The zigzag trenches formed concave formations at various locations, and the Qinghe militia built a number of semi-buried bunkers at the protruding positions of the concave formations.
Thanks to the large-scale use of cement and steel bars, such semi-buried bunkers are not only extremely easy to build, but also very strong. Even if they are directly hit by the Chen Dynasty's catapults, as long as they are not specially made large catapults, it is basically just a matter of smashing off a piece of cement, and it will not cause too much damage. Even at night, the Qinghe militia will mix cement to repair the bunker, which gives the Chen Dynasty people a headache.
At least for now, the greatest damage the Chen Dynasty people have caused to the bunkers is to use catapults to throw a large number of stones to block the already low shooting range of the semi-buried bunkers.
Of course, there was another way, which was to rush outside the bunker's firing port. Since the bunkers were equipped with crossbows and repeating crossbows, these bunkers had larger firing ports than the ones Lin Hai knew about, and Chen Dynasty soldiers could manually throw kerosene cans inside...
If casualties are not a concern, this method can indeed be used.
If the treasury was very rich, they could also use inaccurate catapults to throw kerosene cans. However, this method was abandoned on the spot after the Chen Dynasty commanders reviewed their logistics.
Yes, such a half-baked bunker can be conquered if casualties are not a concern.
And today is the time for the Chen Dynasty to advance regardless of casualties.
After paying the price of tens of thousands of people, the stick men destroyed the barbed wire and further crashed into the defense line composed of trenches and bunkers.
A literal line of defense, because many of them had already placed wooden boards on top of the trenches to form a passage.
The first-line fortifications in Qinghe are crumbling.
In this regard, whether it was Lin Hai or any other Qinghe commander, they all said they didn't care.
As a purely agricultural country, it was difficult for the people of the Chen Dynasty to imagine how terrifying the productivity of Qinghe, which had begun industrialization or semi-industrialization, would be for them.
In other words, there are many such fortifications in the rear. What Lin Hai asked to build at the beginning was not a line of defense, but a defensive surface formed by a group of fortifications.
Of course, this is from a big picture perspective, but for the Qinghe soldiers who are currently defending the front-line fortifications, it is a little more difficult.
The newest "One-Stick Men" were more equipped with crude weapons, mostly farm tools such as hoes, pitchforks, and wooden sticks with sharp iron heads.
Armed with such weapons, if they were on the plains, the Qinghe soldiers would be confident that they could fight ten at a time without being too tired. After all, most of the enemy's weapons could not even break their defenses.
In the trenches, the equipment gap between the two sides was further narrowed.
When a Qinghe soldier discovered a man with a stick appearing above the trench, since the man was in a dominant position, he could either use his shield to protect his head and wait for the man to rush down, or he could only climb out of the trench and fight with the man. No matter which approach he chose, he would lose the ability to fight head-on at some point, and this would be a good time for the man with a stick to take action.
Of course, if they could form a military formation and the three Qinghe soldiers could cover each other, there wouldn't actually be a big problem.
But in fact, since the number of One-Stick Men far exceeded the number of Qinghe defenders, and the zigzag trenches made it difficult for the soldiers to support each other at this time, most of the time it was one Qinghe soldier against several One-Stick Men.
Fortunately, in the lives of the One-Stick Men, the bloodiest work they have ever completed is probably the collective slaughter of pigs during the Chinese New Year, so many of them do not even have the most basic hand-to-hand combat skills, not to mention that there are a large number of the elderly, the weak, women and children among them.
When this happened, perhaps because he felt that he had glimpsed a glimpse of possibility from the battlefield situation, Ma Huaide immediately ordered the entire left wing army to press forward. No matter whether it was the sword and shield soldiers and archers who were still on standby, or the spearmen in the rear, they all began to speed up and rush into the position.
Even the supervisory team deployed at the rear was supervising the next group of 10,000 stick-wielding men as they began to push forward.
Ma Huaide gritted his teeth and led his personal soldiers and spearmen forward. From the air, it seemed that the entire Chen Dynasty army formation had from this moment on launched a fierce left hook towards Qinghe's position.
"Let the light infantry in the position withdraw from the battle."
Huang Zong looked at the densely packed Chen Dynasty soldiers, and then saw Ma Huaide's banner moving forward through the telescope, and finally frowned and said.
"Commander, could it be that Ma Huaide is greedy for merit and is rushing forward rashly? Look, their armored infantry and cavalry haven't moved yet. I suspect Ma Huaide's recent offensive wasn't going well, and seeing an opportunity today, he's abandoned his allies and rushed forward to take all the credit."
A combat staff officer said beside him.
"It is inevitable to be greedy for credit."
Huang Zong said without turning his head.
"But don't say such nonsense as abandoning our friendly forces anymore. We are all on the same battlefield. His friendly forces are not blinded, nor are they pinned down by us. Even if Ma Huaide didn't notify them, wouldn't they know how to see and find the right opportunity to launch an attack? Besides, today's battle was obviously commanded by Chen Yu himself. Even if the other two units didn't want to move, they had to move after receiving the military order.
So they deliberately stayed still, hoping to let Ma Huaide's cannon fodder come and test our strength."
"What about us?"
"The second line of crossbows will provide cover, and the first line of light infantry will retreat to the rear to rest. The heavy armored troops will advance and form a battle line. Since His Royal Highness the Crown Prince wants to see our trump card, let them take a brief peek. It won't hurt to be seen."
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