Chapter 983: Counterattack

"That's right, distribute the machine guns and beat the hell out of these sons of bitches." Bai Shang looked toward the Northern Di trenches in front.

The Northern Di were still using cavalry and infantry, attempting to break through their defensive line.

But the more the Northern Di did this, the more it manifested their hysteria.

Now, all that was needed was to give the Northern Di a heavy blow to make them lose hope entirely.

Afterward, the Northern Di grand army would completely collapse.

After all, the Gun Cavalry had already raided the Northern Di's supply line.

Summoning the Machine Gun Team, Bai Shang handed thirty machine guns to the machine gunners and divided them among the vanguard troops about to launch the attack.

After once again urging them to use the machine guns carefully, he finally issued the order for the counterattack.

At this moment, the sun had just climbed to the willow tips, and there was still a long time before dark.

To him, this amount of time was enough for them to defeat the Northern Di.

Because the Black Tortoise Army of the central route had already reinforced Lingwu County.

At present, the Da Song soldiers gathered here numbered about two hundred thousand.

"Doo-doo, doo, doo-doo-doo..." As Bai Shang's order was issued, crisp bugle sounds suddenly rang out in the trenches.

This was a small detail of the military reform during this period.

Previously, charges on the battlefield were signaled by beating war drums.

But carrying war drums was ultimately too troublesome, so during the restructuring, Yan Wang ordered the training of some buglers and simultaneously taught them to play bugle calls.

Some of these bugle calls were for waking up, some were for sleeping, and there was also one for charging.

The clear, high-pitched bugle sounds could travel a very long distance on the battlefield.

Instantly, the Central Army soldiers in the front trenches climbed out of the trenches and launched a charge toward the Northern Di trenches.

Soldiers in other trenches followed, and the soldiers pushed forward wave after wave like a tide.

Before the soldiers charged, the machine gunners had already found their respective firing points.

These firing points were all on high ground, so they would not be blocked by the charging soldiers' lines of fire.

As the Da Song soldiers charged, the Northern Di soldiers in the trenches immediately aimed their firearms at the charging soldiers.

Among these firearms were flintlocks and rifled muskets.

However, before they could even pull the trigger, they were met with machine gun fire.

On the city wall, eight machine guns were distributed from east to west.

The machine gunners aimed at the Northern Di soldiers in the trenches and pulled the triggers; bullets flew out from the muzzles one after another, continuous and unending.

Following the movement of the muzzles, the bullets kicked up a trail of dust in front of the Northern Di trenches, and seven or eight Northern Di soldiers who exposed their bodies were hit immediately, falling into pools of blood.

Eight machine guns fired together, bullets like rain; the Northern Di soldiers in the trenches were suppressed so heavily they couldn't even lift their heads.

The cavalry charging from the road in the middle of the trenches were especially targeted by one machine gun.

The machine gunner fired violently at the cavalry on the road, and Northern Di cavalrymen fell one by one into pools of blood.

Under the cover of machine gun fire and Qin-series rifle fire, the Da Song soldiers successfully charged into the Northern Di trenches.

Jumping into the trenches, they began to engage in hand-to-hand combat with the remaining Northern Di soldiers.

At the same time, a portion of the soldiers controlled the passageways, using hand grenades to kill the Northern Di soldiers coming forward to support.

The Northern Di soldiers whose path was blocked attempted to climb up the trenches and jump down from above to retake the first row of trenches.

But as soon as they climbed onto the trenches, they were met with machine gun fire, dying on the ground one by one.

"Da-da-da..."

The remaining twenty-two machine guns followed the charging soldiers to the flank of the battlefield, firing bullets crazily at the Northern Di soldiers in the trenches.

Northern Di soldiers in trench after trench were cleared out by the machine guns.

While the Da Song soldiers launched their charge, the artillerymen conducted shelling on the area ten miles away.

They were doing this to cut off reinforcements from the Northern Di camp.

At this moment, the Northern Di camp was in chaos because of the Da Song army's sudden counterattack.

Mule Hongzhen, Wulanba, Niegofu, and others immediately arrived at the front of the camp.

Raising their telescopes to observe for a moment, the expressions of all three became grave.

In just a very short time, their first row of Northern Di trenches had been taken.

Now the Da Song soldiers were in the process of taking the second and third rows of trenches.

And because of the enemy's shelling, the speed at which soldiers in the camp could enter the trenches was hindered, making it even harder for the Northern Di soldiers in the trenches to hold on, as they continuously lost positions.

"What is going on? Why would they launch a counterattack today?" Mule Hongzhen was shocked and uncertain.

Niegofu's gaze was sharper than Mule Hongzhen's; he immediately noticed the Da Song soldiers on the flank of the trenches.

These soldiers were guarding a type of firearm he had never seen before.

What shocked him was that the firing speed of this firearm simply exceeded his imagination.

If he were to return to the Ross country and describe this weapon to others, they would definitely call him a lunatic.

"They clearly have new firearms again." Niegofu pointed to the flank. "Our flank is very dangerous now; the soldiers in the trenches have no power to resist that kind of strange firearm. We must provide support. Now, you send out cavalry, and I will send out infantry; we must stop them."

Following the direction Niegofu pointed, Mule Hongzhen also discovered a situation different from before.

Their Northern Di soldiers were naturally not stupid; facing the attack from the flank, commanders were constantly leading soldiers to charge over.

But the speed at which they fell was even faster than the speed at which they charged.

Corpses piled up layer upon layer on the trenches, but it seemed as if there were invisible walls in front of the soldiers, and they were unable to break through at all.

"Good!" Mule Hongzhen answered very decisively.

With the battle having reached this point, this was the first time Niegofu had proactively requested to send Ross country soldiers into battle, so he naturally had to accompany him.

Furthermore, he had no other choice.

If the Northern Di win this time, then so be it.

If they suffer another setback, they will need the support of the Ross even more.

Niegofu was in no mood to care about what Mule Hongzhen was thinking at this moment.

His entire attention was now focused on the strange muskets of the Great Song.

By taking the initiative to send out his troops this time, he was not doing it to help the Northern Di resolve the crisis on their flanks, but rather for his own selfish motives.

He wanted to take the opportunity to seize one of those strange muskets.

Just as their soldiers had seized several breech-loading muskets on the battlefield during the Battle of Yizhou.

"Spare no cost, you must bring one back for me," Niegofu emphasized to his adjutant.

The adjutant nodded and turned to leave.

Before long, twenty thousand Cavalry charged out from the encampment, splitting into two groups and heading toward the Great Song troops on the left and right flanks.

The Ross Infantry followed closely behind the Cavalry, charging toward the two flanks.

However, as soon as they entered the ten-li artillery range, they were subjected to bombardment.

The Great Song Artillerymen had been keeping a close eye on the battlefield and naturally noticed their movements.

Under the bombardment of the Artillery, the Northern Di Cavalry and Ross Infantry did not retreat; they continued to march forward through the accumulated snow, leaving corpses behind along the way.

But by the time they were only one li away from the Great Song soldiers on the flanks, each of the two wings had already lost several thousand men.