There was a deafening sound of artillery from the Qing army, and then the thunderous sound of rocket launches, and the shells also roared and hit the Ming army camp. There were also bursts of arrow rain, which also roared and arrived in front of the Ming army in the blink of an eye.
Many gunners of the Xiahezhai New Army who had no time to take cover were directly shot away by rockets. Several gunners from the Supervisory Biao Battalion were also hit by sharp arrows and rolled over. Iron balls whizzed into the Ming army's camp, either hitting the Ming army's outer defense line, or shooting directly into the inner defense line tents, hitting everywhere and making them confused.
Liu Yan saw that the musketeers or spearmen beside him were constantly hit by jumping cannonballs, and in a blink of an eye, their flesh and blood were bruised, and their arms and legs were broken. There was even a spearman whose head was blown away by a cannonball fired at an angle. The headless body spurted out streams of blood mist and fell to the ground. A shell from a red barbarian cannon even hit Lu Xiangsheng's Chinese army headquarters, opening a bloody path for the guards surrounding him.
In addition to these artillery shells, densely packed rockets also caused considerable casualties to the Ming army.
The direct fire power of the rockets was very powerful. The Ming army was protected by an earth wall from the Qing army's rays, so the situation inside was not very clear. The Ming army gunners at the gap in the earth wall were a good target. In addition to direct fire at these people, the remaining Qing soldiers who used rockets lit their rocket tubes one by one, raised their elevation angle, and covered the entire Ming army camp with fire.
Dense arrows rained down, and the new soldiers of Xiahe Village were all wearing fine full-body armor. Arrows fell from the sky. Many of them had several arrows stuck in their bodies, but fortunately, most of the arrows could not break through their armor. But the gunners of the Supervisory Battalion were different. They only wore breastplates and had no shield protection. Many of them were hit by arrows in their arms and fell down with a groan.
In the outer defense line of the New Army in Xiahe Village, there was blood everywhere and the wails of the wounded, especially those who were hit by artillery shells. They looked even more miserable. Many arrows even landed on Liu Yan's body, with several of them stuck in his armor.
Liu Yan was so stunned that his troops suffered a lot of losses from this attack by the Qing army. Due to the strict discipline of the new army in Xiahe Village, if they were caught off guard, bursts of commotion would inevitably occur. Presumably, the remaining Ming troops on both sides would suffer even greater casualties.
Liu Yan urgently sent someone to Lu Xiangsheng's Chinese military camp to ask for some shields to use as cover for his gunners who were not engaged in the battle. A large group of medical officers from the core defense line of the Ming army camp, protected by shield soldiers, also came out under the rain of arrows and carried the injured one by one to the back of the camp.
Liu Yan issued an even louder order: "Gunner, shoot down the Tatar artillery!"
"Rocketman, shoot down the Tartar rockets!"
Amid Liu Yan's orders, bursts of rockets exploded, and the rocket launchers of the Xiahezhai New Army fired rockets at the Qing army's positions from the space of the earth wall. The two sides exchanged fire for a while. . After all, the rockets in the mainland of the Ming Dynasty cannot be compared with the rockets in the Jiubianxuan army.
The most they use are large rockets with thirty rounds such as flying guns, flying knives, and flying swords. The quality is not comparable, especially compared with the most elite rocket equipment in the three towns. Many of their rockets cannot fire, they can only go up to 300 steps after launch, and their lethality is very weak.
The Xiahe Village New Army's Hundred Tigers Rush rockets, each bundle contains one hundred rounds, have a longer range and are more powerful. Every time a huge thunder exploded, there was a hail of whizzing arrows. Coupled with the attention of the entire army, we had defensive cover. This exchange of fire quickly suppressed those Qing army rocket launchers.
At this time, Qian Qian was extremely angry. He had been caught off guard and lost several more of his gunners. Fortunately, there were still one or two gunners beside each gun. He hid behind the earth wall, calmly estimated the direction of the Qing artillery on the opposite side, and quickly calculated the data distance. Under his order, the five Tiger Cannons adjusted their muzzles together.
There were also several gunners beside each of the five Hongyi six-pound guns in the Superintendent's Battalion. Under the gunner's orders, they also quickly adjusted. It seems that they learned from the experience of the Xiahezhai New Army's volley shooting. The artillery team sent an order not to fire the artillery alone. They followed his orders and opened fire in bursts.
