?
"God bless France!"
"Let's teach the barbaric Chinese a lesson!"
Belligerent and arrogant slogans echoed among the French landing forces. It was obvious that the British side did not want to send troops. However, this was not a reason to stop the French attack. The French army, which won the Crimean War, regained its position as the strongest army in Europe. After the Battle of Waterloo, the Russians invaded Paris, which was a great humiliation for the French. With the victory of the Napoleonic War, Russia became the "Gendarmerie of Europe" and swaggered around Eastern Europe. As long as there was a revolution in a country, the Russian army could be seen going to suppress the revolution.
The arrogant Russians finally made the British decide to teach the Russians a lesson. In the Crimean War, the British pulled France to attack Russia. After the war, they began to support Osman Turkey and inserted their hands heavily into the Mediterranean Sea. This was not a happy thing for France.
In order to gain the right to march into Indochina after the war, the French commander felt that it was necessary to show France's fighting strength. That was why he decided to start a war.
Of course, the French Army did not only know how to command troops with words. With the experience of the Crimean War, the French ships' cannons were parked in the channel between Hong Kong Island and Kowloon to cover the French landing forces. The French Navy's artillerymen demonstrated by firing fiercely at the shore, attacking areas that they thought might be threatened. Amidst the rumbling of the cannons, the landing fleet full of French troops landed in Kowloon opposite Hong Kong Island. The French troops jumped off the ship and began to line up on the flat coast.
Not only did the US fleet not participate in the battle, but they all went ashore and set up binoculars to watch the battle from a high place. France could be said to be the "benefactor" of the US. From the beginning of the War of Independence, France fully supported the US. Historically speaking, the "Falling Cherry Axe" did not attack, and the battles on the battlefield were all fought by the French. And after the US became independent, they also backstabbed them. They took over Louisiana and other places in the Mississippi River region controlled by the French.
Watching the French Army attack the Liberation Army, the US side of the war naturally hoped to see the French Army show their power and teach the Chinese a lesson when the British were unwilling to fight directly.
However, as soon as the French landed, the Liberation Army in the distance began firing at the landing site with artillery. The ground around the Nine Dragons' shore was relatively hard, and the explosive shells exploded violently as soon as they landed on the ground. On the several-kilometer-long coast, almost every cannonball would kill one or two French soldiers, or even more than a dozen French soldiers. Before the French army could gain a firm foothold on the beach, more than a hundred men were killed and wounded.
The French obviously did not expect such a fierce attack. Their naval cannons could not effectively attack inland targets, so the French gave up the idea of forming a large formation on the relatively flat shore. Instead, they began to advance inland after landing in platoons.
"The Chinese artillery seems to have retreated?" Some of the American officers saw through their binoculars the figures of some sports cars pulled by mules and horses moving in the direction of the mountains.
"The Chinese are so cowardly!" The US troops began to mock them. If the central army didn't retreat now, they could still take advantage of the fact that the French army hadn't regained their footing and continue to cause damage to the French army.
Brigade Commander Wu Liao had no idea that he was being mocked by the Americans. Even if he knew, he wouldn't have cared. The French army was indeed the strongest in Europe. Their troops did not stupidly attack from the front. Instead, they quickly outflanked them from both sides. If they waited for the French to attack, they would only divert their firepower. It would also increase unnecessary casualties.
As the Liberation Army's artillery began to retreat, the bombardment of the French army also temporarily stopped. The French army quickly stabilized their front line and began to form a standard offensive formation. The Americans couldn't help but praise the French army. They were indeed much faster than the US Army. Moreover, the large formation made up of small squares looked more impactful.
Wu Liao, who was in charge of commanding at Lion Rock, couldn't help but nod. Looking from afar, the French army was as agile as the Liberation Army's elite troops. Wu Liao frowned slightly as he watched the French army's front line begin to advance.
The French commander was also a little surprised. The timidity of the central army had indeed exceeded his expectations. An army that could be taken seriously by the British shouldn't be a timid army. The British were good at fighting head-on battles, and they could even be called the "Army of God" when they were down. The British had rich experience in dealing with so many backward tribes.
The Liberation Army's retreat was even faster than the Manchu Qing army. When they attacked Da Gu Kou, the French army could at least use the army's artillery to quickly kill the Manchu Qing army. Now, the French army had already fled before the French artillery had even entered the battlefield. What was going on?
