I want to be emperor

Chapter 478
On the front line of Tongguan, Huang Dingquan, wearing a general's uniform, climbed up to the observation hill with a saber. Just a thousand meters away in front of him is the famous Tongguan.

Tongguan in the traditional sense is actually just a small city guarding the valley passage.

If it is a traditional cold weapon army that wants to win Tongguan, it must smash the city that guards the passage. This is extremely difficult for a cold weapon army that lacks the ability to attack fortifications and does not have powerful artillery.

But for the Chu army with a large number of firearms, if the defenders do not make defensive deployments on the periphery, especially on both sides, dig a large number of trenches outside and build fortresses, then it is almost impossible for the defenders to block the artillery fire of the Chu army.

With the powerful artillery strength of the Chu army, um, even without any new grenades, just relying on a large number of five-pound and nine-pound field artillery and nine-pound and fourteen-pound cannons, it is possible to forcibly smash a gap and cover the ground. The heavy infantry attacked.

Even if it is difficult for solid shells to directly threaten the thick city wall, it can still deal a devastating blow to the battlements on the upper part of the city wall.

Not to mention, the Chu army still has a large number of mortars. Although these mortars have a slow rate of fire, they are inconvenient to maneuver, have poor accuracy, are particularly dangerous to operate, and have a very low cost performance. The shells are often duds, even if they explode. It often only explodes into two halves, and it can only be used for siege operations and a lot of shortcomings...

However, its unique curved trajectory and explosive killing characteristics can reflect the incomparable effect of solid direct-pointing artillery in the battle of fortifications, and it is still enough to offset many shortcomings, and then become the siege weapon of the Chu army.

As for the low cost performance, Chu Jun, who is rich and powerful, said that this is not a problem at all... I have plenty of money.

You said that the field artillery that fires solid shells is better than the mortar, more practical, and more cost-effective... Chu Jun said: I have more field artillery than you...and a lot more!

The competition of military equipment is actually very simple, that is: I have what you have, and I have more and better than you, and then I have what you don’t have...

As for the Ming army on the opposite side, it’s not that they don’t know about mortars, or that they can’t make them, it’s just that they don’t have the need for combat, and they don’t attack the city, so why do they need mortars...

On the Dongyao side, I heard that many craftsmen were summoned this winter to imitate the mortars of the Chu army and make their own siege mortars. Well, they named them 'Sky Cannons'.

People are still dreaming of conquering Shanhaiguan Pass and entering the Central Plains!
Since Shanhaiguan was to be conquered and a tough battle was to be fought, there was naturally a demand for weapons such as mortars.

The Chu army is equipped with a large number of mortars, which is something that the Ximing army under Sun Chuanting's command knows very well. After all, the two sides have not been fighting for a day or two, but for several years. Slowly figured out how to resist the mortar attack.

So they built a complex line of defense on both sides and in front around Tongguan City, which guarded the passage.

There are as many as eight large forts known to the Chu army alone. These fortresses are built on both sides and in front of Tongguan, relying on the mountains, and are equipped with long-barreled artillery and many short-barreled artillery.

Plus numerous medium and small forts in between the large ones.

Regardless of the size of these fortresses, trenches, parapets and other fortifications are often excavated around them, and artillery is deployed.

The Ming army in front of them built a complicated line of defense, covering a range of [-] kilometers from north to south, almost extending from the edge of the Yellow River to the depths of the mountains. They built fortresses in almost all places suitable for the Chu army to attack. Almost every channel that the Chu army might pass through on a large scale.

The defense system of this kind of fortress with ditches and parapets, and artillery deployment is also very simple, that is to resist the powerful artillery fire of the Chu army, including solid bullet bombardment and mortar bombardment.

As for building so many fortresses, it is natural to prevent the Chu army from bypassing Tongguan itself and taking a detour from the south of Tongguan.

Although the valley passage guarded by Tongguan is a flat avenue, it does not mean that people cannot leave other places. To the south of Tongguan is a mountainous area about 500 to 600 kilometers wide. The altitude of these mountains is also [-] meters, or even [-] meters. m high.

However, there are still some valley trails between these mountains, although these trails are often difficult to walk, and can't pass artillery or even carriages.

But... you have to know that this is only normal time. If it is a time of war, when the attacker wants to bypass Tongguan and the defender does not interfere, they can directly mobilize tens of thousands or even more civilians, and it will take a certain amount of time. I will directly build a winding mountain road that is several meters wide and wide enough to pass a horse-drawn carriage...

This is true for the army in the cold weapon era, let alone the Chu army with mature and perfect engineering troops.

If the Ming army were only huddled in the city of Tongguan, the engineering troops of the Chu army would be able to choose a suitable place in the south in a few days, and blow up a passage for the army to pass through.

