I want to be emperor

Chapter 479
Especially the two-and-a-half catty field artillery in the Chu Army, which has a caliber of only 65 mm. The 65 mm caliber grenade is actually very small, not as big as an adult's fist.

Because the caliber is small, it is still a spherical projectile, and the internal charge is only so small, the power after the explosion is actually very limited...

When the No.17 Division was in the Battle of Jinzhou, it tried to launch a new type of grenade with a two-and-a-half catty field gun in actual combat. The result was not satisfactory, and the power was too small.

Therefore, in the Battle of Jinzhou, the two-and-a-half-pound field artillery unit of the Chu Army used a small amount of new-style grenades at the beginning of the battle, and then they were useless.

According to the feedback from the front-line troops, the major arsenals of the Chu army have stopped the production of new 65mm caliber grenades, and began to transfer production capacity to 110 and [-] [-]mm caliber grenades, which are used for five-pound field artillery and nine-pound field artillery .

However, the new-style grenades fired by these two caliber field guns are not very powerful. The Chu army's attitude towards the new-style grenades fired by field guns is: better than nothing...

As for the real grenade firepower delivery, it has to rely on [-] catties light grenade or even a larger caliber howitzer in the future.

This thing is the best artillery for projecting new-style grenades. As for field guns and old-style mortars, they can only make up the number.

The Ministry of Industry of the Great Chu Empire has listed the [-]-pound light howitzer as the priority production target in the five years of Chengshun. The arsenal outside the Dangtu Heavy Artillery Factory, which was previously planned to specialize in the production of mortars, will become the absolute main force of production.

The artillery branch factories under the Hantian Arsenal, as well as the artillery branches under the three regional arsenals of Xiangyang Arsenal, Changsha Arsenal, and Guangzhou Arsenal will also be involved in the production of modified artillery, and will carry out the production of this type of artillery, but most of these factories They all have other artillery production tasks, so even if combined, the production capacity of these factories is only about half of that of the Tu Heavy Artillery Factory.

It's just that the arsenal in the rear has listed the [-]-jin light howitzer and new-style grenades of various calibers as priority production targets, but the modification of the production line and the training of workers will take time, even if it has already been built, but transported to The frontlines also take time.

Therefore, in a short period of time, it is impossible for the Chu army fighting in Tongguan to receive reinforcements from new-style howitzers, and even if there are not many new-style howitzers.

In the past, people from the Shaanxi-Gansu Campaign Command went around grabbing artillery and new-style grenades, which had already aroused serious dissatisfaction from several other campaign commands.

Six of the twelve [-]-pound light howitzers on the Tongguan front line were originally intended for the Northeast Campaign Command to be transported to the Shanhaiguan front line through the canal, but Lian Juncai, the logistics director of the Shaanxi-Gansu Campaign Command, personally ran to Xuzhou to give them to the front line. Cut it off.

Now the Northeast Campaign Command is still arguing with the Shaanxi-Gansu Campaign Command over this batch of artillery.

Moreover, I heard that the head of logistics of the Northeast Campaign Headquarters has hurried back to Jinling City from Tianjin, preparing to personally sit in charge and escort the next batch of new howitzers and new grenades to the Jiliao front.

This time, in order to avoid being intercepted, they are also planning to use sea transportation directly...

There are only a few new-style howitzers, and there are not many new-style howitzers. Everyone wants the limited production. The Shaanxi-Gansu Campaign Command has robbed them before, and even used many illegal methods, which has already attracted strong dissatisfaction from other friendly forces.

General Li Chengtong, commander of the Northeast Campaign, therefore directly wrote to the imperial court to impeach Huang Dingquan, only caring about his own self-interest and ignoring the overall situation!

His Majesty Luo Zhixue didn't really blame Huang Dingquan, but sent a verbal order to Huang Dingquan: Don't make an example!
The arrangement of the new equipment is all deployed at the military affairs conference according to the actual situation of the various fronts in the country. You can't take away the quota of the friendly army just because you see something good... This will easily lead to big troubles. of.

Therefore, in the follow-up, it is almost impossible for the Shaanxi-Gansu Campaign Command to obtain a large number of new-style howitzers and quotas for new-style grenades.

Only with the current batch of artillery and ammunition, Huang Dingquan thinks it is enough to take down the Tongguan defense line.

Just as Huang Dingquan climbed up to observe the front line, a large number of Chu troops also started to move!

Batch after batch of infantry began to move forward. They needed to advance to a distance of hundreds of meters from the enemy's line of defense to establish a defensive area to cover the artillery units behind.

These are the main forces attacking Tongguan City. Currently, only one division of infantry and more artillery units are dispatched.

They will use a large number of field artillery and heavy artillery, as well as a large number of mortars to carry out a frontal attack on Tongguan City, and use powerful artillery to smash the enemy's peripheral resistance.

At about twelve o'clock in the morning, after preparations, the artillery units of the Chu Army finally opened fire one after another, setting off the prelude to the Battle of Tongguan.

