Chapter 307: The benefits of firearms

When the shot put flew out of the cannon chamber with a roar, the camp's artillery team was fully prepared to move the cannon forward after the opponent's cannon was shot.

Some people are also staring at the ground. Although they judge that the range of the artillery can not reach this side, they have to worry about the bounce of lead bullets. The soil on the river beach is relatively soft, and the damage of the bounce will not be too great. As long as it is timely dodging, there is no big problem. At this time, it can be said that it is a flash of lightning and everyone is nervous.

But after the howling sound approached, the soldiers of the artillery team understood and were immediately stunned. The opponent's artillery could hit so far.

From contempt to shock, the psychological changes in this were just a moment. The artillery teams that broke into the camp were all surrounded by one piece and immediately exploded.

That's right, the volley of eight cannons, as long as the people around the landing point ran away, there would be no harm, but the pace of the people in the outer and inner circles could not be so good, let alone the cannon trucks and gunpowder trucks blocked them. After such an explosion, the scene suddenly became chaotic, and everyone was in a mess and pushed each other.

As a result, except for those in the outermost circle, none of the others ran away. Even in the moment of this push and chaos, the flight time of the shells in mid-air was very short.

None of the eight shot puts failed, achieving the best killing effect. After the flesh and blood flew across, there was a shrill scream. No one expected that the artillery range of Shandong officers and soldiers was so far.

Artillery was just an auxiliary army for the rebel army. It destroyed the city defense during siege and disrupted the enemy's formation during field battles. However, in the first round of confrontation, it was so miserable by the officers and soldiers' artillery. Hao Yaoqi still expected that the formation arranged behind the artillery team was even more commotion.

Guo Liang stared at the artillery team in front of him. Seeing that the opponent's artillery team had already fled in all directions after the first round of bombardment of his side. Eight shells suddenly took dozens of lives, he couldn't help but feel a little regretful. The artillery should not be too heavy when marched on the river. If he came over with six-pound cannons, the artillery team of the artillery team could be washed away in this round of volleys just now.

However, the soldiers who broke into the camp, especially these elite soldiers, were also extremely brave. Although the attack was quite harmful in this round of shooting, they did not let them all run away.

The reason for the collapse was that the artillery soldiers of the Jiaozhou camp used the stunned speed of the riots to clean the cannon chamber and load the ammunition. If they did not collapse, the second round of artillery bombardment would probably be smashed.

After attacking Caozhou City that time, Guo Liang was scolded by Li Meng. When he got home, he was slapped by his brother Guo Dong. He also regarded it as a great humiliation. Seeing the other generals making military contributions, Guo Liang felt more and more excited, and he really turned the excitement into motivation.

But since the battle in Caozhou, the large and small battles of Jiaozhou Camp have basically not used artillery teams, which made Guo Liang even more depressed, and he was holding his breath to show it on the battlefield.

I gave him this opportunity today. It turns out that he did a good job. Seeing the artillery loading the ammunition, Guo Liang desperately recalled the locations of several bamboo poles in his mind, and shouted loudly:

"Fifty steps forward!!"

The soldiers on both sides of the artillery immediately carried out the order. The two soldiers pushed the wheelbarrow and held tools and ammunition behind them. The rest of the people exerted their strength and moved forward.

Without the drag of the horse, the cannon was obviously much slower this time.

Li Meng was in front of the horse team, and his plan was no different from Hao Yaoqi over there. He was nothing more than using cannons to scoop the opponent's formation first, and then the horse team rushed over. Who would have thought that the opponent would use this method. Things on the battlefield changed rapidly, so what were the predetermined plans?

However, his subordinates completely followed. After the first round of artillery attacks, Tang Er was about to start to let the horse team move forward slowly. Li Meng said in a deep voice:

"Don't move the horse team, send orders to transfer the Magang division's musket soldiers to come forward, and follow the artillery team. If the enemy troops attack, shoot in three sections."

The personal soldiers agreed loudly and rode their horses toward the back. There was also a gap between the horse team and the team. The musket soldiers were not as rigorous as infantrymen, and they ran forward along the gap.

On Hao Yaoqi's camp, he would naturally not let the powerful artillery approach. Some generals also transferred the cavalry to prepare for charge and prepared to take down the eight life-and-death cannons first.

The wooden stick that tamps the ammunition is still stuffed into the cannon. Although the artillery was pushing the cannon, he was nervous to watch the movements on the opposite side. Guo Liang was also extremely nervous. The artillery was originally on the left side of the formation and did not need to charge, but today the artillery was used like the musket soldiers, which made Guo Liang extremely nervous.

Seeing the cavalry opposite him start to move, his heart even more lit up, but at this moment he heard the dense footsteps behind him. When he looked back, a large number of musketeers followed him.

