Traveling through the late Ming Dynasty to promote Chinese civilization

Chapter 135 Facing the Enemy in the Wilderness

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A dense barrage of shotgun pellets formed a screen, halting the surging crowd like waves crashing against rocks. No one escaped the barrage; those at the front were riddled with bullets, blood and flesh flying through the air, mixed with bits of brain matter. Iron pellets, still trailing blood, pierced through bodies, striking those behind them.

The mountain guns continued to fire grapeshot, and people fell in droves. The advancing crowd could not cross the invisible wall created by the barrage of bullets, unable to advance even a step beyond the two hundred meters mark. The metal projectiles continued to reap lives, and the corpses on the ground quickly piled up like a mountain.

Sun Tianbiao was stunned. The intensity of the artillery fire was beyond his imagination. A force of nearly ten thousand men was unable to breach a position held by less than a thousand men. The enemy was right in front of them, yet they couldn't advance an inch. Charging forward now meant certain death, and retreating also meant certain death. Either way, they were doomed. He began to tremble. Was he going to die here today?

The rapid, continuous volley of shot lasted for five minutes before the artillery fire suddenly subsided.

Liang Xiaoming cried out, "Oh no, we're running out of shotgun shells!" This time, when bombarding Guangzhou, they hadn't expected to encounter such fierce ground resistance. They had brought plenty of explosive shells for the mortars, but not so many shotgun shells.

When Sun Tianbiao saw that the enemy's artillery fire suddenly weakened, he thought it was to cool down the cannons. Overjoyed, he roused himself and shouted, "The enemy's cannons are failing. If they keep firing, they'll explode. Charge forward, and we'll win!"

The government troops and civilian militia suffered heavy casualties and were already considering retreating, but now they were like chickens injected with chicken blood, roaring and charging forward.

Quartz stepped forward and ordered: "Gunners, step back, riflemen, prepare for volley fire."

The gunners of the mountain guns and mortars all retreated to the rear, and the armed guards took their place, raising their rifles.

The attacking crowd surged forward, stepping over the corpses on the ground.

"Everyone is free to fire. Do not stop without orders!"

"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Gunshots rang out like popping beans, and the smoke of gunpowder enveloped the entire battlefield. Neither the moonlight nor the burning torches could penetrate the smoke, and the guards could only vaguely see the people on the other side falling one after another. Later, they could not see at all and could only shoot at the other side by feel.

Gunfire, screams, and shouts mingled together. People occasionally emerged from the smoke, only to be felled by volleys of gunfire. The team members nervously loaded their ammunition; some began to make mistakes, firing blanks before the bullets were even loaded. The enemy was closing in, and the bodies lying in front of the gun barrels were as close as twenty or thirty meters to the muzzles of the team members' guns.

Liu Ye gripped Liang Xiaoming's shoulders tightly, but was too nervous to speak. Liang Xiaoming was stiff all over, no better off than him.

Liu Ye once watched a movie called [film title missing], which tells the story of British troops in colonial Sudan at the end of the 19th century. One scene depicts British troops being ambushed in the desert and fighting against a native army that outnumbers them several times over. In the film, the British troops form hollow squares and use volleys of gunfire to meet off large groups of cavalry and infantry. At many times, British soldiers are practically firing at the enemy's heads, creating a tense and shocking scene.