What's wrong with building a steel torrent in a dungeon?

It's just a pity that such a flag is really of little use to the troll warriors. After all, the elves have been killing the trolls for hundreds of years! On the one hand, they use high-sounding words to package themselves as saviors, but on the other hand, they continue to kill and burn.

Such a flag has no effect other than increasing the anger and hatred of the troll warriors.

The troll warriors held their muskets tightly. If the commander hadn't restrained them with orders, some of them would have jumped out in a fit of rage and fought with the elf soldiers.

"charge!"

"For the Goddess Shiloh!"

"For the Elven Empire!"

"For the sake of world civilization."

Accompanied by bursts of melodious trumpets and various slogans that sounded powerful, the elven soldiers at the front rushed forward. At the same time, the elven archers in the back continued to shoot arrows upwards to cover their companions' charge.

However, if the trenches could not be conquered even by artillery, it would be even more impossible to conquer them with arrows. The troll warriors were guarding the fortifications of the trenches, and they could only hear the clanging sound of arrows hitting cement, as if they were listening to the sound of rain.

They lay quietly in the trenches, waiting for orders from their commanders.

"Boys!"

Sankara yelled in the trench: "We don't want war! But these pointy-eared guys have repeatedly attacked our country and massacred our compatriots! Today will be the beginning of our revenge! Everyone! Beat them hard and send these pointy-eared guys to hell!"

"Roar!"

Since the trench was dug, Sankara has been staying here, eating and living with the soldiers, which has made his reputation in the grassroots soar. This roar has aroused the deepest fighting spirit in the hearts of the troll warriors. They climbed to the front of the shooting point under the gunfire and arrows, and then launched an attack on the elves.

However, when they looked out from the shooting hole, they were stunned by the scene before them.

The elves' charge formation is too dense, just like a tide.

Moreover, they rushed forward without any tactics or formation, just like running forward in a mess. Isn't this courting death?

Soon, the sound of gunfire began to emanate from above the trenches.

The troll warriors didn't even need to aim, they just had to mechanically load and pull the trigger. With such a dense charge, it was hard not to hit the target.

After a few rounds of gunfire, the elf soldiers at the front fell down one by one like wheat being cut.

"This is impossible!"

The commander of the Third Corps, Harland Bape, was in charge of the First and Second Wings of the Expeditionary Force. When he saw the scene before him, he couldn't help but take a deep breath.

How could the enemy's firepower be so exaggerated? This was inconsistent with the intelligence they obtained before the war.

Chapter 354: Minced Meat Battlefield

As a soldier born in the field of logistics equipment, Harland Bape had a great understanding of firearms. As early as when firearms came out, Harland Bape was very concerned about them. Later, when he learned that Fran was going to sell it, he personally went to the auction in Orila City and directly won the first firearm with his generous bid.

If you must say it, Harland Bapei had met Fran once at the auction. Because of him, the Elf Empire became the first force to start researching and imitating firearms. It can be considered a pioneer.

It's just that the elves got firearms very early, but the progress of firearms construction was very slow. This can't be blamed on Harland Bapei. It's really that the upper elves looked down on this ugly, stupid, big, black and thick iron pipe. In addition, the power of firearms at that time was indeed not as good as that of the elves' sharpshooters.

In the end, apart from the successful imitation of firearms by the arsenal controlled by Haaland Bape, there was no other progress. As for the proposal to establish a firearms unit, it was shelved. In the end, the weapons that were finally successfully imitated were also put in the warehouse to gather dust.

But the elves obviously did not expect that the development of firearms would be so rapid, with basically a new technology every season and a new face every year.

When the Scourge of the Undead occurred, firearms had already been able to compete with sharpshooters. By the time Elrondil and Fran fought, the firearms troops were already able to face off against the elite elves, and the casualties were comparable.

This no longer surprised the elves, but terrified them!

They were the elite troops of the Elven Empire!! They were the most powerful troops in the entire main plane. These peasants who had no magic and no rank could actually fight them on equal terms. Firearms can be mass-produced, but magicians cannot be mass-produced.

As a result, firearms once again attracted attention within the empire. As the soldier and noble who knew the most about firearms in the Elf Empire, Harland Bappe was re-instructed to start imitating firearms.

However, it was too late to research it now. In addition, the elves' metallurgical technology was not good enough, and they even had a deep contempt for industry. The imitation work was difficult in this situation where there was no technology and no manpower. It was still not good enough until the war started, so they had to ask for help.

To the dwarves.

Although the elves could not imitate and could only buy them, they were very familiar with the parameters of firearms. Harland Bape was even familiar with the jungle guns and pistols that the trolls were equipped with. The subsequent series of tactics were also formulated based on the power of these muskets.

But he never expected that the firearms technology of Aurora City would be so fast, and even updated while fighting. This was simply unreasonable in his opinion. Changing the commander at the last minute was incredible, and now Fran even changed the gun at the last minute. Isn't this a joke?

