Chapter 624: Seizing the City

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Han Qi was deep in thought, unable to find a solution, when suddenly, the artillery of Yanzhou let out bursts of thunderous roars.

Cannonballs came whistling in, smashing against the city wall.

At the same time, Yanzhou soldiers once again carried Scaling Ladders and headed toward Pingyuan City.

"Truly courting death!" Han Qi let out a cold snort and said to the Artillerymen: "Load them all with Grape Shot for me, and blast them into mincemeat."

The Qi Artillerymen received the order and immediately picked up the Grape Shot to insert into the cannon barrels.

But because the cannon muzzles were high, they could only stand to load the shells, and since the muzzles extended slightly beyond the city wall, their bodies were exposed to the muzzles of the Yanzhou soldiers' guns.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Bursts of fire and white smoke emerged from more than two thousand Skirmisher Pits.

Under the fire of the Rifled Muskets, the Qi Artillerymen loading the shells immediately fell into pools of blood.

Han Qi's expression suddenly turned ugly.

Artillery not only required loading, but also cleaning the barrel after firing, all of which would leave the soldiers exposed to the Yanzhou soldiers.

"Kill them!" Han Qi pointed at the Yanzhou soldiers in the earthen pits.

Although loading had been hindered, a dozen or so cannons were successfully loaded.

Upon receiving his order, the Qi Artillerymen aimed at the earthen pits.

But they discovered that the moment the cannons fired, these soldiers would shrink their bodies into the earthen pits.

Their cannonballs could not harm these Yanzhou soldiers in the earthen pits at all.

And after the cannon fire, these soldiers would poke their heads out again, aim their muskets at the city wall, and wait for an opportunity to fire.

Once the Qi Artillerymen were exposed, dozens or even hundreds of Bullets would fly toward them.

At the same time, Yanzhou's artillery was still bombarding their cannons without a moment's pause.

Gun carriages were constantly being destroyed, and cannons were being deformed by cannonballs and rolling off the city wall.

The explosive cannonballs also never stopped, causing heavy casualties among the Qi soldiers.

Under the triple harassment of the Yanzhou soldiers, the Qi Artillerymen were basically unable to fight for a time; the city wall was piled with corpses, and the soldiers guarding the wall were replaced batch after batch.

This intense bombardment continued until noon.

Just then, the Yanzhou Heavy Infantry carried Scaling Ladders and charged toward Pingyuan City with shouts of battle.

Arriving at the foot of the wall, they leaned the Scaling Ladders against it and climbed up rapidly.

The skirmishers covered them, firing Bullets at the city wall to prevent the Qi soldiers from approaching the Scaling Ladders.

"Charge, all of you charge for me!"

The situation turned dire in an instant; Han Qi was both angry and anxious, and could only keep urging his soldiers to resist.

Before long, the Heavy Infantry broke through multiple sections of the wall.

They jumped down from the city wall, raised the Long Blades in their hands, and hacked at the Qi soldiers.

In an instant, chaos erupted on the city wall.

Taking advantage of the confusion, some Heavy Infantry rushed to the Qi cannons, took out nails, and hammered them into the touchholes of the cannons.

"Fire!"

Before the Heavy Infantry had climbed onto the city wall, the Qi commanders had already assembled a group of Matchlock soldiers on the wall.

Watching the Yanzhou Heavy Infantry locked in combat with the Qi soldiers, they disregarded the lives of the Qi soldiers and ordered them to fire.

In their view, the deaths of these Qi soldiers were a small matter, while the loss of the city wall was a great one.

Therefore, they would rather these soldiers be sacrificed together than let the Yanzhou Heavy Infantry be killed.

"Bang, bang, bang..." A burst of gunfire rang out.

Immediately, both Heavy Infantry and Qi soldiers fell under the muzzles of the Qi Matchlock soldiers.

Being shot by their own side, the Qi soldiers who were fighting fell into a panic; they retreated one after another, wanting to hide behind the Matchlock soldiers.

Seeing this, the Yanzhou Heavy Infantry immediately picked up the corpses of the Qi soldiers from the ground to use as human shields.

