Hanhaiguan, the ninth day of the Yan army's siege.
Shangguan Wuji received the Flying Eagle message from Daye and immediately reported it to Princess Qingyun and Wang Chen.
The first was the news of Emperor Shaowu's death. On the day King Jing ascended the throne, the Emperor of Daliang, who had been deposed by his brother and the Queen Mother, died in the forbidden palace.
The cause of death was recurrence of heart disease.
This also verified Wang Chen's previous hunch.
After King Jing ascended the throne, he granted a general amnesty to the whole country, changed the name of the country to Yuan Jing, and issued an order to summon the generals of all counties to return to the imperial capital to report on their duties.
At present, Emperor Yuan Jing has learned about the Yan army's invasion of the border area, and ordered Shangguan Wuji to defend Hanguan Pass at all costs, and asked Xihai County to provide full support.
In addition, several counties in the south rebelled against the party and the heretics, and they had the potential to start a prairie fire.
The envoy from Da Qi is on the way to Daye, and it is very likely that the two countries will reach an alliance in the near future.
The latter information came from Shangguan Wuji's private channels.
Although the General of Zhenxi was stationed at the border, he also had his own spies in Daye, so he could keep abreast of the situation in the imperial capital at any time.
"We can't count on reinforcements from Xihai County for the time being."
Shangguan Wuji said in a deep voice: "Their army is weak and not very strong. At most they can only send a cavalry to show off. If we want to defend Hanhaiguan, we have to rely on ourselves."
Originally, Xihai County had an elite light cavalry regiment, which could provide support to the Han Navy at any time. However, in recent years, there has been chaos in Daliang, and this regiment has been frequently mobilized to suppress it.
His blood had long been drained.
When Daliang and Dayan were on good terms, this was not a big problem, but now the two sides have turned against each other.
Shangguan Wuji finally concluded: "The Yan army should attack the city tomorrow!"
Facts proved that the general's judgment was correct.
Woo~
The powerful and low sound of the horn broke the tranquility of the early morning.
"Tiger!"
Hundreds of thousands of Yan troops broke out of camp and advanced slowly towards Hanhaiguan. The flags fluttering in the wind covered the sky and the sun, and the strong evil aura of the military formation shot straight into the sky, making the earth tremble.
Hundreds of large catapults and siege engines were mixed among the Yan army, and the wheels rolled over the grass, making people tremble!
After nine days of waiting and preparation, this powerful Yan army finally launched an attack on Hanhaiguan.
On top of the wall, Wang Chen looked at the invading Yan army with a very calm expression.
But the sergeants responsible for controlling the cannon were all so nervous that their hands were shaking.
Through the joint efforts of many craftsmen from the military manufacturing camp and Hanhai City, working day and night, seventeen iron cannons weighing thousands of people have been erected on the city wall.
It far exceeded Wang Chen's requirements.
It's just that all the gunners were temporarily trained. They only mastered the basic gunnery methods and fired a few rounds of live ammunition, so they had a serious lack of experience.
At present, the army is pressing down on the border, and these gunners shoulder heavy responsibilities, so they are inevitably nervous.
"Don't panic."
Wang Chen patted the shoulder of a gunner next to him and said, "Just aim at the enemy's catapult and hit it. It doesn't matter if you don't hit it at first. You'll get better at it after firing a few more shots."
Sharpshooters are fed bullets, and the same goes for gunners.
Wang Chen's comfort made the gunner immediately relax and nodded vigorously.
Wang Chen smiled slightly and looked at Yan Jun again.
At this time, the Yan army had advanced to within two miles, and then hundreds of catapults were pulled to the front.
Accompanied by tens of thousands of Yan army's long archers and ax shield bearers.
The war is about to break out!
Wang Chen visually measured the opponent's distance, and then personally raised the flag: "Cannon ready!"
The catapults of Yan State are similar to the catapults arranged behind the Hanhaiguan city wall. The range is about three to four hundred steps, so they must be pushed to a suitable distance before they can be launched.
The cast iron cannon designed by Wang Chen has an effective range of at least two or three miles, and the maximum range is estimated to be doubled.
In fact, he could directly bombard the Yan army's camp with artillery before.
But in order to exert the greatest effect, Wang Chen deliberately placed the Yan army close to the wall, so that all the catapults and siege vehicles they brought could be within the maximum range.
Tens of thousands of Han navy soldiers were waiting in full formation, and everyone held their breath.
"Fire!"
Wang Chen's order was like a thunderous explosion, instantly spreading inside and outside the city wall.
The gunners, who had been prepared for a long time, lowered their torches without thinking and lit the fuses inserted into the cannons.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The next moment, seventeen cannons fired in unison, and cannonballs containing terrifying kinetic energy came out of their barrels and flew toward the Yan army more than a mile away.
At this moment, Yan Jun did not expect that death would come to them.
A fine iron cannon weighing more than ten kilograms hit hard in the middle of the axe-shielder array. An unlucky axe-shielder exploded instantly, with blood and flesh flying everywhere.
The shell landed on the ground and flew forward, plowing a bloody path in the blink of an eye.
Because the queue of the Yan army was very dense, this shot directly took away more than a dozen axe-shielders, and even affected the archers behind!
They never dreamed that there would be weapons in this world that could hit such a distance and be so powerful!
Caught off guard, Yan's vanguard suffered nearly 200 casualties in the first round of shelling, and the gaps in its array were shocking to watch.
boom!
One of the catapults was accidentally hit by a cannonball and was immediately shattered, causing the entire structure to collapse.
The Yan army's vanguard, which was originally very orderly, was in chaos.
The loss of two hundred men and one catapult was nothing to the huge Yan army, but the intimidation brought by the cannon that debuted in this world had a considerable impact on their morale.
"Speed ​​up!"
The general of the Yan army saw that the situation was not good, and immediately the forward battalion accelerated towards the city wall.
Then they quickly triggered a second round of artillery fire, as well as crossbow arrows as thick as a child's arm.
These crossbow arrows come from bed crossbows placed on the city wall, and their lethality is also extraordinary.
Immediately afterwards, the catapults behind the city wall also began to show their power!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The roaring sound of cannons has become the main theme of this fortress attack and defense battle.
The Hanhai sergeants responsible for controlling the iron cannons were all carefully selected. Not only were they not weak in cultivation, but their minds were not bad either. After several rounds of shelling, they became more and more proficient in their operations.
The shots are becoming more and more accurate!
As a result, the Yan army's catapults and siege engines were in bad luck.
As the primary targets of attack, they were blown to pieces one by one by artillery shells, turning into expensive garbage scattered on the ground.
Not only that, but the soldiers responsible for protecting the catapult were also unlucky.
Because the cannonball missed the frame, it might fall on them!
The battle between the two sides reached a fever pitch from the very beginning, and the Yan army's casualties were so high that the commander in the rear quickly became unable to sit still.
