Madam, don't do this!

Chapter 590 Your Princess is Very Good (Thank you for the generous donation)
The sea is as clear as glass, and sunlight shines through the clouds, dyeing the vast sea surface in shades of blue—a translucent light turquoise near the shore, gradually turning into a deep indigo in the distance. A gentle breeze blows, and fine silver ripples spread across the water, like countless fish scales spreading out, or like soft silk being caressed by an invisible hand.

Ripples spread outwards, the scent of the wind mingling with the slightly salty dampness, rustling softly as it swept over the surging waves. The waves were gentle, their rhythm soothing like a lullaby, leaving fleeting lace of foam before one's eyes. The whispers of the wind and the waves washed away the clamor of the world, and in the cool breeze, one could almost hear the heartbeat of the deep sea.

The scene at this time is generally quite beautiful.

Until a loud roar, like a sudden burst of muffled thunder, shattered the tranquility and purity before them.

"Fire!"

The voice, brimming with inner strength, echoed in the ears of every soldier.

Twenty-two large merchant ships lined up in a row, with one hundred and ninety-eight dark cannons angled towards the distant sky. The torchbearers pressed down, and the fuses were quickly ignited.

Sizzssssssssssssss...

A strange, electric-like sound echoed in everyone's ears.

A few seconds later, as if a deep-sea dragon was roaring, a series of thunderous booms suddenly rang out.

Rumble, rumble!

One hundred and ninety-eight cannons fired almost simultaneously, the sounds mingling together like the collapse of the heavens and the splitting of the earth. Even though every gunner had thick cotton stuffed in their ears, they still felt their hearts tremble for a moment. The indescribable sound waves and impacts felt as if they were about to shatter their internal organs.

The large ship beneath their feet began to rock violently, and waves suddenly surged up from the calm sea.

Looking up, Song Yan's pupils contracted at that moment, and he saw shells whistling through the sky at incredible speed, leaving trails of smoke and drawing beautiful parabolas. At first glance, it looked like... a meteor shower.

……

Rumble, rumble!

It was only a little over a kilometer away, yet the commotion was so great, and there were no obstacles on the sea. The sound of the cannons firing was naturally heard by these Japanese pirates and Jurchen barbarians. The incredibly violent sound clearly startled these ignorant people, causing them to tremble. Some of them, who were leaning on the railing and about to vomit, were so frightened that they swallowed their vomit back down.

His originally pale face suddenly turned liver-colored.

Damn it, what is that noise?
Scared to death!

At this moment, this was a question that shrouded almost everyone in their hearts.

However, they had no time to figure out what had happened. The improved Hongyi cannons had an initial velocity of over 300 meters per second. Although the velocity decayed relatively quickly, at a distance of over 1,000 meters, basically the instant they heard the sound of the cannon firing, a dense barrage of shells was already raining down from the sky.

call out!
A sharp sound, like the air being torn apart.

Right before the eyes of the Jurchen barbarians and Japanese pirates, a round, black sphere suddenly drew an arc before crashing into the sea between several small boats.

The next instant... boom boom boom!
The cannonballs suddenly exploded on the sea surface, causing the seawater to churn violently. The violent impact swept up large swaths of seawater, and the waves crashed outwards like towering storms. Unfortunately, the few small boats nearby could not withstand the impact of the cannonball explosions. The boats capsized instantly, and dozens of Jurchen barbarians on board were thrown into the ocean amidst their terrified screams.

The Jurchens lived by fishing and hunting. Most adult Jurchen men knew some swimming skills. However, swimming in a lake or river is not the same as swimming in the turbulent waves of a vast ocean.

They struggled desperately, screaming, wailing, and begging for help, but to no avail. The rolling waves quickly engulfed them, and then there was no more sound.

Cannonballs landed directly on the small boat, amidst dozens of Jurchen warriors. With a deafening roar, the boat and its crew were all blown to pieces, their limbs and internal organs flying everywhere.

As the pieces of flesh fell into the sea, the blood gradually spread out with the surging waves.

A cannonball struck the merchant ship carrying the warhorses directly, and the deck was blown to pieces in the deafening explosion. Several warhorses were thrown into the air, their bellies torn open by shrapnel, blood and entrails gushing out. The burning shrapnel ignited the deck, and flames quickly spread to the warhorses, setting their manes ablaze. In excruciating pain, the warhorses went berserk and struggled violently. The ropes binding them broke free, and they galloped off in a desperate run before plunging into the ocean with a splash.

On the flagship, Wanyan Agudan and Nishiyama Chengji were equally stunned by this sudden turn of events.

They had no idea what was going on, why their fleet had suddenly turned into a living hell.

