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Chapter 731 Cannon Array (Please vote for collection)

Under Chen Jiugao's command, the Ming army's artillery array on the hill has been deployed, and the large and small cannons are being intensively adjusted, the range and shooting range are calibrated, the barrels are cleaned, the sub-powders and cannons are loaded, and other preparations.

According to the inherent tactics of the Shenji Battalion, these artillery will be deployed behind the wall of chariots, and will be divided into several batches according to the range of each artillery to fire in turn.

In this way, the distance is suitable, and all kinds of gunfire, such as guns and rockets, are continuously fired, and they are bombarded in turn until the enemy's front army collapses. Pursue to expand the victory.

This method of warfare was formed during Chengzu's Northern Expedition, and has been passed down in Daming for more than two hundred years, so the tactics of the Shenji Battalion are still very mature.

It's just that, at the end of the dynasty, many systems and tactics that were formed in the past will collapse, and the Shenji Battalion is one of them. Now the Shenji Battalion has no cavalry capable of fighting, but only hides in the battlefield. Behind the car, there are only firemen who are frightened and firing cannons.

I saw that there were several gunners waiting beside the cannons on the artillery array, including observers, loaders, crackers and other soldiers one by one.

Among these soldiers were the observers, whose armor was the most gorgeous and eye-catching. One could tell that they were noble children, because their words and deeds were similar to Chen Jiugao and Fu Yingchong.

After the Hongyi cannon was introduced to China in the Wanli period, because there were cylindrical earpieces on both sides of the center of gravity of the cannon body, the artillery could adjust the shooting angle based on this axis, and change the range according to the amount of gunpowder. The door, according to the parabola to calculate the trajectory, is very accurate, and was imitated by Fujian at that time.

Later, due to frequent wars in Liaodong, in the second year of Tianqi, the artillery introduced from the Portuguese by the Western French Party headed by Xu Guangqi through the church was called the Hongyi Cannon for the first time.

Since then, the process of imitating and improving Hongyi cannons in large quantities has begun. The copper-iron composite version of Hongyi cannons imitated and improved in the Ming Dynasty was once mentioned in "Gunpowder" written by Portuguese East Asian historian Tonio Andrade. In the Times, it was called "one of the best artillery in the world in the seventeenth century".

And within the Ming court, it was also believed that the sighting and shooting techniques of the Hongyi cannons were really secret military skills, and should not be known to the northern captives and eastern slaves, nor should they be known to the rogue bandits in the interior. For exercises.

Therefore, most of the gunners in the battalions in Beijing were selected from the children of Xungui and the Jingwei battalions.

The artillery array had just been set up, and the rest of the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion, holding excellent Lumi guns, lined up behind the chariots around the artillery array as guards. All of them were brightly armored and majestic.

The large herds of oxen and horses that originally pulled the artillery carts were all driven to the valley forest behind the hills and mountains, where they were guarded by bargemen and coachmen.

The sun climbed slowly, and the sun shone down. The observers of the Shenji Camp held binoculars and a square measuring ruler called a moment, nervously estimating the precise distance of the Niangniang Temple in the distance.

Moment, known as a square device by the Ming people, is a copper square plate. The two sides of the plate, B, C and C, are divided into twelve equal parts, and then a connection is made from point A to each point, which is called Each degree can be subdivided according to the size of the moment.

In addition to many scales, there is also a pendant hanging under the square vessel, which can be used with the telescope to measure the precise distance from the enemy's position.

These observers may be a little nervous because they lack experience in battle, or they may not practice hard enough, and their skills are a little rusty. They haven't calculated the distance between the Niangqing army's wall and the Niangniang Temple artillery formation for a long time.

In fact, the Hongyi cannon cannot be preloaded with ammunition, because you don’t know the distance of the target to be bombarded, and the gunpowder used for different distances is also different, so it needs to be reloaded temporarily based on the measurement results on the battlefield. This is a test of the measurement level and proficiency of the gunners.

Looking at their appearance, Wei Zhice looked a little disdainful. Such a simple matter would take a long time to calculate repeatedly. Fortunately, this is not the time for fierce fighting between the two sides, otherwise these gunners would have died countless times!
However, when Wei Zhice looked at the people in the Central Army Department in front, it was Ji Liao Governor Hong Chengchou who was waiting patiently there without showing any displeasure.

It can be seen that in the Ming Dynasty, people did not pay too much attention to the matter of using artillery. No matter whether they were scholars or generals, they only superficially thought that they were mysterious and their firepower was very powerful.

However, very few people have studied its principles and methods of operation in depth, so they don't feel how bad these gunners and observers of the Shenji Battalion are.

Just as the people at that time respected the literati very much, because the writing was not popularized, it seemed even more mysterious. Any inferior literati was like a saint among ordinary people.

After the observers of the Shenji Battalion finished their observations, they argued with each other for a while before they finally settled on the exact position of the enemy. The observers shouted loudly: "The artillery formation at the Temple of the Thieves is 870 and five steps away from me!"

Immediately, voices came up one after another: "870 steps away from me!"

"The height of the gun is five points and four degrees!"

The gunners began to use the rounder, that is, the gun gauge, to read the elevation angle of the gun barrel on the arc.

Immediately, there was a forehand, and he tried his best to turn the spiral iron handle behind each gun to quickly adjust the elevation angle of the gun barrel.

"It's 870 five steps away from me, the gun is five minutes and four degrees high, and the medicine is five catties and one tael."

The gunners of the Shenji Battalion yelled loudly, asking the loader, who was the lowest in the artillery battalion, to quickly measure, reload, and reload the ammunition. Their operations seemed to be quite smooth, and it seemed that the civilians and generals in the Chinese army I also became tense.

Amidst the roar, the gun ammunitionists quickly took out the propellant packs from the ammunition cart and loaded them into the barrel one by one. These packs were wrapped in cotton cloth, and each pack was numbered and the amount of charge was marked. How much, just look at the serial number when you need it.

The loader used a thick cleaning rod to forcefully push the propellant charge into the barrel, and then used a sharp iron awl to pierce the inside from the fire door to pierce the charge that had just been loaded, and then used another Additional tools were inserted through the fire door holes into paper plus gunpowder wires.

If this kind of artillery lead wire is pre-installed for a long time, it will definitely harden and the thread eye will be jerky. If it is poured with bulk primer, it will be easily blown away by the wind when encountering strong winds. It is a real dilemma.

Finally, the loaders picked up the heavy iron shells one by one, pushed them into the barrels of the guns, and pressed the sticks inward.

The artillery battalion of the Shenji Battalion has entered a state of readiness after the preparations for firing have been made one after another. When it enters the real wartime, it can fire and bombard the enemy at any time according to the order.

Under the strong sunlight, the cannons of the Shenji Battalion were all shining brightly, facing the Qing army's positions on Xishimen and Shimen Mountain.

And behind them, the Central Army of the Daming King Division lined up in the hills and wilderness, and the world was awe-inspiring!
(End of this chapter)