A cannonball fell from the sky and landed a few feet away from Matsudaira Zeye. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info only saw a flash of fire, a huge explosion sounded, and a cat on the ground on the ground jumped up screaming.

The gunner's stomach had been blown to the ground by a cannonball, and all he could see was a red and black patch, bleeding outward. Not only was he wounded by a shell in the stomach, but the rest of his body was also pierced by steel slag characters.

The gunner clutched his hands over the huge wound in his stomach, covering the leaking intestines, but he couldn't hold back the blood dripping outward. The pain in the wounds all over his body struck like a landslide, and he fell to the ground again, screaming and rolling.

It was unbearable to witness.

A mortar shell slammed into Matsudaira Sawaye's left with a thud, causing five or six nearby gunners to leap to the side. But the shell hit the ground and exploded a second later, and the iron gunner closest to the shell jumped late. Deadly spikes of steel burst out and pierced into the iron gunner's crotch and thigh.

The gunner, who knew how many wounds he had received from the steel spikes, fell to the ground with a howl. He howled as he touched the wound on his lower body, as if trying to pull the steel thorn out of the wound. However, the steel thorn had already pierced into the flesh and bones, and where could a human hand pull it out. As soon as his hand touched the wound, his eyes were dizzy from the severe pain, and he let out a scream like killing a pig.

The other soldiers next to him looked at the tragic condition of the wounded soldier, and their faces turned white one by one.

Where is this war, this is a complete massacre.

In the trench of the Tiger Ben Army, Zheng Kaicheng used a telescope to observe the sparks in the Japanese trench one after another, laughing. He turned to Zhong Feng and said, "How is it, this new weapon of the prince is sharp, right?" ”

Zhong Feng nodded and said, "It's really breathtaking. In the past, trench warfare made people unable to advance or retreat, but now it is completely different. ”

Zheng Kaicheng laughed, quite proud that he understood mortars one step ahead of Zhong Feng.

"Zhong Feng, how many rounds of shelling do you think the Japanese can withstand?"

Zhong Feng groaned and said: "The Japanese iron gunners are all low-level samurai, and they are much higher than the commoners. At this time, if you retreat, you will destroy the country, and I estimate that the shogunate iron gunners will hold out a little longer. ”

"Oh?" Zheng Kaicheng raised his binoculars curiously and looked at the trench opposite.

On the opposite side of the trench, the Japanese had already been bombed by two rounds of mortar shelling. The Japanese did not see the great power of the mortars in Huai'an, and did not know the great lethality of this weapon on the trenches, where dense infantry had previously piled up.

Without mortars, the infantry piled up in the first line trenches would have effectively halted the advance of the Tiger Army. But now with mortars, dense infantry is completely the object of mortar shell massacre.

Almost every mortar shell landed on the ground, taking the lives of a soldier of the Shogunate Army.

In just two rounds of shelling, more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers were killed. Of the 60,000 iron gunners, there were less than 50,000 left in the blink of an eye.

Of course, the Japanese are not stupid, and after two rounds of artillery, the Japanese "old middle" Abe Shigeji changed his tactics. The order flag quickly passed orders in the trenches, and officers of all ranks began to withdraw the dense infantry from the first line of trenches, leaving only one-thirtieth of the soldiers to defend the trenches.

Matsudaira Sawasaki also quickly executed the order. He roared loudly, leaving only a squad of thirty iron gunners to continue to hold out in the trench, leaving all the others to go to the rear and stand by.

The gunners ran like a tidal wave to the rear. As soon as the density decreased, the lethality of the mortar suddenly decreased. Whereas every shell had to take a soldier, now it takes at least thirty shells to kill or wound a soldier.

The soldiers who were chosen to hold out trembled one by one, helplessly facing the whistling shells. However, these iron gunners also knew that if the Tokugawa shogunate died, they would also starve to death sooner or later. It was their duty and their destiny to fight to the end for the Tokugawa shogunate.

Matsudaira Sawasawa did not withdraw as commander either. He hid in a crater blown out by a shell. He widened the hole with the shovels available everywhere in the trench, digging a round hole one meter square, and the whole person shrank into it. So none of the surrounding shells can blow him up. For a cannonball to blow him up, it must hit the round hole where he is hiding.

Every time a shell exploded nearby, believing that there would not be another round of bombardment in a short period of time, Matsudaira Sawaye stuck his head out to observe the surrounding situation. Sometimes he even stood up and observed the situation outside the trench to see if the Ming people rushed up.

Matsudaira Sawaye's method of hiding soon caused the other soldiers to follow suit, spreading like a gust of wind through the trenches.

Mortars have become less hit.

Ten rounds of mortar bombardment, the barrel was hot. One by one, the artillery crews stopped the bombardment and began to cool the barrels with wet towels.

On the hot air balloon next to Zhong Feng, the high-altitude observer wrote down the observations on a piece of paper, tied them to a stone and threw them down. The herald picked up the note and handed it to Zhong Feng.

Zhong Feng stood in the trench and could not understand the situation on the side of the shogunate army. After getting the note from the hot air balloon, he knew the actual situation on the other side. Seeing the contents of the note, he immediately frowned.

"The Japanese withdrew ninety-six of their soldiers, leaving only one-thirtieth of them to guard the trenches?"

Zheng Kaicheng was stunned and said: "This shogunate army is also cunning, these thirty men and horses are hidden in the trench, and only one person is placed more than thirty meters, and the lethality of our shells is greatly reduced." ”

Zhong Feng scolded: "This is simply a waste of our shells. After thinking about it, Zhong Feng said: "Fighting like this, our mortars can only kill a few thousand more people if they become popular, the shogunate army looks quite ruined, we can't defeat the shogunate army today!" ”

Zheng Kaicheng said: "But if the Japanese only leave such a few men and horses to guard the trench, we will simply attack it." ”

Zhong Feng thought for a moment and said, "Attack it... I'm afraid there will be casualties. Even if there were only one-thirtieth of the iron gunners in the trench opposite, there were still 2,000 infantry. ”

The Tiger Ben Army was accustomed to low or even zero casualties, and Zhong Feng did not want to sacrifice any soldiers.

Zheng Kaicheng said: "If you use an ordinary rifle to rush into battle, you will definitely suffer great casualties if you stand and rush forward." But if we crawl forward with the Tsuo-style rifle, it will be difficult for the riflemen on the opposite side to hit us. ”

Zhong Feng's eyes lit up, and he said: "The Jinwang rifle is loaded from behind, and it can be loaded even if it is lying on the ground, if we form a density on our side, it will definitely be able to suppress the infantry on the opposite side..."

Zheng Kaicheng was appointed by Li Zhi as the chief general of the Osaka Campaign this time, and seeing that Zhong Feng also agreed with his tactics, he waved his hand and said: "Pass my order, let the seven thousand elite men equipped with King Buzin-style rifles crawl forward and storm the trenches of the shogunate army." ”

The flag commander shouted the order, waved the order flag, and passed on Zheng Kaicheng's order.

Company commander Lei San was standing in the trench and was observing the enemy's movements with the naked eye, but suddenly saw the flag order for the elite soldiers to rush into battle.

Lei San took a breath.

Lei San's company was the sharp knife company of his regiment, and all 126 people were equipped with Jinwang-style rifles. At this time, Zheng Kaicheng ordered to rush into battle, and Lei San's soldiers were about to fight out of the trench.

Patting the brand-new Jinwang-style rifle on his hand, Lei San whispered, "It's up to you, new style." ”

Turning around, Lei Sanyi waved his hand and shouted: "Everyone follow me, crawl forward and storm the trench of the Japanese Kou!" ”