Diqin Designer

Chapter 469 An attack never seen before!
Qu Tong was about to say something more when a sudden explosion caught his attention. The explosion was like thunder, but unlike those suspicious thunders, it occurred very close to them.

Upon hearing the explosion, Qu Tong immediately looked in the direction from which it came and saw a ship that had just been loaded with soldiers and was heading away from the water fortress broken apart. The wreckage was scattered on the water, and the bright red of human blood was spreading in the water. Some soldiers were struggling and screaming in the water.

Before Qu Tong could figure out what had happened, another, two, three... a series of explosions came, and jets of water splashed up from the sea in front of the water fortress. The ships on the sea were hit by something, accompanied by a burst of fire. The soldiers on the ships screamed, the ships were destroyed, and the soldiers were either killed or wounded and fell into the water.

The watchtower of the water fortress was also hit by the unknown object, and flames appeared. Several barbarian soldiers on it collapsed amidst their terrified screams. Explosions came from all directions, and flames rose everywhere. The entire water fortress was being attacked indiscriminately!

Many ships were hit by that unknown attack before they could be fully loaded with soldiers, either breaking apart or sinking into the water!

By this time, Qu Tong knew that this was an attack launched by those twenty-four ships. The suspicious thunder was a characteristic of such an attack. But what kind of attack was it?
Although Qu Tong did not understand what this was, he knew that it was an indiscriminate attack launched from the twenty-four ships, flying in from the sky, and that anything exposed was likely to be hit.

He waved to the several former noble generals of the six kingdoms who were standing beside him in shock and bewilderment, and shouted loudly: "These damned things came down from the sky. If you want to live, follow me!"

Several former noble generals from the six kingdoms followed Qu Tong to hide in a room. This was not a good choice, as they would be in danger if the shells hit the house and collapsed. However, Qu Tong had never experienced artillery fire before. Although he knew he should hide, he did not know where to hide correctly.

Fortunately, they were lucky; the shelling did not hit the houses for the time being, but some places near the houses were hit by the shells. The strong impact made the houses shake, and the former nobles and generals of the six kingdoms all turned pale.

One of them asked Qu Tongdao, "General, is it safe here?"

Qu Tong completely ignored the man's question. He walked to the window of the house, opened it, and then saw a scene that shocked, alarmed, and angered him. In such a short time, his water fortress had been destroyed beyond recognition.

The water was littered with the wreckage of broken ships, some still burning. Countless corpses and limbs floated on the water. His carefully constructed fortifications in the water fortress were almost destroyed. Watchtowers were collapsing, camps were burning, and thick smoke rose from the water fortress he had worked so hard to build.

The Tibetan soldiers were fleeing frantically, showing no fear of the cruel punishments or the harm they would bring to their families. Some of the terrified soldiers even knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the north.

The former noble generals of the six kingdoms inside the house also saw the terrible state of the water fortress. They were all shocked and frightened. Hearing the continuous explosions and feeling the shaking of the house, their fear intensified. What kind of attack had caused their once beautiful water fortress to be destroyed like this?

Qu Tong knew he had to do something, otherwise, if things continued like this, his naval base would be destroyed before the twenty-four ships arrived, and the barbarian soldiers would all flee. At that point, he would be even less able to contend with the twenty-four ships that appeared to be Qin ships.

However, he didn't know what to do. This was beyond his understanding of war. No war he had ever faced before was like this. He really didn't know how to solve this problem!

Before the enemy even got close, they only saw the enemy's ships and hadn't even seen their faces properly, yet they had already destroyed his naval fortress beyond recognition, and he didn't even know what methods the enemy had used to attack.

Logically speaking, the water fortress he oversaw the construction of should have been an impregnable fortress. If the Qin people wanted to conquer it, they would have to launch a fierce attack and pay a heavy price to have any chance of taking it down. And indeed, it was a heavy price to pay, but it was on their side. As for the enemy, they hadn't even seen a single soldier.

But they couldn't stay in this room any longer. They had to either retreat or do something; they couldn't just sit and wait to die. Qu Tong's mind raced. He looked at the former nobles and generals of the six kingdoms and said quickly, "Now we only have two options: First, retreat and leave the village, handing this place over to the enemy; second, concentrate the remaining manpower in the village and wait for the enemy to come and fight them. If the enemy wants to occupy this place, they will definitely send troops into the village."

