Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 194: Bombardment! Bombardment!
Although the Yuan army also had firearms, they had never seen such outrageous firearms. Looking at the smoke coming out of the bridge and the two loud noises just now, Molunchi and Yesen knew that this should have been an attack by muskets or bombs.

The Yuan army also had hand-thrown bombs, similar to grenades. They had used this type of bomb during their expedition to Japan decades ago, so they also knew about the existence of bombs.

However, how the bomb suddenly appeared on the bridge left Molenchi and others puzzled. Yesen's first reaction was whether someone was attacking them with a musket on the south bank behind them, or whether some bandits had hidden under the bridge in advance and installed explosives under the bridge, and then ignited the explosives under the bridge when they passed.

Yesen had just finished asking the soldiers around him, but before they could figure out what was going on, he heard the soldiers around him exclaim.

"General, be careful!"

Yesen and others turned around immediately, and before they could say anything, they saw a puff of white smoke coming out of the mound in the northwest. An iron ball with white smoke drew an arc in the sky and landed on the wooden bridge in full view of the Yuan army.

There was another loud bang, and a hole as big as a washbasin was blown out in the bridge deck again.

It's just that there was no one on the bridge this time, so no enemy was hit. But if the shelling continued like this, I'm afraid no one would dare to cross the bridge.

Only then did Yesen realize that the bomb came from the mound northwest of the north bank. Although he still didn't understand how those Red Turban bandits did it, it was obvious that the enemy was well prepared.

Just as he was about to give the order to clear the artillery position, a burst of war drum sounds suddenly rang out from the village and woods diagonally in front of the wooden bridge. The 8th and 12th Regiments heard the sound of artillery fire and knew that the time had come, so they immediately led their troops out as agreed.

The two regiments quickly formed up and deployed themselves into battle formations. The auxiliary soldiers pushed carts in front, and behind them were phalanxes of armored infantry with spears like a forest. Guided by the sound of drums, the two large phalanxes marched forward towards the bridgehead with resounding steps and unwavering determination.

Molenchi's face suddenly changed. The bandits were not prepared at all, they had been waiting for a long time. At a glance, there were at least 18,000 of them. Add those cavalry and the muskets with an incredible range and the ability to launch bombs, there were at least 10,000 people!

As for his side, only 12 of the 15,000 men came over, and the remaining 3,000 soldiers landed on the south bank.

You said the bandits wanted to attack halfway across the river, but did they send too many troops over? Or did they deliberately send so many troops over? Did they think they could defeat more than 10,000 troops at once?
Molunchi and Yesen both thought of this. They looked around nervously, wondering if there were any bandits who hadn't come out yet. But they looked again and again, and they knew they should have come out long ago. They were already facing off, so what was the point of hiding their troops at this time?

Molunchi had no military talent. He was just a darughachi in the Record Office. Seeing the enemy's large formation approaching head-on and the wooden bridge behind him being blocked by enemy artillery fire, he asked in panic, "What should we do now? Should we retreat to the south bank first?"

Yesen glanced behind him, then looked toward the artillery position in the northwest. Just as he was looking, another bomb fell on the bridge from the opposite side. Perhaps this time the angle of elevation was too high, and the shell fell into the crowd of right-wing soldiers on the south bank, killing more than a dozen people on the spot. The mound was still firing non-stop, obviously trying to cut off their connection between the two sides.

Seeing this, Yesen said immediately, "No, the enemy's main battle array has already come over, and the wooden bridge behind us has been harassed. If we retreat now, the army will surely rush to the front, and the enemy's muskets will keep firing, so the retreat will inevitably turn into a rout. By then, the enemy's main battle array will also come over, and we will be completely finished!"

"What should I do?"

Molenchi was a little impatient. Yesen looked at the battlefield again. The bandits on the opposite side were divided into two phalanxes. One was charging straight at the front army, and the other was charging straight at their weakest right wing.

Because the artillery bombardment just now interrupted the right army's crossing of the river, the right army, which was originally supposed to have a full strength of 3,000, only had more than 1,000 troops at this time, and half of its strength was missing. The enemy army should have about 4,000 to 5,000 troops to attack the right army. If a battle really took place like this, the right army would certainly not be able to stop it.

Compared with the right army, the left army had no enemy to deal with. The enemy soldiers on the opposite side seemed to be planning to break through the formation from one side, rather than besieging from three sides.

So Yesen immediately made a judgment and adjustment, "Transfer 2,000 men from the central army to reinforce the right army. Just block the enemy outside the formation, and the front army will face the enemy head-on. After the two armies engage in battle, let the left army go around to the enemy's flank.

