Chapter 182: Wu Song

"Stay calm."

Zhang Jie pressed his hands down to signal the excited Du Qian to calm down.

"Brother Wu Er, are you confident at this distance?"

Zhang Jie turned his head to look at Wu Song, who was guarding his side.

"Young Master, no problem!"

Wu Song said with great confidence.

"Good, take down that guy dressed in such a flashy way for me."

Zhang Jie pointed at Zhu Biao on the city wall.

He might not recognize others, but this Zhu Biao was too showy.

This guy wore a gold-threaded phoenix-wing lotus-leaf helmet and a chain-link plum blossom armor.

With a bow and arrows at his waist and a silver spear in his hand, he was dressed like the white-robed general "Cold-Faced Silver Spear, Pretty Luo Cheng."

And according to the information Zhu Gui had gathered,

the mount of this third young master of the Zhu Family Manor was a white horse without a single strand of other color...

Zhang Jie felt that if you were this showy and conspicuous on the battlefield, if he didn't kill you first, who would he kill?

And this Zhu Biao was the son most valued by the master of the Zhu Family Manor, Old Master Zhu.

Taking him out would surely deal a heavy blow to the morale of the Zhu Family Manor.

"Young Master, watch my marksmanship!"

Wu Song unslung the long-barreled rifled flintlock musket from his back, which had been specially lengthened.

People who used this kind of firearm on the battlefield in the past had a specific title—Jäger!

Like hunters, they used these high-precision flintlock muskets to focus on hunting their prey.

However, unlike hunters who hunted animals,

their prey were usually high-value officers, signalmen, and the like.

"What is that thing down there?"

Looking down from above, the servants of the Zhu Family Manor naturally saw the cannons hundreds of meters away and the busy artillerymen.

However, weapons like cannons had not yet appeared, so they were also completely bewildered.

But what they could be sure of was that the big metal thing down there, which looked very heavy,

was likely Liang Shan's secret weapon.

"Old Master, please strengthen the guard."

Luan Tingyu, who had experienced battlefield slaughter, felt something was wrong and reminded him in a deep voice.

"Father, why not let me lead the cavalry down to charge a few times?

I will surely crush the morale of these Liang Shan bandits and destroy those strange weapons while I'm at it."

On the city wall, Zhu Biao, who hadn't seen any Liang Shan cavalry, was eager to try.

Although they had never met, Zhang Jie and Zhu Biao had actually thought of the same thing:

In war, courage is everything!

If the soldiers' morale is high, it is not impossible for five hundred to defeat one hundred thousand.

If morale is low, twenty thousand can defeat an army of seven hundred thousand!

Sun Quan, the "Sun Ten Thousand" who used an army of one hundred thousand to get Zhang Liao into the Martial Temple, would call him an expert!

Emperor Tianzuo of the Great Liao, whose army of seven hundred thousand was defeated by Wanyan Aguda's army of twenty thousand,

would also call him an expert after experiencing the Battle of Hubudagang!

Of course, looking at Zhu Biao's excited expression,

his purpose of wanting to show off his skills and flaunt his martial power was self-evident.

"Nonsense!

How can battlefield matters be child's play?"

Old Master Zhu refused Zhu Biao's request without hesitation.

With the dangers of war, what would happen if something went wrong with Zhu Biao?

"However, Instructor Luan's words make sense. You go and have the servants strengthen the guard."

Old Master Zhu, also an old hand in the Jianghu, was not careless and handed this matter to Luan Tingyu.

Compared to his sons, who were either mediocre in martial arts or young and impulsive,

Old Master Zhu trusted the ability of Luan Tingyu, who had established the martial reputation of their Zhu Family Manor, even more.

The mere fact that Luan Tingyu could retreat unscathed from the meat-grinder battlefield between the Great Song and Western Xia

made Old Master Zhu hold him in high regard from beginning to end, and he even handed the majority of the Zhu Family Manor's military power to him to command.

He was also not afraid that Luan Tingyu would grow too powerful after his death, or even usurp his position.

Not to mention that his sons were just young, not stupid,

the very origin of the Zhu Family Manor meant that an outsider like Luan Tingyu could not take it away.

The reason the Zhu Family Manor was called the Zhu Family Manor was that most of the people living inside were surnamed Zhu; it was a clan.

"Thank you, Old Master, for your trust!"

Luan Tingyu accepted happily and led a few subordinates to patrol the city wall.

'Father still doesn't trust me!'

