More than a dozen Sardinian soldiers with rifles and khaki uniforms walked nearly a kilometer before leaving the road and smoking on a side hillside. They were soldiers of the Royal Guard, the most elite of the Sardinian army, and were tasked with following the English tank units as fist attacks.

"These Chinese people are really rich." A young soldier with flaxen hair fiddles with a cigarette in his hand. After igniting it, he took a deep breath and had an intoxicated expression on his face.

In this day and age, cigarettes are a luxury. The Sardinians, who were eager to exchange all their possessions for weapons, did not have the money to consume anything like alcohol and cigarettes. These soldiers now enjoyed all the spoils they had captured from the Huaxia people.

Knowing in his heart that he would successfully take the city of Turin, Major General Liu Yue, who had achieved brilliant honors, brought a large number of fine wines, cigarettes and even cigars from London. Prepare to celebrate after the capture of Turin.

Only now these things have become trophies of the Sardinians. The dejected Major General Liu Yue was also placed under house arrest by the gendarmes after fleeing back to Milan overnight by car. The Army, which has lost face, is now in dire need of a scapegoat to fill in the face.

The victorious Sardinians laughed at Liu Yue's private sponsorship, and as the elite of the army, the royal guards were naturally able to get a lot of good things. Forget about the drinks and cigars, it's not their turn to enjoy them, but the cigarettes can still be shared.

The sergeant's squad leader, with a very trimmed beard, raised his hand to twist his slightly upturned beard, and looked at the soldiers wielding sapper shovels to fill the trenches on the road in the distance. Smiled and said, "I heard that it is hot. The port of Naya is filled with a huge amount of supplies. Don't say any cigarettes. There are warehouses of flour, ham and meat filled with freezers, sweet sugar, honey, tea, and so on. Everything! ”

"Goo." Listening to the sergeant's words, the Sardinian soldiers beside him all swallowed unconsciously. Although they are said to be the most elite royal guards, their country is so poor that they use all the money to buy weapons and build blast furnaces to make steel. The basic standard of living of ordinary citizens is very low.

As the most elite troops, the best-paid royal guards can only eat meat once a week. You can only eat white bread for dinner every day. At other times, they still have to nibble on the unpalatable black bread like other troops. Of course, as an elite army, their black bread is not filled with sawdust.

This time, the battle with the Ming army gave them unprecedented material enjoyment. The wealthy Chinese made them all kinds of envy and jealousy. This boosted the morale of all the soldiers even more. They hope to be able to capture more, more.

As ordinary soldiers, they only care about fighting, and they don't understand things in the real sense.

Most of the Europa people of this era were illiterate, especially poor Sardinia. These soldiers have lived in their own villages since they were children, and even if they were recruited as soldiers, they would not have much insight and vision.

Because this era is still an era of knowledge monopoly, if you don't go to school, you won't understand things, let alone what kind of world you live in. These happy ordinary soldiers do not know how powerful their enemies really are.

"I also want to be a tank soldier, and it's really enviable to see how well they are treated." A soldier looked with envy at the Englishmen sitting on top of tanks in the distance and smoking leisurely.

"Just you?" There was a sneer on the side, and there was a sneer: "Do you know how much those tanks cost?" Can His Majesty let you drive? ”

"How much?" This topic instantly attracted everyone's attention. The poor Sardinians can't hear the word money, they are really poor.

The soldier triumphantly said, "I overheard those Englishmen say that this tank costs at least this amount!" The soldier said as he stretched out his entire palm.

"Five thousand?!" The soldiers beside him were suddenly taken aback, it was too expensive.

"What about you guys?" The soldier snorted coldly with disdain, "Fifty thousand silver dollars!" ”

"Hiss~~~" The soldiers couldn't even speak. For the impoverished Sardinians, this number is beyond their imagination.

"Alas~~~" When the cigarette in his hand burned to his fingers, the sergeant with a beautiful beard sighed and responded, "It's really enviable." ”

"Hey, hey." The soldiers on the side were smiling and about to say a few words, but suddenly they heard a terrifying sound in the air that made all the soldiers tremble!

'Woo!! It was as if the violent sound of a heavy train passing through a deep cave came from mid-air, and all the soldiers were stunned.

The sergeant, who still had a cigarette butt between his fingers, suddenly widened his eyes to the maximum and howled with all his might, "Shelling!! ”

"Boom!" As if the Titans had smashed their fists into the ground, the heavy cannonballs tore through the air at a speed of hundreds of kilometers per second, smashing into the air and slamming into the ground. After the fuse was triggered, the heavy high-explosive shell fired from the muzzle of the 400-millimeter-thick main gun of the Wuhan, the new flagship of the Mediterranean Fleet, which had just entered service last year, brought fear to the people of Sardinians!

