18th century total war

Chapter 243 Prussian Xu Jin Shooting

On a high point in a small town on the outskirts of Paris, Major General Bolcha, the commander of the new Second Division of the Black Dragon Army, held up a binoculars and looked around at the enemy troops that were constantly pressing forward in the far distance.

The number of opponents could not be counted clearly, and all the vision in all directions was covered by densely packed infantry lines, and from time to time, large groups of cavalry could be seen passing by in the distance.

The new Second Division of the Black Dragon Legion is a [-]-strong corps improvised by Li Wei after dismantling the original Black Dragon Legion and deploying it in various places.

Of course, the temporary patchwork here only shows that the new second division comes from different units.

There are the strength of the original First Division of the Black Dragon Legion, as well as the strength of the independent regiments originally stationed in various designated cities, as well as the strength of the independent troops of the Black Dragon Legion that had previously confronted the National Salvation Revolutionary Army at the border.

They are all systematically trained soldiers, so putting them together will not affect the combat effectiveness of the second division in the slightest.

However, this new second division is a temporary force before the French National Defense Force completes its training. After the Paris Defense War, Li Wei will incorporate all the Black Dragon Army into the French National Defense Force.

The new Second Division of the Black Dragon Legion is Li Wei's only mobile force...

If the new Second Division of the Black Dragon Legion is wiped out (the Black Dragon Legion will not be defeated, only wiped out and victorious!), the Prussian-Austrian Allied Forces can truly approach the city of Paris!

At that time, Li Wei would have to withdraw all the troops defending the Kingdom of France, and then prepare for street fighting in Paris.

Of course, Bolcha's main task was not to completely defeat the enemy. The difference in strength between the two sides was too great. Li Wei only asked Bolza to gain three days, and within these three days, the Prussian-Austrian coalition forces were not allowed to enter the suburbs of Paris!
"The enemy's troops are too strong, we can't continue to defend this town, otherwise we will be surrounded soon, order all the troops to push the artillery forward to the enemy in front, we must take the initiative to attack!
Lord Levi!Long live! "

After Borcha gave orders to the surrounding senior officers, he raised his right arm sideways and gave a military salute with a serious face.

"Master Li Wei! Long live!"

After returning the gift, many senior officers left one after another to mobilize the troops under their command.

Afterwards, the main force of the new Second Division of the Black Dragon Legion began to emerge from the main road of the town, and there were a total of one regiment's troops in the other three directions, who were responsible for staying behind and guarding the rear and flanks.

However, Bolcha did not leave even a single artillery piece for the troops in charge of the rear flank. In the case of outnumbered troops, Bolza served as the No. The reorganized French Defense Forces bought time and had to add all artillery to the attacking force.

For the Black Dragon Legion, which likes to fight bayonets with cannons, the more cannons they attack, the more amazing their lethality will be!
The task of the remaining troops is to use their own lives to block the enemy's possible flank and rear flank raids.

The Black Dragon Army, which drove out of the town in a column, quickly spread out on the flat open space in front of the town, while the advancing Prussian army on the opposite side found that Bolza's troops had left the town, and immediately stopped and regrouped. The formation is transformed into a horizontal platoon formation.

And behind the volley formation, the three-line tactical row that has become popular in this era is adopted.

The three-column line tactic was invented by Frederick, the gay emperor of Prussia. In the Seven Years War, Prussia almost challenged all the major powers in Europe except Britain to attack. Emperor Lie was too awesome, Prussia had already been flattened in the Seven Years War!

It's a pity that no matter how mighty and majestic the gay emperor is, Prussia's population and national strength are there. At the end of the Seven Years War, Prussia almost buried an entire generation of youth!
Just when Frederick was in despair, his little fanboy, the Tsar of the Tsarist Empire, rescued him. He reversed the spear for reasons without political logic and helped the enemy in the war, Prussia, aim at his former allies, Austria and France...

Subsequently, the Seven Years' War ended in such a dramatic way. France and Austria had already been beaten up by Frederick the Great many times. They knew that they could not continue to fight with Frederick the Great who was supported by the Tsar's little fans. So do not see any hope of victory.

