The Han culture is spreading strongly in Southeast Asia

Chapter 511: Little British Empire, Your Weapons Are Outdated

"The Chinese must have mastered a new type of rifle."

Lieutenant General Giles Stibbert made a quick judgment, but he did not expect that the revolutionary leap would be in the bullet, not the rifle.

"But 400 meters is still too far. They can cause casualties, but not mass casualties."

This judgment was not wrong. The British army had just been hit by a barrage of bursts of fire, and it took at least 600 bullets to kill and injure more than 40 people. It was obvious that the accuracy was greatly reduced because they were too far away.

Lieutenant Colonel Zeppelin nodded. "But these people must be the elite of the Chinese Empire, because they didn't rush to attack our main force, but instead calmly waited in place."

“So, John, move up quickly and engage them at a distance of 200 meters.

The Chinese have only been using rifled muskets for a few years; it's impossible for them to be more proficient than we are." Lieutenant General Giles Stibbert ordered in a deep voice.

Lieutenant Colonel Zeppelin nodded quickly, knowing that Lieutenant General Stibbert had something else to say.

That is, if we cannot at least be able to engage in a firefight with the enemy's light infantry, then the line infantry will not be able to attack, and since there are also cavalry on the opposite side, the battle will be lost.

Although we didn't expect a big victory, we can't be defeated!

"March forward! Move forward!" Lieutenant Colonel Zeppelin roared loudly, and his light infantrymen stepped forward quickly with loaded rifles held at an angle.

"Bang, bang, bang!" Around four hundred meters away, gunfire rang out as expected, and seven hundred British light infantrymen kept falling to the ground.

But after observing it, Lieutenant Colonel Zeppelin felt that it was acceptable. Although the casualties were a little greater than last time, they were only about fifty or sixty people.

Once I get close, you're done!

Lieutenant Colonel Zeppelin thought viciously that he must let the Chinese taste the power of England's sharpshooters.

He was confident that the English quickshooters who could fire at a rate of one round per minute on the battlefield would definitely surpass the Chinese in terms of firing rate.

Mo Shanzong also grinned. If there were no Minié bullets, the British army's 60 seconds per shot would indeed be faster than the Imperial Guards.

But with the Minié bullet, the archers of the Imperial Guards could shoot three shots in two minutes (40 seconds/shot), and some sharpshooters could even shoot five shots in three minutes (36 seconds/shot).

Don't underestimate just an extra ten or twenty seconds. For the soldiers on the battlefield, it may mean a world of difference, a world of difference between life and death.

"Bang!" Finally, when they were about two hundred meters away, a British light infantryman, who was still catching his breath, raised his hand and fired a shot, knocking a Yulin guard to the ground.

"Plop!" There was a sound of falling beside him. A British light infantryman was knocked down by another imperial guard over 200 meters away.

"You Chinese shit, you are going to die soon!" The British light infantryman who had just killed someone roared loudly.

During the battle cry, his adrenaline surged and his reload speed became extremely fast, increasing the reload speed by at least ten seconds.

Unfortunately, when he thrust the lead bullet wrapped in deerskin into the small barrel specially designed to prevent air leakage, and took out the compacted cleaning rod, he suddenly felt as if his head had grown bigger for no apparent reason.

The cleaning rod fell to the ground with a clang, and the bright red blood gushed out from his forehead, flowing hotly all over the light infantryman's face.

The bullet of Minié's bullet was relatively soft, so it failed to completely destroy his brain tissue. The bullet was stuck in the forehead skull, and the light infantryman did not die immediately.

He tried to raise the rifle in his hand, but this action, which was usually very easy, was now completely impossible.

However, because they were more than 200 meters away, the imperial guards on the opposite side thought they had missed the guy and were immediately frightened to death.

At the moment when he thought he was about to see his breasts, the imperial guard's adrenaline rushed and he finished the job in less than forty seconds.

