Chapter 874: Heavy Rain

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Cannonballs traced perfect curves across the sky, landing in the trenches before Miancheng; amidst violent explosions, flames soared into the sky.

This was the Howitzer bombarding.

After the Northern Di Cavalry's probing attack failed, the Rifled Cannon cleared most of the Field Artillery in the enemy's trenches.

Immediately, Zhao Xu ordered the Artilleryman to push the Howitzer forward.

"Your Highness, the Northern Di have now become turtles hiding their heads, cowering behind the trenches and not daring to come out." Chang Wei stood beside Zhao Xu, his tone mocking.

He thought that since the Northern Di had suffered such a great loss, they would surely retaliate.

But afterwards, not a single Northern Di Cavalryman was seen again.

"Having suffered this great loss, they should know the severity of it now." Zhao Xu laughed, "Next, just as you said, they can only act like turtles hiding their heads and block our attack head-on."

Tiemuta led troops to detour behind them and cut off the supply route.

Just from this point, he understood the enemy's intention.

Since they could not win in a fight, they pinned their hopes on exhausting the Prince's Army's grain and forage.

Regarding this point, Zhao Xu and Chang Wei had also made a prediction when they entered Yizhou.

The two of them were also gambling.

And what they were gambling on was being able to take Yiyang and deal a heavy blow to their Coalition before the grain and forage were exhausted.

"They are destined to be delusional." Chang Wei sneered.

The Yanzhou Army, 170,000 strong, equipped with Qin-style Rifle, carrying Hand Grenade, and possessing Rifled Cannon and Howitzer, would be their nightmare.

For the next two days and two nights, the roar of the battlefield's Artillery never ceased.

Cannonball struck like raindrops hitting flour, constantly kicking up clouds of dust all over the trenches.

The powerful clan soldiers and Northern Di soldiers in the trenches were in unbearable misery.

And on the third day, the sky suddenly became overcast with dark clouds, and a torrential downpour began.

The Artilleryman had to retreat to their camps and pull back the Artillery.

"Truly, Heaven is helping me."

Zhao Xu watched the rain from inside the camp, a smile appearing at the corners of his mouth.

Just at this moment, Chang Wei, wearing a bamboo hat, came in from outside.

Shaking the rainwater off his body, he said, "Your Highness, this subordinate went to check, and the ammunition is fine; the oil paper from the Weaponry Bureau is wrapped very tightly."

Zhao Xu nodded.

In ancient times, the material for blocking water was oil paper.

Hence, there were oil-paper umbrellas.

In modern times, the moisture-proof and damp-proof functions of oil-paper umbrellas were used in the storage of firearms and ammunition.

The internet was filled with anecdotes about Germany wrapping guns in oil paper during World War I and World War II.

It is said that some firearms wrapped in oil paper lay underground for seventy or eighty years, and when dug up, their structures were still sound and they could be used.

Therefore, he had passed on the small trick of using oil paper to store firearms and ammunition to the Weaponry Bureau a long time ago.

Afterwards, the paper-cased Bullet and paper-cased Cannonball manufactured by the Weaponry Bureau contained normal paper inside, but the outer layer was oil paper.

This was to prevent ammunition from malfunctioning due to dampness in heavy rain weather.

However, even so, in the era of Front-loading Rifle, soldiers' combat would still be affected in rainy weather.

Because when loading, rainwater would fall into the gun barrel, and the Bullet needed to be bitten open to pour in the ammunition, so the probability of a misfire was very high.

But the Qin-style Rifle avoided this problem.

This was also the reason why Rear-loading Rifle could eliminate Front-loading Rifle.

Even in a torrential downpour, soldiers equipped with Qin-style Rifle could still fire normally.

Even if the firearm was drenched, because it was needle-fire shooting, it would not be affected.

However, although the firearm was not affected, the Artillery was not so lucky.

The reason Chang Wei went to check this time was mainly the Artillery and Artillery ammunition.

"Your Highness, do you think they will take the opportunity to launch a sneak attack?" Chang Wei looked outside.

This rain was very heavy, and visibility was very poor; one could not see clearly beyond fifty meters.

"High probability they will." Zhao Xu's mouth turned up, his smile hiding malice.

He believed that even the Ross people in the Coalition at this moment did not understand this needle-fire thing.

Because this thing was too advanced for this era.

Even if it existed, it might just be undergoing constant testing somewhere in the Western Lands.

And to the generals of the Western Lands, with their understanding, in rainy weather, firearms and Artillery were basically unusable.

Although as far as he knew, the British had changed the Flint on some Flintlock to Percussion Cap.

But whether it was Flint ignition or Percussion Cap ignition, it required igniting the Gunpowder in the exposed powder pan to ignite the Gunpowder inside.

Furthermore, Percussion Cap, like Flint, would also fail to ignite due to dampness.

Therefore, judging others by themselves, they could not imagine that the Qin-style Rifle could be unaffected by rainy weather.

Once they concluded this, for them, the advantage of the Prince's Army would be lost.

The opportunity for close-quarters combat was right before their eyes, and both the Northern Di and the Ross were good at fighting.

If not taking the opportunity to launch a sneak attack, then when?

"Hehe, they must come; it is just the right time to kill them until they are completely wiped out." Chang Wei laughed very sinisterly.

He had already made arrangements, ordering the soldiers near the War Chariot side to remain vigilant at all times.

When sleeping, the Hand Grenade must not be taken off, and the gun must be placed at hand, ready to fight at any time.

Zhao Xu and Chang Wei exchanged a glance, and both of them laughed deviously together.

However, Zhao Xu's smile was not just because of the sneak attack.

There was another point that also made him very happy.

That was that the opponent's trench was finished.

Such heavy rain would basically flood the trench.

During the era of the First World War, armies often faced this problem.

Under long-term confrontation, the weather naturally alternated between sunny and rainy days.

Once it rained, the soldiers in the trenches would be out of luck.

Water flows to lower ground, so this rainwater would naturally pour into the trench.

At this time, the soldiers in the trench could only rest in the rainwater.

The water alone could soak them until they were half-dead.

Even if the rain stopped, the trench would be a muddy mess, making the soldiers miserable.

Right now, the soldiers in the trench were likely facing this problem as well.

Just as he was thinking this, a loud noise suddenly came from afar.

Through the rain, he saw a burst of Flame rise in the distance.

This was a Landmine being detonated.

Previously, he had ordered Landmines to be buried on both sides of the battlefield.

For the past two days, the soldiers had been burying Landmines.

Because the Landmines were buried in the soil and the tops of the Landmines had lid-like shells, they would not fail even in rainy weather.

Now that the Landmines had gone off, there was no doubt that the opponent had been preparing a sneak attack and had stepped on the Landmines.

"They're here!" Chang Wei shouted, rushing into the heavy rain and ordering the commanders to prepare for defense.

Although they could still use the Qin-style Rifle in the rain, their vision was affected after all.

Facing a sneak attack, they still had to take it seriously.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Next, one explosion after another came from all directions.

Clearly, there were quite a few enemy soldiers coming to sneak attack this time.

"Kill!"

Seemingly because the explosions had exposed them, the soldiers of the Coalition let out roars to boost their own morale.

This sound moved from far to near, constantly approaching their Chariot encampment.

At this time, the Wangfu Army rushed out of their tents one after another, arrived in front of the War Chariots, used the War Chariots as barriers, and aimed their rifles outward.