As a result, the reputation of Frederick the Great spread throughout Europe, and Frederick the Great's tsar fanboy was killed by his wife Yekaterina II Alexeyevna because of this muddled behavior after the war. The coup overthrew the...

Tsarist Russia was also a blessing in disguise. If Frederick’s little tsarist fan hadn’t broken his foundation because of his “chasing stars”, Catherine II, as a woman without inheritance rights, would not have been able to succeed in the coup, and the Tsarist Russian Empire would not have survived. Ekaterina II's hands have been greatly expanded.

However, although the gay emperor has passed away long ago, his legacy of military wealth and interesting personal life is still talked about by everyone.

In particular, the orientation of Frederick the Great who was only interested in men and had no interest in women was worshiped by a certain group in later generations.

Because the real case of Frederick the Great shows that homosexuality can also become a recognized emperor!
This has a great impact. In the 21st century, many European and American countries and regions have enacted laws allowing homosexuality to be legal...

Of course, in the era that Li Wei is living in today, the most precious legacy left by Frederick the Great is not the promotion of the social status of homosexuality, but the three-column line tactics.

This is actually the mainstream tactic of queuing up and shooting in Europe today. After the end of the Seven Years' War, almost all European countries sent people to learn Prussia's Frederick's tactics.

The biggest advantage of this tactic is that it makes the formation of the army on the battlefield faster, the soldiers are more closely spaced, the gun firepower is more terrifying, and the lethality is greatly increased!
Now the Guards infantry led by Borcha were facing Frederick's three-row line tactics. A large number of soldiers were advancing diagonally toward Borcha's team in columns. When they walked two to three hundred paces, At the distance, the Prussian column stopped abruptly, turned around collectively under the officer's command, and just aimed their guns at Bolcha's team!

This tactic was really amazing when it first appeared in the period of Frederick the Great, but for Bolza now, he has heard of this tactic for a long time, and even the infantry guards have used it.

It's just that the senior generals of the Black Dragon Legion later discovered that this tactic invented by Frederick the Great was mainly to increase the speed at which the marching ranks on the battlefield were transformed into gun ranks, as well as to increase the closeness between the soldiers and maintain them in the shortest possible time. The formation is complete and a uniform row of guns is fired.

However, for the guard infantry whose training has reached the European ceiling of this era, they do not need to rely on this tactic at all to enhance the efficiency of formation and the tightness between soldiers, let alone a complete formation...

Even if the infantry guards only use the most common horizontal formation of guns, they can still get out of the effect of the square formation of the guard of honor!
To put it bluntly, the main purpose of Frederick the Great's tactics was to enhance the integrity of the soldiers' formation and the continuity of firepower on the battlefield.

After all, an army composed of ordinary people, no matter how much training there is, it is impossible to ignore the bullets on the battlefield. Like a guard of honor, they only care about walking in the queue...

After the Prussian army changed its formation, the infantry guards approached the phalanx where the Prussian army was obliquely approaching, and immediately stood still. Taking this as the axis, the entire horizontal formation of the infantry guards began to change formation obliquely.

The generals of the Prussian army were stunned when they saw the black dragon army with such a neat semicircle around the axis!
As a result, the speed advantage of the Prussian army's change of formation disappeared.

The two sides were once again pulled to the same level in the queue.

At the same time, the field artillery in the rear of Prussia has begun to roar, and from time to time, half of the bodyguard infantry is shattered by solid iron bullets!
A guard infantryman who was advancing obliquely suddenly disappeared with a whoosh, and the body under the blood-spraying neck was still driven by inertia to take a few steps forward before falling down with a thud...

The infantry guards at the back took up their positions expressionlessly. Almost none of the soldiers who were hit by solid iron bullets on the battlefield survived.

Then die from wound infection or blood loss!
The size of a solid iron ball is not big, but the kinetic energy it carries is really terrifying compared to a fragile human body!

Not long after the infantry guards completed their oblique formation, the Prussian front row soldiers on the opposite side had already stepped a hundred paces away. Amid the drumbeats of the officers and the military band, they stopped in unison and raised their flintlock guns. Take aim and pull the trigger!

