PFC Chapter 492 A Brutal Showdown
Chapter 492 A Brutal Showdown
On the two city walls of Pingyang City, the battle was as fierce as a storm. The two sides fought back and forth, using various tactics one after another.
Every second was filled with a life-and-death struggle, with soldiers constantly falling in the hail of bullets. However, someone from the rear would immediately step forward to replace them without hesitation, and they would continue to fight forward without flinching.
The Hun army focused its main efforts on ensuring that the mortars could be fired continuously.
This was the first time in Jiao Zan's life that he experienced such a brutal battle. Fortunately, Gulizar had detailed combat deployment in advance, so he only needed to follow the established tactics.
At the beginning of the battle, one hundred mortars roared in unison, and the deafening sound seemed to tear the entire world apart.
Shells rained down on the city walls, blasting huge craters into them, sending bricks and stones flying everywhere and filling the air with smoke.
But as the battle continued, more and more Hun soldiers fell under the enemy's counterattack fire, and one mortar after another was destroyed in the explosion.
Jiao Zan was extremely anxious and could only keep ordering his men to rush to the front line with new mortars and continue to launch fierce attacks towards the city wall.
He was responsible for attacking the north gate, while Ren Chaohui was responsible for defending the city.
After hearing the deafening explosion, Zhu Zhanhui immediately rushed to provide support.
"General Zhu, what are you doing here? It's dangerous here. Go down and rest for a while."
While Ren Chaohui was loudly directing the defense on the city wall, he shouted to Zhu Zhanhui, his voice a little unclear amid the sound of artillery fire.
Zhu Zhanhui looked at the city wall, which was riddled with holes and in a shambles. When he heard Ren Zhaohui ask him to go down and rest, he hurriedly said, "I saw General Han Ziqing has ordered his men to bring the infantry guns up to the city wall. We have to do the same!"
Ren Zhaohui heard that Han Ziqing had already brought the infantry artillery up to the city wall. After a moment's thought, he nodded and agreed, "That's feasible. Otherwise, too many of our artillery pieces have been destroyed. If we don't change our tactics, I'm afraid we won't be able to hold on."
Seeing that Ren Zhaohui agreed, Zhu Zhanhui immediately said, "You are already busy commanding the defense. Don't be distracted. I will go down and bring people to transport the infantry artillery up."
Ren Chaohui was worried about the lack of capable command personnel at this time. Seeing Zhu Zhanhui volunteer, he was overjoyed and said gratefully, "Okay, then I'll trouble you, General Zhu! I'll command the brothers to hold the position here and wait for your artillery to arrive."
On the battlefield, the sound of artillery was deafening, like never-ending thunder, continuously shaking people's eardrums.
The city walls had been blown beyond recognition, with ruins everywhere.
Soldiers shuttled through the smoke of gunpowder. Some of them struggled to carry the wounded soldiers down the city wall and sent them to the rear for treatment; others took linen and silently wrapped the bodies of the fallen soldiers carefully and took them away for proper placement.
The artillery was extremely powerful and caused extremely tragic casualties. The bodies of most soldiers were no longer intact.
Most of the people in charge of collecting the bodies were older veterans. Seeing their comrades who had fought side by side with them now become like this, they couldn't help but feel sad, tears welled up in their eyes, and they sobbed softly.
However, the cruel battlefield never believes in tears. It is just that at this moment of life and death, sadness can only be temporarily buried deep in the heart.
Zhu Zhanhui quickly led his men and laboriously carried the infantry gun onto the city wall.
The soldiers raced against time to transport the cannon to the designated location as quickly as possible.
As soon as the infantry artillery arrived, they immediately organized a powerful counterattack.
This type of cannon is actually somewhat similar to the Tiger Barrel Cannon they are using now, but there are obvious differences in caliber, length, size and weight.
Infantry artillery is obviously designed for the pursuit of accuracy and lethality. The hit rate of the shells fired is extremely high. Moreover, it uses a breech-loading method to greatly increase the loading speed, making the attack more intensive and fierce.
