Comparatively speaking, the Indian infantry belonging to the East India Company performed poorly, and although these Indian soldiers who were holding turbans like the Qing soldiers could continue to advance like the British and French native soldiers, they were afraid just by looking at the soldiers' expressions.

They also have the same performance as the Indochina Servant Army in the French Army and the North African Colonial Army, although the armies of these British and French colonies have undergone evening modernization training, and the officers in the army are all British and French officers, but no matter how the servant army is used, it is still a servant army, although the combat effectiveness is passable, but there is still a big gap with the native armies of Britain and France.

The native soldiers of Britain and France could easily brave the artillery fire to attack, but the colonial troops who fought together also followed the attack, but their psychological quality was much worse.

As for war, if the armed equipment and training systems of both sides are comparable, then the quality of soldiers will directly affect the outcome of the war.

The distance was closer, even closer, and when the British and French troops entered a distance of about 800 meters, the last six pounder cavalry guns of the Chinese army also opened fire, and they did not use grenades or grenade shotguns, but directly fired solid bullets.

Heavy solid-ball shells fell from the sky, then into infantry phalanxes, jumping and falling from the hard ground, and with a bit of luck, one shell was enough to pierce an entire column of an infantry company.

Only an accurate hit of two or three shells was enough to crush an infantry company.

However, although the artillery fire of the Chinese army is fierce, the number of artillery is not much, and the total number of artillery pieces of various calibers is only dozens, which is far less than the number of allied artillery on the opposite side, and you must know that the total number of allied artillery on the opposite side is more than hundred, and a considerable part of it is large-caliber artillery dismantled from battleships.

The scale of the artillery bombardment of the coalition forces was far greater than that of the Chinese army.

The only difference is. The infantry of the coalition army as the attacking side could not get cover when attacking, so they suffered heavy losses, while the infantry of the Sixth Army of the Chinese army, as the defending side, kept hiding in the trenches and anti-artillery holes, although shells kept falling overhead, but unless the howitzers fell directly into the trenches. Or it will explode directly above their heads, otherwise the effect of the shelling will be relatively limited.

Amid the roar of artillery on both sides, the infantry of the coalition forces had already crossed the five-hundred-meter cordon, and then launched a full-scale charge!

Just like in the Battle of Wusong, face to face with the enemy hiding in the trenches and breastwork, the best way for the infantry of this era to attack was to rush directly to hand-to-hand combat.

Of course, the coalition forces will not be stupid enough to attack from the front, and the frontal defense line of the Sixth Army is only three or four kilometers, and they can send troops to bypass some distance. Then attack from the flanks.

So when the main force launched a frontal onslaught, on the right flank, a group of about 5,000 British and French soldiers trotted around the frontal direction of the Sixth Army and then rushed up from the flank.

From the sky, you can see that the Anglo-French forces are mainly attacking from the front and flanks, forming a semi-circular offensive posture, and the entire attack width is about three kilometers.

In the face of the flank attack launched by the British and French forces from the right flank, Shi Qingxuan immediately ordered the Eighth Infantry Division to send an infantry regiment to reinforce the right flank.

Flank. front, at this time the sound of artillery seems to have disappeared. All that remained was the shouts of the coalition soldiers, who, shouting all sorts of slogans, rushed forward with bayonets to the beat of the military band's drums.

And when they crossed the distance of 350 meters, the officers of the Chinese army on the frontal defense line had already given orders one after another: "Fire!" ”

In the next moment, the Chinese soldiers on the entire line began to shoot, and the four-pounder infantry guns also joined the shelling at the same time.

Three hundred and fifty meters of shooting. Even for rifled rifles, the accuracy of their hits was quite low, not to mention the fact that after the Sixth Army used breech-loading rifles, the infantry tactics carried out had abandoned salvo fire and adopted free fire.

That is, when the battle began. The officer gives the order to fire, and then the soldiers can reload freely, and then choose the target to aim and shoot, instead of waiting for all the soldiers to reload and then fire a salvo or a rotation.

This is because of the huge gap in the rate of fire between the rear-loading rifle and the front-loading rifle, the theoretical rate of fire of the front-loading rifle can reach more than three points in one minute, and the actual combat is generally between two and three rounds a minute, that is to say, a battle can not shoot a few bullets at all, so each round of shooting must strive to obtain the maximum hit effect.

