The Red Mansion: From a Small Pawn to a Leader

Just as Shui Rong was imagining the scene of a great harvest after defeating Li Hu, Yang Qilong came riding over and reported to him: "Young Master, there is something wrong with the hills on the left!"

Shui Rong raised his telescope and frowned. There were traces of man-made excavations on the slope of the hill and on both sides of the slope. At that moment, the scene of the battle of Dingyuan suddenly emerged in his mind. There were ambushes of Li Hu hidden there!

Then he quickly scanned the government army's formation and found no musketeers or artillery.

Shui Rong's face darkened. The location of the hill was tricky, forming a horn with Li Hu's army. If they attacked Li Hu's army, the flanks of the army would be hit by musketeers and artillery.

Yang Qilong: "That hill is some distance away from Li Hu's army. We should take that hill first, and then concentrate our forces to attack Li Hu's army!"

Shui Rong rolled his eyes and said, "No! Since Li Hu has divided his troops, we should use our advantage of having more people against fewer people, so that he can't take care of the left and right sides, near and far, and attack from both sides at the same time."

At this point, he looked up at the sky. "The imperial court's self-propelled muskets rely on the flint hitting the fire anvil to produce sparks to ignite the lead. With such heavy snow, the flint will soon get damp and won't be able to fire many times. First eliminate the musketeers on the hill, then gather all the troops to attack Li Hu's main force!"

Yang Qilong thought about it and then nodded.

Shui Rong's eyes were shining with excitement: "The 10,000-man square formation on the right wing will push forward first. Ignore the hill and attack Li Hu's main force directly. The 10,000-man square formation on the left wing will follow up and drown the ambush troops on the hill!"

Yang Qilong responded loudly, "Yes." Then he repeated Shui Rong's military order loudly.

The "Woo-woo" horn was immediately blown, and several messengers simultaneously sent flag signals to the two 10,000-man square formations on the left and right wings.

Then, there was a loud drumbeat.

Roars of killing immediately rang out at the foot of Dahong Mountain, and countless White Lotus Sect members rushed out with spears and swords held high!

Huang Jinzhong held up the telescope and said with a smile: "They are all gathered together! This round of artillery fire will at least kill or injure several hundred people."

Wang Daniu rarely confronted him: "When we get close, switch to shotgun shells. One shot will clear out a large area!"

Li Hu sat on his horse, not saying a word, just looking at the White Lotus Sect members who were getting closer and closer.

The leader of the White Tiger Hall considered himself to be extremely brave, but when he saw the White Lotus Sect members coming in like a tide, he was still shocked and his eyes widened, and he couldn't help swallowing his saliva.

At this moment, he truly understood how big the gap between the martial arts world and the battlefield was. Facing the overwhelming flow of people, even the sharpest knife would become blunt, and even the most powerful martial arts master would become exhausted!

Five hundred steps, four hundred steps, three hundred steps, two hundred steps. The White Tiger Hall Master's hands were shaking a little, beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. He licked his lips vigorously, then clenched the sword and shield in his hands, staring at the White Lotus Sect members who were getting closer and closer.

At this moment, the earth-shaking sound of artillery fire came to my ears!
As the White Tiger Hall Master looked over, he saw shells trailing flames as they fiercely smashed into the crowd of White Lotus members. The crowds of White Lotus members were blown to the ground, with blood and flesh flying everywhere, and their screams resounded through the sky.

The White Lotus Sect members continued to rush forward madly, completely ignoring the artillery shells above their heads.

As they got closer, the ferocious faces of the White Lotus sect members became clearly visible.

The White Tiger Hall Master swallowed his saliva subconsciously, and heard a trembling voice in his ear: "Big, big brother, why is this different from what we heard?"

"Creak."

Behind him, there was a sound of a bow being bent.

Then there was a loud bang, and a rain of black arrows flew over their heads, whistling down at the White Lotus followers who were rushing up. The crowd suddenly screamed, and the White Lotus followers were knocked to the ground one by one. After several rounds of arrow rain, the archers behind them withdrew from both sides of the spearmen.

