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

Near Nandan City in northwestern Japan today, amidst rolling hills and a chilly autumn wind, the main force of the Song army, led by Luo He, encountered Hojo Munenobu's 40,000-strong army.

When Hojo Munenori saw that his sneak attack had failed, he frowned slightly. He then adopted the posture of a great nation and, following the etiquette of the Song people, sent an envoy to the Song camp, intending to show that Japan was also a land of etiquette and to prioritize courtesy over force.

The messenger was fair-skinned and beardless, dressed in a magnificent robe. He took small, quick steps to the camel and the horse, pretended to be refined, straightened his clothes, and then bowed respectfully.

Looking down at this scene, Luo He couldn't help but burst out laughing. He turned to his personal guards and said mockingly, "Look, this is a classic case of trying to imitate others blindly, like a monkey wearing a hat! They can't be decent people, so they insist on learning the etiquette of our Great Song Dynasty, and they've come up with such a mess."

Upon hearing this, the envoy's face instantly turned bright red, his previous refined demeanor completely gone. He abruptly raised his head, his eyes wide with anger, and burst into a tirade: "Baka! Since you come from a land of etiquette, is this how you treat an envoy from an enemy country?"

Luo He's smile vanished, his eyes turning icy cold. He roared, "Since you know etiquette, do you know what 'Those who offend the mighty Han, though far away, shall be punished' means? Your attack on my Song Dynasty merchants is a path to death! And yet you dare to speak so arrogantly here!"

The envoy was taken aback. He was only a dabbler and had never heard of such a story before. But he understood the murderous intent in Luo He's second half of the sentence. He was about to open his mouth to defend himself when Luo He waved his hand to interrupt him.

"Fine, I'm too lazy to reason with a barbarian like you. You're not worthy to listen!"

Luo He, only thirty years old, was a native of Southeast Asia, and the concept of the distinction between Chinese and barbarians was deeply ingrained in his bones. He suddenly drew his long sword from his waist; a flash of cold light, accompanied by a scream, and the Japanese envoy's head flew into the air, blood gushing from his neck splattering all over Luo He. Luo He flicked his wrist, executing a beautiful sword flourish, shaking off the crimson blood from the blade. His eyes, like those of a wolf, fixed on the Japanese army waiting in the distance, and he barked the order: "Flying Thunder Cannons, prepare! High-altitude firing! Use exploding shells!"

At a command, the soldiers on the artillery positions sprang into action. These artillerymen were not ordinary infantrymen; they were technical soldiers specially trained by Tsinghua University, knowledgeable in mathematics and geometry. The same cannons, even if taken by foreigners, would be nothing more than a pile of scrap metal if they didn't understand the principles of parabolic motion and mechanical structures, firing blindly.

"Flying Thunder Cannon, move two degrees to the left! Raise the elevation angle by forty-five degrees!"

"The artillery squad leader, Chen Gang, shouted loudly. His face was blackened by years of loading gunpowder and enduring the smoke of gunpowder, with only his teeth remaining white. He wore a pair of specially made black glass goggles around his neck, making him look exceptionally professional."

Two shirtless, muscular gunners swiftly turned the wooden screw at the breech. With a grating, screeching sound, the short, thick, dark-colored Flying Thunder Cannon, shaped like a crouching toad, slowly raised its muzzle, pointing it at the gloomy sky. This Flying Thunder Cannon had a caliber of 180 millimeters, and its muzzle was large enough to fit a watermelon; it was a terrifying sight.

"Add the medicine!"

One gunner carefully poured a rough ceramic measuring cup filled with granular purified black powder into the cannon barrel. Another gunner used a long wooden pestle to tamp the gunpowder down—this step had to be done gently, as the pressure in the Flying Thunder cannon was extremely high, and the slightest mistake could cause it to explode and injure someone.

"Load!"

This is the most crucial step. Instead of a solid iron bullet, it's loaded with a round, cast iron-cased bomb. The casing is cast with pre-made patterns to generate more fragments upon detonation, and a slow-burning incense stick soaked in sulfur is inserted at the top as a fuse.

The gunner lit the incense stick, and a spark flashed. He took a deep breath and forcefully pushed the heavy "iron watermelon" into the muzzle of the cannon until it landed steadily on the gunpowder layer.

"Fuse burning timer—one incense stick's worth! Release!"

Chen Gang suddenly swung down the red flag in his hand.

The igniter used a torch to push the torch into the firebox.

"boom--!!!"

A deep, thunderous roar echoed through the valley, and the immense recoil caused the heavy gun carriage to slide backward half a foot in the mud, kicking up a cloud of dust.

The iron bullet, emitting bluish smoke, trailed an eerie arc, like a falling meteor, wobbling and soaring hundreds of meters into the sky. Under the astonished gaze of the Japanese soldiers, it flew higher and higher before beginning its descent.

Its landing point was right in the center of the dense Japanese army formation.

