombardment, whether it was trenches, fortresses, or blockhouses, the Jin Clan soldiers inside and out were blown to pieces, suffering over a thousand casualties in just a few breaths, and their morale collapsed on the spot.

Of course, there were a few hot-blooded individuals who, in their fury, fired their long guns and short Cannons at the figure that was flying at high speed and spreading destruction and death in the sky, but they missed completely, and instead invited the bombardment of Heaven-Shattering Thunder, being blown to smithereens directly.

Just like that, as the figure in the sky moved back and forth at high speed, in less than a moment, this defensive line, which had taken thousands of people and great effort to construct, was completely destroyed by the bombardment, and the morale of the thousands of Jin Clan soldiers and laborers in the surrounding area completely collapsed, fleeing in all directions like headless flies.

And Wuhetai, on the watchtower, was now pale, trembling like a dead man:

"Quick, quick, go pack things up..."

"We are fleeing!"