Chapter 46: The Power of Firearms

  The first line of defense for the Ming army was on the small horizontal platform at the front, with two trenches and wooden fences in a radial shape to form a frontal blockade against multiple mountain paths; The second line of defense was on the gray slope ridge above the small horizontal platform, with three stepped defensive positions centered on the mountain top, which could block the intersection of the small horizontal platform and the ancient mountain path.

  I'll give you all the machine guns, go ahead and shoot! Zhu Yongxing stood on the ridge of the second line of defense, gazing out at the distance. Although it was not far away, the dust filled the air, and he could only see the first few rows of Qing troops advancing step by step, but couldn't see the specific deployment behind them.

  The first line of defense was handed over to Zhang Guangcai's command, but the soldiers were mostly Wu Sanxiang's men, including 300 fire gunners who had only been trained for half a month. Prevention is necessary, and the problem of "soldiers being subordinate to generals" has always been deeply hated by Zhu Yongxing. This not only easily leads to warlordism, where generals become arrogant and domineering, but also makes soldiers become attached goods of generals, often being viewed as "what can't be taken lightly" capital, becoming a means for generals to preserve their power, or even defecting.

  Due to the recovery of Ming soldiers from malaria and injuries, some recovered quickly while others slowly, giving Zhu Youjian an opportunity to disrupt the formation and reorganize. Of course, this measure was not thorough or complete, and he did not dare to make it too obvious, fearing that the generals would harbor dissenting opinions.

  The formation of the firearms troops, however, was due to Zhu's inherent foresight. He knew that hot weapons would eventually replace cold weapons. Although the fire lance guns captured from the Miao soldiers had many defects, he would not abandon them. Compared with training qualified archers, the training of firearms troops was much faster. Of course, Zhu did not expect this newly formed firearms troop to win in a field battle, but when defending against an enemy's attack, the protection of the firearms troops was not a big problem. The penetration power of these relatively old-fashioned fire lance guns could make the armor and shields of the attacking side become weak things.

  Zhu Yongxing had once thought of training his musketeers to fire in three or five volleys, but after several attempts he temporarily gave up on the idea and came to a conclusion: without extremely strict long-term training, it was purely impossible for musketeers to perform orderly multiple volleys.

  "When each company first opened fire, perhaps only two or three soldiers did not join in the volley firing and fired independently. Immediately afterwards, a sheet of flame appeared in the formation, with soldiers from different companies and platoons mixed together, loading their rifles and firing at will, while those in the front rank no longer knelt to fire, although they had intended to do so. At that point, faced with the chaotic situation of booming gunfire, neither generals nor junior officers were able to control anything, and could only wait for the troops to advance or retreat on their own."

  That's exactly the situation Zhu Yongxing encountered, which is almost identical to the description in a Western military work, and the musketeers trained by Zhu Yongxing made such mistakes even without the enemy charging.

  Although Zhu Yongxing encountered setbacks and could not easily form a well-trained musket team like his predecessors, he still thought of a solution and decided to use it in the blocking battle.

  There's nothing to hide, in the current situation, taking the initiative and boosting morale is most important. Moreover, with the current firearms, relying on newly trained gunners, Zhu Yongxing wouldn't dare consider them a decisive factor either. Because that's simply unrealistic.

  The Qing army, which had been attacking from a distance, was now close to the trenches and within thirty meters of the wooden palisade. In the dusty terrain, the Qing commander issued a hoarse command. The archers behind the shield wall shot a volley of arrows upwards and forwards, after which the auxiliary soldiers carrying sacks rushed forward to fill in the trenches.

  "Fire!" Commander He Liangshun yelled.

  As a vanguard to capture the enemy, the first battle defeat of the firearms team was not under Zhang Guangcai's command, and this distance also met Zhu Yongxing's requirement that they could start shooting.

  The musketeer, standing behind the palisade with half his body hidden in the trench, immediately fixed the burning fuse to the lock and extended the gun through the palisade slit, took aim, and fired.

  With a loud roar, flames flashed, and white smoke suddenly rose behind the fence. Hundreds of bullets flew out quickly, shooting at the Qing army tens of meters away.

  The old-fashioned fire lance was eliminated because of its large caliber, clumsiness and inability to provide sufficient flexible firepower for infantry to replace crossbowmen or archers. However, it had great power, and there were records that a single shot from a large-caliber fire lance could kill several people or horses, and it was also very effective in forming a fixed formation under the cover of long spear soldiers and trenches to confront enemy forces.

  Accompanied by miserable cries and wails, the Qing army's attacking formation suffered its first fierce blow. Large-caliber bullets not only killed many auxiliary soldiers filling trenches and exposed shield-bearing soldiers, but also penetrated shields, and many Qing soldiers behind them were inexplicably hit, crying out in pain as they fell to the ground.

  The musketeer finished shooting, immediately removed the fuse, handed the musket back to his comrade behind him, and another loaded musket was passed into his hand.

  Cock the flintlock, aim and fire. A series of actions were done quickly and accurately, within a dozen seconds or so, the Ming army's musketeers fired another round of bullets.

  This is the solution that Zhu Yongxing came up with, similar to a factory's assembly line production. Three, four or five musketeers would form a row, each completing their own tasks, and then the first musketeer would fire.

  This not only increased the rate of fire by several times, but also simplified the operation and reduced the possibility of errors due to tension. The shooter only needs to focus on shooting, without having to reload and pay attention to the position of the fuse, greatly reducing the likelihood of misfire.

  The thunderous sound came one after another, the white smoke became thicker and thicker, only to hear the chaotic cries and shouts from the opposite side, but almost couldn't see the situation in front. After six rounds of shooting, the commander of the musketeers, He Liangshun, gave the order to stop firing, so as to observe the effect of the strike.

  The smoke gradually dispersed, but the dust flew everywhere, and it was still not clear to see the entire situation of the enemy's attacking formation. However, in front of the trenches, it was a mess. Shields, knives, guns, corpses, and wounded soldiers who fell to the ground and wailed, presented a bloody scene in front of the Ming army.

  The mere rotation of the firelocks had already repelled the Qing army's first attack. The Ming army saw more and more clearly that the Qing army was fleeing in disarray, with yellow dust flying everywhere, as if thousands of horses and soldiers were descending from the mountains.