Chapter 318: Dragoons

The rain stopped briefly, and the dragoons dismounted, lined up in a neat line, and stood silently on the hill. Surrounded by this hill, it is the only way to Girard's Station. Because of the time constraints, they did not have much effort to build the fortifications, but only dug a trench between the mountains and the road, and at the same time cut the already muddy road several times—although this could not stop Menghu's soldiers, it was an insurmountable chasm for his baggage.

According to the intelligence, Menghu was going to flee all the way north, passing through uninhabited ice fields along the way, and without sufficient supplies, this risky action was to send him to death, and the supply of supplies could only be carried by heavy troops. Wang Qinian's purpose in digging the road was very simple, to force Menghu to take a detour, which would inevitably make Menghu lose his already precious time, or force Menghu to attack with all his might, and then repair the road for the baggage to pass.

Although the rain has stopped, the clouds in the sky have not dispersed, and the image of the love is accumulating strength and preparing for a new round of tyranny. Wang Qinian wiped his face with his sleeve, then raised the clairvoyant mirror and looked northwest.

Menghu appeared in the clairvoyant mirror, first a man, then a piece, and they rode their horses and slowly pressed forward. Because of the heavy humidity, there was a little light fog, and it was not until about 300 steps away from Xiaoshanbao that Wang Qinian could see Menghu's face in the front row clearly. They looked depressed or apprehensive, but they didn't let it stop them, on the contrary, they moved forward with determination.

"Fight to the death......" Wang Qinian muttered.

Although Kublai Khan was young, Meng Ge had already traveled with his father and ancestors for many years, and he quickly judged the current situation and immediately made a decision: "Kublai Khan, you take 3,000 men and go around the back of that hill from the north, and when the horn on my side sounds, we will fight on both sides!" ”

The road under Xiaoshan Bao is rugged and narrow, and from a frontal attack alone, the strength advantage of the Mongols cannot be brought into play, and if the Song army in Xiaoshanbao is not defeated, the baggage of the Mongols will be under the threat of the Song people, so Meng Ge has to choose to attack.

"This guy is also cautious, and he has not been tempted by the temptation, so he divided his troops and outflanked him." Wang Qinian smiled slightly after he found out about the mobilization of Menghu's army, and he saw Meng Ge and Kublai Khan wearing golden helmets, these two guys were very young. He estimated in his mind that Menghu's entire army was about 20,000 and less than 30,000.

"Fifteen hundred against nearly thirty thousand, that's good." He thought to himself.

Kublai Khan looked at the banner of the Song dragoons on the hill with some frustration, he was no stranger to this army, when he was secretly studying in Xuzhou, this army was stationed on the edge of the Xuzhou Primary School, he had visited its station several times, and he could see this army out of drills every day. He knew that this was a well-disciplined and strong army, and in such a situation, encountering the dragoons made him feel a little desperate in his heart.

Sometimes he thinks that it would be good if he was really a Song person, go to school in Xuzhou School with peace of mind, and when he grows up, he will find a promising messenger and work for the progress of the Great Song Dynasty. But he is a Mongolian, and he is a descendant of the Golden Family, and he has killed his ancestors with the Great Song Dynasty, and now he has added a grudge against his father. Only blood can wash away this hatred, either the blood of the royal family surnamed Zhao of the Song Kingdom, or his blood.

From his place, it can be clearly seen that the strength of the dragoons is not much, at most not more than two thousand, but the momentum of less than two thousand people is more than the momentum of their more than 20,000 people. Although they are silent and do not make any sound, their silence does not mean fear, on the contrary, it represents a strong self-confidence.

"Why hasn't the horn sounded yet?" Kublai Khan did not want to think about it, although he had not been outflanking him for a long time, and the messenger who had gone to deliver the message might not have arrived at Möngke, but he still hoped that the battle would begin as soon as possible.

As he wished, the desolate trumpet sounded.

"Kill!" Kublai Khan raised his sword high.

"Kill!" On the west and northeast sides of the hill, the shouts of the Mongols were heard at the same time, and then the Mongols began to attack, and they pounced on the mountain bags, shouting and charging, and driving the horses through the mud.

"Stupid, if you get off the horse, Menghu won't be able to fight?" Wang Qinian snorted disdainfully.

This way of using cavalry is outdated, and the emergence of dragoons means the emergence of a new type of cavalry use.

"Aim—prepare—"

Among the dragoons, the officers began to give orders, and each soldier skillfully raised his gun and aimed it at his opponent. They all dismounted, and at this time they were no different from the infantry.

