Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 203 Volley
Twenty lead bullets shot out from the muzzle of the mother gun, whizzing out in a low parabola, flying like meteors to the pirates a mile away.

A few sporadic screams rang out, but they were covered up by the rumble of cannons from far away. About seven or eight pirates seemed to have been pushed by an invisible hand and fell to the ground in an instant.

The effect of this wave of long-range shots was not very good. Only five enemy soldiers were killed in total, and three others were seriously injured. However, one of the three waves of pirates at the forefront had already begun to run back.

Because the eldest brother of that wave of pirates took the lead in escaping, he saw a blood hole the size of a goose egg appeared on the back of a younger brother. Blood spurted out from the hole, covering his face.

At the same time, he vaguely saw a flat object flying out, and then a scream came from his ears. Another boy next to him covered his arm and rolled on the ground in pain.

A twelve-liang lead bullet is only one and a half inches in diameter, about the size of an egg. However, due to the softness of lead, the lead bullet begins to deform the moment it hits the human body. It will be flattened a little every time it advances, and eventually a trumpet-shaped cavity will be formed in the body.

The lead bullet had become the size of a goose egg when it came out, but after penetrating the human body, its speed was so slow that it was vaguely seen by the pirate brother.

It then broke open the right arm of another pirate, smashing it into pieces on the bone, and also shattered the man's arm into a shattered fracture.

But that's not all. The lead bullet fragments cut the blood vessels and a large amount of lead shavings entered the blood. The pirate may eventually die of lead poisoning.

Of course, the big pirate brother didn't know this. He just saw the trumpet-shaped cavity and the blood spurting out of the cavity.

Fortunately, the pirates marched in waves, and the entire formation was very loose. The two waves of pirates passed by each other, and a dozen or so people in the following wave joined the broken troops and ran back together.

Most of the younger brothers didn't want to take the lead. Seeing their elder brother acting like this, they couldn't continue to move forward. They all turned around and ran backwards.

The gunners in the first row walked forward quickly to the music played by bamboo tubes, and stopped after passing the artillery position. The artillery was fifteen steps away from the infantry formation, mainly to prevent the artillery from damaging the infantry.

When the vanguard of the pirate team marched 200 steps away from the artillery position, Lin Hai ordered again: "The gunners shoot!"

Lin Hai laughed secretly behind the formation. Fortunately, he made many arrangements because he was worried that the left wing would be outflanked. As a result, the opposite right wing became chaotic first.

The pirate captain at the back only had a hundred men under his command. When he saw hundreds of broken soldiers rushing over, how could he dare to order a shot? The captain was still hesitating, and his subordinates had already taken detours to avoid the defeated troops.

"Damn it, Li Kuiqi, this oblivious kid, is no longer a son of a man."

At this time, intensive gunfire came from further behind, and finally a group of pirates opened fire according to Li Kuiqi's order.

However, the commotion quickly subsided. It was just a matter of luck to launch a single bomb, not to mention that the formation on the opposite side was so loose. It was already good to scare away some of the enemy troops. Li Kuiqi's formation still had a certain effect. .

After his face was smeared with the smelly blood, the eldest brother stood still for a moment, ran back without wiping his face, and shouted loudly as he ran: "I quit, Li Kuiqi treats us as cannon fodder, brother." Don’t sacrifice your lives for him!”

"Come forward with the muskets!" Lin Hai ordered loudly, and the flag and drum troupe of the Chinese Army began to play the bamboo tubes. This meant that the musketeers were asked to spread out in front of the formation.

As for the tail bolt that is common to both Eastern and Western guns, it was somehow lost in the Qing Dynasty. Once the lead bullet gets stuck in the barrel of the gun, you can only stare.

This is a relatively rare order. The maximum range of the three-coin bird gun is only two hundred steps. This distance can only be reached by shooting upward. Generally speaking, the War Department would not let gunners fire from such a distance. After all, the first fire has the best effect.

