The Ming army's artillery array roared continuously, and countless poisonous bombs and gray bombs fell on the first line of defense of the Qing army. The poisonous smoke and lime spread everywhere, almost covering the entire defense line, giving a huge blow to the troops stationed in these places. The Qing army caused great shock and a large number of casualties.
Those soldiers of the Qing army were running around in the poisonous smoke and lime mist. Even if they did not die on the spot, they would inevitably suffer from various diseases in the future. The poisonous smoke bombs and gray bombs of the Ming army were actually the "dirty bombs" of this era, which would cause irreparable damage to Qing soldiers for life.
At the same time, there were dozens of trebuchets in the Ming army's artillery array. Although the Ming army was dominated by firearms at this time, trebuchets still had a place on the battlefield.
All those trebuchets threw thunderbolts. Although the thunderbolts equipped by various departments of the Ming army were not as good as the new ones used by the new army in Qinglai Town, they were more successful because they were large in quantity. Under the intensive throwing, the thunderbolts were everywhere in the Qing army's defense line. It was an explosion.
There were mostly iron nails, iron caltrops and other objects inside the Thunderbolt. With the help of the explosion wave, it flew everywhere within the Qing army's defense line. Even the armors of the elite soldiers of the Eight Banners could not withstand it. The Qing Dynasty around the explosion point Soldiers fell in droves.
In the hot weather at this time, coupled with the poisonous smoke surrounding them, as long as these Qing soldiers were scratched by the fragments of the thunder, even if they were not fatal injuries, it would be enough to cause their wounds to become inflamed and pus, making the Qing army similar to Regardless of the medical level of the great masters, the best outcome for those wounded Qing soldiers would be amputation and disability, and the most likely outcome would be death after being tortured by infection.
Hundreds of mortars from the Ming army's artillery array continued to fire. The Qing army on the first line of defense in Huangtu Ridge was in chaos, and all banners and departments suffered heavy casualties. People were either running around with their eyes closed, or wrapping their heads and faces tightly with various cloth tapes. Many people's eyes only had a tiny gap exposed to prevent the poisonous smoke from invading.
As soon as everyone heard or saw artillery shells coming, they would all scream and run away. No matter how angry and shouting those generals such as Bashiku and Jia Lazhangjing were, it was useless.
What's even more terrible is that at this time, the Ming army's Hongyi cannon had finished cooling down and started firing again. Huge solid iron balls kept flying in, hitting various parts of the village wall hard.
Poison bombs, gray bombs, thunderbolts, and solid artillery shells were fired in succession. The Qing army on the first line of defense in Huangtu Ridge, especially in the pier and platform area of the Empress Temple, showed signs of collapse.
Liu Yan looked at the Huangtu Ridge in the distance with the help of a telescope, and sighed in his heart: "Who explains that the firepower of the Ming army is weak? As long as the various departments of the Ming army dare to fight, as long as the quality of the firearms equipped by the Ming army passes the standard, judging from the strong firepower of the Ming army in this era , the Qing army has no chance of winning, at least it has no ability to enter the pass and sweep the world! It's a pity..."
While Liu Yan was thinking about himself, Huang Taiji and others on the mountain city of Rufeng Mountain were extremely anxious, including Dorgon, Duoduo, Jin Zidian, Shi Tingzhu and others on the pier of the East Ridge of Huangtu Ridge. , it was also so hard to see that my eyes were about to burst.
From Huang Taiji down, no one on the Qing army could have imagined that the Ming army's artillery fire would be so fierce. Hundreds of artillery pieces of various types seemed to be bombarding them like crazy. When did the Ming army have such powerful firepower and fighting spirit?
At this time, Shi Tingzhu, who was already full of blood, saw that his men suffered heavy casualties. He could no longer bear it. He grabbed Kong Youde's armor and roared loudly: "Where is your artillery? Why don't you fire? Do you have to wait?" What's the use of firing artillery when all the warriors are dead?"
Like the angry Shi Tingzhu, the Han army's Zhen Liu Zhiyuan with red flags on Gushan'e, Zhenzu Zerun with Zhenglan flag on Gushan'e, and Zhen Wu Shojin with white flags on Gushan'e were all extremely dissatisfied with Kong Youde.
Although everyone knew that Kong Youde had no right to decide whether the artillery of Wuzhenchaoha Camp should fire or not, only Dorgon gave the order. But they knew that they were all slaves, how could they dare to say one more word to Dorgon? So everyone's anger was vented on Kong Youde.
At this time, Kong Youde was also gritting his teeth and hating the Ming army's artillery, because the first line of defense in Huangtu Ridge also had gunners from his Wuzhenhachao Battalion. Those elite gunners were difficult to train, and now they also suffered a lot of casualties. How about Kong Youde? Don't feel bad?
At this time, Kong Youde pushed the stone pillar away and roared: "Prince Ruijun has an order: the Ming army can only fire artillery within two miles, do you want to disobey!"
Shi Tingzhu and others did not dare to say anything anymore, they just glared at Kong Youde and gritted his teeth. At this time, even Duduo felt that he could fire. After all, his own army could not fight back just after being beaten, and this was not the way to go.
Duduo was about to persuade, but he saw Dorgon glanced at everyone coldly and said: "Send the order: The Eight Banners Manzhou Zhengbai Banner Zhang Zhangjing goes to the front line to supervise the battle. Anyone who dares to disobey the military order and retreat in panic, regardless of the armored soldiers or miscellaneous Regardless of whether they are Eight Banners Manchus, Mongols, Han, or Korean generals, they will all be killed on the spot!"
Then, Dorgon said to Kong Youde: "The Wuzhenchaoha camp will not be able to fire until the Ming army enters within two miles. Anyone who fires in advance without authorization will be killed without mercy!"
