Chapter 327: Resistance is useless, like a mantis trying to stop a chariot
Suide Prefecture is the only large town in the Wuding River Basin located on the west bank of the river.
Its east bank is the Wuding River, its west bank is the Dali River, and not far to the south is the Huaining River.
The Dali River and the Huaining River merge into the Wuding River here and rush towards the Yellow River in the distance.
Suide Prefecture, surrounded by three rivers, can be said to be the most prosperous riverside fortress town in the northwest frontier.
In this big world, if you don’t have a strong navy, forget about it if you want to capture Suide Prefecture by force.
Apart from anything else, Suide Prefecture is surrounded by three large rivers, and your army has no way of even getting close to it.
A huge fleet, consisting of more than one hundred treasure ships, was going upstream along the Wuding River and rapidly approaching Suide Prefecture.
This large fleet was mainly composed of medium-grade treasure ships, with less than ten low-grade treasure ships, including five large high-grade treasure ships.
It can be said that this is the largest fleet passing through the Wuding River Basin in recent years.
Huang Zhanglong stood on a high-quality treasure ship that served as the fleet's flagship, looking at the large fleet of the Xuanwu First Battalion with a beam of joy.
With such a huge fleet, most of the inferior treasure ships were left at the three large riverside fortress docks of Shangpingguan, Wubao and Mengmenguan. Otherwise, the scale would have to be doubled.
Before the army entered the pass, Huang Zhanglong never dreamed that the number of treasure ships of his own Xuanwu Battalion would increase so quickly.
Now that the number of treasure ships has increased almost five times, every soldier in the Xuanwu First Battalion is smiling.
In order to make use of the 200 or so captured treasure ships, with the consent of Li Dingguo, the Xuanwu First Battalion recently transferred 20,000 new warriors who came on the ships, increasing the size of the Xuanwu First Battalion from 20,000 to 50,000 soldiers.
The large-scale expansion of the Xuanwu 1st Battalion is also to enable the rapid receipt of captured treasure ships of various levels in the next series of battles, to fight to support the war, and to expand the Xuanwu Battalion as quickly as possible.
Only if the Xuanwu Camp can grow rapidly can Li Dingguo's plan to blockade the Yellow River basin between Qin and Jin provinces be completed.
Once this strategic goal is achieved, the pressure on the Renaissance Army in the next few years will be greatly reduced. They can boldly complete the capture of Qin territory, and then plan and build Qin territory as the base of the Renaissance Army, thoroughly consolidating their own foundation.
"Chirp..."
At this time, in the southern sky of the Wuding River, two green lights and one golden light streaked across the sky and flew rapidly towards the direction of the large fleet, followed by the cry of an eagle.
"The commander-in-chief has returned!"
"That's good. With the return of the commander-in-chief, our capture of Suide Prefecture will be a piece of cake."
"After we capture Suide Prefecture, we will wait here for the Western Route Army to join us from Mizhi. Then things will get lively."
"Yes, yes! Once our two armies are united, we can advance by land and sea, and capture Qingjian, Yanchuan, Anding and other places. It will be easy."
"Two large eagles returned with the great golden eagle. Are they the spiritual birds that the commander-in-chief recaptured?"
"Look at the size of those two blue eagles. They are not smaller than the big gold one. They must be level 5 spirit birds."
"Our army has added two more level five eagles, and our strength has increased once again."...
The soldiers of the Suzaku Corps and the Black Tortoise First Battalion are very familiar with this golden eagle.
There is no doubt that this is the commander-in-chief returning from his long journey south.
In the hearts of the soldiers of the Renaissance Army, the commander-in-chief is an undefeated god of war, and they are safe with him around.
"Meet the Commander-in-Chief!"...
Li Dingguo rode a golden eagle and brought two large goshawks to land on the flagship of the Xuanwu Battalion 1, and jumped off the bird's back. Several senior generals, including Huang Zhanglong and Wu Hongai, hurried forward to pay their respects.
"Ah."
Li Dingguo waved his hand at the crowd and said, "Fortunately, I came back in time and did not miss the next battle to capture Suide Prefecture."
"He Guang, what is the current situation in Suide Prefecture?"
He looked at He Guang, the deputy commander of the Military Intelligence Department, and asked.
