Chapter 884: Interlude

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Before Songyang Pass, the Prince's Personal Army soldiers charged toward Songyang Pass like a tide.

After more than ten days of shelling, the area before Songyang Pass was covered in craters.

Utilizing the dense craters, the soldiers covered each other and continuously pushed the front line forward.

Meanwhile, the Northern Di soldiers and Southern Liang soldiers were unable to fend them off at all and retreated continuously.

"Truly like a mantis trying to stop a chariot." Watching this scene, Chang Wei gave a cold snort.

He held nothing but disdain for the Northern Di and Southern Liang's desire to occupy Songyang Pass.

Zhao Xu's expression was calm; the current one-sided situation was within his expectations.

Over the ten-plus days of shelling, the Northern Di and Southern Liang soldiers in the trenches had been rotated five or six times.

The number of enemy soldiers who died in the shelling was at least seventy or eighty thousand.

This kind of war where one could only take a beating and not fight back would naturally cause the soldiers' morale to drop to the extreme.

Now, with the Prince's Personal Army launching a charge, it was only natural that the enemy soldiers immediately collapsed.

They had lost their confidence.

At this moment.

Atop Songyang Pass, Ashuer and Aersiji pressed against the city wall floor, cautiously observing the battle outside.

Seeing his soldiers continuously losing trenches, Ashuer could not help but feel a wave of irritation.

Despite the extremely low morale, his soldiers were still persisting in fighting against Yan Wang's soldiers.

While the Southern Liang soldiers basically collapsed at the first touch.

But facing the agile soldiers of Yan Wang, they still fell into a disadvantage and were continuously shot down.

"We must boost the soldiers' morale." Ashuer said at this time, "Aersiji, send in the soldiers equipped with the front-loading rifled muskets!"

The twenty thousand rifled musket soldiers, including the Ross soldiers, were the trump card they held in their hands.

Unless it was a critical moment, they would never let them take risks.

But if things continued this way, no matter how many reserve troops they sent out,

the result would be a one-way trip.

Of course, he could also choose to evacuate Songyang Pass now.

But he truly could not bear to.

If this place were lost, the Tibet he controlled would be under the blade of Yan Wang's army.

Aersiji nodded; he was more worried about the contact with Britain.

There was one more point: he wanted to give Yan Wang a taste of something fierce, so as to facilitate negotiations with Yan Wang and force him to make concessions.

This was also one of the tasks assigned to him by the Diplomatic Minister Qiefusi.

So he looked toward the battlefield, "Let them go up and give Yan Wang a reminder; if we are all equipped with front-loading rifled muskets, he cannot win, and even if he wins, they will pay a heavy price."

Upon hearing this, Ashuer immediately passed down the order, letting the soldiers in the Southern Liang and Northern Di forces who were equipped with front-loading rifled muskets enter the battlefield.

Before long, twenty thousand men assembled under the city wall.

The Ross soldiers climbed onto the city wall, while the Northern Di and Southern Liang soldiers entered the trenches and fired at the continuously advancing Prince's Personal Army.

"Bang, bang, bang..." A burst of gunfire, crisper than that of the flintlocks, rang out.

The Prince's Personal Army soldiers who were charging forward clearly had more soldiers falling.

This scene gave Ashuer and Aersiji a shock in their hearts.

They looked at each other, and Ashuer said, "The gap between us and Yan Wang's troops lies in the firearms and artillery; you Westerners must hurry to provide us with more rifled muskets."

"You don't need to tell me that; the Xitu Guo nations must be setting off a wave of rifled muskets," Aersiji said.

He breathed a sigh of relief, although the front-loading rifled musket was clearly not as agile as Yan Wang's new-style firearms.

But at least it was significantly better than the flintlock.

Equipped with this type of firearm, even if they lost, they would not lose too miserably.

As long as they ensured that every battle made Yan Wang's troops pay more casualties.

Yan Wang would sooner or later recognize the reality, sit down and negotiate with them honestly, and become docile.

