After An Ning retreated to the rear, Davou rode his horse back and forth in the area where his troops were stationed to encourage everyone.
"We have strong fortifications, which we built overnight yesterday! We will definitely cause huge damage to the enemy and let them always remember the flag of our first brigade!"
Someone joked: "There is nothing special about our brigade's military flag!"
"Yes, except for the word "Roman", there are almost only some patterns left!"
Davout: "After you have fought this battle, a beech tree will be added to the military flag to record your achievements this time!"
"That's nothing to be happy about! It's just a beech tree!" A sergeant joked, "If you ask me, just get a beer glass. This means that everyone will have beer to drink in the future!"
The soldiers laughed heartily.
Davout: "Anything is fine. As long as we withstand the attack and win this battle, we will vote to decide what is on the military flag, and then I will go and tell the general in person!"
As soon as he finished speaking, the enemy's artillery fired back. The first shell roared and landed in front of the low stone wall guarded by the first brigade. The shell jumped up and then crossed the top of the mountain.
Davout: "They raised the muzzle of the guns too high. Apparently the enemy's artillery officers were inexperienced and did not take into account their own terrain."
As soon as he finished speaking, a solid cannonball hit the windmill on the top of the mountain. The projectile directly passed through the main body of the windmill's wooden structure and came out from the other side. A large number of wood chips fell down.
Davout: "Hold on! It's just a little sawdust! If you're really scared, just lower your head and bury it in the soil!"
The enemy artillery continued to fire, and countless shells fell around Davout's troops.
The infantry artillery assigned to Davout also roared in the fort to respond to the enemy.
Compared to the first brigade, which had a low stone wall as a barrier and held its body down, the enemy's advancing troops suffered significantly greater casualties.
On Davout's flank, Napoleon was directing the cavalry cannon to fire fiercely.
"Fire the artillery! Shoot out as many artillery shells as possible. We will retreat later!" Napoleon also rode on his horse and ran along the line of the artillery team, shouting loudly as he ran.
Napoleon's troops did not have a pre-built artillery fort. A volley from the enemy's artillery sent a shell flying right against the wheel of a cannon, breaking the cannon's beam.
The cannon fell apart immediately, and the horse pulling the cannon was frightened, neighing and running wildly to the rear. The stirrup caught a man's trousers.
The man was dragged out by the horse, screaming until his head hit a rock.
Napoleon: "Hold on! It's just bad luck! The enemy's artillery commander is a layman! It's a waste of firepower to let the artillery bombard us when the target is much smaller! Keep shooting!"
At this time, a projectile fired from a cannon passed through the enemy's line in the form of a low-altitude water scoop, directly penetrating several rows of lines.
The battalion that was penetrated immediately cowered, its steps were obviously messed up, and many people were hesitating.
Napoleon was very happy: "Very good! Concentrate your fire and shoot that battalion! Aim for it!"
At this time, an artillery sergeant came to Napoleon: "Captain, are the enemies too close to us? Withdraw!"
Napoleon: "Don't retreat! The advantage of forming an array on the top of a hill is that as long as we retreat a little, we will be blocked by the ridgeline, so we don't have to retreat so quickly. Fire, keep firing!"
"Adjust the barrel to a horizontal firing angle! Keep firing!
"Each cannon fires two more rounds and then reloads the shotgun. The enemy will be close enough by then. Give the enemy a taste of its power!"
**
Davout used binoculars to observe the enemy's attacking formation. At this time, his deputy reported: "Captain Bonaparte's artillery has not withdrawn yet. If this continues, they will enter the enemy's rifle range!"
Davout immediately turned his telescope and observed the cavalry and artillery troops on the ridgeline.
The cavalry artillery was still firing at the approaching enemy. The barrel of the gun was almost flat. After being ejected from the barrel, it flew hundreds of meters before hitting the ground. It bounced on the ground like a pinball. When it passed through the enemy's line, it was a bloody mess.
wind.
Davout: "This Bonaparte is quite courageous! However, artillery is a precious technical arm and should not be wasted in the exchange of fire with the enemy's bulk soldiers."
Adjutant: "Should we send a messenger to ask him to retreat?"
"No, we don't have the authority to command Bonaparte. Let's just do our part. When the battle is over, I will give advice to the General."
At this moment, Bonaparte's artillery began a new round of fire, this time firing canisters, and a storm of shrapnel directly hit the enemy's face.
From Davout's perspective, he could see a large number of enemy soldiers falling to the ground in the first two columns without a telescope.
The battalion that was bombarded by cannonballs collapsed directly, but the remaining relatively well-preserved battalion approached Bonaparte's artillery!
Then Davout watched as Bonaparte directed the artillery to flee.
The artillerymen dragged their cavalry guns back and hooked up with the carriages that had been parked behind the ridgeline for a long time. They jumped on the carriages and started driving.
Davout laughed loudly: "Okay! So that's it, he is using the cover of the ridgeline! Even if the enemy stops and shoots now, they can't hit anything!"
Davout was laughing when he suddenly heard the enemy's command coming from directly in front of him: "Stand still! Everyone raise their guns!"
Davout turned his head and looked at the enemy in front of him.
A sergeant nearby shouted: "Brigadier! Get off your horse quickly and hide with us..."
The command came from the enemy: "Fire!"
There was a crackling sound of gunfire, and the enemy's line was suddenly obscured by white smoke.
Davout faced a torrential rain of lead bullets.
"Artillery, load the shells! Quick!" He ordered loudly without any fear, exuding a confidence that all the lead bullets would go around him.
After the enemy's volley of gunfire passed, white smoke obscured the field of vision, and the enemy could not be seen at all.
But you can tell from the drumbeat of the military band that the enemy is reloading in place.
Davout: "It's our turn! Everyone, volley!"
The sergeants repeated Davout's order: "Shoot!"
"shooting!"
The white smoke instantly engulfed the low wall next to the mill.
Davout continued to order: "Free fire! Hit as many pieces as you can! Shoot!"
The troops of this era did not shoot volleys to increase their hit rate, but to cause enough effective hits in an instant.
To put it bluntly, the purpose of destroying the enemy's morale is to knock down a bunch of people at once. The damage to morale is different from falling down one by one one after another.
But Davout is now on the defensive side, and it is unlikely that he can cause the entire morale of the enemy's offensive troops to collapse by killing a large number of people in an instant.
Therefore, he needed to be able to project firepower as quickly as possible, so he adopted a free-fire strategy, so that everyone would fire immediately after reloading, forming a continuous and dense firepower.
The infantry cannon assigned to Davout sprayed shotgun shells into a cloud of white smoke, and the screams of the enemy could be heard in the thick smoke.
Amidst the screams, Davout heard the enemy's military music change, turning into a charging drum.
Then the shouts of killing were heard in varying degrees.
Davout drew his sword: "The enemy is charging! It's time to test us!"