There are about thirty artillery pieces of the Qing army on the opposite side, most of which are Folangji medium-sized artillery. Their range and power are similar to those of the Folangji medium-sized artillery of Dubiao Camp. Five of them were Hongyi six-pound cannons and three-pound cannons. It was not known where they were captured.
After the salvo just now, the captured Ming army gunners were busy loading their ammunition. At this moment, their quality was distinguished from the gunners of the Dubiao Battalion and the Xiahezhai New Army. Obviously, they could not be compared with the gunners of the Dubiao Battalion and the Xiahezhai New Army.
These captured Ming army artillerymen did not understand the situation of the Ming army behind the earth wall, and they just fired randomly at the camp. Knowing that after the previous shelling, the gunners of the Ming army on the opposite side must have targeted them, they all looked panicked, and their reloading speed slowed down even more.
"put!"
In the new army formation of Xiahe Village, the five Tiger Cannons roared together and spewed out large amounts of gunpowder smoke.
After such a long time, the captured Ming army gunners on the opposite side had not loaded their ammunition. A large iron ball roared towards them, with dozens of small balls flying around. The gunners were immediately beaten to pieces, and even Less than half of those artillery pieces were destroyed on the spot, and the remaining Qing troops and gunners were so frightened that they no longer dared to shoot so close and retreated one after another.
The miserable sight of the gunners beside them made the remaining gunners tremble with fear. Under the threat of the Qing troops behind the shield vehicles, they had no choice but to load and shoot. After finally firing the remaining artillery pieces, there was another scream from the gunners.
The Folang machine needs to be loaded with the most caution. Although the rear-loading sub-gun reloads quickly, the mother-gun must be tightly aligned. Otherwise, the anger will be released quickly, and the hot gas will burn the gunner beside him to serious injuries, or even kill him on the spot.
These captured Ming army gunners had neglected their training on weekdays. They were so flustered at this time that few of them were qualified in loading muskets. It is most normal for the Domen Folan machine gun to leak out its fire.
The scalded gunners were rolling on the ground screaming, and suddenly there was a loud bang, like thunder on the ground. A large area of the Qing army and the captured Ming army gunners were blown to pieces, but a gun The gunner of the Hongyi six-pounder failed to load the gun properly. In a panic, he filled in too much gunpowder. The gun exploded on the spot, killing all the soldiers in the surrounding area. Even several Qing army shield vehicles were overturned. land.
Seeing the situation on the side of the Qing soldiers, the new army in Xiahezhai burst out laughing. At this time, the artillery of Qian Qian and others was loaded with ammunition again, and together with the artillery of the Dubiao Battalion, they fired another salvo. The artillery was completely mute.
The loud noise also alarmed Dorgon and others behind the formation. After hearing the situation in front, Dorgon thought for a while and said lightly: "Those captured Ming gunners are useless. It seems that they will have to compete with Ming gunners in the future." In the battle with muskets, we have to use the gunners from the respectful king’s camp!”
"But those rockets from the Ming Dynasty are still good! He ordered the Qing army's shield vehicles to continue to meet them."
The Qing army's shield vehicles were densely surrounded on three sides, one layer after another. I don't know how many tanks they used to cover up. Two hundred steps later, the Qing army was getting closer and closer. The volleys of artillery fire from Xuan's army had stopped, and Qian Chong had ordered all the Hu Zun cannons in the army to be replaced with shotgun shells.
The five Hongyi six-pound cannons of the Superintendent's Battalion were also replaced with shotgun shells. Compared with the Franco machine guns, their shotguns have a larger loading capacity, and their shotgun range is more than 200 steps. These Hongyi six-pound cannons have been pushed down from the high platform and moved to the gaps in several earth walls.
The artillery officer of the Supervisory Biao Battalion has already discussed with Qian Qian. Later, everyone will fire a volley of shotguns to deal a heavy blow to the Tatar soldiers on the opposite side.
One hundred and fifty steps, suddenly the sound of passionate war drums came from the Qing army's formation. Countless Qing soldiers shouted and pushed their chariots. All the flags were raised high at once, and it was suddenly as dark as a dark cloud. The Qing troops surrounded on three sides were like waves, overwhelming and rushing towards the Xuanda camp.
