BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The violent explosions echoed between heaven and earth like thunderclaps, making even the ground tremble faintly.
Flames carried shattered stones soaring into the sky before they rained back down like a tempest. Soldiers clad in Wei State armor were hurled away by the shockwaves, the crisp crack of shattering armor intertwining with piercing screams without end.
"The city wall! The city wall's been blasted down!"
A Wei soldier crouched behind a broken wall, pointing at the row of steam cannons outside the city, white smoke billowing from them. His voice was thick with terror.
"What kind of monster is that?! How can it be so powerful?"
Another soldier gripped his spear, staring at the ruins before him with despair written all over his face.
"General! What do we do, General?!"
Someone tried to find their commander, only to see that beside the battlements not far away, the general's corpse had been buried more than halfway beneath the rubble. "The general... the general was blown away!"
"Where are the Wei Martial Gray-Heads? Go destroy those monsters!"
Someone roared, trying to rouse one final scrap of resistance.
But the response was an even heavier despair. "The Wei Martial Gray-Heads were slaughtered by the Blood-Clad Army the moment they left the city! Not a single one came back!"
Outside Chenyi, dozens of steam cannons stood in neat rows. Their muzzles still belched scorching white smoke, their bodies shuddering as they continuously launched iron shells packed with gunpowder at the city walls.
Chenyi's walls, never particularly sturdy to begin with, had long since been riddled with holes beneath such bombardment. At last, they collapsed with a thunderous crash, becoming a field of ruins.
The defenders atop the walls were either dead or wounded, and had long since lost the courage to