A night encounter gave the entire New Army a clear understanding of the rebels' combat effectiveness.
Even the weakest hand-to-hand combat of the new army, the rebels were defeated. It can be said that the rebels have no hope of winning this battle.
"The rebels will definitely attack again tomorrow. Tell the entire army to prepare for a counterattack."
Zuo Mengeng attached great importance to the report of the Fourth Regiment, and at the same time lost interest in the rebels.
If the rebels are driven back as soon as possible, the Denglai area can be well constructed.
Early the next morning, after both sides had breakfast, the rebels pressed forward again.
The situation dictated that the rebels must attack even if they lost two battles in a row. Their situation will not improve unless they regain Dengzhou.
"How many poison bombs are left?"
Bu Shiren said quickly: "There are fifteen pieces left."
Geng Zhongming became fierce and said: "Fight them all out."
The previous defeat of Guan Ning's army was thanks to poison bombs. This time Li Jiucheng and Geng Zhongming still pinned their hopes on this magical shell.
Compared with yesterday's attack, today's rebels invested 20,000 people at once.
Divided into more than a dozen square formations, they pressed against the New Army's positions across the board.
Bu Shiren followed the order and fired all the poison bombs in his hands onto the new army's position.
The pungent poisonous smoke quickly filled the air, and many soldiers of the New Army were immediately infected.
However, the new army reacted quickly. They lowered their bodies and retreated along the tunnel.
Toxic smoke is lighter than air, so it floats upward.
By squatting down in the tunnel, you can greatly avoid the poisonous smoke. Moreover, the tunnel can also function as a flue to help the evacuation of toxic smoke.
Therefore, the damage caused this time is far from comparable to that of the Battle of Shahe.
But in the final analysis, the new army gave up its position.
Kong Youde was so excited that he waved his hand, and the second-line infantry also quickened their pace to keep up with the pace of the forward.
This time the rebels had pliers in their hands and quickly opened several holes in the barbed wire.
On Weiyang Mountain, Zuo Mengeng, who was holding a telescope, saw the rebels rushing into the position through the broken barbed wire mesh and entering the tunnel, with a sneer on his lips.
He waited patiently, and when almost all the rebel forwards entered the tunnel and the second wave was approaching the barbed wire fence, he immediately ordered: "Fire artillery and counterattack."
The artillery that had been hidden since the war finally got a chance to be used.
When the red flag on the top of the mountain was waved continuously, Jia Yunzhi jumped up and shouted: "Heavy artillery, target the enemy's follow-up troops, fire three rounds rapidly! Infantry artillery, fire coverage according to the original calibration!"
The heavy artillery and infantry artillery of the new army roared immediately.
The artillery units of the New Army were trained completely in accordance with the standards of later generations. When the battlefield was set, they had already included the battlefield in the shooting report.
Therefore, after getting the order, there is no need to aim at all, you only need to aim at the fixed coordinate position and fire.
The heavy artillery troops were behind the mountain, and the enemy could not see the thick smoke caused by dozens of cannons. They could only hear the thunder-like vibrations.
Then I saw dozens of black spots in the sky coming with sparks. They didn't give the rebels any time to react, and they all fell into the array.
The rebel soldiers thought that if they ducked left and right, they would not die from the shells. But he never thought that after these shells landed, they did not roll, but exploded on the spot.
The air within tens of meters tore rapidly, as if countless blades were spinning wildly, and the flesh and blood they encountered immediately shattered and flew away, exuding the aroma of ripe meat.
The New Army's heavy artillery will form a storm of about 30 to 40 meters near the impact point of each round. Coupled with the casualties caused by the dust and gravel, one-third of the rebels' second wave array was immediately lost.
People of this era still only know artillery as solid bullets. Facing the New Army's explosive bombs loaded with gunpowder, there was no protection at all.
the most important is……
This time, the explosive in the artillery shells fired by the New Army was collodion.
With nitric acid and sulfuric acid, preparing collodion was a piece of cake under the guidance of Zuo Mengeng, an arms expert.
The Battle of Huangxian became the first testing ground for collodion explosives.
In practice, the effect is frightening.
The power of guncotton was very obvious compared to that of black gunpowder. The explosion crater on the ground was more than a circle larger, and the scope of the explosion was more than doubled.
Although collodion is better than explosives as a propellant, under the current limited conditions and beyond the times, this shortcoming is irrelevant.
The new army was very satisfied with the new gunpowder, but the rebels collapsed.
