Thousands of mounted riflemen rolled up the dust and charged towards the ranks of the red-clothed marchers, but before they could get close to the ranks, they were stopped by the red-clothed cavalry. Different from the inland system, in the Western Regions combat units, all the stragglers were replaced by cavalry, and the army was also called rangers, responsible for sentinels, guards, and array cover.

The sound of puffy guns continued to ring, and the battle between the two sides seemed very short and messy, not fierce, and it was difficult to determine the victory or defeat at a glance.

The "Anghi", the pro-guard unit formed by the Galdantse Zero, took the route of firearms, and all of them were armed with "Tula", that is, Suifiring muskets that originated from Russia or imitated Russian styles. Most of the Yinghua rangers who intercepted them were Qinghai and Mobei Mongol soldiers, and their skills were not as good as those selected by the Dzungar people, but they were superior to their weapons, not only with both long and short muskets, but also with far better quality than the Dzungars.

The skirmishers engaged in the battle was just an appetizer before the main meal, and the impact of thousands of Angi on the central front of the battlefield was blocked by the rangers, losing their speed and organization, and it was no longer possible to threaten the infantry array, and they quickly retreated after half an hour of hasty battle with the Yinghua rangers.

At this time, the marching array of infantry had advanced for three or four miles, and after the retreat of the Angji troops, in the center of the open battlefield, there was the Dzungar artillery that was already in full formation.

Renate smiled and waved his arm: "Fire!" ”

At 11:40 a.m., the Dzungar artillery bombarded the wide front, bringing the decisive battle to its first climax.

Hundreds of small cannons about equal to a pound of European guns, hundreds of light bronze cannons mounted on camels' backs[1], and the remaining hundreds of cannons of 1,000 catties or even 35,000 catties were divided into three lines of fire according to the principle of light in the front and heavy in the rear, firing dense projectiles at the infantry array two or three miles away.

Large and small clouds of smoke and dust splashed up, and the marching columns were quickly engulfed in smoke and dust, and the military flag that should have been fluttering could be seen falling, Renate clenched his fists and shouted: "That's it! That's it! It's ......"

His excitement and pride lasted only three to five seconds, and then he was shattered by the sound of cannons on the other side, which were not only much deeper and deeper than his cannons, but also tore through the smoke and dust. The heavy shells were also several times heavier, plowing death marks on the ground, smashing all the human bodies and objects that dared to stand in their way. For a moment, the camel neighed. The howl of the man, the humming of the metal shattering, twisted Renat's eardrums into strange shapes, and what really entered the brain was the incomparably chaotic tinnitus.

Renate was lucky, in this battle, he was not bombarded by the Yinghua 30-pound cannon, and even the 20-pound cannon was only available in fortresses like Luntai City.

In view of the unique geographical environment of the Western Regions. In order to alleviate the logistical pressure to the greatest extent, Wu Ya not only refused to allow the Red Lei Army, a fierce beast that devoured the transportation capacity, to enter the Western Regions, but also compressed the field artillery into three levels: four-jin, eight-jin, and twelve-jin guns, and at the same time required that the heaviest field artillery must also be able to be dragged away with two horses.

To this end, the craftsmen of the Foshan Manufacturing Bureau racked their brains and worked further on weight reduction. The new cannons built twenty years later were generally a quarter to a third lighter than the old ones, but they did not weaken in range and power. This is not only due to the progress of smelting technology, but also related to the widespread use of steam engines. At the same time, after the lathe system is matured, the machining accuracy is further improved, and the gas-holding effect of the gun chamber is also better.

Originally, the Foshan Manufacturing Bureau also recommended rifled guns, which were very favored by the navy. In the army's view, the rifled gun's contact and explosion fuse is very painful, and the detonation rate has not exceeded 40 percent; although the firing range is very long and the shooting is also very accurate, there are no warships on land to fight, and these two advantages are not outstanding, and the existing rifled guns are enough to undertake all the army's offensive and field tasks.

