Chapter 622: Attack!

Latest website: "Your Majesty, you truly think exactly as I do; I accept this matter." Xie Duan's eyes flickered.

He had intended to ally with Qi to jointly resist Yan Wang.

He had not expected that before he could even make a move, Qi would come knocking on his door itself.

Moreover, they had presented him with a great gift he had been longing for.

With such a golden opportunity placed before him, how could he possibly refuse?

The Qi envoy nodded and smiled; this was within his expectations.

No powerful clan could refuse the temptation of the flintlock.

Not to mention that the Xie Family and Yan Wang had a dispute over the imperial succession.

"Since that is the case, I ask that Your Majesty sign this contract." The Qi envoy took a document from an official at his side and presented it to Xie Duan.

Xie Duan took it and read the document carefully from beginning to end.

The content of the contract was simple: it was an offensive and defensive alliance directed against Yan Wang.

If one party to the contract suffered an attack from Yan Wang, the other signatory states were required to provide soldiers, grain, and other necessary resources.

If the majority of the signatories agreed to attack Yan Wang, the other signatory states were also required to send troops to support them.

"Go and fetch the Imperial Seal," Xie Duan said to the eunuch beside him.

Zhao Gang was merely a puppet of the Xie Family; all the power of the imperial court was currently in his hands, so his approval of this contract was sufficient.

The Qi envoy nodded with satisfaction; among the four envoys, he had reached his destination first, and the first contract had been successfully established.

This was a good omen.

In fact, he was also clear that there were no fundamental contradictions between the powerful clans; for now, they only needed Qi, the matchmaker, to complete the vertical alliance.

Meanwhile.

The other three envoys were on their way to Wu, Southern Liang, and the southernmost Nanping.

Three days later, the Qi envoy heading to Wu arrived at Lincheng.

Just like the Qi envoy in Jinling,

after meeting Liang Kai, they first presented the flintlocks and personally demonstrated them before Liang Kai.

This new type of firearm, different from the matchlock, immediately caused a stir in the Wu imperial court.

Although Liang Kai was happy to see Qi and the Eastern Japanese fight Yan Wang to the death, the temptation of the flintlock was clearly hard to refuse.

This made him realize the gap between Wu's firearms and those of Qi.

If this gap could not be bridged, even if Yan Wang and Qi decided the victor, his Wu's inferior firearms would be unable to defeat the Qi army equipped with flintlocks, let alone profit from the situation.

Thinking of this, he signed the contract without hesitation.

"Go back and tell your Majesty that our Wu and Qi have previously joined forces to deal with Yan Wang, and I hope both countries will continue to maintain good relations to cope with the threat from the North Territory," Liang Kai said after stamping his seal on the contract.

Although he said this, he secretly thought that when the time came, he would just go through the motions without putting in any real effort.

Southern Liang.

Only two days after the arrival in Wu, the Qi envoy arrived at Xiangcheng.

Upon learning the purpose and promises of the Qi envoy, Dou Wei and Dou Mu were overjoyed.

After signing the contract and sending off the Qi envoy, Dou Mu said, "Father is truly wise to have concluded that the other powerful clans would sooner or later join us, the Dou Family, in a vertical alliance to attack Yan; now, it has come to pass."

Dou Wei revealed a smug expression; this time, Yan Wang's attack on the three cities of Hebei had not only reunited the powerful clans but also allowed them to obtain flintlocks, greatly increasing their strength.

Previously, any one of them had been at a disadvantage when facing Yan Wang.

Now, the powerful clans were united, and Southern Liang had the help of the Northern Di, while Qi had the cooperation of the Eastern Japanese.

Their combined strength had clearly far exceeded that of Yan Wang.

If Yan Wang wanted to defeat them one by one and unify the Great Song, it would be as difficult as ascending to heaven.

Thus, the various states would be secure.

From now on, even if his Southern Liang could not unify the Great Song, but

Outside Pingyuan City.

While Qi was forming a vertical alliance with the other powerful clans, the aerial forts here were already half-built.

During this time, the skirmishers had not been idle, constantly attacking the Qi soldiers on the city walls.

Apart from this, the Prince's Personal Guards in the camp only trained as usual every day and took no other action.

Facing the increasingly tall, strange structures, Han Qi in the city became more and more anxious, but he did not dare to lead troops out of the city to fight.

He knew very well that it would be tantamount to seeking death.

Another ten days passed.

The eight aerial forts were finally completed and put into use.

This day, Chang Wei ordered the artillerymen to haul the field artillery onto the aerial forts, aiming at the north wall of Pingyuan City.

These aerial forts were even taller than the walls of Pingyuan City.

Now, the artillerymen had gone from looking up at Pingyuan City to looking down upon it.

Once all the field artillery were on the forts.

The war began.

"Soldiers, this time we have sufficient ammunition, do not fear wasting it, fire at them with everything you have!" On one of the aerial forts, Chang Wei shouted, pointing at Pingyuan City.

During this period, Yan Wang had transferred quite a bit of ammunition over from Yancheng.

According to him, he was afraid that the Prince's Personal Army would lack sufficient firepower, leading to unnecessary casualties among the soldiers.

Therefore, he had specifically given orders to conduct saturation shelling on Pingyuan City, to beat the enemy until they cried for their fathers and mothers.

The artillerymen all grinned upon hearing this.

To them, having enough cannonballs was just like having enough to eat; in a word: "satisfying."

Thus, they responded loudly: "Yes, General!"

Chang Wei nodded and relayed this order to the other seven forts.

Of course, this order also applied to the artillerymen operating the mortars, the musketeers, and the Hot Air Balloon Troop.

With everything ready, Chang Wei issued the order to attack.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

At almost the exact same time, cannon fire erupted simultaneously from the eight aerial forts.

Cannonball after cannonball flew across the eight-hundred-meter distance, slamming into the ramparts of Pingyuan City.

At this moment, standing on the fort, the artillery commander could clearly see the positions of the Qi artillery on the walls of Pingyuan City through a telescope.

They focused specifically on suppressing the enemy's artillery.

This was to prevent them from causing heavy casualties to the advancing Wangfu Army.

As the cannon fire rang out, the Heavy Infantry in front and the musketeers behind slowly marched toward Pingyuan City.

The mortar crews followed behind the siege soldiers.

When they were four hundred meters from Pingyuan City, they stopped and aimed their mortars at the city walls.

Lime Bombs and Shrapnel Shells traced curves through the air, exploding atop Pingyuan City and blooming into flowers of Flame.

"Damn it, so that's what those strange things were for—mounting artillery! How does Yan Wang's general know so many bizarre and peculiar things?"

On the stairs leading to the city wall of Pingyuan City, Han Qi stomped his feet in anger.

Right now, he didn't dare to climb onto the city wall at all.

Cannonball after cannonball whistled in, smashing directly into the city wall; any soldier struck by a cannonball was either killed or wounded.

"Marshal, the soldiers of Yanzhou are attacking the city," a Qi general said urgently as he arrived at Han Qi's side at this moment.

"Quick, tell the artillerymen to push the artillery to the front, load them all with Grape Shot, and hit them hard!" Han Qi shouted.

Then he asked: "Where did General Shicun go?"

"General Shicun went into the city; he said he wanted to set up the streets and alleys to fight street battles with the Yanzhou soldiers," the general replied.

Upon hearing this, Han Qi's expression immediately darkened.

The city had long since been prepared; what need was there for him to go do it?

This Shicun Dahe was clearly seeing that the situation was bad and was unwilling to climb the wall to oversee the battle.

The Eastern Japanese were truly unreliable.