Four hundred and twentieth chapters the enemy's attack on both sides
The heavy lead bullet smashed the head of a real dog, and blood and flesh splattered in the air, like a rotten watermelon hit by a hammer.
The power of the heavy musket made Jianlu's armor and stomach useless. Even though he was wearing heavy armor, the powerful impact caused Jianlu to suffer blunt injuries, his internal organs were shattered, and blood spurted from his mouth.
Lead bullets hitting the shield would also make Jianlu's arms sore, making him unable to stand firmly, or even causing his arms and wrists to be broken and injured.
Heavy muskets accounted for more than half of the troops blocking Jianlu. They took advantage of obstacles and artillery vehicles to give full play to the advantages of the range and power of heavy muskets, and gained the upper hand in the long-range firefight with Jianlu.
Matchlock guns can already compete with bows and arrows, not to mention flintlock guns? When fighting at close range, muskets are more lethal to armor than bows and arrows.
In particular, the lead bullets of muskets have a cavity effect. As long as they hit the human body, even if they do not hit a vital point, they will be enough to make the person lose combat effectiveness.
In Turg's field of vision, blood splashed continuously in the ranks of his own troops, but the removal of obstacles seemed relatively slow.
The arrow missed and flew towards the enemy. He could see enemies constantly falling on the opposite side, but the casualties were disproportionate, which made him feel pained, resentful and helpless.
If he had a choice, Turg would not adopt such a clumsy approach that would cause heavy casualties. But this was not only his helplessness, but also a headache for all the captives.
Since the defense of Lushun Fort, Jianlu found that the riding, archery and martial arts skills they were proud of were becoming increasingly ineffective.
To be precise, it should be that in the firepower duel with the Dongjiang Army, Jianlu was increasingly at a disadvantage.
Several successive attacks ended in heavy losses, and Jianlu had to take a defensive position. It was impossible to attack and could not afford to consume any more.
Turg waved his arms and issued another order, replacing a group of archers. He drew the bow with all his strength, but the arrow missed, which consumed a lot of physical strength.
In fact, this is one of the important reasons why muskets have replaced crossbows. In terms of physical strength, muskets can obviously last longer in combat than crossbows.
On a battlefield that was not very wide, the density of prisoners suddenly increased due to the fighting, and they had fallen into a trap without realizing it.
Accompanied by screams, hundreds of rockets suddenly flew up from behind the formation, flew across the sky, and smashed into the crowd of insurgents who were gathered on the road, unable to deploy.
Explosions occurred one after another, and among the rising black smoke and dust, large groups of fireballs burst out. The mixture of explosive and burning warheads created a more brilliant visual effect.
At the same time, all the artillery carriages in front of the formation also opened fire, spraying raindrops of shells on the enemy in front of them, halting the momentum of the Jianlu's imminent breakthrough.
Several rockets landed around Turg, and the loud explosions made his ears ring, and the flash of light dazzled him. The war horses neighed and jumped, and he could no longer control it, and was driven around in all directions.
Ah, ah! A Jianlu who was on fire screamed in agony, fell and rolled, and was knocked over and trampled by frightened horses.
In the flames and smoke, the chaotic Jianlu were like dancing monsters, wailing, screaming, roaring, and constantly beating, jumping, and stumbling.
This was Jianlu's first experience with deflagrating rockets. Adding sugar, nitrate, sulfur and other substances to kerosene increased its viscosity and made it difficult to shake off, and Jianlu had no experience in dealing with it.
The same is true for war horses, who are naturally afraid of loud noises and flames. They were frightened and dashed around, which further aggravated the chaos among the captives.
The muskets continued to roar, and the demoralized Jianlu kept falling and retreated in panic. Once a close-quarters fight was about to begin, it gave up halfway and was completely crushed.
After another round of rocket volleys, Jianlu retreated in embarrassment amidst explosions and fireworks.
The troops blocking Jianlu immediately withdrew from their positions, mounted their war horses, picked up the bodies of the wounded and the dead, and left quickly under the cover of flying cavalry.
When Jilharang and Dudu saw Turg who was eager to fight again, they were surprised to feel that this guy seemed to be a different person.
The original high-spiritedness was gone, and he was depressed with helplessness and resentment. His face was covered with black dust and blood, making it almost difficult to recognize his original face.
"The enemy's artillery bombardment was too fierce, with as many as 180 guns." Turg did not feel ashamed, but felt helpless and painful, and said in a deep voice: "Our army cannot expand, and we cannot attack with too few troops."
Shaking his head vigorously, Turg added: "There are not many enemies in front of us. I'm worried that the enemy will use a small number of troops to block the attack. The large group is attacking Crow Falcon Pass."
