Seeing the dense crowd charging towards them, most of them armed with cold weapons and with fanatical and cruel expressions on their faces, Zhang Fugui couldn't help but draw a look of contempt at the corner of his mouth.
The Xujiazhuang Intelligence Department has actually known everything about the connections and behind-the-scenes actions of the noble gentry in Jiangnan, as if they were transparent.
Including the place where Xu Hongji and other nobles often held secret discussions - the gourmet flower boat on the Qinhuai River. The Xujiazhuang Intelligence Department not only placed informants on it, but if they took sabotage actions and set the boat on fire, they might not be able to put it on fire.
These minds are full of ideas.
But Xujiazhuang did not order this.
Instead, they were allowed to plot, allowed to take actions against Xujiazhuang, and allowed them to provide people and money to form a "Jiangnan Army" of 180,000 people.
The reason why no sabotage action was taken to stop it.
I just want to see how powerful these Jiangnan nobles and gentry can be when they unite, and how powerful they can organize a counterattack. Their performance is better than that of the salt merchants during the 'Salt Merchant Rebellion' in April last year.
How much better can it be? Can it hurt Xujiazhuang enough to feel a little pain?
That's right.
Contempt.
Regarding the various actions of Jiangnan nobles and gentry, the attitude of Xujiazhuang's senior officials was contempt, and they did not take their threats seriously.
I wish they could pull up an army of 300,000 to 500,000 people, come over and fight Xujiazhuang, and get rid of them all at once! Let the world see Xujiazhuang's powerful strength, and it will also have a strong influence on these noble gentry.
The deterrent effect made them fearful and restrained, so that they could weigh their own strength before plotting an action against Xujiazhuang next time, so as not to risk their wealth and life and pay an unbearable price.
That is, the harder you work, the greater the blow you will receive after failure.
This is what Xujiazhuang wants to achieve.
However, strategically you can look down on your opponent, but tactically you must be lenient with the enemy and make full preparations, otherwise the boat will capsize in a small ditch, which will be very ugly.
Five thousand people.
At the Xujiazhuang headquarters, five thousand elite officers and soldiers were transferred from the Xujiazhuang Army to enhance the defense capabilities of Manor 72.
In addition, a newly established artillery company also provided support to improve its long-range heavy firepower strike capability.
Of course, in order to show weakness, these supporting troops either arrived on the march in the middle of the night, or wore civilian clothes and disguised themselves as workers, coming with the material transport team. They did not attract the attention of the Jiangnan army, and had the effect of hiding from the enemy.
In addition, there are more than 5,000 young people in Manor 72 who can be organized to act as a reserve force to complete tasks such as transporting supplies, carrying the wounded, delivering water and meals, and can also pick up shovels and pickaxes at critical moments.
Come on the field and play a big role.
all in all.
To cope with this wave of challenges and impacts, Xujiazhuang is fully prepared.
At this moment, on the wall to the west of the bastion.
Holding a breech-loading gun tightly in his hand, a soldier standing behind the jagged parapet asked nervously: "Company commander, the enemy has crossed the white line and entered the effective range. Do you want to shoot?"
"Wait a little longer!"
Zhang Fugui shook his head: "Shooting too early will only scare the enemy away. Move closer and wait until the enemy reaches the barbed wire fence below the city, then focus your fire and shoot. But you must listen to my orders."
"Yes, company commander!"
soon.
With loud shouts of death, they rushed under the sloping earth wall of the bastion. The only thing blocking them was a wall about five feet high, fixed with wooden stakes and intertwined with wires. It seemed that they could easily break through with just a kick.
Wooden fence and barbed wire.
Bang bang bang bang!
Bang bang bang bang bang!
A company of breech-loading guns began to fire on the city wall. As long as the trigger was gently pulled and the circuit was connected, the electric spark would ignite the primer, which would then cause the granular gunpowder in the bullet to explode. The high-temperature and high-pressure gas would then push the pointed tip of the gun.
The lead pellets were fired at nearly the speed of sound and headed straight towards the siege personnel about a hundred meters away from the city.
Puff puff puff puff!
Flowers of bright red blood bloomed, and shrill screams rang out. Although the hit rate of the breech-loading gun at this distance was only about 30%, every Xu Jiajun on the city wall with a company of 121 people as a basic combat unit, every time
Open fire can cause thirty or forty people to bleed and fall to the ground.
If the density of offensive personnel gathered under the city is higher, the hit rate can be significantly improved.
"Fire!"
Zhang Fugui seized the opportunity in front of the barbed wire fence when the enemy slowed down significantly and the personnel density was very high, and decisively issued the order to fire.
Bang bang bang bang bang bang!
There was a sound like exploding beans, and a cough-inducing, choking white smoke rose up.
At least more than fifty people were lying on the ground, and the injured let out shrill wails.
"ah!!"
"I was hit by a lead, it hurt me so much!"
"I'm hurt, help me, help me!"
"Rush! Keep rushing, why can't this iron wire keep cutting?" The man used a knife to slash at the iron wire crazily, but it only deformed the iron wire and could not cut it. The wooden stake inserted deeply into the ground could not be cut or cut for a while.
