Seventy-two Tiger Cannons fired at close range, blasting out countless shotguns, forming an airtight barrage that instantly swept past the five thousand gunmen dozens of steps away.
Amidst the huge roar, Li Dingguo felt that the sky suddenly darkened, and thick gunpowder smoke covered most of the sky. At the same time, the ground beneath his feet also shook violently. The dense army of fire gunmen in front of Li Dingguo fell directly, and a large piece of his vision suddenly fell. It opened up.
"This, this is the Tiger Cannon!"
Li Dingguo didn't expect Liu Yan to be so cunning. The two sides were about to start a firefight, but they actually fired a salvo with the Tiger Cannon. At this time, the five thousand fire gunners suffered heavy casualties. At least hundreds of people were killed in the previous salvo. Almost all the fire gunmen in the first row were wiped out. The remaining small number of fire gunmen ran away in fear, and together with it, they caused a stir from behind. There was a commotion among the rows of gunmen.
"Order the brigades and sentry commanders of all ministries to carry out suppression. The first two rows of gunmen immediately retreated behind the horizontal formation, reorganized the formation, and the third row prepared to fire a salvo!"
After all, these five thousand gunmen were trained by Li Dingguo himself, and they were considered an elite force among the bandits. At this time, after being suppressed by generals at all levels, they miraculously stabilized their position, and hundreds of people in the first two rows collapsed. The soldiers fled to the back and began to regroup.
The firecrackers in the third row raised their various firecrackers and fired a volley at the command.
Behind the low wall, Qian Qian squatted on the ground and held his head. There was a constant crackling sound on the sandbag behind him, which was the sound of large and small lead bullets hitting it.
Qian Qian saw two gunners who failed to dodge in time and were hit by the bandit's gun. One gunner was hit directly in the head and fell straight on his back. The other was hit in the chest, and blood continued to flow out like a fountain. Two medical officers crept forward to stop the bleeding, but they used a large amount of cotton cloth to block the wound, but the blood still flowed profusely. The gunner soon turned pale and stopped breathing.
"Grandma, you are playing tricks on me!"
Qian Qian took advantage of the gap between the fire guns of the bandits and shouted loudly: "Reload the Tiger Cannon, hurry up!"
The gunners in the artillery battalion are well-trained and have experienced many battle formations, so even if they are fired by bandits, they can complete the reloading quickly.
The loading of the Tiger Cannon is very convenient. You only need to put the shotguns in one at a time, and the amount of gunpowder is also fixed. If you really want to compare, the time required to fill a Tiger Cannon is no longer than that of filling a fire gun. .
The New Army gunners completed their preparations almost at the same time as the rogue gunners. When the fourth row of gunners under Li Dingguo raised their guns and prepared to fire a salvo, more than 70 tiger guns in the New Army artillery battalion were also ignited. lead.
boom!
boom! boom!
In the fourth row of the bandit side, a thousand gunmen fired another volley. At the same time, more than 70 tiger guns of the new army also opened fire violently. A burst of gunpowder smoke rose from the fronts of both sides, and the pungent white Smoke almost enveloped both armies.
The New Army was protected by a low wall. Although soldiers continued to be shot and fell, the overall casualties were still very slight. In addition, the medical officers and heavy soldiers attached to each battalion have long been prepared to send injured soldiers to the rear for treatment in time. The new army medical officers also have rich experience and can effectively treat injuries caused by firearms, so in During the exchange of fire, the new army actually had a very large advantage.
On the other hand, Li Dingguo's unit had just opened fire at the same time, and almost a third of the gunners in the fourth platoon of the firearms battalion fell. Although there were only more than seventy of those Tiger Cannons, they were all shot with shotguns, and the barrage formed during the bombardment could hit almost the entire square of the firearms battalion.
At this time, as the fourth platoon suffered heavy casualties, the remaining bandit gunmen could no longer hold on. Such an almost suicidal shooting battle was unacceptable to the bandit soldiers, and they could no longer suppress the fear in their hearts. With a bang, they began to flee.