"Report to the commander-in-chief!"
He Guang stepped forward and reported respectfully, "A few days ago, I personally rode a big black eagle and arrived near Suide Prefecture, then disguised myself and went in to investigate."
"Combined with the reports from intelligence personnel lurking in Suide Prefecture, we have a more comprehensive understanding of the specific situation in Suide Prefecture."
"In Suide Prefecture today, the officials and gentry are in a state of panic, and the city is in a state of chaos."
"As the news of our army's advance by land and sea, capturing cities along the way, spread throughout Suide Prefecture, they were terrified and activated the city defense formation around the clock."
"This city defense formation is only open for a short period of 15 minutes every day to facilitate the entry and exit of wealthy merchants."
"I also spent some effort to disguise myself and blend into the guard team of a wealthy merchant, so that I could leave the city smoothly."
"There are 5,000 defenders in Suidezhou City today. The weapons are quite complete. There are a total of 12 psychic cannons installed on the four city walls, with an average of three cannons on each side of the city wall."
"At the same time, along with the psychic cannons, there are 10 psychic crossbow carts on each side of the city wall."
"The reason why these defenders are so well-equipped is because Suide Prefecture is the most important riverside fortress town in the northwest frontier, with smooth waterways and extremely developed commerce. It can be said that it is extremely rich."
"Although those officials and gentry were very greedy, they still left enough money for the garrison soldiers to spend and use to improve the military equipment level of Suide Prefecture."
"After the officials and gentry in the city learned that our army was splitting up and coming from the north and south to quickly encircle Suide Prefecture, except for a small number of wealthy merchants and gentry who fled with their entire families, most of the remaining officials and gentry stayed in the city."
"They have decided to defend Suide Prefecture to the death. Each family is mobilizing their retainers and guards, offering generous rewards, in an attempt to defend this prosperous riverside fortress town."
"Ha ha……"
He Guang sneered when he said this, "These officials and gentry have no idea how powerful the spiritual energy cannons and spiritual crossbow carts equipped by our army are!"
"It is no exaggeration to say that if all the psychic cannons on our fleet were to fire at once, the city defense formation of Suide Prefecture would be shattered immediately."
"This is just a border town after all. The power of the protective formation is far inferior to that of giant cities like Luoyang and Chang'an."
"In the current Ming Dynasty, only the big cities where the princes live can use a ray of true dragon luck to maximize the power of the city defense formation. Other towns can't withstand the three waves of volleys from our large fleet and so many psychic cannons!"
As the deputy commander of the Military Intelligence Department, He Guang knew very well how powerful his own psychic cannons were, and the number of them was enough to shock the enemy.
With only 5,000 defenders, plus tens of thousands of servants and guards from various official families, relying on a dozen psychic cannons and dozens of psychic crossbow carts, they wanted to defend the Suide City. This was simply like a mantis trying to stop a chariot and overestimating their own capabilities.
"Well, just know the general situation."
Li Dingguo nodded and immediately gave the order, "I just rode the golden eagle from a height of ten thousand feet in the sky and saw the city of Suide ahead. It is less than a hundred miles away from our army."
"Pass the order down, according to the established attack plan, first all the psychic cannons of the large fleet will fire at the same time to break the opponent's city defense formation, then the 90,000 soldiers of the Suzaku Army will form a military killing formation of 5,000 people each, each led by a Qi Refining Realm general, and charge directly in from the east gate in front!"
"The soldiers of the Xuanwu First Battalion will be responsible for blocking all escaping enemies outside the city, just like in the last battle."
"Suide Prefecture is an important water transportation hub. There are large docks in all directions outside the city, with more or less large treasure ships docked."
"The soldiers of the Xuanwu Camp must seize these treasure ships as soon as the city defense formation is broken."
For a big city like Suide Prefecture, the city defense formation has a wide coverage area, which can cover the moat outside the city and the large dock.
Before breaking the city defense formation, the enemy army could not reach the moat and the dock at all.
This kind of perfect city defense formation is the greatest reliance for all important towns of mankind to live and work in peace and contentment.
With the strength of the Fuxing Army's southern army, there is no need for overly complicated tactics to deal with an important riverside town like Suide Prefecture. A direct assault will be enough.
