Forty-eight years of Qianlong

Chapter 198 Gongs and Drums
At this moment, the sky is getting more and more gloomy, and as the temperature gets lower and lower, it will snow soon.

Monk Zhou supported the edge of the trench, exposing his upper body.While looking at the Qing army coming towards him, he hummed a cheerful tune in a low voice: "Monk Huiming didn't have a security plan, and the old lady bluffed him so he lost his mind. He shouted to all the monks to listen and retreat." Those who are willing to recruit him as son-in-law."

"Monk, this little song is really nice. Let's do another one."

"Go! Let the platoon leader hear me again. Yo, Yo Yo! We have passed the 500-meter line!"

This man's name is Zhou Heizi, from Shengjing, and he is a rare Han soldier in Beihai Town's army.At the beginning of the year when Zhao Xin inspected the gold mine in Solenji Island, he brought two hundred Han Chinese including Zhou Heizi back from the gold field to the military camp in Beihai Town.The reason why this man was nicknamed Monk Zhou was that when he was captured, he was wearing a patchwork robe full of holes.

He did become a monk for a few years.In the 40th year of Qianlong, there was a plague in the village where Zhou Heizi's family lived. 15-year-old Zhou Heizi buried his parents. When he was worried that he had nowhere to go, a traveling monk came to his house to beg for saliva.As a result, when the water was finished, the traveling monks suggested that if you enter Buddhism, you can turn bad luck into good fortune and avoid three disasters and eight disasters.Zhou Heizi's heart was moved by what he said. Anyway, he was the only one left in the family, so he wandered with the traveling monk who cut his hair and became a monk.

Later, the monk died of illness, and Zhou Heizi was excluded in the temple. In a fit of rage, he wore a patchwork robe and held a wooden fish, begging for money all the way. Then he went from Shengjing to Ninggu Pagoda, and he was mixed up for several years.You say he is a monk, he does not have a certificate in his hand; but you say he is a commoner, he does not have braids on his head.

When An Lin was the deputy governor of Ning Guta, he saw Zhou Heizi in the city once, and insisted that he had a rebellious bone in the back of his head.But as soon as An Lin's sedan chair left, Zhou Heizi got up and put on his pants, snoring and said, "It's cool and easy to be bald. I don't have the time to mess around with braids every day." Everyone in Guta City knows that there is such a No. [-] hob meat in the city.Love it to death!

When Fukang'an dispatched troops to crusade against Beihai Town last year, Zhou Heizi joined the civilian husband's team in order to have a good meal with the couple, but ended up eating all the way from the labor reform team to the military camp in Beihai Town.

"Monk Zhou, come down for me! Are you going to eat Qing army shells?" Miichiro pulled Zhou Heizi down.

When Zhou Heizi saw that he was caught again by the platoon leader, he was a little afraid of him when he was drilled by Miichiro when he was in the new barracks, so he lowered his head and said: "Platoon leader, didn't the company commander say yesterday that the artillery on the opposite side It’s only a hundred paces away, it’s still early.”

Miichiro scolded angrily: "Fart! A hundred paces is a small cannon, and a heavy cannon can hit 500 meters. Why do you only listen to the first half? Just a big guy like you pokes up, without a hat, top You have a big bald head, who will you hit if you don’t hit me?!” He was about to continue cursing, when the battlefield suddenly fell silent, and the sound of the drums from the Qing army in the distance stopped.

Miichiro didn't care to teach Monk Zhou any more, and leaned out to watch, while Monk Zhou's big bald pan came up to him again.

"What are they going to do?" Miichiro was a little puzzled, he didn't understand the function of these drums.When fighting in Beihai Town, the different lengths and short sounds of the whistle are used as commands.

Monk Zhou said nonchalantly: "It should be changing. I saw parade when I was in Ninggu Pagoda."

In the marching queue of the Qing army in the distance, as the drums in front suddenly stopped, Wu Kanbei, who was caught off guard, almost bumped into the people in front.

"Stand still and don't move! The conch horn rings twice, and then follow the team's flag!" The leader of the team turned his head and reminded in a low voice.Wu Kanbei nodded heavily, expressing that he remembered.

Since they entered the barracks, these frontier residents spent most of their time memorizing the meanings of these drums, except for practicing bow and arrow and sword and gun skills.The leader of the team once said that the military law in this regard is that when you are in battle, you must listen to the applause and the sound of drums and gold to advance and stop.Those who hear the drums and do not advance, but those who hear the gold will not stop will be cut; when the enemy enters the battle, those who look back and cower, whisper, and whisper will be cut.

"Boom~~boom~~boom~~boom~~" The battle drum began to sound slowly and rhythmically.The retreating barbarian soldiers in the front began to disperse to the left and right following the team flags under the leadership of the team leaders.The first to come out of the rear were forty shield carts. The wooden boards used on these shield carts were very thick, each about 1.5 meters long and one meter high.Each vehicle was driven by three soldiers, and two rows of shield walls nearly 400 meters long and wide were placed in front of the formation.

