The battle has been going on for almost an hour. Under the continuous charge of the barbarians who were not afraid of death, the first barbed wire fence had completely lost its effect, and the focus of the two sides was already in the second and most rearest barbed wire. More than a thousand warriors of the Eight Banners roared in rage, and the spears in their hands kept poking and stabbing and stabbing and stabbing, stabbing the barbarians who came in like a tidal wave in front of the barbed wire. Behind them, the musketeers of the 103rd and 104th Companies stood behind a hastily walled breastwork of wooden boxes, still firing projectiles forward.

The corpses of the barbarians were piled up higher and higher, and at the same time, the casualties of the samurai of the Eight Banners who were on the front lines of the battle with them were increasing. These men were constantly attacked by short spears thrown at close range by the barbarians, and many were incapacitated as a result. According to Mo Ming's estimation, who was standing in the center of the camp, no less than 100 Eight Banner warriors had been killed or wounded, and many of the remaining were also slightly injured, and the battle had entered the most tragic stage.

The combat staff officers around him set their eyes on Mo Ming several times, and Chang Kaisheng, the commander of the 1st Company of the Army, was also a little eager to try - they hadn't opened tonight, but Mo Ming still hadn't ordered the only reserve in his hand to be thrown into the battlefield. After all, although the barbarians had approached the second line of barbed wire, the camp's defensive line was still very solid, and there was no sign of a breach for the time being. Moreover, he was also a little vaguely worried that a battle had broken out in the northwest of the camp, and it was pitch black outside, who knew if the barbarians were ambushing troops there. After several battles with the Xhosa, Mo Ming didn't have any thoughts of taking them lightly. After all, the Hezhong Security Regiment is a militia force, and its combat effectiveness is completely unimpressive. In case the barbarians also threw heavy forces into the attack there in order to break through. It's hard to say what this scene will look like. Therefore. It's safer to hold the 1st Company in your hands for the time being.

The barbarians in the southeast estimated that no less than a thousand people had been killed or wounded by the staff officers around them, of which more than a third were killed by the scattered shells of the artillery units, and most of the rest were also killed by musket volleys, and not many died under the spears and bows of the samurai of the Eight Banners. The 360 musketeers of the 103rd and 104th Companies were already in a rhythm, mechanically firing in three rounds to maintain a constant line of fire. Even, in order to increase their firepower, Mo Ming also ordered some militiamen in the baggage battalion who had fought live ammunition to take out spare muskets. While reloading in the back, hand it to the soldiers who have retreated after shooting in front, allowing them to engage in the next round of fire faster, which is equivalent to increasing the fire output density of the musket array in disguise.

It was already past eight o'clock at night, the fog was getting thicker and thicker, and the tweed coat on Mo Ming's body was gradually wet with the fog. However, he was unaware of it, and was still giving orders to the heralds and combat staff officers one by one. At this moment, a dense volley of guns suddenly rang out in the northwest corner of the camp, where fighting had not broken out before.

Mo Ming was startled and immediately ordered a staff officer to go over and ask what was going on. A few minutes later, the staff officer, who had figured out what had happened, came back and reported: "There are also barbarians attacking from the northwest corner. Sergeant Salvador received a report from a soldier that a number of suspected torch flares were faintly visible in the darkness in the distance. Sergeant Salvador, who could not see it in the fog, ordered two guns to fire at the designated spot. Sure enough, the screams and commotion of the barbarians were found. It turned out that the barbarians had come within close range under the cover of darkness and fog, and when they were discovered, they immediately launched a counterattack against us. At present, the two sides have launched a confrontation. ”

"The musket unit of the barbarians? What about the quantity? What about the level? Mo Ming was a little surprised, and then thought of a more serious question: "Do they have any cannons?" ”

"The trainee staff officer of the Transoxiana Security Regiment estimated the number of musketeers to be between 350 and 500 people, based on the frequency and density of the barbarians' firing. The level of training seemed to be poor, they used arquebuses, and after being detected by our artillery fire, they began to fire back indiscriminately. The distance they fired was outside the effective range of the arquebus, suggesting that they had limited knowledge of the weapon's performance, or that most of them were simply not able to use the musket properly. The staff officer replied in a very orderly manner, and in a few minutes he understood everything clearly, and it was obvious that he was a thoughtful person.

"Sergeant, what's your name? What year did you graduate? Mo Ming glanced at the staff officer standing in front of him and asked.

