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Chapter 109 Suizhou Artillery Battle
Shen Shuren set off in the early morning of April [-]th, hurried to Jiangling for help, arrived late at night on the [-]th, only rested for one night, and returned the next day.On the way back, due to lack of physical strength, it is inevitable that the horseback riding will be slower.

Fortunately, in the second half of the trip, the boat went down the river, so the total time spent was about the same, and we rushed back to Xiaogan on the 22nd.

On the battlefield of Xiaogan, He Jin and He Yilong certainly wouldn't wait in vain.

After they lost the first battle on April [-]th, they desperately rushed to build weapons to attack the camp and waited for the rear army to gather one after another.

On the 3th, the main force of thieves on the front line officially exceeded [-], and two days later, the total number reached [-].

The last 1 people will arrive in two days according to the plan. By then, the real [-] troops will be on top of Mount Tai—don’t dislike Erhe’s soldiers and horses marching slowly. The main reason is that they have to march over the Dabie Mountains. The mountain road is much more difficult than the plain, and the rear army has to bring heavy equipment and food and supplies, so it is even slower.

In addition, after three days of rushing to build the camp attack weapons, the bandits have severely damaged the greenery within a radius of ten miles, cut down countless big trees, and made thousands of simple thick wooden shields that can be used as camp bunkers, allowing soldiers to The long-range troops pushing to the front and attacking the battalion hid behind and fired arrows.

In addition, there are dozens of simple rams for breaking doors and wooden walls, dozens of short ladders and trench bridge boards.As long as these things can be pushed to the front, they can be directly placed on the wooden wall of the rammed earth base with a relative height of no more than one and a half feet, forming a slope, allowing soldiers to rush up directly, which is much easier than climbing the city wall.

And the reason why He Jin and He Yilong were so confident was that at nightfall on the [-]th, the artillery in their army was finally transported to the front line!

When Shen Shuren dealt with Liu Xiyao and Lin Chengcheng before, the weaker battalions of the Fifth Gezuo Battalion did not have cannons.But the stronger troops among the thieves have more or less a few cannons.

The form of war in the late Ming Dynasty was very different from what many people imagined.Especially after five years of Chongzhen, cannon technology has spread long ago, and it is not unique to the Ming Dynasty army.

In the last few years of Chongzhen, the power with the largest number of cannons was actually the Manchu Qing Dynasty. The Manchu Qing Dynasty has always attached great importance to making cannons.

By the time of Chongzhen's death, the Qing army had more than two hundred cannons, the largest number in the world.That's why in history Shi Kefa's defense of Yangzhou was so easy to be bombed down. After hearing that Yangzhou was easily bombed, the Nanjing defenders were completely frightened and had no courage to hold on.

Apart from the Manchus, the second largest force in the world at that time was Zheng Zhilong from Fujian, and the third was the turn of the Ming court.

Before its demise, the total number of Hongyi cannons owned by the imperial court was only more than 100.

As for the two major forces of Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, in the last two years, the total number of artillery pieces has also expanded to dozens of scales.Further down, there are a few to a dozen small thieves.

At this moment, He Jin and He Yilong are not too rich, and they have spent all their wealth. They have gathered two thousand-jin Flang machines and seven or eight ordinary Flang machines in front of the Suizhou army, but there are no Hongyi cannons.

The Hongyi cannons in the late Ming Dynasty generally weighed more than 3000 catties to 12 catties, corresponding to Western 18-pound naval guns and [-]-pound naval guns.

The original Dutch goods, charge and ammunition can reach the above pounds in full.The quality of the domestically produced imitations in the Ming Dynasty was inferior, and the gun body was still the same weight, but the ammunition had to be reduced by a quarter or even a third, otherwise the ammunition would be as strong as the original import, and the chamber would be easily exploded.

And the Frangji is nearly a hundred years behind the Hongyi cannon, and it is a Portuguese cannon in the 16th century.

An ordinary Franc machine weighs three to four hundred catties, and can hold a catty of gunpowder and a catty of iron bullets. It is only five times larger than the heaviest musket such as the turtledove gun, and it can only be regarded as a gap between a gun and a cannon. between.

The thousand-pound Frang machine is the largest among the Frang machines, which can reach a thousand catties, and the ammunition can also reach more than three catties each of gunpowder and shells, which is equivalent to a Western 4-pound gun—so the strongest Frang machine is also But it was only one-third of the firepower of the weakest Hongyi Cannon.

With some of these weapons, Erhe will of course launch a full-scale attack on Zuo Zixiong's camp immediately!

……

So, on April [-]th, two days before Shen Shuren came back.

This new offensive and defensive battle broke out in the Xiaogan camp at the mouth of the Shishui and Hanshui rivers.

The thief who got the cannon felt that he was doing well again, and he was very excited.

Early in the morning, they feasted on the soldiers, boosted their morale, fed all the soldiers, and even gave each of them some fish soup to drink—the fish was caught from the Han River nearby, and the harvest was not much. Hundreds of thousands of fish, it is impossible to let tens of thousands of soldiers eat fish, only hundreds of large pots of thin fish soup can be boiled.