When a rapid horn sounded, the White Tiger Hall Master subconsciously breathed a sigh of relief and withdrew with the archers, leaving the battlefield to the spearmen.

Without the suppression of the archers, the White Lotus sect members rushed forward frantically again! At this time, the first row of spearmen knelt on one knee side by side, with the butts of their spears sticking to the ground. The tips of the spears formed a sharp line of defense, all pointed obliquely at the White Lotus sect members who were charging over. The row of spearmen behind them placed their overly long spears on their shoulders.

The spearmen in the last few rows all held their spears tightly, waiting for the next fierce battle.

The surviving White Lotus members rushed forward in scattered rows, holding spears. However, they suddenly found that the spears in their hands could not reach the government troops on the opposite side. They wanted to slow down, but were pushed towards the tip of the spear by the White Lotus members who rushed up from behind.

Countless long spears pierced through the White Lotus members who were rushing in the front. The sharp spear tips went through the backs of many White Lotus members, and strung them one by one on the spear barrels!

Without waiting for the second row of spearmen to draw out their spears to pierce through the White Lotus sect members, more White Lotus sect members rushed up madly with spears in hand. There was no battle formation or tactics, they just rushed forward fiercely. Countless screams were heard and the sound of spears piercing flesh continued. The two sides began a brutal fight, constantly stabbing with their spears until they fell down.

The White Tiger Hall Master stared with his eyes wide open, the only thing in his mind was "human lives on the battlefield are worthless."

At this time, several messengers galloped past the army on horseback, shouting loudly: "Get ready, get ready!"

Li Hu held the telescope and pointed it towards the hill, paying attention to the battle situation there.

After assessing the enemy situation, Li Hu decided to use the firearms battalion and artillery as bait to lure Shui Rong to split up his forces and share the pressure on the front. Otherwise, it would be easy for problems to arise if hundreds of thousands of people continued to attack without stopping.

The military supplies were delivered in a timely manner, and Li Hu distributed all the ammunition. Each musketeer was given thirty rounds of fixed-load paper tube ammunition. Three thousand musketeers, rounded up to one hundred thousand, was enough for Shui Lu to drink a pot of water.

In order to protect the firearms battalion and artillery, Li Hu also sent spearmen and sword and shield soldiers to Jia Yun.

Coupled with the favorable terrain, Li Hu believed that they could withstand the attack of the White Lotus rebels. Even if they couldn't, they could retreat to the second-line position and wait for reinforcements.

If Li Hu knew Shui Rong's idea, he would definitely laugh his teeth off. Snow is not rain, it has an impact, but not much. In addition, this is a breech-loaded self-fire gun. When the breech is erected, the barrel is transparent from front to back, and the heat in the barrel will be released. The rising hot air can instantly vaporize the surrounding snowflakes.

Not only does it have no impact, it also helps dissipate heat from the barrel, allowing continuous shooting.

The spearmen were fighting on the main battlefield, while the White Lotus Sect members holding steel knives also surrounded them from three sides of the hill.

Jia Yun, dressed in the uniform of a guerrilla general, raised his hand.

More than a dozen trumpets were blown at the same time, and the "woooo" sound echoed tragically in the sky above the hills.

The musketeers lying in the first trench raised their muskets and fired at the same time!
Flames spurted out from the muzzles of each gun, and the White Lotus sect members who had rushed forward rolled down in large numbers, with screams ringing in the ears.

The musketeers opened their breech blocks one after another, and a large cloud of hot white air spread out over the trench, sweeping away the surrounding snow.

The musketeer operated skillfully, pushing the flint to expose the chamber, taking out the paper tube ammunition, biting the paper roll from the top, pouring a small amount of gunpowder into the chamber, covering the chamber with the flint, and then loading the gunpowder bullet in the paper bag into the breech, closing the breech, aiming the gun, and pulling the trigger.

After a few breaths, the second wave of bullets was fired!
Jia Yun smiled. After this battle, the breech-loading self-fired musket would become famous all over the country, and he would be promoted to lieutenant general and wear a red robe! (End of this chapter)