Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 293 Blood River ([-])

The fight had been going on for nearly an hour.Under the continuous charge of the barbarians who were not afraid of death, the first barbed wire had completely lost its effect. At this time, the focus of contention between the two sides was already on the second and last barbed wire. More than 1000 Eight Banners warriors roared and stabbed and stabbed the spears in their hands continuously, stabbing the barbarians pouring in like a tide in front of the barbed wire.Behind them, the musketeers of the 103rd and 104th companies stood behind the parapet that was hastily built with wooden boxes, still firing projectiles forward.

The corpses of the barbarians piled up higher and higher, and at the same time, the casualties of the Eight Banners warriors who were on the front line of the battle with them were also increasing.These people were constantly attacked by short spears thrown by the barbarians at close range, and many of them lost their fighting strength.According to Mo Ming, who was standing in the very center of the camp, no less than a hundred Eight Banners warriors had been killed or injured, and many of the rest had minor injuries. The battle had entered the most tragic stage.

The combat staff around him have turned their attention to Mo Ming several times, and Chang Kaisheng, the company commander of the Army's 1st company, is also a little eager to try-they haven't opened tonight, but Mo Ming still hasn't ordered the only reserve in his hand. team into the field.After all, although the barbarians had already approached the second barbed wire fence, the camp's defense line was still very solid, and there was no sign of a breakthrough for the time being.Moreover, he was also a little worried that fighting would break out in the northwest of the camp. It was pitch black outside. Who knew if the barbarians had ambushed troops there.After several battles with these Xhosa people, Mo Ming did not have any thoughts of belittling them.After all, the Hezhong Security Regiment was a militia force, and its combat effectiveness was completely unreliable. If the barbarians also invested heavy troops there to attack in order to break through, it would be hard to say what the situation would be like.Therefore, it is safer to temporarily hold the 1st company in your hands.

The barbarians in the southeast estimated that no less than 1000 people had been killed or injured according to the staff officers around them. About one-third of them died from the shotgun attacks of artillery units, and most of the rest died from musket salvos. There are really not many spears and bows under the samurai.The 103 ​​musketeers of the 104rd and 360th companies have already played a rhythm. They are mechanically firing in three bursts to maintain continuous firepower.Even, in order to increase their firepower, Mo Ming ordered some militiamen in the supply battalion who had fired live ammunition to take out their spare muskets, and handed them to the soldiers who retreated after shooting in the front while loading them in the back, so that they could go faster. Putting it into the next round of shooting, this is equivalent to enhancing the firepower output density of the musket array in a disguised form.

It was already past eight o'clock at night, and the fog was getting thicker and thicker, and the woolen coat on Mo Ming's body was gradually getting wet by the fog.However, he didn't realize it, and was still giving orders one by one to the messengers and combat staff officers.At this moment, a dense volley of guns suddenly sounded in the northwest corner of the camp where no fighting had broken out before.

Mo Ming was startled, and immediately ordered a staff officer to ask what happened.A few minutes later, the staff officer who figured out what had happened came back and reported: "There are also barbarians attacking at the northwest corner. Sergeant Salvador received a report from the soldiers, saying that there were many suspected torches in the darkness in the distance. Can't see in the fog." Sergeant Sergeant Salvador ordered two artillery pieces to fire at the designated place, and he found the screams and commotion of the savages. It turned out that these savages had already marched to a very close range under the cover of darkness and fog. After they were discovered Immediately launched a counterattack against us, and the two sides have started shooting at each other."

"The barbarian musketeers? How many? What's the level?" Mo Ming was a little surprised, and then thought of a more serious question: "Do they have cannons?"

"Based on the frequency and density of shooting by the barbarians, the trainee staff officer of the River Security Regiment estimates that the number of musketeers is between 350 and 500. The training level seems to be very poor. They use matchlock guns. They were attacked by our side. After the cannon fire reconnaissance, they began to fire indiscriminately. However, the distance they fired was beyond the effective range of the arquebus. It can be seen that their understanding of the performance of the weapon is limited, or that most of them cannot use the firearm well at all. "The staff officer answered in a very orderly manner, and he understood all the situation clearly in a few minutes. It can be seen that he is a thoughtful person.

"Sergeant, what's your name? What year did you graduate?" Mo Ming glanced at the staff officer standing in front of him and asked.

"My name is Li Shen. I graduated from the 39th class of the Dingyuan Military Academy." The young staff officer stood up straight and replied excitedly.He knew that there were not many opportunities to show his face in front of big shots. If he grasped it well, he might save himself years of struggle.

