"Alert! Discover enemy positions! "The lookout posts on the four British warships sounded the alarm one after another, and the lookouts standing on the high masts easily spotted the trenches of considerable size on the west bank. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

On the first light cruiser, the 'Morthey', when he heard the lookout post alarm, Captain Walson raised his binoculars and swept a piece towards the west coast, and then said in a deep voice: "Slow down the battleship. Immediately inform General Guo Fu with the flag. ”

"Report, enemy artillery positions were found in a little direction ahead."

Artillery positions? Walson raised his binoculars and looked at it, his heart trembled, it can indeed only be described as an artillery position, the dense artillery is as many as a hundred, although most of them are artillery that he disdains, but he can't hold up the large number, even if they are all nine-pound and twelve-pound guns, a salvo is enough to severely damage his light cruiser, he said in a deep voice: "Report to General Baga immediately." ”

On the third-class battleship "Bolanhan", Rear Admiral Baga also saw the artillery position at the mouth of the Suzhou Creek, so many guns were gathered together, which really shocked him, and without thinking too much, he said in a deep voice: "Stop advancing and drop anchor on the spot." ”

On the river embankment, Major General Guo Fu, who was riding on a horse, carefully observed the trench with a telescope, and raised his hand with a solemn expression, "Stop advancing." ”

"Discovered so far away?" Xiao Mingliang in the trench was a little puzzled, but when the telescope swept over the high masts of the battleships, he knew what the problem was, and when he saw the gun doors of the battleships open one after another, he realized that the battle was about to begin, and immediately said in a deep voice: "Attention, dodge the shelling." ”

Behind the side of the trench, Feng Yaozu, a guerrilla in the right battalion of the Jiangnan Admiral, put down the binoculars and said with a worried face: "With the cooperation of the battleship and artillery, I am afraid that this battle will be more than auspicious." ”

"Less heroic morale." Chen Huacheng reprimanded softly.

Feng Yaozu smiled bitterly and closed his mouth, he didn't intend to increase the morale of Yingyi and destroy the righteousness and bravery, the intensive shelling of sixty or seventy guns of the four British warships, even if there was trench cover, the casualties caused would not be small, not to mention, this is a recruit who has only been trained for four months and has never been on the battlefield, it is not good to say, one round of artillery bombardment will be defeated, the shelling of the Yingyi battleship is not a joke.

"Quick, quick! The enemy is about to open fire, so let me take cover and hide. Tang Fugui shouted loudly as he ran: "Those who don't want to die go into the bunker!" ”

"Boom—boom." Sporadic artillery sounded, sparse shells smashed around the trenches, even if you hid in the bunker, you could feel the ground shaking, a squad of twelve people was squeezed into the small bunker, the atmosphere was very dull, the first time on the battlefield of the brave, all of them were nervous to death.

"This is a test firing by the British army." Qin Ergou, the squad leader standing on the outermost part of the bunker, spoke: "After the test firing, there will be a salvo, everyone will pay attention later, as soon as the artillery stops, listen to my orders." ”

"Squad leader, I heard that the British army has flowering shells."

"What are you afraid of hiding in here?" Qin Ergou smiled: "Unless we are extremely unlucky, a flowering bomb explodes at the door of the bunker." ”

Xiao Mingliang didn't rush to hide in the bunker, he was still carefully observing with binoculars, the British troops on the river embankment were sorting out the formation, and they didn't see any land artillery, which made him feel a little at ease, the land artillery arrived and fired flowering shells, that was what he was most worried about, as for the naval guns, he was not afraid at all, after all, the distance was too far.

On the river embankment, the British Army Major General Guo Fu looked at the trench in front of him calmly, he had suffered the loss of this trench in Dinghai, the two armies faced each other, and the Qing soldiers hiding in the trench made him suffer a lot of losses, but they also summed up the method of dealing with the trenches in that battle - infantry and artillery cooperation.

The range of the muskets of the Qing soldiers was limited, only about 80 meters, and after the artillery suppressed the artillery fire, the infantry could rush to the front of the trench with a charge, and easily solve the battle, the reason was very simple, the muskets of the Qing soldiers did not have bayonets, and once they fought hand-to-hand, the muskets were useless at all. It may also be that once a charge is launched, the Qing army often crushes without a fight.

However, the enemy on the opposite side was not the Qing soldiers, but the Yuan Qi regiment that had defeated them in Dinghai, although there were only five hundred people, but there were also two thousand newly trained militiamen, he did not dare to despise it at all, watching the scattered shells fall around the trenches, he turned to look at the river.

On the river, a ship of sampans is busy shuttling on the river, transporting a large-caliber short cannon body with a small weight of Caron guns and ammunition on the river bank, a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, to deal with the trenches, using infantry guns, the best artillery is the Caron gun, light weight, strong mobility.

