In fact, not only the Jin army, but even the vast majority of the Song army saw the power of artillery firing for the first time, and they couldn't close it for a long time with their mouth open. Shi Jun was certainly stunned, even Liu Renxian only sent artillery into Xiangyang, and he had never seen the artillery fired before.

Although Chen Min, who had heard the artillery firing, said it amazingly, and swore that as long as these ten cannons were sent into Xiangyang City, he could guarantee that Xiangyang would be defended. But Liu Renxian was still skeptical in his heart, and now after watching the real artillery fire, he really believed that what Chen Min said was really not an exaggeration at all. Really as long as these ten cannons are sent into Xiangyang City, you can ensure that Xiangyang is worry-free.

At this time, after six or seven rounds of bombardment, the ten artillery pieces successfully knocked out the four dirt mountains piled up by the Jin army in Xiangyang, of course, it did not mean that the earth mountains were completely flattened, but more than half of them collapsed, and the bed crossbows and trebuchets erected on the earth mountains all fell down and smashed to pieces. It is no longer possible to threaten the city.

The golden soldiers on the other dirt mountains did not dare to continue to defend the dirt mountains, and threw away their bed crossbows and trebuchets one after another, and fled down the mountain one after another. This is not because Jin Bing is timid and afraid of death, but because people instinctively have a fear of distance for unknown things. It has nothing to do with the bravery of the soldiers. Even Wanyan Changzhi had no intention of blaming these Jin troops, and only ordered them to be taken back into the array.

Watching the Jin soldiers flee down the dirt mountain with rolling and climbing, Song Jun couldn't help laughing, as if he was laughing at the Jin army retreating without a fight. At this time, the general who commanded the artillery firing came to Shi Jun and Liu Renxian, and said: "Shi Dutong, Liu Dutong, now that the Jin soldiers have fled from Tushan, should we continue to fight other Tushan, or directly attack the Jin army's main formation." ”

Shi Jun was a little unconvinced, and said: "The Jin army's main formation is more than four hundred steps away from here, can the artillery hit so far?" ”

The general replied: "When you return to the capital, there is no problem with the range of the artillery to hit 500 paces, and the farthest can be almost 600 paces." ”

Shi Jun and Liu Renxian both showed unbelievable expressions, they could fight five hundred paces away, and only the three-bed crossbow assembled by the Song army in the past could be reached without force. It's just that this three-bed crossbow is not only huge in size, difficult to move, and when it is used, it takes twenty or thirty people to work hard at the same time to pull it apart, so the practical value is not large. In addition, it seems that no weapon can hit that long distance, so the Jin army must be foolproof if it ranks its formation about four hundred away from the city wall, and can the artillery really hit that far?

Shi Jun said: "Okay, if you can really hit that far, then let's directly hit the formation of the Jin Army." ”

The general agreed to the "order", and then immediately waved the flag and passed the order to the Song soldiers who operated each artillery. After receiving the order, the Song soldiers immediately readjusted the angle of the artillery, and then reloaded the gunpowder shells, and after everything was ready, as the flag was being waved, the artillery that had been silent for a while once again made a deafening roar. More than 400 paces away, in the array of the Jin Army, there was also a huge roar one after another, causing dust to splash on the ground and sand and gravel to dance. Countless Jin soldiers and generals also let out terrible screams, and with each shelling, they continued to sound in the Jin army's array.

Wan Yan Changzhi couldn't help but be surprised, he couldn't imagine that the Song Army's "fire-breathing iron cylinder" could hit so far, in fact, as long as you pay close attention, you can find that although the power of artillery bombardment is earth-shattering, but the actual lethality is not great, a cannon down, at most more than 20 gold soldiers, not much stronger than a thunderbolt or thunderbolt, and the interval between firing is also very long, although the ten artillery pieces are divided into two batches, and they are fired in turns, but the time consumed is longer than in the past with the god arm crossbow.

But the psychological shock is indescribable. Jin Bing Jin General was already frightened and dizzy, and he still had to observe the lethality of what artillery, and the formation immediately became chaotic, and the frightened war horses were also scurrying around, and the men and horses fled backwards one after another, just wanting to hide as far away as possible.

Wan Yan Changzhi wanted to carefully observe the characteristics and real lethality of the artillery, but the distance between the earth mountain where he was located and the city wall was closer than the array, only more than three hundred steps, and now only this earth mountain was still guarded by the Jin army, and there were still a lot of people, so the Song army also specially divided two artillery pieces and fired them at this earth mountain. It's just that the Song army didn't know that Dajin's emperor Wanyan Changzhi was on this earth mountain, otherwise he would definitely aim ten artillery pieces at this earth mountain to bombard, as long as one cannon could hit, then this battle would probably end quickly.

