Chapter 68: Wind and Water Cannon Master

  Second update

  And without mentioning the chaos inside the villa, Xiao Tianjian outside had already set up his formation and was about to start attacking the villa. This time, he first sent out his own men, who had collected enough door panels, bed boards and other materials to serve as large shields, walking in front to block arrows and gunfire, providing cover for the people behind. Moreover, Xiao Tianjian took yesterday's lesson to heart and, in order to increase the defensive power of these large shields, used some old quilts and bedding collected from the tenant farmers' homes, wetting them with water and applying them to the shields. This greatly increased the bulletproof ability of the wooden shields. He had learned this trick from the Eighth Route Army of a later era, who during the War of Resistance against Japan would wrap wet cotton mattresses around eight immortal tables and charge at the enemy's fortifications, effectively blocking bullets. And as for dealing with the musket balls of this era, it was even more effective! Although this made the shields much heavier, who cared about that as long as they could save lives?

  Xiao Tianjian arranged for the people to cover him, and at the same time, let those who held guns and bows follow closely behind, using large shields to cover themselves, firing guns and arrows to suppress the firepower of the guards on the wall.

  And the new recruits, whether they were Wang Tianlong's old subordinates or those tenant farmers, carried earth bags and wooden logs, closely following the large shields in front, attacking to the side of the moat, continuing to fill it.

  This method is a bit clumsy, but it's still effective. Only by breaking through the moat can we get close to the manor gate; otherwise, just this moat alone would be impassable for them, let alone taking down the manor.

  Xiao Tianjian didn't think of a better way for the time being, so he could only use this clumsy method to attack Fanjia Fortress. After a lot of trouble, everything was finally arranged.

  As soon as he gave the order, dozens of men carrying large shields immediately set off, walking in front and pushing forward towards the trenches. The rest followed closely behind these shields, charging up together.

  As soon as the pole men saw that the poles had started to move, they all made preparations. As soon as the outer poles entered their range, those who fired guns fired guns and those who fired arrows fired arrows.

  All that could be heard was the sound of pattering on the wall, and the large shields held by the men in front immediately made a loud noise as the bullets from the fire guns hit them, but were blocked by the wet cotton pads on top, making it impossible to penetrate these large shields. The people hiding behind them became much safer, and thus the village guards had no way to stop them from advancing further.

  The shield holders continued to stubbornly hold up their large shields, step by step advancing forward, covering the people behind them as they followed. This scene was much more orderly than when Wang Tiandong was in command. Although Zhuang Ding was exerting great effort in firing arrows and guns, the overall threat to the outside was not very great. Before long, the large shield had been moved to the outside of the trench. With a single order from Xiao Tianjian, the dozen or so musketeers and archers immediately stood up from behind the shield, took aim, and began firing at the Zhuang wall.

  These musketeers were asked to load their guns before departure, so when they arrived, they didn't bother and all raised their guns. The seven guns responded well this time, and all fired at once. Fortunately, there was no burst barrel situation. With the cooperation of several inferior archers shooting arrows together with them, two strong men on the wall were knocked down, causing the strong men to exclaim in surprise. They rushed to lie under the female wall, and suddenly some didn't dare to show their heads.

  "Don't be nervous! Reload! It doesn't matter if you're slow, just don't make mistakes!" Xiao Tianjian followed everyone again this time, carrying a large shield and charging to the front. This was also his only way to boost morale at the moment. Otherwise, those new recruits behind him would definitely not dare to take risks and charge forward boldly.

  When he saw the musketeers put down their guns and hid behind the large shield, busily reloading, Xiao Tianjian also figured it out. These people were seriously lacking in training, although they knew how to use this thing, but each one was very unskilled. In the chaos, it was easy to make mistakes, maybe someone would overfill with gunpowder, and with these broken toys, it's hard not to burst the barrel. So he quickly spoke to comfort them, telling them not to panic.

  With Xiao Tianjian saying that, these people who were holding guns actually calmed down a lot and also felt a bit moved. If it were Wang Tiandong's words, they might not only have failed to comfort them but would probably have started scolding and beating them again, urging them to hurry up like a death knell.

  After calming down, they loaded and cleared the chamber in an orderly manner, loading the ammunition...

  With effective firepower support, it was much safer for those who were responsible for filling the trenches afterwards. They carried various things and rushed to the edge of the trench in one breath, dropped their loads and immediately ran back, with speed and order, without the chaos of yesterday, and even someone shouted loudly, urging them to add more strength.

  The trench had been filled in for a while yesterday, but Zhuang Ding dug it open again last night. However, Zhuang Ding was also afraid of death, and the work done at night was rough. The damage to the already buried area was not severe, and after two rounds of filling, this section of the trench was filled up again, and even widened a bit.

  The Fan family inside the village saw the scene outside and were even more anxious, urging the villagers to get up quickly and fire guns and arrows, and repeatedly emphasizing the reward.

  It was the villagers who started to resist again, and the sound of gunfire echoed back and forth on both sides of the village, with no end in sight. After half an hour, it could be said that both sides had suffered losses, but relatively speaking, the people below had lost more. This was also an unavoidable thing, after all, who made their position unfavorable? However, overall, this price was still acceptable to Xiao Tianjian.

  As soon as the trench was filled up for a while and the passage was opened, Xiao Tianjian let out a loud whistle, and everyone immediately retreated.