Suddenly, Nishiyama Joji seemed to sense something and looked up abruptly, only to see a black and red iron ball falling obliquely from the horizon towards him.

In an instant, an unprecedented fear surged into my heart.

dead!
dead!
dead!
The terror of impending death chilled Nishiyama Joji to the bone, and his entire body trembled uncontrollably. He tried to dodge, but his body was rooted to the ground and he couldn't move at all. The round iron ball didn't give Nishiyama Joji any time to dodge.

The moment Nishiyama Joji saw the iron ball, it slammed into his chest.

boom!
A muffled groan could be faintly heard.

Nishiyama Joji's body shattered instantly; the violent impact nearly crushed his entire body into a bloody pulp, leaving only his two arms and two legs, along with his round head, scattered in all directions.

The shell didn't stop after smashing Nishiyama Joji's body; it continued to fall, crashing onto the deck with a bang.

The thick deck was pierced.

That wasn't all. The cannonball continued to tumble and bounce at high speed inside the ship, sending wood chips flying wherever it went, until finally it smashed a hole in the side of the ship with a loud crack before falling into the sea.

The shell did not explode.

This is a solid shot.

In this era, solid shot is essentially equivalent to armor-piercing bullet.

Its power was naturally not as great as the armor-piercing shells of later generations, but it could still easily smash through a wooden boat.

The surging seawater rushed into the cabin through the hole, and the ship began to list.

boom!
boom!
boom!
The continuous explosions continued.

Several seconds passed before the sound finally stopped, but Wanyan Agudan still felt his head buzzing.

An indescribable fear had chilled Wanyan Agudan to the bone. His entire body stiffened and he trembled on the bow of the boat. The intense fear prevented him from noticing that the boat was gradually tilting. His face was sticky with blood and bits of flesh.

That was left behind by the chief of Nishiyama Castle.

Just now, not far from him, Wanyan Agudan watched as the things belonging to the Nishiyama City Chief were smashed into a pulp by that strange iron ball. Seeing the blood splattering on his face, he subconsciously closed his eyes for a moment.

His stiff body slowly raised his head. Of the more than a thousand ships, the losses in the previous bombing were not too serious, only more than fifty ships were destroyed. However, the consequences were extremely serious. The originally neat formation was instantly disrupted. Even though Wanyan Agudan was not familiar with naval warfare, he understood what a broken formation meant.

What's even more terrifying is that the meteor that fell that day had already destroyed everyone's will the moment it hit the ground.

Desperate screams coalesced into the most despairing sound, filling Wanyan Agudan's ears.

All I could see when I looked up was a sea of ​​fire.

Countless female warriors, their hair and thick cotton-padded clothes ablaze, had their faces, limbs, and skin scorched by the flames. The crackling sounds could be faintly heard. What desperate pain they must have felt! The flames obscured their vision, and Wanyan Agudan could no longer make out the faces of those people. He could only see figures writhing desperately in the flames.

Like a humble maggot under the scorching sun.

Some people could not bear the pain and jumped into the churning sea; others were trapped on the deck and burned alive until their last breath was gone.

Further away, on ships that were not struck by the strange meteor, countless people knelt on the ground, confessing their sins to Marfa. In their eyes, this was the punishment sent down by the gods.

Wanyan Agudan was stunned.

In just a few short breaths, how many people died?
Three thousand?

Five thousand?

Even more?
People are too densely packed on a ship, so if an explosion occurs on board, it will definitely affect a large area.

Wanyan Agudan was unsure of his own expression or how he should react. He felt as if his heart was bleeding. Those were thousands of elite Jurchen soldiers! The Jurchen population was already small, and the loss of these thousands of men was already causing him immense pain.

He no longer knew how to explain things to Wanyan Guangzhi after going to Langya, or whether he would even have the chance to do so.
A sea breeze blew by, and with a whoosh, the flames all veered to the side, quickly setting some ships that hadn't yet been engulfed in flames ablaze.

While Wanyan Agudan was still in a daze, the resetter on the other side had already put the gun carriage back in place. A soldier held a wooden stick with a wet cotton cloth tied to one end and poked it into the gun barrel a few times to clean out the debris.

The loader has already reloaded and compacted the shells.

The gunner uses the sights and rear sight to readjust the direction of the gun muzzle.

A new round of launches has begun.

boom!
boom!
boom!
Due to the varying levels of skill among the soldiers, the time required to clean the cannon barrels and recalibrate them also differed. As a result, this round of firing was not as orderly as before and appeared somewhat scattered. However, watching the shells whistling away was still quite a shocking sight.

Batu and Shi Lei both stared wide-eyed and opened their mouths wide, their mouths almost big enough to fit an egg.

