Chapter 100 Look! A new era is coming! (End, crazy reading!!)

When the signal flare went up, the pocket watch in Lieutenant General Hugh Gough's hand read exactly four o'clock!

At this time, the sky was getting brighter and the morning breeze was blowing. The moisture in the plains around Peshawar had slowly risen overnight, and the ground seemed to be covered with a thin layer of mist, making it look particularly peaceful, which was very in line with the situation before the war.

atmosphere of.

And countless bayonets condensed with morning dew flashed behind the two parapets that had just been built on the starting positions of the British and Indian troops on the east and south sides of Peshawar City!

The white-skinned officers leading the team are distributing "brave medicine" to the Indian mercenaries under their command - Yapian sugar pills! Without some medicine, how can these "third brothers" have the courage to risk the enemy?

A hail of bullets rushing upward?

In fact, those white-skinned officers themselves have to kowtow, and only after kowtow do they dare to take the lead! Otherwise, how can we fight a war in the era of queuing and shooting?

After watching the "third brother" below get the "brave medicine", he was already a little excited before he started taking it. The white-skinned officers also became more courageous, as if they had seen the dawn of victory.

In past battles in India, as long as the battle formation was set up, the cannons blasted, and the "drug-addicted soldiers" rushed in, they basically won a complete victory.

But this time, it was eighteen thousand against three to five thousand. The golden soldiers on the opposite side were probably only three thousand, plus the infantry of the former East India Company who had rebelled and surrendered, plus some Pashtun tribal warriors, if there were only five thousand, they would be able to defeat them.

Oh my god.

It’s not enough to fight three of them!

The advantage lies with Great Britain, how could it not win?

So, you Indians, just kowtow a little more. Only in this way can you be braver and win faster!

The artillery under Hugh Gough was also deployed at the front at this time. Twenty-four 12-pound Armstrong breech-loading guns were divided into two artillery groups, which were placed on the east and south sides of Peshawar. Among them, the one in Peshawar

The artillery group east of the city consists of eighteen cannons, and the artillery group south of Peshawar consists of six cannons.

Judging from the distribution of artillery, today's main attack direction is to the east of Peshawar.

Seeing the signal flares rising in the sky, the British and Indian artillery commanders who had been impatient for a long time jumped up from their bunkers one by one, climbed to a high place, waved the flags in their hands, and shouted orders

:"put!"

Twenty-four Armstrongs showed their muzzles. The gunners who had just finished firing were all extremely powerful. They quickly removed the cover and pushed the bullets into the chamber fiercely. Each match rope was pulled, and each muzzle sprayed.

Spit out tongues of fire!

The artillery position of the British and Indian troops was very close to the front line of the Jin soldiers, and the direct range was only two to three thousand meters. The rifles and machine guns of the Jin soldiers were no longer a threat at this distance, and the 12-pound Armstrong breech-loading cannon was very effective at direct aim.

It's accurate, and it's also equipped with shrapnel shells specifically designed to kill infantry. The power at medium and close range is quite impressive.

Shining shells were filled into the barrel, and then they were spit out with a "bang"! On the front edge of the Jin soldiers' position opposite, clouds of smoke suddenly rose up. At first glance, it looked like flowers had suddenly bloomed on the ground.

of.

The impact points of these shells were very concentrated, and almost all of them hit the anti-horse gun formation directly in front. As the shells continued to explode, several layers of heavy anti-horse guns were blown to pieces and flew away. The fragments flew everywhere.

, you can still vaguely see the human body being blown up into the sky! The British artillery fired very accurately, and the shells hit the target very concentratedly. After a while, an attack channel was gradually blasted out.

Then, the British artillery fire began to extend again, and the shells fell on the trench line of the Jin soldiers! After the attack, gunpowder smoke and dust filled the battlefield, flowing slowly, choking people and making it hard to breathe.

The bombardment lasted for a full hour, and the twenty-four cannons fired a total of 1,200 shells. A quarter of the shells that Hugh Gough's men had worked so hard to transport had been lost, and the artillery position was full of copper shells.

Just after five o'clock, the shelling stopped abruptly. The white-skinned officers of the British and Indian troops and the Sikh turbaned officers who led the attack straightened up and raised their hands forward. The drugged infantrymen suddenly poured out from behind!

Behind the Jinbing Formation in the east of Peshawar City, Pingxi King Wu Zhenzhen, wearing a yellow mandarin jacket, carrying a waist knife, and a steel helmet imported from the Ming Dynasty, led a dozen Geshhars carrying shell guns, and ran along the traffic trench.

Just came forward.

Although Wu Zhenzhen is a prince, he is a master who likes to lead the way and charge into battle. On the tower of Peshawar Castle, he saw the firepower of the British army in the east of the city and immediately knew that the main direction of the British army's attack was in the city.

