"Great! Great! Great! ”

On Shigu Mountain, a group of civilian staff members gritted their teeth and clenched their fists, exclaiming again and again.

The intensive killing of flintlock pistols made them tremble, and the Qing army rushed forward one after another, which made their blood boil, and they followed the king of Huaishun (Geng Zhongming) to fight in the south and north over the years, and they had never seen such a tragic battle.

Geng Zhongming frowned tightly, his expression serious.

In the face of a dense charge, the flintlock pistol once again showed more lethality than he expected, this musket reloads faster, has a longer range, and can also use dense formations to create fire coverage, with the cooperation of trench barricades, it can actually resist the Qing army's attack head-on.

He observed that after entering the effective range, whether wearing cotton armor or iron armor, could not resist the fire of the flintlock musket, indicating that this musket was more powerful than the bird gun, and perhaps only two or three layers of cotton armor could block the lead of the flintlock musket...... But in the hot weather in the south, I put on two or three layers of cotton armor to fight, and I was not killed by a flintlock pistol, and I was afraid that I would die of heat first.

New weapons inevitably bring new tactics, and Geng Zhongming keenly felt that under the fire of flintlock muskets, the offensive tactics of slowly advancing in formation were probably outdated, and only by spreading the soldiers apart could casualties be reduced.

However, changing tactics is by no means something that can be solved with a single sentence, and this involves all kinds of problems such as training, command, coordination, and coordination; in field warfare, all the armies in the world have to fight in formation, and if they are lined up in a straggler line, they will collapse before they can rush to the enemy.

"It's hard to deal with." Geng Zhongming's mind flashed through several plans in an instant, but none of them were sure of winning. The enemy hides in a ditch and shoots with a flintlock pistol, he can hit you, but you can't hit him. The attacking side can only be filled with human lives.

Standing on Shigu Mountain, the entire battlefield was unobstructed, and the Qing troops on both sides finally rushed through the first outer trench, but the formation was much thinner, and the estimated casualties were almost three hundred people.

"Lord Wang, the war is not good. It's better to hold off on the attack. Xu Bin was very distressed, the main force of the attack was the Changsha Green Battalion, and the casualties were all his soldiers.

"The war is at a critical juncture. Just in one go, how can it fall short. "Dead friends don't die poor Dao, Geng Zhongming didn't feel distressed at all, and Zhengse said: "You wait regardless of the king's dissuasion." Determined to fight today. Why did you retreat after a slight setback? Don't say this kind of loose military talk anymore! ”

After passing the first outer trench, the Qing army regrouped and slowly advanced again under the fire of the platoon guns, not because of the bravery of seeing death as if it were home, but because it would collapse if it ran fast, and the officers had to order the soldiers to slow down and move forward to the rhythm of the drums.

This increased their casualties, but the Qing army did not stop attacking despite the large number of people.

"The Changsha Green Battalion is indeed a strong army. It's also outstanding in the Green Camp. ”

Sun Bai'an's battle losses reached more than 10%, and he was still able to basically maintain a tight formation. Although he was an enemy, Wang Kefan also praised him, but his tone was calm, and he only stated a fact, and he was more confident in the combat effectiveness of the musket team: "But they will soon know that the musket team of the Chu army is stronger than them." ”

Twenty steps away from the trenches of the Chu army, there is another inner trench, and obstacles such as antlers are placed in front of the trench.

The flintlock pistol of the Chu army belongs to the smoothbore gun, there is no rifling in the chamber, and the collision between the bullet and the barrel will affect the shooting accuracy, but as the distance gets closer and closer, to about twenty or thirty steps, the hit rate of the smoothbore gun is greatly improved, as long as it is aimed at the enemy, it is difficult to miss, two hundred musketeers take a three-stage shooting, and each salvo will make the rows of Qing troops fall.

The drums of the Qing army became more rapid, and the pace of the soldiers accelerated, wanting to pass through this death zone as soon as possible, after the soldiers in the front row were knocked down, the officers immediately brandished their swords and urged the soldiers in the back row to go up to fill their positions, otherwise the soldiers would lose the courage to continue advancing if they found that there were no companions on either side.

A group of axemen rushed to the front, wielding their short axes to clear their antlers, and shield-bearers holding large shields in an attempt to protect them.

The shield was made of oil-soaked hemlock wood, and was covered with a thick iron tire, enough to withstand the attacks of bows and arrows and firearms, and the shield-bearers of the Qing army curled up and hid behind the shield as much as possible, trembling under the lead shots, but never fell.

Blocked! Sun Baian breathed a sigh of relief, this special shield was too heavy, and the troops were not equipped much, but he didn't expect to make a great contribution at the critical moment and block the lead of the flintlock pistol.

"Bang! Bang! ”

The sudden gunshots rang out unusually loud, sounding so ominous, Sun Bai'an's eyes immediately tightened, and he looked up at the camp in Ji'an.

Raise your gun!

Seeing that the flintlock pistol could not penetrate those big shields, Gu Zongfu immediately mobilized the spear team to help, and at such a close distance, the heavy lead of the spear was like an iron hammer, smashing the shield of the Qing army to the ground, and the fragments were splashing.

