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Chapter 1347 City of Silver
Unfortunately, no matter how much suppression was done, it was not 100% effective. After walking less than a hundred meters, the siege vehicle on the far left was hit in the front by a stone bullet.

The half-centimeter-thick steel plate was not penetrated, but flew away along with the broken stone bullets. The fasteners connecting the carriage and the axle did not withstand the impact and broke directly.

But these were not fatal injuries. Instead, the horizontal bar used by the soldiers inside to push the vehicle forward became an accomplice, knocking several soldiers to the ground. They seemed to be seriously injured, and it was estimated that several ribs were broken.

"All the members of Huashan Hundred Households, follow me and bring back the wounded!"

Without waiting for the attack commander's order, Karayama Qingyu ordered his soldiers to rush out of the trenches, crouching down to withstand the whistling bullets and shells, and hurriedly carried the injured soldiers back for treatment, not forgetting to drag back the broken siege vehicle.

There was no other way. The new Japanese army was not favored by the shogunate. All expenses had to be paid by more than 30 daimyo. The funds were really limited, and any weapon and equipment was very expensive. In comparison, it seemed that human life was the cheapest.

"Dududu...dududu..."

However, the thousand-man commander in charge of commanding this attack did not make any positive comments on the bravery of his men. Instead, he blew the trumpet and waved the command flag to urge the hundred-man commander in charge of the attack to immediately send out siege vehicles to join the battle.

"...Xirudian, it's your turn, you must take care of yourself!"

As the saying goes, a higher rank can kill a person, and this is even more true on the battlefield. Regardless of whether it makes sense or not, not following orders can really kill people. Huashan Qingyu knew that the captain was deliberately making things difficult for him, but he could only endure it for the time being and patted a sergeant next to him.

Soon a new siege vehicle was pushed out from the bunker, and fifteen soldiers got into it, pushing the crossbar with all their strength, speeding up to catch up with their companions and fill the gap.

The 100mm field artillery of the Ming Army was not destructive enough to the solid city walls due to its short barrel and small charge, but it still caused considerable casualties to personnel. After figuring out the gun positions on the city walls, they did not give the enemy a chance to aim and shoot, successfully covering the three siege vehicles approaching the city walls.

"What if there was a moat?" Seeing the siege vehicles getting closer and closer to the city wall and the Spanish defenders still unable to stop it, Settle believed that Panama City was doomed.

The next scene will be very boring. The soldiers under the siege vehicle will take turns using hammers and iron picks to clang on the city wall, dig out a few small holes deep enough, stuff the cartridges they carry into them, light the fuse, and push the siege vehicle away.

Then there would be one or several muffled sounds, and no matter how solid the wall was, it would collapse, without exception. The army had been summarizing this technology for more than 20 years, and the artillerymen in the mines were practicing it every day, and they had already achieved the level of being able to blow up anything they pointed at.

The Japanese new army must have not yet mastered the skills. If they were replaced by professional engineers in the army, they would have accurately controlled the direction and area of ​​the collapse based on the commander's needs and the characteristics of the building materials of the city walls.

Try to fill the moat with the building materials of the city wall within one or two explosions, and at the same time lay a slope that is easier to climb for the siege troops.

Engineers who can master this technology have a longer service time and receive higher pay than naval officers of the same rank. After retirement, they are even more sought after, either being hired by the Ministry of Construction with a high salary or being invited to work in mines. They don't have to do the work themselves, and can just take on a few apprentices.

"The Army has special tools for building bridges. They look similar to the Navy's temporary docks, but a little smaller."

Du Wenhuan had put down his telescope long ago. He knew this would be the result the moment he saw Panama City with his own eyes. Only laymen would worry about the inconvenience of attacking a city. The real inconvenience was not in the city walls, but inside the city. According to the sketch drawn by the lookout, the distribution of streets and buildings in the city was relatively intuitive. It was too dense and too irregular. Most of the houses were built with rocks, and the streets were winding and uneven.

If the enemy did not flee or surrender after breaking the city, but continued to resist, the attacking troops would easily get lost and be ambushed. Fortunately, there were new Japanese troops accompanying them, otherwise the Ming army would have had to bite the bullet and fight.

"Fuck... that thing couldn't be silver turned into water!" Setel suddenly cursed loudly, attracting the attention of all the staff officers on the rear deck. Some of them were quick to raise their binoculars and look at the city wall.

"...I seem to have smelled the scent of cooked meat. After so many years of fighting, this is the first time I've encountered someone using silver water as a weapon!" After a moment, Du Wenhuan couldn't help but mutter.

The three siege vehicles near the city wall did not follow the procedure to drill holes in the wall. Some of the soldiers inside were running away, while others fell to the ground and struggled desperately. The vehicles and the people were emitting green smoke, and even though they were nearly ten kilometers away, they could still feel the temperature of the scene.

But what can make the steel plate heat up instantly? Ordinary materials certainly can't do it. When the army designed the siege vehicle, they took into account the problems of hot water, hot oil, and hot feces, and deliberately made the top armor into a herringbone shape.

Ordinary kerosene is not enough. Even if it can make the siege vehicle burn, the internal temperature will not rise quickly. The soldiers can operate the siege vehicle to move forward, backward, left and right. The fuel stuck on the steel plate is definitely not enough.

However, despite all their calculations, the experts at the machinery factory had never expected that the defenders would melt the silver into water and pour it down. The hot liquid silver immediately solidified when it came into contact with the steel plates of the siege vehicle, absorbing all the heat and turning it directly into a furnace.

Even the most well-trained soldiers couldn't bear to watch themselves being roasted, so they had to abandon their vehicles and run away. When running, they had to watch their feet carefully, because if they accidentally stepped on the hot silver, their feet would be gone.

"Boom... Boom..." Soon, the two siege vehicles exploded one after another. This was because the explosive barrels carried inside were ignited by the high temperature. It was estimated that the other one would not be able to escape. It was only a matter of time.

"What a talent! Commander, if possible, leave someone alive after taking the city. I really want to meet this commander, and I think His Majesty would like to meet him too."

Settle did not immediately feel sad for the Japanese casualties, nor did he regret the setback in the siege. Instead, he praised the enemy commander in Panama City. In order to increase his persuasiveness, he even brought out the emperor and tried to save his life.

"...This must be tens of thousands of taels, right? Help me calculate, ten Japanese soldiers for ten thousand taels of silver, how much can we get?" Du Wenhuan did not respond. He was busy calculating the exchange rate between people and silver. He couldn't figure it out by himself, so he asked his staff to help calculate it.

"...That's right. Unless the whole city is made of silver, it won't help!"

Setel curled his lips. He understood without anyone explaining. This defense method could not be sustained. Maybe when the next wave of siege vehicles arrived, there would be no liquid silver to pour.

If there were any, the happiest people would not be the Panamanian defenders but Du Wenhuan and the emperor. They really dared to bring tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of people from Korea, Japan and even Southeast Asian countries by ship and exchange their lives for silver. Whether in terms of cost, speed or quality, this is much more convenient than mining silver mines.

(End of this chapter)