The four warships on the "boom boom" river opened fire one after another, and the dense shells poured down into the trenches like raindrops, and the sound of banging was incessant, and from time to time shells fell into the trenches, and all the volunteers hiding in the bunkers were all frightened and pale.

As soon as the cannon stopped, Xiao Mingliang got out of the bunker and was about to observe the enemy's situation, when a fast horse galloped over, and the rider on the horse said loudly: "Commander Xiao!" Captain Xiao! ”

Xiao Mingliang hurriedly replied in a loud voice: "I'm here." ”

"Your Excellency has an order, evacuate immediately!"

Evacuate immediately? Xiao Mingliang paused, and before he could ask, the rider said, "The British army is carrying the Caron cannon ashore. ”

Caron cannon? Xiao Mingliang was shocked, the naval guns on the river, the Karon artillery on the land, they couldn't raise their heads when they were absolutely hit, he immediately ordered, "The second battalion covers, the third battalion retreats first, alternately covers the evacuation, and retreats to the Suzhou River." Fast! ”

Seeing a team of volunteers hurriedly evacuating from the trenches, Chen Huacheng was dumbfounded, what is this doing, a round of shelling is terrifying? This is three times the high-paying training of volunteers!

"Recruits are afraid of artillery ......." Feng Yaozu said with a look of regret: "Three times the high salary, the silver is lost in the river." ”

Guo Fu on the river embankment saw this scene, and he was also stunned, and he fled with only one salvo? This is too unbeaten, worse than the Qing soldiers, to chase or not to chase? In an instant he made a decision, an army without a tenacious sense of battle is a flock of lambs to the slaughter! He said in a deep voice: "All of them, prepare for the pursuit." ”

As soon as the words fell, the rumbling cannon sound sounded on the river again, and the second salvo began!

"Bang Bang" one after another explosions sounded into a piece, some exploded in the air, some popped up after landing a long way before exploding, the entire trench was filled with gunsmoke, the air was a choking smell of gunsmoke, out of the bunker, Xiao Mingliang stretched out the trench to see, he was startled, in the dense military sound, two neatly formed British troops were rapidly advancing to the trench.

"The enemy is coming!" Xiao Mingliang hurriedly said in a loud voice: "Prepare for battle!" ”

"Get ready to fight! Fast! Shouts rang out one after another in the trenches.

Three hundred meters ....... Rough estimate that there are still three hundred meters, Xiao Mingming's nervous forehead is sweating, if it was a Minnie gun, he would have ordered to shoot, but unfortunately the volunteers are equipped with the same Burke-style flintlock pistols as the British army, he didn't expect the British artillery and infantry to cooperate so closely, it seems that today is a bit mysterious, once entangled by the British army, the Caron cannon will come up, and there is no chance to evacuate.

Two hundred meters .......

Seeing that he entered the firing range, Xiao Mingliang still held his breath, I am afraid that it will be difficult to retreat from this situation today, so no matter what, he will pull some British troops on his back, and put the British troops close to one hundred and fifty meters, before he shouted, "Fight!" ”

The sound of "ping-pong" gunfire rang out immediately, and many of the volunteers who fought the first actual battle trembled nervously, especially the two rounds of shelling, many people did not adapt to it at all, and as soon as they heard the gunshots, they subconsciously pulled the trigger, and what aiming, what shooting elements, had long been lost to Java.

Although the hit rate of the volunteers was low, the British targets that were advancing rapidly in two long columns were too large and close, and a salvo of more than 500 muskets also knocked down thirty or forty British troops.

Chen Huacheng, who watched the battle with a telescope, saw his eyelids jumping, at this level? It doesn't seem to be much stronger than the green battalion, I really don't know how the Yuanqi regimental training regained Dinghai in the first battle, could it be that the British army broke out of the epidemic and was picked up by the Yuanqi regimental training!

Seeing this situation, Guo Fu smiled, what kind of Yuanqi group training is worse than the Qing soldiers, and immediately raised his hand and waved it vigorously, "fortheemperor!" (Charge)"

"Get on the bayonet!" Xiao Mingliang shouted, more than a hundred meters, it is impossible to have time to load bullets, although he knows that Yi Yong has not practiced much bayonet hand-to-hand combat, but now he has no choice, and the bayonet is the best choice!

"Get on the bayonet!" The officers at all levels in the trenches instantly cheered.

Just when the bayonet was shouted in the trenches, "Ping Pong——。 The gunfire rang out again, and then it became dense, and the British troops who were charging forward fell in an instant like wheat stubble.