However, the rate of fire of the rear-loading rifle can easily reach more than eight rounds per minute, and even under the operation of a skilled soldier, it can reach the limit rate of fire from ten to fourteen rounds per minute, such as the 1858 Linde rifle, which has a theoretical rate of fire of twelve rounds per minute, a muzzle velocity of 350 meters per second, and a theoretical effective range of 500 meters.

Its theoretical effective range and accuracy are actually inferior to the 1856 Linde rifle, that is, the Mini rifle, but the biggest advantage of the 1858 Linde rifle is the rate of fire, in the hands of a well-trained soldier, the rifle can reach a combat rate of fire of more than ten rounds per minute, which is more than three times the actual combat rate of fire of the 1856 Linde rifle.

When the British and French troops launched the final charge at a distance of three or four hundred meters, they found that it did not take a few seconds after withstanding the first salvo, and there was a crisp crackling sound on the opposite side, and this gunfire did not stop for about twenty or thirty seconds after firing like a front-loading rifle, but rang out once in a few seconds, and expanded to the entire front, you can find that the Chinese soldiers on the opposite side are firing continuously.

This firepower density was more than three times higher than that of the Chinese army they encountered in the Battle of Wusong.

That is to say, if the Chinese army uses front-loading rifles, they will have to pay a thousand people to rush over, then now they will have to pay more than 3,000 people if they want to rush over.

In battle, any army has the limit of casualties, especially in offensive warfare, after the casualties reach a certain level, no matter how urged by the officers, the army will collapse on its own.

And now, Harvey, a soldier from England, had the urge to turn around and run, he was a soldier of the first battalion of the East Lancashire Corps, and when he set out in the morning, his superior, a noble son from Scotland, told them that the enemy on the opposite side was a group of barbarians, and although they did not know where to get some rifles and artillery, they were as vulnerable as all the barbarians they had encountered before.

As long as they rushed forward, then they could easily win the war, and said that when the army won the war, they would be able to capture more Chinese towns, and then everyone would be able to reap the spoils of war to their heart's content.

Harvey also fantasized that he could harvest enough spoils for his retirement after attacking the Chinese city that day, and perhaps he could bring back a few precious Chinese porcelain pieces to his mother living in the slums, so that his mother could also enjoy the life of an aristocracy.

However, this illusion was shattered after he followed his comrades to attack!

When they first entered the battlefield, his infantry company was unlucky enough to be hit by two howitzers in a row, which directly reimbursed a dozen soldiers.

You must know that an infantry company is only a little over 100 people, and there are no more than a dozen people in this instant, which is equivalent to a casualty rate of more than 10 percent.

But they were the heroic British Army, one of the best line infantry of this era, so even if the start was not smooth, the remaining soldiers were still able to continue to move forward with a flat expression, and the soldiers did not even need to say anything from the officers on the side, the soldiers just automatically reorganized themselves and moved forward.

The soldiers in the back row stepped forward automatically, filled the void left by the dead and wounded soldiers, and then walked forward step by step with firm steps.

Later, they were much luckier, they never got hit by the shell, and after walking through the long distance of more than 1,000 meters without danger, they launched a final charge at a distance of about 500 meters.

But as soon as they ran around, the defenders on the opposite side opened fire one after another, because the first battalion of the East Lancashire Corps was the first unit to rush to the front, so after being hit by the rifle fire of the Chinese army, it was also the latest to suffer losses.

Just when Harvey thought that they had already fired, and they could have at least twenty seconds or more safe time to move forward, he did not expect that the Chinese army on the opposite side continued to shoot in only five or six seconds, and this shooting never stopped.

In the continuous sound of crackling on the opposite side, Harvey's comrades-in-arms kept falling, when Harvey finally rushed to about 100 meters, he tripped over a stone under his feet and fell, after falling down, he did not rush to get up as soon as possible, but just lay on the ground and turned his head to look around, but found that there was no comrade within a few meters of the surrounding area could still stand.

The officer on horseback who had led them in the charge had already fallen to the ground, and even the horses had fallen to the ground and wailed.

Is it only yourself left?

At this moment, Harvey's heart was blank, this was not despair or panic, but he really couldn't figure out why he was the only one left now, where did his comrades go?

Raising his head a little higher, he looked behind him at the path of his charge, and in sight there were people all over the ground, some motionless, while others struggled to get up, and their mouths seemed to be shouting loudly, but in the battlefield of rumbling artillery, he could not hear the screams of those people.

For a moment, Harvey was stunned, what was going on? (To be continued......)