Song Dynasty: Yuan Dynasty, you didn't expect this, did you? I'm still alive.

When the Song army's main cannons roared for the first time, Zhu Di was drinking tea on the city tower of Zhonghua Gate and observing the enemy's situation.

As a monarch who rose from the ashes, he strongly agreed with Li Shimin's ideals.

No soldier's reconnaissance results can compare to seeing things with their own eyes.

The tea is pre-Qingming Longjing, a new tribute tea this year. The tea soup is clear and bright, with a fragrant aroma.

He picked up the teacup, took a sip, put it down, and said to Zhu Gaoxu beside him, "Although the Song people's cannons can fire farther, they don't sound much louder than ours."

"Father, you're right. Although the Song army was able to breach the city walls before, we're not stupid. We reinforced the city walls."

No sooner had he finished speaking than the city wall of Zhonghua Gate exploded in front of him.

It didn't collapse in sections, it shattered piece by piece.

Six hundred years of city bricks, bricks that Emperor Hongwu built piece by piece, and the city wall that Zhu Di spent ten years reinforcing, all scattered like tofu dregs in the face of the shockwave of the explosive bomb.

Smoke and dust rose dozens of feet high, obscuring half the sky.

Zhu Di was thrown to the ground by the blast wave.

When he crawled out of the rubble, his ears were ringing and he couldn't hear anything.

He saw Zhu Gaoxu's mouth opening and closing, as if he was shouting something, but the sound couldn't reach him, as if it were through a thick layer of glass.

He shook his head, and his ears buzzed. The sound finally returned—but it wasn't a human voice; it was the shrieking of artillery shells, one after another, so dense it seemed to tear the sky apart.

The Zhonghua Gate tower collapsed completely during the second salvo.

The city wall, which was thirty feet long, was broken in the middle, and bricks and stones poured down, completely blocking the city gate.

The city walls, which were originally filled with guards, are now completely deserted, leaving only a cloud of grayish-white dust that slowly rises and disperses.

That's right, the Ming Dynasty fortified its city walls, and the Song Dynasty upgraded its artillery shells.

The smokeless gunpowder used in the last demonstration has been replaced with yellow explosive.

This is the explosive made from nitroglycerin, the divine medicine that the Holy Ancestor Emperor had been longing for.

Its power is sixteen times that of gunpowder and 1.2 times that of trinitrotoluene.

Gunpowder is a "strongman," while dynamite is a "hot-tempered" one.

Gunpowder (such as black powder and smokeless powder) reacts with deflagration, like fuel being ignited, burning steadily and producing a large amount of gas that "gently" propels the projectile forward. This process is called "push".

Explosives (such as TNT and yellow explosives) react with detonation. The shock wave tears through matter at several times the speed of sound, releasing all energy in microseconds and producing a devastating "explosion".

The two are not comparable.

The Song Dynasty showed the Ming Dynasty the utmost respect to its adversary.

The weapons and equipment used were the strongest currently available to the Song Dynasty, and their price was not a factor.

A monarch who is constantly waging war will assess the resources needed for each war to achieve a sustainable and aggressive war effort, while a benevolent monarch who does not want to fight will not consider so much.

Zhao Xi was certain that he would never wage war again in the rest of his life.

So let's give it our all this time!

Zhu Di was escorted down from the city wall by his personal guards.

His dragon robe was torn, his face was covered in ash, and his ears were still bleeding. He pushed aside his guards, straightened up, and glanced back at the Zhonghua Gate—the gate that his father had repaired for twenty-one years and that he had reinforced for ten years was no longer there.

"Your Majesty!" Ji Gang rushed out of the smoke and dust, knelt before him, his voice trembling, "The Song army's cannons are firing too far! Our cannons can't reach them! They simply can't reach them!"

Zhu Di remained silent.

He should have known.

He learned about it ten years ago at the mouth of the Yangtze River.

Knowing something is one thing, but actually standing under the muzzle of a cannon and getting hit is quite another.

"Order Zhu Gaochi to lead the cavalry to attack the enemy's artillery positions!"

Thirty thousand cavalrymen filed out of Jubao Gate and quickly formed ranks outside the city.

A uniform cavalry force, both men and horses clad in armor, their spears like a forest.

Zhu Gaoxu stood on horseback at the front of the battle, holding an iron spear in his hand. His most beloved steed was a jet-black horse that had followed him from Beiping to Yingtianfu, and from Yingtianfu to the northern desert, never retreating a single step.

He glanced back at the commander's flag still burning on the city wall.

Father, watch me defeat the enemy.

Even the mighty Mongol cavalry, when facing the Ming Dynasty's cavalry, could only flee in panic.

It's time to let the Song people know who the strongest military force of this era is!

"assault!"

Thirty thousand cavalrymen set off simultaneously.

The sound of horses' hooves shook the earth, and dust billowed into the sky like a black torrent, sweeping towards the Song army's artillery positions.

His target was very precise—the Song army's artillery positions were at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain, far from the main infantry positions, and their flanks were unprotected.

If they could just charge in and blow up those cannons, the Song army's firepower would be reduced by at least half.