The enemies in the city must have never seen the power of hundreds of psychic cannons firing at the same time, so they had the confidence to defend Suide Prefecture. If they knew better, the officials and gentry in the city would have fled with their families long ago, and why would they stay in the city to die?
"Yes! Commander-in-Chief!"...
All the generals on the scene received the order in unison, then dispersed and began to carry out various preparations before the siege.
For these things, the soldiers who have experienced countless battles have long formed their own routines and can prepare very quickly.
After the fleet continued to sail for another fifty miles, all the pre-war preparations had been completed.
"Dudu..."
As the navy's special military bugle sounded, a messenger on the ship stood on the tall mast of the treasure ship, constantly changing the flags in his hands, and the large fleet began to transform into an attack formation.
In just a moment, the fleet had completed the transition to an attack formation with three columns with their ships staggered.
At this time, the huge Suidezhou city surrounded by water had appeared in front of the fleet.
The soldiers could clearly see that the defenders on the city wall were shouting and running around into their own defense areas.
Having already learned of the enemy's attack, they obviously wanted to use the psychic cannons placed on the city walls to fire a few shots at the large fleet of the Renaissance Army, trying to sink a few treasure ships and gain the first merit.
It has to be said that these defending soldiers who knew nothing about the power of the Restoration Army's new psychic cannon were really naive.
Most of the psychic cannons equipped by the Fuxing Army's navy are third-grade top-grade magical cannons, all of which have been modified and upgraded in batches by Li Dingguo using his natal magic weapon, the Da Ding.
The third-grade top-grade magical weapon psychic cannon is much more powerful than the second-grade top-grade magical weapon psychic cannon, and its effective range is more than ten miles.
The psychic cannon equipped by the government troops is as powerful as the second-level top-grade psychic cannon, and the range is also similar.
Now if you want to use it to fight an artillery battle with the Restoration Army, you are simply asking for trouble.
Moreover, all the new magical psychic cannons of the Renaissance Army are equipped with a recoil buffer device. Even a low-grade treasure ship can withstand the huge buffering force after the cannon is fired.
These unique artillery advantages are the greatest confidence of the Fuxing Army Firearms Battalion.
"Dudu..."
A burst of urgent naval horns were blown, and the large fleet slowly stopped moving forward just as it entered the range of its own cannons.
One after another, the treasure ships turned sideways in an attempt to unleash the most powerful salvo firepower.
The large fleet, which had originally been arranged in an attack formation, quickly changed from a column to a horizontal column, with the ships staggered.
The shiny black muzzles of the guns were pointing obliquely towards the Suide Prefecture city defense formation ahead.
Because the enemy's strength was so far inferior to their own, the Fuxing Army did not adopt the tactic of surrounding three sides and leaving one behind in this siege, but instead gathered all the large treasure ships in the direction of the east city gate.
Their own large fleet came from the Wuding River east of Suide City, and they could just launch an attack in the direction of the east city gate without having to deploy troops or take a detour.
Once the defensive formation of Suide City is destroyed, the 90,000 cavalrymen of the Suzaku Legion will go ashore and launch a surprise attack. In a short while, they will be able to sweep through this important town inside and outside, and the enemy will have no escape.
"How could these large fleets of pirate troops stop so far away?"
"This is completely beyond the range of our psychic cannons. What are they going to do? Don't they want to attack the city anymore?"
"Look at the cannons on those enemy ships. They look like they are preparing to fire at the city!"
"How is this possible? Our cannons can't hit those big treasure ships, but their cannons are still the same, aren't they?"
"Then why are they acting as if they are about to fire their cannons at the city? Are they being stupid?"
"Yes! Those bandit troops are made up of peasants. How can they know how to accurately operate the psychic cannon?"
Seeing the incoming Fuxing Army fleet stop five miles away from the range of their own artillery, the defending soldiers of Suide City talked in confusion and laughed from time to time.
Their Suide Prefecture has an excellent geographical location, surrounded by three large rivers. During the years when rebels and rioters were rampant, they did not encounter any large rebel army trying to attack the city. This is the first time.
These officers and soldiers had seldom experienced warfare and had developed an arrogant habit. They had no idea what level of concentrated fire attack they were about to face.
