The Military Governor in Dream of the Red Chamber

With a deafening roar, the great general's cannon roared once more.

"Take cover!" shouted a loud voice from the south wall of Qianshan Fort.

The shells whistled through the air, tracing an arc before landing in the city.

The solid shot smashed the roof of the earthen house, and continued forward, smashing through several earthen walls, causing all five earthen houses to collapse instantly.

"Good, very good, keep it up, all three shots at once!" Abnai was very happy.

As long as we keep firing, even if we can't take down the front fort directly, we can at least dampen the enemy's morale, and then our side can take the opportunity to attack.

With the suppression of three general cannons, the enemy's artillery fire should be reduced.

Shells kept flying towards the fortress in front of the mountain, and the three general cannons kept spewing flames.

"Damn it, this is never going to end!" Wang Baisheng cursed angrily, "My house, you bastard!"

His house collapsed in that shell.

The enemy has been shelling us continuously, about ten times already, and it's still going on.

Wang Baisheng had to admit that the imposing presence of that general's cannon far surpassed that of his own, and its range was also much greater.

Despite the cursing, everyone still observed the movements of the northern barbarians through the crenellations of the city wall.

"Watch out, the northern barbarians are attacking the city!" shouted the lookout.

Wang Baisheng and his men immediately stood up, ready to fire as soon as the Northern barbarians came within range.

The Great General's Cannon was powerful, but unfortunately, the enemy only had three of them, which wasn't enough to deter them from firing back.

"Aim at the city wall, and it would be best to blast the cannons on it!" Abnai initially thought firing cannons was very exciting, but he quickly realized that if the cannonballs flew into the city, what would be the point?

This order instantly jolted the hearts of the several soldiers who had calmed down a bit.

Getting them to aim at the city wall is too difficult.

But if I can't do it, who knows if I'll be killed?

When your mind is in disarray, your movements become distorted, and you lose control of the amount of gunpowder.

"Boom!" When a general's cannon was fired again, the shell did not fly out but exploded directly in the barrel.

Whether it was due to too much gunpowder or the poor quality of the cast iron, it finally couldn't withstand the fire after firing several shots.

Within a ten-foot radius, not a single person was intact; the ground was littered with shredded flesh, bones, and internal organs, a bloody mess.

That wasn't the end of it. After the explosion, it also ignited a nearby carriage loaded with gunpowder.

A chain reaction ensued, with deafening explosions echoing continuously, followed by a burst of flames.

"Taiji!"

The northern barbarians were horrified to find that Abunai screamed and fell off his horse.

They rushed over and discovered that the aftershocks of the explosion had affected Abuna, and that some debris had also hit Abuna.

Abuna had multiple injuries, and his robes were quickly stained with blood.

His injuries were serious, and he fell into a coma.

"Retreat!" Abunai was seriously injured and unconscious, and his men immediately gave the order to retreat.

"My goodness, what's wrong? Has the Thunder God gotten angry?" Wang Baisheng stared at the Northern Barbarians in surprise.

Almost everyone on the city wall was looking in that direction, where huge flames and smoke were rising from the Northern Barbarian General's cannon.

Then we saw a commotion on the northern barbarian side.

"It exploded, the barrel exploded, the gunpowder detonated," Jia Chen said with a smile.

He hadn't expected such a thing to happen. He wasn't too surprised if the barrel exploded, since the quality of the Da Hong Army's firearms was generally questionable.

The enemy fired continuously just now; it would be strange if the gun didn't explode.

The subsequent explosion, however, surprised Jia Chen.

Under normal circumstances, gunpowder should be stored at a certain safe distance. I don't know what the Northern Barbarians were thinking; they didn't even have this basic common sense.

It was just that the soldiers that Abunai captured were too incompetent; they had no sense of security whatsoever, after all, they weren't artillerymen.

The Northern barbarians had even less experience in using firearms, which led to this accident.

"They've withdrawn? This time it's for real, right?"

Jia Chen and his men saw signs that the Northern barbarians were retreating.

"We can't let them take the bodies back! Fire! Fire!" Wang Baisheng shouted.

Although the Northern barbarians showed signs of retreating, many of them came and took back the corpses. How could this be allowed to continue?

This is their military achievement.

The Tiger Crouching Cannon fired, but this time the enemy wasn't as densely packed, so even though the Tiger Crouching Cannon had area-of-effect damage, the effect wasn't significant.

"Damn it, hundreds of corpses!" Wang Baisheng could only watch helplessly as the corpses were taken away.

Jia Chen also felt a little regretful.

If there were hundreds of corpses, then even if the fall of Zhenqiang Fort was somewhat related to Qianshan Fort, the imperial court would not pursue the matter, as the merits would be enough to offset the loss.

Not to mention, this matter has nothing to do with their Qianshan Fortress; at most, they bear some secondary responsibility.

Most of the Northern Barbarian corpses were taken back, with only about ten remaining. These were closer to the trench, and the Northern Barbarians dared not risk coming over.

After confirming that the northern barbarian troops had gone north, Jia Chen ordered the battlefield to be cleaned up and the dead civilians to be laid to rest.

"Waaaaah~~"

Jia Chen looked at the loudly crying baby, about a year old, in Sun Tiechong's arms with some confusion.

"Sir, he's still alive and unharmed," Sun Tiechong explained.

While clearing the battlefield, we discovered crying sounds coming from among the piles of dead civilians, and eventually we found this baby.

He was very lucky; he wasn't injured at all.

Jia Chen remembered that a woman had rushed towards the Northern Barbarians, and it seemed to be her child.

"My lord, I want to adopt him as my grandson, so that my Sun family will have an heir in the future," Sun Tiechong said in a low voice.

"Okay, okay!" Jia Chen patted Sun Tiechong on the shoulder.

Jia Chen now has a basic understanding of Sun Tiechong's past.

Although he is a member of the Sun family, there is also oppression within the Sun family.

He was from a distant branch of the family and was later bullied by a neighbor who had become involved with Sun Shaozu.

Not only was Sun Tiechong's only few acres of land seized and occupied by the other party, but his wife and son were also beaten and later died from their injuries.

He was sent to a place like Qianshandun, and needless to say, there was a reason why those guys were interfering, wanting to take his life.

Sun Tiechong was the only one left in the family, so he hated the Sun family very much.

"Sir, please give him a name?" Sun Tiechong said.

Jia Chen did not refuse. After thinking for a while, he quickly came up with a name: "Po Lu, meaning to drive out the northern barbarians in the future, avenge the people, and avenge his parents."

"Sun Polu, what a fine name, truly wonderful! Thank you, sir!" Sun Tiechong said with a smile.

Watching Sun Tiechong walk away, Jia Chen called Zhao Zheng over.

Jia Chen needed to know what was happening at Zhenqiang Fort, as well as the movements of the northern barbarians who were plundering.

Besides that, there's the question of where Abunai's group went. They headed north. Will they wait somewhere for the returning Northern Barbarians? Will they attack Qianshan Fort again in the future? Jia Chen needs to know more information.

"My lord, I will personally lead men to investigate Abuna," Zhao Zheng nodded. "As for the south, I will also send men to investigate there."

"The sooner the better," Jia Chen said.

"Yes!" Zhao Zheng immediately turned around and left to prepare.

Behind a small hill about ten miles north of Qianshanbao, there is a camp of the Northern Barbarians.

Because of the hill, this place is completely invisible from the front hill fort.

The caravan that Abunai had previously plundered from the Sun family was also here. These caravans had followed him south and were waiting here until the main force finished plundering before returning to the Chahar tribe together.