Under the gloomy sky, the cavalry's advance was like a surging tide. There were close to six thousand cavalrymen in total. Looking down from the sky, they were densely packed. The armored cavalrymen at the front were like huge waves surging out of a tide. When they charged on the plains, they really had the power to flatten a small mountain, crushing everything in their path.
As the heavy armored cavalry whizzed forward, the rear and flanks gradually separated and began to circle to the side. This was the light cavalry that separated from the heavy armored cavalry. Although the Iron Sparrow Hawk was a heavy cavalry, they were often used as the main force in Western Xia's battles. They were proficient in long-distance raids and had quick mobility. During long-distance raids, they would be followed by pack horses of equal or several times the number, carrying heavy armor. Although these pack horses were not as elite as warhorses, when the heavy armor was taken off, the accompanying secondary soldiers could still use them as mounts, forming a light cavalry unit for battle.
Western Xia was originally a tribal system with a strict hierarchy. As the elite of the elite, each Iron Sparrow Hawk was often accompanied by three secondary soldiers. These secondary soldiers were the Iron Sparrow Hawk's family's servants and personal guards. Whether it was bravery or loyalty, they were all rather good and could be said to be one in a hundred. Even if the warhorses under them were not good enough, they were still a rather elite force.
This time, the Black Flag Army had displayed a tyrannical battle strength in breaking through Yanzhou. In order to quickly kill this roving bandit army that came from the rear, Mei Lei led two thousand and seven hundred Iron Sparrow Hawks to quickly attack, followed by two thousand and seven hundred light cavalry on pack horses. Since the start of the battle, the secondary leader Chang Da had received the order to interfere from the side and act according to the opportunity. He led nearly three thousand light cavalry and began to surround the enemy from the side. The enemy's formation was orderly and looked rather fierce, but according to his past battle experience, this fierce and arrogant army would still be quickly smashed apart by the heavy cavalry vanguard. What he needed to pay attention to was the one or two thousand light cavalry already lined up at the back of the enemy's formation.
The enemy was riding fine horses specially bred for battle. His own mounts were slightly inferior, but the bravery of the cavalry under him was not inferior to anyone in the world. Chang Da had great confidence in this. If the enemy showed any bad signs, the cavalry he led would not hesitate to charge at the enemy.
He closely watched the battle situation in front of him, breathing in and out. The heavy cavalry increased their speed to the maximum and was about to step into the distance of an arrow's throw. Based on past experiences, arrows would fly over, but for Iron Sparrow Hawk, the meaning wasn't great. Even though he understood this, there would still be arrows. Sometimes, a few unlucky heavy cavalry would fall off their horses.
But there were no arrows.
The next moment, the attacks came like a tidal wave!
Without much warning, following the rise of the first explosion, countless explosions set off huge waves on the frontlines of the cavalry. Deafening sounds swept out. The huge waves silently rose and rose, as if they were rushing head-on. They collided with the Iron Sparrow Hawk's huge wave. After a moment of stalemate, both sides slammed into each other.
"Wow —"
Bang!
Bang –
Boom boom boom boom boom —
Squad Leader Na Gu shouted as he charged into the huge wave of smoke and dust. Then, he was smashed out from the other side. The fallen armored warhorse pinned his body down. He raised his head in pain and numbness. On the other side of the huge wave, countless flowers were rising!
The gray barrier, the dust, the surging shockwaves, and the choking and dry smell were all rising and expanding. The objects that were fired from the frontlines crashed into the barrier. Yellow light exploded in the black smoke and dust, followed by dark red flames. All kinds of small objects flew, and the air waves rolled and raged.
In Gu's field of vision, the explosions nearby were like the earth quaking and the mountains swaying. For an individual, the heavily armored Iron Sparrowhawk was like a mountain. When they rushed out of this barrier, they fell and tumbled like a landslide. The impact on the enemy's formation had shrunk the front of the cavalry formation, causing the distance between the warhorses to become denser than usual. The rising black smoke and dust blocked the cavalry's vision. Many of the cavalry were still in good condition, but under the high-speed charge, they either tripped over the corpses of the warhorses or bumped into their companions in front of them who were starting to rush in. They were sent flying into the ground with a loud bang.
On the yellow soil slope, there was already little vegetation. Although it was not as barren as in the future, the power of the explosion stirred up the dust.
In such a huge chaos, some of the warhorses were still frightened.
Their vision was shaking, and the ominous air flow was chaotic and indescribable. Their companions rushed out of the black barrier, either running or collapsing. There were also a few who were still speeding forward. Na Gu saw a heavy cavalry charge out of the smoke and dust, and the rider on the horse seemed to be in good condition. In the next moment, an object shot from that direction hit the charging rider. The warhorse was still charging forward, but half of its body, which was covered in armor, was blasted into pieces.
