Red Mansion: I am Jia Lian

Chapter 372 Firepower Combination and Revealing the Trump Card

The Zhou army's proactive attack achieved an unexpected effect, but that was all.

Under the banner of Li Ni, the various tribes on the grassland temporarily gave up their internal disputes and determined to win the current battle first, and then reach a consensus on how to divide the spoils.

With their mobility advantage, the Lindan and Chahar tribes formed a two-kilometer-long front line. These two tribes were the strongest among the four tribes, and it was very correct from a tactical point of view.

Li Ni was still very worried. After all, although Jia Lian did not have many battle records, he had never lost.

After seeing the formation of the Shenji Camp clearly, Li Ni, who was not very familiar with military affairs, fell into a state of mind of "Did I see it wrong?" and even took the initiative to ask: "The formation is so weak? Is it a trick?"

Lin Danwang and other experienced people had the same feeling after seeing it clearly.

Over the years, in battles between grassland tribes and the Zhou Dynasty in the Central Plains, there would not be a single force of musket soldiers leading the charge, although there would also be artillery and strange-shaped launching vehicles behind them.

What they were more familiar with was the mixed phalanx of spearmen, shields and muskets, rather than the simple phalanx of musketeers in front of them, which evolved into three horizontal rows during the battle.

The distance between each phalanx was not very close, and it seemed that the cavalry only needed to have enough speed to rush in and cut off the connections between the phalanxes.

If Li Ni looked a little confused, Sun Tongzhi in the Xishan camp was really a little panicked. He couldn't help but ask in a low voice: "Commander-in-chief, is the formation too thin? Why don't you use the side carriages?"

"The side carriage is good for defense but not for attack!" Jia Lian's answer was concise and to the point. Commander Sun was trembling with fear and said, "Commander-in-chief, the enemy ignored the casualties and rushed into the fire-gun formation. What can we do?"

Jia Lian glanced at him with a smile on his face: "Don't worry, this is my plan!"

What is the most suitable distance for cavalry to attack? From walk → trot → trot → canter → sprint, the most suitable distance is about 500 meters.

A loose cavalry formation charge is ineffective; the most appropriate tactic is to charge in groups, withstand two or three rounds of artillery fire, and rush forward for close combat.

This is the illusion Jia Lian created for his opponent, a loophole he deliberately left behind, and it depends on whether his opponent takes the bait. Because he still has a trump card, a trump card that his opponent doesn't know or ignores.

Of course, if these musketeers, who have received the most rigorous training, are still unable to overcome the fear of a mass cavalry charge and flee in all directions, they can only admit defeat.

Did the grassland tribes have firearms? Yes, but not many, and all were imported. It was not that the grassland tribes did not want to be self-sufficient, but that they had no steel production capacity.

Without sufficient production capacity, it is doomed to be impossible to equip firearms on a large scale. This is the inherent disadvantage of nomadic peoples!

"Charge!" There were only 10,000 people in front of them, a dozen loose square formations, which looked like a beautiful vacuum covered with gauze in front of King Lindan and King Chahar. All they had to do was rush forward, reach out and gently pull...

Although Li Ni knew something was wrong, he nodded and said, "Be cautious!"

The two princes were still very excited and rode back to their team, drew their scimitars and raised them high: "My men, charge forward and tear them apart! Just think about it, as long as you tear them apart, you will be able to do whatever you want in the glamorous world of the Central Plains. Wealth, beauties, slaves, everything will be at your fingertips!"

Li Ni and his subordinates were very dissatisfied with this kind of talk, but they had nothing to say. They could only hold their noses and bear it, just like Wang Jingwei.

"Tear them apart! Loot everything!" The soldiers from the grassland roared in unison. Nothing could be more moving than this slogan.

After a brief mobilization, two units of 30,000 elite cavalrymen formed an attack formation, and under the command of the horn, the horses walked slowly.

"Go and do your own thing! You don't have to worry about the front!" Jia Lian said calmly. He was more worried about whether the Xishan camp on both wings could withstand the impact of the cavalry. After all, the mixed phalanx did not have enough firepower.

In fact, there is no need to worry. The Xishan camp has enough side carriages and can only defend without attacking, so holding on is not a problem.

As for going around the back, that's a joke.

Without even using a telescope, after simply visually estimating the distance, Jia Lian gave the order: "Measure the distance!"

The General Staff that was originally formed remained in the Shenji Camp after Jia Lian handed over his military power, and still executed every order of Jia Lian and perfected the drills of various tactics. Today is considered the college entrance examination!