Therefore, since ancient times, the defense of Tongguan by the defenders has not simply defended a single place in Tongguan City. At the same time, they will also guard the many trails in the southern mountains. Forts, making the attack more difficult.

It's just that for the army in the cold weapon era, once the defenders build checkpoints and send troops to garrison such mountain trails, this kind of place is often more difficult to fight than Tongguan itself.

Therefore, in many battles for Tongguan in ancient times, the attackers often concentrated on attacking Tongguan city itself.

But this is different for Chu Jun!
Tongguan City itself was too difficult to attack, and the Ming army built many anti-cannon fortifications. If the Chu army attacked directly, they would definitely have to pay great casualties.

In order to reduce the casualties of the attack, the generals of the Chu army have been thinking about how to conquer the Tongguan defense line since last autumn.

Relying on heavy artillery to smash Tongguan City itself is inevitable.After all, no matter what happens in the end, Tao has to pry open the tortoise shell and seize the valley passage, so that the follow-up logistics troops can pass through.

Regardless of the logistics troops, the Ming army has tens of thousands of troops stationed in this city. If such troops are not pulled out during the attack, even if the main force of the Chu army can bypass the south, these Ming troops will become a nail and can be killed at any time. Threats to attack the Chu army's rear position.

But before smashing Tongguan City itself, the Chu army needs to make sufficient preparations, such as finding a better launch position for the artillery.

In the view of the generals of the Chu army, the mountains over Tongguan City are very suitable for artillery positions. As long as they occupy a few hills in the south, and then spend some effort to move the artillery and ammunition up, when the time comes, the artillery units of their own It will be able to condescend and directly bombard Tongguan.

In addition, by taking down a few mountain paths in the southern hills, young and strong troops can also be dispatched to carry two catties of field guns, these light artillery, to look over the mountains, and then appear behind Tongguan, and then cut off the connection between Tongguan and the rear, and completely surround Tongguan city tactically. Enemy, causing the enemy to lose reinforcements and supplies.

As for these fortresses guarding the trails, it is not easy to fight, that is for sure.

But wars are always inevitable. If you want to take Tongguan and seize the flat passage into Guanzhong, how can it be possible without paying a certain price.

Moreover, compared with the ancient cold weapon army, the Chu army has an incomparable advantage as an offensive force, that is, the Chu army's guns are very powerful, and they concentrate their firepower on some enemy fortresses guarding the valley. It is less difficult.

In particular, the newly installed new grenade will become the core type of ammunition in this tough battle.

These new-style grenades were matched with twelve [-]-pound light howitzers produced by the Dangtu Heavy Artillery Factory of the Great Chu Empire and urgently dispatched to the front line of Tongguan.

From Huang Dingquan to ordinary officers and even soldiers, they have high hopes for these twelve new howitzers!

This thing is very light in weight, the weight of the whole gun is even lighter than the five-jin field gun, and only slightly heavier than the two-and-a-half catty field gun.

The light weight brings superior maneuverability. In combat situations, the two artillerymen can push you directly, even if you are going up a mountain, you can push it up.

Moreover, although this kind of artillery is very light, it fires 150mm new-style grenades, but its power is not small at all.

At the same time, the range and accuracy are not comparable to the old-fashioned [-]-pound mortar.

The Dangtu Heavy Artillery Factory rushed to produce, and even several of the [-]-jin light-weight grenades were prototypes, which would become the main artillery in this tough battle.

In addition to the twelve [-]-pound light howitzers, other Chu army's existing artillery can also fire these new types of howitzers, and they can play an important role in this tough battle.

For example, the original 24-jin or even 48-jin and [-]-jin mortars can fire new grenades.

After all, the new grenade of the Chu army is just like the original grenade with an extra wooden bullet holder and a new fuze. Even the production line is modified from the original old grenade production line.

At present, the Chu army has completely stopped production of the original three old-style grenades, such as 24-jin, 48-jin, and [-]-jin grenades, and has fully switched to producing new-style grenades. However, the output is still relatively limited and the total amount is not much. , most of them have to continue to use old-style grenades.

In order to make the limited large-caliber new-style grenades play a greater role, Huang Dingquan personally mobilized a small number of elite mortar guns to launch the new-style grenades.

Using old-style mortars to fire new-style grenades, the range and accuracy are still sloppy. The only thing that has improved is the rate of fire, and the increase in the rate of fire also means that the density of fire support has increased and the power has increased.

In addition to the original mortars, a large number of field artillery in the Chu army can also fire these new grenades.

It's just that the grenade fired by the field gun is limited by its caliber and has a relatively small charge, so it is not very powerful.

(End of this chapter)