They had naturally witnessed the power of the Hongyi cannons during previous training sessions, and some had even operated them themselves. The power of the Hongyi cannons was undeniable. Even a general like Shi Lei, with his rebellious background and arrogant personality, had to admit that compared to the destructive force of the Hongyi cannons, his personal bravery was utterly useless. A single cannonball hitting him would turn even the strongest armor into mincemeat. However, when they operated them, they did so one cannon at a time. While they felt the cannons were incredibly powerful, capable of detonating in large areas, they couldn't help but feel that the Hongyi cannons' effectiveness was severely limited when facing a massive army. Their greatest use was in sieges, directly blasting down enemy city gates and collapsing city walls; the rest would be much simpler.

As for open field battles, ultimately, it still depends on soldiers.

But seeing all 198 cannons firing at once, seeing the arcs left by the shells in the sky, and seeing the vast sea of ​​fire in the distance, even these two extremely brave men were deeply shocked. The destructive power was simply too exaggerated; it was an all-encompassing attack.

There are only 198 cannons now. If there were 1,980, what would be the point of fighting? Two volleys before the battle even begins would completely overturn the enemy's positions. How many would survive? Batu and Shi Lei exchanged a glance, both seeing the fear and shock in each other's eyes. With the advent of these Hongyi cannons, the way war is fought from now on might change...

Batu, in particular, was overjoyed that he had chosen to befriend his son-in-law; it was undoubtedly the best decision he had ever made in his life.

What good will it do if the Blackwater Tribe is destroyed?

At least eight thousand people are still alive.

That grandson of Wanyan Guangzhi actually dared to oppose his own son-in-law; he was truly courting death. According to what his son-in-law had said before, aside from the eight thousand remnants of the Blackwater tribe, all the other male members of the Jurchen tribes would likely be wiped out, which would be no different from extinction.

On the other side, Wanyan Agudan finally recovered from his shock, and then he screamed loudly, ordering the remaining ships to scatter.

It must be said that Wanyan Agudan does have some ability; he was able to see the biggest flaw of the Hongyi cannon in a short time... That's right, the Hongyi cannon is extremely effective against densely packed enemies, but as soon as the crowd disperses, the effect of the Hongyi cannon will be greatly reduced.

However, this place had just been bombed, and the waves were raging. Under these conditions, the ship could not pick up speed at all. With the waves surging, the ship seemed to lose control, and some even went backward instead of forward.

Worse still, in that brief lull, the second wave of attacks had already begun.

The booming explosions rang out once again. Wanyan Agudan's eyes widened in horror as he watched helplessly as the shells crashed into the ship. In the instant the ship shattered, all the people on board were thrown out. Sometimes only arms, legs, and heads flew out, and in some cases, only pieces of flesh were thrown away.

He even watched a head fly past him, and in that instant, he met those eyes, feeling both pain and despair.

This time, the accuracy was even more exaggerated than before; almost every shell could take away many lives.

The number of people still alive is decreasing at a visible rate.

Everywhere there were piercing screams and heart-wrenching cries of agony.

Whether they were ruthless Japanese pirates or fierce Jurchen soldiers, they were no different in the face of divine punishment.

Amidst the cacophony of sounds, flickering flames, and thick black smoke, Wanyan Agudan even felt as if he were seeing the Han people of the past... When they plundered Pingyang last year, the Han villages and cities were probably just like this, weren't they?
He was completely at a loss. Faced with this divine punishment, he felt an unbearable sense of powerlessness throughout his body. His legs gave way, and he knelt on the ground, tears streaming down his old, bearded face.

Oh, Mafa!
Is this your punishment for your children and grandchildren?

call out!
A sharp whooshing sound came from overhead.

Wanyan Agudan stared blankly up, only to see a dark red, scorching hot iron lump falling towards him. In that instant, Wanyan Agudan felt no fear, and even a smile as if he had been relieved appeared on his face. He closed his eyes and opened his arms.

With a deafening roar, the bow of the merchant ship, which was already half submerged, instantly turned into fragments.

The cannons fired more than a dozen rounds.

Song Yan wasn't actually very proficient in military formations and tactical command. Although he had a lot of military books in his mind, military books were one thing, but actually applying them was another.

His war motto was actually only one: when poor, use tactical infiltration; when rich, bomb!

Much of it is due to the influence of old-fashioned aesthetics.

Initially, when fighting against the Japanese pirates, he lacked strength and could only use wolf-tooth rakes, alleyways, and fire attacks to annihilate them. However, as his soldiers' armor and weapons gradually became more complete, and with the introduction of thunderbolts, he relied on overwhelming equipment.

