our family is gone

Chapter 777 Cruel battlefield

A distance of one hundred and twenty yards is almost the limit of the effective killing range of the musket currently equipped by Hamlet.

In this range, the accuracy of ordinary musketeers can basically be said to be random, which is why a round of shooting may be loud but only hit a dozen people.

But when the distance reaches a hundred yards, the damage becomes obvious after the accuracy is improved, and coupled with the continuous barrage, it is basically like mowing the grass.

"Oh~ my holy light!"

"Damn it! Didn't they say there was only one shot? We were fooled!"

"Ah! Save me, I don't want to die yet..."

The roar of gunfire was like the approaching footsteps of a giant. They rushed forward headlong, but the continuous falling of their comrades by the bullets also made the soldier, whose head was filled with blood, calm down a little.

Some were even too calm. Screams and wails mixed with blood rushed into their brains. The soldiers who had never experienced such a scene suddenly collapsed under the pressure.

"Ahhh! I want to go home, mother..."

But just as he turned to flee, he took only a few steps when a crossbow arrow pierced his chest. The severe pain drained his strength, and he fell to the ground struggling. Only then did he see the supervisory team behind him and the roar of the knight waving his sword.

"Forward! Forward! Anyone who dares to retreat will die!"

As his consciousness gradually blurred, he began to imagine the figure of the knight on the warhorse.

How great it would be if I were a knight... No... Mom, I should listen to you...

No one paid any attention to him on the chaotic battlefield, and when the fierce confrontation came within a hundred yards, the true strength hidden among the ordinary soldiers was revealed.

"Longbowmen release their arrows!"

Amid the knights' shouts, the chaotic ranks of the noble coalition launched scattered heavy arrows, which only seemed a little denser when they converged in front of Hamlet's musket formation.

The musket formations were not so densely packed with each other, but some soldiers were still hit by the arrows when they fell.

For skilled archers, the accuracy is more controllable, and the power of arrows shot by longbows is also considerable.

The heavy arrows that could penetrate armor easily tore through the body, and even Hamlet's soldiers could not withstand it and fell to the ground.

This is why the army is still a great threat to ordinary extraordinary people. Crossbows, heavy arrows, and even bed crossbows can kill them.

Who wants to fight you in close combat? I will just fire thousands of arrows at you!

However, after Hamlet suffered casualties, he did not waver or cause chaos. The other soldiers did not seem to see their fallen comrades, and continued to advance and shoot calmly like machines.

The soldiers who were hit by arrows did not scream. They fell to the ground with a groan. The medical soldiers immediately came up to take them away for first aid. The shield cart at the rear served as a temporary operating room.

With the longbowmen fighting against the musketeers, the nobles finally breathed a sigh of relief when Hamlet suffered casualties.

As long as they are injured, they will die. They are just flesh and blood.

But seeing others get hurt boosts their morale. Isn't it a little too easy for the nobles who are so high-minded to be satisfied with all this?

Both sides suffered casualties. Although the number of longbowmen was small, their firing rate of five rounds per minute still brought some pressure.

Hamlet was not shaken by this, but he also realized that he could not move forward, otherwise the distance would be too close and he would lose the advantage of the musket array.

"Stop! Free fire!"

When there is no need to shoot while moving forward, personal strength will be demonstrated. Although it may not sound as intimidating as shooting at the same time, the firing rate and accuracy are improved, and you can kill a kid with one shot.

That is, the clergymen and commanders hid in the back and were difficult to snipe, while the cavalrymen and knights dispersed and roamed among the teams to give commands.

From this we can see that they have no grassroots officers, have not received legion training, and lack coordination, which leads to problems in the communication and execution of command orders.

Some tactics simply drove the serf soldiers forward, encouraging them with all kinds of words.

When the man in front of him fell, his flesh and blood splattered due to being torn by bullets. He could even feel the warmth coming from his face at some point, and the stench rushed into his nose.

He stared blankly at the black muzzle of the gun in the distance, and suddenly it seemed to be magnified countless times and pointed at him.

The next one is yourself.

"boom!"

A distant gunshot was heard very clearly in his ears, he paused, and then fell down.