Rejected, Zhu Biao went to the edge of the city wall, unhappy, staring fixedly at the Liang Shan forces below,

as if he wanted to turn his gaze into sharp arrows to kill all the Liang Shan people.

"Third Brother, Father is also doing this for your own good."

The second son of the Zhu Family Manor, Zhu Hu, came to Zhu Long's side, patted his shoulder, and comforted him.

"I know."

Zhu Biao nodded, but even though he understood Old Master Zhu's good intentions,

the inability to display his martial arts still made him extremely depressed.

"Today, I will definitely make a name for myself, Zhu Biao,

and make these Liang Shan bandits tremble at the sound of my name!"

Zhu Biao picked up the bow and arrows at his waist, aimed at Song Wan below,

and exerted all his strength, determined to shoot this bandit who should have a high status in Liang Shan.

"Ready!"

At this moment, Zhu Biao and Zhu Hu also came to the edge of the city wall, giving Wu Song an opportunity.

"Fire!"

Wu Song ordered in a low voice.

Beside him were ten Jägers specially selected from the thousands on Liang Shan,

all of whom were experts at shooting water birds with muskets on the marsh after training.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Following Wu Song's order, the Jägers pulled the triggers one after another.

With a puff of white smoke, a dozen lethal lead pellets headed straight for the three Zhu brothers on the city wall.

"Second Brother, Third Brother..."

As the eldest brother, Zhu Long was just about to say something to his second brother, Zhu Hu, and third brother, Zhu Biao,

when suddenly, a piercing pain struck his brain,

making the words that had already reached his throat impossible to say.

He subconsciously raised his hand to cover the painful spot, but did not touch the organ that should have been there.

"My ear, my ear!"

Zhu Long, whose right ear had vanished, muttered in disbelief.

Thump!

Thump!

But then, the sound of two heavy objects hitting the ground woke him up.

Then, turning his head, he saw Zhu Biao and Zhu Hu collapsed on the ground.

There were several small holes in their bodies, and blood was flowing out continuously.

The armor they were wearing, purchased at a great cost,

crafted by master craftsmen, and nearly impenetrable to blades and spears,

had failed to protect their lives this time.

"Second Brother, Third Brother!"

Zhu Long's eyes were splitting with rage as he lunged toward the corpses of Zhu Hu and Zhu Biao.

"Hu'er, Biao'er!"

Old Master Zhu, whose eyebrows were already buried in the earth, could not withstand such a huge blow and simply collapsed.

"Old Master! Old Master!"

The servants beside him were in a flurry, helping him up and pinching his philtrum.

"What happened?"

The servants below the city tower did not know why there was such chaos on the city wall.

"The Second Young Master, Third Young Master, and the Old Master have been attacked!"

A servant close to Old Master Zhu shouted in panic.

"What should we do? What should we do?"

Suddenly losing their backbone, the morale of these servants was hit hard.

"The enemy has long-range strike weapons that far exceed bows and crossbows.

Don't show your heads! Don't show your heads!"

Although Luan Tingyu did not recognize what weapon had attacked Zhu Biao and the others,

he still roughly guessed the type of attack based on his rich experience with weapons,

and quickly warned the servants on the city wall in a loud voice.

He himself hid behind a pillar on the city gate tower.

"Quick, quick, hide!"

The servants, who had just been full of confidence relying on the high city wall, instantly fell into chaos,

hurriedly hiding in the battlements and gate tunnels.

In an instant, the city wall, which had been quite crowded, became deserted.

"This thing is much easier to use than a staff!"

Wu Song, who had taken down the "peacock" Zhu Biao with one shot, stroked the flintlock musket in his hand, a brilliant smile blooming on his face.

With this thing in his hand, if he encountered a big tiger again, he could take its dog life from a hundred meters away!

But when he saw that Zhu Long had not fallen, the smile on his face instantly disappeared.

"Young Master, our skills are not refined enough, we have disappointed you!"

He pleaded guilty to Zhang Jie.

With an average of three Jägers sniping one person, there was still one who hadn't fallen,

making him, the leader of the Jägers, feel his face burning.

You have to know that not only were the people under him carefully selected,

but the weapons in their hands were also specially made;

one rifled flintlock musket cost several times more than other smoothbore muskets!

Leading with high treatment and holding good weapons, yet failing to deliver corresponding results,

made him, the leader, feel ashamed, feeling he had let down Zhang Jie's cultivation.

