Chapter 508- Ming Dynasty Cannon
Translator: ryangohsf
Editor: Nora
10th month, 25th day, Chiyou City.
Before Ouyang Shuo even walked into the courtyard where Chiyou trained the Blood Guards, a bloody scent gushed out from within.
"Open up the gates!"
The Royal Guards Captain Chen Dameng, stepped up and kicked the wooden gate into pieces after he heard this command. He smashed the door aside, not even bothering about the lock.
"So rough!"
Ouyang Shuo shook his head and walked into the courtyard.
What he saw inside caused his face to instantly turn ashen white.
Inside the courtyard, it was practically hell on earth.
He saw broken limbs scattered everywhere. Blood covered the courtyard walls, and there were many bloody handprints. Even the floor was dyed in blood.
Numerous flies and bugs were enjoying a ‘feast’ in the courtyard.
At the corner of the courtyard was a stone pool, five meters long and three meters wide. A thick blood scent permeated from the pool.
Upon closer inspection, it was actually a massive blood pool, an utterly bottomless pit with many white bones dispersed. Fresh blood filled the entire pool, and it would occasionally bubble.
Wasn't such a scene only possible in hell?
Ouyang Shuo remembered the contents he skimmed through in the manual. He knew that this pool was the key. Each day, the Blood Guards would soak themselves in the pool to absorbed the vigor and vitality from the blood.
The bones in the pool must belong to the Han Race people, who were captured to become the nutrients of this pool. Such a huge pool of blood, how many people were actually sacrificed?
Such a scene was grievously immoral.
Only the devil would do such a thing, treating human life like dirt and the Han people in his territory like dogs.
Even the faces of Chen Dameng and the others turned ashen white when they saw this scene, and they were about to vomit.
"Open this land to the public for a day. After that, destroy it." Ouyang Shuo did not have the heart to continue looking so he turned around.
"Yes, my Lord!"
Chen Dameng replied resolutely; anger filled his eyes.
As a person from the Han race, seeing his people face such treatment, he obviously did not feel good.
The moment the mystery of the courtyard was revealed, it immediately caused an uproar amongst the people.
Do not mention the Han people, even when the mountain barbarians saw this scene, they felt furious, as some of the broken limbs belonged to the mountain barbarian warriors.
Numerous loved ones, be it Han people or mountain barbarians, found the bodies of their family members in the courtyard. They cried out in agony.
The image of Chiyou tumbled.
The tribal leaders of the various tribes did not dare to act arrogantly anymore. They all ran to the Lord's Manor to meet the Lianzhou Lord and recognize his position as Barbarian King.
Ouyang Shuo did not care much about these actions.
He was planning to make these tribe leaders a little more eager.
After he returned to the manor, Ouyang Shuo still was not able to calm down.
The scene of the bloody pool replayed numerous times in his head; he could not wipe it away. The cruelness of the wilderness had appeared in front of him and knocked on his senses.
Originally, Ouyang Shuo thought that he was cruel enough, thought that he could face all kinds of cruel acts. Who knew that Chiyou’s actions would once again cross his bottom line.
The cruelness of the wilderness far surpassed his expectations.
No wonder they said that blood and bones filled one’s road to emperor.
Ouyang Shuo could not help but ask himself, Was he really prepared?
"Lord, there's urgent military matters!"
The military intelligence officer's arrival broke his train of thought.
When Ouyang Shuo heard these words, he took the letter the military intelligence officer had received from the relay. The letter was from Baiqi, and it reported the latest situation at the Mulan Stronghold.
Mulan Stronghold.
After half a month of preparation, they had transported numerous siege weapons and grain resources to the South Camp.
A batch of secret weapons arrived along with the items.
Apart from that, Hong Xiuquan sent an extra fifty thousand troops. He even sent the orders that they would stop at nothing to take down Mulan Stronghold.
The current Tianjing City had less than forty thousand troops stationed.
Everyone thought that Hong Xiuquan was crazy.
In reality, how could the Hong Xiuquan who was given a second life be a fool? In his hands, he held a secret manual that needed a harbor to fulfil his ambition.
Hence, even if he paid the greatest of prices, he needed to take down Mulan Stronghold and attack Lianzhou Prefecture. As such, he worked together with Chiyou.
Hong Xiuquan's determination would not be shaken.
……
The south army of the Taiping Country was formed from the south and west troops, along with the fifty thousand from Tianjing, they now had a total of two hundred thousand troops.
The main general was Yang Xiuqing, with young general Li Xiucheng as the deputy general. Apart from them, there were two other generals, Li Fengxiang and Chen Yucheng, who were the generals of the left and right troops respectively.
