25th of October, Chiyou City.
Before Ouyang Shuo entered the courtyard where Chiyou Blood Guards were trained, the smell of blood permeated the air.
"Open the door!"
Hearing this, the guard captain Chen Dameng strode forward and stomped on the wooden door. The wooden door shattered into pieces and scattered on the ground. He did not care about the lock on the door at all.
"How boorish!"
Ouyang Shuo shook his head and walked into the courtyard.
The scene in front of him caused Ouyang Shuo's face to instantly turn pale.
The inside of the courtyard was like an endless hell.
Inside the courtyard, there were broken limbs everywhere. The walls of the courtyard were stained with blood and covered with red palm prints. Even the ground was dyed deep red by the blood.
Countless flies and maggots were enjoying a rare 'feast' in the courtyard.
In a corner of the courtyard, there was a pool made of stone. It was five meters long and three meters wide. The strong smell of blood came from this pool.
Walking closer, it turned out to be a huge pool of blood. It was bottomless, and countless bones were soaking in the pool. The whole pool was filled with bright red blood, and it was bubbling from time to time.
Such a scene could only be found in hell!
Ouyang Shuo recalled the records in the Jiuli Blood Field Sutra and knew that the blood pool in front of him was the key to training the Blood Guards. Every day, the Blood Guards would soak in the pool to absorb blood energy.
The bones in the pool must be the captured Han people who were forcibly refined by the blood pool and turned into nourishment for the blood pool. Such a large pool of blood, how many lives must have been sacrificed?
Such a scene was intolerable by the heavens.
Only a Fiendgod would act so unscrupulously, treating human lives as grass and the Han people in his territory as pigs and dogs for him to slaughter.
Even Chen Dameng and the others turned pale upon seeing this, and had the urge to vomit.
"Open this place to the public for a day. After a day, burn it down." Ouyang Shuo's face was ashen. He no longer had the mood to watch and turned to leave.
"Yes!"
Chen Dameng responded with a heavy voice. His eyes were filled with anger.
As Han people, seeing their own people being persecuted like this, no one would feel good in their heart.
Once the secret of the courtyard was made public, it immediately caused a huge uproar in Chiyou City.
Not to mention the Han people in the city, even the mountain barbarians who saw this scene were filled with grief and indignation. Because the severed limbs in the courtyard all belonged to the barbarian soldiers.
Countless Han people and mountain barbarians who had lost their loved ones found their corpses in the courtyard. Each and every one of them cried their hearts out, making those who heard them shed tears.
Chi You's image took a nosedive.
The chiefs of the mountain barbarians no longer dared to put on airs. One by one, they ran to the City Lord's mansion and handed over their invitations, requesting to meet the Marquis of Lian Province and acknowledge his status as the Barbarian King.
Ouyang Shuo remained indifferent towards this.
Ouyang Shuo was prepared to temper these Mountain Barbarian Tribe Leaders a little more.
Rome was not built in a day.
After returning to the City Lord's Estate, Ouyang Shuo was still unable to calm down.
The scene of the blood pool kept replaying in his mind, unable to be erased. The cruelty of the wilderness was once again displayed in a bloody manner in front of Ouyang Shuo, striking at his nerves.
Originally, Ouyang Shuo thought that he was sufficiently unfeeling and capable of facing all cruelty with composure. Who would have thought that Chi You's actions would once again cross his bottom line?
The cruelty of the wilderness was more violent than Ouyang Shuo had expected.
The bones of the Emperor were not just empty words.
Ouyang Shuo could not help but ask himself, "Is he really prepared?"
"Reporting to the Marquis, there is urgent military news!"
The arrival of the intelligence officer interrupted Ouyang Shuo's thoughts.
Upon hearing this, Ouyang Shuo took the secret letter that the Military Intelligence Department had just obtained from the courier station. The secret letter was sent by Bai Qi, reporting the latest battle situation in Mulan Fortress.
Mulan Fortress.
After half a month of meticulous preparation, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom had sent countless siege weapons and rations to the Southern Barracks at the frontline.
Along with the rations, there was also a batch of secret weapons.
In addition, Hong Xiuquan had once again sent another 50,000 soldiers from Tianjing to the Southern Barracks. He had also made a threat that he would take down Mulan Fortress at all costs.
At this time, there were less than 40,000 soldiers stationed in Tianjing City.
Everyone thought that Hong Xiuquan had gone crazy.
In fact, Hong Xiuquan, who had been reborn, was not a brainless person. He had a secret weapon in his hands. He needed a port to realize his ambition.
Therefore, even if he had to pay a huge price, Hong Xiuquan would take down Mulan Fortress and Lianzhou County. For this reason, he did not hesitate to cooperate with Chiyou to deal with the threat from the east.
Hong Xiuquan's determination could not be shaken.
…
The Southern Army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was formed by merging the previous Southern Army and Western Army. Together with the 50,000 soldiers sent by Tianjing, the total number of soldiers reached 200,000, which was comparable to the Western Army.
The army was led by Yang Xiuqing, and the young general Li Xiucheng was the deputy general. In addition, there were two generals, Lin Fengxiang and Chen Yucheng, who served as the left and right generals respectively.
