Chapter 623: Skirmisher Pit

"Ignore him. This Pingyuan City still relies on us. Go tell the soldiers: as long as they can hold Pingyuan City, each will be rewarded with ten taels of Silver. Tell them to fight for their lives for me."

"Yes, Marshal." The general responded, then turned and climbed the city wall.

But before he had taken a few steps, a Cannonball suddenly exploded above his head. The general's body swayed, and he fell from the city wall.

Seeing this, Han Qi closed his eyes in pain.

A ruthless determination welled up in his heart. He gathered his courage and rushed onto the city wall, shouting repeatedly for other generals to lead the soldiers in a counterattack.

It was just that the Qi Artillerymen were currently being "cared for" by the Yanzhou Artillerymen.

On the northern city wall, the gun carriages of thirty percent of the Artillery had been destroyed, with the barrels lying horizontally on the ground.

Around the barrels lay Artillerymen in twos and threes.

These soldiers had been struck by Artillery; their deaths were miserable, either reduced to a bloody mess or missing limbs.

What angered him even more was that the Yanzhou Artillery was still bombarding incessantly, and more Artillery were being destroyed.

On the city wall, the situation of the other soldiers was equally tragic; Yanzhou soldiers were firing explosive Cannonballs onto their heads.

Some soldiers lay on the ground, on the verge of death, their bodies pierced with iron nails.

Some soldiers screamed in pain amidst the white smoke; soldiers kept rushing out of the white mist, only to lose their footing and fall off the city wall.

These scenes made Han Qi's heart almost jump out of his throat.

He had never seen such a formation; in an instant, he finally understood why the Northern Di had been soundly defeated by Yan Wang at the Ningjin Regional Military Commission.

It was just that Qi and Yan Wang were incompatible as fire and water, and in the end, only one side could fall. He had to bite the bullet and fight this battle.

On one hand, this was to preserve Pingyuan City; on the other, it was to drag out Yan Wang's southward advance and buy time for Qi to form alliances with other powerful clans.

Besides this, Sato Masahisa had also promised them that Dongying would take action to contain Yan Wang.

If multiple parties could join forces, Yan Wang would surely be wary of the consequences, and thus Qi would be safe.

Thinking of this,

He shouted: "Brothers, killing one of Yan Wang's soldiers earns a reward of one hundred taels of Silver. The time to get rich has come."

The Qi generals immediately passed on Han Qi's words.

Heavy rewards bring brave men, and among the soldiers guarding Pingyuan City this time, some were death-row prisoners pressed into military service.

Before the battle, Han Qi had guaranteed them that as long as they could hold Pingyuan City, their death sentences would be commuted and their freedom restored.

Now there was Silver to be had, and these death-row prisoners were mostly fierce and combative men.

Hearing this, they immediately ran to the Artillery to assist the Artillerymen in pulling the guns.

At this moment, one Artillery piece after another was pushed to the gaps in the city wall battlements, with the muzzles extending beyond the wall.

Seeing a squad of Yanzhou Heavy Infantry carrying Scaling Ladders enter within two hundred meters, preparing to scale the city wall.

The Qi Artillerymen stuffed Grape Shot into the muzzles and aimed at them.

A flash of fire streaked by, a loud boom rang out, smoke rose, and the Grape Shot flew straight out.

It was just that this shot did not hit the Heavy Infantry in the front; the Cannonball landed on the ground about thirty meters to their front-left.

The cotton cloth binding the Grape Shot tore apart, and small iron balls splashed out.

The Heavy Infantry immediately stopped in their tracks; they recognized at a glance that this was not an ordinary Cannonball, but Grape Shot.

The general in charge of the siege saw this and immediately ordered the soldiers to retreat.

If it were just ordinary Cannonballs, it would not hinder their siege, but this was Grape Shot.

Although the Artillery on the Pingyuan city wall only had thirty or forty pieces exposed beyond the wall at the moment due to the bombardment they had suffered from their own Artillery.

