…
As night fell, after the broken Suoyun closed the wall, Wang Chang, Sun Xueyou and other non-commissioned officers covered the twenty-seven fallen comrades with white cloth and quietly carried them to the corner to lie down.
"Let's go, brother~"
Sun Xueyou grabbed the two identity tags in his hands and solemnly paid a military salute to his brothers who died in the battle.
The 400 people who came here have now lost so many classmates and friends all at once, and grief is inevitable.
But this is a scene that a soldier must experience. War is never a romantic thing, and is often closely connected with cruelty and ruthlessness.
Wang Chang stared blankly in the direction of the gap, not knowing whether he could continue to hold on.
"Check the ammunition and make sure it is concentrated and no more waste is allowed."
After inspection, the remaining non-commissioned officers still had dozens of paper shells in their muskets and three grenades per person. According to today's firing method, the ammunition of the Tiger Gun can still last for four to five rounds.
In other words, these ammunition can last for up to three days. After three days, the ammunition is exhausted and they can only fight with the Chu army with bare hands. At that time, there will be no chance of victory.
"How many days has it been?" Wang Chang asked.
Sun Xueyou replied: "Nine days, or ten days? I can't remember clearly."
Wang Chang pursed his lips: "Three days at most. If we don't see reinforcements after three days, we will withdraw."
Sun Xueyou frowned: "Didn't you agree to fight to the end?"
Wang Chang: "I don't want to involve all of our people because of those cowards. We are not afraid of death, but we can't die so meaninglessly."
Sun Xueyou: "Have you really decided?"
Wang Chang did not answer, but nodded vigorously.
…
In the Chu army camp, the sound of banging pots and pans echoed.
The soldiers of the Chu army, who had been hungry all day, were gulping down the gruel from their bowls. Many of them did not forget to lick all the leftover porridge at the bottom of the bowl after eating.
Since half of the food in Yongzhou City was destroyed, Fa Yang strictly limited the food consumption in the army. Although it was still two meals a day, the amount was strictly limited.
Soldiers who have not been on the battlefield can only drink one bowl of porridge at one meal, while those who have been on the battlefield can drink three bowls. This is also a change to stimulate the Chu soldiers' courage to fight the enemy.
Fa Yang's meal was the same as that of the soldiers of the Chu army, which was also a bowl of porridge and half a plate of pickles.
However, he had no intention of using his chopsticks. Instead, he looked at the pile of bloody lead bullets taken out of the wounded on the table and thought carefully about how to respond to the firearms offensive.
In the final analysis, the Chu army's armaments are simply too backward...
The armor rate (iron armor) of the Chu army alone was only a pitiful less than 10%, which was still the kind of Zha armor that took a long time to make. Another 20% was leather armor, and the rest was cloth armor with extremely low protective capabilities.
Compared with the 70% penetration rate of iron armor among the Han army, it can only be described as appalling.
Except for iron armor, leather armor and cloth armor can hardly provide effective protection against fire guns, and they can only rely on shields to barely advance the front line.
It's just that the shield may be able to protect against the fire cannon at a distance, but once it gets close, the fire cannon can easily penetrate the shield.
If you want to reduce casualties, you must block the offensive of firecrackers. Using the human wave tactic may be good, but it means killing eight hundred enemies and losing one thousand, which is a taboo for military strategists.
"Damn it, how could there be such a sharp weapon!"
Fa Yang, who really couldn't think of a way to deal with it, slammed the table and the projectiles on the table bounced up and rolled to the ground.
"Um?"
At this moment, Fa Yang looked at the lead bullets that fell on the ground, his pupils shrank slightly, and then he looked at his swollen palms, as if he had a flash of inspiration.
"Yeah, why didn't I think of that before." Fa Yang touched the table, his eyes filled with excitement.
"Come here! Please invite General Luo to come to the tent to discuss matters!"
…
"Woo~~"
On the second day, the sky was dark, and the sergeants in Suoyun Pass were awakened by the horn of the Chu army's attack.
"Damn it, I won't let anyone rest anymore."
Sun Xueyou rubbed his groggy eyes, climbed up along the gap, took out the looking glass and looked out.
"That is?"
The next moment, Sun Xueyou lost all sleep, because in the looking glass he saw that at the front of the attacking Chu army were rows of baffles tied with wooden stakes.
"Good guy, I'm quite busy now."
Sun Xueyou immediately informed Wang Chang of the information he saw, and Wang Chang also immediately came to the gap to check.
"It seems that we still underestimated these bandit troops. They came up with a countermeasure so quickly. The car formation can indeed withstand the attack of the fire blunderbuss and the tiger cannon." Wang Chang sighed.
Sun Xueyou's face was full of dissatisfaction: "If you can carry two divine weapons, the shield car will be a living target!"
Wang Chang: "It's useless to say anything now. The only thing we can do damage to the shield car now is grenades. Let the brothers gather all the grenades. When the shield car gets close, they will hit me to death."
Soon, grenades were concentrated in front of the gap, and everyone was focused on watching the dust rolling in the distance, slowly approaching towards them...
On the Chu army's side, the thirty shield carts built in a hurry and overnight were very crude. The front was only tied with wood and erected as a shield. The wheels rotating below were simply processed and installed on the wood. , because of the imbalance, the shield car keeps bumping when pushing.
But even so, the Chu soldiers pushing the cart still had to grit their teeth and not dare to slack off. Behind the shield chariot were thousands of Chu soldiers, with murderous looks on their faces.
In front of the gap in Suoyunguan, Wang Chang took a deep breath, picked up two grenades, and hid at the base of the wall with his companions as he watched the Chu army approaching, waiting for the opportunity to come.
"Fifty steps!"
Sun Xueyou, who was observing, accurately reported the enemy's distance.
"Thirty steps!"
"Twenty steps!"
"Fifteen steps!"
The sound of footsteps outside the pass and the harsh friction and bumps of the shield cart kept coming. Wang Chang took a deep breath, and when Sun Xueyou reported five steps, he shouted with all his strength: "Smash!"
In an instant, dozens of heavy grenades were thrown out of the gap after being ignited by the sergeant's door to lure Xi'an.
“Tuk-tuk-tuk~”
As the shield car blocked the grenade, it made a series of crashing sounds.
The Chu soldiers behind the shield cart pressed their heads very low, but still gritted their teeth and pushed the shield cart with all their strength.
"Boom~~"
Suddenly, there was a roar, and the air wave from the grenade explosion directly overturned the first shield car.
Although the projectile fragments in the grenade were blocked by the shield vehicle, the air wave generated at the moment of explosion still overturned several shield vehicles.
Immediately afterwards, grenades exploded one after another, and many shield carts fell apart in the explosion. The Chu soldiers who pushed the shield carts panicked for a while.
"Smash!"
Without waiting for a reaction, another round of grenades swept over them, overturning four or five shield vehicles again.
"this……"
Fa Yang stood at the top of the sentry tower erected at the rear, and saw that the countermeasure he had been thinking about for a long time was once again shattered, and he couldn't help but become confused.
"Send the order and seize Suoyun Pass at all costs!"