"Bang!" The Minié bullet went straight into the chest of the British light infantryman who was trying to raise his gun, making a big hole in his heart.

The British light infantryman finally couldn't hold on any longer. His body went limp and he fell straight down with his head facing down.

Seeing the enemy finally fall, the Imperial Guard breathed a sigh of relief. Only then did he realize that his crotch was wet.

It turned out that without him noticing, the urethral sphincter had helped him release the accumulated water.

"Swoosh!" Another lead bullet flew past the imperial guard's ear. He sighed and quickly reloaded without taking time to clean his crotch.

We can only be thankful that this happened in the front and not in the back. Otherwise, we would not be able to hide it after the war and would become a laughing stock of the whole camp.

At the same time, Hu Quan, who was not far away from the Yulin Guards, was much more relaxed.

Speaking of Huang Renyong's team, it is really full of talents, including a historical martial arts champion and the grandfathers of three historical Taiping Army generals.

Hu Quan was nicknamed "Guoshanfeng" or "King Cobra" by his comrades, and they were not just calling him that. This guy really looked like a thick King Cobra, big, meticulous, and vicious.

Historically, Hu Quan passed the family business he and his brother built to his brother's son Hu Chen. Under Hu Chen's management, the Hu family became the richest family in Pingnan County. Hu Chen's son Hu Yihuang was a famous general of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

Thanks to his outstanding performance in several battles with the combined fleet, Hu Quan was promoted to the Shooting Battalion of the Left Regiment of the Imperial Guards.

Moreover, the battalion commander, Mo Shanzong, admired him very much and hoped to promote him to an officer as long as he made more achievements.

This made Hu Quan very motivated. For such a born ambitious man, he simply looked down upon the life of Wei Da and Qin Da, who had hundreds of acres of land in Nanyang and married a few native women.

He wanted to climb up the social ladder and become a meritorious official of Dayu, either a high-ranking military officer in his native land who could provide protection for his descendants, or a vassal with the rank of viscount or above in Southeast Asia.

He wants to rule over thousands of people and expand the territory, becoming a true leader among men. This is his ideal life.

Therefore, he cherished the opportunity to join the Imperial Guards. What could be a faster way to climb the ladder than becoming the emperor's guard?

Hu Quan even planned his future. He wanted to curry favor with Mo Shanzong because it was said that Mo Shanzong had three unmarried sisters at his home in Thang Long Prefecture, Guangnan Province.

In the eyes of the great nobles, Mo Shanzong's royal family was a bit watered down. He was just a brother of the emperor's great-grandfather.

But to someone like Hu Quan who has no connections and is currently at the bottom of society, this is a road to success and his best chance to make a big leap forward.

Therefore, Hu Quan fought extremely bravely. The Flying General 1777 in his hand was like a part of his body. The shooting frequency was definitely less than seconds. All the British light infantry who stood in front of him fell one after another.

The braver he was, the more luck favored him. Countless lead bullets flew past Hu Quan from front to back, left to right, but they just couldn't hit him.

"Hahaha, good job, good job!" Mo Shanzong laughed loudly. "This is our fellow countrymen from western Guangdong. Emperor Zhu has his fellow countrymen from Huaishang, and our Emperor Mo has Jiao Jilang from western Guangdong!"

Mo Shanzong was laughing, while Lieutenant Colonel Zeppelin widened his eyes in horror, because he found that the exchange ratio between his light infantry and the Chinese light infantry was at least one to three.

He suddenly realized a problem, that is, the Chinese rifled guns not only could shoot farther than theirs, but also had a much faster rate of fire.

"Lieutenant Colonel, should we order a retreat?" A major next to Lieutenant Colonel Zeppelin couldn't help but ask.

"No need to give orders." Lieutenant Colonel Zeppelin shook his head with a pale face. As an experienced officer, Lieutenant Colonel Zeppelin knew very well what kind of people he was.

