I want to be emperor

Chapter 481 This Tongguan can't be held anymore!
At this time, the large fortress of the No. [-] passage had already turned into ruins on the top of the building. A large number of five-pound and nine-pound field artillery from the Chu army continued to shell the fort, and the top of the fort was almost smashed to pieces. , and even several long-barreled artillery deployed above were destroyed. .

However, the destruction of the upper part does not mean that this kind of fortress has been completely blown up.

This kind of earthen fortress built by the Ming army is disgusting. It is almost solid... If you use solid shells, even solid shells fired by fourteen-pound heavy artillery are useless against this kind of fort... Hmm , It is no different from bombarding a hill directly with artillery.

Using mortars is somewhat effective, but the rate of fire of mortars in the past is too slow and the accuracy is too poor. The Ming army can rely on the anti-blaster holes and trenches to hide first. After your mortars are fired, the infantry will come up and then climb out to fight. .

So in the past, when the Chu army attacked this kind of fortress, they often needed to use a large number of artillery repeatedly, grinding it bit by bit, and when the grinding was almost done, they would dispatch a commando to carry out a strong attack.

But this time it was different.

Before the infantry of the Chu army charged, the bombardment of the [-]-jin grenade never stopped...

The continuous artillery shells kept falling on the Ming army's positions, so that they didn't even have the courage to drill out of the artillery holes!

Waiting until the infantry of the Chu army was about to rush up, and the new howitzers of the Chu army began to extend the artillery fire...

Instead of stopping the shelling, it extended the shelling.

When the ashen-faced Ming soldiers who were bombed reacted and were about to climb out to fight, they found that the Chu soldiers on the opposite side were only tens of meters away.

The distance of a mere tens of meters is not that far for charging soldiers, not to mention that there are no machine guns these days, which can sweep a large area.

Even at this distance, muskets, bows and arrows, and even short-barreled artillery are useless, because the rate of fire is too slow and the amount of ammunition projected is effective. This firepower can kill a few people, but you can't stop the ash. A large group of Chu soldiers.

At this time, the most effective way is actually for the defenders to take the initiative to rush out of the trenches, then launch a counter-charge, and directly engage in close-range hand-to-hand combat with the Chu army.

You don't even need to line up, and there is no time for you to slowly line up.

After all, the Chu army rushing over from the opposite side also rushed over in skirmish formation, and there was no formation at all!

The assault battle is different from the battle in the wilderness. It is impossible for you to form a formation slowly and then attack the enemy's position.

Therefore, the Chu army will not stubbornly engage in any formation attack, but directly launch a skirmish charge.

Therefore, for the defenders, if they want to hold their positions, they need to organize a counter-charge in an extremely limited time to directly block the charge momentum of the attacking troops.

However, this kind of counterattack requires courage and even more organization.

The Ming army on the opposite side was terrified and even dumbfounded by the bombing from beginning to end. What kind of army morale is there to engage in such a counter-charge.

They can't be blamed, let alone ordinary soldiers, even the generals of the Ming army lost all their square inches by the intensive artillery fire of the Chu army.

This battle was different from what they expected from the beginning to the end!
The Chu thieves on the opposite side didn't use the soldiers all over the mountains to launch a forceful attack at all, and they didn't even use units such as heavy armored infantry.

From the beginning to the end, it was bombed by artillery, and their hearts were about to pop out.

And the speed of the battle far exceeded their expectations.

In fact, it has only been more than half an hour since the No. 90 Eighth Regiment of the Chu Army launched its shelling. In just over an hour, the Chu Army used powerful artillery fire to cover the infantry one by one, captured all the outer positions, and advanced strongly. To the main fort here.

In such a short time, they didn't even have time to ask Tongguan City for help!

At this time, Sun Chuanting in Tongguan City has just learned that the No. [-] channel has been attacked by the Chu army, and the connection to the outer positions has been lost. However, it is not yet known that the No. [-] fortress has been directly attacked, and the Chu army has launched a general attack. .

The distance between Passage No. 1000 and Tongguan City seems to be only about [-] meters in a straight line, but there are mountains in the middle. Sun Chuanting can't see the battle situation on Passage No. [-]. Sun Chuanting needs continuous notification from the messengers to understand The situation on the third channel is flat.

In fact, even if Sun Chuanting knew of the crisis in the No. [-] passage immediately and planned to send troops to reinforce it, he would not be able to catch up.

It takes time to mobilize troops, so emergency dispatch also requires a certain amount of preparation time. At the same time, there is a mountainous area about 1000 meters in the middle. Although there are roads connecting to the rear, these roads are actually some small roads, which are not flat. avenue.

On the other hand, the Chu army will not wait slowly for the enemy's reinforcements to come. Their attacks are swift and fierce. Immediately after the artillery fire is ready, they launch an infantry charge. Some resisted, some turned and fled, some thought about counterattack, and some surrendered directly. As a result, the remnants of the Ming army of more than 1000 people were in chaos.