Although the Song army fired a few cannons, it did not hit the top of the mountain, but it was not something that the Jin army could stand when it hit the mountain of Tushan. The sand, gravel and dirt raised by the explosion also splashed the people on the mountain.

Shi Zhan hurriedly said to Wan Yan Changzhi: "Your Majesty, it's too dangerous here, let's hurry down the mountain." ”

Wan Yan Changzhi nodded, got up from the chair calmly, and went down the earth mountain under the support of everyone. And just as they walked on their front feet, a cannon hit the top of the mountain, only to hit the soil and sand, mud and rocks, and a few golden soldiers who walked a little later screamed and fell down from the dirt mountain.

At this time, Wan Yan Changzhi had just walked halfway up the mountain, he glanced back at the top of the mountain, and the corners of his mouth couldn't help but smile a little. After everyone went down to the bottom of the mountain together, Wan Yan Changzhi suddenly said: "Let's stop here, don't go backwards." ”

All the generals didn't care about it, and said loyally: "Your Majesty, it's not safe here!" Let's go back a little further. ”

Wan Yan Changzhi shook his head and said: "You see, the Song army's 'fire-breathing iron cylinder' is enough to hit four or five hundred steps away, even if we retreat now, in a considerable distance, they are all within their strike range, maybe they will be hit, so it is better to stay here and not move, Tushan will naturally cover for us, and the Song army will change the distance when they see that there is no target on Tushan, stay here, and it will be safer on the opposite side, and after the Song army finishes fighting and collecting the troops, we will calmly retreat back to the camp." ”

The generals and Jin soldiers all looked at each other, although they all admitted that Wan Yan Changzhi had a certain amount of truth in what he said, but who knew what special functions Song Jun's and the "fire-breathing iron cylinder" had, some people were even thinking nonsense, maybe they could turn around, or they could drill holes. In short, staying here is also a big gamble, if Song Jun loses the bet, there is no loss, and Wan Yan Chang loses the bet, then there is no chance to turn the book.

But even if the emperor said so, the others had to do it, after all, as Wan Yan Changzhi said, even if he fled backwards now, he might not be able to avoid the bombardment of artillery. That's why I can't hide here.

Sure enough, the Song army fired a few more shots at this dirt mountain, but they were all blocked by the mountain, although some dirt and sand and gravel were shaken off, but it did not cause any damage to the people hiding behind the earth mountain. Moreover, when the Song army saw that there was no one on the mountain, they immediately readjusted the angle of the artillery and went to bombard the defeated army of the Jin army. The others were relieved to see that the artillery had been fired behind them, at least they were safe for the time being. At the same time, I also admired Yan Changzhi, in such a critical time, it is really rare to be able to keep a clear mind and make correct judgments.

And Wan Yan Changzhi's face did not show any joy, but turned his back to Tushan, taking this opportunity to carefully observe the characteristics and lethality of the artillery, and at the same time calculate the number of artillery shots.

After all the Jin troops fled the range of the artillery, the Song army stopped shelling. Wanyan Changzhi ordered everyone to wait for a while, so after nearly half an hour, he ordered people to turn their heads from behind the dirt mountain, and sure enough, the Song army on the city wall had collected their troops. And even the thick iron cylinders that were erected at the battlements were also taken back.

At this time, Wan Yan Changzhi gave the order, and everyone left behind the Tushan Mountain and returned to the camp of the Jin army, and at the same time carefully observed the artillery hitting the farthest place on the road.

Back in the camp, he did not reproach the fleeing soldiers, but spoke kindly to them, leaving only the guards and letting the others rest. At the same time, he immediately ordered someone to check the damage. According to the ideas of many Jin soldiers and generals, this time I am afraid that there will be heavy losses, not to mention that there will be thousands of people, or even tens of thousands, and it is not impossible for Nazhi to go to check and find that the casualties of the whole army are less than 2,000, only 1,723 people.

The person who counted the losses thought that he had miscalculated, and then seriously re-examined it, and the result turned out to be absolutely true, only 1,723 people.

When the person who counted the loss told Yan Changzhi this number. Wanyan didn't show any suspicious expression. Because he saw very clearly from behind Tushan at that time, the actual lethality of this "fire-breathing iron cylinder" was not as great as he imagined, and on the way back to the camp, he also observed the traces after the shelling, and the killing range was between two and three battles.

At the same time, Wanyan Changzhi also calculated that after he went down to Tushan, the Song army shelled the array of the Jin army a total of thirty-seven times, plus the previously uncounted artillery bombardment, about seventy to eighty times, so that it can only kill about 20 people in one cannon, this is still in the case of dense personnel, if the soldiers disperse, the loss will be smaller, so the Song army's "fire-breathing iron cylinder" is not as terrible as imagined except for the extremely long distance.

But how can the soldiers dispel their fear of the "fire-breathing cylinder"? Wanyan Changzhi fell into deep contemplation again.