Firearms Show Their Might

To avoid suspicion, Shen Jingchuan didn't stay in the city. Instead, he stood far away on a hilltop outside the city, watching the siege.

As he looked at it, his brows furrowed.

This battle was not as simple as he had originally thought. Attacking the city was difficult, but the Government Army had a lot of tricks up their sleeves. They attacked from all sides at once, using siege towers, siege ladders, catapults, and battering rams, layer upon layer, pressing forward.

The crossbows on the city wall were somewhat effective against unarmored soldiers, but these Government Army were all fully armored and equipped with sophisticated weapons, so the crossbows alone were simply not enough to suppress them.

Of course, the defending troops also had other methods.

Boil water, add excrement, and cook it until it's scalding hot. This is called "golden juice." Pour it down the wall, and the flesh that touches it will rot.

The logs and stones had been prepared for three months, piled up like a small mountain, and were smashed down one by one.

The solution to the siege tower was to use rockets, but the siege tower was covered with iron sheets, so the rockets couldn't hit it, and the defenders were at a loss for a while.

Fortunately, the soldiers in Yuxi were all fully armored, so the casualties could be kept under control for a while. However, as time went on, more and more soldiers fell.

This army of 350,000 was organized into 35 units of 10,000 men each, each headed by a commander of 10,000 men.

Lin Shan, Lin Yue, and Zhou Tong were considered his confidants, and they were all directly promoted to commanders of ten thousand.

Lin Shan and Lin Yue had fought in battles, needless to say. Zhou Tong, though he had never been on the battlefield, was a war fanatic who grasped concepts quickly. After learning from him for some time, he was starting to look quite professional.

Each of the three men was assigned a machine gun and was assigned to guard the east, west, and north gates respectively.

The south gate was the main direction of attack. Hu Tieniu personally oversaw the operation, with a 23mm twin-barreled machine gun mounted behind the wall. No one was allowed to touch it; it was operated by his personal guards, while he himself stood on the city tower to direct the attack.

Seeing the well-maintained walls pressing down on the city walls, making it impossible for the soldiers around him to raise their heads, and seeing them fall one by one, Hu Tieniu's anger flared up.

He slammed his hand on the wall and roared, "Beat it! Blow that tall structure down first!"

The guards, who had been holding their breath for a long time, pulled the trigger at the sound and fired two shots at once, hitting the well curb with two loud thuds.

With a deafening roar, the tall, slender watchtower snapped in two, and the archers atop it crumbled to pieces.

Hu Tieniu didn't even look at it, and pointed to the ladder truck at the back.

"Hit that one!"

The machine guns turned and fired again, hitting several ladder trucks and smashing them to pieces, while the soldiers pushing the trucks were blown to pieces.

However, those ladders that were already pressed against the wall and secured with iron hooks were too close to be easily fired from by artillery, so they were left in place for the time being.

The cannon barrel was turned and aimed at the catapults behind the formation.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Shells rained down one after another, shattering light and heavy catapults one by one. Counterweight boxes and long arms were blown to pieces, and a large number of the Government Army operating the artillery nearby were killed or wounded.

Those fifteen heavy catapults were all rendered useless in the blink of an eye.

Hu Tieniu watched from the city wall and burst into laughter.

"Damn it, come on again!"

After this bombardment, all the Government Army' siege towers and catapults were destroyed, leaving only the ladders pasted on the walls.

This ladder is easy to make.

Buckets of molten gold were poured down from the city walls, followed by rolling logs and stones. Soldiers climbing ladders screamed as they fell, and not one of them made it to the top of the city wall.

Without the suppression of arrow towers and catapults, the crossbowmen on the city walls unleashed their full power.

Ten thousand crossbows fired simultaneously, arrows raining down like water, aimed directly at the besieging crowd.

The shield-bearers at the front could hold on a bit longer with their large shields, but the Government Army behind them, who had no cover, fell one after another, leaving corpses everywhere.

The battle situation on the other three city walls was similar to that at the south gate.

