Chapter 484 Cruel Battlefield
"What the hell are you doing! Without orders, you should have stayed in the trench and died! You're a military academy graduate, have you forgotten the discipline of obeying all commands?"
"This is not the old days of charging forward with swords and spears! We have to wait for our artillery to clear the way before we advance. Are you rushing out so eagerly to get hit by our own shells!"
Zhu Jianying found that the kind and amiable squad leader he knew before had vanished, replaced by an old soldier who swore a lot, cursed frequently, and even threatened to hit him.
This was not quite what Zhu Jianying had imagined battlefield combat to be like.
In Zhu Jianying's imagination, his squad leader would be shouting and leading the charge, with himself and his comrades following closely behind, perhaps killing enemies, perhaps being killed by them, perhaps shielding a comrade from bullets, or perhaps a comrade shielding him.
In any case, no matter how Zhu Jianying thought about it, he never expected the situation that unfolded before him.
The squad leader of Zhu Jianying's squad glanced at him and said with a cold smile, "What, is it different from what you read in books? Do you feel like this war is a bit boring?"
Zhu Jianying nodded slightly and answered honestly, "It's indeed different from what I imagined."
The squad leader spat, "Imagination? You have a lot of imagination, but can imagination be the same as reality? These new recruits from the military academy always rush forward shouting when they get on the battlefield. Don't you know to wait until our artillery has fired? Didn't anyone tell you at the military academy that the most common tactic of our Great Ming army is to bombard the enemy with artillery and then have the infantry pick up the bodies?"
After lecturing Zhu Jianying fiercely, the squad leader snorted, "Warfare is a complex art, not something you can learn entirely in military school. Watch closely later – since you're under my command, I'll do my best to bring you back alive."
Zhu Jianying was somewhat dumbfounded.
The eldest son of the Great Ming, being lectured like a scolded dog, was a story that would make people laugh themselves to death.
However, despite being lectured, Zhu Jianying understood that the old soldier, who swore constantly, was actually looking out for him. Moreover, the ancestors of the Central Plains had said that theory without practice is superficial, and true knowledge comes from practice.
Even though he, the eldest son of the Great Ming, had studied countless tactics and strategies for leading troops at the Great Ming Military Academy and could always learn from renowned generals and veteran marshals of the Five Military Commissions like Liu Heming, Liu Erniu, and Geng Rui, it did not change the fact that he had never actually been on the battlefield.
The experience of these old soldiers on the battlefield was all bought with their lives. The more he learned, the more he could protect himself. Only on the front line could he truly integrate into the army and learn the art of leading troops.
Thus, Zhu Jianying, with an attitude of humble inquiry, asked, "Squad leader, when will our artillery fire? And how do we judge if it's time to charge?"
The squad leader patted Zhu Jianying's shoulder, motioned for him to sit down in the trench, and then said, "When the artillery fires is not decided by us, but by those barbarians opposite us – when they prepare to charge, our artillery will fire."
"Don't believe the nonsense the instructors in military school tell you about planned operations and shelling times, because your enemy will never fight according to your plans. Learning to adapt is the key."
"As for how to judge the time to charge…"
The squad leader stroked his stubble and then began to rant again, "When to charge depends on when those bastards in the artillery are tired of firing!"
"Damn it, those guys in the artillery battalion are as cunning as monkeys. They can accurately estimate how many enemy troops there are, and they can also accurately estimate how many shells are needed to eliminate the enemy.
"If these bastards have plenty of shells, we can only wait until they've had their fill and then rush forward to clean up the mess.
"If they don't have enough shells, then we might have to charge forward under the enemy's artillery fire.
"However, it's only in such situations that our infantry can play a role, such as advancing in skirmish lines or making quick flanking maneuvers. These tactics are beyond the capabilities of those artillery bastards, and can only be done by us infantry."
After thinking for a moment, the squad leader added, "Of course, those scoundrels flying in the sky are no good either. Although they can't fight the barbarians head-on, they often fly over to the barbarians and throw grenades."
Hearing his squad leader badmouthing the artillery and airship troops, Zhu Jianying couldn't help but feel a sense of sympathy.
After all, he was now part of the infantry.
Thinking that he might have his first battlefield experience cut short, Zhu Jianying couldn't help but complain, "Are we infantry truly unloved by everyone?"
However, before Zhu Jianying could complain further, the artillery position behind them had already begun to speak – the eighteen cannons of the artillery battalion were not a large number, but they were not few either. The deafening roar of the cannons sounded one after another, directly silencing Zhu Jianying's grumbling.
However, after waiting for a long time, when the artillery position behind them fell silent, Zhu Jianying unexpectedly discovered that something seemed to be wrong with his heart, otherwise why would it be beating so fast?
And it wasn't just his heart, his ears also seemed to have malfunctioned.
Zhu Jianying looked at his squad leader in bewilderment and asked, "Should we charge?"
Zhu Jianying had already decided that as the eldest son of the Great Ming, he could not falter on the battlefield no matter what. Even if he had to lay down his life, he would do so on the battlefield.
However, contrary to Zhu Jianying's expectations, the squad leader of his squad did not respond to his question.
Or rather, it couldn't be said that there was no response – the squad leader's mouth was opening and closing, and it looked like he was saying something, but Zhu Jianying's ears were still ringing, so he couldn't hear the squad leader's response.
Seeing Zhu Jianying patting his ears in confusion, the squad leader grinned and laughed heartily, then patted Zhu Jianying's shoulder, signaling him to charge with him.
It was at this very moment that Zhu Jianying truly witnessed the cruelty of the battlefield.
