There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 143 Fire Suppression
The gunners of the Qing army's vanguard battalion were bombarded by a round of shotgun shells from the Han army, and less than one-third of their lives were left. These few surviving Qing gunners were still trembling as they tried to reload their guns and fire back.

The reason they were trembling was that they were very close to the Han army's artillery position, so they could clearly see that a hundred meters away, the Han army gunners were skillfully reloading the artillery with buckshot, preparing to continue the second round of bombardment.

Moreover, just behind the artillery position, the musketeers who had been waiting for a long time also raised their flintlock rifles and advanced steadily forward in a linear formation.

"Fire Gun Battalion, advance!"

"Wooo ...

"Wooo ...

Amid the alternating sounds of bugles and war drums, the Han army's musketeers marched forward in rows and rows in a rhythmic and even pace. The flintlock rifles in their hands had already been loaded and were ready to be raised and fired at any time.

The captain of the first row of musketeers did not raise his gun, but followed the formation of the squad, shouting reminders from time to time as he walked: "Keep the formation, move forward!"

He marched steadily forward about fifty steps, roughly estimating that he had reached the effective range of the flintlock rifles. He immediately stopped, drew his sword, and shouted, "Halt! Reorganize!"

Military orders were issued to each team one by one. When the captain of the rear team saw the front team stop, he ordered his team to stop as well. Then everyone reorganized their formation, those who were too close together moved away, and those who had already lost their way quickly returned to the original line formation.

The musketeers were able to reorganize their formation very quickly because they had already practiced this countless times in their daily lives. They practiced this several times almost every day to test their battlefield reaction and execution capabilities.

"Row one, row two, raise your guns! Row three, row four, get ready!"

As soon as the order was given, the musketeers in the first and second rows subconsciously raised their muskets. The front row half-knelt on one knee, while the back row straightened their backs and held their muskets straight.

"Ready! Aim!"

"Fire the gun!"

"Bang bang bang bang!"

The two rows of musketeers fired at almost the same time. The Qing army positions were unable to react in time and fell to the ground on the spot.

Then, the first and second rows of musketeers retreated, while the third and fourth rows of musketeers moved forward and repeated the firing sequence of the previous round.

The third and fourth rows retreat, while the fifth and sixth rows move forward and fire in unison, and the firing cycle continues in this alternating manner.

Every volley of fire from the Han army's muskets would cause large numbers of Qing soldiers to fall to the ground. The few Qing artillerymen in the vanguard battalion had all been wiped out by the first two volleys and were unable to fire a single shot.

The Qing army's infantry phalanx was also completely stunned by the Han army's musketeers' linear tactics.

Eldengbao's face was filled with horror. The rebels' muskets kept firing, causing them huge casualties, but at the same time, they were suppressing his infantry phalanx steadily, not giving the Qing infantry any time to advance or breathe.

What kind of tactic is this?

Was it specially developed by the rebels to be used to attack the officers and soldiers?
Of course not, but it was not much different, because the tactics used by the Han army at this time were exactly the mainstream tactics on the European battlefield at that time, and also the most common tactical line tactics.

Linear tactics are aimed at muskets and artillery. Its advantage is that it can maximize the firepower density of the army and bring into play a greater number of artillery and muskets.

The disadvantages are also obvious. It is only suitable for fighting in flat and open terrain. It has poor formation change ability and insufficient maneuverability. The strategic depth is shallow and the two wings are extremely weak. It is easy to be broken through from the flank by those who understand this tactic.

However, these shortcomings are acceptable, for no other reason than that the Qing army had no understanding of linear tactics, and it could be said that they were even seeing them for the first time.

Historically, the Qing army's first experience with linear tactics had to be pushed back another 45 years. It was not until the Opium War that they were taught a severe lesson by the British army using linear tactics.

It turns out that muskets and artillery can be used in this way, instead of simply forming a nine-in-ten chain formation and using pure intensive firepower suppression to push forward.

