Chapter 1019: Storming the Imperial City

Hanoi City.

Jiaozhi Imperial Palace.

While the Marine Corps and the Azure Dragon Army were launching a massive offensive, the Jiaozhi Emperor Ruan Chushan was huddled in his bedchamber with his Imperial Concubines, shivering, with sounds of whimpering and sobbing ringing out from time to time.

Listening to the intense sounds of gunfire and artillery, Ruan Chushan collapsed onto his bed, no longer possessing the arrogance he had shown before Markwen; in its place was sheer panic.

Since the founding of Jiaozhi, all wars between Jiaozhi and Great Song had taken place at Zhiling County, and never had a Central Plains dynasty been able to cross past this point.

On one hand, Zhiling County was easy to defend and difficult to attack; on the other hand, the desolate land of Jiaozhou had never been a place of primary concern for Central Plains dynasties.

Even when they sent troops, they would not commit too many forces or expend too many resources.

Moreover, often as soon as an offensive hit a snag and Jiaozhi showed a slight sign of weakness, the war could be brought to a halt.

Precisely because of this, every Jiaozhi Emperor had grasped the Achilles' heel of the Central Plains dynasties.

They could boldly invade Great Song and carry out a round of pillaging.

When the time came, at worst they would retreat back to Jiaozhi and show weakness to Great Song again.

This time, he had harbored that same mindset.

He believed that with the help of the Westerners, they could invade Great Song, pillage wantonly, and even seize the territory south of Jiujiang.

If Great Song could not resist them and the Westerners, then they would have profited.

Jiaozhi and the Piaoman could split the land south of Jiujiang in half.

If they failed, at worst they would just retreat back to Jiaozhi.

But now, he was slowly coming to his senses.

They had originally thought they were the hunters and Great Song was the prey.

But now, it was clearly Great Song that was the hunter, and they were the prey.

After the Great Song army crossed Longyou, he had dispatched ministers to send a letter of surrender.

But the commanding general had torn the letter of surrender to shreds, completely ignoring their method of feigning weakness, which had always worked in the past.

And their path south had been cut off; there were enemies to the south, north, and east, and to the west were dense forests and great mountains, making it impossible to escape.

His only option was to fight a bloody battle with the Great Song army and hope that the Frankish people could come to save them.

"Bang, bang, bang...", "Boom, boom, boom...", "Da, da, da..."

While Ruan Chushan was filled with fear, the Jiaozhi soldiers defending the city felt their hearts grow colder the more they fought.

The thirty-six howitzers and twelve rifled cannons carried by the Azure Dragon Army were bombarding violently, and eighteen machine guns were sweeping the top of the city walls frantically.

Under the storm of bullets, the defending Jiaozhi soldiers suffered heavy casualties and could not show their heads at all; they all lay flat on the surface of the city walls, shivering with fear, not even daring to peek at the situation outside.

The Jiaozhi commanders crawled on the city walls, gritting their teeth to command the soldiers under their charge.

Under the gunfire and artillery of the Great Song army, the artillery on their city walls could not be used at all.

As soon as an artilleryman exposed their body to load a shell, death was almost certain.

Now, they could only endure the gunfire and artillery of the Great Song army and wait for the enemy soldiers to climb the city walls before engaging in hand-to-hand combat.

But while their thinking was correct, the reality was cruel.

After holding out for the better part of a day, the gunfire outside suddenly stopped.

The Jiaozhi commanders and soldiers all felt strange.

They one after another exposed their heads, daring to look outward, only to discover a long, winding column entering the battlefield, appearing to have the entire city of Jiaozhi surrounded.

The reinforcements of the Great Song army had arrived.

Seeing this scene, the Jiaozhi commanders and soldiers felt as if they had fallen into an ice cellar, panicked and at a loss, just like prisoners before their execution.

Those who had arrived at this moment were naturally Guo Yong, Shang Yi, and the vanguard and rearguard.

Not long after Mu An's main force had set out, they had followed closely behind, and the distance between the two sides was not very far.

