Chapter 1012: The Charge

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Cannonballs exploded on the city walls of Zhiling County, flashes of fire erupting in succession.

Shrapnel scattered like flowers falling from the sky; the Jiaozhi soldiers struck by the shrapnel were blown away by the shockwaves before they could even let out a scream.

Some field artillery were hit by cannonballs, their wheels instantly collapsing and tilting onto the ground.

The parapets on the city walls were even more fragile under the bombardment of the explosive shells, collapsing one after another.

In a very short time, the city walls were in a state of utter chaos.

"General, the situation is not right."

From the moment the first cannonball landed on the city wall, Ruan Youjin had headed straight for the north city wall.

Upon reaching the wall, he was stopped by Gao Yaozhi.

At this moment, Gao Yaozhi's face was covered in dust, and his clothes were torn.

Just a moment ago, a cannonball had exploded five meters away from him; three soldiers beside him were killed, two were severely wounded, and he and five other soldiers suffered minor injuries.

The power of these Great Song artillery shells was terrifyingly formidable.

In the time it took for Ruan Youjin to arrive, twenty percent of the defending soldiers had already been killed or wounded.

"How is it not right?" Ruan Youjin's expression was grim.

He had not slept all night.

After sending out soldiers for a sneak attack, he had been full of anticipation for good news of a successful raid.

But all he waited for were the sounds of gunfire from five miles away.

Afterward, the entrance to the cave was discovered, and he had been forced to order the cave to be blown up.

Yet this was not what shocked him the most.

What he found most inconceivable was the light like a shooting star five miles away.

He knew it belonged to the Great Song army, but he could not imagine what that thing was.

"The firing range of the enemy's artillery far exceeds our own; now we can only endure the bombardment," Gao Yaozhi said sorrowfully.

This feeling of only being able to take a beating without being able to strike back was too unbearable.

Most importantly, the performance of the Great Song army had far exceeded their expectations.

Although they understood that the current Great Song army was different from the past.

They had always believed it was at most comparable to the Western Lands armies.

But now, the cold, hard facts denied this.

The tactics taught to them by the Frankish Military Instructor were also of no use.

"Damn it, how could it be like this!" Ruan Youjin was startled.

Just as his mind was in turmoil, a soldier came to his side and handed him a letter, "General, this is a letter sent by His Majesty."

Ruan Youjin tore open the letter, scanned it, and his face turned pale.

"What is it, General?" Seeing Ruan Youjin's strange expression, Gao Yaozhi could not help but ask.

"This is intelligence sent by Markwen; in a conversation between Ashuer and the Britain Governor Bolt, they mentioned that the Great Song army's artillery has a very long range and that they have firearms capable of illuminating the night," Ruan Youjin handed the letter to Gao Yaozhi.

This letter contained only these two pieces of information.

Intelligence regarding the machine gun was not mentioned.

This was because during the war in the North Territory, the White Tiger Army had not yet been equipped with machine guns.

After meeting up with Mule Hongzhen, the Gun Cavalry arrived, and the two had no time to communicate before fleeing hastily back to Tibet.

Gao Yaozhi took the letter and read it through, stomping his feet in anger, "Getting this intelligence only now, what use is it?"

Ruan Youjin was equally agitated.

He had originally thought this would be a normal war, but now he felt as if he had returned to thirty years ago.

At that time, he was still a Captain accompanying the army to fight against the Frankish army, and it was his first time witnessing muskets, artillery, and the enemy's line formations.

The enemy's artillery and muskets terrified them, and the hastily assembled sixty-thousand-strong Jiaozhi army was soundly defeated by two thousand Frankish soldiers.

Afterward, the Frankish warships sailed along the coastline, constantly raiding the coast.

Although the Franks had only two thousand men, with the help of the warships, they could gather over two thousand men at any point along the coast at any time.

And although their own army was large, they could not provide support in time.

Sometimes, it would instead allow the enemy to occupy a numerical advantage.

After a year of bitter fighting, they finally realized they were powerless to resist the Frankish people and ultimately chose to submit.

Now, the Great Song army made him recall the fear of being conquered once again.

However, the Great Song was ultimately not the Franks.

By submitting to the Frankish people, their Ruan Clan could still continue to live a life of luxury in Jiaozhi.

But by submitting to the Great Song, they would very likely be uprooted entirely.

Thinking of this, the fear of death overcame his fear of the Great Song army.

Turning to Gao Yaozhi, he said, "No matter the cost, you must hold Zhiling County for me; those who retreat will be executed without mercy."

Having said this, he signaled the officers at his side to go up to the city walls to command.

Under the bombardment of the Great Song army, they were having a very difficult time.

But the city walls could not be left undefended, otherwise, if the enemy launched an assault, it would be too late for them to scramble onto the walls.

Seeing Ruan Youjin's firm attitude, Gao Yaozhi exchanged glances with the other officers and also began deploying soldiers to replace those killed or wounded on the walls.

"Boom, boom, boom..." The bombardment continued, from morning to noon, and from noon to night.

Even in the dead of night, the bombardment did not stop.

And to prevent the Jiaozhi army from withdrawing from the walls, Qin Shan continuously sent soldiers to feign attacks, which made the Jiaozhi army complain incessantly.

The bombardment lasted for three days.

The entire city wall of Zhiling County was blasted until it looked like a block of tofu gnawed on by a dog, and in some places, the wall even suffered small-scale collapses.

During these three days, the soldiers of the Azure Dragon Army rested well, waiting at their ease for the exhausted enemy.

At noon on the fourth day, under the continuous bombardment of the Rifled Cannon, the city wall to the left of the Zhiling County gate collapsed with a roar.

Seizing this opportunity, Qin Shan immediately ordered Guo Yong's vanguard troops to organize an attack.

Under the suppression of the Artilleryman's fire, three thousand Azure Dragon Army soldiers poured out from the narrow mountain path and entered the open ground in front of Zhiling County.

In addition to the soldiers carrying rifles, thirty-six Machine Gun teams were deployed at a distance of three hundred meters from the city wall.

The soldiers all aimed their gun barrels toward the direction of the city wall.

Everything was ready, and the Artillerymen ceased their bombardment.

At this moment, a hundred-man squad climbed up from the ground and charged toward the breach.

As the bombardment stopped, Jiaozhi soldiers immediately stood up on the city wall to observe the situation.

Seeing the Great Song soldiers arrive at the foot of the wall, they immediately raised their guns and fired.

Just then, the sound of "da-da-da..." rang out across the battlefield.

Thirty-six Machine Guns immediately covered the city wall, and under the dense rain of Bullet fire, the Jiaozhi soldiers who had raised their guns kept falling.

Under cover, the hundred-man squad reached the breach, and upon looking inside, they saw many Jiaozhi soldiers aiming their guns at them.

"Bang, bang, bang..." A burst of gunfire sounded, and as the Bullet fire flew toward them, they immediately crawled down.

Some of the Bullet fire flew right over their heads.

"Damn it, kill them!" the Small Banner leading the squad shouted.

The soldiers pulled out Hand Grenade and threw them over.

With a series of roars, many Jiaozhi soldiers were immediately blown to death.

However, in order to plug the breach, more and more Jiaozhi soldiers swarmed over.

Relying on their hundred men, it was clearly impossible to break through the breach.

They conveyed the intelligence out via hand signals.

The other Azure Dragon Army soldiers immediately shouldered the Scaling Ladder and launched a full-scale charge toward the city wall, creating a breakthrough opportunity for the assault squad.

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