Chapter 258 Always different

One hundred and fifty years later in another time and space, Napoleon's legal 12-pounder cannon light shot shells were basically controlled within 400 meters in order to ensure lethality and accuracy.

Of course, the heavy shotgun used is still capable of killing enemy units at a distance of 600 to 800 meters.

However, at this distance, the barrage has already completely dispersed, and the person firing the cannon probably doesn't know who it will hit.

Since the performance of Li Ping's medium-sized field gun was only slightly lower than that of the French 12-pounder used by Napoleon, its usage requirements were basically similar. The light shot shells it fired (the barrages were denser) were enough to accurately and effectively hit surface targets within 400 meters.

Especially between 200 meters and 400 meters, it is the distance that can ensure both a large scattering surface and sufficient lethality.

Therefore, although there were only six guns, the successive shots were like six slaps, directly smashing the arrows of Zhang Xianzhong's cavalry forward who had formed a long and irregular inverted V shape and charged intensively.

Even those cavalrymen who were lucky enough to escape the hail of shotguns suffered terrible casualties and the horses were frightened again by the continuous cannon fire at close range, so the momentum of the charge instinctively slowed down, and some even turned to the side and ran away.

However, most of the lucky ones who escaped the first bombardment still managed to control their horses and continued to move forward, with even more ferocious expressions on their faces.

As the leading cavalry leading the charge, they are the most elite and fiercest group of people.

But immediately, their expressions suddenly changed again.

More firelight began to flash violently!

The twelve light front-loading cannons and Franchise cannons, which had been silent as if they had lost their sense of existence, opened fire, and their shells began to harvest lives within 200 meters.

Amidst the sound of cannons, the few remaining vanguard members of Zhang Xianzhong's cavalry were no longer spared, and they all fell on their backs in panic.

Because all this changed so quickly, the entire cavalry brigade behind them was still charging according to inertia. Most people only had time to rejoice that they were not the unlucky ones, and they only had time to focus on how to avoid the too huge horse corpse that fell in front.

And most of them had a simple thought: This time they can rush with confidence.

However, many people haven't even finished thinking about it when another cannon goes off!

That's the French cannon firing in rapid succession.

When many people were surprised, the dull and loudest cannons also sounded again.

Li Ping's artillery completed the burst loading of medium-sized field guns every 15 seconds.

This time, the charging cavalry were all dumbfounded, and many began to stop their horses or turn around unconsciously.

They have never encountered or heard of such a situation, let alone developed the fearless courage.

They were not completely ignorant of the artillery in Li Ping's army.

In Daye County, Zhang Xianzhong's siege infantry had suffered enough, and they knew that Li Ping's new artillery had amazing power and range, and its rate of fire was not low.

But at that time, the rate of fire of these artillery was generally within their understanding, at least not that fast.

Today, the rate of fire of these artillery pieces has strangely increased by at least two to three times.

They had no idea that the city defense artillery in Daye County at that time did not need to implement rapid fire when defending the city wall, but paid more attention to the continuous firing capability. In fact, the rate of fire of all artillery, including the French cannon, was artificially greatly reduced.

Although they don't understand this, these cavalrymen understand that if they want to rush over, they will have to endure several rounds of shotguns, which means that almost all those who rush in front will die.

Isn't this a joke?

No one likes a fatal charge. As for sacrificing oneself to create opportunities for those behind, we are not familiar with each other yet, so forget it!

As a result, the cavalry began to change directions one after another.

A duel between cavalry and artillery ended hastily!

The failure of the cavalry and the sudden increase in the firing frequency of the official artillery shocked Zhang Xianzhong's attacking infantry. Many of them started to trot and slowed down again, especially when the artillery again adjusted its muzzle to bombard them.

when.

After receiving only one round of shotgun shells, all Zhang Xianzhong's infantry who rushed within the range of the artillery shells, including those who were close to this range, dispersed in a rush.

The situation in the west where there were cavalry serving as cannon fodder was like this, and the situation in the east where there was no cavalry serving as cannon fodder was even more chaotic. Zhang Xianzhong's infantry over there took several rounds of shotguns, and many troops collapsed immediately.

Not only did they run away quickly, some of them even directly engaged in a fight with the supervising team.

Looking at all this, Zhang Xianzhong's eyes turned green.

He gritted his teeth and said: "Inform all armies to retreat one mile to avoid these artillery pieces. Tell everyone to restrain their men. Anyone who dares to retreat and disrupt the morale of our army or those who flee will be killed immediately."

…”

Zhang Xianzhong's troops did not form a formation with their backs tightly against the white water.

He's not that stupid yet.

In fact, the back of Zhang Xianzhong's military formation was about 3 to 4 miles away from Baishui, which meant that there was enough space behind it.

But for this reason, Zhang Xianzhong, who had rich combat experience, was worried that rashly ordering a retreat would cause the entire army to collapse. This is a situation that can easily happen to troops who lack training, and he himself has seen such examples many times.

But soon, Zhang Xianzhong found that he had thought too much.

Before his order was fully conveyed, the troops who had just retreated had already begun to squeeze back desperately, instinctively avoiding the range of the artillery.

Some leaders of Zhang Xianzhong's armies also acquiesced to this behavior, condoning and even leading their subordinates to retreat continuously.

Seeing someone retreating in more than one place, other armies naturally followed the same example. No one wanted to be the protruding part being beaten repeatedly by the iron balls fired from the cannon.