Upon arriving at Hanoi City and seeing that Mu An had already launched the offensive, Qin Shan immediately ordered Guo Yong and Shang Yi to lead their respective troops to launch an offensive from the South Gate and the West Gate.

As for the East Gate, the Marine Corps would suffice.

"General, the actions of this Marine Corps are truly fast. Just now, Marine Corps Captain Ding Lu sent someone over to say that they have controlled Qinghua County and cut off the path for the Jiaozhi army to retreat south," Mu An reported to Qin Shan.

"This is the reason why His Highness established the Marine Corps; there are some things our Army cannot replace," Qin Shan said, looking toward the East Gate.

Although their various armies were close to one another, they all belonged to a healthy competition rather than malicious sabotage.

Therefore, to him, the Marine Corps were also his own people.

If they lost out in certain actions, they lost out; there was nothing to be annoyed about, as long as the war could be won with the minimum cost.

Clearly, the Marine Corps' action this time had helped them quite a bit.

Otherwise, before they had arrived, the Jiaozhi army would certainly have fled south, which would have prolonged the time it took for them to control Jiaozhi.

At the same time, this also proved that Yan Wang's decision was correct.

"But even so, we cannot lose to them in fighting," Mu An clenched his fists again.

Qin Shan smiled, "That is natural. The first soldier to break into the Jiaozhi Imperial Palace must be from our Azure Dragon Army. Launch the full-scale charge!"

Unlike Zhiling County, where the Jiaozhi army was concentrated on the north wall, requiring continuous artillery fire to wear down the enemy soldiers and reduce the density of their defenders.

Jiaozhi City was located on a plain, and all four sides of the city walls could be attacked.

Thus, there were not many Jiaozhi soldiers on each side.

"Doo-doo-doo, doo-doo..." Under Qin Shan's order, the bugle call for the charge drifted over the battlefield.

"Kill!" Under the cover of machine guns and artillery, the Azure Dragon Army soldiers shouldered their scaling ladders and charged toward Hanoi City.

The Jiaozhi commanders on the city walls realized that the Great Song army was about to scale the walls and scrambled to urge their soldiers to stand up and fight back.

Many Jiaozhi soldiers did not dare to stand up at all.

Even if some soldiers rose, they were immediately struck by bullets and fell into pools of blood.

This made the other Jiaozhi soldiers even more afraid to expose themselves.

Therefore, with almost no resistance encountered, the Azure Dragon Army soldiers rushed to the base of the city wall.

The Grenadier Squad first threw a wave of Hand Grenades onto the city wall, and the other soldiers climbed up the wall like monkeys along the Scaling Ladders.

The Jiaozhi soldiers, stunned by the Hand Grenades, had not yet reacted when they saw the Great Song soldiers appear on the city wall.

The remaining Jiaozhi soldiers were just about to pick up their muskets to resist when they were stabbed to death by the Azure Dragon Army soldiers.

One by one, the Jiaozhi soldiers were cleared out, and the Azure Dragon Army soldiers immediately guarded the stairs leading up to the city wall to prevent Jiaozhi soldiers from climbing up to provide support.

Subsequent Azure Dragon Army soldiers then took the opportunity to climb onto the city wall one by one.

Once their numbers increased, they immediately shot and killed the nearby Jiaozhi soldiers while organizing an attack to seize the city gate.

Under the fierce attack of the Azure Dragon Army soldiers, the Jiaozhi soldiers collapsed.

Especially after the city wall was completely lost, their morale crumbled and their confidence vanished.

To him, this was not an equal war at all, but rather like facing heavenly soldiers and generals; from beginning to end, they were like ants that could be crushed with a light kick.

"Kill!"

The Jiaozhi army fled in total defeat, while the morale of the Azure Dragon Army soldiers soared; they came down from the city wall and charged toward the Jiaozhi Imperial Palace from all directions.

Just now, while on the city wall, they had already noticed the golden Imperial Palace.

The Jiaozhi Emperor was right there!

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