Yaohui smiled and said, "Wait for now, the situation will be clear by tomorrow afternoon at the latest." ”

……

Following.

The weather was still cold, just not snowing. Yaohui and a few guards did not leave Yude's house, and he stayed in front of the window that was open to the south, constantly looking in that direction with his monoculars.

Yude was a little curious: "What are you looking at?" ”

"Wait for news." Yaohui replied calmly, putting down the telescope in his hand as he spoke.

This is a secret reserved for the Dragon's Intelligence Department———— the opposite peak is a secret stronghold where bald eagles released from Steel Tooth City will land. According to the contact manual and the agreed signal, if a red flag appears on the top of the bare peak, it means "all the best, attack tonight". If it's a black flag, it means "stand still and wait for instructions." ”

There is also a third type, if a tree appears in that location, it means: "The situation has changed, kill Yude and other major merchants." ”

Why is the third hypothesis occurring? In fact, Yaohui himself didn't know. This is the will of the regent, and no one dares to speculate.

As for the security of intelligence officers...... Truth be told, this is not within the range of signal representation. Fangs is, after all, a city that was once overrun by dragons. Tianhao left some backhands here at that time, mainly two secret passages leading to the outside of the city, as well as weapons and equipment, food, and a small amount of wine stored in the underground warehouse. The entrances to the secret passage are scattered in various locations in the city, and no matter where the key control area of the lion army is located, Yaohui is sure to enter the secret passage safely with his men and escape outside the city.

A red flag fluttered over a distant mountain peak. The distance is so far that it cannot be seen with normal human vision. The monocular, a rather technical thing, is currently exclusive to the dragons (for the northern barbarians), and even a wealthy merchant like Yude cannot buy it through any channel.

……

Shi Lie has always been up early.

Unlike other nobles, he is a very smart, experienced commander, and a die-hard loyalist of the Lion King.

Ascending the city wall to the north of the city with his guards, looking at the vast expanse outside and the ground covered with a thin layer of snow, Shi Lie exhaled a warm white breath from his mouth and nose, and asked the adjutant standing beside him: "How are those merchants doing during this time?" ”

The adjutant knew what he was referring to, stepped forward, and said in a low voice, "No abnormalities found." ”

Shi Lie turned sideways and glanced at him: "Are you sure that the people below are always on guard against them and observe them very carefully?" ”

The adjutant nodded with a wry smile: "They really didn't make any changes, and they all stayed in the area designated by the commander of you." They carried a lot of food and peat, and they didn't need us fuel for cooking...... If there must be something wrong, it's that the food of these merchants is very good, and the soldiers in charge of monitoring them are envious. ”

Hearing this, Shi Lie couldn't help but smile: "That's it, when the news from the Broken Gold City comes and it's sure that they can leave, I will ask them to leave a part of the provisions, especially meat and wine." ”

The adjutant hurriedly bowed his hand: "Thank you, sir." ”

The syllable of the last word was completely overshadowed by a shrill shout from a watchtower not far away.

"The dragons are coming, just to the north. They're coming! ”

……

The marching dragon army ran over the cold plains like a stream of iron.

More than 50,000 soldiers of the First Army were classified according to their respective branches of the army and arranged in three columns. The largest number were infantry, armed with brand-new firing rifles and carrying two base loads. From time to time, grenadiers can be seen between the various warbands and teams. They wore light armor, covering about half the area of the infantry, and the armor at the shoulders was specially modified to facilitate movement.

The Dragon's grenade is already a second-generation product, abandoning the ceramic shell of the past, and now uses all gridded metal, which is filled with sharp fragments, and the explosion is quite impressive. The additional wooden long handle is mainly for the purpose of throwing distance, and Tianhao deliberately selects strong fighters with amazing arm strength to form a grenadier unit, which is the experience of the civilized era.

