Chapter 682: Things Are Not What They Used To Be

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Hand grenades flew onto the city wall one after another.

Because they were suffering from skirmisher fire, the Ma Jin soldiers hiding under the battlements only saw something like a stick land in front of them.

Before they could even react, these sticks suddenly exploded.

The crowded Ma Jin soldiers immediately suffered heavy casualties, and bursts of wailing sounds rang out.

But this was only the beginning; next, these sticks were continuously thrown onto the city wall, and the explosions continued round after round.

After five consecutive rounds of throwing, the artillery on the Rang City wall no longer made a sound.

Observing that scene through a telescope, Ma Han decisively issued the order to attack the city.

Kill! The Ma Family soldiers let out a heaven-shaking roar, and carrying scaling ladders, they charged toward the city wall one after another.

Under the bombardment of the hand grenades, only a small number of Ma Jin soldiers remained on the east wall of Rang City at this moment.

And these soldiers, looking at the corpses strewn across the city wall, were also terrified.

Because they had no defense against hand grenades, the commanders on the Rang City wall were either dead or wounded, and no one was left to organize a resistance.

Soldiers who had never seen hand grenades before were scared out of their wits in the center of the repeated explosions, losing their fighting spirit and becoming like birds startled by the mere twang of a bowstring.

When the shouts of battle rose, their legs trembled, and they forgot how to fight.

Just at this moment, scaling ladders were leaned against the city wall one by one.

Following the scaling ladders, the Ma Family soldiers quickly climbed onto the Rang City wall, leveled their bayonets, and charged toward the Ma Jin soldiers, while shouting, "Surrender and you won't be killed!"

Hearing the Ma Family soldiers' command, many of the remaining Ma Jin soldiers threw down the swords in their hands and knelt on the ground, choosing to surrender.

Meanwhile, some Ma Jin soldiers who chose to resist stubbornly were poked into hedgehogs by bayonets.

In a very short time, the Ma Family soldiers captured the city wall.

Then they went down along the stairs and took control of the four city gates.

A portion of the soldiers fired from a high position down at the Ma Jin soldiers who were attempting to contest the city wall with them.

After half an hour, having cleared the sandbags and stones inside the city gates, the Ma Family soldiers opened the gates.

Seeing this, Ma Han ordered a full-scale attack to be launched.

The Ma Family soldiers outside the city immediately let out bursts of roars and entered the city from the scaling ladders or the city wall.

"Satisfying, truly satisfying." Looking toward the Ma Family soldiers pouring into the city, Ma Han paced back and forth in excitement.

When Zhao Heng launched the Northern Expedition, the one hundred thousand troops under his command were still at their wits' end facing Rang City, suffering losses of men and generals.

But only two years apart, it was like the difference between heaven and earth.

He had only spent two hours to break through Rang City.

This result greatly increased his confidence.

Although Dian Zhang looked calm, waves were churning in his heart.

This battle proved to them the power of the Yanzhou firearms.

Equipped with the firearms provided by Yan Wang and trained by Yan Wang's generals.

The current Ma Family troops were no longer the Ma Family troops of the past; they had simply undergone a qualitative change.

Nodding slightly, he said: "The Head of the Family truly made a wise decision back then.

If we hadn't broken away from the Rich Clans and joined Yan Wang's command, how could we have today's grand spectacle?"

He believed that this battle would make the descendants who once had many complaints about Ma Han's decision shut their mouths forever.

Hearing this, Ma Han felt a sense of relief.

At the time, this was indeed a difficult decision; after all, relying on Rich Clans to rule the common people, and powerful clans ruling the Rich Clans—this had been the law for thousands of years.

To betray this law was equivalent to becoming the public enemy of the Rich Clans.

When annihilating the rebellious Rich Clans in Sizhou, in the middle of the night, he had also doubted whether his decision was correct.

Fortunately, he persisted.

Otherwise, he feared that today, his Ma Family would no longer exist.

