With a "bang" sound, the single-tube telescope made of gold and engraved with exquisite patterns fell on the big rock, and the lens cracked. Prince Hansback stared dumbfounded at the rows of soldiers lying on the ground on the hillside of Wilfgang in the distance, not understanding what was going on.
Not only him, but all the attendant officers and soldiers who were standing at the back and watching the battle were dumbfounded and stared blankly at the battlefield. This offensive battle suddenly became very strange. First, the attacking queue was fired upon by enemies on the defensive position and suffered huge casualties. They all saw clearly that the soldiers in the first few rows were almost wiped out.
But then Lieutenant Colonel Rosler, who was in charge of the attack, waved his command knife and ordered the soldiers in the rear row to step in to fill the gap, reorganize the team and line up to launch the attack again. At this time everything was still normal. When the enemy on the defensive position loaded the ammunition and prepared to fire again, a large foam cover suddenly appeared on Lieutenant Colonel Rosler who had retreated to the side of the queue. It shone with colorful light under the sunlight, attracting attracted the enemy's attention, and even received a salvo of fire from the enemy, and was beaten into a hornet's nest.
If there are still officers present at this time, they should immediately take over the responsibility of commanding the attack, and take advantage of the opportunity after the enemy has just fired to rush forward. But starting from the soldiers in the front row, they suddenly fell to the ground, and then the soldiers behind them also followed the same example and fell to the ground row by row. There were only a dozen low-level officers left on the hillside battlefield, standing there with bewildered expressions and looking at the soldiers lying on the ground in a daze. A few officers hesitated and fell to the ground, and then the remaining officers also went to the ground one by one. lying on the ground
If the eldest prince was also on the hillside, then he would understand why these officers lay down. Why don't I just lie down and wait to be a target for the enemy formation at the defensive position on Wilf Hill, and this is also a herd mentality. Why should I stand when everyone is lying down? The order to lie down has been sent from the front, although I don't know how. It's true, but it's always right to obey orders. Besides, it's better to lie down than to die standing. There is a sense of security lying down on the ground.
Now only the prince's guard battalion was left standing in neat rows three hundred meters away and firing at the enemy's position. In addition, the soldiers lying on the ground also raised their guns and opened fire on the enemy's position. Starting from the front row, the soldiers lying on the ground behind them all raised their guns and fired at the people on Wilf Hill regardless of what happened. Fire was fired from the enemy position. The white smoke soon filled the entire hillside, forming a vast expanse of white.
"What on earth is going on?" Prince Hansback was furious: "How can Rosler know magic? Why are those soldiers lying on the ground? Can anyone give me an explanation?"
Prince Hansback was very confident about this attack. Lieutenant Colonel Rosler had already taken the lead in commanding the two attacks. According to his report, the remaining enemy forces on Wilf Hill were only about five or six hundred men, and the previous five attacks had consumed a large amount of artillery shell reserves on the position. As long as he persisted in launching one or two more attacks, We can definitely take back Wilf Hill.
Prince Hansback was convinced. After the attack started, the enemy marched to a distance of more than 500 meters before firing the artillery. It only fired six rounds before stopping. This gave the prince great confidence. The enemy's artillery shells have been consumed too much, and there is no supply of supplies. It is not a delusion to launch an attack with superior troops and regain the position. As for how many soldiers were killed or injured, this is not currently under consideration by the eldest prince.
At this time, the enemies on Wilf Hill also began to panic. They had never encountered such a situation. The enemy lay on the ground and did not advance forward, which made the four cannons loaded with cannon useless. They could not hit the enemy and the distance was not enough. However, the soldiers lined up on the position became the target of fire from the enemy battle camp 300 meters away. Although they only caused a few casualties each time they fired, no one could stand to be beaten and stood as a target without fighting back. ah
The most unbearable thing is the enemies lying on the hillside. If you don't want to come up and die, just lie down. Why are you still shooting with a gun? The first burst of shooting knocked down dozens of soldiers lined up on the position, and the crew members of the four artillery were almost wiped out. For the soldiers of the Nasseri Kingdom, their impression is that it is okay to lie down on the ground and shoot, but you have to stand up when loading the ammunition. As long as you stand up, then we can fight back.
