Chapter 1549: Chapter 72: Siege (42)
The thunderous volleys of muskets echoed intermittently, and the acrid smoke of gunpowder filled the air between the two armies.
Deadly lead bullets flew horizontally through the crowd, and occasionally, someone would collapse without warning; those left motionless were left on the spot, while those who could groan were dragged to the back.
In this “mutual execution” style of battle, Fan Shang exhibited astonishing calmness, or perhaps astonishing numbness.
Among the eight musketeers in his tent, only four could still stand;
Only he could still pour gunpowder and ram the rod with steady hands and clear eyes.
The “Twelve Disciples” hanging on his chest had long been used up, and Fan Shang had to take unused “Disciples” from the bodies of his fallen comrades.
Soon, the living musketeers scavenged all the “Disciples” from the corpses.
Next came the real test of the musketeers’ skills—without the pre-packaged “Disciples,” they had to rely completely on their feel for how much gunpowder to pour into the barrel.
Although the army issued a small brass cup along with the matchlock guns and gunpowder pots to the musketeers, and a full brass cup measured the exact right amount of gunpowder;
But using a brass cup to measure gunpowder was too slow, unable to keep up with the rotation speed.
At present, the brother sharing Fan Shang’s tent was trying to measure gunpowder with the brass cup on site, and by the time the “Prepare” command was issued, he still hadn’t managed to load the lead ball into the muzzle.
However, everyone else had already set up their muskets, so he could only pretend by aiming his unloaded musket at the “rebels.”
So, when the shout to “Fire” rang out, everyone else’s muzzle spouted smoke, but in front of Fan Shang’s tentmate, there was nothing.
According to army discipline, if the command to shoot was given and the musket did not fire, ten lashes were the penalty.
However, at this moment, they were not at a training ground, but on a battlefield.
The smoke made it hard to keep one’s eyes open, the screams struck terror into one’s heart, and Fan Shang’s firearms team had already lost at least half its men. The beleaguered Centurion and sergeants were in no position to check whose musket did not fire.
By rule, if a tentmate made a mistake and Fan Shang didn’t report it, he was also supposed to be whipped.
But Fan Shang had no intention of reporting; he just kept his eyes down, continuing calmly to reload his matchlock gun.
The musketeers for the next volley moved from the last row to the front row and, with the command “Prepare,” set up their muskets.
The tentmate in front also knew that Fan Shang had let him off the hook, so he turned back and made a face at Fan Shang.
Despite being called “tent brother,” he was actually a very young lad, ten years younger than Fan Shang, unmarried, childless, and had sold himself to the army for twelve silver plates.
The next second, this “little brother’s” face suddenly exploded before Fan Shang’s eyes, a lead bullet entering the back of his head and exiting through his face, leaving a horrific wound.
His face, literally, splattered all over Fan Shang.
The little brother’s body collapsed limply.
The surrounding soldiers glanced over, but didn’t react further because it was obvious he was already dead.
Fan Shang stood stunned for a moment, staring into one of the fallen man’s eyes on the ground.
He felt he should help this child close his eyes but didn’t know how to close them.
After thinking for a bit, he picked up the eyeball from the ground, placed it back into the man’s skull, and then took the man’s bullet pouch and gunpowder pot.
After two rounds of gunfire, it was Fan Shang’s turn to move to the front row.
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Fan Shang, Fan Shang’s sergeants and Centurion, and the higher-ups—few realized they were experiencing a genuine alliance civil war.
Not the kind of “limited to one republic’s internal conflict” like the Paratu Civil War;
Nor the filthy trench warfare of the Kingsfort siege;
But rather, the first ever “Alliance Field Battle” in history.
The first time since the “Great Covenant” was signed that two alliances of Senas, regular armies belonging to different republics, had arranged themselves in open field to fight each other.
Although both sides inherited Ned Smith’s weapons, tactics, and ideologies;
The battle did not unfold as it had thirty years prior—with a few volleys to build momentum, followed by a quick transition to pike duels, and melee combat to decide the outcome.
Instead, the battle on High Ground 50 remained for a long time in the “mutual musket fire” phase.
Both sides unilaterally poured lead bullets at each other, seemingly determined to use gunpowder to annihilate the enemy.
The long spear soldiers, once crucial in the “Ned Smith Big Square Formation,” had now become bystanders.
Both the Mountain Front Territory National Guard and the New Army of the Kingdom of Galloping Horses were shifting from “pike units covered by musketeers” to “musketeers protected by pike units.”
And in the view of the [Steadfast] Commanders, the rebels—especially those from Iron Peak County—were clearly making more progress than their own side.
At least, in the eyes of the Eighth Battalion Commander, Major Jean van Breda, this was undoubtedly the case.
The rebels from Mont Blanc County and Thunder Group County had increased the ratio of musketeers in their armies, so even though the rebel formations attacking from the north were obviously understaffed, they still held their own in the firefight.
Despite this, the improvements made to the formations by the rebels from these two counties were still “fine-tuning,” remaining within the understanding of [Steadfast] officers.
The formations they adopted were very similar to those of [Steadfast], still square formations, still tightly clenching all soldiers into a fist to face enemies from all directions.