Chapter 1110: Terror

"Oh, my God!"

A massive plume of thick smoke surged into the sky from the battlefield after the explosion.

Hariman, his ears ringing from the deafening blast, let out a sigh of terror.

Wesley also stared at the site of the explosion with an incredulous look.

This was the most powerful explosion he had ever witnessed to date.

The six howitzers near the explosion were completely destroyed.

"May God protect us." Wesley made the sign of the cross over his chest, feeling increasingly uneasy.

Having experienced countless battles, large and small, he knew very well that the introduction of a new type of weapon onto the battlefield would exert immense pressure on the enemy and severely weaken the morale of his own side.

Until a way to counter this weapon was found, it would be difficult to restore his side's morale.

He did not need to observe to imagine that the Coalition soldiers were now filled with panic and unease.

The only belief supporting them to continue fighting was that they were defending Tianzhu, an asset of Britain.

Furthermore, once they failed in Dongtu, the Western Lands themselves might face threats in the future.

Just as they had come to Dongtu to burn, kill, and pillage, no one could guarantee whether Da Song would retaliate against them.

Although this was a manifestation of a guilty conscience, it was not impossible.

"We cannot stand here like fools; we must do something, order the soldiers to fire at the sky and shoot these damn things down." While Wesley was deep in thought, Hariman suddenly began to clamor like a madman.

He snatched a rifled musket from a nearby soldier and aimed it at the airship.

Seeing this, other officers followed suit.

Many soldiers in the trenches also realized what was happening and raised their guns to fire overhead.

"Bang, bang, bang..." For a time, dense gunfire erupted from the Coalition fortifications.

Yet, their counterattack was destined to be a slaughter.

After a round of firing, not only did they fail to cause any damage to the airship, but the falling bullets injured many of their own men.

"Damn it! Get the artillery upright; we must shoot them down." Seeing that the musket fire was not only ineffective but had also caused friendly fire, Hariman was goaded into a rage.

He continued to roar his orders.

Because Wesley had clashed with the Da Song army, he was calmer than Hariman at this moment and immediately stopped him, "Enough, Hariman. Do you think the Da Song army opposite is stupider than you? They must have considered all the intelligence before letting this damn thing fly so high. The range of the smoothbore cannon is indeed very long, but that is for direct fire; vertical firing cannot reach it, just like our muskets."

Just as Wesley had thought, the altitude of the airship had indeed been calculated.

When in Yancheng, Wang Chong had tested it according to the standards of British muskets and artillery.

They calculated the enemy's rifled musket range at nine hundred meters for the flattest trajectory.

When the rifled musket fired vertically, the distance could only reach about four hundred and thirty meters.

As for the cannonballs, since the opponent was still using solid shot.

The weight of solid shot was much greater than that of a conical lead bullet.

This meant that after the solid shot was fired, it faced greater air resistance and gravity.

The higher it flew, the greater this restraining force became, as if a hand were pulling the cannonball back.

Therefore, their smoothbore field gun had a range of three thousand meters, but vertical firing could barely reach six hundred meters.

"You are right." Hariman, scolded by Wesley, calmed down instantly, breaking out in a cold sweat.

If he had issued that order, he estimated that more soldiers would have been killed by their own side.

This would have become a stain on their military careers.

Then, he looked at Wesley, no longer possessing the arrogance he had maintained since arriving in Tianzhu.

At first, he had thought Wesley was inferior to him.

Now he finally understood completely that whoever had been in Malacca would have suffered a crushing defeat.

"Wesley, what should we do now?" Hariman was completely at a loss.

Being shelled by the enemy and unable to fight back was one thing.

Now, there was another thing flying in the sky, like a sword hanging over their heads, threatening their lives at every moment.

"There is no way; we can only fulfill the duties belonging to our army and persist in fighting our British enemies to the end. Our sacrifices may be greater than theirs, but even so, we must fight to the last man and achieve the final victory. This is a holy war; we must eradicate the heretics," Wesley said loudly.

Hariman nodded, "That's right, they are devils, they are heretics, and we are righteous knights. We will eventually defeat these Eastern devils."

Turning to the other generals, he shouted, "Did you hear that? Go and fight, and tell your soldiers the same. We are not only fighting for Britain, but also for God!"

"Boom, boom, boom..."

No sooner had his words fallen than violent explosions suddenly occurred again on the Coalition trench fortifications.

These bombs were also dropped by the flying objects in the sky.

As each bomb fell, they realized that the bombing by these flying objects was purposeful.

The primary target seemed to be the destruction of the artillery on the Coalition positions.

Yet, even discovering this was of no use.

Every move they made was under the surveillance of these flying objects.

No action could escape their reconnaissance.

And the subsequent changes in the Da Song artillery bombardment locations further confirmed the fact that they were being monitored by these flying objects.

Because the enemy's cannonballs were hitting with increasing accuracy, and their field artillery was being continuously destroyed.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The flying objects continued to drop bombs, and the Da Song artillery seemed to become even more intense.

Although they were quickly encouraged by their generals, the fear of death still made the Coalition soldiers shrink their bodies, hiding in the trenches like moles.

Some wailed in fear, while others were struck by shrapnel and let out screams.

Soil mixed with flesh and blood was constantly churned into the air, falling upon them like raindrops.

Amidst the pungent and thick smoke of gunpowder, they felt only deep despair.

……

At the same time.

Qin Shan, Guan Tong, and other Great Song generals were also observing the bombing effects of the airships.

Seeing one massive fireball after another erupt on the Coalition's positions, the group felt invigorated while simultaneously sensing a chill down their spines.

At this moment, they were truly grateful that this thing called an airship belonged to them.

"With the airships' precise bombing and battlefield guidance, I fear the opponent's Artillery will be cleared out very soon," Guan Tong said while observing.

Qin Shan looked toward an airship through his Telescope at this time, then replied, "Not necessarily; their generals are also shrewd and have not exposed all of their Artillery."

The Flag Language just signaled by the soldiers on the airship told them that during the previous bombing, the camouflage covering hidden Artillery had been blown away by the shockwave.

Upon hearing this, Guan Tong frowned, "Since that is the case, let's conduct some night raids over the next few nights to make them expose all their Artillery."

"That suits my intentions perfectly," Chang Wei nodded.

Clearly, this decisive battle against the Western Lands Allied Forces would not be resolved in three or five days.

The opponent's muskets and Artillery were only one generation behind theirs, and their number of soldiers far exceeded their own.

If they were to clash head-on, although they could win, the price paid would absolutely be enormous.

In order to annihilate the Western Lands Allied Forces with the minimum cost, they must have some patience and dismantle their defenses step by step.