That's it, maybe because I heard about the quarrel between my subordinate henchman and my son, or maybe for some other reason. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoAll in all, Kalman IV simply and easily took back the military power that originally belonged to Franz and Archduke Charles. Then he commanded his own troops to attack.

Of course, this time it was not the Lombards who were about to be crushed at the slightest touch, but His Majesty's elite troops - of course, not the Emperor's Praetorian Guard, three infantry regiments with flintlock bayonets. Rather, it was a unit equipped with a large number of flintlock muskets mixed with extra-long guns.

In total, more than thirty companies, nearly five thousand soldiers, under the cover of the flanks of two light cavalry regiments, launched an attack on the Hereford family army. At the same time, with the arrival of Kalman IV, the artillery units of the Imperial Army were also strengthened. Three-pounder cavalry guns, six-pounder, nine-pounder, twelve-pounder infantry guns, and eighteen- and twenty-four-pounder army heavy artillery were all available. These cannons formed the vast artillery cluster of the Imperial Army, and under the command of the experienced and well-trained artillery commanders of the Imperial Army, a rain of metal poured down on the lines of the Hereford family.

The enemy's infantry and artillery coordinated very well - or the opposing infantry was very afraid of death, and did not care at all about the risk of being accidentally injured by their own artillery units, so they moved forward quickly in the face of their own artillery bombardment.

Under these circumstances, William could not, or rather at all, order his own infantry units to hide in the trenches behind, for this would give the opposing cavalry and infantry a chance.

"Damn, if I had a couple of mackins here...... No, even Gatling can. If anything, where is the turn to get these bastards arrogant here. William thought to himself. But it's just a thought. Despite the continuous progress of our own industry, there are still some deficiencies in metal smelting and alloy industry. Materials science is the least scientific science. It takes a lot of experimentation to get results. In this case, the metal smelting, the alloy industry, of the Hereford family, is not much stronger than the rest of the continent.

Without good enough materials, there are no good enough items. Don't expect to make a Maxim machine gun out of ordinary wrought iron or steel. That's it.

The Hereford army's infantry could only hold their ground under the constant artillery bombardment of the opponent - those breastwork, probably tens of centimeters of rammed earth, could hold out the muskets to some extent. But it was impossible to stop the artillery—even the lightest three-pounder gun. These guns, which differ in pounds and have equally different ranges and ballistics, form a very three-dimensional artillery network. It looked like it was going to plow the entire Herriford family's position.

The shells bounced off the frozen ground and slammed into the breastwork, smashing it down and killing several Hereford soldiers behind it. Very domineering, very unreasonable. Bloody alleys continue to appear in the army of the Hereford family. Soldiers' casualties also began to grow.

"The artillery power of the opposing side suppressed the artillery power of our army. It's terrible. William thought to himself. At the same time, looking at the infantry units on the opposite side - these Gothic mercenaries are ruthless characters - whether they were "bombarded" by the opposite Hereford artillery and cleared a clearing, or occasionally hit by their own artillery from behind them, they all made a silent and silently persisted. This kind of willingness, insistence on dedication made William look very emotional.

But it's just an emotion.

If he could, William expected all his enemies to be as weak as the Lombards. That's good for everybody......

And so, next to the artillery, the enemy of these thirty companies came within seventy paces, and then no longer advanced, but raised the flintlock pistol in his hand and began to shoot-

As with the Hereford family's troops, these musketeers used three-stage firing -- they were only half as numerous as the Hereford family -- I mean the number of musketeers in each company -- a company, one hundred and fifty men, half of which were musketeers, and the remaining half were extra-long pikemen.

However, the number of enemy musketeers in thirty companies also exceeded two thousand, which was about the same as the number of troops of the Hereford family......

However, the level of training and reload speed are very problematic.

The flintlock musketeers of the Hereford family could reload in twelve to fifteen seconds and fire four to five times in a minute. Coupled with the three-stage shooting method, the musket attack can be said to be almost continuous.

And the enemy was different - because the previous armies were not in the same proportions. Therefore, more than half of the so many musketeers were actually not professional musketeers at the beginning of the war, but super-long pikemen. Their exposure to muskets was very short, and neither the accuracy of their shooting nor the speed of reloading were comparable to those of Hereford's musketeers, who had been trained for at least half a year.

