A Jianlu came into his sight, and he aimed at Jianlu's chest and abdomen, which was the biggest target and the easiest part to hit.
Holding his shoulder tightly against the butt of the gun, Yang Daman pulled the trigger. A few dozen meters away, Jianlu's movements paused momentarily, as if he had received an electric shock, and then he fell slumped down.
As long as the lead bullet of the heavy musket hits the human body, even if it cannot penetrate the armor or just misses it, it is enough to cause great damage.
Yang Daman did not stop, put away his gun and retreated, repeating the reloading action mechanically. There was a loud thud above his head, and those were the arrows thrown by Jianlu. Although they were dense, they did not affect him at all.
The second batch of attacking Jianlu had completely entered a distance of more than 200 meters, and Guo Dajing finally gave the order to fire.
The artillery officer's red flag waved hard, and then swung down hard, as if a ball of flame was about to hit the ground.
"Fire!"
"Fire!"
"Fire!"
The eager officers roared and issued orders, and torches stretched out towards the fuses. The fuses sizzled with sparks and went straight into the ignition holes.
Boom, boom, boom...
The mortar group that stretched for nearly two miles roared one after another, smoke rose in clouds, and the shells rushed out of the barrel, flew across the sky, and flew towards Jianlu's rear formation.
What?
Huang Taiji and the Houjin generals beside him, as well as the Jianlu cavalry lined up around them, were all startled by the dense roar. They raised their heads and stared at the black cannonballs flying in the sky in shock.
"No, they are attacking here." I don't know who saw the clues first and shouted to call the police, "Quick, retreat quickly."
Huang Taiji was shocked. The guards around him had gathered around him. They were pulling horses, urging them, and the situation was chaotic.
It's not that easy to hide. There are a lot of people here, not only Jianlu generals, but also a large number of cavalry surrounding them.
Jianlu did not expect that his opponent would have artillery with such a range. The cavalry surrounded Huang Taiji and other slave chiefs, not too densely, but not sparsely either.
It’s too late! Huang Taiji was frightened, but his estimate was very accurate.
The shells fell one after another, and many Jianlu were directly hit, killed and injured. In the chaos of people shouting and horses neighing, the explosions of fire burst out one after another in the Jianlu's formation.
The explosion continued, clouds of black smoke rose, and shrapnel shot in all directions.
Even if they were not killed or injured, injured and frightened horses were everywhere, running and jumping around, neighing and bumping, creating unstoppable chaos.
Looking down from the air, Jianlu's battle formation was like a calm water surface suddenly sprinkled with sand, fire, and smoke. Shock waves centered on the explosion point spread outward like ripples.
The bombardment of more than a hundred mortars was extremely shocking and lethal.
Of course, Jianlu's casualties were still second to none. The command level was attacked and the rear lines were in chaos, which directly affected the troops fighting in the front.
Seeing the flames and smoke pillars caused by the explosion in the rear formation, as well as the chaos of people shouting and neighing, no one was not upset, and no one was hesitant.
But unfortunately, without Ming Jin's order to withdraw his troops, Jianlu could only continue to charge forward with anxiety.
Bullets rained like rain, and the musketeers in the two trenches fired lead bullets round after round. The advantages of the flintlock gun plus paper-cased fixed-loading ammunition were fully revealed.
In addition to the increased rate of fire, the musketeers can get closer, more than doubling the firepower density.
This is already a powerful firepower that was not available in the defense battle of Fort Arthur. Even those like Sahalian who had participated in the battle, this was an unexpected improvement.
Jianlu's three-pronged attack was too concentrated, allowing the defenders to deploy troops and weapons to violently counterattack the attacking enemy.
All the heavy armored soldiers had been lost, and even the light muskets could cause considerable damage. Coupled with the continuous spray of dense shotguns from the Fran machine cannon, Jianlu attacked forward despite the hail of bullets, and it was extremely difficult.
Even though it was difficult, some prisoners still rushed to the first trench, stepping on the blood and corpses of their companions. But what made them despair was that dense numbers of sharp spears suddenly stabbed out from the trenches.
The tip of the spear was sharp and pointed forward, forming an insurmountable forest of spears. This was originally a tactic used to deal with cavalry attacks on flat ground, but it was used by Guo Dajing for position defense.
Inside the trench were three rows of heavily armored spearmen. Under the command of the officer, they stood up suddenly, roared and stretched their spears out of the trench.
Puff, puff, puff... the frightening sound of the tip of the spear penetrating into flesh had just come out, and was immediately suppressed by the shrill screams and wails.
