Bolo swung his sword and killed a defeated soldier with the sword in his hand.
Looking at the Mulingguan City in front of him and the tall flag fluttering in the wind, Boluo looked ashen as blue, and it was a step too late after all.
What made him even more angry was the night attack method commonly used by the Manchus to capture the city. Not only did it not work, but five hundred people were directly killed.
This is not only a failure, but also a slap in the face.
A group of Eight Banners generals did not dare to say anything. Although some of them had previously advised Bolo not to take the Muling Road, Bolo insisted on taking this road, confident that he could pass before the Ming army and rescue Qingzhou.
But now, they lost 500 men and were still trapped at the pass.
"Everyone who escaped came back and was killed!"
Bolo sheathed his sword and gave the order coldly.
Dozens of people who escaped were dragged directly to the roadside and beheaded.
No one dared to dissuade the angry Prince Duanzhong.
"Siege the city!"
Bolo ordered coldly.
"Your Majesty, Muling Pass is too dangerous, the terrain is narrow, and it is difficult to deploy. The Ming army has been prepared for a long time, and this army is very elite, so it cannot be attacked by force."
Being able to prevent their surprise attack is not a skill, but being able to annihilate five hundred of them is very skillful.
After all, Bolo's army was hiding not far away, but even so, they still didn't have time to rescue them and watched helplessly as their entire army was annihilated.
Now under the pass, there are hundreds of headless corpses full of soldiers, and the blood has not yet dried.
"We came all the way and had no preparations for attacking the city, no siege equipment, and no cannons, so we couldn't attack it."
Another general persuaded.
But Bolo didn't listen.
Now go back home, then return to Xuzhou, and then take a detour to Jinan. It is too far. Jinan may be captured by the time they arrive.
Although he made a mistake in his decision-making, Bolo could not bear such serious consequences. He was now betting that he could capture Muling Pass with the strength of the Eight Banners.
This is the only chance left.
"Pile those corpses under the city wall and march them into the city!"
Bolo ordered with red eyes.
"Archers and gunners are shooting and covering, and soldiers with swords and shields are in front. No matter the cost, win this level!"
"Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed!"
Bolo glanced fiercely at the generals.
The horn blows.
In the morning light, the Qing army began to attack Muling Pass.
The front of the pass was narrow, so Boluo divided nearly 10,000 people into several groups to attack. One of them, the relatively low Guancheng, was chosen by him as the main attack direction, but he deliberately sent troops to pretend to attack other places first, leaving the Qing army to attack.
The corpses outside the city were recovered and then transported to the city. They were prepared to use the corpses of Tatar soldiers killed in battle and match them with stones collected on the spot to build a corpse wall passage.
Amidst the sound of the trumpet, the Qing army attacked with great force. They rushed to several other city walls, quickly assembled and set up the simple ladders they carried, and the musketeers and archers fired hard at the back to cover the city wall. The shield soldiers were on
He rushed forward and rushed under the city wall.
On the city.
Meng Xiangang went to change his clothes, had breakfast and took a nap when he heard the bugle, and then he put on the armor that his own soldiers had helped wipe.
"Oh, this Boluotou is really strong. He insists on giving me credit. It seems that after fighting this battle, I can be promoted to a general officer. Brothers, the Tatars are here to give me their heads. It's worth it.
Thirty taels of silver is worth a head. This head is worth one level, and it can be upgraded to another level. Brothers, this is a rare opportunity, don’t miss it. Whether you want to upgrade, or whether you want to receive the reward, it all depends on your ability!"
The soldiers on duty at Zuo Biao of the Shence Town Zuo Association all responded loudly, "Kill the prisoners, kill the prisoners!"
Arrows and blunderbuss roared in.
Meng Xian also immediately ordered his soldiers to fight back.
The Ming army was at a commanding height and had enemy towers and battlements to block it, giving them an advantage.
The musketeers and archers also fired fiercely at the city.
The sky above Guancheng suddenly filled with bursts of smoke.
Both sides were going back and forth, arrows were flying, and people kept falling.
But no one is afraid.
The Tatars attacked fiercely in several directions, one after another. Even though the terrain was narrow and unfavorable for expansion, and they suffered huge casualties, Bolo personally stood in front of the formation to supervise the battle, and no one dared to retreat.
One fell, and another rushed up.
The ferocity and strength of the Tatars is astonishing.
