Chapter 1415 Result
It has to be said that the snowfall at this time has a great impact on the snipers' field of vision. Even when looking through the scope, the target three hundred meters away is completely unclear. Under normal circumstances, snipers will usually continue to adjust until they can firmly lock the target in the crosshair before pulling the trigger. However, the target at this time is a war horse that is galloping away, and there is no room for it. They took aim slowly and could only shoot based on experience and feel, but in the end they were unable to keep the horse and the shot rider it carried.
Morgan's face looked ugly at this time. Although he knew that the rider on the horse would probably not survive the gunshot wound, the feeling of firing the gun was really uncomfortable. Moreover, if this horse runs back to the Hou Jin Army's stronghold in the north on its own, it will inevitably attract the attention of the other party, and it will be more difficult to continue to defend this place and lay an ambush.
"Chief, do you want to pursue me?" Someone immediately asked him for instructions.
Although two legs would definitely not be able to outrun four legs, there were still two horses at the foot of the mountain that had not been shot. If two people were separated and chased on horseback, it was theoretically possible to catch up with the horse. Morgan thought for a moment, then immediately ordered the two of them to go down the mountain, but they could only chase them for two miles. If they didn't see the escaping horse, they wouldn't have to continue chasing. After all, the visibility was poor in this kind of snowy weather. When they went to the mountains to ride horses and chase them out, they would have no choice but to do their best and let fate dictate.
At this point, only one of the twelve members of the second Houjin patrol that came here was injured and escaped, while the remaining eleven members had all fallen into the hands of the sniper team. Although the task was not completed satisfactorily, it basically achieved the results expected by Morgan, at least 80% or above.
Morgan was a little reluctant, and wanted to wait for another wave of patrols, but considering that he still didn't know what the other party's safety signal was, he immediately ordered the remaining two Houjin infantrymen to be captured alive.
The two Houjin infantrymen encountered a huge change as soon as they arrived at the foot of the mountain. Before they could figure out what was going on, their companions were already dead and wounded. They could neither attack nor escape. When they were hesitating, they had already rushed down the mountain. Several people, but they were not dressed as the Haihan army they knew, but were dressed in gray and white clothes, even their faces were covered, and they almost blended into the snowy background. However, from the weapons they held, Hou Jinbing immediately confirmed that what he saw was the deadly enemy Haihan Army, and immediately drew out his sword and prepared to fight to the death.
Naturally, the few Haihan soldiers who rushed down would not tangle with them. They raised their guns and fired several shots at the legs of the two men, limping them first. Then everyone stepped forward and disarmed Hou Jinbing, locked him with finger cuffs, and dragged him up the mountain. After the pursuit of the injured golden rider, the other two riders were already submerged in the wind and snow.
Morgan and his group of snipers were almost all from the south. Naturally, they couldn't understand what the two post-Jin soldiers were talking about. Fortunately, the people transferred to Morgan from Gaoqiao Nan had received special training. , began to interrogate the two Hou Jin soldiers with gestures and guesses. After a lot of twists and turns, the two men finally confessed, which was exactly what Morgan expected. They didn't see the signal at the foot of the mountain, so they stopped moving forward. The so-called safety signal was a piece of red cloth. Someone immediately went to the Houjin Patrol Team's camp and found this thing.
"Is it just this piece of cloth? Are there any other colors of cloth found in the tent?" Morgan asked a few more questions, fearing that the two prisoners would deliberately give wrong information. After getting a definite answer, he asked his men to hang the red cloth on the northern hillside. Although he was still unsure whether he could catch up with the escaped cavalry, Morgan still subconsciously asked his men to do so.
Perhaps he was not willing to go out for such a trip, and only enjoyed a battle that lasted for half a minute before heading back home, still vaguely longing for more battles in his heart. However, before making the final decision, he still had to carefully weigh the risks. After all, this was already the front line of the battle between Haihan and Hou Jin. Even if he had obvious advantages in weapons, equipment, strategies and tactics, he would not be able to face the brutal enemy Hou Jin. The times should not be taken lightly - the Ming Dynasty, which is now being pressed step by step by Houjin, once had an advantage in these aspects, but in the end it still could not withstand the fierce pursuit of this group of barbarians.