After eating hot fish soup and rice, everyone in the bandits felt warm, and they lined up out of the camp full of energy. After walking for more than ten miles, they arrived in front of the official army camp.

Thousands of large wooden shields used to build battle houses were pushed forward, and two thousand-jin Frang machines and seven ordinary Flang machines were also pushed to a distance of one and a half miles to more than 300 steps away from the official and army positions.

Then each Frang machine left and right, and each arranged at least three layers of wooden shield formations to build a good defense.If Shen Shuren saw this scene, he might also feel emotional:

These thieves are self-taught. Cannons in this era generally do not have their own shields, but they actually thought of erecting large wooden shields on the left and right sides, exposing only the frontal angle of shooting, so as to protect the gunner to the maximum extent.

Of course, many gunners in the bandit army, and even the officers in charge of the artillery team, feel that this is a bit redundant-the Francophone is at least 300 steps away from the enemy camp wall, and bows and firecrackers are absolutely impossible Threat to the target so far away, so these wooden shields probably have no chance to be used in practice. At most, it can make the gunner feel more at ease and don't be nervous when operating.

After forming the formation, He Jin seemed to be planning to hit the morale of the officers and soldiers, and dispatched scolders to persuade them to surrender again after launching a demonstration, so that the officers and soldiers realized that they had no chance of winning!

……

Zuo Zixiong, Zhang Mingzhen and Yang Jinjue guarded the camp cautiously for more than three days, and the Hongyi cannon left to them by Shen Shuren had already been properly deployed.

The six Hongyi cannons were all deployed a little later in the camp in order to pursue concealment, a higher field of view, and a better shooting angle.In the past three days, soldiers were asked to dig the soil and build rammed earth forts and pile up the cannons.

In addition, in order to better protect the cannons, and to allow the cannons to use the tactics of switching between long-range slugs and melee shotguns, Zuo Zixiong dug a second trench and rammed earth walls in the camp during the past three days. Just along the front of the cannon fort.

In this way, when the cannon needs to fire shotguns, the Musketeers and Pikemen can retreat under the cannon without worrying about being accidentally injured by the shotgun.

The Hongyi Cannon originally did not have a cannon carriage, because in this era, the guns weighing more than 12 pounds are all naval guns, and there is no need to consider the movement of the artillery on the Galen gunboat.

But Shen Shuren had seen a retreating cannon, of course he would not take this detour, so when he got these cannons from Zheng Chenggong, he drew a sketch, discussed it with the carpenters, and made a Cannon carts don't cost much.

It's just that the two-wheeled cannon cart is still relatively difficult and unstable. In the initial stage, Shen Shuren listened to the suggestions of the carpenters and made it into a four-wheeled one.

But the size of the front and rear wheels is not the same, so the car plate on which the gun body rests has a certain angle of inclination, and combined with the curved surface of the soil slope on the fort, it is easy to control the pitching angle of the bombardment - this design is actually a bit advanced, Because more than [-]% of the gunners of the Ming army used the Hongyi cannons in this era were direct shots, and almost no one shot curved shots, and no one knew how to calculate the ballistic parabola.

At this moment, Zuo Zixiong, who had already waited in full force and was so hungry and thirsty, suddenly saw Erhe go to war. He had already used binoculars to closely monitor the enemy situation, and then called his generals to work together.

Zuo Zixiong himself didn't know much about cannons, but Zhang Mingzhen had fought pirates for many years and was used to seeing cannons in coastal areas. After scanning the enemy's positions, he immediately analyzed the situation and reported to the chief:

"Let me tell you about the Zuo guerrilla, this bandit should have used the Frang machine and the Qianjin Flang machine - I have been fighting pirates in Ningshaowei for many years, and I am used to seeing all kinds of Flang machines. The ordinary Flang machine has a range of three to four hundred steps. , Qianjin Fulang machine can reach five or six hundred steps, which is close to one and a half miles.

Looking at the distance between the positions deployed by the thieves, it should be exactly these two types.Why not let our Hongyi Cannon fight back first!We can reach far, and we are also deployed on the high soil platform behind the formation. We can hit the enemy and the enemy can't hit us!
If the thieves had to use the Frang machine to counterattack after being beaten, they would have to push forward at least two hundred steps, and by then they would be within the range of our firecrackers and crossbows! "

Zuo Zixiong nodded, his heart became more calm, and he ordered calmly: "It's good to know that the enemy can't hit our artillery. If that's the case, give them a little more time to deploy, and wait for them to have more soldiers lined up and ready to charge. , let’s fire again to put them in a dilemma! Let them be exposed now, and don’t just scare them away!”

Zhang Mingzhen frowned: "But what if the enemy really rushed in after putting all their eggs in one basket? Although the Frangji will definitely not be able to beat the Hongyi cannon, but as long as there is a chance to fire three or five rounds of cannon, it can bombard the rammed wooden fence outside us." There are a lot of gaps, and then the bandits can rush in directly through the gaps."

Zuo Zixiong grinned coldly: "Did you forget that our army temporarily dug a ditch and built a low earth wall under the fort? Enough to shoot the thieves rushing into the gap!

