The small flag in Wang Zhaoxing's hand was raised high: "No. 1 gun, five-degree elevation test firing, solid bullet, prepare, put!" ”

With a loud "boom", a puff of white smoke came out of the No. 1 gun, and an 11-pound iron ball roared and smashed into the Vietnamese team. But the cannonball only bounced on the ground twice www.biquge.info then stopped rolling and spun in circles in the muddy water.

"TM's." Wang Zhaoxing scolded fiercely, the pouring rain and the muddy ground greatly weakened the lethality of the solid bullets, "All the cannons, all reloaded with scattered bullets." Wang Zhaoxing's heart was a little anxious, because the range of scattered bullets was much closer than that of solid bullets. The firing range of the 30 naval gun's five-degree elevation solid projectile can reach 1,500 meters, but after loading the scattered projectile, the firing range is only about 350 meters, and even if the cannon is filled with double propellant regardless of the damage to the cannon, it can only reach about 550 meters, which is only one-third of the range of the solid projectile. And the scatterfire range of the 3-pounder army gun is even closer, only 100 meters, which is not much different from a flintlock gun.

Behind the phalanx of the Vietnamese, a tall general was looking towards the mixed camp under the escort of his own soldiers.

"Hmph." Seeing that although the shells fired by the other side had a long range, they were not lethal, the officer unconsciously snorted in his nose, "Pass the order, keep the formation unchanged, and stop advancing 250 steps away from the enemy formation." ”

In the test firing just now, Jiang Beiming and Xu Lang saw it clearly.

"The person on the other side is very experienced." Xu Lang now doesn't dare to despise the Vietnamese, "They chose this weather to attack, I'm afraid it's to guard against our artillery." ”

"Zheng Jie's people are not stupid, they have been fighting with the Ruan clan for so many years, and they must have seen Western artillery. It looks like this battle is going to gnaw hard bones. ”

When the Vietnamese reached a distance of about 400 meters from the barracks, they stopped advancing and began to form a formation. There was silence on the side of the mixed battalion, and all the artillery was loaded with shotguns. The 100 flintlock pistols of Zhou Lei's first company were already firmly erected on the wall, and behind them were 100 people temporarily recruited from the pioneer regiment, each holding a flintlock pistol ready to reload at any time. Together with the six three-pounder guns erected behind the wall, the entire 100-meter-long wall was squeezed to the ground.

"I'm afraid it won't work." Xu Lang was a little worried, "There are only 100 guns of the second company on the left and right sides, what if the Vietnamese attack our flanks?" ”

"No, it won't." Jiang Beiming replied with confidence, "They don't have cavalry and won't attack the flanks." It doesn't matter if we attack, our military camp is so large that we have time for temporary deployment. ”

"Look, there's movement from the Vietnamese." Xu Lang pointed to the front and suddenly shouted.

About 100 Vietnamese soldiers pressed over in a loose formation, step by step, and slowly, the line began to accelerate.

"It's a tentative attack, and they're going to see how far our firepower can go." After Jiang Beiming finished speaking, he turned around and gave an order to the heralds, "Order Wang Zhaoxing's artillery to stop firing, and order Zhou Lei to use a flintlock pistol to repel this attack of the Vietnamese." ”

As the Vietnamese approached, the walls of the mixed camp were still silent. Gradually, some of the arrows began to fall from the sky, and some were nailed to the logs outside the wall.

"First Company Preparation." Zhou Lei saw that the Vietnamese had run less than 100 meters away from the wall, and the small flag in his hand fell suddenly, "Fire!" ”

100 flintlock pistols rang out in unison, and a cloud of white smoke enveloped the front. A second flintlock pistol was then handed from behind.

"Fire!" Zhou Lei's small flag fell for the second time.

After two rounds of firing, when the smoke cleared, more than a dozen Vietnamese in front of them fell, and the rest began to turn and run to the rear.

Ye Zhan handed the flintlock pistol in his hand to the person behind him, took a loaded gun again, and turned around and set it up on the wall. Ye Zhan's heart is now completely free of the fear he had when he put down the rebellion of prisoners of war, these days of barracks life have made this young lieutenant slowly mature, war is to kill, if you don't kill him, he will kill you, there is no reason to talk about it.

"That's going to be backed?" Xu Lang didn't believe it.

