Finally, after a tense hectic hustle, 20 artillery battalions were ready. The army that attacked by surprise attack was already in place, waiting for Liu Mingchuan's order.

"Start attacking."

With Liu Mingchuan's order, more than 400 cannons of different sizes bombarded Hucheng Fortress together. The fortress suddenly became a sea of fire, and many forts and batteries were destroyed by artillery fire in an instant. Looking at the fortress from the top of Congyunling Mountain, the place where the cannon was fired, in the west of the coastline, in the middle of the dark fortress, suddenly a burst of golden light flashed, and the lightning-like light reflected the western sky suddenly brightened, and then there was a thunderous sound. The last thing came was the frenzied, violent shaking of the earth.

The French soldiers hid in batteries, in infantry forts, or crawled in trenches, covering their ears and opening their mouths. Enduring the tremendous waves of air, the shaking of the earth, and the terrible sound of explosions.

The French soldiers kept coughing in the trenches and fortresses filled with gunsmoke, and the smoke of gunpowder continued to enter their respiratory tract and lungs. They did not understand how such a strong and intensive shelling could be subjected to such intense and intensive shelling in this backward East.

Liu Mingchuan clearly saw in the telescope that the soil in front of the French position was lifted into the sky layer by layer, and the French soldiers were swept away by the air waves one by one. The cannonballs were like the music of death slowly passing through the French positions.

The reinforced concrete machine-gun fort was torn to shreds like paper paste under such artillery fire.

On the assault position close to the forefront of the French army, the first sign of the tiger was lying low, and the light of the fire reflected after the explosion of the shells shone on their faces, showing their nervous affection, and many recruits were even white-faced, and even many of them had wet their pants. But now no one laughed at them, and everyone was suffocated with nervousness by such a heavy shelling.

After the artillery fire lasted for 15 minutes, two "bang" and "bang" sounded, and two signal flares rose into the air.

A dazzling green glow shone in the air.

The French soldiers were still immersed in the horror of the bombardment, and suddenly saw that the shells turned into green flares. Before he could come back to his senses, he saw rows of blue waves of people pouring out of the trenches in front of him and swooping down on the outermost French fortifications of the fortress.

But at this time, the fire of the French army seemed to wake up suddenly, and countless fires erupted in the darkness. There are fortifications that I have seen before, and there are many hidden bunkers that I don't even notice at all.

The flames erupted from the machine guns instantly swept down a large area of the Qing soldiers who could not dodge.

The fort planted in the deepest part of the fortress also began to fire at this time, and the 180mm shells resounded with a terrible scream in the sky, and then there was a loud noise that shook the world, and the pressure he brought to the Qing Army was huge. Almost every explosion can take away a piece of flesh.

The machine guns and machine guns at the front, the batteries on the inside of the fortress, and the howitzers, artillery guns, and mortars issued from countless hidden bunkers formed an impermeable fire net, which suppressed the more than 10,000 Qing troops who were preparing to attack.

Liu Mingchuan, who saw everything in the command post, said coldly to his side: "What are the artillery doing?" Why not keep them down. ”

The herald next to him hurriedly ran out.

In fact, this cannot be blamed on the 20 newly formed artillery battalions. Such large-scale artillery had not yet been used in the Qing War. Don't look at what you usually learn from German instructors, but if you really want to enter such a fierce artillery battle, you should pay attention to too much, the maintenance of the explosive line, the suppression of firepower, and the concentrated attack on the enemy's strong fortifications, these are all laborious and laborious work, and the use of modern artillery is precision work, not that you can hit wherever you hit, and a person who accidentally hits the charge of his own people.

In order to avoid accidental injury, the artillery battalion marked the shooting Zhu Yuan far away. The shells hit directly around the fort on the inside of the fortress, which was already an open area at the foot of the mountain, and it did not have any effect on suppressing fire at all.

After two days and two nights of continuous shelling and assault, the fortifications of the entire French position were as if they had been plowed and fresh ground was exposed. But that's it, the French army still has firepower coming out openly and secretly. And the main battery on the inside is also like a tireless incessant bombardment of the charging Qing army. And each time it took the lives of a large number of Qing soldiers.

