Just when the fish belly turned white in the east, the Mongolian troops in the camp were awakened by the noise coming from the direction of Guankou Village. Amidst the shrill whistles and rude Mongolian yells, they yawned and tried their best to get out of the tents and huts with their eyes wide open. The newly attached troops rushed up the earthen walls of the camp, while the Mongolian cavalry ran towards the horses. The Mongolian troops in the camp didn't pay much attention at this moment. After all, in the past few months since the camp was built, the harassment from Guankou Village has not stopped, and the vigilance has gradually relaxed. Although the noise outside was a little louder this time, it was expected that it would only cause more fuss for a while.
In order to achieve a surprise attack effect. Cao Ergou issued a silent march order to the soldiers attacking the Mongolian camp. In order to reduce the noise, the soles of the soldiers of the two infantry battalions were wrapped with hemp fiber. The artillery wheels and the four hooves of the artillery mules were also wrapped with a layer of linen cloth, and the mules and horses were naturally tied up. They were wrapped in linen and marched in the dark. Although the movement was slower than usual, Guankou Village was only five miles away from the Mongolian camp. It didn't take long to reach the trench of the camp, which was still two miles away from the camp wall. The soldiers of the Perak Army stopped here and began to set up artillery in a hurry.
At this moment, the sky was getting brighter. The Mongolian commander saw the darkness outside and the soldiers of the Thunderbolt Army. Their whole bodies felt like they had fallen into an ice cave, and he knew that something was wrong. When it was still dark just now, he judged from the sound that the enemy troops attacking Guankou Village consisted of about 300 men, and there were no cavalry. Although the Perak Army has powerful artillery, the heavy artillery is heavy and difficult to move, while the light artillery has a short range and is weak. During this period, I defended the camp, relying on trenches, earthen walls and trebuchets, and suffered no losses. In fact, when he was alarmed by the noise before dawn, he had the idea of sending cavalry to drive them away. He believed that this was just a large-scale harassment operation by the Perak Army.
The criss-crossing trenches surrounded the Mongolian army's camp for two miles. These trenches did limit the effectiveness of the Perak Army's cavalry raids and light artillery. However, these trenches are also a double-edged sword, which also limits the speed at which the Mongolian army can break out of the camp. Obviously, the Mongolian commander could not just watch the Perak Army set up artillery, and urgently ordered his cavalry to lead the new auxiliary troops to raid, preparing to take advantage of the confusion of the Perak Army's formation to burn the artillery with kerosene. The cavalry centurion under him was depleted and there were still more than 70 people. They were originally used as rangers to raid and drive away the Perak Army reconnaissance team.
The trench surrounding the camp was not completely closed, and the Mongolian army reserved passages in front and behind the camp to facilitate travel. At this moment, the Mongolian army rushed directly from this passage to the artillery position two miles away, but was called back by the whistle before they had advanced halfway. The Mongolian commander of the camp had already seen that sword and shield formations had been lined up on both sides of the artillery position, while several rows of spearmen were blocking the passage of the Mongolian army. Those spears were five or six meters long, and the long steel tips shone coldly in the early morning sun. If the Mongolian cavalry insists on attacking this hedgehog formation, there will only be one consequence - turning into meat skewers. When the Mongolian commander saw this, he shouted another burst of Mongolian language. The more than seventy cavalry did not stay after returning to the camp, but rushed out of the back door and scattered in all directions.
After the Perak Army set up their artillery, they immediately launched an artillery bombardment. The two new field guns equipped by the field brigade use front-loading firing methods. Although the rate of fire is slow, they have a longer range and are more powerful due to better sealing. In fact, if all-copper casting is used, the Pili Army Arsenal can also produce a breech-mounted rapid-fire gun with the same power and range, which is the Folan machine in later generations. It's just that the Perak Army is too short of copper. The existing copper is only used to make industrial machine tools and key tools. It is a bit nervous, and even the copper bullets used in muskets are not dared to be manufactured in large quantities. Field brigade officers and soldiers have also reported to the arsenal many times that the new field gun is heavy. Although it is equipped with wheels, the heavy gun still requires two strong mules to pull it. They hope to further reduce the weight. Regarding this problem, the arsenal has repeatedly optimized the design and casting process. However, because iron cannons have poor ductility, the barrel cannot be too thin to ensure power. Therefore, the total weight of heavy cannons still reaches 600 kilograms, and light cannons also reach 300 kilograms. This is already much lighter than a fortress cannon of the same power.