Jirharang and Dudu looked at each other, and both understood Turge's meaning. It was not the end, he was thinking of attacking again.
Indeed, it is unjustifiable to have just suffered a setback and stopped moving forward, allowing the enemy to break out calmly.
"If we add more troops to attack, Ben Beile will lead it." Du Du volunteered and comforted Turg, "You should rest."
Jilharang pondered for a moment and said: "Be more careful. The enemy's artillery is quite numerous and has a long range. Don't get too close."
Du Du smiled and nodded, expressed his gratitude, turned around, and soon led two to three thousand people to pursue again.
Jirhalang calmed down his emotions, left the wounded behind, and led the brigade to continue following up.
Although it was considered a major defeat, it was only the vanguard and the casualties were only over a thousand, which did not affect the overall strength of Jianlu.
Moreover, in the eyes of Jierhalang and others, the enemy's fierce blocking was not without the intention of deterring them. Simply put, the more the enemy did not want it, the more they would do it.
There was a low thunder in the distance, like the sound before a heavy rain, and Jilharang and Turge became more firm in their judgment.
The enemy was indeed attacking Crow Falcon Pass. They divided their forces and were weak. It was too much to treat thousands of Jianzhou cavalry as nothing.
The low thunder soon stopped, and Jierhalang and others still felt that the siege was underway. The enemy was being attacked from both sides, and it was difficult to change the outcome.
This is caused by the enemy's arrogance. If they stop advancing and fight with all their strength, the defenders of Crow Falcon Pass may not dare to dispatch easily when the situation is unclear.
But now - well, it is still unlikely that the brigade will launch a counterattack against the enemy. The defenders of Crow Falcon Pass will regard holding on to the pass as their most important task, and they will be cautious in everything they do to avoid falling into the trap.
No matter what, as long as it is difficult for the enemy to break through the pass, if there are obstacles in front and pursuers behind, the morale of the army will be scattered and they will not be able to concentrate on attacking the city.
Soon, Jilharang and others passed by the place where the fierce battle had just occurred. The charred black masses on the ground, the craters that could be seen everywhere, and the unburned flames were shocking.
"This is the enemy's new weapon. It can explode and continue to burn even if it touches the body." Turg secretly introduced from the side: "Hetuala should have been destroyed because of this."
Jirhalang narrowed his eyes and glanced over a burnt black corpse, feeling terrified in his heart.
The fire and roar of the explosion, as well as the scorching flames splashing everywhere, had a huge impact on the war horses. Jilharang knew this very well.
Not only that, this kind of long-distance attack is also difficult for our own army to prevent. The battle between bows and arrows and muskets is still mutual. But in terms of artillery, it is a unilateral attack by the Dongjiang Army.
As Turg said, when fighting on the road, the troops cannot be fully deployed and can only attack the enemy in a relatively dense formation, allowing the enemy's artillery to exert its power.
Sighing helplessly in his heart, Jierhalang felt a headache. The enemy relied on the advantage of firearms to be in a favorable position in the confrontation.
In the past, our own army was able to defeat many with less, but now it is one-on-one with no chance of winning, and it may even be at a disadvantage.
Times have changed. Jierhalang didn't know this sentence, but he knew that the Dongjiang Army already had the means to suppress his own army, but his own army had not yet found a way to deal with it.
According to this trend, how many years can Daikin continue to support? Jierhalang has no confidence in the future.
There was another roar of gunfire ahead, and Jierhalang had no choice but to put aside his distracting thoughts and focus on the battle in front of him.
After marching about five miles, the blocking position of the Dongjiang Army appeared in front of the troops led by Du Du. Because of the time gained in the previous blocking, more and longer obstacles were laid here.
There were more Dongjiang troops behind the obstacle, with more than two thousand musketeers and thousands of flying cavalry.
After receiving the report of the scouting horse, Du Du only hesitated for a moment, then sent out two thousand troops to attack.
The two thousand soldiers all retreated, similar to the tactics adopted by Turg, and they were divided into three groups: left, center and right to attack.
"If the troops and horses are too dense, they will be bombarded by the enemy's artillery; if there are not enough troops, there is no big difference between them and death." Du Du smiled bitterly and said to his eldest son Du Erhu who was following him: "This battle is difficult to fight!"
Duerhu was convinced of his father's helplessness and said: "Amma, if that's the case, why do you want to attack again? The enemy has a strong force, and it is difficult to defeat the enemy with only the forward force, which will only increase casualties."
Du Du looked at his son and said slowly: "We don't look at victory or defeat now, only at attitude. Casualties are inevitable, but they are evidence that our army is fighting hard."
After a pause, he pointed and added: "Did you hear that? The enemy should be attacking Crow Falcon Pass, so our army cannot just sit idly by and ignore it."
