Chapter 74: The Second Battle of Fengshan (Part 2)
The terrain in Fengshan is very uneven.
In other words, the battlefield was not wide enough, and it was impossible for the hundreds of people gathered together to form a formation and fight each other.
The "bandits" who are coming in with great force and backed by Ruyifang can only take a fixed route if they want to go into the mountains to kill the enemy.
We also need to divide our forces.
Fortunately, they knew in advance that the opponents would number only a few hundred people at most. This made the veteran bandits feel that the owner of Ruyifang was making a fuss out of nothing. Why would they need to send out all their men to deal with these guys?
However, those leaders, big and small, who were called bandits, were actually retired soldiers from the army.
They have all fought in wars.
He also knew that these people of his were hiding in the mountains under the guise of bandits in order to prepare for "big things".
Therefore, everyone is still very concerned about this mobilization.
They sent out scouts in an orderly manner to patrol the mountains. The army was divided into three groups, which went into the mountains from the front and back to support each other. Their goal was very clear, and they went straight to Fengshan Street.
Follow the road built by Ruyifang for transporting ore as the main road, and walk towards the mountains with clear signs, and you will reach your destination.
I thought it was an armed march.
But after entering the mountain, we found that something was not right.
The scouts sent out brought little return, and what they received was a group of remnant soldiers who had abandoned their weapons and armor.
Everyone said that the people in the mountains knew some magic and used invisible weapons. They hid in the forests, but with a muffled sound, the bodies of the people around them exploded and died.
Some were even scared silly.
They kept howling things like "palm thunder", "shadowless cannon", "our army is defeated", etc., causing panic among the thousands of people at the front line.
The old soldier leading the team was forced to kill a few people who were spreading rumors to mislead the crowd, only then was the situation managed to be stabilized.
It seems that the opponent is not as easy to beat as he imagined.
But now that they were in the mountains, there was no way back. If they had only two or three thousand men, and could not defeat even a few hundred men, then what "big things" would they do in the future?
Besides, the abbot has given a death order.
Even if it costs human lives, Fengshan Street must be destroyed.
"Send the soldiers to the front!"
Soon, a new order was issued, and immediately a team of a hundred strong men wearing armor and carrying heavy weapons were moved to the front of the vanguard.
These so-called "war soldiers" are Ruyifang's trump cards in this war.
It is also the source of Liu Ruyi's confidence in winning the battle.
They still used the secret method of trained miners to draw spiritual energy to temper their bodies, but unlike the miners, these professional soldiers usually specialized in martial arts and killing, and their combat power was astonishing.
They are not considered cultivators unless their sea of consciousness is opened.
But their bodies are tempered like those of body cultivators. Each of them has strong blood and brute force. They can move freely even in heavy armor and have sharp perceptions. They have been building up their strength all year round and hired instructors to teach them fighting skills.
In the mortal world's wars, each of them is a match for hundreds of people.
Just as Jiang Xia had commented on the miners in the spiritual mine before, they were considered "half monks".
This is actually equivalent to Ruyifang playing a gray area.
Such borderline tactics are also found in every country of the Eastern Earth human race.
Every country has secret guards, elite troops and the like, and they use similar methods, but the Immortal Alliance turns a blind eye to this.
After all, the Great Bitter Wood Territory has its own national conditions.
In this world rich in spiritual energy, it is impossible to stop mortals from exploring the wonders of spiritual energy. Besides, most of the human kingdoms, like Fengming Kingdom, are dependent on certain sects, just like Mo Shuang Mountain.
This can also be regarded as a reflection of the influence of monks in the mortal world.
Of course, this acquiescence is subject to certain conditions.
In a country, there cannot be too many people like "half-cultivators" so as not to affect the general situation of the mortal world. Once there is chaos in the East, the affairs of the Immortal Alliance will also be seriously affected.
"Speed up and go to Fengshan Street."
At noon, another order from the bandit camp was conveyed to the vanguard. Led by the heavily armored soldiers, the vanguard of thousands of people suddenly accelerated and rushed towards Fengshan Street.
They also learned their lesson and no longer divided their forces to give the cunning thieves a chance to defeat them one by one. Instead, they gathered together, and came in large numbers with smoke and dust billowing.
This action was immediately observed by a drone and reported to the front-line commander. Su was not in a hurry. He was in the position in front of the valley that must be taken to reach Fengshan Street.
A trench was dug here to block the road. Behind the position, five hundred recruits were divided into two parts and stood behind the position.
