novelhk Chapter 846 Explosion, chaos in the Chu army!
Chapter 846 Explosion, chaos in the Chu army!
"Yes!" The personal soldier did not hesitate at all, with a determined look on his face, turned around and ran wildly along the passage inside the city wall to deliver this final order!
Gao Yao took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the fatigue and surging blood, and once again cast his gaze towards the city. The Chu army's offensive, spurred on by Xiang Yu's personal charge, reached an unprecedented frenzied peak! Like a raging black tide, wave after wave, fearlessly crashing against the isolated reef of Yishui City! Ladders, battering rams, and waves of people... so densely packed that it seemed as if they were about to completely submerge the city walls!
At this critical moment!
"Boom——!!!"
“Boom! Boom! Boom—!!!”
A series of dull noises, as if the heart of the earth had exploded, erupted without warning in the densest charging group of the Chu army, at the base of the ladders, and beside the path of the battering rams...
Not just one! But more than twenty! Almost simultaneously!
In an instant, it seemed as if more than twenty dormant volcanoes suddenly woke up under Yishui City!
Blinding orange-red flames, swirling with billowing smoke, suddenly tore through the ground like the claws of hell, shooting straight into the sky! The huge fireball rolled and expanded, instantly engulfing everything around it!
The terrifying shock wave was like an invisible giant hammer, sweeping in a circular pattern in all directions with the explosion point as its center! Wherever it passed, people and horses fell to the ground!
The hard soil was blown away! The heavy battering ram was torn into pieces and thrown up like a toy!
The dense mass of human bodies, facing temperatures reaching thousands of degrees Celsius and shock waves powerful enough to shatter internal organs, was as fragile as a piece of paper! Chu soldiers closer to the epicenter of the explosion didn't even have time to scream before they were instantly vaporized by the intense heat or torn apart by the shockwave into a cloud of blood and shattered limbs! Those further away were like fallen leaves swept up by a strong wind, fiercely flung into the air, then slammed back down, their bones shattered! Soldiers even further away were also shaken to the point of bleeding, their eardrums ruptured, their brains blanked!
"Ah—my eyes!"
"Help! Help!"
"God's punishment! It's God's punishment!"
"Run! Run!"
Screams, more shrill and desperate than any before, instantly replaced the deafening cries of killing! Countless Chu soldiers, unaffected by the impact, were utterly terrified by this utterly incomprehensible, natural disaster-like horror! Frightened warhorses neighed and bolted wildly, trampling the chaotic crowd even more horrifically!
Thick smoke billowed, flames shot up into the sky! The air was filled with the pungent smell of sulfur, the thick odor of blood, and the stench of burning flesh! The Chu army's offensive, which had been surging like a raging tide, was suddenly shattered by the sudden opening of these twenty or so hell gates, as if it had hit an invisible dam. It was instantly blown to pieces and completely stopped!
The battle was in chaos! Soldiers who don't know their generals can't control their troops! Panic spread like a plague, centered at the explosion point, madly spreading throughout the Chu army camp! The roars, like the final judgment, completely shattered the fighting spirit of the Chu army, which had been ignited by Xiang Yu!
On the top of the city wall, Gao Yao stared through the thick smoke and flames at the Chu army, which was still standing tall in the chaotic crowd, but was obviously slowed down by the shock wave of the explosion and the frightened horses. There was no joy in his heart, only cold solemnity and the heaviness of surviving a disaster.
Beneath the walls of Yangping Pass, it was no longer a battlefield, but the entrance to purgatory. The deafening roar of explosions had barely subsided, leaving behind a suffocating vortex of deathly silence. At its center were heartbreaking wails, the wail of dying horses, and soldiers running around like headless flies. The thick, acrid smell of gunpowder, mingled with the scent of blood, dust, and scorched flesh, billowed upward, obscuring the remaining light of the setting sun and stained the area below the city walls in a gray, despairing haze.
Broken limbs, broken weapons, overturned ladders and the wailing corpses of war horses, like a jigsaw puzzle from hell, were scattered all over the edge of the moat and the base of the city wall.
Gao Yao leaned against the cold, knife-scarred, and arrow-holed battlements, panting heavily. His armor was soaked with blood and dust, and his once gleaming eyes were now bloodshot, revealing a deep, unfathomable exhaustion. Days of intense defense had been like dancing on the edge of a knife, each moment straining his mental and physical strength.
He had personally slain nearly five hundred Chu soldiers! These weren't just cold numbers, but five hundred swings of the sword, five hundred parries, five hundred struggles on the brink of life and death. Even five hundred pigs to be slaughtered would exhaust his energy, let alone five hundred fearless Chu elites. His arms felt like they were filled with lead, and every breath tugged at the old rib wounds, causing a dull ache. His brain hummed like a hammer, its pounding repetitions. The mental strain of commanding the overall situation and understanding the battlefield's fleeting changes was far more grueling than the physical battle itself.
Yet, at this moment, he forced himself to persevere, casting his gaze like a hawk into the chaotic vortex below the city. He wasn't concerned with the battle situation, but rather searching for a specific figure—Xiang Yu, the Overlord of Western Chu!
"If I could, right now... take advantage of the residual force of the explosion... and kill him..." A cold yet burning thought flashed through Gao Yao's mind. If he could take advantage of this chaotic situation, taking advantage of the right time and location, and eliminate this destined enemy in one fell swoop, then even if Yangping Pass fell today, it wouldn't be an unacceptable price for him, Gao Yao! This thought, tinged with a hint of gambler's madness, was the last surge of murderous intent from his exhausted body.
His gaze quickly shuttled and filtered through the chaotic crowd of people and horses. Suddenly, as if drawn by a magnet, Gao Yao's sight was fixed on a figure still standing on horseback dozens of meters away from the city wall!
Although the figure was covered in dust and dirt, his gorgeous battle robe was dimmed by the dust and smoke, and the black horse under his crotch kept snorting and paddling its hooves in fear, but his aura as steady as a mountain, his attitude of trying to control the overall situation even in the chaos... the last glimmer of hope in Gao Yao's heart was shattered in an instant.
He sighed long and silently, with deep disappointment and a hint of imperceptible helplessness.
It’s Xiang Yu!
Though the Overlord of Western Chu was in disarray, he hadn't been seriously injured by the earth-shattering explosion. At that moment, he struggled to rein in his frightened black horse. His voice, like rolling thunder, pierced the chaotic battlefield as he barked out orders: "Hold steady! The rear guard will become the front guard! Retreat! Get out of the blast zone! Gather the wounded! Don't panic!"
Xiang Yu's order to retreat was wise, arguably the only option. This desperate black powder ambush, triggered by Gao Yao, was undoubtedly a force of the highest order in this era dominated by cold weapons. Its true terror lay not in the instantaneous casualties it inflicted.