Each infantry battalion of the field brigade consists of a light artillery company and a heavy artillery company, with twenty light field guns and ten heavy field guns. The two battalions should have forty light guns and twenty heavy field guns. However, due to insufficient production capacity, the two battalions currently only have sixteen light guns and seven heavy guns. Among them, the light artillery has a range of two and a half miles, and the heavy artillery has a range of three and a half miles. Their firepower can cover the entire Mongolian army camp. Due to the vast area of the camp, the Perak Army did not test the artillery, but instead bombarded the center of the camp. It was captured and told by the Mongolian army craftsmen that there was a warehouse for the Mongolian army's siege equipment and kerosene was stored there.
Under the same technical conditions, greater weight means greater power and longer range. These cannons are extremely powerful, no less powerful than those old-fashioned fortress cannons weighing thousands of pounds. After just a few rounds of shelling, Cao Ergou ordered the bombardment to stop. On the one hand, the barrel has started to get hot and needs time to cool down. In fact, these barrels produced under a strict quality system can still be fired continuously, but the service life of the barrels will be shortened. Cao Ergou feels sorry for these treasures. On the other hand, a raging fire was burning in the camp at this time. The kerosene flowed everywhere after being hit, igniting thatched huts, tents and horse stables. It was a dry winter day, and the fire became more and more intense, turning into a prairie fire for a while. The Mongolian soldiers were burned by the fire and ran around in all directions, and began to flee towards the back door of the camp.
Just as the Mongolian troops fled, the cavalry companies of the field brigade cavalry battalion and the internal guard brigade reconnaissance battalion also dispatched. Just when the bombardment began, they had already circled far towards the back door of the camp. The Mongolian cavalry had already gone to move reinforcements, and only the new auxiliary troops, the Mongolian commander and his bodyguards were left in the camp. Seeing that the situation was not good, the Mongolian commander had already fled with his personal guards before the arrival of the Perak Army cavalry. The riding skills of the Thunderbolt Army were not as good as those of these natural knights. They could only watch these Mongolians disappear, and had no choice but to turn their horses' heads to intercept the fleeing new vassals. Seeing that there was no hope of escape, the newly attached soldiers knelt down and asked to surrender. "He who knows business is a hero." Not to mention that two-legged ones can't outrun four-legged ones. Even the Perak Army cavalry has reached 400 people, which is more than the more than 300 new auxiliary troops.
Since the previous rounds of shelling were aimed at destroying siege weapons, they did not kill many people. These newly attached soldiers had already developed a method of dealing with artillery due to long-term harassment by the defenders of Guankou Village. As soon as the cannon sounded, they would cling to the corner of the earthen wall or jump into the trench in the camp. Pursued by the cavalry, all these newly attached soldiers were captured. Only a few of them resisted and were trampled to death and injured by the horses of the Perak Army. Because the riding skills of most of the Perak Army's cavalry are still poor, they cannot move at high speeds to stab or chop. Some even fell off their horses during pursuit. The captured prisoners will naturally be the main force in difficult and dangerous jobs such as construction and mining.
This time, the Mongolian army completely annihilated the camp with minimal casualties. It was a complete victory, but Cao Ergou was still not happy. On the one hand, all the cavalry, including the Mongolian commander, ran away, and on the other hand, the accountant who defected from the Perak Army caravan died. Although he had not been in the caravan for a long time, he also knew a lot about the Pili Army, and he told the Mongolian army all these situations as a meeting gift. He knew that the Perak Army hated traitors and traitors the most. If they were caught, they would have to shed their skin, so he simply committed suicide.
