Chapter 1170: Saturation Firepower

In the morning mist.

Inside the Long Beach trench fortifications, which were over thirty li long and over ten li wide, Sam Country soldiers gathered in twos and threes to eat breakfast.

They carried Front-loading Rifled Muskets on their backs, prepared to fight at any moment even while eating.

Ever since their ancestors came here from Britain, drove away the Indians, and built city after city, this place had belonged to them.

No one would reflect on the fact that this fertile continent should have belonged to the Indians.

For hundreds of years, they, the Westerners, had rampaged across the world, unrivaled.

A long-standing sense of superiority made them believe that everyone beneath the Westerners was but an ant; just as humans drive away wild beasts and occupy their land, they felt no guilt.

It was precisely this sense of entitlement that made them choose war.

They would not give away what they had obtained; if the other side wanted it, they could come and take it themselves.

Yet, despite their high spirits, they could not help but feel a bit uneasy.

They finally understood the feelings of the indigenous nations when facing them.

The sun rose from the sea level, and the sea mist gradually dissipated.

Just then, the sentry responsible for observation discovered massive black shadows in the lingering mist.

As the distance closed, the outlines of the warships became clear.

The startled sentry immediately blew his whistle, and then the sound of whistles echoed one after another throughout the trench fortifications.

Officers emerged from their tents, hurriedly taking up Monoculars to observe.

The Sam Country soldiers immediately returned to their combat positions.

The tranquil atmosphere instantly became tense.

"They're here." Bolton smoked a cigar, exhaling a long trail of blue smoke.

He believed the Great Song army would focus its attack on Long Beach.

This was the reason why he was here.

The number of Great Song warships on the sea also corroborated this point.

"Great Song people, you will regret your decision. By making an enemy of the entire Western world, you will be torn to pieces. Your failure will begin today!" Bolton said bitterly.

He had already sworn to Sullivan that he would fight the Great Song people to the end.

The sun rose higher and higher, and the warships on the sea became increasingly clear.

At this moment, a portion of the Great Song warships had already lined up in a row, aiming their broadsides at Long Beach.

Qin Shan and Zhou Yi stood on the deck of the Flagship.

While Bolton was observing them, they were also observing the other side.

This time, the Battle of Long Beach would be personally commanded by Qin Shan, while the remaining two battles would be commanded by Pan Zhang and the Indian general Omaha, respectively.

"Let them tremble before the Great Song army!" Qin Shan said indifferently.

This war was of great significance to Great Song.

It could be said that this was Great Song's formal counterattack against the Western world after driving the Westerners out of the Dongtu region.

Next, Great Song would also launch successive counterattacks in Zhongtu and the Heizhou continent.

After all, following this change in Weaponry, the entire Great Song military believed they had pulled ahead of the Westerners in terms of arms.

This time, the weapons and ammunition transported from Great Song were very plentiful.

Since they held the advantage in firearms, they had to utilize that advantage.

And saturation shelling of Long Beach was naturally the best way to demonstrate that advantage.

Zhou Yi nodded and passed down the order to fire.

Before long, the Sailing Warships and Ironclad Warships emitted bursts of roars, and cannonballs fitted with fuses flew out, landing on the Sam Countrymen's fortifications.

Moreover, the Naval Cannon caliber was large, so the Cannonballs were naturally large and heavy, possessing immense power.

Especially the Sailing Warships, which were simply like mobile artillery positions on the sea.

Now, battles against Western warships at sea were basically handled by Ironclad Warships.

The role of the Sailing Warships was more inclined toward coastal bombardment.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Instantly, clusters of Flame and smoke rose up on the Long Beach trenches.

Under the immense power of the Cannonballs, the earth on the trenches was thrown dozens of feet into the air.

Some Sam Country soldiers caught in the center of the explosions were blown away by the shockwaves, their limbs torn apart, falling as severed remains and a rain of blood.

"Ah..."

"Ah..."

"..."

Under the shelling,

the screams of the Sam Country soldiers in the trenches rang out incessantly.

Compared to the soldiers killed instantly by the explosions, the wounded soldiers were even more terrified and desperate.

They clutched their bloody, severed legs or broken arms, constantly emitting screams and moans.

Other soldiers witnessed the miserable state of their companions and trembled all over in fear.

Among them were some older veterans who had experienced the War of Independence.

On the battlefield, they were more composed than the new recruits.

But after the shelling, this composure vanished immediately.

"Damn it, what kind of opponent are we facing?" an old veteran wiped the dust from his body.

Back in the day, when they fought, they relied on Line Formation and only fired Solid Shot.

Over the past two years, in order to cope with the Great Song, skirmish lines and explosive shells have appeared in the military.

They had originally assumed that the equipment level of the Great Song military would not be much different from their own.

But it was very obvious that the power of the Great Song's explosive shells was significantly greater than their own explosive shells.

And it was not just by a little bit.

Most importantly, the Great Song military's cannonballs exploded the moment they landed, giving them absolutely no time to react.

This was something their own explosive shells could not do at all.

Bolton and the other Sam Country officers also noticed this point.

Their faces were all ashen.

Not long ago, the Great Song military was still using wooden wedge fuses.

But now, they seemed to have new gadgets, as the cannonballs could achieve detonation upon impact.

"These damn bastards!" Bolton cursed in despair.

To prevent the Great Song military from landing, they could only set up fortifications along the coast.

But setting up fortifications along the coast meant they had to endure the shelling from the opponent's warships.

The most pathetic thing was that they could only take the shelling, because they had no warships to intercept the opponent's navy.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

The shelling continued, and every blast felt like it was exploding in the hearts of the Sam Country officers.

For the next three days, the shelling continued, day and night.

The trench fortifications on the Sam Country beach looked like a field plowed by oxen.

Under the continuous shelling, over 120,000 Sam Country soldiers were killed or wounded.

Bolton once wanted to have the soldiers withdraw from the front of the trenches.

But every time he prepared to do so, the Great Song military would send out small boats, preparing to let their soldiers land.

Therefore, not only could he not withdraw the soldiers, but he had to reinforce the front-line defenses instead.

Otherwise, once the Great Song military came ashore, the consequences would be even more severe.

Of course, he was very clear that this was a little trick the Great Song military was playing on purpose.

Yet this trick was a genuine open conspiracy, and he could not afford not to guard against it.

It was just that because of this, they could only endure massive casualties.

In these few days, the morale of the Sam Country soldiers plummeted, and there were even deserters.

On the fourth day, the warships at sea shelled the coast again.

But unlike before, this time, dense swarms of troop-carrying small boats were sailing toward the coast.

On the small boats, the Great Song soldiers pressed their guns against the sides of the boats, aiming at the coast.

A Han-style machine gun was mounted on the bow of the boat.

This time, the artillery fire was no longer just simple bombardment, but cover for their landing.

After three days of shelling, Qin Shan believed the time to launch the general offensive had arrived.