I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 851 Not only did they refuse to surrender, they dared to fight back!

Two hours was not enough time for the 160,000-strong anti-Ming coalition to fully deploy its forces, but their 60,000 vanguard troops, under the orders of Muzaffar Shah III, were gradually walking out of the barracks and forming a line in the wilderness.

The anti-Ming coalition had a musketeer unit of 3,000 men.

The muskets used were all international brands, with the majority coming from the Portuguese and the Ottomans, accounting for half.

The rest included Western goods from Persia, Spain, Italy and other countries, as well as imitations from Annan, Siam and Pagan. There were even three-barreled guns and matchlock rifles that were eliminated by the Ming Dynasty and sold to Korea and East Japan, which were resold by some merchants from thousands of miles away.

Some of the muskets were also made locally.

Logically speaking, India came into contact with Portuguese firearms earlier than East Japan, Annan, Siam and Pagan. Their craftsmen should have learned to imitate them earlier and should have been able to create more muskets.

But in fact, there were very few firearms in India. It might be that Indian craftsmen had kind intentions and would rather create exquisite jewelry and gold and silver wares than create murderous weapons.

Or perhaps the Sultans of India prefer thick and large cannons, and its expensive cost can better demonstrate the Sultans' nobility.

Therefore, the craftsmen of India were keen on making cannons. A large part of the hundreds of cannons used by the anti-Ming coalition were made locally, but no one knows where they are now.

The anti-Ming coalition forces walked out of the barracks in a disorderly manner, and under the loud shouts of the nobles and officers, they hurriedly formed a formation to form the first line of defense, with three thousand musketeers standing in the middle.

Only at this time could the Indian army see clearly the Ming army in front of them.

They were dressed in sky-blue military uniforms, arranged in rectangular formations, carrying muskets, and marching forward leisurely in neat steps to the beat of the drummers.

Next to the formation, there were three non-commissioned officer flag bearers holding three flags: the military flag, the regimental flag and the company flag.

The military flag is the simplest, with the word "Ming" in the middle of a red background.

The regimental flag has a red background, with the military emblems of the armies to which it belongs, and some symbols unique to the regiment added.

The Marine Corps emblem is two crossed spears with bayonets above a sailboat. The flags of several infantry regiments of the Indian Task Force all have some symbols added to this emblem.

The flag of the Third Regiment, to which Wu Dafei belonged, had a leopard above the Marine Corps emblem.

He rode on a warhorse, holding a telescope and looking at the anti-Ming coalition forces not far away.

It was in chaos. If they had a cavalry regiment, they could launch an assault and have a chance of causing chaos and collapse of the Indian vanguard.

Unfortunately, we only have artillery now, and less than one battalion of cavalry for reconnaissance and pursuit of the enemy.

Wu Dafei suddenly thought that if his side was equipped with the new Type 05 rifle, he could allocate part of his forces to lurk in front of the Tianzhu military camp under the cover of night.

Wait until dawn, deploy the battle formation as we do now, lure the Indian vanguard out of the camp and line up, and then the hidden troops use the new rifles to launch a surprise attack on the enemy. The effect may be better than using a cavalry regiment to charge.

It’s just that the new rifles are still in the actual combat testing stage and there are too few of them.

We are still using smoothbore rifles.

In large-scale battles, this type of musket must be used in dense formations to maximize its firepower advantage, just like the archers of the past.

If they are used in a dispersed manner, they will be dispersed and overwhelmed by the enemy forces that have an absolute numerical advantage.

When Wu Dafei thought of this, he suddenly realized that the smoothbore musket seemed to be an advancement from cold weapons to hot weapons, but its tactics were essentially the same as those of cold weapons, and only dense formations could bring out the greatest advantage.

But if new rifles are used, the tactics may change dramatically.

Dense formations are actually sitting ducks.

A company equipped with smoothbore muskets must follow tactical regulations, stand upright, form a dense formation shoulder to shoulder, and slowly attack the enemy.

Walk to a distance of 20 to 30 meters and open fire. Then either reload ammunition and continue firing, or charge forward with bayonets raised to defeat the enemy in one fell swoop.

A squad is equipped with Type 05 rifles. They don't need to stand upright in line. They can stand in a skirmish formation like jaegers holding rifles, or even lie on the ground like jaegers lurking and hunting enemy officers and generals.