It doesn't matter if it doesn't fire after loading the bomb. In the Ming Dynasty, the tail of the gun was sealed with a bolt. After unscrewing the bolt to the right, use an iron stick to push out the projectile.

The pirate team continued to move forward after quelling the commotion, while the officers and soldiers of the Army Department stayed in place and stood ready.

"Damn it, these bunch of birds actually beat one of their own!"

But this time the firepower was actually provided by the artillery bureau, and the enemy was just a ragtag group of people. Shooting from above to disturb the enemy could achieve good results, so Lin Hai decided to let the gunners fire one more shot.

The gunman's first round of ammunition is also preloaded. The Ministry of War has higher requirements for the clearance control of the gun. The specific standard is that the lead bullet will not roll out when the muzzle of the gun is pointed downward. In addition, the double-leaf rotating disk cover above the medicine tank can prevent mis-ignition, so pre-loading is completely feasible.

It is worth mentioning that it was not until nearly a century later in Europe that iron ramrods replaced the easy-to-break wooden bars. This reform by Frederick I was regarded as a major technological innovation in military history, but little did he know that the earth The Ming Dynasty people on the other side had already done this.

bang bang bang...

Some of the defeated soldiers began to fight back, and some turned around and ran around. A few of them ran towards Dongshan Bay with bright ideas, preparing to swim back to Tongshan City from the sea. The right wing formation of the pirate team suddenly became a mess.

A loud swan sound sounded behind the infantry formation. One hundred and forty-four gunners raised their guns one after another after checking the matchlocks. There was no need to aim when shooting upwards, but the gunners of the War Department still fired close to the face. , as if the gun in his hand would never explode.

Bang bang bang bang... Intensive gunfire sounded like fried beans, and countless white smoke rings flew into the sky, and were quickly blown away by the north wind.

The lead bullets fell diagonally into the pirate team like raindrops blown up by the strong wind. The several waves of pirates walking in front suddenly went into chaos, and screams came one after another.

In fact, this round of cannon fire only killed two people, which was worse than the previous round of Franco machine bombardment. These two unlucky guys were hit in vital parts by chance and died on the spot.

But in addition to these two people, nearly twenty pirates were injured in this wave of bullets. The screams of these people caused greater chaos than after the previous Franco aircraft bombardment.

"Damn it, I won't work for Li Kuiqi anymore!" The two eldest brothers at the front who had not yet run away also began to take the lead in escaping. The two learned the lesson and ran directly towards the open sea.

They were not Li Kuiqi's subordinates to begin with, and their number was larger than those of Li Kuiqi's subordinates. If they tried to escape, no one would dare to suppress them.

The few pirates who didn't run away raised their guns and fired back, and many gunmen from the rear rushed to the front and fired indiscriminately. Just like during the Battle of Xiamen, these pirates still shot from above, flatly, or even downwards.

The vast white smoke of gunpowder connected into a sea two hundred steps away, and dense gunshots came from far away from the diffuse smoke of gunpowder. The infantry formation of the Army Department made a slight commotion, just like when the enemy troops emerged from the woods during the Battle of Amoy.

However, this time there was no need to blow the trumpet to let the whole army shout. The commotion soon subsided on its own. The pirates' counterattack did not cause any casualties, not even minor injuries, because the gunners, the first platoon of killers, and the remaining The artillerymen in the position are all armored.

Lin Hai noticed that the commotion mainly came from the left and right wings of the infantry formation. Many of the soldiers in the third and fourth rounds were new recruits a few months ago.

However, they have also experienced wars with the Kavalan people, and they have barely been on the battlefield. Their performance was better than the first game during the Battle of Xiamen. What's more, all the officers in these two bureaus came from the previous Zhoushan Battalion or the Garrison Department, and their backbone is as stable as Mount Tai.

On the artillery position, Viper saw Jiang Yu's face turning pale, so he couldn't help but stepped forward and asked, "Mr. Jiang Bai, are you okay?"