Now, after bombarding the Jurchens and Japanese pirates several times, they are clearly in complete disarray. At this point, there is no need to waste cannonballs. As long as the ships are sailed over, the remaining people can still be slaughtered. After all, these cannonballs are not cheap.

But clearly, Song Yan had no intention of letting his brothers risk their lives to charge into battle. Why waste ammunition when there was it available?
Moreover, unlike Shi Lei and Batu, Song Yan was somewhat dissatisfied with the Hongyi Cannon's performance. Its accuracy was still lacking, and it required cleaning the breech. It could only fire two shells per minute, which was extremely inefficient. Not to mention reaching the speed of the 1130 rockets of later generations, it was far from even reaching the speed of the 107mm rocket launcher. As it stands, the Hongyi Cannon is far from being able to achieve the level of bombarding the ground and providing fire coverage.

The firepower is still somewhat insufficient.

Since that's the case, we'll just have to bomb them a few more times.

Sighing, until the cannon barrel was extremely hot, Song Yan finally waved his hand and stopped for the time being.

At a command, more than a hundred ships of various sizes began to sail toward the burning area.

From a distance, the entire sea area could be seen to be crimson, whether a reflection of raging fire or the blood of tens of thousands of people stained red, it was hard to tell.

We're closer now, and we can see things more clearly.

Countless human heads, arms, legs, and even chunks of flesh floated on the sea surface; few of the corpses remained intact. Even Shi Lei and Batu, who had killed countless people, felt a chill run down their spines at the sight, as if they had entered hell.

How many people died? Twenty thousand? Thirty thousand? Or fifty thousand?
The reddish-white muscle and fat tissue almost covered the entire sea surface.

No intact ships could be found; they were either blown to pieces or engulfed in flames and were burning fiercely.

Many people are still alive, struggling and screaming in the churning sea.

There were Jurchens, Japanese pirates, and Han Chinese.

Screams and cries for help filled the air.

When they saw a ship approaching, they were like saviors, desperately wading through the water and trying to get closer to the ship.

"Kill everyone, just leave a few alive."

Song Yan merely glanced casually at the pitiful people waiting for rescue and coldly issued the order.

The bows and crossbows were drawn.

The arrows still fell towards the crowd that had gathered around them.

Accompanied by a scream, several more crimson patches appeared on the sea surface.

The small boats had already dispersed, forming a large encirclement. The prince had given the order to kill everyone except a few survivors; if anyone escaped, it would be their dereliction of duty. Some soldiers, unwilling to waste their arrows, drew their swords and with a few swift strokes, beheaded anyone who tried to approach.

The cleanup of the battlefield continues, with screams echoing throughout.

"Don't kill me, hero, don't kill me! I'm Han Chinese too, we're from the same hometown..."

Occasionally, such noises can be heard from the sea, which are probably some people arranged by the Yang family.

However, the soldier on the ship merely sneered, then chopped off the head with his sword, spitting out a disgusted spittle: "Damn it, so what if they're Han Chinese? Don't they know our prince hates traitors the most?"

Song Yan chuckled. Indeed, he hated traitors the most.

In his eyes, foreigners are beasts, and traitors are even worse than beasts.

But how could this soldier be so rude? How could he swear like that?

It seems that the instructor will need to provide more ideological education in the future.

Thinking this, he saw Batu and Shi Lei carrying two people towards him. When they reached Song Yan, they threw the two men to the ground. The two men tried to get up, but one of them kicked them in the back of the knee from behind, causing them to kneel down.

"Your Highness, here are the prisoners you requested, alive," Shi Lei said in a deep, muffled voice, his face beaming with satisfaction. This battle had been far too easy.

Our prince truly possesses the power to seize the creation of heaven and earth, and has the ability to reverse the course of the sun, moon, and stars.

With such great abilities, he was born to be an emperor.

“One of these two is a Han Chinese, judging from his attire he should be a sailor, and the other is a Jurchen barbarian,” Shi Lei continued. “If you think that’s too many, we’ll just chop one up.”

Upon hearing this, the two men tensed up instantly.

Song Yan smiled gently and waved his hand: "Alright, two people it is then."

As he spoke, Song Yan squatted down and looked up at the two men. The Han man was about thirty years old with dark skin, clearly someone who made a living at sea year-round. The Jurchen man, on the other hand, looked to be about twenty years old.

"Don't be afraid! Can you understand what I'm saying?"

The two of them swallowed hard, then nodded.

"Since you can understand me, that's good. Then I'd like to ask you two to pass on a message to Wanyan Guangzhi." After thinking for a moment, Song Yan said, "Just tell Wanyan Guangzhi... your queen is very beautiful!"

(End of this chapter)