Longzang

Chapter 775: End of Time

When the Qingming army arrived at Hanyang Pass, the Zhao generals on the gate tower reacted differently.

Several generals sneered when they saw that Qingming had few men, saying that it was wishful thinking for such a small force to take Hanyang Pass, which was defended by 150,000 troops.

However, some experienced and prudent generals said that although the Qingming troops were few in number, they were well-equipped and should not be underestimated.

However, the words of the old generals were not accepted. One general said, "Qingming is well-equipped. Are we inferior? The princess has brought secret firearms this time to give Wei Yuan a blow."

Upon hearing this, the senior generals had nothing to say and could only arrange the city's defenses according to their respective duties.

Within the Azure Nether Army, Wei Yuan ascended into the sky, gazing at Hanyang Pass fifteen miles away. With his current eyesight, he could clearly see the details of the pass without the aid of telescopes or similar aids found in the outer world.

After carefully observing the military morale on the city wall, Wei Yuan turned to his generals and said, "Judging from the morale of the Zhao army, it's nothing special. They dare to divide their forces in the face of my Qingming army, so they must have something else to rely on. Tell me, where does the Zhao army's confidence come from?"

The generals each had their own insights, and each had their merits, but most of them did not resonate with Wei Yuan.

Only one deputy general, who looked rather young and had a scholarly air, said: "The Zhao army must have come prepared this time. Perhaps they brought firearms that they thought were superior to ours. I don't see that they have a particularly large number of flying swords and spears, and their soldiers' cultivation levels are not particularly special. So they must have secretly brought a large number of cannons, intending to take advantage of the pass to bombard our attacking army."

Upon hearing this, some young generals were dismissive, saying, "Does the Zhao state really think it can compete with us in firearms?"

The scholar-general said, "The Zhao Kingdom values ​​martial prowess and has always placed great importance on weaponry. It has a large number of craftsmen, including many master craftsmen with the cultivation level of Dharma Aspect. The principle of cannons is easy for even a child to understand, and the process is not complicated. As long as more powder is added, the range will be longer and the power will be greater. As for the material of the cannon barrel, it is not difficult to obtain high-quality cannon barrels by having high-level Dharma Aspect cultivators refine them to remove impurities and adjust their properties. It's just that the quantity is not large."

Therefore, it wouldn't be difficult for the Zhao state to manufacture artillery superior to our infantry cannons. With the full strength of the nation and a period of accumulation, the quantity wouldn't be small.

Wei Yuan was finally moved and asked, "This insight is quite remarkable. What's your name?"

The young lieutenant said in a deep voice, "This humble general, Lu Yu, originally followed Immortal Master Yu Zhizhuo as a disciple before joining the army and undergoing two rounds of school training. When our class started, the Realm Lord even came to give us a speech."

Wei Yuan carefully recalled and finally found Lu Yu's information. This person came from a small family, which was later slaughtered by the Wu Clan, and he escaped alone. Afterwards, he joined a second-grade cave heaven, cultivated to the Heavenly Rank Dao Foundation, and his aptitude was quite good. He joined Qingming Sect and was accepted as a disciple by Yu Zhizhuo.

Wei Yuan had to search through the everyday world to find out these things, so he felt a chill and realized that he had indeed been somewhat negligent. He resolved that he would personally attend the graduation ceremonies of the Qingming Military Academy and the Higher Academy, and record the information of all the graduates. For a Dharma Aspect, this was not difficult; it simply depended on how diligently one put in the effort.

In the future, when Wei Yuan wanted to show respect and courtesy to his subordinates, he only needed to open his mouth and call out the other person's name and say which class of the Qingming Academy they came from. This was much more effective than ordinary rewards.

On the city wall, the Zhao generals watched as Wei Yuan methodically deployed his troops and set up camp. The female general in red raised her hand and pointed forward, saying, "Ten thousand light cavalry will go out of the pass to test the enemy's strength."

Moments later, the city gates swung open, and ten thousand light cavalry galloped out of the city toward Wei Yuan's camp. Qing Ming was currently erecting the camp walls, so he sent out ten thousand cuirassier infantry to form ranks.

The light cavalry were still a hundred paces away from the infantry formation when the cuirassiers opened fire, bullets whistling through the air and instantly felling a large number of cavalrymen.

Although the Zhao light cavalry also had muskets, their range was far less than a hundred zhang, causing some confusion.

Some cavalrymen fired haphazardly, but how could they hit anyone from such a distance? Some veterans instinctively reached for their crossbows, only to find nothing. Crossbows were no longer on their weapons inventory.

Seeing that the situation was not good, the cavalry commander immediately led his troops in a charge.

