Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 1268 - 1261: Firepower Projection

Chapter 1268: Chapter 1261: Firepower Projection

Both inside and outside the city, preparations for battle had been made. The Demon Clan’s musketeers and crossbowmen had taken their positions on the city walls, and all types of solid-shot cannons were ready to fire, just waiting for the fuses to be lit.

The Demon Clan’s cannons were somewhat similar to Red Barbarian Cannons, being typical examples of breech-loading, smoothbore guns. The Demon Clan had deployed a large number of such cannons on the city walls, and even the harbor was fortified. Should the enemy dare to approach by boat, they would surely be bombarded into disorientation.

Among the defenders on the city walls, the number of musketeers was actually not large, with more crossbowmen present instead, alternating their fire. This was because the Demon Clan generally used musketeers to face the enemy directly in open battle, rather than for city defense.

Moreover, due to years of warfare, the population quality of the Demon Clan had diminished significantly, making it impossible to train a sufficient number of archers, and forcing them to train large numbers of crossbowmen to supplement their firepower.

It had to be said that in order to hold Lingyuan City, the Demon Clan had spared no expense, forcibly taking the lead in military technology.

At that moment, within Lingyuan City, various members of the Demon Clan bustled about, creating a scene reminiscent of a zoo. Such a sight was actually quite rare, as Lingyuan City belonged to the Qingqiu Clan, and the majority of its residents were from the Fox-Ear Tribe.

In Luo’er’s view, he felt that without the unpredictable factors like General Cultivators, it would be a fool’s dream for the Dongsheng army to try conquering Lingyuan City with an army of one hundred thousand. The outcome was destined to be a retreat in defeat for the Dongsheng army.

Anyone with a clear head could see that the military technology of the Demon Clan was ahead of the Dongsheng Empire, and as the defenders of a city, they would undoubtedly hold a dominant position in a battle.

After all, whether it was the Ancient Times’ visibility warfare, the more recent long-range warfare, or the modern-day beyond-visibility warfare, siege battles have always been the most cumbersome and the bloodiest conflicts. Moreover, the attacking side would inevitably suffer far greater losses compared to the defenders.

Since ancient times, there has been a saying that a single man guarding a pass can hold off ten thousand enemies, meaning that as long as a city was well-constructed, the defenders could withstand wave-like assaults from the attackers at minimal cost.

The Analog examples are needless to mention, as there are already many classic cases. In modern long-range warfare, even though the range of firepower has increased substantially, it still seems impotent against cities.

Even in modern, beyond-visibility warfare, cities remain a nightmare for attackers. Look no further than the Battle of Grozny, where over a thousand Russian soldiers entered the city, and in the end, only a handful of individuals survived, with the rest falling in battle, revealing the sheer brutality of such conflicts.

Therefore, whether in ancient or modern times, military commanders have always tried to avoid siege battles.

The Art of War states: "The highest form of warfare is to attack the enemy’s strategy; next is to disrupt their alliances; next is to attack their forces; the lowest is to besiege their cities. Besieging cities is a last resort. Thus, the skillful leader subdues the enemy’s troops without any fighting, he captures their cities without laying siege to them, and he overthrows their kingdom without lengthy operations."

Viewed from this perspective, it was clear that the higher-ups of the Dongsheng Empire were short-sighted. Besides, Kyushu was thousands of miles away from West Outer Heaven, with a long and difficult journey, also requiring passage through Fengyu’s territory. Given these factors, there seemed to be no reason for the Dongsheng Empire to launch an assault on West Outer Heaven, logically speaking.

Yet, the Dongsheng Empire had invaded, and not just once but almost every decade.

If the Demon Clan were left to speculate on their own, they would probably rack their brains and only conclude that the Dongsheng Empire was after Magic Crystals.

However, as an outsider, Luo’er had a much more objective perspective, particularly after learning about the internal conflicts within the Dongsheng army. He could surmise that the invasions by the Dongsheng Empire were likely aimed at weakening their own Cultivator forces by sending them to die on the battlefield.

What he was curious about was why someone would commit such acts of self-harm and pointless internal strife.

It seemed that Luo’er was still too naive, for the world was indeed that unreasonable. Heretics were more abhorred than followers of foreign religions, and this has never been a joke.

