A puff of black-gray smoke suddenly rose from both ends of the city, and the floor of the watchtower trembled slightly. After the roar, there was a cheer from below the walls, and it was clear that striking ahead of the enemy was a big morale boost.

But Willion knew in his heart that the first shot was all about it.

Sure enough, after a few breaths, two clumps of mud rose in the field, not only did not hit the enemy with a single shot, but also deviated from the preset landing point during the previous exercise. The shell hit the ground and bounced off again, tumbling forward for a short distance, plowing a shallow three-foot furrow in the muddy battlefield.

Today is not a windless day, which means that the boulder cannon needs more test firing to hit the target.

He knew very well that the cannon that Golden Spike City had built at great expense was far from the long-barreled cannon used by Roland, even more so than the musket.

The most obvious thing is that the boulder cannons cannot move freely.

In order to prevent the cannon from exploding, the craftsmen melted down almost all the bronze vessels in the city, even the ancient bell on the clock tower. The result was enough to crush any wagon, with walls about an arm's length and could only be erected on specially built turrets, with a noose and orientation controlled by a noose, and each shot required at least a quarter of an hour to reload.

In addition, the spherical cannonballs it fired were made of polished granite, and could not produce a violent explosion like when Roland bombarded the royal capital. Willion had also tried hollow shells that could coat the snow powder, but they were extremely unstable to use, and the yield was very low due to the iron shell—he had never wondered where Roland had gotten all that raw material.

Therefore, from the very beginning, the Duke's defensive strategy was to limit the opponent's artillery as much as possible.

As long as he forces the enemy to approach the city to fight, then his boulder cannon will always hit the opponent's head at a moment.

After a round of fire, Roland's army unexpectedly halted its advance, and as if frightened by the unexpected attack, it began to retreat backwards, halting only a hundred paces from the point where the shells had landed.

"What are they doing here?" asked Glena, confused.

Willion held up his goggles and noticed that the hundred-dozen men had stripped off their gear and dug up the earth in place—at first glance, they looked like they were trying to clear a flat field out of the field.

"Probably scared, I want to adjust the team and fight a protracted battle," said a viscount who was also watching the battle from the watchtower, "I heard that Roland Wimbledon has completely abandoned the knights, and the army is full of a group of country men who have little knowledge, and they have won all the way with high-quality firearms, and have basically not encountered any setbacks. Now we need to take the city wall against our attack, and I am quite hesitant. It's a beautiful trick to turn dirt into mud, my lord. ”

"But our income and servants are also much less," said the other, frowning, "This year Evil Moon has fled many of its lords, and half of the workshops have been abandoned, so it would be better to make peace with Roland Wimbledon if we can." ”

"There are no reciprocal conditions, where is the basis for peace talks, and we have to win the next game. ”

"Shut up," said Willion, displeased, "I will not surrender to the kingslayer, and if you would rather give up your status as a nobleman than betray His Majesty Tifeco, I will first stuff you into the cellar and keep you in the company of the rioters." ”

The scene suddenly lost its voice.

In order to prepare for this defensive battle, Golden Harvest City did pay a great price, not only did it turn from a trade center into a fortress, but he also made some helpless moves that he was unwilling to do at first. But in the eyes of the duke, it was all worth it. If the fourth prince had co-opted the nobles to control the Grey Castle from the beginning, he would have failed a long time ago, but the other party chose a great rebellious path, that is, he tried to overthrow the entire aristocratic system and take all the power into his arms.

As long as he can thwart Roland's attack here, the others will change their mindset and support him to continue to rule the East, and more opponents will emerge in the Grey Keep - it can be said that he is fighting both for His Majesty Tifeco against Roland and for the preservation of the traditional aristocratic system.

"Your Excellency, the boulder cannon is loaded!" one of the attendants reported.

"Do you want to keep shooting?" asked Glena.

"No, wait...... Unless we add snow powder, it's hard for us to hit that position. Willion shook his head, he regretted that he had given the order to shoot so quickly, he had thought that he would have been able to complete the calibration earlier, but he had not expected that the other party would stop advancing because of a single shot. Now watching the group of people busy in the mud, he faintly felt a trace of unease in his heart.

The flat ground shoveled out was only for two people to stand on, and it didn't look like they were preparing for camping, and the more than 100 people were divided into more than a dozen teams, and after clearing the ground, they fiddled with those green long tubes.

Their movements were visible through the lookout glasses - the barrel seemed to be just a part, with a tripod underneath it, a dented iron plate at the end, and several strange sticks stuck into the barrel at first. These things were all carried on everyone's backs before, and it took less than a quarter of an hour to put them together on a temporary basis, which shows the ingenuity of the design.

The next moment, however, the Duke could hardly believe his eyes!

I saw that the other party stuffed a spindle-shaped jar into the cylinder, and then a puff of white smoke quickly erupted from the top of the cylinder-

Just when the nobles were still wondering what this thing was, more than a dozen dark red fireballs suddenly burst out inside and outside the city wall, followed by a series of thunderous explosions!

Since the houses near the inner side of the city walls have been demolished, leaving only all kinds of traps and obstacles, there is not much damage to people, but the shock to Willion is indescribable!

At that moment, there was only one voice left in his head.

That's actually a cannon?

But how can it be a cannon!?

Although the Duke had not seen Roland's artillery units with his own eyes, he had heard them described many times - they were divided into two categories according to the length of the barrels, the former could be mounted on a four-wheeled carriage to accompany the army, and the latter had to be transported by ships, neither of which could be carried by manpower.

It took two years to cast these two barely usable cannons after pouring all the craftsmen and raw materials of Golden Harvest City, which was a lack of skill and experience, and was not fundamentally different from Roland's firearms in principle. He believed that if he gave the craftsmen a few more years, he would be able to make a similar weapon.

But the scene in front of him completely turned his thoughts on its head.

So how does the thin tube support the tremendous pressure generated by the explosion of snow powder?

This simply doesn't make sense!

"Take out the stone bullets and add half a packet of snow powder!" the duke turned to his attendant and yelled, "Shoot as soon as you load it, and if you hit one person, I will reward him with ten golden dragons!"

The latter hesitated, "Half a bag, my lord, that might damage the gun—"

"If they are allowed to attack the walls like this, it will be useless to keep the boulder cannons!" Willion said, grabbing him by the collar, "Do as I say!"

And just as the order was given, white smoke rose again from the front of the position.

The interval between the front and back is less than ten breaths!

This time, Willion heard a slight hum, like the chirping of a bird, and like the whistle of an arrow breaking through the air.

"Whew————"

The next moment, several dazzling fireballs rose from the top of the city wall, and the scorching waves of air swept over the bonfire and oil basin, and in the blink of an eye, the wall turned into a sea of fire.