Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 430 Muddy Waters ([-])

Accompanied by the dense footsteps of "rustle", Zamparini slowly moved forward with the drumbeat of military music.As the platoon leader, he stood at the head of the right platoon, with two pistols loaded with ammunition hanging on his waist belt, a 32-year machine-made non-commissioned officer's knife in his hand, a copper whistle hanging around his neck, and wearing a The breastplate and the helmet on the head completely covered the whole body.On his left is his old partner An Dahai. He is also fully armed, but he is holding a 32-C flintlock rifle in his hand, and a 41-year steel bayonet hanging on his waist, which is standard infantry musketeer equipment.

A few meters to the right of Zamparini, the artillery brothers were shouting and pulling several field artillery to the front line.These are 8-pound short-barreled howitzers, which can fire solid bombs, explosive bombs, grape bombs, shotgun bombs, and chain bombs. They are sharp weapons in field battles.At this time, several artillery pieces have been pushed to the front line. While roasting the ground with fire, the artillery soldiers are quickly digging simple artillery emplacement fortifications with shovels and engineering shovels.

In this battle with the Qing army, the artillery was the protagonist—in fact, the artillery of the East Coast people was the protagonist in every battle. For this reason, they mobilized a total of [-] field artillery to accompany the infantry to fight.This kind of firepower is unique in Shandong. You must know that Ye Chen, the Qing army who attacked Taiyuan, only had more than [-] cannons in red clothes. Moreover, this kind of heavy artillery is extremely inconvenient to move, and it took a long time to transport it to the front line. .

After company deputy Gao Shan blew a sharp copper whistle, the troops stood at attention and stopped.This is the front of the left wing of the battlefield. Behind them are two infantry phalanxes arranged in strict order. Among them, the infantry battalion of the Eight Banners New Army is in the front, and the five infantry squadrons of the Standing Squadron are behind them. The total of the two is 1500 Yu people.The officers and soldiers of the Eight Banners Infantry Battalion put on their helmets and armor, and held 3.5-meter standard infantry spears. The distance between people was 1.5 meters.The appearance of the stand-up team looks much inferior. Half of them hold spears of different lengths. Holding samurai swords, the Koreans were holding bird guns. Anyway, it gave people a messy feeling, so they were decisively transferred to the back by Mo Ming.

On the right side of the 104th company is a narrow artillery position, with 20 large and small artillery pieces placed in sequence.While unloading the horses pulling the carts, the artillerymen urgently placed the artillery and loaded ammunition. At the same time, they hurriedly pulled up a barbed wire fence and sprinkled a piece of barbed wire in front of the artillery position for protection.On the right side of the artillery position is the 105th Company of the Army. Behind the 105th Company is another infantry battalion of the Eight Banners New Army.Behind the artillery positions are a large number of transportation vehicles. At this time, the soldiers of the military team are unloading the horses, and then trying to connect the carts end to end to form a ring formation.

Calculated in this way, there were about 4600 people (including 1000 soldiers) on the east coast of the battlefield at this time.In addition, there are about 500 cavalrymen, more than 180 scouts from the public security team, and 1500 military officers in Anqiu County at the rear. They are currently commanded by the cavalry officer Yang Mingyang, and they are gathering at the gate of the city. Everything has been done. Ready to attack.

The officer gave the command again, and Zamparini checked the primers in the pistol's pot carefully to make sure they hadn't been blown away by the wind.After checking the fixed ammunition in the ammunition bag at his waist, the cleaning rod on the side of the barrel, and the bayonet at his waist, Zamparini looked indifferently at the battlefield ahead through the gap between the soldiers in the front row.It's not the first time he has fought with people, and now he has been able to deal with these situations with a very calm attitude.

The drummers behind the artillery positions blew the "Victory Belongs to the Army" march for an unknown number of times. The enemy in front had already appeared faintly in sight, and the officers standing on the side frequently raised their binoculars to observe the enemy's movement. trend.The artillery has also started calibration tests. Several trainee staff officers from the Artillery Department of the Dingyuan Military Academy held up binoculars to observe the impact of the shells, and at the same time readjusted the shooting parameters of each artillery based on the impact points and the estimated wind speed.

The formation of the enemy seems to be a bit chaotic, especially after several 12-pound cannons were fired to a limit distance of more than 800 meters under the condition of strong charge, they even made a sound of exclamation. Their formation was obviously a little chaotic. However, under the strong suppression of the officers, it was finally maintained.The artillerymen stopped after the test firing, then adjusted the elevation angle of the artillery, loaded the propellant package, projectiles, and primers, and then quietly waited for the officer's order.

Although it is a sunny day today, the sun is still very small, hanging in the sky like a faint fireball, and the outside temperature hovers around zero degrees.At this moment, another gust of cold wind was blowing, and Zamparini, who came from warm Italy, was a little uncomfortable. The weather was really too cold, especially when people stood here and couldn't move.However, his complaints did not last long. With the sound of rumbling cannons, the battle was about to officially begin.

