Iron Dynasty Chapter 989

“The Great Yu Empire seems to have different artillery again.”

Through the binoculars, Pang Duo saw artillery that was different from the ones in the Jinzhou campaign. He still had a fresh memory of the Great Yu Empire’s artillery in that battle.

Bahe and Wotai both looked in the direction Pang Duo was pointing, and their expressions became more and more serious.

But no matter what kind of weapons the Great Yu Empire brought out, they could no longer retreat, because behind them was the pasture of their own tribe.

“Chang Hantian (eternal sorrow) will protect us,” Bahe patted Pang Duo on the shoulder.

Pang Duo nodded, and his eyes became more and more determined. As long as he was alive, he would not allow the Great Yu Empire to cross their pastures again.

While Pang Duo and the other two were observing, Niu Ben and Luo Quan had also figured out the current situation of the battlefield.

Looking at the trenches crisscrossing around the barbarian camp, Niu Ben and Luo Quan frowned slightly.

“The barbarians are really a lot smarter now. The trenches they dug are getting more and more standard.”

“So what? It’s just a way to delay their death. Whether they die sooner or later, they will still die.” Luo Quan did not care. Grenades were enough to give them an advantage in trench warfare.

Niu Ben nodded. The huge camp in front of him was not a strong fortress but a meat grinder made of flesh and blood. Perhaps the barbarians were confident that such a camp could stop the Great Yu Empire’s army.

But he was very clear that the gap between the two armies was now unbridgeable.

While the two of them were talking, a hunter cavalry suddenly rushed in front of them. After dismounting, the hunter cavalry said urgently, “Two generals, His Majesty’s oral decree is to temporarily focus on defense and wait for the Changping machine gun team to arrive before the decisive battle!”

“Changping machine gun team! That brat Song Changping has come up with a machine gun?” Luo Quan was overjoyed.

“That’s great. According to His Majesty, this machine gun is a great weapon for dealing with a dense charge, and it is perfect for dealing with the barbarians.” Niu Ben’s eyes were full of excitement.

The hunter cavalry continued, “His Majesty also said that the machine guns are currently in production and that the first batch of machine guns will arrive at the end of the month, so he asked the two generals to wait patiently.”

“Good. Go back and tell His Majesty that we will wait for the machine gun team to arrive.” Niu Ben said loudly.

With a sound of agreement, the hunter cavalry rode away. He would return to Qingzhou via the steam locomotive.

After the hunter cavalry disappeared, Luo Quan said, “I hope this machine gun team can help us lose fewer soldiers. The barbarians have set up such a formation, and it is clear that they want to have a decisive battle with us here. The outcome of a battle determines the fate of a country.”

Niu Ben sneered, “Dolgor is being clever. He is just walking into his own death.”

With that, he and Luo Quan turned and went back to the army, ordering the soldiers to immediately dig trenches to confront the barbarians. Since the barbarians were waiting for the rest of the cavalry, they would give them time.

The next day, Pang Duo, Bahe, and the other barbarian generals woke up early to prepare for battle. As usual, the Great Yu Empire’s army would usually rest for a night before launching an attack on the second day.

But to their surprise, all they saw were the Great Yu Empire’s soldiers digging trenches. The Great Yu Empire’s army was very leisurely in the circle of trenches and had no intention of fighting at all.

“What is the Great Yu Empire up to?” Wotai said strangely.

Bahe shook his head. “This is too abnormal. Are they still waiting for something?”

Pang Duo frowned in thought, but he could not come up with any clues. After a moment of hesitation, he said, “This is good. The cavalry from the Golden Tent who are coming to reinforce us have not arrived yet. We need time to wait for them to come.”

Zak and Tamu had already arrived at the camp. Seeing this, Zak said, “They might be waiting for the cavalry led by Qi Guangyi to disrupt our rear. Now, I am very worried that they will continue to go deeper into the grassland.”

When Zak arrived with the remaining five thousand men, he was a little unhappy, because in his opinion, it was wise to avoid fighting the Great Yu Empire as much as possible before the decisive battle.

But Zak clearly did not follow his idea.

“We can’t worry about that much now. If we lose here, we will be completely defeated, and no other tribe will be able to stop the Great Yu Empire from occupying the grassland, do you understand?” Pang Duo said angrily.

Zak was a little angry. As a banner head of a tribe, being reprimanded by Pang Duo made him lose face, but the order from Dolgor was for them to obey Pang Duo’s orders.

With an ashen face, Zak and Tamu walked towards the camp. While walking, Zak said, “None of them have seen how powerful Qi Guangyi’s cavalry is. They will regret it.”

After glancing at the still-complaining Zak, Pang Duo no longer paid attention to him, because in his opinion, the greatest danger was right in front of them.

In this confrontation, time passed day by day. Twenty-odd days went by in a flash. At the end of the month, the first machine gun team arrived at the Great Yu Empire’s army camp.

“General, all thirty machine guns are in place.”

On the training ground in the middle of the camp, Sun Changce, the commander of the machine gun company, reported to Niu Ben and Luo Quan. They were all from the Imperial Guard of Qingzhou. After completing their training in the military factory, they brought the machine guns to the battlefield.

Niu Ben and Luo Quan were so happy that they could not close their mouths. At this time, thirty Changping-style machine guns were quietly sitting on the solid ground in front of them.

Each machine gun was on a wheeled base. This design was very suitable for combat on the grassland, as the soldiers could push the machine guns like artillery pieces and set up a machine gun position at any time on the flat grassland.

“Quick, let us see the power of this machine gun.” Seeing was believing. Niu Ben and Luo Quan were already a little impatient.

Sun Changce saluted, said yes, and immediately had the machine gunner push a machine gun to the open area east of the camp and fire.

After finding a suitable position, the assistant gunner immediately fed the bullet belt into the machine gun, and the gunner pressed the button. Immediately, a continuous “bang bang bang” rang out, and the continuous firepower left the generals dumbfounded.

“Hahaha…” Niu Ben laughed loudly. “With such a powerful weapon, why would we worry about not winning this decisive battle? This time, let the barbarians have enough of our bullets.”

Luo Quan laughed, “Exactly. This month-long wait was worth it. The cavalry who came to reinforce the barbarians have also all arrived at the barbarian camp. It is estimated that a war is unavoidable in the next two days. This time, let us fight to our heart’s content.”

After witnessing the power of the machine gun, the two of them went to the tent with Sun Changce to arrange the positions of the machine guns.

Now, 160,000 barbarian cavalry were gathered in one place. According to the habits of the barbarians, at the beginning of the war, they would definitely use slave soldiers to charge the front.

According to their observations over the past two days, there were not many descendants of the Great Yu Empire among these slave soldiers. Most of them were slaves that the barbarians had plundered from the Western Regions, as the Great Yu Empire’s slaves were mainly concentrated in Guandong, and most of them had been rescued by them.

They did not need to be merciful when dealing with such slave soldiers.