The first coordinated volley of more than one hundred super giant trebuchets from Sauron’s great army, one hundred gunpowder packs smashing down onto Zhiwei’s great army’s giant crossbow positions and trebuchet positions!
“Boom boom boom boom…”
Gigantic fireballs, rolling thick smoke, completely enveloped the entire battlefield.
In Gui Xingfu’s secret letter, not a single word was mentioned about Heaven Shaking Thunder.
So, Zhiwei’s one hundred fifty thousand great army was seeing this heaven shaking, earth shattering explosion for the first time, truly their livers and gallbladders torn asunder.
It was completely like the mountains shaking and the earth trembling.
The power of a total of fifty thousand jin of gunpowder exploding was incomparably astonishing!
On Zhiwei’s great army’s positions, one could only see the incomparably giant trebuchets, like children’s toys, directly torn apart by a colossal force and sent flying in all directions.
And the giant crossbows fared even worse, directly pulverised into pieces.
Soldiers near the explosion were directly pulverised into pieces.
And soldiers several dozen to one hundred metres away were also directly sent flying horizontally, vomiting blood.
Countless war horses reared up in fright, desperately galloping madly, causing chaos in Zhiwei’s great army’s cavalry formations.
With just this one round of coordinated volley, Sauron had thrown Zhiwei’s great army into complete disarray.
One hundred fifty thousand great army, their faces ashen, looking at each other in dismay.
What, what kind of weapon was this?
Heaven Shaking Thunder? Or Earth Shaking Thunder?
Why such loud noise, such astonishing momentum?
Duke Zhiwei’s face completely changed colour. He was not entirely ignorant about Heaven Shaking Thunder.
Sauron had blown up Duke Lanshi, the ruler of the Ye Lan Duchy, which the Dragon God Temple defined as angering the Dragon God, divine lightning descending from heaven.
But Zhi Li directly judged this was done by Sauron, using a very special explosive substance to blow up Duke Lanshi.
Zhi Li had not never seen similar things. The Demon Continent’s alchemists had created a type of **, and also a type of crystal that would produce terrifying explosions.
And this crystal was still used to this day as aerial signal arrows.
But whether it was the explosive ** or the explosive crystal, both were extremely expensive, fundamentally unable to be manufactured on a large scale.
In Zhi Li’s view, Sauron blowing up Duke Lanshi had already exhausted all the explosives manufactured by the secret sorcerers under his command.
He had not expected that Sauron would actually use this thing on the battlefield, and in such quantities.
Duke Zhiwei’s limbs felt somewhat cold. He knew this battle would be difficult to fight, perhaps truly needing to pile it up with lives!
…
The smoke dispersed!
Both Sauron and Zhiwei hurriedly examined the casualties caused by the first round of coordinated volley.
Zhiwei’s great army’s giant crossbow positions and giant trebuchet positions covered roughly half a square kilometre.
And at this time, it was completely pitted and cratered. Whether giant crossbows or giant trebuchets, the damage rate exceeded thirty percent.
Seeing this casualty rate, Sauron was overjoyed, while Zhiwei’s heart was completely bleeding.
The accuracy of trebuchets was extremely poor, unable to achieve even one percent accuracy within four to five hundred metres.
But four to five hundred jin gunpowder packs exploding were too astonishing, everything within several dozen metres completely pulverised.
More than one hundred gunpowder packs exploding on roughly one square kilometre of ground nearly achieved the effect of carpet bombing.
One could say, the more super giant trebuchets there were, the better the coverage effect.
Of course, the consumption of gunpowder was also extremely astonishing!
Sauron felt that the gunpowder accumulated over more than a year might be completely consumed in this great battle.
However, the griffin beasts’ air raid effect was much worse than imagined.
First, dropping from several hundred metres high altitude, if attacking a certain castle it would still be alright, but wanting to hit small targets was almost impossible, the error rate was too high.
Moreover, merely five griffin beasts were truly too few, unable to form carpet coverage.
Most crucially, when attacking Linhai City, the opponent had no dragon archers. But in Zhiwei’s great army, the number of dragon archers was fully several dozen, so attempting to drop gunpowder from the air and decapitate Duke Zhiwei was impossible.
Even if griffin beasts flew at five to six hundred metres high, they would be shot by dragon archers.
And if they flew to one to two thousand metres altitude, the air dropping error would be too great, and the so called aerial decapitation would lose its meaning.
Just now, five griffin beasts conducted aerial bombing drops on the enemy’s giant crossbows and trebuchet positions. As a result, one was hit by an enemy dragon archer from six hundred metres away, the neck directly pierced through, although not dead, but severely wounded.