At around 90:[-] noon, the first battalion of the No.[-] Eighth Infantry Regiment of the Chu Army successfully captured the large fortress of the No. [-] passage!
Of the more than 1000 Ming troops stationed at the fort, hundreds fled, with more than [-] casualties, and the rest surrendered.

After the No.90 Eighth Infantry Regiment captured the fortress, the second battalion, which had relatively few casualties, and the third battalion, which had previously served as a reserve, continued to advance westward along the trail. They needed to occupy the entire trail urgently, and then fought all the way to the back of Tongguan City Go, cut off the connection between Tongguan City and the rear, and at the same time cut off the connection between Tongguan City and many large fortress garrisons in the south.

The first battalion, which took on the main attack task before and had relatively heavy casualties, stayed in the fortress to rest, and at the same time was responsible for guarding the prisoners of war with a total of 900 people, maintaining the security of the rear, and also assumed the responsibility of the strategic reserve team of the entire regiment. Task.

When the 98th Regiment continued to operate, the No.20 Ninth Regiment, which also belonged to the No.90 Fifth Division, also stepped up its offensive. The second battalion under this regiment set off directly from the No. [-] passage to the north and launched an attack along the trail.

Their goal is simple, to capture several mountains with good shooting range in the south of Tongguan City, so that the artillery units can condescendingly bombard Tongguan City.

And the three engineering battalions in the rear, with a total of more than 2000 engineering troops, also began to enter the site with various professional excavation and even blasting tools, preparing to attack the No. [-] passage and the trail extending north from the No. [-] passage. Carry out emergency blasting and excavation to facilitate the passage of subsequent artillery and even ammunition vehicles.

And to assist the engineering troops in the construction, there are tens of thousands of civilians who have been prepared for a long time.

The Chu army's series of military plans in the No. [-] passage are not just as simple as capturing the No. [-] passage, but also include the emergency expansion of the No. [-] passage.

Otherwise, a simple winding and steep mountain path would be of no practical use to the Chu army.

Only roads that have been specially widened, roads that can pass artillery and carriages, have greater strategic value.

However, even if a large amount of gunpowder was used to blast the road at any cost, even if more than 2000 engineers and tens of thousands of civilians were mobilized, the widening project of this passage would take several days.

Therefore, in a short period of time, it is impossible to see the large-scale Chu army, especially dragging artillery, appearing outside the city of Tongguan. For the time being, we will not see the heavy artillery of the Chu army appearing on the top of the mountain and bombarding Tongguan violently.

The current battle in this direction has changed from the previous continuous artillery fire to a battle between light infantry with a small number of light artillery.

But even so, the Ming army on the opposite side couldn't stop it!

Sun Chuanting soon learned of the news after the fall of Fort No. 3000. As soon as he knew the news, he dispatched more than [-] troops to reinforce the No. [-] passage, trying to turn the tide of the battle and close the gap again.

But these more than 3000 troops were still unable to break through the interception of the Chu army!

Because at this time, the Ming army on the opposite side lacked even more guns, and they didn't even have many muskets. So many light infantry were crowded in the narrow valley terrain, and they were hit by bullets fired by a large number of flintlock guns from the Chu army.

At this time, the Ming army can't even counterattack, they can't even stop the Chu army's attack.

At around 90:90 p.m., the No.3000 Eighth Infantry Regiment successfully repelled many counterattacks by the Ming army, successfully captured and controlled the entire No. [-] passage, and together with the No.[-] Ninth Infantry Regiment, defeated more than [-] Ming troops reinforcements.

In the evening of the same day, the light infantry of the No.90 Ninth Infantry Regiment had planted the Chu Army's flag on a hill just over 200 meters away from Tongguan City.

And this mountain was the place where the Chu army had previously selected as the artillery firing position.

After the No.90 Nine Infantry Regiment captured these hills, they immediately dug trenches here, changing from the offensive side to the defensive side, resisting the counterattack of the Ming army.

In the rear, a large number of engineers and civilians were sweating profusely, and used a large amount of gunpowder for continuous blasting construction, just to allow heavy artillery and carriages to pass and reach the top of the mountain.

Before these heavy artillery arrived, the Chu army also disassembled many two-and-a-half-pound field cannons into parts by means of mules, horses, and even manpower, and forcibly put these two-and-a-half-pound field artillery against the top of the mountain, and then Then assemble and deploy to further increase the defensive firepower.

Well, if necessary, these two-and-a-half catty field guns can directly bombard Tongguan City below.

When Sun Chuanting looked at the cannons of the Chu thief on the hill to the south, he didn't speak for a long time, then turned around and went down the tower.

This Tongguan can't be defended anymore!
Before directly facing the fierce shelling of the Chu thieves, the defenders of Tongguan City were very reluctant to support them. Now that the southern mountains are occupied by the Chu army, the Chu thieves will be able to bombard from the top of the south mountain. under the threat of artillery fire.

Under such circumstances, no matter how proud Sun Chuanting is, he doesn't think he can hold Tongguan.

Now, it's time to consider retreating.

(End of this chapter)