Chapter 94: Hope to solve the siege of Jinzhou in one fell swoop
The artillery shells roared, and Chen Jiugao's twenty-five large-caliber mortar guns were divided into five artillery formations, which were fired in sequence. The cannonballs flew through the wind one after another.
Except for a few artillery shells that exploded in the air in advance, most of the huge, round and blooming artillery shells landed in front of and behind the Qing artillery array of the Empress Temple, smashing hard on the ground and into the Empress Temple.
In the defense line, whether it was the Eight Banners Warriors, the God's Blessed Army, or the Korean soldiers, they all screamed.
However, everyone later discovered that this wave of cannonballs did not seem to be as powerful as the previous big cannons. Although they fell high from the sky, they did not damage anything, let alone roll forward.
Looking at those cannons, many people were curious, and some even wanted to get closer and watch.
Suddenly, someone discovered that the fuse on the artillery shell was burning, and immediately a knowledgeable person screamed: "Ah... it's a thunderbolt..."
"...poisonous smoke...poisonous smoke bombs..."
"...it's a gray bullet...run..."
"Boom! Boom! Boom!" Amidst the repeated loud noises, the poisonous smoke shells exploded one after another. Immediately, a stream of dazzling and choking thick green smoke spread instantly, and some people who happened to inhale it immediately coughed.
, everyone screamed and ran away without their lives.
Those who inhaled a lot of poisonous smoke even felt dizzy and had a splitting headache. Then they felt their breathing became rapid and felt like they were suffocating in horror.
They stretched out their hands desperately in front of them, scratching around, trying to ask for help from others, and then tried to call out, but found that nothing could be said, only "hehe" was heard in the mouth, and the whole body was twitching violently.
After inhaling the poisonous smoke, some people found that their vision was blurred, as if they were blind. They howled in fear, ran around, and vomited loudly while running around, until their whole bodies were covered with dirt.
While some people were running, black and red blood flowed from their noses and mouths from time to time, which only increased their fear!
…………
In the Ming Dynasty's central army formation, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, put down the telescope in his hand and said calmly: "The artillery of Shenji Battalion was so sharp that it made the Dongnu silent. General Yang of Xuanzhen has now driven back the Dongnu.
We are attacking the Niangniang Temple position."
Commander-in-chief Zhang Ruoqi had already been shocked by the effect of the artillery bombardment. He forgot to use a telescope to watch the battle ahead. Hearing this, he quickly raised the mirror to look at it, and he was also full of joy: "Director Hong is commanding Ruoding, and the soldiers are using their orders in front of the formation.
This is the blessing of the Holy One. Judging from this, we are expected to capture the East and West Shimen today and help relieve the siege of Jinzhou in one fell swoop!"
Hong Chengchou still looked elegant and honorable. He stroked his beard gently and smiled, but he just stared ahead and said no more words.
Zhang Cheng also held up his telescope to observe the situation on the battlefield ahead, but saw a large cloud of smoke and dust. Most of the Xuanzhen cavalry seemed to have clashed with the Tatar cavalry, and a part of the infantry as the vanguard had indeed repelled the Tatars.
, moving towards the Empress Temple.
…………
Although the guerrilla general He Zhenxiong's 2,500 New Army soldiers formed a formation in front with their chariots and attacked the enemy with blunderbuss and artillery, they suffered heavy casualties.
After all, the chariots are equipped with light cannons that cannot reach far, and they are all made of solid iron bullets. Their deterrent power is far greater than their destructive power. And at a distance of one to two hundred steps, even heavy armored infantry can rush in instantly.
Especially when the two sides reached a distance of fifty steps, the power of the Tatars' hard bows and heavy arrows became apparent, no less powerful than cannons, and the heavy arrows they fired were like having eyes, specializing in hitting the vital points of the Ming army's throat, head and face.
at.
Although many officers were commanding in front of the battle to boost morale, the Ming army was still very frightened in the face of such accurate and vicious heavy arrows from the Tatars, and the artillery basically stopped loading.
