I Will Be The Crowned King Chapter 160

"I shall be crowned king ( Find the latest chapter!

"fire!"

The moment Henares roared, the fifteen six-pound infantry guns lined up in front of the Hantu Legion's line exploded one after another, and thick white gunpowder smoke instantly enveloped the entire forward position.

Accompanied by the shrieks of tearing the air, the artillery shells flew over two-thirds of the battlefield, "spotting" smoke pillars on the positions of the Imperial Expeditionary Force.

Although the artillery of the Hantu Legion was very lacking in accuracy - or lacking qualified artillery - apart from blasting a few craters in the middle of the road and blowing away the rubble of the hills and mountains on both sides, it was impossible to completely defend the Imperial Expeditionary Force. constitute a substantial threat.

But for the Hantu army, which has not yet truly "modernized", these expensive artillery imported from Clovis has completed its most important mission - to be emboldened.

Looking at the "fireworks" that were constantly blooming on the opposite side, the soldiers of the Han Tuo who were enveloped in the smoke burst into a frenzy of cheers, and the wave-like shouts even overwhelmed the roar of the guns.

The 2,000 Imperial Expeditionary Forces were still standing in the well-built civil works and trenches, facing the "massive" artillery fire, and the thin blue lines remained motionless in the choking smoke of gunpowder and the falling gravel and mud.

Such a tenacious army further deepened Claude-François's judgment - the one in front of him was definitely not a lonely army abandoned by the Imperial Expeditionary Force and left behind to slow him down.

For an army that can't have any morale at all, a quick round of artillery fire should be scattered; those who can persevere and not collapse must be the "bait" prepared by the expeditionary army for itself.

But well... Claude Francois looked coldly at the position of the Imperial Expeditionary Force shrouded in black smoke, and turned to look at Henares behind him:

"The order—the artillery stops firing, and the infantry prepares to attack."

"Attack?!" Henares was shocked:

"But you didn't say..."

"Yes, but our enemies don't know, we already know what they don't want us to know." Claude Francois sneered and looked at the distant Imperial Expeditionary Army position:

"So we have to pretend to follow their wishes and not be seen by them."

"...As ordered."

Looking at his king's meaningful expression, Henares understood: "I will select a few infantry regiments from the Central Guard Corps to serve as the vanguard of the attack."

Although the Royal Family Corps and the Central Garrison Corps are both elites composed of Thun and Aiden's armies, there are three, six, nine, and so on among the elites.

Expanded on the basis of the Grand Ducal Guard of Thun, the Royal Family Legion, which was established entirely in accordance with the Clovis military system, is an absolute elite and the foundation of the Francois family's rule; unless it is at the last moment, it must not be easily used.

In contrast, the "Central Garrison Corps" filled with private soldiers of Thun and Aiden nobles is an object that can be consumed.

To a certain extent, Claude Francois even very much hoped that the opponent was a trap set by the enemy, so that he could use the hands of the imperial people to "cleanse" some "loyal people", thinking about treason all day bastards.

"Soldiers—forward!"

Amidst the fierce cannonballs, there was a commotion in the Hantu Legion formation—a full sixteen infantry battalions and four cavalry battalions formed a line of six rows, stepping on the rapid drum beat to leave the formation and head towards the golden iris flag on the opposite side.

The Han Tu army followed behind the vanguard, advancing steadily; their speed was not fast, and their formation was definitely not neat and orderly.

But with such an extremely bad military appearance, it looks like a giant beast wrapped in smoke and dust, staggering but ferocious, and constantly uttering chaotic and meaningless roars.

At the same time, the artillerymen on the positions of the Imperial Expeditionary Force were bombarding in turn and began to fight back.

Although far less powerful than the Hantu Corps, the Imperial artillerymen with only four eight-pounder guns showed their superb skills - the four guns were divided into two and placed behind the two wings of the position, slightly above the ground. In the gun fort on the hillside at one point, the round fired at a position slightly behind the Hantu Legionnaire's line.

Compared with the Empire, Hantu's army is less organized, so it must rely on dense formations to maintain order; in the eyes of the skilled old gunners, the military flags they hold high are the coordinates, and the dense phalanx is the bullseye.

"Boom!!!! Boom!!!! Boom!!!!"

