Iron Dynasty Chapter 1008

“They’re a courageous group of fellows, splendid. Charlie, lead them to the rear. When these Great Yu forces hit the beach, make them taste the power of our British Redcoats!”

Alden declared with delight, the arrival of eight thousand troops somewhat calming his uneasy thoughts.

While the British arranged their defensive push, little vessels dropped down from the imperial ships floating on the waves. The warriors climbed aboard the small craft and started paddling hard toward land.

Soon enough, the whole ocean seemed filled with transport boats carrying troops.

Witnessing this sight, the faces of Alden and Kenneth turned grim. They never imagined the Great Yu Empire would send such a massive force against Australia.

“God protect us!”

Kenneth crossed himself over the heart.

“Blast those boats on the water, fast!” Alden couldn’t spare a moment for prayers; he bellowed the command for his men to strike.

Yet, in mere moments, half of the thirty rushed-together gun positions got wrecked by the Great Yu warships’ firepower. Still, they scored a hit on one enemy vessel.

“Lieutenant, we’ve run dry on explosive rounds,” one trooper yelled.

“Impossible!” Alden’s sight blurred in shock. Rage boiled up, and he swore, “Curse the Royal Navy! Why didn’t they supply more ammo, those fools, utter fools!”

After venting, his eyes bloodshot, he ordered, “Switch to solid rounds right away.”

Despair washed over Kenneth. Earlier, three British vessels had anchored in Wales, bringing those explosive rounds. But the sailors claimed they cost a fortune—one explosive equal to fifty or sixty solid ones—so supplies stayed limited.

The navy itself mostly fired solid shot, with just a tenth being explosives.

Out on the sea, troops doused the fiery deck with ocean water. A British explosive had torn a gap there. Once the blaze died down, builders nailed boards and timber to patch the breach.

Lei Ming observed the action and let out a quiet breath of ease. A strike on his command ship would have marred the whole assault on Australia, something he absolutely refused to allow.

Stowing his spyglass, Lei Ming gazed at the endless stream of boats cutting the waves and instructed, “Instruct the machine gun squads to stay steady. Hold fire until we’re ashore—no alerting the foe prematurely.”

“Understood.” Shi Yanjun promptly signaled the flag bearer to relay the command. The machine guns served as their hidden ace in this invasion and needed reserving for the climax.

Right after his directive, the coastal guns roared once more.

Shi Yanjun jumped in alarm, blocking Lei Ming’s path, yet the dark projectiles slamming the deck merely splintered timber without bursting.

“Solid shots—exactly as anticipated. Their explosive supply is depleted.” Lei Ming snatched a cannonball from the planks and grinned, tension lifting.

Without the danger of bursting shells, peril to the imperial troops dropped sharply. Despite the hail of solid rounds, hundreds of vessels made landfall within thirty minutes.

“Machine guns, get set!”

His boots sinking into the yielding sand, Chang Yuzhu gave the calm directive. As leader of the Third Division’s Fifth Regiment, his unit spearheaded the landing on the coast.

As they hit the shore, the British Redcoats rushed to form up. True to expectations, the enemy forces, unfamiliar with machine guns, clung to outdated straight-line formations.

A sly grin crossed Chang Yuzhu’s face as he ordered his own troops into similar lines to mislead the foe. Meanwhile, he tucked the machine gunners discreetly within the ranks, gearing up for the ambush.

“Boom boom boom…”

British cannons kept pounding away, now aimed at the landed imperial warriors. Eyeing the nearby gun nests, Chang Yuzhu sent forward light infantry to pin them down.

“Bang bang bang…”

The sharp crack of Han-style rifles echoed. Up on a battery, a British gunner loading his piece toppled into crimson gore. A steel slug had punched straight through his torso.

The crews at other positions fared no better. Han-style rifles boasted precision and reach, and with emplacements just three hundred meters off, every spot fell inside effective range.

Moreover, these advance parties consisted of top sharpshooters, inflicting swift devastation on the British artillery teams.

As rifle fire traded with cannon blasts, four British ranks crept steadily beachward. Per Alden’s strategy, they’d charge when only half the Great Yu troops had debarked, maximizing impact.

Thus, beyond his full regular contingent, he threw in the newly mustered local fighters. Over eleven thousand packed a thick front across the bare sands, closing on the Great Yu lines.

At the shoreline’s fringe, Chang Yuzhu finalized his setup. Every five meters in these arrays hid a machine gun. For seizing Australia, a hundred such weapons deployed, plenty to torment the British.

Positioned at the array’s flank, Chang Yuzhu guided his men onward, with machine gun crews wheeling their weapons just behind the lines.

“Boom boom boom” rhythmic drums beat from the British ranks, steady and sure, unaware each stride brought them nearer to doom.

Three hundred meters, two hundred, one hundred. The gap narrowed. No shots from the British yet. Chang Yuzhu exhaled in relief. Intel from Western traders indicated Redcoats held fire till fifty meters, aiming for total annihilation in one salvo.

The enemy proved that true now.

But Chang Yuzhu denied them that close approach. At ninety meters, he signaled, and his troops unleashed a massed discharge.

“Crack crack crack…” The thunderous barrage dropped the British front rank nearly wholesale, yet the rear men held firm, no chaos ensued. Replacements stepped up promptly, revealing ironclad order.

“Unleash the machine guns!”

The foe’s poise mildly astonished Chang Yuzhu. In a decade of battles, such rigid troops were rare, but it only fueled his thrill.

With the call, his soldiers halted and parted ways for the gunners. The rear teams rushed their weapons forward.

The primary operator seized the bolt handle, while his aide fed in the ammo strip swiftly. By then, the armies stood just sixty meters apart.

“Open fire!”

All set, Chang Yuzhu roared. The British had reached fifty meters, halting to level their muskets for the shot.

“Dah dah dah…”

Ere the British could squeeze triggers, the initial twenty landed machine guns erupted in flame. A storm of bullets lashed out like an endless chain, mowing down the clustered Redcoats in waves.

[Translator’s Note]

Check my another translation project at patreon/caleredhair:

Title: Bloodstained Soldier. On Yuanling Planet, due to a food and oil crisis, the various nations that had not experienced large-scale war for a hundred years suddenly erupted into conflict. Tens of billions of civilians were swept into the war. As an Earthling, Hu Hao transmigrated for the second time. He originally intended to travel the world, but war broke out instead.