Longzang

Chapter 776 Catch them all in one fell swoop

When the shelling ceased, the city walls were completely bare, as if licked clean by dogs. All the cannons that Zhao's army had brought had been destroyed. Wei Yuan looked around and, seeing that no cannons had escaped, was satisfied.

The deputy general, Lu Yu, was in charge of the artillery in this battle. He flew to Wei Yuan's side and said, "The enemy should all be hiding under the city wall, which is our blind spot. We can bombard the inside of the city first to force them all to take cover under the wall. Then we can move our artillery forward and adjust the cannons two miles from the city wall, using indirect fire to bombard the enemy behind the wall. They will definitely not expect this and will suffer heavy losses."

Wei Yuan gazed at Hanyang Pass and said, "Don't conduct a full-scale bombardment. Just fire a few shells at the town's garrison, a sporadic barrage, to scare them a little."

"However, covering fire can inflict heavy casualties on Zhao's troops."

Wei Yuan said, "Most of those killed were ordinary people. Don't forget, there are still hundreds of thousands of ordinary people in the city."

Lu Yu immediately stopped insisting and ordered the artillery to fire more than a dozen shots, all of which hit the garrison.

"The psychological warfare team, move out!" Wei Yuan waved his hand, and dozens of Foundation Establishment cultivators walked to the front of the formation, arranged the formation diagram, and took their seats according to their positions.

Immediately, a scholar with a clear voice sat down in the middle of the formation. After looking at the paper in his hand, he said loudly, "Listen up, Zhao people! If you want to fight, come out and form ranks for a fair and square battle! If you don't dare to fight, lay down your weapons and go back to Zhao territory. We will not kill unarmored soldiers, and we mean what we say!"
What kind of cowards are you? Neither fighting nor standing up for yourselves, are you just cowards? All you do is hide under women's skirts all day long. Do you even have knees left to stand up straight? If you do have knees at all…”

With the aid of the formation, the scholar's voice thundered, echoing throughout Hanyang Pass. He became increasingly insidious and vulgar, gradually making veiled references to the number of the princess's close male and female friends, but without uttering a single vulgar word.

Suddenly, a blazing torrent of fire shot straight into the sky from the city, accompanied by a chilling voice: "Wei Yuan, you're courting death!"

The scholar glanced at Wei Yuan, who nodded. The scholar then said, "My master said he's courting death. Come and fight him! Why don't you come over here?"

A burst of laughter erupted from the Qingming army, and the flames burned even brighter, clearly indicating the woman was furious. Before she could speak, another round of artillery fire bombarded the garrison, drowning out her voice.

The scholar continued his cursing for a while, but seeing no further movement from the city, Wei Yuan frowned slightly and said, "It seems the Zhao people are determined to fight to the bitter end. Very well, raise the battle lines, advance! Heavy artillery, advance five li, prepare to attack the city!"

With 50,000 infantrymen arriving, Wei Yuan now commanded a total of 110,000 troops. He left 10,000 to guard the camp, 40,000 to stand by as reserves, and the rest of his troops, equipped with siege gear, began to advance towards Hanyang Pass.

Leading the attack was 20,000 heavily armed elite troops, all wielding giant shields and muskets that fired deer bullets.

The city gates had long been blasted open by artillery fire, and behind them stood a dense array of Zhao soldiers, ready for battle. However, the Qingming Army did not play by the rules. Instead of attacking, they brought in infantry artillery and unleashed a fierce bombardment on the city gates, inflicting heavy casualties on the Zhao soldiers arrayed inside and forcing them to retreat into the residential areas behind the city.

But ordinary houses could not withstand the shells. The Qingming Army continued to bombard the city, killing another wave of Zhao soldiers before the heavily armored warriors began to enter.

Inside the fortress, the female general gritted her teeth and ordered: "The entire army retreats and disperses into civilian houses. Once the enemy enters the city, we will find an opportunity to engage them in close combat!"