Hong Xiuquan was determined to take down Mulan Stronghold and open up Taiping Country to the ocean.
A day before Ouyang Shuo arrived at Chiyou City, during the 10th month, 24th day, the south troops finally attacked Mulan Stronghold.
Defending the stronghold were the 3rd, 4th, and 5th divisions of the Dragon Legion. Apart from that would be the 1st division of the Tiger Legion led by Zhao Sihu.
As for the Lianzhou Prefecture Garrison Division, they were awaiting orders in Mulan City.
The first wave of Taiping Country had suffered unprecedented casualties.
As the top stronghold in Nanjiang, how much money and manpower was thrown into the Mulan Stronghold? There were a one hundred three bow arcuballistas and fifty trebuchets, which launched a huge welcoming blow to the south army.
Before they even got close to the foot of the city wall, rocks and arrows pelted them.
The three blow arcuballistas shot out sharp arrows. Not only were the weapons long ranged, it also shot in high quantities. It was basically a human meat grinder.
A total of one hundred three bow arcubalistas and 150 normal arcubalistas were placed on the walls, forming a huge defensive line.
The arrow rain was like a modern day machine gun, recklessly spending ammo.
In just a morning, they had used up fifty thousand arrows and bolts, a terrifying number. Only Shanhai City could manage such a huge consumption of bolts and arrows.
Apart from the arcubalistas, the trebuchets were also highly destructive.
Mulan Stronghold had prepared modified fireballs from the stones. The alchemical fire oil that Ouyang Shuo had crazily purchased a year ago appeared once more.
The soldiers covered numerous giant stone balls in oil. After ignition, they became giant fireballs that smashed into the Taiping Country army formation.
The closely packed formation was virtually heaven for the fireball.
The moment one smacked down, it caused a wide area of damage. The fire burned numerous soldiers, who let out cries of pain.
The number of fireballs were uncountable.
This time, the Taiping Country forces were thrown into total chaos, and they could not even form up.
Under both of these defence weapons, in just one day, the south troops lost fifteen thousand soldiers. Moreover, they had not even touched the wall of the stronghold.
This time, be it Yang Xiuqing or Li Xiucheng, both were stunned.
Such a fortress was not something anyone could take down.
Just as Baiqi thought that the Taiping Country Army would back off, they actually mercilessly assaulted the stronghold again on the second day. They seemed to be following the notion of ‘Not stopping till they got what they wanted.’
In front of the firepower of Mulan Stronghold, they had no choice but to bring the secret weapon of Taiping Country out early. Along with the army, in the midst of their formation, five cannons appeared.
These cannons were Hong Xiuquan’s secret weapons.
When Hong Xiuquan started the uprising, the Qing Dynasty was reaching its end. The use of cannons were really commo. Hence, when he appeared, he naturally obtained the Ming Dynasty Firearm Making Technical Manual.
Helplessly, the making of cannons, be it the requirements on raw materials or skill, were very high level. As a result, the failure rate was extremely high as well. Moreover, increasing the number of cannons would not increase the damage output once they gathered too many, so it was not suitable to equip a large-scale army with these weapons.
Hong Xiuquan wanted to attack Mulan Stronghold because he wanted to find a port to build warships. After equipping them with cannons, he could fulfil his ambition.
Five cannons formed an astounding strength.
Facing the copper and iron gates and walls of the stronghold, they blew hole after hole. If this continued, Mulan Stronghold would actually fall.
Regretfully, they only possessed five cannons, which also had a short range. As such, they needed to use troops to protect the cannons and pushed them near the wall under the fire of the arcuballistas and trebuchets.
All of a sudden, both sides suffered heavy damage.
The walls of Mulan Stronghold were damaged, while Taiping Country lost troops. A trebuchet had even destroyed one of their cannons.
A day had passed and Mulan Stronghold. Although the cannons had surprised them, they did not face true danger yet. That night, Baiqi immediately ordered the Lianzhou Prefecture Garrison Division to move in to help the defense.
The Taiping Country south troops similarly were not feeling good, as they had lost ten thousand more soldiers. If this carried on, the south army would collapse before they even passed the stronghold.
That night, Yang Xiuqing sent a letter to Hong Xiuquan, asking to retreat. He advised they changed the strategic position to Chuanbei Province on the north.
Regretfully, Hong Xiuquan rejected his suggestion.
This was also the first time the two of them had differing opinions. One must know that the position of Yang Xiuqing in Taiping Country was only second to that of Hong Xiuquan.