When the artillery array two miles away from Jianmen Pass began to prepare and even conduct test firing, the defenders inside Jianmen Pass sensed danger. Qin Liangyu, who was familiar with the past combat history of the terrible army, was of course not unprepared for this, and at this time began to order many officers and soldiers to bring in a lot of rockets and even ammunition, and prepared to do everything possible to suppress the artillery array that was likely to be extremely threatening two miles away.

First of all, the Hundred Tigers, which were used on a large scale on the battlefield, rushed to the arrows and opened fire. This kind of firearm was not too widely used on the battlefield in the middle and late Ming Dynasty, of course, it has a big flaw, that is, it can be accurate or dispersed, and the barely acceptable range of dozens of steps lacks power because of insufficient acceleration time, and the accuracy is obviously problematic at longer distances. Even compared to a trained crossbowman, the effectiveness in the average carrying space is too limited.

However, when this firearm strikes along a drop of several hundred meters above the pass, many disadvantages are avoided to the greatest extent. This is especially true when you dive into one side instead of shooting at a military formation that is not easy to hit and is easily blocked by the large shield in the front row.

With a continuous stream of white smoke spraying from the pass, locust-like rockets flew down from the high pass in the distance. Before the artillery group could open fire on a large scale, at least 100 hundreds of tigers rushed to launch boxes, and tens of thousands of rockets were fired. Almost at the same time, the crossbows, which had been prepared for a long time, also began to shoot rows of rockets from behind Sekijo.

Because the artillery array was to a large extent ready for defense, and the arrow path that came during the day was easy to detect because of the white smoke, the casualties caused by tens of thousands of rockets were not large, only more than 100 people, but these rockets still detonated some gunpowder on the artillery array. If it weren't for the fact that the artillery battalion team spent a lot of effort to prevent the gunpowder from detonating during the battle of Sacheon in Wanli's aid to Korea, maybe it might really pose a huge threat to the artillery array.

In this era, because the average army did not face the needs of facing the combat mission of facing the battle, usually the artillery team of an army often did not have too high will and morale. According to Qin Liangyu's estimate, even if this round of rocket attacks did not bring about the explosion of gunpowder, the continuous shelling and suppression should make it difficult for the artillery team under the gate to perform normally.

What Qin Liangyu didn't expect was that under the blows of various means, although the enemy's artillery array approaching Jianmen Pass was well prepared, there were still many casualties and losses, but the shells fired out became more and more fierce and accurate. Not at all like a gunner in an ordinary team, more like a selected elite warrior.

What Qin Liangyu didn't know was that because the gunners in Xiao Xuan's team had certain requirements for culture and knowledge, and compared with other troops, they had enough time to carry out the necessary political education and study, and even used gunpowder to conduct selective training tests, which were actually one of the teams with the greatest bearing capacity among the volunteer divisions and even the armies of the revolutionary army.

The fierce fire from the 54 gun emplacements lasted for about an hour, and tens of thousands of shells weighing seven or eight pounds hit the Jianmen Pass as a direct target. Compared with the Great General Cannon or the Hongyi Cannon, the power of these shells is obviously problematic, and at a distance of about two miles, because of the excessively curved trajectory, even if it becomes more and more accurate after gradual firing, the hit rate is still only about one or two percent. However, even so, the direct hit of nearly 2,000 shells made the pass of Jianmen Pass dilapidated under the continuous bombardment, and it was basically difficult to deploy effective combat forces. Immediately afterwards, heavy artillery fire began to extend farther and began to unfold round after round of salvos.

The continuous shelling lasted from near noon in the morning to the evening, and the crews of the three artillery squadrons were rotated at least four times in order to effectively maintain their physical strength and body life. However, in order to seek range, the combat efficiency of sealed live ammunition for personnel targets has obviously declined a lot. The incessant bombardment of tens of thousands of shells brought only about one or two thousand casualties to the defenders. finish

Of course, the pressure on the defenders at this time was not small, because no one knew whether those fierce opponents would take the opportunity to attack the storm at the end of the night. Therefore, when night fell, Qin Liangyu said that more than 3,000 heavily armed shield men and crossbowmen selected by drawing were deployed behind the Sword Gate Pass in a relatively scattered but continuous formation.

It's just that when night came, it did not face a fierce impact and attack at the first time, but continued to fire on more than 50 gun emplacements. It's just that this time it was no longer those heavy live bullets, but about six or seven heavy shotguns, and the pressure felt by the defenders defending near the pass was also huge.

However, what was even more unimaginable to the defenders was that the attack of the volunteer division began quietly before the shotgun bombardment had really stopped. Those men were not even afraid of the risk of casualties and losses in the attack.

Accompanied by the sound of gunfire that was constantly being transported through the direction of the column to the front and the disgust caused by the black powder grenade dropping, the vanguard of the 1st Regiment of the 1st Volunteer Division rushed to the Jianmen Pass, which had become a quasi-stone pile in the previous shelling, just as the artillery fire had stopped.

At this time, the rumbling cannon and even the violent explosion sounded on the sword gate, and it was obvious that the defenders had made a lot of preparations to deal with the strong attack from the front, but the repeated attacks of the first volunteer division and one regiment were still unafraid of casualties in the dark night. When the cannon fire rang out again, the rain of bullets in the night was gradually moving backwards.

Under this unprecedented pressure, the natural danger that had never been broken from the front in ancient history also fell into a crisis in an instant.

The fierce battle at the Jianmen Pass did not end in a very short period of time like many previous battles of the volunteer division, but lasted for nearly half an hour or so, not only the first regiment, the second regiment and the third regiment, but also the third army of the revolutionary army, and the fourth army also selected enough elites to participate in the night battle attack. Under the ferocious offensive, the attacking volunteer divisions also broke through the most dangerous positions in various ways, and gradually turned to the defensive in the second half of the night.

At this point, although the entire Sword Gate Pass cannot be said to have been completely taken, whether it is Qin Liangyu or Xiao Xuan, they can be sure of the final outcome of this fierce battle.

When the sky gradually brightened, the reserve of the volunteer division, which had been corrected all night, was thrown into a fierce attack, and the battle in the area of Jianmen Pass really came to an end.

(End of chapter)