The heavy gun carriages left deep ruts on the snowfield. The standard artillery currently used by the army is available in two calibers, 75 mm and 1005 mm. With the R&D and production capacity of the military factories in Jeju Island and Panseong, it is certainly not a problem to manufacture heavy artillery of a larger caliber. However, considering the poor traffic situation between the walled cities of other tribes, and the fact that there are no road connections at all in many places, only a few samples of 155 mm and more than 200 mm land guns have been tried and tested, and after passing the tests, they have entered the warehouse. Because of the large size and heavy weight, it is estimated that it will not be installed in the short term.

The mortar is under development, and a breakthrough has been made.

The infantry stopped at a great distance from Fangs. It's out of range of the leonin archers, and while the heavy crossbows they throw can do damage, they're not as accurate as scattered soldiers. As long as the artillery units located at the rear of the position are set up, especially the powerful 1005 mm heavy guns, no matter how strong the walls are, they will not be able to resist it.

The heavenly madness set up the headquarters in the rear position of the side of the artillery position. It was a freshly planted tent, and the guards spread out around it to form a cordon, and no one was allowed to enter except for the Celestial Maniac and the staff officers, who were the commander of the legion.

The Celestial Maniac is more burly than before, mainly due to the visual effect brought by the armor. Considering that the current combat methods of other tribes are still dominated by cold weapons, and the damage caused by white arquebuses in the south, it is difficult for the dragon infantry to completely eliminate the alloy armor in the short term.

"We've got to take Fangs as soon as possible." Tianmad slapped twice with a heavy slap on the table where the map was spread. He is no longer the ignorant young man he used to be, and time and experience can make life. He has fought many battles, managed villages and cities, humbly received teachings from sorcerers, and absorbed knowledge like a sponge...... The growth rate of the heavenly madness is very fast. If it weren't for this, Tianhao wouldn't have given him the First Legion at ease and let his brother be the commander.

Unlike the other legions, the First Legion is based on the Rock City Warband, and is the elite of the dragon army.

Of course, above the First Legion, there were more elite Praetorian Legions. All of its members are veterans and are under the direct command of the Regent.

A tall, lanky staff officer stared at the map and said seriously: "With our current strength, it will not be difficult to take this city. We have a steady supply line, and it's not far from Steel Tooth City. As long as the current array is maintained, it can be solved with artillery. ”

"That's not all I want, and it's not in line with His Royal Highness the Regent." Tian Madness sneered grimly: "We are going to completely annihilate the lion army in Fangfang City, a full 200,000 people. Note that I'm talking about total annihilation, not the crushing of them. ”

As he spoke, Tianmad raised his right hand, palmed upward, and made a five-finger opening and slowly pinching motion.

The officer standing on the right interjected: "Commander Liao Qiu has set off from Crazy Tooth City with the Fifth Legion, and it is expected to arrive this afternoon." They will attack from the northwest of Fangs, so that the entire northern front will be under our control. The eastern mountains are guarded by the garrison of Broken Horn, and the leonins will not go in that direction. Once we breach the city's defenses, their only retreat is to the south. ”

"Don't worry about this, there are our people in the city." Tianmad slammed his fist on the table: "What I want to tell you is that to restrain the people below, you must control the rhythm of your attacks, not too fast, and at the same time create pressure on the leon bastards in Fangfang City. As long as the Fifth Army arrives on time, sends a signal, and works together inside and outside the city, it will be difficult to win this battle. ”

The atmosphere suddenly became warm, and the officers who understood it nodded one after another. Many of them have followed Tianhao since the time of Rock City, and have experienced many battles between the Pig Clan, the Deer Clan and the Tiger Clan, and they know that behind each victory, there is an important factor that cannot be ignored by the "Intelligence Department".

"Those brothers who are engaged in intelligence are doing a really good job." One officer proposed: "If we have the opportunity in the future, we should give them a good drink." ”

Tianmad let out a hearty laugh: "How can one cup be enough?" At least one jar is about the same. ”

……

The intense artillery fire never stopped.

After the first round of five rounds of test firing, observers with monoculars have calculated the relevant data based on the landing point of the shells, and constantly give new angles and directions. A series of breaches were blown out of the wall to the northwest of Fangfang City, and heavy rocks continued to lose their support and swayed and fall, and the nearby leon soldiers were either killed on the spot, or directly hit by cannonballs, and the whole person was completely blown away.

