This time, Li Zhi equipped the 70,000 Tiger Ben army with more than 7,000 mortars, and almost every infantry squad was equipped with one. The pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info are scattered on the trench battle line of more than 150 miles, that is, a mortar is arranged about every ten meters of the width of the battlefield - of course, the trenches on the battlefield are dug and zigzag, longer than 150 li, so the density of mortars is slightly lower than theoretical.

But no matter how you look at it, such a density of fire is amazing.

At this time, on the battlefield, the sound of tom mortar firing was everywhere on the side of the Tiger Army, while on the side of the Jiangbei Army, the explosion of small flowering shells and the screams of those who were hit by the bullet resounded.

If you look down from the sky, you can see red sparks exploding in the trenches, like summer flowers. The black smoke emitted by the explosion of the flowering bomb slowly rose upward, turning into pieces of black mist floating in the air. Combined with the blood splattered from the wounded in the trench, the color of the whole picture became very bloody.

The soldiers of the Tiger Ben Army all looked at their comrades operating the mortar with amazement on their faces, watching the small artillery dominate the battlefield that was more than 100 miles long.

Compared to the heavy eighteen-pounder cannon in the large trench in the rear, the mortar of about fifty pounds was like a toy. And the shells of the mortars are even smaller, not as large as the grenades of the Tiger Army. However, this little thing played a role on the battlefield that no other weapon could match, completely turning the opposite trench into a hell on earth.

Especially the 20,000 people who have been holding on to Huai'an for more than a year are full of admiration. Unexpectedly, the Huai'an front, which had been held for more than a year, was now completely changed by these more than 7,000 mortars.

Li Xing couldn't bear the itching of his hands, walked to a mortar and drove away the gunner, and began to operate the barrel to shoot at the opposite side.

Li Xing had test-fired mortars many times on the school field in Fanjiazhuang before, and it was easy to operate at this time, and Li Laosi next to him couldn't help but praise a few words.

Slightly adjusting the angle of the muzzle, Li Xing gestured with his palm at the target in the distance, and pulled the cannon rope suddenly.

With a tom, a shell weighing more than three catties shot out of the canister and threw it into a trench more than 400 meters away.

However, the shell failed to fall into the trench and exploded two meters in front of the trench.

Li Xing looked at the drop point and shouted, "Come again!" ”

Together with the artillerymen who were with him, he loaded the shells and primers, and pulled the gun rope again. Another shell shot into the distance, and with a bang it exploded in the trench of the Jiangbei Army.

Li Xing pricked up his ears and listened to the sounds in the distance, hoping to hear the screams of the enemy.

But Li Xing couldn't hear it, he snorted, adjusted the direction of the cannon barrel to aim at the trench next to it, and started the third and fourth shots.

In recent years, Li Zhi has actively expanded the saltpeter trade. Today, Li Zhi's forces not only smuggled saltpeter from Sichuan and Huguang from Jiangnan, but also connected minerals from Mongolia and the Western Regions through Shanxi merchants. Xinjiang was rich in saltpeter minerals, which were continuously sold to Tianjin through the caravans of the Datong Wangs, so that Li Zhi's supply of gunpowder was abundant.

It was precisely with the support of saltpeter in Xinjiang that Li Zhi dared to use mortars against the Jiangbei Army. After all, mortars shoot at the enemy through trenches, and if the enemy uses a loose formation, sometimes it takes several or even a dozen shells to injure an enemy soldier, and the ammunition consumption is very amazing.

Li Xing shot and shot, still unsure whether he had hit the enemy soldier or not, and frowned angrily.

When he shot the tenth time, Li Xing almost ploughed all the trenches of more than ten meters in front of him with mortar shells, and finally saw a flash of fire, and a soldier of the Jiangbei Army was hit by the shock wave of the explosion on the wall of the trench, half of his body was exposed to the trench, and died tragically on the edge of the trench.

Li Xing finally succeeded, he was very excited, and shouted at Li Laosi: "See it!" Fourth, this is Brother Wang's means! I see what the Jiangbei Army will resist this time! ”

Li Laosi nodded and said, "The owner, no, the prince is indeed magical. I'm really getting more and more convinced of the star's descent from the earth. If you are an ordinary person, where can you think of so many magical things? ”

The impact of Li Zhi's inventions one after another is too great, which has made Li Laosi more and more in awe. Now although Li Laosi has the heart to get closer to Li Zhi, he doesn't dare to call Li Zhidong anymore, so he still changes his name to the prince.

Li Xing laughed and punched Li Laosi in the shoulder, causing Li Laosi to stumble.

In the trenches of the Jiangbei Army, there was chaos.

There were wounded soldiers and corpses everywhere, and it was not known how many people had been killed. Screams and moans were like background music, echoing back and forth in the trenches. The walls of the trench were littered with layers of charred black soil from the shells, dotted with deadly steel slag from the shells. A trickle of blood flowed from the bodies of the dead and gathered in the low-lying areas of the trenches. A few steps into the trench reveals a disgusting array of severed limbs from the corpse.

In order to reduce the casualties of mortar bombardment, Wu Sangui had already withdrawn his men and horses, leaving only one-tenth of his men to guard the first line of trenches. Originally, the Jiangbei Army was stationed in two shifts every day in the front-line trenches, and three people were arranged at a distance of each zhang. But now Wu Sangui has greatly reduced the personnel arrangement in the trench, and let one person guard the trench of three zhang.

Such an arrangement can greatly reduce the lethality of mortars.

The poor creatures who had been chosen to guard the trenches were basically in a state of collapse. One by one, they huddled behind the wall of the trench and shivered, praying to the gods and Buddha in the hope that the cannonballs would not fall on their side. As soon as they heard the sound of shells landing, they rushed to the side desperately, reducing the chance of being killed as much as possible.

But even so, from time to time, someone gets tricked.

Wu Sangui also shrank his head and hid in the trench, thinking about how to prevent this terrible little cannon. Relying on the thick scale armor on his body, he was not afraid of steel slag in shells like ordinary creeps.

Wu Sangui also thought about building an iron shell on top of his head, but that would take time. For an army like the Jiangbei Army, which relied on craftsmen, it was impossible to build such fortifications in half a year. There was such a time to build such fortifications, and the soldiers had been completely blown up by the Tiger Army.

And rushing over to attack the mortar, you will be shot by the Tiger soldiers hiding in the trenches.

No matter how you look at it, there is no way to fight this battle, there is only one way to escape.

A cannonball suddenly fell a foot away from Wu Sangui's right, so frightened that Wu Sangui hurriedly rolled to the left. With a bang, the shell blew up a large cloud of smoke and dust.

Wu Sangui secretly said that he couldn't stay here for a long time, and hurriedly withdrew from the first line of trenches. Walking into the second line of trenches behind, he saw Zuo Liangyu and Shi Kefa frowning, and they were standing there discussing countermeasures.

Both of them turned pale, obviously completely shocked by the methods of the "Li thief".

Shi Kefa saw Wu Sangui withdraw, stroked Wu Sangui's hand and said, "Uncle Chang, Li Thief's methods are too terrifying, now we can only retreat south!" Retreat to Nanjing and rely on the Yangtze River to hold on, waiting for the Japanese shogunate army to flank the Li thief, maybe things will turn around. ”

Wu Sangui's eyes narrowed when he heard this.

The withdrawal is definitely going to be withdrawn, the question is how to withdraw, and who will break the rear? Wu Sangui looked at Shi Kefa and Zuo Liangyu's faces, and secretly said that this Zuo Liangyu wouldn't want his people to come to the palace, right?