However, there was no time to think about this problem on the battlefield. The enemy had retreated, so they had to start chasing. The Chinese artillery had obviously retreated to the highlands of Lion Rock. After the artillery retreated to the highlands, the range would naturally increase, which might not be advantageous for the French army in the following battle. They had to speed up their advance. After occupying the highlands, the French army could be considered to have achieved their goal in the first round. Therefore, the French army began to advance neatly in the direction of Lion Rock.
“? Shu? Shu?
Bi Wei Gu?? Bei Pin Xia? Ji Cui Zhi Jiao Gu Zhu Na Gu Nan Gu Otter A fo?? Bi Badger Neon Lead?? Chao Neon Right Father Xun Waving Zinc Blowing Jiao Gu Chun?? Award? Straw Receiving Moraine
Bullets whizzed through the air, and the French soldiers were all hit. They soon saw that the smoke came from behind some obstacles on the ground. Did the Chinese dig a trench there? Otherwise, the infantry would not be able to hide behind the trench and fire continuously.
"Fire!" With the experience of the Crimean War, the French navy's cannons fired at the smoke coming from the Chinese army. These artillery soldiers were all experienced. With the guidance of the artillery observers on the mast, the firing went very smoothly. The Chinese's firing range was too far. The Chinese opened fire at a distance of two to three hundred meters from the French army. This obviously went against the common sense of shooting on the battlefield. This confusion could be explained by the weak will of the Chinese army. When the Chinese saw the elite French army, they were scared out of their wits and fired randomly to boost their courage. This was also very normal.
Standing on Lion Rock, Wu Liao looked at the battlefield. The Liberation Army's new rifles were prioritized for the frontline troops, not the garrison troops. Therefore, Wu Liao's troops were all one-on-one with steel barrels. Although he was holding the binoculars tightly, Wu Liao felt like his body was the same as the soldiers on the battlefield. He lay on the ground, adjusted his breathing, and aimed accurately at the enemy while firing continuously.
The accuracy of the rifles was astonishing. It could be said that they never missed their target within 30 meters. They could also use a volley of guns to kill the enemy within 300 meters. More importantly, because of the new lying down shooting position, only a small part of the soldiers' bodies was exposed to the enemy's sight, greatly reducing the casualty rate.
Therefore, Wu Liao agreed that the French army's combat power was not inferior to the British army. In a battle like this, the only thing that could effectively kill the Liberation Army was the cannons. The French army did not even suffer a big loss, and used the cannons to bombard the Liberation Army's infantry position. This kind of adaptability of the soldiers was indeed not something an ordinary army could achieve. If the Liberation Army's opponent was a bunch of good-for-nothings like the Qing Army, they would not have thought of such a method even if they killed them. Even when the Liberation Army was carrying out tactical deductions on paper, everyone thought for a long time before they figured out that they should use the cannons to deal with the enemy's new tactics.
Of course, this was also the French army's limit. The Liberation Army had Military Governor Vaize. Wu Liao remembered very clearly that the Military Governor Vaize first wrote a note and put it on the table. After the Liberation Army spent half an hour coming up with a solution, the Military Governor Vaize opened the note and wrote the words "Cover the enemy's position with the cannons."
Next, the Military Governor Vaize talked about the infantry's tactics in dealing with such a situation. Wu Liao now saw that the Liberation Army's frontline troops were using such tactics, and the retreat route of the position had long been prepared. Because they did not want to give the French army a position that they could use, the frontline troops did not dig trenches, but slightly modified the terrain. Therefore, the troops stood up with their backs bent, and ran quickly from one cover to another with their rifles. If there was not a high enough bulge between two cover points, the troops would crawl forward, using their arms and legs, and quickly crawl over those areas.
This posture did look embarrassing, but it could hide them to the greatest extent. The troops' actions were carried out according to the formation. If the enemy discovered a soldier, they could concentrate their firepower in that area. At that time, it would not be the life of one soldier that would be lost, but the lives of a dozen or dozens of soldiers. At the same time, it would also expose the troops' movements to the enemy. It would make the subsequent battles very difficult.
Seeing that the frontline troops had finally successfully retreated to the second line of defense under the French's bombardment, Wu Liao finally breathed a sigh of relief. Just now, he only felt that he was with the frontline soldiers, and the feeling of his body touching the ground was so clear, as if Wu Liao was crawling on the ground with everyone.
After his body recovered, Wu Liao immediately returned to the troops. In all the training, Wu Liao had to train with the troops every time. Under the scorching sun, under the dark clouds, in the rain, Wu Liao personally crawled and struggled. The hardship of the training made the grass-roots officers unable to watch it anymore. They felt that Wu Liao was not only training to death himself, but he was also training to death with everyone!
