Chapter 826: The Artillery Roars!

"Truly arrogant, to dare to attack a pass guarded by an army of two hundred and fifty thousand with a mere seventy thousand men."

On the walls of Zhongling Pass, Ashuer looked toward the Yan King soldiers continuously pouring into the trenches, his eyes narrowing.

According to the agreement reached between Britain, the Ross nation, and their Northern Di.

This time, he personally led three hundred thousand troops into Yizhou to coordinate with the Shizu Army to resist the Yan King Army.

Initially, their plan was to station troops at Zhongling Pass and Jian Pass to draw out the Yan King's Qin Army.

Then, lure the Yan King's Personal Army deep into Jiangnan, and concentrate their forces to annihilate the Personal Army.

But this plan failed.

Immediately, they had to execute the second plan.

He and Southern Liang in the west, Mule Hongzhen in the north, and Wu in the south pulled the defensive line from three directions, dispersing the Yan King's forces while waiting for the arrival of British muskets and Artillery.

When the time came, they would equip British muskets and Artillery, strike at the weakest point of the defensive line, tear open a gap in the Jiangbei defensive line, and invade Jiangbei.

But they did not expect that before the British muskets and Artillery arrived, the Yan King Army would suddenly launch an attack on them.

"I have analyzed the campaigns of the Yan King Army over these past few years and discovered that this army never fights a battle without preparation; I fear the situation is somewhat ominous." Aersiji was not as optimistic as Ashuer.

The Ross nation's wars with the Xitu Guo nations have never ceased over these years.

There have even been large-scale wars involving hundreds of thousands of people.

Sometimes, the outcome of a war is truly not decided by the number of soldiers, but rather by the comprehensive strength of the army.

Ashuer could not help but frown.

Since leaving Northern Di and heading to the Western Regions, he had been fighting constantly all these years and was also a veteran on the battlefield.

The vast family estate was something he had built with his own hands.

Because of this, he was quite proud.

Coupled with the fact that Northern Di had suffered such a great loss at the hands of the Yan King, he was holding his breath, wanting to cross swords with the Yan King Army.

However, he was by no means a foolish person; otherwise, he could not have survived the slaughter in the Western Regions.

Without a trump card, he naturally would not throw his life away.

The reason he was so confident this time was because his own army was equipped with a batch of muskets and Artillery provided by the Ross nation.

There was one more point.

The Yan King Army is powerful, and he cannot beat them outside the city, but can he not beat them while defending the city?

"Do not say these useless things; whether it is a mule or a horse, one must try it out. Otherwise, can I abandon Zhongling Pass and flee? I cannot afford to lose that much face," Ashuer said.

Aersiji looked at the Yan King Army still pouring into the trenches and knitted his brows.

Ashuer was right; they had to fight a battle here no matter what.

"I hope the British muskets and Artillery can arrive sooner," Ashuer added.

The Ross nation is, after all, too far from Northern Di; waiting for them to copy the muskets and then transport them would take at least half a year.

But Britain could provide the first batch of muskets within two or three months.

Hearing this, the corners of Aersiji's mouth curled into an arc, "Once we are equipped with Front-loading Rifled Muskets, the Yan King Army will have no advantage, and eliminating the Yan King will only be a matter of time."

As he was speaking, he suddenly caught a glimpse of a flash of fire in the distance.

"Get down!" Aersiji was shocked and immediately tackled Ashuer.

Just at this moment, a violent explosion occurred on the city wall in front of them, the loud noise almost shattering their eardrums.

The Personal Army had officially launched its attack.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Following this, cannonball after cannonball smashed into the city wall, and Flame and smoke filled the air.

Ashuer and Aersiji looked at each other, their expressions grave.

They did not dare to stand up, crawling along the ground to the stairs, and retreated from the city wall in a sorry state.

Previously, he had secretly mocked the Shizu Army for losing Jinling City in just a few days.

Now, he had finally experienced the power of the Yan King Army firsthand.

It was not just the muskets; the Yan King's Artillery was truly different.

"The city wall is just a target, far less safe than the trenches; we can only rely on the trenches for defense," Aersiji said.

It would not take long for the Yan King's Artilleryman to blow up the Artillery on the city wall; leaving soldiers on it had no meaning.

Ashuer nodded.

He immediately ordered the reserve troops to assemble to support the soldiers in the trenches outside the city gate at any time.

Although the Yan King's army was powerful, he did not believe that an army of two hundred and fifty thousand could not stop these mere seventy thousand soldiers.

Even if they could not stop them, he would make the Yan King Army pay a heavy price in casualties; he would wear the Yan King's soldiers down until they were gone.

Jiangbei, Northern Di, Britain, and the Ross nation—their combined national strength was far superior to the Yan King.

This time, they were determined to destroy the Yan King; no one could afford to cherish their own wings anymore.

They must fight to the death!

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The roar of the Artillery continued, and the Howitzer in the trench fortifications threw cannonball after cannonball into the trenches.

Every explosion kicked up clouds of dust.

The Field Artillery that the Shizu and Northern Di had placed in the trenches were not idle either.

They aimed at the Fort in the trench fortifications, attempting to destroy the Howitzer.

However, before they could destroy the Howitzer, they were destroyed one by one by the Rifled Cannon of the Personal Army.

In just one hour, the Artillery in the Zhongling Pass trench fortifications went completely silent.

Whether they were Shizu soldiers or Northern Di soldiers in the trenches, they could only unilaterally endure the bombardment of the Personal Army.

"Three days' time, and I'll blast you all to death." In the final trench, Lv Chang held a Telescope and stared at the opposite side.

In this trench, there was a flat tent, level with the ground of the trench.

Inside the tent were a table and chairs; this was a command post on the battlefield.

After observing for a while, Lv Chang ducked into the tent.

Besides Lv Chang's tent, Qin Shan and Guan Tong also had their own tent command posts in the trenches.

At this moment, they were also observing the battlefield.

Seeing the aristocratic clans and Northern Di troops in the trenches unable to lift their heads under the bombardment of the Artillery, they sneered repeatedly in their hearts.

The Jinling battlefield had verified that Artillery had a huge effect on killing enemy soldiers and destroying the enemy soldiers' morale.

Therefore, they prepared to conduct a continuous three-day bombardment on the trenches in front of Zhongling Pass.

The interval between each bombardment might be one hour, or it might be two hours; there was no pattern.

Because after each bombardment, the opposing soldiers would relax slightly.

Sudden shelling could cause greater casualties to the enemy soldiers.

Besides the daytime, they would also conduct shelling at night.

This was to prevent the other side from sleeping soundly, making their soldiers feel exhausted.

Thus, for the next three days, apart from the roaring sound of the Artillery, the battlefield was unusually eerie.

The soldiers of both sides did not engage in battle, both hiding in the trenches without showing their heads.

The Southern Liang and Northern Di soldiers were naturally avoiding the bombardment of the Cannonballs, while the Prince's Personal Army was conserving their energy.

Waiting for the general offensive three days later.

Besides this, the one who felt the most miserable was Ashuer.

Every day, the Prince's Personal Army's Artillery had to plow through the trenches as if plowing a field, causing six or seven thousand casualties.

He could only constantly let reserve troops enter the trenches to replace the dead and wounded soldiers.

After all, no one knew when the Prince's Personal Army would launch a charge.

If the troop strength was low, there would be no way to hold the trenches.

And on the afternoon of the third day, after suffering over twenty thousand casualties and with the soldiers in the trenches physically and mentally exhausted from the shelling.

With a roar of war drums, Ashuer saw the Wangfu Army climbing out of the trenches like a tide, charging toward their side's trenches.