He seemed to understand something... It seemed that the distance that could never be crossed was... between himself and the nobles, and between him and death.

The serf soldiers simply could not bear seeing people around them being shot and falling one by one. All the glory, money, women and power were drifting away from them. Fear devoured their hearts. This was not a carnival for them, but a massacre!

They wanted to escape, but they couldn't. The supervisors and knights behind them attacked them with heavy punches and killed them without any hesitation.

Finally, the road paved with flesh, blood and death was sixty yards away. Shouts were heard continuously, and the knights drove the spearmen to disperse from the left and right wings to make way for the middle gate.

"Get out of the way!"

"Raise your shield and move forward!"

"Archers, prepare to release their arrows!"

After opening the middle gate, the serf soldiers, who were on the verge of collapse, got a moment's respite. No one knew how many of them died when facing the musket array head-on, and no one remembered how many died when fleeing backwards.

When they left, the center road facing Hamlet was not vacant, but rows of large shields were advancing.

In fact, those nobles also studied muskets, so they equipped some people with shields.

And it is not an ordinary wooden shield, but a full-body shield covered with iron sheets. Only those who are strong can carry it.

These shield bearers held their shields in both hands and rushed forward. Their speed was not fast, but their purpose was to provide protection for the archers, crossbowmen and musketeers behind them.

Now we are finally within their range.

In other words, these nobles knew the power of muskets and encouraged the ordinary soldiers to go up and consume them, just to hide the real longbowmen approaching and protect the elite units.

Now that they were within the shooting range of the crossbows, they became useless and were driven to scatter on both sides.

As for the dead serfs, who cares? They are just for consumption. If all of them die, we can just recruit another 5,000.

This round of archers and even musketeers hid behind large shields and began to pour arrows towards the musket array.

The arrows rained down on the musketeers at a much denser rate than those of the longbowmen. You have to know that there were no fortifications here. If they resisted at this time, it would not be bravery, but stupidity. "Be careful! Raise your shield!"

"Pay attention to defense!"

When they noticed the crossbowmen showing their heads from behind their shields, some musketeers put down their rifles, raised the kite-shaped shields on their backs, and overlapped them to form a shield wall to block the front and the top.

There was a crackling sound. Without a longbow and heavy arrows, those ordinary arrows could hardly penetrate the armor at a distance of fifty or sixty yards.

But there were still arrows that penetrated and caused various damages, not to mention the heavy arrows shot from longbows that penetrated armor.

The injured soldiers immediately checked their conditions. The seriously injured were dragged away, while those with minor injuries handled the situation themselves.

You can see him taking out a bottle of healing potion from his bag and drinking it, then pulling out the arrow with a cold face and bandaging it with a hemostatic bandage. You can see the pain on his ferocious face, but his movements are without any hesitation. He is a first-class ruthless man.

What's even more terrifying is that the medicines in their hands are of higher purity, and naturally more effective. After bandaging themselves, they reload and shoot as if nothing happened not long after.

The counterattack began. The muskets were extended and fired. The bullets hit the shields of the noble coalition forces and most of them were actually blocked.

The lead bullets were still too soft, and were somewhat powerless in front of those specially thickened large shields. They would break and leave dents when they hit the iron sheets riveted to the shield surface. Only a few of them happened to hit those who wanted to show their heads to shoot and caused any damage.

The enemies also noticed this and accelerated while shouting excitedly, while continuously shooting arrows to harass.

At the same time, the spearmen on both wings also began to advance, as if vultures finally stretched their heads out and revealed their sharp beaks, spreading their wings on both sides to surround the musketeers.

But the problem is that Hamlet's soldiers are not fighting alone, the infantry is just one of the arms.

"Boom! Boom boom!"

There was a burst of dense artillery fire, but it was not from the cannons, but from the mortars.

Due to the delay of the infantry, the twenty more flexible mortars finally caught up.

Just reload and start firing, throwing the bombs at the shooters hiding behind the shields.

The first round of crude bombardment caused more damage than even several rounds from musketry.

Because that thing caused shrapnel damage, it directly bypassed the shield's defense and killed indiscriminately within ten yards.

"Spread out! Spread out!"

"Don't stop, keep going!"

