New Shun 1730

Persia's Great King of Light, India's Buddha and the alchemy ancestor of the Heavenly Palace, when they get together, don't seem to fight.

He recited a long spell to seek peace of mind, and the British lead bullets really didn't hit him, because there were not many British troops in the camp.

The humid air at the seaside in the early morning caused the ignition rate of flint to drop significantly. A small number of British soldiers still stationed in the camp began to fight back.

The artillery bombardment of the past few days, which was a full-scale offensive, has basically destroyed the artillery deployed by the British in the direction of the Isthmus. The British side was originally a counterattack to the death, and did not reserve many people in the camp.

But they didn't expect that Dashun had been playing a defensive counterattack from the beginning, luring the British army to this step step by step.

The General Staff was not sure that the British army would be fooled, but the General Staff would definitely prepare different plans for various situations. This is a feature of the Dashun military reform.

Although it seems that the General Staff is likely to become a nursing home with the end of this round of expansion, the emperor may choose to let the military government and the staff system compete in order to rebalance, but at least not now.

The counterattack that Zhao Lisheng participated in at this time was one of the plans of the General Staff.

That is, in the coastal direction, concentrate troops to break through the British camp. Block the isthmus, and after encircling and annihilating the British troops that attacked, cooperate with the floating artillery to capture the British coastal artillery.

This is also a standard landing tactic of this era: avoid the artillery, the Marines go around the back to attack the artillery, and the expensive navy is the cheerleader.

Even in the first Opium War in history, the Marines had to rely on the Marines to solve the artillery, and it was impossible to choose land and sea shooting.

However, given that the French Marines in the Gulf direction could not launch an attack until at least nine o'clock, the Dashun side was not in a hurry to capture the coastal artillery immediately.

Instead, they chose to cut off the isthmus.

According to the understanding of war in later generations, the engineers who are now heading towards the isthmus are similar to paratroopers or large-scale roundabout light infantry. They had to rely on their own legs to maneuver, cut off the isthmus, and cut off the connection between the attacking British army and the camp.

It was just a narrow battlefield on the isthmus, but the general idea was the same.

The engineers in the array maintained their formation, and when they were about fifty steps away, the front company launched a charge.

The officer led the way in front, and Zhao Lisheng also shouted to follow the company to approach the trench in front of the camp, but did not jump into the trench, but chose to stop in front of the trench.

Or shoot at the British army in the camp, or start throwing grenades. This is what the tactical manual stipulates. In the attack and defense of the camp, unless you climb directly to attack, do not enter the trench, but choose to shoot or throw bombs in front of the trench.

Zhao Lisheng, who was slightly drunk and anesthetized, took the grenade from his waist very skillfully, unscrewed the back cover, ignited it with a leather bullet bag, and threw it towards the British camp.

The dense gunfire and the explosion of grenades instantly suppressed the British army in the camp.

At the moment when the explosions sounded one after another, the company in the column behind them quickly launched an attack, crossed the trench, climbed up the not-so-high camp, and stabbed the British soldiers inside to death. Or dragged the British soldiers injured by grenades from the camp and threw them into the trench.

In the eyes of these engineers, this was hardly a formal battle.

They did not continue to attack the artillery positions on the coast, but followed the orders of the officers to continue along the British camps along the isthmus, removing the British artillery positions one by one.

After having a place to stay, the subsequent attack was much easier.

With the cover of the British camps and breastworks, it was obvious that the British army's understanding of the defense of the field camps was still at the level of a flat line.

For some slightly higher artillery positions in the direction of the isthmus, the engineers did not choose to attack them by force, but approached along the breastworks that covered them.

Some soldiers carrying jute bags unfolded the sacks they were carrying, and the engineers carrying shovels quickly dug the soil and put it into the sacks.

The officers of the company shouted loudly and issued orders.

The company Zhao Lisheng was in was going to attack a relatively high point in the British camp on the Isthmus.

After these days of bombardment, the camp with thick earth was only a little loose and damaged, but it did not collapse completely. The cannons on it were destroyed, but there was still a team of British soldiers on it.

The trench line that the company was looking for to cover and hide was about ninety steps away from the British earthworks, within the range of the muskets.

"You guys, push forward, how to dig a pit, do you know? Dig a horizontal pit, not a vertical pit..."

The company commander called the names of Zhao Lisheng and others and assigned them tasks.

Zhao Lisheng and his companions agreed, carried the sacks filled with soil, and ran forward about thirty or forty steps in the gap where the opposite muskets were loaded.