Li Dingguo's face was ashen. The five thousand gunmen he had worked so hard to train had consumed a lot of gunpowder and materials. But on the battlefield, Liu Yan didn't even use the world-famous new bird gunmen. He only used the Tiger Master. The fact that his elite troops were defeated by artillery was a huge blow to Li Dingguo!
"General Zhi, retreat quickly. It's too dangerous here. The army's artillery can come at any time!"
A commander grabbed Li Dingguo, and after speaking, he called to the surrounding soldiers, and everyone pulled Li Dingguo back.
Li Dingguo was not a pedantic person, so he quickly retreated with the others. Sure enough, just as they left, the place where they were standing was bombarded by the New Army's Tiger Master Artillery. The rogue gunmen who were escaping around him were hit, and they suffered numerous casualties. few.
"Let everyone withdraw and return to the main formation to reorganize!"
Li Dingguo finally ordered to retreat. At this time, only 30,000 spearmen led by Sun Kewang were left in the firearms camp. The 5,000 brave cavalry and 5,000 fire gunners had all been defeated. But can spearmen attack the New Army's defense line successfully?
At this time, Li Dingguo looked at the left and right wings again, but there was still no sign of the bandits Zuoying and Houying moving out, which made Li Dingguo extremely angry.
"Still not moving?"
In the Central Army of the New Army, Liu Yan was also always paying attention to the movements of the two wings of the army. The messengers of the brigade kept going back and forth between the two wings and the Central Army, passing on various messages.
At this time, the left wing of the bandits, that is, Liu Fangliang's department on the right wing of the New Army, and Li Guo's department on the left wing of the New Army, still showed no signs of attacking. Both armies are very strong, with hundreds of thousands of troops each. Although most of them are dead soldiers, to put it bluntly, they are hungry people who have been trapped. After all, there are many ants that have killed the elephants, and there are also a lot of brave knights in their troops. , Jia Bing and other elites, Liu Yan naturally did not dare to take it lightly.
All the more than 7,000 gunners from the New Army's Guards Battalion are in place, with 3,000 gunners deployed on each wing. Coupled with the artillery on the city wall that can be supported at any time, Liu Yan is confident to hold the two wings.
As for the cavalry battalion, Liu Yan was not prepared to send it into battle. The main force of the bandits had not yet entered the battlefield, and he could not put all the weight on it.
"Li Dingguo has withdrawn, but Sun Kewang's troops are still advancing. Doesn't he think that he can charge forward with those long gunmen?"
At this time, Liu Yan held up his telescope and could already clearly see the situation of Sun Kewang's 30,000 spearmen. The equipment of the bandit soldiers was not very good, but the soldiers in the first few rows were equipped with armor, all of which were made of cotton and leather breastplates. , there is very little iron armor, and almost no full-body heavy armor.
However, Sun Kewang's army was equipped with a lot of heavy shields in front of the formation. It was a large iron shield that was almost the same height as the soldiers. It was not only full of protection, but could also form a shield. Sun Kewang was going to break through the new army's defense line. The hope is placed on this heavy shield.
"Order the artillery battalion to prepare and use the Tiger Cannon to bombard the enemy's heavy shields."
"yes!"
Soon, Li Dingguo returned to the rear and gathered the defeated troops together with Ai Nengqi. After a while, Li Zicheng sent someone to reprimand him and ordered the firearms battalion to continue attacking without stopping.
Li Dingguo almost gritted his steel teeth and was about to get angry when he saw the battle flags on the left and right wings finally moved, and the anger in his heart also dissipated a lot.
"Immediately send an order to Kewang, ordering his army to attack and contain the officers and soldiers, no matter the cost!"
Ai Nengqi was shocked: "General Zhi, our losses are too serious, should we just pretend to be good?"
"Bad words!"
Li Dingguo said loudly: "As long as Liu Yan is defeated, our firearms battalion will not hesitate to be wiped out. It is enough to capture Kaifeng City and rebuild ten firearms battalions. Fight and do not retreat for four battles!"
