When he saw his own infantry phalanx advancing to a distance of 300 meters in the face of the shelling of the Jianghuai New Army, Shi Qingxuan, who was watching the battle with a telescope behind him, knew that the battle had entered the moment when the winner was about to be decided.

As long as the new Jianghuai army is completely defeated in this battle, then there is no Qing army in the whole of northern Jiangsu and even in Shandong that can stop the northern expedition of the Great China Wang Division, and it is easy to annihilate the enemy of Pizhou and seize northern Jiangsu, and it is not difficult to take Shandong, and it is not difficult to march into Henan, the hinterland of the Central Plains.

This battle is not only a turning point in his Shi Qingxuan's personal military career, but also a turning point in the overall strategy of the Chinese army, which cannot tolerate any failure!

And so far, the soldiers under his command have indeed not disappointed him, the cavalry unit dominated by the Second Cavalry Regiment has defeated the cavalry of the Jianghuai New Army, delayed the northward escape of the main force of the Jianghuai New Army, and forced Li Hongzhang to have a face-to-face decisive battle with himself.

Now their own infantry is even more brave the enemy's artillery bombardment, step by step, even if many soldiers have fallen on the way forward, but still they have not been able to stop the pace of advance!

When the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division on the left flank of the front approached 300 meters of the infantry phalanx of the Jianghuai New Army, a lieutenant colonel in command raised his command knife and shouted: "Shoot! ”

Just like the previous line operations of the Chinese army, relying on the range of the Mini rifle always fired first, although the hit rate of the salvo at a distance of 300 meters was a little poor, but more importantly, the soldiers of the Jianghuai New Army who used smoothbore guns on the opposite side could not hit them!

For a smoothbore gun to achieve an effective hit, it must go at least one hundred and fifty meters away. And if you want to exert enough power, you must enter at least a hundred meters of distance. It is best to completely crush the confidence of the enemy army, even to a distance of fifty meters.

However, the Chinese army, which uses Mini rifles, has no such concerns. Theoretically, the effective range of 500 yards was enough for the Chinese army to fire the first volley from three or four hundred meters away, of course, the salvo hit rate at this distance was quite low.

If you want to get a decent hit rate, you still have to enter within 300 meters, and it is best to reach a distance of less than 200 meters.

However, the problem is that although the hit rate is low within two or three hundred meters, it is a one-sided kill, and the enemy's infantry fire cannot hit itself, even if the hit rate is low, it is acceptable to fire at this distance.

In fact, this is why after the war. Not only did the Chinese army take the initiative to step forward, but the Jianghuai New Army also took the initiative to step forward, because it is not a secret that the range of the Chinese army's muskets far exceeds the range of its own muskets.

If you want to attack the infantry phalanx of the Chinese army, your own soldiers must get within one hundred and fifty meters!

When the first salvo of the 2nd Infantry Regiment of the 1st Division of the Chinese Army was fired, many people inevitably fell to the Jianghuai New Army on the opposite side, but this situation was also expected by the generals of the Jianghuai New Army. They did not flee because of the casualties, nor did they shoot, but continued to advance, and of course they advanced a little faster than the previous steady advance. Instead, trot forward while trying to maintain a tight formation.

For them, as long as they enter within 150 meters, or even within 100 meters. Well, although they are still at a certain disadvantage in terms of hit percentage, this weakness can be overcome. Because at that time, the rate of fire of each other will not change much, it will be two or three rounds a minute.

At the beginning, only one or two battalions of the JAC New Army trotted forward. But as the various infantry phalanxes of the Chinese army on the opposite side opened fire, more Jianghuai new army formations began to trot forward.

If someone who doesn't know about it sees it, it is estimated that they will think that the Jianghuai New Army is about to launch a charge now!

But who would have thought that they would run and move forward just to get close enough range to fire!

Time passed little by little, the various infantry phalanxes of the Jianghuai New Army continued to run, and the Chinese soldiers who fired guns one after another on the opposite side were one by one, carrying out mechanical and skillful loading, only to see them put the muzzle of the rifle up, directly tear it with their teeth, tear the paper wrapped in gunpowder, and then pour the gunpowder down, and then stuffed the hammer-shaped Mini bullet into it, and finally shot it along the muzzle with the throughbar, and then pulled out the throughbar after gently tamping it.

After reloading, one by one they raised their 1855 Linde rifles again, while a group of officers who were closely watching the loading of their own soldiers on the side estimated the time, and waited for about twenty-five seconds.

I saw the officer raise his saber again, and then shouted as he waved it: "Shoot!" ”

Deeply influenced by the British army in the early days of the Chinese army, that is, when Yu Shengjun was first established, coupled with the supervision of the main foreigners, that is, the current chief of the military training department, Hunter? Under William's influence, the Chinese army preferred to use salvo fire rather than rotational fire, and generally only carried out rotational fire when continuous firepower was needed and the enemy was not very strong.

And once the infantry of the two sides entered a head-on battle, the Chinese army liked to use a salvo, that is, three rows of soldiers in an infantry phalanx opened fire at the same time.

As for the statement that after firing a salvo, the two sides are too close and the reloading is too slow, and at the same time the reload is too slow, it can be said that in the tactical manual prepared by the Military Training Department, it can also be said to use Hunter? William's words were: when the last volley is over, it's time to launch a bayonet charge!

This tactic is also a kind of reproduction of the typical tactics of the British Army.

