Volume 2: Soaring! The Overlord of the Region Chapter 312: Chongming Sand Attack and Defense (Part 4)
“Hiss~~”
About two kilometers away from the coastline, Luo Jifutu watched the close combat between the two sides on the south shore of Nansha Island through a telescope, and felt a pang of pain in his heart.
He spent many years to build this army, bit by bit, like a swallow carrying mud. He can call out the names of every officer above the company level in this army, and can also call out the names of quite a few ordinary soldiers. It can be said that this army is the result of his countless efforts!
But in today's landing battle, the enemy relied on a trench, which made our flintlock soldiers lose most of their advantages. In addition, our side landed from the sea and was attacked by coastal artillery, so we had to disembark at a considerable distance from the coast. The flintlocks and paper shells in the hands of many soldiers were damp. As a result, the two sides had no choice but to engage in close combat!
As soon as the close combat began, Luojafutu keenly felt that the enemy's close combat team was very powerful!
Born in Southeast Asia, Luo Jifutu had some knowledge of the history of the countries surrounding Thailand. Speaking of Chinese history, he certainly knew about the Mandarin Duck Formation, but he had not studied and understood it in depth before traveling through time. Therefore, when he saw the power of the Mandarin Duck Formation in actual combat for the first time, it was too late.
Although the soldiers of the Third Division of the Siamese New Army had not only shooting training, but also close combat training with bayonets on muskets during training. Although facing the Yuanyang formation of eleven men in a team, many Siamese soldiers also spontaneously gathered in groups of three or five to fight the enemy. However, in this soft mud, facing the Qi family army in this situation, the Siamese army was indeed unable to do anything.
"What time is it now?"
"Your Majesty, it is now 3:20 in the afternoon, and there are still nearly three hours until dark."
"Hiss~ Can our troops withdraw at this time?"
"No, Your Majesty. After the close combat, our fleet cannot attack the shore, but the cannons on the shore can still attack our troop transports. In addition, the tide has begun to recede here, so at this time, our warships and troop transports, except for those that are stranded or damaged, have all retreated. At this time, our soldiers who have already landed cannot be withdrawn at all."
"...That means our soldiers have to rely on themselves to survive tonight. Even if we have to retreat, it has to be tomorrow at noon?"
"Yes, my Lord."
"Hey, Ashin, you have to work hard!"
When the will of the King of Siam began to waver, the war situation on the Spratly Islands changed.
After the two sides fought hand to hand for more than two hours, the seven or eight thousand Siamese troops who had landed earlier suffered heavy losses and were slowly pushed down from the edge of the battle line between the two sides.
The close combat of the Mandarin Duck Formation was invincible in this muddy tidal flat, although the entire Wusong Town had only 7,000 soldiers. There were less than 3,000 soldiers on the south side of Nansha Island. However, in more than two hours, they killed more than 1,000 Siamese soldiers with less than half the enemy's strength, forcing the Siamese army to retreat!
"Brothers, stick close to them and drive them into the sea! Our Ming Dynasty is mighty!"
"The Ming Dynasty is mighty!"
As the Siamese army retreated, the soldiers of the Qi family army, whose own casualties were less than 200 people, fought bravely and once again formed different Mandarin Duck Formation and Three Talents Formation according to the weapons in their hands, and continued to chase and kill the Siamese army.
However……
When they chased this part of the Siamese army for only more than 300 meters, a whistling sound suddenly sounded in the ears of the soldier running in the front.
"That sound? Why does it feel like the enemy's artillery is firing at close range?"
This thought did not last long, as a large iron ball fired from a 90mm cannon came flying towards him, first directly blowing off the head of the Siamese soldier in front of him, and then the shell continued to move forward and quickly hit the chest of this brave Ming soldier!
"Brothers, the enemy still has a troop on the shore, retreat to the trenches immediately!"
However, such an order came a little late.
A new Siamese army division had a full strength of 15,000, of which about 13,000 were combat personnel. During the beach landing at noon, the Siamese army implemented the method of whoever landed first would organize, and once they had a company of troops, they would start to rush forward.
Of course, some soldiers were left behind. After landing, the division commander Ah Xin immediately organized the remaining soldiers. Not only that, he also desperately rescued the only three cannons and more than 70 shells left on the troop transport ship.
Then, Qi Jin led the Qi family army to repel the first wave of Siamese troops. When they wanted to roll up the pearl curtain and push the enemy into the sea in one go, the Siamese soldiers who had been waiting in line on the beach played a huge role.
"Bang, bang, bang~~"
After most of the defeated Siamese troops retreated to their own front line, commanders at all levels of the Siamese army took a look at the few of their own personnel who were still entangled with the enemy, and then gritted their teeth and gave the order to open fire.
After thousands of flintlock rifles fired at the same time, the Qi family army, which had already rushed to a distance of only four or five hundred from the Siamese army's front line, suffered heavy losses. The casualties caused by this row of guns were estimated to be more than those in the previous long battle.
"Retreat! Retreat to the trenches immediately!"
"Don't let these Ming people go! The first row retreats to reload, the second row shoots! The third row advances and shoots!"
As the only army in the Ming Dynasty that adheres to Qi Jiguang's military training method and is also famous for the Qi Family Army, the battlefield discipline and execution of the Wusong Town soldiers are completely flawless. However, no matter how good the battlefield discipline is, facing the enemy's relentless pursuit and endless bullets, even a veteran general like Qi Jin felt that he could not control the situation.
Under the relentless pressure of the Siamese army, the first trench, which was only 500 meters away from the coast at the highest tide point, was lost without any suspense.
“Boom~!”
As the first trench was lost, bursts of loud noises followed the retreat of Qi Jin and others. The five large fireballs looked particularly abrupt and bright in the slowly darkening sky.
"Woo~!" Qi Jin, who was already 61 years old this year, looked at the five self-detonating artillery batteries of his side, and his voice was choked with sobs: "I underestimated the enemy! I'm sorry to these artillery brothers!"
"Marshal, now is not the time to talk about this. The enemy is chasing us so fast that we have no way to reorganize the battle line. Marshal, please lead the brothers to retreat to the second trench first. I will lead more than 300 brothers of our headquarters to fight back and buy you some time."
"Bullshit! My command was inappropriate, and a huge hole was opened in the defense line that Governor Yuan worked so hard to build . How can I continue to live like this? If we have to hold the enemy back, it has to be me, an old useless fellow!"
Just as Qi Jin was arguing with his men, he suddenly felt a gust of wind sweeping over his head: it was a shell fired by a 105mm artillery, flying over from the second trench, and after passing over the heads of the two men, it slammed heavily into the Siamese army that was chasing them!
