Chapter 307: 307 Bombardment of the Royal City
Chapter 307 307 Bombardment of the Royal City
As a maritime country, what are you most afraid of? The most terrifying thing is to wake up one morning and find an enemy fleet lying across the sea...
When the civilians of the Talon Kingdom were finishing their lunch, they found soldiers hurriedly passing through the streets, and the atmosphere suddenly became inexplicably desolate.
They quickly figured out what happened - a fleet appeared outside their royal city, lying across the sea where they depended on for survival.
Some citizens braved the courage to go to some relatively secluded places to check. They saw seagulls circling above dark gray battleships on the sea with black smoke.
Then, before these civilians could retract their heads, they saw pieces of fire erupting from the opponent's battleship.
The 150mm naval gun roared, and the flagship Wolf 1 opened fire on the royal city of the Talon Kingdom.
The first shot hit the pier in the port. Suddenly, the entire pier was overturned, and many of the goods piled on the pier were blown into the sea.
At once everyone began to run for their lives. The soldiers dropped their weapons and mixed in with the porters, scurrying around like headless flies.
Soon, the nearby Wangcheng fort fired back, but the sound of these backward muzzle-loading cannons was slightly smaller than that of their opponents. It sounded like a woman's panting.
The firepower of both sides was not of the same order of magnitude at all - it was just a salvo, and there was no movement from the coastal defense battery. There was smoke and dust everywhere, and it seemed that it had been completely paralyzed.
Then the fleet on the sea cleaned up the sailing warships that were preparing to break out of the port like chopping melons and vegetables.
None of the more than 20 warships escaped, and all were sunk on the way to breakout. These battleships, which were finally assembled, only lasted less than an hour.
After the most tragic battleship sank, a section of the mast was still exposed on the sea. The rolling waves rolled up the broken deck and messy debris and rushed to the coast, leaving the entire King of Talon City in silence.
It was only then that some civilians seemed to realize that the thunderous sound of artillery just now seemed to have stopped, and the heavy sound that seemed to be beating on people's chests suddenly stopped.
But before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, the fleet composed of strange warships without sails opened fire again.
This time, the opponent’s target is the urban area of the royal city! Black smoke pillars rose into the sky one after another, and hundreds of people were buried in the explosion in an instant.
The soldiers who stood on the city were so frightened that their faces turned pale. From time to time, some would drop their weapons and turn around and run away.
Most of them were just recruited and trained for less than a month. Expecting them to face artillery fire is sheer wishful thinking.
Not to mention these new recruits, there are also very few officers behind them who can maintain their determination to fight at this time.
Originally, the Kingdom of Tarun was a maritime kingdom. The generals who could fight, had the ability to fight, and were ambitious were concentrated in the navy, and most of the talents also served in the navy.
The Army is just a decoration, or in most cases just a make-up. I hope they can change their fate against the odds, which is like a joke.
But now, we have to rely on these unreliable army officers and soldiers - because the navy with more combat effectiveness has sunk to the bottom of the sea and fed the sharks.
Of course, there were also those who were lucky or unlucky and were sent to Beiling and became miners, doing the most dangerous and hard work every day.
Perhaps for them, death may be a better relief. In any case, the Kingdom of Talon cannot count on these naval elites who have become prisoners...
The civilians who were watching the excitement shrank their heads in fear, and the smell of gunpowder smoke from the explosion was already filling the air.
On the top of the city, senior officers suppressed more and more fleeing soldiers, and then watched dumbfoundedly as the city wall not far away was blasted with a cannon.
The stone city wall collapsed by more than one meter. Although it did not completely collapse, the creneled watchtower above is basically invisible.
Of the few soldiers stationed there, only stumps of limbs and arms were left - of course there must be some with no bones left, but no one knows.
Swallowing his saliva, the officer who just held the deserter's collar to prevent him from running away released his hand, waved to his men who were squatting behind the crenel with their heads in their hands and shouted: "Quick! Get out of there quickly. ! Go quickly!"
The soldiers who heard his shouts carried out the orders of their commanders without hesitation, which is called a well-trained soldier.
They dropped their weapons, ignored the 30-year-old Cyric muzzleloader beside them, and turned around and ran away with their commander.
Outside the city, in the big camp far away from the coast, the new recruits who heard the sound of the cannon dispersed in a hurry, and the noble officers who led the troops also ran away.
