Chapter 916: Hard Fight

"So, there must be a large number of cavalry ambushed in the valleys on both sides." Pan Chang cast a cold look at the woods on both sides of the valley.

"Yes." The flag chief in charge of reconnaissance was very sure.

Pan Chang touched his chin, "Japan has always been short of horses. According to our intelligence, Watanabe An has only more than 20,000 cavalry under his command, led by Kukii. If Watanabe An set an ambush here, it means that he expected us to pass by here."

The reconnaissance flag chief nodded, "This valley is so narrow and long, I am afraid that in addition to cavalry, there are also a large number of infantry ambushed."

Pan Chang smiled when he heard it, "That's for sure. For Watanabe An, we are the real threat. The armies of Oda and Mori are just miscellaneous soldiers. They will definitely mobilize their elite to eat us up in one bite."

After a moment of silence, he said: "Keep moving forward."

Just as he decided at the beginning.

Whether there is an ambush in the valley or not, he will rush over.

Because according to the plan, the battle of Shirakawa Castle may have already started.

If you are afraid to move forward, if something goes wrong, the overall situation of the war will be affected.

The time to eliminate the forces involved in the Watanabe case will be postponed again.

This is a situation he absolutely cannot allow to happen.

Moreover, his forced entry into the valley was not a reckless act, but was based on the current strength of the Marine Corps.

The 20,000 soldiers under his command were enough to deal with any emergency.

The order was passed down, and the Marines continued to advance in six columns.

However, Pan Chang had passed on the news that there were ambushes in the valleys on both sides.

When marching, the columns on the east and west sides each stared at the direction they were responsible for.

And they just moved forward along the center line of the valley.

There was no road, so they went directly through the farmland and never approached the mountains and forests.

Soon, the entire team entered the narrow valley.

At this moment, on the ridge on the east side of the valley, Jiu Guijing stared coldly at the Marines.

When all the Marines entered the valley, a sneer appeared at the corner of his mouth.

With a wave of his hand, he ordered all the cavalry and infantry to cross the ridge.

Arriving at the edge of the forest, he mounted his warhorse, drew out the Japanese sword from his waist, and said to the soldiers around him, "The general is in Baihe City. If the Yan Wang's troops are allowed to pass, the general will be in danger. For the general and for the future of Japan, we must fight to the death here today, at all costs, to annihilate the Yan Wang's troops!"

"Board! Board..."

The cavalry roared, and the enemy had all entered the ambush circle. They no longer cared about being discovered by the enemy.

Jiu Guijing nodded, pinched the bone flute hanging around his neck and blew it.

The sharp flute sound echoed in the forest, and the cavalry rushed out of the forest, holding up the Japanese swords, and rushed towards the Yan Wang soldiers in the middle of the valley.

As soon as the cavalry on the east rushed out, they were immediately discovered by the cavalry on the west side, and the ambush of the Japanese cavalry on the west side also rushed out.

While the cavalry charged, the infantry followed behind the cavalry and also approached the center of the valley.

They would approach while the cavalry was fighting with the Yan army, shorten the distance with the Yan army, and thus weaken the range advantage of the Yan army.

"Hollow square formation!"

The moment the Beidi cavalry rushed out, without the reminder of Pan Chang, the Marines quickly changed their formation tacitly.

Twenty thousand Marines formed six hollow square formations in the valley.

Although the hollow square formation was a tactic to deal with cavalry during the flintlock period.

But it does not mean that this formation is useless after the Qin rifle is replaced.

On the contrary, the Qin rifle makes the hollow square formation more powerful.

After all, the Qin rifle is more accurate and has a better range than the flintlock rifle.

"Install the bayonet!" The generals gave orders in the hollow square formation city.

The Marines immediately inserted the sharp bayonet into the buckle of the muzzle.

"Shoot!" Another order was issued.

At this time, the three rows of soldiers in the square formation lie down in the first row, kneel on one knee in the second row, and stand in the third row, all aiming their guns at the cavalry that rushed past.

The flintlock rifle needs three shots because of its low firing rate.

But the Qin-style rifle, which can fire ten bullets a minute, does not need it.

"Bang, bang, bang..." dense gunshots rang out in the valley.

The gunshots drifted up the valley and echoed, making the gunshots seem more dense.

When the Marines changed their formation, the Japanese cavalry had already rushed out 500 meters, and only 300 meters were left from the Marines.

But as the order to shoot was issued, dense bullets flew towards them.

The Japanese cavalry in front were like fallen leaves swept by the strong wind, and large groups fell off their horses.

Some war horses were also hit, and fell with the people, rolling on the ground.

So many cavalry fell in an instant, and the cavalry behind them could not dodge at all.

The horses' hooves either crushed the fallen cavalrymen in front into a pulp and continued to charge forward, or were knocked down by the fallen cavalrymen and horses, and rolled to the ground, and were trampled by the cavalrymen behind them.

"Bang, bang, bang..." Facing many cavalrymen, the Marines remained calm.

They were highly focused and used the fastest reloading speed.

After firing one shot, they fired the second and third shots.

The interval between each shot was almost five seconds.

In just over fifteen seconds, the soldiers on both sides fired 30,000 bullets.

But the distance of 300 meters required at least 20 seconds for the cavalrymen to come.

This was still a normal unobstructed charge.

However, due to the large-scale casualties of the cavalrymen in the front row, their actions were obviously restricted.

In the hail of bullets, they charged hard for fifty seconds before the cavalry approached fifty meters in front of the hollow square.

"Board!" The faces of the Yan Wang soldiers were clear in the field of vision.

The surviving cavalry raised their Japanese swords and roared, they wanted to chop the Yan Wang soldiers in front of them into meat paste.

However, they were facing a flying grenade.

"Boom boom boom..." The grenade exploded in the middle of the cavalry.

Ten meters away from the grenade, the cavalry fell again in large numbers.

At the same time, the loud noise scared the war horses, and many Japanese cavalry horses were out of control and fled in all directions amid the neighing.

The charging cavalry fell into a brief chaos again.

After the first chaos and the second chaos, plus a large number of casualties.

The Japanese cavalry had no formation at all at this moment.

In one minute, the 10,000 soldiers on both sides of the hollow square safely fired more than 100,000 bullets.

After this round of grenade throwing, there were less than 2,000 cavalry left on the battlefield.

As they continued to charge, they came to the hollow square in a sparse manner, facing the bayonets of the Marines, and there were no cavalry companions behind them.

Of course, they still had infantry, but it was obvious that because the horses charged too fast, the infantry was far behind them and was chasing them.

Although they realized that something was wrong, they were too enthusiastic to think about anything.

Some of the crazy Japanese cavalry directly rushed into the bayonets.

Some of them could only pass through the gaps in the hollow square due to fear.