BOOM BOOM BOOM!
As the artillery batteries in the Joseon army position southwest of Liaodong Fortress fired simultaneously, countless smoke clouds began forming on the southern walls of the fortress.
After the first bombardment ended, the Joseon soldiers checking the results all let out exclamations.
“Well, well! It’s still standing?”
“Wow! I guess being that massive helps it hold up?”
Though such exclamations erupted from all directions, they were closer to mockery than genuine amazement.
The southern walls of Liaodong Fortress, which had received the Joseon army’s concentrated bombardment, had collapsed anywhere from one-third to nearly half their length.
The issue wasn’t that the walls were so solid they withstood the Joseon army’s tremendous bombardment with only that much damage.
The walls of Liaodong Fortress had endured simply because they were so incredibly tall and thick.
The fortress walls were massive structures, reaching a height of 10 jang (about 30 meters) with the width of the wall-top path measuring about 1 jang (about 3 meters).
These large and thick walls had boasted their size since the ancient Goguryeo period due to being built on flat ground, and were further reinforced with bricks after Ming took control.
Along with these tall and thick walls, the fortress had become an impregnable stronghold by filling the moat surrounding it with water connected to the Crown Prince River flowing northeast of the fortress.
However, the Joseon army wasn’t particularly worried.
The first reason was their direction of attack. The Joseon army was conducting their attack from the fortress’s southeast.
Liaodong Fortress, divided into outer and inner fortresses, had a structural characteristic where half of the outer fortress’s southeastern and southwestern walls overlapped with the inner fortress walls.
This was because historically, enemies attacking Liaodong Fortress had always come from the north and west.
Therefore, the attack direction chosen by the Joseon army allowed them to target the inner fortress directly. This was a masterful strike right at Liaodong’s blind spot.
The second and most important reason was the presence of artillery.
Liaodong Fortress’s tall and thick walls boasted powerful defenses against those armed only with traditional cold weapons.
Of course, there were trebuchets that could hurl massive stones, but trebuchets alone weren’t enough to break down brick-reinforced walls.
However, walls were useless against artillery. Before cannons that could fire heavy iron shells at high speeds from greater distances than trebuchets, even brick-reinforced walls easily exposed their vulnerabilities.
“Hmm… somewhat disappointing. Tsk…”
Checking the results through his telescope, Choi Yoon-deok clicked his tongue in disappointment.
“If we had the navy’s incendiary shells, we could have demolished it more spectacularly…”
***
Until now, the Joseon army’s main artillery still used muzzle-loading guns. Therefore, they couldn’t use contact-fused incendiary shells like the navy.
The reason breech-loading artillery was deployed late to the army was that they hadn’t yet developed artillery pieces combining suitable power and mobility, and because they had produced too many cannons shells.
Against Jurchen cavalry and infantry charging across the Liaodong plains or in siege warfare, the cannons was the ultimate weapon.
Satisfied with these results, the army command had mass-produced and stockpiled cannons shells.
As a result, the only breech-loading artillery the army used so far was the grape-shot cannon.
***
“Disappointing, but we’ll have to think about that issue after this war ends. Otherwise, Lord Uichon would try to eat me alive first.”
Every time messengers arrived from Hanseong, Kim Jeom and the Finance Minister would send separate letters along with the official orders. And the content of those letters was simple.
‘Winning is good, but save what you can save! And make sure to secure what can be secured properly!’
“How did they become so obsessed with money…”
After muttering his thoughts about Kim Jeom and the Finance Minister, Choi Yoon-deok immediately composed himself and issued orders.
“Continue the bombardment! Keep firing until those walls are gone!”
“Yes, sir!”
Not long after Choi Yoon-deok’s orders were relayed, the Joseon artillery batteries resumed their bombardment.
***
The Joseon army’s bombardment continued for almost three days.
There were breaks in between to cool down overheated gun barrels, but as soon as the barrels cooled properly, the bombardment would resume.
It wasn’t just the walls that crumbled under the Joseon army’s relentless bombardment.
The spirits of the Liaodong army soldiers defending the fortress also began to break.
“Namu Amitabul, Namu Amitabul…”
“Hee! Heehee! Heeheeheee!”
There were countless soldiers crouched down just chanting Buddhist prayers, and those who had lost their minds began appearing continuously.
“Get a hold of yourselves! I said get a hold of yourselves!”
“This bastard’s lost it! Get him out of here!”
The commanders and veteran soldiers who were still keeping their wits about them encouraged such soldiers and disarmed those who had completely lost their minds before pulling them back.
“Even if they’re Joseon bastards, they can’t cross that moat easily!”
“Trust in the moat! The moat!”
“Once those Joseon bastards get in, at least that damn artillery bombardment will stop!”
“Focus! The outcome hasn’t been decided yet!”
At the commanders’ and veterans’ shouts, the Liaodong army soldiers once again gripped their matchlocks and other weapons.
“The bombardment has stopped!”
“The bombardment’s stopped! The Joseon bastards are coming!”
“The walls may have fallen, but we haven’t! Those rubble piles make perfect cover!”
The Joseon bombardment had ceased at some point. The surviving soldiers, especially the gun troops, hid behind the fallen wall debris and aimed forward.
“Hup! Hooo~”
The gun troops carefully regulated their breathing as they aimed forward.
And up in the sky, Joseon soldiers riding flying vessels observed this and sent signals toward the rear.
