There is no such thing as the Kangxi and Qianlong eras

Chapter 275 Rockets

"The Qing dogs have finally decided to bring out their muskets and cannons!" Wang Yong looked through his binoculars and saw the newly launched sampans on the Qing warships, with Qing soldiers armed with muskets sitting inside, and even light land-based artillery such as the Weiyuan Cannon and the Mother-and-Child Cannon.

(The Weiyuan Cannon, the one on the left is the red-coated cannon, the Weiyuan Cannon weighs 120 jin)
"Wu Shun".

"The mark is on."

"Get the grenadier battalion ready with the new equipment; the fish has taken the bait!"

"Yes."

"..."

On the Qing army's side, Tian Yongyi was completely unaware of the impending crisis. With a single order, he commanded all the Qing troops in Susong Town to load their muskets and cannons onto ships and force their way across.

Just like the hundreds of infantrymen who had just crossed the river, the Han army did not come to the crossing to stop them this time. Instead, they stayed in the trenches behind the crossing, seemingly waiting for the Qing army to run into them again.

Tian Yongyi sneered. He really hadn't expected that the Han traitors would actually have musketeers and archers hidden in their ranks, and such elite musketeer and archer units at that.

But none of that matters anymore. His firearms troops may not be as elite as the Han rebels, but they have a huge numerical advantage. He has more than two thousand arquebuses, which is almost equivalent to the entire Han rebel force on the other side.

And that doesn't even include artillery!
If you include artillery, you could overwhelm the Han traitors with sheer numbers.

Tian Yongyi could almost see his Su Song Town razing the North Bank Ferry, annihilating all the Han bandits there, and advancing all the way to the walls of Jiujiang City, achieving a tremendous feat.

At the ferry crossing on the north bank, Qing troops were rapidly assembling and forming ranks, assembling the artillery pieces unloaded from the small boats.

The person in charge of leading the team was no longer just a centurion, but the Right Battalion Commander under Tian Yongyu, who was also his nephew, Tian Xin.

Tian Xin was filled with excitement. He knew that this opportunity was specially given to him by his uncle to help him establish merits so that he would have a reason to climb the ranks.

It's all because his uncle didn't have a son; it's all thanks to his eldest nephew being adopted to carry on the family business and lineage.

After assembling his troops, Tian Xin drew his sword and ordered, "Charge! Kill the enemy! Serve the court!"

Knowing that the Han rebels' firearms were powerful, Tian Xin decided to skip the slow probing and launch a full-scale attack, using his superior numbers to overwhelm the Han rebels' positions.

The Qing army's combined forces, which landed and assembled at various points, had exceeded three thousand men.

There were over a thousand arquebusiers, several hundred gunners operating cannons, and the rest were all shield bearers and spearmen.

At a single command, the three armies set out!
The Qing army's rattan shield bearers and spearmen were positioned at the forefront, while the central force consisted of over a thousand arquebusiers who were loading gunpowder and bullets as they marched. Behind them, the assembled artillery carriages were being slowly pushed forward by the gunners.

"Bang bang bang!"

Before the Qing army's arquebuses reached their effective range, the Han army's rifled muskets fired in a volley.

The front row of Qing soldiers fell instantly; the rattan shields had absolutely no effect, and the bullets pierced through them directly.

Tian Xin was instantly shocked. Although he had expected it to be so, he still did not expect that the traitor's muskets could shoot so far.

Tian Xin shouted, "No retreat! Hold the line and keep advancing! The Han traitors have already fired one volley of muskets; they won't be able to fire a second volley anytime soon..."

The voice just fell.

"Bang bang bang!"

"Shhhhhh!"

The Han army fired their rifled muskets in volleys again, this time also bringing crossbows.

Rifled guns are still traditional firearms at their core, and it is indeed impossible for them to fire rapidly in bursts.

But don't forget, the Han army can launch a three-stage attack!
Moreover, the Han army also had crossbows. Once the crossbows reached their range, they could fire a volley of arrows, which was not only powerful but also eliminated the need to clean the barrel and reload hollow bullets (reloading hollow bullets requires a hammer).

After the Han army's rifled guns fired in three stages, the Qing army had already suffered more than 300 casualties, and more than 100 of them were taken away by crossbow bolts and stray bullets.

With a casualty rate of nearly 10%, the reason the Qing army had not collapsed was simply because the rifled guns and crossbows killed them too quickly, leaving the Qing army no time to react.

Tian Xin was terrified. He did not order a retreat, but instead ordered the more than a thousand musketeers in the central army to quickly advance.

Four hundred steps, three hundred steps, two hundred and fifty steps, two hundred steps...

