Chapter 744: The Battle of Rang City

"Your Highness, if we annihilate the Eastern Land Alliance soldiers in Rang City, it will be equivalent to wiping out about seventy percent of their troops."

In a small, raised hill ten miles north of Rang City.

Zhao Xu and Chang Wei were observing Rang City; besides the King of Koryo, there were also some Koryo generals beside them.

Once the rear guard arrived, they would launch their forces toward Koryo.

The Battle of Fengming Mountain annihilated eighty thousand of the Eastern Earth Allied Forces.

The Prince's Personal Army did not feel much, but the remnants and defeated soldiers of the Koryo Army were greatly encouraged.

Many fleeing Koryo soldiers ran out from the deep mountains and old forests.

They followed the Prince's Personal Army to act together.

However, they were basically only responsible for doing menial labor.

For example, they were responsible for gathering grain and fodder, as well as setting up pots and cooking meals.

"Hmm, this battle at Rang City will determine the direction of the Koryo war. We must win quickly, display our might, and prevent them from continuing to commit troops to Koryo and falling into the quagmire of war," Zhao Xu said in a deep voice.

Koryo was merely a small interlude in its expansion of influence.

He could not invest too much time and energy here.

Otherwise, it would affect his plan to unify Da Song.

"Your Highness, rest assured, this general will definitely make them regret stepping onto this land," Chang Wei said.

Zhao Xu nodded and continued to look ahead.

On the north side of Rang City, there was a large river called the Pu River.

Rang City was built behind the Pu River and connected by a stone bridge.

The trenches of the Eastern Earth Allied Forces were right in front of this stone bridge.

Regarding this arrangement, Zhao Xu nodded secretly.

If it were Dongying generals or Shizu generals, they would certainly have blown up the stone bridge and just defended Rang City to the death.

But in that case, they could still find a way to cross the Pu River and reach the foot of Rang City unscathed.

However, because this Western Lands general in Rang City dug trench positions at the stone bridge, they had to take this position before they could continue to advance.

Otherwise, if they ignored it and bypassed the trench position to cross the river directly,

the alliance soldiers in the trench position would be able to attack them from the flank and rear.

Thinking of this, he ordered the soldiers to go tit-for-tat with the Eastern Land Alliance and dig trenches.

But this time, he ordered the King of Koryo to send many Koryo soldiers to assist in digging the trenches.

Three days later, relative to the trench positions of the Eastern Land Alliance, the Prince's Personal Army had also dug their own trench positions.

The positions of both sides were interlocked, with the closest distance being only about thirty meters.

At this distance, it was completely enough for the soldiers of the Prince's Personal Army to throw hand grenades into the opponent's trenches.

Everything was ready, and Zhao Xu ordered an attack on the trench positions in front of the stone bridge.

Upon receiving the order, the howitzers placed behind the trench positions let out a roar, and one cannonball after another traced an arc and fell into the trenches of the Eastern Land Alliance.

Field artillery had no way to deal with the enemy soldiers in the trenches.

But howitzers could throw cannonballs into the trenches.

Coupled with explosive shells, they could cause heavy casualties to the enemies in the trenches.

Boom, boom, boom!

The trench positions of the Eastern Land Alliance were instantly covered by artillery fire.

This time, the Armament Department had sent all one hundred howitzers they had built and the special ammunition to the army.

It was enough for them to use.

"Ah!"

Under the bombardment of the howitzers, screams came from the Eastern Land Alliance positions from time to time.

Some cannonballs fell among the soldiers, and the huge power directly blew the soldiers away, with severed limbs and arms splashing everywhere.

Even more soldiers were pushed directly against the trench walls by the shockwave and fainted on the spot.

Rang City.

Carter looked toward the battlefield, and a drop of cold sweat slid down his face.

Yamada Haruno tried hard to remain calm, but his hands could not help but tremble slightly.

He knew that Yan Wang's troops had a type of explosive shell.