Wang Qinian had already confessed that because the ammunition was not very sufficient, they wanted to put Menghu closer before shooting, although the range of the mounted gun could reach more than 100 steps, but it was not until about 40 paces that the impatient Menghu even began to stretch his bow, and Wang Qinian signaled to give the order to shoot.

"Bang!"

Hundreds of cavalry guns made a sound at the same time, and the Menghu that rushed to the bottom of the mountain was like a crop swept by a sickle, and a row fell in an instant, and Wang Qinian quickly estimated that on the front, this row of guns knocked down at least more than a hundred Menghu.

"Second column!" The officers gave another order.

The first column of dragoons retreated, and the second column stepped forward, and after a short two or three seconds, they finished their shots, and then they stepped back, and the third column stepped forward.

The cavalry rifles used by the dragoons did not reload as fast as the Wumu Zero-5 used by the infantry, but they were still able to ensure a speed of about five rounds per minute, and each dragoon carried fifty rounds of ammunition. In addition to their rifles, they also carried revolvers, weapons with a range of no more than fifty paces and only less than twenty paces, which were often used as a surprise in hand-to-hand combat. Monhudu had a mortal heart, so the charge was very fierce, and the makeshift trench dug under the hill did not hinder them too much, and after three rounds of fire from the dragoons, they had already rushed in front of the dragoons.

"Fight to the death!"

The dragoons, who had been silent, suddenly let out a loud roar, they pulled out their revolvers and began to fire freely. There were not many Monhu who could rush in front of them after three rounds of fire, and the cavalry on the muddy and slippery hillside, whose strength in impact and speed was gone, was swept away by this barrage of guns, and only a few fled back in fear.

"Reload!" The officers gave the order again, and without their warning, the dragoons had already begun to clear their chambers and quickly reload.

"Attack attack, consume their ammunition, they rush so fast, there must be no bullets!" Kublai Khan was familiar with the dragoons, and while he shouted, he ordered the horn to blow the horn of the attack. He took the lead and rushed towards the hill, and behind him, the more than 2,000 Mengyuan soldiers also shouted and launched a desperate charge.

At the same time, Möngke's side also began a second round of attacks.

Monhu's attack can be said to be completely disregarding life and death, and they went forward to follow, storming this small hill with unimaginable courage. One round is repulsed, then the second round starts again, the second round collapses, and the third round continues. They took advantage of their numerical superiority and attacked repeatedly, leaving behind more than a hundred corpses with each defeat, but each attack would rush closer to the dragoons. If the troops of Jin or Western Xia were replaced, they would definitely not be able to continue to approach after paying such a high price of casualties, but Menghu did it.

In the same way, if you change to another army, in the face of such a fierce impact, even if you have the advantage in muskets, you are afraid that it will shake and collapse. The dragoons, on the other hand, knew that their fate was to go behind enemy lines, to be surrounded and attacked by superior enemies from the moment they formed their army.

"Governor, the ammunition consumption is too high, what should I do?" Qiao Zhidong, whose head was wrapped in gauze, ran to Wang Qinian again and asked loudly.

"Don't you have swords? Can't you have a bayonet on a riding gun? Aren't your fists and teeth weapons? Wang Qinian replied coldly: "Dragoon, fight to the death!" ”

"Fight to the death!" Qiao Zhidong felt that his blood was full of blood, at his age, it was easy to get excited, and he was provoked by Wang Qinian, and immediately yelled and ran back.

Another round of Menghu's attack was routed.

From the contact between the two armies and the beginning of Menghu's outflanking to the present, the war has lasted for nearly an hour, and even the iron man is a little tired. The time was already around five o'clock in the afternoon, the sky was still gloomy, but the weather turned sultry again, the mixed smell of mud and blood water, steaming and permeating the battlefield, Wang Qinian scolded in his heart, secretly a little strange, Menghu did not start the attack again, but chose to rest - Wang Qinian felt that Menghu was not exhausted, and their morale was not exhausted, at this time they chose to rest, I don't know what Meng Ge and Kublai Khan did.

After a while, smoke lit on Menghu's position, Wang Qinian raised a clairvoyant mirror to look at them, piles of bonfires were lit, Menghu put the peeled sheep on the fire to barbecue, and judging by the situation, they were actually going to start a feast under their noses.

"What are these barbarians?" Wang Qinian muttered.

