Eight hundred and twentieth chapter artillery fire
A cannonball fell from the sky and landed a few feet away from Songping Zeye. I saw only a flash of fire, a huge explosion, and an iron gunner lying on the ground over there screamed.
Jumped up.
The iron gunner's stomach had been bruised by artillery shells, and only a red and black patch was visible, bleeding out. Not only was his stomach injured by the artillery shells, but other parts of his body were also pierced with steel slag.
The iron gunner used his hands to cover the huge wound on his stomach and the leaking intestines, but he could not cover the dripping blood. The severe pain in the wounds all over his body came like a mountain falling apart.
He suddenly fell to the ground again, screaming and rolling.
The tragedy was unbearable to witness.
A mortar shell hit the left side of Matsudaira Zeye with a thud, frightening the five or six iron gunners nearby to jump to the side. However, the shell exploded a second after it hit the ground, and the one closest to the shell exploded.
The iron gunner jumped too late. The deadly steel thorns shot out and pierced into the iron gunner's crotch and thigh.
The iron gunner didn't know how many wounds he had been pricked by the steel thorns, and he fell to the ground howling. While howling, he touched the wounds on his lower body, seeming to want to pull out the steel thorns in the wounds. However, the steel gunner fell to the ground howling.
The thorn had already pierced into the bone and flesh, and there was no way for human hands to pull it out. As soon as his hand touched the wound, his eyes were dizzy from the severe pain, and he screamed like a pig being killed.
The other soldiers nearby looked at the miserable condition of the wounded soldier, and their faces were all white.
This isn't a war, it's a massacre.
In the trenches of the Huben Army, Zheng Kaicheng used a telescope to observe the sparks rising one after another in the Japanese trenches, and laughed. He turned around and said to Zhong Feng: "How about it? The prince's new weapon is sharp, isn't it?"
Zhong Feng nodded and said: "It is indeed breathtaking. In the past, trench warfare made people unable to advance or retreat, but now it is completely different."
Zheng Kaicheng laughed heartily, feeling quite proud that he had learned about mortars before Zhong Feng.
"Zhong Feng, how many rounds of shelling do you think the Japanese can withstand?"
Zhong Feng pondered and said: "The Japanese iron gunners are all low-level samurai, and their salaries are much higher than civilians. Retreating at this time will mean the destruction of the country. I guess the shogunate army iron gunners will persist for a while."
"Oh?" Zheng Kaicheng raised his telescope curiously and looked at the trench opposite.
On the opposite side of the trench, the Japanese had been blown to pieces by two rounds of mortar shelling. The Japanese had not seen the great power of mortars in Huai'an and did not know the huge destructive power of this weapon on the trench.
The front line trenches were densely packed with infantry.
Without mortars, the infantry accumulated in the first-line trenches would effectively block the Tiger and Ben army's advance. But now with mortars, the dense infantry has completely become the target of a massacre by mortar shells.
Almost every mortar shell that landed took away the lives of shogunate soldiers.
In just two rounds of shelling, more than 10,000 Japanese soldiers were killed. In the blink of an eye, there were only 60,000 iron gunners left, less than 50,000 left.
Of course, the Japanese are not fools. After two rounds of artillery fire, Japan's "old Chinese" Abe changed his tactics again. Lingqi quickly passed orders in the trenches, and officers at all levels began to move the dense infantry from the front line trenches.
Withdrew, leaving only one-thirtieth of the soldiers to defend the trenches.
Matsudaira Zeye also quickly carried out the order. He shouted loudly, leaving only one team of thirty iron gunners to continue to hold on in the trench, and told everyone else to go to the rear and stand by.
The iron gunners ran to the rear like a tide. As the density decreased, the lethality of the mortars was greatly reduced. In the past, each shell would take away a soldier, but now it takes at least thirty shells to kill a soldier.