The first to appear is the large number of field artillery units and heavy artillery units that the Chu army is proud of.

More than a hundred long-barreled artillery began to fire a large number of solid shells at the outer defensive positions of Tongguan City in front. These solid shells may not be able to attack the traditional city walls that are several meters thick at every turn, but it is still possible to attack some temporary fortresses in the wild. available.

Soon, a medium-sized fortress of the Ming army on the outskirts was continuously bombarded by the Chu army's intensive large-caliber heavy artillery, especially after being bombarded by multiple [-]-jin cannons. Dozens of artillerymen of the Ming army on the top are still alive and dead in the ruins.

However, for the soldiers of the Ming army who had trenches and expected many artillery fortifications, this level of shelling could destroy their fortresses, but it was still difficult to kill them directly.

Everyone is hiding in the trenches.

The heavy artillery units of the Chu army did not expect to be able to directly kill a large number of living forces. The mission of these heavy artillery and even a batch of nine-pound field artillery was to suppress or destroy their artillery positions, and then cover the approach of infantry and mortar troops.

Soon, under the cover of the heavy artillery unit, dozens of mortars moved into place, and they quickly launched intensive shelling on the seemingly ruined fortress position.

Although these mortars fired old-style grenades and had a high rate of duds, the number made up for many shortcomings. With the sound of explosions coming from this ruined position, the Ming army stationed in this fortress inevitably suffered certain casualties. .

At this time, the infantry units of the Chu army also launched a charge!

From about 400 meters away, they directly advanced in a column, and at the same time, some infantry on both sides charged directly in skirmish formation.

At this time, the Ming army's fortress position, which seemed to have been greatly damaged, and the Ming army on several surrounding fortress positions drilled out of the trench, and launched some light artillery and even Some hidden two-and-a-half-pound field artillery fired at the infantry of the Chu army rushing forward.

However, when these sporadic artillery shells fired by the Ming army were successively among the infantry of the Chu army, in the artillery positions of the Chu army, more than a dozen 24-jin and 48-jin mortars that had not been fired before were fired rapidly.

Moreover, the rate of fire far exceeded the normal cognition of the Ming army on the opposite side. Almost tens of seconds after the first round of shells was fired, a second round of shells was fired.

In just a few minutes, the dozens of mortars fired hundreds of large-caliber grenades.

At the same time, a batch of nine-pound and five-pound field artillery that originally fired solid shells also fired a batch of grenades at this time.

The dud rate of these new-style grenades is far lower than that of the old-style grenades, and as these new-style grenades fell into these Ming army positions one after another, intensive explosions occurred.

The soldiers of the Ming army who left the artillery hole, especially the group of Ming army gunners who operated the short-barreled artillery and the two-and-a-half catty field artillery, suffered heavy casualties immediately due to the heavy shelling.

Above Tongguan City, Sun Chuanting frowned as he watched the dense explosions on his own fortress in front of him.

At the same time, a group of generals around him also had different complexions, and one of them directly said: "This is not right, the flowering bullets in Chu Bandit are too dense!"

"The Chu thief on the opposite side only concentrated dozens of mortars in front of them. This batch of firing mortars only had more than a dozen dead. It is impossible to shoot so many explosive bullets in such a short period of time!"

"And the field cannons of those Chu thieves even opened their shells. How did they do it?"

At this time, someone said: "Could it be that this is the new cannon used by the Chu thief that Jinzhou said?"

"That's not right either. They should still be using those field guns and mortars. These big guys are easy to identify. Can't they be mistaken?"

Another person said at this time: "They are not using new cannons, but new shells!"

"These Chu thieves must have used a new type of explosive ammunition, which can hit faster!"
At this time, Sun Chuanting was not in the mood to pay attention to what the generals under his command said. At this time, he was looking at his own position in front of him, and he was looking at the artillery positions of the bandits farther away. At this time, he probably knew why the Jinzhou side Can lose so quickly.

It wasn't that Chu Bandit's soldiers became more brave, and it wasn't even that Chu Bandit was equipped with more artillery. Well, even though Chu Bandit had enough artillery, it almost made him despair.

It's because the thief Chu used a new type of blooming ammunition!

This kind of flowering ammunition is used on mortars, which can be fired more quickly, and dense grenades can be fired in a short period of time, thereby causing intensive damage to the defenders.

Moreover, these new flowering ammunition can also be used on field artillery.

As a result, the own fortress in front was almost hit by an unprecedented grenade bombardment far beyond expectations.

If the fight continues like this, I am afraid that the seemingly solid Tongguan defense line will not last long!
At this time, Sun Chuanting didn't know that when the fierce battle broke out in Tongguan, on the south side of Tongguan City, there were also many Chu troops launching a fierce attack on the Ming troops guarding the trail.

And the offensive is far more violent than Tongguan City!

Especially in a battlefield about three kilometers south of Tongguan City, the Ming army in front of them was almost destroyed by artillery fire!

Because here, the Chu army used all the [-]-jin light howitzers!

Twelve doors, one door is quite a lot, all of them are here!

(End of this chapter)