During the fierce bombardment, the Chu Army's Fifth Division and the Guards Division also dispatched small and medium-sized troops such as sentries and battalions to carry out raids many times.
On the one hand, they continued to test, forcing the Ming army to expose more defensive forces, such as those short robes hiding behind trenches or parapets.
In defensive operations, the power of these short robes is not much worse than field artillery.
If they were allowed to hide quietly and wait until the Chu army launched a fierce attack before running out for a round of artillery bombardment, they would cause huge casualties to the Chu army.
Even so, it was impossible to save the defeat of the Ming Army's new left army, but if possible, Luo Zhixue still did not want the personnel losses of the Fifth Division and the Guards Division to be too large.
Therefore, before launching the final general attack, it is very necessary to understand the opponent's short-coat deployment as much as possible and mobilize 18-pound mortars for targeted coverage and bombardment.
Yang Sixing frowned on the top of the mountain!
The artillery of the Chu army on the periphery was still carrying out fierce shelling. Because of the large amount of gunpowder smoke produced by the intensive shelling, and there was no strong wind today, even the artillery positions of the Chu thieves on the opposite side were filled with clouds of white smoke.
These damn Chu thieves, don’t artillery shells cost money? How long have they been firing before and after, and they still maintain a high density of shelling!
Looking at the past artillery attacks by the Chu thieves, the number of shells that have been fired is estimated to be several times that of all the shells stored by the left army of their new standard army.
What's more, the Chu thieves were still carrying out artillery bombardment, and it was vaguely visible that behind each of the Chu thieves' artillery positions, there were piles of dark, triangular-like hills.
That's a hill of spherical solid cannonballs!
Such a violent bombardment by the Chu thieves once again refreshed his understanding of the Chu thieves.
Not only are Chu thieves sharp with guns, but they are also damn rich and willing to spend money.
This massive amount of artillery shells came at him as if they were free of charge. Yang Sixing felt extremely heartbroken when they hit him...
With their sharp bombardment, the Chu thieves suppressed the infantry and short gunners deployed at the front so that they could not lift their heads. In the process, they continued to send troops to launch surprise attacks.
On the southern line of defense, many positions were even lost at one point, but he still relied on him to send reserve teams up, and regardless of the risk of field gun barrels exploding, they conducted high-intensity rapid fire. The offensive on the southern front was pushed back.
However, in order to push the Chu thieves back, their new standard army also suffered a lot of losses. They lost at least two to three hundred soldiers. Most of them were for counterattack. When they took the initiative to climb out of the trench and formed a formation to attack, they were targeted by the Chu thieves. caused by covering shelling.
It is worth mentioning that even the left army of the New Standard Army relied on trenches and parapets for defensive operations, but these trenches and parapets were purely used to prevent artillery bombardment.
When the infantry of the Chu army rushed up, the New Standard Army soldiers hiding in the trenches would often take the initiative to walk out of the trenches and form a formation to fight.
Why?
If you don't form a formation, just relying on the firepower of muskets or even short cannons will not be able to cause any devastating blow to the Chu army infantry who are rushing up.
And when the Chu army infantry rushed up to form formation, your Ming army soldiers were still hiding in the trenches, and they were still separated. The defense line would be broken through by the rebels in minutes...
After all, the level of firearms these days is just like this. Both the Chu army and the Ming army seem to use trenches and other defenses on a large scale. At first glance, the early stages of the battle seem to be somewhat similar to the wars of World War I and World War II in later generations.
But in fact there is a difference.
The most obvious point is that the scattered infantry firepower is still not enough to cause a devastating blow to the enemy's advancing infantry. If you want to inflict a devastating blow to the enemy, or withstand the enemy's impact.
Then the only option is to form a formation and rely on dense formations to form denser infantry firepower and a thicker infantry formation.
In fact, even during World War I and World War II, when the opponent's infantry rushed up, in order to avoid being defeated individually and to avoid being killed by the enemy from above, the defenders would often launch a countercharge, resulting in more brutal hand-to-hand combat between the two sides.
In the age of matchlock guns, hand-to-hand combat was no longer an indispensable part.
However, whenever the infantry of the Ming Army began to step out of the trenches to form formations, they would be hit by targeted artillery fire from the Chu Army, resulting in considerable losses.
After this happened two or three times, Yang Sixing couldn't help but frown. If this continued, I'm afraid the defenders on the southern front wouldn't be able to hold on for a few more times.
Even if it costs me, I can’t afford it!
Just when Yang Sixing was worried about the southern front, a general next to him suddenly shouted in horror: "Bingxian, it's not good!"
Yang Sixing looked in the direction indicated by his general, and saw that on the northern front, the Chu thieves who had not made any big moves turned out to have a large number of gray thieves soldiers emerging, and then launched an attack towards the northern front.
And looking at the momentum, at least six or seven infantry battalions were invested, with more than 4,000 people!
This momentum was several times greater than the previous attack on the southern front in which the Chu bandits invested hundreds at once, but only one or two thousand people.
Are these Chu thieves about to launch a general offensive?
Moreover, the direction of the general attack was not on the southern front as he had expected before, but on the northern front.
