Chapter 54: The cannon goes off
It is a pity that Young Master Liang has no telephone and telegram now, and cannot command the second battalion in time, and the signal agreed by the two sides is that the first battalion will blow the trumpet of the charge, but the artillery sound on this battlefield is shocking, and it is impossible to say whether the second battalion can hear it.
Now the charge to the position of the Liang army is the defenders of Vinh City in the Vietnamese coalition army, the leading generals in the spirit of not working hard, want to go up and pretend to retreat, but the strange thing is that the shells fired at them are gradually decreasing, and finally only two or three artillery pieces are still firing shells at a slow pace. This made them a little embarrassed, continue to rush forward, life and death in front of the unknown, retreat, the reason is not sufficient, the thousand or so people slowly froze there, the general who led the army even hoped that the opponent's artillery fire would become denser, so that he would have an excuse to retreat quickly.
Ruan Boyi in the rear was overjoyed in his heart, this dog's cannonball has finally hit almost it, and then it's time to give full play to the strengths of our many people. He immediately ordered his Hanoi defenders to quickly step forward and launch a decisive charge against the enemy position!
Victory or defeat is here! Nguyen Bo Yi had a resolute face, his right hand clenched the sword, and he pointed firmly forward, and behind his war horse, countless Vietnamese soldiers rushed forward!
In his gaze, the heroic Vietnamese soldiers, armed with broadswords and spears, spears and guns, rushed forward without hesitation, getting closer and closer to the enemy's position, their running figures became smaller and smaller in his field of vision, and the backs in the farthest distance even resembled a swarm of buzzing hornets.
Hornet? No, how can a man fly like a hornet?
At this time, Ruan Boyi heard a burst of dense gunshots, and the corners of his mouth suddenly twitched a few times, this sound he had heard before, it seemed to be a weapon called machine gun, he had only heard of it, and had never seen the real thing. But it seems to be very powerful, his valiant soldiers were beaten to the point that everyone flies, oh my God! What a goddamn weapon! This damn enemy army still has such a damn weapon!
However, Nguyen Pak Nguyen's swearing was useless, and at this time there were five dense bullet lines on the battlefield, strafing the dense Vietnamese soldiers, carrying out a naked massacre!
The Vietnamese soldiers who went forward and followed had never seen this kind of weapon, and countless soldiers fell under the muzzle of the machine guns, but the soldiers behind continued to rush forward, as if they were about to rush over and die.
Young Master Liang's scalp was numb when he saw it, and he had never seen such a scene in two lifetimes! If this continues, Liang Jiajun will not be able to hold it first, because after a long period of continuous shooting, the barrel of the machine gun will be hot and deformed, causing the bullet to jam. Now he regrets that he had ordered fewer guns when he ordered arms from the Jews, and the Liang army had a total of ten machine guns, four machine guns from the second battalion were also here, and five machine guns were also on the position facing the royal city of Hue.
If there were still ten machine guns here, we could even kill all these Vietnamese soldiers today!
Commander Liang, who didn't have time to think about it, immediately ordered to blow the trumpet of the charge, and the time for the second battalion to attack had arrived!
"Da da da, da, da da ······", three charging trumpets sounded at the same time!
"The artillery immediately opened fire with all their might! Fire with all your might! Commander Liang shouted hoarsely, it was too late, he couldn't wait for the signal corps to give the order, he immediately rushed to the artillery position, and gave an order to the artillery company position of the first battalion: "Block the launch!" Shoot at the middle of the enemy army! Central! Fire all the way! ”
"Order the artillery platoons of each company to open fire on the charging enemy! Fire all the way! ”
"Order the heavy artillery battery to fire at the intended target in the royal city of Hue! Fire all the way! ”
After a series of artillery orders, the artillery position of the Liang Jiajun suddenly boiled, the sound of the 32-pounder cannon was deafening, and the sound of the 24-pounder cannon and the 12-pounder cannon was endless.
On the city wall of the royal city of Hue, the general Wu Hong, the university scholar Nguyen Chi Phuong and other ministers are observing the battlefield ahead, because the position of the Liang army to block the Vietnamese army in the north is set up in a distance of 20 kilometers from Hue, even if you stand on the high city wall, you can't see the real situation of the battlefield, you can only see some gunpowder smoke from the artillery fire, hear the muffled sound of shelling, according to the established plan, if the coalition army in the north rushes to the enemy's position, the Praetorian Guard here will immediately charge and kill the enemy!
But after observing for a long time, these ministers did not see their own battle flags enter the enemy's position, nor did they hear the cheers of the Vietnamese army rushing into the enemy's army.
