I Am the Crown Prince in France

Chapter 207 Like a wolf and a tiger

The first shot of an artillery fire is usually a calibration shot, especially for a mortar that fires in a straight direction. Adjusting the muzzle angle according to the impact point of the calibration shell is a necessary step.

However, one shell still happened to land in the pirate defensive position.

Although the black powder explosion was not very powerful, it only knocked down the two closest pirates. However, the flying shrapnel was embedded in the chests and abdomens of the two men, and blood spattered all over the pirates next to them.

Before the pirates could react, another round of artillery fire was launched from the Guards Corps.

The gunners made adjustments based on the last error. This time, more than half of the cannonballs hit the pirate group accurately, causing more blood to explode.

After several rounds of shelling, a major officer also boarded the beach in a small boat.

He frowned and glanced at the port fort in front of him that was constantly spitting out artillery fire. Fortunately, the pirate gunners were not very good and they had not directly hit the Guards Corps yet, but sooner or later they would be blinded by them once or twice if this continued.

The major immediately pointed to the hundreds of pirates defending on the beach and said to the herald:

"Initiate an attack immediately."

"Yes, sir!"

As the command flag continued to rise and fall, the drummer of the Guards Corps came to the front of the team, lined up with the commanders of each company, beat the military drum and walked forward.

The soldiers behind them moved forward at the same pace, completely ignoring the pirates' messy musket fire.

It was not until the first seven companies that landed on the beach were 70 steps away from the pirates that no one was shot.

"Settled——"

According to the instructions of the command flag, the officers successively issued commands:

"Raise the gun!"

"aim!"

"shooting!"

A dense barrage of bullets immediately erupted from the Guards' front line. There was a sudden scream from the pirates, and more than ten people fell on the beach.

The pirates who were in chaos due to the bombardment were now even more confused. The gunshots that had been coming one after another turned into sporadic sounds.

The second row of soldiers of the Guards Corps took three steps forward and fired another volley at the command of the commander.

Taking turns shooting like this, the distance between them and the pirates soon became less than 40 steps.

The Guards Corps originally had more people than the pirates. They still used faster-loading and more powerful percussion guns, and their training level was much higher than that of these pirates. Therefore, under the continuous exchange of fire between the two sides, hundreds of people on the pirate side were killed, and the rest had already escaped from the battle.

As for the Guards Corps, only four or five unlucky soldiers were hit.

Finally, the pirates' psychological defense line was neatly suppressed by the opponent, and the overwhelming sense of oppression was completely defeated.

After another volley from hundreds of Augustus-style cap guns, four to five hundred pirates wearing white turbans and half-robes of different colors shouted: "It's over! It's all over! Run!" Let’s go!” They all dropped their weapons, turned around and fled towards the town behind the port.

The Guards Corps quickly dismantled the spiked barricades. At the same time, more soldiers from behind boarded the beach in speedboats, and then three four-pound guns were also transported to the shore.

After a simple formation, two infantry battalions and an artillery company quickly circled the slope behind the port fort and surrounded the fort from a distance.

At this time, all the pirates around the fort had already disappeared. Berthier has also landed on the coast and is looking at the fort on the high ground with a relaxed expression, thinking about how to attack with the least loss - a fort without infantry cover is actually not terrible. It can be easily defeated using skirmish assault methods, supplemented by artillery containment.

At this moment, several young and energetic police academy officers ran over and saluted with excitement:

"Sir, please let us seize the fort!"

"We won't let you down!"

Berthier used his binoculars to look at the pirates who were firing guns haphazardly on the fort, and nodded:

"Well, go and earn your glory, boys!"

"Yes! Sir!" The two young officers looked at each other excitedly and quickly returned to their companies. Then the drums sounded and the soldiers quickly formed more than ten charging columns.

At the same time, three cannons also began covering fire.

Not far away, Davout learned that the police academy students were going to launch a storm, and he was immediately aroused to be competitive. He also applied to Berthier to participate in seizing the fort.

If Joseph saw this scene, he would definitely cry out for the waste of natural resources - this is Marshal Davout, one of the three war gods under the emperor, and he is actually going to be used in such an extremely dangerous task as storming the fort!

However, any famous general also has his immature days. How can he have rich battlefield experience if he is not tempered in a hail of bullets? Even the young Davout was no exception.

This was also one of the important purposes of Joseph sending them to North Africa.

In fact, in comparison, the intensity of the battlefield in North Africa is much lower than that in Europe, and it is the safest place to accumulate actual combat experience.

Berthier thought for a moment before agreeing to the newly graduated officer's request, letting him and another company serve as cover behind the police academy students. If the police academy students fail to attack the fort, they will launch a second wave of attacks.

Davout rushed back to his company as quickly as possible, led his soldiers to join the police academy students responsible for the storming, and followed them in a skirmish formation.

Soon, a column headed by two companies of police cadets rushed up the slope and went straight to the pirate fort at the top of the slope.

The pirates also discovered the movements of the Guards Corps, and hurriedly mobilized more than 150 people to rush out of the fort and arrange themselves on the slope in a panic. This is already the entire force in the fort.

It's completely different from what's shown in movies and TV shows. If the defender keeps huddled in the fort, the attacker will soon enter the cannon's blind spot, eventually knocking out the fort's firepower bit by bit.

The most reasonable means of defense is to use infantry to hold back the enemy, use the firepower of the fort to kill and ultimately drive the enemy back.

However, as soon as the pirates formed such a chaotic formation, two hundred police academy students rushed to them seventy or eighty steps away. Although the sound of gunfire from the fort continued, the pirates' poor aiming skills meant that few of the guns actually hit them.

The pirates below the fort only fired two rounds of bullets before they heard the police academy students shouting "In the name of the Crown Prince" and charging straight towards them with bayonets on their muskets.

Davout then ordered the soldiers to fire a covering volley.

It was okay for the Tunisian navy to bully the sailors on merchant ships, but in the face of such an elite force with overwhelming momentum and fearlessness of death, it could not even think of resisting at all.

The defensive front collapsed instantly. The pirates howled and fled back to the fort, but more of them had no time to run, so they had to throw away their weapons and kneel down to surrender.

This kind of coastal defense fort is usually built in a very high place, but the fort itself is not too high, usually only two stories high.

Davout watched helplessly as the police academy students climbed onto the fort like hungry wolves, leaving behind a few pirate corpses from time to time. His eyes were red with envy - that was the supreme honor of being the first to break through an enemy fortress. I just have no chance with myself...