Father can be an enemy country

Chapter 1417: One Shot Decides the Outcome
The next morning, there was thick fog on the Red River.

The defenders on the city wall of Thang Long had been on high alert all night and were now changing shifts.

The 80,000 most elite imperial guards of Annan all followed Hu Jinyi back to Thang Long. This was the reason why he was able to crush Chen Riwei, and also the confidence that allowed him to hold on to the end.

Hu Jilin was an excellent general who could stand out from the war with Champa. He divided the garrison into two shifts, taking turns to guard the city, and arranged sufficient reserves. He distributed the troops in an orderly manner, and even sent his younger brother Hu Jilin to lead a large number of troops to guard the east wall facing the Red River.

But no matter what, this time they were facing their own suzerain country, the Ming Dynasty army, which had been invincible in the past 20 years.

If they win this battle, they will definitely retaliate against the main force of the Ming army.

If you lose, there will be no recovery.

So Hu Jinyi stayed up all night and discussed with Fan Julun. They thought that the best way would be a draw, where he didn't win and I didn't lose, and both of us would feel better. Then they could give a generous gift and send the Ming army out of the country.

The marquis would no longer hold on to the matter, and he would be able to publicize Hu Jin's glorious deeds of repelling the heavenly soldiers in the country, greatly enhancing his reputation.

Therefore, Hu Jinyi rushed to the east city wall early, where fighting was most likely to occur, and decided to command the battle personally to facilitate micro-management.

"Brother, why are you here?" Hu Jimi hurriedly came forward.

"I'm worried, so I came to take a look." Hu Jinyi asked in a deep voice, "What's the Ming army doing?"

"The fog is too thick to see clearly." Hu Jimi shook his head and said, "But we have a ten thousand pile formation by the river, so they can't attack by surprise."

He was referring to the fact that after the fall of Thang Long, the king of the Tran Dynasty followed the example of the rulers of the Ngô Dynasty and laid a large number of wooden stakes in the water to prevent the Champa army from attacking from the water again. If you don't know where the passage is and rush in rashly, the bottom of the boat will inevitably be stuck.

Even if you knew, you couldn't tell east from west in such foggy weather, so you would be in a daze.

"Be careful not to let the Ming army launch a surprise attack." Hu Jili warned. If he wanted to tie the game, he had to be invincible first. He didn't want to capsize in the gutter.

"Don't worry, big brother." Hu Jimei said, "I have already doubled the reward money as you wished, and told them that there will be a big reward after a great victory. The morale of the soldiers is very high."

"A big victory is not necessary." Hu Jinyi shook his head and said, "It would be good to make the Ming army retreat in the face of difficulties."

"Ah?" Hu Jimi was stunned.

Hu Jinyi did not explain and continued to inspect the city. Based on his many years of experience in leading troops, he knew that his city defense was strong, he had many soldiers and generals, and he had sufficient money and food. The imperial guards were also waiting for him to give them great rewards after he ascended the throne, so naturally their morale was high.

Not to mention 20,000 Ming troops, even 200,000 would have no chance of capturing Thang Long City!

He couldn't help but said proudly to his followers: "I want to see what they can use to destroy my city?!"

Coincidentally, the sun rose at this moment. Under the shining golden light, the fog on the river surface quickly dissipated, and huge black shadows like hills emerged!
Amid the soldiers' exclamations, Hu Jinyi also saw those terrifying monsters!

"What is that?" Hu Jinyi took a breath.

"It's the Celestial Empire's giant ships!" The territory of Annan is entirely coastal, and some soldiers have witnessed the heroic presence of the Shibo Fleet on the seashore.

At this time, the fog was becoming thinner and thinner, and the people on the city wall could clearly see the tall mast, the huge hull, and the rows of black gun muzzles on the side of the ship.

"The Ming fleet is coming!" The Annan soldiers were terrified and finally understood what the Ming army was waiting for. It turned out that they were waiting for their fleet to arrive. It's not a problem if you don't know the goods, but it's a problem if you compare the goods. The Annan navy warships that looked quite decent before, in the background of the Ming army's huge ships, all became pitiful, weak and helpless small sampans...

Many people lost their guard on the spot, beat their chests and stamped their feet in frustration, and cursed the officials for being pig-headed and asking why they didn't beat them earlier? At that time, they would have won the battle.

Wait till now, the Ming army's fleet has arrived, and they can fight or leave as they please. The initiative has completely changed our hands!

"Don't panic!" Hu Jinyi quickly said loudly to calm the troops: "It's useless for the Ming army's warships to come over. No matter how powerful their artillery is, they can't blow up our city walls!"

"Yes, Your Majesty is right!" His brother also quickly echoed: "The Ming army's artillery shells can only blow away the bricks on the outer layer of our city wall, and cannot shake the rammed earth wall inside! So their warships are useless! We will definitely be able to hold on!"

~~
On the surface of the Red River, Ming army warships were lined up with their sides facing the walls of Thang Long.

The gunners tore off the gun covers and began to load the guns nervously, with commands echoing throughout every warship.

On the Ming army's flagship 'Sanya', Duke of Haiguo Yu Tongyuan had already reunited with Hu Quan and Yao Guangxiao.

In fact, Hu Quan was not useless during this period. He separated a part of the army and searched downstream along the Red River, intercepting and killing all the Annan cavalry heading towards Thang Long, and trying to prevent them from reporting to Hu Jinyi that the Sanya fleet was going upstream, so as to prevent this guy from jumping off the wall in desperation.

The effect was very good. The Sanya fleet had already arrived at the city of Thang Long, but Hu Jinyi was still kept in the dark.

"But Master," Yu Tongyuan asked Yao Guangxiao in disbelief, "Do you really think we can knock down such a thick wall with artillery fire?"

Even though the Ming army has now developed pointed artillery shells specifically for attacking strongholds, they can be fired farther and with greater power, and can penetrate four layers of bricks with one shot.

But as Hu Jimi said, this kind of power depends entirely on impact, and the artillery shells have no explosive capability. What they are most afraid of is the rammed earth wall. This thing has too strong a capacity to absorb the kinetic energy of artillery shells, and they will be killed without a sound.

This is what is known as "a cannon can penetrate several layers of bricks and wood, but can only penetrate a few feet into the ground."

Facing Yu Tongyuan's doubts, Yao Guangxiao smiled confidently and said, "Just keep firing. If you can't bring down this section of the city wall within an hour, I will give my head to the Duke of Haiguo."

"Are you so confident?" Yu Tongyuan was skeptical.

"Master is always so confident. He even said before that we will definitely arrive at the same time." Hu Quan tried to undermine Yao Guangxiao.

"Haha, there was indeed a small mistake, but it will definitely not happen again this time." Yao Guangxiao smiled awkwardly.

"Okay, now that we're here, let's give it a try!" Yu Tongyuan nodded and gave the order to fire.

"Fire!" The herald gave the order, and the gun deck on the flagship roared at the same time.

The other warships heard the gunfire and immediately opened fire!
Hundreds of tongues of fire rushed out one after another, and the deafening sound of artillery echoed across the river, shaking the "small sampans" of the Annan army to this and that, and many people fell into the water.

But the Annan navy who fell into the water did not bother to climb back onto the boat. They all stared blankly in the direction of Thang Long City, with shock on their faces, as if they had seen a ghost in broad daylight!
It really was a ghost!
The walls of Thang Long, which the Annanites thought were impregnable, could not even withstand the first round of volleys. Large sections collapsed, burying all the densely packed defenders on the city.

The brothers Hu Jilin and Hu Jipi happened to be on that section of the city wall, so they were not spared either...

(End of this chapter)