RPAGF Chapter 162 Three Cannons
Chapter 162 Three Cannons
Seeing the enemy troops that suddenly appeared around him, Yuan Shu was furious. Unbeknownst to him, he was surrounded by the Red-Clad Army, and it was very likely that he was surrounded by more than 200,000 troops!
"Yes, my lord!" Ji Ling, the lackey, was the fastest to run, not only to show his loyalty, but also because he wanted to escape from Yuan Shu's current area. Yuan Shu was in a bad mood, and Ji Ling didn't want to get into trouble, so it was best to leave as soon as possible.
"Grand Preceptor, Grand Preceptor, you've arrived! What should we do now?" Seeing Yang Hong arrive late, the flustered Yuan Shu hurriedly stepped forward and asked Yang Hong, "What should we do now?"
"Your Majesty, Your Majesty, don't panic, don't panic. This old minister will think of a way." Yang Hong quickly comforted Yuan Shu, assuring him that he would find a way to break through the siege.
Two minutes later, while Yuan Shu was still in a panic, the soldiers in the entire camp also realized that they were surrounded. Yesterday they were overjoyed, thinking that the city would be captured today. They never expected such a dramatic turn of events today.
Yuan Shu and Yang Hong's analysis was also careless and too presumptuous. Even the usually arrogant Yuan Shu had lost his mysterious confidence at this moment.
"Your Majesty, let's prepare to break out. This old minister has no other way to break through the current predicament." After pondering for a while, Yang Hong said to Yuan Shu, "The enemy must have sneaked up last night. The soldiers should be quite tired, and the encirclement is not very complete. This old minister believes that we should gather the 20,000 most elite troops and have them escorted by the rest of the army to cover Your Majesty's breakout. As long as Your Majesty can break out, our Chen Kingdom will still have hope."
Yang Hong's suggestion was actually the best option under the current circumstances. Yuan Shu fell into deep thought, then looked at Yang Hong and asked, "Grand Preceptor, is there really no other way?"
"Judging from the enemy's actions, they must have been planning this for quite some time. This is all a conspiracy against our army. I even deduce that there are spies from the autonomous region among our troops. The enemy is targeting Your Majesty."
Yang Hong said to Yuan Shu, and upon hearing Yang Hong's words, Yuan Shu immediately turned to Zhang Xun and said, "Gather the 20,000 most elite troops, fully armed, to cover the main generals' breakout. The remaining troops should cooperate with each other to break out."
Yuan Shu valued his life highly; he had not yet truly enjoyed the life of a harem of three thousand beauties, nor had he experienced the luxurious life of royalty.
"Your Majesty, I will certainly protect you and ensure your successful breakout," Zhang Xun said to Yuan Shu.
"Attack begins."
However, before Yuan Shu and his breakout troops could regroup, the three army corps of the autonomous region had already launched an attack. At 7:00 a.m., the three army corps launched their attacks simultaneously, including the First Army Corps inside the city, which immediately dispatched four divisions to participate in the counterattack.
The three legions together had nearly three hundred cannons, and once they were within range, all the heavy artillery began firing at the highest rate of combat fire.
Artillery using light general's guns closely followed the infantry as direct resource firepower for the infantry, and also to break through any strong enemy positions that might exist, although based on the performance of Chen's army, this was unlikely to happen.
"shooting!"
At the highest rate of fire, the heavy artillery of the autonomous region on the entire battlefield fired at intervals of ten seconds. This was to maintain the continuity of firepower and to ensure the strength of the gun barrel. In the experiments at the arsenal, the heavy artillery could only maintain a maximum of fifty rounds of continuous firing before the barrel might crack.
Sixty consecutive shots could cause a barrel explosion (during the experiment, long fuses were used for ignition, so there was no chance of an accident, and there were protective walls around the area, so no accidents were likely to occur).
In the experiments at the arsenal, it was best to maintain a shelling interval of 15 to 20 seconds on the battlefield, with 10 seconds being the minimum limit. Unless absolutely necessary, all artillery units were strictly prohibited from using the highest rate of fire.
Of course, this is for the purpose of suppressing artillery fire, so all artillery units are allowed to fire five rounds quickly before resuming a firing rate with a 20-second interval.
"assault!"
The vanguard consisted of three independent cavalry regiments under the three legions, totaling more than 10,000 cavalrymen who charged towards the Chen army camp in three wedge formations from three directions.
Under the cover of artillery fire, the cavalry charged at a very fast speed. The cavalry of the autonomous region's army had all received artillery coordination training. After all, cannons were commonplace on the battlefield, and the loud noise could easily frighten the warhorses. Therefore, the warhorses of the autonomous region's army were professionally trained to prevent such situations. This is why the autonomous region's cavalry could charge while being bombarded by artillery.
"kill!"
Following the cavalry were a large number of infantry companies and battalion and regimental artillery units, all of which were light general cannons, somewhat similar to the tiger crouching cannons of the Ming Dynasty in Earth's history. They were relatively light in weight. Of course, under Chen Er's influence, the cannons in this world all had cannon carriages and wheels.
On the battlefield, as long as the terrain is not too rugged, it can be moved by two artillery pieces, which is already a very mobile artillery piece. It can accompany infantry in charge of combat and is called an infantry companion by many autonomous region infantry.
The cavalry charged into the Chen army camp like a whirlwind. This must be what they mean by "horses trampling through the camp". Due to being covered by more than two hundred cannons, the Chen army camp was in chaos. Only a small number of Chen soldiers were firing and resisting the attack of the red-clad cavalry.
"Kill!" The infantry company was only five or six hundred meters behind the cavalry, and the fastest of them were already more than three hundred meters behind.
Although the three cavalry units attacked from three different directions, they all had only one target: the central command tent of Chen Guo's camp, the place where the khaki flag was raised! That was Yuan Shu's central command tent!
Before the battle, they received orders to break through the enemy's main camp and then directly attack the enemy's central army, capture Yuan Shu alive, or kill him if they couldn't capture him! If they couldn't get him alive, they would get his corpse! This was the highest order from His Highness the King of Wei, relayed by Gao Shun.
"What to do, what to do?" Yuan Shu paced back and forth in the tent. "Grand Preceptor, what should we do?" Seeing Yang Hong enter and hearing the increasingly loud shouts of battle outside, Yuan Shu hurriedly asked Yang Hong what he could do. He had always thought Yuan Shu was someone worth investing in, but who would have thought that Yuan Shu was so incompetent and would fail so quickly.
"Your Majesty, you should retreat quickly!" Yang Hong said to Yuan Shu. "General Zhang Xun has made preparations, and the 20,000 elite troops in the central army are ready to break out. They will protect Your Majesty and break through the enemy's weak points."