The camp of the invaders, which was more than 300 steps away, was completely silent at this time. However, looking at it with the naked eye, one could only vaguely see the image of bright lights.
Zhou Shaohuan put down the monocular telescope and handed it to Tong Dayong beside him, asking them to watch in turn. Then he took a few steps to Shang Yi's side and whispered: "Sir, it seems that the bandit army has some sense. I think their guards are also smart.
It was quite strict, and a lot of people were left to keep vigil.”
Shang Yi smiled and said: "It's useless even if everyone stays and keeps vigil. Who would have thought that we have such a method? Are we ready?"
Zhou Shaohuan said: "Don't worry, sir. We are all prepared. You can start now."
Shang Yi also nodded and said, "Okay, let's get started."
Although Tian Jianxiu and others did not retreat to Luoshan County, their whereabouts were never traced by the scouts of the Shang Army. Therefore, Shang Yi led the night attack troops and sneaked into the Li Chuang Army at dusk.
The camp was only seven or eight miles away and was hidden. When night fell, he led his troops and slowly approached the intruder's camp.
However, although the invading army was newly defeated, Tian Jianxiu and others were veterans who had been fighting for more than ten years. Therefore, although it was at night, they did not relax their vigilance at all. Not only did they leave enough soldiers to keep watch, but they also
Within a radius of 500 steps of the camp, many hidden sentries were deployed, and some mobile sentries were also dispatched to patrol to prevent enemy attacks. The guards were not lax.
In fact, there were not many night battles in this era, mainly because of the inconvenience of delivering orders at night, and also because soldiers lacked nutrition, so more people suffered from night blindness.
But because of this, night battles often have very good sneak attack effects. Shang Yi paid great attention to night battles, and also paid attention to increasing meat for his soldiers in peacetime. Therefore, the rate of night blindness among the soldiers of the merchant army was very low, only about 30%. Moreover,
In daily training, night combat training is also emphasized, which also fully trains the merchant army's night combat capabilities. Especially the soldiers in the reconnaissance battalion, almost all of them are good at night combat. Now it is time to test the soldiers' ability.
It’s time for training results.
At the same time, Shang Yi also has an infrared scanner. His high-power telescope and the eye mask of his helmet also have night vision functions. With these external killer weapons, it is naturally easy to attack the invaders at night. Therefore,
The Merchant Army opened the way with the soldiers of the reconnaissance company, evaded a mobile patrol team of the Invading Army, pulled out three hidden sentries, and successfully arrived at a place more than 300 steps away from the main camp of the Invading Army.
Using an infrared scanner can very clearly display the location and movements of the mobile outposts between the Merchant Army's current position and the Intruder Army's camp. In fact, it is not difficult to sneak in as far as fifty steps in front of the Intruder Army's camp.
.But there is no need to be so close now, because Shang Yi has prepared another new weapon of the Shang Army for the Chuang Army, which is the Thunderbolt Rocket Launcher.
When defending Jinan, Shang Yi used this primitive rocket launcher for the first time. Shang Yi realized the value of this weapon. It was like a combination of artillery and grenades, and it had the same killing range as artillery.
Under the circumstances, rocket launchers are lighter in weight than artillery and are easier to carry, especially when hijacking camps. Their killing range is also larger than that of solid bullets. Of course, the disadvantage is that it can only be used once and cannot be used repeatedly like artillery.
But what about perfect things in the world?
Therefore, Shang Yi named it the Thunderbolt Rocket on trial basis, and began to further improve it and mass-produce it. Like grenades, it became an essential firearm for the merchant army in addition to artillery and muskets. And after further modifications by Sun Heding and others
, not only can it shoot farther, the maximum range can reach 500 steps. And the styles have also increased. In addition to the most common shoulder-mounted type, there are also box-type guns, which are divided into 25-gun packs and 36-gun packs.
It can be moved on a vehicle or moved manually, which is very convenient. Because it is fired in a concentrated manner, it has greater lethality.
This time, each regiment was equipped with thirty shoulder-type Thunderbolt rocket launchers, twenty twenty-five-piece container-type Thunderbolt rocket launchers, and ten thirty-six-piece container-type Thunderbolt rocket launchers. In this night attack,
All the Thunderbolt rocket launchers assembled by the second regiment were brought. At this time, all the box-type Thunderbolt rocket launchers were placed on the ground, and the launch angles were adjusted.
At this time, it was the second watch. Shang Yi looked back at his own rocket launcher with thunderbolts ready, and then looked at the camp of the invaders in the distance. He nodded and said, "Okay, let's start firing."
The soldiers took out the forged stone fire sickles one after another, lit the fuses of the Thunderbolt rocket launchers, and heard the sound of "boom - whoosh -" and the light of fire flowing. The first batch fired were ten 36-pack containers.
