Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!
Chapter 40: Ancient Artillery Warfare

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Ancient Artillery Warfare

Due to carrying a large amount of captured equipment, and having lost their leader while avoiding the Terror Demons roaming the surrounding area, the group of eight returned at a much slower pace than when they arrived.

It took nearly 4 hours for everyone to get back to Junshan Bridge, and by this time, fierce battles were still happening on the bridge.

A large number of Terror Demons crowded the western side of the bridge, while Han Shui City’s City Defense Army lined up on the eastern side. The soldiers, dressed in rattan armor and wielding various weapons, formed three ranks. Whenever the Terror Demons attempted to charge across the bridge, they were repelled by a volley of shots.

After firing, the soldiers in the first row would quickly retreat to the back, reloading while the soldiers in the front continued to fire, maintaining suppressive fire.

This cycle greatly compensated for the lack of firepower that came with not having automatic firearms, rendering hundreds of Terror Demons immobilized and pinned in place.

"The tactics of the Mechanical God Sect are really advanced... If it were the Holy Blood trying to fight, they’d probably have to rush up for hand-to-hand combat."

Observing from a distance, Xu Lie sighed, and Chen Jian nonchalantly nodded, replying:

"Indeed advanced."

"This firing speed almost matches my Ming Dynasty’s Divine Machine Camp..."

"Ming Dynasty? Divine Machine Camp? What’s that?"

Xu Lie didn’t understand the joke in Chen Jian’s words at all, thinking that the Divine Machine Camp was indeed a powerful combat force among the "Divinely Selected" he had in mind.

Chen Jian didn’t bother explaining, simply responding,

"In short, a... quite strong team for that era."

"But let’s not worry about that for now. Both parties are blocking here, how are we going to get back?"

"Weren’t the Terror Demons attacking near the city last time? How did they press forward to here this time?"

"I don’t know."

Xu Lie shook his head, answering:

"Han Shui City’s City Defense Army is mainly controlled by the Mechanical God Sect, with only a few Holy Blood members taking on reconnaissance and vigilance duties. So, regarding their combat methods, we don’t have much say."

"But I guess, it’s likely the sentries discovered large-scale Terror Demon activity and urgently organized manpower for interception."

"If we want to get across, we either take another route or wait for them to finish fighting and the Terror Demons to retreat."

"But honestly, just waiting around like this is not going to be a solution."

"With the Blood Sun General dead, these Terror Demons’ bloodthirsty nature is no longer restrained, and they will attack at any cost, until all are dead."

"Who knows how long it’ll take to finish."

"Terror Demons aren’t brainless; they will attack in waves, trying to exhaust the City Defense Army’s stamina, and then break through in one go."

"Very smart."

Chen Jian nodded.

"Yes, these Terror Demons, although brutal and bloodthirsty, aren’t truly monsters, in some ways, they’re more human..."

As they were talking, the sound of war drums suddenly rose from the east bank of Junshan Bridge.

Chen Jian raised his binoculars to observe, and under the setting sun, dust clouds rose from the road.

A steam locomotive spewing black smoke emerged from the rear, its massive engine car dragging a pitiably small carriage, on which was mounted a huge...

Muzzle-loader cannon.

A muzzle-loader cannon mounted on an advanced six-legged cannon mount with a carriage, trunnions, elevation mechanism, and a recoilless firing device.

A dozen individuals wearing pure black cloaks from the Mechanical God Sect swarmed out of the train car, swiftly detaching the engine from the carriage, and then hammering steel spikes into the ground for anchorage.

"Whoa, what kind of ancient anchoring technique is that? Can this even be considered ancient?"

Chen Jian was astounded, while Xu Lie explained,

"This is the Fire Cannon Priest of the Mechanical God Sect. They even perform rituals to appease the Mechanical Soul, but I think it’s all just self-deception..."

Before he could finish speaking, the "Priests" had already begun their work.

Alongside majestic hymns, someone wiped the cannon barrel with clean water, and then pushed a captured Terror Demon in front of the cannon, decapitating it with a single stroke.

The Priest picked up the still-bleeding head, soaked a prepared rope in the blood, and then wrapped the rope around the cannon.

Xu Lie clicked his tongue and said,

"They believe that nourishing with blood can make the cannon misfire-free, but from my experience, there’s still a considerable number of misfires..."

Isn’t that obvious?

Though the tolerance for error in this kind of old-fashioned muzzle-loader cannon is quite high, introducing random debris into the firing environment is surely going to increase the risk of a misfire.

Sigh.

Desecration, what a desecration this is.

If cannons really had Mechanical Souls, they would probably want to spit in the faces of these heretical cultists.

However, Chen Jian could also tell that their "pleasing the Mechanical Soul" ritual was likely derived from some formal cold-firing procedures.

Like cleaning the bore or pull-off testing techniques, and so on.

Just not sure how, but the story got twisted into this bizarre state along the way...

Chen Jian continued observing. At this moment, the ceremony for pleasing the Mechanical Soul finally concluded.

The Priest took out the gunpowder, scooping a sufficient amount into a designated container, pouring it into the barrel, and then using a wooden stick to compress it, sealing it with a cloth bag.

The next step was to load the cannonball.

Chen Jian watched the Priest’s moves expectantly, but instead of a cannonball, they lifted from the box a handful of...

Bearing steel balls.

Wow, is this how you’re using those things you collected??

The Priests mixed the bearing steel balls with some unknown sticky substance, stuffing it into the barrel.

At this point, all preparations before firing were finally complete. Chen Jian glanced at his watch, noticing that 10 minutes had passed...

Even discounting the time spent on the earlier ceremony, it still took them a full 5 minutes to complete the preparations.

Such speed would have gotten the entire cannon squad promoted in his time...

Meanwhile, as Chen Jian silently admonished their inefficiency, the three lines of infantry in front had already created an opening.

It was widely known that bridge crossings often had inclined planes, and from one end of the bridge, the tail of the bridge on the opposite side was invisible.

The Terror Demons still attempting their attack thought they’d finally found a breach and rushed in all at once.

The infantry kept retreating until they moved back behind the cannon.

The cannon barrel was raised to an angle slightly higher than level firing. By the time the Terror Demons realized the lit fuse was already set, it was too late.

"Boom!"

The simplified grapeshot for anti-infantry use roared out, mowing down the leading Terror Demons like cutting grass.

Immediately afterward, the dense projectiles continued flying backward, taking out a large group of Terror Demons packed on the bridge road.

The terrorist charge was instantly halted, and after a brief moment of chaos, the vast majority of Terror Demons began retreating in a panic, some even forgetting they weren’t water ghosts, directly vaulting over the barrier and leaping into the Yangtze River.

Chen Jian keenly noticed their intention to retreat and immediately said,

"Xu Lie, signal our identity!"

"Let’s take this chance and rush through!"