No one, whether it was Li Jiucheng, Kong Youde or other generals, or ordinary rebel soldiers, had ever seen such a weapon.
A large area was exploded, leaving no bones left, and the sturdy shield vehicle was blown to pieces, and it had no protective effect at all.
The rebels who were still alive completely lost their minds and immediately turned around and ran away. The generals who were mixed in were unable to stop them, nor did they want to stop them. They fled equally quickly.
However, with advanced artillery technology, their actions were useless.
The artillery observers lying on the commanding heights of Liujia Mountain quickly reported the data.
"Target 546, sight 334, direction 1-12, height plus two!"
The artillery below immediately followed the instructions, completed loading, and hit the coordinate position, which was exactly on the rebels' retreat route.
The rebels still gathered together, not knowing that evacuation was the best way to avoid the bombardment.
Once again, nearly a thousand rebels were killed by the steel flames.
The place where this happened was not far from Li Jiucheng, Kong Youde and others. Feeling the power of the new army's artillery at close range, the rebel generals all collapsed.
Li Jiucheng shouted: "Fire the artillery, fire the artillery, kill the artillery on the opposite side!"
Bu Shiren wanted to cry but had no tears.
"Commander, the artillery on the other side is behind the mountain, a full five miles away. Our artillery can't hit it!"
Li Jiucheng was stunned and asked nonchalantly: "How can you fire a cannon behind a mountain? What kind of cannon can shoot five miles away?"
But thinking about the strange and terrifying damage of the New Army's artillery, he also knew that he was encountering a weapon beyond his imagination.
Covered with just two rounds of artillery fire, the will of the rebels was defeated.
No one dared to speak, and they once again organized the military formation to move forward to support the forwards who had entered the New Army position.
At this time, the new army also began to launch a counterattack against the rebel forwards who rushed in.
After the rebel forwards entered the tunnel, they discovered that there was a lot of mystery inside.
The tunnel is low in front and high in the back. It is very convenient to stand in the tunnel and shoot in the direction of the rebels. However, if you shoot backwards, no one can do it without a stepping tool due to the two-meter-high earthen wall.
With such a high slope, it is very difficult for people to climb up, especially if they are wearing armor.
When the rebels were driven back, the New Army infantry began to counterattack.
They rushed to the top of the tunnel, but instead of going in, they shot down from above.
Facing an attack from behind, the tunnel has almost no blind spots, and it is impossible to resist even if you want to.
And some of the firecrackers in the hands of the rebels were simply incomparable to the cap guns of the new army. Often, a musket needs to be faced with more than a dozen muskets.
The asymmetrical battle resulted in an extremely exaggerated battle loss ratio.
While there were many key points where the rebels gathered, the New Army soldiers simply greeted them with grenades.
Although the tunnel is very effective in protecting against artillery shells, it cannot protect against grenades. Moreover, the narrow tunnel makes it easier to harvest the shrapnel of the grenade, which can take away several lives in almost one explosion.
The fortifications that gave the rebels a headache and fear were no more defensive than a beautiful widow's window in front of the new army.
The rebels who were trampled on by the new army and harvested wantonly could no longer stand it any longer and fled backwards one after another.
The fortifications of the New Army have been determined. It will be difficult for the enemy to enter, but it is still very easy to return the same way.
After discovering that they could easily jump out of the fortifications, the rebels were like crabs that found a loophole in a fishing net and ran out one after another.
They jumped out of the fortifications, spread their legs, and fled frantically.
Unfortunately, there is still a difficulty in front of them.
That's barbed wire.
During the previous attack, the New Army did not block the attack, so the rebels cut several gaps in the barbed wire fence and were able to enter easily.
But now they are running for their lives, and everyone is like a lost dog.
The narrow gap only allows a few people to pass through at a time, but there are more than hundreds of people rushing towards it.
Everyone wanted to rush through the barbed wire fence quickly and get away from this horrible place. So people were squeezing and pushing each other, and they were all jammed on the edge of the barbed wire fence.
The person in front was pushed wildly and couldn't stand at all, and his body hung on the barbed wire fence.
The barbed wire fence was full of barbs, which pierced their flesh and blood and tore them to pieces, leaving only terrified wails, but nothing could be done.
Behind the fleeing rebels, the New Army soldiers had never had such an easy shooting opportunity.
They just need to hold the musket flat and shoot forward. There are almost no bullets missing, and every shot can kill a rebel.
In front of the barbed wire fence, the rebels failed to become crabs that broke through the fishing net, but became fish meat that was caught in a net.
