In order to prevent the Wu army's north bank battery, which might open fire and bombard at any time, Chen Guotai ordered the ships to be distanced and advanced in a very loose formation of geese to reduce the possibility of being hit by the Wu army's battery. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

In addition, Chen Guotai also ordered early on that the starboard guns of the Qing fleet, which was advancing from east to west, should be ready to shoot, and once the north bank battery of the Wu army opened fire, the starboard guns would be given priority to open fire, in order to suppress the fire of the north bank battery of the Wu army as much as possible and reduce the losses of the own army.

"Brothers, fight bravely! Victory is just around the corner, suppress the firepower of the Wu thief battery, cover the infantry to kill ashore, and we will win this battle! ”

Shouting beautiful slogans on his lips, Chen Guotai's eagle-like eyes were firmly fixed on the north bank of the Yangtze River, staring at the large and small forts that had been carefully camouflaged by the soldiers of the Wu army, and the terrible forts that had been bombarded by Qing warships several times but remained silent, and secretly beat drums in his heart, praying: "I hope it is not as terrible as I am worried." ”

"Boom!"

Almost instantly, more than 100 Wu army shore guns hidden under various camouflages suddenly opened their mouths, blasting heavy solid shells and flowering shells emitting green smoke out of their chambers, and bombarded the Qing fleet like a storm.

The mast was broken, the armor was broken, the picric acid shells exploded one after another, and the four shots of shrapnel were also thrown out of the raging fire, no matter how early the Qing fleet had taken precautions, it was also completely killed at this moment and caught off guard, nearly 20 red single boats were shot one after another, four of which were directly hit by picric acid shells, and the bombed parts immediately rose into a sky-high fire, and the Qing soldiers ran to shout for help, and the deck was in chaos.

After the panic of the sudden attack, the Wu army battery had just launched the second round of artillery bombardment, and the Qing army's naval division fleet had already begun a crazy counterattack, and the large and small warships scrambled to open fire, bombarding the Wu army with solid shells one after another, killed and wounded some Wu soldiers.

Fortunately, the biggest advantage of the Wu army's fort on the north bank of Tianjia Town is that the space is large enough, and the spacing between the forts is large, not as narrow as the Banbishan fort on the south bank. Therefore, no matter how desperately the Qing army's naval division fired back, the Wu army's north bank battery was always roaring, and relying on bitter acid shells and a little luck, quickly sank three Qing gunboats, which greatly damaged the enemy's morale.

At the same time, Chen Guotai's fleet did not forget to open artillery to bombard the Wu army's Banbishan fort when the opportunity arose, helping the front team to suppress the Banbishan Wu army more effectively, but the loss was too small in the position space, and the Banbishan Wu army really fell into a bitter battle, and could only resist desperately at the risk of being hit by the enemy's artillery fire at any time, and used all the main forces on the river battlefield, and could no longer free up their hands to make a difference in the land battlefield.

Under the cover of steam gunboats, the four sail warships of the Russian army quickly approached the south bank of the Yangtze River, and with the help of the sampan fleet of the Qing army's sailors, they carried out a landing operation in the lower reaches of the willow forest south of Banbi Mountain, and put down a battalion of more than 900 soldiers in one go, and the Qing army also sent a battalion of more than 500 people to go ashore to help in the battle, carrying eight Russian field guns and six mountain splitting guns, with the Qing army as the vanguard and the Russian major Alebov as the commander. Along the river bank all the way to the north, the momentum of the slaughter rushed to the Banbishan Fort.

During this period, the Russian gunboats have been following and protecting, fearing that the Wu army will repeat its old tricks and set up an ambush on the south bank. However, the Wu army had already learned a lesson, and did not dare to fight the Russian army on the river bank covered by naval artillery with the enemy, and only arranged a small number of scouts to monitor it, and just confirmed that the Qing-Russian coalition forces had launched a landing operation, and immediately reported the news to Wu Chaoyue.

"Be prepared for war, if nothing else, the enemy will definitely hit our Xin'an Temple camp first."