At a distance of 700 meters, four 12-pounder cannons were fired first!One of these heavy iron eggs missed directly, but the other three fell into the enemy formation, and those who touched were either killed or injured, directly plowing three bloody passages in the dense crowd.When did the Ming army of Zhang Ruxing's department see such a scene, many people immediately hesitated to enter, but under the scolding of the officers and the deterrence of the [-] elite cavalry of Li Sutai's department who supervised the battle behind, these people finally reluctantly continued to move forward.At this time, their speed is also much faster. After all, no one wants to stay in place and be beaten slowly. However, this also makes their formation gradually chaotic and out of touch. I am afraid they have to stop and rectify when they are in front of the enemy's formation. , otherwise you won't be able to enter the battle.

After the distance got closer, those 8-pound cannons and 12-pound howitzers also joined the battle.Especially those short-barreled howitzers that fired explosive bombs. The shells that exploded in the air caused huge casualties and psychological pressure to these former Ming soldiers.Although the explosive bombs of the people on the east bank were not very reliable, and the dud rate of the shells fired was as high as [-]%, but they still caused nearly a hundred enemy casualties to the ground.

Facing the unprecedented intensive firepower attack on the ground in the Far East, Zhang Ruxing's troops immediately fell into chaos.The artillery fire of the bandits in yellow is still hanging over their heads non-stop, and their casualties are also increasing sharply.Solid iron eggs, explosive bombs, and even chain bombs used to hit cavalry were smashed on the head of their formation. Now they are three to 400 meters away from the infantry formation of those hateful yellow-clothed thieves, but their 2000-man troop There have been more than 330 casualties. Some soldiers on the edge of the formation could not bear such a high casualty, and began to run into the field regardless of the officer's password.Under their leadership, more soldiers began to flee, and their formation quickly collapsed.

"Less than 20% of the casualties collapsed, and Zhang Ruxing is getting worse and worse." Mo Ming, who was riding on a horse, held up his binoculars and said, "However, Li Sutai actually used them as cannon fodder. , 2000 people, hehe, it’s also ruthless.”

"If 20% of the casualties still insist on not breaking up, then it is not an ancient army. It is not that I look down on Zhang Ruxing's Weisuo army with insufficient training and low morale. Now it is very difficult to form a complete army formation. It surprised me." Mao Desheng also put down the binoculars, and then looked forward.The artillery was still firing non-stop. The trend of Zhang Ruxing's 2000 people being disbanded was becoming more and more difficult to contain. The officers had given up their plans to regroup.The [-] cavalry troops under the banner of the Han Army led by Li Tai, who was supervising the battle in the rear, were also a little turbulent. Although Zhang Ruxing's troops were unbearable, they did not expect them to lose so quickly and so badly.

More than 20 minutes later, the 2000 people from Zhang Ruxing's department had already dispersed from the two wings to the rear, and were taken in by the soldiers sent by Li Shutai one after another. Of the 2000 people in Zhang Ruxing's department who were housed, there are still more than 200 people left, and many of them lost their weapons and suffered a lot of mental blows. Their morale was so low that they couldn't fight anymore.

Zamparini looked at the enemy soldiers who had fled in front with some ease, and felt contempt and sympathy at the same time.If they were in that position, facing the fierce bombardment of so many large and small caliber artillery, although they would not collapse without a few encounters like them, but he was not sure how much damage would be caused before they could not hold on. Cruel topic.

The officer's password sounded again, and the musketeers in the first row all raised their guns.Zamparini looked forward through the gap and saw that the enemy cavalry had already moved.They started to move from their original station one by one in batches, then slowly accelerated, and rushed towards the army formation of the people on the east bank.However, judging from their posture, it seems that they don't intend to shake the heavily defended front of the people on the east bank—Zhang Ruxing has already completed the task of probing firepower well, but is preparing to turn around from the side.

The army musketeers who were going to retreat into the spear formation while shooting were disappointed but also a little fortunate.However, following the officer's command, they were led by the platoon leaders and quickly got into the spear formation, ready to shoot at the cavalry who might rush over.Standing in front of the formation, Liu Zhong, the standard commander of the Eight Banners New Army, yelled to destroy these "manchu and Qing false flags", and at the same time ordered the soldiers on the outermost layer to insert the handles of their spears obliquely into the ground, pointing the tip of the spears obliquely forward, and the soldiers behind them Putting the spears on the shoulders of the person in front in turn, forming a hedgehog formation.

The infantry of the two phalanxes of the Qing army accommodated the scattered soldiers of Zhang Ruxing's troops while maintaining their positions.They know that today they alone cannot win this battle, so there is no need to make unnecessary sacrifices.

(End of this chapter)