SWDnovel Chapter 78 When disaster strikes, everyone flies away
Chapter 78 When disaster strikes, everyone flies away
Chapter 78 When disaster strikes, everyone flies away
Given that this time they were going to attack from both sides and encircle the bandits, Rock did not, as he had done before, immediately unleash a spell on the enemy.
Although the Purple Evil Sun spell is indeed powerful, and would probably collapse on the spot if it were used on these bandits, its trajectory is simply too uncontrollable.
If he were to veer slightly off course and end up including his troops who were already fighting the bandits, Rock would suffer a huge loss.
According to his estimate, his troops should not suffer many casualties in the firefight with the bandits, since he had a crushing advantage in both the situation and firepower. However, it was hard to say how many people would die in the end if they were affected by that wide-range magic!
As the bugle sounded, the young guards who were still firing at the bandits from the front stood up and, together with the ordinary soldiers behind them, advanced straight toward the enemy.
Behind the Young Guard, the band played the familiar Onion Song, while the shooters fired a volley, then the second rank took a big step forward, followed by another volley, and so on, taking turns firing.
The guns fired in volleys, one after another, the lead bullets raining down on the bandits, causing them to fall one after another as they charged forward.
Compared to firing at a distance across the mountain pass before, now that they have entered the narrow pass, the distance between the two sides is getting closer and closer due to the charge, and the firepower these bandits are experiencing is also getting stronger.
Because the mountain pass was quite narrow, it was impossible for too many soldiers to rush in at once, so the main bandit leader at the front could hardly break through!
No matter how hard they charged forward, they would fall to the ground instantly when faced with those terrifying lead bullets. The corpses in front of them were already piled up layer upon layer, almost forming a small hill, but they just couldn't get past them.
"Boss, we can't rush in like this! Our brothers can't really maneuver properly in this mountain pass!"
One of the bandits ran back quickly and cried to Black Whirlwind that many of the bandits had started to desert and were hiding at the back of the group, unwilling to move forward.
Although Black Whirlwind offered a hefty reward, their bandit leader was known for his cruelty, and being punished by him would surely be worse than death.
Even so, the bandits' morale was about to collapse.
"Shut up! Even if all our brothers die, we still have to charge forward!"
Unfortunately, their leader, Black Whirlwind, showed no appreciation whatsoever. Seeing that the bandit was actually trying to rush over and hug his leg, the leader showed no mercy and lashed out with his whip, leaving a bloody welt on the bridge of his nose.
"You idiot, if we can't break through that mountain pass and use the terrain to our advantage to defend, how are you going to deal with those foreign riflemen behind us?"
"Damn it, how could I have such a stupid subordinate as you?"
Black Whirlwind cursed as he looked back in terror, where the battle situation was equally dire.
Nearly 500 young guards were steadily approaching the area. When these soldiers formed a long line and began taking turns firing at them, the bandits standing at the rear responsible for defense were instantly stunned.
These bandits in the rear guard were not exactly brave and skilled fighters, otherwise they wouldn't have been assigned to the back of the column. When that terrifying volley of gunfire was unleashed, it was the first time in their lives they had ever seen such fierce firepower.
The gunfire ahead was continuous, one round after another, as lively as setting off firecrackers. But this thing was completely different from firecrackers; it could really kill people!
Originally, the bandits thought that they had a considerable number of muskets, which should add up to several hundred guns. Since everyone had about the same number of muskets, what was so scary about a firefight?
It wasn't until the fighting actually started that they discovered their earthen muskets were not only cumbersome to load and prone to exploding, but more fatally, their range was too short!
Unfortunately, due to the limitations of traditional manufacturing processes, it was impossible to produce particularly sturdy gun barrels. Therefore, many guns did not fire projectiles but instead sprayed out iron shot.
In this situation, the effective range of the Turkic forces is only about 30 paces, and many of them may not even reach 30 paces!
If converted, the effective range of a flintlock musket would be at least 150 paces, which means that if the bandits wanted to actually engage the youth army in a firefight, they would have to charge forward a considerable distance.
Such a distance was an insurmountable chasm for the bandits, and no matter how many of them there were, it would be useless.
Daring to launch a frontal charge against the French Young Guard, let alone a bunch of bandits, a unit with this level of skill would definitely be an elite force in Napoleonic Europe!
"Damn it, Tie Liancheng, where are your foreign gun squad members? Bring them out right now!"
Hearing more than one bandit shouting at him from the side, Tie Liancheng's face turned ashen.
Honestly, the foreign-equipped squad he had was an absolute treasure.