"Oh my God, how many bunkers does this Frenchman have here?" Liu Mingchuan said to himself.

One of his own soldiers ran over and said, "Report, forward report: the French artillery fire is too heavy, and the assault force has retreated." ”

"How many attacks have you made?" Liu Mingchuan asked casually.

"This is the fifteenth offensive in two days."

"The troops need to rest and let the troops at the front come back. The artillery stopped firing for half an hour, and everyone rested. Liu Mingchuan raised his head suddenly and said.

"The military gate, and the rest of the departments are all overwhelming. We've been fighting here for two days, and we haven't made a single step. Still resting? ”

"Fuck you bastard, you rush up for me and try it! Take them down for me, you can't rush like this. Liu Mingchuan had a fire in his belly.

** The tiger returned to the command post with a face full of gunsmoke, and said aggrievedly: "Military gate, the French artillery fire is too fierce. Their fortress is built on the mountain, from top to bottom like the shape of a pagoda divided into many layers, after the first layer is broken through, you can immediately retreat along the infantry trench to the upper layer, and the dense Ming Fort, dark fort I don't know how many. There was also a minefield in front of their position, a French anti-infantry mine, which specialized in bombing soldiers below the knee. Our last charge was dragged down by that minefield, and many of our brothers lay there unable to move. More brothers went to help them, and they were killed by machine guns. As he spoke, the tiger burst into tears.

"How many more do you have?" Liu Mingchuan listened and thought for a while, and suddenly asked.

Tiger said with tears in his eyes: "There are more than 2,000 people left. ”

"What about the other feints?" Liu Mingchuan continued to ask.

"The situation is almost the same, rushing up and can't distinguish between a feint attack and a main attack, and before they can attack, they will be knocked down by their machine guns and artillery."

Go down and get some rest, and make substitutions tonight.

"Junmen, give me another chance. We are familiar with the terrain there, so you can let me take my brothers to charge again. The tiger choked up.

Liu Mingchuan scolded loudly: "This is a war, what I am talking about is a military order." I've let you rush 15 times, if you can take it down, will you still need me to replace you? ”

"Junmen, you let me rush again, and I will make a military order. I can't take the fortress and you don't have to cut off my head, and we promise that no one will get out of the battle alive. The tiger continued to plead.

"Have you been in military school for the past few fucking years? The emperor's silver was spent in vain? Why didn't I see you before? Is this war for you to die? If you die, you can take the fortress. Lao Tzu will cut off your head now, you give Lao Tzu a roll. The brothers are tired, but they rest and rest, and the other people's attacks do not go well, and you will have to fight sooner or later. If you can't take it down then, Lao Tzu will have to kill you. Liu Mingchuan scolded.

Wang Linhu was unwilling, but very helpless to retreat.

"Go, call me the madman." Liu Mingchuan said to the soldiers beside him.

After a while, Wang Feng ran in in a hurry.

"See the military gate, the left flank is impregnable. There is no trace of the French army! Wang Feng said deliberately.

Liu Mingchuan looked at Wang Feng, who was known as a madman, and said slowly: "Back then, you rushed to the enemy's position alone and killed 13 enemies. Now I want you to lead a group of men and horses to rush to the opposite fortress and destroy the heavy cannons in the opposite fortress for me. Are you sure? ”

"Junmen, just look at it, I can't guarantee anything else, it's enough for Lao Tzu to lead a battalion for this little." Wang Feng patted his chest and said.

"There is no joke in the army." Liu Mingchuan said with a calm face.

Wang Feng said with certainty: "I am willing to make a military order, and I hope that the 20 artillery battalions of the military gate will cover the fire for a quarter of an hour." If the task cannot be completed within two hours, he is willing to be dealt with by military law. ”

"Okay, I'll give you half an hour's fire cover. The fire can extend forward as you advance, and it's noon, and you go back to attack the next night, and destroy their batteries for me before dawn. Liu Mingchuan said excitedly.