I want to be emperor

Chapter 530
Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa, as the top senior cavalry generals in the army, he is naturally very concerned about the development of cavalry.

Not only pay attention to the cavalry development of the army itself, but also pay attention to the cavalry of the Guards.

To some extent, the development of cavalry on the side of the Guards is more worthy of attention.

Because of the particularity of the guards, the guards will be equipped with some new weapons earlier than the army.

From artillery to rifles and even to armor, even the current Central Asian war horses are the same.

Several improved models of the two-year-style flintlock guns were the first to be equipped by the Guards. On the one hand, the Guards will always have a part of their troops deployed in Yingtian Mansion, and closer to the center of the empire can get new models faster. Equipment news and supplies.

The second is the preferential treatment of the Guards.

In the end, it was also for the Guards to conduct various tests on the new equipment.

The same is true for cavalry. The first heavy cavalry of the Great Chu Empire was formed by the Guards. Similarly, the first hussars of the Great Chu Empire were also formed by the Guards.

The two hussar regiments on the army side only started after the hussar regiment on the Guards side had some effect, and so far only one hussar regiment has been formed.

Under such circumstances, it is normal for Zhu Xingfa to be interested in the two hussar regiments of the Guards.

It's just that after a brief inspection of the two hussar regiments of the guards under the guidance of Major General Sheng Yushu, he couldn't see anything for a while.

Because in terms of equipment, the equipment of the hussars is not much different from that of the dragoons. They all wear light half body armor. Although it is made of plate armor, in order to ensure that the weight is light enough, the protection ability is actually not good.

The weapons are equipped with cavalry flintlock guns and sabers and pistols.

In terms of the rationing of armor and weapons, there is almost no difference between the dragoons and hussars in the Chu army.

The only difference is the war horse!
At present, the horses used by several hussar regiments in the Chu army are all Central Asian horses imported from the Western Regions, which are much stronger than the Mongolian horses attached to the dragoons.

The difference between war horses is not enough to reflect the big difference between hussars and dragoons.

The main difference between the two is the difference in training and combat methods.

The dragoons fight on horseback, and the infantry's line tactics are listed as the main combat method. As for the sabers attached to them, they are just for show. There are not many cavalry in the dragoons who can ride horses and wield sabers for charge combat. .

As for the hussars, their main combat method is to fight on horseback, directly waving their sabers and rushing towards the enemy, and the cavalry flintlocks they are issued are only auxiliary weapons, and they are used when dismounting and fighting on foot under certain circumstances. .

However, if necessary, they can also dismount and fight on foot, because many of them were originally selected from the dragoons, and they are also good at dismounting and fighting on foot.

It is even very reliable to let them wear heavy armor and directly become heavy infantry.

At present, the cuirassiers and hussars in the Chu army are mostly selected from the dragoons, except for a small number of excellent cavalry directly selected from the recruits.

To some extent, the hussars of the Chu army are an upgraded version of the dragoons.

So what the dragoons know, the hussars know, and what the hussars know, not necessarily the dragoons.

And these are only hard to see on the surface, and can only be seen in drills and training.

Now that they are already on the battlefield, there are a large number of Dongyao cavalry staring at them, so it is naturally impossible for them to conduct any large-scale actual combat exercises.

Even in order to ensure the physical fitness of the cavalry and horses at any time, they even stopped their daily training
But it doesn't matter, if you want to observe the real combat effectiveness of the hussars, the actual combat effect will be better, and now, they have no shortage of actual combat.

-

With the arrival of the three cavalry regiments in the cavalry detachment of the Guards, Zhu Xingfa's cavalry had several thousand more cavalry, and these thousands of cavalry were all elite.

This gave Lieutenant General Zhu Xingfa a lot of confidence.

On April 26th of the sixth year of Chengshun, outside the city of Zhongqiansuo in Guangning, the Ninth Army under the Third Army of the Chu Army and a heavy artillery brigade directly under the Army of the Chu Army had arrived at the front line and were ready to attack the city at any time.

With the main force of the third army in place, it also made the Dongyao people in the city of Zhongqian extremely panic!
The tens of thousands of Chu troops outside the city are nothing. The key point is that the Chu troops brought too many cannons, especially the dozens of cannons that were known to be big guys at a glance, which made them climb to the top of the city. , the senior Dongcap general who observed the situation of the Chu army outside the city through the battlements frowned the whole time.

"Chu Manzi's guns are really sharp. I have seen their artillery in the previous fights. At most, I have seen them pull out at least fifty artillery pieces."

"But right now Chu Manzi's cannons are probably two or three hundred!"

"And the heavy artillery is huge, those big guys are afraid that they can get dozens of kilograms of shells!"

One of the captive generals with an ugly rattail braid said this with a frown and a flustered tone in his words.

Another general of the East captives said: "Those heavy artillery are a bit strange. They look bigger than the 48-jin mortar. Although the barrel is also short, it should be heavier than some of our previous red-clothed heavy artillery. When they moved these artillery pieces, they used a lot of horses."

"It may be their new explosive ammunition. Didn't the Liaodong Peninsula say that Chu Manzi used a new type of artillery? The barrel is longer than the mortar, but shorter than the field artillery. It fires a new type of explosive ammunition, which is extremely powerful! "

"It's not easy to fight!" Another person spoke.