But the Da Song Shizu said that the power of this explosive shell was not too great.

But now, one explosive shell fell and could blast out a large crater.

In fact, the Shizu had not lied to him.

After all, the Shizu had experienced explosive shells loaded with Black Gunpowder and had not yet tasted explosive shells loaded with Yellow Gunpowder.

Moreover, the explosive shells fired by the howitzers this time were not only loaded with Yellow Gunpowder, but the threaded wooden fuses of the cannonballs had also been changed to threaded steel plugs.

With these two improvements, the power of the cannonball explosion was even more terrifying.

Compared to Carter and Yamada Haruno, Xie An's head was covered in cold sweat.

Now, he just wanted to run away.

So, he said, "On land, we have no way to defeat Yan Wang at all. If we continue to fight, we will only waste the lives of our soldiers in vain. The best way is still to use steamships to control Jiujiang and prevent Yan Wang from moving south."

After a pause, he continued to Carter, "Afterward, you must provide us with all the help you possibly can so that we can finally defeat Yan Wang!"

"Nonsense!" Yamada Haruno was furious when he heard this. "What kind of defeatist talk is this? We have already sacrificed so many soldiers; we absolutely cannot just withdraw like this."

Carter chose silence. If he were commanding a Western Lands army now, perhaps there might still be a chance to defeat Yan Wang.

The firearms of the Dongying Army and the Shizu Army were too far behind those of Yan Wang's troops.

Moreover, their soldiers' physical fitness is far inferior to that of the soldiers from the Western Lands, and they are not like the soldiers of the Western Lands, who are mostly educated and well-trained.

Although he is clear that the best course of action now is to retreat while the trench positions are resisting the Yan Wang's troops.

However, at this moment, he finally realizes the substantial threat posed by this Yan Wang.

On the Dongtu continent, such a powerful nation has been born.

In the future, they will certainly compete with the Xitu Guo for interests on a global scale.

Returning this time, he truly must have Britain and Sam Country provide the greatest support to Dongying.

At the same time, arm the powerful clans of the Great Song as much as possible to contain the Yan Wang.

Otherwise, once this beast breaks out of its cage, they will no longer be able to wantonly extract interests in Dongtu.

Therefore, he wants the Eastern Earth Allied Forces to continue fighting the Yan Wang.

On one hand, he can understand the Yan King Army, and on the other, he can continue to deplete the Yan Wang's troops, which is beneficial to them in the Western Lands.

The three men each had their own thoughts.

The battle situation at the trench positions is becoming increasingly unfavorable for the Eastern Earth Allied Forces.

The shelling continued for about half an hour before stopping.

Just at this moment, a group of Wangfu Army soldiers climbed out of the trenches and charged toward the opposite side.

Under the bombardment of the Howitzers, the soldiers of the Eastern Earth Allied Forces covered their ears and pressed tightly against the earthen walls of the trenches.

The shelling stopped suddenly, and they had not reacted at all.

Kill!

At the narrowest point of the trenches, the soldiers of the Prince's Personal Army crossed in just five or six seconds.

They jumped into the enemy's trenches and charged at the Dongying soldiers.

A Bayonet pierced through a Dongying soldier in one thrust.

Afterward, more and more of the Prince's Personal Army jumped into the trenches for close-quarters combat.

On the hilltop, Zhao Xu watched the battlefield.

He does not like the Prince's Personal Army to make needless sacrifices, but the soldiers of the Prince's Personal Army have never feared sacrifice.

Daring to kill and daring to fight is the military soul of this army.

Otherwise, even the most excellent Weapon cannot unleash its intended power.

Furthermore, in this era, the armies of the Western Lands are at the peak of their history.

Now, the war they are facing is merely child's play; future wars will only become increasingly cruel.

From the moment he took control of Yanzhou, he was clear about this.

He and this generation of Song People are destined to trade blood and sweat for the supreme glory of the Great Song.