But the barrage fired by the Grape Shot could still cause them heavy casualties.

Before the siege, their commanders had instructed them that if they discovered the situation was wrong, they could retreat at any time.

While retreating, they told the Musketeers what they had discovered.

Immediately, the Musketeers retreated to beyond four hundred meters.

Their un-upgraded Artillery could fire Grape Shot up to four hundred meters.

Although they knew that the Qi Artillery was inferior even to their own un-upgraded Artillery, they chose to retreat a bit further just to be safe.

Moreover, during the retreat, they formed a Skirmish Line to prevent being bombarded by the enemy's Artillery.

"What is going on?" Seeing the soldiers in charge of the siege suddenly retreat, Chang Wei frowned.

This was not the style of the Wangfu Army in battle.

Before long, Qin Shan returned from the front and told Chang Wei what the Heavy Infantry had discovered.

"Grape Shot, no wonder," Chang Wei realized.

Looking toward Pingyuan City, he snorted coldly, "These damned Eastern Japanese really have taught Qi quite a few things, but wanting to stump us with this is simply a pipe dream."

Pausing, he said to Qin Shan: "No more siege today. Tonight, have the soldiers take shovels and dig Skirmisher Pits."

These Skirmisher Pits were also part of Skirmisher Tactics.

Their purpose was to protect the skirmishers from enemy bombardment.

In this way, the skirmishers could hide in the Skirmisher Pits and safely attack enemy targets.

Qin Shan scratched his head; he had originally thought these new tactics would have no use at all, but he had not expected them to be used now.

Thinking of this, he admired Yan Wang even more.

What they thought of, Yan Wang had thought of; what they had not thought of, Yan Wang had also thought of for them.

On the Pingyuan city wall.

As the Yanzhou soldiers retreated, the Qi soldiers let out a cheer.

A general laughed loudly: "I thought Yan Wang's troops were so formidable, but it turns out they are just a bunch of cowards. As soon as our Artillery fired, they were scared off."

"Exactly. It seems that what they relied on to fight the Northern Di was just Grape Shot. Now that we have what they have, they are no good once we fight like this."

"..."

The generals were one by one in high spirits, and Han Qi also stood with his hands on his hips, his face full of smiles.

Just a moment ago he had been worried about the safety of Pingyuan City, but now it seemed that the troops of Yan Wang could forget about breaking through Pingyuan City.

The cheers from the top of the city wall attracted Shicun Dahe, and upon learning that the troops of Yan Wang had retreated in defeat, he said smugly to Han Qi, "This is all thanks to our Dongying Grape Shot."

He had just hidden inside the city, so naturally, he did not want to sacrifice his own life for Qi.

Secondly, it was truly to organize the soldiers for street fighting.

Even if the city walls could not be held, he wanted to make the troops of Yan Wang pay a heavy price in taking the city.

Han Qi sneered in his heart, but wore a smile on his face; he despised the behavior of the Dongying general, yet he had to admit the power of the Grape Shot.

After casually echoing the sentiment, he said to the generals of Qi, "Although the soldiers of Yanzhou have retreated, you must not be careless; you must continue to strictly guard the city walls and must not allow any failures."

The generals of Qi responded in unison.

From noon until evening, the soldiers of Yanzhou did not organize another attack.

As night fell, Han Qi worried that the soldiers of Yanzhou might launch a sneak attack at night, so he had the generals raise their vigilance again.

But this night was also very quiet.

However, the next morning, while he was sleeping soundly, a general of Qi hurried over, woke him up, and led him up to the city wall.

"Marshal, look." The general pointed outside the city, and they saw that at this moment, the area within one hundred and fifty to two hundred meters from the city wall was covered with one earthen pit after another.

These earthen pits were very deep, and the soldiers of Yanzhou standing inside could only expose their shoulders and heads.

If they ducked down, their entire bodies would be invisible.

"What the hell is this thing again?" Han Qi could not help but curse.

His intuition told him that this thing was probably just as detestable as the small buildings built to the north.