But the Ming army had favorable conditions in Guancheng and had firearms, bows and arrows to strike from a distance, so of course they were not afraid.
Someone fell down after being hit by an arrow, and an auxiliary battalion immediately came up to check and bandage him. If he was slightly injured, he could not get out of the firing line, but if he was seriously injured, he would be carried away immediately.
If one is missing, make up for it immediately.
"Flan cannon ready!"
"Tiger Crouching Cannon is ready!"
Meng Xian commanded calmly and saw that the casualties were increasing. Under a wall, the Tatars had even begun to pile up corpses and climb onto the city. They were playing at a high level.
He also immediately summoned the artillery that had not been used before.
These Fran machine cannons and tiger crouching cannons are informal miscellaneous cannons in the imperial camp. They are not very powerful, but they are cannons after all. When they are filled with large and small lead pellets on the top of the city, they are still very powerful.
They did not have heavier cannons and could not bring them over.
Just like Bolo was facing the same problem of insufficient firepower at this time, he, with his ten thousand people, was also unable to carry cannons. He only had some small cannons weighing tens of kilograms, or even cannons weighing hundreds of kilograms. In order to catch up,
It was a good time to walk on a mountainous road. We didn't carry those cannons weighing one to two hundred kilograms or even several hundred kilograms. If we did, it would greatly slow down the marching speed.
But now their offense seems weak.
They didn't even have another weapon used in sieges in the past, the shield chariot.
Gu Tuo
The shield car is an important weapon for the cannons and artillery on the city defense. It can protect them from approaching the city and avoid casualties. But now they can only rely on the shield in their hands.
When the soldiers in the artillery team heard the order, they became excited and ran to the artillery position.
“It’s finally our turn to open!”
The Shence Army is an infantry army. There are sixteen battalions in one town. Each battalion has four sentries and six teams of soldiers. The organization of each sentry is basically the same. One sentry has eight teams, usually four teams with swords and spears and two teams with shotguns.
, then some have two teams of bows and arrows, and some have one team with guns and one team with small cannons.
The gun carrying team uses heavy muskets, with different models. Generally, the main one is the turtle dove gun, which weighs about 16 kilograms. It costs 1, 2, 3, qian for the medicine, and 1, 2, 5, qian for the lead. The range is more than 360 meters, and its power is
It was so huge that it could directly penetrate the cotton armor of the Qing army. Because of the strong recoil, it had to be supported by forks.
This kind of turtle dove gun is actually an imitation of the Portuguese eagle gun. There is not much difference. The main thing is that the fork of the turtle dove gun is directly on the gun body and can be moved and stowed away, which is more convenient.
There is even a scatter shot that can shoot four lead bullets at once.
In addition to this kind of turtle dove gun and eagle gun, some towns in the imperial camp are also equipped with large bird gun, which has smaller lead and costs one or two cents. This kind is also called nine-headed bird gun or eagle gun.
These three types of muskets are actually heavy matchlock guns with long barrels.
You can use large lead bullets to break armor from a long distance, or you can directly shoot four to nine shotguns. Basically, two people work in groups, which can greatly make up for the lack of firepower and range.
Under Zhu Yihai's idea of emphasizing firepower, each infantry army town reduced the number of miscellaneous artillery, especially some cannons weighing hundreds of thousands of kilograms, and each town was only equipped with some three-pound field artillery. In addition, in the Xiebiao Battalion, it was mainly equipped with smaller
Fran machine or Tiger squat, used as infantry fire support.
At the lowest level, each sentry is equipped with one or two teams of gunmen, that is, heavy muskets. Generally, each team has four heavy guns.
Some are directly equipped with two teams of heavy guns and no small artillery team, and some are equipped with one team of heavy guns and one team of small artillery.
Then there are two teams of muskets and four teams of swords and spears, or one gun, one arrow and four teams of spears.
This kind of configuration is quite appropriate as it can be used both far and near.
Just like now.
Zuo Biao's long-range firepower with a bow and a blunderbuss was obviously insufficient, so he immediately called in a cannon and a blunderbuss.
"Hit with a big lead first!"
The Nine-Headed Bird Team uses big bird guns with one or two cents of lead.
Zhao Dayou, the leader of the spear-carrying team, and Huo Yong plus Zhengyong were in a group, and the other nine Zhengyong were in a group of three and three. The whole team had four shots and nine heads.
After receiving the order to attack, he immediately carried the gun from the enemy tower to the battlement entrance.