Closer, closer, almost 180 steps away.

"Light the gun and fire!"

The Qing army's arquebusiers finally opened fire.

"Bang bang bang!"

The Qing army also used the three-stage attack, which is not a sophisticated tactic; anyone who uses a matchlock gun knows this.

The three-volley arquebus had an extremely low hit rate. However, the concentrated firepower of the Qing army's arquebuses compensated for this deficiency, and all the Han rebel arquebusiers and crossbowmen who emerged from the trenches fell to the ground.

Before the Qing army could even celebrate the annihilation of the Han rebels' musket and crossbow units, the Han rebels who had just fallen suddenly all stood up again.

Well, not everyone managed to stand up. A few were unlucky enough to be hit by bullets in their arms and legs, which were not protected by bulletproof vests. There were also two very unfortunate Han soldiers who were hit in the head by stray bullets.

One of them had his eye socket pierced, and he was beyond dead.

These casualties were within the acceptable range for the Han army; how could there be no deaths in a war?

Even with the formidable Qi Family Army, several soldiers still had to be killed or wounded before they could wipe out several thousand Japanese pirates.

However, the Han army could accept these casualties, but the Qing army could not!
The traitor who had clearly been shot and fallen to the ground actually got back up.

Are all Han traitors capable of sorcery?

Even firearms couldn't kill him?

Tian Xin felt a sudden, inexplicable fear. He felt that he shouldn't have volunteered, even though it was an opportunity for him to be promoted, hinted at by his uncle.

Tian Xin gritted his teeth and shouted, "Don't panic! Keep firing! The Han traitors have no magic; it's all just a smokescreen! Where are the gunners? Open fire immediately and bombard the enemy soldiers on the other side!"

Although Tian Xin was panicked, he knew that as the commander-in-chief, he absolutely could not panic in front of his subordinates, otherwise, if his army's morale collapsed, he would really have no chance to turn the tide.

"Boom boom boom!"

The Qing army's rear-guard cannons and mother-and-child cannons opened fire.

Upon hearing the cannon fire, the Han soldiers instinctively rolled over and took cover in the trenches. These trenches offered little defense; only the soft soil prevented the shells from bouncing and losing their power.

When Tian Xin saw that the Han bandits had taken refuge in the trenches as soon as the cannons fired, he was about to order his troops to pursue them and engage in hand-to-hand combat, as they could no longer fight with firearms.

As a result, they saw hundreds of people suddenly stand up in the rear of the Han traitors' positions, all of them carrying a strange, long, tubular object on their shoulders.

Tian Xin was so frightened by the Han traitors that he immediately ordered the entire army to retreat and, at the same time, to lie down and hide, just like the Han traitors.

However, it was still a step too late.

"Ignite! Fire!"

More than a hundred Han soldiers lit the fuses of rockets and then hurled them at the Qing army's position.

"Phew~!"

Hundreds of rockets, trailing long tongues of fire, hurtled rapidly toward the Qing army.

The Han army had been developing rockets for a long time, and the results came out relatively early, but it wasn't until this year that the firearms workshop began large-scale mass production.

The gunpowder workshop simply couldn't keep up with the demand; if it weren't for the advantages of rockets, this project would probably have had to be put on hold.

Compared to the Han army's mortars, rockets were more powerful. Because they didn't have to worry about chamber pressure causing explosions, they could be loaded with more sugar powder. In addition, rockets had a certain range, going further than the hand grenades used by grenadiers, and their power was also slightly superior.

In summary, rockets have advantages over mortars and grenades in terms of range and power.

The rockets Wang Yong is using now are all new weapons brought from Jingzhou by the Sixth Division. He's just testing them out on these Qing troops who are attempting to cross the river.

Tian Xin didn't know what rockets were, but he saw many things flying towards his position. At first, he looked confused, and then... he knew nothing more.

"Oh!"

A rocket exploded directly in his face.

His once fine head was blown to pieces on the spot, and he was dead beyond any doubt.

The remaining Qing soldiers, who were lying prone, mistakenly followed Tian Xin's orders and lay down to avoid the rockets, only to be hit by more than a hundred rockets.

"Bang bang bang!"

Explosions erupted one after another, and in the blink of an eye, the Qing soldiers who had fallen to the ground had suffered heavy casualties, with cries of agony filling the air.

Those Qing soldiers who were further back and only suffered the aftershocks were all terrified.

"Sorcery! It's sorcery!"

"The traitor has used sorcery!"

"I'm not fighting anymore! I'm not fighting anymore! The Han traitors are all monsters."

"..."

(End of this chapter)