Even though the troops were full of complaints, Wu Liao did not relax at all. The army psychologist had already explained the truth to Wu Liao clearly. The past battles were over, and every battle in the future was a new one. People always lived in the present, and they could only live in the present.
Wu Liao admitted that this was true, but the scene of the bloody sky in the Battle of Foshan, and watching his brothers fall row by row under the enemy's guns, often popped up in Wu Liao's mind. It made him tremble, and it made him feel despair. Only by practicing the new weapons and tactics over and over again could Wu Liao feel that he and the troops had gained new strength. He and the troops already had combat ability that surpassed the Battle of Foshan. The nightmare of the Battle of Foshan would never appear again.
Wu Liao raised his head and carefully observed the French command. He saw that the cannons from the warships had finally stopped. The French army began to advance.
"Charge!" The officers of the French phalanx gave the same order in unison. No matter what kind of preparation the enemy had, under such dense cannons, it was impossible for the Chinese army to escape unscathed. What they needed now was for the French army to quickly close in, and then use the concentrated firepower to take care of the Chinese army in the mountains. If the French army continued to advance, they would no longer be protected by the warships' cannons. Even if the French cannons could still fire, it was hard to say whether the cannons would be firing at the enemy or the French army.
The distance of more than two hundred meters was quickly covered, and the French army paused for a moment when they reached the first line of defense of the Chinese army. The densely packed craters on the ground were indeed a problem, and there were only about twenty dead bodies of the Chinese army that had been hit by the cannons. The French army could not help but be surprised. More than a hundred of the French army had been killed or injured. Could these twenty Chinese soldiers have caused so many casualties to the French army? Were these 20 or so Chinese soldiers that good at marksmanship?
After leaving the range of the warships' cannons, the French army's cannons were finally transported to the coast of Kowloon. With the cover of the land artillery, the French commander felt a lot more at ease. He ordered the troops to continue advancing and take down the Lion Rock Plateau in one go.
The second line of defense also held for about twenty minutes. Because the distance was much closer, Wu Liao could see the situation more clearly. The troops only dealt a small blow to the French army before retreating to the third line of defense. This was also the first official line of defense of Lion Rock Plateau. A trench that was half a person deep was dug here, and forty meters in front of the trench were set up with bamboo sticks and traps. It was enough to slow down the French army's attack.
The first to engage the Liberation Army's line of defense was not the central line of defense, but the French army's two flanks. Both the Liberation Army and the European army were very clear about the power of flanking attacks. On the flanks, Wu Liao placed two battalions of troops each. On the other hand, Wu Liao only placed two battalions on the front line.
The Liberation Army only began to fire fiercely when the French army was sixty meters away from the position. At this time, the artillery on Lion Rock Plateau also joined the battle. The first thing the artillery wanted to destroy was the French army's artillery. The smoothbore cannons on the hillside fired fiercely at the French artillery.
The Americans who were watching the battle were dumbfounded when they saw the cannons of the Liberation Army suddenly increase in intensity by nearly ten times. The cannons on the Lion Rock Fort finally revealed themselves amid the smoke of gunpowder. Meanwhile, the cannons set up by the French army on the shore exploded violently. The cannonballs all had delayed fuses, and the iron balls bounced and spun on the ground. Or they directly rushed into the French artillery and knocked down the people and the cannons. Even if they didn't hit their targets, the cannonballs would explode violently near the French artillery after a while. The French artillery was drowned in sand and smoke.
In addition to the bombardment, gunshots also sounded like popping beans. No one knew whether it was the French army or the Chinese army who fired. In short, there was smoke and gunshots everywhere. The whole battlefield was shrouded in smoke like a boiling cauldron.
"Advance!" "Open fire!" "Open fire!" "Advance!" The French officers were either hysterical or trembling as they issued these two orders.
They finally saw the enemy. They hid in the trenches on the ground and fired at the French almost non-stop. Only half of the heads of the mole-like Chinese army could barely be seen by the French army, and on the battlefield that was gradually covered by the smoke, that half of the heads quickly became blurred in the French army's sight. It was too difficult to hit such a target within sixty meters. Therefore, the French army ignored their own casualties and rushed toward the Liberation Army.
However, the sharp pain in their feet soon made them realize that there was something wrong with the ground. When they pulled their bloody feet out of the ground, they saw that the ground was densely covered with sharp bamboo sticks. The French army immediately tried to go around the bamboo sticks, but the soldiers running in front suddenly tilted as if they had been hit by something. There were many holes dug in the ground that were half a leg deep, and if they were not careful, they would step in. If it was serious, they would break their bones, and if it was light, they would sprain their feet. Even if they were not injured, it would take some effort to pull their feet out.