"Ready to fire!"
"preparation!"
"put!"
The commander standing on the tall mast of the flagship held the red flag high in his hand and waved it fiercely in the front and below!
"boom!"
"Boom!"...
On the large treasure ships, the muzzles of the psychic cannons were raised, aimed at the protective light shield of the city defense formation in front, and began to roar in unison!
One after another, scorching balls of light, flashing dazzling white light, shot out from the muzzles of the guns and instantly hit the flickering light shield of the city defense formation, exploding with a loud bang!
The Southern Army's large fleet fired more than two hundred level three top-grade magical spiritual energy cannons, which was obviously too much for the protective formation of this frontier city to withstand.
The power of the imperial court's city defense formation is related to the fortune and people's hearts gathered in the town.
The Suide Prefecture City was nothing more than an ordinary frontier commercial town, with the name of a fortress town. It possessed a mediocre imperial fortune, and the people had long been in disarray, so it could not exert much power at all.
Moreover, without the blessing of a ray of true dragon luck from the imperial prince, it is far inferior to super cities and towns such as Luoyang, Chang'an, and Kaifeng.
"Crackling..."
As expected, under a volley of attacks from more than two hundred level three top-grade magical spiritual energy cannons, the light shield of the city defense formation that enveloped the Suide City flashed light and dark for a few times before shattering with a loud bang!
"Target! The psychic cannons and crossbow carts on the enemy's city walls!"
"preparation!"
"put!"
After the enemy's city defense formation was shattered, the Xuanwu Camp's large fleet did not stop the shelling immediately, but quickly continued to launch a wave of salvo attacks!
Although the enemy's psychic cannons and crossbow carts in the east city of Suide Prefecture are not numerous, they still pose a considerable threat to their own soldiers.
Since they can be eliminated in one fell swoop by consuming more than two hundred second-level soul beads, such a cost-effective deal must be taken.
"Boom!"...
As the signalman's flag fell, the large treasure ships launched another wave of salvos. The shells landed accurately on the walls and gate towers of the east gate of Suide Prefecture, blasting all the psychic cannons and crossbow carts into the air!
The gunners and defenders who were panicking because their defense formation had been broken were immediately turned into pieces of limbs and flesh, scattered all over the city wall.
Under this level of concentrated fire attack, as long as one is within the coverage area of the psychic cannon's shells, except for the well-prepared masters above level four who can dodge in time, any soldier in the Body Refining Realm, even a master of level four, will not be able to withstand it.
"Soldiers of the Suzaku Camp, activate the formation and attack!"
"Rush into the city as quickly as possible and carry out a major cleanup operation as planned!"
"Soldiers of the Xuanwu Camp, start the treasure ships immediately and divide them into four fleets. Make sure to seize all the large docks and treasure ships outside of Suide Prefecture as soon as possible!"...
As soon as the city was broken, the voice of Wu Hongai, the commander of the Suzaku Legion, was heard in time. With the blessing of her powerful spiritual power, her voice was clearly transmitted to the ears of all the soldiers.
"Seven Star Bagua Formation! Start!"
"Killing array magic, activate!"...
The Suzaku Legion's military killing formations, each consisting of 5,000 soldiers, were immediately activated.
The soldiers who had already formed up in battle array on the decks of the great treasure ships, riding on their spirit beasts and war horses, were suddenly enveloped in thick blood and wolf smoke as the military killing formation was activated and the killing formation's magical powers were stimulated. They then disappeared and turned into phantoms of mythical beasts three hundred feet in size, which leaped out directly from the great treasure ships and rode on the waves!
These huge phantoms of mythical beasts flashed only a few times before they flew across the river to the large dock in front. Without stopping, they leaped towards the city wall in front and directly rushed onto the city wall that was about 20 meters high, sweeping in all directions!
The defending soldiers in the direction of East City had already been defeated by a volley of psychic artillery fire. Without an organized military formation to fight, the remaining defending soldiers collapsed instantly, crying and screaming as they fled in all directions!
A total of 90,000 soldiers from the Suzaku Camp formed 18 military killing formations, sweeping towards the four directions of the city, causing bloody storms along the way...
(End of this chapter)