After outlining the two options, Qu Tong didn't waste any more words and continued, "Whether you consider retreating or staying, I will not stop you. However, I will live and die with the stronghold. As long as the stronghold exists, I will live; if the stronghold perishes, I will perish!"

Hearing that Qu Tong was not forcing them to stay but instead allowed them to leave, the group felt relieved. However, regarding Qu Tong's insistence on staying, one of them advised, "General, you are a man of great talent. The water fortress is now severely damaged, and many of the barbarian soldiers have already fled. General, you should preserve your life to be useful in the future. The restoration of the six kingdoms will not be possible without you!"

This man wasn't being insincere; he genuinely hoped Qu Tong would withdraw and flee to this island. They didn't have many capable people to begin with, and Qu Tong was their most outstanding general. If he were to die here, it would be a tremendous loss for them.

Besides, no matter how you look at it now, staying here won't defeat the enemy. The enemy only sees the ships but not the people, and has no idea what the enemy has done. They have already suffered heavy losses. How can they fight against such an enemy?

Upon hearing this man's words, Qu Tong said, "Thank you for your kindness! But I have fled too many times. I fled when facing the Qin army on the battlefield, when my old country was destroyed, and when the Qin army attacked again, I fled to this island. Now, I have no desire to flee again!"

Qu Tong's words silenced the group. Qu Tong's experience was no different from theirs; they too had been forced to flee by the Qin people.

It's all because of those damned Qin people!

If the Qin people hadn't attacked their country, how could they have lost their former power and status? If the Qin people hadn't refused them a way to survive, how could they have fled their homes and come here?

Even after they arrived here, the damned Qin people still wouldn't let them go and continued to hunt them down. Who else could those twenty-odd ships coming from the north be but the Qin people?
The group of people who already hated the Qin Dynasty felt their hatred intensify at this moment, all because of the damned Qin people. The Qin people truly deserve to die!
Qu Tong looked north, his tone somewhat desolate: "The Qin have already discovered us. What has come now is only a small Qin navy, which we are powerless to resist. How can we resist when more Qin troops arrive? If we cannot resist, we can only flee, but the territory of this island is limited, and we can only flee..."

Having already fled far from their homeland and escaped to this island, must they continue to flee at sea by boat, searching for another island?

The word "escape" had barely left Qu Tong's mouth when a loud "boom" came from above. The unknown attack struck the roof, and a large amount of wood chips and dust fell down. Qu Tong quickly told the others, "Get out of here quickly!" Qu Tong and the others didn't have time to see what had happened to the roof before they hurriedly ran out of the house. Just as they reached the outside, several more explosions came from behind them.

As they ran, they quickly glanced back and saw that the house had collapsed. If they had been any later, they would have been buried under the collapsed building, and would have been injured or killed.

On the other side, aboard the flagship Zhenqin, Meng Tian observed the attacked water fortress through binoculars and nodded in satisfaction. To inflict maximum damage on the enemy, Meng Tian ordered all warships to use the most advanced shells currently available in the Qin Dynasty in the first wave of attacks.

Regardless of whether the people in this water fortress are barbarians or former nobles of the six kingdoms, none of them have ever seen artillery fire before, so they naturally do not know the power of artillery fire. By taking advantage of this information gap, we can catch the enemy off guard and cause them great casualties. However, the enemy may later figure out some of the characteristics of artillery fire and find some ways to deal with it.

Humans are learning and reflective animals. After regaining their senses, they will always notice the characteristics of the shelling and then think about solutions.

Therefore, before the enemy can find a way to counter it, use the most powerful shells to inflict more casualties on the enemy.

Each ship first attacked the obvious targets in the fortress: the ships in the fortress, and those buildings that looked very recognizable, such as watchtowers, arrow towers, fences, and barracks.

The house where Qu Tong and the others hid was also an obvious target, and of course, it was among those to be attacked. If they had escaped any later, they would have died under the shelling.

Meng Tian nodded and said, "Well done. The obvious targets in this water fortress have been destroyed, but there are definitely still people alive, perhaps hiding somewhere within the fortress. Issue my order: the marines prepare for landing operations, and all ships head towards the water fortress!"

Under Meng Tian's command, twenty-four Qin warships sailed toward the water fortress. The water fortress, which had originally looked very solid, was now in disarray, with some parts collapsed and others falling over. Almost all the buildings in the water fortress were made of wood, and many places were on fire due to the shelling. With the help of the sea breeze blowing in from outside, the fire burned extremely fiercely, and thick smoke rose into the sky.