As for the crash, strangely it didn't happen.

Maybe most people realize that they have no place to run if they want to, and they can't fly across the white water! Maybe they feel that they shouldn't run because there are so many people. Maybe it's Zhang Xianzhong's supervising team and officers at all levels who have played a better role

The effect was to restrain the troops...

Seeing Zhang Xianzhong's troops retreating continuously in chaos, Li Ping was dumbfounded.

His cannon hasn't fired a single shot yet! The adjustment just now made him feel lonely.

It’s so hard to keep up with the changes in plans!

At this time, it was impossible for him to let the troops push the cannons and follow the retreating Zhang Xianzhong army.

The French 12-pounder gun used by Napoleon was mounted on a two-wheeled gun carriage. Each gun also had a front carriage for placing ammunition boxes, which was also two-wheeled. During transportation, the gun carriage and the front carriage were connected together.

Form a four-wheeled carriage for easy towing.

The total weight of this set (gun body, gun mount and front carriage) is about 2 tons, which is so heavy that it cannot be pulled by manpower. It usually requires 8 to 12 horses to pull it.

Although Li Ping's medium-sized field gun was much lighter due to advances in metal technology, the gun itself was separated from the front vehicle when manpower was organized to push the gun. This made it possible to push the gun forward over a short distance, but it was also extremely laborious.

And having just learned a profound lesson, Zhang Xianzhong is unlikely to allow him to push the artillery over again.

After all, no matter how skilled you are, it still takes a certain amount of time for the artillery to go from being towed to being set up and ready to fire.

"We must attack immediately! Once the enemy stops and stabilizes their formation, it will be difficult to fight." Zhou Wen responded quickly.

"Send an order immediately and carry out the attack according to the original plan." Li Ping decisively issued the order.

They were here to attack, and they didn't expect the artillery to be put to use in their original plan.

Soon, Luo Xiaoliu, who had been dazzled by the display of artillery in the military formation, received the order to attack.

When Luo Xiaoliu entered Dazhi County, it was for counterattack and he had not participated in the defensive battle. He had only heard about the power of artillery and had not seen the live effects.

This caused him and his men to open their mouths for a long time, and even after receiving the order to attack, they did not recover for a long time.

Luo Xiaoliu realized that the form of war had changed.

But the signal cavalry who began to change battle formations and continued to run in the huge gaps between regiments, battalions, and companies to deliver orders still pulled his spirit back, and he could no longer have the leisure to continue being shocked!

Facing Zhang Xianzhong, what Li Ping laid out was not a linear formation, but a very complex multi-layered formation.

Although the 1st, 2nd and 3rd regiments were generally arranged in a line at the front, they were in a second line formation, that is, they were divided into two fronts with a large distance between them.

Moreover, this two-line array is not a dense one, but a combined array with a certain distance between each other.

Even the relationship between this basic combat unit and each soldier inside the square block is relatively loose rather than close, and at the same time, a certain obvious distance is maintained between each company.

The fourth regiment was placed in the middle and last position of this second line formation.

This makes the entire formation look like there is a horizontal T on top, which is obviously different from Zhang Xianzhong's dense formation that is basically lined up in a line.

But it just so happens that the horizontal width of Li Ping's loose two-story and half formation is not much shorter than Zhang Xianzhong's one-line, dense and thick formation.

Li Ping's somewhat strange formation confused Zhang Xianzhong and his army.

They really haven't seen it before.

The chaotic late Ming Dynasty was no longer the era of Qi Jiguang, and the complex array methods were unfamiliar to most professional generals, let alone the monks who had been fighting low-level peasant wars.

In these people's minds, the denser and thicker the formation, the less likely it is for the enemy to find a breaking point to break through, and it is also less likely to be penetrated.

This also became an important factor why Zhang Xianzhong and his army were overly curious and took it lightly after seeing Li Ping's loose formation.

It's hard to say whether Li Ping's formation is useful, but it is obvious that it places high demands on soldiers, especially middle and lower-level commanders. Not only must they be well-trained and commanded well, but they must also keep their eyes and ears open at all times.

Listen to all directions.

However, Luo Xiaoliu, who was nervously leading his soldiers to change formations and start to advance, finally couldn't help but take the time to look back and glance at the artillery unit, which was gradually being left behind by the entire team.

The artillerymen there were hurriedly attaching mules and horses to the cannons, as if they were about to change positions. The large number of gunners who had just passed by them were taking their place to help the artillerymen.

Luo Xiaoliu knew that a considerable number of the cannon soldiers who lacked close combat capabilities would not participate in the attack, but would instead protect the artillery units on their behalf.

Soon, Luo Xiaoliu followed his company in a steady advance and approached about a hundred meters away from the enemy.

At this time, some enemies had already started firing arrows and blunderbuss at them.

Fortunately, the enemy is still in a state of chaos and is still trying to adjust and stabilize the chaotic military formation. It has released very few arrows and muskets, and its organization is basically impossible to talk about and is messy.

And everyone of them had armor, and the first row was all swordsmen holding shields and wearing several layers of armor, so although there were some casualties, they were very small.

Moreover, harsh whistles sounded everywhere along the entire peak line.

Note:

The French 12-pounder gun used by Napoleon is not the same thing as the Napoleon gun. The latter is actually named after Napoleon III. The main models are the M1841 6-pounder gun and the M1857 12-pounder gun.
Chapter completed!