Then they opened fire at a distance of one hundred meters, firing ten bullets a minute. With a squad of twelve people, they could fire one hundred and twenty bullets a minute.

According to the shooting accuracy of the Type 05 rifle, the smoothbore infantrymen arranged in dense formations would be hit like living targets.

One hundred and twenty bullets may hit forty to eighty people. Such a huge loss will cause the enemy to collapse.

When Wu Dafei thought of this, his heart skipped a beat.

This is a real war of hot weapons. Both sides compete in firepower delivery, that is, the more bullets and shells fired, the greater the chance of hitting the other side.

The bravery of the soldiers will be suppressed to the extreme. No matter if you are the bravest warrior in the grassland, or invincible in Yunnan and Guizhou, all living beings will be pacified under the 05 rifle.

Thinking of this, Wu Dafei couldn't help but shudder.

The anti-Ming coalition forces barely formed a line of defense, with their elite musketeers at the center, serving as an important pillar supporting this line of defense.

The allied generals thought that their own troops had the advantage. As long as they could withstand the first wave of attack from the Ming army, the subsequent 60,000 vanguard troops would be fully deployed, the main force of 100,000 would also arrive one after another, and there would be a team of 1,000 invincible war elephants, at which time they could launch a counterattack against the Ming army.

Muzaffar Shah III also thought the same.

When he learned that his first line of defense had been "quickly" set up, especially the musketeers lined up to guard the battle, he said with satisfaction to Adil Shah I, Murtaza and Surit VII.

"Two hundred thousand versus twenty thousand, the advantage is on me!

See how we destroy these arrogant Ming troops who don't know how to live or die!"

Wu Dafei rode a horse with his Third Regiment and followed the main force to continue approaching the Anti-Ming Coalition Forces. When they were less than 500 meters away, they suddenly heard the sound of horse hooves and the rumbling of wheels.

The First Artillery Regiment drove quickly past Wu Dafei and the Third Regiment.

They rushed to within less than 200 meters of the anti-Ming coalition forces and deployed quickly.

In less than five minutes, the twenty-four Type 95 field guns and ten Type 105 field guns were all deployed, with their muzzles all aimed at the musket teams of the anti-Ming coalition forces.

Tens of thousands of anti-Ming coalition forces were stunned.

In their usual thinking, artillery is a very heavy weapon that needs to be pulled by more than a dozen pack horses and is extremely slow. It is usually deployed in advance on the battlefield to guard the formation.

How come the Ming army’s artillery arrived so suddenly?
I hadn't seen its shadow just now, but in just a few minutes it rushed under my nose and put the muzzle of the gun against my chest.

How to do?
The soldiers looked at the officers, the officers looked at the nobles, and the nobles looked at each other.

Who the hell should we ask? While the Tianzhu front army was hesitating, the Ming army demonstrated their fighting style, which was swift and fierce, like a group of wolves biting their prey.

The well-trained Ming army artillery quickly loaded ammunition and then fired at the Indian vanguard musket team.

"Bang-bang!" There was a loud noise, thick smoke spewed out of the muzzle, and the shells whizzed out of the muzzle, flew through the air, and rushed towards the Indian vanguard.

The Indian front-line musketeers, who were the first to be hit, were stunned.

Eyes: The shells are coming!

Brain: Run!

Hands and Feet: Run! We are bound by invisible ropes!

That's what a black powder artillery shell is like. You can see the shell flying towards you in the air, but you can't avoid it.

Iron bullets flew through the dense formation, splashing blood and rain, and countless flesh and bloody body parts flew in the air.

Screams rang out in the Indian army. The surrounding Indian soldiers were frightened, but the musketeers in front of them were scared to death.

How cruel!

While the Indian army was in panic, the Ming army's artillery quickly and methodically loaded ammunition.

Wu Dafei drew his sword and raised it forward, and the adjutant beside him immediately blew the trumpet.

“Beep-beep-beep!”

The soldiers of the Third Regiment took off the muskets on their shoulders, fixed their bayonets, and held them forward at an angle.

The drummers of each company beat the drums more urgently, the pace of the entire company quickened, and the straight formation became a little crooked, but thanks to the efforts of the officers and non-commissioned officers, the formation of the entire company remained neat and dense.

“Bang—bang!”

There was another round of artillery fire, and the shells once again hit the formation of the Indian front army's musket team hard, leaving more than thirty blood grooves.