They could withstand 20 percent casualties, but anything above that would crumble. Sure enough, without waiting for Lieutenant Colonel Zeppelin's orders or Lieutenant General Stibbert's reinforcements, the 700 British light infantrymen who had launched the attack retreated desperately, leaving behind nearly 200 corpses and some comrades struggling and groaning on the battlefield.

"Forward, take the Flying General's weapons and attack their cannons, and take the Enemy-killing Guns and stand guard on both sides!" Mo Shanzong was overjoyed, issuing orders loudly and letting the military band beat the drums for the attack.

The effective range of the artillery at this time is about five or six hundred meters, but since it relies entirely on artillery shells, it is best to have a range of about three hundred meters to be powerful.

At the same time, since they were basically solid bullets, the explosion time of the explosive bombs was very difficult to control, so the cannons at this time were basically used to defeat the line infantry in formation.

For the Archery Army (light infantry), which is a widely dispersed and flexible type of soldier, it is basically like using an anti-aircraft gun to kill a mosquito.

So when Lieutenant General Stibbert saw that the Chinese Archery Army was still advancing, his face felt numb.

Sure enough, about 400 meters away, lead bullets from the opposite side were whizzing towards their own artillery. A lieutenant artillery commander and several artillerymen were knocked to the ground before they had time to dodge.

The artillery retaliated, and the shells were still whistling in the air. The light infantry quickly dodged. They fired six or seven shots in a row, but none of them hit the target. Instead, more than a dozen gunners were killed.

Lieutenant General Stibbert now had two choices: either let the artillery move forward, bayonet the cannons, and use light infantry to cover the artillery and drive out the enemy.

However, the cost is too high. To defeat some light infantry, artillery must be sacrificed.

Therefore, he chose another more economical way to deal with it, which was to let the line infantry on both wings attack from both sides, and use the threat of volley guns to compress the light infantry on the opposite side.

Then take the opportunity to directly start a line infantry decisive battle and clear the space for light infantry combat.

After receiving the application, the commander-in-chief, Sir Al Coote, hesitated for a moment, but finally decided to accept Lieutenant General Stibbert's request.

Because you can't just let the artillery and light infantry at the front stand there and get hit. No one can stand that.

So Sir Air Coote ordered the Bengali native infantry regiments on both wings to advance and attack from both sides.

"Hahahaha, they are bound to lose!" Chen Lian was overjoyed and excitedly smashed his right fist into the palm of his left hand.

"Once you start, it's not up to you when to stop."

"Send our military orders. The enemy has no cavalry. Move the Zhenwei Army and the Shendian Guards' line infantry regiments to the two flanks. Use line infantry against line infantry to defeat these Indian rubbish.

The Shesheng Army will continue to concentrate in the middle and attack the British troops on the mountain. They will be unable to bear the pain and will come down to fight."

Following Chen Lian's order, the Imperial Army's war machine began to start up quickly. The Zhenwei Army and the Shendian Line Infantry Regiment each turned and headed towards the Bengali soldiers who were compressing their own light infantry.

The war drums were beating, and the officers on both sides squeezed tightly towards the middle, squeezing the soldiers in the middle, making it impossible for them to escape or even turn around.

At the same time, the officers did not wear white Fanyang hats with red tassels, but black flying saucer helmets with white paint on the silk helmet brim. This eye-catching dress allowed the soldiers to clearly notice the presence of the officers.

At the same time, according to military orders, if an officer is not dead but the soldiers retreat, they will be beheaded directly!

This forced the soldiers to fight to the death. At the same time, it also made grassroots officers such as the Zhongwei and Shangwei the real cornerstone of the army. As long as they were not afraid, the soldiers would not dare to escape even if they were beaten into a beehive.

“Woo~~!”

The shells with sharp explosions slammed into the first line of infantry of the Zhenwei Army. Three soldiers fell down screaming. Then the shells bounced back and killed or injured four or five more people.

