Boom, boom, boom!!!

Twenty-odd cannon fired one after another.

Those great iron balls shot out at an unbelievable speed, and man and horse went to pieces all along their path.

Ning Chen had not brought many cannon with him this time.

For one thing, the things were far too heavy.

For another, the cannon of this age all fired solid shot, and the killing power was limited.

The most important use of the things was to shake the enemy and to break down a city gate.

The Nanyue army was indeed frightened.

The terrible wall of sound was like a peal of thunder. It set a man's eardrums stabbing and his head buzzing.

A comrade who had been standing there a moment before was struck by a cannonball and torn in pieces in an instant, and the horror of the sight broke men down.

Kang Luo, standing on his horse, was shaken to the heart himself.

He knew about the Great Xuan's muskets.

But what was this?

There was no time to think about any of that now. He gave the order at once. "Pass my command. The army withdraws toward the second way through Mount Buddha's Hand!"

If he did not pull back now, Tong Yuanzhou would lead his troops out of the fort and catch him between them and Ning Chen, and he would be wrapped like a dumpling for good.

The Nanyue soldiers attacking the wall pulled back.

A rain of arrows came down over Ning Chen's army, covering the ground to the sky.

Nanyue's purpose was not to kill the enemy but to cover the army's withdrawal.

"Kill! Kill with me!"

The gate of the Great Xuan's fort opened, and a great host of men and horses came pouring out.

Tong Yuanzhou went first himself, his face flushed with excitement.

When Kang Luo had been calling him out earlier, he had paid his respects to Tong Yuanzhou's ancestors, eighteen generations of them, several times over, and he had been holding a bellyful of rage ever since.

But he could not go out of the fort then.