Chapter 316: Volley Gun Execution

The Shunxiang Army still advanced in formation, slowly pressing forward. After Kong Youde arrayed his formation, he ordered the Han troops to load their powder. The equipment of his army's arquebusiers was no different from that of the Ming army — over their cotton armor they wore arquebuses and waist sabers, along with ramrods, powder tubes, lead pouches, match cords, and other items. The loading process was also quite cumbersome, requiring several more steps than the Shunxiang Army's fixed paper cartridge ammunition.

These Han arquebusiers certainly could not compare to the elite musketeers of the Shunxiang Army, who had been built up with vast quantities of ammunition. Seeing the Shunxiang Army constantly pressing closer, the soldiers grew even more flustered in loading their powder, and the officers' incessant shouting and roaring only increased the panic in their hearts.

Fortunately, the Shunxiang Army was still far away, so there was ample time. After a bout of frantic scrambling, Kong Youde's three thousand arquebusiers finally finished loading their ammunition and lit their match cords.

"Advance!"

Amid the sound of uniform footsteps, the wave-like glint of eight-petal helmets and red cotton wool-trimmed cloaks ahead finally closed to within two hundred and fifty paces of Kong Youde's main force.

Seeing this great army approach so close, Kong Youde and the others all felt their hearts pound violently. The Han troops beside and in front of him especially were each gasping desperately for breath, their faces pale and ashen. Even those veteran soldiers he had personally trained were no exception.

"Pass the order down: wait until the Ming army comes within a hundred paces, then open fire with your arquebuses. If anyone dares ignore military law and fire first, military law will show no mercy."

Kong Youde spoke with vicious ferocity. His personal guards and retainers knew this battle was of extraordinary importance and faithfully carried out Kong Youde's orders, patrolling everywhere in front of and behind the military formation.

"Halt!"

Having advanced to this distance, Han Chao, positioned on the left side in front of the musket troops, shouted the command, and the thousands of troops shouted their response in unison. Immediately, all the Shunxiang Army soldiers advancing in dense, layered ranks came to a stop, and the sound of uniform footsteps fell silent.

"The eastern slaves are meeting the battle with a three-tier formation. Our army will first bombard them with artillery to break open their formation, then use rotating musket volleys — thus we can defeat the slave enemy." Seeing for the first time an opponent armed purely with firearms, and that the opponent was the surrendered traitor Kong Youde's unit, Han Chao, Wen Fangliang, Zhao Xuan, and the others going into battle were all somewhat curious and surprised.

Seeing that the opponent uniformly carried arquebuses, each man grew even more cautious. To reduce casualties among their own soldiers, bombarding with artillery first and then firing with muskets was the most ideal plan. Facing the enemy, the several commanders quickly found the best method of attack.

"Artillery crews, prepare."

"Musketeers, check your powder, light your match cords..."

Han Chao, in charge of the musket troops' operations, passed down the order. The officers of each rank immediately shouted their responses, and then the soldiers responded in unison, accompanied by the sound of musket handling and fire-starting tubes.

"Artillery position A, test fire!"

"Fire!"

The gunner aiming a nine-pound red-barbarian cannon in front of Zhao Xuan adjusted the bearing. The flagman beside Zhao Xuan swung his arm forcefully, and the cannoneer touched the match cord on the long pole to the priming powder. With a thunderous boom, a cannonball screamed toward Kong Youde's Han army formation two hundred paces away.

As the Shunxiang Army artillery crews across from him prepared, Kong Youde's heart pounded: "They're going to bombard us with artillery — what do we do?"

Deep in his heart, he bitterly regretted that the formidable cannons in his own camp had not accompanied the army, leaving his several thousand troops with no choice but to stand here wide-eyed and take the shelling. Looking around, everyone beside him, whether retainer or common soldier, was drained of all color.

Amid the thunderous roar of the cannon, that cannonball had already come screaming in.

A tidal wave of commotion surged as all the Han troops stared fixedly at the cannonball, intending to dodge, but being in formation, where could they flee?

A squad commander in the front ranks of the Han banner army had his arm directly torn away, and then the iron ball, carrying a mist of blood, shot violently into Kong Youde's arquebusier formation. A series of cracking and snapping sounds of breaking bone rang out as the iron ball swept through and severed the arms and legs of several men. Heart-rending wails and cries rang out as several soldiers maimed by the cannonball lay on the ground rolling and howling. Seeing their miserable state, the fortunate ones nearby were all drained of color. The fighting ability of their Eight Banners Han Army was decent compared to the Ming army, but it was far inferior to the banner troops of the Eight Banners Manchu and Mongol divisions. Even they could not endure the agony of being struck by cannon fire, let alone these traitor soldiers.

