"Please wait a moment, Your Majesty!" After descending the city wall, Ren Baqian slipped into the city commander's residence and stroked his spear. Then, he carried another box out of the city commander's residence and asked the guards to help him carry it back to the vicinity of the city wall.
The empress and Li Qianqiu were waiting under the protection of a group of winged cavalry warriors. When they saw the guards carrying the box behind Ren Baqian, they began to guess what was inside.
Ren Baqian asked the guard to open the box, revealing rows of black tubes.
It wasn't big, only about the length of a palm and about an inch in diameter.
"Principal Ren, what is this?" Li Qianqiu asked curiously as he picked up a stick and fiddled with it.
"Explosives!" Ren Baqian smiled.
This batch of explosives was obtained from the place where he bought guns on Earth. It was divided into two layers. The middle layer contained 300 grams of TNT, and the outer layer contained gunpowder. When the gunpowder exploded, the TNT would detonate.
Originally, this thing was prepared to be used for mining. There were 300 of them, and this box was half of them. In the end, he didn't use it at all. He had brought it with him when he left Lan City, and it just so happened that he could use it now.
"Explosives?" Li Qianqiu was puzzled.
The empress knew a little about explosives, but she didn't know how to use them.
"You will know in a while." After Ren Baqian finished speaking, everyone went up the city wall again.
Ren Baqian squatted down and tied the explosives to a few long arrows. Then, he cut off a section of the fuse at the back of the explosives before looking up at Li Qianqiu and saying, "Sir Li, I will have to trouble you to find someone to shoot this under the enemy's catapult later.
"Let me do it!" Li Qianqiu said.
In fact, to these aboriginal soldiers who had grown up hunting in the mountains, a distance of 200 meters wasn't something everyone could achieve.
However, he also wanted to see what Ren Baqian had come up with.
Ren Baqian had prepared a total of 22 catapults. The enemy only had a total of 20 catapults around Liao City.
After he was ready, Ren Baqian handed the bow and arrow to Li Qianqiu. Before Li Qianqiu could say anything, the bone arrow turned into a white line and pierced a catapult with a sharp sound.
Ren Baqian, "…"
Li Qianqiu had an expectant look on his face. Ten seconds later, he asked, "Why isn't there any reaction?"
"It hasn't been lit yet …" Ren Baqian was speechless.
"I forgot, I forgot!" Li Qianqiu laughed heartily. After laughing, he picked up another bone arrow and placed it on his bow.
Ren Baqian asked someone to bring a lit piece of wood to light the fuse and quickly said, "Alright, release!"
The fuse was still ten centimeters long. Logically speaking, it should not be a problem for more than ten seconds. However, he was afraid that something would go wrong with the fuse. If it was a quick shooter, then he would be in big trouble.
As soon as he finished speaking, Li Qianqiu's fingers loosened, and the bone arrow once again pierced through the air, traversing a distance of 200 meters and nailing itself onto the catapult.
Then, Li Qianqiu cast a probing look at Ren Baqian.
"Wait!" Ren Baqian used a pair of binoculars to look in that direction. At this moment, he couldn't see clearly whether the fuse was still burning.
However, it didn't take long before a loud "boom" was heard from the Great Xia army. Along with the sudden burst of flames, the catapults were instantly turned into fragments that flew in all directions. The fragments hit the iron shields at the front of the battle formation and produced a sound of collision.
A few soldiers who were reloading around the catapults were sent flying by the blast of the explosion. Two of the soldiers who were close to the catapults were only left with some broken corpses scattered everywhere.
"Boom!" Just as the Great Xia army was shocked by this sudden unforeseen event, another explosion occurred within their battle formation. This time, it was the unlit explosive tube that was blown into the Great Xia battle formation and exploded again. At least a dozen soldiers in a radius of more than ten meters were sent flying by this explosion, and the soldiers within a radius of five meters were directly blown to pieces.
"Good stuff!" Li Qianqiu exclaimed in delight when he saw this scene from the city wall.
"Use this box sparingly and use it specifically to deal with their siege equipment. Without the siege equipment, they probably can't do anything other than besiege the city.
If we continue to waste time here, they will need to consume a large amount of food, "Ren Baqian exhorted. He was afraid that Li Qianqiu would squander it as he pleased.
"With this thing, no matter how many people they send, they can only watch from below." Li Qianqiu laughed heartily and patted Ren Baqian's shoulder.
Subsequently, he instructed a few guards to use the bone arrows according to the method just now.
After witnessing the explosion within the Great Xia battle formation, these guards were very careful and immediately shot out the bone arrows as soon as they were lit. They were afraid that the arrows would explode in their hands.
Every one or two minutes, they could see a burst of fire in front of the Great Xia battle formation and the sound of an explosion.
In just a short while, the six catapults in the east of Lan City were turned into a pile of broken wood. Following which, a few explosions could be heard from the north of the city, followed by the east.
In just a short while, all the catapults of the Great Xia army had been turned into broken wood along with hundreds of soldiers who were either killed by the explosives or injured by the broken wood.
"Look after this thing and take good care of it. If anything goes wrong, I will hold you responsible," Li Qianqiu said sternly to the guards behind him.
"Don't worry, Protector General."
"Don't let it come into contact with an open flame or bump into it. You must store it carefully. Place it in a cool and dry place, and remember not to come into contact with fire. " Ren Baqian exhorted repeatedly. Earthlings knew the danger of this thing and that it couldn't come into contact with fire, but he was still a little worried about the people of Dayao.