The shield fell, and the Qing soldiers behind became live targets again, and a new volley knocked down more than half of the Qing army's sword and axe hands, and they fell on the antlers and could not get up again.

However, more Qing troops rushed up, jumped over the antlers on the corpses of their companions, and continued onward.

Round after round of three-stage shooting, Wang Kebin had fired more than ten shots in a row, hitting at least seven or eight enemies, and gradually experienced a smooth sense of pleasure, as if he was playing an interesting game.

He lay on the edge of the ditch and aimed at a Qing soldier who was rushing to the front, this guy was short and strong, with a heavy board that could still walk like a fly, a short and strong neck, muscles and knotted arms, and a face full of sweat, all of which could be clearly seen in the door.

"Fire!"

Wang Kebin immediately pulled the trigger, and when he turned to retreat, the corner of his eye swept away, and he had already seen the short Qing army plunged into the trench, with a happy smile on his face.

After a long period of training, clearing and loading was an instinctive action of conditioned reflex for him, and he was very familiar with loading ammunition in his hands, but he was thinking about the officer's next step in his heart.

The Qing army was attacking the inner trench, only twenty paces away from the position of the musketeers, and at this distance, it was no different from firing with muskets into the nose of the opponent, and the casualties of the Qing army increased exponentially...... Under normal circumstances, the enemy would have collapsed long ago after suffering such heavy casualties, but the Qing army maintained the offensive, although the formation of the front row was slightly sunken back, and the flying bridge through the trench was quickly erected.

Wu veteran said that this was because the Qing army saw the hope of victory, so its morale came up.

There is no certainty about the extent to which a unit will collapse due to casualties, and if morale is low, the whole army will flee without a fight, and if they see victory at hand, even if they suffer more than half of the casualties, the soldiers will grit their teeth and persist in fighting.

Twenty steps, about less than thirty meters, they can rush over with a breath, and if the Qing army breaks through that inner trench, nothing can stop them.

"Whoosh! Sou! Sou! ”

A volley of feathered arrows was fired into the trench, and two Chu musketeers were wounded by arrows, and Qing archers followed.

"Archers aiming at the Tartars, salvo!"

The archers of the Qing army were too threatening, and the officers rarely designated targets for attack.

At a distance of twenty or thirty paces, it is difficult to say who has the advantage of a bow and a flintlock gun.

The flintlock pistol was more accurate in shooting, but the skilled archers could fire their bows continuously and win with their attack speed, and if they stood on flat ground, the lightly armored Chu musketeers would definitely suffer heavy casualties.

However, the musketeers of the Chu army hid in the trenches.

The shooting lasted less than a minute, and after three consecutive volleys, more than half of the Qing archers standing in front of the inner trench were lost, but the Chu army's musketeers had the cover of the trenches, and only seven or eight people were injured, and half of the soldiers in the back row were shot by the thrown bows and arrows, and the injuries were not serious, and they could continue to fight after a simple treatment.

However, the Qing army also seized this opportunity and set up countless flying bridges and boards on the inner trenches, and a large group of people and horses rushed over, and the Tianyou soldiers who followed behind raised their bird guns and fired at the Chu army musketeers.

"Fire!"

Wang Kebin lay tightly on the edge of the trench, only his eyes and nose were exposed, and with the officer's order to pull the trigger, another piece of Qing soldiers was knocked down, almost at the same moment, more than 100 birds of the Tianyou soldiers opened fire together, with a piece of rising white smoke, Wang Kebin heard the projectile swishing overhead, and the soil rose in front of the trench, and the sand and stones hit his face and hurt.

He rushed to the back row to change ammunition, and found that Wu Veteran's shoulders were bleeding, and several companions in the trench fell to the ground, their faces were covered with blood, motionless, and they had just pressed the lead into the chamber of the gun, and the head of a companion in the front row suddenly folded back, announcing his death at a strange angle, and the body slammed backwards into Wang Kebin's arms.

When he stepped forward to shoot again, another nearby companion fell, and in just a few minutes of shooting, Wu Veteran's Shi had already suffered two casualties.

The casualties of the Tianyou soldiers were even greater, and they were forced to change their tactics, jumping into that inner trench, using the corpses of their companions to pad their feet, and also trying to find cover to reduce casualties, and with the help of archers, they caused great trouble to the Chu army's musket team.

"Retreat!"

Since there was only a distance of twenty paces, after the Tianyou soldiers came up, the advantage of the flintlock pistol over the arquebus was not obvious, and Wang Yi ordered a retreat. After each team finished shooting, they retreated along the communication trench, and Wang Kebin's second team also retreated into the last trench after firing the last shot.

This trench was slightly narrower, twenty steps from the third trench in front, and behind it was the camp wall of the Ji'an battalion, and when the Qing army swarmed in front of the third trench, a row of archers and bird-gunned soldiers of the Ji'an battalion stood on the camp wall to provide support for the musket team.

After more Qing soldiers were knocked down and paid more than 200 lives, they finally broke through the third trench and forced the musketeers into a "desperate situation". (To be continued......)