I want to be emperor

Chapter 296 Don't Stop the Artillery Fire

It was around nine o'clock in the morning on April [-], the second year of Chengshun of the Great Chu Empire.

Luo Zhixue, Emperor of the Great Chu Empire, gave the order to attack!

Following Luo Zhixue's order, two field artillery regiments and a mortar regiment began to fire one after another.

Coupled with the two and a half catties of field artillery belonging to the various infantry regiments, supply regiments and other troops, the Chu army gathered more than 200 different artillery pieces to bombard the unknown hill ahead.

Under such fierce shelling, the parapets and trench fortifications hurriedly built by the left army of the new standard army after a day and a night will be bombed to pieces.

Many parapets directly destroyed the huge kinetic energy of the solid shells, and most of the Ming soldiers hiding in the trenches were also attacked by mortar shells.

For a moment, the entire nameless hill and its surroundings were filled with gunpowder smoke and the rumble of cannons.

In a fortification on the top of the mountain, Yang Sixing watched the large number of artillery pieces of the Chu army on the periphery firing one after another, and then saw the fortifications in the first line of defense on the periphery of his side being destroyed in large numbers, and his expression was not very good.

These thieves had so many cannons and their power was beyond his expectation.

At this time, a guard with a flustered expression came up beside him: "Bingxian, the Chu bandits shelled sharply, and the parapet wall and earth fortification we hastily built can't bear it. At least seven or eight earth fortifications with short robes have been deployed. Destroyed!"

"Bingxian, did you also use the thief-killing artillery to fight back? We can fight against their artillery positions for a while, at least we can destroy their spirit."

The left army of the new standard army also has fifteen long-barreled field cannons. Although the number of cannons is very different from the number of cannons on the opposite side, it does not mean that they have no counterattack ability.

But Yang Sixing said: "Don't worry, we don't have many cannons for killing bandits, and the medicines are limited, so we have to use them sparingly. It won't be too late to fire when the bandit infantry rush up!"

Yang Sixing knew very well that his biggest reliance was not those hastily built fortifications, but the fifteen anti-thief cannons.

But among the fifteen anti-thief cannons, twelve were two-and-a-half-jin small cannons, and only three were five-jin cannons.

In terms of power, it can't be compared with a large group of five-pound or even nine-pound field guns in the opposite Chu thief.

If you pull it out directly at this time to counterattack, it is actually difficult to accurately counterattack the field artillery positions in the bandit army at a distance of 800 meters or even thousands of meters. Even if you can barely hit, the kinetic energy of the shells is not enough. It is difficult to blast away the sandbag fortifications on the artillery positions of the bandits.

It is unrealistic and unreliable to carry out precise anti-cannon operations hundreds of meters or even thousands of meters away. Even if the Chu thieves have more artillery and more powerful artillery, they have not specifically targeted the Ming army on the top of the mountain. Artillery positions fired.

The Chu thief's artillery was always aimed at the first and second lines of defense, not the Ming army's field artillery positions behind the line of defense.

In this battle, due to the terrain and distance, the field artillery of both sides mainly targeted the opponent's infantry and ordinary fortifications. As for precise anti-artillery operations, it was unrealistic.

Yang Sixing just wanted to be patient, and wait for the infantry of the bandit army to start a dense charge, and then use artillery to conduct intensive shelling, so as to teach the Chu bandit infantry a big lesson.

Let the Chu thieves know that field artillery is not the patent of their Chu thieves, and their new standard army is also proficient in this field.

Ever since, the whole battlefield looked very strange!
The field artillery and mortars of the Chu army continued to squeeze out, and the field artillery mainly destroyed the first and second fortifications, especially the parapets and earth fortifications above the ground.

Mortars, on the other hand, targeted the trenches on the first line of defense of the Ming army through large-angle ballistics and the characteristics of flowering shells.

As for the Ming army, they basically didn't show their heads!

The soldiers of the Ming army on the front line are now hiding in the trenches to defend against artillery. The field artillery with counterattack capability also chose to watch in order to save ammunition and avoid the hot barrel from affecting the subsequent interception of Chu infantry.

This battle is very strange, and it is different from war in the traditional sense.

Both sides of the war, regardless of whether it was the attacking side or the defending side, had dug a large number of trenches, parapets, forts and other fortifications, and the infantry on the front line hid one by one.

At first glance, it seems that there is no one on the battlefield.

But in fact, behind the many trenches on the front line and the parapets, thousands of soldiers on both sides are hiding!
The fierce shelling by the Chu army lasted for a full quarter of an hour!

Two quarters of an hour later, Xu Zhixian came to Luo Zhixue's side: "Your Majesty, after two quarters of an hour of artillery coverage, we have basically wiped out the parapets, earth barriers and other fortifications built by the enemy in the three predetermined breakthrough areas! "

"Also destroyed most of the tunic fortresses that have been identified as enemy troops deployed on the front lines!"

