Travel through the Qing Dynasty and become emperor

Chapter 63 Attack the Fortress
Finally, after intense work, the 20 artillery battalions were ready.The army that made the surprise attack had already taken their positions, waiting for Liu Mingchuan's order.

"Start attacking."

Following Liu Mingchuan's order, more than 400 cannons of different sizes blasted towards Hucheng Fortress.The fort suddenly became a sea of ​​flames, and many forts and forts were instantly destroyed by artillery fire.Looking towards the fortress from the top of Congyunling Mountain where the cannon was fired, on the west side of the coastline, in the middle of the dark fortress, suddenly a burst of golden light flashed. It was a muffled thunderous sound.The last thing that came was the frantic and violent shaking of the earth.

French soldiers hid in battery cells, hid in infantry bunkers, or crawled in trenches, covering their ears and opening their mouths.Enduring the huge air waves, the shaking of the earth and the terrible explosion.

French soldiers kept coughing in the trenches and fortresses filled with gunpowder smoke, and the gunpowder smoke kept entering their respiratory tracts and lungs.They didn't understand that in this backward east, they would be subjected to such intense and intensive shelling.

Liu Mingchuan clearly saw through the telescope that the soil in front of the French army's position was lifted into the sky layer by layer, and the French soldiers were swept away one by one by the air waves.The shells were slowly passing through the French positions like the movement of death.

Under such artillery fire, the reinforced concrete machine gun fort was torn to pieces like paper.

On the assault position close to the forefront of the French army, Zhang Linhu's men and horses were lying low. The fire light reflected from the explosion of the shells shone on their faces, showing their nervousness and affection. Canbai, even many people have wet their pants.But now no one laughs at them, such a violent shelling makes everyone suffocate nervously.

After the artillery fire lasted for a full 15 minutes, there were two "booms" and "booms", and two signal flares rose into the air.

There was a green dazzling light in the air.

The French soldiers were still immersed in the terrifying shelling, and suddenly saw that the shells turned into green signal flares.Before I recovered, I saw rows of blue waves of people rushing out of the trenches and pounced on the French fortifications outside the fortress.

But at this time, the firepower of the French army seemed to wake up suddenly, and countless flames erupted in the darkness.There are fortifications that have been seen before, and there are many dark forts that have not been noticed at all.

Tongues of flame from the machine gun instantly swept down a large area of ​​Qing soldiers who couldn't escape.

The fort placed in the deepest part of the fort also began to fire at this time, and the 180mm shells made a shrill scream in the sky, and then there was a loud noise that shook the sky. The pressure is enormous.Almost every explosion can take away a piece of flesh and blood.

The machine guns and machine guns at the front, the forts inside the fortress, and the howitzers, main guns, and mortars fired from countless bunkers formed an impenetrable fire net, which crushed the more than 1 Qing troops preparing to attack. Can't hold my head up.

Liu Mingchuan, who saw everything in the command post, said coldly to those around him: "What are the artillerymen doing? Why don't you suppress them."

The orderly next to him hurried out.

In fact, this cannot be blamed on the 20 newly formed artillery battalions.Such a large-scale artillery has not been used in the Great Qing War.Don’t look like you learned from German instructors, but if you really want to enter such a fierce artillery battle, you need to pay attention to too many things, such as the maintenance of the explosion line, the suppression of firepower, and the concentrated attack on the enemy’s fortifications , These are all labor-intensive tasks. The use of modern artillery is precise work. It doesn't mean that you can hit wherever you hit.

In order to avoid accidental injury, the artillery battalion moved the shooting elements far away.The shells hit directly around the fort inside the fortress, which was originally an open space at the foot of the mountain, and hitting it there would not have any effect of suppressing firepower at all.

After two days and two nights of continuous bombardment and assault, the fortifications on the entire French position seemed to have been plowed, revealing fresh land.But that's it, the French army still has firepower emerging both openly and secretly.And the main fort on the inside also seemed to be tirelessly bombarding the charging Qing army without interruption.And each time it took away a large number of Qing army lives.