The musketeers of the Ming Dynasty and even the musketeers of Europe were no different from the soldiers holding spears, and the commanders were also the generals of the troops they were in. However, Li Meng had to use musketeers separately, so each battalion had a firearm commander, and in order to hold the general rank, he was responsible for the training of musketeers.

If the general in the war had used the firearms alone, the firearms would be the leader of the army to fight and would be used as the subordinate of the Qiang General on weekdays.

The people who commanded these firearms during wartime were generally guard leaders of the generals, for example, at this time Wang Hai rode a horse to the front of the formation.

The firearm commanders led the musket soldiers according to their battalion. Although these soldiers were scattered, the closer they got to the artillery, they gradually corrected the formation and formed a line under the command of their command.

The eight cannons opened a line of hundreds of steps, and the musket soldiers spread out according to this line. The cannons advanced slowly. The musket soldiers followed this step to adjust the line and load the muskets.

The horses on the other side of the camp were gradually accelerating, and the opponent was also in line with a large number of horses. Hao Yaoqi thought that the officers and soldiers had the same plan as him, and if the horses were spread out here, the opponent could only use the horses to hedge. This was a spear formation to withstand the cavalry charge. The camp could withstand the officers and soldiers, but the officers and soldiers could not use this method to withstand the cavalry.

The horse teams on Hao Yaoqi's side are all elites from Shaanxi, Gansu, Shanxi and Henan, and he is confident enough about the horse team.

The only shelling was lost for a while, but Hao Yaoqi didn't think that these eight cannons could change anything. If the cavalry team stepped forward and overturned the cannons, everything would be fine.

But seeing a large number of scattered soldiers from the other side rushed out of the back team and following the horse team. From a distance, Hao Yaoqi was even more confused.

Just now, his artillery team stepped forward, and the guards on both sides were holding spears and spears. What was the other party so unconventional?

Now he dared not sneer at the soldiers and horses of Shandong. This army gave him a different feeling from any army in the Ming Dynasty, which was too strange.

Seeing that the horse team had already rushed out, Hao Yaoqi shook his head, whispered to a deputy beside him, and said quickly:

"Let the "old dangdang" horse team rush, our own horse team is a little bit tight for me, don't rush up stupidly!"

The one who understood the truth was that "Old Dangdang" was a unit left in Henan that year. The King of Chuang came over and led the crowd to join him, but he was obviously a little different from Hao Yaoqi and others. Hao Yaoqi's troops were also a mixture of various troops. Some people who started their own business in Henan could easily command.

The cavalrymen who broke into the camp did not rush around in a swarm. Several teams still barely opened the distance. The cavalry team belonging to the "Old Dangdang" was already rushing in front. The adjutant said it a little late, but the distance was still slowly opened.

Don't rush silly, it's not just not. Just look at the situation on the opposite side and the cavalry charge. If it is not a heavy-armored cavalry, the light cavalry should still pay attention to being brisk. The cavalry in the front will do the same, and the ones behind may not be the ones behind.

In such a large battlefield, it takes a while for each army to come from their own position to the place where the battle is. The battlefield currently selected by both sides is the direction of artillery advancement.

The horse team that broke into the camp had already started to accelerate, and Guo Liang's artillery had only advanced more than thirty steps forward, but he could already see the clothes of the opponent's cavalry.

"The artillery lay down and was on both sides of the artillery."

After Guo Liang gave this order, he saw that the artillery soldiers were lying down, and he also lay down with his head in his hands.

Behind Guo Liang were musket soldiers arranged in formation, and the cavalry team used by the rebel army to seize cannons. There were almost 300 cavalrymen in front, with great momentum and wide open lines.

Wang Hai was already dismounting, unsheathed his waist and leaning his back against his shoulder. He followed the brigade of musket soldiers to move forward slowly. The firearm commander at the right end of each queue was aiming at Wang Hai's movements.

"One hundred and fifty steps...one hundred and twenty steps...one hundred steps..."

He kept muttering, this was the distance Wang Hai was estimating the distance between the opponent's cavalry. When he saw that he was approaching 120 steps, Wang Hai raised the knife in his hand, and the firearm commanders of each row shouted in unison:

"Prepare~~"

The musketeers had already loaded their ammunition and raised their muskets. Wang Hai's knife slashed forward fiercely, shouting:

"Open fire!!"

He made this move and shouted in the first row of musket commanders:

"Open fire!!"

Hundreds of muskets were fired all at once, and the "bang bang" sound instantly made, and the entire battlefield was immediately filled with white smoke.

Hao Yaoqi stood up almost from the horse's back, wanting to see what was going on on the battlefield hundreds of steps away, but the amount of smoke from the black gunpowder was too large to see clearly.

He could only hear the howl of a person and the neigh of a horse. The other party dared to use a firearm to open fire from such a long distance. Such a violation of common sense surprised him. When he heard the howl, he knew that the shooting was very effective and his face turned darker.

Fortunately, he ordered in advance that the back row had already opened the distance. When he saw something wrong in front, he turned around one after another and turned to both sides.