The 3,000 "new soldiers" who were barely gathered together just yesterday to capture young men and give them gold coins dispersed in an instant, leaving no one behind. Even the guards who stored weapons in the camp were nowhere to be seen. The 2,000 Cyric flintlocks that had been cobbled together were left there without even a single move, and no one cared about them.
And all of this only happened in less than two hours after the fighting broke out. The entire Talun King City was as weak as the BJ City in front of Li Zicheng.
It's a pity that the warships of the Datang Group's security force navy lying on the sea have no intention of sending people to land. They just lie on the sea, using their own 120 and 150 mm caliber artillery, bombarding them round after round. This unfortunate city.
"Don't fire! Don't fire at all! Pretend to be dead! Pretend to be dead! Is it okay to pretend to be dead?" General Talon who was guarding the fort did not run away, but he was frightened by the enemy's artillery fire.
His cannons basically only have a range of more than 1,000 meters, and they have no accuracy beyond 500 meters.
But the opponent's artillery shells were extremely accurate, and he hit eight out of ten shots. With only two volleys fired, he knew that he would only be beaten.
So he soon began to mess up - very simply, he ordered all the artillery to stop firing, allowed the opponent to bombard three volleys wildly, and gritted his teeth and refused to fire back.
Finally, he succeeded, he survived until "victory"! The other party thought that his place was completely destroyed, so he turned to attack the city and no longer paid attention to his fort.
In fact, his fort does not have any usable artillery. The 30 Cyric muzzle-loading guns as the main force are simply a product of the last era, and their quality is not as good as the navy's muzzle-loading naval guns.
But aren’t those naval sailing warships equipped with the most advanced Cyric naval muzzle-loading guns soaking in the sea water now?
This place is full of junk from 20 years ago. Is there something wrong with the idea of expecting him to do something?
What's more, one-third of these cannons have been blown up now. He has tried his best... really.
"Sir, Your Majesty!" An officer hurriedly ran up to the fort with the long sword on his waist, looked at the gun barrel that rolled to the ground, and said fearfully: "Sir... Your Majesty, Your Majesty asked me to come. ... Come and see, see... the fort, why, why not... fight back..."
The way he came was full of defeated troops and rioters, and he actually saw that if the fort could hold its own without running away, it could be regarded as "running the army well."
After all, artillery is a technical branch and must maintain year-round training, so it is fundamentally different from the new recruits on the city walls.
However, that’s all.
"We just opened fire! But the enemy's artillery fire was too fierce, and our side suffered heavy losses, so we can only temporarily stop the shelling..." the general commanding the fort explained.
He did open fire just now, and they were indeed beaten by enemy warships.
While he was speaking, two soldiers passed in front of him carrying a body, which made his answer more convincing.
The officer who came to deliver the message was a confidant of the king. Although he also understood the difficulty of the fort commander, he still reluctantly requested: "Sir! If you fire back the artillery, the other side will not bombard the royal city!"
"There is nothing I can do! We just fired one round of artillery, and the other side fired five salvos at us. Now one-third of the cannon has been destroyed, and the personnel losses have been heavy. We really can't fight anymore!" The officer was bitten to death but was not prepared to continue firing.
There is no other way. Opening fire at this time would really set yourself on fire. He has not yet ignited the awareness to light up others.
"Your Majesty promises that as long as you fire back, you will be rewarded with 500 gold coins, and the officers and soldiers of the fort will be rewarded with another 1,000 gold coins!" The officer who delivered the order had no choice but to promise a huge profit.
As the saying goes, there must be a brave man under a heavy reward. There are people in all ages who risk their lives for a few gold coins.
Unfortunately, the commander of the fort in front of him was unmoved: "Ha... If you have the life to make this money, you must also have the life to spend the money!"
While speaking, he also looked at a corpse over there that no one had dealt with yet—the head was smashed and it was too miserable to look at.
"Your Majesty orders you to keep running! If you disobey...I will..." The king's confidant gritted his teeth and chose to threaten.
"How dare you let us die?" Suddenly, the fort commander's adjutant standing behind him couldn't help it. He shouted loudly, drew his long sword, and struck the king's henchman with one sword.
The confidant who came to deliver the order was caught off guard. Just when he turned around, he was pierced by a sword in the chest. He grabbed the blade and stared at the opponent in disbelief: "You! You dare... you dare to rebel! His Majesty the King will not let you go. of…you…”
He wanted to say something more, but the other party kicked him in the abdomen and took advantage of the situation to draw out his long sword. A stream of blood spurted out, and even the commander of the fort was stunned on the spot.
(End of this chapter)