Chapter 38: Zigzag Trench

Style: Historical Author: braggartWords: 3177Update Time: 24/01/11 23:20:12
The blasts from the engineers caused a commotion among the defenders. The low roar and the shaking of the earth made the defenders somewhat commotion. Some of them knew that the Kun thieves had powerful artillery fire and had many powerful firearms, but they didn't know what they were doing at this time.

Song Ming had led troops for many years and was experienced in suppressing and pacifying soldiers. He immediately led his own soldiers to patrol along the trenches, focusing on checking whether there were any veterans who were noisy and could shake the morale of the soldiers. These people are not good at fighting and are very skilled in escaping. In order to escape more easily, they often incite other soldiers to run away together.

He was patrolling along the trench with his armor on. The soldiers had their swords out of their sheaths, and they were all murderous, which immediately frightened the wavering soldiers.

Jiang Suo was extremely nervous. He hid in the sandbag fortifications of the Horn Fort and stared at the movements of the Australians not far away with his binoculars. The Australians climbed halfway up the mountain, and then stopped about half a mile away from the Bangshan position, just outside the range of the Nanyang style, matchlock guns and bows and arrows.

The Australians did not launch an attack. After the dull explosion, these people began to dig on the ground. Jiang Suo knew that the Fubo Army had begun soil work.

Even in the navy, soil work is an important training subject, and Jiang Suo, as a training model, is naturally familiar with it. Obviously, the Fubo army was deeply impressed by several shots fired by the officers and soldiers, so they are not ready to directly attack the fortress now. Instead, prepare for a close attack using soil work.

Jiang Suo was not good at commanding battles, but he knew the Fubo Army's tactics very well - his title of training pacesetter was not for nothing.

"What are you planning to do?" Song Ming came to him and picked up the telescope.

Through the telescope, you can see Australians digging in the ground. He heard the rumble of Australian artillery and the dust on the hillside, and thought that the attack was about to begin. Unexpectedly, the Australians did not launch a charge, but dug a trench. Could it be that they had to dig another long trench outside the Bangshan position? Are the Ming troops on Bangshan Mountain surrounded? But it seems unnecessary. Bangshan was actually a desperate place, and it was impossible for the defenders to hold on for a long time. When Yi Haoran set up the formation here, he actually judged that the Kun thieves would definitely attack quickly, rather than adopt a long encirclement strategy.

Through the telescope, the trenches dug by the Australians were very crude. There were no fortifications such as parapets, artillery forts, and horn forts that he had seen in the Battle of Chengmai. It did not look like they were dug for long-term defense. And the weirdest thing is that the Australian trenches are not parallel to the trenches dug by the Ming army, but are approaching diagonally towards the trenches of the Ming army.

The trench dug by the Australians was getting closer and closer to the Ming army's position, and then turned a corner about thirty feet away. The trench that originally pointed diagonally to the northeast now pointed to the southeast.

"This is a zigzag trench," Jiang Suo said. "If you dig it diagonally, come closer. Once the distance is enough, charge forward."

"The thief Kun is indeed insidious and cunning!" Song Ming cursed, with lingering fear in his heart - the shadow of his narrow escape from Cheng Mai's death was still deep in his heart.

Although Song Ming did not understand modern tactics, his many years of military experience made him clearly understand the role of zigzag trenches. The Australians did not want to block them. The Australians' plan was to shorten the attack distance as much as possible to avoid unnecessary casualties. The bandit's troops can approach step by step under the cover of the trench. The large number of firearms and bows and arrows they originally prepared were ineffective against the enemy troops in the trenches.

Jiang Suo proposed using trenches to deal with the Kun thieves' firearm advantage. This trick really worked, but he didn't expect the Kun thieves to immediately use trenches against trenches. In an instant, their advantage was destroyed again.

The best way to deal with these Australians who are secretly repairing fortifications is to use a sharp and fast charge to drive the Australians out of the trenches at once. However, Song Ming's hand-to-hand combat ability and fighting will did not hold much hope for his men.

"I will take a group of archers out and rain arrows on them first!" Song Ming said.

Lead a group of archers while the Australians are attacking and digging trenches, and use projectiles from a high position to rain down arrows on the Australians in the trenches. Although they may not be able to kill many enemies, they can at least slow down the enemy's trenching speed.

"No, archers can't go out. Once they go out, they will be useless." Jiang Suo shook his head, "If you want to shoot arrows, you have to be in the trench, and your head must not be exposed."

Although the Nanyang style is very powerful according to the views of the official army, in the hands of the Australians, it is just a weapon for irregular armies such as the security forces. The Fubo Army is equipped with Mini rifles, which are much more powerful than the Nanyang style in terms of range and power, and are very accurate.

"...That's not all, the Australians also have a repeating rifle, which is what I used when I was in the Navy. The range, power, and accuracy of the repeating rifle are equivalent to the Mini, but the rate of fire is faster--even faster than a bow and arrow. Hurry." Jiang Suo said, "Even if these thieves don't have rifles, even mini guns are not something we can deal with."

