It's just that at this time, the sound of firearms blasting and shooting that seems to be different from the others sounded violently again, and it sounded like a firearm that was not very powerful, such as a light firearm or a fire door short gun, and this kind of firearm should be no threat to the Houjin elites who were ready to protect at this time, but what was unexpected was that the sound of these firearms and the accompanying white smoke actually came from some boxes in some burned tents that seemed to be unable to accommodate an adult at all. In particular, many of the boxes were opened in at least two directions at the same time, as if more than one person was firing inside.

Of course, this was the last resort that Xiao Xuan had prepared for a long time, and the thirty selected officers and soldiers each carried two rows, that is, sixty rows of 300 filled and ready firearms to shoot. There is certainly little hope of threatening even the best armor protection in Asia with relatively light firearms. Therefore, since two months ago, Xiao Xuan has put his mind on using gunpowder as the power to launch iron heavy clusters.

In fact, since the early Ming Dynasty, many firearms experts have also had this kind of plan, and all of them ended in failure. The reason is that there is no way to solve the problem with the rear wing. Iron arrows fired with firearms are often shot horizontally within three feet of exit because there is no way to arrange a decent tail fin. It's like shooting an arrow without a tail with a bow. And if the tail wing is installed, then the problem of air leakage will cause this firearm to be extremely weak. The Ming army in the Tumubao era suffered the loss of this "firearms innovation".

However, after tactical confrontation and careful consideration, this kind of firearm, which is used as the "bottom of the box", has given up the need to effectively kill the target from 20 meters away, as long as it is not too crooked within 20 meters. The solution was two rifling with a slight inclination, as well as a coiled barrel.

The reason why it was impossible to emulate the individual spiral-rifled muskets of Renaissance Europe was that even the best firearms craftsmen in the capital of this era did not have the ability and experience to do so. In smelting and casting, many craftsmen of the late Ming Dynasty had accumulated more technology than the West, but metal processing has always been a shortcoming of the East.

At this time, these simple arquebus weapons with 300 tubes combined certainly did not have the ability to install an effective tail and maintain the stability of one or two steel arrows, so they also did not have the effective killing ability beyond seven zhang. It's just that the area of the hilltop position is not too large, and even the range of this level is barely enough.

After being given about 400 joules of energy by the impetus of gunpowder, one or two steel arrows can launch arrows at the target in a time that is difficult for most people to react effectively, and break through any individual shield armor of this era except for heavy vehicle shields to protect and kill opponents. In order to maximize the lethality, the arrow clusters of these steel arrows are also coated with grooves that are overly poisonous, so that the target that is hit will not pose too much threat in a short period of time.

All these preparations were to deal with the assassination actions of assassin groups such as the Tianli Sect, and also to deal with the special needs of the palace when there was chaos, but Xiao Xuan did not expect that this method would be used on the powerful elite soldiers outside the Guanwai at the beginning.

The characteristics of aiming and firing can hit, coupled with the use of darkness against light, so that the attack efficiency of this firearm crossbow within seven zhang greatly improved, only about 20 teenagers within the range of the enemy target exposed under the firelight in a very short period of time with more than 100 bursting steel cluster arrows killed and injured 31 people who were about to raise their shields to resist the attack of the firearm that was not very powerful from the sound point of view.

Of course, the penetration of the powerful steel cluster is incomparable to the soft lead bullet, and the simple shield and the armor of the twin cities cannot effectively resist the attack of 400 joules of steel arrows at close range, many steel arrows can also shoot another armored target with great power after penetrating a soldier wearing armor and holding a shield, although the lethality is not large, but the toxicity of the attack can make people quickly lose their combat effectiveness. And for those who have been thoroughly penetrated, there are also some highly toxic substances that remain in the body when the steel cluster passes through, and they begin to attack in a short period of time.

Almost at the same time, there were also low explosions in many places around the entire hill that had been prepared for a long time, and the prepared "flares" were shot out one after another, taking advantage of all the residual lighting to be released in a short period of time, so that the large area seemed to be like day or dawn, and the soldiers around Xiao Xuan, who were carrying gunpowder guns, also launched an attack on the last remnant of the enemy together with many teenagers who rushed out. The goal, of course, was to use this short counterattack to deliver the greatest blow to the enemy before the light of the fire and the light of the earthen flares went out. Xiao Xuan believed that although the number of opponents was not very large, in addition to the attacking team, there must be many remnants who were responsible for releasing wind or preparing for the response at the bottom of the hillside.

At the beginning of the young counterattack on the mountain, only fifteen of the elite soldiers outside the Guanwai, who had suffered a heavy blow at the beginning, were still in good combat capacity because they were far away from the mountain and were responsible for responding on the hillside and below.

Seeing that there were not many people retreating from the top of the hill, he knew that the people who were engaged in the attack were likely to have been wiped out for some reason, and even if they had the determination to die, they must escape alive, so that more people could know the strangeness of these elite soldiers around the new emperor of the Ming court.

Regardless of whether or not they could threaten the opponent's armor, the fierce firearms and arrows began to smash their heads and faces, and thousands of projectiles and arrows did not seem to seriously damage the last fifteen stubborn enemies, and the gunners and crossbowmen approached within seven or eight feet of these remnants of the enemy and launched their fire.

In the counterattack, in the face of almost no arrows and unstoppable archery, more than 100 teenagers who rushed over were shot down one after another, and the crossbowmen and gunmen who counterattacked also shot down as much as 30% when they were close to the strong enemy, but there were still more than 20 brave teenagers who finally shot out the five steel cluster crossbows, and at the same time there were at least dozens of turtledoves carrying guns. The fierce and brutal battle did not last long before it gradually died down with the dimming light and fire.

When the children who risked the danger lit torches, tapped the entire hilltop position and the place where the daytime battle took place at the bottom of the mountain, and returned with no casualties, it was finally confirmed that the enemy elite had finally survived the test brought by this night attack. A total of one hundred and two mysterious armored enemies seen during the day were eliminated, and the outfits inside the skins of these people also confirmed the identity of the elite outside the gate.

But when the casualties were lightly tapped, many people, including Xiao Xuan, felt a little heavy. The rabble gathered by these people was easily defeated in the face of poisoned arrows and firearms, and it did not cause much cost, but these more than 100 elites outside the Guan, with all kinds of prepared means of the entire guard, still lost a large number of firearms and ammunition, and at the same time killed more than 170 people, including the pure attrition of seriously wounded or very likely crippled more than 10% of the entire team, and the total casualties amounted to more than 400 people.

After many people calmed down, it was hard to imagine that even if the Jiannu outside the gate were not all such elites, when they were fighting against the opponent's two or three thousand armor with one banner, what kind of consequences would be brought to the entire Guards with more than 100 elite cavalry archers.

Xiao Xuan originally thought that maybe in a year, not two years, when the Guards and Yongwei Army became an army, and tens of thousands of people were fully trained and armed, maybe the Manchu army with about four banners after Chongzhen's entry into the customs in the second year would not easily repeat the mistakes of the Battle of the Hunhe River, but now, even this goal obviously has a lot of pressure on itself, and I am afraid it is not as easy as imagined.

At this time, a young man who was in charge of inspecting the corpses of the enemy soldiers suddenly said: "This Jiannu doesn't seem to be pretending to be dead, but it doesn't seem to be dead?" It should be in one breath, do you want to make up for it! ”

This voice also suddenly reminded Xiao Xuan that at this moment, it may be more meaningful to grasp the evidence and find out the truth than to think about how to make the pro-army fight against Jiannu.

"Try to live! Don't give them a chance to kill themselves! Xiao Xuan also solemnly ordered at this time.