Niulu'er Zhenmeng'ertu stopped suddenly and barely stopped, but watched helplessly as several soldiers in front were stabbed by spears. The spears were swallowed up, and several soldiers fell down in the spurts of blood.
Ah, ah! Meng Etu waved his scimitar and swung away the spear with all his strength, but the forest of spears was so dense that it had no effect at all.
Boom! A dazzling light flashed on the opposite side, and a Fran cannon sprayed out dense pellets. Meng'etu barely covered it with his shield, but missed his legs. In severe pain, he knelt down on one knee.
A row of lead bullets shot over, along with Meng Etu, knocking down many Jianlu;
Immediately afterwards, an even more deafening roar sounded, and the frightening heavy muskets fired lead bullets again. Flesh and blood flew everywhere, and a row of prisoners fell down.
In the array of pickets, which was only about one meter high, too many prisoners fell down. Even those who did not die immediately were trampled to death by their companions, leaving no hope of retreating.
The corpses were scattered in various directions, with overlapping pillows, and some even fell miserably on the pickets. This reduced the power of the picket array and weakened the hindrance effect.
However, the heavily armored spearmen waiting in advance in the trenches gave the Jianlu troops a heavy blow just when they thought they had a chance of breaking through. No matter how difficult it was for them to advance, they still had to withstand intensive and fierce firearms attacks.
Boom, boom, boom...
The roaring sounds sounded again, and the mortars, which had been reloaded with shells, once again fired more than a hundred shells towards Jianlu's rear formation.
The trebuchets and Hongyi cannons were also fired with roars, hitting the middle and rear areas of Jianlu in front of the position. The carriages were heavily damaged, and the weakness and casualties of the archers also made the arrows fired by Jianlu less and less powerful.
The command failed, the backup was cut off, and the Jianlu soldiers who rushed to the position were like a lone army.
The more they charged, the weaker they became, and the more they attacked, the fewer people they attacked. Even those who risked their lives and rushed to the trenches were stopped by the spear points of the heavily armored spearmen who kept thrusting out.
However, the defenders fought more and more. The chaos caused by the artillery attack on Jianlu's rear formation, and the area where Jianlu's attack was determined, the commander could mobilize more troops to form a strong defense that made Jianlu despair.
At the same time, on the flank of Jianlu's attack, the musketeers had already moved out of the trenches, surrounded them, and fired fiercely at Jianlu.
The explosions one after another in the rear array disrupted the slave chief's intention to readjust. Huang Taiji was surrounded by his guards and retreated, finally giving the order to withdraw his troops.
The trumpet sounded like weeping, as if Jianlu was weeping bitterly. Jianlu, who was still struggling to hold on, seemed to be pardoned and began to retreat in panic.
The muskets and artillery continued to roar, and countless lead bullets were fired from behind, knocking down the Jianlu who had no intention of fighting.
Immediately afterwards, war drums rumbling, passionate shouts broke through the sky, and the heavily armored pikemen jumped out of the trenches and bravely moved forward to chase down the prisoners.
"Charge and kill!"
Staring with anger, there was no fear anymore, only hatred towards Jianlu and a strong belief in revenge. Facing the Jianlu who fled in panic, even the new soldiers showed amazing courage and fighting spirit.
The trebuchet throws hundreds of bombs, which may not kill many, but the injured Jianlu will face the charging spearmen, and there is little chance of survival.
The Hongyi cannon continued to roar, using powerful and heavy shells to shoot out bloody alleys.
The defenders on both sides of the attack surface also launched a charge. There was no enemy in front of them, so they were faster and outflanked the retreating Jianlu, leaving the enemy with more lives and more dirty blood.
Jianlu's rear formation was still in chaos and was busy retreating to distance itself to avoid being bombarded again. Where could they send troops to respond?
Ah! Niulu Ezhen Zhang Guli screamed, and a lead bullet hit his leg. He stumbled and fell to the ground. He tried hard to get up, but he couldn't.
Two men ran from behind, grabbed his arms one on the left and the other on the right, and dragged him to the ground half-drag him, regardless of whether he was in pain or not, and continued to run away in embarrassment.
Abandoning his helmet and armor, Zhang Guli gritted his teeth. Seeing the embarrassment of his men, he knew that he could run faster in this way. He was also running for his life, so why did he want to die?
The subordinate on the right suddenly flew away, dodging Zhang Guli. To be precise, the subordinate seemed to have exploded and became shattered into pieces. He didn't even have time to scream.
Those were the shells from the Hongyi cannon. This subordinate was not alone. In front of Zhang Guli's eyes, wherever the shell passed, stumps of limbs and arms were scattered on the ground.