A general hurriedly said, "This will harm innocent civilians! Why not talk to Wei Yuan? It should still be in time. We can abandon the two counties and retreat to Zhao territory, and he can forbid pursuit and refuse to accept spoils. Perhaps he'll agree." "We haven't even fought a proper battle, what's the point of talking? The war is in such a state now, what can we possibly gain from talking? If we can't win, talking is useless!"

The generals dared not respond further and could only lead their troops to their respective defense zones, using civilian houses for defense.

Seeing that Zhao Jun's morale was rising instead of falling, Wei Yuan's expression turned cold, and he said, "It seems that the Zhao people are really stubborn! Very well, let's teach them a lesson in street fighting!"

The sound of war drums resounded across the battlefield. These drumbeats were specially researched, subtly in harmony with the flow of qi and blood in the human body, and amplified by the formation to resonate throughout the battlefield. The Azure Nether warriors were filled with fervor upon hearing the war drums, and the heavily armored warriors marched forward in time with the drumbeats, each step causing the earth to tremble.

With each drumbeat, they advanced further, and a torrent of steel surged into Hanyang Pass.

Zhao's soldiers finally had a chance to engage in close combat. They rushed out of the houses where they were hiding, only to be astonished to find that these heavily armored warriors were like moving steel plates with only a few gaps between them, leaving them nowhere to attack!

Steel swords were almost useless against heavy armor. Many veteran Zhao soldiers immediately threw down their swords, some picked up muskets and fired, while others picked up blunt weapons such as war hammers and maces.

Musket bullets pounded the giant shield, sending sparks flying, but none could penetrate it. At that moment, Qingming's counterattack finally arrived. The heavily armored warrior extended his musket from a gap in the shield and pulled the trigger. Instantly, a thin layer of smoke filled the air, and the deafening roar nearly deafened the Zhao soldiers. Countless steel pellets, each the size of a finger, struck them, blooming into sprays of blood.

Each shot was like a steel ball; any Zhao soldier in the front row who was hit head-on would be sent flying backwards instantly, demonstrating its immense power!
The heavily armored warriors of Qingming began their slow advance. Their muskets were not only deadly but also devastating weapons; a single shot could blast through three or four wooden houses, and even a stone house with thin walls would be riddled with holes. Zhao Jun, hiding in the civilian houses, had nowhere to hide, and many of his men were blasted through along with the walls.

Twenty thousand heavily armored soldiers, like a steel tidal wave, slowly spread through the city. Large numbers of lightly armored infantry also entered the city, quickly occupying the city walls. Foundation Establishment cultivators, carrying infantry cannons, climbed the walls, set them up, and began bombarding the city.

Wei Yuan led his generals to the pass. Looking at the battle situation inside the city, his face was gloomy, and all goodwill towards the sixth princess of Zhao had vanished.

With a wave of his hand, the scholar beside him immediately replaced the paper with a red one, and began to read aloud from it: "Using commoners as shields, are you so desperate for life? Have you no shame? Invincible in battle, is this how all the people of Zhao are invincible? I heard you have some kind of princess here, how about this, let her..."

Wei Yuan suddenly stopped the scholars.

He was angry just now, and only now did he remember that Zhao Li was also an immortal. What if this princess was also a potential cultivator? It would be like inviting another great enemy into the Taichu Palace. If the immortal Zhao Li were to attack him, without a doubt, Lü Changhe and Xu Wangu would not help him; it would be good enough if they didn't stab him in the back.

Wei Yuan took a deep breath and said, "Full-scale attack!"

This time, he made no mention of civilians. In the blink of an eye, orders were issued to all units. The heavily armed soldiers on the front lines, without restraint, charged recklessly with shields, demolishing house after house, leaving no place for the people inside to hide. They also no longer held back in their firing; any moving figure was met with a shot. While this inevitably resulted in civilian casualties, Zhao's army suffered a sharp rise in casualties and was forced to retreat steadily.

The siege progressed significantly faster. Wei Yuan gestured to both sides, sending out a squad of elite troops on each side to attack along the city walls. Meanwhile, a large contingent of Qingming warriors advanced along the walls, preparing to completely encircle the hundreds of thousands of Zhao soldiers within Hanyang Pass.

(End of this chapter)