This scene finally made the knights feel distressed, because these were not serf soldiers, but regular troops formed by their confidants.

But at this point, there was no option to retreat, they could only charge forward. As long as they could break up the array of muskets, they would win!

The noble coalition still has a lot of people, especially after they dispersed, they formed a large crowd. The closer you get to them, the more threatened you feel.

Even though the mortars were bombarding at full strength, the effect was not very good because the two sides were too close and it was easy to hurt their own people by mistake. So after two rounds, they gave up the front line and dropped bombs on those guys hiding in the back.

For the main force of the noble coalition, fifty yards is a dividing line, but for Hamlet's side, thirty yards is the dividing line because grenades can be used.

When those guys rushed up and found that there were no shells above their heads, they were filled with ecstasy, and then they were hit by the thrown grenades.

The power is a little smaller, but it can't withstand the large number. Each soldier carries three or four of them. There are more than a thousand infantry here. That round of throwing out at least hundreds of them, scattering among those people like raindrops.

The repeated and overlapping explosions were like the death knell for the noble coalition. Although the explosions did not occur near them, the sudden and severe pain made them fall to the ground. No place was safe.

They were already in a high-pressure situation under the heavy bombardment, and now they collapsed without even a second round. The serf soldiers shouted that they wanted to run away, just wanting to escape from this horrific battlefield.

The knight wanted to stop the rout, but he had just shouted a few words when a bullet hit him. Although he was protected by armor, he fell down as if he had been hit by a heavy punch.

Those snipers have been mixed in with the shooters, and anyone who shows their head within this distance will be killed in seconds.

In fact, even if the knights were fine, it would be difficult to stop them, because the rear was bombarded by mortars, and many of the supervisors were killed. They were also afraid!

Even when he was forced to flee by the serf soldiers, he thought, what's the point of risking his life for a few silver coins...

"Oh!"

A roar several times louder than that of a mortar was heard. Soldiers familiar with the sound of artillery realized that it was a cannon fire. Looking back, they saw that the artillery had already occupied the position...

As early as the beginning of the battle, the coalition of nobles understood that they must not let the power of the artillery be fully utilized. They left a few knights to command the main force to advance, while the rest of the knights directly pressed forward.

With the help of war horses, he charged directly and destroyed the artillery before the enemy could stand firm. It can be said that Hamlet's infantry blocked the enemy, and the other side thought the same way.

Naturally, Reynald would not just watch them come and kill him, so he sent out Hamlet's cavalry. Although there was a difference in numbers, he was able to entangle those knights with just three axes.

This time the teammates did not run away. Both the infantry and cavalry bought time for the artillery. Patton quickly led his men to seize the hill.

Only a few artillery pieces entered the position. With a loud whistle, Reynald seemed to have received something and immediately led the cavalry to distance themselves from the knights.

Then there was the roar of artillery, and the projectiles crashed into the knight formation, easily tearing the armor. Some fell to the ground with missing limbs, and some were directly pierced with a hole, whether it was the knight or the horse.

Even if the bullet was just rolling on the ground, the horse's hoof it touched would be broken by the force.

In the cavalry duel just now, even if they were shot and unhorsed, there would not be such a strong visual impact because the bloody scene could not be seen, but at this moment, fear enveloped them.

Because this scene should not have happened to them in the past, it should have happened to the enemies charging towards them.

"If you retreat you will die, only by charging forward you have a chance of survival!"

"This is our only chance!"

"Knights, charge!"

Lance put so much pressure on them that they didn't even have the choice of surrendering, and under the high pressure, they actually showed their virtue.

As soon as one person stood up, the others instantly united as one, and all rushed towards the position at full speed.

Reynard had just taken the initiative to increase his distance, and the artillery was still in the process of tedious loading, as if they had really seized that fleeting opportunity.

Run faster, run faster. As long as we rush into the position, those artillery will be useless. Those guys can't withstand the knights' charge.

Kill them all and then turn back and rush down the hillside. The gunmen will surely be defeated by attacking from both sides, and victory will belong to them...

Patton looked at the knights rushing towards him with a cold face, without any fear on his face, he just said calmly.

"ignition."