After a round of guns came down, a few of the infantry guards in the first row fell down, and they couldn't get up again...

The Prussian soldiers who had shot a round stood in place to load ammunition, while the Prussian soldiers in the two rows behind stepped forward a few steps, passed the Prussian soldiers in the first row, raised their guns, aimed, and shot in one go!
Subsequently, the second row of Prussian privates who had shot also stopped, and the third row of Prussian privates continued to repeat this step.

After the third row of Prussian privates shot past, the original first row of Prussian privates had finished loading and walked up, and continued to stop and raise their guns to shoot!

This is the crucial Xu Jin shooting method in Frederick's tactics.

It's just that this kind of Xujin shooting method has very high requirements for formation and training. These Prussian troops are obviously not the top elite of the Kingdom of Prussia at this time, but just ordinary regular troops. Shooting was visibly messy.

However, this does not affect the Prussian gun volley, which is rapidly approaching the Guards infantry formation at the rhythm of several steps and rounds of gun volleys.

Compared with the Prussian private soldiers who fired while advancing, the infantry guards just walked forward, carrying flintlock guns. After each round of guns, pieces of corpses would fall down, and as the distance drew closer, the corpses The number is increasing.

Wherever the guard infantry passed along the way, there were shot dead bodies everywhere!
Behind the platoon of infantry guards, there is a field gun that is dragged to follow and an old-fashioned mortar that is carried away. They always follow behind the horizontal formation of infantry guards.

As the distance got closer and closer, many Prussian private soldiers couldn't help dripping cold sweat from their foreheads when they saw the infantry guards walking forward with bullets and the black dragon flag fluttering in the wind. Steady and flexible hands also began to make frequent mistakes when loading ammunition.

There were even many Prussian privates who forgot to pull back the ramrod and raised their guns in a panic to shoot. As a result, they shot their ramrod together. The Prussian privates without ramrod immediately lost their shooting ability...

All kinds of mistakes that are almost impossible to occur during daily training frequently appear in the Prussian regular army. This is the difference between the real battlefield and the training ground.

No matter how strict military discipline is, it cannot restrain the fear of death in the human heart.

Not surprisingly, the further forward the Prussian private Xu Jin shot, the more shots he fired, the more muskets misfired, and there was even a serious explosion!

You know, custom-loaded paper-cased bullets were already popular in Europe at this time. Each bullet contained a fixed amount of black powder. It was impossible to have a chamber explosion accident unless several rounds of bullets were loaded at once and then fired...

This mistake is much worse than simply forgetting to withdraw the push lever!

Due to the increasing mistakes of the Prussian private soldiers, the death rate of the Guards infantry who had reached within thirty steps did not increase much.

At this moment, the drums in the infantry ranks suddenly stopped, and the infantrymen stopped neatly. The first row half-kneeled on the ground, the second row stood, and the third row fired their muskets from the second row. Stretch out from the gap between soldiers.

The three-volley formation was completed in an instant and exploded violently!

Amidst the roar of the volley, the Prussian private soldiers who were advancing and shooting fell down like a large piece of wheat, and the entire Prussian army formation was completely messed up!
In extreme fear, some Prussian private soldiers turned around and wanted to escape, but were stabbed to death by the sergeant in charge of monitoring (the early non-commissioned officer) behind him!

Some Prussian private soldiers looked at the bloody corpses of their colleagues around them, and stood there blankly, neither reloading nor shooting...

Some Prussian privates shook their hands and feet so badly when reloading that they couldn't complete the reloading even if they didn't make a mistake!
Among them, only a small part of the Prussian privates could keep calm and continue to load and shoot!
As for the rhythm of Xu Jin's shooting, it was naturally completely disrupted in this round of three salvos, and even the Prussian officer in front of the army line gave the order to shoot freely.

However, in the next second, something that made the Prussian soldiers even more frightened happened. Under the command of the officer, the infantry guards pulled out the prepared throwing grenades from behind.

The guard infantry put the grenade behind mainly to prevent the grenade from being hit by bullets during the advance.

(End of this chapter)