Chapter 524: A Missed Opportunity

The city was filled with gunsmoke, and the Tartar artillery fire was fierce.

He Shouxin silently counted the large and small cannons that were roaring one after another, and there were about twenty guns.

It seemed that the tall towers were almost overwhelmed by the smoke from the muzzles, and only red lights could be seen, which flashed from between the battlements one after another, followed by cannons with smoke and fire, whistling towards his position......

Not far behind him was his company headquarters, the only log cabin in the vicinity, and at this moment, several messengers who followed him were squatting behind a big tree, and there was a teenager and a half-year-old boy with his head in his hands, covering his ears, as if this would suppress the tinnitus caused by the shelling.

In front of them, about fifty paces away, at the edge of the woods, was a machine-gun nest.

This machine-gun nest, only about six or seven hundred steps from the pier, depending on the situation, has lost the protection of the big tree, and is in danger of being hit by artillery at any time.

The shells dragged the white smoke and made a sharp whistling sound, and from time to time they smashed on the ground nearby with a loud "bang", bringing up a large area of dirt and gravel, and then jumping into the bushes, "clicking" and breaking some small trees.

More often than not, it is a crackling sprinkling of rubble on the canopy and branches......

Although a simple bunker was built in front of the machine gun nest with sandbags, and there was a thick tree trunk in front of the sandbag, He Shouxin estimated that as long as an iron ball hit the target, the bunker might be scrapped......

Although both men and machine guns were withdrawn, the charge of the Tartars would soon come, having lost their intact positions, and the machine gunners would be somewhat hectic.

He Shouxin turned his head to look at the nearby individual bunker.

At first glance, the bunkers laid out in the skirmish line were even more rudimentary, and some of the positions protruding from the front and in the sparsely wooded area had been damaged by the artillery strikes.

Even if the iron ball smashed into the open space, it immediately lifted a piece of dirt and gravel, if it hit a person, it would break off an arm and lose a leg, or tear it in half, and the flesh and blood would fly.

Fortunately, He Shouxin was prepared and did not have to worry about casualties.

According to the regulations of the field, after the blocking position was built overnight, he ordered the soldiers to retreat to safety, and most of them were in the woods, resting against the trunks of trees.

Although the weather is too hot this season, coupled with the annoying mosquitoes and flying insects, it is estimated that the fighters will not be able to rest well, but they will be able to more or less accumulate a little physical strength for the upcoming battle.

The three hundred Zheng soldiers were safer, He Shouxin arranged them on the east bank of Mingyue Lake, which was three miles away, and their task was to guard against a sneak attack from a small group of Tartars behind them, and at the same time to guard against all kinds of unexpected situations.

However, even so, light and dark sentinels serving as guards were indispensable, and although there were not many sentinels holding their posts, there were more than a dozen on the entire line of defense.

As far as the eye could see, He Shouxin saw that someone was hiding behind a big tree to avoid the cannons, and several soldiers had nowhere to hide, and they were huddled tightly behind sandbags with sizzling iron balls falling from the sky with fireworks to minimize the risk of being hit......

Although almost every soldier of the guard company was a veteran of battle, under the heavy artillery fire, they behaved fairly calmly, and any screams, curses, and wails were not allowed.

But when He Shouxin saw this scene, he still felt that his adrenaline was rushing, his hands trembled slightly, and he was secretly scolding his mother in his heart......

The fortifications were poorly repaired, but there was no way around it.

At the edge of the forest, there are few houses to use, and in this low-lying water network, trenches cannot be dug at all.

A few shovels go down, and in the blink of an eye, water will seep out, and it only takes a meal to make the trench a ditch, and no one can be stunned at all.

Therefore, the so-called fortifications can only be built with sandbags next to the trees, and at most a few branches can be found horizontally in front of the sandbags for a little protection.

In this way, the sand barricade protruding from the ground is not much stronger than the impact of the gun, but it is difficult to withstand the violent impact of the heavy iron ball.

If this continues, it will not be long before casualties are inevitable......

Looking at the city in a blink of an eye, He Shouxin regretted it a little.

"Paralyzed!"

He cursed hatefully, "If I knew this was the case, I should have touched these iron turtles at night!" ”

At the beginning, judging from the scouts' reports, the Tartars at the head of the city had heavy artillery, and the platoon commander reminded him whether the blocking line was too far ahead.

But he thinks that these Tartars are all green battalion soldiers, and their will to fight is not strong, and their attack ability is even weaker, even if they will definitely go out of the city to face the battle, it is estimated that it is only a symbolic few shots and a few rushes.

Because, yesterday during the day, they must have seen the power of our mortars, and they must have known that if they made too much trouble, they would definitely attract the revenge of this terrible flowering shell.

Therefore, He Shouxin's main consideration is that the passage of the Tartars out of the city must be blocked, and even let them pour out of the city and then scatter and flee in all directions.

Now it seems that he is indeed too underestimated.

Looking at the posture, his actions really pinched the sore feet of the Tartars, and the Tartars are going to be desperate!

However, in the face of such a fierce bombardment, He Shouxin suddenly found that he was powerless.

Because, in the face of tall battlements, machine guns simply did not play a suppressive role, let alone carbines.

Well, only two artillery guns were used to return fire?

No, he didn't dare to order!

The ammunition for the mortar was sufficient.

On this expedition, Mr. Lin gave him a whole base number of shells - 60 rounds per cannon, a total of 120 rounds.

Although some shells have been used up before, and there will be occasions to use them in the future, it only takes about twenty rounds to deal with the Tartar in front of you.

But......

These two cannons are the last killer weapon when dealing with the dense charge of the Tartars, and if he wants to accurately hit the head of the city, he does not have enough confidence - the Tartars are ready to burn the city, according to Lord Gu, the roots of the city wall are full of flammable materials, as long as a flowering bullet falls into the city, the consequences must be unimaginable......

Thinking of this, He Shouxin only felt a burst of egg pain......

Originally, in the middle of the night, in the dead of night, he also had a whim, whether to take someone into the city to reconnoitre, throw a few grenades, and blow up the cannon at the head of the city.

He knows very well that this is feasible, and his President Lin often engages in this kind of tactic.

Although the Tartars at the head of the city lit a bonfire with courage, which increased the difficulty of the night attack, several squad and platoon leaders in his guard company had participated in the selection and training of the special combat team at the beginning, and although they were eventually eliminated, their skills were also leveraged.

With their individual skills and ferocious firepower, even if their whereabouts are exposed, there will be almost no casualties against Tartars of this level......

However, as a commander, he still suppressed this impulse several times.

Perhaps, it was not easy for him to lead the troops alone, so that he had a mentality of seeking stability, and he easily did not dare to use too unrestrained tricks......

Although his general manager Lin stressed many times that fighting a war is a contest between people, it is inevitable that the soldiers will be dangerous, and there is no need to worry too much about casualties, and when necessary, it is necessary to resolutely invest troops, and not to suffer from gains and losses.

However, He Shouxin can also be regarded as an old man who begs for the army, and along the way, he knows that it is not easy for the leaders to build the army with one hand.

There are only tens of thousands of captives so far, and this "capital", his forest is always used to fight the world, so naturally it is better to die less......

In any case, it's too late to say anything, and since he has missed the opportunity, he has no other way but to endure.

(End of chapter)