Chapter 827: Gap

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Dense gunfire rang out across the battlefield as the Prince's Personal Army soldiers crawled out of the trenches and charged in a skirmish line.

However, they did not swarm toward the opposite side in a single mass.

The Qin-series rifles granted them many tactical maneuvers previously impossible on the battlefield.

Due to three days of shelling, there were many craters blasted by cannonballs between the opposing trenches.

The Wangfu Army soldiers advanced in teams of three, coordinating with one another.

While one person charged forward, the other two would kneel or lie on the ground, firing at the opposing trench to provide cover for the first soldier.

When the first soldier had charged twenty or thirty meters, they would immediately go prone, firing at the enemy soldiers from a lying position to cover the two soldiers behind.

At this point, the two soldiers would scramble up to charge, repeating this alternating cover-fire maneuver.

When encountering craters, the Wangfu Army soldiers would jump directly into them, using the craters to continuously fire at the Southern Liang and Northern Di soldiers poking their heads out of the trenches, covering the advance of other soldiers.

Since they did not need to stand up to reload bullets, they remained lying in the craters, firing continuously.

The advantage of the Qin-series rifle, which could fire ten bullets a minute with considerable accuracy, was thus manifested.

A single soldier in a crater could often suppress four or five enemy soldiers.

Because the Southern Liang and Northern Di soldiers were still using traditional flintlocks, managing two or three shots a minute was considered good, appearing very clumsy.

And this was just one crater.

In the three-hundred-meter-wide no-man's-land between the trenches, there were hundreds of such craters.

Coupled with the soldiers using alternating cover fire, the firepower of the Prince's Personal Army was extremely fierce along the entire trench line.

The gunfire on the battlefield sounded like popping beans.

"Bang!"

Shooting dead an enemy soldier who poked his head out of the opposite trench, Wang En pulled back the breech bolt, took another paper-cased bullet from his bandolier, and shoved it into the chamber.

Closing the breech bolt,

he aimed at the trench again; whenever a soldier poked their head out, he would pull the trigger.

He belonged to the First Army of the Prince's Personal Army and was a squad leader in charge of ten men.

The soldiers currently lying in the crater were all his men.

After another shot, he noticed that there were no more soldiers poking their heads out within a ten-meter radius of the opposite trench.

Ten meters away, enemy soldiers still popped up from time to time, firing at the charging soldiers.

Clearly, they had punched a gap here.

"Get the hand grenades ready, charge with me!" Wang En shouted, crawling out of the crater; the soldiers under his command followed him, approaching the trench in an irregular curve.

Just as they left the trench, other Wangfu Army soldiers jumped into it.

These soldiers consciously aimed their muzzles in the direction of Wang En's charge, providing them with cover.

Just when Wang En was only twenty meters away from the trench,

the enemy clearly discovered the threat posed by his group.

Reserve soldiers immediately rushed over from the communication tunnels, preparing to plug the gap.

Seeing this, Wang En took a hand grenade from his waist, pulled the igniter cord, and threw it over.

The soldiers following him also threw hand grenades toward the soldiers rushing to the gap.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

Flames soared in the trench, and the rushing reserve soldiers fell with screams.

"Kill!"

Taking advantage of the moment the enemy reserves were stunned by the explosions, Wang En shouted, covered the twenty-meter distance in just four seconds, and jumped into the enemy trench.

The soldiers under his command followed closely behind him, also jumping into the trench.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Once inside the trench, Wang En aimed at the enemy soldiers within and fired.

After killing one soldier, he immediately reloaded and fired at the next.

In a short time, they tore the gap wider and wider.

Because they had disrupted the defense of the first line of trenches, other Wangfu Army soldiers immediately followed, and more and more people jumped into the trench.

"Hahaha, as expected of my own younger brother." Wang Qiao lay in a crater, laughing heartily.

In the Battle of Niu Tou Tan, due to his heroic performance, he had been promoted from a flag leader to a Capital Leader during this period, commanding five hundred soldiers.

Afterward, because the forces were stationed at Zhongling Pass, he followed the main army north and arrived at the foot of Zhongling Pass.

After he joined the Prince's Personal Army, his fifth younger brother also joined the Prince's Personal Army the following year.

People say that father and son go into battle together, and brothers fight side by side, so he had requested his brother and brought him under his own command.

"Provide support immediately, tear the gap as wide as possible." Wang Qiao laughed for a while, then immediately gave the order.

Upon receiving the order, the officers under his command led their soldiers and rushed over.

At the same time, at other positions along the trench line, Prince's Personal Army soldiers were also continuously tearing open defensive gaps.

More and more Wangfu soldiers rushed into the first line of trenches; neither the Southern Liang soldiers nor the Northern Di soldiers could stop them.

"Damn it!"

Ashuer and Aersiji hid in a concealed corner of the last trench, watching the battlefield.

Seeing the Wangfu soldiers rush into the first line of trenches in such a short time, he could not help but be consumed by rage, nearly spitting out a mouthful of blood.

These Wangfu soldiers were too agile on the battlefield.

They darted back and forth like monkeys.

The flintlocks had no accuracy to begin with, and they were attacking in a skirmish line.

What was even more detestable was that once they encountered danger, they would lie flat on the ground and crawl forward like snakes.

While crawling, they were actually still able to fire at their soldiers.

Moreover, throughout the entire process, not a single Wangfu Army soldier stood still to pull out a ramrod and load ammunition.

This was the time they were most easily shot and killed.

Consequently, under such circumstances, their counterattack appeared extremely feeble and was quickly crushed.

"Reserves, move up! Plug that gap for me!" Ashuer was furious and desperate.

Three days of shelling had already cost them over twenty thousand men.

Now, in less than half an hour, their trench had been breached.

How could he, who had always been proud, endure this? He held his breath, determined to fight to the bitter end.

Compared to Ashuer, Aersiji was much calmer.

After all, the ones dying were not Ross soldiers.

From the moment the war began, he had noticed that the Yan Wang soldiers' movements were far too flexible.

This tactic of using entirely skirmishers was something no one dared to use, even in the Western Lands.

Yet they had used it, and after observing a bit more, his heart tightened involuntarily.

He suddenly realized that the Yan Wang soldiers seemed to be using a brand-new type of firearm.

This type of firearm was actually loaded from the rear.

The scene observed through the telescope overturned his understanding.

Realizing this, his cold sweat instantly soaked his clothes.

"I think we should retreat now," Aersiji said, having instantly lost his confidence.

The loading speed, range, and accuracy of the Yan Wang soldiers' new-style firearms were simply terrifying.

Although Ashuer's soldiers were equipped with some Ross-made smoothbore guns with a range of one hundred and fifty meters, it was far from enough.

Perhaps only imitation firearms could compete with them.

But even so, they would still be far inferior in terms of flexibility.

"Damn it, getting involved in this war might have been a mistake," Aersiji screamed in his heart.