Become a feudal king from today

"Your Highness, the dock has been captured, and the Marines are marching towards Antler City. Read"

The sound of gunfire in the distance subsided for a while, and a Marine soldier came to report back to Zhao Xu.

Zhao Xu nodded, feeling calm in his heart.

For him, this battle should be within reach.

"The fleet can dock at the dock." Zhou Yi said at this time.

Then he gave an order, and the warships on the sea turned around and headed north.

Then, the two arrived at Antler City under the escort of soldiers.

Different from the bastion of Malka City, Antler City is a traditional Great Song City.

It is unknown when this city was established, but it proves that Yizhou has belonged to the Central Plains Dynasty since ancient times.

"Tonight, I will spend the night in Antler City." Looking at the city in front of him, Zhao Xu looked up at the sun that had already passed its zenith.

There were still two hours before dark, and he wanted Pan Chang to capture Antler City within two hours.

This time, the Marines carried a sufficient amount of grenades, rifled guns, and howitzers.

The powerful army only had smoothbore flintlock guns comparable to those of Japan and artillery with a maximum range of only 800 meters.

Although Britain sent a lot of muskets and artillery to Wu through Frank-controlled Jiaozhi during this period.

But Wu Guo would definitely not use these guns and artillery in Yizhou.

After all, for the Wu State, Yizhou was isolated overseas and the chance of being able to defend it was very slim.

It's not worth wasting the muskets and artillery provided by Britain here.

"Yes, Your Highness." Pan Chang said.

Zhou Yi complained: "The Western natives taught them some tricks, but they really regarded them as treasures. They were like mice, digging holes every day."

Although he said this, he knew that although these trenches could not determine the final outcome of the battle, they could still delay their attack.

Just as he was talking, Chang Pan handed over the order to attack to the artillery.

"Boom, boom, boom..." There was a roar, and the howitzers threw explosive bombs at the trench in front of Antler City.

At the same time, the rifled gun adjusted its muzzle, aimed at the city wall, bombarded the gun emplacements on the city wall, and suppressed the opponent's artillery.

In the first row of trenches, Wu soldiers squatted against the trench walls.

Artillery shells continued to explode above their heads, and the force was so powerful that it even made the earth tremble.

The loud noise forced them to cover their ears to prevent their eardrums from being shattered.

"Boom!" At this time, a shell happened to fall in the middle of the first row of trenches.

The flames soared into the sky, kicking up several meters of dust, mixed with broken clothes, blood and mutilated limbs.

The soldier at the center of the explosion died tragically immediately before he could even scream. The nearby soldiers were lifted off by the shock wave and flew some distance away.

Some people were stunned, some were hit by shrapnel, and they kept screaming in agony.

Seeing this scene, the Wu soldiers in the trench turned pale, and some were so frightened that they peed.

Everyone had a look of panic on their faces.

They are all new soldiers. After the Battle of Goryeo, the whole country of Wu went crazy, especially the local wealthy families.

Rumor has it that King Yan will lead his troops south to fight.

Afterwards, Emperor Liang Feng ordered to recruit troops, and wealthy officials responded one after another.

Not only did he send his family members to lead private soldiers to join the Wu army, but he also forced many strong men into the army.

The Wu court even delegated the method of forging muskets and artillery to the wealthy families, allowing them to forge muskets and artillery to supply the army.

In just three months, Wu's army increased from 400,000 to one million.

Each important city also accumulated grain and grass and dug trenches and fortifications.

There is a strong intention to gather the strength of Jiangnan to fight to the death with King Yan.

It was at this time that they were sent to Yizhou to guard Lujiao City.

"Don't be afraid, the general said, they only have a few thousand people, we have 30,000 people, our Wu country is the richest in the world, has millions of soldiers, and with the support of the British people, we will definitely defeat King Yan."'

When the soldiers were scared to death, a general shouted to encourage the soldiers.

In the corner, three soldiers looked at the general, and one of them muttered: "Fuck you, if you want to die, die yourself. King Yan is here, and he is also skinning your rich and powerful clan, and he has no offense with us common people." "

"That's right, they were all like yakshas when they oppressed us, and now they are asking us to sacrifice our lives. Can this battle be fought by humans? King Yan's army is too powerful. What is being thrown here is more terrifying than a lightning strike." Another person road.