Wu Chaoyue's judgment was a rare error, after a period of time, when the Qing and Russian coalition forces approached near the Banbishan Fort, they suddenly stopped advancing, first concentrated the artillery of the army to bombard the Wu Army's Banbishan Fort, and then sent Qing soldiers to attack the Banbishan Fort. Seeing such a situation in the telescope, Wu Chaoyue was inevitably stunned, and then said with a sneer: "It's good to surround Wei and save Zhao with one hand, I can't imagine that the Russian old Maozi can also use this hand." ”

"Marshal, do you want the last general to lead the army to save Banbi Mountain?" Yang Shilin next to him hurriedly asked.

"Can't go, this is the enemy's trick to lure our troops, lure us to send troops to save Banbishan, and then take the opportunity to lead us into the range of their naval guns, and use naval guns to defeat us first." Wu Chaoyue shook his head.

"What then?" Yang Shilin asked again.

"Don't worry, half of the mountain can be defended." Wu Chaoyue smiled and said: "Unless the Russian old Maozi sends troops to attack the Banbishan Fort, the rebellious soldiers under Wu Quanmei alone will not be able to attack Banbishan." ”

was expected by Wu Chaoyue, and the Qing Army's Marine Corps, which was responsible for attacking the fortification head-on, could only stare dryly under the Wu Army's half-mountain position, and was at a loss. This is not that the soldiers of the Qing army are unwilling to fight hard, but the soldiers of the Wu army have already established a strong defense under the fort of Banbishan, only the trench has been dug three times, buried with spikes and filled with water, there is a wall behind the trench, and there are shooting holes in the wall, the soldiers of the Wu army can rest assured and boldly hide behind the wall and shoot, and the soldiers of the Qing army must build bridges and ladders to cross the trench of the Wu army, and during the construction period it is purely the live target of the soldiers of the Wu army, and it is difficult to cross the trench one step after being killed and wounded.

Small-caliber field artillery and mountain-splitting artillery also had little effect on the officers and men of the Wu army on the Banbishan Fort, and the forts built by the Wu army were so strong that even the artillery of the warships could defend them, and the two or three-pound field artillery shells hitting the fort were purely similar to tickling. The mountain-splitting cannon mainly used to shoot scattered shells was even more unbearable, even if it was loaded with solid shells, it could not penetrate the earthen wall built by the Wu army, and the covering effect on the Qing army's attack was pitiful.

The plan to lure the Wu army of Xin'an Temple into the range of the gunwales failed, and the experienced Russian commander Alepov was not discouraged except for swearing two swear words, but immediately gave up his opportunistic tactics, and according to the original plan, he led the army directly to Xin'an Temple, and attacked the fortified defense line of the Wu army of Xin'an Temple, which was far less strong than the half-hill position.

After arranging up in the southeast of Xin'an Temple, the experienced Alepov first concentrated his artillery forces and violently bombarded the southeast of the defense line of the Wu army's camp, and then extended his shooting, bombarding the Wu army camp, and the Wu army bravely fought back with imitation French field artillery, and the Russian army was inextricably fought.

In the fierce artillery fire of you coming and going, the Qing soldiers who were ordered to act as cannon fodder once again took on the important task of vanguard, carrying the tools of crossing the trenches such as bridges and ladders, and attacking the only trench defense line of the Wu army in Xin'an Temple against the door panel, opening up an offensive road for the Russian army.

"Keep rushing! If you dare to retreat, my army will shoot at you! ”

Alepov said this to the commander of the Qing army, Li Delin, with an indifferent expression, Li Delin's face was extremely ugly, but he still forced the Qing soldiers to attack again, and personally led his own troops to follow the battle, shooting and killing the Qing soldiers who dared to retreat and flee for their lives.

"Brothers, we have come thousands of miles, there is no way back, forward is death, backward is death, and being a deserter is even more death! If you want to live, rush with me! ”

Relying on the leadership and encouragement of the grassroots generals, the second charge and assault of the Qing army officers and soldiers was obviously more violent and determined than the first, even if they saw their comrades constantly being shot and shot, they did not stop, they strode forward when they had the opportunity, and they fell to the ground to avoid bullets when they did not have the opportunity, and they continued to approach the trench of the Wu army camp in embarrassment and difficulty. The artillery of the Qing-Russian coalition army in the back also continued to bombard the positions of the Wu army, covering the assault of the Qing soldiers.

