A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 822 Rainstorm
Chapter 741 Heavy Rain

At that time, the movement of the bandits was even bigger. No matter on the opposite plateau or on the platform of the plateau, there were people standing there, and looking at the flags and armors, it was not only the bandits from the right battalion who attacked the southern end, but also red and yellow flags. , There are even standard battalion soldiers with white flags and black banners, wearing blue armor.

There are more and more vehicles pushing down the roads on the opposite slopes, and there is a black tide of vehicles, and there are more gathering on the plateau. The manpower advantage of the thieves can be said to be brought to the extreme.

There is also a cannon in the vehicle. It is roughly estimated that there are 150 general cannons pushed down the plateau over there, and there are about [-] small and medium-sized cannons of the Buddha Wolf machine.

People called Masi, and there are more and more thieves in the ditch. Judging from the number of people they have deployed in the ditch, and the location of the army formation, the direction of attack is impressively A No. 11 to A No. 18 at the southern end of Yuanwang Ditch. It is NO.14, NO.15, NO.16, NO.17, because these four lines of defense are almost connected together.

Of course, they did not give up their attack on other places in Yuanwanggou. Although it was a feint attack, if they let down their vigilance and were caught off guard, the feint attack might turn into a real attack.

Seeing the thieves coming in menacingly, with the best of the best, the sound of trumpets, drums and trumpets also sounded from the Yuan side, and many soldiers of the new army battalion also descended from the Yuan to the middle of the slope. They were all in red armor. There is a red tide.

The gully at the southern end of Yuanwanggou has a gentle drop, a wide bottom, and a relatively gentle slope on the upper plateau. Especially the first ladder cliff, most of them just stand on the flat ground, and the terrain is not dangerous, so the low walls here are densely stacked. There are seven or eight lines of defense.

In the middle, the first and second low walls are the widest and have the most defensive troops. In the past, each defense line was defended by about 600 new army battalion soldiers, but now it has increased to [-].Moreover, the last few low wall defense lines are ready to support at any time, and there are many reserve troops on the plateau.The rockets that were already going to be used sparingly were moved pile after pile.

At the middle of the hour, the preparations for the bandit army formation were completed, and there were densely packed trucks and densely packed flags.Seeing that they are overwhelming the sea of ​​people, the strength of the No. 14, No. 15, No. 16, and No. 17 defense lines of the armor is probably more than [-], and the level of elite is also incomparable before.

Suddenly the trumpet drum sounded on the plateau slope, and all the bandits shouted together, and then they used the earthen trucks as a cover, and approached the low wall defense line layer by layer. As they walked, they were densely packed with human heads.

"All follow."

With a growl, Lao Hu ordered his subordinates to drive those hungry people forward.

This time Li Chuang had high expectations for the attack on the southern end of Yuanwanggou, so he gathered a lot of elite battalions. The mountain patrol battalion currently has [-] troops. This time, [-] elite soldiers will be dispatched, with half of the inner archers and half of the cold weapons.However, because Yang Shaofan's blunderbuss battalion participated in the battle, he did not bring out the [-] blunderbuss soldiers from his battalion, but only brought a group of blunderbuss soldiers to guard them, and each of them still had some rockets distributed by the old battalion.

At this time, they moved forward under the cover of earthen carts. Each team of one hundred people had ten carts, and about ten teams made up one hundred earthen carts, and each cart was pushed by three people, which was three hundred hungry people.If these hungry people are counted, there will be 300 people in the attack on the mountain patrol battalion.

The two sides of the mountain patrol camp are also full of such earthen vehicles. Looking up, the ditch is full of layers of vehicles and human heads.

Lao Hu looked at the front and back, and there was a sea of ​​blue armor in front of him and behind him, and there were layers of white flags and black banners fluttering.That was the banner of the artillery and gunmen, both of whom enjoyed the treatment of the old battalion in the battalion, and even the earthen vehicles covering them were different at this time.

Lao Hu and the others’ carts are wheelbarrows, with a few thick soil baskets installed on them, but the vehicles of these artillerymen and artillerymen are two-wheeled, stable and strong, not only are soil baskets installed on them, but also tied to the bottom of the front carts. The soil bag can effectively prevent the cannon from coming and rolling off the legs of everyone behind.

But this time not only the artillery, but even the gun battalion came out in full force. Everyone in the camp spent a lot of money.But at that time, only [-] blunderbusses will push forward, and [-] blunderbusses will stay behind to guard the artillery.

Behind the infantry and gunmen are a large number of hungry people, each carrying a bag of earth, or every two people carrying a short ladder or plank, and when they rush up, countless short ladders and wooden planks are erected layer by layer.

However, every 30 or [-] of them have a cover truck, and few people in the camp will care about their safety.

At the end of the chariot formation were [-] old battalion soldiers who supervised the formation. They were all ready to make a surprise attack at a critical moment in addition to supervising the battle.

"Move forward!"

