Chapter 538: The First Battle of Gaoli

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The sound of artillery roared.

Twelve warships formed a line, aiming their broadsides at Nanpu Wharf.

Under the artillery bombardment, the incendiary shells quickly turned the wharf into a sea of fire.

While the shelling continued, small boats were lowered from the warships, and Commander Bai Shang led soldiers to board them and row toward the shore.

At this moment, Nanpu Wharf had fallen into complete chaos.

Koryo soldiers were fleeing in every direction like headless flies, while merchants abandoned their goods and headed toward Nanpu City.

"Black Shark Sea Bandits, they are the Black Shark Sea Bandits!" A Koryo merchant collapsed on the ground, pointing at the warships in the sea.

When another roar sounded, he scrambled away toward Nanpu City.

In the chaos.

At this time, a general rushed onto the wharf; he was Cui Shixun, the garrison general responsible for defending Nanpu Wharf.

Looking at the small boats constantly approaching the wharf, he shouted to the terrified soldiers: "Bastards, none of you are allowed to flee, otherwise you will be executed on the spot. How could a mere group of sea bandits scare you into such a pathetic state?"

Having said that, he drew his sword and pointed it at a soldier, "Pick up your bow and arrows. As soon as these damned sea bandits dare to come ashore, kill them. Our Gaoli is not so easily provoked."

Ever since Gaoli submitted to the Northern Di, the people of Gaoli had been very confident from top to bottom.

They believed that with the protection of the Northern Di, no one could defeat them.

Even the Great Song was not held in their regard.

Let alone a mere group of Black Shark Sea Bandits.

Although he knew the Black Shark Sea Bandits had wiped out their entire Navy.

This did not mean that these sea bandits would be their match once they came ashore.

After all, just at Nanpu Wharf, they had three thousand garrison troops, and in Nanpu City, there were another seventeen thousand troops.

Under Cui Shixun's orders, the Koryo soldiers gradually gathered together.

Long spearmen in front, shield-bearers behind, and archers on the flanks, they stared fixedly at the approaching small boats.

However, they dared not get too close to the wharf.

Because the warships' artillery kept bombarding that area.

While the Koryo soldiers prepared for battle, Bai Shang was observing them.

The armor on these Koryo soldiers could only be said to be slightly better than that of the Northern Di's auxiliary troops, but it was still far inferior to the armor of the true Northern Di soldiers.

As far as he knew, ever since Gaoli submitted to the Northern Di, Gaoli no longer used Great Song armor, but had adopted the armor of the Northern Di.

They really had acted like lackeys to the very end.

Glancing again at the formation the Koryo soldiers had arranged, he revealed a look of disdain.

He had even fought the Northern Di, so why would he fear Koryo soldiers?

"Prepare to go ashore!" Seeing the wharf getting closer, Bai Shang shouted.

At this time, the roaring of the artillery continued.

However, the landing points of the cannonballs had shifted forward quite a bit.

In fact,

there was no longer any need for the warships' artillery to bombard the wharf.

Zhou Yi was just using the artillery to provide cover for them, helping them land smoothly.

Thus, right under the noses of the Koryo soldiers, they continuously gathered at the wharf.

The first batch of five hundred men went ashore, followed by the second batch, then the third.

Half an hour later, three thousand men had already boarded the wharf.

Some soldiers even moved mortars and cannonballs from the small boats onto the shore.

Just as they were preparing, a cloud of dust rose in the north.

Then Bai Shang heard the rumbling sound of horse hooves.

He knew in his heart that this was the Koryo reinforcements arriving.

To the north of Nanpu Wharf was Nanpu City.

Since they had caused such a great commotion, the Koryo army in Nanpu City naturally had to react.

"Prepare for battle!" Bai Shang ordered his officers.

After landing on the wharf, the soldiers formed up under the leadership of their officers.

Now, the three thousand soldiers formed six horizontal formations, with five hundred men in each.

At this moment, the artillery bombardment from the warships had ceased.

After all, they had occupied the wharf and could provide their own cover for the subsequent soldiers to land.

Continuing the shelling would easily risk friendly fire and was unnecessary.

Arriving at the front of the military formation, Bai Shang looked toward the Koryo army, which was over three hundred meters away.

Now, besides infantry, cavalry had also appeared.

Through his telescope, he estimated that there were about eight hundred cavalrymen.

"These sea bandits are truly bold, daring to attack Nanpu Wharf. The Navy suffered a loss at their hands, but we are not as useless as the Navy. General Cui, kill these sea bandits, and I will request a reward for you from the King." Beside Cui Shixun was a middle-aged general; he was Huang Zhen, the garrison general of Nanpu City, and Cui Shixun was his subordinate.

Upon learning that the wharf had been attacked by the Black Shark Sea Bandits, he left five thousand men to guard the city and led the remaining twelve thousand troops to provide support.

"Yes, General," Cui Shixun said.

Gaoli had been without war for a long time, and it was difficult for officers like them to get promoted.

But it would be different if they annihilated this group of sea bandits.

Thinking of this, he suddenly became slightly excited.

The Commander's troops then began to move forward.

Although he had heard that these Black Shark Sea Bandits seemed to have a close relationship with some Yan Wang.

But this was merely idle chatter for the generals after tea and meals.

To them, not to mention Yanzhou, even the Great Song was very far away.

The distance between the two armies gradually closed, and at this moment, Cui Shixun saw the weapons of the Black Shark Sea Bandits.

Every one of these sea bandits held a weapon similar to a Long Spear.

Only the Long Spear looked very strange, and the shaft below the spearhead seemed to be hollow.

Seeing this, he could not help but feel puzzled.

"Rumble, rumble, rumble..."

Just at this moment, the Cavalry that had been moving along with them suddenly launched a charge.

Almost at the same time, he suddenly saw flashes of fire light up from the Black Shark Sea Bandits' army, and bursts of muffled sounds came forth.

Black dots rose into the air one after another, flying toward the top of their heads.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The black dots exploded in mid-air right above their heads, and white smoke immediately enveloped the Cavalry.

Amidst the chaos, the Warhorses let out uneasy neighs, followed by the screams of the Cavalry.

They were equally miserable; under the explosions, the soldiers wailed in unison.

Some soldiers had three or four nails embedded in their faces, while others had blood streaming from their legs.

Seeing this scene, Cui Shixun's expression changed instantly.

Confidence vanished from his face, replaced by deep fear.

He had never seen such a scene before; what on earth were these exploding things?

The soldiers were even more terrified than he was; many were so scared their legs went weak, and they sat down on the ground.

Some soldiers even urinated themselves, creating a complete mess.

"Boom, boom, boom..." While they were plunged into fear, another round of explosions rang out, and more soldiers began to scream.

Some soldiers could no longer hold on, simply dropping their Weapons and turning to run.

The chaos in the Koryo Army formation was seen by Bai Shang.

While he was slightly surprised, he then felt relieved.

It was a very obvious fact that this Koryo Army had never seen firearms, and had perhaps only heard rumors of them, having no actual understanding of firearms.

When they first used firearms to fight Xiliang, the Xiliang soldiers were equally terrified.

Thinking of this, Bai Shang smiled lightly and passed down the order, "Advance immediately and take Nanpu City!"