The scorching solid bullet rushed out of the cannon, smashed into the center of the dense queue with a heart-piercing scream, and "bounced" from the pile of flesh and blood on the ground with the bone-crushing sound, and rushed to the next target. .

The heat wave mixed with broken bones and rotten flesh spread to the surroundings, exploding countless wailing; the hot solid bullet continued its cheerful "dance", leaving its colorful dance steps with the blood and bones of Hantu soldiers.

In just one minute of rapid fire, the vanguard of the Hantu Army, which had been baptized by the bullet rain, had a brief confusion. The troops in the central position had obviously slowed down their progress, and the line of troops had changed from a "one" shape to a "several" shape.

"Look, look! This is the difference between real artillery and fake artillery!" Pointing to the chaotic Han soil army opposite, Kasper turned his head to look at the soldiers in the trench, and laughed loudly:

"These stinky fish and rotten shrimps in Hantu will never understand this. Even if they buy 100 of the most advanced artillery pieces of the empire, they can only use it to make a sound and give them courage!"

For a time, the moat was shrouded in billowing black smoke and flickering fire, and there was a happy air.

It is clear that the opposite line is constantly approaching, and there are constantly unfortunate people who have been killed by stray bullets and gravel. There is still no tension on the faces of these imperial line soldiers, as if they are on vacation.

On the other side, the Hantu Outpost Army, who had experienced a brief commotion, finally stabilized the order after being killed by a few unfortunate people who took the lead in causing trouble and overly frightened, and made steady progress in the solid bullets that kept falling from the sky, but it was obviously gone. Excited at the beginning.

But slowing down the marching speed meant that the imperial artillerymen could pour more unscrupulous firepower; the dense formation was in the same dense sky-filled artillery fire, slowly shortening the distance between them and the golden irises.

For some reason, as the Han Tu Legion gradually approached, the imperial artillery began to slow down the frequency of artillery fire, causing the outpost army, which had become a "ji", to involuntarily speed up the pace.

The distance between the two sides quickly shortened, and soon... the frontline troops had already narrowed to within 100 meters of the expeditionary army's position.

"Let the artillery stop firing and get ready!" Casper, who shouted, jumped up from the ground, and slapped a line soldier beside him with a slap of "Bang!":

"Boys, work!"

"All in place - line up to shoot!"

Lines of infantrymen stood up from the trenches, keeping their elbows to elbows in a relatively tight and neat three-row line, sticking out the slender barrels that had been loaded with ammunition.

"Eighty meters—fire!"

In an instant, large swaths of gunpowder smoke enveloped the entire battlefield; the Hantu Legion, which was hit hard, began to lose control. The soldiers did not wait for the commander's order, and they stopped one after another and fired back on their own initiative.

When the troops in the back row saw the front row firing, they thought that they had already exchanged fire, and they also stopped, and the whole row was aimed at something they didn't know what it was.

"Don't shoot! I heard that without you scumbags, I haven't ordered yet, stop! Stop it for me!"

Many Han Tu noble officers who "recognized a few words" immediately realized that this was most likely the enemy's conspiracy, tried to disrupt their rhythm, and shouted loudly to stop them, but all cursing and orders were drowned out. The roar of the salvo and the choking smoke of gunpowder.

With the deafening roar, the scrambling soldiers fell into chaos almost from the first shot: some people forgot to load the propellant when reloading, some dropped the lead bullets on the ground, and some took the slats as a bullet. The bullet was forced into the barrel of the gun and forgot to pull it out. Some people remembered that they had not loaded the bullet until the moment they raised the gun...

All the dogmas, actions and orders that were required to be remembered in the previous training camp were thrown behind their heads; from the front row to the back row, all the soldiers could not wait to shoot the lead bullets out of the barrels, and then collapsed without any accident. The head of a former companion.

Facts have proved that just one month of training and "advanced" equipment is not enough to reverse the essence of the Hantu Legion - the private soldier of the feudal lord.

In contrast, the Imperial Expeditionary Force, which had withstood the first round of salvo from the Hantu Legion, was still orderly, pouring firepower on the opposite side in an orderly manner, and staged a firepower of 2,000 people stronger than 6,000 people on the desolate Aidan. Absurd sight.

Under the messy shooting, the entire 16 infantry battalions of Han Tu soldiers were like headless flies, their heads were being harvested by the imperial expeditionary force that kept pouring firepower, and the number of casualties increased rapidly like blood gushing from their wounds.