No one spoke.
No one was in the mood to talk.
These new recruits were honest miners half a month ago, and it is impossible for them to become decisive fighters in just half a month.
The reason they were able to maintain their formation and stand here to fight the enemy was entirely because the mining protection team had been reorganized, and the "supervision team" led by Lord Sun himself was patrolling in the rear.
Sun Xiuting, a scholar, is fighting for his own future.
He was riding on an old horse, with a martyrdom sword slung around his waist, wearing leather armor, and a six-star musket hidden in his sleeve. He did not look nervous, but in fact he was holding the reins tightly with both hands.
He is also afraid.
When we saw smoke and dust rising ahead, we knew that the enemy's vanguard was approaching.
Su, who was sitting in front of the position with a big horse and a golden sword, let out a long sigh, put the kettle in his hand aside, stood up, picked up the M4 equipped with a grenade launcher, and pulled the safety with a click.
He turned around and looked at the hills a hundred meters behind him.
On the hill marked as Hill No. 3, the bald-headed Marte was standing there with a flag beside him. That was today's "artillery position".
Jiang Xia was there too.
Su knew that Jiang Xia would not miss this battle.
The commander confirmed the combat readiness for the last time in the chip communication, and after receiving a clear response, he looked forward again.
The enemy's vanguard has appeared on the mountain road.
The mighty warriors wearing heavy armor and holding broadswords, riding tall war horses and carrying messy flags, were rushing towards this side.
They had already discovered Su's position, like a turbid stream under the smoke and dust.
More than a hundred horses charged together, causing the ground to shake.
The noisy shouts and the sound of drums made the new recruits pale and tremble. Some of them were already ready to fire and grabbed Lao Li's guns, ready to shoot.
But at this distance, the recruits had no accuracy at all and could only fire randomly to build up their courage.
"Hold on! Hold on! Don't fire!"
Governor Hong's personal soldiers shouted loudly in the crowd and whipped the frightened recruits who wanted to shoot with their scabbards, forcing them to continue waiting.
But facing a group of horsemen charging towards you, the psychological impact is something that not everyone can withstand.
When the soldiers and cavalry rushed to about 600 meters, someone was finally frightened. One of the people in the queue howled, dropped his gun, and ran backwards like a headless fly.
His action was like a switch, triggering a chain reaction, and several guns were thrown to the ground immediately.
But the next moment...
"puff"
Blood splattered everywhere.
The good man's head still had traces of fear, as it was cut by the sharp blade.
It hit the ground like a ball, bounced a few times, and then the headless body fell down. The pungent smell of blood frightened the soldiers who were trying to escape.
The personal soldier who had chopped off the head also raised his bloody knife, looked at the few people who turned around with a cold gaze, and said in a cold voice:
"pick it up!"
A few people were so scared that they immediately grabbed the guns on the ground and obediently returned to the queue. Such decisive killing immediately calmed down the others who were ready to make another move.
It is definitely impossible to suppress them with just a knife. Behind the recruits, the more elite firearms of the personal guard supervision team, which are now equipped with shining bayonets, are pointed behind them.
If you dare to move, you will be shot to death from behind.
But in the critical moment, not everyone was clear-headed. Two people even knelt on the ground crying and refused to take up the gun.
Ask for mercy as soon as you open your mouth.
"Bang, bang!"
After two gunshots, Lord Sun, who was riding on his horse with a pale face, retracted the revolver that was still emitting smoke with trembling hands, without looking at the corpse on the ground.
Then he screamed in a trembling voice:
" Anyone who dares to retreat will be killed! After we defeat the enemy, everyone will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver!"
Su ignored the noise behind him.
From the very beginning, he never regarded these new recruits as the main force of this battle. He knew his own business and knew that these new recruits were poorly trained and could only fight in favorable battles.
It's impossible to expect them to make a comeback.
The dark-skinned commander stood in front of the position with a gun in hand.
He did not take the charge of these heavily armored knights seriously. His left eye glowed slightly, and the fire control system in his field of vision calculated the enemy's position meter by meter in the battlefield coordinates.
The warrior knight has rushed to 500 meters.
The enemy infantry following behind, after slightly reorganizing themselves, began to roar like wild beasts, waving their weapons, and marching towards this side under the leadership of the veteran soldiers.
When they are close enough, they will start running.
The enemy's thin defense line could not withstand the cavalry charge.
Once the formation is disrupted, the infantry will step forward and take lives.
