Lu Ming

Chapter 555 Ming-Portuguese War (VII)

After a loud "boom", dozens of lead bullets were ejected from the muzzle of a small Fran machine gun.With a relatively high muzzle velocity, these projectiles mercilessly shot into the horizontal formation of squads under the city.

Although the teams of the Pioneering Army were scattered across the city, they were still wounded by lead bullets, and seven or eight soldiers facing the muzzle were knocked down on the spot.

Immediately afterwards, uneven gunfire sounded continuously.Large-scale heavy artillery was difficult to activate due to its large area, which would have been abandoned by the Portuguese.What played a role, without exception, was a small three-inch cannon.

However, in this situation, the small cannon is just the most suitable.The Portuguese soldiers hid behind the crenels. After reloading quickly, a few soldiers only needed a short exposure time to push the muzzle out of the crenels and shoot quickly in roughly one direction.The shooting target is not far below the city wall, and the weakness of the small cannon's insufficient range has also been circumvented.

The pioneering army's first round of attack was met with a strong counterattack.

Although the gunpowder smoke disappeared quickly under the strong sea breeze blowing from the side, this did not prevent the Portuguese from firing cannons on the towers, because the besiegers below had insufficient firepower, and rows of musket guns shot up to the top of the city. Suppressing firepower, the effect was sluggish, and did not meet expectations.

Fortunately, the early training played a role.After resisting two rounds of frontal artillery and musket fire from the side of the bastion, the pioneering army did not collapse after all, although there were signs of instability, and most of them were still fighting according to orders.

At the same time, Yu Mingjie, who was staying behind the position, saw everything through the telescope.However, there was no trace of frustration on his face. Instead, he was very relieved. He turned his head and gave the order: "Very good, we can withdraw."

Soon, there was a sound of musical instruments familiar to the world in front of them-the trumpeter blew the retreat trumpet.

From the very beginning, Yu Mingjie didn't expect the Pioneer Army to take down the big fort.

Unlike the bandit villages that can only throw stones and ash bottles, the St. Paul Fortress, guarded by the colonists, is a modern bastion that is completely weaponized.The defenders here have defended against the desperate attacks of natives all over the world. They are a colonial force with rich combat experience and high morale.

In essence, the Pioneer Army is not much better than the colonial army on the opposite side. In fact, everyone is the same. The Pioneer Army is the yellow-skinned colonial army built by the traversers.

The same level, plus the weapons in their hands are not inferior, so it is impossible for the pioneer army to suppress the opponent who is defending the city with firepower like a bandit village.

What comforted Yu Mingjie was the discipline of the Pioneering Army.

Although compared with the regular army, the Pioneer Army is obviously undertrained, but it is commendable that they can hold their ground and continue to fight when they are suddenly hit by artillery fire and volleys of guns.After all, this is the first time since the formation of the army that it has been hit by hot weapons on a large scale. It can persist in two rounds of artillery fire without retreating until the rear military order is delivered.

Therefore, strictly speaking, in this plane, where the natives are the protagonists and there is no generational difference in weapons between the two sides, the first collision between the East and the West, the first ground war with hot weapons, and the retreat of the Ming Dynasty ended. end.

Not long after the commander at the scene gave the order to retreat with relief on his face, a man with a gloomy face slowly put down the binoculars in his hand on the gate tower at the rear.

This person is He Rubin.

In history, He Rubin, whether leading troops into battle or writing books, has fulfilled his duties as an ancient general.The book "Bing Lu" written by him is comprehensive and can be said to be the military encyclopedia of the Ming Dynasty.What is especially important here is that Bing Lu contains many introductions and tactics about guns and guns, which shows that He Zhen is also a person who keeps up with the trend of the times, and is not an old-fashioned stuff.

So when he watched the first round of offense and defense on the spot today, he immediately realized the power of the Bastion.

Before this, most of the native generals, including He Rubin, knew that there was such a thing as a bastion, but only this: not only the Franks, but also the Dutch had built this thing.And this kind of brick castle with "irregular" appearance and lines with several protruding corners in the eyes of Ming people did not attract everyone's attention at first.

However, the real use of hot weapons: face-to-face actual combat, the advantages of the bastion are clearly reflected.

Only then did He Rubin see it clearly: the Ming soldiers who entered between the two projections were instantly hit by the musketeers on both sides from the side and rear, and they were powerless to fight back.As for the troops attacking the front of the convex angle, because the attack surface is too narrow, they can only confront the city, and cannot form an impact.

"It turns out that the forts built by the barbarians are so useful!"

After seeing is believing, He Rubin instantly understood the key points.The muskets and artillery counterattacks of the defenders just now gave him a lot of inspiration. Immediately, he diverged his thinking and thought of a series of applications of firearms in bastion defense, and realized the power of this combination.

At the moment when he put down the telescope in his hand with a sullen face, He Rubin suddenly felt a cold air rising from his tailbone.As if there was God's will in the dark, there appeared in his eyes the doomsday scene of himself leading the army, being smashed by artillery fire under a certain bastion, losing soldiers and generals, and finally being demoted by the court and reduced to "abandoned general".

