The rise of the prince

Chapter 631 Decisive Victory + Morale
The guns on the ship are not equal to the guns on land, because the space is limited and the operation is more complicated and cumbersome.

Two heavy ropes passed through the lard-greased hoops fixed on the inside of the side sides, one end was tied to the gun carriage, and the other end was fixed to the rear ground hoop with a hook lock, which had been loaded in advance.

The torment was not easy, the fight had been going on for a long time on the other side, and the Liao people could clearly see the defeat of the Liao people and the fall of their own brothers on the boat, but the commander had no intention of ordering fire at all, and seemed to have forgotten all of them.

Someone hesitated to speak, but finally chose to obey the order until the orderly on the other side gave the order to prepare to shoot.

Hundreds of artillerymen on ten ships moved at the same time, quickly opened the shooting window, and then all the artillerymen pulled the rope backwards through the left and right of the artilleryman, changed the direction of force through the iron ring, dragged the artillery forward, and stretched out the barrel to shoot hole.

Then there is the fire transmission. The commander of each deck lights the torch, and the fire rope in the hands of the firing soldiers of each gun is lit. The top of the stick is safer than torches. There is no open flame. For safety reasons, only the commander on each deck holds an open flame. If any artillery squad accidentally extinguishes the fire, you can find the commander to light it in time.

Everyone is ready, waiting for the final order, on the bank of the river, after the vanguard collapsed, a large number of main cavalry of the Liao army began to move forward slowly, accelerated continuously, and then charged
Like a dark tide, the front is more than one mile wide, slowly rushing towards the east in a huge cone formation.

"Damn it, don't be ashamed of hitting such a big target for the first time." Yan Shen said loudly, his voice was actually tense, and everyone wanted to laugh, but they didn't. The entire North Shore was bigger than any target they had hit before.

Finally, the messengers on the opposite side waved down the flag, and the copper bells hanging on the decks of all the ships were rang rapidly with "ding ding ding".

"Fire!"

"Fire!"

"Fire!"

"."

The order went from the commander on the upper deck to the lower deck to the artillery squad leader, and the matchlocks of each gun were ignited almost at the same time.

The short match seemed to burn for a long time, until there was a loud noise, and the flames spewed out, and the huge recoil pushed the heavy gun body to slide back in an instant. When it slipped to about one step, the two ropes came to an end, "bang" With a bang, it was held tightly by the iron hook on the deck, and the gun body stopped retreating instantly, causing the wooden ship planks to creak.

This distance just allowed the muzzle to retreat into the cabin, and the soldiers quickly took the opportunity to reload.

One person presses the fire door, and the other person fixes the cannonball and the paper-wrapped propellant into one, and puts it in from the front. Then the soldier on the left pokes the gun plug to the bottom, inserts the matchlock from the fire door, cuts it, and is ready to fire again.

Soldiers on both sides pulled the loaded gun out of the shooting window by pulling the rope, and started the second round of shooting
The whole cabin became busy in an instant, filled with loud noise and gunpowder smoke, and the commander's loud reminder that the outside world suddenly didn't matter, what they wanted was the fastest speed and the most shells.

Yan Shen could see clearly from the deck that the first round of shelling, the moment the shells rang, the flanks of the Liao army on the other side of the river were instantly torn apart. Huge gaps were instantly torn open. Both men and horses were made of flesh and blood, vulnerable to steel.

Soon, the wailing and crying recalled that the Liao people on the battlefield were obviously at a loss. The huge cavalry charged into the formation, but slowly slowed down in the second half. The compatriots who fell to the ground, torn apart, were at a loss.

The moment they slowed down, Di Zhi's ground position in front opened fire one after another, and the loaded artillery on the ship started shelling again.

The Liao army caught in the middle of the crossfire was beaten dizzy. After a little understanding of what happened, the cavalry began to divert, and the rear rushed towards the river bank. The forward didn't notice that his butt was beaten, and continued to rush towards Dizhi's main position past.

The vanguard cavalry who had been defeated and ran towards the river had fired arrows at the big ship several times, but found that they couldn't hurt anyone at all, and were killed by the artillery squad on the deck with their pistols. They were so scared that they also fled to the north.

120 two guns, every time they fired, accompanied by a roar like death, a large number of cavalry fell on the other side.

After the continuous bombardment by the fleet in the river, most of the cavalry who had not rushed to the shore had already started to break up, crying desperately and fleeing to the north mountains, leaving behind broken arms, various flags, missing arms and legs The seriously wounded and dying horses wailed on the ground, and the river bank was stained red with blood.

After paying a huge price, more than a hundred elite cavalrymen of the Liao Kingdom rushed to the shore desperately, and then looked desperate. It was impossible to hurt anyone in the boat, because they got too close, and the loud sound of the gun startled the horses, and they started to run around.