The infantry, clad in blue breastplates, remained perfectly composed, continuously reloading and firing, felling swathes of Zhao cavalry. When the Zhao cavalry closed to within thirty paces, a dozen or so flying sword cannons suddenly emerged from the infantry ranks, their terrifying rate of fire cutting down the Zhao army like grass!
Seeing the unfavorable situation, the cavalry commander had no choice but to order a retreat back into the pass. In the brief exchange, over two thousand corpses lay on the battlefield, while the Qingming Army suffered fewer than a hundred casualties, with a dozen or so injured from the exploding barrels of the new muskets. The female general, her initial defeat fueling her murderous intent, commanded, word by word, "Fire the cannons!"

Shouts rang out from the city as muscular, shirtless men carried cannons with bluish barrels to the city wall, placed them in their positions, and began adjusting and calibrating them.

A moment later, with a loud bang, a cannonball landed several miles away from the Qingming camp. This cannonball could reach ten miles, which was quite impressive even with the advantage of the pass, and its range was comparable to that of the Wu Clan's Dharma Aspect Divine Archers.

After testing the cannons, the female general in red patiently waited for Wei Yuan to attack.

Wei Yuan wasn't in a hurry. After setting up camp, he rested for three days straight until reinforcements arrived and blocked all the roads to the south. Only then did he sound the war drums and begin his slow advance. The Zhao soldiers on the city walls were growing impatient.

However, the Qingming army only went three miles out of the camp, and stopped two miles away from the maximum range of Zhao's cannons. Instead, they began to build fortifications and artillery positions on the spot. Then dozens of trucks drove into the position, the wheels were removed, and strongmen nailed iron stakes to fix them. When the truck beds were opened, there was a heavy cannon that was two zhang long and shone with a deep blue light.

These heavy cannons all used rear-loading, and next to each cannon, a cultivator held a form, adjusting the firing parameters according to the current battlefield data. Several cultivators at the Foundation Establishment stage were inspecting the cannons.

Hundreds of heavy cannons worked from morning till noon to finally complete all the preparations before firing and reported to Wei Yuan that they were ready.

Wei Yuan pointed towards the pass and said, "Target: the pass wall. Covert fire."

At his command, the artillerymen loaded shells into the breech and closed the gun breech. Then, the Dao Foundation cultivator in charge of firing the cannon unleashed a lightning spell that struck the breech, and the heavy cannon roared to life, the shell whistling as it hurtled towards the fortress!

The Zhao generals on the city wall never expected that Wei Yuan would fire cannons from twelve miles away!
This range far exceeds that of our own artillery, and Wei Yuan's heavy cannons not only have a long range, but also a large caliber and terrifying power. Several Dharma Aspects tried to intercept it, but after the cannonballs exploded in mid-air, they were all shaken and their magic power became unstable. They were immediately horrified.

Of the dozens of shells fired, less than 30% were intercepted. The majority of the remaining shells landed inside and outside the city gate, while a few shells landed directly on the top of the city wall. After the explosion, everything within a radius of ten zhang was razed to the ground, and even the cannons in the gun emplacements on the city wall were blown to scrap metal.

After a round of bombardment, the Qingming gunners immediately rushed forward to eject the spent shells, clean the breech, and simultaneously reset the cannons, recalculating and calibrating the firing parameters. After this flurry of activity, another bolt of lightning struck the cannon, and the cannon fired a shell weighing several dozen kilograms toward the fortress more than ten miles away.

After the third round of firing, the cannon fire became less coordinated, transitioning to free fire. Wei Yuan continued to bombard the entire front wall of the fortress, not in a hurry to concentrate fire on the towers.

Wei Yuan had also captured Hanyang Pass before, so he knew that the city walls were extremely wide and could easily accommodate cannons. The Zhao army must have already brought all their cannons onto the walls, and now Wei Yuan intended to use artillery fire to destroy them all.

After more than a dozen rounds of artillery fire, there were hardly any living people left on the city walls, and the morale of the Zhao army on the city walls had clearly begun to waver.

A moment later, the city gates of Guancheng opened wide, and a troop of light cavalry rushed out, attempting to attack the artillery positions, but were quickly driven back by Wei Yuan's infantry cannons and flying sword machine guns.

Inside Hanyang Pass, the generals could no longer stand on the city walls and had to take refuge inside the city. Fortunately, the city walls were extremely sturdy, and even Wei Yuan's heavy cannons could not breach them.

Hearing the incessant roar of cannons, the woman in fiery red armor finally couldn't help but exclaim, "How do they have so many cannonballs?!"

She came prepared this time, with fifty shells for each cannon, totaling five thousand shells. These were crafted by countless artisans working day and night, and nearly half of the entire Zhao Dynasty's shell production capacity was used by her.

Now, in just one exchange, Wei Yuan has already unleashed thousands of shells, and there's no sign of it stopping, as if it could bombard us forever.

(End of this chapter)