Chapter 307 A Stunning Debut

The best route from Hanzhong to Chang'an is the Chencang Road; however, for a large army, this stretch of road contains two impassable passes.

The first is Da San Pass, followed by Chencang City. This pass and city together guard this main artery connecting Jiannan and the Guanzhong.

Recalling Chancellor Zhuge, even with Da San Pass in his grasp, he ultimately failed to capture Chencang, which cemented Hao Zhao's illustrious reputation. This was also why Gao Yuan had never dared to lightly deploy troops here.

However, things were different now. Gao Yuan had a weapon of mass destruction in his hands, which gave him the greatest confidence to give it a try.

The soldiers of the Shenji Camp had all witnessed the Flying Thunder Cannon. They were deeply moved that such a terrifying weapon was entrusted to them, representing Gao Yuan's absolute trust in them.

At the same time, the soldiers were full of confidence in Gao Yuan's proactive strike.

Many people actually did not understand Gao Yuan's decision to take the initiative. In their view, Gao Yuan should not have stabbed Northern Liang in the back at this time; he should have let Northern Liang and Northern Yan go south to destroy the Great Qian.

In everyone's eyes, the reason Gao Yuan had never launched a northern expedition was because he bore the title of a Great Qian official. This title was like a rope constantly tightening around his neck.

Gao Yuan had kept his duty as a subject and did not launch a northern expedition. Although the Great Qian Imperial Court was full of wariness toward the Southern Yue Kingdom, they had also shown restraint and had not taken any drastic actions.

However, this time the Great Qian Imperial Court actually took the initiative to attack Lingnan Circuit, which amounted to a complete falling out. Many people could not understand why he would help those people at such a time.

Nevertheless, before setting out, Gao Yuan still explained his plan clearly to Zhao Xiyao, Wu Xu, and the others.

"Da San Pass and Chencang must be taken sooner or later. Taking them early is better than late. Now that the main force of the Northern Liang Army is in the east, it is a rare opportunity;"

"As for your feeling that I want to help the Capital City court, I do indeed have such an intention. Currently, our main army is on a western expedition, and we simply lack the strength for a northern expedition. At a time like this, if we allow the Capital City court to be destroyed, we won't get any benefits at all."

After hearing Gao Yuan's plan and realizing he only made this choice because he didn't want others to benefit for nothing, the women said no more.

The Flying Thunder Cannon was, to put it simply, a basic iron cylinder. It was very lightweight; otherwise, if it were a proper Red-Coat Cannons, transporting it over the rugged and difficult Chencang Road would have been as hard as climbing to heaven.

Mu Qing sat on horseback. Although the pace was very slow, she was still tossed about until she felt dizzy. She couldn't help but complain to Gao Yuan,

"Husband, it seems we'll need to spend some effort repairing this Chencang Road later. Otherwise, if there's any trouble, Hanzhong won't be able to provide support in time."

Gao Yuan agreed with Mu Qing's point. He nodded slightly and said,

"Once we take Chencang, I plan to transfer all the construction teams here to properly repair and widen this Chencang Road."

Now with cement and explosives, opening mountains and building roads would no longer be as difficult as imagined. With clear roads, the grain and Shu brocade of the Shu region could be transported out without hindrance.

When roads are connected, commerce will naturally flourish. In this way, the people of the Shu region can receive the greatest benefits.

The journey went quite smoothly. Northern Liang probably hadn't expected Gao Yuan to personally lead an army to attack Chencang at this time, so they hadn't set up many sentries or scouts.

A few sentries were eliminated by Chen Dao leading the Scout Battalion before they could send a signal due to their negligence. Most importantly, it allowed Gao Yuan to obtain the desired intelligence from the prisoners.

Da San Pass was guarded by two thousand Northern Liang Army soldiers, and Chencang had three thousand troops. The defending general was Ma Fu, a native of Fufeng.

The primary role of the Flying Thunder Cannon was anti-personnel. Expecting this thing to blow up city walls was a pipe dream; one must remember that even in the WWII era, sturdy city walls were still a major defensive asset.