In the process of commanding the battle, Jiao Zan gradually discovered that the mortar, which he thought had the advantage, was now somewhat powerless.
Even if all 150 guns were put into use, they were unable to completely destroy the enemy's city wall.
On their side, in order to maintain the artillery attack on the front line, they had lost nearly seventy artillery pieces, and the number of casualties had reached nearly a thousand.
But at this moment, he was already in a difficult situation and could only grit his teeth and continue to attack.
He prayed secretly in his heart, hoping that the shells could be used up as soon as possible so that this brutal battle could end. He really didn't want the soldiers to make unnecessary sacrifices.
On the city wall, the combined attack of infantry guns and large-caliber artillery formed a powerful firepower network that could effectively strike at both near and far distances.
In the short term, the Xiongnu army's plan to break through the city walls did not achieve the desired effect.
The Hun soldiers who were initially lurking at the front line preparing to charge were exposed as the sky brightened. After the infantry artillery reached the city wall, they instantly became the first targets to be hit.
The shells exploded among them, and screams rang out one after another. For a moment, the front line was filled with smoke and blood and flesh flew everywhere.
Inside the garrison commander's office, there was continuous artillery fire outside and the whole earth was shaking.
Li Ya sat in the lobby with a serious expression early in the morning, closely watching the situation on the battlefield.
Afterwards, Fan Jin, Qiao Mang and others also hurried into the lobby.
"It seems that today's battle will definitely be a brutal and bloody battle!"
Listening to the deafening sound of artillery fire outside, Qiao Mang shook his head and sighed helplessly, his face full of worry.
"Our two families combined have an army of 150,000 men, and this is just the beginning. Besides, don't we still have a trump card?"
Seeing that Qiao Mang was a little depressed, Li Ya hurriedly spoke to comfort him and tried to cheer everyone up.
"I'm not worried about winning or losing. It's just that witnessing such a war is too cruel. Seeing those young lives disappear, it really makes me feel bad."
Qiao Mang smiled bitterly, his face full of reluctance. He kept shaking his head while speaking, and his eyes revealed deep helplessness.
"Ah... I don't know who invented these weapons with such destructive power. The war scenes now look so terrifying."
Seeing Qiao Mang shaking his head, Fan Jin followed suit, also looking worried.
Li Ya looked at the two people who were sighing like old men, and he couldn't help but feel a little funny.
But he is a professional general after all, and generally does not express his emotions easily unless he really can't help it.
"Once we've worn them down, we'll send out an elite team to sneak up behind them and surprise them with a 'Black Tiger Heart-ripping' attack."
As Li Ya spoke, he excitedly gestured with his hands to make a tiger claw shape.
Lang Zhaoxiang, who was standing behind, hadn't said a word. Seeing Li Ya's slightly relaxed expression, he couldn't help but cover his face with his sleeves.
At this time, the explosions on the battlefield became more and more intense. On the Hun army side, the soldiers using mortars were so eager to fire, and the enemy's artillery kept exploding around them, which put them under tremendous psychological pressure, causing their accuracy to be seriously lost.
No one knows whether a bomb will blow them to pieces in the next second.
In this way, the fierce battle lasted for nearly an hour and had entered a white-hot stage.
The city walls of Pingyang Prefecture finally collapsed under the continuous and fierce artillery attacks.
Huge holes one or two feet wide were blown out in many places, and there was hardly a single living person to be seen in those bombed areas.
Seeing this, the Hun artillery began to consciously shrink the direction of their attack, and more and more shells were concentrated on the holes that were blown out.
Gulzar, who was observing the battlefield situation from afar, saw that the time was ripe and believed that the best time to attack the city had arrived.
A hint of excitement and determination flashed in his eyes. With a wave of his hand, he decisively ordered the troops who had been preparing for the siege from the beginning: "Launch an attack on Pingyang City immediately!"