Our soldiers have never been bombarded before, and if it lasts longer, their morale will inevitably be low. In this case, it is better to prepare psychologically for the first fortification with a wooden wall to be breached by the enemy! "

When Zhang Mingzhen and others heard that they really made sense, they didn't persuade them any more and went to implement them all.

Originally, the Ming army saw that the bandits had cannons, so their morale was inevitably low after three days. They were afraid that the leftist guerrillas would make them hold back an inch, and if they were called by the cannons behind the wooden wall, they would die in vain.

Now listen to the left guerrilla's order, let all the long guns retreat to the vicinity of the second earth wall in advance, and the firearms battalion just crouch behind the rammed earth part of the first wall, and their bodies are exposed above the height of the mound, don't stand Behind the boards, only two sentries from each team stood up and looked out.

The soldiers immediately regained some confidence, and their fear was also driven away.Everyone knows that it is impossible for the Francophone to directly blast through the more than one foot mound on the ground and hit people.

Soon, more and more rogues gathered at the front, and they were ready to fire. At this moment, Zuo Zixiong put down the binoculars, waved his hand, and signaled Zhang Mingzhen to fire.

Of the six Hongyi cannons, four of the 12-pound guns were aimed at the two Qianjin Flangji positions of the rogues, and two were aimed at the flag formation of the rogue generals in the distance.

There was a burst of loud noises, and six 12-pound solid iron balls flew out under the pressure of explosive gas of the same weight, passing through a shrill sonic boom.

"Boom! Crack!" Wood chips splashed six or seven hundred steps away, and Erhe's thick wooden shield deployed to protect the cannon was self-defeating.

The shells in this era are all solid shells, and they can kill people by direct hits or bouncing through them. It is impossible to shoot accurately even if they are separated by more than a mile.

Of the four artillery pieces fired at the Qianjin Flang machine's position, none of them hit the Qianjin Flang machine directly, but two of them hit the wooden shield. The sawdust splattered for a while, forming countless shrapnel, which killed and wounded many people. The gunner, and some unlucky ordinary rogue infantry in the back row, were caught by the rebounded bullets and turned into a fleshy pulp, and their death was quite horrific.

As for the two shells that flew towards the bandit general's flag formation, there is no doubt that it was impossible for the general to be caught. One shot was shot directly high and flew far away for nothing, and the other shot was caught by He Jin's personal guard cavalry anyway. The crowd rebounded after killing one person and one horse, smashing a trail of blood.

"Xi Lulu—" He Jin's war horses were all neighed by the loud noise, and the ordinary officer's horses next to them were of poorer quality, and someone even stood up and threw the man on their backs off.

He Jin was dazed for a long time, and he didn't react for a long time. When the officers and soldiers were about to fire the second round of artillery, he shouted hoarsely: "Fire the artillery quickly! Fight back! Hit behind the officers' barracks! Knock out their Flang machine too. !"

In the second round, the two sides fired almost at the same time, and the thieves' shells flew out for three to five seconds before the official and army's shells arrived again.It was also at this moment that He Jin and He Yilong realized that the equipment of the officers and soldiers might not be the Frang machine, but the legendary Hongyi cannon - because it felt a little different from the momentum.

However, they couldn't be sure. After all, the sound of the cannons of the officers and soldiers came from nearly two miles away, and it was already very slight. No one knew how loud the sounds near the cannons were, so there was no way to compare them.

The bandit's temporary change of target, from bombarding the wall to artillery countermeasures, was obviously self-defeating again.If they want to attack the defense facilities of the official army's camp, at least they can hit them quickly.

I just want to hit the Hongyi cannon so far away. With the hit rate of the Frang machine, I may not be able to hit it in dozens of rounds. The officers and soldiers didn't bother to place a shield next to it, so I wanted to smash the protective facility and use wood chips to kill the gunner. Not likely anymore.

The officers and soldiers also built high forts viciously, which caused the projectiles aimed at the forts to fly to the sky if they deviated to the left and right, and there was no chance of ricocheting and killing a few.

The two sides opened fire crazily, and the soldiers on both sides also experienced a lot of struggle and experience as if they had been hammered hard.Both sides are trying to keep themselves from retreating and running under the sound of gunfire.

After five or six rounds, Zuo Zixiong's artillery battles became more and more successful, smashing the wooden gun shields of the thieves to pieces, killing dozens of gunners, and wounding a thousand-jin Flang machine, Two small French machines.

It was only then that He Jin recovered from his initial panic, made an emergency check with He Yilong, and ordered again:

"Forget about the red cannons of the officers and soldiers, the artillery team will continue to blast open the camp walls and gates according to the original plan! Let the infantry get ready! As long as you see two or three openings in the enemy camp, you can prepare to charge!"

By this time, Erhe had completely figured it out: there were more than 4 people here, and when the fortifications were blown up and the ground rushed in, no matter how many artillery the enemy had, they would be captured!It's nothing more than more dead people!
Know how to endure casualties!I can't bear to let the child not be caught by the wolf!
(End of this chapter)