The horses had not started running yet, so it was not too much trouble to turn, but after all, it was a change in direction at the last minute, and there were still quite a lot of chaos in the horse team. Hao Yaoqi was still frowning there, and several military generals were cursing:

"Zhi Niang, why do our brigade's cavalry rushed over, but the people behind them fled in the face of the battle?"

The people who scolded were not Hao Yaoqi's direct line, but the leader of other Henan bandit brigades. Hao Yaoqi's face looked even more ugly, but he didn't say anything.

After the first row of muskets were fired, these hundreds of muskets were quite powerful, but the accuracy was not too high. Although the smoke was everywhere, it was still possible to roughly tell that the other party was charging towards this side. At least half of the horses were not hit. These elite cavalry of the rebel army were indeed not bad.

When the horse is frightened, it can still control the mount and continue to rush forward, which is much stronger than most officers and soldiers, but the fire guns of Jiaozhou Camp are shooting in three sections.

"First row, fall!!"

The firearm commander at the right end of the first row shouted loudly, and the soldiers in the first row immediately used muskets to support the ground and half-squatted. After the commander in the second row shouted in the first row, he was calculating the time. According to the Cao Dian, if the soldiers in the front row did not squat down, they would violate military law.

The day-to-day queue training allowed the soldiers of Jiaozhou Camp to mechanize the command. After the soldiers in the first row issued the command, they squatted down when they could hear it. Those who did not hear it were too loud but followed the reactions of their comrades beside them.

"Open fire!!"

The firearm commander in the second row shouted at the top of his voice, and the firearms in the second row also started. The refugee cavalry were extremely brave. After being hit head-on, they did not escape and still sorted out their formation and continued to rush forward. However, they knew that the opponent's firearm was so powerful that if they ran away with their backs, they might have greater casualties.

I can only continue to charge. After the opponent's musket is fired for one round, there will be gaps in loading. I just pressed the horse and scrambled the team to rush forward, and the second round of muskets also started.

"Second row, fall!!"

"Open fire!!"

Immediately afterwards, the third sect's muskets fired again, and the soldiers in the first three squatted down, while the musket soldiers who did not fire raised their muskets and waited for orders.

On the Western battlefield, since the emergence of firearms, there has been a saying that the battlefield fog began. The smoke from black gunpowder and the dust raised by cavalry and infantry marching on the ground were enough to block everyone's sight. After the first round of musket shooting, the wind was strong by the river, so you could see the opposite side clearly.

After three rounds of shooting, I couldn't see clearly what the opponent was. Commanders at all levels and Wang Hai listened calmly.

The continuous loud noises, the howls on the battlefield, and the endless smoke made Hao Yaoqi's formation silent. Hao Yaoqi's confidant guard muttered in a low voice:

"Even when Lu Xiangsheng led his troops to chase us that day, he did not see such an official army..."

Hao Yaoqi's cold command:

"Each team is on guard and must not be confused. Those who violate the order shall be killed. Each general returns to the team and wait for the order!!"

The generals who originally regarded this battle more easily followed the orders and dispersed towards their respective teams. Hao Yaoqi whispered to the deputy general:

"Get the horse team here, fight or run later, and follow my order!"

The deputy general hurriedly went, and Hao Yaoqi's eyes were also staring at the center of the battlefield. In the Kaifeng area in spring, especially near the Yellow River, the wind was still quite strong. Soon, the smoke and smoke drifted away.

Three combos, thousands of lead balls were shot in sequence, and the effect was indeed quite good. More than 300 cavalrymen were lying in front of the eight artillery, and some were seriously injured and not dead. The men and horses struggled hard in the pile of corpses. All the soldiers who saw this scene took a breath.

The musket soldiers stood up and started to load ammunition. Guo Liang stood up, shook his head, and patted the dust on his body behind him. The continuous shooting of the muskets just made them lying on the lie-down artillery soldiers worried. On the one hand, they were afraid that the horses that were afraid of bandits would come over, and on the other hand, they were afraid that the muskets here would not be able to be fired.

Looking at the battle situation in front of him, Guo Liang was also excited and shouted at the people around him:

"Brothers, now we see our artillery team!!"

As soon as he finished speaking, earth-shaking cheers came from the Jiaozhou camp array. The morale of the soldiers in the artillery team was high, and even the speed of pushing the artillery increased a little, but they would not go too far, because the position where the artillery stopped just now, ten steps forward were the corpses of people and horses.

It can be seen how close the cavalry of the rebel army rushed just now. The cannon was very heavy, and the iron-packed wheels were a little troubled on the flat ground, not to mention the obstacles of people and horse corpses. However, according to the distance between the two sides, the cannon must be about twenty steps closer to the opponent's own formation.

Guo Liang gritted his teeth and was about to give an order, but the horse hooves behind him sounded. The messenger had already rushed over and said quickly:
To be continued...