"My God, how many bunkers does this Frenchman have here?" Liu Mingchuan said to himself.

A soldier ran over and said, "Report, report from the front: The French artillery fire is too fierce, and the assault troops have retreated again."

"How many times has this been attacked?" Liu Mingchuan asked casually.

"It's already the No. 15 offense in two days."

"The troops have to take a rest and let the troops at the front retreat. The artillery stopped firing for half an hour, everyone take a rest." Liu Mingchuan raised his head suddenly and said.

"Junmen, where the rest of the ministries have gone, they are all invincible. We have been fighting here for two days, and we have not made a single step. Are you still resting?"

"Fuck you bastard, try to rush up for me! Pull them all down, you can't rush like this." Liu Mingchuan was full of anger.

Zhang Linhu returned to the command post with a face full of gunpowder, and said aggrievedly: "Junmen, the French artillery fire is too fierce. Their fortress is built on the mountain, and it is divided into many layers from top to bottom like a pagoda. Immediately after breaking through, you can retreat to the upper level along the infantry trenches, and there are countless dense fortresses and dark forts. There is also a minefield in front of their position, which is a French anti-infantry mine, which is designed to blow up soldiers below their knees. Last time we The charge was dragged down by the minefield, and many brothers lay there unable to move. More brothers went to help them, and were swept to death by machine guns." As he spoke, tears filled Zhang Linhu's eyes.

"How many people do you have?" Liu Mingchuan asked suddenly after waiting for a while.

Zhang Linhu said with tears in his eyes, "There are more than 2000 people left."

"What about the other feint troops?" Liu Mingchuan continued to ask.

"The situation is the same. It is impossible to distinguish between a feint attack and a main attack when rushing forward. Before they attack, they are knocked down by their machine guns and cannons."

You guys go down and have a good rest, and substitute someone to attack tonight.

"Junmen, give me another chance. We are familiar with the terrain there, so let me lead the brothers to charge again." Zhang Linhu said with a choked voice.

Liu Mingchuan scolded loudly: "This is a war, and what I'm talking about is a military order. I've made you rush 15 times. If you can take it down, do you still need me to replace it?"

"Junmen, let me charge again. I will issue a military order. If you can't take down the fortress, you don't have to chop my head off. We guarantee that no one will leave the battle alive." Zhang Linhu continued to plead.

"Did you go to the military academy for nothing in the past few years? The emperor's money wasted for nothing? Why didn't I see you as a waste before? Did you go to die in this war? If you die, you can win the fortress .I will chop off your head now, and you will get out of here. The brothers are tired, but they rest and rest, and the others’ attacks are not going well, so you will have to go up sooner or later. If you can’t take it down, I will still have to ask for yours. Fate." Liu Mingchuan cursed.

Unwilling but very helpless, Wang Linhu withdrew.

"Go, call me Madman Wang." Liu Mingchuan said to the soldiers beside him.

After a while, Wang Feng hurried in.

"See the military gate, the left wing is as solid as gold. There is no trace of the French army!" Wang Feng said intentionally.

Liu Mingchuan looked at Wang Feng, who was known as a lunatic, and said slowly: "Back then you rushed to the enemy's position alone and killed 13 enemies. Now I want you to lead a team to the opposite fortress and destroy it for me. The heavy artillery in the opposite fortress. Are you sure?"

"Junmen, just look at it. I can't guarantee anything else. It's enough for me to lead a battalion." Wang Feng said, patting his chest.

"There is no joke in the army." Liu Mingchuan said with a sullen face.

Wang Feng said affirmatively: "I would like to issue a military order, and hope that the 20 artillery battalions of the military gate will cover the fire for a quarter of an hour. If the task cannot be completed within two hours, I would like to be dealt with by military law."

"Okay, I'll give you half an hour of cover firepower. The firepower can extend forward with your advance. It's noon now. You go back and prepare to launch an attack at midnight. Destroy their fort before dawn." Liu Mingchuan Said excitedly.

(End of this chapter)