"However, the specific casualties are not clear. Most of the enemy's troops are hiding behind trenches or parapets. Limited by sight, we have not been able to observe the enemy's casualties for the time being!"

After hearing this, Luo Zhixue said: "Since that's the case, then don't rush to fight. Let the fifth division send a battalion leader to test their quality first. Let them spread out and use the terrain to cover themselves as much as possible. Don't be foolish enough to maintain a tight formation and die."

The enemy's artillery still exists. Although it seems that a lot of frontline fortifications have been destroyed, the enemy's main artillery still exists. At the same time, the enemy's infantry casualties are unknown. A pile of infantry, using muskets and short robes to cover and shell the attacking Chu army infantry, wouldn't it mean heavy casualties.

Therefore, it is very necessary to let an infantry battalion spread out and go forward to test the enemy's situation.

Soon, the Second Battalion under the No.17 Infantry Regiment of the Fifth Division received the order and began to attack!

This infantry battalion did not maintain a dense formation as before, but instead spread out the formation very widely, and instead of adopting a horizontal formation in the traditional sense, it adopted a column advancement.

This is obviously to prevent the shelling of the Ming army.

Before and after the second battalion, the Ming army on the opposite side really reacted quickly. The infantry battalion had just climbed out of the trench at the starting point, and it could not advance even a hundred meters, when suddenly there was a rumbling sound on the opposite hill.

One after another, the black solid shells fell in the middle of the infantry battalion in an instant.

However, because the second infantry battalion adopted a column formation and the formation was relatively scattered, when it was hit by the first round of shelling, there were not many casualties. Only seven or eight people were hit, and the others were still pushing forward.

But soon, the second round of field bombardment by the Ming army came again, and a group of Ming soldiers hiding in the trenches suddenly climbed out of the trenches carrying more than a dozen short robes of about one or two hundred catties, and directly set up the cannons to load .

The battalion commander of the second battalion couldn't help being shocked when he saw this scene, and then couldn't help but look back...

If his battalion continues to rush forward like this, I am afraid it will suffer heavy casualties...

But what made him breathe a sigh of relief was that the rear waved the signal flag for him to retreat immediately.

Immediately relieved, he quickly ordered: "Retreat, retreat!"

"Everyone disperse and retreat, don't be a living target like a fool!"

The second infantry battalion went fast and retreated even faster. It took only 5 minutes before and after. This battalion seemed to be dejected and retreated like a group of prodigal dogs.

In the command post on the top of the mountain, Luo Zhixue, who was sitting on the chair with the dragon pattern, had a calm expression on his face.

It's normal to retreat after a tentative attack, not to mention that this trial attack didn't lose many people, and it only lost 30 to [-] people if it was back and forth, which is completely within the acceptable range.

Xu Zhixian on the side said: "It can be made clear that the puppet Ming army on the opposite side only has about fifteen artillery pieces, which is comparable to the battle report from the [-]st Cavalry Brigade before."

"Most of them are artillery equivalent to our two-and-a-half-pound field guns, and three are five-pound field guns!"

"In addition to the previous report from the First Cavalry Brigade, the artillery mounts used by the Ming army are the same as our army's artillery mounts. It seems that the rumors are not false. They have completely copied our artillery system."

Luo Zhixue said: "About fifteen cannons, that's not too many!"

Field artillery is powerful, but only if there are enough of them!
Send out a battalion to launch a tentative attack, and the opponent can use fifteen artillery pieces to cover and intercept.

But how about dispatching ten battalions at the same time to launch an attack?

There were only fifteen artillery pieces on the opposite side, and they couldn't take care of every side of the battlefield no matter what.

In order to annihilate the left army of the new standard army, Luo Zhixue personally led the Guards Division, the Fifth Division, the First Cavalry Brigade, and the First Mortar Regiment, the absolute main forces, to move westward quickly.

More than 2 troops, all the main force.

The left army of the new standard army on the opposite side is just a mixed brigade with more than 5000 people.

Whether it is military strength or artillery, their Chu army has an absolute advantage.

This battle has been doomed since yesterday.

The only difference is how much the Chu army needs to pay to annihilate the new standard army Zuo army.

After thinking for a while, Luo Zhixue said: "Prepare for the general attack in [-] minutes. During this period, the artillery coverage should not stop. Focus on bombarding the northern battlefield, so that the guards can prepare for the general attack. Well, during this period, some troops should be dispatched to launch a surprise attack to confuse the opponent's sight. , to draw their attention to the southern battlefield."

The Chu army, which has a huge advantage, did not stop the attack after the first tentative attack, but chose to launch another violent shelling.

If the Ming army observes the Chu army's shelling in detail, then it will be found that in this shelling, the large number of mortars of the Chu army concentrated on the northern battlefield.

There is no doubt that the Chu army is making final artillery preparations for the Guards Division's breakthrough on the northern battlefield.

(End of this chapter)