This was demonic magic! Great fear surged within him. He still wanted to crawl out from under the horse, but just as he was exerting force, an Iron Sparrow Hawk suddenly rushed out from behind him. The horse lost its front hooves, drowning out his field of view like a small mountain...
"... Elm Cannon, load the second round!"
"Faster, faster, faster …"
"Don't let them breathe …"
In the Black Flag Army's position, the special forces officer was currently shouting hysterically. In the back, two thousand cavalry began to move out. The atmosphere in the infantry formation was austere. Hou Wu, Mao Yishan, and the others were currently waiting for the moment to charge. In their surroundings, the special forces soldiers were currently quickly assembling the portable barricades. These barricades used long iron rods as the axle, intersecting with iron pikes before fixing them in place. Six pikes and one iron rod formed a group. After being fixed in place, it was almost impossible to move them. Even if they rolled over, they would still be in the same shape. After being assembled, they were quickly pushed forward.
The great battle on Dong Zhiyuan had just begun, but the incoming attack was like a dream. In this era, this was a scene that had almost never appeared before.
The first round of artillery bombardment directly crippled or killed roughly a hundred or so armored heavy cavalry, but the truly spectacular scene was still the rising smoke and dust barrier. It blocked the Iron Sparrow Hawk's line of sight, and the fallen cavalry also became the barricades. Right now, the number of fallen cavalry was still continuously increasing. The close to a thousand cavalry at the front were all more or less affected. Some of the warhorses were startled, madly sprinting in the wrong direction. In this era, the cavalry had training to set off firecrackers or make noise to allow the warhorses to adapt to the battlefield sounds, but it had never reached this degree.
Some of the cavalry on horseback had their eardrums blasted apart, the flying smoke and dust blurring their eyes. Meanwhile, the balance of the warhorses was similarly affected. In that instant, the heavy cavalry that rushed out were either tripped by their companions, their necks broken, or they smashed into other cavalry. The riders on horseback did their best to pull on their horses, running faster and faster, and then falling to the ground. The remaining cavalry continued to charge forward after slightly adjusting themselves. Meanwhile, on this side, artillery shells were still continuously fired.
Many cavalrymen were continuously filtered out.
In the cannons, the soldiers quickly cleaned the barrels and loaded hollow or solid shells into the elm cannons. There were more than twenty iron cannons, and most of them were hollow shells. These iron cannons had different specifications and calibers. Some were integrated, while others were divided into two sections. Just like the Franc machine guns of the later generations, the barrel was separated from the sub-cannons. After one shot was fired, the sub-cannons were dismantled, and another one was quickly installed.
Lin Jingwei, the person in charge of craftsmanship in Small Cang River, and Gongsun Sheng stood near the iron cannons, slightly frowning as they watched the heavy cavalry at the front of the battle line wander in confusion or struggle to get up from the ground. At this time, there were loud noises, shouts, and cannons. While watching, Lin Jingwei also shouted to the side, "Do it as usual, do it as usual! Over there, what are you doing! Be careful of the shells in your hands, or they will blow you up! "
Amid the banging sounds, there were still bags of explosives flying into the sky. Some fell among the horses and exploded, while others exploded after a while. Gongsun Sheng carefully observed the power of the explosions.
Almost nine years had passed since Ning Yi came to the Wu dynasty. As for gunpowder, Ning Yi had been subconsciously improving it since the beginning. In a sense, the black gunpowder of ancient China and the yellow gunpowder of modern times were two different concepts. There was not unlimited room for improvement of black gunpowder, and to develop it into modern explosives, such as nitrous oxide and nitrous oxide glycerin, a large amount of chemical foundation was needed.
There was a bottleneck, but some things were not without a compromise. There were three basic compounds needed to make nitrous oxide glycerin. Sulfuric acid had long been discovered by alchemists in ancient times, and nitric acid was temporarily unavailable. However, its raw material was not lacking in the Wu dynasty. During this era, saltpeter was mainly used by rich families to make ice in the summer. Nitrous acid could be obtained by dry distillation, reaction with sulfuric acid, and hydrolysis. As for glycerin, it could be separated by heating it with sulfuric acid and animal and vegetable fats, and then reacting with soda or lime. It could even be made into soap.
For Ning Yi, these principles were not unfamiliar, but it was naturally very difficult to find a suitable ratio and production method in this era. Fortunately, although his specialty was not chemistry, it was manpower and operation. After popularizing basic chemical knowledge to the craftsmen under him, these things could be done by others. Since Gongsun Sheng and the others joined, the number of craftsmen under his command continued to increase. His initial knowledge of chemistry could not actually keep up with the progress of research in the workshop.
In the later advancement of the explosives workshop, practical results were far superior to theoretical knowledge. Craftsmen with basic chemical knowledge could not become Mendeleev, but under the pursuit of efficiency, the modern research system that paid attention to recording and comparison, the quality of gunpowder produced had become increasingly pure. After sulfuric acid and nitric acid could be produced, nitrocellulose and other materials had already appeared in the workshop. After all kinds of messy things were mixed by Gongsun Sheng and the others, the explosive power of gunpowder had become quite considerable, enough to be used decisively on the battlefield.