***
“Still holding out, are they? Hmm…”
Stroking his beard, Choi Yoon-deok soon issued orders.
“If they’re going to hold out like that, it’ll be troublesome for us. Launch the cannons.”
“Yes, sir!”
Shortly after, the flying vessels in the sky sent light signals toward the artillery batteries.
Seeing the signals, the battery commanders immediately nodded.
“That’s right! Time for the cannons!”
“After all the trouble bringing them here, we better use them! Boys!”
“Yes, sir!”
Following the battery commanders’ orders, the launcher batteries operating the cannons began to move.
“I was worried our turn wouldn’t come!”
The artillery crews eagerly assembled the cannons shells and measured powder for the launchers.
“Fire!”
“Fire!”
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
As soon as the commanders’ orders fell, the cannons shells flew through the sky with low, heavy explosions.
***
The cannons attack left deep wounds on the Liaodong army.
BOOM!
“Argh!”
“Kugh!”
Not only were casualties occurring from the shrapnel whenever cannons shells exploded, but additional fragments created when the explosions and shrapnel met the wall debris were also a problem.
Finally, commanders who had lost their minds due to the Joseon army’s relentless bombardment began to appear.
“Hey! You cowards!”
One commander, bleeding from his head possibly due to injury, threw off his helmet and upper garments and climbed onto the wall debris, bellowing at the top of his lungs.
“You cowards! Stop firing your cannons like cowards and face us properly! If you’re men, let’s fight honorably with swords! Come fight!”
BOOM!
At that moment, a cannons shell exploded right in front of him, and the commander shouting about “man-to-man” combat disappeared without a trace.
***
“Hmm… they’ve quieted down considerably now.”
Watching the signals from the flying vessels while examining Liaodong Fortress’s walls through his telescope, Choi Yoon-deok nodded slightly and issued orders.
“Tell the engineering corps to lay the bridges.”
“Yes, sir!”
Soon after, massive excavators began moving forward from one side of the Joseon army position.
HISS! CHIK! RUMBLE!
“W-what is that!”
“Monster! It’s a monster!”
When the huge excavators appeared, belching black smoke into the sky while puffing out white steam like breath from their sides, the Liaodong army soldiers crouching behind the wall debris were terrified.
“Iron horses! Iron horses! They’re Joseon army’s iron horses!”
“Don’t panic! They’re Joseon army’s iron horses! Not monsters!”
As some well-informed Liaodong soldiers shouted that they were iron horses upon seeing the excavators, other soldiers who had fallen into panic quickly regained their senses.
But the soldiers who regained their composure soon fell into doubt.
“Why are iron horses here?”
However, that doubt was quickly resolved when they saw the bridges dangling from the cranes attached to the excavators.
“Fire! Fire! Those bridges must not be laid!”
“If those bridges are laid, the Joseon army will pour in immediately! We must stop them!”
“Fire! Fire!”
BANG! RATATATA!
The soldiers who grasped the situation began pulling their triggers at the approaching massive excavators.
But their gunfire bounced off harmlessly against the steel plates surrounding the excavators.
Right then, the Type-Eul war wagons mounted in turrets on both sides of the excavators’ massive upper bodies spewed fire.
RATATATA!
***
When iron horses using steam engines were created, towing vehicles and excavators applying the same technology were soon developed.
Naturally, King Sejong and the military decided to use them for military purposes after assessing the capabilities of these towing vehicles and excavators.
“The problem is that due to the characteristics of steam engines, they need to be quite big to produce proper output…”
After pondering briefly, Hyang immediately came to a conclusion.
“Reverse thinking! Let’s just make them really huge! Steampunk is cool, right?”
Thus, the military multi-purpose excavator that was created boasted an enormous size.
It wasn’t just big in size.
With separate steam engines mounted on the chassis and upper body, it required multiple crew members – soldiers to operate the equipment, drive the chassis, control the equipment attached to the upper body, and handle the rotation of the upper body left and right.
Considering it would be used in the midst of battle, it was covered with thick armor plates and even equipped with two turrets mounting Type-Eul war wagons for self-defense.
Seeing the result, Sejong turned to Hyang.
“It looks like a noble’s entire tiled house moving around.”
“Should we scrap it?”
“…Let’s just use it.”
“Thank you!”
***
Thus, the excavators reached the moat while withstanding the Liaodong army’s gunfire and began lowering their pontoon bridges.
The Liaodong soldiers who had tried to stop this had already been suppressed by the Type-Eul war wagons mounted on the excavators.
“Steady! Slowly! Slowly!”
Following the commander’s orders from the upper body, the pontoon bridge was lowered slowly, and engineers holding ropes hanging from the bridge pulled them this way and that to adjust its position.
THUD!
Finally, with a heavy sound, the pontoon bridge was laid across the moat. An engineer quickly ran across the bridge and undid the fasteners connecting the bridge to the excavator.
After desperately undoing the fasteners, the engineer ran back with all his might to hide behind the excavator.
“Good work!”
“Well done!”
Hearing the words of praise from his unit commander and comrades, the soldier cursed internally.
Damn! Lost the damn lottery draw! Never doing that again!
RUMBLE!
“Fall back!”
“Withdrawing!”
“Clear the way!”
As the excavators that had successfully laid the bridges withdrew, Joseon gun troops began crossing the bridges.
BANG! RATATA!
Thus began the full-scale urban warfare as Joseon forces started properly entering Liaodong Fortress.