Now, there are still decades before the Opium War, and it is impossible for the British to suddenly come and teach the Qing army a lesson.

Because in the eyes of the British, the Qing Dynasty was still a "great power" at the time, and they were not sure they could truly defeat the Qing Dynasty. Even when Emperor Qianlong rejected Macharni's trade visit to China, the British had no choice but to continue to beg Emperor Qianlong and bribe Qing officials such as Heshen in exchange for some private import and export trade in Guangzhou.

To be precise, until the outbreak of the Opium War, the British were forced into a corner and their predetermined strategic goal was just to flex their muscles against the Qing Dynasty and show that Britain was not a pushover. It would be better for both sides to take a step back.

Who would have thought that the Qing Dynasty would shatter at the first touch, a pure paper tiger. Now the British were no longer afraid, as they saw through the strengths and weaknesses of the Qing Dynasty.

The Qing army suffered a loss due to their lack of foresight, being caught off guard by the Han army's linear firearms. Although shocked, Eldengbao did not immediately panic. Because the Qing army still had many men, only a few hundred or a thousand casualties, these casualties were still manageable, he immediately made strategic adjustments, ordering all the bird-gun soldiers to form a battle array and advance.

The Qing army's infantry had a high proportion of bird-shaped guns, and the ratio to artillery was even more exaggerated, almost accounting for one-third to one-quarter of the total force. In other words, there were at least several thousand to ten thousand bird-shaped guns.

However, these bird guns were all matchlock guns, not as convenient as the Han soldiers' flintlock guns, and their firing rate was not fast enough. Their only advantage was that they were safer when firing and cheaper to produce.

The Qing soldiers' bird-gunners had never practiced linear tactics, so when facing the linear volleys of the Han soldiers' fire guns, they could only continue to use the fixed nine-in-ten chain dense formation.

Just like the previous frontal battle with the Miao army, they directly defeated the rebels with intensive firepower, and then charged with cavalry to determine the outcome of the battle in one fell swoop.

Unfortunately, although the idea was good, the reality was cruel. The Han army was not the Miao people. The Han army also had muskets, but they were flintlock rifles that were easier to use and had a faster firing rate. The probability of a flintlock rifle made of seamless steel pipe exploding was extremely small.

The Qing army's bird guns had just been arranged and advanced a few steps when they were attacked by bullets from all directions of the Han army's fire guns.

"Bang bang bang bang!" The Han soldiers' fire guns were obviously not as numerous as the Qing army's bird guns, and they could not even keep up with half of them. However, under the alternating shooting in the linear formation, they managed to beat the Qing soldiers' bird guns without any chance of fighting back.

No, it cannot be said that there was no fight back, because the Qing soldiers' bird guns also fired, and under the dense firepower coverage, the Han soldiers' front row of muskets took a wave of bullets.

then……

That's all. The reason why the Han army's musketeers couldn't rapidly expand their army was not only because the mass production efficiency of the muskets themselves was too slow, but also because bulletproof vests cost money.

The Han army's finances were used to purchase bulletproof vests, which could hardly meet the needs of the musketeers, so they could only equip a part of them first.

The musketeers without bulletproof vests were placed in the rear or on the wings to avoid direct fire from the enemy's muskets.

In the eyes of the Qing army's bird-gun soldiers, the Han army's musketeers wearing bulletproof vests had turned into immortal demons.

One of the Qing soldiers clearly saw with his own eyes that a Han soldier on the opposite side was shot in the chest. Without the protection of cotton armor, he was not hurt at all. He just shook a little when he was shot, and then continued to raise his gun and shoot.

The Qing soldiers' bird gunners, who didn't know what bulletproof vests were, were completely defenseless against the Han soldiers' musket fire. The Qing soldiers' bullets were ineffective, while the Han soldiers' bullets killed them instantly, as their leather armor couldn't stop them at all.