The only difference was that the British Army used to use smoothbore guns, so they would hold out for a long distance before firing a salvo, and then go straight to the bayonet.

For the Chinese army, it is because of the advantage of the range of weapons compared with other new armies in the country, so that they can shoot more rounds of salvos at a distance of two or three hundred meters, but in the final stage, it is the same, they all go directly to the bayonet after the last round.

The Chinese army likes to use salvo fire in line operations. However, this does not mean that the Chinese army will not be able to form sustained firepower on the battlefield, because this salvo does not mean a whole division. Or even a salvo of an entire army, but specifically to a certain infantry phalanx. One of the basic tactical infantry phalanxes of our time is the formation of infantry battalions.

In such a large-scale battle, one infantry battalion fired a salvo, but there were twelve infantry battalions in a whole division, so in a way, this salvo was actually a larger rotation.

The 1st and 3rd Divisions under the jurisdiction of the First Army are both old units in the Royal Army, not those new units that have just been formed for a few months. They are very experienced, and this combat mode is what they are best at.

I saw that they maintained a rate of fire of about 2.5 to 3 rounds per minute, and the infantry phalanx continued to fire, and in the process, they were inevitably subjected to continuous shelling from the Jianghuai New Army.

The soldiers of the Jianghuai New Army opposite them trotted forward, and many of them fell down as they ran, and then they could not get up again.

When the three salvos passed, because the wind on the battlefield was not too strong, the smoke emitted by a large number of rifle shots had already enveloped the entire battlefield, and many soldiers of the Chinese army could not even see the soldiers of the Jianghuai New Army on the opposite side. Not to mention aiming, they can't even see people.

When they fired, they could only see the flash of their own guns, and it was impossible to know whether they had hit the enemy or not.

At this time, those infantry officers on horseback fully exemplified the reason why they fought on horseback in this era. Because riding on a horse gives you a height advantage, you don't get obscured by the smoke emitted by the gunpowder smoke emitted by the soldier's shot.

In the era of black powder rifle warfare, the smoke emitted by guns after firing was a very annoying thing!

In order to get a good line of sight. An officer of the Chinese Army with the rank of colonel on his shoulder rode forward and arrived at the front of the military formation. Then command the troops on the spot to fight.

Just when the soldiers of the Chinese army were blocked by the smoke of gunpowder they had created, the soldiers of the Jianghuai New Army who were running had already stopped their pace one after another. Then, under the buckle of those officers of the Jianghuai New Army who were wearing civilian clothes and warm hats, waving the coming guns, they all pulled the trigger of the guns in their hands.

They finally hit the first round of shooting!

After the continuous sound of gunfire, the infantry phalanx of the Chinese army suffered mass casualties for the first time, and this casualty was greater than the shelling, although the sound of the shelling was terrifying, but the casualties were relatively limited, far from being comparable to the close range of rifle fire.

At this time, the Jianghuai New Army fired their first salvo at a distance of 100 meters, which was enough to inflict huge casualties on the Chinese army!

However, since the new Jianghuai army was able to rush forward with three salvos of the Chinese army, the Chinese army would naturally not collapse because of one volley of the enemy.

The gaps that were vacated by the fallen soldiers were soon replenished by soldiers in the back row!

And then it's just a matter of shooting!

At this time, the battlefield fell into a very strange calm, the soldiers on both sides gathered about 100 meters away, mechanical loading, aiming, shooting, these actions, dense and continuous gunfire even covered up the rumbling cannon.

The smoke in front of the infantry phalanx on both sides gradually thickened, and the soldiers could not even see the enemy troops on the opposite side, what was the situation, they were just performing various tactical maneuvers under the orders of the officers.

It was as if they were fighting like ghosts hidden in the mist, unable to hear or see the enemy, as if there was no one around but themselves and the rifles in their hands.

The infantry's line of fire was brutal, and they could not hide from the enemy's bullets, but had to stand straight and keep reloading, and then shoot until the enemy collapsed or their own side collapsed.

Whether it is the Chinese Army or the Jianghuai New Army, a large number of soldiers have fallen in pieces, the third infantry battalion of the second infantry regiment of the Chinese army at the front has suffered heavy casualties because it has been attacked by several battalions of the Jianghuai New Army on the opposite side, the three infantry companies have been almost wiped out, and several officers have also been concentrated and fell. Others clutched their wounds and howled in pain.

In the face of bullets, these officers, who seem to be superior to ordinary people, have nothing special, they will also be injured and will die!

Some of the remaining soldiers were already shaking, and their reloading was much slower than before, but under the orders of the surviving officers, they continued to reload and shoot.

They don't know how long they can repeat this action, maybe it's a minute, maybe five minutes, or maybe half an hour or more, and they have lost their sense of time, as if they have forgotten everything.

When a gust of autumn wind slowly blew through the battlefield and dispersed the smoke of gunpowder that had permeated the battlefield, there were only four officers and less than 300 soldiers in the 3rd Infantry Battalion of the 2nd Infantry Regiment who could still insist on commanding the battle.

After the smoke was blown away by the autumn wind, one soldier could see at a glance that the Jianghuai New Army on the opposite side was less than fifty meters away from them.

At this time, in the Jianghuai new army array opposite him, there was no longer the previous tight formation, only a messy hundred soldiers, and under their feet and behind them, there were corpses all over the ground! (To be continued......)