The rumble of field artillery penetrated the fog and resounded throughout the wilderness of western Liaoning.
The blazing rocket tail flames swept across the sky and burned half of the sky.
On March 4, the first year of Chongzhen, near noon, the heavy fog in the suburbs of Ningyuan had not yet dissipated.
The March sun shines on the earth, and mist rises from the cold wilderness.
The white smoke and mist from the gunpowder mixed together, adding a touch of mystery to the tragic battlefield.
The artillery group was stationed on a slope five miles east of Ningyuan City and was continuously bombarding the enemy in the fog.
Various types of firearms from Kaiyuan appeared in turn, from four-pound field cannons to twelve-pound Hongyi cannons, from divine fire flying crows to lafa mines.
The sounds of various explosions were mixed together, as if there was an artillery exhibition.
According to the order of General Ping Liao, the artillery group must conduct a saturation attack on the designated area.
"We must leave a deep impression on Liao Town and Xuanfu Town."
These were Liu Zhaosun's exact words to the two artillery regiment chiefs.
Han Zhenyi, deputy commander of the Kaiyuan Artillery Regiment, looked at the artillery fire flying in the sky, watching the dense iron balls penetrate the fog and fly to the target one mile away, with a satisfied smile on his face.
With every shelling, bursts of screams and the neighing of war horses could be heard in the mist.
Han Zhenyi's long-simmering sadness gradually dissipated. In order to hide his own strength, Pingliao Marquis did not put all the field artillery into the battlefield. Therefore, the artillery troops have been passively beaten under Ningyuan City these days, and the casualties were also quite heavy.
Now, things are finally changing.
"Old Wang!"
Han Zhenyi looked at Wang Changzhi's blurry back in the distance and roared loudly.
Because of long-term artillery operations, the artillerymen suffered from occupational diseases such as deafness and tinnitus early on.
Han Zhenyi was seriously ill.
"Lao Wang!!"
Lao Wang was waving his command flag and commanding a group of gun soldiers to advance.
Before the ambush began, Deng Changxiong deployed two hundred gunmen from the Second Army to assist the artillery in guarding the artillery group.
The Second Guards Regiment had just been equipped with new flintlock muskets before the expedition. It was the first to be equipped among the six Guards Corps. The whole army was very concerned about this, and the artillery regiment was no exception.
The plug-type bayonet installed before had shortcomings such as weak connection and hindering shooting, and many soldiers were unwilling to use it.
Mao Yuanyi and Lei Jiangtou led thousands of craftsmen in the workshop. After more than half a year of trying, they finally found a better solution.
They used a sleeve to fix the bayonet on the outside of the barrel. The improved bayonet was stronger and more reliable. The length of the bayonet was one foot seven inches, plus the length of the flintlock gun three feet five inches. The total length of the bayonet exceeded that of most weapons, making it easier to stab in close combat. Don't fall behind.
The artillery group was flanked fifty paces, with bayonets one foot three inches forming a thin infantry square. The bayonets pointed diagonally at the mist to defend against enemy surprise attacks.
Han Zhenyi felt that this was unnecessary. He did not believe that anyone could survive under the close range bombardment of 460 artillery pieces.
Not to mention Liao Town, even the Guards may not be able to hold on.
Han Zhenyi even sympathized with Zu Dashou and his three thousand servants.
Sympathy is sympathy, but the cannons still have to be finished.
"Officer Han, the six-pounder field gun has fired five rounds. Do you still want to fire?"
Han Zhenyi shouted loudly at the panting messenger in front of him:
"Keep fighting! Ping Liaohou said, it is a saturation bombardment! As long as the barrel is not exploded, keep fighting!"
The messenger agreed, with a look of horror in his eyes.
At this time, Wang Changzhi came back from the front with blood stains on his body.
"Captain Wang, what's wrong?"
"It's okay, we just stabbed the ancestral servant to death."
Han Zhenyi nodded, stared at the field artillery not far away, and asked his old partner.
"Old Wang, how much did we fight today?"
Wang Changzhi shouted loudly into Han Zhenyi's ear:
"Thirty-five hundred rounds, too many rockets to count!"
When Han Zhenyi heard this number, he opened his mouth with joy and said with a proud smile:
"Be good, three thousand and five, it only lasts an hour, but we have disabled thousands of people on the other side."
"It seems, it seems that we will still have to rely on our artillery to fight wars from now on! Artillery is king."
Wang Changzhi didn't have time to sigh. He pressed his eardrum-breaking voice against his old partner's ear and shouted with all his strength:
"Old Han! We have to hurry up and let the rockets behind us be launched together. The Liao people and foreigners will come up soon. They want to seek revenge from Liao Town!"
~~~~~
The sudden appearance of heavy fog was beyond Liu Zhaosun's expectation.
Just like the fire gun soldiers who sniped him at the top of the city last night.
Accidents always happen.
The burst of firecrackers interrupted Ping Liaohou's appreciation of classical music, and brought him directly from the beautiful fantasy of mountains and flowing water back to the cruel and bloody reality.
Liu Zhaosun was very angry.
Whether it is a sudden heavy fog or a sudden fire attack, all the travelers can do is to follow the trend.
Since there were so many people in Ningyuan City who wanted him to die, he had no choice but to fulfill everyone's wishes.
Go to hell.
Someone died in the tent last night, but it was not him, but his guard.
He was a recruit who had just been selected from the cavalry battalion. He was only one year younger than Liu Zhaosun and had acne on his face.
When the gunfire sounded, the guards subconsciously stood in front of Marquis Pingliao and blocked a lead bullet for Liu Zhaosun.
