The sound of rolling thunder resounded in the sky, half of the sky was also dyed red by artillery fire, and countless shells whistled, flying out of the French position, viciously smashing into the top of Daqing Mountain. The heavy artillery on the top of the hill is also constantly returning color.

The fire was pouring wildly, the entire hilltop was enveloped in a dense barrage, and the entire position was filled with smoke. The sound of heavy explosions and the shrill sound of shrapnel mixed together, and the sand and gravel were blown into the air, obscuring the sky and the sun, making the position dark, and the strong smell of sulfur was even more suffocating. The soldiers could only cower in their fortifications and endure it, allowing themselves to be buried by the scattered debris and ash.

The heavy artillery fire seems to be endless, and there will never be an end. All the people covered their ears and prayed to God: God, stop! The French of dog days, why haven't the shells been fired yet?

Finally the rumbling of the cannon gradually stopped, and the soldiers hurriedly shook off the dust on their heads and called out to their comrades to help them bandage their wounds or let them dig themselves out of the collapsed fortifications.

Everyone quickly checked the guns and ammunition, and the enemy charge was about to begin.

Frey was no longer in the mood to make any further temptations, and immediately launched a massive charge. Under the cover of heavy artillery, the infantry regiment commanded by Colonel Despére, the hunting infantry regiment of Nivel, and an Algerian infantry battalion drawn from other units, a total of more than 3,000 troops, swooped down on the hill like a large dense field of beetles, all over the slopes.

When the French rushed to 500 meters in front of the position, there was a shout from the position, "Fight!" The light and heavy firepower in the hilltop position immediately came together, and the roaring flames swept the hillside, and the French army immediately fell down in response, and the rest of the officers and soldiers quickly lay down and launched a confrontation with the hill.

The fierce battle continued, and the French machine guns exerted terrifying firepower, constantly strafing the front of the position, so that the defenders could not easily raise their guns to aim, and many people were buried in their heads and raised their guns with both hands to shoot, which naturally affected the accuracy of shooting. Under the cover of fire, the French troops crawled forward, gradually approaching the top of the hill, and finally launched another charge at a hundred meters. With a tsunami-like shout, the French army rushed up the hill.

Feng Zicai had long been prepared for the tactics of the French army, knowing that the other side was accustomed to artillery cover, and then the infantry charged, and Zuihou settled the battle in a white-knuckle battle. Therefore, he dug two trenches at an angle of 45 degrees on both sides of the flanks of the position, forming flank fire.

Seeing that the army was about to rush into the position, Feng Zicai ordered the troops to temporarily retreat a hundred meters, and at this time, the French army shouted and rushed in. At the head were the bravest Algerian infantry, the Muslim soldiers who frantically shouted: "Oua Akbar! Oua Akbar! Like a martyr, he rushed forward as if he were at home.

"Oua" means Allah in Arabic and "Akbar" means greatness, and they chant Allah for greatness in order to ask God for protection.

But apparently at this moment, they were not protected, and on the two slopes of the two flanks, more than a thousand Guards soldiers, who had long been in battle, were divided into two squads, and the first squad immediately fired a field of crossfire, and they hardly had to aim, only to cover the position with fire. The dense rain of bullets swept through the enemy ranks like two huge sickles.

A large number of fierce screams followed, and the more than 100 Algerian infantrymen who rushed into the position were almost invariably knocked down. In particular, the terrible metal bullets of the Mauser rifle sharply pierced the people in front and hit the people in the back, and all of them were like grasshoppers on the line, skewered by the trajectory of the bullets one by one.

The Mauser Model 1871 was still a single-shot rifle, at which point the soldiers of the first squad began to unchamber and reload, and the soldiers of the second squad prepared to shoot.

The follow-up French troops rushed into the position, and they were greeted by a terrible rain of bullets. A large number of people lay down on top of each other, which made the people behind them feel terrified, and there was a fault in the attack.

Then the defenders who had withdrawn immediately raised their bayonets, rushed up to the wounded, still struggling and moaning French soldiers, all of them stabbed and stabbed in the face, and the tragic screams were heartbreaking.

The French army was taken aback by such a rapid and large number of casualties, and the commander of the attack, Despere, had to temporarily stop the attack. By this time, it was already past noon, and the French troops were lying down three or four hundred meters in front of the position, relying on the folds and potholes of the hillside, and were in a stalemate with the Chinese defenders, while at the same time requesting further fire support from the rear.