Facing the direction of the earthworks, the sacks were quickly piled up into a simple breastwork to block the lead bullets fired from the opposite side.

According to Vauban's tactics, this thing is best made of wicker baskets. But as the saying goes, adapt to local conditions. Dashun found a lot of wicker baskets in Nanyang, but jute sacks were common items.

Relying on the simple breast wall built with these sacks, Zhao Lisheng crouched, untied his shovel from behind, spit into his palms, and began to dig the soil under his feet frantically.

After digging a pit that could accommodate him, he jumped out of the pit and handed the shovel to Ergou.

Relaying each other, soon, a simple short trench that was almost parallel to the British earthwork was dug out.

Another team of people next to them also used a similar method to dig.

Although these soldiers do not understand geometry, they have been training to dig holes in Ceylon all day long. They no longer need a ruler. They can just rely on their eyes and feel to dig out a perfect line that can not only ensure that the cantaloupe will not be penetrated by cannonballs, but also A fold-line trench that allows you to hide from the fort's muskets.

Sacks from behind were constantly brought in to contain soil, raising the parapet in front of the folded trench.

The battery of the Tiger Crouching Cannon following them installed a lightweight 40-pound cannon behind the parapet.

This distance was quite embarrassing for the British troops on the camp.

It's not like they don't have grenades, but unless they possess divine power, the grenades of this era cannot be thrown so far.

This is also the reason why Europe began to try to revive the bowl-mouth gun similar to the Hussite hand cannon at this time; while Dashun took the path of reviving the "skin cannon" and "tiger crouching cannon".

All to extend the "grenadier's arm."

After the expensive brass cast cannon was set up, the lit grenade was inserted into it, and the lit grenade was thrown out by the deflagration of black powder.

The lead bullets pinged against the sacks, but could not penetrate at all.

The grenade thrown out with its tail crossed the breastworks and barracks and landed beside the British defenders.

There were several explosions and black smoke billowed out.

Zhao Lisheng listened to the officer's order again, and while the smoke and dust were flying, he quickly rushed to the bottom of the earth barrier.

The partner who was covering him threw grenades upward, and he used the skills he had developed in the Ceylon gem mines to quickly dig a hole under the earthen barrier.

The demolition engineer at the back held a pillow-sized explosive bag and stuffed it into the hole.

After lighting it, the group of people ran backwards like flying, ran to the back of the sack, squatted down, opened their mouths, and covered their ears.

…………

John Mordaunt, high on the Rock of Gibraltar, surveying the battlefield, fell into deep despair.

His attack this time had been a complete failure.

The British army completely fell into the trap set by Dashun in advance. The British army was not good at fighting in trenches and in front of fortresses.

Dashun, on the other hand, adopted the tactic of outflanking from both sides.

The main counterattack force, behind the engineers who went to attack the coastal forts, began to squeeze inward from both sides of the defense line. About 2,500 British troops had been wrapped near the center of Dashun's first line of defense.

What really brought him despair was the Dashun engineers who formed a formation to fight back from the coast.

They are well-trained and know exactly what they want to do in the chaos, and their purpose is quite clear.

And their offensive tactics are very professional.

Prior to this, the incident of Dashun's voyage to Nanyang had caused some turmoil in Europe.

But this turmoil, to be honest, is not big.

Because it is normal for Nanyang to be occupied by China; it is abnormal for it to be occupied by the Dutch and Portuguese for two to three hundred years.

In Europe, what is more widely circulated are the "strange schemes" promoted and packaged by Liu Yu.

What kind of Ceylon Trojan horse scheme, what kind of gathering in the snowy mountains, etc.

As for the real tactical experience to be learned in that war, not many people in Europe paid attention to it.

For example, Liu Yu said very early on in the officer training class here in Dashun that the era of bastions has passed due to explosive ammunition and engineering tactics, as well as the more ridiculous recruitment and training system.

For example, during the siege of Dutch castles in Nanyang, Dashun demonstrated its powerful ability to siege castles, especially Dutch system bastions.

Few people in Europe have noticed these.

The intelligence collected by the British East India Company is also difficult to describe.

They have been translating Dashun's elite combat engineers as "Grenadier", but in fact it is clearly "Engineer".

Another example is that in their intelligence, it was said that Dashun's navy learned from France.