"There are hundreds of artillery on the opposite side. I'm afraid it will be difficult to resist. To win this battle, it depends on the cavalry!"

"The cavalry reinforcements from behind should be here soon. By then we will be able to gather at least [-] cavalry, enough for these Chu barbarians to drink a pot, not to mention that there are more cavalry coming behind us!"

"As long as the cavalry can win, what's the use of having more artillery? Hmph, under the harassment of our cavalry, they won't even be able to defend themselves, let alone attack the city!"

"When they flee in embarrassment, the artillery outside the city will become our possession."

"Hundreds of cannons, our Qing Dynasty can't save so many cannons in a few years. If we can get this batch of cannons, it is not impossible to enter the customs in the future!"

Another person said: "Even if so many cannons are seized, it's not easy to deal with. These cannons are too expensive to use, and it will be a big trouble to maintain them later!"

"What are you afraid of? When the time comes, go directly to the customs. If you can't get any money, food and livestock, it's so trivial to raise hundreds of cannons!"

-

Several high-ranking generals of the Dongyao people talked to each other on the top of the city, discussing how to raise these hundreds of cannons in the future, the Dongyao cavalry outside the city also started to fight as expected by the defenders inside the city. acted.

It is impossible to defend Zhongqian by relying on the more than 2 infantry and artillery forces in Zhongqian. In this regard, the Dongyao people themselves have a clear sense of duty, and the Chu army has absolute confidence.

In the face of absolute superiority in firepower, and in the face of a large number of explosive bombs, without corresponding firepower to counterattack, no matter how many lives are filled in, it is useless.

Therefore, if the Dongyao people want to keep the Zhongqian, or even defeat the Chu army, they can only rely on the advantage of the cavalry.

The Dongyao people had a clear understanding of this point a long time ago, so they did not stick to Balipu, but withdrew the three thousand elite cavalry immediately.

As for the thousands of defenders at Tieyang Fort, they were originally cannon fodder to contain the enemy... They were all just a group of Han Eight Banners from the former Liaoxi Army. The troops in the army were dispersed in the early stage of the march, and the delay for a day or two was considered to have completed their mission.

Now, it's up to the cavalry!
-

As the Ninth Army of the Chu Army and the artillery directly under the Third Group Army gradually deployed outside the city of Zhongqiansuo, after posing for an attack on the city, the cavalry of Dongyao, three or four kilometers away from the north of Zhongqiansuo, finally couldn't bear it. Let's move on.

If you don't act anymore... The shells from the hundreds of artillery pieces of the Chu army should fall on the defenders of the Zhongqian.

The ghost knows how long the [-] defenders in the city can last under the indiscriminate bombardment of hundreds of artillery pieces, maybe ten days and a half month, or maybe two or three days.

Potentially hours too!

It's hard to say about the war, but the Dongbang people must prepare for the worst.

Regardless of how long the defenders in the city can last under the bombardment, the best solution is to prevent the Chu army from bombarding the city smoothly.

As a result, about 2 Dongyao cavalry began to prepare for battle one after another, and then led the horses, and followed the Shangguan in formation according to their respective establishments.

And the Chu army on the opposite side is naturally paying close attention to every move of the Dongyao cavalry!
The Dongyao cavalry on the opposite side had just started preparing for battle, and Zhu Xingfa of the First Cavalry Army had already ordered the whole army to prepare for battle, and at the same time notified the cavalry detachment of the Guards to prepare for battle!
The three cavalry divisions plus the cavalry detachment of the guards have about [-] combat cavalry. However, in addition to the combat cavalry, the cavalry of the Chu Army also has many auxiliary troops, that is, cavalry artillery and cavalry heavy soldiers.

These add up to a few thousand people, so the total size of the entire First Army and the cavalry detachment of the Guards is a little more than the Dongyao cavalry on the opposite side, with a total of more than [-] people.

At around [-] o'clock in the morning, the [-]-pound cannon and the [-]-pound cannon directly under the Heavy Artillery Brigade of the Third Group Army took the lead in firing solid shells with powerful kinetic energy towards the front center.

Immediately afterwards, the nine-pound field artillery in the artillery regiments of the divisions of the Ninth Army also fired!
When they fired in the first batch, in order to ensure safety and avoid getting too close to being counterattacked by the enemy's fire from the top of the city, the distance was relatively far away, because the distance was relatively long, and they could only fire solid shells.

For grenades, because the body of the grenade is relatively fragile and cannot withstand too strong chamber pressure, even if the artillery itself is a cannon, it cannot use too much propellant, and the muzzle velocity of the grenade is also low, and the final range is not very good.

So in the first round of shelling, mainly solid shells were fired.

But not long after, part of the artillery of the Chu army began to move forward, and a large number of 24-pound howitzers and [-]-pound howitzers, even under the cover of solid bullets from a large number of cannons and field artillery, began to move forward slowly, and came to the scheduled Fire on the artillery positions!
As a result, in addition to the rumble and loud noises of the artillery fire from both sides, there was also the sound of rumbling explosions, and the Zhongqian Fortress suddenly set off bursts of flames and explosion smoke!

The crazy bombing mode of the Great Chu Empire Army has officially started!
(End of this chapter)