Moments later, guided by the hot air balloon, the French again concentrated their artillery fire and bombarded the hilltop position. But this shelling was very different, all the ammunition was tilted on the two trenches that were inclined to the slope. The French artillerymen showed excellent operational skills, and the fire was accurate and did not affect their own troops on the hillside in the slightest.

The soldiers of the Guards were shrouded in gunsmoke, choking on the smell of gunpowder, coughing incessantly, and some even burst their eardrums by nearby explosions, and a trace of blood hung on their ears, and the whole position seemed to be plowed. Such a fierce bombardment caused heavy casualties among the officers and men of the Guards, and Feng Zicai had to order the troops to abandon the trench and temporarily retreat.

In a section of the trench, sharpshooter Wang Hui was also crawling out of the collapsed trench with difficulty, and before he could stand up straight, there was a "boom", a shell exploded not far away, and the air wave overturned him, his ears "buzzed", and a large pile of sand and stones pressed on his body. Just when he was in a daze, his arm shook, and a strong big hand pulled him up, it was the squad leader, and shouted at him: "Retreat!" ＂

Wang Hui knelt on the ground and groped around. The head of the class was furious: "How many are you touching blindly?" Why don't you hurry up and run? ＂

Wang Hui finally touched it, it was a Colt revolver, which was a special reward he received after his last meritorious service. He inserted the gun back into his waist and followed the squad leader backwards.

Soon retreated more than 200 meters, jumped into another trench, and the squad leader said: "It's safe!" The French of the dog day, the cannon is accurate, and when he says that he will hit the front, he will hit the front, and he will not fly here. ＂

Wang Hui looked back, and there were only two people left in his class, him and the squad leader.

No sooner had the Chinese defenders been driven away from the hill front by artillery fire than thousands of French troops, who had been reinforced, pounced again. As soon as it emerged from the front of the position, a rain of bullets struck, and the two dozen or so people in the front row immediately fell and rolled down like stones. But the men behind barely stopped and continued to rush up, while at the same time starting to lay a light artillery piece in place.

This is not a Haqi Kaisi machine gun, but a 1.65-inch mountain gun of Haqi Kaisi, which is not only powerful, but also has a certain arc of ballistics, similar to future mortars. Its weight was only 167 kilograms, and after disassembling the girders, wheels, gun bodies, etc., several French soldiers carried them directly on their backs.

The French continued their charge as they assembled, and soon rushed through the two battered trenches and pounced forward.

The defenders fought back angrily, bursts of guns were fired, the Chinese soldiers were united, coupled with the superiority in numbers, and finally blocked the French army, and after shooting for a while, the French army whistled and suddenly retreated, and the soldiers in front thought that the French army could not support it, and they were overjoyed, and many people immediately jumped out of the trench and went to pursue.

Wang Hui saw that the squad leader also jumped out, and also went out, but before he could stand firmly, he was pushed back to the trench by the squad leader: "Stinky boy, you are accurate in marksmanship, stay here, don't do this bayonet work!" ＂

At this time, the change was sudden, and there was a burst of "woo" sounds, and the squad leader's face changed greatly, and he turned his head and shouted, "Lie down!" ＂

Before the words fell, the rumbling sound rang out overwhelmingly. The blast wave overturned Wang Hui in the trench and lay on the ground, with sand and soil flying in front of him, and it was dark.

It turned out that the French army had already assembled more than a dozen mountain guns, and as soon as the troops on both sides opened up the distance, a volley of artillery bombarded them.

Wang Hui lay down for a while, and immediately struggled to get up, covered in sand and like a native man, he climbed out to find the squad leader. After fumbling for a few seconds, he touched a head in the dirt and rocks, and he quickly pulled for a while, revealing the squad leader with his eyes lowered.

Wang Hui pulled the squad leader's two arms and dragged them out, dragged them a few times and couldn't move, turned around and half-knelt on the ground, put the squad leader's hand on his shoulder, gritted his teeth and pulled out. After a hard time, he finally pulled it out, Wang Hui's heart was relieved, and when he looked back at the squad leader, he screamed, his voice was terrible, it turned out that he pulled out only the upper body of the squad leader, and the lower half of his body had been blown away!