As the twenty-four Qin naval ships approached the water fortress, they discovered that the fortress had been bombarded even more severely than they had anticipated: numerous shipwrecks and human corpses floated on the sea outside the fortress. These were people who had intended to sail from the fortress to attack the fleet. The fortress itself was almost completely destroyed, and it was difficult to find any survivors. The survivors had either fled or hidden themselves.

Meng Tian had just seen through his telescope that many soldiers fled on the spot after the artillery barrage. This was to be expected, since they had never seen artillery barrage before. If they suddenly encountered it, they might think it was the wrath of the gods. How many of them would dare to stay? They would definitely run away first.

The twenty-four ships did not approach the water fortress together. Eighteen ships stopped on the sea outside the fortress, while six ships approached and continued to bombard some buildings in the fortress that had not been completely destroyed and where enemies might be hiding. However, this time the bombardment was changed to ordinary shells.

Qu Tong and the twenty-odd soldiers he had gathered hid behind a collapsed arrow tower. As the Qin warships approached, they saw the appearance of the ships and he was certain that they belonged to the Qin people!
Although these ships were somewhat different from the Qin navy ships he knew, they still showed the characteristics of the Qin navy ships and should be newly built or modified by the Qin people.

This also means that the Qin people have taken another step forward in the development of their navy!
No wonder the Qin people didn't immediately send their navy to hunt them down after they fled overseas. It turns out that the Qin people were upgrading their ships, and now that the upgrades were complete, they were ready to attack them.

Qu Tong only considered one point. In reality, there were several reasons why the Qin Dynasty did not immediately pursue them: the Qin Dynasty had other more important matters to attend to and did not have time to deal with them; the Qin Dynasty wanted them to escape overseas, develop the overseas territories first, and then the Qin Dynasty would come back to reap the rewards they had sown later...

What they did to the Aboriginal people on Liuqiu Island was like a peach. By conquering and enslaving the Aboriginal people on Liuqiu Island first, they eroded their ferocity and wildness, which saved the Qin Dynasty a lot of trouble when it came to take over.

The Qin Dynasty was like a tiger, and the former nobles of the six states were like wolves. The Qin Dynasty drove the former nobles of the six states to flee overseas, so that they could first subdue the local beasts and make it easier for the Qin Dynasty, this fierce tiger, to rule the local beasts after it arrived.

The upgrading of ships is just one of the reasons why the Qin navy has not yet been transformed into a true navy!
As the six warships approached the water fortress, Qu Tong also saw the mysterious weapon: thick pipes extending from the hull, which launched attacks by spraying out "copper balls" (actually iron balls).

Did the Qin people launch these "copper balls" from a distance and then inflict such a crushing defeat on them, destroying the entire water fortress?

Qu Tong sensed something was wrong. The flying "copper ball" was indeed very strong, capable of killing people and breaking house pillars, and its power was considerable. However, Qu Tong felt that the attack just now was even more terrifying, something that could not be achieved by simply spraying "copper balls".

Those attacks were not only powerful, but they also set the buildings on fire when they hit them. The "copper ball" couldn't have done that, could it? Could it be that the Qin people were using a different weapon than what they were using now?
Qu Tong couldn't understand it, and he couldn't directly ask the Qin people. The more than twenty soldiers with him were not ordinary soldiers, or more precisely, not barbarian soldiers, but people from the six states.

It's impossible for a water fortress to be entirely staffed with barbarians; it needs to have its own people. Barbarians can serve as soldiers, but the generals and officers must be locals. Only in this way can the water fortress be firmly controlled and there's no need to worry about a mutiny by the barbarians.

After being bombarded by the Qin warships, the surviving Tibetan soldiers all fled. Even those who didn't escape, Qu Tong didn't trust, as he was never merciful to the Tibetans.

Qu Tong whispered, "Zhao Yue, take half of the men and evacuate. When you get back, report what you saw to the King and the other officials, and tell them to be cautious."

Upon hearing Qu Tong's words, the man addressed as "Zhao Yue" exclaimed in surprise, "General, are you not going to evacuate?"

Qu Tong didn't explain to the man, but said in a deep voice, "Quickly, the Qin people are currently clearing out any survivors. Once they finish clearing, they will definitely send people ashore. At that time, it will be difficult to escape. I will stay here to buy you time. Now hurry up and leave!"

(End of this chapter)