World-Ending Demon Emperor
Chapter 856 - 406: Barrage of Death! Zhi Li is utterly shocked!

Chapter 856: 406: Barrage of Death! Zhi Li is utterly shocked!

Earl Chu Ye hadn’t become the commander of the Northern Legion because he was that outstanding, but because he had the old qualifications.

Furthermore, although he came across as rough and unrestrained, cursing fathers and mothers, cursing the heavens, the earth, and the air, he was inwardly very cautious and humble in his demeanor.

Today, upon meeting Zhi Li, his knees seemed to lack bones, ready to kneel at any moment, as he professed his loyalty to His Highness.

Tomorrow, upon seeing Duke Turing Tuo, his spine would similarly seem to lack any bones as he respectfully addressed him as ’Old Marshal,’ ’Old General,’ claiming he was ever a humble soldier under your command.

How shameless could you be? You, Chu Ye, were born into a traditional noble family with honors, merely biding your time in the Northern Legion. You only ever took command of a flanking force to support Duke Turing Tuo during the campaign against the Night Orchid Duchy. And the war had already ended before you even reached there.

Since when had you stayed under Duke Turing Tuo’s tent?

But it was precisely such a character as him, who could navigate between Turing Tuo and Zhi Li, that had securely held the position of commander of the Northern Legion for so many years.

When it came to warfighting capabilities, Chu Ye had only three attributes: a thick skin, a dark heart, and, above all, cautiousness!

This prudence didn’t mean he was overly careful, but that he was stable and fought by the book.

Just an average man in terms of insight.

Yet, it was exactly this man, who, upon seeing a hundred cannons on the southern bank firebombarding in unison, and then the troops crossing the river falling like harvested wheat, felt his heart painfully contract as though it would stop beating.

Then, an all-encompassing chill spread through his body as cold sweat broke out on his back.

"We’re in big trouble, in big trouble..." Earl Chu Ye muttered to himself, "Just hope these things don’t shoot too far, or else..."

Now, he was not only concerned about his own battlefield but also about the entire occupied territory, especially Zhi Li’s Central Army.

His first thought was to immediately send someone to warn Zhi Li to beware of Suo Lun’s new weapons.

However, he soon realized he had been overthinking it; the battle had already started on his side, so Zhi Li’s Central Army must have also engaged.

Standing at a higher vantage point, he saw nearly all the troops at the front of the crossing unit dead.

Those hit by small bullets were better off, merely losing their lives. But those hit by chain shot were truly tragic, their bodies gruesomely severed in half.

The first wave of the crossing troops was twenty thousand men strong, but just one round of bombardment had killed at least two to three thousand.

The remaining crossing troops were completely stunned, all at once at a loss for what to do.

Many didn’t even understand what had happened. Why, after a huge blast, did so many things fall like a downpour, the sky seemed to darken momentarily, and then all the people in front had died?

At this moment, Earl Chu Ye shouted hoarsely, "Continue the crossing, push forward, push forward..."

Immediately, the remaining ten thousand-plus crossing troops snapped out of their daze, desperately rowing to push past the dozens of meters of river width to reach the southern bank’s position.

However, the previous round of bombardment had killed countless soldiers at the front of the crossing troops. Hundreds of bamboo rafts and wooden floats lost control, colliding with one another in disarray, blocking all the rafts behind.

Across the four-li stretch of the river, it was too dense with one or two thousand bamboo rafts attempting to cross at the same time.

Earl Chu Ye immediately ordered, "Cover the army’s crossing!"

"Catapults, fire."

"Ballistas, fire."

"Archers, fire!"

The Chu Ye army attempted to use dense long-range attacks to cover the crossing troops, protecting the army as they moved across the river.

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh..."

Hundreds of stone projectiles flew hundreds of meters over the river, crashing down on the Suo southern bank positions.

Without any walls, these stone projectiles were terrifyingly powerful.

But again, the same issue: the accuracy of catapults was deeply moving, entirely reliant on luck.

The display was impressive, but the casualties caused were limited.

"Huff, huff, huff..."

Then, it was as if the sky suddenly darkened.

Thousands of giant crossbows were fired, and tens of thousands of archers shot in unison.

Arrows rained down like droplets, fiercely pelting Suo Lun’s southern bank positions.

However...

The lethality was still minimal because Suo Lun’s troops were sheltered in intercrossing trenches, all of their cannons housed in bunkers and fortifications.

When the arrow storm arrived, the soldiers in the trenches merely had to raise their shields to block them completely.

"Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh..."

For the sake of covering the crossing troops, tens of thousands of Chu Ye’s soldiers relentlessly drew bows and shot arrows.

Countless arrow shafts indeed fell like torrential rain.

In a short time, the entire southern bank position was like a porcupine, spiked with innumerable arrows.

But then, seven minutes later!

The hundreds of cannons in Suo Lun’s southern bank positions were ready for the second round of bombardment.

And Earl Chu Ye’s ten thousand-plus crossing troops had once again closed in to within dozens of meters.

This time, Yan Nai’er ordered to switch all to grapeshot.

At the command!

"Fire!"

"Boom, boom, boom, boom..."

Hundreds of cannons once again lit up with fire, bursting with sound!

Then, an even more insane and terrifying downpour furiously smashed forward.

And then...

It was the sound of rain hitting the beach!

In anguish, Earl Chu Ye closed his eyes, not daring to look.

Because this time, the casualties were greater than in the first round of bombardment.

This time, all used grapeshot, each several dozen-pound cannonball filled with several hundred steel balls.

Moreover, due to the disarrayed formation, the more than ten thousand crossing troops were cramped together, scrambling to land on the southern bank.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.