With just a single cannon shot, Kong Youde's Han banner army erupted in violent turmoil. Seeing his own formation in chaos, Kong Youde ordered his retainers to quell the commotion among his troops. Before he could regain his senses, the Shunxiang Army ahead roared again like a sudden clap of thunder. This time it was not a single cannonball, but dozens of large and small projectiles hurtling straight at them.

Cries of despair rose unceasingly as iron balls screamed into Kong Youde's formation, blasting flesh and blood in all directions.

At a mere two hundred-plus paces, all the cannons at the front of the Shunxiang Army could fire with ease and with extremely high accuracy. Against such a dense military formation, when an iron ball charged into the ranks, a bloody alleyway was plowed open. No matter how tough a body was, it was useless. If one wore iron armor, it might even cause multiple intersecting injuries.

One iron ball charged even further into the rear formation, ricocheting and bouncing, sweeping through several bodies before blasting apart the skull of a retainer not far from Kong Youde. Blood mist splattered onto Kong Youde's face, and he froze for a moment.

"Ah, ah! Ah..."

After the Shunxiang Army's artillery fired one volley, severed limbs and fresh blood were everywhere within Kong Youde's entire formation, and countless numbers of those struck by cannon fire rolled on the ground wailing. Standing in formation and taking such a beating, coupled with the terror of the artillery, signs of imminent collapse immediately appeared within his army.

Especially in the front army, some Han arquebusiers, heedless that the enemy was still far away, fired their arquebuses pointlessly while shrieking at the top of their lungs. Some spun around like headless flies, and still others wailed and fled toward the rear formation. Seeing the entire army about to scatter, Kong Youde snapped back to his senses and bellowed: "Hold your positions, no one move recklessly..."

He rushed out with his personal guards, personally cut down several fleeing deserters, and drove them back. Under his lead, the officers of each unit and squad also moved to stop their troops from scattering. Many of the officers and soldiers in his camp were veterans of the Dongjiang Army who had followed him back in the day, men long accustomed to battle and quite fierce and courageous. Under their restraint and shouted orders, this budding collapse was finally halted.

But continuing like this was no solution. Seeing the Shunxiang Army artillery crews calmly and methodically loading their cannonballs, a second artillery volley was imminent... If the Ming army's artillery fired a second volley, then his troops would certainly collapse, and even he himself, within the formation, could not avoid the artillery's harm.

Kong Youde's eyes were bloodshot. Having spent so long in the military, he quickly thought of a countermeasure.

He bellowed: "Pass the order — the entire army advances. Meet them head-on."

On the hilltop, watching Kong Youde quickly quell the commotion among his troops and swiftly devise a method to counter the artillery, Wang Dou nodded and thought to himself: "Kong Youde indeed has some talent as a commander. It's a pity he is willing to surrender to the Qing state and serve as a hawk-dog and slave for Huang Taiji."

Under the great yellow dragon umbrella, Huang Taiji also slowly nodded: "This Prince Gongshun is usable."

However, he then immediately passed an order to Tulai, the Bayara Banner Commander of the Plain Yellow Banner, instructing him to lead some Bayara heavy-armored elite cavalry to slowly follow behind Kong Youde's army formation to supervise and hold the line. If any Han banner soldiers dared to flee, they were to be cut down beneath the formation without a moment's hesitation.

Cao Bianjiao saw clearly that within the Qing army formation, some roving cavalry seemed to be coming up. He immediately passed orders to his troops, dispatching a thousand cavalry to provide cover and protection.

Just after the dozens of cannons in Zhao Xuan's unit had fired their volley, a dense cloud of smoke hung before the Shunxiang Army formation, and the choking smell of gunpowder even reached the nostrils of the musketeers arrayed in tight formation a dozen paces behind. Through the gunpowder smoke, Han Chao heard the sound of drums rising from the opposing formation, and then the densely packed Han troops of Kong Youde came forward, driven and shouted at by their officers.

He had not expected the Qing army opposite to take the initiative and advance. Once the two sides closed in, the artillery would quickly lose its effect. With less than two hundred paces between them, it was time for the Shunxiang Army musketeers to meet the attack and do battle.

Han Chao watched calmly for a moment, then shouted: "Beat the drums, advance."