Lao Hu ordered to urge, although the bottom of the ditch was wide, it was not flat, and sometimes the truck would bump and struggle, so his soldiers beat the hungry people vigorously, forcing them to use force and speed up their pace.

There are many camps such as the mountain patrol camp. Under their urging, the crowds are like a sea, and the dense car formation only pushes forward.

Being in such a wide battlefield, surrounded by densely packed human heads, and surrounded by flags of various colors, many people can only walk forward numbly surrounded by crowds... It is inevitable that many people will be able to overlook the land and own the battlefield. The desire for the commanding heights.

And on such a wide battlefield, the main general can't command every unit in detail, they can only roughly arrange, such as this time to break into the camp, generally arrange for the general Fran's machine gun to bombard about one mile, and then the two hundred steps of the Falcon Aircraft and small artillery bombardment.

When approaching [-] paces, rockets will be fired, from [-] paces to [-] paces, bows and arrows will be thrown, and from [-] paces to [-] paces, firecrackers will be bombarded.In the end, the infantry rushed forward, and the bows and arrows were either thrown or shot directly to cover and support.Seeing the right time, the old battalion finally rushed up.

Even so, the specifics depend on the command ability of the generals on the spot.

When the car array was almost a mile away from the line of defense, white smoke burst from the top of the plateau on the opposite side, and the sound of cannons rolled in like thunder. In the car formation.

Although the artillery on the plateau can be hit at this angle, the falling parabola is very high, and the dust stirred up is billowing.

However, there are very few ricochets caused by shells. As long as they are not hit on the spot, there is generally no danger of life.

But as the car array moved forward, ricochets began to form, and with a loud "bang", a cannon weighing several kilograms fell not far in front of the old Hu truck, and the cannon brought a huge After a puff of smoke and dust bounced up again, it slammed into the soil basket on the right side of the truck.

A large amount of mud splashed, and the heavy force almost caused the entire truck to topple, scaring the hungry people pushing the truck and Lao Hu and others behind them.

After walking more than a dozen steps, another shell roared over, accompanied by the piercing sound of bone shattering, a starving man pushing a cart not far to the right was hit by the shell on the spot, and then he saw stumps and pieces of flesh left on the ground, that The hungry people have no shape.

The remaining two hungry people in that truck had beads of sweat on their faces, and the panic in the eyes of one of them reached the extreme. Suddenly, he let out a hysterical cry, left the truck, turned around and ran, and then was mercilessly hacked to the ground by the archers behind. .

"Death to those who retreat!"

Old Hu let out a roar, and he took a long breath, seeing that Batiao around him was dripping with cold sweat, only Kong San looked calmer.

Although the anti-gun effect of the earth truck is good, it does not mean that it will not cause casualties.Of course, it was much better than before, so although the artillery on the plateau came like rain, the car formations that broke into the camp were still approaching densely, unlike before, how many times they were defeated by the artillery alone.

The artillery battalion in front stopped after approaching for a mile, and then shouted and urged, and a large number of hungry people went forward from the rear carrying soil bags and baskets. The earthen platform sandwiched the seventy General Fran cannons in the middle.

Then not long after that, there was a cannon sound, and a shell whizzed past, hitting the soil in front of the low wall and ladder cliff, causing a large cloud of smoke and dust, but it was their artillery battalion who were testing the cannon.

Apparently the shell missed its target, but then they fired three more shots, and the last time the parapet was filled with dust, and this time it obviously hit, and then the gun stopped.

Old Hu stretched his neck and looked at that side. He was waiting for the artillery battalion to fire, and he didn't know whether he was looking forward to it or not.

I don't know how long I waited, suddenly there seemed to be lightning and thunder in front of me, and deafening gunshots sounded, and I saw large plumes of thick smoke rising, covering the position on that side.

Lao Hu felt terrified. He had seen the power of the Hongyi cannon in the Songshan battle, but he didn't expect the Fran cannon to be so fierce.

Moreover, there is one thing that the Frang cannon can't compare with the Hongyi cannon, that is, the firing speed is very fast, and the heat dissipation time can wait for a long time.

A skilled Franco gunner can fire one shot in 20 seconds. Since it is loaded with sub-guns, it can fire at least [-] or [-] shots and then dissipate heat. The seventy general Franco guns in front can fire at the same time, and the bullets can really rain down. describe.

Hearing the sound of guns exploding like roasted beans, iron bullets pouring down towards the low wall like a torrential rain, thick gunpowder smoke rising continuously from the front, and the smog filled the rear.Old Hu's nose was filled with the pungent smell of gunpowder smoke, and the thunderous gunfire made his ears ring.In the white smoke, the situation on the other side of the low wall is also faintly visible. I can only feel that the smoke and dust from the shells over there have stirred up a piece of smoke, and there seems to be blood mist in the flying dust.

The cannons sounded one after another, the stormy shells only went there, the artillery on the plateau kept on, and amidst the screaming sound, the same rain of shells poured down, and they were faster.

