Just as Zeng Shirong was about to give an order to let the escort and railway soldiers attack and counterattack the Qing artillery team, he heard a long whistle on the railway line behind him. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ

"It's reinforcements! Reinforcements must be coming! Zeng Shirong was overjoyed.

The railway line is unfinished, but there are already cars on it, and on weekdays there are some vehicles that transport ballast, sleepers, timber, cement and iron sheets. In order to meet the requirements of this era, the road construction in this era is not a one-time track laying after the completion of the roadbed, but a section of the roadbed is completed after the first laying of rails, and then extended forward, to build a new roadbed, so that all kinds of building materials can be transported by train.

In addition to transporting construction materials, laying tracks at any time is also a way to quickly mobilize troops. Half of the railway line from Pukou to Bengbu was in the area threatened by the Qing army, and in the event of an accident, the railway could quickly mobilize troops to support.

Not long after the beacon smoke signal was issued, the train came, and it must have been reinforcements.

The first to come up was the ironclad fire dragon under the command of Wang [Fu] Chen, with a long whistle, the steam locomotive spit out billowing black smoke, the cylinder spewed out white smoke, the heavy iron wheels crushed the track, and the ironclad fire dragon rumbled up. The railroad soldiers standing on the railway line saw the car coming and got out of the way.

"What's coming?" The Qing army general suddenly heard the whistle that shook the sky and was startled. When I looked up, I saw a long black dragon appearing on the railway line, slowly approaching.

"It must be Minggou reinforcements coming!" The general of the Qing army shouted, "Wait for Minggou's fire dragon car to stop, and give Lao Tzu a hard beating!" Kill all the dogs who got out of the car! ”

The car stopped, but I didn't see a person getting out of the car, but I saw the gun door on the side of the car open, and the black hole hole gun muzzle protruded from the gun door. A rotating turret on the roof of the car slowly turned around and aimed at the Qing formation.

Before the Qing generals could react, fire erupted from the roof turret, and the four turrets on the four carriages fired in turn, and the whistling shells spun at high speed and landed on the side of the Qing army's gun emplacement, plunging into the ground, raising a burst of flying sand and stones. It's just that in this first round of shooting, the Ming rifled guns also failed to hit the target.

The artillery on the turret had just finished a round of firing, the sub-mother cannon sticking out of the gun door spewed fire, the sub-mother cannon loaded with howitzer shells let out an angry roar, and after the four-pounder howitzer shrapnel flew out of a hundred steps, it burst open in front of the Qing army's formation, and the small iron beads swept the Qing army crowd like a torrential rain, and immediately knocked down a large number of Qing soldiers.

In the ironclad carriage, the Ming gunner unscrewed the back cover of the sub-cannon, stuffed the loaded sub-gun into it from behind, selected the back cover tightly, and inserted a fuse from the fire door on the back cover. The fire door of the back cover and the fire door of the sub-gun are docked, and in the same position, the fuse is inserted from the fire door of the back cover, which is just enough to be inserted into the sub-gun.

"Oh my God! This is simply a battleship on land! The Qing army general was dumbfounded. After being stunned for a long time, the Qing army general reacted, pointed in the direction of the ironclad fire dragon and shouted: "Hurry up and bombard it!" ”

The Qing army turned the cannon around the muzzle and lit it at the ironclad carriage.

"Boom" six shells roared and smashed into the ironclad fire dragon, four shells failed to hit the target, and two shells hit the carriage. However, the shell hit the carriage, and the carriage only shook slightly, and was not affected at all.

At the same time as the Qing army opened fire, the sub-mother cannon in the gun door of the ironclad carriage roared again, and the eight cannons fired in turn, and the overwhelming shotgun swept up a burst of blood mist in the crowd of Qing troops.

"Damn! Minggou's land battleships are no weaker than those on the water, and the artillery can't penetrate them, so they can only get close to them! The Qing army general shouted, "Rush up and attack the railway line!" ”

The black pressure of the Qing infantry launched an attack on the railway line, and many wooden fences along the railway line had been collapsed by Qing artillery, and several gaps appeared. The Qing army launched an attack in the direction of the gap. At this time, the rifled guns on the turret had been loaded, and with the sound of a row of cannons, the whistling shells pierced the position of the Qing artillery team.

The four shells concentrated on one Qing artillery piece, and this time the accuracy was much improved, two shells missed, but two shells accurately hit the gun position. The high-speed rotating solid shell hit the gun position, and in one fell swoop, the general cannon weighing more than 1,000 catties was lifted off the ground, and the gun carriage left on the ground was shattered and turned into countless pieces of wood, and several Qing soldiers on the side were injured and fell. The cannon flew into the air, spun a few times, fell heavily to the ground, and killed two Qing soldiers who had no time to run away.

The Qing army launched an attack on the railway line, at this moment, the sub-mother cannon in the carriage had completed loading, and it was another round of shelling, replacing the muzzle of an ordinary shotgun with fire, forming a fan-shaped killing surface within a hundred steps, a large number of Qing soldiers were hit by iron beads, and the blood on their bodies was wild, and a blood mist filled the crowd.

At the same time, rifled guns sticking out of the shooting holes spewed fire, white smoke rose from the carriage, and a volley of bullets hit the charging Qing soldiers.

The musketeer, having finished shooting, retreated and began to reload. The musketeers in the back stepped forward, stretched the rifled gun out of the shooting hole, and pulled the trigger on the Qing soldiers who rushed over. Another volley of gunfire sounded, and the Qing soldiers fell again. Then the second row of musketeers retreated, and the third row of musketeers stepped forward, stretched out their muskets through the firing hole, and pulled the trigger.

Despite the heavy casualties of the Qing army, they quickly rushed forward.

In the days before the machine gun, muskets and artillery could not stop the infantry charge, so the final decisive battle still relied on bayonets to decide the victory. Even in the era of breech-loading guns, the infantry of the European powers could not stop the bayonet charge of the Russian army, and the final decisive battle still had to be resolved by hand-to-hand combat.

"The Tartars are coming! Block them! Zeng Shirong shouted.

The railroad soldiers formed a formation at the gap in the wooden fence, and when they saw the Qing soldiers rushing up, the railroad soldiers in front picked up their iron pickaxes and smashed them on the sabers and shields of the Qing soldiers who rushed to the front.

The Qing soldiers resisted with wooden cards, but an iron pickaxe smashed down on their heads and faces, and even the shields were split, and the Qing saber and shield men who rushed in front fell down with a scream. Then the railroad soldiers in the back row stepped forward with iron drills and spears, and a row of stabs overturned many Qing soldiers. The Ming soldiers of the railway guards shot with smoothbore guns and output fire in the back, and behind them there were Ming musketeers who kept shooting bullets in the ironclad car.

In the rear of the Qing army, some people shot feather arrows, and bows and arrows hit many railway soldiers, but the paper armor on the railway soldiers had a protective effect, and most of them were only injured and not in danger of life. In contrast, the Qing musketeers inflicted some casualties on the railway soldiers, and many people were hit by bullets and fell.

In the gun door at the entrance of the ironclad carriage, the sub-mother cannon was aimed at the archers and musketeers in the rear of the Qing army, and the shotgun pierced into the crowd of the Qing army, and a large number of Qing archers and musketeers were beaten into a hornet's nest.