In 1873, the German chemist Sprengel discovered that picric acid could be detonated with a detonator. By 1885, the French scientist Tépin began to use it as an explosive load, which is the famous yellow model explosive. It is much more powerful than black gunpowder. Moreover, the explosion did not produce strong smoke, and mankind officially entered the era of smokeless gunpowder.

In addition, in 1884, the Frenchman Vieille first made =+ to make single-base gunpowder. Called nitrocellulose gunpowder. The French also called it bgunpowder. Its gunpowder power reached 900-1000 joules, and was widely used as a firing charge for guns and shells.

With the opening of the doors of China in 1881. Seek knowledge in the world. At present, there are Chinese students studying in all the advanced countries of the world, they study in the best universities, study with the best professors, and are also the hardest working students in the world, and the world's advanced scientific and technological information is constantly transmitted back to China through them. Mortars use these two advanced gunpowder technologies to solve the most critical ammunition problem.

The firing method of the mortar is different from the general gunpowder, he relies on the recoil generated by the firing pin at the bottom of the barrel hitting the bottom of the shell, such a firing method and the use of smokeless gunpowder make the fire produced by the artillery firing very small, plus there is a jungle shelter, so the British artillery observation post did not find the Chinese artillery position.

When the artillery fire outside was red in half of the sky, the assault team led by Wang Gang happened to stay in a bush.

Political Commissar Ni Hong looked at Wang Gang and said: "Biaotong, when will this artillery fire stop, if we continue to fight like this, our commando team will become a corpse collection team." ”

"Okay, old Ni, you think I'm not in a hurry, but this is the old man's kindness, and we can't live up to it." Wang Gang said leisurely.

When the artillery bombardment was an hour underway, the conspiracy, who risked his life, finally judged Cai Ning's position from the arc of the shell. It is a pity that the telephone line between the forward positions and the command headquarters has been blown up, and the artillery staff officers have to run back to the headquarters again.

"The artillery of the Chinese is less than half a mile in front of my position on the left flank, and they are right under our noses."

Wallace couldn't help frowning, at this time he no longer cared about the method used by the artillery of the squadron to sneak so close, he was worried that due to the problem of the elevation angle of the artillery, the Chinese artillery group was located in the blind area of most artillery in Mandalay. That is to say, the minimum firing range of their own artillery groups exceeds this distance.

"Damn, are all those idiots at the front asleep? The Chinese carried so much artillery that they didn't notice any movement. Wallace, who had always regarded himself as a gentleman, couldn't help but curse. However, he soon realized that this was useless, so he asked the staff officers beside him: "How many artillery pieces do we have hit the Chinese?" ”

The artillery staff thought for a moment and said, "There are only a dozen 2-inch (50mm) infantry guns. ”

Wallace looked at the forward positions where there were constantly flashes of artillery and the earth was ploughed throughout, and said, "It's them, let them suppress the Chinese at once, and the other artillery shoots at the Chinese depth." ”

Finally, the British Mandalay artillery group, which had been shooting indiscriminately for an hour, had a target for their shooting. Although it was only a 50mm infantry gun, the power of a salvo was still considerable, and the "Chinese artillery position" confirmed by the British artillery staff seemed to have been hit by a torrential rain, the treetops were crooked, there were rotten branches and leaves everywhere, and even the soil that was well covered by vegetation was turned out. If it weren't for the humid weather in Myanmar, a fire would have raged in the woods by this time.

Under the blows of the British artillery, the Chinese artillery really fell silent. For the first time after enduring more than an hour of violent tremors, the soldiers who had narrowly escaped from the British forward positions had a chance to raise their heads, and the well-trained soldiers came out of the anti-artillery holes and pounced on the positions. What will they be greeted, is it the charge of the Chinese with bayonets? Some of the soldiers began to search for the light on the bayonets in the darkness.

Obviously, though, they were disappointed, but what did they see, but if they were given a choice, they would rather not see it. The same number of shells, in a different direction and at a different distance, fell on their heads again, but this time they did not have a chance to hide in the anti-artillery holes.