Immediately afterwards, a group of musketeers, divided into ten columns of fifty men each, came out; infantry in front and cavalry behind.When these musketeers walked to the front of the formation, they began to change their formation as the rhythm of the drums accelerated.

The first to line up behind the shield chariot was a musketeer cavalry consisting of eight columns of five men.At the head in the middle of every two rows, there is a musketeer leader standing respectively, behind him is an armored soldier holding a team flag, and at the end between the two rows, there is also a musketeer standing; thus forming Every thirteen people form a double-headed sword-style queue.

Behind this cavalry array is a horizontal rectangular array composed of 72 musketeers and Xiao cavalry school. On the three sides, there is a loose front composed of 36 Musketeers.In this rectangle, except for a few individual shotgunners, standard bearers and drummers, the others are all soldiers carrying large matchlock guns carried by two people.

There are six guns carried by two people in each square, and three Qing soldiers are in charge of each gun.The Qing army musketeers dispatched on the western front formed three such formations.The Mongolian cavalry who had stayed on the north and south wings began to approach the two sides of the three phalanxes. At this time, the bow and arrow troops composed of border residents became the rear team and stood behind the musket formation.

"A group gymnastics performance in the Qing Dynasty!"

In the command post in Jurgen City, Liu Sheng held up his binoculars to look at the approaching Qing army, and said to Zhao Xin who was beside him with a smile: "It's a pity that there are fewer people, so I don't feel it."

Zhao Xin was staring carefully at the picture of the southern Qing army crossing the river from the drone, and muttered, "Something is wrong."

Hearing this, Liu Sheng put down the binoculars and asked strangely, "What are you talking about?"

Zhao Xin pointed to the screen: "Why are there only two routes? Is there another route?" He has not ordered to bombard the Qing army on the western front until now, because he is afraid that if they hit too hard, the Qing army's cavalry will retreat in one fell swoop.

Liu Sheng ignored him, and continued to raise the binoculars to look at the opposite side.From the two wings of each musket phalanx, a few small cannons shining with metallic light were pushed out. Behind these cannon positions, someone was holding a red flag, followed by two drummers, carrying a big drum. .

The western front army led by Du Erjia had to go over mountains and mountains, so the artillery they carried were all small cannons, such as Shenwei General Cannon, Shenji Cannon, Shenshu Cannon, and Desheng Cannon.The one with the smallest range is the 360-12-jin Desheng bronze cannon, which is mounted on a two-wheeled cart, six feet three inches long, charged with six liang of powder, and [-] liang of iron; it is propelled by people during combat.

According to the Qing system, except for the Tiexin Cannon, only the Inner Firearms Battalion stationed in Beijing can be equipped with cannon armor at ordinary times.The Eight Banners stationed in other provinces are not equipped with artillery armor, except for inter-provincial battles, which need to be returned after the war.

When the gun carts were in position, the gunner who pushed the cart took a few pieces of wood from the cart and placed them under the wheels.

Liu Sheng turned around and asked Zhao Xin, "How far do you think these cannons can hit?"

In the battle on the Fuljaha River last year, before the artillery brought by Fukang'an had time to unload, he was sunk in the sea by Zhao Xin along with those warships.Zhao Xin didn't bother to salvage it, not to mention the effort, and there wasn't that much black powder to test the gun at that time.

Zhao Xin seemed to be worried about something, and said without looking back: "There is always a 200 meters."

How far can the artillery of the Qing Dynasty hit?Xu Guangqi at the end of the Ming Dynasty said that the Hongyi cannon "can be tens of thousands of soldiers with one bomb".And other people in the Ming and Qing Dynasties always like to say that a big gun can be shot for miles, or it will be corrupted for dozens of miles.

In fact, before Ding Gongchen mentioned the "effective range" and "maximum range" of firearms for the first time during the Daoguang period, although firearm developers in the Ming and Qing Dynasties had a certain understanding of the range of firearms, they were often vague.The literati sometimes even exaggerated the range one-sidedly and subjectively, causing ordinary soldiers to misunderstand the power of firearms, which affected the training of firearms soldiers and the display of the power of firearms on the battlefield.

According to the research of later generations, the effective range of the heavy Hongyi cannon in the Ming and Qing Dynasties was 500 meters, and the maximum range was within 3500 meters.And Engels pointed out in the book "Artillery" in 1857 that the European field artillery before the middle of the 19th century (note that here mainly refers to 6-pound, 8-pound or 12-pound guns, for the Qing Dynasty at the same time, These are all heavy artillery), the charge is almost one-third of the weight of the shell, and the length of the field artillery is 16 to 18 times the caliber.When this charge is used, if the field gun is fired horizontally, the shell will land at a distance of about 274 meters (2700 yards); if the firing angle is increased, the range can be increased to 3600 meters or 1280 meters.But at this distance, the shell loses any chance of hitting the target.Therefore, the effective range of the field gun does not exceed 1370 meters or 6 meters, and at this distance, only 8 of 1 or [-] shells may hit the target.