"No, they're trying to attack." Jiang Beiming explained, "Look at them, although they are running back, the formation basically remains the same. I expect a large number of people to come in a moment. The herald ordered Wang Zhaoxing to prepare for shooting. ”

Sure enough, after a short period of effort, the Vietnamese pushed out a dozen huge wooden carts from the back of the line. Each wooden cart was topped with a tall wooden shield. Hundreds of soldiers hunched followed behind the wooden shields.

"It seems that this Vietnamese officer is very good at fighting, using shield cars to guard against our muskets." Jiang Beiming's heart was a little admired for his opponent, "Herald, tell Wang Zhaoxing to put it at 100 meters and then fight, and the 30 naval guns will be equipped with solid bullets to shoot horizontally and shatter their shield cars." The three-pounder gun loads shotshots, killing and wounding infantry behind. Ordered Zhou Lei to cooperate with artillery firing. ”

"100 meters? Okay. Xu Lang was a little worried, "We only have 7 naval guns, and they have more than a dozen shield vehicles, can they finish the fight at once?" ”

"I said it's okay if you don't say a few words." Jiang Beiming was a little dissatisfied with Xu Lang's nagging, but still explained, "Look at their car, such a heavy car, such a ground, a distance of 100 meters, even if we don't open fire, I'm afraid it will take a while for them to push over, enough for us to shoot a few shots." ”

300 meters, 200 meters, 150 meters, the shield cars of the Vietnamese are getting closer and closer. The ignition hands of the 30 ship's guns and the hands holding the fire tongs were a little sweaty.

Wang Zhaoxing patrolled back and forth, and kept shouting: "It's all aimed at me, no one is allowed to fire without my order, and those who violate the order will be killed." ”

"Whoosh" An arrow shot softly and flutteringly, and landed weakly at Wang Zhaoxing's feet. Wang Zhaoxing's heart trembled, but his face did not show the slightest: "Almost, 30 naval guns are ready, open fire!" ”

With Wang Zhaoxing's shout, the seven guns that had been emitted on behalf of the momentum spat out shells together. Seven iron balls smashed into the shield cart in the distance with a sharp whistling. The three iron balls hit the shield cart accurately, and the huge kinetic energy smashed the heavy shield cart to pieces. Flying sawdust knocked down a line of people behind the shield cart, and wails rang out.

"Three-pounder cannon, fire!"

"First company, fire!"

Hundreds of shotshots from six three-pounder guns and 100 projectiles from 100 flintlock pistols once again pounced on the Vietnamese.

"First company, fire!"

"30 naval guns, open fire! Three-pounder cannon, fire! ”

The order to fire kept shouting from the mouths of Zhou Lei and Wang Zhaoxing, and the entire barracks was filled with thick smoke.

"Herald, herald, order to go down, stop shooting." Jiang Beiming really couldn't see anything from the binoculars, the gunpowder smoke in front covered everything, and the thick smell of gunpowder made people want to cough.

The rain became smaller and smaller, accompanied by sparse raindrops, and after a while, the smoke dissipated. The entire barracks was deserted in front, and the few shield carts that had not been hit had fallen to the ground in a crooked manner, surrounded by a mass of stumps and severed arms. As the rain trickled down the ground, the open space in front of the barracks was stained red with blood.

"Hmph, but that's it." Jiang Beiming's self-confidence has improved again.

"Beiming, you said that the blood is like this, is it like this?" Xu Lang also relaxed at this time.

Jiang Beiming didn't speak, but held the telescope and looked at it from a distance for a while: "The Vietnamese have withdrawn." ”

"Really? Withdrew after only one round of attack? Xu Lang was a little disbelieving, and reached out to grab the binoculars, "I'll take a look." ”

"Xu Lang." Jiang Beiming suddenly looked worried, "We're in trouble." ”

The whole barracks was filled with joy, and the easy repulsion of the Vietnamese attack made every soldier and pioneer regiment happy, but there was silence in the big tent of the Chinese army.

"The results are out." Xu Lang reported to the traversers in the tent, "67 enemies were killed, 34 were captured, all of them were wounded, and I'm afraid few survived." We were slightly wounded by 5, and none of the seriously wounded or killed were wounded by bows and arrows. Without armor, it's still a bit of a hassle. ”

"These Vietnamese people are not good, they have only played for a little more time, and they all ran away."

