Chapter 50: The Fierce and Brutal General Engagement (Part III)

Standing upon the temporarily erected command platform and looking through his telescope at the orderly and 'advanced' dwarven army arrayed opposite him, Sun Li could not help but marvel that the wisdom of these dwarves was truly... diverse.

Organ guns, tubular cannons, flame-throwers, rocket carts... well, this rocket cart did not refer to the rocket artillery units of the Soviet steel torrents, but rather those very primitive ones carrying arrows fitted with gunpowder charges at their tails.

Compared to the simple Napoleon cannons of the Song State's vast army, that side possessed quite a large number of heavy equipments. Coupled with over a hundred smoothbore cannons, these bulky apparatuses far outnumbered the Song State's simple artillery units, making them much more spectacular, grander, and aesthetically pleasing.

Actually, the empire system also allowed for the exchange of these weapons. However, Sun Li had no affection whatsoever for these messy 'advanced' equipments, which were more complicated to load than regular cannons and possessed a range only slightly greater than flintlock muskets.

Equipment that basically offered only one or two opportunities to fire in a battle could never be as useful as regular artillery. Of course, the most important factor was that the cost of these things was not a bit cheaper than cannons! Therefore, Sun Li naturally chose the logistically simpler universal smoothbore cannons...

One must remember that the Song State's army was directly recruited, and its industrial base was extremely weak! If weapons were diversified and multi-dimensional like those of the dwarven empire... Sun Li, who relied entirely on purchasing, would sooner or later go bankrupt!

At the very least, if only a single type of ammunition needed to be produced, Sun Li could grit his teeth and find it quite cost-effective to purchase a few such production lines...

Consequently, with the two armies arrayed against each other, artillery pieces naturally had to be positioned at the front lines. Given the frustrating range of this era, they could only effectively play their part when placed at the forefront. In contrast to the various large-scale weapons deployed among the dwarven army's formations—which looked strikingly lethal—Sun Li had merely arranged two artillery positions on the Song State's side. Well, two on the left and two on the right to achieve crossfire. After the advent of the catastrophic explosive shell, the lethality of artillery had become quite considerable!

Although the dwarven empire also possessed advanced exploding shells, Marshal Eagris still seemed accustomed to evenly distributing artillery and other weapons across the entire battlefield plane. Did he perhaps intend to wait until the enemy closed in to deliver a hearty blast of canister shot?

Sun Li smiled; only a fool would charge directly into the dwarven empire's fiercely explosive firepower configuration!

True, while Sun Li looked down upon weapons like the organ guns, they all shared a common characteristic: their first wave of attack could inflict astonishing firepower casualties. Sun Li believed that any army on the European continent would collapse if hit squarely in the face by that initial volley!

Thus, the defect of slow reloading became negligible. Unfortunately, the firepower of the Song State was by no means inferior to that of the dwarven empire!

"Defensive formation, fire first to bombard the enemy's artillery positions, skirmishers enter the battlefield afterwards to execute precision shooting against those artillery crews and other heavy weapons!" Sun Li ordered.

From that moment on, the more than 200 cannons on both flanks of the Song army's formation roared first. The very instant the Song artillery opened fire, even Marshal Eagris was startled; it was his first time witnessing a simultaneous salvo from over 200 cannons. If counted by artillery alone, the 150,000-strong dwarven army only possessed a little over a hundred!

With the roar of the Napoleon cannons, the infantry's nightmare—explosive shells—continually slammed into the ranks of the dwarven army. These were not mere solid iron balls that finished rolling after bouncing twice on the ground; the moment an explosive shell landed, living creatures and weapons within a radius of several meters would be blown to pieces!

"Open fire! Damn it, return fire immediately!" shouted the dwarven artillery officer in exasperation.

Slightly dazed by the salvo of explosive shells, the dwarven artillerymen began a fierce counterattack, but... those organ guns and other weapons with massive lethality against infantry could only watch from the sidelines due to range limitations...

Watching his own side being thoroughly beaten into the ground by the Song artillery due to an absolute disadvantage in gun numbers, Marshal Eagris felt that on future battlefields, the status of artillery would surely supplant infantry to become the decisive key force! Marshal Eagris possessed a fair bit of insight; he grasped the underlying essence the moment he was bullied by artillery for the first time...

Even though Marshal Eagris desperately wished to reply immediately to the Emperor within the empire, advising him to build up an artillery force with all their might, his foremost task right now was simply to deal with the damned bombardment from the Song artillery!

Just as Marshal Eagris was agonizing over whether to risk casualties and launch a charging assault, the skirmisher units of the Song sequence entered the battlefield. These skirmishers were not equipped with the rifled muskets used by contemporary Earth Europe, but rather the much more advanced Minié rifles!

These elite Minié riflemen formed loose formations—well, in Sun Li's eyes, those could hardly be called formations at all...

Taking advantage of the artillery duel between the two sides, the over 2,000 Minié riflemen easily approached the dwarven empire's array. Meanwhile, the dwarven soldiers in the front rows, constantly blasted skyward by stray explosive shells, quickly spotted these audacious, scattered Minié riflemen running towards them.