The wall of Pingyuan City was only ten meters wide; after deducting the space occupied by both sides, there were only five or six meters between them.

"Bang, bang, bang..." Another burst of gunfire rang out, and the Bullets struck the bodies of the Qi soldiers, bursting into sprays of blood.

Taking advantage of the gap while the third row of Matchlock soldiers moved forward, the Heavy Infantry pushed the corpses of the Qi soldiers forward, then took a swift step and charged into the ranks of the Matchlock soldiers.

None of these Matchlock soldiers had Bayonets attached to their Matchlocks.

The Heavy Infantry engaged them in close-quarters combat, like tigers entering a flock of sheep.

Long Blades were raised, blood splattered, and one Matchlock soldier after another fell into a pool of blood; the Matchlock soldiers were immediately thrown into chaos.

At this moment, following closely behind the Heavy Infantry, the Wangfu's Rifled Musket soldiers climbed onto the city wall.

They drew Bayonets from their waists, attached them to their muskets, and immediately joined the battle.

One by one, the Qi soldiers were skewered by them.

As more and more Yanzhou soldiers appeared on the city wall, the Qi soldiers gradually could not hold on and were continuously forced off the wall, retreating into the city.

The Wangfu Army immediately took control of the city wall, and the Rifled Musket soldiers lined up in a row along the edge of the wall, beginning to fire at the Qi soldiers within two hundred meters.

The Heavy Infantry charged down the city wall, entered the gate tunnel, and moved away the stones and Sandbags that the Qi soldiers had used to block the tunnel.

"Stop them!"

Han Qi had also retreated into the city with his soldiers; seeing that the North City Gate was about to be opened by the Yan Wang's soldiers, his face was filled with terror.

But everything was in vain; the fall of the North City Wall caused the morale of the Qi soldiers to plummet.

Even if there were soldiers tempted by heavy rewards who tried to charge over, they would be shot dead at a distance of two hundred meters from the city wall.

Seeing the miserable state of their companions, the other soldiers dared not charge over even more.

This was simply equivalent to sending themselves to their deaths.

Several times in a row, the soldiers who charged forward all failed, leaving Han Qi feeling as if he had swallowed a bellyful of ice water in the middle of summer.

Glaring with resentment at the Yanzhou soldiers on the city wall, he ordered the Qi soldiers to enter the various streets and residences, preparing to fight the Wangfu Army soldiers to the death.

"Well struck!"

Outside the city, at the Fort, Chang Wei took in the entire scene on the city wall.

Seeing that the north city wall had been occupied by the Wangfu Army, he immediately ordered the entire army to press forward.

As far as he was concerned, this battle should also be coming to an end.

If his army of one hundred thousand could not even finish off these Qi soldiers after these few days, then there would be no need for him to continue serving as a general.

After all, when fighting the Northern Di, his soldiers were each capable of taking on ten.

Although these Qi soldiers also had Artillery and muskets.

Compared to the Yanzhou soldiers, they were clearly far inferior in quality.

Moreover, the time they had spent in contact with firearms was far less than that of the Yanzhou soldiers, and their training in firearms was likely even worse.

Once his order was issued, the remaining main force surged forward in a mighty torrent toward Pingyuan City.

At this moment, the Wangfu Army soldiers who had occupied the north city were gradually capturing the other sides of the city wall.

The Wangfu Army split into three routes.

One route went due north to support the soldiers who had climbed onto the city wall.

One route detoured to the west to capture the west city wall.

One route detoured to the east to capture the east city wall.

In less than an hour, the Wangfu Army soldiers had gained control of three sides of the Pingyuan City wall.

Only the south city wall was left for the Qi soldiers to escape through.

But halfway there, they had already set an ambush with Cavalry, preparing to slaughter them until the blood flowed like a river.

By evening, Chang Wei led generals including Qin Shan, Guan Tong, and Lv Chang into Pingyuan City.

Climbing onto the Pingyuan City wall, Chang Wei looked toward the interior of the city.

At this moment, the Wangfu Army soldiers were advancing south under the leadership of their officers.

In the streets and residences, the sound of gunfire could be heard from time to time.