A total of three hundred and sixty rockets of the Thunderbolt rocket launcher pierced the dark night sky, creating beautiful trajectories and roaring towards the camp of the intruders. Against the dark night sky, they looked like a meteor shower, which was exceptionally dazzling.
.
After the rocket was launched, the whereabouts of the night attack troops were naturally exposed, but most of the soldiers who broke into the night vigil were attracted by the sparks flying in the sky. One soldier even chuckled and said: "Look, it's a broom star, there are so many broom stars."
.”
A soldier next to him slapped him on the forehead and said angrily: "What broom stars? There are so many broom stars. I think they are probably enemy rockets."
The one from before was still dissatisfied and said: "Can a rocket fly so far? What else can it be besides a broom star?" The other soldiers also pointed at the sky and talked about it.
At this moment, a rocket fell into the camp and exploded with a "boom". The grease contained in the arrow flew out together with iron sand and iron pieces, injuring several soldiers who invaded the army. At the same time,
The grease even spattered in all directions, falling on tents, barracks, and hay carts, setting off little bits of flames. Then came the second, third, and fourth... one after another.
Come down.
At this time, the soldiers who broke into the army realized what was going on, and they shouted: "Sneak attack, there is a sneak attack by the enemy, prepare to fight, prepare to fight." The whole camp immediately opened up.
Shang Yi saw very clearly with a telescope that all the rocket launchers fired in the first round had fallen. However, the biggest problem with this primitive rocket launcher was that it was inaccurate. After it was launched, no one knew where it would fly, so although the camp
It was a huge target, but after 360 rockets were fired, at least 20% of them still fell outside the camp.
However, even if less than 80% of the rockets hit the target, the effect is still very impressive. Some rockets explode in the air, and some explode after landing. Unlike grenades, the power of rocket launchers does not eject iron sand and iron pieces with the explosion, and
The grease that was scattered everywhere would burn wherever it landed. Therefore, after all the rocket launchers fell, the camp of the intruders was filled with thousands of tiny flames.
Although the fire was not very big at this time, there were too many places on fire, and there were many intruders looking for enemies to attack them. People and horses crowded together, collided, and became a mess. At this time, the intruders The generals Tian Jianxiu, Liu Xiyao, Bai Jiuhe, Liu Tichun and others were all alarmed. They immediately got up and left their tents. Seeing this scene, they couldn't help being shocked and hurriedly commanded the soldiers. Put out the fire and arrange defense. Based on their experience, after the rocket attack, the army will attack immediately.
But at this time, the merchant army did not attack, but the second round of thunderbolt rocket attacks came again.
Shang Yi divided the Thunderbolt rocket launchers into three batches and fired them. After the first round of Thunderbolt rocket launchers was fired, Shang Yi immediately ordered the soldiers of the two musket battalions to approach the Chuangjun camp. Because now the target had been exposed, and he hid again. There is no point in hiding, and the place where they are now is still more than 300 steps away from the main camp of the invading army. It will take a certain amount of time to walk there, so it is better to take action earlier.
Just after Zhou Shaohuan and Tong Dayong led their troops to attack, Shang Yi ordered that the second round of Thunderbolt rocket launchers began to be fired. The second round was all shoulder-mounted Thunderbolt rocket launchers, with a total of thirty barrels, and each barrel contained seven rocket launchers. A total of It's two hundred and ten.
After the launch, almost 1,560 rocket launchers fell on the camp of the Chuang Army. Although the number of the second round of launches was far less than the first round, the soldiers in the Chuang Army at this time were all running. After leaving their respective tents, the density of personnel in the camp also increased a lot. Therefore, the lethality of the second round of firing was even greater than that of the first round. Many soldiers who invaded the army were hit by the flying iron sand and iron. Although the number of ignition points did not increase much, most of the ignition points after the first round of firing have not been extinguished. Hundreds of ignition points were suddenly added, which also made people feel helpless.
However, at this time, Tian Jianxiu and others saw clearly the source of the rocket launcher, and at the same time, they also discovered the soldiers of the Merchant Army approaching the camp. Tian Jianxiu could not help but be surprised. If this night attack It was the same Ming army that defeated him during the day, so this Ming army was really terrifying. There were all kinds of weapons in endless supply. It seemed that their strength needed to be re-evaluated.
At this time, Liu Xiyao said: "General Tian, the soldiers of the Ming Army are attacking in Yi Jing. I think we should just open the camp gate and go out to fight with them."
Tian Jianxiu nodded, that was all he had to do now. There were fires everywhere in the barracks anyway, and it was probably difficult to save it. It would be better to rush out of the camp and fight the Ming army head-on, so he said: "Okay, open the camp door. Let's fight out and fight to the death with the Ming army."
Before he could finish his words, at the place where the rocket launcher had just been launched, streaks of fire flashed up again, flying into the dark night sky, like streaks of lightning, brilliant and dazzling, and flew towards the camp of the intruders. come over.
The Merchant Army's third round of rocket launches started again.