The current situation is that you hit yours, and I hit mine. It seems that many artillery pieces on the plateau are bombarding the artillery formation of the camp, but because of the tight protection of the earth platform, the sound of their artillery has not weakened.But it didn't seem to be without effect, Lao Hu was surprised to see that after a loud explosion, the people and cannons of a fort flew into the sky, and the earth bags and baskets were flying all over the sky.

I don't know how long it took for the artillery battle between the two sides. When the artillery in front finally stopped, Lao Hu already felt the buzzing in his ears.

They continued to move forward, but when they were about 150 steps away from the low wall defense line, the entire formation stopped again, and then a large number of hungry people came forward, carrying soil bags and baskets, and built 150 slightly smaller than before. The earthen platform, sandwiching the [-] Franc machine medium and small cannons in the middle.

Not long after that, there was another blast from the storm, and Lao Hu saw the smoke and dust rising from that side together. Can't survive.

Bajo stared blankly, he just opened his mouth wide, while Kong San gritted his teeth, he looked ahead, with deep hatred in his eyes.

After the bombardment that shook the earth like a mountain, I don't know how long it took, and Lao Hu saw that the solid earth wall on that side had been bombed down in many places, and the shape was miserable.

After a long time, the gunfire stopped, and he let out a heavy breath.

……

After the artillery stopped bombarding, the trumpets sounded from behind, and the battalion vehicles in the ditch moved forward again, and soon they approached a hundred paces.

The line of defense opposite the mountain patrol battalion is No. 15 of the defenders. No. 14, No. 15, No. 16, and No. 17 on this side are not very far apart, and the defense lines are separated by dozens of steps at most.Therefore, the battalions that attacked the defense line were not very separated. On both sides of the mountain patrol battalion, there were such dense formations of vehicles.

They pushed the truck a little further, and the brigade of hungry people was being driven up. Suddenly there was a shout from the front, and dense crowds of heads appeared on the low wall opposite.Lao Hu was surprised that they didn't die under such fierce artillery fire.

Without letting Lao Hu think too much, he yelled again from the other side, and heard the hissing and whistling of the rockets, and the smoke filled behind the low wall, and many rockets roared over.

Chuang army vehicles immediately fought back, they also had rockets, just heard the whistling sound, thousands of arrows shuttled in the air, and the fireworks were like blooming flowers.Smoke billowed from both sides, and the trajectory of the rocket was like endless fireworks.

For a while, the sky on this side was full of rockets, and Lao Hu didn't know the situation on the other side, but a few hungry infantry were shot down on his side, and the same was true on both sides of the chariot formation.

However, they continued to move forward. After seventy steps, they stopped. Then, under the order of the officer, they took out their bows and arrows one after another. They opened their bows and aimed at the direction of the low wall.

With a sound of trumpets and a sudden sound of bowstrings, densely packed arrows flew into the sky. They were like locusts all over the sky, pouring towards the low wall in front of them.

The barracks archers behind the dirt cart shot one after another, and each time their arrows seemed to cover the sky, and the number of arrows they dropped made the surrounding area of ​​the low wall in front seem to be covered with weeds.

The hungry people were driven forward to throw earthbags desperately, but in the low wall, except for shooting arrows or setting off rockets, their gunners did not move. It seemed that they also knew that their main opponents were the gunners of the old battalion.

At this time, the earth carts from the Gunnery Battalion also pushed up, and three thousand gunmen leaned behind the earthen carts, approaching the low wall layer by layer, and slowly approached fifty paces.

Lao Hu suddenly felt a little thirsty, and before he had time to think about it, he heard sharp swan sounds from both positions, and then there was a flash of fire between the positions, and the explosion of gunfire was accompanied by bursts of thick white smoke. Soon the low wall trucks on both sides were submerged.

Lao Hu saw billowing gunpowder smoke and a whole row of flames flickered from time to time, there was blood mist on the defenders on the other side of the low wall from time to time, and gunmen were also shot and fell down here, and the gunshots on both sides rang out, screaming and screaming. .

The sound of gun platooning was wave after wave, and each wave was shocking. This kind of gun platoon battle was too... Lao Hu couldn't help opening his mouth to calm his excitement, but he felt that the gun soldiers here were sharper. .

At this time, the hungry people throwing earthbags rushed more, and the archers kept throwing shots behind the musketeers to cover their shooting.

Suddenly there was another sound of horns and drums, shouting loudly, and countless hungry people carrying short wooden ladders left the cover of the earth trucks. They shouted hoarsely and rushed towards the low wall.

"Prepare for battle!"

Old Hu roared, and immediately the sword, shield and cold weapon hands of his patrolling battalion began to prepare for hand-to-hand combat on the wall, and looked around the surrounding battalions.

At this time, the three thousand old battalion soldiers also came forward, and they were ready to fight.

(End of this chapter)