They're thankful that they can reach a reload in twenty seconds...... Therefore, on the battlefield where the musketeers on both sides stood in a row and then fired intensively, the Hereford family army still had a huge advantage. In the process, large numbers of Imperial musketeers were knocked to the ground in rows as if they had been cut wheat. Many companies were almost wiped out in the process, and the few remaining soldiers screamed and turned around and ran away like crazy.

However,

Yes, and yet - and yet, in the process, the casualties of the Hereford family army remained high!

The scenes that used to be able to annihilate thousands of enemies, or more, with negligible losses on their own side are no longer seen - even if they are not fast enough to reload, even if the muskets are not very accurate. Even without a bayonet, this is a very convenient and very useful weapon of mass destruction. But they can also be regarded as line infantry in the end, in the end, and in the end. They used the same musket salvo tactics. Their bullets can also knock the Hereford soldiers to the ground as quickly as they would cut wheat.

"Three to one—no, maybe a little less, two-eight-two-five? Finally, I saw it, and I was shot in line, this is the legendary line to be shot." William watched his soldiers fall down with convulsions as if they had been electrocuted, and his heart quickly calculated. The last thing he wanted was to see the scene finally appeared, and the enemy began to use the same tactics as he did, albeit only a little, a little change. And they still have a comparative advantage. But as long as the course of this battle spreads today, William believes that there will definitely be a large number of imitators among the nations of the human world.

"But it's also a matter of course. William tried to keep himself calm: "Although this tactic cannot be said to be commonplace, it is very simple to imitate. I knew for a long time that this tactic could not be taken as a trump card. Otherwise, you will die a terrible death. ”

It was in this situation that the infantry at the forefront of both sides was rapidly reducing their numbers like garbage consumables. William thought desperately about what to do - what if he charged with bayonets now, what if he retreated now, what if he sent out a light cavalry regiment in his hand and attacked?

But after thinking about it a little, he knew that no matter which choice or result, it was actually "not good".

The opposing side had two regiments of cuirassiers guarding the flanks. Whether it is a bayonet charge or a light cavalry regiment sent out, it will be met by these two cuirassier regiments. And if you retreat now, then the opponent's army will chase after you, and you will face the possibility of being overwhelmed by the opponent.

Finally, what happens if your troops stay the same?

"To maintain the status quo ante is to maintain the status quo. William thought to himself: "I have more than two regiments of infantry and one regiment of cavalry...... Even if you fill it all with oil, it won't do much - damn it!"

Even as William was desperately thinking about what to do next, on the opposite side, in the Imperial army, Emperor Kalman IV smiled happily - although in fact he could also see that the losses of his own troops were actually at least twice as high as those of the enemy. But he was still very happy - the effect was much better than the previous General Franz's three-to-one battle loss ratio. In other words, sure enough, it is still his own command ability that is the best and the best. Neither General Franz nor his son Charlie could compare. That's all he wants.

"Look, they can't hold it anymore. His Majesty the Emperor commented in an arrogant, dismissive tone about the Hereford army across from them: "We have suppressed the enemy. Just reduce the number of enemy forces to a certain extent. You can start a charge. The victory in this battle belonged to the empire, to the Swabian family. ”

“...... You are the greatest commander of all time, my majesty. Beside him, General Franz said calmly.

In spite of his reluctance, for example, if I had been given so many flintlock pistols and cuirassiers, I would have been able to accomplish this tactic. But he was still very smart and very rational and did not say it, but praised it, or slapped the emperor's ass.

"Hahahaha......" Sure enough, after being praised like this, His Majesty the Emperor laughed hahahaha. He looked very happy: "Overdone, overdone, my general." I don't deserve such a great title. ”

"No, you deserve it, after this war is over, after the defeat of the rebellion of House Hereford, then this matter will be known as the truth. On the other side, his son, Archduke Charles, was not to be outdone.

"Well, we'll talk about that then. ”

To the surprise of Archduke Charles, or rather the unpleasantness of the words, which he thought would make Kalman IV happy, did not achieve any effect, and after hearing this, Kalman IV's expression was calm, and even looked a little dissatisfied.

The Emperor probably noticed it too. General Franz, who was watching from the sidelines, immediately made a judgment: "This war cannot be won." There is no way for the Empire to defeat the Hereford family. The Emperor should have already begun to think about how to end this war and bring this to an end with dignity. ”