Organ guns, rocket carts, flame-throwers, and other weapons with immense lethality against infantry were pushed to the front line, intended to teach a profound lesson to these rabble who lacked even a formation. In Marshal Eagris's eyes, these soldiers were perhaps merely cannon fodder sent by Sun Li, perhaps for probing, or perhaps...

Regardless, killing them outright would suffice...

However, these Minié riflemen stopped dead in their tracks over 500 meters away and actually began to take aim!

Initially, the front-line dwarven soldiers thought these enemy troops had been terrified and dared not enter the range of the organ guns and other weapons. The artillery could reach them, true, but the cannons were currently busy engaging in counter-battery fire with the Song artillery and had no time to bother with these scattered stragglers.

Even if the artillery did bother with them, given the skirmishers' disorderly lines, a single cannonball, no matter how precise, would kill at most one or two people... the cost far outweighed the gain!

Well, on the modern battlefields of Earth's Europe, smoothbore cannons were rarely used to bombard skirmishers; cavalry was generally deployed to drive them off. While skirmishers were the nightmare of line infantry, they were utterly helpless against cavalry for a simple reason: they lacked an orderly formation—or rather, they didn't even have a loose square!

Therefore, light cavalry cutting down these skirmishers was as easy as chasing down routed troops. Once closed in, the skirmishers were defenseless, cut down effortlessly by the light cavalry without a shred of resistance...

However, Sun Li's foresight was exceptional, and the timing and opponent he chose were impeccably appropriate: the dwarven army had no cavalry!

This was quite literally a paradise for skirmishers to freely exercise their shooting skills!

Moreover, skirmisher tactics were a newly emerging concept in this world, and this was Sun Li's first time deploying them. The opposing dwarven commander was utterly clueless as to what purpose these scattered infantrymen served other than marching to their deaths!

Very well, it was entirely normal that these bumpkins—who had only learned to use bayoneted flintlocks in recent years—had no inkling of the role of skirmishers...

The Song State's Minié riflemen, each employing their most accustomed and stable shooting posture, locked their sights onto the soldiers operating the rocket carts and other heavy machinery, and then squeezed the triggers. Instantly, nine out of ten targets on the opposite side tumbled backward onto the ground!

This kind of scattered gunfire might not be as spectacular and terrifying as the massed volleys of line infantry where entire ranks fell at once, but it steadily and very effectively consumed the enemy's numbers.

The dwarven soldiers, who had been mocking these scattered cannon fodder, watched in astonishment as the technicians operating the organ guns and other 'weapons of mass destruction' not far away toppled to the ground one after another in a very regular fashion. Although the intervals were not short, targets were constantly being hit. Given the tremendous lethality of the Minié bullet, as long as a single round struck home, whether you were a handsome hunk, a muscular man, or a trap... you would drop straight to the ground and stay there!

These 2,000 Minié riflemen exerted a tremendous impact the moment they took the field! In less than half an hour, the dwarven soldiers operating the anti-infantry weapons completely collapsed! The loading speed of the Minié rifle was, after all, much faster than that of a standard rifle!

Those anti-infantry weapons were thus abandoned on the front lines by the collapsed dwarven soldiers, and no one ever dared approach them again—whoever went near them died!

Observing the results of the artillery duel, Marshal Eagris finally discovered the true role of the Song skirmishers when turmoil broke out on the front lines.

"They—they are actually capable of shooting from such a distance! And their loading speed is no slower than a flintlock, even a bit faster!" Marshal Eagris looked in astonishment at the Song State's new troop type.

This was quite literally a novel weapon capable of altering the mode of warfare!

If all of the Song State's troops were equipped with such weapons... Marshal Eagris did not dare to continue guessing. Perhaps by then, unless the dwarven empire achieved some major technological breakthrough, surrender would be the more straightforward option...

Although he did not know why the Song State had not widely deployed such advanced weapons capable of changing the course of war, these mere 2,000-plus new-style infantrymen were already enough for Marshal Eagris to make up his mind: he could no longer fight the Song State this way!

"Front line, 30,000 infantry, advance in full force! Charge immediately after a salvo, try to drag the combat into close quarters, and the 50,000 infantry in the rear will follow closely! Artillery support the infantry, and the other weapons... better pull them back for now..." Marshal Eagris ordered helplessly.

Accompanied by the rhythmic war drums of the dwarven battle array, various military flags fluttered continuously as they led their respective units forward at a slow pace.

A full 30,000 dwarven iron-cans, arranged in straight column formations, carrying bayoneted flintlocks, and stepping to the beat of the drums, marched in unison toward the Song army's battle array.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

Heavily laden, the dwarven army marched with unified steps that made the earth rumble, resembling a forest of steel slowly flowing toward the red ocean of the Song State.

Although the Minié riflemen under Sun Li's command had long since shifted their targets to the advancing dwarven line infantry—and the dwarven soldiers wearing plate armor were continuously struck down by bullets—this formation remained unshaken and continued to press forward against the skirmishers.

Realizing their mission was complete, these Minié riflemen scattered yet orderly retreated back into the friendly lines behind them.

The true battle had only just begun! (To be continued.)