The flags waved, and the whole formation fell to the back of the [chariot formation], which was actually the launcher of the Congreve rocket. Jia Lian did not expect much damage from this thing. The purpose of its existence was to disrupt the opponent's tight cavalry attack formation. Once the formation was disrupted, the threat of the scattered charging cavalry to the musket phalanx was greatly reduced. It could even cause many cavalry to turn around and run away halfway.

This is not Jia Lian's imagination, this is what really happened in history. For example, at Baliqiao, Senggelinqin's 3,000 cavalrymen were left with only seven men and seven horses. They were not defeated by a single weapon, but by a combination of Congreve rockets + artillery + musket phalanxes.

The rocket was phased out because of accuracy and lethality issues, among other problems, but the British Navy still used it to great effect, such as burning Oslo.

Bang! A rocket took off and flew towards the cavalry formation that was slowly approaching. With a bang!, it landed on the edge of a cavalry formation. The fragments flying after the explosion pierced two or three cavalrymen.

After a brief commotion, things quickly returned to normal and the cavalry formation continued to press forward, getting closer and closer to five hundred meters!

"Artillery fire, rockets fire!" Jia Lian gave the order again. The estimated distance was six hundred to eight hundred meters. This distance was just right for intensive fire strikes. If it was any later, only a few rounds would be possible.

Boom, boom, boom, the continuous artillery roared, and 48 iron projectiles weighing three pounds flew out from the muzzle of the bronze field gun and rushed towards the dense cavalry formation in front.

Bang, bang, bang, whoosh, whoosh, a spectacular sight appeared in the sky. Rockets were flying, like birds maneuvering at high speed in the sky, pulling long clouds.

Jia Lian had all the new field artillery piled up in the Shenjiying artillery camp. The three-jin projectile was actually a little small, but after comprehensive consideration of mobility, it was decided that the field artillery would use three-jin projectiles. There were also 12 artillery pieces with six-jin projectiles and artillery pieces with ten-jin projectiles, which were much fewer in number and more suitable for attacking strongholds.

When Li Ni saw the neat firing of artillery and the dense rockets flying into the sky, his expression suddenly changed. This was a scene he had never seen before. If artillery was common, then rockets were rare.

Li Ni was keenly aware that there was an attack with this thing last night. He thought it was only used to prevent fire harassment, but he never thought it could be used on the front battlefield.

The dense cavalry formation could not do anything now. They entered the fast-paced stage and rushed forward despite casualties. Some riders at the edge of the formation left the formation out of fear and were immediately hacked to death! That's right, the officers were between the formations and found the movement and immediately suppressed it. The three-jin projectiles fell into the cavalry formation with the bonus of speed. Any person or horse that was hit would have no chance of survival. What was even more terrifying was the projectiles that continued to float forward after landing.

Some were hit, some were tripped, some were dodging in panic, and almost every cavalry formation that was shot at showed slight commotion to varying degrees.

More eyes were still fixed on the rocket that flew over later. As it fell, it made a sharp whistle sound (it was equipped with a pigeon whistle).

Poof! The sound of the sharp head piercing the flesh was extremely brief, and boom! The charge exploded, or exploded prematurely, and the flying fragments could not kill people, but they would injure people and cause chaos in the formation.

Every explosion was a cloud of white smoke rising up, bringing chaos, increasing fear, and a looser formation.

The artillery quickly reloaded and continued firing without waiting for orders. This is what is called entering the free firing state, and what they pursue is a firing rate.

Jia Lian shamelessly named the rocket Chenghui. After the first round of launches, it caused quite a bit of chaos. Subsequent rockets continued to be loaded onto the launch pad, ignited, and launched into the air.

Similarly, according to the manual, rockets only pursue speed. There are 100 launchers, and each launcher does not pursue accuracy. It just needs to fire all the rockets it carries as quickly as possible and then run back immediately.

The grassland cavalry, which had been hit by unprecedentedly intensive firepower, was in chaos, and their formation was barely restored. Then it was in chaos again, and they barely restored it again. The fleeing cavalry kept breaking away from the formation, and they could no longer be killed.

When the cavalry's charge was less than a hundred meters away, the artillerymen loaded shotgun shells one after another. The hot artillery pieces burned their hands frequently, but no one cared.

Looking at the cavalry formation on the opposite side at this time, there were dozens of them, large and small, and each of them had lost their previous tight formation and began to sprint.