"Aren't they trying to attack our flank? Then let's attack their flank as well. Even though some of our troops are blocked on the south bank, the troops that have crossed the river still have the upper hand. Marshal, don't panic. We will win this battle!"

Mo Lunchi's eyes lit up when he heard this. He thought to himself that it was a good thing that someone was helping to command, so he quickly agreed, "Okay, let's follow this plan. Send orders to Li Qin and Zhang Bin, and after the battle begins, the left army will immediately go around to the enemy's side and attack their flank!"

"Yes!" The messenger immediately ran to the left army, and Yesen also frowned and looked towards the mound.

The battle on the mound changed again. After the cannon fire just now, Lu Xianzong, who was still chasing Lu Jin, immediately wanted to retreat, but then the infantry formation of the Shengwu Army also appeared, and the artillery position was still firing.

Of course he knew that if he charged forward and took down the artillery formation, he would surely gain great merit, but before the battle he had suspected the enemy had some conspiracy, and now, as expected, the other side had already ambushed a large army here, so he immediately became more cautious.

Although there seemed to be only two cannons and not many people on that mound, he suspected that the enemy had some hidden tricks that had not been revealed, so he just patrolled in front of the mound with his cavalry and did not dare to charge directly at the artillery formation.

Wu Yuyun's men had just suffered casualties in the battle and were unwilling to charge forward to fight. However, Guan Bao was a little impatient and wanted to go around the rear of the artillery formation with his 100 cavalrymen, but was stopped by the more than 100 cavalrymen led by Ye Sheng.

"Brother Lu, what should we do? Should we help him and overturn those two muskets?"

Lu Xianzong frowned and was about to say something when the Yuan army also beat the war drums. Boom, boom, boom, the two men immediately turned around and saw that Yesen in the central army had raised a flag, ordering the three cavalry centurions to immediately attack the enemy's artillery formation, giving them no chance to avoid the battle.

Lu Xianzong sighed, "Alas, they are watching us over there. We have no choice but to fight. Let's fight. Be careful. If we can still survive, we can drink together when we get to Tongcheng."

"Okay, brothers, follow me and take down that mound!"

"Hahhhh~" The soldiers once again waved their sabers and spears, shouted to encourage themselves, and then rushed towards the mound in a scattered formation.

However, at this moment, something strange happened on the mound again. Several bundles of branches were uncovered, and a young man with a hoarse voice stood up, waving a red pennant in his hand and shouting, "Fire!"

The next moment, boom boom boom, another round of cannon fire was heard, and a large cloud of white smoke suddenly rose in front of the mound, blocking all vision. Lu Xianzong and others were shocked, thinking that this time the smoke was aimed at them. As a result, they did not find any cannonballs coming, but several cannonballs flew rapidly towards the Yuan army formation.

call out--

An iron ball with a diameter of one hundred millimeters whistled in the air and flew straight into the Yuan army's formation. Propelled by nearly three pounds of gunpowder, it swept across at a terrifying speed. The first person it touched was an unlucky guy. Before the guy could react, he was hit on the head by the iron ball. The whole head disappeared instantly, and a cavity full of hot blood rushed into the sky from the broken neck.

After that, the iron ball continued to move forward and broke one person's shoulder, completely shattering the person's entire shoulder blade. Half of his body disappeared and the person died on the spot.

It then pierced another person's chest, a fourth person's lower abdomen, and a fifth person's thigh. After it hit the ground, it quickly bounced back on the hard mud ground in early spring, breaking the calves of three people in succession. It then hit the ground again and bounced back three times in a row. After completing the eleventh kill, the iron bullet finally lost its kinetic energy.

This is just the power of one of the shells, and six such shells were just fired!

In this round of shelling, the Yuan army lost more than fifty men in an instant.

Although more than fifty people were nothing for a formation of ten thousand people, the fatal thing was that the attack range of this kind of musket was extremely long and could actually be fired from two miles away, and the Yuan army obviously had no equal means of counterattack against those artillery.

What was even more terrifying was the killing effect of the musket. It was invincible. Anything that stood in the way of the cannonballs would be smashed to pieces, and it would be difficult to leave an intact body even if someone died. It was easy to be killed on the spot, but those whose calves were broken would probably have to have their limbs amputated even if they survived.

What's even more tragic is the people around the dead. Anyone who witnessed such a horrific death would be frightened. The area that had just been hit by the artillery fire was the junction of the Yuan army's left wing and the front army. This artillery fire immediately caused a commotion between the front army and the left army.