A moment later, the smell of roasted meat came from the Menghu position, accompanied by their desolate and heroic singing. Wang Qinian didn't understand Mongolian and couldn't understand what they were singing, but he could still feel the pathos of the hero's end.

But Wang Qinian did not sympathize with them at all, he looked back at his subordinates, so far, the damage of the dragoons is still small, but they have begun to run out of ammunition. Obviously, Menghu also discovered this, after they rested this time, the next time they attacked, it was a situation of non-stop. Many of the dragoons were also Mongolian, but they were not the same as Menghu, they wiped their guns while following the song from Menghu's position and hummed lowly, which made Wang Qinian's heart very uncomfortable.

This song is too bleak.

"Cook, prepare dinner, open all the cans, proclaimant, sing!" Wang Qinian shouted again.

Menghu eats, of course the dragoons also eat, I don't know how long it will take to fight, and after a full meal, we can accumulate strength to better support it. Up to now, although Menghu has lost more than 3,000 people, for nearly 30,000 people, this amount of manpower can be consumed.

"Dragoons, famous, broke through behind enemy lines to show their edge, the Son of Heaven gave the flag a strong shape, and the spirit of thousands of miles of attack was complementary. How can a man be afraid of a stubborn enemy, and when he is in danger, he shows that he is heroic, and he is loyal and does not dare to fall behind, and he is born as a hero and dies in the country......"

With the singing of the high-spirited "Dragoon Song", the originally somewhat oppressive atmosphere was swept away in an instant, and more than 1,000 people sang in unison, which was really scary. Möngke raised his head, looked up at the hill, and cursed, the song that made him uneasy and irritable for no reason.

He had a faint premonition in his heart that this small hill was only his destination.

At 5:35, Menghu regrouped his team and began a general attack. At this time, Menghu also realized that riding a horse was not conducive to attacking in such a mud, so they all abandoned their horses, and the hedgehogs gathered together and launched a decisive charge with the sound of the horns. Wang Qinian couldn't help but smack his lips when he saw their dense formation: "It's really ruthless!" ”

This formation is clearly filled with human lives.

"Ready—aim!"

The officers' voices were a little hoarse, and their voices seemed to be beating a broken gong, but they still gave the military order unmistakable. The dragoons lined up with their guns and began to aim, waiting for the final orders.

"And grenades?" Wang Qinian scolded, and then asked the officer beside him.

There were no independent grenadiers among the dragoons, but each of them would be issued two grenades, which were collected by Wang Qinian during the fierce battle, and only came in handy at critical times. Now that Menghu is so dense, it is the right time to use grenades, which can make up for the lack of heavy firepower of the dragoons.

"There are less than fifty more." The officer replied with some chagrin.

"Enough, get your people ready." Wang Qinian ordered.

The scattered use of these grenades was somewhat wasteful, so Wang Qinian temporarily transferred 20 dragoons with strong arms to form a grenadier squad, led by the officer, ready to provide fire support at any time. After hearing the order, the officer should have left, and Wang Qinian looked at Menghu again, and he was less than a hundred steps away from the forefront of the dragoons.

The heavy rain affected the firepower of the dragoons, as well as the bows and arrows of Menghu, and the bowstring stained with water was unreliable, so although there were strong bowers among Menghu, they did not dare to release their arrows easily at such a distance.

"Monkeys, such a dense mess, you can fight with your eyes closed, all cheer up Lao Tzu, if a shot misses, Lao Tzu will definitely skin you!" Qiao Zhidong jumped up and down in his troops, his mouth full of swearing, and under his roar, one of his subordinates replied impatiently: "Don't worry, you are uglier than Menghu, so you are much more terrifying!" ”

"Damn, what's that!" Qiao Zhidong was stunned and scolded with a smile.

At this moment, the officers began to order: "Fire!" ”

After the bang of the gunshot, a large number of Menghu fell in the front row, but they did not stop there, and Menghu in the back still huddled together, screaming and rushing towards the hill. The trench at the foot of the hill had already been filled in with corpses, and the improvised deer wood on the hillside had been destroyed in the previous rounds of attack, and they rushed to attack, and after several rounds of fire from the dragoons, they finally rushed forward.

"Grenade!" Wang Qinian shouted angrily.

The improvised grenadiers condescendingly threw twenty grenades towards the densest part of Monhu, because Monhu was so close that the sound of the grenades exploding was a little dull. Wang Qinian looked intently, and was about to observe the grenadiers' results when the sky suddenly darkened.