"It's not your problem; it's that the precision of the firearms is too low."

Zhang Jie waved his hand, not blaming Wu Song and his Jägers.

Although the flintlock muskets they used were rifled and had specially lengthened barrels,

in terms of precision, they still couldn't compare to the "Border-Made" weapons hand-crafted by soldiers during the War of Resistance.

At least they had machine tools and such,

while Zhang Jie was truly starting from scratch in this ancient world.

If it weren't for him "cheating" with the extraordinary power of Qi at the very beginning,

he would probably still be unable to produce qualified rifling now.

"Thank you, Young Master, for your understanding."

Seeing that Zhang Jie was truly not disappointed, Wu Song's tense expression relaxed slightly.

Everything he had today was due to Zhang Jie's promotion, and he did not want to let Zhang Jie down.

'These little brats are probably getting a bit slack!'

Wu Song secretly made up his mind to train the Jägers under him with even stricter standards in the future.

"Begin the bombardment!"

Having taken out two of the three Zhu heroes, Zhang Jie ordered the official start of the attack.

"Fire!"

Receiving the order, Du Qian waved the command flag with great fanaticism.

Sizzle~

The artillerymen who lit the fuses ran far away.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

As the sparks ignited the gunpowder, the gunpowder burned violently in the chamber,

and the air pressure, which instantly increased hundreds of times, pushed the cannonballs in the barrel,

bombarding the pre-aimed targets at a speed invisible to the naked eye.

Boom, boom!

Due to various reasons such as precision and the artillerymen, two cannonballs deviated from their targets and slammed into the city wall.

Crack, crack!

Two large pits were instantly blasted into the city wall, and the mud wall of sand and rammed earth was shattered.

The huge impact even made the city wall seem to shake!

"The Heavens are angry!"

"The Earth Dragon has turned over!"

First hearing the sound like muffled thunder, and then the city wall under their feet shaking,

the hearts of the servants were instantly filled with panic, and they all fled in disarray, their will to fight completely gone.

Crack!

But fortunately, one cannonball hit the target—the gate of the Zhu Family Manor.

The cast-iron gate, which was enough to withstand thousands of troops in the age of cold weapons, was in front of the cannon, the true God of War,

like a sandcastle made of mud and sand on the beach, collapsing at a single blow and breaking open a large hole.

"Continue the bombardment!"

Looking at the results, Zhang Jie nodded with satisfaction and then ordered.

Receiving the order, the artillerymen cleaned the fire, placed the powder bags, loaded the cannonballs, and lit the fuses in one go.

Boom, boom!

After several rounds of bombardment, the gate of the Zhu Family Manor finally could not bear the weight and collapsed with a crash.

The gateway to the Zhu Family Manor was thus wide open!

Luan Tingyu and the others, who had no weapons that far exceeded the enemy's, could only watch all this helplessly.

"Hah!"

"Hah!"

Watching the Zhu Family Manor with its gate wide open, the Liang Shan soldiers,

like lecherous men who had been abstinent for decades seeing a beautiful woman with a protruding front and a curved back,

stark naked and at their mercy, were all breathing heavily, unable to wait any longer.

"Lord, let us go into battle!"

Lu Zhishen, who commanded the First Infantry Battalion, requested to fight.

"Dragon-Elephant Army, go into battle!

In this battle, only victory is allowed, defeat is not!"

Zhang Jie ordered solemnly.

"This subordinate is willing to sign a military order!

If this battle is lost, please behead me!"

Lu Zhishen responded with a roar.

Boom, boom, boom!

The Liang Shan formation spread out, and a group of heavy infantry, wearing black heavy armor and wrapped from head to toe in armor,

with only holes left on their faces for breathing and seeing,

marched into the Zhu Family Manor under Lu Zhishen's lead.

There were only a hundred or so of them, but they crushed everything in front of them like tanks.

This was the Dragon-Elephant Army that Zhang Jie had cultivated using the "Dragon-Elephant Prajna Art."

It had only been a few months since they started, and very few of these soldiers had entered the first layer,

but they had all increased their strength by dozens or hundreds of jin,

and coupled with the fact that they were all carefully selected people of immense strength, they were able to fight in heavy armor.

"Musketeer squad, three-stage fire, suppress the archers on the city wall!"

Zhang Jie gave another order, having the musketeers provide cover for the infantry.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A continuous stream of lead bullets struck the city wall, turning any Zhu Family Manor resident who dared to show their head into a sieve.