Furthermore, the explosive packs at this time were still filled with black powder, which couldn't compare to the yellow explosives of the civil war era. Therefore, Gao Yuan hoped to eliminate as much of the enemy's effective strength as possible at Chencang.

These five thousand men weren't even enough to fill the gaps between Gao Yuan's teeth; he wanted to lure more enemy troops to come and meet their deaths.

After much consideration, Gao Yuan changed his original deployment of quickly taking Da San Pass and Chencang.

Da San Pass is located on the Da San Ridge at the northern foot of the Qinling Mountains. It stretches from the Qinling Ridge in the south to Yimen Fort in the north. The entire pass city covers nearly eighty li. Below the pass is the Qingjiang River. Since ancient times, it has been the throat of Sichuan and Shaanxi, a strategic location contested by all military strategists.

In the history of the original timeline, there were more than seventy battles fought over Da San Pass, showing its importance.

Without the Flying Thunder Cannon, it would certainly be unrealistic for Gao Yuan to take this place without suffering heavy casualties. In fact, if he were a bit slow and the enemy reinforcements arrived, it would be completely hopeless.

After marching on the Chencang Road for about half a month, the army led by Gao Yuan arrived at the foot of Da San Pass, which immediately made the garrison inside the pass nervous.

The two Zhonglang Generals guarding the pass hurriedly arranged defenses on one hand and sent people to Chencang to report the news on the other.

However, only after they finished everything did they discover to their surprise that the attacking Yue Army did not cut down trees to build siege engines like other armies. Instead, they brought out ten pitch-black iron cylinders.

This left them puzzled, but they did not relax. Instead, they hurried to set up defensive lines. The city walls were lined with soldiers, and behind them, a large number of soldiers and laborers were quickly moving rolling logs and stones.

Outside the pass city, Baier Soldiers quickly placed ten Flying Thunder Cannons within range according to their past training, with the muzzles angled toward the top of the pass city.

Chen Dao came before Gao Yuan, cupped his hands, and shouted loudly,

"Reporting to My Lord, the ten Flying Thunder Cannons are in position. Please give the order!"

Gao Yuan nodded and said,

"Order the whole army to prepare. A test fire will be conducted in the time it takes for an incense stick to burn!"

"Understood!"

After giving the order, Gao Yuan pulled two earplugs from his robe and stuffed them into his ears one by one.

After finishing his own, Gao Yuan thoughtfully helped Mu Qing put on her earplugs as well. The entire army followed suit, all wearing soft wood earplugs.

Because everyone was wearing earplugs, all orders relied on flag signals. As the first small red flag was raised, the propellant charges and fuses were all loaded, and the partitions were stuffed into the iron barrels.

Then the second small red flag was raised, and explosive packs weighing thirty catties were stuffed into the cannon barrels.

As the incense stick burned out, the two red flags dropped, the fuses were lit, and the rising smoke signaled that the Pandora's box of thermal weaponry was officially opened.

"Boom... Boom... Boom..."

The ten Flying Thunder Cannons let out earth-shattering roars. Even though everyone had their ears plugged, they still felt it was deafening, and their hearts trembled violently from the shock.

Before the garrison on the city wall could react to what was happening, three explosive packs flew over their heads and detonated with a "Boom!"

The unprepared Northern Liang Army soldiers were blown directly into the air. They fell to the ground with blood flowing from their seven orifices, clearly not going to survive.

The top of the wall was a mess. Those who were lucky enough to survive could no longer hear any sound, only a sharp ringing. However, they still struggled to get up and call others to help.

Outside the city, the Flying Thunder Cannons, having adjusted their angles, fired again. This time the accuracy was excellent; all ten explosive packs flew onto the city wall, with two going slightly further and landing directly behind the wall.

"Boom... Boom... Boom..."

Another series of deafening explosions followed. By the time the smoke cleared, there wasn't a single person left standing on the wall, and even the soldiers and laborers behind the wall suffered heavy casualties.