The lead bullet was shot from the back, making a hole the size of a bowl in the guard's chest, and his internal organs and intestines flowed all over the floor.
The guard died on the spot.
In fact, Liu Zhaosun just wanted to listen to the sound of the flute last night and restrain his murderous aura.
After the Battle of Ningyuan broke out, thousands of people were killed and injured every day. Liu Zhaosun felt more and more that he was becoming a butcher, although he knew that this was the only way for every king.
The sound of the flute stopped abruptly, and the guard remained silent.
The sound of the flute is false, but death is real.
If that's the case, then keep killing people.
So there is today's method of luring the snake out of its hole.
"After the bombardment, the Liao people and foreigners continued to attack. Liao Town has oppressed them for so many years, and it is time to repay them."
"Let Wang Zengbin lead the cavalry battalion to outflank You Shiwei on both sides, cut off You Shiwei's retreat, defeat and kill him. I want other border troops to know what the consequences will be if they become enemies of me in Kaiyuan!"
Liu Zhaosun looked at the world that was gradually losing control, waved the Central Military Order Flag, and said murderously to the ordering soldiers.
~~~~~
Zu Dashou was riding on horseback, guarded by a group of servants, stumbling towards Ben.
The Kaiyuan Army's earth-shattering artillery sound came from far to near, orange fire flashed overhead, and the surroundings were like hell.
The war horses were frightened by the intensive artillery fire, kicked their hooves wildly, and ran away neighing.
A servant was overturned by the horse, with his left foot hanging from the saddle and his head on the ground. He let out a howl that was not like a human voice and quickly disappeared into a white mist.
Zu Dashou stared blankly at the chaotic scene in front of him and had no time to sigh. Another flame passed overhead, and not far away, there was a sharp whistling sound and several explosions.
Ten steps away from Zu Dashou, several running fireballs suddenly burst out of the heavy fog. They were several servants of the Zu family who were ignited by the sacred fire Feiyantung oil.
"Liu Zhaosun, why do you treat Liao Zhen like this?"
Zu Dashou sat on the horse in a daze, letting his servants lead him forward. He was filled with annoyance and regretted taking his servant out of the city just now.
He had known that the Kaiyuan Army would ambush him, but he did not expect that their artillery fire would be so fierce.
The Fran machine guns carried by Liao Zhen had no power to fight back in front of the Kaiyuan army's artillery.
Half an hour after encountering the ambush, the Liao Town gunners didn't even know where the opponent's artillery was.
Zu Dashou was running around in the fog like a headless fly.
He, his younger brother Zu Dabi, and his brother-in-law Wu Xiang had already run away, and they were only followed by the head servant Wang Rong, and more than two hundred servants who had not escaped.
There were injured soldiers everywhere in the fog. Very few of them were directly hit by artillery shells. Many of them were slightly injured by flying stones, but they ran away screaming, leading their servants to follow them.
The screams around him made Zu Dashou upset.
Wang Rong walked closely at the front, slashing at the running soldiers blocking the road with his sword. While clearing the way for Zu Dashou, he shouted loudly to gather the scattered servants.
"Commander! We are not far from the city wall, only five or six miles at most. When the fog dissipates, we will be over in a flash!"
The head servant has followed Zu Dashou for many years, and at critical moments, he shows his loyalty to his master.
"When we get back to Ningyuan, we'll kill Wang Zaijin and those eunuchs, and at worst, we'll escape to Shanhaiguan! These foreign troops want to take over our territory, they're just bastards!"
Zu Dashou lowered his head and did not listen to Wang Rong's words. He pricked up his ears and said to the servants around him in confusion:
"The gunfire has stopped."
With a pop, a servant next to Wang Rong was shot through the neck by a heavy arrow. He held the feathers of the arrow and fell limply off the horse.
Then, heavy arrows like raindrops whizzed out of the haze from the side, and shot at the surrounding servants.
Zu Dashou quickly raised his iron arm to block, and picked up one on the ground. It was a spinach leaf-shaped armor-piercing awl with a three-inch arrowhead.
"It's Jiannu's heavy arrow!"
"It's Liu Zhaosun's Jianzhou slaves who are here! Kill them all."
Zu Dashou roared, and all the servants immediately dismounted and looked around with wide eyes.
The archer fired two waves of heavy arrows in the direction from which the heavy arrows flew.
A scream came from the mist.
In the attack just now, Zu Dashou lost six servants. These servants were all elites in Liao Town, and their combat power was comparable to that of Jiannu Bagara. They were the foundation of the Zu family's military force in western Liaoning.
The servants took off their round shields from their horses, carried javelins and three-eyed muskets, placed their waist knives and short crossbows on the shield holders, and watched the surroundings vigilantly.
A black figure suddenly appeared about ten steps ahead. Zu Dashou raised his three-eyed gun and shot towards the opposite side without aiming. At the same time, the black figure moved his right hand. Zu Dashou and Hou Jin had fought against each other for many years. Tie Guduo quickly dodged sideways.
"Kill all the Tatars!"
Suddenly, bow strings vibrated and firecrackers exploded into one. Within a short distance of more than ten steps, the two sides shot each other, and bursts of screams could be heard from all around.
The number of slaves on the opposite side was not as large as that of the ancestral family's servants, and they were soon at a disadvantage.
The heavy arrows fired from the opposite side became less and less, and the last throwing ax was thrown towards a servant. Several servants around him swarmed up and chopped the Jianzhou Tatars ten steps away into a pulp.