The soldiers who were selected to hold on were trembling all over, helplessly facing the whizzing cannonballs. However, these iron gunners also knew that if the Tokugawa shogunate fell, they, the lower-level samurai, would starve to death sooner or later. For Tokugawa
It is their duty and their destiny to fight to the end for the shogunate.
Matsudaira Zeye, as the commander, did not withdraw. He hid in a hole created by a shell. He used a shovel readily available in the trench to enlarge the hole and dug it into a round hole one meter square.
The whole person shrank in. Therefore, the surrounding cannonballs could not hit him. If the cannonball wanted to hit him, it must directly hit the round hole where he was hiding.
Every time an artillery shell exploded nearby, and he was sure that there would not be another round of bombing in a short period of time, Matsudaira Zeye stretched out his head to observe the surrounding situation. Sometimes he even stood up to observe the situation outside the trench.
Did the Ming people rush up?
Matsudaira Zeye's hiding method soon caused other soldiers to imitate him, spreading like a gust of wind in the trench.
Mortar hit rate became even lower.
After ten rounds of mortar bombing, the barrel became hot. The gun crews stopped bombing one by one and began to use wet towels to cool the barrel.
On the hot air balloon next to Zhong Feng, the high-altitude observer wrote the observation results on a piece of paper, tied it to a stone and threw it down. The messenger picked up the note and handed it to Zhong Feng.
Standing in the trench, Zhong Feng could not understand the situation on the side of the shogunate army. Only after getting the note from the hot air balloon did he know the actual situation on the other side. When he saw the content on the note, he suddenly frowned.
"The Japanese withdrew 96% of their soldiers, leaving only one-thirtieth to guard the trenches?"
Zheng Kaicheng was stunned and said: "The shogunate army is also cunning. One-thirtieth of the men and horses are hidden in the trench, and only one person is placed more than thirty meters away. The lethality of our artillery shells is greatly reduced."
Zhong Feng cursed: "This is simply a waste of our artillery shells." After thinking about it, Zhong Feng said: "If we fight like this, our mortars will only be able to kill a few thousand more people if they hit red. The shogunate army looks quite
We have the spirit to destroy everything, we won’t be able to defeat the shogunate army today!”
Zheng Kaicheng said: "But if the Japanese only leave a few men to guard the trenches, we might as well attack them."
Zhong Feng thought for a while and said: "Attack on it... I'm afraid there will be casualties. Even if there are only one-thirtieth of the iron gunners in the trench opposite, there are still 2,000 infantrymen."
The Huben Army is used to low or even zero casualties in battles, and Zhong Feng does not want to sacrifice any soldier.
Zheng Kaicheng said: "If we use ordinary rifles to charge into the formation, we will definitely suffer heavy casualties if we stand up and charge forward. But if we crawl forward with Jinwang rifles, it will be difficult for the riflemen on the opposite side to hit us."
Zhong Feng's eyes lit up and he said: "The Jinwang rifle is loaded from behind and can be loaded while lying on the ground. If we build up density here, we will definitely be able to suppress the infantry on the opposite side..."
Zheng Kaicheng was appointed by Li Zhi as the commander-in-chief of the Battle of Osaka this time. Seeing that Zhong Feng also agreed with his tactics, he waved his hand and said: "Pass my order, let the seven thousand elites armed with Fujin-style rifles crawl forward and attack the shogunate army."
moat."
The flag order soldiers shouted the order, waved the order flag, and passed on Zheng Kaicheng's order.
Company Commander Lei San was standing in the trench, observing the enemy's movements with his naked eyes, when he suddenly saw the flag order for elite soldiers to charge into battle.
Lei San took a breath.
Lei San's company is the sharp knife company of his regiment, and all 126 people are equipped with Jinwang rifles. At this time, Zheng Kaicheng ordered to charge into the formation, and Lei San's soldiers were about to break out of the trench to fight.
Patting the brand new Jinwang rifle in his hand, Lei San whispered: "It's up to you, new rifle."
Turning around, Lei Sanyi waved and shouted: "Everyone follow me, crawl forward and attack the Japanese pirates' ditch!"