Mo Ming nodded, did not speak any more, but continued to observe the battle situation.At this time, the barbarian musketeers in the northwest corner had approached within 50 meters. They lined up, but no officers organized a salvo. Instead, each of them held their arquebus guns and fired freely towards the camp on the east bank. .And on both sides of them, a considerable number of barbarians rushed towards the barbed wire fence silently with large shields and short spears in their hands.

"Boom! Boom!" The four cannons scattered in the northwest corner started a shotgun attack. The shotguns fired from the muzzles plowed the land in front of them like a plow, blowing in a fan shape at the muzzles. The barbarians within the range fell down in pieces like reaping wheat.The rest also turned their directions one after another. Even the most fearless barbarian warriors could not withstand this cruel blow far beyond their imagination.

The salvos of the soldiers of the Hezhong Security Regiment were not very orderly. There were always some impatient people who fired first, and some people who were highly nervous only reacted after seeing others firing for a long time, and then hurriedly fired the lead in the barrel. bomb.Not only that, but they were also a little chaotic when they exchanged queues. The tension on the battlefield made many of them stiff and deformed. In addition, some people were knocked down by the bullets fired by the barbarians on the opposite side. The firepower density and frequency of firing are much inferior to those of the regular army in the southeast corner.

The firepower output of the Hezhong security regiment was not enough, so the corresponding pressure on the more than a thousand Eight Banners warriors assigned to them suddenly increased.First of all, some lead bullets flying over knocked them down from time to time, and secondly, those barbarians who rushed over silently with cold weapons seemed to be not good at it.These men have a firm eye and are well-trained, and their movements are uniform and accurate when throwing short spears.No, the long line of Eight Banners warriors suffered heavy casualties from their short spears raining down like raindrops, and many of them subconsciously wanted to turn around and run away.However, after seeing the neat formation of the 1st Company of the Army serving as the reserve and supervisory team behind them, they all gave up the idea of ​​​​running away, bit the bullet and stood in the line with spears, waiting for the close distance with the barbarians fight.

"Hey, the barbarians seem to have put their elite troops on the northwest front." Mo Ming said to himself in a little surprise, "They know how to attack from east to west. From this point of view, most of the people who attacked from the southeast They are all servants, and the ones in the northwest are the main force."

Although he was a little surprised by the tactics of these barbarians, Mo Ming did not plan to join the reserve team prematurely, he was going to wait and see.The offensive of the barbarians in the northwest was quite ferocious, especially the barbarian spear throwers on both sides. They braved the bullets and artillery fire of the people on the east bank and shot dense spears at the soldiers on the east bank behind the barbed wire. Gaps were created in the queue.Especially the Eight Banners warriors at the front, the number of casualties has approached one hundred in just ten minutes. Most of them died from barbarian spear throwing and musket attacks, and a small number of them died from infantry shooting.

The long-range firepower of the barbarians on this side seems to be quite powerful. Musketeers, infantry archers, and spear throwers took turns to maintain uninterrupted long-range firepower.Especially those barbarian archers holding infantry bows, they shot so fast that they even suppressed the musketeers of the river security regiment to the point where they couldn't hold their heads up.Even though the accuracy was not good at night, and even though the soldiers of the security regiment were all wearing armor, many of them fell to the ground after being shot.Especially Sergeant Salvador, who was commanding with his saber high, was shot with an arrow in his left arm, and two arrows were stuck in his helmet, which made his scalp tingle.

Sergeant Salvador was the "murderer" of Wang De's shooting case. This fanatical terrorist is also a ruthless man. next to the brazier so that all soldiers can see him.Under his command, the soldiers of the Hezhong Security Regiment gradually passed the initial chaotic period, and the volley of guns also began to play rhythm, knocking down the barbarian musketeers about 30 meters away from the first barbed wire. .

These savages are not like the soldiers on the east bank who have piles of supply boxes used as parapets. They can only stand upright and shoot at the people on the east bank.However, the cumbersome shooting process of the arquebus and their low level of training severely restricted their firepower output. Therefore, after a few rounds of shooting, these barbarian musketeers began to suffer a large number of casualties.After shooting at each other for a while, perhaps the barbarian commander couldn't bear to waste the precious musketeers here, and quickly withdrew these barbarian musketeers.

After these people withdrew, the offensives of the barbarian spear throwers and infantry archers immediately stagnated.After throwing the last batch of spears, they disappeared into the darkness under the double cover of night and fog.

(End of this chapter)