Chapter 745: Chasing South and Driving North

"Kill!"

More and more Wangfu Army soldiers charged out from the trenches.

The Dongying soldiers and Shizu soldiers in the first row of trenches had already been dazed and confused by the Howitzer bombardment.

During the charge, some Prince's Personal Army soldiers threw Hand Grenades into their midst, immediately causing them heavy casualties.

By the time they reacted and prepared to stand up to fire,

the first wave of Prince's Personal Army soldiers had already jumped into the trenches, stabbing one after another.

The first row of trenches was captured, and the Dongying soldiers in the second row of trenches reacted.

They hurriedly stood up to fire, but because they had suffered heavy losses in the Howitzer bombardment, they were unable to form a tight formation.

The accuracy of the Flintlocks was also extremely poor; after one round of fire, only a few Wangfu Army soldiers fell.

After firing one shot, they immediately reloaded.

Just at this moment, the Wangfu Army soldiers in the first row of trenches threw Hand Grenades over.

Quite a few Dongying soldiers were killed by the explosions.

Furthermore, Wangfu Army soldiers moved through the straight paths between the two rows of trenches toward the second row, engaging them in hand-to-hand combat.

Although the Dongying soldiers resisted with all their might, they were no match for the Prince's Personal Army in terms of size, physical fitness, or training.

They were only slightly stronger than the Shizu Army.

Added to this, they had never experienced a large-scale war, while the Prince's Personal Army soldiers were battle-hardened, all elite veterans, and were more calm and composed.

Even if they were fierce and brave, it was of no use; as soon as they made contact, they were constantly at a disadvantage.

Moreover, the Prince's Personal Army kept throwing Hand Grenades to clear the enemies in the trenches.

Row after row, the Prince's Personal Army's offensive was very smooth.

An hour passed, and on the Eastern Earth Allied Forces' positions, one-third was covered in dark green figures.

"Immediately dispatch a squad of soldiers to attack the Shiqiao from the flank; do not let them blow up the Shiqiao," Zhao Xu said.

The Eastern Earth Allied Forces soldiers in the trenches showed signs of a rout.

Many Dongying soldiers had already fled toward Rang City.

Once these soldiers had mostly fled, they would certainly destroy the Shiqiao to hinder his advance.

Therefore, he wanted to dispatch a squad of soldiers to assault the direction of the Shiqiao, using the range advantage of the Rifled Muskets to prevent them from blowing up the Shiqiao.

Chang Wei acknowledged the order and had the signalman send the command.

A strike team composed of two thousand men immediately circled to the flank and attacked along the riverbank toward the Shiqiao.

Because the enemy soldiers in the trench positions were in chaos,

this strike team quickly approached the Shiqiao.

At a distance of one hundred meters from the Shiqiao, they encountered resistance from Dongying soldiers.

Their actions seemed to have caught the other side's attention, and their intent was understood by the opponent.

However, this one hundred meters was enough; the river section in front of them was no more than one hundred meters at its widest point, completely within their firing range.

Rang City.

Carter was packing his things in his room.

When the first row of trenches was taken, he knew that this war was lost.

He had committed the majority of his forces to the trench positions, yet they were now easily broken through by the opponent.

And once the trench positions were lost, Rang City could not possibly be held.

To him, the defense of Rang City was not even as good as the trenches.

After all, the range of the opponent's Howitzers already exceeded the effective range of the Eastern Earth Allied Forces' Smoothbore Cannons.

These Field Artillery pieces were just like the fate of the field artillery in the trenches; they could only be bombed.

Therefore, after an emergency consultation, they decided to withdraw from Rang City and head south before the trench positions completely collapsed.

Carrying his things, he went outside.

Yamada Haruno was already waiting for him, looking as if he had aged ten years in an instant, "The results we achieved in a month are going to be destroyed by Yan Wang in less than ten days."

"Failure is a common occurrence in war; General Yamada should not be sad. Sometimes, pulling back a fist is to strike out even harder," Carter mounted the horse led over by a Dongying soldier and offered a word of comfort.

Yamada Haruno nodded; this battle had slapped him hard in the face.

In the past, he often mocked the Dasong Shizu for their army collapsing like a mountain.

Now he realized that he was merely the pot calling the kettle black.

Neither their Dongying Army nor the Shizu Army were a match for Yan Wang's troops.

Perhaps, it really required the Westerners' army to take action personally to eliminate Yan Wang.

Of course, there was another way, which was for the Westerners to no longer be stingy with their technology.

Passing it all to Dongying, in this way, they would be able to catch up to Yan Wang's level of firearms.

After all, in his view, what Yan Wang had, the Westerners must certainly have.

"Boom!"

Just at this moment, a loud noise suddenly came from outside.

Carter and Yamada Haruno both breathed a sigh of relief.

They had ordered the soldiers to blow up the Shiqiao.

Now they could leave here unhurriedly.

However, he had not been happy for long before a Dongying soldier hurried over, looking flustered, "General, our Gunpowder Barrels were hit by gunfire and exploded. The soldiers in the trenches saw that we were going to blow up the Shiqiao, so they abandoned the trenches one after another and fled toward Rang City."

"What!" Carter and Yamada Haruno were both shocked.

"A bunch of trash!" Yamada Haruno gritted his teeth.

Then, he said to Carter: "There is no time, head south quickly."

Having said this, he and Carter, along with Xie An, spurred their horses toward the south gate.

A portion of the Eastern Earth Allied Forces soldiers followed behind them, exiting one after another.

Outside Xiangcheng.

The offensive of the Prince's Personal Army grew increasingly fierce.

Soldiers continuously climbed over the Trench, attacking in the direction of the Shiqiao.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Facing the fleeing Eastern Earth Allied Forces soldiers, the Wangfu Army soldiers fired continuously.

In the chaos, the Eastern Earth Allied Forces were simply unable to organize any effective resistance.

They merely crowded onto the Shiqiao, fleeing toward the south regardless of everything else.

Under the fire of the Prince's Personal Army soldiers, large numbers of aristocratic soldiers, seeing there was no escape, knelt down one after another and raised their hands.

The Dongying soldiers were unwilling to be captured and continued to flee for their lives.

Even more soldiers were continuously pushed off the Shiqiao and swept away by the current.

After another hour of fierce fighting, the Prince's Personal Army cleared the remaining soldiers from the Trench positions and crossed the Shiqiao to advance toward Rang City.

At this moment, the Eastern Earth Allied Forces soldiers inside the city had basically all fled.

The Prince's Personal Army very easily took control of the entire Rang City.

In the afternoon, Zhao Xu and Chang Wei arrived at the gate of Rang City.

Behind them were the Gaoli generals and ministers who were crying in a chorus, including the King of Gaoli and Yin Boming.

Entering Rang City, Zhao Xu said to Chang Wei: "Send sixty thousand soldiers to travel light and continue the pursuit; I want to beat them until they are utterly routed and drive them straight into the sea."

The battle of Rang City should be enough to make the Eastern Earth Allied Forces tremble with fear.

The remaining warfare is nothing more than chasing the north and south, and cleaning up the remnants of the battlefield.

If they are not stupid, they should honestly get the hell out of his sphere of influence.

"Yes, Your Highness." Chang Wei looked over this Gaoli royal city, his expression excited.

Although the war had not yet ended, taking the royal city, just as Yan Wang said, basically determined the direction of the war.

From now on, Gaoli will have to be completely submissive to Da Song.