Amid the sound of drums, the Shunxiang Army again advanced with uniform steps. They passed through the cannons of Zhao Xuan's Company Commander artillery camp and marched forth in formation without hesitation.

The Han banner army of Kong Youde opposite surged forward in chaotic disarray. Having been thrown into turmoil by the Shunxiang Army's earlier artillery bombardment and then marching these several dozen paces, their ranks were loose and their military bearing even more ragged. Especially in the front army of his three-tier formation, the arquebusiers were squeezed into a jumbled mass; officers could not find their soldiers, and soldiers could not find their officers.

"Halt, dress ranks, dress ranks."

Seeing that his entire army had advanced and the opponent's artillery was no longer bombarding them, Kong Youde set his mind at ease. He saw the dark, dense mass of the enemy pressing closer, the distance less than a hundred and fifty paces. Kong Youde shouted the order to halt, for the entire army to dress ranks and await battle.

Each wing of Kong Youde's three-tier formation was divided into three large battalions, and each battalion was further divided into several small squads. Each small squad was the original army's fifty-seven-man unit organization: one squad commander and one vice squad commander, with the remaining fifty-five soldiers arranged in five ranks, eleven men per rank. Once the front-rank arquebusiers had fired their powder, they would turn with empty guns to the rear to reload, intending to maintain uninterrupted firepower, just like the tactics of the Great Ming's Divine Machine Battalion.

The front army originally had over a thousand men. One large battalion of nine small squads had over three hundred arquebusiers, so each horizontal rank had over ninety arquebusiers. If the enemy force was large, the front army could similarly combine into one large battalion, with each horizontal rank then having over two hundred arquebusiers. However, out of habitual thinking, Kong Youde had divided the front army into three large battalions. Now the front army was in chaos, and the so-called front, middle, and rear squads no longer existed.

After the casualties from the earlier cannon fire, the front army numbered less than a thousand men. Kong Youde roughly dressed the ranks and formed five lines, though he could not worry about the fact that many soldiers from other squads were mixed into each battle line.

Amid this chaos on their side, the Shunxiang Army had already densely and tightly pressed to within a hundred paces.

"Meet the enemy, meet the enemy!"

The front army of the Han banner troops, still in the midst of dressing ranks, suddenly realized that the dense, layered ranks of Shunxiang Army musketeers were bearing down on them not far away. Whether officer or soldier, each cried out in terror. Over two hundred Han banner arquebusiers in the front rank raised their arquebuses one after another.

At the same time, they suddenly discovered that their own numbers seemed a bit small — their own line had no more than two hundred arquebusiers, while the opposing side had at least five to nine hundred... Kong Youde likewise realized with horror that by deploying his troops into four wings, he seemed to have greatly diluted his own arquebus firepower.

"Halt!"

At a hundred paces from the Eight Banners Han Army, Han Chao shouted the order to stop. The advancing drums ceased, and the sound of the Shunxiang Army's uniform footsteps came to a halt.

"Front rank, advance and prepare..."

"Mighty!"

The nine hundred musketeers in the front rank of the Shunxiang Army shouted in unison, collectively took one step forward, and hundreds of muskets flipped down in a dense mass, their dark muzzles aimed at the Eight Banners Han troops ahead. Each of their faces was resolute. They were soldiers under General Wang, the bravest of the three armies. They were warriors of the Shunxiang Army, ever victorious and invincible. Even facing the enemy's arquebuses, they would not show the slightest fear or hesitation! This was the sharp spirit and confidence gained by a great army after a hundred victories.

Watching the hundreds of muskets raised across from them, the faces of the Han banner arquebusiers opposite each turned deathly pale, and many minds went completely blank. Without waiting for their officers' orders, they pulled the triggers of their arquebuses one after another. Driven by their actions, the two hundred-plus Han banner arquebusiers in the front layer fired involuntarily.

Amid the crackling pop of arquebus fire, a cloud of gunpowder smoke billowed up, and over thirty Shunxiang Army musketeers across from them fell.

Even though Kong Youde’s arquebuses could not pierce armor beyond a hundred paces, and the panicked soldiers lacked the power of a coordinated volley, let alone any corresponding accuracy, some bullets still struck the Shunxiang Army soldiers opposite. With fine arquebuses, a bullet at this distance hitting their iron armor was like a great iron hammer smashing heavily into the body, causing internal injuries and even death from bleeding.

The soldiers who were hit groaned and collapsed. One unlucky Shunxiang Army arquebusier took a bullet to his iron helmet; he tumbled backward and rolled out, blood and brain matter splattering forth.