Yan Shen stood on the deck and raised his gun. He shot at the leading officer of the Liao Kingdom who was wearing iron armor. He hit the abdomen. He clutched his wound and fell off the horse. This time, his intestines were definitely broken. He must not survive, but he will die. very painful.

The rest dropped their flags in desperation and started fleeing south
Most of the rout in the rear, but the large Liao cavalry at the forefront didn't pay attention at all, and they still rushed to Di Zhi's position. Because the distance was too close, the ships dared not attack for fear of accidentally injuring their own people.

Yan Shen visually estimated that there were about two to 3000 people, but there was nothing he could do in a hurry. The enemy had already engaged Di Zhi's large army at close range, and there was a high probability of accidentally injuring his own people by firing.

So he ordered decisively that all the big ships lifted anchor and began to advance westward along the river. There was still the strength of the Liao army in the west, and there were about ten thousand people of all kinds of infantry!The flag of Yelu Dashi, the coach of the Liao Army, was also erected there and fluttered in the wind.

The fleet pulled up the anchor, the bottom boatman stepped on the pedal hard, and the big ship began to slowly move westward.

"Don't mess up! Hold on!" Di Zhi shouted loudly in the phalanx, "Don't be afraid of missing shots, don't leave bullets behind, hit anyone you see!"

After continuous firepower, the cavalry at the forefront of the Liao Kingdom fell in large numbers, and some began to flee.

Most of the people who rushed to the front were the elite of the Liao army, with a strong will to fight. Even though they suffered heavy losses, they still rushed to their positions, causing casualties to the periphery of the three frontmost phalanxes.

The soldiers on the periphery of the phalanx were also very brave. They were originally selected from the army to be in charge of the anti-cavalry. They did not look like the soldiers who had just entered the battlefield.

They have gone through countless anti-cavalry trainings, many of which were taught by Ji Chunsheng, who fought many battles with Prince Xiao back then.

Several soldiers in the outermost circle were stabbed by the spears of the Liao soldiers' horses, and they stabbed the cavalry horses with bayonets to death. As soon as the cavalrymen landed, they were waiting to be shot by the gunmen behind them.

No matter how elite the cavalry was, they were flesh and blood, and the elite of the Liao army soon couldn't withstand the firepower. A large number of horses were killed, and those who fell off the horses moved slowly and were quickly shot.

But even so, the real elites of the Liao Kingdom still did not break up. The cavalry on horseback began to circle around and gather again, trying to approach them, and most of them rushed directly to the open space in the phalanx.

This is an instinctive reaction. The Liao soldiers think that they will win by rushing into the middle of the enemy. This has been the case since the day they knew how to fight and know how to fight. If they rush into the middle of the enemy and occupy their positions, the enemy will collapse and win. up
But what they encountered this time was a completely different army. When they rushed to the open space in the new army phalanx, what they were waiting for was not broken up, no victory, only bullets from all directions, and the blow they suffered was several times more severe than that on the periphery.

This was a long and fierce battle. The elite cavalry of the Liao Kingdom were far less than the vanguards before, but their will to fight was completely incomparable. Even though they suffered heavy losses, they still kept circling around the phalanx, trying to overwhelm them.

After a long firefight of almost half an hour, the casualties were very heavy and they were still struggling. The elites who took the lead slowly discovered a terrible problem with blank faces. Their buttocks were gone.
What about the people behind them?What about reinforcements?What about the thousands of Liao cavalry behind them?Where the hell have they gone!
After discovering this terrible problem, the morale that had lasted for so long finally began to crumble, and many people chose to flee after hesitation.

They have already killed and injured too many people, blood flowed like rivers, but they caused very limited damage to the people of Jingguo. The reason they were able to hold on was that they were waiting for the reinforcements behind them. , As a result, the beating and beating people disappeared.
So they died and fled, and gradually only a hundred people remained in the new army phalanx. The Liao general in iron armor on the opposite side saw this situation, and brought the remaining hundred people back outside the phalanx in despair. Gathered together, and then desperately headed towards Di Zhi's direction. After fighting for so long, he had clearly seen that this person was Jing Jun's commander.

"Dismount and surrender, I can spare you!" Di Zhi shouted loudly, but no one answered.

"Snapped"

"Clap clap."

The gunshots continued, and what was waiting for them along the way was heavy firepower from all directions. Some people kept turning their backs on their backs, and some fell off their horses. When they rushed twenty steps in front of Di Zhi, only four or five of them were left with injuries all over their bodies. But waiting for them were the pistols of dozens of black-shirted cavalry around Di Zhi.

"Clap clap clap."

The black-shirted cavalry fired a volley, and the last few fell off their horses. Their armor was like paper in front of the new army's weapons.

Watching the last enemy fell, the soldiers of the new army cheered, their morale was shaken, and they won again!

"Although he is an enemy, he is still a man of integrity." Di Zhi touched the dust on his face, and finally laughed.