"What should we do, it won't take long for us to go on like this, and we will all be dead!"

"Then attack! Stop thinking about shooting, use the bayonet to decide the outcome!"

"But, but Your Majesty hasn't..."

"Don't worry, Your Majesty, are you going to be a coward killed by bullets, or a warrior with a bayonet?!"

"I……"

The Hantu nobles who couldn't bear the casualties quickly reached an agreement and directly issued the order to attack.

Accompanied by the sound of hurried bugles, the outposts of the sixteen infantry battalions suddenly burst into a frantic roar, completely abandoning the chaotic formation, and threw their bayonets towards the Imperial Expeditionary Army positions that were still firing volleys.

"what happened?!"

Looking at the outpost who suddenly sounded the charge horn in the distance, Claude Francois looked at Henares angrily: "I haven't ordered yet, who told them to attack?!"

"It should be that the officers of the front-line troops couldn't bear the casualties and made their own decisions..." Henares was also surprised:

"Do you want to stop?"

"Stop, why stop?!" Claude Francois gritted his teeth with hatred, and then sighed again:

"Forget it, it's already like this, then let them attack, anyway..."

"boom--!!!!"

A sudden loud noise interrupted Claude's words - the imperial artillery suddenly opened fire, and this time it was not a solid bullet.

It's shrapnel.

Four shrapnel shells slammed into the front of the Imperial Expeditionary Force's position, unfolding four intersecting and overlapping fans centered on the explosion point.

The Han Tu soldiers who had just rushed to the front were torn to shreds in an instant. The blood plasma and broken bones and rotten flesh were wrapped in countless tiny lead bullets and spread around, causing countless screams.

In an instant, the dense formation was torn apart by an incomparably hideous gap, and the soldiers in rows fell down like they were being reaped, screaming in agony.

But the imperial artillery did not stop shelling, they turned their guns at the fastest speed, aiming at the direction in which the Han Tu soldiers retreated in a panic, and then...

"boom--!!!!"

Soon, the front-line troops had begun to collapse before they even really touched the expeditionary army positions.

But the soldiers in the back row continued to attack under the urging and cursing of the officers, and the routed soldiers who were defeated by artillery fire continued to fight with the attacking troops.

"The order - aim the muzzle as far back as possible, divide the enemy's line of troops, and disrupt their offensive!" The excited Casper ordered:

"Boys! Don't be afraid to waste your ammo; hit me until it's gone!"

"Follow orders--!!!!"

Therefore, the nobles of Hantu, who had just planned to "see the red with the bayonet", found desperately ~www.mtlnovel.com~ In addition to the terrifying shrapnel, they had to continue to face the entire row of salvos from the Imperial Expeditionary Force.

In the center of the flat battlefield, the soldiers of the vast soil who could not withdraw and rushed up were continuously harvested in the baptism of the salvos of artillery shells and rifles, and the casualties were increasing at an alarming rate every minute and every second.

Looking at the battle in the distance, Claude Francois's expression was extremely calm.

The firepower of the empire is very ferocious, but it is not beyond his expectations-after learning the beginning and end of the battle of Eaglehorn from Henares, he is already mentally prepared for this situation.

The era of defeating the enemy purely by blood and courage has long since become history. The future battlefield will be dominated by artillery and cavalry; if Hantu wants to rise, it is not enough to rely on the assistance of the Kingdom of Clovis.

As for the 2,000 imperial soldiers on the opposite side... It really doesn't matter. It's good to eat this bait directly. It's also good to use them to consume the private soldiers in the hands of the nobles. Anyway, these **** are thinking about rebelling all day long.

Anyway, there are 40,000 people on my side, 80,000 if you count the reserve army of the Barren Stone Castle and Anson Bach, and the army of Archduke Aiden is 100,000-even if you continue to recruit, you will raise another 100,000 and 200,000. The militia is not entirely out of the question either.

Han Tu can afford to die, even if more than half of the 100,000 army is killed in battle, he doesn't care, he just doesn't know if the Imperial Expeditionary Force...have the courage to die? !

At this moment, a hurried bugle interrupted his thinking from behind.

"alert!"

Henares' roar sounded in his ears, and he looked at Claude Francois with an extremely solemn expression: "Cavalry!"

"The cavalry of the Imperial Expeditionary Force is here!"

"Just behind us!"

Chapter end