But it was this kind of trifling that caught the elves off guard.

"Captain, we... we can't rush through! The enemy's firepower is too strong!" An elf guard said, "If this continues, our troops will be completely destroyed! The wing commanders in front, please order a retreat! We will make a long-term plan!"

"Humph! Order a retreat to give the enemy time to cool down their firearms and restock their ammunition?" Harland Bapei said.

"But we...really can't get through."

"Can't charge through? Can we charge through after we have rested? Will the enemy's firepower be temporarily relieved after we have rested?" Harland Bappe frowned, and after a few minutes he said, "Pass my order, the 9th, 10th, 12th, and 27th Wings will join the battle immediately! You must break through the enemy's position before 4 o'clock this afternoon, otherwise you will be punished by military law!"

"As you command!"

Haaland and Bape have already burned their boats and sent most of the reserve team to take turns charging the trenches.

This charge was very effective, and the pressure in the trenches suddenly increased.

Upon seeing this, Huang Shang personally led all the troops from Orila City to join the battlefield and stood where the enemy's attack was most intense.

Hundreds of rapid-fire guns fired in unison, causing the elf soldiers in the front row to fall one after another. But Harland Bape was obviously determined to capture this trench at any cost. When the elves in front fell, the soldiers in the back fell to the ground in an instant.

Soon, Huang Shang couldn't bear it anymore.

"Where's Zhu Chongba! Hurry up and get him to provide firepower reinforcements. How long will he keep his Flying Thunder Cannon hidden?" Huang Shang shouted behind him.

"As you command!"

Immediately afterwards, a shell flew straight into the sky and exploded, producing a bright red flame in the air.

Zhu Chongba on the other side saw this and immediately said to his men, "Refill the Flying Thunder Cannon!"

“Filling completed!

"Follow my orders!"

"three!"

"two!"

"1"

Boom boom boom!!

Countless small shells flew out from directions the elves had never imagined, and exploded on the charging positions. The densely packed soldiers were caught off guard, and had no way to dodge, and were killed by the scattered shrapnel, with screams ringing in their ears.

Wherever the flying thunder cannon swept the ground, a death zone instantly appeared. Even the elf soldiers who survived by chance had their faces destroyed and were covered in blood.

"Ahhh! My hand! My hand!"

"I can't see, help!"

"Help me, it hurts... my waist is gone!"

War had never been presented in such a bloody way before the elves. The battlefield was littered with broken limbs, various indescribable pieces of meat and intestines. Even the veterans who had fought in the battlefield could not bear it and turned away, not daring to look directly. The newly recruited soldiers could not help but vomit.

As for the elf soldiers who were about to rush to the battlefield, they collapsed on the ground, unwilling to rush forward even if they were killed by the supervisory team.

At this time, the commander of the front line remembered to destroy this unknown artillery position. However, when they arrived, Zhu Chongba had already escaped. The elves couldn't figure it out. How did they escape with such a heavy gun barrel! Even if they were orcs, it would be impossible to move a cannon that was strong enough to crush the elves.

The elves' charge continues

Those soldiers who were unwilling to go to the battlefield, after experiencing the even more cruel methods of the supervision team, had no choice but to carry their guns and continue to charge towards the trenches.

Although the Flying Thunder Cannon came and went without a trace, after several attacks, the Elf Commander roughly figured out its range and launched several clearing attacks against Zhu Chongba, forcing it to retreat. But even so, they were still able to hide in the trenches, supporting the front line from time to time and crushing the gradually rising offensive of the elves.

The sky gradually darkened, and the time for Haaland and Bape's attack to end was approaching. Everyone was looking forward to the night coming soon so that this trial in hell could end.

Chapter 355 Death Charge

When the sky finally turned into night and the belated retreat horn sounded, all the elven soldiers breathed a sigh of relief.

They finally survived the nightmare day.

The darkness covered the earth, but it could not cover the blood and smoke in the air.

On this day, the elves launched countless charges, the density and strength of which were unprecedented in the Elf Empire over a decade.

However, compared to this strength, the results they obtained were really...

If it can't be said that the harvest is quite fruitful, then it can only be said that it is better than nothing.

The vast majority of the elven soldiers fell on the way to the charge. Even if a few lucky elves rushed into the trenches, they were quickly killed by muskets. This was because most of the soldiers on this side were equipped with short muskets. This type of musket had a short range and low lethality, but could be fired and reloaded quickly at close range, and the bullets fired could be split into several at once, without the need for aiming.

In the end, except for a trench in the western section that was briefly breached by the elves, the rest of the trenches remained intact.

Moreover, after the trenches were breached, they were quickly recaptured. Because all the trenches only had a large number of fortifications set up in the front, and the rear was completely undefended, which meant that even after the elves occupied the trenches, they needed several times more manpower to defend them, and the troll soldiers in the rear only needed to mindlessly throw grenades into the trenches.