"Brothers, stay calm and listen to my orders. Wait until the Tatar soldiers get closer before firing!"
Qian Qian hid behind the earth wall and jumped up and down, while nervously staring at the Qing soldiers on the other side of the wall, watching the chariot flags of them rushing towards them like an ocean. In the cold weather, he couldn't help but sweat on his head.
In the defense line of the new army in Xiahezhai, all the artillery in the gaps in the earth wall had their muzzles leveled. Under the protection of the shields of the sword and shield soldiers, the gunners nervously looked at the rushing Qing soldiers, while raising their heads. He raised his ears and waited for Qian Qian's order.
Although the defense line of the new army in Xiahe Village led by Liu Yan was long, there were only five channels for the Qing army to charge, which were more than ten steps wide. The remaining earth walls were lined with trenches and low walls. At least one Franco machine gun and a squatting tiger gun were mounted in the gaps in these earthen walls. There are two slightly wide passages in the middle, and there are two Franco machine guns and two tiger squatting guns. In front of the remaining artillery pieces, there were no passages, only a few deep trenches.
Chen Xun's men, who were guarding the earthen wall, had hundreds of gunmen. They were divided into three rows. The front gunners placed their fireguns on the earthen wall in dense layers, nervously watching the Qing army's shield vehicles charging towards them.
With Liu Yan's arrangement, most of the gunners will serve as side firepower on both sides of the passage. Due to his habit of shooting with his right hand, Liu Yan had already ordered that when the battle started, the gunman on the right side of the gap would shoot to the left.
General Chen Xun, who was in charge of the defense, broke out in a cold sweat when he saw the power of the Qing troops attacking outside the wall. He inhaled and shouted back and forth: "Boys, stay calm. Wait until the brothers from the artillery team fire." beat!"
In the blink of an eye, the densely packed tanks of the Qing soldiers rushed over a hundred paces. It seemed that groups of Qing army archers came out from behind the tanks, holding captured Ming army rocket launchers and fire sticks, and they were about to light them on the gunners at the gap in the earth wall. shooting.
"fire!"
As Qian Qian screamed at the top of his lungs, the ground shook, and huge plumes of sharp gunpowder smoke rose up. Amidst the deafening sound of artillery, all the artillery on the Xiahezhai defense line opened fire at once.
Like a huge gust of wind blowing, amidst the roar of dense lead pellets and iron bullets, many refined chariots of the Qing soldiers were knocked to the ground. Behind them were layers of Qing army archers or auxiliary soldiers. After being swept to the ground, dense blood holes appeared on everyone's body.
The sound of firecrackers like exploding beans rang out. Except for these passages, the remaining Qing army chariots could no longer advance after sixty or seventy steps in front of the earth wall.
Here, they encountered the obstruction of the Ming army's low wall trenches. The Qing army archers flashed out from both sides of the chariot and shot desperately at the new army gunners in Xiahe Village behind the earthen wall. Some of them kept firing the captured Ming army rockets.
Thick layers of Qing sword and shield bearers wearing heavy armor rushed away from behind the low wall, and all of them fell into the deep trench behind the low wall. The sharp wooden thorns inside immediately stabbed them into meat skewers. Since the Ming army covered the battlefield first, the Qing soldiers could not get close to the defense line and did not know much about the Ming army's layout. Who knew there was a deep trench behind the low wall?
This kind of low-wall trench is easy to cross, but the earth wall is extremely difficult to cross, especially for horses. This continuous hurdle can be said to be a difficult action. Just want to dig out the low wall. This kind of extremely hard earth wall is really a huge amount of work. Maybe they could boil the water, but obviously, the Ming army on the opposite side wouldn't let them boil the water calmly.
There were too many Qing soldiers rushing towards them. Soon, they almost filled up the trench in front of them. Needless to say, all the people inside were trampled to a pulp.
Several trenches continued to roll down the Qing soldiers who filled the trenches. These heavy armored soldiers of the Qing army who desperately climbed the wall and crossed the ditch were beaten to death in front of the earth wall by Xiahe Village gunmen. Their hot blood flowed out, forming a place of flesh and blood between several low walls.
Some people died, but not completely...