Although the team led by Morgan was an elite member of the army, after all, its number was too small and its firepower was limited. If it really hooked the opponent's large army, the risk it would face would be very high. To be on the safe side, it is of course safest to retreat to the mountainous areas controlled by Haihan. But based on the information currently available, Morgan believes that even if one person and one horse returns to the northern stronghold alive, the possibility of the Jin army dispatching a large force is still extremely small.
According to the information obtained by the military, the Jinzhou Camp of the Hou Jin Army was still forty miles away. Even if the Hou Jin Cavalry was not shot, they fled back with all their strength to report the news, and then the other side organized a large number of troops as quickly as possible. If we get here again, Morgan thinks it will take at least two days. After all, a large force going on an expedition is not something that can be taken away at once. It is already a pretty good performance to be able to assemble overnight today and then set off tomorrow. As long as the opposing commander has some brains, he will definitely consider whether his opponent has set up a trap and is waiting there during this period. Without knowing the opponent's troop deployment at all, the commander is unlikely to lead a large force. Kill him directly.
The most likely scenario is that the cavalry flees back to the stronghold ten miles to the north. Based on Morgan's previous observations, he was basically certain that the number of troops there was only four to five hundred, and the cavalry would not exceed one hundred. Even if the opponent wants to send troops to clear out this place, the sniper team will still be able to fight given the favorable location. Moreover, Morgan had previously sent someone back to report the news to Takahashi Nan. He had already told him that a batch of ammunition and rations would be sent as soon as possible to prepare for emergencies, and there should be no worries about running out of ammunition and food.
The two cavalry sent out to pursue them soon returned. They lost track of their target in the snow and wind, and ultimately failed to bring back the man and his horse. However, Morgan made up his mind at this time, and immediately ordered them to carry the corpses on the snow field on horses and transport them to a bush at the foot of the mountain for disposal.
It was already three o'clock in the afternoon. Morgan estimated that it was too early for the man and horse to run back to the northern stronghold. It was unlikely that the opponent would send troops overnight. They would probably wait until dawn tomorrow before gathering people to find out. Morgan had nothing to do, so he called everyone together and summarized the previous battle process.
Fighting in this kind of snowy environment is a completely new subject for everyone, including Morgan. When they ambush the Houjin patrol, there was still some delay in responding, leaving the opponent with a chance to escape. If Morgan hadn't commanded them well, all three of the cavalry might have run away. After learning from previous experiences, Morgan made some adjustments to his tactics and made battle arrangements for the Houjin troops that might appear later.
Before nightfall, a small cavalry team came from the mountainous area. Takahashi Minami was afraid that Morgan's sniper team would run out of ammunition, so he transported half of the special ammunition for the sniper team that arrived at the front line this time, and at the same time, he also sent some special ammunition to the front line in the name of escorting supplies. A squad of manpower came over, actually specifically to help Morgan, in case there was a dangerous situation due to insufficient troops here for the battle. With the addition of more than a dozen fast guns, the firepower output of this team naturally increased significantly in an instant. However, the combat methods of these soldiers in the special operations battalion are quite different from that of the sniper team. Morgan was unable to integrate the two different arms well for a while, so he decided to perform their respective duties, and the sniper team was responsible for the long-distance operations. Attack from a distance, while soldiers from the special operations battalion are responsible for close defense. Of course, this distance is only relative to the combat method of the sniper team. The seven-shot rifle they hold is also very accurate at a distance of 100 meters. It is not easy for the enemy to break through this line of fire.
Although Morgan did not ask for reinforcements from Takahashi Minami, the arrival of this small team still made Morgan feel very comfortable. I have to say that Takahashi Minami's grasp of this speed is quite accurate. If he doesn't send people over, it would be too rigid. The leader is killing the enemy in the front, but you just sit in the back and look like that? But if too many people were sent over, it would be suspected of disobeying the order. After all, Morgan's order did not include the dispatch of troops. To put it more seriously, doing so would be disobeying military orders on one's own initiative. It seemed very safe to send a squad over to check on the situation in the name of escorting supplies.