"yes, when did the Vietnamese fight us, let alone that war 400 years later."

The traversers began to talk one after another, and Xu Lang suddenly asked Lin Zhaolong, "Zhaolong, why don't you speak?" ”

"He couldn't catch it, so he's depressed." Zhou Lei laughed.

"You know the." Lin Zhaolong suddenly said sharply, "We're in big trouble. ”

Except for Jiang Beiming and Xu Lang, everyone was stunned: "What do you mean, what trouble do we have?" ”

Jiang Beiming glanced at Lin Zhaolong approvingly: "Tell me, where is our trouble?" ”

"You don't understand anything." Lin Zhaolong clicked all the people who were laughing just now, and finally stopped at Zhou Lei, "Especially you, you are still an officer." ”

"What's wrong with me?" Zhou Lei was very unconvinced.

Lin Zhaolong ignored him and continued, "I observed the entire battle. The Vietnamese marched in a very orderly manner, and the first tentative attack suffered only a dozen casualties before withdrawing. Although the shield cart was used for the second time, there were hundreds of people, but it was also a test to test the number and power of our artillery. Wang Zhaoxing's first test shot may have frightened them, after all, artillery that can hit such a long distance is still rare. But the fact that they can choose to attack in this kind of weather shows that they don't care about the solid shells of artillery, so the second test is to see the lethality of our scattered bullets. Let's think about it, the Vietnamese attacked with hundreds of people, and we used 13 artillery pieces and 200 flintlock pistols to shoot them back in turn. ”

"You mean our artillery didn't fight well?" Wang Zhaoxing was a little dissatisfied with Lin Zhaolong's words.

"No, I didn't mean that." Lin Zhaolong said, "On the contrary, it was you who fought so well that you told the Vietnamese about the power and number of our artillery. I reckon their next attack will probably be in the thousands, and, don't forget, they didn't use war elephants this time. ”

"I'll say a few words." Jiang Beiming stood up and said, "What Captain Lin said is very right. Don't be too happy, the Vietnamese general I fought with today is not simple, and he is very good at fighting. You know, there are many ways to deal with artillery, but they only launched shield cars today, and there are only a dozen of them, I was careless, I didn't expect that their second attack was also a test. Zheng Jie and Nguyen have been fighting for so long, they can't have only bows and arrows, and I guess they are also armed with a certain number of muskets, and it is likely that there are also artillery. I'm afraid that the current Vietnamese people regard us as Westerners who are aiding the Nguyen clan, so their intention is obvious, to eat us in one bite. If that's really what they think, then we might be in trouble with DA. You think, they can use the scale of 1,000 men to make a tentative attack, and if they really want to eat us, how many troops will they send? Zheng Ji has a total of 500 war elephants, how many are now sent to the south to fight against the Ruan clan, and how many are left here, even if we add the remaining 5 cannons of the God, we only have a total of 18 cannons, and I am not sure how many war elephants we can deal with. ”

"What then?" Listening to Lin Zhaolong and Jiang Beiming's words, everyone's hearts were a lot heavier, and the joy just now disappeared.

"You see if that's going to work." Xu Lang made an idea, "We will send a book back to Yulin Bay to move the rescuers, with the speed of our two gunboats at home, the rescuers will arrive in 2 or 3 days." "This mixed battalion expedition to Vietnam also brought a few carrier pigeons.

"I'm afraid it's too late." Jiang Beiming said, "Even if the flying pigeon goes back, the family still has to prepare equipment and materials for reinforcements, and it will take 6 or 7 days for the reinforcements to arrive at the earliest." And I estimate that within three days, the Vietnamese will come back again, and they have not moved for these days, I am afraid that they are just sending troops. It's up to us this time. ”

"However, you don't have to worry too much, the soldiers will come to block it, and the water will cover it, and there is nothing to be afraid of." Jiang Beiming was afraid of putting too much pressure on everyone, "That's it, Xu Lang, you go to the flying pigeon to pass the book." Wang Zhaoxing, take down the remaining five cannons on your ship and arrange them. Lin Zhaolong, you and Sun Tianhao should hurry up and interrogate the Vietnamese prisoners together, and strive to get some information from them. You all go back and have a good rest, recuperate your spirits, how to fight this battle, give me a little time to think about it, and give you the answer tomorrow morning. ”