This time, Li Zhi equipped the 70,000-strong Tiger Army with more than 7,000 mortars. Almost every infantry squad was equipped with one. They were scattered over more than 150 miles of trench fronts, which is about every ten meters of the battlefield.
One mortar is deployed per width - of course, the trenches on the battlefield are dug in a winding way and are longer than 150 miles, so the density of mortars is slightly lower than theoretically.
But no matter how you look at it, this kind of firepower density is amazing.
At this time, on the battlefield, the Huben Army's side was filled with the sound of mortar firing, while the Jiangbei Army's side was filled with the explosions of small explosive shells and the screams of those who were hit.
If you look down from a high altitude, you will see red sparks exploding in the trenches, like flowers blooming in summer. The black smoke emitted after the explosion of the flowering bombs slowly rises up, turning into patches of black.
Fog floats in the air. Combined with the blood splattered from the wounded in the trench, the color of the entire scene becomes very bloody.
The soldiers of the Huben Army looked at their comrades operating the mortars in amazement, watching the small artillery dominate the battlefield that was more than a hundred miles long.
Compared with the heavy 18-pound long gun in the big trench at the rear, the mortar weighing about 50 pounds is just like a toy. The shells of the mortar are even smaller, not as big as the grenades of the Tiger Army. However, this
However, this little thing played an unparalleled role on the battlefield that other weapons could not match, completely turning the trench on the opposite side into a hell on earth.
Especially the 20,000 people who had been holding out in Huai'an for more than a year were full of admiration. Unexpectedly, the Huai'an front, which had been holding on for more than a year and was unable to advance or retreat, would now be completely changed by these more than 7,000 mortars.
Li Xing couldn't bear the itching of his hands, walked to a mortar, chased away the gunner, and began to operate the barrel to shoot at the opposite side.
Li Xing had tried firing mortars many times on the school grounds of Fanjiazhuang before. He was so easy to operate that Li Laosi next to him couldn't help but praise him a few times.
Slightly adjusting the angle of the muzzle, Li Xing gestured to the target in the distance with his palm and jerked the gun rope.
With a bang, the three-pound cannonball shot out of the launch tube and was thrown into the trench more than 400 meters away.
However, the shell failed to fall into the trench and exploded two meters in front of the trench.
Li Xing looked at the bullet impact point and shouted: "Come again!"
He and the artilleryman who cooperated with him loaded the shells and primers, and pulled the gun rope again. Another shell shot into the distance and exploded in the trench of Jiangbei Army.
Li Xing pricked up his ears and listened to the sounds in the distance, hoping to hear the enemy's screams.
But Li Xing didn't hear it. He let out a hey, adjusted the direction of the gun barrel, aimed at the trench next to it, and started shooting for the third and fourth time.
In recent years, Li Zhi has actively expanded the saltpeter trade. Now Li Zhi's power not only smuggles saltpeter from Sichuan and Huguang from the south of the Yangtze River, but also connects minerals in Mongolia and the Western Regions through Shanxi merchants. Xinjiang is very rich in saltpeter minerals, and through the King of Datong
Li Zhi's caravans continued to sell goods to Tianjin, which made Li Zhi's supply of gunpowder abundant.
It was precisely with the support of saltpeter from Xinjiang that Li Zhi dared to use weapons like mortars to deal with the Jiangbei Army. After all, mortars shoot at the enemy across trenches. If the enemy adopts a loose formation, sometimes it takes several rounds or even a dozen rounds.
To injure one enemy soldier, the ammunition consumption is staggering.
Li Xing kept shooting, never sure whether he hit the enemy soldier, and frowned in anger.
After the tenth shot, Li Xing plowed almost all the ten-meter trench in front of him with mortar shells. Finally, he saw a flash of fire. A Jiangbei Army soldier was hit by the shock wave of the explosion and hit the wall of the trench. Half of his body was exposed in the trench.
, died tragically on the edge of the trench.
Li Xing finally succeeded and was very excited. He shouted to Li Lao Si: "Did you see it? Lao Si, this is Brother Wang's method! Let me see what Jiangbei Army can do to resist this time!"
Li Laosi nodded and said: "My boss, no, the prince does have miraculous methods. I really believe more and more that the stars descend to the earth. How could an ordinary person imagine so many magical things?"
The impact of Li Zhi's inventions one after another was so great that Li Laosi became more and more in awe. Now, although Li Laosi is interested in getting closer to Li Zhi, he does not dare to call Li Zhi Dongjia again, so he still changes his name to Li Zhi.
That’s what Prince Cheng is called.
Li Xing laughed and punched Li Laosi on the shoulder, causing Li Laosi to stagger.
There was chaos in the trenches of Jiangbei Army.
There were wounded soldiers and corpses everywhere. It was unknown how many people had been killed. Screams and groans were like background music, lingering back and forth in the trench. The walls of the trench were covered with charred black soil after being blasted by artillery bombs.
It was dotted with deadly steel slag shot out from the shells. A trickle of blood flowed from the bodies that were killed and gathered in the low areas of the trench. If you walk a few steps in the trench, you can see the broken limbs of the corpses.
, disgusting.
In order to reduce casualties from mortar bombing, Wu Sangui had withdrawn his troops, leaving only one-tenth of his men to guard the front-line trenches. Originally, the Jiangbei Army was divided into two shifts to guard the front-line trenches every day.
Three people were arranged at a distance. But now Wu Sangui has greatly reduced the personnel arrangement in the trench, allowing one person to guard the trench three feet.
Such an arrangement can greatly reduce the lethality of mortars.
The poor people who were selected to guard the trenches were basically in a state of collapse. They huddled behind the trench walls and shivered, praying to God and praying in the hope that the shells would not hit them. As soon as they heard the sound of the shells falling to the ground, they desperately
Fall to the side to minimize the chance of being blown to death.
But even so, people still fall victim to it from time to time.
Wu Sangui also hid in the ditch with his head down, thinking about how to defend himself against this terrifying little cannon. Thanks to the thick scales on his body, he was not as afraid of the steel slag in the cannonballs as ordinary soldiers.
Wu Sangui also thought about building an iron shell on top of his head, but that would take time. For an army like the Jiangbei Army that relies on craftsmen, it would not be possible to build such fortifications in less than half a year. With such time to build such fortifications, the soldiers have already
They were all blown up by the Tiger and Ben troops.
If you rush over to attack the mortars, you will be shot dead by the Tiger Soldiers hiding in the ditch.
No matter how you look at it, there is no way to fight this battle. There is only one way to escape.
A cannonball suddenly fell ten feet away to Wu Sangui's right. Wu Sangui was so frightened that he quickly rolled to the left. With a bang, the cannonball exploded into a large cloud of smoke.
Wu Sangui secretly knew that he could not stay here for long, so he quickly exited the first line of trenches. When he walked into the second line of trenches at the back, he saw Zuo Liangyu and Shi Kefa standing there with their brows furrowed, discussing countermeasures.
Both of their faces were pale, and they were obviously completely shocked by "thief Li's" methods.
Seeing Wu Sangui withdrawing, Shi Kefa stroked Wu Sangui's hand and said: "Uncle Chang, Li's tactics are too terrifying. Now we have no choice but to retreat south! We retreated to Nanjing and relied on the Yangtze River to defend, waiting for the Japanese shogunate army to attack Li.
Maybe things can turn around."
When Wu Sangui heard this, his eyes narrowed.
We must withdraw, but the question is how to withdraw, and who will cut off the rear? Wu Sangui looked at the faces of Shi Kefa and Zuo Liangyu, and secretly thought that Zuo Liangyu wanted his men to come to the rear, right?
