The cannonball landed in the courtyard, just a few meters from the high wall. The roar of the explosion shook the very ground. Li Chang'an glanced at the undamaged wall and said with a wry smile, "A little off target..."
As he spoke, he began adjusting the angle of the cannon's muzzle again.
Li Chang'an had originally aimed for the top of the Yan Mansion's high wall, intending to use the cannonball to blast open a breach and make it easier for the Rebel Army to charge inside.
He hadn't expected, however, that because the cannon's bore wasn't polished finely enough, the parabola traced by the cannonball wouldn't be perfect, and it certainly didn't land where he'd intended.
Despite this, it still blasted a massive crater into the green-bricked earth of the Yan Mansion's courtyard!
This scene nonetheless stunned everyone present.
Wang Su had been stroking his beard with a faint smile, feeling rather unimpressed.
'After all,' he thought, 'with the meager power of Immortal Fire Powder, it's absolutely impossible to do any real damage to such a large residence built of greenstone.'
However, when the cannonball exploded, feeling the deafening ringing in his ears and seeing the shockwaves ripple through the air, Wang Su nearly tore out his own beard. His eyes widened in disbelief as he stammered, "Th-this... Is this really... Is this really Immortal Fire Powder?"
As a Daoist, while Wang Su couldn't claim to have performed Alchemy countless times in his life, he naturally had his own deep understanding of Elixirs.
And Immortal Fire Powder was a catalyst required for extracting certain Elixirs.
He was, in fact, extremely familiar with it; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to determine that the cannonball was packed with Immortal Fire Powder just from a whiff of its scent.
But having used Immortal Fire Powder for the better part of his life, this was the first time he had ever known it could erupt with such heaven-shattering, earth-shaking power, like a veritable landslide!
Li Chang'an shook his head, then nodded. "This is Immortal Fire Powder, but it isn't Immortal Fire Powder in the traditional sense. I call it gunpowder!"
Hearing this answer, the look in Wang Su's eyes went vacant. He froze on the spot, sinking into a deep state of self-doubt.
As for the rest of the Rebel Army, their reaction was even more pronounced. They gazed at Li Chang'an as if he were one of the Immortals descended to the mortal realm, their eyes filled with awe and terror!
He wielded an unknown power, one comparable to the might of the heavens.
If he wasn't one of the Immortals, what was he?
...
Within the Yan Residence, everyone stared at the backyard where the explosion had sent dirt and shattered bricks flying. Including Cao Tian, who had been so confident just moments before, they all fell into a dead silence.
'What just happened?'
'Why did a sound like a clap of thunder suddenly erupt from the backyard?'
'Could that Rebel Leader actually summon thunder and fire?'
The fully armed family retainers and soldiers inside the residence stared at the still-smoking crater. They all swallowed involuntarily, their faces masks of terror.
Earlier, when Li Chang'an had been fiddling with the cannon's muzzle, they had all been watching from a distance. At the time, they had simply assumed he wasn't all there.
Who would have thought that just a few minutes later, the projectile fired from that strange, cylindrical contraption would unleash such terrifying power!
And that was just the result of it hitting open ground.
'If it hits a crowd next, or even hits the high wall... Won't it blast people to pieces, or crack the wall wide open?'
At the thought of this possibility, the expression on every face changed.
The one whose expression changed the most was Yan Tian, the Patriarch of the Yan Family. Bolstered by the confident encouragement of the others, he had just managed to scrape together what little confidence he possessed. But now, before the Rebel Army had even charged, all hell had broken loose inside his own residence...
'How can we possibly deal with this?'
Watching Li Chang'an in the distance as he continued to tinker with that strange weapon, the soldiers in the Yan Residence fell deathly silent. Every heart sank, and their initial disdain and contempt vanished completely.
Now, they could only pray that the strange weapon, with its power like a divine Thunderbolt, was limited in number. Otherwise, they feared they wouldn't be able to hold out for long...
"BOOM!"
The cannon's muzzle spat out a thick cloud of acrid smoke.
After repeated adjustments, this time the cannonball's trajectory was true, and it struck the courtyard wall of the Yan Residence squarely.
Several retainers lying in wait behind the wall were sent flying by the immense kinetic energy before they even knew what was happening, scattering body parts across the ground.
Though built of greenstone, the impacted section of the wall split open under the force of the blow. While it hadn't completely collapsed, it was clearly on the verge of giving way.
A cheer erupted from the ranks of the Rebel Army.
When they first assembled outside the Yan Residence, they had been prepared to throw their own bodies against that high wall.
They never imagined their leader would use a method that left them utterly stupefied—a method that effortlessly breached the high wall.
Naturally, their morale soared.
Li Chang'an fired a few more rounds, widening the breach until two or three men could pass through side-by-side. Only then did he turn to Xiong Er behind him and say calmly, "Take the men and charge. Remember, I want those fat cats taken alive!"
Hearing Li Chang'an's command, Xiong Er, who had been raring to go, nodded at once. With several of the Rebel Army's core members and elite fighters, he led the charge.
It had to be said, Wang Su was a very capable man.
This group of skilled and fearless core members, who were always the first to risk their lives, had undoubtedly played a crucial role in the formation of the Rebel Army.
...
Seeing the Rebel Army swarm forward like a black tide, Yan Jiangrun, who was inside the courtyard, began to panic.
He was nothing more than a local landholder, content in his own little world. Although his ancestors had produced some capable men, he was clearly not one of them.
At a complete loss, he subconsciously turned to the grim-faced Cao Tian beside him and stammered, "L-Lord Cao, the wall is breached! What do we do?"
Cao Tian was in no mood to deal with this old fair-weather fool. Instead, he began mentally comparing the strengths of the two sides.
To face the Rebel Army, the Yan Family had armed over a hundred retainers and hired men from more than fifty nearby farming households. They had also brought in skilled experts and retired soldiers from the city. In addition, there were the cooks in the back courtyard and the non-combatant family members.
All told, it amounted to no more than three hundred people.
With such numbers, they might have been able to put up a fight from behind their sturdy walls. But now that the wall was breached, they were completely outmatched by a Rebel Army of nearly a thousand strong.
But Cao Tian was not an indecisive man.
After weighing the combat strength of both sides and realizing his own was hopelessly outmatched, he let out a cold snort. He rose and walked over to two men who were resting nearby with their eyes closed. "You two brothers from the Liang Family Martial Arts Hall," he said, "we've had a bit of a mishap today. It seems I'll truly need you to lend me a hand after all."
Here, he paused. His gaze swept over to Li Chang'an, who was advancing with the crowd, and his tone turned icy. "Let's join forces and kill that Rebel Leader. I refuse to believe this rabble can actually overturn the heavens!"
...