Despite being called a feint attack, the Government Army launched a fierce offensive, employing everything from siege towers and battering rams to catapults, and the fighting reached a fever pitch on all sides.

Lin Shan guards the east gate, and Lin Yue guards the west gate.

Besides each of them mounting a machine gun on the wall, the two brothers also carried submachine guns on their bodies, which they had "robbed" from their homes, their girlfriends, and Shen Jingchuan.

Hu Tieniu also had one, but Zhou Tong was the only one who didn't.

However, bullets were precious, so no one was willing to use the submachine gun. They just carried it on their bodies for self-defense, keeping it for any eventuality.

On the east side, the Government Army's siege towers were close behind, and several siege ladders were also placed against the wall, making the battle fierce and stalemate intense.

Seeing the dire situation, Lin Shan gritted his teeth, turned and roared at the machine gunner, "Sweep that tall structure!"

Upon hearing the sound, the machine gunner turned his gun and fired a burst.

Although this heavy machine gun wasn't as powerful as a cannon, half a magazine of bullets was enough to send the well curb flying in wood chips, and it quickly fell apart.

Lin Shan then pointed to the catapults in the distance, and the machine guns followed with long-range bursts of fire, destroying one after another, though they did waste some bullets.

Lin Yue from Ximen was even more impatient than his older brother, so he simply lay down behind the machine gun and took over the gun himself.

He pushed the muzzle of his gun, first sweeping the well curb, then the battering ram, firing wherever the situation was dire. Bullets flew out in bursts, shattering the siege equipment that touched them.

Zhou Tong at the North Gate was using a machine gun for the first time in a real, live-fire battle.

He was a little awkward at first, but after a few rounds, he got the hang of it and became addicted to it.

He pulled the trigger, sweeping away the rampaging siege towers, ladders, and catapults one by one, turning them all into pieces of wood.

As the fighting continued, he simply lowered the muzzle of his gun and swept it across the group of shield soldiers below the wall.

Gunshots rang out like popping beans, and shields were blasted to smithereens, their flesh and blood flying everywhere as they fell in droves.

The defenders on the city wall were greatly encouraged by the sight, and they unleashed a barrage of crossbow bolts, firmly pinning the Government Army down beneath the wall.

In fact, we could have held out in this battle even without those firearms.

Although there were many Government Army outside the city, they could not gain any advantage by attacking the city. The city had sufficient food and water, and they could wear the enemy down by holding out.

However, that would result in much heavier casualties for the defending troops.

Most of these Rebel Army were first-timers, raw recruits who had never seen blood. But their families were all in the city, and to protect their parents, wives, and children, they were all risking their lives, fighting a bloody and bitter battle.

Furthermore, since everyone was wearing armor, making them difficult to injure with swords and arrows, the actual casualties were not that great.

Generals Hu Tieniu, Lin Shan, and Lin Yue all felt a pang of guilt watching their soldiers fall.

They cherished their brothers who followed them, preferring to waste more bullets and shells rather than let them sacrifice their own lives.

Inside the Government Army' ranks at the south gate, two cultivators, Xiao Xuan and Xiao Zhen, were watching from their horses.

They didn't care how many people died or were injured below the city walls; in their eyes, the lives of ordinary people were no different from those of weeds.

What they really cared about was the machine gun firing down from the city wall.

The thing emitted two streaks of fire, and as soon as it started to smoke, it shattered the well curb and the catapult into pieces. Its power was astonishing, far surpassing that of ordinary crossbows.

Both of their gazes fell on the cannon.

They had actually heard about it before they even left.

Among the peasant army in Yuxi Prefecture, there was a strange weapon that could fire a string of bullets at once, which was quite lethal. At the time, it was thought to be effective against ordinary people.

At this moment, they were about a mile, or five hundred meters, away from the battlefield. Watching the cannon smoke out and the siege tower and catapult shatter into pieces, they all understood that if this thing were to be fired at them, it would pose the same threat.

The two exchanged a glance.

Xiao Zhen lowered his voice and said, "I think this weapon poses a considerable threat to us cultivators."