Thus, Sauron immediately ordered, no longer using griffin beasts for combat, but rather for transmitting orders and observing the battlefield.
…
“Your Grace, of our fifty three giant trebuchets, nineteen have already been destroyed. Of two thousand three hundred giant crossbows, more than seven hundred have been destroyed. The trebuchet position casualties are more than three hundred, the giant crossbow position casualties are more than nine hundred!”
Duke Zhiwei received the casualty and damage report at the first moment.
Instantly, his scalp went numb in waves.
This was merely Sauron’s first round of coordinated volley.
His own side’s first round of coordinated volley had caused negligible damage to Sauron’s Wind Thunder Fortress defence line.
And Sauron’s first round of coordinated volley had caused such great losses.
He must immediately make a decision, whether to withdraw all trebuchets and giant crossbows, otherwise after merely four to five rounds of coordinated volley strikes, his own side’s long range attack equipment would be completely annihilated.
And once all long range firepower was withdrawn, then he would need to pile it up with human lives, and the casualty figures would be astronomical.
But if he did not withdraw them, his giant crossbow positions and trebuchet positions were completely in a passive role of being beaten.
“Do not withdraw…” Duke Zhiwei ordered, “Not only do not withdraw, the siege great army immediately prepare, coordinate with giant crossbows, coordinate with giant trebuchets, immediately begin siege. First wave siege great army, advance!”
“Yes!” the deputy commander roared loudly.
Then, heaven shaking war drums sounded!
“Boom boom boom boom boom…”
“Besiege the city! Besiege the city!”
Instantly, the siege troops that had long been assembled immediately began to run at full speed.
One square formation after another, several tens of thousands of great army like a tidal wave, charging towards the Wind Thunder Fortress defence line.
“Giant crossbow positions, switch to volley arrows, coordinated volley…”
“Giant trebuchet positions, coordinated volley…”
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
Dense arrow rain directly flew over the siege great army’s heads, like a rainstorm, fiercely smashing onto the Wind Thunder Fortress defence line.
“Thud thud thud thud…”
Soldiers on the city walls continuously fell, killed.
This time what Zhiwei’s great army’s giant crossbow positions shot were no longer three to four metre giant arrows, but rather two metre long thin arrows, one giant crossbow able to shoot ten arrows at a time.
So, the second round of coordinated volley directly shot out more than ten thousand arrows, taking the lives of more than one hundred of Sauron’s great army.
But, the soldiers on the city walls still stood like pillars, motionless.
At this time, they had to brave the arrow rain, truly being hit was bad luck, if they randomly dodged and ran about the casualties would be even greater.
Sauron and Zhuang Zhixuan rode on the griffin, overlooking the battlefield from several hundred metres high altitude.
Duke Zhiwei’s several tens of thousands of great army, under the fire cover of trebuchets and giant crossbows, madly charged towards the city walls.
A total of three square formations, thirty thousand great army, conducting the first round of siege, black and pressurising like a tidal wave surging forward.
Sauron’s side’s super giant trebuchets had been ten minutes since the first round of coordinated volley. There was no helping it, this kind of super giant trebuchet needed at least ten minutes to complete one firing.
“Super giant trebuchets, prepare, coordinated volley…”
A roar like heaven shaking thunder.
Instantly, more than one hundred giant gunpowder packs, drawing black lines through the air, once again smashed down towards Zhiwei’s great army’s giant crossbow positions and giant trebuchet positions.
“Boom boom boom boom boom…”
Once again heaven shaking, earth shattering explosions, once again fireballs shooting to the sky, rolling thick smoke completely obscuring the entire battlefield.
Zhiwei’s siege great army charged from both sides of the giant crossbow positions and trebuchet positions. But they were still affected by the heaven shaking explosions, several hundred soldiers sent flying with their bones scattered.
But thirty thousand siege great army still drew closer and closer, soon only three hundred metres from the Wind Thunder Fortress defence line city walls.
“Giant crossbows load volley arrows, prepare, fire…”
Several thousand giant crossbows on the Wind Thunder Fortress defence line all switched to ten arrow rows of thin arrows.
Instantly, several tens of thousands of arrows, like a rainstorm, smashed down towards Zhiwei’s siege great army.
“Thud thud thud thud…”
Countless blood flowers splattered, countless soldiers fell.
But even several tens of thousands of arrows of rain only brought casualties of merely over one thousand.
The remaining more than twenty eight thousand siege great army still ran madly with heads down, everyone knew that at this time they could only desperately run, fundamentally impossible to retreat.
“Siege enemy distance from city walls, two hundred metres! Archers prepare, medium scorpion trebuchets prepare, fire!” Sauron roared!
