Chapter 554: The Artilleryman's Contest

"What a grand formation." Chang Wei slowly lowered his Telescope, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.

Mo Yu stood at Chang Wei's side, "The Northern Di are determined to take Yanguan this time; they don't even care about the plague."

Chang Wei nodded, "Mule Hongzhen is very shrewd. Even if the Northern Di army is infected with the plague and half of them die, it would still be worth it if they can take Yanguan. But if they miss this opportunity, they might not be able to take Yanguan even if their casualties are less than half in the future."

"Indeed." Mo Yu agreed with Chang Wei's assessment, "Since that is the case, we shall now fight to the death."

Warfare often combines the conventional and the unconventional; the conventional is the standard method of fighting.

This defense against the Northern Di's attack on Yanguan belongs to the frontal confrontation, meant to attract the enemy's attention.

The unconventional is the trickery; the army launching from the sea is part of that trickery, which will catch the Northern Di off guard.

After observing the layout of the Northern Di camp for a while, Chang Wei and Mo Yu inspected the city walls, especially the Bastion-style Outer Wall outside the old city wall.

These outer walls were completed when the Northern Expedition ended.

The triangular outer walls protrude twenty meters from the old city wall.

Forts are cast on both sides of the outer walls, with Artillery aimed toward the sides, leaving the entire outer wall without a single blind spot and capable of attacking enemies from any direction.

Once the battle begins, soldiers will move into the outer walls and coordinate with the Artillery to kill enemy troops.

"His Highness said this outer wall cost a lot of Silver; this time, let the Northern Di taste the power of the Bastion-style Outer Wall." After walking from east to west, Chang Wei smiled coldly.

A calm smile remained on Mo Yu's face.

With such Bastion-style outer walls combined with the Prince's Personal Army's firearms.

Even if he only had thirty thousand men, he was confident he could hold off the Northern Di army.

Sixty thousand men was simply more than enough.

After going to the military camp in the city for another inspection, Chang Wei gathered the generals to discuss matters that needed attention during the battle.

For example, how to use the Bastion-style outer walls to attack enemies climbing the city walls when they attack the city, and how to guard against night raids, etc.

The next day.

At the first light of dawn, Chang Wei was woken up by Mo Yu.

The Northern Di officially began their siege.

Arriving at the city wall, Chang Wei discovered that soldiers were constantly pouring out of the Northern Di camps.

These soldiers formed into loose formations and stopped at a distance of five hundred meters from Yanguan.

Then they dug up earth and used Sandbags to construct rows of earthen walls.

A gap was left every five meters in the earthen walls.

Witnessing all this through the Telescope, Chang Wei frowned, "Is the Northern Di's Artilleryman afraid of being hit, or have they received guidance?"

Because the Prince's Personal Army's Artillery had a range advantage over the Northern Di's Artillery.

When they construct Artillery positions, they only need to find a suitable place and pull the Artillery over.

However, at the Military Academy, Yan Wang also taught how to construct Artillery positions when there is no advantage over the enemy's Artillery.

This involves using things like Sandbags to build temporary earthen walls,

protecting the Artillery and Artilleryman within the earthen walls, leaving only space at the muzzle for firing.

Clearly, the Northern Di were doing exactly that right now.

"I fear they have received guidance. His Highness said there is a Missionary from the Ross country among the Northern Di." Mo Yu said, "Look, their movements are very practiced."

Chang Wei continued to observe.

While constructing Artillery positions on the east side, the Northern Di also constructed Artillery positions on the west side.

An hour later, Northern Di soldiers pulled the Artillery out of the camp and entered the Artillery positions one after another.

"Tang Qing, can you destroy their Artillery positions?" Chang Wei called the Artillery Colonel Tang Qing over.

As an Artillery general, Tang Qing naturally noticed the enemy's Artillery movements immediately, and he said: "I can, but it will be much more troublesome."

The Artillery positions constructed by the Northern Di are equivalent to putting Armor on naked soldiers.

Although they can still kill the opponent, the time and ammunition consumed will increase significantly.

In this way, their soldiers will be exposed to enemy shelling for a longer time.

Chang Wei and Mo Yu exchanged a look.

The Northern Di are improving in the use of Artillery.

However, although they were a bit surprised by the Northern Di's new tactics.

They were not affected much.

Just as Tang Qing said, it is troublesome, but it can be solved.

The Prince's Personal Army's Artillery far exceeds them in power and range.

In a contest within five hundred meters, the gap in the power of the two sides' Artillery is like that between an adult and a ten-year-old child.

It is just that, for him, this is not a very good signal.

The Northern Di can even hand over the method of casting Artillery to the powerful clans.

Will they also share their experience in using firearms on the battlefield with the powerful clans in the future?

If so, the future internal strife in Da Song will likely be even more cruel.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

As the two were thinking, suddenly, bursts of fire and thick smoke erupted from the Northern Di's Artillery positions.

Black Cannonballs flew toward the Bastion-style Outer Wall like raindrops.

"Take cover!"

The moment the Northern Di shelled, the generals on the city wall shouted immediately.

The soldiers immediately hid behind the crenellations.

"Thud, thud, thud..." The heavy Cannonballs hit the Bastion-style Outer Wall, emitting muffled sounds.

However, the cannonball only left a shallow dent on the surface of the wall before falling to the ground.

The range of the Northern Di artillery is only eight or nine hundred meters, with an effective range of just five hundred meters.

At this distance, the power of the Northern Di cannonballs is no longer very great, and they cannot cause any damage to the outer walls of the Lengbao cast from Concrete.

Even the battlements on the outer walls of the Lengbao can withstand the attacks of the cannonballs, unlike brick walls which would be knocked down by them.

After one round of shelling, there were no soldier casualties on the city wall.

The soldiers stood up, their confidence even greater than before.

While the Northern Di artillery was attacking Yanguan, the Northern Di soldiers in the camp began to move.

Siege equipment such as Scaling Ladders, Battering Rams, and Siege Towers emerged from the camp one after another.

The Northern Di soldiers pushed the siege equipment and continuously moved toward Yanguan.

"Tang Qing, take out their artillery," Chang Wei ordered, "and pull out some more artillery to blast their siege equipment."

The Northern Di Artillerymen were clearly covering the Infantry as they besieged the city.

At the moment Chang Wei gave the order to Tang Qing, Mo Yu was having the soldiers take their positions just as they had practiced daily.

The Artillerymen took their places, and the soldiers holding Rifled Muskets also entered the front city walls and the protruding Lengbao walls one after another.

At their positions, gravel, rolling logs, and Fire Oil had all been prepared in advance, and defensive supplies were plentiful.

"Boom, boom, boom..." Another burst of cannon fire resounded through the sky.

This time it was the artillery of the Prince's Personal Army.

They had a clear division of labor: one part attacked the Northern Di artillery positions in the east, one side attacked the Northern Di artillery positions in the west, and another part bombarded the siege equipment in front.

The Northern Di had brought a total of three hundred and sixty pieces of Artillery this time.

Yet there were only two hundred and seventy-two pieces of Artillery on Yanguan.

But these two hundred and seventy pieces of Artillery were all improved cannons that had undergone Bore Reaming.

When the cannonballs from these cannons flew toward the Northern Di artillery positions, they immediately kicked up clouds of dust.

One cannonball struck the Sandbags in front of a Northern Di cannon, directly overturning the Sandbags, and the cannonball, its momentum undiminished, struck the Northern Di Artillerymen directly.

Without even having time to let out a scream, the Northern Di Artilleryman flew backward, his chest deeply sunken in as he landed on the ground.