In summary, the navy is due to a lack of heritage. It was hoped that the rifled gun, a new thing, could overwhelm the opponent, and the army was already firmly pressing the surrounding opponents in artillery, and there was no need for change. …,

At this moment, in front of the 300 large and small artillery pieces in Dzungaria, only about 40 artillery pieces of the two artillery battalions under the jurisdiction of the two divisions were in position at the front, and the largest 12-pound cannon was only 16 guns, but the well-trained artillerymen quickly deployed the artillery. At a rate of close to two rounds per minute, shells were rapidly poured into the artillery positions of the Dzungars.

Noticing the huge size of the Dzungar artillery, two huge balloons rose in the area near the center of the battlefield, and soon after, behind the red-clothed queue that was steadily advancing, three or four miles away from the Dzungar artillery position, countless muffled thunders erupted with gunsmoke, surpassing the infantry marching columns, surpassing the front-line artillery, and dumping projectiles onto the Dzungar artillery positions.

This was the bombardment of the 12-pound artillery group of the military family, and they could hardly see the object of the bombardment, but with the calibration of the hot air balloon, one by one the projectiles still accurately smashed into the artillery array of Dzungaria.

From the rear of the battlefield, this scene looks extremely terrifying, it should have been a face-to-face artillery bombardment, but now there is an additional artillery fire line, whistling from the rear that cannot be seen, and merging with the artillery line visible in front.

"It was Changshengtian who dropped the cannonball!"

"It's from heaven!"

On the Dzungar artillery position, many Dzungars held their heads and shouted frantically.

"Who the hell is this fighting against!? Russia? No, the motherland Sweden!? Neither is it! This is a fight against France, Britain, even Prussia and Austria! ”

The small artillery on the front line was quickly routed, and the camel cannon in the middle had been scattered like a flock of sheep attacked by wild wolves, and the human body and cannon body that were constantly flying up on the last heavy artillery line made Renate have an extremely unrealistic illusion of time and space. It was as if he had returned to the Great Northern Battlefield, under the bombardment of artillery so fierce that the heavens and the earth were about to collapse.

"The Great Khan asks you, how is the battle? Can you stop the enemy? ”

The herald came, and asked so with his mouth, but his eyes were unfocused, and he seemed to be on the right and left at the same time, afraid that the cannonballs that rained down would jump on him.

"Tell the Great Khan! If you don't attack, you won't have a chance! ”

Renate covered his ears and screamed, he had not lost his mind, his eyes were still bright, and he was seeing military flags one after another, and the red-clothed queues had broken through the smoke and dust, and had advanced less than a mile from the artillery line. In other words, the red clothes have occupied more than half of the battlefield, and the Dzungar cavalry will have to retreat if they do not attack, and once they retreat, this battle will be over.

Without waiting for the herald to bring the news back, the rear Gardan Tse Zero had already made a decisive choice: "Charge!" ”

The artillery battle lasted less than half an hour, and the Dzungar artillery, Gardance gritted his teeth and accumulated. The artillery that Lenate had painstakingly built up was turned into countless scraps of copper and iron, and countless camels and men who had fallen in the air. Originally, the distance at which this artillery could really develop its firepower was within a mile, but it had just been warmed up after the bombardment. It was devastated by the Anglo-Chinese artillery, which had twice the range.

In the face of the red-clothed infantry that had been forced to four or five miles away, and even the Anglo-Chinese artillery was advancing, and there were already sporadic shells bombarding the main army of the army, and Galdan Tse did not launch an attack, it was either a military idiot, or he had no intention of fighting again.

"Sweep them to pieces!"

Da Celing brandished his long knife and led his people to the lead. Tens of thousands of Dzungars poured towards the red-clothed queue that was pressing like a curtain opened.

In this vast field, the front of the battlefield is more than ten miles wide, and the battle situation can no longer be controlled by any dexterous tactics. The 70,000-strong army that Galdantse had gathered with all his mental strength could only barely be divided into several clusters according to the ethnic group, attacking from the left, the center and the right.

