Chapter 571: Air Superiority

"Damn it!"

Mule Hongzhen looked up, wishing he could jump up and slash at them with his Curved Blade.

But he hated that he simply could not jump that high.

Right before his eyes, the fireballs drifted slowly toward Ning City and landed inside.

Recalling that it was these very things that saved the Emperor of Great Song during the Battle of Xian City, causing his entire plan to conquer Great Song to fail, a surge of rage welled up in his heart.

Pointing toward Ning City, he shouted hoarsely, "Attack the city with all your might! Anyone who retreats will be executed without mercy!"

The Northern Di generals received the order and immediately urged the assault with ruthless intensity.

The Northern Di soldiers in front of the camp raised their Curved Blades and charged into the darkness one after another.

At this moment, burning Arrows were still being fired from within Ning City from time to time.

Blossoms of light bloomed upon the earth.

Northern Di soldiers passing near the firelight fell amidst bursts of gunfire.

Yet, many Northern Di soldiers still hid in the darkness, dodging the Bullets and rushing toward the breach in the city wall.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..."

As these Northern Di soldiers rushed into the city, he only saw a flash of light ahead.

Before the sound of the gunfire even reached them, they fell into pools of blood.

The Northern Di soldiers who had not fallen in the first round of fire continued to roar as they charged forward.

Another flash of light flickered, and they slowly collapsed.

In the blink of an eye, most of their companions lay in pools of blood, and the remaining Northern Di soldiers felt a chill.

In the past, when they breached a city, they only needed to engage the enemy in close-quarters combat with their Curved Blades.

But now, they were facing a group of Yan Wang's soldiers armed with muskets.

Entering the city from the breach, most soldiers died under the muskets before they could even touch the clothes of the Yanzhou soldiers.

Although they charged forward desperately, trying to kill their way into the Yanzhou soldiers' formation, the distance of two hundred meters was simply too far.

Looking ahead, they suddenly felt a deep sense of powerlessness.

They had thought that once they blew up a section of the wall and charged into the city, the subsequent battle would be easy.

The Yanzhou soldiers would scatter in panic just like the soldiers of the Great Song Imperial Guard.

Clearly, everyone's assumptions were wrong.

Facing the Yanzhou soldiers' muskets, even if they charged into the city, they still had to break through the Yanzhou soldiers' musket formation.

And this was truly too difficult.

Their chaotic thoughts ceased when the sound of gunfire rang out once more.

Bullets pierced their bodies; in their field of vision, the ground beneath their feet grew closer and closer, finally turning into nothingness.

One wave of Northern Di soldiers was wiped out, and another wave charged in through the breach.

The continuous slaughter lasted from the second half of the night until dawn.

When the red sun of the east climbed into the sky, the sound of "woo-woo" echoed from the Northern Di camp; the Northern Di had withdrawn their troops.

The morning breeze ruffled the hair at Qin Shan's temples.

Looking toward the retreating Northern Di soldiers,

he let out a heavy breath, his entire body relaxing from its state of tension.

Climbing onto the city wall, he looked toward the Northern Di encampment.

They had managed to hold off the Northern Di's attack at night, so they naturally feared them even less during the day.

The Northern Di choosing to withdraw to their camp now was clearly due to this consideration as well.

However, if that were the case, tonight would be another fierce battle.

"General Qin, if there is anything you need from us, just give the order," a soldier said at this moment.

He was one of the Hot Air Balloon Troop who had arrived in Ning City last night.

After the Northern Di army from Jin City headed toward Ning City, they had been dispatched here to assist Qin Shan in the battle.

Last night's fighting had been extremely intense, and Qin Shan had no time to attend to them.

Now, as he sized up these Hot Air Balloon Troop, a flash of inspiration struck his mind.

Although these Hot Air Balloons drifted unpredictably in the sky, making it difficult to precisely kill the enemy,

using them to scout the enemy's situation was still quite good.

Of course, it would be even better if they could cause some trouble for the Northern camp while scouting.

"Damn it, don't you like night battles? I'll make sure you can't sleep," Qin Shan chuckled.