Some Indian soldiers turned around and ran, and the formation of the Indian vanguard began to become chaotic.

Some Indian officers also realized that they could not allow the Ming army's artillery to fire like this, and they must launch a counterattack. They did not seek to destroy the Ming army's artillery, but at least to drive them away.

"Brave soldiers, the gods tell us that all glory will be given to its devout believers. Drive away the pagans on the opposite side, kill those invaders who invade our land and seize our wealth, and the gods will bless us!

Charge! Kill! "

Two to three thousand Indian soldiers, followed by a dozen young nobles and officers, rushed out from both sides of the musket team, divided into four or five teams, and rushed towards the Ming army's artillery position two hundred meters away.

It's just that they didn't know the Ming army's combat style.

The artillery regiment is deployed forward and fires at the enemy's chest. Aren't they worried about the enemy's counterattack?

Of course they were not worried, because they knew that the brothers in the infantry regiment would immediately fill their positions, occupy the two wings of the artillery positions, and provide the most reliable cover for their artillery brothers.

Wu Dafei had led the Third Infantry Regiment and had quickly walked to the right wing of the artillery regiment, forming three rows of troops by company.

Because the Indian vanguard had no cavalry, the infantry regiment did not arrange itself in a square hollow formation, but instead engaged in battle in a simple three-row formation.

Wu Dafei took a quick look and saw that his subordinates were ready for battle.

The infantrymen stood still, raised their muskets and aimed them at the Indian vanguard, which was less than a hundred meters away.

The hunters armed with rifles began to hunt down Indian nobles and officers.

The target is very easy to recognize. It is the one dressed in colorful clothes like a peacock. The more gorgeous it is, the more valuable it is.

The fire support platoon set up twenty-four 60mm short-barreled guns between each company, loaded them with shotgun shells, and waited for firing.

Wu Dafei turned his head and looked at the artillery position on the left.

The artillery regiment ignored the oncoming Indian troops and continued to load ammunition in an orderly manner, continuing to carry out extended artillery bombardment on the Indian front-line musket teams.

Wu Dafei raised his long sword and looked at the dark Indian army opposite him, and couldn't help but curse.

"These Indian head-chopping thieves, seeing my Great Ming army, not only did they not surrender, but they also dared to fight back!

Today I must let you see how many eyes the Horse King has!

Fire! "

There was a burst of gunfire. The three thousand smoothbore muskets of the Third Regiment fired bullets like a rainstorm. There were also hundreds of shotgun shells fired from twenty-four 60mm short-barreled cannons, which covered the sky and flew towards the Indian vanguard army fifty or sixty meters away.

Hundreds of blood flowers bloomed on the bodies of the Indian soldiers, and their powerful shouts were interrupted by the torrential rain of lead bullets.

Four or five hundred Indian soldiers were hit, some dead and some wounded, and fell to the ground. Their screams replaced the shouts they had heard during the charge just now.

The Indian officers and soldiers behind were stunned and stood there at a loss as to what to do.

If they continued to move forward, the miserable state of their companions in front of them made them feel cold from the soles of their feet to their foreheads. But if they retreated, it seemed that none of their companions had started to retreat yet. If they ran first, would they be caught by the nobles and beheaded?
The officers and soldiers of the Third Regiment quickly loaded ammunition.

The Type 60 short-barreled gun was equipped with cluster bullets, which could be loaded very quickly. After loading, they fired one by one, and hundreds of shotgun shells were once again fired at the remaining Indian officers and soldiers.

Then the smoothbore muskets fired again in volleys in company units, and the storm once again washed over the Indian officers and soldiers, finally destroying their last bit of combat consciousness.

Run!

The first line of defense set up by the more than 20,000 Indian front troops was riddled with holes and soon became a broken net. The musketeers in particular suffered heavy casualties from multiple rounds of bombardment by the First Artillery Regiment, becoming the biggest hole in the broken net.

Just as the front-line troops of the Ming army were preparing to continue their advance, a high and clear sound came from the right.

Many Indian soldiers who were fleeing from the first line of defense, as well as those who were panicking and forming the second line of defense, could not help but cheer.

God!
You finally sent us reinforcements!
A thousand fully armed war elephants, driven by their drivers and carrying thousands of elite soldiers, charged towards the Ming army from their left wing with great momentum.

(End of this chapter)