Dong. Immediately handed over the command to his lieutenant, and went down to the city tower with his own soldiers. First he squinted behind the earthen wall outside the east gate. When the British bombardment ended, he immediately entered the communication trench.

Go straight to the main position in the east of the city, the "Dui" position.

When Wu Zhenzhen rushed into the trench of the "Dui" position, the Jin soldiers in the trench had already gotten up, but most of the Peshawar militiamen were still squatting against the inner wall of the trench with their heads in their hands, their heads and faces covered with tears.

It's soil.

Wu Zhenfa hurriedly shouted: "Is anyone breathing? Why don't you get up and set up your rifle and machine gun? The British devils are going to come up and die!"

While shouting, he ran back and forth in the trenches. When he saw the Peshawar militiamen who were so frightened by the British shelling that they couldn't get up for a while, he would go up and kick them personally, and then use the Pashtun skills he had just learned.

Yu shouted twice: "The true God is great!"

Seeing him go to the front line as if he was desperate for his life, the Jin soldiers and Peshawar militiamen in the position also gained courage. One after another, the Bess breech-loading guns and Suvorov rifles were set up, and the black holes were

The muzzles of the guns were pointed forward.

At this time, Wu Zhenfa was also lying on the trench wall. He held up a telescope with his left hand and looked towards the opposite side. At first, it was still smokey and he couldn't see anything clearly. He only heard shouts coming from the opposite side. Suddenly there was a gust of mountain wind.

The smoke was blown away, and finally we could clearly see the formation on the opposite side. Everyone was surprised and happy.

The British-Indian-Sikh coalition officers and soldiers pressing over from the opposite side were so large that they were literally a sea of ​​people! Soldiers wearing various turbans came in like a tide, forming waves of dense skirmishers in the open position.

!

The officers of the British-Indian Army and the Sikh Army stood at the head of the team, holding up their command knives and leading the soldiers forward. Rows of rifles undulated forward. On their starting positions, there was a steady stream of British-Indian troops.

Officers and soldiers of the Sikh Army and the Sikh Army climbed over the parapet. The entire battlefield was almost filled with soldiers wearing turbans! All kinds of heart-rending shouts were mixed together, making it extremely noisy!

This intensive skirmish line tactic was actually the mainstream tactic in the Napoleonic Wars in this timeline. At that time, breech-loading guns and breech-loading cannons had just appeared, but the main equipment of various countries were still front-loading rifled guns and front-loading cannons, water-cooled

There are no conventional machine guns yet, but the unreliable wheel-type (Gatling) machine guns already exist, and barbed wire has not yet appeared.

In that case, relying on the concentrated use of artillery and dense skirmish lines, the enemy's trench defense line can be completely broken.

But now, times have changed!

Wu Zhenzhen was lying in the trench, staring at everything in front of him with his mouth open: "Damn it, if there were no barbed wire and machine guns, I would have become a loyal martyr today."

Thinking of this, Wu Zhenzhen pulled out his sword and strode back and forth in the trench line: "Don't fire! Don't fire. Wait until the enemy is blocked by the barbed wire before attacking!"

He also ran to every machine gun fort built with sandbags. The shooters were nervously preparing to shoot. He heard Wu Zhenzhen yelling at them: "You can only open fire when the machine gun I control fired. You heard me?"

No?"

"yes!"

The machine gunners are all veterans. Although they have not seen today's big scene, they are all veterans who have been in battle and seen blood. They may be able to calm down!

As long as the machine guns on the front line can "hold on", it won't be a big deal even if the rifles in the hands of the Peshawar militiamen fire indiscriminately.

From the turret at the back, Zhuge Weidao and the others also saw the British-Indian-Sikh coalition forces rushing in like a tide. Zheng Guoxian and Mu Junen, two army officers with professional backgrounds, took a breath.

Colonel Mu Junen put down his telescope and frowned: "This is a classic French attack. The French Republican Revolutionary Army relied on this tactic to repel the anti-French coalition forces!"

Zheng Guoxian over there also put down his telescope, frowned and said: "At least two regiments have been invested in the east, and there is about one regiment in the south. This is the first wave, and there will be at least two more waves after that, that is, nine regiments will attack in turn!

This is about using India’s human lives to compete with the firepower of the golden soldiers. As long as the density of human lives is high enough and the attack is resolute enough, a breakthrough can be achieved!”

"They can't break through!" Zhuge Weidao said in a firm tone, "The barbed wire fence will block them, and the machine guns will kill enough people! And they also have four six-foot howitzers."

As soon as he said this, the four six-inch cannons placed on the square below the castle suddenly trembled, then spurted out fire and made a violent roar!