If you go out rashly, the archers won't get any advantage. No matter the range, power or accuracy, they are far behind the rifles equipped by the Australians. It is simply the difference between a magical weapon and a fire stick. It's easy to say in the trench. The thief's bullets can't turn, and the archer doesn't need to show his head when throwing. If you look in the right direction, you can always hit a few with one covering shot. At the very least, it will damage the morale of the Kun thieves - they are all unarmored.

"Each battalion of the Kun Thieves has a team of light infantry. All of them are sharpshooters who are perfect with their shots, specializing in sniping, ambushing and leading the charge. If you go out with the archers, if you can't reach a place where the bows and arrows can hurt the Australians, you will be kicked out. Pour a big piece." As he spoke, Jiang Suo picked up a dummy with a helmet and armor that he had asked the soldiers to make in advance, and slowly stood it up on the fortress.

Before the dummy could even reveal half of its body, a series of crisp gunshots with the unique characteristics of miniguns were heard outside, and the helmet was lifted off the dummy's head.

Jiang Suo took back the dummy. In addition to half of his head being knocked off, his arms and left shoulder were shot through by bullets. Song Ming couldn't help but secretly gasp - he probably heard seven or eight gunshots, but at this distance, three projectiles hit him! This accuracy is incredible.

"No matter what the bandits do, we must not leave the trench unless absolutely necessary." Jiang Suo said.

Although this is extremely passive, facing the superior firepower of the Australians, it is enough to sit in the trench and wait for the Australians to appear within their shooting range. When they charge over, they can then pour ammunition and arrows at them. The only feasible tactic.

"Master, the bandits have brought up the cannon!" An observation post came over to report.

The two men immediately raised their binoculars. Sure enough, at the corner of the zigzag trench being dug, the Australians began to dig a short and wide trench. A wicker cannon basket has been brought in, and the peasants are filling it with soil. Obviously the bandits are going to deploy cannons here.

The two of them were watching intently, but they didn't notice that two hundred meters away, a light infantryman raised his rifle and carefully aimed at the gap between the sandbags - the reflection from time to time showed that important figures from the army and soldiers were moving around. The instructor said, The flash could be from observing with a telescope, or it could be the armor plates of the high-grade armor worn by the general.

"Bang--" The bullet hit the sandbags on the parapet with a sharp whistling sound, and the sand flew everywhere. Song Ming trembled all over and almost collapsed to the ground. Jiang Suo was still a little more experienced. He immediately squatted down and hid his whole body in the trench.

"What the hell?!" Song Ming was shocked. He and Jiang Suo were observing the enemy's situation here, completely hidden behind the chest of the sandbag, without revealing their bodies at all. How did the thief know he was here?

"It's light infantry." Jiang Suo said. He cautiously stuck his head out and looked out between the gaps in the sandbags, "We can't stay in this place anymore, let's find another place!"

The two of them moved to another place and once again observed Fu Bojun's movements. Through the telescope, they saw the Australians transporting artillery to the artillery positions through the trenches.

The artillery that was transported was very small, and Jiang Suo knew that it was a 12-pound mountain howitzer commonly used by the navy. Small size and light weight. It is a weapon for fighting in mountainous and paddy fields. The Fubo Army went to great lengths to transport it to the mountain, presumably to use its firepower to open a breakthrough.

From the telescope, we can see that civilians and soldiers are transporting ammunition, and the jackets of three howitzers have been taken off. An officer was observing the front position with an instrument, seeming to be calculating something.

Jiang Suo estimated that the Kun thieves would soon use howitzers to destroy the Luzhai set up on the periphery of the position and open a breakthrough. Because they don't have many artillery, they are likely to concentrate their fire at one point and quickly open a breakthrough - just like they did during the exercise.

At this time, the Fubo Army's trench changed its direction again and continued to extend tilted towards the Ming Army's trench. Song Ming noticed that the zigzag trenches were now extended from one to three and extending forward at the same time - it seemed that the Kun thieves were likely to divide their troops into three groups and attack the defending positions at the same time.

He immediately summoned his officers, divided the combat soldiers and servants into three teams, and assigned capable personnel to lead them.

"As soon as the Kun thief rushed into the trench, each team immediately followed my flag and engaged in battle at the same time. Each team was in charge of their own enemies - they must kill the Kun thief and retreat." Song Ming said with concern, "Kill the Kun thief back, and every team will fight. The reward for each person is fifty taels of silver! The sentinel officer will be rewarded twice as much!"

He glanced at everyone and said with a smile: "Everyone must also understand that this place is a desperate place! If we don't kill the Kun bandits, we will have nowhere to go even if we want to escape! There is not much water. If we are trapped on the mountain by the Kun bandits, Then the only thing left is to die of thirst - don't even think about slipping to save your life, everyone is just a grasshopper on a thread, no one can even think about running away."

As soon as he finished speaking, a puff of white smoke rose from the Kun bandit's position at the foot of the hillside, and the dull sound of artillery rumbled over.

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Next update: Volume 7 - Guangzhou Governance Chapter 312

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