The black-shirted cavalry beside him hesitated for a moment, and said with a smile: "Commander, that might be, the key point is that they don't understand the Chinese you speak."

Di Zhi was taken aback, and couldn't help but swear: "You're the only one who talks too much!"

Then ordered the doctors in the rear to come forward to rescue the wounded, and the rest of the people regrouped, lined up in a three-section shooting array, and stepped on the corpses all over the ground to advance westward. There was the flag of Liao Guoshuai, and it was also their last main force!

Li Xingzhou rode Meixue, stood on a high slope, and witnessed more than 100 cannons firing at the same time on the river bank. He saw blue smoke and flames, and the loud sound came here after a long time.

The sharp whistling sound of shells piercing the air also slowly resounded across both sides of the bank, and the large black shadow he could vaguely see crossed the river and reached the opposite bank in an instant.

The invisible god of death has the power to destroy the dead. The flanks of the charging cavalry of the Liao Kingdom were suddenly forced to fall down like a forest in a strong wind.

The splashed gravel mixed with flesh and blood, the Liao people must have panicked and looked dazed, and many of them are destined to die without knowing what happened.

The reason why the solid bullet hits people is cruel because the probability of the shell directly hitting the person is actually very small, and there is no need to hit directly. The real high lethality is that the shell falls at high speed in an arc and bounces instantly when it hits the ground, like floating in water. Relying on huge kinetic energy to bounce, fly low to the ground or even slide, attack the human body from a very low height, with a high probability of hitting the lower body of a large group of soldiers, causing terrifying severe injuries without death.

So in some serious movies, people will be hit by solid shells, and the soldiers will be blown up very close to the earth, but the people will be fine.

Such a description is actually true, which means that the shells were the first to land on his side, throwing up a large swath of soil. He will be fine, but many people behind him will suffer.
Judging from the killing effect of solid shells used by humans in the past, soldiers should worry more about their legs and lower body. The death from the explosion, the killing of people by tiny shrapnel, the wailing and helplessness of the seriously wounded on the battlefield, and the tragedy of the human body being fragmented without immediate death also greatly destroyed the morale of the enemy.

As for the cavalry, many shells bounced and hit the horse's abdomen, or directly broke the horse's leg. The cavalry in the high-speed charge, once the person in front fell, immediately behind was a series of people who turned their backs on their backs, trampling each other in a panic, and the death toll ratio The frontal battlefield is even more terrifying.

In fact, although the historians recorded the battle briefly, most of them were relatively objective and fair. Especially in the Song Dynasty and before, battlefield records would not be constrained as much as those involving politics.

If you consult most of the records about the battlefield, you will find that there are not many soldiers who died in direct confrontation, and more soldiers died from chasing after the defeat, pushing and trampling, falling into the mountain stream when fleeing, drowning in the river, etc. It is several times, even dozens of times, hundreds of times the frontal battlefield casualties.

The Northern Song Dynasty attacked Liao three times, how did the hundreds of thousands of troops send them, that is, hundreds of thousands of pigs.

How did the Liao army lose? Most of the time, this is the pattern. The forward elite was defeated, and then the soldiers behind thought they had lost, and started to run wildly. Then they were chased by the Liao army and caused a lot of casualties. Their own people trampled to death, along the way Most of those who died due to pushing and falling due to narrow roads were drowned in the river.

Another time was even more bizarre. The vanguard was defeated, but the morale of the Chinese army was still stable. In fact, the [-] troops lost only a fraction, and then the commander of the Chinese army yelled that they were defeated. I can't leave it to the Liao people
The generals of the Northern Song Dynasty were stupefied.

What is this operation?But there is no way, we think it’s okay and we can still play, but the coach said we lost, so we must have lost, let’s run away.

So the Song army fleeing for their lives was chased and killed by the Liao army all the way, causing countless casualties. Many people strayed into the swamp and died in it while escaping. The loss was many times higher than that of the frontal battlefield.

This is the operation of human beings. Human beings are never robots, and the survival instinct is always the first criterion governing human actions.

Therefore, hitting morale is a more effective way than killing people directly. Once the desire to survive exceeds the other side of the scale, honor, victory, fear, etc., then soldiers are not soldiers, not even pigs. Pigs will bite when they are anxious. People, people can compromise infinitely in order to survive.

On the contrary, the strong survival instinct is also one of the main reasons why humans can become the dominant species biologically.

So as long as Di Zhi in the east can win, they will win this battle.

The start of fighting on the east bank meant that they could also start fighting. Li Xingzhou had been holding back his anger, waiting for this moment, when the Liao army on the other side of the river was still hiding behind wooden planks, provoking across the river.

"Musketeers, line up! Prepare for artillery fire!" Li Xingzhou shouted, and the soldiers who had already endured their anger immediately moved.

(End of this chapter)