Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 266 Barbed Wire

Karam led his men toward the direction of the artillery position.

Soon, they could see the fortifications of the artillery ahead from afar.

Kalam raised his hand to signal his soldiers to stop, while he himself raised the telescope and looked into the distance.

Trenches were crisscrossed, and the semi-buried bunkers were densely packed with shooting holes.

Antlers, fences, and all kinds of traps...

There were also some wooden stakes whose function seemed unclear, which were neatly inserted into the ground every few meters.

Well, actually it was barbed wire, but Karam had never seen this thing before, and the wire was not very obvious, so he only noticed the wooden stakes.

Kalam observed for a long time but couldn't find any loopholes in the fort's defensive fortifications.

Taking a deep breath, Kalam ordered.

"Pass the order and have the indigenous vassal troops launch a tentative attack on the Tang army's artillery positions. The young men will follow behind to supervise the battle."

"Test the firepower of the Tang army!"

Without absolute certainty, Karam would naturally not risk the precious lives of French soldiers.

The best option is to let the vassal army take over.

Soon after Karam's military order was issued, the French army began to drive the indigenous vassal troops towards the artillery position.

The French army themselves formed into lines, raised their muskets, and marched forward.

The cheerful melody of the French military song resounded throughout the battlefield!

The dark mass of troops pressed towards the artillery position.

……

On the other side, Lin Bao also put down the telescope in his hand and made arrangements quickly.

"Transfer those two machine gun squads to the Second Battalion. Have them guard the front line and be prepared to meet the enemy."

"The third battalion will move to the second line of defense as a reserve force, ready to rush forward to reinforce at any time."

"Don't move the first battalion. Keep your eyes on the ocean and prepare for a surprise attack from the Japanese fleet."

"Hit me hard!"

Upon hearing this, the signalman clasped his fists and went down to pass on the order.

Soon, the various Tang troops stationed at the Zhongmen Fort were mobilized according to military orders and prepared to meet the enemy.

Finally, Karam led his men to the outside of the Tang army’s artillery position.

The indigenous vassal army was driven forward, howling as they rushed towards the Tang army's fortifications.

However, they were only halfway there.

There was the sound of artillery fire coming from the direction of the Tang army's artillery position.

boom! Boom boom!

Smoke rose and shells were fired at the indigenous vassal troops in the coalition.

When the Tang army was building the fort, although the main muzzles were facing the ocean, a small number of artillery were also deployed in other directions to protect the fort and prevent the enemy from making a surprise attack from behind.

The shells flew across the crowd, smashing the bodies of several people one after another, with broken limbs and blood splattered everywhere.

In the blink of an eye, several artillery shells plowed bloody paths through the crowd of indigenous vassal troops.

As the cannon sounded, these native vassal soldiers who were originally howling and rushing forward instantly became timid, and they couldn't help but recall the fear of being dominated by the foreigners' guns and cannons.

After being hit by a round of artillery fire, it immediately changed direction and fled to the rear.

Seeing this, Karam's face darkened.

Only a few people died, and they actually retreated. These native vassal troops are really a bunch of trash.

Taking a deep breath, Kalam continued.

"Everyone, raise your guns, aim at the fleeing soldiers, and get ready to shoot!"

The French soldiers received the order and quickly raised their guns and aimed as instructed.

Immediately, the command flag was waved.

"shooting!"

A neat volley of gunfire sounded.

Snapped! Bang bang!

A row of smoke suddenly appeared in front of the French formation.

The bullets, mixed with gunpowder smoke, shot forward.

After a burst of crackling gunfire, the fleeing native vassal troops fell to the ground.

The entire battlefield suddenly became silent, and the natives' tendency to flee also stopped.

Kalam walked forward with a saber in hand and chopped off the head of a native who was still struggling after being shot. He held the head in his hand, faced the native and shouted loudly.

"Anyone who escapes from battle will be killed without mercy!"

"Everyone, continue to attack!"

When the natives heard this, they all stood there in a daze, indifferent.

Of course, it’s not because they aren’t afraid.

It was because they didn't speak French, so they naturally couldn't understand what Karam was saying.

It was not until an interpreter behind Kalam repeated Kalam's words in the native language that the natives turned around and continued to rush towards the artillery position.

However, they had just changed direction not long ago.

The Tang army then launched a second round of artillery fire.

boom! Boom boom!

Several more shells were fired, plowing through the crowd, leaving behind a trail of broken bodies and blood.

The natives were bombarded again and subconsciously wanted to turn around and flee.

But when they looked back and saw the French army commanding the battle with guns raised, they had to give up the tempting idea of ​​turning around and running away.

He continued to rush forward tremblingly!
However, the speed of their charge had obviously slowed down a lot.

Boom! Boom! The third round of artillery fire sounded.

As the distance between the two sides shortened, the Tang army no longer used solid shells, but shotgun shells with more outstanding killing effects.

A dense barrage of bullets splashed towards the natives who were marching forward in neat rows.

In the blink of an eye, the battlefield was filled with corpses that had been shot to pieces.

The natives suffered heavy casualties and finally could not hold on any longer.