The shell, which weighed more than a ton, which was originally only fired at the school, was not bad in accuracy and hit the hill on the left side of the English tank. The violent explosion sent a violent shock wave and a rush of gravel and dirt, leaving a deep crater almost the size of a basketball court on the slope of the mountain!

Almost all the tanks and soldiers on the road below the hill were spared. The straight-line distance was only more than 100 meters, and the violent shock wave was enough to kill all the unprotected soldiers within the coverage area. The violent rocks and dirt are also powerful, and the stones with kinetic energy and weight rain down like drops, which can not only kill people but also smash tanks!

The dozen or so Sardinian soldiers on the hill in the distance looked stupidly at the leading troops who had been killed by a single shell, and couldn't believe their eyes. This leading force, which is so powerful that machine guns, barbed wire, and trenches combined, is finished in such a short instant?!

"This, this, this must be the battleship's main gun!" The sergeant was obviously a knowledgeable figure, rubbing his buzzing ears vigorously and muttering. At this moment, looking at the fierce dust pillar that was tens of meters high, their hearts were completely shrouded in fear!

Shooting at sea is not very accurate, because the ship will shake above the sea. However, the Wuhan battleship, with a standard displacement of more than 35,000 tons, is a very good and stable shooting platform, which can provide an excellent shooting environment and accuracy for its nine 400-mm main guns.

Of course, the cannon that destroyed the detachment of the Sardinian guides definitely had an element of luck in it. Because of its huge size, the Wuhan can only stay in the open sea because of its large size, and the draft is too deep, and it is at least a dozen kilometers away from here. A school projectile can make a war feat, which can only be said to be an explosion of character.

"Good." Zhang Cheng smiled and left the gun mirror, took out a cigarette and lit one, took a deep breath, and then looked at the naval liaison officer on the side, "There is no weapon in this world that can be more powerful than naval heavy artillery." ”

Zhang Cheng's words are indeed not wrong. Alternative torpedoes do not count, and before the invention of missiles and atomic bombs, there was no weapon that could compare to the main guns of battleships. This is the real one-shot down, and everything is over.

The young lieutenant replied with a smile: "But you can't just shoot it like a 75mm field gun." ”

The stalk of the lieutenant is that Zhang Cheng said when he attacked Bulazhen, and the shells were fired casually. The deeds of such a wealthy landlord who still paid for his own money naturally spread quickly, and even the people in the navy already knew about it.

The lieutenant's words were not wrong. The barrels of the main guns of battleships were expensive to build and had a limited service life. Even high-explosive shells with less wear on the barrel will still be wearable. Similarly, artillery shells are very expensive, even cheaper high-explosive shells cost at least more than 10,000 silver dollars each. In this case, even the navy with deep pockets can't really bombard it with its main guns all the time, and the Ming Navy can't afford to fight it. And not every shell can be fired so accurately!

"I've never had to worry about staying here. As long as the navy can provide large-scale artillery support, then the Sardinians don't want to get in! Zhang Cheng's words were full of confidence

"What?! Heavy artillery support? When he received the telegram from the front, Count Cavour was shocked and surprised.

"Yes." His chief of staff replied with a serious expression: "The front report says that in terms of power, it is definitely an artillery bombardment at the level of the battleship's main guns. In addition, the English have just sent a telegram, saying that according to reliable intelligence, the main force of the Mediterranean Fleet of the Ming Navy has left the port of Pressure Mountain, and its specific whereabouts are unknown. I think they've come here to provide fire support to the defenders. ”

"Huh~~~" Count Cavour unbuttoned the military discipline button on his collar and looked down at the map with a solemn expression.

The strong entry of the Ming Navy brought an unexpected turn to the tide of the war. Count Cavour, full of confidence, suddenly felt that things were not so simple.

"What now?" The chief of staff wearing gold-rimmed glasses stepped forward and asked, "The Mediterranean Fleet has dozens of warships armed with hundreds of heavy guns. After all the warships in the port of Cagliari were sunk, our navy had no chance of threatening them. With so much heavy artillery support, can we still take this place? ”

Count Cavour paused slightly, and after a moment of silence, he said in a deep voice, "Keep attacking, you must take here!" ”

Count Cavour knew very well in his heart that now they had no other choice at all. can only take this place desperately, and then assault all the way to the hot. Naya. Seal all roads before reinforcements from the Ming Empire arrive!

This is the only way to force the Ming Empire.