"Mart!"
As the warrior cavalry crossed the 400-meter line, Su immediately shouted in the communication.
On the No. 3 high ground a hundred meters behind, the bald-headed Malte laughed, raised his hand, picked up a conical shell as long as his arm, and took a step back.
Behind him, there was a mortar on a tripod supported by a metal tube at a calculated angle, with its muzzle pointing diagonally toward the sky.
Marte squatted and sent the conical shell into the barrel, then turned his head suddenly and covered his ears.
"boom"
With a muffled sound, the fuse of the conical shell filled with high explosive was activated.
With a piercing whistle, it drew a graceful trajectory in the air, and with a precise calculated direction, it crashed into an area three or four hundred meters away.
"boom"
The ground shook, loud noises rose, and amid flickering flames, an impact-type hole was blasted into the ground, smashing three unlucky soldiers nearby, along with their horses, to the ground.
Its fragments flew everywhere, wiping out all living things within fifteen meters of the impact point.
The first shot was a signal.
Then the remaining nine mortars deployed on both sides of Hill No. 3 also opened fire immediately.
In just a moment, the flying cluster of artillery shells bombarded and turned the area in front of the position into a death zone with blood and flesh flying everywhere.
A dozen or so people who were carefully selected mechanically delivered the shells one by one and dropped them into a fixed area according to the method taught by the instructors in the past two days.
But the mortar's combat method should not be so rigid.
This flexible weapon can kill enemies from thousands of meters away, but unfortunately, artillery has been a truly technical branch of the military since ancient times.
These smart and brave miners were selected and learned how to use the mortars within two days.
What scale, what elevation change.
To them, it is as difficult as reading a heavenly book.
Su and Malte also had to use the flexible mortar as a mounted gun. All the muzzle angles were fine-tuned by Malte in advance to cover a fixed area.
Theoretically, as long as the enemy bypasses the death zone, they can continue their charge.
But the problem was that they had been blinded by the artillery fire from the sky.
This thing is not a simple weapon like a bolt-action rifle. The shell leaves a long, piercing scream and explodes into the ground, which has a devastating impact on the enemy's mind.
In their understanding, such power can only be possessed by the arrival of an immortal.
The soldiers of the Hundred Man Squad were completely wiped out before the first wave of charge was completed. Their flesh and blood tempered by spiritual energy did not allow them to last much longer under the mortar bombardment.
The panic of the warhorses was even more unexpected.
The horses, frightened by the loud noise, explosion and fire, ran around in all directions.
The powerful charge was completely disrupted. Even if they were not killed directly, the pain from the shrapnel wounds would last longer than that of ordinary soldiers.
The soldiers charging from the rear had just started when they hit a wall and stopped where they were. The death zone with roaring artillery fire before them had already made them hesitate.
"The God of War is already roaring, calling on warriors to step onto the battlefield. Please smell the wind of this battlefield."
In a moment's pause between the shelling, on the edge of Hill No. 3, Jiang Xia took out the burning cigarette butt in his hand, blew out a puff of smoke, and said something casually as if he was enjoying an opera.
Beside him, the fourth brother who had rushed back was uncovering the oilcloth with a look of curiosity, and saw the new toy parked next to the eldest brother.
It uses a frame made of that wood.
There is a large wheel next to it, with a black iron barrel mounted on it, like a small cannon, but behind the barrel, there is a very precise connection to the gun body.
The overall look is clumsy, but full of the indifference that a deadly weapon should have.
11.4 mm caliber.
27 kg.
Classic water-cooled design.
It has a capacity of 333 rounds and is fed by a 6.4-meter-long canvas belt.
Theoretical rate of fire is 600 rounds per minute.
Effective range...
About 1500 meters.
The bandits in front of them obviously had no idea what this new thing represented. If they knew, they would have kneeled down and surrendered now.
"Today, I will ring the death knell myself."
Jiang Xia threw the cigarette butt in his hand to the ground, stepped on it hard, and strode forward.
Under the admiring gaze of Lao Si, he casually flipped the safety and, with standard kneeling skills, grasped the iconic armrest-type grip of the classic World War I-level Maxim heavy machine gun on the frame.
"Click"
With a slight sound, the muzzle of the gun moved down a few inches and aimed at the bandits who were in a daze five or six hundred meters away, looking down from a high position.
He even had the mood to whistle.
These bandits were so considerate and took the initiative to send such a dense formation. It was really...
marvelous!