"My name is Li Shen, and I graduated from the 39th step department of the Dingyuan Army Military Academy." The young staff officer straightened up and replied with some excitement. He knew that there were not many opportunities to show his face in front of big shots, and if he grasped it well, he might be able to save himself years of struggle.

Mo Ming nodded, did not speak again, but continued to observe the battle situation. By this time the barbarian musketeers in the northwest corner had approached within fifty meters, and they were lined up, but no officers organized a salvo, but each man took his arquebus and fired freely at the camp on the east bank. On either side of them, a considerable number of barbarians were silently rushing towards the barbed wire with large shields and short spears in hand.

"Boom! Rumble! "The four guns scattered throughout the northwest corner began to shoot shotshots, and the shotguns that flew from the muzzles ploughed the ground in front of them like ploughs, and the barbarians in the range of the fan-shaped blows fell in pieces like wheat harvesting. The rest of them also reversed course, and even the most fearless barbarian warriors could not withstand this cruel blow that was far beyond their imagination.

The salvo of the soldiers of the river security regiment was not very neat, there were always people who could not hold their breath to fire first, and there were also people who were highly nervous who reacted after seeing others open fire for a long time, and then hurriedly shot out the lead bullets in the chamber. Not only that, but there was also some confusion when they exchanged ranks, the tension on the battlefield made many of them stiff and deformed, and from time to time some people were knocked down by the projectiles fired by the barbarians on the opposite side, so that the density and frequency of the musket salvo were much inferior to those of the regular troops on the southeast corner.

The firepower output of the Hezhong Security Regiment was insufficient, so the pressure on the more than 1,000 Eight Banner warriors who were assigned to them to fight suddenly increased. First of all, some of the buckshot that flew over knocked them out from time to time, and secondly, the barbarians who rushed silently with cold weapons did not seem to be good at stubble. These men are determined, well-trained, and they throw their spears with a uniform movement and good accuracy. No, the long line of Eight Banner warriors suffered heavy casualties in their short spears that rained down, and many people subconsciously wanted to turn around and run away. However, after seeing the neat formation of the 1st Army Company, which served as a reserve and overseer, they all dispelled the idea of escaping, and stood in the line with spears in hand, waiting for a close encounter with the barbarians.

"Hey, the barbarians seem to have thrown their elite troops into the northwestern front." Mo Ming said to herself in a little surprise, "They know how to fight." From this point of view, most of those who attacked from the southeast were servants, and those from the northwest were the main forces. ”

Although he was a little surprised by the tactics of these barbarians, Mo Ming was not prepared to join the reserve team too early, he was ready to wait and see. The barbarians in the northwest attacked with ferocity, especially the barbarian spear-throwers on both sides, who braved the bullets and artillery fire of the easterners to shoot a dense stream of spears at the east-bank soldiers behind the barbed wire, creating gaps in their ranks. In particular, the number of casualties among the Eight Banner warriors at the forefront had approached a hundred in just ten minutes, most of them were killed by the barbarians' spear and musket attacks, and a small number of them died from the shooting of the rifles.

The barbarians' long-range firepower on this side looks quite powerful, with musketeers, foot archers, and spearmen taking turns to maintain uninterrupted long-range fire. Especially the barbarian archers with their rifles, who fired so fast that they could not even hold their heads up against the musketeers of the river security regiment. Although it was not good at night, and although the soldiers of the security regiment were wearing armor, many of them were still hit by arrows and fell to the ground. In particular, Sergeant Salvador, who commanded with his saber aloft, was hit by an arrow in his left arm and two arrows stuck in his helmet, which looked numb.

Sergeant Salvador was the "murderer" of the former Wang De shooting, and this fanatical militarist was also a ruthless man, who did not take his shot as a major matter, but continued to stand by a brazier with his command knife held high so that all the soldiers could see him. Under his command, the soldiers of the River Security Regiment gradually passed through the initial confusion, and the volley of guns began to rhythmize, knocking the barbarian musketeers about thirty meters outside the first barbed wire to the ground.

Unlike the East Coast soldiers, who had piles of boxes of supplies for their breastwork, these barbarians could only stand upright and shoot at the East Coasters. However, the tedious firing process of the arquebuses and their low level of training severely limited their firepower output, so after a few rounds of fire, the barbarian musketeers began to suffer heavy casualties. After firing at each other for some time, perhaps the commander of the barbarians could not bear to waste his precious musketeers here, and quickly withdrew these barbarian musketeers.

After these people withdrew, the offensive of the barbarian spearmen and foot archers was suddenly stalled. After throwing the last batch of spears, they disappeared into the darkness under the double cover of night and fog. (To be continued......)