open sea

Chapter 1181 Dragon Banner
The Beiyang Army is accustomed to purposeful small-scale combat, whether it is an encounter or a battle, they have never participated in a large-scale battle with a scale of more than [-] people.

The French veterans are different. For them, war is a muddle-headed process of gathering, marching, stationing, looting after stationing, waiting for other lord troops, and continuing to march. Even if there is a small river separated from the enemy, they may deal with each other. The time ranged from a few days to a few months. The war may end during this time period, and they each went home with the loot they robbed.

The battle is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity where both sides have the will to fight.

But sometimes battles have to be fought for the lord. For example, in Wulong now, the Earl of Shire can't leave the bridge that is about to be completed and lead the army with a large amount of supplies. The troops are quickly mobilized according to the defensive layout of the camp.

The roaring cannons in the northwest did not make them panic. When they marched to this place, everyone had a plan in mind, and they knew that they were likely to be attacked by the Ming army.

Although each brigade had soldiers who deserted to plunder the surrounding villages, the troops with more than [-] troops were effectively assembled and drove their carriages into the center of the camp. In the camp, ropes were drawn from all sides to attack.

But after a long time passed after the watchtower was planted with a fluttering dragon flag, there was no movement nearby, as if the Ming army came here only to capture the watchtower.

The Earl of Shire was a bit confused, and he secretly scolded the sentry who was quickly removed as useless, and was killed without even the slightest news. He still doesn't know the number of enemy troops. He can only judge from the firepower that there should be a huge number of troops. I'm afraid they are not the only ones. The Sentinels are useless - their intel is also faulty.

After a while, there was another cannon shot from the direction of another sentry tower by the river in the north. This time, the Earl of Charles failed to see the dragon flag from the occupied watchtower. The dragon flag was tied to a tall tree. Hanging down, but he saw more than that.

First, the collapsed sentry tower was overturned in the river full of fallen leaves. A sentry in the tower struggled to wave his arms to push away the fallen leaves and swim to the other side. Ming soldiers in blue cotton armor and black boots wearing bowls appeared on the river bank with their standard muskets, standing facing the river.

From his back, the Earl of Charles could see that he was loading his musket, and his movements were fast and calm.

He couldn't help wishing that the sentinel could swim faster and faster, as long as he swam faster, the musket would be inaccurate beyond a certain range.

But he was wrong.

When the Ming soldier wearing a high-helmed gun and cotton armor raised his blunderbuss, like a distant and silent movie, a cloud of white smoke rose from the muzzle of the gun, and the sentinel in the river froze for a moment, as if Stretching out his hand to grab something, he slowly sank into the water unwillingly.

It may not be long before it resurfaces, but at that time the Earl of Charles is sure he will not recognize him again, because the icy water undulates and French sentinels in civilian clothes continue to float more and more downstream. close.

There is also an outpost in the lowlands to the west. It is an abandoned village. The fields near the Kelan River basin are very fertile. Chen Jiujing's Spanish mercenary group visited this place two months ago, taking away the grain harvested in autumn and looting all The farmers, Marshal Matteon, discussed with the nobles in the west last month, trying to relocate some people from their territory, so that they can resume planting next year to ensure the growing food supply.

But war came, and no one wanted to come here, and the commander of the Shire stationed there seven cavalry, 26 mixed squads with two-handed swords, spears, halberds and musketeers.

Charles thought that if the number of the Ming army was small, he could transfer a large Swiss army there, without being surrounded on both sides, and hurried to that direction. There were no dangerous terrain or woods around, and the village was surrounded by deserted areas. The farmland has a very wide field of vision, and the terrifying Ming army hidden in the forest can no longer be concealed, showing its true colors here.

He saw that the Ming army of about 100 people had bypassed the village and continued westward through the barren fields. In the front, middle and rear of the team, there were three ornately decorated commanders riding war horses, followed by two marching military musicians, The whole team was divided into ten squads, and each squad had three officers with small flags on their helmets.

Everyone wore the same blue cotton armor and carried backpacks, held the bottom of the musket in their right hand and leaned on their shoulders, and walked along with them at a uniform pace. Each team had two soldiers carrying a gun on one side of their backs. The log barrel and two cavalry squads are special. Those half-suited war horses with faceplates and breastplates have bulging cloth bags hanging on both sides of their hips, and there are thick, short-barreled iron cannons on them.

Another Ming army of the same size was approaching the village. Six squads spread out from the periphery with muskets, and only four squads entered the village from both sides of the street.

The musketeers of the Ming army stood in three rows on the main street and opened the line of defense. The soldiers behind took the iron cannon from the horseback and nailed it to the front, and four people took two iron cannons from the horseback and put them together It was combined with a round iron shield, propped on the ground with a small axe, and half crouched in front of the musketeer.

The garrisoned French army rushed out from the roadside house. The two-handed swordsmen were in front, the halberds, and the spearmen were behind.

But the Ming army fired, and in the smoke, the mercenaries wielding big swords were the first to be pierced. Even wearing special half armor, they couldn't protect them at this distance, and the spearmen hadn't gotten close enough to stab. , A burst of bursts wounded them a lot, and the people behind turned back to the house, but the bullets were very dense.

In Shire's eyes, this scene did not conform to common sense at all. The musketeers of the Ming army obviously shot, and the people behind were indeed reloading, but some spearmen were still shot down through the gunpowder smoke.

The garrison cavalry seized the opportunity very well. Taking advantage of the short time when the Ming army's guns stopped, several cavalry rushed towards them with their guns on their horses... What greeted them was a cannon fire.

The horse that rushed to the front was almost shattered, and the horses behind seemed to have been hit. Everyone stopped the charge and stood up. Some riders were thrown off the horses, and those who were not lifted were busy controlling the horses. The charge was stopped by physics.

Immediately afterwards, the Beiyang infantry launched a countercharge with their blunderbusses, stabbing the riders and fallen soldiers to death one by one, and the riders on the horses were surrounded and stabbed, only two horses ate The rider who ran away in pain survived and ran out of the village.

Earl Shire's hands were clenched tightly on the silk scarf he carried with him, his eyes were so wrinkled that he almost closed it, he really didn't want to see, the Ming army outside the village had already set up their guns and stood there, just waiting for them to rush out .

As for the infantry and musketeers who failed to break out and returned to the house, they were even more fortunate. They shot outwards with muskets and steel crossbows against the windows and doors, and they also had spears and halberds for defense. will not be breached.

As soon as the count thought about it, he saw a few Ming soldiers walking quickly along the wall with their blunderbusses in their hands. They didn't know what they were holding, and they threw them into the window nearby. The sound came one after another.

The dragon flag was tied on the tallest tree in the village by the Ming army.

(End of this chapter)