Compared to the frontal battle, the battle on the two wings had just begun. The cavalry of the Bahama and Khorchin tribes still adopted the tactics of taking turns to attack and shoot. After all, the war horses would take detours when seeing the spear formation in the front. Only a very few riders who were able to integrate man and horse could rush into the spear formation on impulse.

Not to mention, there has never been a tactic in history for cavalry to directly attack a spear formation, except in medieval Europe when knights attacked unprotected serfs.

The grassland cavalry was formed into a formation of thousands of people. During the charge, they encountered at least three rounds of artillery fire and five rounds of rocket attacks. Although the number of attacks encountered by each cavalry formation was different, each attack would cause a certain amount of chaos. After recovery, they would leave behind a group of fallen people or horses, as well as ownerless horses running around, which led to a certain degree of disarray in the formation.

"Raise the gun!"

"shooting!"

A hoarse roar came from the mouth of every team officer, and the musketeers who were firing a volley retreated, reloaded, advanced, retreated, and fired.

The musketeers also pursued the rate of fire, and no one pursued accuracy. Well, the musketeers of the Great Zhou Dynasty were like the European formations that were so crowded together that there was no space at all, pursuing the formation with the most dense firepower.

The main reason is that Jia Lian doesn’t understand this linear formation that originated in Prussia, otherwise he might have copied it.

White smoke rose from the ground like clouds. Even with the wind, the soldiers' eyes became blind under the continuous volleys of gunfire and they had no time to aim accurately.

On the high ground in the distance, Jia Lian was riding a horse with a large flag with the word "Jia" on it behind him. From this position he could clearly see the situation on the battlefield directly in front of him.

The steppe cavalry still maintained a barely maintained formation at the final moment of the sprint. At this time, the musketeers' line formation could only fire four rounds at most, and then they had no time to continue firing.

"Attach bayonets!" The lieutenants roared and blew their whistles with all their might.

The soldiers drew their bayonets almost numbly, following the instinct from countless drills, and played Jia Lian's last trump card!

Hollow square array!

That’s right, the combination of bayonet and hollow square formation is Jia Lian’s last trump card.

In the middle of the hollow square, there are dozens of shooters who are still reloading and shooting!
So how do we get through the brief confusion during the formation change?

The answer is the sacrifice of the artillery. At the last moment, a shotgun shell formed a fan in front of each square, clearing out any and all troops within the fan.

After firing, most of the artillerymen chose to squat down with their heads in their hands, hiding behind the sandbags and picking up their rifles. A few were so scared that they turned around and ran, running along the open space between the infantry squares.

The fierce shotgun shells caused the maximum damage, bringing a horrific scene that the cavalrymen in the final sprint would never forget.

The crackling shotgun shells hit people and horses like a rainstorm, and the splattered blood danced wildly in the air.

The sporadic arrows did cause a certain amount of casualties, but in Jia Lian's view, this was a price that had to be paid.

After the rain of shotguns, the following cavalry rushed forward. When they faced the hollow square, their fear of death had been magnified to the maximum. In front of the glaring bayonets, no one dared to charge. They could only run along the gaps between the squares, unable to stop at all. At this time, the shooters in the hollow square began to shoot, reload, and shoot.

Each hollow square formation seemed like it would disperse with a single charge and could be killed at will. However, after being hit by multiple fire attacks, the cavalrymen who had rushed into the formation subconsciously slowed down. It seemed that when they used the bows and arrows or other cold weapons in their hands to kill the infantry, they realized that the gap between the beautiful idea and the reality was too great.

From Jia Lian's perspective, most of the grassland cavalry chose to turn around after the combined attack of artillery and rockets. Half of the remaining half, in the face of the musket volley, some fell down in the front, some fled in the back, and the small part in the middle, under the impact of inertia, entered the gap between the square formations and became targets for the archers protected by the square formations.

At this point in the battle, Jia Lian no longer looked at the central battlefield. He handed the command over to General Yang and rode his horse to the flank to observe the battle.

The flank battlefield is a different way to fight. The musketeers hide under the cover of the side wagons and the front row of spearmen and shield soldiers and open fire. The Francois cannons are in front of the formation, firing three rounds under the rain of arrows. The unlucky ones will be hit in the vital parts and killed. More often, they will be injured in the middle and back, and with the help of their companions, they will go back to the back of the wagons to be bandaged. Then the other side will change a group of cavalry and come again, and this side will also resist again.

There are certainly casualties, and they are not small, but the results are greater, which is different from the head-on confrontation in the middle.

(End of this chapter)