What's weird is that although the scenes in this scene are blurry, his opponent is undoubtedly a sallow-skinned Mingren in a double-breasted shirt.

The next moment, He Zhen, who had received the apocalypse, slapped his leg hard, and then shouted in a gaffe: "Ah, no, this village cannot be forcibly attacked!"

Cao Zongbing, who was using a walkie-talkie to talk to the forward headquarters, was taken aback.When he took a closer look, he found that He Zhen's face was pale at the moment, cold sweat was rolling out, his eyes were dull, and he seemed to be wandering away.So Zongbing Cao quickly got up and helped him up: "My lord, what's wrong?"

Only when Cao Zongbing touched him, He Zhen was released from the apocalypse state: "Ah, nothing, nothing, it was my general who was careless for a while, and he got a picture, just kidding, just kidding!"

Seeing He Zhen returning to his soul, Cao Zongbing was a little moved and said: "Your Excellency, I think about my subordinates, Cao Chuan understands here! But please rest assured, my lord, if you don't intend to train soldiers, you can take it down as soon as you say it." gone."

"Oh, that's fine, that's fine."

He Zhen lowered his head slightly at this moment, reached out from his sleeve and took out a gray checkered men's pure cotton handkerchief from Yizhou, wiped his sweat, and then peeked at Cao Zongbing with lingering fear.

Of course, Zongbing Cao didn't know He Zhen's complicated psychological activities at the moment. He was busy calling out to the orderly: "Quickly, bring some tea. Let's have a meal and rest first, and then hit the red hair when we're full!"

Hearing this, the orderly reached out and took two large tea mugs painted in army green from the side table, then went to get tea from the same large green tin can, and served it to the two big men.

The tea supplied to the army is naturally a low-end big-leaf tea that is bitter and astringent.But people who travel through time are rich, and Taiwan has started to produce sugar cane this year, so sugar is put in the tea mug, so the tea is not so bad.

Today, all the generals on the tower are leading troops, including He Zhen and Cao Zongbing, and everyone who received the tea mugs drank.It was a group of gentlemen in the corner, and some of them were naturally not used to drinking this kind of bad tea.However, in today's situation, no one dared to be hypocritical, and everyone drank the military tea with a smile on their faces.

After drinking the tea, it's time to eat.

The order for the whole army to rest was given by Yu Mingjie from the front headquarters.Considering the new defeat of the Pioneer Army and the need to withdraw to rest, and it was past noon, he ordered a rest.

Soon, steaming meals were being delivered everywhere.

The food for the frontline troops was brought up in barrels by the cooking team.Soldiers lined up to pack food from their own lunch boxes, and then began to eat.

Everyone on the gate is also treated the same way, but what is sent up is a lunch box that is pushed over by a trolley.Then, when the generals opened the dark green iron lunch box and took a look, hey, what a war meal!
The lower layer of the lunch box is white rice, and the upper layer is a large piece of braised pork with a bright red light, a sweet and greasy aroma, and a shiny and greasy skin.

Stretch out a spoon to scoop a large piece into the mouth, and found that the braised pork melted in the mouth, sweet and soft, and everyone's appetite increased immediately, and they started to eat it.

In fact, there were logistical considerations for using braised pork for the first war meal.Because this is the first regular battle, considering that some soldiers will swallow unconsciously under nervous conditions, there should be no chicken bones and other things that are prone to non-combat attrition in the meal.

In this way, braised pork is the best choice.This kind of high-calorie, good-tasting meat is really the best material for war rice. Apart from being more expensive and using a lot of sugar, it is also close to Guangdong, a rich province where you can buy the second brother for money. There is no other Weaknesses.

After eating the battle meal and resting for half an hour, with the sea breeze in the afternoon, the pioneering army's second round of attack started on time.

After learning from the previous experience, this time the pioneering army's attack was more purposeful, and the fire suppression was better.However, these were not enough to shake the Portuguese's defensive advantages. Under the side and rear gun attack and the small cannon's quick sneak attack, the pioneering army's second round of offense still retreated.

Next comes the third round.

Seeing that the situation has entered into a de facto confrontation, the generals on the city tower have already publicly discussed the situation of the battle.To the surprise of future generations, most of the generals at this moment think that our side is in the upper hand.

The reasons for the generals are very good: it seems that the offensive has been frustrated at present, but in terms of the exchange ratio, our side is superior.Yes, the exchange ratio of 5 to 1 in the siege battle, in the eyes of the generals in the Middle Ages, is a profit
What's more, now we still have a logistical advantage, and the red hair is isolated and helpless, so the generals are generally optimistic.

Cao Zongbing on the side rolled his eyes when he heard it. It is not the style of soldiers who have worked hard to train like this.

Fortunately, the headquarters also began to make adjustments.Just as the pioneering army took turns to feel the battlefield, the gate of the lotus stem gate opened, and a new row of soldiers walked out from behind the gate.These soldiers carried spears on their backs and wore steel helmets, walking in line like knives.

(End of this chapter)