When Zhu Gaoxu reached a distance of one kilometer, he saw people moving something on the Song army's position.

He didn't care. A thousand meters away, out of reach of arrows, out of reach of muskets, out of reach of anything.

Even if you manage to reach it, what then?

Could a distance of one thousand meters really kill 30,000 cavalrymen before they even reach you?

800 meters.

A cluster of small artillery pieces suddenly appeared in front of the Song army's position.

It is also driven by wheels, but it consists of many small tubes tied together.

"What kind of weapon is this?"

Zhu Gaoxu frowned.

Six hundred meters.

Suddenly, the weapons lit up with a bright light.

It wasn't the muzzle flash of a cannon, but something he'd never seen before—a dense, continuous beam of light sweeping across like a chain of fire.

Four hundred meters.

Zhu Gaoxu heard a sound.

It wasn't the sound of cannons or gunfire, but a continuous, tearing sound, like ten thousand bolts of cloth being ripped apart at once.

His cavalrymen began to fall.

They didn't fall in rows, they fell in patches.

The cavalrymen in the front ranks were swept away as if by an invisible giant scythe, both men and horses falling to the ground. The cavalrymen behind them did not have time to brake, and continued to charge forward, stepping over the corpses of their own men, before being swept down as well.

The 14mm bullet leaves the barrel at a speed of 800 meters per second and can easily penetrate two layers of plate armor at a distance of 400 meters.

When it hits a person, it goes in with a small hole and comes out with a hole the size of a bowl.

If you hit a horse, it will flip over and crush the rider on its back into a bloody pulp.

Zhu Gaoxu's warhorse was shot at a distance of 200 meters.

The horse's head exploded, and its neck and below were covered in blood. As it fell forward, it threw him three zhang (approximately 10 meters) away.

He tumbled in the air and crashed heavily to the ground, his armor slamming into the earth and sending sparks flying.

He got up and found himself still alive.

He drew his sword and took a step toward the Song army's position.

Then he felt as if a hundred people had pushed him at the same time.

It wasn't just pain, it was excruciating pain.

He looked down and saw that there were more than a dozen holes in his breastplate, each of which was oozing blood.

He opened his mouth as if to shout something, but what came out of his throat was not a sound, but blood.

He knelt down.

The iron spear was stuck in the ground, supporting his body.

He knelt there, head bowed, like an iron statue abandoned on the battlefield.

The guards risked their lives to snatch him back.

On the position, machine guns were still firing.

The firing rate of 200 rounds per minute lasted for the entire time it takes for an incense stick to burn.

Of the 30,000 cavalrymen, fewer than 8,000 managed to escape back to the city alive.

On the grass at the foot of Zhongshan Mountain, corpses were piled up layer upon layer, the remains of men and horses mixed together, making it impossible to distinguish one from another.

When Zhu Gaoxu was carried to Zhu Di, he was already unable to speak.

His breastplate was removed by his personal guards, revealing the horrific state inside—thirty-seven bullet holes extending from his chest to his abdomen.

The military doctor squatted beside him, his hands trembling.

He raised his head, glanced at Zhu Di, shook his head, and then lowered his head again.

Zhu Di knelt down.

He knelt on the blood-stained ground, lifted Zhu Gaoxu's upper body, and held the head, which could no longer be lifted, against his chest.

"Gao Xu," he called out.

Unfortunately, the King of Han could not answer.

No matter who it is, if they are hit by thirty-seven bullets, there is no chance of survival.

Zhu Di held his son's body and knelt motionless on the open ground behind the ruins of Zhonghua Gate.

Shells were still flying overhead, city walls were still collapsing, soldiers were still running, and no one dared to approach him.

Ji Gang knelt ten paces away, head bowed.

Chen Ying appeared out of nowhere, covered in dirt, his official robe torn in several places.

He knelt on the ground, his lips trembling for a long time before he finally managed to squeeze out, "Your Majesty... as long as the green hills remain..."

Zhu Di raised his head.

There were no tears on his face.

It's not that I don't want to shed tears, it's that I can't.

He glanced at Chen Ying, his eyes showing neither anger nor sadness, only an indescribable bewilderment.

"Chen Ying".

"Your subject is here."

"Tell me, is my Great Ming Dynasty doomed?"

Chen Ying opened her mouth, but couldn't say a word.

Zhu Di did not wait for his reply. He gently laid Zhu Gaoxu's body down, stood up, and moved very slowly, like a rusty machine struggling to function.

He turned and walked towards the direction of Jubao Gate.

. . .

History of Song Dynasty, Treatise on Military Affairs

In this battle, the army first used yellow gunpowder, made from nitroglycerin and diatomaceous earth, which was twice as potent as black saltpeter. They also placed Guanyin machine guns at the front lines, each firing dozens of rounds that pierced through heavy armor like tattered cotton. Of the 30,000 Ming cavalry, more than half were annihilated in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn; the corpses piled up to the height of Zhongshan Mountain. Since the advent of firearms, there had never been such a devastating battle. From then on, mounted archery disappeared from the world.