According to the order of the heavenly madness, the artillery unit was divided into groups of five guns and fired at Fangfang City in turn. The interval was as long as ten minutes, sometimes shorter, and in any case it was not fixed, so that the lion officers and soldiers defending the city could not find the pattern.

Shi Lie's luck was very bad, when the fourth round of artillery fire came, he just happened to climb the tower and condescendingly observed the distribution of the dragon army in the distance. A large-caliber shell hit the tower accurately, blasting most of the top of the tower open, and the windows and walls located on the observation surface collapsed in large chunks. Shi Lie and his entourage were caught off guard and fell from the collapsed tower, but fortunately, there were several corpses of soldiers killed on the ground, which played a good cushioning role, which did not fall to death on the spot and saved a life.

Braving the rain of rubble, the officers and attendants desperately tried to rescue Shi Lie from the pile of dead and send him to a temporary ambulance center in the south of the city.

It was full of wounded leon soldiers, almost all of whom were disabled. In the space of more than two hours, more than 300 large-caliber shells blew down the city wall, causing casualties among nearly 1,000 lion officers and soldiers.

The wounded were groaning, and their wounds were treated only simply, with strong ropes tightly tied to the base of their arms or thighs, stopping the bleeding in the simplest of ways. The environment is so dirty, there is blood everywhere, new wounded people are constantly being sent in from the outside, some people roll directly off the stretcher, the intestines flow out of the ruptured abdomen, the people behind have no time to stop their feet and step on it directly, the poor people sit up straight in an instant as if they were shocked, covering their abdomen with both hands and screaming, but they can only watch their body organs being trampled to sparse pieces, and feces gushing out of the intestines, causing a scolding from the people around them.

Shi Lie's right leg was fractured, not a crushing kind, but a sprain caused by the pressure of gravity. The legions were immobilized with wooden splints and tied with ropes. This approach is no different from the age of civilization, and the cure can only be left to time.

"My lord, are you feeling okay?" The sweaty adjutant hugged Shi Lie next to him and helped him to the chair. Although it was cold now, the adjutant's underwear was already soaked. There are many reasons for sweating, ranging from strenuous exercise to fear.

Shi Lie didn't seem to hear the adjutant's words, his eyes were full of dull gazes, and he muttered to himself: "This is the artillery of the dragon clan?" This is their new weapon? ”

The past hour or so has given Shi Lie too much shock. As a young man, he served in Suolongguan and fought against white southerners. The white dwarf's cannon was also thick and capable of firing large solid iron balls. The power of the powerful impact far exceeds that of the bow and arrow, and it is also a terrifying existence that no kind of ballista can match. Relying on the powerful artillery unit, the white people launched an attack on the city wall of Suolongguan again and again, and the black spherical cannonballs smashed the city wall like hail, forcing the guardians of the pass at that time to open the city gate and send troops to take the initiative to attack the white people outside.

The muskets of the whites were equally lethal to the northern barbarians. The line array tactics were very powerful, especially when the white musketeers lined up in three rows and fired repeatedly, only heavy shieldmen with large tower shields could resist them. But in this way, the artillerymen behind the musketeers were also better prepared, and they fired chain or shotgun shells from small-caliber guns, inflicting serious damage on the attacking barbarian warriors.

If it weren't for the terrain advantage, if there was no guardian spirit, the northern barbarians would have been defeated...... Well, it should be difficult to promise the white Southerners.

Shi Lie has a large scar on his left arm, which is a memorial to being shot by a white arquebus when he was young. Although the buckshot had been removed and his injuries had healed, it left an unforgettable impression on him.

If it was face-to-face hand-to-hand combat, Shi Lie had never been afraid of anyone. Even if the opponent has a large number of archers, such as the Eagle Clan, Shi Lie also has corresponding restraint methods.

However, muskets and artillery went beyond cold weapons. The Lion Clan has fallen behind in terms of efficiency and investment in intelligence gathering, which has also caused Shi Lie to not pay enough attention to the Dragon Army since he was ordered to lead the army to rebuild Fangs City.