More than twenty thousand defending soldiers on the city walls suddenly released their bowstrings.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
Another round of several tens of thousands of arrows of rain smashed down, once again taking the lives of several hundred enemies.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
Several hundred medium trebuchets fired, several hundred gunpowder packs drawing arcs, smashing down into the siege great army’s ranks!
“Boom boom boom boom…”
Once again heaven shaking, earth shattering explosions.
Nearly one hundred thousand jin of gunpowder, exploding within several thousand square metres of positions.
Once again, countless soldiers pulverised into pieces, corpses sent flying.
Several thousand soldiers perished!
The terrifying explosions occurred right nearby, countless soldiers stood dumbstruck in place as if struck by lightning.
“Do not stop, charge, charge…”
Zhiwei’s great army commanders desperately roared.
Now was the interval period between Sauron’s great army trebuchet firings, the most precious time, to use this gap to charge onto the city walls.
“Charge, charge…”
Despite the giant crossbow coordinated volleys and medium trebuchet coordinated volleys bringing enormous casualties to Zhiwei’s siege great army. But still more than twenty thousand people charged to below the city walls.
“Bang bang bang bang!” Countless siege ladders were suddenly propped against the walls.
Giant siege rams began to pound the city gates.
Although trebuchet gunpowder packs were astonishing, the firing intervals were too long, so they still could not prevent the enemy from charging below the city walls.
Zhiwei in the central army camp saw more than twenty thousand soldiers had already begun climbing the city walls, and his heart was greatly overjoyed as he roared, “Second wave, third wave siege great army, relay charge, advance!”
Instantly, another fifty thousand great army under the heaven shaking war drums madly charged.
The entire battlefield, killing shaking the heavens!
One to two hundred siege ladders were successively placed against the Wind Thunder Fortress defence line’s city walls.
One giant strength warrior after another, holding a large shield, climbed up along the siege ladders.
Behind him, densely packed were people.
Countless soldiers, like ants, climbed up the Wind Thunder Fortress’s city walls.
Seeing this scene, Zhiwei’s heart was once again wildly overjoyed.
Such an unending stream of climbing the city walls, although the casualties were incomparably astonishing, but ultimately they would be able to break through the Wind Thunder Fortress defence line.
Sauron’s trebuchet tactics were indeed astonishing, but the firing speed was truly too slow!
However… just at this moment, a terrifying scene appeared!
Zhiwei’s great army charging below the city walls was where the nightmare truly began!
Countless fire oil barrels on the city walls madly smashed down!
Each round of trebuchet firing required time, but manual throwing did not.
Several thousand strongmen of Sauron’s great army madly threw fire oil barrels.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
“Bang bang bang…”
In a short time, several thousand to ten thousand barrels of fire oil smashed down.
Countless fire oil barrels smashed onto the city walls, smashed onto the ground, suddenly shattering, the crude oil inside splashing out.
In a short moment, the entire ground below the city walls was all covered with a thick layer of fire oil.
Almost every soldier of Zhiwei’s siege great army had the pungent fire oil splashed onto their bodies.
Then, several thousand small and medium gunpowder packs smashed down.
“Boom boom boom…”
Fierce explosions ignited all the ten thousand fire oil barrels previously smashed down.
Boom boom boom!
Heaven shaking great fire, completely roaring and burning!
More than one million jin of fire oil ignited, causing heaven shaking seas of fire!
Gunpowder explosion damage was one time, but fire oil burning was continuous.
Zhiwei’s several tens of thousands of siege great army, all crowded below the city walls, at this moment were instantly surrounded and engulfed by the entire sea of fire!
Below the four li of city walls, it became like a terrifying purgatory.
“Ah… ah… ah…”
Heaven shaking, miserable screams.
Countless soldiers, in the great fire, screamed, struggled, fled!
The sharpest weapon for defending a city was rolling oil.
But in the cold weapons era, rolling oil was poured down, at most merely several tens of thousands of jin, one to two hundred thousand jin, and moreover had to be used over several days, poured down countless times.
And after Sauron excavated a crude oil mine, fire oil resources for this battlefield were completely inexhaustible.
In one go, more than ten thousand barrels of fire oil were smashed down, exceeding one million jin.
Gazing at the roaring, burning hell below.
“Continue throwing…” Sauron roared loudly!
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
Countless strongmen, from within the city wall holes, madly threw fire oil barrels.
Truly adding oil to the fire…
On the four li of ground, fully several million jin of fire oil was poured down, creating a sea of fire one hundred metres wide and two thousand metres long.
Duke Zhiwei’s several tens of thousands of great army were all buried in this two to three hundred thousand square metres of sea of fire.
“Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh…”
At this time, the super giant trebuchets on the Wind Thunder Fortress defence line conducted their fifth round of coordinated volley.
