Chapter 63: Accident

“Boom… boom… boom…”

The roar of artillery fire marked the beginning of the great battle.

Two squads of rookie artillerymen exchanged fire; it didn’t matter if they became each other’s targets—what mattered was that the areas near those targets were even more dangerous.

Standing at the observation post on the city gate tower, Li Mu saw everything clearly.

A large area around the enemy artillery position had been cleared out, yet the row of cannons remained intact.

“Issue orders to cease fire coverage.”

“The First Artillery Platoon will conduct free fire; after half an hour, the Second Artillery Platoon will take over.”

“Send someone to inform the Regional Military Commissioner—he must be told the southern firepower is severely insufficient.”

“Ask him to urge the Nanjing Ministry of War to deliver the cannons immediately.”

“Any firearm—Red Barbarian cannons, three-barreled matchlocks, arquebuses, five-heaven machines, tiger-crouching cannons, fire-spewing crows, flame-oil cabinets, Lu-mi guns, Folangji cannons…”

“I don’t care what kind—I won’t turn any down!”

The excellent fire coverage tactic failed due to the incompetence of their own artillery.

Li Mu did not lose heart—he would compensate for poor accuracy with sheer volume.

Behind him stood the Da Yu Dynasty, which could afford to outlast the rebels.

Reinforcements from the Nanjing Ministry of War had arrived in Zhenjiang, including a large quantity of firearms.

Now there was only one river between them—when else would he press for them?

If the rebels attacked Zhenjiang and the garrison seized the reinforcements for themselves, it would be a catastrophic loss.

Training a competent archer takes three years.

Training a matchlock soldier takes only three hours.

Whether they hit accurately didn’t matter—so long as they learned to load and fire properly.

Just like his own artillerymen, who had never hit anything precise, yet still killed plenty of enemies.

Defending a city doesn’t require perfection.

“Yes, my lord!”

Having said that, the personal guard turned and left immediately.

…

Rebel camp.

“Begin filling the moat and building bridges simultaneously—each of our factions handles one side, and we strive to breach Yangzhou City as soon as possible.”

“As previously agreed, whoever’s troops enter Yangzhou City first shall be installed as the new leader of the Two Huai Alliance.”

“I, Huang Mou, keep my word—if your troops break into Yangzhou first, I will step down and yield the position!”

Huang Renlong spoke with great vigor, showing no trace of disappointment at the prospect of losing his leadership.

As the first rebel force to arrive beneath Yangzhou’s walls, he commanded the largest army and had prepared the most thoroughly for the assault.

Offering the leadership position as bait was mainly to prevent the other factions from slacking off during the siege.

"General Huang, rest assured—we folk of the jianghu value righteousness above all."

“If anyone holds back or deliberately preserves strength during the siege, I, Cui Zi, will be the first to oppose him!”

As soon as Master Cui spoke, all rebel commanders echoed in agreement.

No matter what they truly thought, they had all now embarked on this path of rebellion—with no turning back.

Either they would fight their way through mountains of corpses and rivers of blood to become kings, generals, and nobles—or

they would fail in their venture and perish along the way.

The imperial court was too powerful; if the various rebel armies wished to avoid being crushed one by one, they must unite.

As for how hard they would fight during the siege, that would depend on circumstances.

But one principle must be upheld: each faction may slack off and pretend to contribute—but never allow allies to do the same.

The best option was to attack together, watching each other closely so no one could shirk duty.

But this had obvious drawbacks: no one trusted handing their troops over to another’s command.

Mixing commands led to conflicting orders and poor coordination among allied forces.

Dividing the siege zones and launching separate attacks became the only viable choice.

“Then let it be—may our next meeting take place inside Yangzhou City!”

Huang Renlong declared with heroic spirit.

As the rebel commanders returned to their posts, the defense of Yangzhou erupted fully.

In an instant, bridge-laying carts were pushed to the edge of the moat and assembled on the spot.

Nearby, carts loaded with earth continuously dumped soil into the river.

The once-clear water rapidly turned murky.

…

“General Huang, the plan to draw enemy fire has failed—order the artillery to cease firing!”

“We are too far from the enemy walls; our artillery cannot hit targets accurately.”

“Our ammunition is limited—we cannot afford such waste.”

“Once our troops cross the moat, we will concentrate cannons, trebuchets, and battering rams for a unified assault!”

Seeing the defenders change tactics, Zong Guangtai spoke up.

In fact, even before the battle began, he had opposed attacking from the southeast.

The earlier failures of the siege had made him realize the defenders were formidable.

But Huang Renlong could not swallow his pride—he insisted on rising from where he had fallen.

“Master Zong, halting artillery fire will crush morale.”

“Our ammunition reserves can still last several days.”

“I believe…”

Before Huang Renlong finished speaking, a thunderous explosion shook the earth.

Dust billowed into the sky; tents near the front lines were flipped into the air.

“Go find out—what happened up front?”

Huang Renlong spat out dirt and roared in fury.

The sound came from the artillery position—such a massive disturbance could only mean disaster.

…

“General, one cannon exploded, triggering nearby ammunition.”

“Perhaps because the cannons were packed too tightly and too much ammunition was stored nearby—the entire artillery position was blown apart.”

“Not only were the artillerymen decimated, nearby troops were also caught in the blast—at least…”

Before the soldier finished speaking, Huang Renlong rushed toward the artillery position.

The dust had cleared; the ground was littered with corpses and the moans of the wounded.

The scene was so horrific—even hardened by battle—he felt sick.

Zong Guangtai, who followed him, fared worse—he vomited on the spot.

For a scholar like him, facing such battlefield carnage was unbearable.

“Who the hell arranged this? Why were the cannons placed so close together, with so much ammunition piled up?”

Huang Renlong demanded angrily.

This was a classic technical disaster.

Cannons exploding from overuse was nothing new.

Anyone who understood artillery tactics knew that after prolonged firing, the barrel must be cooled.

If the temperature got too high, usage had to stop.

Maintaining safe distances between adjacent cannons during artillery setup was basic common sense.

Storing all ammunition directly at the artillery position was the greatest taboo of all.

A chain of technical errors directly caused the disaster.

“General, the officer in charge of the artillery was Captain Zhou.”

“After assigning duties, he left with his men to recruit new soldiers—he is no longer in camp!”

Upon hearing this, Huang Renlong felt like spitting blood.

“Damn that Zhou Zekai—I should never have believed his lies!”

(End of Chapter)