This blast attack was almost perfect and successful. Because of the negligence of the third expeditionary team, not only did they fail to construct a decent cover, but they also suffered heavy casualties, and when thousands of enemy demolition troops approached within a radius of only half a mile, not many people even found the enemy troops at close range. Therefore, when encountering a blasting attack, more than 1,000 people were killed or wounded in a team of about 2,000 people under the heavy rain of bullets. Although the heavy lead bullets of six or seven taels that fell from a height of dozens of feet did not pose a great threat to the cuirass, because there were not too many people wearing their whole bodies in accordance with the requirements of the regulations during the rest, almost all the wounded people faced a very serious blow, either killed in battle or severely injured.

Under the fierce shock, most of the remaining 1,000 officers and men did not dare to attack in order to avoid the attack that might come at any time, especially when the footsteps of the army advancing like a sea tide in all directions came in a surging manner.

This time, in order to annihilate the main force of a relatively elite crusade team, the rebel coalition army dispatched 30,000 elite main forces, including 20,000 decent armor, and a total of about 50,000 men and horses, including auxiliary troops. In order to prevent foolproof, at least a third of the 30,000 elite main forces are cavalry troops.

Although the proportion of troops accounts for a small proportion of the million rebel army, it can be said that it accounts for about one-fifth of the size and strength of the entire rebel force in terms of quality and combat effectiveness. If it weren't for the fact that it was a home field like the hinterland of Shanxi and the use of some well-stocked grain, grass and water sources, it would be almost difficult for such a large-scale troop mobilization to hide his body even if the other side was lax.

In the previous battles, because many people knew the power of the archers and even gunners of the volunteer troops, when these elite main forces attacked, many people carried their heavy shields with iron sheets in front and slowly moved forward.

When the army approached about twenty or thirty paces away from the camp, many people who did not dare to come forward because of the huge deterrence also reacted from panic and panic at this time. The gunpowder-filled artillery suddenly opened fire at this time.

The entire Third Expeditionary Squadron, with a strength of about 2,000 troops, has a total of four artillery companies and about 48 medium and heavy guns, and each gun is deployed in accordance with certain rules in the position of the firing direction and the side fire of the rivers and lakes, so that when encountering an enemy attack, as long as the firing fuse is lit, it can shoot a large number of projectiles at the first time. Because the opponents we dealt with in the past were often able to effectively threaten 200 paces away with about six or seven yuan of lead bullets, this time the 48 medium- and heavy artillery pieces, which were greatly improved by using the new type of gunpowder, were still mainly based on about 600 light shotguns, and in almost a very short period of time, 60,000 or 70,000 light shotguns weighing six or seven yuan were fired with fierce artillery fire. In the past, firepower of this scale could almost crush more than 20,000 enemy troops in a single round of fire. In the previous battles of the brigade group, even if they encountered a rebel army with a strength of 100,000 troops, they could often defeat the opponent with tens of thousands of casualties brought by a dozen rounds of fire with only a small amount of artillery fire, and they did not have to pay much price at all.

However, this time, because the enemy's defensive level of the attack increased sharply in the field attack, the fierce fire of the forty-eight guns only knocked down more than 200 enemy soldiers in the attack in the night, although the huge momentum shocked many people for a while, but even for the elite forces temporarily reorganized by these families who were not very determined, it still did not have a too decent deterrent effect after all, even if the doubts of the enemy troops under deterrence and pressure in the night attack gave the gunners of these guns a second chance to fire.

Soon, the sound of guns like a tidal wave and the stray bullets brought with it quickly suppressed the gunners who returned fire and exposed them. At this time, the drawbacks of the raiding team's over-reliance on medium and heavy artillery were also exposed, that is, it was easy to be suppressed at close range when facing a large-scale enemy attack in a night battle.

As the reloaded ground of the attack approached from all directions to a distance of about one or twenty paces, as more and more people recovered from the shock and fear they had received, fierce fighting broke out again.

In other words, the reason why the officers and men of the volunteer units still have the determination to fight back after suffering such a heavy blow is, on the one hand, that the deterrent effect brought about by projection killing is not as high as that of the white soldiers' hand-to-hand combat, and it is also very related to the fact that the volunteer units are confident in their own combat effectiveness. Only three or four hundred officers and men of the volunteer unit were able to display a decent performance, and they launched a counterattack with superb archery skills at close range, killing and wounding thousands of enemy soldiers who rushed at them in a very short period of time.

The casualty loss of 1,000 or hundreds of people may not be too much of a deterrent for the real elite and strong generals for tens of thousands of attacking forces, but because the casualties and losses of the attacking team are not very even, many people see that the people in front of them seem to have retreated, and they think that they have suffered serious blows and losses, and even many people have begun to retreat.

When the officers and supervisors in the rear began to stabilize the entire battle situation and relaunch the offensive, the remaining 700 or so officers and men of the volunteer army began to react effectively, and constantly brought more than 2,000 enemy casualties and losses with continuous arrow rain.

In front of the sharp arrows that were easily shot with one stone and two or three bucket bows with high accuracy, except for some large shields that were inconvenient to carry for attack, it seemed that the iron armor that looked excellent and even the wooden shield covered with iron skin did not have the killing effect of Xiangyang.

About 12 guns were damaged in the night attack, and many gunners were killed or wounded, but when people used live ammunition or heavy shotgun to operate more than 20 guns to return fire one after another, the enemy troops, who had suffered thousands of casualties in a short period of time, seemed to be unable to maintain the front line with heavy shields, and they retreated and spread back.

Although the successful demolition took advantage of the various negativity and loopholes of the third detachment regimental battle group to achieve a decent result, the superiority of troops was dozens of times because the rebels lacked enough courage and determination to attack or finally failed to achieve the goal. As the sky began to lighten, everyone knew that the opportunity to succeed had been lost.

The sound of artillery continued to sound one after another, although because the number of people was too small at this time, the disparity in strength was too great, and there was still a lack of cavalry, the remaining officers and men of the third detachment regimental battle group could not leave most of the enemy, but through continuous fire from near and far, more than a thousand enemy troops were forced to stay behind again.

(End of chapter)