Chapter 1437 Bombardment of Jijiabao

Artillery is a very important branch of the Haihan Army. Although due to various constraints, the establishment of the artillery unit has not been able to keep up with the overall development of the army, no matter which army general the general attaches to artillery,

There is no doubt about it. For the army and navy, artillery is a scarce resource that needs to be fought for. The organic artillery unit is the most valuable thing in the hands of the Ministry of National Defense. This time, several artillery companies were mobilized from the south to participate in the war in Liaodong.

, the arrangements for dispatching troops and generals during this period were also quite difficult.

As for the artillery units that were assembled on the front line during this spring offensive, 80% of them are currently under Qian Tiandun's command. This is because the eastern and western armies can at least rely on sea gunboats to provide near-shore fire cover and assume the main offensive mission.

The middle route army could only rely on the firepower output of artillery to attack the Houjin defense line.

Qian Tiandun and the commanders of the artillery unit designed an arc-shaped artillery position specifically for Jijiabao to ensure that the maximum firepower was concentrated on the south gate of Jijiabao facing Haihan. In order to ensure this

The artillery position will not be attacked by the Houjin Cavalry, and the special operations battalion must also formulate a corresponding cover plan to coordinate with the artillery offensive.

This battlefield may have been farmland a few years ago, but now it is just a wasteland for both warring parties. Fighting in this environment, Haihan does not have to worry about Houjin spies getting mixed up in the refugee flow.

If you go to your own rear, the other party has already cleared the southern area of ​​Jinzhou and moved away all the Han people. Although this has caused great difficulties for Haihan's on-site supply, it will not have any scruples during the war.

, but it also saves a lot of trouble in dealing with refugees.

On March 13, it was sunny and windless. The Haihan camp was already in action at dawn. The Pidao army assigned to the battle also got up early and made preparations. Shen Zhixiang personally led the army from the north gate of the camp.

They filed out. Their task was to hold an area designated in advance and provide protection for the right wing of the artillery position.

In the previous military operations last year, the Pidao Army actually had the experience of accompanying Haihan on many expeditions to Liaodong. However, in the past, most of the operations were at sea. The Pidao Army was mainly responsible for transportation tasks. Those who actually participated in the war

There are not many opportunities. This time he got the opportunity to fight side by side with the special operations battalion. Shen Zhixiang naturally wanted to take this opportunity to perform well and prove with his record that Haihan's many aids to Pi Dao were not in vain.

In the past, the Dongjiang Army had many victories in the battles between Liaodong and Houjin. However, due to various reasons, it failed to receive full support from the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, it lost Liaodong under Houjin's continuous offensive, and was finally suppressed to the point where it could only escape to

Overseas, Pidao is struggling to survive. In terms of past performance, this army does not have much psychological disadvantage against Hou Jin. In addition, following the Haihan Army in action for the past year, they have also seen how the arrogant Hou Jin Army was beaten.

There was no way to fight back, so when Shen Zhixiang led his troops to the wilderness, the soldiers did not appear too nervous because of the identity of their opponents, but many were quite excited, thinking that the chance to restore the former glory of the Dongjiang Army was today.

However, in order to ensure that the Pi Island Army would not lose its position during the battle, Qian Tiandun still sent a company of infantry to act with the Pi Island Army, and closer to the artillery position on the inside to provide it with the final layer of protection.

.

After the troops on the east and west sides were in place, the artillery carts finally came out of the camp one after another. These artillery carts pulled by packhorses were all produced after the founding of Haihan in 1634, so they all had newer breech models.

Cannons. As for the old muzzle-loading cannons that were produced in the early stages and were heavy and inconvenient to use, they were either transferred to local areas for use as port and coastal defense artillery, or they were simply sold cheaply to Fujian or Annan for use by allies.

The Houjin Army in Jijiabao naturally noticed this movement. While the Pidao Army was still lining up in the field, someone had already reported to Erhe and Yangguli who was supervising the battle. When they saw the artillery truck coming from the Haihan Camp,

The Zhongyuan army continued to appear, and the faces of Houjin generals became very ugly. They were not afraid of the most brutal fight with the Haihan army, but if there was no way to effectively shorten the fighting distance on the battlefield, no matter how brave the warriors were,

You can only die in vain.

According to the information obtained in previous battles, the range of Haihan artillery is almost one mile or more. This kind of heavy artillery is extremely rare in Houjin. It is almost always used for city defense fortifications in big cities or passes. For example, this fortress defense line

Each of the two large fortresses has a cannon that was originally brought from Shandong by Kong Youde. It is said that the range can reach more than one mile.