Xiao Mingliang looked up, and suddenly breathed a sigh of relief in his heart, Yuanqi regimental training rushed to reinforcements, although Yi Zhizhi was content to temper Yiyong, but after all, it was Yiyong's first actual battle, how dare he be so big, arranged for Yuanqi's regiment to practice a company outside the trench to respond, and found that after the British army carried the Caron cannon ashore in the Suzhou River Fort, he was worried that Yiyong would not be able to retreat smoothly, so he sent reinforcements to a company of the fort and his guard company.

The gunfire was slightly sparse, and then it sounded intensively, and the three battalions of volunteers who had just withdrawn from the trenches were driven by the Yuanqi regimental training who came to reinforce them, and they also killed a horse gun, directly continuing the firepower.

For a while, the entire battlefield was filled with gunfire, and the British troops who were charging did not even have a chance to fight back, so they became moving targets at close range, falling one by one in the continuous gunfire, and the two long queues were no longer in formation.

Seeing this scene, Guo Fu was directly petrified, he had already charged, it was impossible to stop, and at this time, whether he stopped to fight back or retreated, it would only cause greater casualties.

Seeing this scene, Chen Huacheng couldn't help but be overjoyed, and praised loudly: "Beautiful! Played beautifully! This trick is really beautiful to feint and lure the enemy! ”

Feng Yaozu put down the binoculars, he didn't know what to say, the Yuanqi regimental training that came to reinforce was not in a queue at all, sparsely lazy, where was the feint to lure the enemy, however, I have to say that the reinforcements were very timely, and directly caught the British army off guard, he smiled and said: "Did the military gate notice, the musket practiced by the Yuanqi regiment ......." ”

Chen Huacheng nodded, he naturally noticed that the range of the musket practiced by the Yuanqi regiment was very surprising to him, and it was shot three or four hundred meters away, and it was not at all like the green battalion that was fighting indiscriminately, shooting at will, or fighting or half-crouching, and the shooting was aimed at, and it was very high to see the British troops falling to the ground one by one, and I think this is also the basis of Yuanqi's regimental training.

On the third-class battleship "Branhan", Rear Admiral Baga only watched with a frightened heartbeat, how many casualties did he have in this moment? attacked Wusong Fort and occupied Baoshan, but only suffered more than 20 casualties! He hurriedly ordered, "Fifth to the left, flowering shells, three bursts - open fire." ”

Before the order was given, a loud charge sounded on the riverbank, and the battalion commander Song Dachun, who led the team to reinforce, naturally did not forget that there were still four warships eyeing the river, and after two rounds of shooting, seeing that the number of people on the side had an absolute advantage, he immediately ordered the charge to be sounded without hesitation.

As soon as the loud charge horn sounded, the Yuanqi regiment took the lead in shouting and charging forward, and the subsequent volunteers were all enthusiastic and rushed forward with a loud shout, and the killing sound was heard all day long on the riverbank.

Seeing Yuan Qi Tuanlian and Yi Yong shouting and charging, Chen Huacheng suddenly felt his blood boiling, turned around and glanced at the more than 100 guards behind him, pointed to the battlefield, and said loudly: "Sons, do you dare to rush to kill?" ”

Xu Lin, the captain of the personal guard, immediately stepped out and arched his hand: "Why don't you dare?" The eyes of the marked and other people who have already seen it are extremely hot! ”

Feng Yaozu was not to be outdone, and hurriedly bowed his hand and said: "The last general is willing to lead the team to rush and kill!" ”

"Good!" Chen Huacheng said loudly, and then pointed forward, "Shame on me for Jiangnan Green Camp!" Kill! ”

Turning over the horse, Feng Yaozu pulled out his portable sword and pointed forward: "Snow shame!" ”

Seeing more than 100 cavalry rushing towards the battlefield like a whirlwind, Guo Fu's heart jumped, and his face turned pale, it's over, it's completely over! He never dreamed that Yuanqi Tuanlian and the militia in Shanghai would dare to take the initiative to charge, and they had fought more than ten battles in the Qing Kingdom, which was the first time he had seen the initiative to charge at the British army.

On the third-class battleship "Branhan", Baga was also dumbfounded, and the communications officer hesitated: "General, does the order still need to be executed?" ”

Glaring at him hatefully, Baga said angrily, "Standby." ”

Suzhou Creek Fort is not far from the northern suburbs trenches, listening to the loud charge, the earth-shattering shouting of killing, Yi Zhi couldn't help but be stunned, actually charged, and then he figured out the reason for the charge, however, to be able to decisively launch a charge in this situation, Song Dachun is also a general.

What will be the outcome of this battle? If you want to avoid big casualties, I'm afraid it's impossible, I just hope that you don't hurt your muscles and bones, whether it's Yuanqi Tuanlian or Yi Yong, but you can't afford to live up to big casualties, thinking of this, he sighed secretly, from the very beginning, this battle was completely out of his control, and he could only take one step at a time. (To be continued.) )