"Hahaha..." Ashuer laughed, a rare occurrence.

Since the Battle of Miancheng, he had never laughed.

But now, he saw hope.

The appearance of the front-loading rifled musket soldiers also boosted the confidence of the Northern Di and Southern Liang soldiers.

Many soldiers cheered up and continued to stay in the trenches to fight against Yan Wang's soldiers.

For a short time, they stabilized the front line.

However, it was only for a short time.

Noticing the rifled musket soldiers, the Prince's Personal Army soldiers immediately became cautious on the battlefield, instead of charging blindly like bulls.

They immediately turned into a cunning pack of wolves, using every obstacle to shield their bodies, then waiting for an opportunity to shoot and throw hand grenades.

"They finally decided to bring out their trump card." Zhao Xu frowned.

The front-loading rifled musket was a piece of equipment they had phased out; every soldier was clear about the performance of the front-loading rifled musket.

It was just that the fighting had been too smooth earlier, making the soldiers and generals somewhat careless.

That was what led to unnecessary casualties under the first wave of fire.

But after suffering a loss, the Prince's Personal Army and the generals immediately changed their tactics.

The speed of the front line's advance slowed down, but it became more steady and solid.

This was when the advantage of the Qin-series rifle was demonstrated.

The soldiers were currently hiding behind obstacles in various postures, while still able to fire continuously.

"Let the Artillerymen finish them off." Chang Wei put down his Telescope.

He had been staring at the battlefield, observing this batch of Rifled Musket soldiers who had entered the fray.

Their advantage was not just the Qin-series Rifles.

Their Artillery was also something the enemy could not match.

Moreover, they were about to be equipped with Breech-loading Cannons.

By then, holding the "God of War" that is Artillery, they would be the nightmare of the Westerners.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

His order was issued, and the Howitzers launched Explosive Shells one after another toward the last three rows of Trenches.

At present, the Prince's Personal Army soldiers had already occupied the first three rows of Trenches.

The distance between the two was about one hundred and fifty meters.

This distance was within the range of the Front-loading Rifled Muskets.

At the same time, the Rifled Cannons were also smashing Cannonballs one after another against the city wall.

During the bombardment, the Prince's Personal Army soldiers ceased their attack and instead lay obediently on the ground.

A margin of error of one hundred meters for Howitzers and Rifled Cannons was considered normal.

They certainly did not want to be blown to death by their own Cannonballs.

As soon as the Artillery sounded, Ashuer and Aersiji, who had been smug about the excellent performance of the Rifled Muskets, immediately pulled long faces.

They panicked like rabbits, slipping away from the city wall in a flash.

But the Rifled Musket soldiers responsible for the fighting were not so lucky.

Under the bombardment of the Cannonballs, they suffered constant casualties.

Next, Aersiji and Ashuer kept seeing the dead and wounded Rifled Musket soldiers being carried from the city walls and Trenches into the city.

Mutilated or unrecognizable corpses were laid out on the ground in rows.

At this point, they were completely helpless.

After the first round of firing, the effectiveness of the Rifled Musket soldiers' fire had diminished.

The enemy soldiers were constantly firing at the Rifled Musket soldiers.

Now with the bombardment of the Artillery, the casualties of the Rifled Musket soldiers continued to expand.

It would not be long before the Rifled Musket soldiers were likely to be wiped out.

"Retreat!" Ashuer said.

Defending Songyang City was something he had insisted upon.

But the performance of the Rifled Muskets on the battlefield had given him confidence.

He changed his mind; rather than wasting the lives of his soldiers here, it was better to wait for the arrival of more Rifled Muskets.

Of course, if the Westerners could send Artillery of equivalent power, it would be even better.

Dou Wei and Xiao Cheng both had no objections, and they had no other choice.

Having chosen to become stray dogs and live out their lives, they were clear that from now on, they could only walk the dark path to the end with the Northern Di.