There was a little panic in the team, but under the shouts and scolds of the officers in each row, they quickly stabilized the formation, and the soldiers behind shouted and filled in one after another.

"Awoo!" Another cannon fired, this time hitting the infantry formation. A soldier of the Zhenwei Army had both legs broken directly, and the flintlock in his hand was also broken.

But the soldier only let out a shrill scream, and then covered his mouth with both hands.

The severe pain made the veins on his neck bulge and cold sweat poured down, but he still endured the pain. After making sure that he would not scream, he supported himself on the ground with his hands and rolled out of the battle line with a few rolls so as not to delay the advancement of other comrades.

Several medical soldiers ran over quickly, knocked the soldier unconscious with one punch, and then began to bandage him.

In the distance, several Indian artillerymen were still reloading. The Bengalis in this square formation had two three-pound cannons.

But after they fired four shots, a squad of more than a dozen archers ran over and fired accurately at the Bengali cannons, which immediately made the Indian artillerymen scream in pain.

Almost at the same time, the Zhenwei Army's field artillery also opened fire. As the artillery of the Beijing Camp Army, their skills and tactics were naturally not comparable to those of the Bengalis.

The Bangladeshi artillery pieces were fired from above, creating a hole with each strike and then injuring people by bouncing off. One shot resulted in only seven or eight casualties.

The Zhenwei Army's field artillery fired directly and horizontally. The advantage of this was that each shot would hit the entire target vertically, and anyone in this path would be beaten to a bloody pulp.

At 300 meters, Bangladesh fired six shots, five of which hit the target, causing more than 80 casualties, but this was nothing to the 3,000-man Zhenwu Army.

The Zhenwu Army fired ten cannons, eight of which hit the target, resulting in more than two hundred or even close to three hundred casualties.

Especially the last shot, the shell went through the Bengali line infantry formation from the oblique side, carving out a bloody 'passage', and at least fifty Bengali musketeers were killed or wounded.

At the same time, in addition to the artillery, the light infantry and grenadiers on the flanks of the Zhenwu Army had encircled them from both wings. They attacked from both sides like the claws of a crab.

The light infantry's cold guns, combined with the grenadiers' bombs, caused even greater damage than field artillery, and the light infantry and grenadiers on the flanks originally deployed for the Bengalis did not appear at all.

These guys are the superiors of the Europeans in India. Now that they see that the war situation is not going well, they don’t care about the life or death of the Bengalis and are reluctant to come up.

This caused great harm to the Bengalis. Due to the huge casualties, a large number of Bengali musketeers, whose discipline was already poor, were unable to complete their march in line.

They involuntarily dispersed to both sides, trying to use the flintlock rifles in their hands to drive away and repel the flanks of the Zhenwu Army.

The Zhenwu Army was waiting for this moment. Under the orders of their officers, they sang war songs and marched forward.

Seventy meters away, the few remaining Bengali musketeers who could still maintain their formation opened fire first. More than three hundred lead bullets knocked down more than twenty Zhenwu soldiers.

The rest of the soldiers moved forward even more fearlessly, and the neat sound of their footsteps was proof of his full confidence.

Forty meters away, just as the Bengali musketeers were about to reload and fire, the Zhenwei Army opened fire.

Three rounds of volleys, with more than two thousand lead bullets, directly created a huge gap in the Bengali musketeers at a distance of forty meters.

"Charge, kill them!"

Before the smoke cleared, the deputy commander who was leading the charge gave a loud roar, and all the soldiers rushed forward with flintlock rifles and bayonets.

They were bombarded by field artillery, shot by light infantry, bombed by grenadiers, and then hit by two thousand lead bullets at a distance of forty meters. Even though these Bengalis were local elites trained by the British, they could not withstand the terrifying threat brought about by such huge casualties and deaths.

They retreated quickly before the Zhenwu Army soldiers could reach them, and the officers even ran faster than the soldiers.

(End of this chapter)