Although Sizhou was now also under the jurisdiction of the Imperial Court, and the Ma Family's army no longer belonged to the Ma Family.

But at least, Yan Wang had preserved the glory and wealth of the Ma Family.

And that was enough.

If this time, he could also recover Qinzhou and Yongzhou, kill Ma Jin with his own hands, break through Southern Liang, and kill Dou Wei, he would have no regrets.

"Boom, boom, boom..." While he was thinking, the sound of hand grenade explosions rang out inside Rang City.

The Ma Family soldiers had clearly encountered resistance.

Exchanging a glance with Dian Zhang, the two walked toward Rang City.

Climbing the city wall, the two observed the situation on the battlefield through telescopes.

Under the attack of the Ma Family soldiers, the Ma Jin soldiers inside Rang City were retreating steadily, and many Ma Jin soldiers knelt directly on the side of the road to surrender to the Ma Family soldiers.

These Ma Jin soldiers were mostly able-bodied men Ma Jin had seized in Qinzhou and Yongzhou, and a portion were the conscripted soldiers handed over to Ma Jin by the Northern Di when Western Liang was destroyed; they were, after all, still Song People.

When these soldiers were in a position of power, they were still able to obey the orders of Ma Jin's generals and fight against them.

But in the face of their fierce firearms, these soldiers quickly collapsed due to fear.

Seeing this scene, the two breathed a sigh of relief.

They had won this battle for Rang City.

The time lasted until evening, and then until the next day at dawn, when the gunfire inside Rang City gradually died down.

Just after breakfast, Dian Zhang brought the battle report to Ma Han.

"Head of the Family, this battle annihilated over thirty thousand people, captured over sixty thousand people, and our army suffered eight hundred and thirty-two casualties." Dian Zhang read out a string of numbers that even he himself could not believe.

If it were in the past, it would have been impossible to take Rang City without sacrificing fifty or sixty thousand troops.

But now, they had taken Rang City in just one day, with a total of only eight hundred or so killed or wounded.

How shocking this was.

Han Zheng was stunned for a long while, his eyebrows arched, his eyes filled with excitement.

He felt increasingly glad about his initial choice, and at the same time, a sense of awe toward Yan Wang rose from the bottom of his heart.

From now on, he must not have a shred of disrespect toward this Yan Wang; he must be loyal, devoted, and keep to his duties.

"Leave one thousand men to garrison Rang City, and dispatch another one thousand to escort the captured soldiers to Sizhou. The others will rest during the day; for the next three days, we will hide by day and march by night. We must take Xian City with lightning speed," said Ma Han.

During this time, he had also visited the Military Academy in Yanzhou every few days, mastering many tactics he had never seen before.

Among these tactics, some listed examples were strategies Yan Wang had employed during the Jinzhuzhizhan.

This time, he had the Ma Family troops carry only weapons, ammunition, and Roasted Flour, traveling light, precisely to employ one of those night-raid tactics.

After resting for a day, as night fell, the Ma Family troops vanished into the darkness.

Xian City.

On the evening of the second day after Rang City was attacked, a pair of Cavalry entered Xian City.

They delivered the news of the Ma Family troops attacking Rang City to Ma Jin.

"What! Ma Han truly has the guts of a bear; he actually dares to attack Rang City."

At Yuxiang Pavilion in Xian City, Ma Jin was drinking and making merry with his subordinate generals and the generals of the Northern Di.

Upon learning the news, he slammed the table and stood up, his expression angry.

Then he sneered and sat back down, "During the Northern Expedition, he spent over a month and still couldn't break Rang City. What can he do today? Let him lose soldiers and suffer casualties at Rang City. In a few days, we will send a large army to wipe out this force of Ma Han's."

Seeming to think of something else, he suddenly became smug, "Currently, the Anti-Yan Coalition is locked in battle with Yan Wang's troops in Qi. It is a pity we have no chance to participate, but if we can annihilate Ma Han's troops, it will count as a great achievement."