Volume 5: Overlord of the Sea Chapter 557: Phoenix Wings Flying
In the face of barbed wire tactics, skirmish lines, or sparse formations, also lost their effectiveness.
For the attacking side, if they cannot cross the barbed wire defense line, they can only stay in the stage of long-range consumption, while the defending side has the help of trenches and has the advantage.
Especially...
Now in Zhi County, the attacking side's long-range weapons are still bows and crossbows that are "high-consumption" in terms of manpower and material resources. Even though the Shu army has more people and can take turns to rest, if they engage in a shootout, then in terms of output alone, although the Badong Chu army has fewer people, it is not a problem that it is 70% to 80% higher than the Shu army.
Moreover, the reserve of bullets is definitely more than the arrows carried by Zhang Ren and Yan Yan. What's more, the Badong Chu army is on the defensive. In addition to the barbed wire to prevent the enemy from approaching, they also have trenches to protect themselves!
After two days of exploratory fighting, the Shu army had no hope of breaking through the first line of defense and had lost thousands of soldiers.
Faced with this dilemma, Zhang Ren chose...
" You are so bold, you don't know how high the sky is and how deep the earth is. You think a mere iron rope can stop me? When a hundred birds pay homage to the phoenix, the phoenix sees a hundred birds, and the phoenix soars into the sky!"
In this attack, Zhang Ren took the lead in armored pursuit, ready to tear through the Chu State's barbed wire defense line on his own.
Zhang Ren, wearing bright yellow armor, rushed to the first row of barbed wire defense despite the clanking rain of bullets hitting his armor. As he swung his three-pointed spear, the two wing-shaped short tips on both sides of the spear tip spread out their brilliance like phoenix wings, and right in the middle of the spear tip was a huge phoenix head and beak!
Just as Zhang Ren was waving his sword, the golden light of the phoenix, accompanied by the noisy bird calls that were somewhat similar to when Zhang Xiu performed his special moves, soared towards the barbed wire in front of him!
In comparison, Zhang Ren's "A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix" is more like standing from the perspective of the phoenix than the original version, and is different not only in "light effects" but also in "sound effects".
Although Zhang Xiu's imitation was forced, it was indeed the closest to the original. His voice was like the chirping of hundreds of birds, while Zhang Ren's was a hundred birds chirping with a high-pitched phoenix cry...
Unfortunately, he still could not surpass his master like Zhao Yun, break through the shackles, and develop his own decisive spear skills!
Even so, after Zhang Ren's "Phoenix Wings Soaring" hit the first layer of barbed wire , it was like a "meat grinder", directly twisting the barbed wire within three meters in, and even the entire barbed wire was pulled a little, and after rebounding, there was a gap of more than four meters!
As for the barbed wire that was entangled in it, it was completely torn into pieces, leaving a trail of scrap wire along the path of "Phoenix Wings Flying to the Sky".
Even the light and shadow of the Phoenix rushed all the way to the second line of defense, tearing a gap as big as a person in the second line of defense...
Some grassroots generals recruited locally in Badong County couldn't help but gasp - although they had heard of Zhang Ren before, they had never expected... that General Jin Yu was so terrifying!
As for the veterans of the former Wancheng 1st Division and Xinye 1st Division, they were unmoved.
What's so strange about General Jin Yu taking action?
“Why are you panicking? Zhang Ren… he just gathered some of his true energy when he attacked. His real strength is not even ranked among the Golden and Jade Generals! I have met more than half of the 36 Golden and Jade Generals of my Chu State, and he, Zhang Ren, can’t even rank in the top half!” The gilded captain of the corresponding defense section gave an encouraging voice, “He can kill me with one punch, but I just won’t accept it.”
At the same time, there was a rumbling sound...
When the gilded captain heard the voice, his eyes lit up and he said, "Hahaha! The commander's treasure is here! Let's open our eyes! Don't just stand there... Focus your fire on the gap that has been torn open!"
I saw a number of black, thick and long mobile cannons being pushed over.
Not long ago, Badong County already had artillery, and there was no need to train in Badong - the operation of artillery was much more complicated than the Qi bullet crossbow that only required "loading and shooting forward with eyes closed" , and there was no time for on-site training...
According to the military system of the Chu State at that time, "artillery" was allocated to the artillery division. During combat, artillery companies were directly sent to the main force to cooperate in combat. Only professionals could fire artillery reliably!
An artillery company has about 140 to 50 people, and even has its own kitchen team. A company is only responsible for taking care of six artillery pieces.
According to the current military strength of the Chu State, an ordinary main force brigade can be equipped with an artillery company, which means that there are six cannons for about three thousand people.
Because Badong County is located in Yizhou, artillery companies were only recently stationed there, so the equipment rate is not high. But at the same time... the Wancheng 1st Division has to cross mountains and rivers to go to Bazhong. Due to the inconvenient roads, there are very few artillerymen, and most of them are left to the Badong 1st Division that stays behind. Therefore, the number of artillery owned by the Badong 1st Division is still at the forefront among the main forces for the time being!
Two brigades, two reinforced regiments, five artillery companies, and thirty guns...
Guo Huai stationed two artillery companies on the Zhi County defense line. At this time, because of Zhang Ren’s unusual movement, one of the artillery companies was sent over!
The Shu army was still unfamiliar with this thing, so naturally they didn't know how to be afraid. When they saw that the "indestructible" barbed wire that had "devoured" the lives of countless comrades in the past few days was torn into a gap several feet wide, they immediately poured in.
only……
In this way, the so-called "changing the formation by sparse formation" would naturally have no effect - a few feet wide is very spacious for one person, but it is very crowded for the army!
They were all crowded together and immediately became targets. Fortunately, Zhang Ren had made arrangements beforehand and had Yan Yan lead away many defenders in other directions in advance, so the number of defenders gathered nearby was not "excessive".
However... the real crisis has just arrived. Under the command of the aimer, the six cannons were twisted by the gunners, turned to the direction of the Shu army's influx, and the muzzles were slightly raised...
"put!"
boom--
Compared to the crisp sound of the Qi crossbow, the artillery is a real roar!
The plate-armored cavalry that was blocking the front immediately turned off their fire...
Plate cavalry has at least a small 50% chance of blocking projectiles, and are immune to most of the damage from "ricochets", so they should be placed in the front.
However, after a burst of gunpowder smoke came from the black barrels of the Chu army's formation, the plate-armored cavalry rushing in the front were thrown to the ground!
Not just one or two rows, but almost as many as you can get...
How could a mere three millimeters of plate armor possibly stop a breech-loading cannon?
Although it was a solid cannon, not a thunder cannon, the shells bounced off the ground again and again, accompanied by screams and wails...
Even if it was plate-armored cavalry that resisted head-on, their armor would often be torn apart and smashed into two pieces, and at most the kinetic energy of the shells would be reduced a lot!
Although solid bullets will not explode, they are definitely not single-target kills on the battlefield. At this time, the Shu army is gathered within a few feet, which is simply a good angle for the artillery to attack...
