Chapter 328: All the Cards on the Table

The artillery barrage not only wiped out the rebel’s entire Hongyi cannon team, but a few shells also landed in the middle of the dense rebel troops waiting to attack nearby, instantly killing fifty or sixty people and injuring hundreds. The ground was littered with fragments of corpses and blood, and the screams of the wounded rose and fell.

The rebel army, which had just barely formed a line, fell into disarray. Some refugees turned and tried to flee. Fortunately, the shells did not continue to fall. Mao Chenglu’s men surrounded them from all sides and, after beheading a dozen more people, managed to maintain the line.

Mao Chenglu’s face was extremely ugly. Although these few cannon shots had not killed many people, they had destroyed the Hongyi cannon team, which was a great help to him, and the difficulty of capturing the stockade had greatly increased.

What surprised him most was the great power of the enemy’s artillery. He had seen explosive shells before, but never with such powerful force—not even the large “ten-thousand-man enemy” shells used to defend cities, which required two men to move, were as powerful as the explosive shells that had just been fired. Not to mention the cannonballs.

The explosive shells that the Ming army could fire were of two types. One was actually a poison gas bomb: the shell was filled with a small amount of gunpowder as a detonator, and the rest was mainly sulfur, lime, and many poisonous Chinese medicines such as croton beans. After exploding, the smoke would spread. The other was indeed a high-explosive shell, but it was filled with very little gunpowder and would only break in half when it landed. The power of both was not as good as firing solid shot or canister shot, so they were not widely used.

It seemed that the enemy was not only sharp with their muskets, but their cannons were also far superior to his own—Mao Chenglu was secretly worried. Since the enemy had now ceased fire, it was obvious that they had fired too much and had to let the cannons cool down.

The cannons of the 16th and 17th centuries, due to limited technology in smelting and casting, had low barrel strength, and therefore the barrels were heavy and the rate of fire was not high. At most, they could fire 12-15 rounds per hour, and no more than 60-80 rounds per day. This was even under the condition of being equipped with a large amount of vinegar for forced cooling.

Mao Chenglu did not know the quality of the enemy’s cannons. The dense barrage of fire just now made him think that the enemy’s cannons should have entered the cooling stage, which was a perfect opportunity for his own side to launch an attack.

“Beat the drums!” he ordered loudly. “First wave, attack!”

The drums beat rapidly, and the refugee soldiers of the first wave began to stir—they had already been scared out of their wits by the dense barrage of fire just now, and the little courage they had mustered was long gone. Many of them had only been incited to a momentary burst of courage. When death was presented to them so simply and bloodily, almost everyone showed signs of flinching.

More than a thousand people, crowded together, just wouldn’t move forward.

The rebels were experienced in this. Without waiting for an order, as soon as the second drum roll sounded, the rebel soldiers escorting them had already raised their sabers and beheaded several people at the rear of the column.

“Those who do not advance will be executed!” With the screams from behind and the shouts of the escorts, the crowd at the rear began to surge forward, forcing the people in front to also advance.

On the Willow Fence Fort, all positions reported that the cannons were ready and could fire at any time.

Chen Sigen raised his telescope. The first wave of refugees had already set foot on the sandbar. Looking at the chaotic crowd swarming towards the willow fence, the tragic sight of them being forced to their deaths made him even more unbearable. But at this moment, the cannons were already aimed at their targets. He hesitated for a moment and then ordered, “Fire!”

With the rise of a signal rocket, all the cannons of the Willow Fence Fort and the Qimu Island Detachment Fleet fired at the same time. Because the target had already been marked on the firing table, the first round of shells accurately hit the target area.

This time, the target was the rear of the refugees. In other words, the artillery did not directly attack the refugees charging at the front, but bombarded the large group of people waiting to join the charge behind them. Chen Sigen hoped to use this method to directly force the rebels to rout and minimize casualties.

The sound of the cannons startled Mao Chenglu and his subordinate generals who were observing the formation. What, the enemy is firing again? How many cannons do they have?

Just as the thought crossed his mind, he saw many smoke trails coming from the island’s batteries and the bay, flying towards the shore. However, this time the cannonballs did not fall directly, but exploded in mid-air, instantly spraying dozens to hundreds of small iron balls towards the ground.

A rain of cannonballs continuously shot forth, and wherever they went, flesh and blood flew, and limbs were scattered. Those that hit the ground would also spray up a half-man-high cloud of dust. Not to mention that the unorganized and untrained conscripted refugees at the front of the formation immediately scattered, even the rebel combat troops who were preparing to join the battle depending on the situation were terrified and fled in all directions. Some people rolled directly from the sandbar onto the ice and fled towards the shore like madmen.

Mao Chenglu’s face was pale. The gunners of Dengzhou were known as the strongest in the Ming army, both in terms of firing speed and fire density. But in his current feeling, the enemy’s firepower seemed to be endless and never-ending.

The rain of iron balls swept through the disintegrated formation again and again. The air was filled with cries, screams, and meaningless shrieks of terror. Even the military formations that were not affected, many soldiers were in a commotion and terrified.

