Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 558: Cannon!
A roar sounded in the Chu army formation...
Zhang Ren didn't understand what exactly happened, but he had rushed to the front because he wanted to take the opportunity to destroy the second and third layers of barbed wire.
The speed of the cannonball leaving the gun was much faster than the initial velocity of the catapult and the white bus, but Zhang Ren's martial artist intuition came in handy at this moment!
When the black tube was pointed at him, Zhang Ren felt a sense of shock...
It seemed as if what was aimed at him was not a group of wooden and stone warriors fiddling with battlefield equipment , but Xu Chu... No, it was not that powerful. It should be said that it was "Zang Ba's featherless arrows," especially one of them - before firing - Zhang Ren was more certain than the gunner that this thing would most likely hit him!
A shell just happened to be heading towards Zhang Ren...
Indeed, everyone wanted to aim at Zhang Ren, the little golden man, but considering the size of the target and the current distance, aiming the artillery could only rely on luck.
As for a powerful general like Zhang Ren, unless the battle situation is chaotic or he is an expert in assassination, any long-range attack that threatens him will basically have some mental signs, especially with artillery... The sign starts with the lighting of the fuse, so it is impossible to be completely defenseless!
When concentrating, the path of the shell was also visible to Zhang Ren, but Zhang Ren did not choose to dodge. After all, he also wanted to know what this thing was!
Raising his hand... Zhang Ren caught the shell that was about to hit his chest with one hand.
Although he was prepared, Zhang Ren's arm was still numb from the blow, and he was unable to completely block the force, causing the back of his hand to hit his chest, and even... causing his waist to slightly straighten and his steps to become disordered!
A look of surprise flashed across Zhang Ren's eyes at this moment.
Is it really a featherless arrow of Zang Ba's level? Are there six featherless arrow masters of the Jinyu General level hiding inside?
wrong!
Catapult?
Not really like...
Not to mention that Zhang Ren had no idea what had "knocked" out the solid iron bullet, nor did he see any structure similar to a throwing device. More importantly... it was just an ordinary catapult. Could Zhang Ren even dare to use his face to solve it?
And this solid iron bullet...
If Zhang Ren had been more cautious and fully prepared from the beginning, he could indeed appear more "calm", but no matter what, it was difficult to change the fact that this thing had a chance of hurting him!
Not to mention the real face hit, Zhang Ren felt that even if it was him, if he was hit in the chest and abdomen directly, one shot would not be good, and if it was five or six shots, his blood would probably boil...
But for Zhang Ren, it was just an "uncomfortable" attack. After it fell into the Shu army, it directly caused the Shu army that was originally crowded at the four-foot entrance to become a lot thinner!
At the same time, the six cannons were still being loaded, and the Qi crossbow was not idle either. Although they were also shocked by the powerful artillery of their own side, their hands were not idle.
The continuous "force" (firepower) is always pressing on the gap...
If the first artillery attack only caused some pain and confusion to the Shu army, but did not quickly "convert" into a loss of morale due to misunderstanding, then the second round of artillery fire directly made the Shu army shrink back!
Especially Zhang Ren, who was originally preparing to fly the Phoenix Wings to the Sky once more, was unlucky enough to be hit by a cannon again this time, and even the "Flying Phoenix Wings to the Sky" was interrupted. At the same time... Zhang Ren also saw the "sparse" Shu army coming down.
Not only did the artillery fire instantly cause a large number of casualties, but the low morale caused the Shu army to shrink back, causing the army that had broken through the crack to become increasingly sparse under the suppression of the Qi bullets and crossbows, and even looked like they were being driven out of the gap...
Zhang Ren glared at the six cannons hatefully, then ordered a retreat!
After two rounds of firing, Zhang Ren roughly knew the firing interval of this thing. If he could maintain it, the crowded Shu army would be like lambs to be slaughtered.
Soon Zhang Ren led his troops to retreat. Yan Yan, who was attracting attention in other defense sections, saw Zhang Ren's flag retreating and also retreated.
On the third day of attacking the Zhicheng defense line, the Shu army left countless bodies of Jizao soldiers and even generals in front of the barbed wire. Especially at the place where Zhang Ren broke through the defense line, there were layers of corpses within a few feet...
After the battle, Yan Yan still didn't know what was going on, so he quickly asked Zhang Ren - he also vaguely heard the sound of artillery fire.
"The Chu army not only has crossbows, but also something...similar to a catapult!"
After removing the armor, Zhang Ren clenched his left hand in front of him, as if he still had some feeling...
After listening to Zhang Ren's description and learning that the Chu army actually had such a deadly weapon, Yan Yan felt even colder in his heart.
At the same time, Guo Huai was also listening to the report from the artillery company that had tried to stop Zhang Ren today.
After hearing that Zhang Ren caught a cannonball with his own hands once, and was then preparing to use a big move without any special defense, but was "stifled" once, yet was able to retreat "as if nothing had happened", Guo Huai was quite impressed.
His aptitude in martial arts is average, and he belongs to the commander-in-chief type. So far, he is only a gilded general. In terms of pure martial arts, he is indeed just a nobody in the State of Chu. Among the thirty-six golden and jade generals, he has not had a chance...
Nowadays, the mainstream view of most Chu generals, even the Privy Council staff, including most of the golden and jade generals, is that Qi crossbows and artillery will further weaken or even completely eliminate the role of personal bravery on the battlefield. Only a limited number of senior officials, including the Privy Councilor, have different ideas.
Originally, Guo Huai's ideas were also very "mainstream", but after seeing Zhang Ren's performance this time, he began to understand the ideas of the "non-mainstream" people.
Qi crossbows and artillery have indeed greatly increased the importance of military equipment. The former directly increases the combat effectiveness of Ji-made soldiers, and the latter can even launch "gold and jade level" attacks with the cooperation of some wooden and stone generals and Ji-made soldiers.
However……
One thing that cannot be ignored is that they all belong to "long-range attacks"!
There are very few tactics that require rushing to close combat, and there are not many opportunities for artillery to use shotguns to kill close-range enemies. It is even more useless after close combat, after all, you cannot fire artillery indiscriminately where your own people are.
And in the world of Cheng Ji, long-range attacks have a special meaning - armor will not be weakened!
In close combat or melee combat, a large number of Ji-made soldiers will form an invisible force field, weakening the armor's enhancements to the generals in all aspects. However, in a purely long-range fight, there are no enemy troops around the generals, so they will naturally not be weakened, or the weakening effect will be very low, and they can exert the strength they only have in a one-on-one duel.
Otherwise, if Zhang Ren's Phoenix Wings were flying high during a battle between two armies, how could he possibly wipe out the enemies within a range of 40 feet wide and 30 steps?
Even when Lu Bu was wearing armor and gold, he didn't use AOE on the enemy army like this...
And if it is in a chaotic battle, the bullets will not be completely immune to the pain, and solid bullets are not as simple as "pain in the hand", but... if it is a real close combat, is there still a chance to use guns and cannons?
Guo Huai suddenly understood the thoughts of Lu Shumishi - the Qi crossbows and artillery have greatly improved the combat effectiveness of the army. Naturally, if you think about it further, the bravery of the generals will be covered up. However... for the real top generals, the lack of suppression makes them more likely to change the situation of the war!
This time, tearing the barbed wire can be regarded as a warning of some importance...