After waiting patiently all night, Morgan and the more than 20 soldiers under his command finally waited for the appearance of the Houjin Army. In fact, it was already close to noon when the Houjin Army appeared in sight, and this time was exactly in line with Morgan's judgment. The only troops stationed at the Houjin stronghold ten miles to the north could arrive here at this time. The scale of the Jin army dispatched this time was naturally much larger than that of the patrol, with more than three hundred people, including about fifty or sixty cavalry.
After the Hou Jin Army approached this hillock, they seemed a little at a loss because the safety signal agreed upon by the military was hung on the mountain. However, the cavalryman who had died of his injuries last night said that this place had been occupied by the Haihan Army and was patrolling. He was the only one in the team who escaped alive from the killing array.
Naturally, gunshot wounds cannot be faked, so the officer leading the team quickly made a judgment that this safety signal was a deliberate act by the Haihan people. Of course, when Morgan made this deployment, he did not expect that this strategy of luring the enemy deep would really work. After all, as long as the horse could escape back, the Jin army would definitely realize that something was wrong here, and they would no longer be able to trust the safety signal. .
But the Houjin officer who led the team made a very fatal mistake, that is, he did not realize the distance between the patrol and the attack point on the mountain when it was attacked. So when he led the team into the range of the sniper team, Morgan The order to shoot was given.
Morgan did not expect to be able to completely annihilate this post-Jin army, but he had to keep the opponent's leaders here to destroy the enemy's will to fight. So when there was loud gunfire on the hill, the officer leading the team and the adjutant who was riding beside him were shot several times, and they were shot to death when the battle just started.
This situation immediately triggered chaos in the Hou Jin army. The cavalry immediately surrounded the wounded and tried to cover them to escape from the battlefield. However, other people discovered that the target of the fire on the hill was only the cavalry, and immediately shouted and rushed towards the vicinity. on the hillside, hoping to rush forward and engage in hand-to-hand combat before the opponent changes their target.
The sniper team on the mountain was guarded by more than a dozen quick rifles from the special operations battalion, so they didn't pay attention to the dozens of Houjin soldiers who had quickly rushed to the foot of the mountain, and continued to shoot at the cavalry team who had already started to fall on their backs.
The Houjin soldiers who tried to rush up the hillside also encountered the first round of gunfire. The barrels of guns protruding from the forest were aimed at them condescendingly. After a burst of gunfire, seven or eight people fell down. Before the survivors had any chance to breathe, a second round of volleys was launched on the slope. The Houjin soldiers who had just straightened up were shot down by several more people, and the vine shields in their hands had almost no resistance to this attack method. Even if it is held in front of the body, it will be easily penetrated by bullets.
At this time, some people have already thought of the terrible continuous firecrackers that appeared during the battle with the Haihan Army last year. If you want to rush up the mountain with such intensive firepower, you may need several times more troops. hope.
Sure enough, the third and fourth rounds of volleys soon came to them. Almost all the Houjin soldiers who were still determined to rush upward fell down in these two rounds of shooting, and the remaining Those who were lying on the ground or huddled behind a tree and shivering had a chance to escape. But once this kind of fire suppression is formed, it will be difficult to escape safely from the range.
Morgan and his snipers calmly continued to shoot at the chaotic Houjin army at the bottom of the mountain. With the special operations battalion guarding the passage up the mountain, they could concentrate on aiming at targets in the distance and attack them one by one. kill. At the combat distance that sniper rifles specialize in, the Hou Jin Army had no way to fight back and could only simply take a passive beating.
Realizing that the situation was not good, the Houjin cavalry turned their horses and began to leave the battlefield. However, the infantry who could only rely on two legs had a hard time. To escape from the range of the sniper rifle, it would take them at least longer than the cavalry. Three or four times more, and this is enough for them to pass by the gate of hell several times.
Although the gunfire was intensive and the battle was fierce, it was ultimately a one-sided ambush and could not last too long. After about ten minutes, the gunfire stopped. In the end, more than half of the Jin army managed to escape, but the corpses and bloodstains on the snowy field clearly showed the result of their tragic defeat.
(End of chapter)