This time, Hong Xiuquan was determined to take down Mulan Fortress and open up the estuary of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.
On the 24th of October, the day before Ouyang Shuo led his troops to Chiyou City, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's Southern Army stationed in front of Mulan Fortress finally launched the first wave of fierce attacks on Mulan Fortress.
At this time, the defending troops of the fortress included the Third Division, the Fourth Division, and the Fifth Division of the Dragonxiang Legion. Apart from them, there was also the First Division of the City Guard Division led by Zhao Sihu.
As for the Lianzhou County Guard Division, they were still on standby in Mulan City.
The Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's first wave of attack suffered an unprecedented heavy blow.
Mulan Fortress was known as the number one fortress of the Southern Border. Countless manpower, material, and financial resources were spent on it. It took almost half a year to build. How could it be easy? The 100 Three Bow Eight Bull Bed Crossbows and more than 50 catapults on the fortress gave the Southern Army of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom a head-on blow.
Before the Southern Army could even get close to the foot of the city wall, the 50,000 vanguard troops were crushed by the rain of arrows and stones.
The arrows shot by the Three Bow Eight Bull Bed Crossbows not only had a very long range, but also a large number of them. They were also very fast. They were like rows of human flesh harvesters.
A total of one hundred Three Bow Eight Bull Bed Crossbows, in addition to one hundred and fifty ordinary bed crossbows, were installed on the city walls, forming a dense defensive net.
The sky was filled with arrows, just like a modern machine gun, pouring out bullets without stopping.
In just one morning, the bed crossbows had used up more than 50,000 arrows. It was truly terrifying. Only Shanhai City, which was a large city with a large industry, could withstand such a huge arrow consumption.
In addition to the bed crossbows, the catapults were also not to be outdone.
The stones used in Mulan Fortress were all modified "fireballs." The Fierce Fire Oil that Ouyang Shuo had purchased crazily a year ago showed its power again.
After being poured with the Fierce Fire Oil and ignited, the huge stone balls turned into huge fireballs that drew death arcs in the air and smashed into the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's battle formation.
The dense battle formation was simply a "paradise" for fireballs.
A fireball smashed down and caused a large number of casualties. Countless soldiers were splashed by the flames. Their bodies were set on fire, and they screamed and fled in all directions. Wherever the fireballs rolled, the soldiers fled.
The number of fireballs in the sky was simply uncountable.
At this moment, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's army was immediately thrown into chaos and couldn't form a battle formation at all.
With the help of the Three Bow Eight Bull Bed Crossbows and the catapults, the Southern Army had lost more than 15,000 soldiers on the first day of the fierce attack. However, they hadn't even touched the city wall of Mulan Fortress.
This time, both Yang Xiuqing and Li Xiucheng were greatly shocked.
Such a fortress was not something that could be conquered by human power.
Just when Bai Qi thought that the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's army would retreat, the next day, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom launched another fierce attack on Mulan Fortress. It seemed that they wouldn't stop until they achieved their goal.
Faced with the super powerful firepower of Mulan Fortress, the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's secret weapon had to appear in advance. As the army moved forward, five cannons appeared in the battle formation.
These cannons were Hong Xiuquan's secret weapon.
Hong Xiuquan's uprising happened in the late Qing Dynasty. The use of firearms had become extremely widespread. Therefore, when Hong Xiuquan appeared in the wilderness, he automatically obtained the Ming Dynasty Firearms Manufacturing Technical Manual.
Unfortunately, the manufacturing of firearms had extremely high requirements for both materials and craftsmanship, and the failure rate was extremely high. Moreover, most firearms had limited power and couldn't be used in a large-scale army.
The reason why Hong Xiuquan was determined to attack Mulan Fortress was that he wanted to conquer Lianzhou County, then obtain a port, build warships, and install cannons to realize his ambition.
The power of the five cannons was indeed extraordinary.
Faced with the impenetrable walls of Mulan Fortress, the cannons smashed many large holes on the walls. If the situation continued like this, Mulan Fortress might really be penetrated by the cannons.
Unfortunately, there were only five cannons, and their shooting range was short. They had to rely on the cover of the army, braving the dense firepower of the ballistae and catapults to advance to the edge of the walls before they could fire.
For a moment, both sides suffered heavy losses.
The walls of Mulan Fortress were heavily damaged, and the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom's army also suffered heavy losses. Even a precious cannon was smashed by a catapult and destroyed on the spot.
A day passed, and Mulan Fortress was finally safe and sound. That night, Bai Qi ordered the Lianzhou County Garrison Division to immediately enter Mulan Fortress to assist in its defense.
The Taiping Southern Army didn't have it easy either. After one day, they lost more than 10,000 soldiers. If they continued fighting like this, the Southern Army would probably collapse before Mulan Fortress was breached.
That night, Yang Xiuqing sent a letter to Hong Xiuquan, asking him to withdraw. She suggested that they change their strategic position and move to the North Sichuan Province.
Unfortunately, Hong Xiuquan rejected Yang Xiuqing's suggestion.
This was also the first time that the two of them disagreed with each other. After all, Yang Xiuqing's status in the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was second only to Hong Xiuquan. (To be continued.)
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