Wuzhugu’s face was shrouded in a black mist as he gazed at the Great Yu Empire army outside Pingzhou City.
Outside the city, the well-organized white tents of the Great Yu Empire looked particularly glaring in his eyes. It was clear that the Great Yu Empire was prepared to fight a protracted war with them.
“Despicable Great Yu Empire people! They are deliberately sabotaging our six cities’ spring plowing.” Wuzhugu was furious.
Beishan appeared to take it for granted. “I told you long ago that the current Emperor of the Great Yu Empire is unlike any previous Emperor of the Great Yu Empire. Unfortunately, none of you listened to me. It was your indulgence that allowed him to grow into a man-eating beast.”
“I don’t want to hear your sarcastic remarks now. If we lose this time, none of us will have a good life,” Wuzhugu’s gaze was sharp.
As the two were speaking, a melodious bugle call suddenly sounded from the Great Yu Empire army, which had finished arraying itself at the front.
At this, the musketeers who were originally standing at the front moved aside, and a group of soldiers clad in silver armor came forward.
The two were immediately startled upon seeing these soldiers.
Best also opened his mouth wide. He said, “Why? Why does the Great Yu Empire have such an army?”
Mortars lobbed lime bombs into the trenches in front of Pingzhou City. White smoke immediately enveloped the trenches.
Some barbarian soldiers, unable to dodge, were covered in lime powder, while those whose eyes were burned by the lime powder immediately cried out in pain, covering their eyes and stumbling wildly in the narrow trenches. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✦𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✦𝕟𝕖𝕥
Outside the city, Lu Fei calmly observed all this. They were now a hundred meters from the trenches, where he vaguely saw barbarian archers hidden within.
If the musketeers advanced rashly, they would surely be subjected to fire from these archers. Therefore, if they wanted to approach the city wall, they had to capture the trenches in front of the city.
After all, at three hundred meters, the soldiers’ firing accuracy would be much worse, making it impossible to effectively kill the barbarian slave soldiers on the city wall.
At Lu Fei’s command, the plate-armored soldiers immediately charged towards the trenches.
At this point, the barbarian slave soldiers in the trenches also drew their weapons. Some archers drew their bows and fired at the soldiers.
However, their arrows merely left dents on the plate armor made of high-quality steel. In an instant, they engaged in fierce combat with the Great Yu Empire soldiers, who were armed to the teeth.
The Great Yu Empire soldiers who reached the trenches immediately leaped into the trenches. Wielding their longswords, they rampaged like gods of slaughter among the barbarian slave soldiers.
Although the barbarian slave soldiers were numerous, the barbarians did not equip them with excellent weapons and armor. Many barbarian slave soldiers were merely dressed in tattered clothes and carried worn-out weapons.
They were no match for the well-armored Great Yu Empire soldiers. In an instant, the barbarian slave soldiers in the first line of trenches suffered heavy casualties.
On the Pingzhou city wall, Beishan and Wuzhugu’s faces were grim. In their eyes, these silver-armored soldiers surged into the trenches like a torrent of steel.
The first line of trenches was quickly seized. After that, they surged into the second line of trenches.
“Fire the cannons!” Beishan gave the order coldly.
Wuzhugu said anxiously, “Wait! Our soldiers are fighting with theirs! How can we fire cannons?”
“Can slave soldiers even be considered people? As long as we can hold Pingzhou City, what does it matter if they all die!” Beishan said angrily.
Wuzhugu fell silent. He glanced at the continuously conquered trenches and finally nodded slightly.
“Fire!” Beishan gave the command this time.
“Boom, boom, boom…” At this moment, the cannons on the Pingzhou city wall finally let out a deafening roar. Black cannonballs shot straight into the chaotic crowd.
A barbarian slave soldier was engaged in fierce combat with a Great Yu Empire soldier. At this moment, a cannonball suddenly struck him squarely in the back.
The immense force directly sent him and the Great Yu Empire soldier flying. They then successively collided with several other soldiers.
The flames and smoke belching from the Pingzhou city wall made Lu Fei frown. He said, “Have the artillery immediately bombard Pingzhou City. Captain of the 3rd Battalion, you immediately lead your men to fire at the cannons on the city wall!”
“Yes, Army Commander!” The 3rd Battalion Commander immediately led his nine companies towards the trenches. When they were twenty meters from the trenches, they used Conqueror Muskets to fire at the artillerymen on the city wall.
The barbarian cannons had a range of only five hundred meters, far inferior to the Great Yu Empire’s Conqueror Muskets. At a distance of over two hundred meters, they all opened fire.
Although the optimal firing range was within one hundred and fifty meters, this distance was still sufficient to inflict casualties on the barbarian artillerymen.
“Boom, boom, boom…” “Bang, bang, bang…”
Cannons and muskets roared in unison. The three armies, combining hundreds of cannons, launched a fierce bombardment against Pingzhou City.
Hundreds of cannonballs rained down on the city wall like raindrops hitting dust. Immediately, smoke and dust flew from the Pingzhou city wall, and some barbarian soldiers directly hit were torn apart.
Wuzhugu and Beishan quickly took cover under the city wall amidst the fierce cannon fire. Best also looked pale.
The Great Yu Empire’s firearms were simply too fierce. This was a disaster for the technologically backward barbarians. Now, his confidence began to waver.
Would a Great Yu Empire possessing a quasi-European army be a match for this backward nomadic empire?
Wuzhugu now finally regretted it. He said to Beishan, “You’re right. We should have destroyed the Great Yu Empire earlier, instead of fighting a meaningless war with the Ottoman Empire.”
“It’s too late for anything now. We can only drag this on. Once winter comes, they will stop attacking,” Beishan said.
Wuzhugu was filled with regret. He was terrified by the horrifying scene on the city wall. At the same time, he knew very well that if this continued, Pingzhou City would cease to exist.
He said, “We must use cavalry to disrupt their attack. Beishan, I’ll leave this place to you. I will personally lead the cavalry to cut off the Great Yu Empire’s grain supply.”
With that, he led a group of cavalry generals out of the city.
Beishan watched Wuzhugu leave. Then he said to Guduo, “Send out all the slave soldiers! We must hold the Great Yu Empire army outside the city!”
There were over two hundred thousand slave soldiers garrisoned in Pingzhou City. They still had ample manpower. Even if it was a four-for-one exchange, they could afford it.
Guduo responded and left. He immediately led the cavalry to drive the slave soldiers out of the city gate.
The Great Yu Empire soldiers, who were in the midst of a bloody battle, had by now occupied the eighth trench. Seeing only sixteen more trenches before they could charge into the city gate, the Pingzhou city gate opened wide. A dense mass of barbarian slave soldiers leaped into the trenches and charged towards them.
After the fierce artillery suppression, the cannons on the Pingzhou city wall were basically unable to inflict casualties on the Great Yu Empire soldiers in the trenches.
But when the slave soldiers appeared, his expression changed.
The novel has already been fully translated up to the final chapter. You can access it on my at /c/caleredhair