If these things exploded, he estimated that a quarter of Liao City would be destroyed.
"Sir, don't worry." The guards behind him cupped their hands.
With these catapults destroyed, Great Xia probably wouldn't launch another attack today. Li Qianqiu continued to stay on the city wall to inspect while Ren Baqian followed the empress back to the city commander's residence.
On the way back, Ren Baqian opened his eyes wide and spoke nonsense, "Her Majesty has lost some weight." The empress wasn't an ordinary person, so her body naturally wouldn't become fat or skinny just because she ate more or less.
The empress, on the other hand, was very pleased and lightly glanced at him.
The guards behind him looked up at the sky and pretended that they didn't hear anything.
…
In the north of Liao City, in a large tent behind the tens of thousands of soldiers, a general with hair and beard was standing in front of a table, looking at the map on it. From time to time, he would make gestures on it.
"Great General!" A middle-aged man who looked like a scholar came in from outside the tent and cupped his hands.
In the tent was the commander of the 700,000-strong army, the champion general, Marquis Wusheng, Jin Ling.
His reputation among the people of Great Xia was far inferior to that of Hong Wu in Dayao. This was also because Great Xia hadn't made any progress in the south for 70 years. In fact, his reputation in the imperial court was extremely high, and he could be said to be one of the top three in the army.
In just a few decades, Wu Shenghou had risen from a commoner to a Rank 3 Great General. From this, one could see a thing or two about Wu Shenghou's status.
He had been stationed at the border for more than 20 years and had prepared for more than 20 years. Even in his dreams, he had been thinking about how to attack Dayao. Now, he could finally achieve his lifelong wish. The current situation of the war was also in line with his expectations. Next, it would depend on who was better.
"How's Lu Pinghai's injury?" Wu Shenghou asked without raising his head.
"Great General, Lu Pinghai's injury has already recovered by half. He should be fine in another month." The scholar cupped his hands.
"There's still time," Wu Shenghou said softly.
"Li Yuanzhu has sent a letter. She still doesn't agree," the scholar continued.
"As expected." Wu Shenghou wasn't surprised.
"Have you found Lu Zijian?"
"There's no news yet," the scholar continued. The whereabouts of the second most powerful expert in the world, Lu Zijian, had always been unpredictable.
As for the world's most powerful expert, Lin Xian, there had been no trace of her for several years. Many people suspected that she was no longer in this world, or that she had broken through the legendary boundary.
"Do you think that Qi Zixiao will leave Liao City?" Wu Shenghou asked casually.
"Absolutely not! If she leaves Liao City, she will be abandoning the tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in Liao City. Qi Zixiao will never do such a thing. Unless it's a matter of life and death, she won't leave if she drags on like this, "the scholar said decisively.
Wu Shenghou nodded. It was exactly what he thought.
By the time she wanted to leave, it would already be too late.
Wu Shenghou moved his finger from one point to another on the map. Finally, he pressed his finger on one of the points. That was where his target was.
Not only was it the only way to Lan City and the Protectorate of the North, but it was also the only way to return to the Protectorate of the Northeast.
As long as he occupied this place, even if Qi Zixiao could escape, she would lose a large piece of fertile land in the north …
"Is there any news from the Yun Nation?"
"They are still quarreling in the imperial court," the scholar replied softly.
"Have they forgotten that they were almost wiped out by those barbarians?" Wu Shenghou sneered in disdain. "Those fellows who are full of the aura of merchants …"
"Even without them, with the Great General's long preparation, it's not impossible to take down Dayao," the scholar immediately added. "The walls of Lan City are only six meters thick. These catapults will be able to break through Liao City."
One had to know that the walls of Tiesuo Pass, Shun City, and Ziyue City in the north were all 20 meters thick. Tiesuo Pass was even 30 meters thick. On the other hand, the walls of Lan City were only six meters thick. As long as the catapults hit it a few more times, they would be able to create a breach.
"We can't enter even if we break it!" Wu Shenghou said faintly.
In a place like the city, the strong individual strength of the aboriginals could be unleashed. He would rather let the aboriginals die near the city walls than let the soldiers enter the city to fight the aboriginals. Those aboriginal commoners would probably cause a lot of casualties.
Not to mention, there were also the winged cavalry warriors inside.
However, if the city walls were really broken through, those thunder cannons that had been developed would come in handy.
At the thought of the cannons in his hands called the Myriad Flower Bomb, Wu Shenghou felt that the imperial court should really reward those craftsmen handsomely.
Just as the two of them were chatting, they heard a few loud sounds that were different from the sound of huge rocks smashing on the city walls.
"Which bastard used the thunder cannons?" This kind of explosion immediately made Wu Shenghou think of the Vulcan cannons and the thunder fire powder that were stored in the army.
Then, Wu Shenghou rejected this idea. Without his order, who would dare to use the thunder cannons?
Just as he walked out of the big tent, he heard another loud sound in front of the battle formation.
"Boom!"
Wu Shenghou frowned. What exactly was going on? This was clearly the sound of the thunder cannons being fired. However, the sound was much louder when it reached here.
Before he could figure it out, there were a few more loud sounds in front of him.
"Someone, go and see what's going on," Wu Shenghou said in a deep voice.
After a quarter of an hour, a general wearing iron armor came back. He knelt on one knee and said, "Great General, I don't know why, but a fireball suddenly appeared out of nowhere at the catapult. It was very powerful and completely destroyed the catapult."
After another quarter of an hour, there were also urgent reports from the east and west. The catapults in those two directions had also been destroyed.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