The British artillery staff officer risked his life to make a judgment that the British artillery suppression did hit Cai Ning's artillery position, but except for the first round of fire that blew up two mortars, the other mortars were intact. This was due to the good maneuverability of the mortars, and Cai Ning saw that the British had discovered him, and immediately moved his position with the artillery battalion.

A position was re-established a kilometer from the original position, and the process took less than 10 minutes.

It can be seen that the weight-bearing running training and the loading and unloading training of artillery shells on weekdays are strict, and the quality of the soldiers is high. Whenever the Qing army changed positions, it could last 30 to 60 minutes before the British rediscovered it, and it only took 10 minutes to transfer their positions once, and the longest time was only 15 minutes.

Later, Cai Ning simply divided the artillery into 5 battalions. Attacking the British positions in 5 different directions, this time the British artillery group finally lost its way in the artillery battle. Messily fire this empty cannon everywhere! Unable to pose a threat to the Qing artillery group, the British on the position had lost their fighting spirit and confidence by the shelling for more than 3 hours.

Due to the use of yellow explosives, the Jiangning Type 11 shells exploded in the trench compared to the ordinary 75mm camping shells, and the air waves brought up directly lifted the British soldiers away, and the wanton shrapnel brought up a mass of flesh and blood.

Artillery suppression, immediately artillery suppression, but the Chinese artillery seems to be a ghost-like existence, just press it here, and it pops up there. The forward positions have been beaten into a sieve, and decent points of fire have been destroyed. A handful of soldiers huddled in the trenches for the last of their time.

At this time, the artillery began to extend to the depth of the British army, and Cai Ning fired a signal flare at this time. Originally, the silent position of Wang Gang's 10th Battalion Commando was finally ready to move.

By the time the flare was raised, the assault team led by Wang Gang had reached a place less than 500 meters away from the British army's front-line position. A layer of black mud had rolled on their uniforms, and their faces were the same, revealing only black holes.

First, the commando team lurked here for an hour, and a few reconnaissance soldiers met Wang Gang. One of the soldiers laughed in a low voice and said: "Biaotong, you have come fifteen minutes early, in case the enemy's artillery group comes to cover the front line, who will be responsible for this loss?" Our Spearhead hasn't signaled that it's safe here. ”

Wang Gang spat out a mouthful of mud and said: ", the artillery group of foreign devils is desperately trying to compete with Cai Cannon, can you take care of me?" Without talking about this nonsense, how is the front line cleaned up? ”

Another soldier replied: "What else, just the British outposts were exposed when they were shelled in front of them, and a few brothers and I have already pulled them out by the earth-shattering sound of the artillery fire outside." The British did not set up barbed wire at the front line, and it seems that the French devils did not tell the British about our tricks. ”

By this time, the battalions, companies, and platoons were already in position, and the artillery began to extend in depth.

Wang Gang said: "It's time for us to go." All the commando soldiers straightened their equipment and looked solemn.

In the distance in the headquarters of Feng Zicai's department. Feng Zicai stood in front of the map with a dark face, all the staff officers did not dare to approach within three feet of him, who could afford this old man's fiery temper in battle.

Feng Zicai stared at the high slope position outside the city of the British army with a pair of tiger eyes, telling the truth. The defensive position of the British army is still very level, much stronger than the fortifications he built in Dongling, and the whole position forms a complete system with the mountain, and the most important thing is to highlight his heavy artillery advantage. Although it looks like the forward positions of the British army have been ravaged to the point of not being presentable. But after all, there was a regiment and a half of British troops, more than 2,000 British devils. The British army's heavy artillery superiority made it unrealistic to charge in large groups, and only by using small-scale infiltration assault tactics could Wang Gang's mission be the British army's forward position. Taking advantage of the British army's inability to react in a short period of time, it destroyed the British artillery positions in one fell swoop and completely destroyed the British army's heavy artillery advantage. It's a quick way to go slow. The fight for land is a matter of time.

The five reinforced platoons selected almost simultaneously charged the British. 500 meters away. It only takes a minute or two to cross.

Wang Gang, on the other hand, led all the remaining ten battalions of men and horses to rush to the British artillery group on the top of the hill after reinforcing the platoon attack.