The ground, plowed by artillery, had become quite loose. Some areas were soaked through with the blood of the Ottoman soldiers opposite, and some shell craters had even become pools of blood. Large amounts of dismembered limbs were scattered across the battlefield, and many Ottoman soldiers, still alive but wounded, were moaning incessantly, while the final response to them was the bullets of the Great Ming soldiers.
Compared to the scene of Asura's hell before him, Zhu Jianying felt that the battlefields he had seen in Mukalla Port, which had been cleaned and tidied, were like a warm and orderly children's game.
However, Zhu Jianying did not have time to reflect on the cruelty of the battlefield, because the Ottoman army, after numerous encounters with the Great Ming army, had also become smarter.
The Ottoman commander had divided his army into three parts.
The most elite and precious artillery was kept in the rear, and his confidantes were stationed at the forefront of the Ottoman artillery positions, serving both to protect the artillery positions and to act as a disciplinary force.
As for the Ottoman troops, who had been dazed by the Great Ming's artillery, they could essentially be considered as cannon fodder pushed forward by the Ottoman commander.
This created a rather frustrating situation – the Great Ming army's artillery was indeed much more advanced than the Ottoman army's artillery, but even the most advanced artillery was ultimately limited by its range.
Although the Ottoman commander's placement of the Ottoman artillery in the rear meant that their artillery could not reach the Great Ming infantry positions, the Great Ming artillery could not use its range and power advantage to destroy the Ottoman artillery either.
In other words, if the Great Ming artillery wanted to destroy the Ottoman artillery, they would have to advance their artillery positions. In reality, advancing artillery positions was not as simple as selecting them with a mouse click in a game; they could not fire during the advance.
Even advancing in stages required the infantry to move forward first – this was precisely the time that the Ottoman commander could exploit for a charge!
The charge led by the squad leader of Zhu Jianying's squad was also aimed at seizing positions ahead, thereby pressuring the Ottoman forces opposite and preventing the Ottoman cavalry from charging the Great Ming artillery positions.
To be fair, this was Zhu Jianying's first time fighting on the battlefield, but his tactical acumen and physical fitness were far superior to many veteran soldiers, proving that Zhu Jianying was not just a useless person who only knew how to eat and drink. After charging forward with his squad leader for about two hundred meters, Zhu Jianying's hearing gradually returned to normal.
However, before Zhu Jianying could be happy about his hearing returning to normal, his squad leader grabbed him again.
While Zhu Jianying was still in a daze, the squad leader instructed him, "Pull over the corpses around here and stack them up. Although these barbarians' corpses stink, there's nothing more suitable for cover than them right now."
At this, Zhu Jianying was completely dumbfounded.
If the corpses were intact, it would have been one thing, but what were these around him? Corpses without heads, missing limbs, disemboweled bodies, bodies twisted like ropes – all sorts of messy corpses, and not many of them were intact!
What was even more dire was that the strange smell emanating from these corpses rushed directly into Zhu Jianying's nostrils. Although Zhu Jianying had undergone simulated battlefield training while using a pseudonym at the military academy, simulations were ultimately just simulations. Even if a battlefield simulated with pig blood and pig intestines was realistic, it was still not real, whereas the actual battlefield before him was constantly stimulating Zhu Jianying's nerves from visual, tactile, and olfactory perspectives!
Coupled with Zhu Jianying's comfortable upbringing since childhood…
"Ugh!"
Zhu Jianying gagged with every corpse he moved. After moving all the corpses around as ordered and stacking them, Zhu Jianying could no longer hold back and began to vomit uncontrollably.
However, to Zhu Jianying's surprise, instead of being reprimanded, his squad leader asked with concern, "How are you? Can you still hold on?"
Having vomited out even his bile and having nothing left to vomit, Zhu Jianying took a deep breath and replied, "Don't worry, squad leader, I can still hold on!"
The squad leader pursed his lips and actually began to praise Zhu Jianying, "Not bad, for a young master pampered by the noble Solon family, to be able to do this much is not bad, not bad."
Zhu Jianying was somewhat confused.
Is this a compliment? But why does this compliment feel worse than no compliment?
While Zhu Jianying was silently grumbling, the squad leader took out a piece of candy from his pocket and offered it to him, "Have a piece of candy. This is our Great Ming's candy, it's especially sweet – I'm telling you, it's normal for new recruits to vomit on the battlefield, it's abnormal if they don't."
Zhu Jianying looked at his squad leader gratefully. Just as he was about to peel the wrapper and put the candy in his mouth, he saw that his hands were already covered in blood and some indescribable yellow-green substance…
Zhu Jianying felt a sense of dilemma.
Not eat it?
He actually really wanted to eat it, especially when the squad leader said it was Great Ming's candy, which made Zhu Jianying's mouth water.
Eat it?
Looking at the blood and yellow-green substance all over his hands, Zhu Jianying found it too disgusting.
The squad leader, who had been watching Zhu Jianying, said with a smile, "It's nothing serious. The battlefield has always been like this. You'll get used to it after fighting in more battles."
After thinking for a moment, the squad leader added, "And don't think that we're too cruel and it's against the will of heaven – I remember His Majesty the Emperor said that every generation has its own tasks. What our generation has to do is to lay a great foundation for our descendants, so that even if they are not as capable, they can at least lose for a few more years."
"His Majesty the Emperor also said that if we fight all the battles that should be fought and those that shouldn't be fought, our descendants won't have to fight. If we don't fight, it will be our descendants who go to the battlefield, and the casualties that should have been borne by us will occur among them."
"His Majesty the Emperor also said…"