BXBX NOVEL Chapter 108: 108 War Begins i
Chapter 108: 108 War Begins i
He shouted to the soldiers behind him, “Yan County lies before our eyes! Warriors of the Barbarian Tribe, follow your prince into the charge!”
“Whoever captures North Prince will be rewarded by me with ten beautiful women and a thousand cattle and sheep!”
Hearing Xiao Hongbo’s words, the Barbarian soldiers instantly became exuberant, and the Barbarian Army hastened its march.
At the same time.
When Xiao Pengthian saw that the Barbarian soldiers were marching so much faster ahead, he instantly felt a strong unease.
It was too quiet!
Wanning Valley was too quiet!
The quietness was suffocating and oppressive.
Even if North Prince was truly defending Yan County and waiting for the Barbarians’ assault, there shouldn’t be no obstacles at all in Wanning Valley to block the advance of the Barbarian Army.
Xiao Pengthian had previously clashed with the army of Great Sum and knew their methods; when defending a city, they would certainly construct some barriers to impede the Cavalry’s advance.
In the past when they raided to the south, even the small cities they looted had obstacles constructed by the soldiers to stop the Barbarian Cavalry. It made no sense that the defenders of Yan County wouldn’t do the same.
Was that normal?
Definitely not.
Xiao Pengthian suspected that the defenders of Yan County were deliberately allowing them to get close or, perhaps, purposely letting them enter Wanning Valley.
He hoped he was overthinking it, yet if the Yan County defenders were indeed allowing them into Wanning Valley intentionally, that would spell big trouble.
At this moment, the Barbarian Army was nearly upon the city.
The soldiers of Yan County had made their preparations, and the soldiers of the Artillery camp on both sides of Wanning Valley had adjusted the howitzers to the correct angle. Now, they waited only for Lu Chen to give the command.
As the black mass of Barbarian Cavalry grew closer, the thunderous sound of their horses’ hooves also grew louder. Under the influence of these sounds, everyone’s heartbeats involuntarily quickened.
Lu Chen personally approached one of the howitzers, then adjusted its angle, aiming it at the location of Xiao Hongbo.
Lu Chen had no intention of adhering to any code of martial honor, nor did he plan to take Xiao Hongbo alive. If he could kill him with a cannon shot, that was the best option.
Naturally, Xiao Hongbo also saw the howitzers on the city wall. However, they paid them no mind, believing them to merely be trebuchets.
To these Master Level experts, such trebuchets posed no threat; a direct charge was all that was needed.
Watching the Barbarian Army draw closer, Lu Chen felt the timing was almost right and immediately pulled the firing pin.
The next moment, a 122mm howitzer shell soared into the sky and then plummeted toward several important figures of the Barbarians, leading the way for Xiao Hongbo.
As a Grandmaster level expert, Xiao Hongbo naturally detected the shell, but to him, it was just a stone.
Just as Xiao Hongbo readied himself to smash the stone with his axe, Xian Jia, a Grandmaster General among the Barbarians beside him, pushed off from his horse, leaping up more than ten meters into the air.
Watching this scene, even Lu Chen was astonished. Was this the true power of a Grandmaster, to jump so high with just physical strength?
However, at that moment, Xian Jia swung the giant axe in his hand toward the howitzer shell.
In the following instant, the howitzer shell exploded.
Boom…
With a deafening blast, the body of Xian Jia, the Grandmaster General of the Barbarian Tribe, was blown to pieces.
As the howitzer exploded, the soldiers in front of Xiao Hongbo were instantly killed or wounded without number, and Xiao Hongbo, along with another Barbarian Grandmaster, were blown several meters away by the explosion.
The originally exuberant Barbarian Army was instantly snapped awake by the blast.
They finally realized something was amiss.
The Barbarian Army, which had been marching at full speed, suddenly halted, and the whole army descended into chaos.
“My God! What on earth was that!”
“Grandmaster… Grandmaster! Could there be a Grandmaster in Yan County!”
“The North Prince is injured!”
“We must avenge the North Prince!”
“Attack!!!”
The already chaotic Barbarian Army hesitated for a moment before launching a charge, something Lu Chen hadn’t anticipated.
But this wasn’t surprising as it had only been a single cannonball; they hadn’t yet realized the terror of the grenade cannons.
Lu Chen admired their bravery, though sometimes being too rash wasn’t a good thing.
Lu Chen then shouted loudly, “Fire!”
The next moment, the archers and artillery on the city walls initiated their attack together.
Countless arrows rained down from above.
And the grenade cannons exploded among the ranks of the Barbarian Army, shattering men and horses alike. Coupled with the narrowness of the Wanning Valley, a single blast caused widespread destruction.
In an instant, uncountable numbers of barbarian soldiers were dead or injured.
At the same time.
The artillery camp, lying in ambush on both sides of the Wanning Valley, did not attack immediately; they were waiting for Xiao Pengthian and his fifty thousand soldiers to enter their firing range.
At that moment, Xiao Pengthian realized that the Barbarian Army in front was suddenly thrown into disarray and immediately understood that something must have happened.
Without a moment’s hesitation, he turned around and said to the soldiers behind him, “Be on guard at our rear! Prepare to charge!”
Xiao Pengthian’s reaction was remarkably quick; he even sensed they were about to be surrounded before the Black Cavalry revealed themselves.
Seeing Xiao Pengthian’s forces becoming alert, an artilleryman said to Mu Jingwu beside him, “Captain Mu, if we don’t attack now, the ammunition in Yan County will have all been expended soon.”
Yan County didn’t have many grenade cannons, and most of the cannonballs were allocated to the artillery camps on both sides of the Wanning Valley.
Mu Jingwu glanced at Xiao Pengthian’s fifty thousand soldiers and then shouted loudly, “All units, prepare! Open fire!”
At the command, dozens of shells fell into the midst of the Barbarian Army, blowing the limbs of the Barbarian Cavalry into the air. Soil flew up to heights of over a dozen meters, with some Barbarian Cavalry being buried alive by the blast-ejected earth.
The explosion was not far from Xiao Pengthian and his forces, and the sight of the army’s grim condition in front prompted the fifty thousand barbarian soldiers behind Xiao Pengthian to think of retreat.
“Wolf God, what kind of weapon is that!”
“Since when did Great Xia possess such terrifying weapons!”
“General, we’ve been tricked!”
“General, we should retreat fast!”
Seeing the Barbarian soldiers scattered in the air, Xiao Pengthian naturally understood they had been tricked. Right now, the most critical task was to protect the retreat route at the rear to ensure that their Barbarian Cavalry could withdraw from the Wanning Valley.
Otherwise, under the bombardment of that mysterious weapon from Great Xia, their three hundred thousand Barbarian Cavalry might all meet their end in the Wanning Valley.
Seeing Xiao Pengthian preparing to retreat with his fifty thousand troops, the artillerymen on both sides of the Wanning Valley grew anxious. They had nearly tens of thousands of Barbarian soldiers in their sights; they couldn’t just let them escape.
Immediately, some artillerymen adjusted the direction of the grenade cannons, targeting Xiao Pengthian’s fifty thousand troops and firing away.
When a shell exploded in the crowd, in that instant, Xiao Pengthian’s fifty thousand strong force was thrown into complete disarray.
Seeing this scene, Xiao Pengthian knew they had to retreat quickly, and he shouted loudly, “Retreat! The entire army, retreat!”
Following that, the Messenger Soldier took out the horn and sounded the signal for retreat.
Wuuwuuwuu——– !!!!