Due to the narrow entrance to the position, Wang Gang's assault order for the assault team was still very reasonable. But one of the most important factors is overlooked......

The British ground positions also reacted at this time, and authentic London English and Indian dialects mingled in the positions. They beckoned the British soldiers in the barrage to come out quickly, and the few Gatling machine guns that had escaped spat out long tongues of fire, and as soon as the cartridge belts were put into the barrels, they immediately turned into a rain of bullets. However, the Gatling machine gun is not a machine gun in the real sense of the word like Makqin after all, its huge body is more like a small cannon, and it is not very flexible to rotate, so although the Qing commandos are difficult, they still rush into the trenches of the British army.

The red-eyed commando soldiers chased down with bayonets, they did not wait for the follow-up troops, they did not have follow-up troops, because the British army had the advantage of heavy artillery, after the assault began, the British artillery group carried out an artillery blockade on the rear of the commando, the whistling artillery group threw the fire of death from the sky, and the commando soldiers who hid in the starting position and did not have their turn to charge really felt the call of death, everyone covered their ears and mouths, and the feeling that shook out of the heart was really unbearable. This made it extremely difficult for the follow-up troops to come up, which meant that the assault team that had already rushed out had to take the British artillery positions directly in the encirclement of more than 2,000 British troops, and complete the plan named "Tooth Extraction from the Tiger's Mouth".

Originally, the infantry attacked the enemy's reserve positions, and it was conceivable that the casualties were large and the results were small, but the carpet bombardment of mortars had weakened the British army's first and second line positions to a considerable extent, making it possible to break through such small forces, especially the British heavy artillery caused the blinding situation due to the excessive pursuit of range.

After the first-line position was broken through, the few second-line positions could not stop the Qing commando from swearing to attack. The Indian soldiers who fled back rushed the defensive line of the second-line position, and Wang Gang, who followed closely behind them, scored a brace with ease.

At this time, the assault team did not choose to continue to pursue the retreating British troops, but wiped them along the mountain beams, revealing their true purpose, the artillery positions of the British army.

The assault team led by Wang Gang advanced very quickly, aiming directly at the last line of defense of the British artillery position.

The British command in Mandalay was now in a tense atmosphere. The first and second line positions were easily broken through by the enemy, and so many infantry and machine gun companies on the front line, the perfect defense system was broken by the enemy, and they wanted to suppress the enemy's artillery, but it had no effect.

Wallace paced back and forth in the headquarters when something suddenly occurred to him. He said to the staff officer of the artillery battalion beside him, "Has our artillery group been discovered by the Qing army?" ”

"Probably not, our heavy artillery is far away at the top of the mountain behind Mandalay. Now that the Chinese have broken through the outer positions of our first and second lines, they will definitely push the artillery group forward and continue to attack the city. The artillery battalion staff officer said.

Wallace thought for a moment and asked, "Only one battalion of Chinese broke through the defensive line, and their follow-up charge seems to be blocked by their own heavy artillery, will they be stupid enough to come and attack the city with only a few hundred men?" And our artillery group did not receive fire suppression, if they were going to storm the city, why not suppress our artillery group. ”

"Uh...... This one...... They probably didn't notice our artillery group at all. ”

"Oh my God. If it had just been a dozen or so 2-inch (50mm) infantry guns attacking, they might not have noticed. But to stop their charge, all our artillery groups have already fired. Such a big fire, the Chinese will not be able to see it?? Wallace said frantically.

“……”

"Tell the forward positions, shrink the forces to protect the artillery group positions. If there is no artillery group, we are ready to surrender! Wallace said indignantly.

Wallace originally thought that the Chinese opium soldiers were only a little stronger than the Burmese natives, but he did not expect that once they fought, he was surprised by the changeable artillery tactics of this army, the vigorous attack fighting spirit, and the fierce infantry assault method that was not afraid of death. The initial impression is that these squadrons are fierce and well-organized, and there is such an elite army in the Far East. Has such an army ever been easily crushed by its own predecessors? It's that his predecessors are too strong, and he has become weaker.