“Boom boom boom boom boom…”
And at this time, Zhiwei’s great army’s giant crossbow positions and giant trebuchet positions were already in scattered ruins. After two hundred thousand jin of gunpowder carpet bombing, one could not find a single intact trebuchet, nor almost a single intact giant crossbow.
Duke Zhiwei’s entire body trembled, his limbs ice cold!
At this time the entire battlefield was all thick smoke. Below the city walls, a sea of fire.
“Father, quickly sound the gong to withdraw the troops, otherwise eighty thousand great army will all be lost below the city walls.” Zhi You roared loudly.
Duke Zhiwei seemed to suddenly awaken as if from a dream, and roared, “Withdraw troops, withdraw troops!”
Instantly, in Zhiwei’s great army, more than one hundred gongs were struck.
This was the signal to retreat!
Then, Duke Zhiwei waited in the thick smoke, seeing how many great army successfully retreated.
…
He did not know how long he waited!
The smoke dispersed, the great fire extinguished!
“Father, merely more than three thousand people successfully retreated!” Crown Prince Zhi You stepped forward to report.
Those participating in the siege totalled three waves, eighty thousand great army, only three thousand returned, the rest all died in battle.
Adding the giant crossbow positions and giant trebuchet positions casualties of more than five thousand.
In merely four hours, Duke Zhiwei’s one hundred fifty thousand great army had lost eighty five thousand, leaving only slightly more than sixty thousand.
Casualties exceeding half, yet they had not even climbed up the Wind Thunder Fortress’s city walls.
Not only this, but Sauron’s side’s casualties were negligible.
He used astronomical numbers of fire oil, astronomical numbers of gunpowder, in exchange for this heaven shaking battle achievement.
Standing on the command platform, Duke Zhiwei gazed at Sauron on the distant castle, the two sides separated by two thousand metres.
But, Zhiwei seemed to feel that Sauron was smiling!
In merely half a day, his one hundred fifty thousand great army had casualties exceeding half, while Sauron’s great army was completely unscathed.
Duke Zhiwei had never suffered such a disastrous defeat!
He should not have been so impatient, should not have been so eager for quick success, he should have steadily and solidly waited for Tu Lingtuo’s great army to arrive.
If so, he would not have lost so disastrously!
Zhiwei first felt a sharp pain in his heart, then as if a colossal force was tearing his internal organs, his stomach suddenly convulsing, scalding hot blood surging from his stomach and intestines, suddenly rushing to his throat.
“Pfft…” Scalding hot blood suddenly sprayed out wildly.
Then, Zhiwei felt darkness before his eyes, his body ice cold, his head dizzy and vision blurred.
“Bang!”
Duke Zhiwei’s tall body suddenly crashed to the ground, completely unconscious, unaware of anything!
…
At the same time!
In the Yan Empire capital, within an estate!
From the onset of labour pains until now, Zhi Ning had already been in pain for more than three hours, still not having given birth.
Difficult labour!
The baby was strong, but the fetal position was not correct!
Zhi Ning’s miserable cries were completely heartrending.
Outside the room, Prince Ji Min listened with his heart trembling and his soul flying away.
For a while covering his ears not daring to listen, for a while kneeling on the ground desperately praying.
Inside, the midwives, maidservants, and medical cultivators continuously shuttled back and forth.
One basin after another of bloody water was poured out.
Female medical cultivators who had rushed from the Dragon God Temple had already come in three waves.
Midwives sent from the Yan Empire palace had also come four.
Still not born!
Princess Zhi Ning’s miserable cries, from the initial hysterical to the later barely breathing.
Crown Prince Ji Min, towards the end, had been kneeling on the ground, continuously praying, praying!
“Whether Dragon God, or demon, or whichever deity, I beg you, I beg you to protect Zhi Ning, protect her to be safe and sound, protect mother and child to be safe!”
“Heaven protect Zhi Ning, protect Zhi Ning!”
“Sauron, I will kill you, I will kill you!”
“I, Ji Min, am willing to have my life shortened by ten years, no, twenty years, thirty years! In exchange for Zhi Ning’s mother and child to be safe!”
“I beg you, I beg you, I beg you…”
Prince Ji Min, kneeling on the ground continuously trembling, talking to himself, continuously praying!
Suddenly…
“Ah…” Princess Zhi Ning let out a roar!
“Wah, wah, wah…” Then, from inside the room came a series of loud and clear crying sounds!
Finally, born!
Outside the room, Prince Ji Min’s legs went weak, directly collapsing onto the ground, his entire body completely soaked through.
“Wuu…” Then, he covered his face and sat on the ground wailing loudly!