Chapter 802: The Great Battle of Niu Tou Tan

Latest website: "Buck up, and give me your lives."

"If we lose, none of us will have a good end. If we lose Jiangnan, we will have nothing left."

"Do you still want to return to Jiangbei? To take back your lands? If you do, then fight to the death for me."

"..."

These words encouraged the generals, and the generals in turn encouraged their own soldiers.

Although they had not yet recovered from the terror of yesterday's bombardment.

But the generals' words spoke to the bottom of their hearts.

Once, they were high and mighty; the commoners were their tenant farmers, and they were surrounded by attendants wherever they went. Who did not envy them?

Even the most ordinary clansmen were looked upon with respect simply for sharing the same clan and surname as the Rich Clans.

Now, it is all because of Yan Wang that they have nothing left.

"Fight! Fight them to the death!" the Shizu Army soldiers shouted as they looked at the Yanzhou soldiers who were continuously launching attacks on the first trench.

Bursts of slogans rang out across the battlefield, and Wang Xie revealed a look of satisfaction.

Luse also nodded slightly.

His Mercenaries had lost so many men; what right did these Shizu have to hide behind them?

At Niu Tou Tan, they would make the Yan King Army pay a heavy price in casualties!

While the Shizu soldiers shouted, soldiers continuously supported those in the first row of trenches through the passages in the middle.

Every time a soldier fell, the next batch of Shizu soldiers and Mercenaries would fill the gap, and both sides were immediately plunged into a fierce struggle.

The changes on the battlefield were immediately observed by Lv Chang and the other two in the Hot Air Balloon.

Clearly, compared to the fighting in Jiangbei, the resistance of the Shizu this time was more determined than before.

However, he had been mentally prepared for this before the battle.

This southward expedition was their final decisive battle with the Shizu.

Besides the state of the Shizu soldiers,

they also focused their observation on the Western Land Mercenaries.

These Mercenaries were clearly more seasoned than the Shizu soldiers.

They always kept their bodies low while moving through the trenches, hugging the sides to avoid the bombardment of Cannonballs.

After entering the first row of trenches, when they crouched down, they stood their Flintlock rifles, equipped with Bayonets, at an angle.

This effectively turned the trench into a trap; if the Wangfu Army soldiers jumped in, they would inevitably be injured.

During the fighting, they also paired up, with one person responsible for shooting and the other for reloading.

They did not even aim; they would fire a shot toward the outside and then crouch down again.

The Smoothbore Guns had no sights to begin with; they only wanted a stray bullet to hit some unlucky soldier to inflict damage on the enemy.

Besides this, what made them frown was that these Western Land Mercenaries seemed to have previously taught the Shizu soldiers how to defend against Lime Bombs.

The soldiers in the trenches would occasionally take out a piece of cloth to wipe their eyes.

They guessed that this cloth must have been soaked in vegetable oil.

Observing these situations, they used their vantage point overlooking the battlefield to constantly adjust their tactics.

At the same time, they wrote the situation on the battlefield on slips of paper, tied them to stones, and dropped them down.

"Your Highness, it is much as we observed." Chang Wei took the note and handed it to Zhao Xu.

Although they had not observed as carefully as Lv Chang and the other two, they could still grasp the general situation.

After the Prince's Personal Army soldiers landed on Niu Tou Tan, they remained blocked outside the first trench.

The enemy had 150,000 men; yesterday's bombardment had at most caused them to lose 20,000 or 30,000.

Even if the remaining men were pigs, it would still take a while to catch them.

Therefore, it was not that their attack was thwarted, but that they needed to continue to wear down the enemy's strength.

After all, while morale is important on the battlefield, the most important thing is the casualties of both sides.

When they realize they cannot defeat the enemy and their own casualties are mounting, the high morale of the soldiers will constantly decline until it finally collapses.

"Should we let the second batch of soldiers cross the river?" Chang Wei asked again.

The first batch of soldiers to cross the river numbered about 50,000.