Sun Kewang, who was in the front, was very ruthless when he received the order. He ordered 30,000 spearmen to speed up the advance. The mighty army moved forward and soon advanced within a hundred steps in front of the new army's formation.
At this time, the artillery battalion officers were ready. Qian Qian immediately roared an order. The seventy-two tiger cannons roared again, and countless shotguns smashed into the bandit army in front.
Those heavy shields might be able to block the cannon fire, but when faced with the powerful Tiger Cannon, which fired at close range within a hundred steps, no matter how strong the heavy shields were, they couldn't withstand it and were shot through one after another.
In a burst of harsh metal clashes, many heavy shields were blasted into scrap metal, and the bandit soldiers hiding behind also suffered heavy casualties. After the bandit soldiers fell, they also brought down the incomplete shields in front of them, exposing their companions in the rear group.
The artillery battalion only used one round of volley to tear through the shield of the bandits. Sun Kewang was so shocked that his hair stood on end when he saw this. At this time, he no longer cared about the formation, and directly ordered the whole army to charge, rushing forward desperately. past.
Qian Qian looked at the 30,000 troops rushing in the distance, couldn't help but cursed a few times, and called on the gunners of the artillery camp to retreat quickly. Everyone dropped all kinds of artillery and ran back quickly. At the same time, Shen Tuo, Guo Rong, Teng Jianghe, and Yu Qian quickly entered the position with the soldiers of the middle camp.
Thousands of bird gunners who had already been prepared set up their bird cannons on the low wall. Shen Tuo, Guo Rong, and Teng Jianghe ordered the shooting almost at the same time. The power of the salvo of more than seven thousand bird cannons shook the world, forming a The firepower network was so tight that the charging army of thieves suffered heavy casualties. The hundreds of thieves at the front fell to the ground one after another, falling like countless broken sacks.
The bandit soldiers behind were still charging crazily, and then they were hit by the second round of volleys of cannon fire, followed by the third, fourth, and fifth rounds.
Shen Tuo, who was supervising the battle behind the low wall at this time, had to admit that the bandit soldiers in front were indeed brave. Even in the face of thousands of fast-loading, powerful and continuous volleys of cannons, and in the face of countless companions dying tragically on his own The people around him are still charging. No matter how powerful this enemy is, their willpower alone is no less than that of a slave-thief cavalry!
"The enemy is thirty steps away!"
As the sixth round of salvos ended, the spear army commanded by Sun Kewang had already rushed forward. Shen Tuo had to order each row of gunmen to fire a large salvo. If the enemy army did not retreat, all the spearmen in the middle camp would be fired. The sword and shield men stepped forward and started fighting the enemy in hand-to-hand combat.
Ye Bu Shu sentry commander Xu Mingde and flag commander Xiao Dongzi were also in the cannon formation. In order to maximize the firepower, Shen Tuo organized all Ye Bu Shu in the battalion.
Everyone quickly finished loading, and the seven thousand or hundreds of bird guns were divided into three rows. The front row lay on the ground and poked the bird guns out from between the sandbags. The middle row squatted down and poked the bird guns out from between the sandbags. The back row directly raised the blunderbuss.
At this time, Xiao Dongzi looked at the army of bandits that had almost closed in. He was very nervous and kept thinking, wanting to pull out his sword and prepare for battle.
Li Mingde was also sweating on his forehead, but he gritted his teeth and said in a low voice: "I don't believe it, this time the thieves fired a salvo and refused to retreat!"
At this moment, Shen Tuo roared: "Let go!"
Seven thousand and hundreds of muskets were fired at the same time. The roar this time was greater than any before, even louder than the previous artillery salvos. Even Liu Fangliang on the left and Li Guo on the right who were supervising the attack looked over in surprise. Li Dingguo and Ai Nengqi looked forward with pale faces.
In an instant, fierce firepower swept across the front of the formation, and smoke so thick that it was almost granular shrouded the front of the formation. All parties on the battlefield could not see clearly and cast concerned glances.
After a while, with the breeze blowing, the smoke in front of the new army's formation gradually dissipated, and there was no living person within fifty steps in front of the low wall...
Some people died, but not completely...