  Xiao Tianjian checked and found that this time, the casualties were less than five people, with only one death, and the rest were lightly injured. They were all handed over to Lü Langzhong for treatment, and it was estimated that there was no great danger. This loss was indeed completely acceptable, and it did not have much impact on their morale, but rather boosted it a bit. On the other hand, two or three people in Zhuangzi's group were also injured, almost ending in a draw.

  This made everyone feel a bit more at ease, and it seemed that the difference between being organized and not was indeed huge. The biggest gain was probably Xiao Tianjian's. Just now when he led the team to cover up the trench, he commanded seven riflemen to fire together, and as a result, two of the guards on the wall were knocked down in one shot. Others didn't realize what the problem was, but Xiao Tianjian immediately realized a very important issue.

  That's the problem with the tactics of using firearms in this era. Both sides inside and outside the village were equipped with firearms, but yesterday, the shooters on both sides fought individually, firing at will, resulting in very poor results. Today, as soon as the battle began, Xiao Tianjian mistakenly directed the few shooters to conduct a simultaneous volley, suppressing the enemy's firepower. The effect of the simultaneous shooting was excellent, immediately pinning down the village guards under the wall and knocking over two of them. After that, when they returned to fighting individually, the shooters basically didn't achieve any good results again.

  This suddenly made Xiao Tianjian understand why, when watching movies before, Western armies would line up in rows during battles and then fire collectively at the same time! It turned out that collective firing was the most effective way to utilize the power of firearms in this era. Firing individually and sporadically could not achieve a good effect, and it would also waste ammunition.

  This experience is undoubtedly very important for Xiao Tianjian. Things that have not been tested in actual combat, even if he knew them before, would not leave a deep impression.

  " Musketeers and archers come over!" As soon as he thought of this, Xiao Tianjian immediately shouted loudly.

  Those musketeers and archers, upon hearing Xiao Tianjian's shout, did not dare to slack off. They hastily ran to Xiao Tianjian's side, but they were all newcomers with no experience in formation. They crowded together in disarray, waiting cautiously for Xiao Tianjian to give them orders.

  "Listen up, all of you! When we go back up there and start fighting again, remember this: after loading, including the archers, everyone must listen to my orders and not fire randomly. Only follow my commands and open fire together! Don't ask why, just do as I say! If anyone dares to fire without permission, be prepared to face the military stick! Did you hear me?"

  These people didn't dare disobey and hastily nodded in agreement.

  "And another thing! I know you're not well-trained! But don't panic, especially when loading, it's better to load a little less gunpowder, and don't rush to load more in the chaos, this is for your own good! It doesn't matter if it takes a little longer, but safety must be ensured! Good things come to those who wait, you all understand that! Remember!" Xiao Tianjian continued to instruct them.

  These people nodded in agreement, they were very much in favor of this. This fire gun thing is not safe, no one wants to get hurt by an explosion. When it explodes, generally speaking, the face gets injured, and if things go wrong, the eyes will be blinded. So when Xiao Tianjian told them to do so, they were still very happy to listen.

  "Also, who is usually in charge of handling that tiger squat cannon? Step forward!" Xiao Tianjian asked them again.

  A thin middle-aged man with a small yellow mustache on his chin and holding a fire gun stood out, hastily responding: "The matter of returning the plate is under my control!"

  Xiao Tianjian took a glance at the person, and his impression of him wasn't very good. Overall, he had only one impression: sly, extremely sly. He always felt that this person's eyes were shifty, not like those of an honest man. However, he also knew to ask: "What's your name? What did you used to do?"

  That person hastily bowed and replied: "Return the plate! My name is Huang Shengqiang! In the past... in the past... Hehe, it's not good to say this out loud! I used to be a Feng Shui master!"

  "He's holding a compass, but this guy isn't here to read the feng shui! He used to be specialized in digging up people's ancestral graves!" Someone chimed in from behind Huang Shengqiang, saying with a mocking tone.

  Xiao Tianjian suddenly understood that this Huang Shengqiang was actually a grave robber. No wonder he was hesitant to speak, the reputation of grave robbers was really too bad, and they were not welcomed anywhere. Ordinary people generally looked down on those who did this business, so when everyone looked at Huang Shengqiang, they all gave him a slanted eye and an unwelcoming attitude.

  Huang Shengqiang was very unhappy that someone had exposed his secrets, and he glared at the person who had spoken with a fierce gaze, cursing: "I didn't dig up your ancestors' graves, what's it to you?"

  Xiao Tianjian immediately shouted: "Shut up! Brother Huang, what you used to do, I don't care about it and won't look down on you because of this. In a moment, I'll hand over the tiger squat cannon to you, you aim and shoot! Whether we can get in this time depends on you!"

  Huang Shengqiang hastily nodded and replied, "Don't worry, as long as you can bring down the suspension bridge, I'll definitely be able to blast open the Zhuang Gate!"

  Xiao Tianjian nodded and said, "Very good! I'll give you five people, take them to prepare. Once the drawbridge is lowered, aim at the manor gate and fire! Blast the gate open for me!"

  Huang Shengqiang hastily agreed and excitedly led the five people arranged by Xiao Tianjian to start preparing the tiger squat cannon, waiting for Xiao Tianjian to lead the team to blow down the suspension bridge.