Move away.
"Clear the breech."
"Load."
"Fire!"
Zhang Fugui compressed the shooting process of all the soldiers in the company to about six seconds as if executing a fixed procedure. Every soldier's operation was smooth and smooth, and the error rate was almost zero. This was tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of times in normal times.
Muscle memory has been formed long ago through boring exercises.
Bang bang bang bang bang!
More than fifty enemies fell in a pool of blood.
More than six seconds later, bang bang bang bang bang!
The shooting lasted ten rounds in a row, and the total time was just over one minute.
In front of a strong barbed wire, even with the help of professional pliers and other tools, it would take people about a minute to cut a large hole and drill through the barbed wire.
But in just one minute, the area of the city wall that Zhang Fugui's company is responsible for defending will make people who want to cross the barbed wire die ten times!
In fact, when Zhang Fugui's company reached the sixth round of shooting, the morale of the enemies in front of the barbed wire collapsed. They turned around and ran back, scrambling to leave this flesh-and-blood Shura field. All the greed and desire in their minds disappeared.
Er Jing just wants to save their lives.
But the people behind are still rushing forward feverishly. Even if the bloody scene ahead will make them slow down and pause quickly, how can they be able to brake at once with more than 100,000 people charging at the same time?
"Clear the breech, load, and fire!"
"Fire!"
"Fire!"
In the next five minutes, Zhang Fugui was like a cold killing machine. He led his company and organized a total of fifty rounds of concentrated fire. Then he had to stop and rest for a while because the barrel of the gun was too hot.
meeting.
After fifty rounds of shooting, corpses were piled nearly two meters high in front of the barbed wire under the area of the city wall he was responsible for. He had killed at least a thousand people, and achieved the most fruitful results.
As for the Jiangnan army of more than 100,000 people, they were so frightened that they collapsed. Because a simple barbed wire fence killed more than 20,000 of them, and the mortality rate exceeded 10% before their morale collapsed. This was manifested in the late Ming Dynasty.
Among the many officers and soldiers, it was considered very good - of course, it was also related to the high killing efficiency of the breech-loading gun. A considerable number of escapees were shot before they could escape the effective range.
…
Defeated!
The Jiangnan army's attack on the Xu family manor ended in a disastrous defeat on the first day.
More than 20,000 people were killed in the battle, with mountains of corpses piled high and rivers of blood flowing in the cruel scene. More than 60,000 people were frightened and became deserters. They could never be found again and did not dare to face such a battlefield again.
So after the first confrontation.
The Jiangnan army, which had a strength of 180,000, dropped to more than 90,000, which could barely be regarded as an army of 100,000.
But such a disastrous defeat was not enough to make the Jiangnan nobles and gentry give up the idea of fighting.
After summing up their experience and lessons, they launched a second attack on Manor No. 72 in Xujiazhuang on June 15th.
This time, a firearms army of 30,000 people was organized, each with an unknown number of firearms collected. With the 5,000 Zheng family firearms army led by Zheng Zhihu as the core, they planned to use firearms against firearms to offset the Xu family's advantage.
But after the official start of the fight.
Except for the Zheng Jiajun led by Zheng Zhihu, because they use Western-style firearms, they are quite powerful and have an effective killing range of 150 meters, but the operation is very cumbersome and can only fire one or two rounds per minute, and the breech used by the Xu Jiajun
As for the gun, its effective killing range exceeds 500 meters, and its maximum rate of fire is ten rounds per minute.
As for the firearms used by other troops in the Jiangnan Army, such as matchlock guns, three-eye blunderbuss, and bird blunderbuss, let alone their range lethality, it would be good if they can fire without exploding the chamber.
Not to mention the protective equipment, the stab-resistant suits and protective helmets worn by Xu Jiajun soldiers can completely withstand the impact of low-speed projectiles.
Standing on the wall of the bastion, Xu Jiajun also took advantage of the terrain.
So after a burst of shooting.
Zheng Zhihu was brutally shot in the head by a sniper. The 5,000 Zheng family firearms army suffered more than 3,000 casualties and less than 2,000 people escaped.
The other more than 20,000 firearms soldiers are not worth mentioning. After approaching the city wall, before they entered the effective killing range, they couldn't wait to fight one round with bang bang bang. There were dozens of explosion accidents, and then they withstood less than three rounds from the Xu Jiajun on the opposite side.
After concentrated fire and shooting, the whole line collapsed and escaped without a trace.
Two consecutive encounters resulted in severe head injuries and heavy losses. The morale of the army was at its lowest point on the verge of collapse. As long as they entered the battlefield, they would be completely defeated and flee in all directions.
Although the Jiangnan army at this time still numbered more than 50,000, it had almost no combat effectiveness.
even so!
The nobles and gentry of Jiangnan still have not given up!
They moved on to the last killer weapon - fifty red cannons purchased from Western businessmen at a huge sum of money. They also hired more than 300 Western professional gunners and decided to use these fifty red cannons.
Cannons, defend their blood and dignity, and use them to win a miraculous victory!