Then, he shared his idea with the Hot Air Balloon Troop.

"No problem, but we can only carry eight Explosive Shells at a time," the Hot Air Balloon Troop said.

Qin Shan nodded, "Eight is fine; just come back and reload after you drop them."

His plan was simple: have these Hot Air Balloon Troop fly into the sky carrying Explosive Shells and drop one on the ground from time to time.

He wanted to see if the Northern Di soldiers would be able to get any sleep.

They agreed to the task.

The Hot Air Balloon Troop departed, and in less than an hour, the Hot Air Balloons rose into the air one by one, heading toward the camps on the four sides of Ning City.

Qin Shan had wanted to rest and fight again tonight.

But he forced himself to stay awake, wanting to witness the Northern Di's embarrassment with his own eyes.

Standing on the city wall, he held his Telescope and followed the movement of the Hot Air Balloons.

He saw one Hot Air Balloon fly over the Northern Di camp to the north, and an Explosive Shell was dropped down.

With a loud "Boom—", the Explosive Shell detonated ten meters above the Beidi camp.

Qin Shan secretly sighed in regret.

He had already taught the Hot Air Balloon Troop the method of controlling the Explosive Shell's detonation by rotating the Wooden Fuse, but they were not yet very proficient.

However, this loud noise terrified the Beidi soldiers in the camp; they walked out of their tents one after another to look at the sky, pointing and gesturing at it.

At the same time, the other Hot Air Balloon troops also began.

One Explosive Shell after another fell from the sky.

Some Explosive Shells were the same as the one before, detonating at a very high altitude.

Others fell into the tents and exploded, setting the tents on fire.

The intermittent explosions immediately threw the Beidi camp into chaos.

The Beidi soldiers were brave and skilled in battle, but they were not unafraid of death; they were simply more capable of enduring casualties than the Great Song Imperial Guards.

Under the coercion of the Supervision Team, they could not avoid fighting to the death on the battlefield.

But during the gaps when they were sleeping and resting, they could not bear the thought of an Explosive Shell falling into their tent and blowing them to death.

Consequently, many Beidi soldiers kept their eyes on the Hot Air Balloons.

Whenever a Hot Air Balloon's position drew near them, they would flee, and the entire camp was in a mess.

"Great Khan, hurry and leave, it's coming, it's coming."

Tiemuta was also ordering people to keep an eye on the things flying in the sky.

Enke had been killed by a Cannonball dropped by one of these things.

They had to be careful and cautious.

Mule Hongzhen's face was livid, and he had no choice but to keep dodging around the camp, unable to find a moment of peace.

Ever since these things arrived, he had had a bad premonition.

Now, sure enough, they had encountered trouble again.

"Great Khan, what should we do? The soldiers cannot rest; how will they have the energy to kill the enemy tonight?" Tiemuta frowned tightly.

With these things flying in the sky dropping items from time to time, no one could sleep.

It was like a sword of execution that could fall from the sky at any moment.

Mule Hongzhen only felt a stifling sensation in his chest.

If they fought during the day, they would have to endure even more casualties.

Fighting at night while being unable to rest during the day was truly a dilemma.

"We will still fight at night; these things flying in the sky cannot kill many people. If we endure it, perhaps we can take Ning City tonight," Mule Hongzhen comforted him.

However, thinking of the night of slaughter, even though they had destroyed two sections of the city wall, they still had not breached the city.

He still felt a sense of frustration.

The new-style firearms of Yan Wang were truly too formidable.

However, it was not as if they had not achieved any results.

Last night, Yan Wang's soldiers must have also suffered significant casualties.

Moreover, this force of Yan Wang had come from the sea to launch a surprise attack on Ning City.

He reckoned that they could not have brought sufficient ammunition.

As long as they continued to attack for a few more days, their firearms would become a pile of scrap.

Of course, to ensure nothing went wrong, ever since he arrived at Ning City, he had let Tiemuta implement a plan.

When other methods failed, perhaps this method could deal a fatal blow to Yan Wang's troops in Ning City.