The reason why it is "rumored" is because these two guns have never been recorded firing after being deployed on the defense line. Even the gunners who operated these two guns were the same people who defected to Liaodong with Kong Youde, so for the time being, there is no record of firing.

We can only use Kong Youde's statement as a reference. For these two cannons, the military generals of the Later Jin Dynasty naturally placed high hopes on them, and even regarded them as treasures like magic needles to fix the sea. However, they now found that they were faced with the Haihan coming from across the sea.

When he was in the army, his treasure suddenly became shabby.

Yangguli did not have the patience to wait for Haihan to deploy the artillery positions. He called Erhe to him and asked him to immediately assemble his troops out of the fort to charge. He must prevent Haihan from deploying artillery outside.

Erhe's heart was cold, but he could only follow Yangu Li's instructions. He knew that it would be a dangerous journey, and after explaining a few words to his trusted servants, he led hundreds of cavalry under his direct command out.

We arrived at Jijiabao. Most of these cavalrymen were from the same tribe as Erhe. They were both prosperous and withered. Even though they knew that this trip was very likely to result in death in battle, they still had to bite the bullet.

Erhe led his troops to launch a desperate charge towards Haihan. He did not expect that his few hundred cavalry could overwhelm the opponent's position. He only hoped to break through Haihan's line of fire and shorten the fighting distance to the point where he could kill the opponent.

To the extent that even if you kill a hundred or so Haihan soldiers, your few hundred cavalry can at least die with dignity.

But this was of course only Erhe's unilateral wish, and the special operations battalion responsible for attacking the front line had no intention of letting him succeed. As soon as Erhe's cavalry troops came out of Jijiabao, Gao Qiaonan, who was directing the operations on the front line, ordered

All personnel entered the combat position. Although the infantry had no time to set up roadblocks and bunkers in the wilderness, they were all convinced that the weapons in their hands were enough to deal with these cavalry, because a similar battle situation had already occurred when they attacked Port Arthur at the end of last year.

Muteb, who led the charge of the Houjin Cavalry, also had a similar plan to Erhe, but the Haihan Special War Battalion used a tough counterattack to achieve a terrible record of defeating the cavalry with foot.

After that, the special operations battalion made further modifications to the corresponding tactics, and had more methods for cavalry units in terms of formation layout and firing rhythm. They were waiting for this opportunity to verify their effects.

Taking into account the weak firepower of the Pidao Army, Takahashi Nan ordered the troops originally stationed on both wings of the predetermined artillery position to quickly move closer to the center and assemble, while the artillery vehicles that had already left the camp immediately moved closer to the special operations battalion, and the artillery vehicles that had not yet left the camp moved closer to the special operations camp.

It is to pause the action and try not to give the opponent a chance to attack.

When Erhe's troops completed their assembly outside Jijiabao and began to march in formation, Haihan's side was already ready for the battle. Looking at the hedgehog-like Haihan position in the distance, Erhe couldn't help but feel a pang.

He had a headache, but he couldn't seem to find a better tactic than rushing over. He drew his saber, shouted for a brief mobilization, then took the lead in lifting the reins and rushed forward. Hundreds of cavalry followed.

Afterwards, he rushed towards Haihan's position brandishing his saber.

"There is nothing new!" Takahashi Nan was relieved when he saw the opponent's formation. He rushed towards the special operations camp with his head down like this. Unless there were several times more troops, he would not be able to break through the special operations camp.

Terrible long-range firepower network.

The killing started when the two sides were hundreds of feet away. Although the bullets fired from the Haihan position were difficult to aim at specific targets, the intensive firepower caused sporadic personnel in the Hou Jin Cavalry team to be shot and fell from their horses. Then the Hou Jin Cavalry was in this position.

With the light bows and arrows they carry, it is difficult to hurt the opponent no matter how hard they shoot. In addition to lowering their bodies on horseback to reduce the target, and holding their hand shields in front of their heads to protect their vital points, the Houjin Cavalry has not changed for the time being.

A good way to deal with this terrible long-range attack.

However, this kind of shield tied to the arm can protect people but cannot protect the horses with larger targets. Therefore, during the cavalry charge, there was a scene of people falling on their backs with the sound of gunfire almost every moment. The soldiers who followed Erhe into the battle

The number of hundreds of riders is decreasing rapidly at a speed that is almost visible to the naked eye.