"Something is falling from the sky!" shouted a foot soldier (a conscripted farmer) standing on a high place in fear, but he thought it was just a huge rock.

The samurai also looked up, watching the black dot grow larger and larger, their eyes filled with doubt and unease.

"Bang!"

The iron bullet did not explode directly, but instead slammed heavily to the ground, breaking the legs of two foot soldiers. It then bounced once on the muddy ground and rolled into the crowd.

The Japanese soldiers were stunned for a moment, looking at each other in disbelief, before they could even laugh at the fact that the thing hadn't killed anyone.

"BOOM—!!!"

Hell has descended.

The violent explosion instantly engulfed everything within a twenty-step radius. Soil, blood, severed limbs, and fragments of bamboo spears were thrown high into the air by an invisible shockwave, forming a small black mushroom cloud.

The massive shockwave, like an invisible hand, lashed outwards. The outer warriors felt as if struck in the chest by a hammer, screaming as they flew backward, spitting blood. The horses, startled, reared up, throwing their riders violently to the ground, and scattered in all directions.

A deathly silence fell over the battlefield, broken only by the crackling of burning vegetation.

The once densely packed Japanese army formation now had a huge, bloody gap. At the center of the gap, there was nothing left but scorched earth and scattered entrails, the air thick with the acrid smell of gunpowder and blood.

"What kind of sorcery is that?!"

Hojo Munenori, mounted on his horse, stared wide-eyed in terror, gripping the reins tightly with both hands, his body trembling uncontrollably. He was a man of considerable experience, having witnessed many battles, but he had never seen such a monster that flew in from miles away and landed with a thunderous roar.

"It's lightning from heaven! The Song people have attracted lightning!"

Someone in the foot soldier squad shouted something.

Panic spread rapidly like a plague. These foot soldiers, who came from peasant backgrounds and were already ignorant and superstitious, completely broke down in the face of this "incomprehensible" weapon.

"Run! The sky is falling!"

The foot soldiers dropped their bamboo spears, turned and ran, crying and screaming, creating complete chaos.

Seeing this, the samurai in the front ranks drew their swords and killed the fleeing soldiers in an attempt to regain their footing. After killing dozens of men, they managed to barely maintain their crumbling formation.

"Hahaha!"

Chen Gang took off his goggles, looked at the fleeing Japanese troops in the distance, revealed a set of white teeth, and his eyes were full of excitement.

"Load! Keep firing! Forget aiming, just throw it at the crowds!"

The gunners roared excitedly. Although the Flying Thunder Cannon had a slow rate of fire, only one shot every few minutes, its power was more than enough!

"boom--!"

A second volley of shells was launched.

This time, it landed in an area densely populated with Japanese troops. The explosion caused considerable panic among the Japanese soldiers, with screams echoing throughout.

A moment later, Luo He stood on a distant high ground, put down his telescope, watched the Japanese troops fall into disarray, and calmly said to his personal guards:

"Tell the musketeers to prepare to advance. The artillery has finished its work; it's their turn to reap the rewards."

At this time, the foot soldiers conscripted by the Japanese army were in a state of great unrest, and even the bloody suppression by the samurai could not maintain order.

Seeing this, Hojo Munenori couldn't help but curse, "Useless! A bunch of useless trash! We can't just sit here and wait to die! Give the order to attack! Forty thousand against ten thousand, the advantage is on our side! Bushido will prevail!"

Under the threat of the samurai swords, the foot soldiers could only move forward with long faces and launch another charge.

However, what awaited them was an even more horrific death.

The first rank of Song Dynasty musketeers suddenly stood up, their matchlock muskets steadily aimed at the charging Japanese soldiers, and pulled the trigger.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The lead bullets whistled out.

The foot soldiers had no armor and were essentially cannon fodder.

Lead bullets easily penetrated the bodies of the foot soldiers. Upon impacting their bones or muscles, the lead bullets, being relatively soft, would tumble, flatten, or even shatter.

A round lead bullet that enters the body leaves a small hole, but when it explodes inside, the exit is a large hole, causing massive internal bleeding and tissue necrosis, a truly gruesome sight.

The foot soldiers in the front row were struck as if by an invisible giant hammer, falling down in droves, their blood staining the ground red.

Before the Japanese foot soldiers in the back row could react, the soldiers in the first row had already skillfully squatted down to load their guns, and smoke immediately rose from the muzzles of the guns in the second row.

Another scream erupted as the Japanese soldiers at the front were knocked to the ground.

After only a few seconds of pause, gunfire erupted again from the third rank.

"Bang... Bang... Bang..."

The muffled gunshots were like the drumbeats of death, continuous and relentless.

The once-fierce Japanese charging formation crumbled instantly before this impenetrable wall of fire, turning into a chaotic pile of corpses and wounded soldiers groaning in agony.

The foot soldiers, who had already lost their will to fight after being struck by the "heavenly lightning," completely collapsed at this moment. They no longer cared about the samurai's swords and threw down their weapons, crying and running away in all directions.