After all, the rate of fire and the density of fire of muskets in this era were still poor, and even if the soldiers of the Wu army kept firing with a pin gun, they could not completely suppress the Qing soldiers to sacrifice their lives to charge, or let some Qing soldiers who were particularly lucky rush to the side of the trench with the door panel, quickly built two temporary bridges, and began to try to directly impact the defense line of the Wu army's sheep and horse wall.

One Qing soldier was killed by Wu Jun's musket on the bridge, and the other had just touched the sheep and horse wall, and was put down by Wu Jun's commander with a revolver, and the rest of the Qing soldiers were so frightened that they didn't dare to rush again, so they could only hide next to the trench with the door panel and wait for backup. The result was not bad, Alepov did not force the Qing soldiers to continue to die in vain this time, and decisively dispatched two companies to launch a charge, directly provoking the heavy task of attacking the fortification.

The rifle in his hand was difficult to load, and the Russian soldiers attacking in a skirmish line did not rush to shoot when they charged, but only strode forward with more skillful movements while paying attention to avoiding bullets, and gradually approached the side of the Wu army's trench, and then concentrated their firepower to cover the Qing soldiers to build more trench bridges.

"Yellow-skinned monkey, do you see what a real Western army is?"

The attack was progressing smoothly, and the Russian commander Alepov was of course smiling as much as he could, but at this moment, when a large number of Russian soldiers gathered next to the trench, the ground under their feet suddenly exploded one after another, shrapnel and clods of soil flew wildly, and many Russian soldiers did not even have time to understand what happened, and they had already been directly blown off their legs, blown off their hands and feet, screamed and fell to the ground and rolled.

Immediately afterwards, the Wu army's sheep and horse walls, which had sparse firepower before, suddenly appeared countless heads and muzzles like magic, and shot one after another, tilting the bullets on the Russian soldiers like a storm, and the Russian soldiers who had been blown up by the mines screamed endlessly, and were knocked down one after another. There were also grenadiers, shells and grenades that flew into the crowd of Russian soldiers at the same time, and in the violent explosion, more Russian soldiers were killed and injured, and the battlefield was suddenly in chaos.

There are also Russian soldiers who shoot back, but their Lizhi rifles must stand and reload every time they fire, and the Wu soldiers with a firing pin gun in their hands can squat behind the sheep and horse wall to reload calmly after shooting, and then get up and aim and shoot. Although this difference seems to be subtle, in fact, it has reduced the possibility of Wu soldiers being shot to a very small extent, but Russian soldiers are often directly knocked down by Wu soldiers when they maintain a standing position to reload, and there is no chance to fire a second shot.

The gunfire was continuous, the bullets were flying, and the soldiers of the Wu army and the Russian soldiers were shooting at each other, competing for firepower and courage. Although this scene was very familiar to the Russian soldiers, as the fierce battle continued, the Russian soldiers and officers were very surprised to find that the Wu soldiers not only did not differ much from them in marksmanship, but also had a rate of fire several times faster than them, resulting in a much higher density of firepower than theirs, and they were killed and wounded one after another, with heavy casualties.

There were also some Russian soldiers who rushed over the trench on the temporary bridge and rushed to the shooting corner under the Wu army's sheep and horse wall, but before these Russian soldiers jumped on the sheep and horse wall and fired, a grenade rolled down and exploded on their heads, and many Russian soldiers were killed and blown over. A few Russian soldiers who were lucky enough to escape the grenade attack had just jumped onto the sheep and horse wall, and they were immediately put down by the Wu soldiers with revolvers.

"Damn yellow-skinned monkey, how can the equipment be so good? Didn't I hear that the Prussian ** guns were terrible? How can it perform better on the battlefield than our Ritch rifles? ”

Seeing the heavy casualties of Russian soldiers in the telescope, Arepov was so anxious that he stomped his feet, but at this moment, a cold thing suddenly hit Alepov's face, and when Alepov looked up, two more drops of rain fell on his face.

"It's raining?" Arepov first shook his head, then immediately laughed and said to himself: "Okay, ** the gun is almost useless, it's time for our Russian Imperial bayonets to speak." ”