They carefully hid behind the chariot and hurriedly loaded the muskets. The speed was naturally much slower than during normal drills, and their momentum was also weakened. It was obvious that the Tatars had the upper hand.
Just when He Zhenxiong was in a state of panic, Xuanzhen Counselor Guo Yingxian led 2,500 elite cavalry and ran from the mountains on the left. The new troops behind the car formation couldn't help but cover up when they saw their elite cavalry coming to support them.
There was a warm cheer from behind the chariot.
The attacking Tatars also seemed to have discovered the Ming cavalry coming to the rescue. In the distance, hundreds of fine Tatar cavalry were seen immediately running towards the mountains to protect the flanks of their own infantry from threats.
At the same time, the sound of golden drums was loud, and the Tatars actually gave up the attack on He Zhenxiong's troops. Even if the car array was about to be broken, they did not hesitate to follow the order and retreat, leaving more than 400 Tatars dead bodies, which seemed a bit inappropriate.
Common sense.
Although He Zhenxiong was slightly surprised by this, he only attributed it to his own cavalry coming to the rescue in time. After all, the number of Tatar thieves who attacked him was only 3,000, and they also suffered heavy casualties, and the Tatar cavalry only numbered a few hundred. How could they stop their own side?
More than two thousand fine riders!
He only roughly estimated the casualties in his camp. In this period alone, more than 200 people were killed and more than 300 others were injured. However, the war was far from over. It had only just begun.
He Zhenxiong left one hundred new troops behind, simply cleared the battlefield, took care of the wounded and retreated. He commanded the remaining nearly two thousand soldiers, pushing the light tanks that were not damaged, and rushed to the Qing army's position at the Empress Temple on the right side of the mountain road.
.
"Brothers, let's go all out and take down the Empress Temple, but we don't dare to let the Tatars look down on our Xuanfu soldiers!"
He Zhenxiong loudly encouraged the morale and ordered the soldiers to slowly press towards the Empress Temple in a sparse formation. The distance between the two sides continued to shorten, and there were only more than 300 steps left.
At this time, he saw his own artillery began to bombard the Qing artillery array at the Empress Temple.
He couldn't help but be overjoyed, and hurriedly ordered: "Quick, rush up, while the Tatars are being fired, rush up and seize the Niangniang Temple."
"boom……"
But just as he finished speaking, he heard an explosion from above, and then he saw a dark thing flying towards him quickly.
Before he had time to react, he heard "Boom...Boom...Boom..." several consecutive explosions, and gunpowder smoke rose from the Qing artillery array outside the Empress Temple on the hill.
Black cannonballs flew out of the smoke, and He Zhenxiong shouted: "It's time to fire cannons, be careful with the cannonballs..."
"boom!"
The first flying artillery shell suddenly hit a soldier next to He Zhenxiong. His chest was pierced and he lost all life. As the flying artillery shell jumped backward, he fell backwards.
On the ground, not a single cry was uttered from beginning to end, and not a trace of blood was seen on the wound.
He Zhenxiong was suddenly startled. This was the first time that he saw one of his men hit by enemy artillery. He couldn't help but feel furious. He roared loudly, waved the steel knife in his hand and rushed towards the mountain.
But he had only rushed a few dozen steps when he heard another "rumbling" explosion. Based on his previous experience, he hurriedly shouted: "Tatars are firing cannons, be careful to avoid them."
The new Xuanfu troops reminded each other and raised their heads to observe the trajectory of the cannons fired from the hills. At the same time, they also saw black cannons flying into the Empress Temple position.
Fortunately, He Zhenxiong formed a sparse formation at the beginning. Although he experienced two rounds of shelling by the Tatars and suffered some casualties, it was not serious.
When they looked up at the Qing army's position at the Empress Temple, they saw green smoke filling the sky and the entire hillock being shrouded, making it look like a fairyland.
However, although the shelling here stopped, He Zhenxiong could faintly hear the sound of rapid horse hooves hitting the ground, as if thousands of horses and troops were galloping.