When the battle report was delivered to Haaland Bape's desk, he could hardly believe his eyes.

"How is this possible!" Harland Bape slammed the report on the table and shouted, "What a joke! 3,500 dead! More than 1,000 injured? In just one day?!"

The generals below were silent.

"Tell me! Where did this data come from? If any of them is found to be falsified, they will be subject to military law!" Haaland-Bape yelled at a staff officer beside him.

The staff officer wanted to remind him that it was unreasonable to overstate the number of casualties, as it was usually a cover-up.

But seeing Haaland and Bapei's expressions, he had to say: "We were also surprised when the report was brought. The situation is still being verified, but...preliminary data should be correct."

"Then tell me, how did such casualties happen? Even if it was a siege, there would not be such terrible casualties!" Haaland Bappe said.

The staff officer did not answer him, but ordered someone to bring a musket over.

"This is……"

"It's a new type of musket captured from the enemy's trenches." The staff officer said, "It's the culprit for our terrible casualties."

Harland Bape didn't say anything. He snatched the rifle, disassembled it skillfully, and began to examine the internal structure.

As the first elf in the Elf Empire to realize the importance of muskets, Harland Bape was familiar with all the musket models on the market (mainly in the port of Biesund).

Recently, the basic structure of the musket has not changed much, and the main improvements are almost all concentrated on the materials! The rapid progress of materials science in Orila City has also increased the various parameters of the musket. Even the short muskets and jungle guns that came later are just a few parameters such as the barrel, power and accuracy, and the core has not changed.

But this kind of musket.

Although it looks similar to the previous one on the outside, the structure inside is completely different, and it is not an exaggeration to even describe it as two different weapons.

"This type of musket doesn't seem to be able to use our bullets. Even if the caliber is correct, it's useless! It doesn't seem to have a gas chamber at all. How can it fire the bullet out?" asked the staff officer on the side curiously.

Harland Bape shook his head. He didn't even understand how this musket worked.

"From observation, the firing rate of this musket is at least eight times that of the muskets produced by the dwarves!" said the staff officer.

"Eight times?"

All the generals present gasped.

Because the expeditionary army was equipped with a large number of firearms, they all had some understanding of firearms. What does eight times mean? That's simply a rain of fire! And they were actually charging under such terrifying firepower.

"The enemy's new weapons are not limited to this. There is also a new type of artillery." The staff officer said: "The power and range of this artillery seem to be inferior to our artillery, and even far behind. But their size seems to be very small, so ordinary soldiers can carry them."

"Carry it? That's impossible!" Haaland Bape blurted out, and only after he finished speaking did he realize that in just this period of time, he had said several impossibles in a row.

In a desperate situation, this well-read elf general actually repeated the same word several times due to his lack of language skills.

"The development speed of weapons in Orila City is really too fast." The staff officer smiled bitterly, "Some time ago, they were able to produce a new firearm every few months. Even the dwarves couldn't keep up with their research and development speed! I didn't expect that this time, they could come up with such a leap forward firearm. How did they do it?

Haaland Bape frowned, but just as he was about to say something, he suddenly heard a burst of panicked noises coming from outside the tent.

"what happened?"

"It's the trolls! They launched a surprise attack on our camp!"

"What did you say! Blow the horn immediately and prepare to meet the enemy! Everyone, give me 120,000 points of your strength." Haaland Bappe said.

If the enemy was equipped with this terrifying musket, he would not be able to hold out for long with the fortifications he built before the war. If the camp was broken, he would repeat the mistakes of Elendil.

El Arendil has a grandfather, the Elf King, but Harand Bape does not. So he must keep it.

Thinking of this, he put on his armor, picked up his weapon, and rushed out with his guards.

The battle did not last long, and the intensity was controlled within a controllable range. However, in this extremely short period of time, the opponent unleashed a huge amount of firepower in one breath, which completely broke through Haaland Bape's right defense, and various fortifications were directly blown into ruins, and more than 200 defenders fell in a pool of blood.

And all of this happened in just two hours.

If the enemy took advantage of the victory and continued to attack my right flank, I'm afraid my right flank would be directly penetrated. Fortunately, I paid enough attention and invested a huge amount of troops, which scared them off.

The more Haaland Bape thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he quickly ordered his general reserve to take over the right flank and carry out defensive repairs overnight. Not only that, he also sent out far more patrol teams than before to stand guard on the other routes, for fear that the other side would come again.

Haaland and Bape were wise to be cautious. Otherwise, the left side would have become a ruin in the second half of the night. Without the defense on both wings, they would probably have no choice but to retreat.

However, he also knew that this high-intensity alert could not last long! The energy of the large army was used to defend at night, so would they still be able to attack during the day?