But in fact, they didn’t even understand the fighting style of the Dashun Navy. They didn’t even understand at all that the value of the Dashun Navy in the ocean decisive battle strategy was to “severely damage enemy ships rather than save themselves, because no one could land in Tianjin.” However, France can land in London and Spain can land in Porto. We do not seek complete victory, but only seek to bite the enemy."

It is completely different from the French strategic thinking of "As long as our fleet exists, it has the greatest strategic significance, so we can run if we can."

Due to these gaps in intelligence, when the Dashun engineers actually launched an attack, John Mordaunt was left with nothing but deep despair.

He felt that Dashun's method of siege and digging holes looked familiar and seemed to be French.

But after the fight actually started, the details seen through the telescope were full of weirdness.

Through the telescope, he could see the grenades fired from Dashun.

I also witnessed Dashun's demolition engineers using powerful strange explosives to blast away the earthen barriers and open a channel for attack.

The violent explosion, far more powerful than black powder, plunged him into deep fear.

John Mordaunt did not know that this new type of explosive was just a by-product of Dashun's industrial and commercial development after years of reforms.

The fact that Dashun's natural alkali-producing land is located in the remote inland grassland Gobi means that Dashun's glass manufacturing industry, soap industry, and the luxury glycerin cosmetics industry that are popular in Europe have developed based on the alkali production industry. The alkali making industry has to be based on acid making.

This highly efficient explosive is just a derivative of the acid-base industry, glass industry, and soap industry.

Industrial standardized production of nitroglycerin is impossible, and manual rubbing can achieve the same effect with a higher mortality rate.

Just like the match factories in Dashun at this time, the health of the employees is so worrying that "they feel garlic in their mouths every day". Rubbing white phosphorus or phosphorus sulfide can make the workers feel garlic in their mouths every day. The subtext behind it is dark and bloody, which means that these workers basically cannot live for more than five years, and will suffer a lot before death, including but not limited to liver enlargement, tooth loss, and complete rot of the lower jaw.

He didn't know the cruelty behind these, but after witnessing the collapse of the earthen rampart, he stood from the perspective of a soldier and sighed "times have changed".

"General, what should we do now?"

The adjutant waited anxiously for Mordaunt's order, but Mordaunt shook his head.

"Gentlemen, there is nothing we can do now. Now, I have to fulfill my final responsibility as a British general."

After saying this without any reason, the adjutant thought that Mordaunt's spirit had collapsed, but he really couldn't think of any solution. He could only stand there woodenly, watching Mordaunt sitting down dejectedly.

Mordaunt sat down dejectedly, picked up the quill pen, dipped it in ink, as if he was writing a suicide note.

"... Gentlemen, the Chinese attack on Gibraltar should teach us some lessons. Some purely military lessons outside of parliamentary quarrels and party struggles - as an officer, I must say: the era of bastions is over..."

"... The powerful explosives are only short of a safer detonation technology and a gun barrel that can withstand higher chamber pressures to completely end the era of bastions. I think that day will come soon..."

"... Since the Duke of Marlborough pioneered the British infantry volley system, we have always refused to admit that artillery is the protagonist of the battlefield. Even the Duke of Cumberland's reforms were in the direction of "stricter formations, stricter arrays, neater volleys, and stricter discipline." In Austria, it has begun to expand "In an era when the British developed their artillery system, the French also began to update their artillery system, and the Chinese also began to standardize the 6-pound and 12-pound artillery system, we still refused to update our artillery..."

"... In view of Britain's strategy and interference in Europe, at least, the Chinese army's ideas are worth learning from. As a loyal supporter of the Whig Party, I once opposed the standing army system, but now, I think we must learn something from the Chinese tactical system-some standing, strictly trained, professional expeditionary groups that can attack fortresses, and do not need to be too many..."

He was not a navy, and had not witnessed the naval battle between Dashun and the British army, but he still wrote down some thoughts that deeply shocked him on the battlefield from the perspective of an army general.

Now, the general situation is gone.

He didn't think he had any way to ease Dashun's attack. The sun was rising and the tide was rising. The French attack from the bay was coming soon.

Everything was over.

Before it all ended, he wrote down his thoughts on the war on paper.

After writing his thoughts on the war experience, Mordaunt folded the letter but did not stop writing.

Instead, he wrote his true...last words on another piece of paper.

He did not think he could survive. Even if the Dashun could release him, John Bin's example was there, and he would be shot if he returned.

And if he chose to "preserve the honor of an officer", then his death would be valuable.

At least... there should be a political turmoil like the Menorca incident. Even if he was going to die, he would pull William Pitt down through his last words of grief and indignation!