GBP Chapter 748 Landing on the Beach
Chapter 748 Landing on the Beach
Although Taktan and his men had set out to fight these people, they were caught off guard when their adversaries suddenly appeared from the depths of the sea. The people opposite them had clearly seen them too, and raised their weapons from a distance—firearms similar to muskets, their iron pipes reflecting a faint glow in the sunlight.
Before Taktan could figure out how to respond, one of the soldiers next to him chickened out.
"Lord Taktan, we only have a few dozen people, while these people alone have over a thousand on the sampans. We are outnumbered and should retreat first?"
Taktan was furious upon hearing this: "We are the warriors of the Plain Blue Banner. When have we ever been afraid of the enemy? These people came from the sea. They are clearly the 'dogs' we are going to fight this time. If you dare to mention running away again, I will chop off your head with one stroke."
At his command, the Qing soldiers took down their bows and arrows, preparing to ambush the hundreds of sampans while they were crossing. Dozens of bows were drawn, making a creaking sound, with the arrow tips pointing diagonally to the sky, aiming at the direction the sampans were moving.
Taktan did not give the order immediately, but waited patiently. The power of a mounted bow is not as great as that of a foot bow, and at this distance, it is not enough to achieve its intended effect. It needs to be brought closer to be effective.
However, his opponent clearly did not intend to close the distance with him. When they were still two hundred paces away, the muskets on the sampan opened fire.
"Bang bang bang," gunshots rang out amidst the roar of the waves. Lead bullets, like venomous snakes, pierced the air, passed through the spray, and entered the cavalry formation.
Even though accuracy was practically nonexistent on the undulating sea, the sheer number and range of the enemy's guns proved insurmountable. Although most of the lead bullets flew into the air, a small number still hit their targets. A dozen or so Qing soldiers who were drawing their bows and aiming their arrows fell to the ground, their arrows flying out of control, some landing in the sea, others hitting their own men, causing chaos in the ensuing battle.
"The Ming dogs' muskets can actually shoot this far?" Taktan gasped, this was completely different from the Ming army he knew. The breath he had just managed to muster immediately deflated. Reprimanding his men was easy, but facing a powerful opponent with composure was no easy task.
However, having already uttered those harsh words, if he nodded and fled before the words were even finished, his prestige would be completely destroyed. Taktan, steeling himself, raised his dagger and loudly ordered, "The Ming dogs' muskets are sharp; avoid their fire for now. Retreat a hundred paces to avoid their firepower, and wait until the sampans reach the shore before launching your attack. Remember, when you charge, dismount and walk; the sand ahead is pristine, and your horses' hooves will sink in."
The Qing soldiers retreated more than a hundred paces, and with the distance on the sea, they were out of the effective range of the rifled guns. Sure enough, the gunfire from the other side stopped.
Taktan smiled smugly. So what if your firearms are powerful? I won't fight you head-on. I'll wait until you're landing and your footing is unstable before launching an attack. Even if I can't drive all of you back into the sea at once, I'll at least cut off a hundred or two hundred heads.
Li Fei, watching from the distant sea, laughed. He said to Borhu, "These Tartars are only concerned with guarding against muskets, but they haven't thought about the cannons on our ships. These are the ones that are truly deadly."
Borchu also laughed and said, "The Tartars have very few cannons, so it's normal that they can't think of this for the time being."
Li Fei picked up his binoculars, estimated the distance between the sampan carrying the marines and the Tartars on the shore, and gave the order: "'Shandong' starboard 10-pound guns, prepare, raise the muzzle, target the Tartars on the shore, fire a salvo."
A 10-jin (5 catties) naval gun is equivalent to a 12-pound (6.5 kg) naval gun. The advantages of this "lightweight" naval gun are its shorter preparation time and longer range, which can fill the firepower gap between the Caron cannon and the large-caliber long-barreled cannon. The disadvantage is that its power is limited. It is not suitable for fighting Dutch or Spanish gunboats, but it is more than enough to fight the Fujian ships of the Ming Dynasty's coastal pirates. It is even more capable of dealing with flesh and blood.
In the era of smoothbore cannons, firing shells over one's own heads to attack the enemy was a highly difficult skill to master. However, as the flagship of the task force, the Shandong's gunners were veterans honed in numerous naval battles, possessing superb gunnery skills and handling this naval version of infantry-gun coordination tactics perfectly. Compared to land-based infantry-gun coordination, warships, with their inherent height, have a natural advantage.
Taktan and his men were gripping their weapons tightly, waiting for their opponents to come ashore when suddenly, a loud "boom" rang out, and a dark shell whistled through the air, crashing onto the beach in front of them, sending sand and gravel flying everywhere, landing on Taktan and his men's faces and bodies.
"Ptooey, ptooey!" Taktan closed his eyes to prevent sand from getting in, and hurriedly spat out the sand in his mouth. "The Ming Dog ship also has cannons, everyone be careful." The presence of cannons on the ship was unexpected, but one cannon was nothing to worry about.
Before he could wipe the sand and dirt off his face, the sound of artillery fire rang out one after another, and more than a dozen shells whistled through the air as they hurtled towards him.
That was a test firing. After adjusting the target distance and firing angle, all of the dozen or so 12-pounder cannons on the side opened fire, and about half of the shells mercilessly smashed into the crowd. The man next to Taktan was directly hit by a shell and cut in two. His upper body was gone, but his lower body was still sitting in the saddle, with his internal organs and intestines flowing out from the cut, splattering blood all over him.
Taktan was a veteran of countless battles and a ruthless killer, but seeing the horrific state of his comrades, he couldn't help but gag; such a way of dying was just too disgusting.
The 12-pound long-barreled cannon was incredibly powerful, heavier and longer than the army version of the Napoleon cannon, with greater range and firepower. This salvo, even without modern aiming and measuring instruments, had an abysmal hit rate, yet still caused immense damage. After the bombardment, nearly half of the ninety soldiers remained.
Under the cover of naval gunfire, one sampan after another docked, and the soldiers jumped off and waded through the seawater to move forward quickly.
Before the Qing soldiers could recover from the shelling, the Marines seized the beachhead, and the first group to land began loading ammunition, preparing to rout the small enemy force.
After regaining his senses, Taktan feared the opposing ship would fire again and was about to order a retreat when he realized the enemy was far more efficient. Rows of soldiers lined up directly on the soft sand, loaded their weapons, and aimed at Taktan and his men.
"Bang bang bang," after a hail of bullets, the Qing soldiers who had no time to escape fell one after another into pools of blood.
Taktan finally realized that he could not withstand these Ming soldiers. Terrified, he hurriedly turned his horse around, whipped it hard, and fled for his life. Seeing their leader run away, the rest of his men lost all will to resist and followed suit in a chaotic swarm.
Under the cover of warships, the Marines successfully completed their beach landing.