Although the outside world was noisy, Qingdeng couldn't hear it at all.

To be precise, I heard it but ignored it.

After the large troops from the rear arrived and provided strong cover, he ducked out from behind the boulder where he was hiding, and cooperated with Souji and Saito Ichi to kill every enemy within reach of his blade and clear every building in front of him.

fortress.

All his thoughts were focused on the battle, leaving him no time to care.

Within a moment, under their joint attack, the enemy's blockade collapsed.

The enemy troops defending this place were dying and retreating.

Qingdeng took advantage of the situation and led his team to pursue him.

However... as soon as the front foot broke through this blockade, the back foot encountered a new, tighter blockade.

This time the blockade not only had fortresses, but also criss-crossed trenches.

Countless flintlock guns were placed above these forts and trenches, like a huge trap, waiting for prey to be baited.

And now, the prey has arrived.

As soon as Qingdeng and others entered the shooting range, the loud gunshots immediately dominated the eardrums of everyone present.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

Some soldiers were unable to dodge and fell to the ground, wailing everywhere, and their light green feather fabrics were dyed dark red.

The barrages this time were very intensive, and just one barrage killed more than ten Shinsengumi members.

Before the other party fired, Qingdeng had already sensed the danger and hid in a safe area in time - behind a big tree.

Coincidentally, he and the General Secretary hid in the same place.

Fortunately, the tree trunk was thick enough and Souji was petite, so it was more than enough to hide the two of them.

Listening to the continuous gunshots outside, Souji leaned against Qingto and said half-jokingly:

"So what did our previous shelling explode?"

Qingdeng smiled bitterly but did not respond.

After seeing that the number of fortifications hit by artillery shells was far less than expected, Qingdeng had already made corresponding psychological preparations.

The area of ​​Nangong Mountain is really too big.

Even if the cannon is used until it is scrapped, it will not be able to achieve true "carpet bombing".

Such a result is only natural.

"Xiao Si, help me get it."

Aoto said as he handed the Bizen Nagabune in his hand to Souji, and then took out a hand mirror from his arms.

This hand mirror was specially prepared by him for this battle.

He pinched the corner of the hand mirror, pointed it outside the tree trunk, pointed the side with the mirror at the enemy's position, and used the reflection of the mirror to observe the enemy's situation.

Souji leaned over and stared at the picture in the mirror together.

After taking a few glances, she asked bluntly:

"Qingdeng, what do you think? Do you want to attack?"

Qingdeng shook his head without thinking:

"No, the enemy's defense is very tight. Look, the enemy's left and right wings have formed a crossfire, making it impossible to avoid. It's too dangerous to attack forcefully."

Having said this, he paused for a moment, and then changed into a solemn tone:

"This defense line is really well laid out... there are capable people in the enemy army..."

Bang!

At this time, a projectile flew past the tree trunk where the two men were hiding, leaving a trail of hot and black marks, interrupting their discussion.

The director glanced at the bullet mark less than an inch away from her and said helplessly:

"Then what should we do? We can't be here?"

Qingdeng thought briefly:

"...Just use 'that'."

It would be too futile to attack a fortress-like mountain with light weapons such as swords and muskets.

Therefore, Qingdeng specially prepared a big killer weapon.

He raised his head and scanned his eyes, looking for Toudo Heisuke.

Soon, he found the other party - the other party was not far from him, hiding behind a big rock.

"Heisuke!"

When he heard Qingdeng's roll call, he immediately followed the sound.

"Throw a bomb!"

After hearing this order, Toudo Heisuke immediately nodded vigorously and understood, then turned his head and shouted to the soldiers behind:

"Grenade ready!"

Within a moment, more than a dozen soldiers carried large and heavy dark objects and swarmed to the front line.

Under the cover of the rest of the team, they gathered all their strength and threw it hard - these dark objects drew beautiful parabolas in mid-air and fell into the enemy's position without hesitation.

Next breath——

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

Explosions replaced gunshots!

What followed was a shrill scream.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!"

"I-my finger is broken...!"

"Attention everyone! It's grenades! Don't let these grenades fall in!"

Those black objects thrown by the members of Division 8 just now were grenades!

Hand grenades have a long history.

It can be traced back to the time of Leo III of the Byzantine Empire, when soldiers threw ceramic containers filled with Greek fire to attack their enemies.

Today's hand grenades are very large and heavy, which greatly tests the physical fitness of soldiers.

The use of grenades declined significantly in the early 18th century, which can be attributed to the increased effectiveness of mass infantry line tactics and flint technology.

However, the need for elite assault troops remained.

Is there any reason not to introduce such a powerful weapon with a wide range of uses?

Therefore, as early as the beginning of the formation of the artillery force, Qingdeng ordered a batch of grenades and trained a group of strong "grenadiers" for use in attacking fortresses.

People in the world generally have misunderstandings about the power of grenades, believing that they rely on "explosion" to kill the enemy.

In fact, grenades mainly rely on "fragmentation" to cause range damage.

Its explosive power is not very powerful, far from being comparable to that of artillery shells.

Thinking of relying on grenades to blow up solid fortifications is purely fanciful.

Of course, it is impossible for a fragile human body to block a grenade.

No matter how weak the power of the grenade is, it will definitely be more than enough to blow you to pieces and break your limbs.

The round of grenade throwing just now caused chaos in the enemy formation!

Amidst the smoke that spread everywhere, the soldiers of the Changzhou Army were caught off guard.

Some people were injured by the fragments and were wailing.

Some people were seriously injured because they were close to the explosion point, and they no longer had the strength to scream.

Naturally, Qingdeng would not let go of such a great opportunity.

"Follow me!!"

While shouting loudly, he and the director rushed out of the hiding place.

Qingdeng's shout was like a signal.

In the blink of an eye, the members of the Shinsengumi who had been hiding one after another came out one after another.

The musketeers of the eighth division, as well as the swordsmen of the first division, the third division, and the fifth division, pressed forward in a swarm!

Although they are brave, the Changzhou Army on the opposite side is not easy to mess with either.

Although they have not yet recovered from the grenade attack just now, they are ready to fight.

"Fight them!"
To be continued...