Completely ignoring the French troops supervising the battle behind him, he dropped his weapon, turned around and fled in panic.

Kalam ordered his men to shoot at the fleeing soldiers.

After a burst of smoke, the defeated soldiers were still fleeing in panic. They had been frightened by the Tang army's artillery fire.

Unless the shock inflicted by the French army is greater than the artillery bombardment of the Tang army, supervising the battle will not prevent the collapse of these indigenous vassal armies.

Seeing this, Karam could only order a temporary retreat and go to join his main force.

After leading his troops to retreat, Karam found his own regiment commander Porter and reported to Porter the intelligence he and his men had obtained from testing the Tang army's artillery positions.

"Lieutenant Colonel, the Tang Army's artillery fortifications to the rear are very complete."

"They have three lines of defense in front and behind, each line of defense is crisscrossed with trenches. The first line of defense alone has two semi-buried bunkers. Each bunker is equipped with two to three small-caliber artillery pieces that can cross-fire and suppress infantry attacks..."

"I led the team to attack the fort, but we were defeated before we even reached the edge of it."

"I couldn't even touch the edges of the two lines of defense at the back, so I don't know the details."

It was obvious that Kalam and his men were defeated before they could even reach the barbed wire.

Upon hearing this, Potter nodded solemnly.

"Very good, Captain Kalam, you have done a good job, go down and rest!"

Kalam saluted and left.

Porter looked at the artillery in the distance with a serious expression and muttered.

"I'm afraid this battle will be difficult to fight!"

He was not just talking about the battle to attack the Zhongmen Fort, but also the war between the Allied Forces and the Tang Dynasty.

Right now, just the middle gate turret is so difficult to attack.

But the Tang army had more than just the Zhongmen Fort along the coast.
After taking down the Zhongmen Fort, there is still the Kowloon Fort on the opposite bank. After taking down the Kowloon Fort, there is still a series of forts and forts waiting for them, including the Dajiao Fort, Shajiao Fort, Humen Fort, Weiyuan Fort, Zhenyuan Fort and so on.

It is not an easy task for the coalition forces to go up the Pearl River, capture Guangzhou, and force the Tang Kingdom to surrender and seek peace...

But, even if it’s difficult, we have to fight!

Potter took a deep breath and gave the order.

"Order the entire regiment to prepare to launch an offensive against the Tang army's artillery!"

"Take down the fort!"

After saying this, he led the landed French troops and the main force of the indigenous vassal army towards the Zhongmen Artillery Fort.

……

At the same time, the fleet of the Eight-Nation Alliance came up again and fired fiercely at the Tang army's Zhongmen Fort and Jiulong Fort.

They wanted to suppress the firepower of the Tang army's artillery and support their own land forces in attacking the artillery.

On the battlefield, there was the roar of cannons.

The two sides fought fiercely!

Although the number of artillery on the two artillery batteries of the Tang army was not as large as that of the Eight-Nation Alliance fleet, they were still able to firmly suppress the foreign fleet on the ocean thanks to the permanent fortifications made of reinforced iron and concrete.

Lieutenant Colonel Porter led his troops to attack the Tang army's artillery position from behind.

On the battlefield, the sound of drums and music rang out.

The French soldiers formed a line formation, pressed down the indigenous vassal army, and charged forward in a mighty force.

"Kill! Kill!"

"Long live God! Long live France!"

"..."

boom! Boom boom!

The shelling continued.

Shells flew across the battlefield.

Solid bullets and shotgun shells flew back and forth, sweeping away pieces of broken limbs and arms and spilling blood on the battlefield.

The natives wanted to flee, but under the suppression of the French soldiers, they had no choice but to move forward.

Porter looked at the battlefield with a telescope in his hand, his expression solemn.

Seeing that his vanguard was getting closer and closer to the Tang army's artillery position, he couldn't help but slowly exhale a breath, and the expression on his face relaxed a little.

However, just as he relaxed his expression, he saw that his forward suddenly stopped moving.

It was as if I was blocked by an invisible wall!
Blocking the way of these indigenous soldiers were rows of barbed wire.

Every few meters in front of the Tang army's position, there was a wooden stake as tall as a person, and several barbed iron wires were tied parallel to the stakes.

The iron wires crisscrossed to form a barbed wire fence, blocking the enemy's charge!

The native soldiers looked at the barbed wire in front of them, not knowing what to do.

Someone tried to pull the wire away, but just as he started, he was cut by the barbs on the wire and blood gushed out.

Some people were unable to stop due to inertia and crashed into the wire mesh, their bodies caught on the barbs and they screamed in agony.

As the crowd pushed each other, the barbed wire was shaken, but that was all.

The next moment, the sound of machine gun fire rang out.

The machine gunner in the Tang army bunker aimed at the enemy infantry blocked by the barbed wire and began to shake the handle.

Dada! Dada!

The sound of machine gun fire was as dense as popping beans.

Machine guns fired, bullets splashed, bullets swept past, and the native soldiers crowded in front of the barbed wire fell to the ground one after another like wheat being cut...

(End of this chapter)