Oh no!
Yang Sixing couldn't help but have such thoughts in his mind, but he quickly calmed down and said immediately: "The artillery team immediately intercepted, and the baggage battalion immediately reinforced the northern line. No matter what, we must stop the rebel army! "
The baggage camp was already the last reserve team he had on hand.
However, the rebels dispatched at least 4,000 infantry at once to launch a fierce attack. The northern front could not withstand it no matter what, and the strategic reserve of the transport camp could not be replaced at this time.
As for what to do if reinforcements are needed from other directions after joining this reserve team.
What else could he do? Grit his teeth and hold on. Anyway, Yang Sixing didn't have a second strategic reserve team on hand.
——
The sound of artillery on the battlefield is still rumbling. On the northern battlefield, Li Dongshao is riding on a brown war horse!
In front of him were the sixth battalion of Guards soldiers, who were now advancing in column. In addition to infantry such as spearmen and musketeers, these Guards troops also had gunners of two and a half pound field guns. , also directly pushing and pulling the lightweight two and a half pound field gun to accompany the advance.
The Ming army had obviously reacted, and their field artillery began to bombard the northern battlefield. However, there were only fifteen artillery pieces. At the same time, these fifteen artillery pieces had already been engaged in high-intensity combat before, even if they were dipped in water. The cotton ball is used to cool down, but the temperature of the barrel will not be too low, and metal weakness is inevitable.
Now these fifteen artillery pieces are no longer able to fire a burst of rapid fire like when the battle first broke out.
Scattered artillery shells fell in the advancing ranks of the Guards. Occasionally, a few soldiers were hit to the bottom, and some of the wounded screamed.
But this still cannot stop the advance of the Guards infantry!
When Li Dongshao saw that the troops of the two regiments in front were already advancing one after another, he waved his hand, and immediately another regiment's troops came out of the trenches, and then quickly advanced in columns.
The general offensive was imminent, and Li Dongshao had no intention of holding back. Instead, he planned to send three infantry regiments to rush forward at once. There was also an infantry regiment and even a baggage regiment that could serve as a strategic reserve and enter the battlefield at any time.
Just as Luo Zhixue expected two quarters of an hour ago!
The fifteen artillery pieces of the Ming army can cause an almost devastating blow to an infantry battalion in a short period of time, but the blow to three infantry battalions, for a total of nine infantry battalions, is very limited.
Because by the time these fifteen artillery pieces destroyed the phalanx of one of the infantry battalions after several rounds of shelling, the other eight infantry battalions had already rushed forward.
Luo Zhixue knows this very well, and so does Li Dongshao.
Therefore, the Guards either remain motionless, or when they move, the main force will be deployed, which will make it difficult for the Ming Army's artillery unit to focus on the head rather than the tail, making it unsustainable.
To put it bluntly, it's just using more troops to bully people!
Well, the Ming army also liked to fight the Chu thieves in this way in the early days. Taking advantage of their large number of troops, they launched attacks at the same time, forcing the Chu army to engage in close combat with them.
Chen Yongfu, Lu Xiangsheng, Zuo Liangyu and others have all done this, but they all failed in the end!
Because the Chu army's melee combat ability is actually more powerful than its long-range attack ability...
Although the Chu army is now famous for its sharp guns, in several actual field battles, the Chu army would eventually launch an infantry charge and rely on the infantry charge to completely establish the victory.
The routine is also very simple. The spearmen and musketeers line up together. When they are dozens of meters away from the enemy, the musketeers fire a volley, and then follow the heavy armored spearmen with their spears. Charge with hands...
It's such a simple routine, but in the previous wars between the Chu army and the Ming army, they won every battle and never failed!
The most recent large-scale line charge was the encounter between the westward detachment and tens of thousands of Ming troops east of Linxiang during the Battle of Wuchang last year!
At that time, an infantry battalion in the westward detachment launched a line attack directly against more than 3,000 Ming troops, and finally defeated the 3,000 Ming troops.
At least so far, the Chu army has never encountered a Ming army that can withstand such an attack!
How should I put it? Although there are few Ming troops who can withstand the Chu army's artillery fire and even volley fire, they are not without them.
Many Ming military camp sentries, mainly composed of elite soldiers, can actually do this.
But there is no Ming army that can carry the last volley of Chu infantry and charge with bayonets and spears...
Now, the Ming army once again faced the Chu army's line infantry charge!
Moreover, this time the Ming army did not have any strength advantage and was even at an absolute disadvantage.
Facing the first wave of attacks with more than 4,000 people and nine infantry battalions, the artillerymen in the Ming army's artillery battalion could not stop them even if they tried their best.
Not to mention, most of these Ming army gunners are now powerless, because their artillery has been engaged in high-intensity combat for a long time. If high-intensity shelling continues, the risk of bombing will increase dramatically.
The artillery battalion of the Ming army was unable to effectively intercept the first wave of attacks by the Guards, which made Yang Sixing look gloomy.
When Yang Sixing saw the second wave of attacks by one or two thousand people from the rebel army opposite, he finally closed his eyes slightly.
This battle is over!