The frozen ground makes it easier for artillery shells to bounce forward, with a longer killing range and more casualties.
Only one of his men was left dragging Zhang Guli, and his injured leg continued to bleed, leaving a long trail of blood on the ground.
Behind him were continuous screams, and the sound of shouts and killings getting closer and closer. Zhang Guli breathed heavily and looked into the distance, hoping that someone would come to rescue him and hoping to escape to a safe place quickly.
There was a roar of muskets in the diagonal stab, and the outflanking musketeers fired a row of lead bullets. The distance was less than a hundred meters, but the fleeing Jianlu completely lost the courage to rush forward and fight back.
The man who was supporting Zhang Guli screamed and fell down, bringing Zhang Guli to the ground. Zhang Guli took a look and saw that the left waist of his man was bloody and writhing in pain. It was obvious that he would not survive.
Picking up a spear from the ground, Zhang Guli stood up with support and limped forward without looking at his dying men.
Zhang Guli's strong desire to survive supported him, but his injured leg, which continued to bleed, made his path to survival narrower and narrower.
The pikemen behind them counterattacked fiercely and pursued them quickly, with few Jianluo blocking their advance. The musketeers on the flanks kept firing, and as long as Jianluo was injured, the enemy would die.
A lead bullet cut off Zhang Guli's escape route. Although he was still trying hard, he was crawling on the ground like a maggot.
In the cold snow, Zhang Guli lost all feeling in his ten fingers, and he didn't know whether it was sweat, blood, or tears, which flowed all over his face.
He didn't want to die, he still had a wife and children, and he wanted to go home. But this pain and despair were God's punishment for him.
At this moment, he would not think of those people he had killed before. There were Ming soldiers, there were people, there were men and women, there were women, children, the old and the weak.
Their souls are still there, and they are all watching with cold and hateful eyes, looking at this once brave Jianlu, pitiful and humble like a dying wild dog.
"Kill, kill!" The roar was the last sound Zhang Guli heard.
Sonorous and powerful steps came at a trot, and a spear pierced the back of Zhang Guli's neck. The force was not heavy, as if he was picking a maggot to death with disdain.
A young soldier took back his spear and continued to chase him without even looking at it.
He didn't care at all that he had killed a battle-experienced Niu Lu Ezhen. In his eyes, Jianlu were all the same and died in his hands.
Another round of mortar volleys fell one after another, hitting the fleeing captives. Many people were lucky to have escaped far enough, but in the end they were killed by the god of death.
The one after another explosions discouraged the Jianlu rear formation from launching another cavalry attack. Although the enemy broke out of the well-defended formation, this seemed to be an opportunity.
The frightened slave chief subconsciously looked up to the sky, worried that another cannonball would fall. There were so many unexpected things that they had become frightened.
They didn't have to worry about it for too long. The flags on the defender's position were already moving, and the rhythm of the golden drums also changed.
The pursuing troops stopped immediately. Even though there were Jianlu who were fleeing in panic in front of them, it was not difficult to kill these enemies.
The pikemen were arranged in three rows, with the spear points pointed at a 45-degree angle. The front row squatted, the second row knelt, and the back row stood, forming a tight and sharp forest of spears.
The musketeers on the flanks also stopped, loaded their ammunition, and got into a fighting stance.
At this time, they had pursued nearly half a mile and were under the protection of Hongyi artillery, not to mention mortars.
Behind the forest of spears and bayonets, a large number of defenders began to clean the battlefield. Instead of beheading, they directly dragged away the bodies and picked up weapons.
More than five miles away, Huang Taiji and other slave chiefs could hardly see the specific situation. They only saw forests of swords and guns and strict battle formations.
With a livid face, Huang Taiji clenched and unclenched his hands, and finally gave no more orders to attack.
Obviously, the enemy's combat power is beyond imagination, mainly due to the great advantage in weapons and equipment. If they launch another attack, there is almost no hope of success when the enemy has not suffered too much loss.
There was an eerie silence on the battlefield, but that wasn't all. There was a faint sound of explosions in the distance, and Zhenghuang Banner's ice-crossing attack was in progress.
Huang Taiji neither ordered another attack nor ordered a retreat back to the camp. He still had a little hope that the encirclement attack would be successful and thus shake the enemy's entire defense line.
The reason why there is a little bit of hope is that after seeing the powerful firepower of the Dongjiang Army, I realized how difficult it is to defeat an opponent who relies on solid defense.
Chariots, heavy armor, and bows and arrows were the most powerful means Jianlu relied on to win. As for the cavalry attack, it was the final critical blow.