The soldiers who were far away didn't know the truth and were still asking what was happening in front of them, while the soldiers in front who were facing their comrades being beaten into pieces had cramps in their calves and couldn't help but dodge to the side.

Just when the Yuan army was in a panic and didn't know what to do, the second round of artillery fire arrived.

Boom boom boom boom——

Another round of artillery fire, six shells shot into the Yuan army's formation at different angles, and immediately there was a burst of screams and howls.

Since the Yuan army encountered such weapons for the first time, they did not know how to deal with them. In addition, they were preparing to fight against the Shengwu Army, and their formation was very tight, which provided convenient conditions for the artillery to kill.

The data that Lu Jin had seen before said that a medium-caliber cannon field artillery could only kill three to five people with each shot at an infantry phalanx. But at this moment, on this battlefield, each artillery shell could kill an average of more than eight people. This second round of artillery fire killed about fifty Yuan soldiers again.

This is very terrifying. Although there are only six cannons, each firing can kill fifty people. Two bombardments have killed a hundred people. And we can't fight back and can only stand there and wait to be beaten. Who can stand this?
After the second round of artillery fire, the front and left armies of the Yuan army became even more chaotic. The soldiers who witnessed the people around them being smashed to pieces immediately howled and dodged to the side, while those who did not know the truth were still asking around. Coupled with the scolding of the officers, the left and front armies became very agitated.

On the other hand, Guo Zixing, as the temporary commander of the Shengwu Army, followed Lu Jin's prior arrangement and led his troops out after hearing the artillery fire. At that time, the distance between the two armies was still about two miles.

This is not a close distance. Even if you carry nothing and are lightly equipped, it will still take about three minutes to run. Not to mention that the soldiers have to wear armor, hold long weapons, and maintain a tight formation as they move forward, so the speed cannot be fast at all.

In addition, Lu Jin had told him before that he should wait for the artillery bombardment first, as the artillery bombardment might be able to defeat the enemy's main formation. Once the enemy troops were scattered, he would immediately lead the infantry to overtake the chariots and speed up the attack on the enemy formation.

Guo Zixing attacked immediately after hearing the cannon fire, but found that it seemed that only the wooden bridge was being fired upon, while the Yuan army's main formation was intact. This immediately made him puzzled as to why Lu Jin's side hadn't fired yet. They had to wait until they were within the range of their bows and arrows before the enemy was defeated. Otherwise, they would have to fight a tough battle.

Finally, in response to Guo Zixing's repeated calls, those eight-jin cannons opened fire. Although Guo Zixing could not accurately see the killing effect of the shells from the front, and in a large formation of tens of thousands, the death of a hundred people could not be seen in a short period of time, he keenly discovered that after two rounds of artillery fire, the Yuan army's formation was indeed in chaos and the formation was unstable!
In this way, he was even less anxious. He slowed down the army's march a little and let the artillery fire a few more rounds to see how long the Yuan army could hold out.

Boom boom boom———

The Tugang side lived up to everyone's expectations. With the gun barrels pre-loaded and aimed in advance, this group of artillery officers trained by Lu Jin personally achieved a firing rate of three rounds per minute in their first actual combat. Another six iron balls hit the enemy formation, causing more than 60 casualties to the Yuan army again.

Due to the chaos in the Yuan army's formation, although some people avoided the bloody alleys created by the shells, the people dodging nearby were more densely packed. In the third artillery attack, two shells hit the densely packed crowd, causing extremely horrific killing effects.

Just those two shells rushed forward and smashed about thirty people to death. Although one of the six shells almost missed and only hit two people, these two shells hit the MVP of the game and almost scared the surrounding Yuan army crazy.

After the Yuan army's front and left armies suffered three consecutive rounds of artillery fire and more than 170 casualties, the soldiers finally couldn't hold on any longer. The main reason was that the casualties caused by the shells were too terrible. It was not as simple as poking a hole in a person with a spear.

Artillery shells can cause injuries if they grazed you, or kill you if they hit you directly. If you are hit head-on, you will be killed instantly. How can people not be terrified? What's even more outrageous is the range of this thing. If the enemy has a powerful general, you can still use numbers to fight them off, but this thing keeps hitting you from two miles away, and you can't hit it even if you want to. Who can stand this?

The soldiers of the left and front armies, which had suffered three rounds of artillery fire but were unable to fight back, began to disobey orders and fled to the rear in panic, and their formation became increasingly disorganized.

(End of this chapter)