The strongest devouring system in the Three Kingdoms

"So, what should we do?" Niu Fu was at a loss. He was just a pure warrior and knew nothing about these things. Niu Fu suggested, "How about our army directly attacking the city?"

"Let's try to take it once, but if we fail, we might suffer heavy losses," Li Ru said worriedly. He had already guessed Chen Er's plan: take advantage of the situation!

Two hours later, Niu Fu led the newly assembled 20,000 Xiliang infantrymen in an attack on Hangu Pass. According to Li Ru's analysis, the force inside Hangu Pass was at most 5,000; otherwise, the Youzhou army wouldn't have needed to lure Fan Chou's 3,000 cavalry closer. Moreover, no news had come from Hangu Pass in the past two days, suggesting the Youzhou army was short-handed and had used Xu Rong's name to disguise themselves as defenders, hoping to evade the money and treasure Li Ru and his men were escorting. At that moment, a chill ran down Li Ru's spine. He suddenly realized that while the Xiliang army and the Guandong army were locked in fierce combat, Chen Er had unknowingly outmaneuvered all the warlords of the land. Chen Er's target wasn't Luoyang at all, but him! Or rather, the wealth he was escorting!

"Damn it!" Li Ru exclaimed, pounding his chest in frustration. It was truly damning; he hadn't even considered this possibility. However, Li Ru couldn't fathom how Chen Er had known in advance that they were going to move the capital and loot Luoyang. Li Ru wanted to ask Chen Er in person, but he didn't even know where Chen Er was, so how could he possibly ask him?

At this time, the Xiliang army had already begun to mobilize its troops. Through the telescope that Chen Er made himself, it could be seen that there were quite a few Xiliang cavalry.

"Xu Rong!" Chen Er suddenly shouted.

"Your subordinate is here!" Xu Rong immediately replied, cupping his hands in greeting.

"You are in full command of this battle. You must give the Xiliang army a taste of their power and make them afraid to attack the city easily," Chen Er said to Xu Rong.

Upon hearing Chen Er's words, Xu Rong excitedly replied, "This subordinate obeys!"

He had never commanded musketeers before, and although he wasn't very familiar with it, this was a defensive battle, which was relatively simple. It was precisely for this reason that Chen Er let Xu Rong command this battle. Firstly, to let Xu Rong get musketeer combat experience, and secondly, to let Xu Rong accumulate some combat merits. Otherwise, Chen Er wouldn't have made him the commander of a division directly, even if it was just a second-line unit. Moreover, based on Xu Rong's historical reputation and Chen Er's experience in this world, Chen Er believed that Xu Rong in this world would not disappoint him.

"Yes, let's prepare for battle."

Chen Er was not worried about the battle ahead. Although there were 20,000 Xiliang infantrymen outside the pass, Chen Er saw through his binoculars that they did not have musketeers and only a little over a thousand archers. It seemed that this was just a probing attack.

"Form three lines!" Xu Rong began issuing battle orders. His orders were actually directed at his original subordinates, but the Youzhou cavalry had already habitually formed three lines.

"First rank, prepare to fire!"

Although this was Xu Rong's first time commanding musketeers in combat, he had consulted with Zhao Yun and Xiahou Dun on musketeer tactics several times over the past two days, and thus had some understanding of the autonomous region's musketeer combat model.

Three rows of lines form the best defensive formation, neither too weak nor too dense, which would result in insufficient firepower at the front.

"Fire!"

The advantages of flintlock muskets were once again demonstrated. The firing steps for the autonomous region's musketeers were greatly reduced. Xu Rong gave the order to fire when the Xiliang army had just approached within 150 meters. This distance was quite suitable; the enemy archers had not yet reached their firing positions, so their side did not need to worry about long-range attacks and could fire several more rounds before the enemy reached the city walls.

At the same time, Xu Rong also gave the Shenwu Cannon team a free-firing order, and to fire at the location where the enemy was most concentrated.

Since Chen Er's side was in control of the Shenwu Cannon at this time, Xu Rong also learned about the shotgun shells. However, there was no readily available ammunition at Hangu Pass. In the end, on Chen Er's advice, all the old and discarded weapons inside the pass were smashed into pieces and stuffed into the muzzle of the cannon to be used as temporary shotgun pellets. Although doing so would greatly shorten the lifespan of the Shenwu Cannon, Chen Er did not intend to take the cumbersome Shenwu Cannon with him when he withdrew his troops, so he let it be damaged.

boom!

Six cannons fired in quick succession. The Xiliang army outside the pass had never seen a shotgun before, and they were instantly stunned. One shot hit a whole swath, how could they possibly fight this battle? Not to mention them, even Xu Rong, who had heard his new colleagues talk about it countless times inside the pass, was a little dumbfounded. If there were thirty-four cannons at Hangu Pass, even if he only had five thousand men under his command, he was confident that he could calmly face an enemy army ten times his size. The power of this cannon was too astonishing.

"What are you standing there for! Fire!" Xu Rong shouted, seeing the Yongzhou soldiers around him staring blankly. Weren't they embarrassing him?

Hearing Xu Rong's roar, the stunned soldiers snapped out of their daze and quickly started firing towards the outside of the pass. What a joke! They're so powerful! We're definitely going to take down the Youzhou army!

"shooting!"

Xu Rong roared, this was practically a gift of merit from his lord, and he had to take it. While directing the battle, Xu Rong felt even more loyal to Chen Er and had a much better impression of his lord.

The Xiliang army retreated. When the second round of Shenwu cannons fired, the Xiliang army collapsed. There was really no way to fight this battle. Niu Fu and Li Ru in the rear were also shocked. How could they fight this battle? Fan Chou, who had been caught off guard by Chen Er earlier, smiled to himself. Fortunately, Xu Rong hadn't used those terrifying cannons earlier, otherwise he definitely wouldn't have made it back.

"It seems that Cao Mengde concealed a lot about the Divine Martial Cannon back then," Li Ru said. "Yuan Shao's defeat was not unjust."

"Strategist, let's not dwell on other things. What should we do now?" Niu Fu asked.

Li Ru smiled bitterly and said helplessly, "What can we do now? There's nothing else but to spend money to avoid disaster."

"Paying money to avoid disaster?" Niu Fu and Fan Chou exchanged glances. They didn't understand how paying money could avoid disaster. Seeing that the two were looking at him, Li Ru said, "What do you think I can do? The Youzhou army is obviously after the treasure behind us. If we don't pay something today, we probably won't be able to get through Hangu Pass."

"Wenyou, what do you mean?" Although Niu Fu was not good at strategy, he was not stupid. He quickly understood Li Ru's meaning, which was to share the spoils with Chen Er! "We originally thought that our Xiliang army was already considered bandits, but I didn't expect that Chen Er was the real bandit. We did all the bad things, and now he comes to pick up the pieces." Fan Chou also understood Li Ru's plan at this time.