“Fire, fire!”
On the city wall, Yao Hongtao shouted hoarsely. The council soldiers aimed their flintlock guns at the trenches and continuously fired, but the regrettable accuracy of the smoothbore flintlock guns made it difficult for them to suppress the imperial soldiers using breech-loading rifles in the trenches.
The council soldiers on the city wall continuously fell in pools of blood, while the soldiers below suffered few casualties.
However, this was just the beginning. Amidst the imperial soldiers’ firing, cannonballs rose from the trenches in a parabolic trajectory and landed on the city wall.
These cannonballs were mainly of two types: one exploded directly upon impact with the ground, while the other transformed into white powdery smoke.
Regardless of the type of cannonball, both caused heavy casualties among the council soldiers on the city wall. Under the fierce firepower, the soldiers were completely suppressed and could not even lift their heads.
At the same time, the imperial army’s artillery began to return fire on the cannons on the city gate. In just a short while, the dozen or so cannons on the East City wall were all destroyed by the imperial army’s explosive shells.
Yao Hongtao commanded in a panic. He had now lost his composure.
Outside the city, Lu Fei was satisfied with the offensive’s effect. They could only use artillery to bombard the opposing city walls until both the walls and the city gate were completely destroyed.
“Current warfare is still artillery warfare,” Lu Fei said with emotion.
Guo Ming said, “Even so, if the enemy had rifles with the same range, our artillerymen would be in danger.”
Lu Fei nodded. He looked at the soldiers firing in the trenches.
Now, the soldiers no longer needed to use complex procedures to reload. They only needed to take a paper cartridge from their cartridge belt, insert it into the breech, and then close it and fire.
Moreover, their movements no longer had to remain rigidly static as before. They could flexibly dodge and fire in the trenches with their rifles.
Although the artillery suppression turned Songjiang City into a sea of fire, it was the rifles that caused the most casualties.
“Heh, this Falcon Rifle is truly powerful! This is the sixth one!” a soldier couldn’t help but exclaim excitedly as Lu Fei walked past.
His companion beside him also said with pleasant surprise, “I’m already on my fifth! I’ll catch up to you soon!”
With that, he raised his rifle and aimed at a council soldier who had exposed himself on the city wall.
He pulled the trigger, and with a gunshot, the soldier immediately fell.
Lu Fei smiled. He said loudly, “Excellent, young men! If you don’t want to spend the night in the trenches, then take Songjiang City!”
The two were completely unaware of Lu Fei’s arrival. Realizing he was their Army Commander, the two immediately saluted and shouted, “Yes!”
Crouching down, Lu Fei continued to move through the trenches with Guo Ming to a slightly wider area. Here, mortar soldiers were continuously firing at the city gate.
The flames on the city wall, mixed with white lime powder, resembled an ink wash painting, but behind the enchanting beauty lay the shattered limbs and blood of the council soldiers blown up.
Just as the two were about to stop and rest, a sudden “whoosh” sound filled the air, and a black solid shot firmly struck the soil above their heads.
Dust flew, and Lu Fei and Guo Ming were covered in it.
“These bastards!” Lu Fei cursed. He said to the mortar soldiers, “Hit them hard! Don’t be afraid to waste shells! If we take Jiangnan, we’ll have money!”
“Yes, General,” the soldiers responded. They loaded the shells into the mortars, adjusted the angle, and fired a shell at the cannon that had just fired.
Unlike direct-fire cannons, the parabolic trajectory of mortars allowed shells to bypass obstacles and hit soldiers behind them. With a violent explosion, several soldiers on the city wall were immediately sent flying, and even their clothes were torn by the shockwave.
Lu Fei looked at this scene, his eyes flickering.
In truth, for the generals in the army, this war was a war of unification from north to south. After all, the imperial family’s influence in Jiangnan was already very weak.
Whether it was the rise of the Prince of Chu or the merchants’ council, the fundamental reason was that the common people only knew the feudal lords and not the imperial family.
Faced with this situation, they could only unify by force. Both the merchants’ council and the powerful families were minorities, and most common people simply wanted to live good lives.
While the war was ongoing, the secret guards’ propaganda team had already entered Jiangnan. They would describe the current prosperity of the north to the common people.
“What do these merchants want? Aren’t merchants very free in Qingzhou Province? What else do they want?” Guo Ming said with some emotion.
“Power!” Lu Fei looked at Songjiang City. “Everything he is doing now is for his own self-interest. For this, he is willing to sell out interests to Western nations. If his conspiracy truly succeeds, Jiangnan will completely become a colony of Western nations in the future.”
Guo Ming nodded. “Jiangnan belongs to the Great Yu Empire; no one can take it away.”
As the two were speaking, a sudden “rumble” sounded, and the front city wall collapsed under the fierce bombardment of artillery.
Gray smoke and dust, accompanying the collapsing city wall, obscured the entire battlefield.
Lu Fei’s spirits lifted. He said, “Sound the bugle.”
As his voice fell, the melodious sound of the charge bugle rang out.
The soldiers in the trenches then scrambled out of the trenches, shouting, “Charge!”
Immediately, dense masses of soldiers in skirmish lines charged towards the collapsed city wall.
Under the fierce firepower of the Huben Army, the council army had long been so beaten that they couldn’t find their bearings. Now, the loud shouts of “charge” were like the voice of a demon, causing many soldiers to collapse.
Yao Hongtao was covered in dust. His forehead, struck by shrapnel, was bleeding, but he could no longer pay attention to so much. Looking at the imperial soldiers continuously pouring into the city, he shouted, “Form ranks! Form ranks!”
There were reserve council soldiers below the city wall. They quickly rushed to the collapsed section of the city wall, standing in three ranks behind it, aiming their flintlock guns at the breach.
The Huben soldiers, seeing this scene, immediately crawled among the debris of the collapsed city wall. Raising their rifles, they fiercely fired at the densely formed council army.
Because of sufficient accuracy, the Huben soldiers wielding Falcon Rifles could achieve the effect of a dense formation even without forming one. However, the council army evidently had not anticipated this.
They waited for the imperial soldiers to charge, but only bullets greeted them.
In an instant, the densely arrayed council soldiers were shot down by the Huben soldiers. Finally, in hysterical terror, they completely collapsed.
A hint of despair appeared in Yao Hongtao’s eyes. Now, he finally understood the disparity between the two armies. From the very beginning, they were destined to lose.
Watching the imperial soldiers continuously pouring into the city, Yao Hongtao smiled bitterly. In his eyes, the bullets fired by the imperial soldiers seemed to have eyes of their own. The soldiers fleeing everywhere were slaughtered like lambs.
He understood. Songjiang City had fallen.