There would be a second and a third batch to follow, so that the entire 150,000-strong army could cross the river.

"It is not yet time." Zhao Xu put down the Telescope.

Just 50,000 soldiers were already making the beachhead crowded; if another 50,000 were sent over, everyone would be packed together, and a stray bullet from the enemy could easily injure the Wangfu Army soldiers.

Only when the Shizu Army tastes defeat under the attack of the first batch of Wangfu Army soldiers, and the second batch of soldiers is then sent across the river, can their morale be severely crushed.

For instance, when the first trench is captured.

"Yes, Your Highness." Chang Wei replied; he was just a bit anxious and wanted to take Niu Tou Tan as soon as possible.

Zhao Xu nodded, and thinking of something, he asked: "How is the deployment of the Qin Army?"

With the Prince's Personal Army concentrated near Jinling, the defense of other parts of Da Song was weak.

So when heading south, he ordered Chang Wei to dispatch the Qin Army to defend the weak points, lest they be raided at home by the enemy.

For example, Southern Liang—if they took the opportunity to make trouble, they could still cause significant losses to Jiangbei.

"The Qin Army has reinforced Jingzhou with 20,000 soldiers to guard against Southern Liang; the current force in Jingzhou has reached 60,000," Chang Wei said.

The Qin Army, the Ningjin Army, and the Prince's Personal Army each had their own areas of defense.

Among them, the Qin Army was responsible for the defense of Qinzhou, Yongzhou, and Jingzhou, while the Prince's Personal Army was responsible for the defense of Jinzhou, Yanzhou, Yuzhou, Qizhou, Bozhou, and Ningzhou.

But because they were mainly facing the enemy along the line of Jinzhou, Bozhou, and Ningzhou, they actually only focused on defending these three prefectures.

And the Ningjin Army was naturally responsible for the Ningjin Dusi.

Hearing this, Zhao Xu felt a bit more at ease.

Immediately, he continued to focus on the battlefield.

Following this, Niu Tou Tan was essentially a back-and-forth struggle between the two sides.

The Wangfu Army at the beachhead continuously used Rifled Muskets to shoot at the enemies who poked their heads out, braving the hail of bullets to throw Hand Grenades into the Trench.

The Artillerymen at the beachhead also continuously bombarded the Trench.

The battle lasted from early morning until noon, when a turning point appeared on the battlefield.

At this moment, the beachhead organized another charge; two thousand of the Prince's Personal Army, under the cover of the Howitzer and soldiers, rushed toward the Trench.

Cannonballs exploded into clusters of Flame within the Trench, and the opposing side was suppressed and unable to lift their heads.

The Wangfu Army at the beachhead also utilized the range advantage of the Rifled Muskets to shoot and kill the soldiers they could spot.

The Mercenaries and aristocratic clan soldiers who leaned out to shoot at the charging Wangfu Army suffered constant casualties under the precise and fierce firepower.

Reaching a position thirty meters from the Trench, the Wangfu Army threw a wave of Hand Grenades into the Trench in unison, then leveled their Bayonets and charged toward the first line of the Trench.

Having learned from the enemy's experience of angling their Bayonets to create traps, they did not jump into the Trench immediately.

Instead, they raised their guns and fired a Bullet at them, then jumped into the Trench.

"This time, damn it, hold the Trench for me!" shouted Flag Leader Wang Qiao as he flipped over an aristocratic clan soldier.

He was a man from Yanzhou, and he had joined the Prince's Personal Army when Yan Wang first recruited soldiers in Yan Commandery.

Afterward, he followed the army on campaigns across the land, rising from an ordinary soldier to a Squad Leader, then to a Flag Leader, and after the reorganization, he was promoted to a Flag Leader.

Those who joined the Prince's Personal Army with him, just like him, had mostly been promoted.

Of course, they did not rely on their seniority as veterans, but on their willingness to fight and kill on the battlefield.

Every time they charged, he was always the first to lead the way.

As his voice fell, suddenly a tall Western Land Mercenaries commander rushed toward him.