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Chapter 1193: One word comes true

Hong Tao was closest to the tent door, so he rushed out in two steps. In the night sky to the east, fireworks continued to rise, and the distance gradually approached. Those were the sentries patrolling the perimeter, relaying the enemy's situation. The scale was unclear, but the speed was quite fast, and two more fireworks were launched in a breath.

"Now we are at peace. Let's not argue about whether we can pass through the swamp. Let's prepare for battle. Wang Chengen, take out my armor and sniper rifle... I will fight tonight and defeat the Turks!"

At this time, lights were constantly lit in the camp. Gas lamps were lit, placed in shiny copper covers, and carried by two soldiers to the pre-arranged positions.

This thing is a searchlight from the 17th century, which can shine bright light far away through the lens. However, it is easy to get hot and polluted by oil smoke, so it must be replaced with a copper cover with a lens after a while.

In addition to the searchlights, there are also bonfires soaked in heavy oil further out. The fires can not only illuminate people nearby, but also mark the distance for artillery.

Near the bonfire was the first line of defense consisting of hundreds of foxholes. The army soldiers huddled in the pits more than half a person deep and shot at the enemy by the light of the fire. If the enemy came too close, they would retract their heads and let the firepower of the second line of defense mow down all living things on the ground.

The second line of defense was relatively simple. It was just a circle of earthen mounds surrounding the camp. It was temporarily piled up with sand and was only about one meter high. It looked like it could not prevent horses and camels from crossing over.

But this was the last line of defense for the camp. The surface of the Gobi Desert was quite soft, but the bottom was very hard and difficult to dig, so they had to make do with it. In fact, it would be the same even without this mound. It was just kneeling on the ground and shooting with a gun without the stability of the mound.

Although the defense line is a bit thin, the firepower has not decreased but increased compared to when we blocked the Eight Banners Army at Tashan.

At that time, muzzle-loading rifles were used. No matter how skilled the soldiers were, they had to poke the barrel with a cleaning rod before firing a shot to remove the sparks and residues of unburned gas, and then force the Minié bullet into the muzzle.

It's not over yet, you have to take out the pointed gunpowder pot, pour some gunpowder into the powder pool of the flintlock, and then aim and fire. After this set of actions, the veteran can only fire about 5 rounds per minute, and there must be no strong wind or rain, otherwise it will be even slower.

The current 24-type breech-loading needle-barrel rifle eliminates % of the steps of the muzzle-loading flintlock rifle. You only need to pull open the bolt, insert the paper shell bullet, close the bolt, and then you can aim and fire. The firing rate has increased several times.

The only thing you need to pay attention to is to replace the firing pin regularly. On average, replace it after 200 firings. Otherwise, the tip will be excessively corroded by the propellant and cause a dud.

As the fireworks shot up into the sky, the camp was brightly lit, people shouted and horses neighed. The sneak attack had obviously turned into a violent attack, but the enemy had not shown up yet.

According to the sentry who ran back, there were at least two to three thousand enemies who suddenly emerged from the swamp, all riding camels. Some were wearing armor, and some were dressed strangely, which was very different from the Sipahi cavalry seen before.

Hong Tao had no way of judging these situations, so he simply ignored them. No matter what kind of soldiers they were, as long as they came, they were all targets for shooting. At this time, he was commanding the guards to push the imperial dining car to the front line, hiding behind it and using the gaps in the car windows as shooting holes, ready to satisfy his gun addiction.

Wang Chengen's persuasion was ineffective, and he could not bear to watch the emperor put himself in danger, so he had to settle for the next best thing. He took his guards to use clothes as sandbags to fill sand, and piled up sand on three sides of the dining car to make it as solid as possible.

"Your Majesty, did the sentry give a false alarm?" Wang Chengen was a little confused when he saw that the dining car was almost buried by colorful sandbags and there was still no sign of the enemy. "One or two people may have given a false alarm, but so many sentries will not give a false alarm at the same time. Don't worry, the enemy will see the signal flares and the lights in the camp and know that the sneak attack will fail, so they will not be in a hurry.

It must not be easy for them to cross the swamp, and the ones who arrived might be just the vanguard. Since they could not launch a surprise attack, it would be better to rest on the spot and wait for the whole army to gather before launching a general attack.

You guys should not be idle, go ask the army for a few more muskets to help me load them. I am going to kill a lot today. After the battle, if anyone kills fewer enemies than I do, everyone from the thousand households down will be demoted two levels!"

Fighting is like bungee jumping. When you stand on the platform for the first time and look down, your legs will go weak and your heart will beat fast. Your mind will be filled with all kinds of images of falling to your death. You will be extremely panicked. But once you jump down, you will be much calmer when you get on the platform the second time.

If you jump once a week, it won't be long before you can stand on the edge of the platform with your bowl in hand, eat while looking down, without any waves in your heart and without so many messy images in your mind.

It's not that we are not afraid of death, but that we are used to it. Humans have a very powerful ability, which is to get used to it. No matter how dangerous a behavior is, as long as we do it frequently, we will get used to it and ignore the danger from both the body and the mind.

The difference between veterans and new soldiers is partly in skills, and partly in psychology. When a person is used to war, he can ignore the emotional impact and think and choose more rationally.

Although Hong Tao had never fought the enemy at close range like the veterans, he had commanded many battles and was somewhat accustomed to it. Instead of being afraid of the upcoming battle, he was looking forward to it.

Just imagine the scene of flames spurting from the muzzle of a gun, bullets penetrating the body, people falling to the ground and blood splattering everywhere, and dopamine will be secreted in your body, and your fingers will be unable to resist touching the trigger.

"Long live the mercy of the Lord!"

After hearing this explanation, Wang Chengen's doubts were gone. He took the loaded musket from the Cuju player and wiped it carefully with cotton cloth to make sure there was no oil stain before placing it neatly on the right side of the emperor. He thought that the punishment given by the emperor was similar to reward, and basically no soldier would be punished.

Maybe it was because the road was too difficult to travel, or because the communication was not smooth, but the Ottomans were gathering very slowly. The sky in the east had already turned blue, and then there was a faint vibration on the ground.

Countless camel hooves stepping on the Gobi Desert are very majestic even if they are not running. The dust they raise is blown away by the wind and can be seen from several kilometers away.

"Five thousand... another five thousand... three five thousand... Your Majesty, the enemy is probably around fifteen thousand in number, all cavalry, carrying some baggage. Right now, some are coming from west to east, and some are heading southwest. The closest one is still 2 kilometers away!"

The first person to see the enemy clearly was of course the lookout on the balloon. Soon, two small flags were waving in the balloon basket. Wang Chengen was not only a loader for the emperor, but also an observer. He translated the general enemy situation without waiting for the signalman to report.

(End of this chapter)