The linear formation of thousands of people had a terrifying firepower density. In addition, the Qing soldiers also formed a nine-in-ten chain formation, standing even denser than the Han soldiers, and the hit rate of their firepower coverage was surprisingly high.

The Qing army's bird-gun soldiers fell down in rows, while it took half a day for the Han soldiers to fall down, as they were unlucky and were shot in the legs or arms.

After several rounds of shooting, an unlucky Han soldier was accidentally hit in the head by a stray bullet.

The Qing army's bird-gun soldiers can't hold on any longer!

In just less than half an hour, the casualties of the Qing army's bird-gun soldiers had reached hundreds. Compared with the thousands of Qing army's bird-gun soldiers, this casualty rate was close to 10%.

This is a 10% casualty rate. For an ordinary army, those who can collapse before suffering 10% casualties are already considered qualified regular soldiers.

The Qing army had returned from the Xiangxi battlefield, and after all, they had all experienced battles and were no longer the new recruits of the local Green Camp. Normally, it was impossible for them to suddenly collapse because of a 10% casualty.

But what if it is an abnormal situation?
Imagine that you are a Qing soldier, shooting at the rebels with your guns, but you can't kill them no matter how hard you try. Would you be afraid?
Afraid? That's right, these Qing soldiers were also afraid.

"Magic! The rebels have magic!"

Some Qing soldiers cried and shouted, not caring whether they were on the battlefield or not, and desperately crowded together to try to retreat and escape.

They definitely can't run away, they have already formed a dense formation, how can they leave? But it doesn't matter if they can't leave, they can still create chaos.

The Qing army's bird-gun soldiers could not push forward in an instant. Many Qing soldiers in the vanguard collapsed and rioted due to fear and casualties. The riots then spread rapidly like a virus, carrying with them the friendly troops pushing forward from the rear.

Eldengbao wanted to stop it, but after his order was issued, the actual effect it could have was very small.

Because there are too many people, the war has begun!
If someone looked down at the battlefield from above at this time, they would find that the two armies of different colors were tightly locked together like canine teeth, and there was no way they could break free.

Seeing that the bird-gun soldiers were finished and he could no longer control them, Mingliang, as a veteran, quickly made a decision on behalf of Eldengbao and sent out a supervision team to kill off the defeated soldiers.

At the same time, he ordered the artillery positions to advance towards the rebel artillery positions regardless of casualties.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Qing army had too many troops, with more than 30,000 combat soldiers, close to 40,000, and far more artillery and muskets than the Han army.

The Qing army's artillery advanced at a very fast speed, regardless of casualties. Hundreds of artillery pieces advanced together, and when they reached the effective range, only one-third of them remained.

But even if only one tenth remained, it was still artillery, especially the Qing army's artillery, most of which were sub-munitions cannons. This type of artillery was not very powerful, but had the advantage of a fast firing rate.

How fast?

The principle of the mother-and-sub-gun is that the artillery is loaded separately, and the shells are loaded into the sub-gun in advance. When it is necessary to fire, the sub-gun is replaced in the mother gun, which can save the time of cleaning the barrel and loading.

The Han army's artillery fired two rounds of shells, while the Qing army's submachine gun could fire three rounds.

Under the premise of exchanging firing rate for power, the Han army's position finally suffered casualties. Bulletproof vests and stab-proof suits could not withstand the artillery shells, and even explosion-proof shields were a problem.

However, these Qing army gunners did not remain arrogant for long. After realizing the threat of artillery, including the original Han army gunners, even the musketeers all turned their guns and aimed their shots at these Qing army gunners.

The Qing artillerymen had not fired a few shots before they were once again covered by the Han artillery fire, followed by a volley of line-fired muskets.

Firearms were far more lethal than artillery, as they were designed to hit people, and they laid out dense, linear fire. The Qing artillerymen had no chance to escape; they were either shot to pieces or terrified into lying on the ground, pretending to be dead.

All the bird guns and artillery were useless, or they were suppressed by the Han army.

(End of this chapter)