But the problem is that the enemies are still lying there, no one is willing to stand up, but dozens of muskets continue to fire one after another. Almost every time a gunshot was fired, the soldiers in the defensive position fell to the ground. As for the four artillery pieces, no one was willing to get close. Any figure who appeared next to the artillery pieces would become the target of several muskets.
Claude was giving orders, and now he had become the frontline commander. Once Lieutenant Colonel Rosler died, the soldiers in the front rows all followed his orders, and the lieutenants and second lieutenants at the back did not think of coming to the front to take advantage of his command. No one wanted to take the initiative to go up and die.
There are nearly a hundred soldiers in the Ranger Battalion, some of whom are injured. The sergeant major following Claude was the veteran oil man whom Claude knew, who called Lieutenant Colonel Rosler an old boy. Originally, he followed Claude and wanted to pretend to be injured and fall down to save his life. Unexpectedly, Claude shouted to lie down, so he lied down while passing the order to the back. As a result, everyone fell down.
Claude looked up and found that there were still about twenty people in his squadron still alive. Belklin was lucky to be unscathed, but Diavid fell to the side with a bandage on his arm and half of his body. Bloody, but still in good spirits, he commanded the three or four surviving soldiers of his own team to fall to the ground, load their weapons, and fire.
"You, go down and bring me up the musket that's the same as mine." Claude loaded the musket in his hand and kicked the thirty-year-old man lying next to him who continued to pray to the God of War. Soldiers of many years.
"Oh." The soldier stopped praying and was about to get up. Claude grabbed him and said, "If you want to die, lie down on the ground and crawl down. Don't stand up and become a target."
"Xia Shili" Claude called the veteran Sergeant Oil who was lying behind him.
"What are you doing?" Veteran Youzi was also lying down loading the musket, his movements were a bit slow.
"Pass it on and ask the soldiers behind to pass up the muskets of our ranger camp and have them fix their bayonets and prepare to charge," Claude said.
"Charge, you are crazy. Just lie down on the ground and shoot hard. Why rush up and die?" Veteran Youzi cursed in a low voice.
Claude was so angry that he kicked him on the shoulder: "How can we occupy the position without charging? If we are asked to withdraw as a whole team and attack again later, wouldn't it be the same as getting killed? Why don't we just occupy the position now?" That’s troublesome. Besides, I didn’t ask you to charge, so just lie down on the ground and shoot to cover me, so that soldiers from other battalions can charge.”
"Understood." Veteran Youzi nodded repeatedly: "Okay, it's up to you. I'll pass it on and let them fix their bayonets."
How could Claude plan to occupy the position without meeting him in advance? The eldest prince behind him was angrily ordering: "Blow the trumpet and ask the people above to withdraw, and we will form a team to attack."
"Wait a minute, Your Highness, take a look at the situation above. Our people are attacking." Captain Skerry handed the bronze single-tube telescope to Prince Hansback.
"Lying on the ground and firing a gun counts as an attack," the eldest prince mocked, but still asked the messenger to wait. He took Captain Skerry's single-tube telescope and prepared to take a closer look.
"Why are they putting bayonets on?" Prince Hansback muttered in surprise. Then he saw the soldiers in the first two rows aiming their guns and firing. Then they handed the fired muskets to the soldiers next to them and took the other one. Keep aiming the loaded musket and fire.
