Chapter 3544
At noon, the spectators on Mount Adachi were impatient to wait. They went up the mountain early in the morning, fully expecting that the battle would begin after the two sides set up their formations. However, after waiting for so long, they only saw the two sides constantly testing each other.
And this kind of small-scale conflict with cold arrows and cold shots obviously cannot arouse the guests' interest in watching the game.
Many people are asking Shi Diwen whether the battle can start today or whether the two sides will continue to face off like this and then withdraw their troops back to camp after dark.
There were even some people who asked Shi Diwen to hurry up and urge the two warring parties to put pressure on them and stop delaying time.
Shi Diwen didn't know whether to laugh or cry at such a request. Although this war was created by him and he could exert a certain influence on both warring parties, he was not yet able to command the armies of both sides.
Why didn't he hope that the decisive battle would start earlier? After all, the entire expedition was financed by the Donghai Region's finances, and the daily consumption of horse chews was not a small amount.
Now that the inspection has lasted for a month, many guests are very tired physically and mentally. A big battle must be carried out at the right time to ensure that the publicity effect of this inspection is not compromised.
However, Shi Diwen was not willing to change the established tactics of the Kyushu Allied Forces for the sake of international publicity. Otherwise, with the existing strength of the Allied Forces, an active attack would definitely not be able to consume the shogunate army. Once the coalition forces are defeated, all the support they have given to the Kyushu vassals over the years will be in vain.
Fortunately, this time the shogunate army lived up to the high expectations of the spectators. After deploying its artillery units, it quickly launched an offensive against the Kyushu Allied Forces' positions.
The shogunate army kicked off the attack with shelling, but what they did not expect was that this time the Kyushu Allied Forces did not remain silent, but immediately launched a counterattack.
The main target of the counterattack was the dozens of artillery pieces that the shogunate army had just pushed to the front line.
The artillery in the shogunate's military formation was mostly field artillery that was easy to maneuver. The caliber and barrel length of the artillery were limited, which directly limited its lethality and range.
This type of artillery is certainly more than enough to deal with ordinary infantry and cavalry, but it is difficult to have immediate results when it comes to blasting open the fortifications of the Kyushu Allied Forces.
Facing the artillery bombardment from the Kyushu Allied Forces, the shogunate army in the plains had almost no cover and faced the artillery shells with their own bodies. The consequences can be imagined.
In just a short moment, the total number of artillery fire fired on both sides' positions exceeded a hundred. The rumble of cannons across the plains, and the battle entered its most intense stage right from the beginning.
The spectators on the mountain also stood up in excitement, focusing on watching this rare battle scene.
A battle involving so many artillery pieces from both sides was rare in this era. In particular, countries that have purchased and installed Haihan artillery hope to use this actual combat to verify the combat effectiveness of this advanced weapon.
The various artillery models used by both sides in this battle were introduced by Officer Haihan before the war began, so that foreign guests could judge which artillery was more suitable for their own armies.
On the battlefield, the Kyushu Allied Forces had relied on their firepower superiority to carry out a devastating blow to the artillery units deployed by the shogunate army.
Almost every artillery position of the shogunate army was attacked by three to four enemy artillery fire. In just a moment, nearly one-third of the artillery positions were hit and lost the ability to continue fighting.
As for the Jiuzhou Allied Forces' position, only the outer fortifications made of sand and earth bags were defeated a little. Such a one-sided situation was probably something that neither warring party had imagined before the war.
While the shogunate army was still hurriedly removing the injured artillery, the Kyushu Allied Forces, under the supervision of military advisers, had used more powerful coastal defense artillery to bombard targets at longer distances.
These huge coastal defense guns were originally used to arm coastal forts to deal with incoming warships at sea. Its barrel length is much longer than that of ordinary artillery, and its effective range is also much longer, making it easy to hit targets three or four miles away.
Because of its large size and extremely heavy weight, it is not easy to transport it here. Once deployed on the gun position, it will basically not move again.
There is probably only one chance for these coastal defense guns to fire. Once the position is exposed by firing, the enemy will no longer be able to actively enter its attack range.
Therefore, the target of the coastal defense artillery is not as simple as destroying ordinary soldiers. The direction in which the muzzle is pointed is exactly the area where the opponent's flags are most concentrated.
According to the fighting habits of the shogunate army, commanders from all walks of life must be concentrated in one place to facilitate coordinated operations. The location of this headquarters is not difficult to find as long as you pay a little attention.
The shogunate army was not unprepared for long-range fire strikes. The headquarters was located at least one mile away from the battle zone and was out of the range of ordinary artillery. But after all calculations, it probably wouldn't have occurred that there were shore defense guns with an astonishing range hidden in the mountains and forests opposite.
After completing loading and aiming, the artillerymen removed the bush bunker blocking the shore defense gun, revealing the five-inch diameter muzzle.
But at this time, the two armies were still in a chaotic artillery battle, and no one in the shogunate army seemed to notice these small changes in the mountains and forests opposite.
As a sharp whistle sounded, several coastal defense guns opened fire at the same time, and several shells immediately hit the shogunate's position.
One of the bullets landed only two or three feet away from the headquarters. After hitting the ground, it knocked down several guards and rushed into the headquarters mixed with a pile of flesh and blood. The flag immediately fell to pieces.
"I hit it!"
"These shots are accurate!"
"You can actually hit it from such a distance!"
There were exclamations at the Adachi Mountain Observation Deck. Many people noticed the shelling through telescopes, because the location where the shells landed intensively was too far away from the battle zone, making it particularly conspicuous. Looking at the densely packed flags in that area, even people who don't know much about military affairs can imagine that this is the core area of the shogunate's army.
However, this successful bombardment did not immediately cause confusion among the shogunate troops. The troops at the forefront of the battle were still executing the established combat plan and continued to bombard the Kyushu Allied Forces' positions, unaware that their rear had been hit by a long-range attack.
The coast defense artillery of the Kyushu Allied Forces did not stop even after the first successful attack. They continued to load ammunition and strike at distant targets. It's just that the reloading speed of the coastal defense artillery is extremely slow, and the time between two rounds of bombardment is enough for the shogunate army to make adjustments to the hit area.
It was not until the shogunate army lost more than half of its artillery on the front line that it received an order from the rear and ordered the artillery troops to retreat and leave the battlefield.
The reason for issuing this order was not because the artillery unit was severely damaged, but because many generals in the formation were injured or killed, which made the command system no longer able to operate normally and had to be separated from the battlefield and readjusted.