But with this delay, the troops were hit by a dense barrage of bullets. Many of the French soldiers fell to the ground in strange postures, leaning forward and backward on the bamboo sticks or in the holes. If the French army was willing to step on the bodies of their comrades and continue to advance, they could probably use the corpses to jump out of the way. But the French army's fighting spirit had basically come to an end. They would rather continue to stay behind the bamboo stick formation and shoot at the Liberation Army from a distance of more than forty meters than continue to advance.
As the first-rate army in Europe, the French army was indeed well-trained. At this time, they were actually able to use the old tactic of a three-stage attack. The infantry in the front would shoot, and the soldiers in the back would reload. This was how they maintained their firepower. But on this smoke-filled battlefield, the difference in size between a whole person and half a head was too big. The French army was knocked down row by row. When the casualties exceeded thirty percent, the French army in the middle was the first to collapse. They no longer had the courage they had before the battle. Giving up the honor of being a soldier, the French left their backs to the middle and began to turn around and retreat. If they continued to fight, they would die in vain. If they were to die, they would at least die on the road to saving their own lives!
But at this time, the relationship between escape and survival was very limited. The three-inch cannon of the Liberation Army began to harvest the lives of the French army. Even if they weren't cut down by the scythe-like shrapnel, a single rifle still had enough lethality at a distance of three hundred meters.
The Americans on the other side of the Nine Dragons River were dumbfounded as they watched the French army's defeat. Before seeing a complete Liberation Army soldier, the French army had already collapsed. Even the fleeing French soldiers were taken down one after another under the pursuit of the cannons and bullets.
At this time, the French warships opened fire again. Facing the smoke-filled battlefield, the cannons of the French warships, according to their own estimates, fired fiercely at the positions of the Liberation Army that might pursue them.
Wu Liao let out a long sigh of relief. He also considered whether to send troops to chase after the French army when they retreated. But he couldn't let himself rule out the possibility of the French warships intercepting them with firepower. Although pursuing could greatly increase the results of the battle, Wu Liao didn't want his troops to die in vain again. Looking at the fierce shooting of the French warships, the last bit of regret in Wu Liao's heart disappeared completely. He knew that this battle had come to an end with the unprecedented victory of the Liberation Army.
However, the American officers weren't so optimistic. The French army that they favored and loved suffered such a big loss, which was already beyond their imagination. The military equipment displayed by the Chinese army was also far beyond the imagination of the Americans.
"Are the Liberation Army really Chinese?" an American officer asked doubtfully. This question resonated in the hearts of the other Americans. After seeing the Manchu Qing army, the American officers believed that China was indeed a backward country. After seeing the Liberation Army, the impression that the American officers had formed was completely overturned.
Two hours later, the French army withdrew from the Nine Dragons River. The final tragedy was indescribable. There were two thousand French soldiers when they set out, but when they returned, there were less than five full landing ships. Now, they were empty. In the gradually thinning smoke, there were no more figures returning. It seemed that no one else would be able to return.
And all this was under the situation where the French army had the cover of the warships' cannons. Without the cover of the cannons, if the Liberation Army's cavalry chased after them, the French army that escaped to the coast would be completely annihilated.
Although the British army didn't participate in the battle, their faces were very ugly. As the opponent of the Liberation Army, if the British army participated in the battle, they would have to face everything that the French had to go through. This wasn't something that could be laughed off.
"It seems that we can come forward to mediate the conflict between the Liberation Army and the British," the American commander said in a relaxed tone that sounded like a witty remark.
The group of shocked US military officers couldn't help but laugh out loud after hearing this. This time, the United States joined the coalition as a "mediator." When the British and French forces attacked the Manchu Qing army, the United States and Russia came forward to "mediate." Now that the French had suffered a heavy blow, the Americans seemed to have ample opportunity to show their diplomatic skills.
The Americans didn't care about laughing at the British. As an independent British colony, the tradition of the United States has always been "My father taught me two things. First, believe in God; second, hate the British." Coming out with the British to gain the benefits of the world was one thing. If there was an opportunity to stab the British in the back, the Americans wouldn't let it go.
Knowing the news of France's defeat, the British plenipotentiary in China, Erkin, couldn't help but feel relieved. If it weren't for the French's heavy defeat, Erkin naturally had to bear the responsibility for the loss of the small fleet. But now, Erkin didn't have to worry about this problem. Compared with the loss of the French, those ships were nothing. And through this war, France in the Far East had completely become the little brother of the British, and they had to work behind the British.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
