Fearing being killed for his overwhelming merits, the empress decided to marry him.

Smoke and fire filled Yongning County and its surroundings.

The Chu army and the garrison troops engaged in a fierce exchange of fire.

Because the firearms used by the Wuzhao garrison were outdated muzzle-loading smoothbore guns, and they were using black powder, the fortifications on the city walls were already filled with smoke after only two rounds of fire.

This greatly obstructed the Chu army infantry's line of sight and significantly reduced their shooting accuracy.

Despite the overwhelming firepower of the two companies, the results were meager, and they could only advance to within a hundred paces before daring not to advance any further for fear of being surrounded by the enemy.

"boom!"

The gun fired with a deafening roar, and the scorching bullets flew directly from the burning barrel, scattering among the Chu soldiers. One of the stray bullets hit a soldier in the cheek, making him wince in pain.

However, his companions quickly took out hemostatic gauze and medicine from their packs to treat his wounds.

The remaining musketeers on the city wall, their eyes stinging from the gunpowder smoke, mechanically leaned against the wall to load ammunition, and then fired again in bursts.

It must be said that this was the first time since the Wu Zhao army began fighting the Chu army that the battle had been evenly matched.

Lu Wenwu was also a military talent. When he realized that the firing rate was being completely overwhelmed by the Chu army, he immediately adjusted his tactics and used a line formation to ensure that the firing rate of the muskets did not decrease.

However, that's all he can do. With a slow initial rate of fire, it's impossible for a smoothbore musket to achieve accurate kills.

"what!"

Suddenly a loud bang was heard, and then a musketeer began to roll around on the ground.

However, the barrel exploded on the spot after firing five times in succession and then being loaded for the sixth time.

The shattered metal immediately splattered blood all over the musketeer's face.

"Cease fire and cool down immediately!"

Lu Wenwu decisively ordered a halt to firing to allow the gun barrels to cool down.

Soon, the defenders all threw away their scalding hot muskets; some scooped water, while others simply loosened their belts to cool the barrels of their guns.

"Second and third musketeer squads, all of you, get to the city wall!"

"Fire in groups of one hundred, taking turns! Do not give the Chu army any opportunity to take advantage!"

In that brief moment, a hail of bullets erupted outside the city walls, and dozens of defenders were shot down on the spot.

In an instant, the soldiers guarding the city wall cried out in alarm and scattered in all directions.

However, Lu Wenwu managed to suppress the impending mutiny thanks to his absolute prestige in the army.

After the new musketeers took over, the two sides once again exchanged fire through the wall.

On Jiang Qin's side, upon realizing that the enemy also possessed firearms, his face darkened.

In fact, given this situation, he should have told Lü Meng the news before making any plans.

For some reason, Wu Zhaojun's firearms aroused his strong competitive spirit, making him want to test the enemy's firepower configuration.

After several rounds of firefights, Jiang Qin realized that the enemy's firearms were completely different from his own.

At first, there was a break of more than two minutes after each shot, but later the shooting became continuous.

However, their accuracy was nowhere near that of his own troops. If the defending forces only had this much firepower, then as long as they had enough ammunition, Jiang Qin believed that they could completely suppress Yongning County.

He feared that the defending troops might have other deadly weapons waiting for him.

At this moment, more than 500 soldiers had been carried off the city wall by the Chu army's gunfire, but new musketeers quickly came to take their place.

The battle lasted for two hours until Lu Wenwu noticed that the Chu army's gunfire had become much less frequent than at the beginning, and he decisively ordered the cannons to be moved to the ramparts.

"put!"

Boom boom boom——

Instantly, ten cannons fired simultaneously, crashing directly into the Chu army's front lines.

boom--

The solid bullet landed on the soft ground, instantly splashing up a cloud of mud.

Of the ten cannons, three shells landed in the Chu army's formation, injuring two soldiers and smashing a warhorse until only its rump remained. The whereabouts of the remaining seven shells are unknown.

"retreat!"

Seeing that the enemy had artillery and that ammunition was running low, Jiang Qin knew he could not continue and decisively ordered a retreat.

Upon receiving the order, the two companies of soldiers immediately retreated, remounted their horses, and returned to Sanguandao with the wounded to report the military situation.

"Brothers, the Chu army has retreated!"

Seeing the Chu army retreat, Lu Wenwu couldn't help but shout.

"Oooooooo-"

Instantly, the entire city's defending officers and soldiers erupted in cheers.

This was the first time Wu Zhao's army had repelled the Chu army since the start of the war. Even though the casualties on both sides were appalling, it still managed to thwart the Chu army's "northward advance plan".

Lu Wenwu was extremely excited. He immediately said to the recorder, "Report the victory to the Emperor immediately, saying that our garrison troops encountered a large-scale attack by the Chu army in Yongning County."

Our garrison of tens of thousands of officers and soldiers, united as one, engaged in fierce hand-to-hand combat with the enemy, and ultimately, relying on their superior firepower, killed countless enemy soldiers and repelled the Chu army's invasion.

The recorder was also very excited. After all, this was the first time the Chu army had been defeated, which injected a shot of adrenaline into the demoralized court of Wu Zhao and was worthy of great praise.

As for what happens in the future, we'll see.

The battle report was quickly sent to Shengjing in the form of a victory report, and was dispatched on the same day.

Meanwhile, at the Chu army camp on the Sanguan Road, Jiang Qin truthfully recounted to Lü Meng the details of the battle between Yongning County and Wu Zhao's garrison.

"Commander, I never expected that the Wu Zhao army would also have firearms, although these bullets are completely different from the ammunition used by my Chu army."

But even such a thing, when approaching the city walls, can unleash unprecedented power, so we must be wary.

When Jiang Qin retreated, he collected some lead balls of various sizes from the battlefield, and even brought the four-pound solid cannonball with him.

Lu Meng stared at the ammunition, speechless.

In this encounter, the enemy's casualties were unknown, but the two companies suffered as many as thirteen casualties. One of them died from a stray arrow, and the other twelve were wounded by stray bullets, but none of them were in life-threatening condition.

Regardless of the circumstances, this was the first defeat for the Chu army since arriving in Wu Zhao Kingdom, and Lü Meng was at a loss for how to report it to Shen Lang.

“Lieutenant, you are fully responsible for the casualties of our soldiers. I asked you to gather intelligence in the Yongning direction, not to launch a military operation.”

"Please rest assured, Commander, I will take the initiative to admit the punishment to the General. However, we must be wary of this Wuzhao army equipped with firearms. I don't know if there are other such armies in other parts of Wuzhao."

"We don't need to worry about this; the commander will take care of it. You should write a self-criticism first and submit it to the military law department for review later."

"Yes."

Jiang Qin left dejectedly, after all, this military operation was indeed his responsibility.

Just as Lü Meng was pondering how to report the results of this military operation to Shen Lang after Jiang Qin left, Pei Ju suddenly burst into the military camp.

Before Lü Meng could speak, Pei Ju said directly, "The Commander sent me with a notice that you are temporarily in charge of Southern Zhili."

"Leave behind two brigades of troops and related ammunition, which you are fully authorized to deploy. You must ensure the complete eradication of all rebellious Wu Zhao forces in Southern Zhili."

Upon hearing this, Lü Meng immediately sensed that something serious was about to happen: "Where is the Commander?"

"After receiving the telegram from Haizhou, the commander immediately ordered all the garrison troops in Jiankang to board the ships and head north to Shengjing."

Lu Meng frowned, then nodded and said, "I understand."