"Shhh, keep your voice down. If a soldier from a wealthy family hears it, you will lose your head." A soldier said.

At present, the generals in Wu's army are all generals from wealthy and powerful families.

This general came from a wealthy family in Fuyang County, Zhezhou. His surname was Liu, and he was the second son of the head of the Liu family.

He led three thousand private soldiers to Lincheng, and the court gave him the title of school captain.

He also gave the official positions of Dutou, Chief Flag, Xiaoqi, and Team Leader to the Liu family's children or relatives of the Liu family.

At the same time, he ordered the soldiers of the same surname in the army to keep an eye on these soldiers who were ordinary people.

These are either descendants of the Liu family or relatives of the Liu family. Generals and soldiers with the same surname are naturally close to the party in the army.

On weekdays, he kept silent to people who were not from the Liu family and let others do the hard work.

However, due to its great power, many soldiers dared not speak out in anger and could only obey.

"No matter what, we are going to die, and we are afraid of his ball bag. Let's just keep it here. When the soldiers of King Yan come over, we will surrender." The first soldier said, "The deserters from Jiangbei said that Yan If the king does not kill the prisoners, he will send them home with them.”

The other two nodded after hearing this.

Living in Jiangnan for a long time, although they were unfamiliar with the King of Yan and even the court, the wealthy families in Jiangnan did not treat them well.

Therefore, they did not care who sat on the throne, they just wanted to save their lives.

However, as shells fell into the trenches, casualties increased.

Not only ordinary soldiers, but even the wealthy soldiers who were determined to resist gradually could not hold on.

The trenches were full of blood, broken limbs and blurred corpses.

Every time the shells whizzed over their heads, their hearts had to be raised to their throats. For them, it was like kneeling on the execution ground, waiting for the executioner's knife to fall, which was very tormenting and terrifying.

Finally, after the bombardment lasted for two quarters of an hour, the wealthy soldiers in the fifth row of trenches could not bear it first, climbed out of the trenches and rushed to the city gate, slapping the city gate and begging to enter the city.

"They are going to collapse." Zhao Xu had been watching the battlefield, and seeing more and more Wu soldiers rushing to the city gate, he said lightly.

After entering the era of firearms, as Napoleon said, artillery is the god of war.

On the battlefield, only artillery can cause a large number of casualties to the enemy at a long distance.

In the First World War, 60% of the casualties in the trench confrontation were caused by artillery.

Therefore, in the construction of the Yanzhou army, he attached great importance to artillery. Whether it was the royal army, the Ningjin Army, or the Qin Army and the Marines, he required the establishment of independent artillery and the deployment of various types of artillery.

Although trenches have a certain effect on blocking infantry, the enemy troops in the trenches also need a strong will to withstand the bombardment of artillery.

The noble army stationed in Yizhou obviously couldn't do it.

Pan Chang naturally noticed the changes in the battlefield situation.

He immediately ordered the Marines to charge the trenches.

At this time, he did not order the artillery to stop the attack.

In one war after another, the generals were constantly combining textbooks and summarizing battlefield experience.

The situation of digging trenches by themselves, close to the opponent's trenches, naturally had to stop the artillery before charging.

But now, they did not dig trenches, but charged in a long-distance skirmish line.

This requires artillery to cover the soldiers' charge, suppress the enemy so that they can't raise their heads, and stop the artillery fire when they enter within 50 meters.

Moreover, in addition to shotgun shells, the artillery also fired lime bombs at this time.

However, the main function of these lime bombs is to blow out a ball of lime powder barrier, which not only damages the enemy's eyes, but also blocks the opponent's vision.

"Kill!" The order to charge was issued, and the Marines roared and rushed to the trench.

The shells continued to fall on the trench.

Most soldiers huddled in the trench and didn't dare to stand up.

The noble generals were very anxious, and they kept urging their relatives to fight back.

Some relatives gritted their teeth and raised their muskets, but found that there was a white mist in front of them, as if they were in the fog, and they couldn't see the front at all.

Pulling the trigger, they could only shoot randomly.

At this moment, stick-like things flew towards them through the white fog.

Before they could react, the sticks fell near them.

"Boom boom boom..." Suddenly a series of explosions sounded, and the soldiers of the noble families who were standing there suffered heavy casualties.