Chapter 1166 War Begins

Three days later, in the early morning, in the wilderness outside Chengdu, the armies of the Central Plains and Nanzhao faced each other from a distance. The soldiers formed a neat array, with flags fluttering and swords and guns standing in rows. The shouts of soldiers from the two armies echoed in the mountains.

Shu is mountainous, but the area near Chengdu has special geological conditions. The Chengdu Plain covers an area of ​​18,000 square kilometers, which is suitable for large-scale field battles.

If we just look at the military appearance, the Central Plains Crusade Army is far superior. The Shenji Battalion wears standard military uniforms, and their weapons are unified into firecrackers and spears, and they are arrayed neatly and standardly.

The Black Miao barbarians were far behind. The soldiers came from various tribes and belonged to different cave masters. Their clothes and armor were mixed, and their weapons were all kinds of.

The crusade army did not go out in full force. On the frontal battlefield, there were only 30,000 divine machine gunners and 5,000 artillerymen facing off against the barbarian army. This means that Li Xiaoyao and Jing Xiaolou did not read the military book in vain, and they understood too much. Soldiers are crowded on the battlefield and cannot display their combat effectiveness at all.

What's more, the Shenji Army uses firearms to fight. The soldiers' battle line is too long, and the firepower density will not be much enhanced. If the enemy breaks through the battle line and rushes into the army formation, strangled with the friendly troops, the scattered soldiers will attack the formation. Self-disruption.

The number of mortal soldiers invested in the crusade was relatively small, but a total of 700 extraordinary warriors and 3,000 elite demon vassal troops were present, wandering around the periphery of the battlefield, waiting for orders to carry out special attack missions at any time.

The Spanish infantry phalanxes were lined up in the divine machine gunners. Each phalanx had a thousand men, including 600 pikemen, 300 arquebusiers and 100 sword and shield bearers. The soldiers were arranged in three dense rows. Each row had fifty people in front and twenty columns in depth. On the four corners were soldiers with matchlocks arranged in dense square formations.

It is worth mentioning that the firearm firing technology of the Shenji Army used match ropes. This was mainly due to the backward metallurgical and chemical technology in the Song Dynasty. Not to mention the flash caps, even the elastic reeds of flintlock guns could not be made. We can only settle for the next best thing and equip the soldiers with matchlocks.

The Spanish phalanx is in the shape of a "back", with a hollow formation. Soldiers surround several artillery pieces in the center of the phalanx. When needed, the soldiers on the front of the phalanx can give way to the firing channel for artillery fire. Artillery positions are also set up between the phalanxes. After the battle begins, artillery fire will be used to slow down the enemy's charge.

The Spanish phalanx tactics were miraculous against cavalry, not to mention the purely cold-weapon infantry that was an era behind them. Using the powerful power of firearms and the left-hand stabbing tactics of pikemen, the Spanish phalanx can send any traditional cold weapon era army into the garbage heap of history.

The reason why Jing Xiaolou arranged the formation in this way was because it was written in the infantry drill compiled by Luo Guoshi. He studied it carefully, and the more he read, the more he felt that Luo Guoshi was indeed a versatile man in both civil and military affairs. What was written in the book was very reasonable, so he followed the instructions and followed the instructions. Di Zun carried out the instructions.

In fact, there are not many cavalry in Nanzhao's barbarian army. In addition to dozens of powerful armored war elephants, there are only a dozen barbarians riding various wild animals.

Tigers and leopards are common mounts, but some of the weird ones include a weirdo riding a giant anaconda as thick as a water tank. There is even a barbarian who imitated Chi You and rode an extremely large demonized panda.

Rather than riding wild beasts, the barbarian soldiers prefer to command wild beasts. There are many ferocious beasts and poisonous insects in the Nanzhao army, and they lie on the ground obediently under the control of the beast masters.

It took almost the whole morning for both sides to set up their formations. By the time the opposing military formations were completed and the sun was almost at zenith, the time for the scheduled battle was about to begin.

Originally, according to ancient rituals, the two sides should send envoys to contact each other in front of the battle before the war began, or send each other's vanguards to fight in front of the battle to boost the morale of the generals, but neither side had such plans.