At this time, no one dared to say another word. On the other side of the first line of defense, under the strong pressure of the Eight Banners Manchuria Zhengbai Banner Baya La soldiers, the soldiers of the Qing army stationed there stabilized slightly, although they were still retreating as a whole. , but they have stabilized their position and began to re-enter the defense line from a small number to a large number.
At the same time, many handyman coats took wet cloths and covered the faces of the armored soldiers on the front line. However, this could only reduce the damage caused by the Ming army's poison bombs and gray bombs, but could not completely offset it. It could only be better than nothing.
The poison bombs and gray bombs fired by the Ming army's mortars had obvious effects. After multiple waves of attacks, the Qing army's Manchu, Mongolian and Han banners, as well as Korean soldiers and horses, had killed nearly 2,000 people, and many more were injured. Although the injured Most of them can continue to fight, but their combat effectiveness will decline over time, and they will eventually become useless.
This is only the casualties of soldiers in the Qing army. There are also quite a few casualties among the generals of the Qing army at all levels. Jingning Erjia, the manchurian white flag Niulu Zhang, was seriously injured and lost his left arm. Fende Bashiku was hit by a gray bullet. , blind. A Han soldier who was holding a white flag, Niu Lu Zhangjing, inhaled an overdose of poisonous smoke and died of convulsions all over his body. His expression was distorted when he died, and he obviously suffered great pain. There were also several deputy lieutenants and staff lieutenants of the North Korean army who either had their hands or feet broken off, or were attacked by poison bombs and gray bombs, and could not move at all.
At this time, the defenders in the first line of defense suffered heavy casualties, with the number of dead and injured troops reaching four to five thousand. Dorgon did not dare to neglect after receiving the news, and hurriedly dispatched another two thousand troops to support.
The two thousand reinforcements were also frightened at this time. Everyone saw the miserable situation of the first line of defense. At this time, these reinforcements had covered their mouths and noses with cloth strips, but they were still frightened in their hearts and rushed to support them. .
Near the Dongling Pier, there is a huge artillery position of the Qing army. Dozens of large-caliber Hongyi cannons are deployed here. Directly opposite the muzzles is the Ming army's formation at the foot of the mountain.
These dozens of Hongyi cannons are heavy cannons that weigh more than 4,000 kilograms and can fire about ten kilograms of shells. They have a range of about three miles and are extremely powerful.
At this time, next to an artillery piece, a Portuguese man named Meleses, who was in his thirties, looked at the roaring Ming army artillery array in the distance, with disbelief written on his face.
“It’s incredible that this Eastern country has so many powerful and diverse artillery pieces!”
Melesese was a Portuguese, who was also known as Franco at this time. He had seen the battlefields of Western artillery. At this time, looking at the powerful artillery of the Ming army and the large number of heavy artillery carried by the Qing army, the Portuguese's The worldview begins to collapse. 33
Because in the Western concept at this time, neither the Ming Dynasty nor the Manchu Qing Dynasty could compete with the West in terms of firearms. However, in this battle, the number of artillery assembled by both sides and the power of these artillery have far exceeded that of Europe. The military strength of each country has increased.
"Even if all the heavy artillery in Europe were gathered together, there would probably not be as many artillery pieces as there are on both sides at this time!"
Melesese was originally a foreign mercenary recruited by Sun Yuanhua, and together with him, there were more than two hundred Portuguese soldiers. Sun Yuanhua recruited people to train the Ming army in Dengzhou, hoping to build an elite artillery and firearms force.
However, following Kong Youde's Dengzhou Rebellion, this foreign mercenary was dragged to Liaodong by the rebel army. In the end, more than a hundred people who survived, together with Meleses, became prisoners of the Manchus.
Now Meleseth has brought more than a hundred of his compatriots to serve the Qing army, serving as an assistant leader in the Wuzhenchaoha camp, specializing in training gunners for the Qing army.
Meleseth looked at the situation at the first line of defense down the mountain and saw that after the two thousand reinforcements rushed in, they immediately dispersed everywhere to reduce the casualties from the shelling.
"If European soldiers faced such fierce artillery fire, they would have collapsed long ago, but these Tatars can still persist. It's incredible!"
Meleseth has been in the East for more than ten years, and he still has a good impression of the Ming Dynasty. He believes that the Ming Dynasty is a mature civilization that is comparable to the famous European civilization, and is not a backward savage tribe like the Native Americans.
But what Meleseth didn't expect was that the Ming Dynasty, a mature civilized empire, was defeated repeatedly by the Tatars in the north. It was incredible!
Now Meleseth has been captured by the Tatars who call themselves the Qing Dynasty and is forced to serve for them, but Meleses still looks down on such a barbarian group in his heart.
However, at this time, Meleseth could not deny that the combat effectiveness of these Tatars was still very strong. At least when equipped with a large number of artillery, they were capable of defeating most European armies.
“What a magical country!”
Although the Ming Dynasty had declined at this time, Europeans like Meleses still maintained the necessary respect and awe for the Ming Dynasty. They even believed that the people of the Ming Dynasty, like Europeans, were all white and a mature civilization. .
This attitude is in sharp contrast to the late Qing Dynasty. By the end of the Qing Dynasty, the attitude of Europeans towards the Chinese was very bad, which shows how incompetent the Manchus were!
Suddenly, Meleseth heard a burst of passionate war drums and saw the endless Ming army formation at the foot of the mountain begin to move, and he suddenly became excited.
After all, a war of this scale would be epic in Europe, but in this eastern country, it was just a key battle. How could Meleseth not be excited?
“I really don’t know what the final result of this miraculous battle will be like!”
Some people died, but not completely...
