Chapter 40: Old-School Artillery Warfare

Chapter 40: Ancient Artillery Tactics

Carrying a large amount of captured equipment, plus having lost their leader and needing to avoid the demons roaming the surrounding area, the group of eight moved back much slower than they had come.

After nearly four hours, they finally returned to Junshan Bridge, where fierce fighting was still underway on the bridge.

Hordes of demons crowded the western side of the bridge, while the city defenses of Han Shui lined up on the eastern side, soldiers in rattan armor wielding various weapons formed three ranks; whenever the demons tried to charge across the bridge, they were driven back by a volley.

After firing, the front rank swiftly fell to the rear, reloading while the next rank continued firing, maintaining pressure.

This cycle largely compensated for the lack of automatic weapons, suppressing hundreds of demons in place, unable to move.

"The tactics of the Machine God Sect are still quite advanced; if it were the Blood Saints fighting, they'd probably just charge in for melee."

Xu Lie, hidden afar observing, let out a sigh, and Chen Jian nodded silently, replying:

"Indeed advanced."

"This rate of fire almost matches my Great Divine Machine Corps of the Great Ming."

"Great Ming? Divine Machine Corps? What's that?"

Xu Lie utterly missed the sarcasm in Chen Jian's words, still thinking the Divine Machine Corps was truly the mighty fighting force of the 'Chosen Ones' in his eyes.

Chen Jian, too lazy to explain, merely answered:

"In short, it's a unit... quite strong for its time."

"But for now, let's not worry about that; they're blocked here, how do we get back?"

"Wasn't the last demon attack fought at the city's edge? Why are they pressing forward this time?"

"I don't know."

Xu Lie shook his head and replied:

"The city defenses of Han Shui are mainly controlled by the Machine God Sect, with only a few Blood Saints handling scouting and guard duties, so we have little say in their combat methods."

"But I guess the sentries spotted large-scale demon activity and urgently mustered forces to intercept."

"If we want to get past, we either take another route or wait until they finish fighting and the demons retreat."

"But frankly, just waiting like this isn't a solution."

"With General Blood Sun dead, the demons' bloodlust has no restraint; they will attack at any cost until they are all wiped out."

"Then who knows how long this will go on."

"Demons aren't brainless either; they'll attack in waves, trying to wear down the defenders' strength before breaking through in one push."

"Quite clever."

Chen Jian nodded and said:

"Yes, though these demons are cruel and bloodthirsty, in a sense they are not truly monsters; they possess more human traits."

As they spoke, a war drum suddenly sounded from the eastern bank of Junshan Bridge.

Chen Jian raised his binoculars; under the setting sun, dust rose in clouds along the road.

A belching black-smoke steam locomotive emerged from behind, its massive hauler dragging a pitifully small carriage compared to its size,

and atop the carriage was mounted a huge

muzzle-loading cannon.

A muzzle-loading cannon mounted on an advanced six-legged carriage equipped with direction and elevation mechanisms and a recoil-dampening carriage.

Dozens of Machine God Sect members in pure black cloaks leapt from the train, quickly separating the engine from the carriage, then grabbed sledgehammers and drove the steel spikes for anchoring into the ground.

"Damn, what ancient artillery emplacement is this? Can it even be ancient?"

Chen Jian marveled, while Xu Lie beside him explained:

"These are the artillery priests of the Machine God Sect; they still perform rituals to please the machine spirit, though I think it's all self-deceptive mumbo jumbo."

As his words fell, the priests indeed began their work. Accompanied by a solemn hymn, someone washed the cannon barrel with clean water, then shoved a demon they'd somehow grabbed before the cannon and lopped off its head.

The priest seized the still-dripping head, soaked the prepared rope in its blood, and wound the rope around the cannon.

Xu Lie clicked his tongue and said:

"They believe the blood's nourishment will keep the cannon from bursting, but from my experience, bursts are still not uncommon."

"Isn't that nonsense?"

"Although this old muzzle-loader has a high tolerance for error, introducing random junk into the firing environment still increases the chance of a burst."

"Ah."

"Sacrilege—what a sacrilege this is."

"If the cannon truly had a machine spirit, it would probably spit at these heretical cultists' faces."

However, Chen Jian also realized that their "pleasing the machine spirit" ritual likely evolved from some standard cold-shot firing procedures.

Such as cleaning the bore, conducting a proof shot, and so on.

"But somehow, through transmission, it turned into this mess."

Chen Jian continued observing; at this point, the ritual to please the machine spirit was finally complete.

The priests removed the powder, measured out the proper amount with a specific container, poured it into the bore, then tamped it down with a wooden rod and inserted a sealing cloth bag.

Next came loading the projectile.

Chen Jian watched the priests expectantly, but instead of lifting a shell, they produced from a box a handful of

ball-bearing steel shot.

"Good grief, you collect this stuff just to use it like this??"

The priests mixed the steel shot with some unknown viscous substance and shoved it into the bore.

At last, all preparations for firing were complete; Chen Jian glanced at his watch—ten minutes had passed.

"Even subtracting the time spent on the ritual, they still took a full five minutes just to get ready."

"At that speed, in my era the whole artillery crew would have been promoted."

Meanwhile, as Chen Jian fumed at their slowness, the three ranks of infantry ahead had opened a gap.

Everyone knows a river-spanning bridge is often a slope; from the far bank's approach, you can't see the far end.

The demons still trying to attack thought they had finally found an opening and surged forward en masse.

The infantry kept falling back until they were behind the cannon.

The muzzle was elevated slightly above level; when the demons charged into range and saw the already-lit fuse, it was too late.

"Boom!"

A makeshift anti-infantry grapeshot swept across with a roar, the front rank of demons falling like grass before a scythe.

Dense shot continued flying backward, mowing down a large swath of the demons crowded on the bridge.

The demons' charge was instantly checked; after a brief confusion, most began to flee in panic, some even forgetting they weren't water ghosts, scrambling over the railing and leaping into the Yangtze.

Chen Jian keenly sensed their intent to retreat and immediately said:

"Xu Lie, send a signal to identify ourselves!"

Seizing the moment, we surge ahead!

(End of Chapter)