(Shi Xiao) At this time, glycerin had a certain preparation foundation, but Ning Yi did not rashly develop it. Firstly, after the rebellion, there was indeed a lack of resources. In the future, pigs were raised with fat, but in this era, pigs were raised with only lean meat. Using animal and vegetable fats to produce glycerin was too extravagant and not cost-effective. Secondly, there was still a long way to go from the invention of diatomaceous earth to the relatively safe use of diatomaceous earth. Before the craftsmen in the workshop understood diatomaceous earth, Ning Yi did not dare to act recklessly. And this time, basically all the things that could be used in the Small Cang River had been used.
Several types of delay fuses made in the workshop, hand-made hollow bullets, including the high-yield explosive bags that Ning Yi had requested from the beginning, and the extremely extravagant iron launcher — these large diameter cylinders that shot the explosive bags were called flying thunder in the future.
During the War of Liberation, the explosive bags shot by oil drums were much more powerful than ordinary cannons when they fell. The power of the modern explosives packed in them could sweep across an area of more than twenty meters, killing all humans and animals. Because they were killed by the shock wave, not even a wound could be found when they died, so they were called "heartless cannons."
The explosive bags shot at this time naturally did not have such power, but after they fell on the ground and exploded, the shock wave expanded to an area of three to four meters. The momentum and the airwaves were astonishing. In the billowing smoke and dust, the horses nearby were thrown away by the huge momentum and crashed into their companions.
"The world is changing..."
The dark clouds in the sky dispersed. Gongsun Sheng looked at the small number of cavalrymen rushing over, said, and then picked up the big iron hammer on the ground. He was dressed in a Taoist robe and looked sage-like. In fact, since he could occupy a place in the Liangshan Bandit Gang, he was quite powerful. At this time, he dragged his hammer and rushed forward. A heavy horse was galloping toward him. The two of them collided in the blink of an eye. The Taoist took advantage of the momentum and swung his heavy hammer. With a terrible bang, the hammer hit the warhorse's head. The whole warhorse neighed and its four hooves were sent flying to the ground on the side. Blood and dust were rolling.
Holding the hammer, he walked towards another cavalryman who was rushing towards him. Next to him, there were also infantrymen rushing over. When the cavalryman was smashed to the ground, Gongsun Sheng shouted to the back, "Hurry up..."
Only one-third of the cavalrymen who had rushed over from the opposite side and survived the explosion and successfully reached the front line. Some of the cavalrymen were still in a daze in the smoke and dust because of the damage to their riders and horses. More than twenty iron barricades were carried by soldiers in front of them, followed by sabers, long spears, and iron hammers. The soldiers waiting on the other side also received a huge shock in their ears. There was almost no sound in their ears. The cavalrymen lost some speed because of the fierce bombardment, but they still came over with an overwhelming momentum. The armored cavalrymen crashed into the barricades, breaking them in half or pushing them on the ground. More cavalrymen came over, waving their sabers and long spears to meet them. The hammer-wielding soldiers smashed the iron armor of the horses and riders with their hammers. Blood gushed out from the gaps in the armor.
At this time, the middle formation of the Iron Sparrow Hawk had also rushed over the huge wall of smoke. They were relatively cautious, and their speed was also slightly slower. They circled around the two sides of the smoke. Because the bombardment had weakened, the rising black smoke was opening up their vision, and Mei Lei, who was at the back, could roughly see the situation in front of them.
In this era, an ordinary army would collapse if they lost ten percent of their troops. The Iron Sparrow Hawks were not such a weak army. They were the elites of the elites. Many times, they did not hesitate to sacrifice in exchange for victory. But the important thing was that sacrifice could be exchanged for victory.
At this time, the battle had only just begun. This time, the front formation rushed over. The middle formation hesitated for a moment, but at this time, they had already stepped into the range of an arrow's throw. They still wanted to rush forward, but in front of them, the army was like a giant beast, swallowing up a third of the Iron Sparrow Hawk's troops. Before this, there was no long-range battle that could threaten the Iron Sparrow Hawks.
The middle formation was still rushing forward. Things had happened too quickly, and they did not have the time to collapse. The soldiers in the middle formation were only confused, and the officers with a bit of rationality turned back to look at the huge flag. Mei Lei was also leading the troops and rushing over — he had originally wanted to rescue or support the front formation that had fallen into the explosion. At this time, even though he had been on the battlefield for a long time, his mind was blank.
The entire front formation had lost almost all of its combat power — it was over.
But their morale was not lost, and they could still fight if they rushed over. To continue charging, or not to charge, this was the question.
At this moment … he thought of his mother …
*****
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