The first wave that had approached the willow fence was terrified by this barrage of fire. Although only a few shells had fallen on them, everyone still turned around and fled in unison. Even the rebel soldiers escorting them forgot to wave their sabers to supervise the battle and were carried away with them. The sandbar was instantly littered with countless debris.

On the side of the central army, Mao Chenglu’s retainers and combat troops were in a commotion. Everyone’s heart was filled with fear. These battle-hardened old soldiers were not afraid of a one-on-one fight with swords and spears, but to just stand there and be killed without even seeing what the enemy looked like was a truly desperate feeling.

Mao Chenglu and the others’ faces were extremely ugly. Although this barrage of fire had only disrupted the formation of a few thousand refugees, and the rebel combat troops had not suffered many casualties, the fact that nearly ten thousand people were thrown into chaos as soon as the enemy opened fire meant that this battle probably could not be fought anymore.

Having a large number of people was an advantage, but it was also a disadvantage. Mao Chenglu understood this. If this “army of one hundred thousand” really fell into chaos, he would probably be trampled to death even if he tried to run.

His face was ashen. He waved his riding crop, “Retainers, go and tidy up this rabble. Tell them to continue charging!”

The retainers quickly spurred their horses and went out to intercept the scattered troops. The refugees were easy to deal with. They were unarmed and, after a few were cut down by the retainers, they had no choice but to stop and wait for orders. The old soldiers were not so easy to deal with. They did not hesitate to resist with their sabers, and in some places, they even started fighting among themselves.

On Qimu Island, there were many militia from the advance column on the Willow Fence Fort helping to carry ammunition. They had never seen the power of cannons before. Although many knew that the master’s “muskets” were extremely sharp, a musket was still just a musket. They had not expected the cannons to be even more powerful. After firing twenty or thirty shots, the enemy was routed without even being able to get close. The entire fort immediately burst into cheers.

Just then, someone hurried over and reported an important piece of news to him.

The observation post had just discovered through the artillery scope that the location of the rebel central army was in the 4471 area.

Chen Sigen looked at the design drawing board and then raised his telescope. This place was a bit far from Qimu Island, with a straight-line distance of a full 1800 meters. In this time and space, no cannon could shoot that far. It seemed that Mao Chenglu was quite cunning, Chen Sigen thought. He ordered again, “Cease fire, all cannons load high-explosive shells, target 4471 area in five minutes!” He then added, “Prepare for rapid fire!”

The distance increased to 1800 meters. Although it was still within the effective range of all the cannons, the accuracy was greatly reduced at a long distance. Chen Sigen decided to use rapid fire to project a large number of shells to the target location at once, so that Mao Chenglu and his central army would not have time to react and would be completely covered.

While the cannons were roaring on Qimu Island, Chen Guangfu’s five hundred men had quietly arrived in a small forest by the side of Longkou Bay. This was a carefully considered choice of a starting position by Chen Guangfu. From this small forest down to the ice, and then charging onto Qimu Island, the route was longer than the other locations, but the ice was solid and suitable for horse movement.

The speed of marching on horseback was very fast, so an extra half a li or a li was not a problem. If they encountered an ice crevice on the way, it would cause a lot of trouble.

The five hundred cavalrymen stood silently, waiting for his order.

The sound of cannons kept coming from the direction of the sandbar. Chen Guangfu was secretly pleased. The battle over there has started! He immediately gave the order:

“Brothers, let’s go!” With that, he spurred his horse and was the first to rush out of the forest.

Almost at the same time, the five hundred cavalrymen poured out of the forest and onto the ice of Longkou Bay.

The sound of hooves thundered, and snow smoke billowed. The five hundred cavalrymen, like arrows released from a bow, shot towards the soft underbelly of Qimu Island.

A shrill alarm sounded almost at the same time on Qimu Island. Zhu Mingxia, who had been sitting on the ground with his soldiers, jumped to his feet. He glanced at the signal station. The flag that was hung indicated that the enemy was coming from the west of Qimu Island.

“Beat the drums!” he shouted.

The urgent sound of the war drums rang out. The soldiers, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground resting, all stood up. While patting the dust off their bodies, they hurriedly fastened their hat straps and checked their weapons.

The four companies instantly entered a state of combat readiness. Zhu Mingxia said in a deep voice, “Light infantry company, third and fourth battle line companies, advance with me in a column. Grenadier company, be the reserve! All companies, run!”

The three companies quickly moved to the shore. This was all a sandy beach, very suitable for the enemy to land. Therefore, barbed wire and cheval de frise had been set up on the frozen beach in advance. Zhu Mingxia led the three companies to the shore.

“Deploy in a two-rank line by company!” He was the first to arrive at the shore and saw the cavalry galloping on the ice. So this was the enemy’s backup plan, Zhu Mingxia thought.

“Sights at 300 meters, prepare to fire!” He raised one hand and observed the movement of the cavalry. “Fire!”