The loud noise in the distance sounded very weak, but it was not difficult to make a judgment. Therefore, an attack was necessary, at least to restrain the enemy's strength and energy, so that they could not attack Crow Falcon Pass with all their strength.
Duerhu seemed to understand, and turned to look at the battlefield in the distance, frowning and saying: "It is difficult for our army to deploy, and such a hard attack will definitely be disadvantageous. Amma, if you only need to make a gesture, attack for two battles and then retreat temporarily,
Wait for the team to arrive!"
"Of course we have to attack in two formations." Du Du looked far away and said in a deep voice: "The key to this battle is Crow Falcon Pass. As long as they can defend it for half a day, preferably one day, the situation will change."
If the Dongjiang Army cannot break through the Crow Falcon Pass, it will inevitably turn back and fight its way out. Jianlu will be able to switch from offense to defense. As long as they delay, the situation will gradually turn into a favorable situation.
In Du Du's view, at least in terms of food and supplies, there won't be too many enemies traveling long distances. Even if they loot on the spot, they won't be able to sustain it for too long.
But Du Du didn't have much confidence in this expectation. He could only continue to attack to a limited extent, trying to contain the enemy's strength to attack Crow Falcon Pass.
This was really a dilemma, but one with little room for choice. Of course he didn't know that the ones attacking Crow Falcon Pass were not only the enemies in front of him, but also an army that heard the news and launched an attack.
Feng Xijian led the special operations battalion and had sneaked into the hidden valley less than five miles away from Crow Falcon Pass two days ago.
During these two days, apart from carefully sending people to conduct close reconnaissance, the special operations battalion ate dry food and lurked quietly.
Finally, news came from the sentry. A series of explosions sounded east of Crow Falcon Pass. It should be that friendly forces had arrived at Crow Falcon Pass.
"Let's set off immediately and attack Crow Falcon Pass." Feng Xijian was refreshed and ordered loudly, leading his troops to quickly advance towards Crow Falcon Pass.
At this time, there is no need to hide your whereabouts. Whether you are traveling or cooking by cooking, you no longer need to be sneaky and suffer.
Breaking the Crow Falcon Pass in two flanking attacks should be the most certain action. Not only is the army absolutely superior in strength, but there are also sharp firearms to help, but also because of the inherent flaws of the Crow Falcon Pass.
Because Crow Falcon Pass is divided into three passes, it means that Jianlu has to divide his troops to defend, and the already small number of troops will be diluted.
Moreover, the initial construction of Crow Falcon Pass was to guard against Jianzhou Jurchen, that is, the focus was on defense facing the east.
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Therefore, the first pass was built to reach the mountain crests on both sides; the second pass was built in the valley where two cliffs faced each other, with stone masonry as a barrier. Both of them had favorable terrain and were relatively difficult to attack.
When we arrived at the third pass, it was located next to a huge boulder protruding from the ground, so the level of danger was greatly reduced.
The special operations battalion has bypassed the outlying strongholds of Crow Falcon Pass, namely the Six Forts of Gushan, which serve as outposts and early warnings, and directly attacks the third pass from its weakest point, with a high chance of winning.
Four thousand soldiers quickly passed through the mountains and forests, and reached the third pass. They divided a thousand troops and rushed westward to occupy favorable terrain and cut off the road from Gushan Sixth Fort to reinforce Crow Falcon Pass.
Most of the enemy defenders at the third pass have been transferred away, leaving only a few hundred people. They were caught off guard when faced with the sudden appearance of the enemy behind them.
Feng Xi established the artillery at the command post, set up the mortars, adjusted the angle, and began to bombard the third pass. Under the cover of artillery fire, two thousand musketeers launched an attack on the weakest third pass.
The attack was sudden and fierce, with sharp and intensive firearms. Under the attack of the absolutely superior force, hundreds of captives could not resist, and they were quickly defeated from the camp and retreated to the second pass.
Feng Xijian commanded the headquarters, made some adjustments, and launched an attack on the second pass one mile away.
At this time, the first pass, which was attacked by rockets from the Dongjiang Army to the east, had already concentrated most of the enemy defenders at Crow Falcon Pass.
The rapid fall of the third pass shocked them, and they had to withdraw their troops and go to the second pass to strengthen their defense.
At this point, a two-sided attack on Crow Falcon Pass finally took shape. The garrison defenders, who numbered less than three thousand, had to divide their forces to resist, and fell into the unfavorable position of being attacked from both sides.
Although the Dongjiang Army only attacked the first pass with rockets and did not launch an attack immediately. However, a battalion of musketeers was watching eagerly outside the pass, and they could not tolerate the prisoners not being alert and arranged their troops to take strict precautions.