Lu Xiangsheng shamelessly asked for sacks.
To his surprise, there really were extras.
The men under Shen Shikui were practically elders of the Beggar Sect. Every single one of them carried nine sacks on average.
If you wanted sacks from them, it was the easiest thing in the world.
In the blink of an eye, each soldier tossed one sack out.
Six thousand sacks landed in a pile.
That alone was enough for the Tianxiong Army to make two full trips.
Lu Xiangsheng immediately gave the order.
The Tianxiong Army joined the work of filling the moat.
They borrowed engineer shovels from the Pi Island forces, slammed the blades into the ground, and shouted as they worked.
"Heave!"
"Heave!"
Each shovel lifted a load of dirt and stones, which they stuffed into the burlap sacks. The mouths of the sacks were tied tight, then thrown over their shoulders.
Not bad.
This was actually pretty satisfying work.
Cao Wenzhao shouted loudly.
"Artillery cease fire!"
"Guanning Cavalry, advance!"
The second round of the moat filling operation began.
---
Inside the city, the soldiers under Zu Dashou saw what was happening.
Their eyes turned red.
They all understood the situation clearly.
Once the moat was filled, they were finished.
The enemy had come fully prepared.
If they could fill the moat so easily, then the city wall would probably not be much harder for them to break.
"Hold the line!"
"Defend it with your lives!"
The defenders shouted desperately.
Archers leaned out from the wall, drawing their bows.
Before they could even release their arrows, a gunshot rang out.
BANG!
One of the archers clutched his chest and fell backward.
Some defenders grabbed their arquebuses and three-barrel hand cannons, climbing onto the wall and firing without even aiming.
BANG!
There was one major weakness with firearms.
Bullets could not be fired in high arcs like arrows.
So the bullets flew straight ahead and struck the wall of aluminum alloy shields raised by the Guanning Cavalry.
CLANG!
The impact made the shield soldier's wrist go numb from the force.
He almost dropped the shield.
But the aluminum alloy shield was one centimeter thick.
A lead bullet from a smoothbore gun simply could not penetrate it.
The bullet left a small dent in the shield.
The lead flattened into a useless lump stuck to the metal surface.
The shield soldier roared loudly.
"Come on!"
"Come kill me if you can!"
"Hey! You bastards!"
Zu Dashou's soldiers stared in horror.
They had no idea what to do.
They turned their heads, looking for their commander.
Only then did they realize that Zu Dashou was still hiding inside the shelter tunnel built into the wall.
He did not dare come out to command the battle.
---
"Throw!"
The Pi Island forces and the Tianxiong Army threw their sacks into the moat together.
Nine thousand sacks of dirt and stones splashed into the water.
The small moat could no longer endure the humiliation.
It surrendered.
A rough pathway made of piled sacks appeared across the water.
"Shield soldiers, cover us!"
A squad of Shanxi Army engineers had somehow reached the very front of the battlefield.
Each of them carried a strange package on their backs.
A skull symbol was painted on every package.
Next to the symbol was a warning written personally by Xu Dafu, Director of the Firearms Bureau.
"Extremely Dangerous."
A group of Guanning Cavalry shield soldiers rushed forward and surrounded the engineers.
They raised shields not only in front but also above their heads.
The formation became a small cube made entirely of shields.
Protected inside that moving block of metal, the engineers ran across the makeshift path over the moat and rushed straight to the base of the city wall.
The defenders on the wall had no idea what they were planning.
But they were certain it could not be anything good.
They desperately tried to stop them.
Meanwhile nearly every firearm in the Guanning ranks was brought forward to cover the engineers.
Gunfire erupted in dense waves.
Bullets poured toward the wall.
The defenders could not even raise their heads.
There was simply no way for them to stop the advancing shield formation.
---
Finally the shield cube reached the base of the wall.
Under the protection of the shields, the engineer captain knelt down and dug a small pit into the mud beside the wall.
He placed the skull-marked package inside the pit.
The other engineers followed his example.
Each man dug a pit.
Each pit received one skull-marked package.
The engineer captain took a deep breath.
"Once we light the fuse, run."
"Run fast."
"Shield soldiers, drop the shields when we run. Carrying them will slow you down."
"If you keep holding them, you will die."
"Understood!"
The captain spoke again.
"I will count to three."
"When I reach three, everyone lights the fuse and runs."
"One."
"Two."
Every soldier already had a fire starter ready.
The captain shouted.
"Three!"
Every engineer lit the fuse at the same moment.
Then the previously disciplined formation completely collapsed.
Everyone shouted at the same time.
"RUN!"
The Guanning Cavalry threw away their heavy aluminum shields and bolted.
The engineers ran right behind them.
No one cared about formation anymore.
They simply ran for their lives.
They sprinted across the sack bridge over the moat and reached the other side.
The large group of arquebusiers who had been covering them saw the engineers return.
They stopped shooting instantly.
Then they turned around and ran as well.
Everyone was running.
It was as if that section of the city wall had suddenly become a terrifying beast.
Lu Xiangsheng stared in confusion.
"What are they doing?"
Inside the city, the defenders were just as baffled.
"What are they doing?"
At that moment...
BOOM!
A terrifying, heavy explosion erupted.
The skull-marked packages buried beneath that section of wall exploded almost simultaneously.
The power was enormous.
The effect was similar to modern controlled demolition used to collapse buildings.
The ground shook violently.
Black smoke and dust shot into the sky.
The defenders stationed on that section of wall were killed instantly by the shockwave.
The destructive force spread along the wall.
Soldiers everywhere were thrown off their feet.
Then, under Lu Xiangsheng's stunned gaze, the towering city wall collapsed.
A massive hole opened in the wall.
Lu Xiangsheng froze.
"How the hell can you siege a city like this?"
A moment later he quickly corrected himself.
"Wait. I am a civil official."
"I should not say things like that."
---
"The wall collapsed! Hahaha!"
Cao Bianjiao was overjoyed.
"Charge!"
This man loved being the first to climb into battle.
The moment he saw the breach, he rushed forward immediately.
The dust from the explosion had not even settled yet.
Yet he dared to charge straight into it.
That level of recklessness was truly extraordinary.
But after running only a few steps, Cao Bianjiao noticed someone beside him moving even faster.
He was startled.
Who was it?
Who was trying to steal his achievement again?
Last time he had nearly lost his life competing with monsters like Gao Chuwu, Zheng Dani, and Flat Rabbit just to claim the honor of the first assault.
Who was it this time?
He turned his head to look.
Then he sucked in a sharp breath.
Charging beside him was the ferocious Chen Qianhu, looking like a demon from ancient legends.
Chen Qianhu ran forward with terrifying momentum, his mouth wide open as he roared.
"Zu Dashou!"
"Come out!"
"My reputation was ruined because of you!"
"Today I will chop you into seventeen or eighteen pieces!"
A voice inside Cao Bianjiao's mind spoke immediately.
Do not compete with this man.
If he gets angry, he might eat you.
Even the brave Cao Bianjiao could not help slowing down slightly.
Chen Qianhu charged straight through the breach in the wall.
With a single swing of his blade, he cut down a soldier blocking his path.
Then he raised his head and roared.
"Who else?!"