As the Qing army's "group gymnastics" stood in line, the drumming in the square gradually stopped.At this time, a co-leader gave a military salute to Du Erjia's flat chest, and asked: "The military gate, the formation has been completed. Please give the military gate an order!"

Du Erjia frowned. He looked at the trenches in Beihai Town, which had no movement, and felt a little puzzled.What are these people on the other side doing?This is not a mountain and hills, what kind of trenches are dug?He also hid the soldiers inside, and the cannon blasted the whole fucking game!I really don't understand, it's not such a way to die!

If you can't figure it out, don't think about it.Du Erjia cleared his throat and said: "Show the flag, fire the cannon! Blow the conch, the artillery battalion will fire two rounds, and the big formation will advance!"

As the order was issued, a Qing army holding a red flag bordered with flames stood in the center of the three phalanxes and began to wave the flag in his hand.

Hiding in the trenches, Miichiro, Monk Zhou and others were dazzled by the Qing army performing 300 meters away. When they heard the sound of "Boom!", the soldiers were suddenly startled and shrank their heads hurriedly. .

Accompanied by the sound of dense drumbeats again, a long sound of the conch horn echoed in the open land.

"Woo~~~"

Yaichiro, who was hiding in the trench and watching, heard the sound of the conch horn, and instinctively felt that something would happen soon.He quickly whispered to the soldiers around him: "Pay attention to concealment and pass it on!" As the orders were passed on one by one, the soldiers who were still lying on the edge of the trench to watch the excitement all shrank back, ready to enter the anti-aircraft artillery inside the trench at any time Hide in the cave.

Monk Zhou was still humming a ditty very excitedly at this moment, but now he changed another song: "Han Zhongli, holding the fairy peach, sneering slightly, Lu Chunyang, carrying the sword."

"Shut up! Keep talking nonsense and deduct your salary!" Miichiro scolded.Monk Zhou just hums a little tune when he has nothing to do, and the military songs he taught him just don't sing well.

At each artillery position in the middle of the Qing army’s phalanx, the red flags of the Chinese army were seen waving, and the flag bearers behind the artillery positions also began to wave the red flags. Immediately afterwards, the two drummers behind the artillery positions began to beat the drums. The sound of the drums changed from slow to fast. sounded.

The two gunners quickly installed the fixed charges and stuffed the iron bullets; the No. 3 gunner adjusted the elevation angle of the artillery according to the pre-made shooting table, and then pierced the charges from the fire door with the iron thorn in his hand; No. 4 The gunner thrust his fire fork into the fire door.

"Tom! Tom! Tom!." More than 20 copper or iron cannons of various types sounded one after another.As puffs of white smoke rose and flames spewed from the muzzle, iron bullets whizzed out from the muzzle and smashed into Beihai Town's position.

The Qing army has begun to attack!

Monk Zhou hid his head in the anti-gun hole under the trench, listening to the "whoosh" sound not far away, the uncontrollable curiosity in his heart made him scratch his head.He hadn't seen what a cannonball looked like.
Taking advantage of the fact that no comrades around him were paying attention to him, Monk Zhou slowly straightened up and poked his head out from the edge of the trench to check.I saw countless black dots hitting the unfrozen black ground, most of them just bounced a few times, and then there was no movement.And the farthest one only hit 50 meters in front of the trench.The iron bullet fell headlong into the ground, emitting a plume of green smoke.

"Cut~~" Monk Zhou imitated Liu Sheng's tone and raised his little finger to the Qing army in the distance. "What the hell are you!"

After two rounds of artillery fire from the Qing army, there was a sound of gold in the phalanx, and the artillery fire stopped.

And Du Erjia then got the result of the shelling, that is, there was no result!
So the Qing army continued to move forward.When they were [-] steps away from the trench, the second conch sounded, and the Qing army artillery started firing another round.After the shooting, the twelve "big sword" cavalry formations in front of the three musket formations began to attack. When they advanced a hundred steps away from Beihai Town, they formed a line and, under the guidance of the two red flags in the team, turned to Spread out to the two wings, and at the same time ride on the horse and aim at the trench position in Beihai Town.

After the Musketeers finished shooting, they no longer returned to the front of the formation, but arrived near the Mongolian cavalry on the north and south wings, dismounted their ammunition, and prepared to attack again.

When the musketeers reached a distance of one hundred steps, the third sound of the conch sounded, and with the sound of drums in the phalanx, the first row of musketeers in the phalanx raised their muskets, and the gunmen in the phalanx also raised their guns one after another. Start aiming.

When the rush of drums reached its climax, the brass trumpets sounded.

"Tom tom tom" white smoke filled the battlefield.Looking from the direction of Beihai Town, there were only vaguely discernible figures left on the Qing army on the opposite side.

(End of this chapter)