With Angi and the total number of elite Chinese troops in his headquarters less than 10,000 people, Galdantse couldn't feel at ease and looked at the Russians in the northwest. I hope that the Russians can have at least the spirit of allies and be willing to contribute to this battle. …,

In the northwest, facing Rumyantsev, whose cheeks were flushed with excitement, and the regiment commander who came to ask for battle. Yevtyuxin shook his head and said, "It's not time yet, wait until the line of Seris collapses, and then rush in between them and the cavalry on the right flank." ”

Even if it was a column tactic, the Seris could not have used it very skillfully. Gardanze's uncharacteristically defensive counterattack, and then desperately pressed the main force, it was really a bit crooked. Seris's first line of array must not have been able to hold, and that was when the Cossacks had a chance to win alone.

Through the telescope, I saw that the second line of the red coat of Seris was still like the first, divided into several rows and columns, about a mile away from the first line. is slowly advancing, Ye Fu Qiuxin feels that the direction of this battlefield is like the saber grip in his hand, it feels so clear and real.

Passing through the messy artillery position, forcing the red-clothed ones who were still advancing in column in the distance, Da Celing brandished his long knife and felt victorious. At the very least, the victory that crushed the marching redcoats in front of them would be clear and real.

He also regretted it a little, why did he go to this day with Galdan Tseling and step on the precipice of Dzungaria's demise together. But as a national hero who helped Dzungaria win the victory of the Yinding Temple, he had no other choice. Not only did he have to go down with Gardan Tser, but he also had to take the lead in the charge to prove his loyalty to Dzungaria.

"The blood of the Han people has already been dyed, and it doesn't matter if you dye more......"

It seemed that seeing that the red-clothed queue a mile ahead had all turned into corpses, Da Celing sighed with emotion.

But a crisp trumpet sounded, and the drumbeat, which had been heavy all the time, suddenly rose high, and the da-

No, not the drumbeat, but the action of the red coats.

The officer's saber seemed to erect an invisible ruler, and his red coat suddenly changed formation, turning from facing them to the side. The red-clad men stepped to the beat of the drums and marched to the side. At the same time, the other half of the team also picked up the pace and trotted forward, overtaking the other half.

In less than ten breaths, a marching column stretched out into two groups of men and horses, still facing them sideways, and pulled out the width of a hundred and twenty men, occupying about thirty feet of front.

Hearing the shouts of the officers one after another, there was a bang, and the red-clothed people turned around, and at this time, including Da Celing, a creepy feeling woke up the Dzungars from a stunned state, and they were in a horizontal formation!

The original column of eight men and sixty men has become a horizontal column of 120 men wide and four people deep [1].

Just a transformation of the marching army column is not enough to make people so frightened, but the more than ten or twenty arrays in front of them have almost all completed such a change at the same time, one by one horizontal formations rise up one after another, and a long wall of red clothes seems to have fallen from the sky, standing firmly in front.

Seeing the red clothes that were marching in a group just now, suddenly converge into a wall of red clothes, this feeling, even if it is not yet the soul is gone, it is almost close to the liver and gallbladder are split.

In the sound of a breeze breaking through the forest, rows of muskets with bayonets were raised, and Da Ce Ling's eyes were round, and his exclamation had rushed to his throat.

It was too late, and the warriors who rushed to the front were only a few dozen feet away from the horizontal formation that suddenly appeared.

Da Celing wanted to close his eyes, but a white smoke that tore through the heavens and the earth erupted straight in front of him, and the scene dragged his eyelids.

At 12:10 p.m., the first line of guns was blasted out by the red-clothed men who had turned from the marching army to the battle queue, and before the guns were lined, the scarlet blood line thrown by the charging Dzungar cavalry stretched out and stretched out nearly ten miles wide.

The second and third courses......

The sound of the platoon of guns ran steadily with the rhythm of the red clothes tempered for many years, and the charging Dzungar cavalry also advanced forward in waves, involved in this flesh and blood whirlpool, and no one could control themselves, so they could only go with the flow, crushed into powder by this cold and ruthless war machine far beyond the Mongol cavalry era. (To be continued)