At three quarters past noon, three cannon blasts were heard from behind the Central Plains military formation. The leaders of each barbarian formation shouted orders in Miao language, and the Nanzhao barbarian army ran like tigers at the gate, waving their weapons. Rushed towards the infantry phalanx of the Central Plains Crusade Army.

Correspondingly, the military band in the center of the Hui Zi Phalanx beat gongs and drums, and the soldiers of the Phalanx advanced slowly and neatly to the beat of the drums.

Viewed from the air, the squares on the ground are moving slowly, and the barbarian soldiers on the other side are densely packed and like sand, rushing forward and pouring down.

Because the generals of the Central Plains Army carried telephone snails, they had a great advantage in commanding and delivering orders. Jing Xiaolou picked up the phone and dialed the number of the artillery battalion commander and issued an order for the artillery to fire freely.

Rumbling cannons and thick clouds of smoke rose in the gaps between the military formations. The charging barbarians could only hear the roar for four times, and black shadows quickly hit in front of their eyes. The comrades beside them had huge blood holes inexplicably on their bodies. The solid cannonball pierced several people and then hit the ground, but immediately bounced up and knocked over several people again, creating a path full of flesh and blood stumps.

While the enemy position was still a thousand meters away, the barbarian soldiers were hit head-on by artillery fire. Nearly a hundred people fell in one round of artillery fire.

The black Miao barbarians who had never seen this kind of modern combat method were suddenly frightened. They thought that the Central Plains Army used magical magic weapons. However, the psychological quality of these barbarians was much stronger than that of the actual soldiers. Even if the Central Plains Army's artillery fire was fierce, they But he still bravely ran forward, and instead accelerated his pace.

Switching to the real world, the barbarian soldiers would probably be like the Aztecs facing the Spanish adventurers, thinking that the opponent's bombardment was the power of gods, and their morale immediately collapsed.

However, there is indeed extraordinary power in the world of fairy swords. Although the power of artillery is great, it is not as powerful as the fairy magic and witchcraft, which is far from the psychological endurance of the barbarian soldiers.

The leader of the Moon Worshiping Cult released Gu worms and secretly conveyed orders to the Gu masters in the army. The Gu masters who received the order recited harsh and harsh ancient spells. A burst of black energy rose from the barbarian army's formation. A gust of evil wind suddenly blew on the battlefield, and black miasma filled the air out of thin air. , a strong wind suddenly blew from behind the barbarian army formation, flying sand and rocks for a while, and the miasma poured overwhelmingly towards the Central Plains army formation.

The charging barbarians were hiding in the miasma of black mist, their figures looming, whether it was the artillery soldiers or the musketeers who were raising their guns and preparing to shoot. They were either blinded by the flying sand, or they couldn't see the targets in the black mist clearly. They were trying to estimate their positions. Guns were fired randomly, but the result was unknown. How many barbarians were hit by lead bullets.

Loading ammunition in front of the phalanx formation is a tactical action that tests proficiency and psychological quality. The barbarians cast a magic spell, and it is unknown whether the black mist that came in contained poison. The musketeers in the phalanx were in a hurry. The movements were distorted. Many people either forgot to insert lead bullets or forgot to pull out the loading rod. They either fired empty guns or shot the loading rod out and could no longer load ammunition.

The ideal is very full, but the reality is very skinny. It stands to reason that the modern firearms army of the Chinese Empire adopted the tactics that are the most effective against the cold weapons army. It should have had the advantage and there would be no suspense about victory or defeat.

However, the world of Fairy Sword is not the real world. Due to the existence of extraordinary power, there are too many factors that affect victory or defeat, and it is impossible to apply the laws of war in the real world. Luo Feng's efforts to improve the combat effectiveness of the Central Plains army are just The pure waste has been upgraded to the point where it can barely stand up to a fight.

The cold weapons army of the old Song Dynasty that had not been upgraded by Luo Feng would probably not perform as well as this modern firearms army when facing enemies. It is no wonder that the leader of the Moon Worshiping Cult had the ambition to destroy the Song Dynasty and dominate the world.

In the original plot, if the leader of the Moon Worshiping Cult controlled the Water Demonic Beast to destroy a few extraordinary people in the Central Plains, leaving only the Song Army composed of mortals, who could defeat it with the help of the barbarian soldiers with extraordinary bravery and magical skills, why couldn't he unify them? The world?