Huo Yong Zhong Xiaolou squatted down skillfully, put the front end of the gun rod on his shoulder, and tightened the belt with both hands.
Zhao Dayou held the tail of his gun and aimed the loaded nine-headed gun at the Tatars charging below the city.
He quickly searched for the target, and finally found a Tatar soldier who was tall and burly, and the cotton armor on his body was obviously better. This man was at least a vest, or even a Bajara guard.
The Great Nine-headed Bird, which can shoot up to three hundred paces (five hundred meters), is worse than the Great Turtle Dove Gun, but it is still a long-range weapon with even higher accuracy.
Aim, hook fire.
There was a loud bang and the gun body vibrated. Zhong Xiaolou still tightened his belt. Fortunately, he had stuffed cotton in his ears in advance, which reduced the sound.
He has gotten used to it a lot since he practiced it often.
"Hit!"
Zhong Xiaolou immediately checked the results after firing the gun. He saw a vest in the distance falling to the ground with blood on his chest. He cheered loudly for the team leader.
Zhao Dayou also confirmed the target. After seeing the target fall, he nodded with satisfaction. He quickly asked Zhong Xiaolou to reload together, drew back the gun, and then loaded the lead, which was still one or two large lead.
After stabbing the lead firmly, he did not forget to draw a mark on the butt of the gun, which represented another enemy kill.
"Remember that guy's appearance and the position where he fell to the ground. I'll be rewarded after a while!"
Zhong Xiaolou smiled and said, "Don't worry, I will definitely remember it correctly. It's worth thirty taels of silver. It's my mother-in-law. Let's divide it between the two of us. You'll be twelve and we'll be nine. That's enough to give my brother a wife. Team leader
, if you stop me with a vest, I can give my third brother a wife as well."
"Your third brother is still playing in the mud on the ground, why are you so anxious?"
"Then I'll buy a cow for my family."
The three of them cooperated tacitly and often practiced live ammunition. This was not the first time they had killed an enemy.
Zhengyong Liu San quickly completed the loading again, and Xiaolou quickly re-erected the gun and tightened it with a belt.
And Zhao Dayou also looked for goals again.
He stared at another vest, took aim, hooked the fire, and with a bang, another one fell down.
"The team leader is really a marksman, every shot is accurate." Liu San was extremely impressed.
Although heavy muskets can shoot far, their rate of fire and accuracy are actually not as good as ordinary shotguns, and they are easier to master. However, Zhao Dayou was originally a musketeer, and few in the entire battalion could match the accuracy of this nine-headed bird.
Otherwise, we will not be able to secure our position as the leader of the spear-carrying team.
The other three muskets in their team also fired one after another, but they were not as capable as Zhao Dayou. Sometimes they might not kill one of them even if they fired three shots.
However, the four guns were fired in a row, and they killed five or six elite Tatars in armor one after another.
At this time, Wang Dabeard of the small artillery team on the other side also commanded the two Fran machine cannons to start firing. With a bang, a large ball of lead bullets spurted out in a fan shape, sweeping away a large area.
After one shot was fired, the gunner immediately took out the sub-gun, and then handed over another sub-gun that had been loaded earlier. After briefly cleaning the chamber of the main gun, he loaded it in and continued to fire another shot.
The blunderbuss, which has the advantage of rapid fire, cannot stop firing once it fires, firing continuously and spraying lead bullets continuously.
One sentry has two guns, one battalion has four sentry posts, that is eight guns, plus there is a team of two guns among the battalion officers and soldiers, a total of ten small Fran cannons spitting flame lead bullets continuously, two battalions are marked on the left, two
Ten small cannons poured out their firepower.
Plus a battalion of twenty nine-headed birds, and an association of forty nine-headed birds to assist.
There was a thunderclap, and the Tatars who rushed to the city suffered a violent blow. They were knocked down in one fell swoop and suffered numerous casualties.
Even the elite Bajala guards could not withstand the power of such firearms with their two layers of armor. Without a shield cart, an ordinary shield would be useless.
Seeing the armor falling down like a candle, none of the generals supervising the battle at the rear changed their expressions.
"Your Majesty, the weapons of the Ming army are so sharp that the brothers cannot withstand the chariot without shields. The casualties are too great,"
Bolo bit his tongue and it bled.
Watching the Ming army ruthlessly shooting and harvesting, the Qing army archers and gunmen below the city had little effect on them, so they could only wave their hands while covering their aching hearts.