"They were still lying on the ground loading their muskets." The eldest prince recalled the training given to his squadron by the sergeant major named Ke whom he had seen at the entrance of the mountain road. It can be clearly seen from the single-tube telescope that the soldiers in the first two rows who fired all held Obash type III standard matchlock guns, while the soldiers in the back holding Obash type II standard matchlock guns had bayonets attached. , lying on the hillside and crawling forward slowly
Then he pointed the single-tube telescope at the enemy's defensive position on Wilf Hill. Prince Hansback opened his mouth in surprise. What’s so surprising is that the enemies who lined up in neat lines and fired volleys of fire have disappeared. Most of them are hiding behind various defense facilities and shooting down randomly with muskets, but they pose no threat to the attacking team lying on the hillside at all. . On the contrary, the enemies whose bodies were exposed were quickly hit by bullets fired from the hillside, and fell to the ground struggling for their lives.
"It turns out that this is the true purpose of the Obash Type III matchlock gun." Prince Hansback suddenly realized. Hateful, I almost went astray. I actually thought that this kind of accurately aimed and fired musket can only be used in defensive battles. Function, I didn’t expect that during the attack, I could also use precise aiming and shooting to suppress the enemy’s counterattack, making it impossible for them to defend effectively.
"Their artillery cannot be used." This is an obvious fact. The piles of corpses around the four artillery have proved this. Any enemy who appears next to the artillery will be shot by several muskets. As for lining up to fire in unison, that is even more of a joke. The lining up is used as a target for the soldiers on the hillside.
Prince Hansback became more and more excited as he watched: "Damn Rosler, how could I appoint this idiot to be in charge of such an effective strategy in the Ranger Battalion and he never reported it, damn it?"
After cursing for a long time, Prince Hansback finally remembered that Lieutenant Colonel Rosler had been beaten into a hornet's nest: "Good death. If this fool had used this method of fighting earlier, Wilf Hill would have been recaptured long ago. I There is no need to sacrifice so many soldiers and pay so many casualties.”
Only then did Prince Hansback think of the corpses of soldiers behind him that filled the entire hillside, and his heart became a little heavy. Captain Skerry curled his lips next to him and said to himself that an hour ago you were praising Lieutenant Colonel Rosler as a brave soldier with extraordinary courage and leading by example. He also promised that he would be promoted to colonel if he recaptured Wilf Hill and would serve as the head of a regiment.
"Baker, Dede, Shasli, you command the soldiers of the ranger battalion to continue shooting and provide us with cover. Remember, the first target is next to the artillery," Claude ordered.
"yes"
"clear"
"Know"
Three people gave three answers.
"Follow me and rush forward." Claude stood up, bent over and rushed forward. But no one followed him in the charge, and most of the soldiers who had bayonets on were still hesitant.
Claude rushed forward more than a dozen steps. When he looked back, he was sweating. There were only three or four people following him, and most of the soldiers were still lying on the ground.
"Brothers, retreating is a matter of military law, but it is still a dead end. Only forwarding can lead to survival. Bayonets, follow me and charge forward."
Claude's roar was heard, and the low-level officers lying on the ground also woke up. They knew very well that the eldest prince behind them was staring at them. If they didn't behave at this time, they would be punished by military law when they retreated. Claude was right. The enemy had been suppressed by the shooting in front, and he just rushed forward to engage in hand-to-hand combat. So they hurriedly got up and ordered the soldiers to rush up with kicks.
The enemies on the same defensive position also heard Claude's roar. Many enemies shot down with muskets, and some enemies who were not afraid of death rushed toward the artillery. Unfortunately, they were all killed by bullets fired from the hillside. knocked to the ground
Several stray bullets fired from the defensive position passed by Claude, and two soldiers running straight forward were shot and fell to the ground.
"Move quickly, bend down, don't be a target. The gun is a fool, the bayonet is a hero. Don't be afraid. The enemies are all cowards. They will run away if we charge at them..." Claude shouted to urge the soldiers. They charged upward, while he knelt down and fired at an enemy who was eager to reload the musket he had just fired. The enemy fell to the ground. Claude bent forward with his bayonet-mounted musket bent.
"Go up, go up." A scene of soldiers rushing to the defensive position and bayoneting the enemy appeared in the monocular. Prince Hansback danced with joy from behind: "Immediately give the order to have the guard battalion rush up as well, and the movements must be precise." quick"
"His Royal Highness"