As the distance between the two sides continued to shorten, the originally sparse gunshots became more intensive, which made the cavalry who charged towards the Haihan position for the first time a little confused-could it be that the Haihan people didn't use their muskets?

Did you stop to reload?

Of course they didn't expect that the rifles equipped by the special operations battalion were equipped with seven rounds. Reasonable arrangement of rotation shooting can form uninterrupted firepower output. The real shortcoming is actually on the side of the Pidao Army. The rifles they use are all made by the navy.

The old matchlocks and flintlock muskets provided by Han Dynasty were much more powerful than the blunderbuss they used before, but compared with the repeating rifles of Haihan troops next to them, the level of firepower output they could achieve was obviously

It's lagging behind.

But the more this happened, the more Shen Zhixiang refused to show weakness. He wanted to show the Haihan Army that even if his troops were lagging behind in equipment, their fighting spirit would be no worse than anyone else's.

During the charge, Erhe also observed the imbalance of firepower on the opposite side. He pointed his saber at the area where the Pidao Army was located and took the lead in charging over.

Shen Zhixiang did not panic when he saw this. In addition to the musketeers, his troops also had 200 spearmen who were specially equipped according to the advice of Haihan's military adviser. The spears in the hands of these soldiers were five meters long and only had one head.

Pestle the ground, lift the other end, and it immediately becomes the simplest way to resist the horse. Hundreds of spears are arranged in three deep rows in front of the formation, and a spear formation suddenly emerges from the ground, covering the island.

The front line of the army was tightly protected.

After the horses at the front crashed into them and were stabbed into skewers with their horses and men, the horses behind them subconsciously slowed down, not wanting to crash into the densely packed spear points and die. But they stopped at this spear point.

Those outside the formation were equally vulnerable to death. The shooting targets of the special operations battalion quickly focused their fire on this side, knocking down the Houjin cavalry who tried to use their sabers to cut off their spears and rush in one by one.

Erhe did not try to bypass this position to outflank Haihan's retreat, because he knew that he had no way to go. After angrily breaking several spears, he did not know which barrel flew out of the spear.

A bullet accurately hit his right eye, and then a cloud of blood burst out on the back of his head. Before Erhe could even scream, he fell straight off his horse and fell to the Pidao Army.

Less than five meters in front of the formation.

However, few among the rebels realized that the leader of Houjin's side was dead, and the two sides continued to engage in a selfless battle until the last Houjin cavalryman on horseback was shot dead.

Shen Zhixiang felt his throat was extremely dry. Just now, the Jin Army had actually broken through the Pidao Army's defense line. However, the enemy troops that rushed in were too scattered and scattered. They were killed before the defense line was completely torn. He personally supervised the battle in front of the formation.

After killing five or six soldiers who were throwing away their guns and running back, I stopped these soldiers from trying to abandon their formation and flee. If they had not made a prompt decision, I am afraid that the Pidao Army's position would have been overwhelmed by the enemy.

But before he could recover, a new order from Takahashi Nan had been sent, requiring the Pidao Army to immediately return to its original combat position and make room for the artillery to enter. At that moment, Shen Zhixiang had no time to count his own battle losses, so he hurriedly

Gather the troops and horses and make room for the artillery troops that have been waiting for a long time.

"They sent a cavalry to rush into the formation, probably because they wanted to prevent our army from deploying artillery outside Jijiabao. But the more afraid they are, the faster we have to launch an offensive." Qian Tiandun seemed to be talking to himself.

, and it seemed like he was interpreting the battlefield situation for Chen Yixin.

Chen Yixin responded: "But it will take a while until all the artillery is in place."

Qian Tiandun shook his head and said: "One step at a time, one step at a time. There is no need to wait for everyone to be in place. The artillery that arrived first immediately launched an offensive and suppressed the gates of Jijiabao with firepower, preventing their cavalry from coming out."

"But it is difficult to cause much damage to the defenders inside." Chen Yixin did not understand Qian Tiandun's tactical adjustment.

Qian Tiandun said: "The Pidao Army has a shortcoming, and the opponent has realized this. If the Golden Cavalry comes out to charge again, they will definitely take Shen Zhixiang's troops as their primary target. I don't think the Pidao Army can withstand it.

, if the casualties are too heavy, it will go against our original intention of letting the Pi Island Army participate in the war."

A moment later, there was a deafening sound of artillery, and a six-pound shell roared through the air and hit the outer wall of Jijiabao hard, causing the Hou Jin army to scream in surprise.
Chapter completed!