Dark Sand: My Players Are All Actors
Chapter 335 - 226: Jin Ge Iron Horse, Swallowing Thousands of Miles Like a Tiger!_2

Chapter 335: Chapter 226: Jin Ge Iron Horse, Swallowing Thousands of Miles Like a Tiger!_2

"Why don’t they fight back?"

From the posture of these Flying Tiger Army soldiers holding those weapons, it seemed to be a long-range weapon. But why were they just holding them level and doing nothing?

Or could it be that it was merely a new type of spear without long-range capabilities?

Perhaps the only good news was that although they had suffered casualties, they hadn’t collapsed on the spot; but what was the use of just taking hits?

Li Hongyun was also standing in formation. At that moment, he loudly said, "Hold steady—maintain formation—"

This unit of the Flying Tiger Army was trained purely for the use of flintlock guns, and apart from shooting, they had another critical training element, which was drilling.

Standing in neat rows, moving forward and backward as one, no matter what happened, they couldn’t retreat or open fire on their own. Violators would receive severe punishment.

As for why they hadn’t fired despite being within sixty to seventy meters, the reason was simple, of course—to allow the enemy to get even closer before shooting.

Although the flintlock gun did see slight improvements in accuracy over the matchlock gun, the improvements weren’t quite significant. At seventy-five meters, the hit rate was still less than sixty percent.

Moreover, although the loading speed of the flintlock gun had been improved, the enhancements weren’t substantial—only three shots per minute.

The greatest advantage of the flintlock gun compared to the matchlock gun was that it could be used in dense formations.

Thus, to maximize this advantage, there was only one secret—wait until the enemy got close enough before shooting.

As brutal and straightforward as this secret might seem, not every army could achieve it. After all, once within a hundred meters, both sides were very close, and enduring the first volley of enemy fire without returning it meant gambling with their lives.

Statistically speaking, due to the distance being still relatively long, the number in the formation that got hit wouldn’t be very high, but for an individual, getting shot meant either amputation or death, and these soldiers found it very hard to endure.

Therefore, in the era of volley fire tactics, whichever side could endure the longest before shooting could gain an absolute advantage.

The current battle with the Jin Cavalry was governed by the same principle.

Li Hongyun had indeed calculated that the range of the Jin archers’ horse bows wasn’t too extensive, which is why he dared to let them get close before shooting. If it were infantry bows with longer ranges and greater lethality, a different tactic would have been necessary.

The Cavalry’s speed was rapid, and in an instant, they had entered a distance of fifty meters.

For the Cavalry, this was a distance they could cover in the blink of an eye.

The steel juggernaut of Knights had already tied themselves together with leather ropes, and had accelerated to their maximum speed, preparing to crush these oblivious Qi Army soldiers with an unstoppable ferocious flood of steel.

However, in the next second, Li Hongyun finally gave the order.

"Fire!"

At his command, the soldiers who had been forcefully controlling themselves through trained reflexes finally pulled the triggers as the mountain-like enemy bore down on them.

"Bang!"

"Bang, bang, bang—"

A volley of gunfire erupted!

After firing, the front-row soldiers didn’t check the outcome of their shooting. Instead, they immediately bent slightly to create space for the soldiers behind to shoot while instinctively starting to pull out the ramrods to clear the gun barrels, take out the cartridges to load the primer, then pack the remaining cartridges into the barrel and compress it using the ramrods.

This complex procedure had, through daily training, become muscle memory.

Of course, since it was their first time on the battlefield, there were many blunders among the native soldiers, such as not realizing that the bullets had not been fired before stuffing in a second one, or the hurried loading that significantly reduced the speed, among others.

But these issues were not enough to have a substantial impact.

As the gunfire sounded, a cloud of gunsmoke rose in front of the formation, accompanied by a loud bang.

Yet in front of them, not far away, the ironclad Knights, like a mountain, collapsed uniformly.

This was a true case of a collapse like a crumbling mountain!

Unbelievably, these heavily armored knights couldn’t fathom why they, fully clad in heavy armor, were still mysteriously penetrated by something that flew from a distance.

Some were hit in their horses; riders fell in bewilderment, while others were shot themselves, feeling only intense pain before swiftly losing consciousness.

In the face of firearms, no matter how strong the armor, it was essentially equivalent to paper and provided no protection, instead making their falls even more brutal.

For the steel juggernaut of Cavalry, the situation was worse since every three horses were tied together with leather ropes, and once one was shot and fell, the others were also dragged down.

What should have been a mere fifty meters, crossed in an instant, now seemed like an insurmountable gap.

The front row of horses fell, and the horses in the rear were tripped up too, and the once invincible steel juggernaut encountered an attack not belonging to its era; like crops, they were mowed down one swath at a time.

In the resulting immense chaos, soldiers in the rear of the Flying Tiger Army continued to shoot, and after reloading, the front-row soldiers also continued to shoot...

The entire steel juggernaut had almost instantly collapsed.

On the flanks, the envelopment by the Kidnapper Cavalry also turned into a joke.

After feeling good about their initial archery charge, they re-drew their bows, but before they could start a second round of mounted archery, the enemy had already started shooting.