Heavy mortars and rocket launchers were lined up on the opposite bank. The artillerymen adjusted the elevation and angle, loaded the ammunition, and waited to open fire.
Dozens of ships set out first, divided into two teams, and anchored on both sides of the landing sandbar. A row of falconets were pointed obliquely at the shore, providing medium and short-range fire support for the landing troops.
The sound of war drums rumbled, and the assault troops began to move. Nearly a hundred ships were rowed at a high speed, carrying thousands of Ming troops straight to the opposite bank.
Xu Hongyu stood at the bow, staring coldly ahead. Before the battle, his mentality was unusually stable.
Victory is undeniable; the only difference is the number of casualties. A qualified commander must not only win, but also ensure that his soldiers return victorious.
The bows of the boats plowed into the mud and sand, and before they could stop, the soldiers had already jumped in and waded into the knee-deep water to reach the sandbar.
The vanguard of the commando team, the elite among the elite, only three to five hundred people, rushed forward quickly, formed a battle line, and blocked the junction of the sandbar and the land.
The empty ship retreated, and the sailors paddled desperately, returning to the other side to pick up the next group of soldiers who had landed.
The sandbar jutting into the river was surrounded by water on three sides and connected to land on only one side. For the Burmese army, the only option was to charge head-on, repel the Ming army, and drive them across the river.
A frontal attack would mean they would have to withstand the Ming army's medium and long-range artillery fire. This was unsolvable, and was the reason why the Burmese army did not dare to occupy the sandbar first or get close to the shore.
The huge gap in weapons and equipment forced the Burmese army to rely on local troop advantages to resist the Ming army with limited landing forces.
The sounds of trumpets and war drums rang out from the Burmese army camp. The Burmese army launched an attack from a wide front. The sparse ranks tightened as they advanced, forming an arrow-like group that pressed forward towards the sandbar.
Three hundred, five hundred, one thousand... Ships carrying Ming troops continued to land, and the battle formation became tighter and heavier.
Facing the overwhelming enemy, the Ming army soldiers were busy but remained calm, with heavy muskets set up on both wings and flintlock muskets pointing forward.
On the battlefield of smoothbore muskets, a soldier's will and composure were tested. Firing from a hundred meters away had completely different effects than firing from just a few dozen meters away, but achieving this was no easy feat.
When facing an enemy that is rushing towards you with great momentum, you can keep your mind and hands steady and not rush to shoot. This requires strong psychological quality, which is not something that can be easily cultivated.
The Ming army's musketeer manual clearly stipulated that musketeers were not allowed to put their fingers on the trigger without the order of an officer.
This ensured the uniformity of firepower emission to the greatest extent possible and avoided the possibility of accidental discharge due to tension. You know, tension is inevitable on the battlefield, and accidental discharge due to tension is also a common occurrence.
Xu Hongyu's boat was quite tall and anchored near the water on the sandbar. He could have a clear view of the battlefield with a telescope.
"Solid ammunition, left wing artillery ready!"
"Solid bullets, right wing artillery ready!"
The messenger observed the flags and reported to Xu Hongyu.
Xu Hongyu held up the telescope, pursed his lips, but did not give any orders immediately.
The Burmese army had already begun firing, clouds of white smoke rising from the formation. Given the range of the musket, this distance was certainly lethal, but accuracy was far from guaranteed.
According to a famous military expert, if you shoot from a hundred meters away, who knows where you can hit?
The Ming army's battle formation was silent. The officers held their swords in their hands, waiting for orders, ready to swing their swords forward and ready to hear the roar of gunfire.
On the river, boats were still shuttling back and forth, with two or three hundred people carrying them at a time, and the number of Ming troops on the sandbar was constantly increasing.
"Left and right wings, fire!"
Xu Hongyu put down the telescope, gave orders in a deep voice, and looked at the messenger with a stern look.
The flag was quickly sent out, and in less than ten seconds, the artillery was spewing flames and roaring.
The range of the falconet cannon firing solid shells can reach two to three hundred meters; if it is shotgun shells, the effective range is only about one hundred meters.
One by one, lead ball-sized shells flew out of the barrel and flew towards the Burmese troops from both wings. Although they did not have the penetrating power of the Red Cannon, the Burmese soldiers who were hit by the shells were all bloody and their bones were broken.
As soon as I took a look, I felt my stomach churning and fear spread throughout my body. My legs felt weak and trembling as I moved forward.
A Burmese soldier who was hit by a shell fell to the ground, his chest and abdomen covered in blood, his internal organs and intestines spilling all over the floor.
Screams and wails rang out in the formation, vibrating Ge Gang's eardrums.
After walking a few steps, the person in front of him moved aside, and a corpse with its head like a rotten watermelon fell to the ground. Gegang quickly looked away and jumped further away, for fear of stepping on the blood and flesh splattered on the ground.
Two rounds of solid bullet attacks were just to deter the Burmese soldiers. The Portuguese cannon stopped, replaced with a sub-nest, and prepared to fire shotgun shells.
The Ming army had already mastered this advanced tactic of layered attacks. From artillery and rockets over a thousand meters away to close combat with bayonets, everything was within the attack range.
As soon as the solid bullets from the Portuguese cannon stopped, the roar of heavy muskets was heard on both sides of the Ming army's musketeer array.
A Burmese army officer fell straight down amidst the flying flesh and blood, right next to Ge Gang, whose command "Forward" he had just heard.
They had reached the distance for a charge, and just as the Burmese soldiers began to speed up their pace, the Portuguese cannon roared again.
Hundreds of lead bullets swept across in a fan shape, and the Burmese soldiers in front fell down with screams like cut wheat.
My vision was blank, and I just saw the battle formation of the Ming army in front of me, as well as countless black muzzles of guns behind the simple chevaux de frise.
The sound of cannons continued, and the falconet cannon bombarded madly by relying on its firing rate until all five nests were destroyed.
The roar of heavy muskets continued, and Burmese officers were knocked down one after another, and the charge that was about to be launched was curbed.
But the Burmese army's battle formation was still strong, and the casualties in the front were just the beginning of the counterattack. Under the urging of war drums and horns, the Burmese soldiers shouted and rushed forward.
The flags on Xu Hongyu's ship waved violently, and the heavy mortars and rockets on the opposite bank took off into the air, flew over the Ming army's battle formation, and landed and exploded two or three hundred meters in front of the battle formation.
Clouds of black smoke accompanied by flames exploded in the Burmese army's formation, and mud, rags, flesh and blood, and broken swords and guns were all blown into the air and then fell down.
Given the accuracy of artillery rockets, the artillerymen really didn't dare to get too close for fear of accidentally injuring friendly forces.
This was another tactic the Ming army had mastered: blocking. It separated the enemy's battle formations, causing them to lose their offensive continuity and relieving pressure on the infantry.
The Burmese troops in the front were still charging, but those in the middle suffered heavy losses. Under the intensive bombardment, they could not even maintain the integrity of the battle formation.
“Fire!” “Fire!”…
The gunshots were as dense as popping beans. In the rising white smoke, countless lead bullets flew out and shot towards the enemy.
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