The members of the Demon Clan were actively deploying their forces, and so were the Advance Team and the aerial fleet. The city’s high towers were put to use, with the High-peak people’s marine corps setting up machine guns there, ready to support the Demon Clan at any moment.

At the same time, more than a dozen mortars had been deployed to the firing positions within the city and the firing parameters had been set, serving as support firepower for the Demon Clan.

The Helrandum hovered above the city, not launching an active attack due to the shortage of Magic Crystals, but instead serving as a platform for carrier-based aircraft. Combat aircraft were also equipped with missiles, ready to carry out surgical strikes against the Dongsheng military’s command systems at any time.

According to the pre-war memorandum reached by both sides, the main responsibility of the aerial fleet was to carry out air raids on the enemy’s rear, including command systems, supply depots, and the like. Because of the limited ammunition, strikes would only be conducted when there was absolute certainty of their success.

On the one hand, the Advance Team was responsible for coordinating communication between the Demon Clan military and the aerial fleet, and on the other, they were constantly monitoring the Dongsheng army’s generals. As soon as a large-scale siege by the enemy generals occurred, they would immediately strike, eliminating these generals to prevent the front line from collapsing.

Overall, whether it was the aerial fleet or the Advance Team, they were only capable of engaging in small-scale, high-efficiency combat. The Dongsheng army’s hundred-thousand-strong force could still only be resisted by the Demon Clan’s military.

By the tenth day, the Dongsheng army had set up siege equipment and was ready to attack. At this time, Lingyuan City was surrounded on three sides; looking from the city wall, one could see a battlefield over a thousand meters wide filled with orderly queues of soldiers, waiting for the commander’s order to attack.

The Dongsheng army favored deep blue, so the soldiers’ uniforms were predominantly deep blue, complemented by dark red as a secondary color. From a distance, the orderly formations of the Dongsheng army, with flags waving, exuded an imposing and forbidding atmosphere.

As Luo’er and his comrades had predicted, the Dongsheng army did not launch a three-sided attack but chose the south and west sides of the city as the main directions of attack. They lined up beyond the range of the artillery, ready to launch an assault on the city.

Around eleven o’clock in the morning, the battle officially erupted. With the sonorous sound of the bugles, the Dongsheng army began their flood-like assault on Lingyuan City.

The first to open fire were not the troops of the Demon Clan, but the trebuchets from the Dongsheng army’s rear, which launched boulder-sized stones into the city using mechanical force. Although their accuracy left much to be desired, the intimidation factor was genuinely impactful.

As the army advanced, the more than a dozen siege ladders were slowly moved forward by manpower. Archers and sword and shield bearers filled the ladders, with the archers primarily shooting arrows into the city, and the sword and shield bearers serving as the main force for storming the city walls.

Due to the presence of moats, the Dongsheng army had to bring with them pontoon bridges to place over the ditches, allowing their soldiers to cross.

But to bring the siege ladders to the city walls, pontoon bridges alone would not suffice, so the Dongsheng army brought along many conscripts, tasking them with carrying sand and dirt to fill the moats and directly create several pathways for the siege ladders to pass through.

At this time, the Demon Clan’s military still had not opened fire, but everyone was in place, silently waiting for the Dongsheng army to gradually draw closer.

The annoying trebuchets did not brag for long, for the High-peak people within the city would never allow such long-range firepower delivery devices to exist. Not long after the trebuchets began their assault, their coordinates had been locked onto, and immediately following, the city’s mortars opened fire under the guidance of observers.

The trebuchets were bulky and nearly immovable once deployed, only able to take hits in place. As a result, these siege engines practically played no role. With bursts of gunfire rising continuously from within the city, one after another, the trebuchets were destroyed by the precise guided artillery fire.

The rules of beyond-visual-range warfare emphasize mobility; even artillery during this period was upgraded to self-propelled guns, typically moving immediately after firing a round.

However, as commanders of the Dongsheng army from the era of visual-range warfare, they clearly lacked such foresight. So, when facing the rules of beyond-visual-range warfare, the destruction of Dongsheng’s trebuchets was almost a foregone conclusion; the High-peak people would absolutely not allow the enemy’s fire points to continue existing.

The counterattack from Lingyuan City greatly shocked the commanders of the Dongsheng army, but they did not panic. They still advanced according to the predetermined plan, attacking Lingyuan City even without the trebuchets.