Among the dense ranks of the British-Indian-Sikh coalition forces, clouds of smoke suddenly rose up. The large turbans of the British-Indian-Sikh coalition forces covered the entire battlefield like a big blue and green blanket, rising into the air.

The smoke dispersed, and there was a gap in the big two-color blanket, and a swaying human body could be vaguely seen. But in the blink of an eye, more soldiers from the British-Indian-Sikh coalition would come in to fill in!

These "third brothers" who took drugs are indeed much braver than they were without drugs!

While the four six-inch cannons began to roar, a dozen 60mm mortars also began to show off their power! The "natural enemies" of machine guns such as mortars also exist in the purely white-skinned British Army, but the British

The Indian Army does not have that - mortars are also cannons, and they must be mastered by a white-skinned gun to make people feel at ease. However, mortars are company-level support artillery, and having a white-skinned artillery squad in a company seems too extravagant.

.

With the support of more than a dozen mortars, the Jin soldiers' firepower became much more intense. The artillery fire plowed from the front to the back of the team, and shrapnel flew in all directions. Each explosion knocked down a group of "third brothers". But

The drugged British-Indian-Sikh coalition forces are now on the rise, showing no signs of stagnation. In a blink of an eye, they have approached the remaining resistance horses. The soldiers in the lead moved these resistance horses away one after another, and some impatient ones simply climbed over from above.

Past, crowded forward.

At this time, the vanguard of the British-Indian-Sikh coalition had already rushed to a place only three to four hundred meters away from the Jin Army's trench line, and it was easy to hit them with rifles. Wu Zhenfa had already "occupied" a position in the trench. The machine gun fort in the center of the line personally controls a Taiping First Year-style water machine gun manufactured by the Ming Dynasty. More than ten other machine guns arranged on the main position of the "Dui" brand will also fire together. The main position of the "Dui" brand The machine guns on the "Qian" position and the "Kun" position on both sides of the position will fire together after the "Dui" position is fired!

These machine guns are held by the world's most elite naval airborne cavalry (they are actually cavalry), and of course they can enforce firing discipline. But those Peshawar militiamen holding rifles do not have that quality.

The layers of overlapping horse-rejection lines deployed by the Jin soldiers in front of the three positions of "Dui", "Qian" and "Kun" were about 30 meters long. However, at the main breakthrough point (located in the center of the "Dui" position), the lines of resistance were The horses had been cleared by the British artillery, and the weakest part was even less than ten meters. The "Three Drug-Taking Brothers" came up in rows, and were about to break through the horse-rejecting line. There was already white sand in the trench. Wa's militiamen couldn't keep their composure and began to fire with the bass breech-loading guns in their hands. On the position held by the Jin soldiers, sparse fires appeared one after another!

The marksmanship skills of these Peshawar militiamen are actually quite good. From time to time, among the "Third Brothers" who were crowded in the Juma Line, blood suddenly burst out from someone's body, and then they fell shaking. The screams could not be suppressed. The "Third Brothers" The team suddenly fell into chaos. However, the white-skinned officers and Sikh officers who led the team became even more excited when they saw the sparse firepower coming from the opposite side.

The enemy is clearly firing indiscriminately - this is a waste of precious bullets (the infantry of both sides fighting on the Indian battlefield usually only carry ten rounds of bullets), and their firepower is very sparse, indicating that the shelling just now is very effective!

As long as you charge one more time, you will win!

Victory. Not only do you have a lot of rupees, but you also have enough!

Under the urging of the officers, the "Third Brothers" became excited - their casualties were not large and within the tolerable range. They all rushed across the horse-rejecting line and continued to move forward, screaming.

Their team has become chaotic and has become more dense. There are no longer waves of skirmishers, but have become a "charge group" of hedgehogs. Of course, the speed of advancement has also accelerated. Everyone They all roared and rushed forward with their heads covered.

Those "third brothers" who had not been able to cross the horse-rejecting line for a while took up the bass breech-loading guns in their hands and fired at the Jin soldiers' position in an attempt to suppress the opponent's firepower.

At this time, all the rifles on the Jin soldiers' position began to fire. The bullets were shot out in rows, mowing down the charging "third brothers" one by one. However, the "third brothers" who had already charged could not retreat. Their formation was so dense that the comrades behind them almost put bayonets on their backs. Moreover, these "third brothers" also knew that the Baipi Supervisory Team had already set up their machine guns. As long as they dared Back off, those white-skinned guys won't show mercy.

Seeing that more and more "Third Brothers" had rushed to the thin wire mesh line despite the firepower of the Jin soldiers, Hugh Gough, holding the telescope, said to himself: "A breakthrough is coming!"

His chief of staff, Charlie Brown, also smiled slightly and said: "There is still one last barbed wire wire. If we rush through it, India will still be ours, forever!"
To be continued...