The face of the great general Wu Hong changed, the raised hand did not wave, and the soldiers of the Praetorian Guard who had been prepared under the city wall would immediately rush to the battlefield as long as they saw this gesture of the general!
The fighter plane is fleeting! If the general Wu Hong and Ruan Boyi in the north had given the order to charge at the same time, the outcome of today's war would have been unpredictable!
The Vietnamese army added more than 20,000 men and horses on both sides, and even if they lost half of the men and horses, they could defeat the Liang army, at least the main force of the Liang army sandwiched in the middle was difficult to retreat!
The Vietnamese army only rushed to the position of the Liang Jiajun and fought hand-to-hand combat, and the weapon advantage of the Liang Jiajun was useless, and the Liangjia army was all new recruits, and the battlefield experience was extremely lacking, and they were rushed into the position by more than 10,000 Vietnamese troops, and even the whole army would be annihilated!
And at this moment, the Praetorian Guards, who were densely waiting for the impact, were waiting for the enemy's shells! And a shell for a thirty-two-pounder gun!
"Boom! Bang! Boom! ", a sudden shell exploded in the crowd! In exchange, the flesh and blood that is too late to scream are flying! And it's more than a dozen places exploding!
The twelve 32-pounder guns of the Liang Jiajun had long been aimed at the open ground in Hue City. More than 10,000 Praetorian Guards were waiting in the city to attack, but they had to fill up these open areas. But in an instant, these places were transformed into flesh mills!
"Poof!" The great general Wu Hong, who had been in a state of anxious waiting, saw this scene, and suddenly his blood surged, spurting out a mouthful of blood! The tall body shrank as if the bones had been removed, and the guards next to him rushed over to support him, but the blood-red general could only make a "coo" sound in his throat.
Although Ruan Zhifang, a bachelor on the side, is a civil official, he is even more courageous! He faced the city and desperately waved his hand down while shouting, "Charge!" Charge the whole army! ”
It's not too late to make amends, and launching an all-out charge at this time is indeed the best option for the Praetorian Guard. Although the 32-pounder cannon was powerful, its rate of fire was slow, and at this time one round of shells had just been fired, and the second round had not yet arrived. If more than 10,000 Janissaries continue to stay in the city, they may be killed by heavy artillery four or five thousand!
During the Songhu War of Resistance in 1937, I don't know how many Chinese athletes died under the bombardment of Japanese warships and heavy artillery. The lethality of large-caliber shells is too terrifying, and if the shells explode nearby, there is no way to hide! Even if it's a little farther away, the blast wave of the explosion can knock people to death!
After four rounds of heavy artillery bombardment, the panicked Vietnamese Janissaries finally rushed out of the city, and then these Vietnamese troops rushed to the enemy positions in an orderly manner.
There were more than 1,000 casualties left in the city, and this loss of the Vietnamese Janissaries was not a big loss, but the morale of the army was affected, after all, the bloody scene was too terrifying! Some of the Praetorian Guards who rushed out were indeed charging, and more wanted to rush out and flee for their lives.
But it was these soldiers who were stimulated by terror and had no heads like flies that brought trouble to the Liang family's army! There are more than 10,000 heads, and the mountains are all over the field! These indiscriminate charging Praetorian Guards made the Liang Jiajun on the opposite side look stunned! There are too few people on their side! The troops that Commander Liang arranged here were only the three companies of the first battalion and the remaining one engineer company of the engineer battalion!
The so-called Qiao woman is difficult to cook without rice, and Master Liang only has this amount of troops at hand. According to the battle plan, to destroy the enemy forces in the north first, he placed the first company, the second company and the artillery company of the first battalion in the north, and the six twelve-pounder guns belonging to the machine gun platoon of the third company were also placed in the north. So there are less than 400 troops on this side, and more than 100 of them are still sappers!
The five machine guns configured here are also arranged on the last line of defense, no way, the machine guns in this year are too cumbersome, and the Gatling guns need four soldiers to cooperate when firing, not to mention how troublesome it is to transfer positions and transport, if they are arranged in front, it is too late to move away when retreating!
Tieqiao Sanliang Kun is the commander of this side, he saw the dense crowd rushing over, there are less than 400 people on his side, and there are no heavy weapons, relying on less than 400 rifles, there is no way to repel the enemy, this rifle is just a single rifle, one shot plus one bullet, the range is only more than 100 meters, it is estimated that only one or two bullets can be fired, the other party will rush into the position, and then they will be overwhelmed by the dense enemy. With so many enemies, no matter how high the martial arts are, it's useless!
The battle situation is critical! "Retreat!" "Retreat all!" Liang Kun made a decision! And it is necessary to withdraw to the last line of defense, and only the machine guns there can stop the enemy!