To acquire this batch of old-fashioned foreign guns, he not only spent a lot of money, but also specially hired several Russian Cossacks to serve as instructors to train his band of bandits.
Regardless of the Cossack instructors' training abilities, at the very least, his foreign-trained unit knew how to march in square formations and could also fire in three volleys. With these skills, his foreign-trained unit was absolutely invincible within a radius of a hundred miles!
Tie Liancheng had always been incredibly proud of his foreign-made rifle team, until he saw Rock's Young Guards with his own eyes and witnessed the soldiers' extremely fierce volleys of gunfire. Only then did he realize that his foreign-made rifle team was nothing more than a child's plaything.
If he were to send his foreign-equipped troops to fight the Luo family army on the other side, he felt he would have almost no chance of winning and would only end up wasting this precious team!
Thinking of this, he suddenly shouted to the foreign-armed squad beside him, "Where are the foreign-armed squad? Protect me, escort me to break through!"
Hmph, expecting his foreign-trained troops to help out is simply unrealistic.
As the saying goes, "Where there's life, there's hope." Tie Liancheng is now preparing to take his elite troops and simply run away!
He left the other bandits behind as cannon fodder to slow down the Luo family army, while he led the foreign-armed squad into the woods as quickly as possible.
As long as this team is there, he can immediately gather the surrounding bandits and start a brand new team!
While everyone was still busy and frantically resisting the Luo family army, or rather, being unilaterally beaten by the Luo family army, Tie Liancheng actually began to gather his core team, preparing to fight his way out. The other two bandit leaders were immediately furious.
"Damn you! Tie Liancheng, you ungrateful bastard!"
"Hey, you surnamed Tie, are you trying to sell out your brothers?!"
Hearing the two bandit leaders roaring at him from afar, Tie Liancheng felt no shame, but rather pride. He grinned and laughed loudly, "Hahaha, you two old brothers, we're just going our separate ways when disaster strikes. If you're so capable, why don't you fly away with us too!"
"Nobody's stopping you from running. If you want to run, then run! I'm not going to play along!"
Tie Liancheng's laughter carried far, and the other two bandit leaders' eyes immediately turned red, because their situation was different from Tie Liancheng's; they couldn't just easily lead their men to retreat.
Black Whirlwind, the chief of Erlong Mountain, didn't have many truly trustworthy subordinates. He usually liked to recruit many bandits from outside, then let these bandits form gangs and fight each other under his command, while he played a game of maintaining balance.
If he were to lead his trustworthy brothers to retreat, he probably wouldn't even be able to take 50 men with him. With just these men, it would be incredibly difficult to make a comeback and restore the power of Erlong Mountain.
He even suspected that if he only took 50 brothers back to Erlong Mountain, the bandits left behind there would probably rebel on the spot!
As for Ge Shouye of the Ge family army, he was reluctant to part with his warhorses. If he were to lead his men into the forest, he would definitely have to abandon all the warhorses.
Without warhorses, all the foundation he had built would vanish, and the Ge family army would lose its mobility and simply collapse, or even be wiped out by their enemies.
Who told him to offend too many people when he was a bandit, relying on the fact that his men could run away?
This can be considered karma coming back to bite you!
Under the watchful eyes of everyone, Tie Liancheng took advantage of the chaos and fleeing with his men.
Many other bandits also wanted to chase after Tie Liancheng and simply go into the forest with them, but Tie Liancheng was very ruthless and would never allow the other bandits to run with him, because these people would only become a burden to him.
When the foreign gun squad of Black Flag Ridge opened fire indiscriminately behind them, even killing their own brothers, the other bandits were stunned and retreated, cursing all the while.
Damn it, they knew Tie Liancheng was a bastard, but they really didn't know he could be this ruthless!
Their ability to turn their backs on people so easily is truly typical of their gang!
Just as Tie Liancheng had finally made it into the woods and thought he was safe, he suddenly heard a series of rapid footsteps around him.
"Wait a minute, all of you, put your guns up! There are people in this woods!"
As soon as he finished speaking, nearly a hundred greatsword warriors who had been lying in ambush in the woods rushed out. Although the forest blocked the light and made the armor on these warriors not so bright, the sight of them all in infantry plate armor still made Tie Liancheng's jaw drop.
He was amazed by the wealth of these infantrymen and wondered where the Luo family army got the money to arm them with such a set of steel armor.
But on the other hand, he couldn't help but burst into laughter, saying, "Damn, this is hilarious! What era are we living in? They're still playing with armored soldiers?"
"Brothers, show them your rifles and let these armored soldiers see what's what!"