"No, it's okay. What can happen to me?" Jiang Yu forced a smile. Viper felt that this smile was even uglier than a crooked mouth.

The commotion in the pirate team is still continuing. The gunmen in front of the Army Department took this opportunity to reload. Most of them reloaded slower than usual. Only a few talented people can display their abilities on the training ground. level. Fortunately, the commotion on the pirate side began to subside after half a cup of tea. In this wave, more than 800 pirates jumped into the open sea and swam back, and a dozen or so slow runners were shot by their own people. Kill, the first three groups of pirates who were in front were either dead or all ran away.

"I shouldn't have taken these bastards with me." Li Kuiqi, who was in the back, saw this scene from a distance and couldn't help but curse.

He finally realized that he had made some mistakes. These three groups should not be in the front. They might as well be placed in the back as the atmosphere group. It would at least increase the momentum, right?

Fortunately, the bows of his own men were much more reliable. Even if these people ran back, they might be executed by Li Kuiqi. Zheng Zhilong had no right to interfere, and Li Kuiqi had always been known for being insidious and ruthless.

So far, the Army Department has actually only harassed them from a distance for two rounds, and has not actually killed a few people. As long as the eldest brother doesn't take the lead in escaping, there won't be a large-scale collapse.

After the chaos, the bows of the small boats under Li Kuiqi began to push forward. During this period, there were still sporadic gunshots, and people on the pirates' end were still shooting from time to time.

There was silence on the side of the Army Department. All the gunners stood on the spot after loading their ammunition. The lead bullets at this distance could not hurt them at all, and the other side was just wasting ammunition.

Lin Hai considered whether to let the gunman fire another volley, but after thinking about it, he finally gave up. He felt that if he fired again, the battle would probably turn into a bad battle with long-distance shooting. They were tickling each other in the same place.

In the end, it may be the Army Ministry that takes the initiative to move in to close the distance. But in this case, the artillery's preset positions will be in vain, and most of the remaining firepower will be wasted.

At this time, a loud noise suddenly came from the right wing of the Army Department's line. A Franco machine gun crew quietly loaded another single bomb and fired it with a bang.

The egg-sized lead bullets crossed a high parabola, finally landed in the open space between the two armies, and then bounced all the way back. Although a ricochet was formed, the trajectory was too high and it ultimately failed to hit any enemy troops. It was just a lonely hit.

Several gunners on the right wing didn't know what happened and were startled. However, because the War Department did not allow them to turn back before the battle, these gunners still faced the front.

Soon, the voice of the commander of the Folang machine came from a distance: "You mother-in-law, who told you to fire randomly?"

"The bullets are all loaded, so why don't we start a fight? The two loose muskets are still there, so they won't be a problem." Gao Donzi raised his head and replied plausibly.

"What should I do if I hurt one of my own?" The whistle commander was also surrounded by Gao Donkey for a while, and even started to argue with him.

"I'm not blind, how can I hit one of my own from such a close distance?" Gao Donkey got carried away for a moment, and it was me who spoke.

"Do you still have any fucking sense? Opening fire without orders is a violation of military law. Besides, who are you to pretend to be me? Being disrespectful to a superior officer is also a crime. I will report it to the police team when I get back!"

"Chief of the Sentinel, don't you think I, Gao Donkey, have a mean mouth? In addition to having a mean mouth, I also have a mean hand. You, an old man, don't remember the faults of villains. Just spare me this time." Gao Donkey apologized to the Commander. Smiling face, while secretly cursing my mother in my heart.

After this shot, the pirate team that had reorganized their order began to march again. Sparse gunshots still sounded from time to time. From time to time, gunmen on the pirates' side stopped to shoot. From time to time, clouds of smoke were heard. Flashed before the formation.

Finally, the distance between the two sides narrowed to eighty steps. Lin Hai seized the opportunity and ordered the gunners to fire again.

The long swan sound sounded again, and the one hundred and forty-four muskets of the War Department were all held flat against the face. The recoil of the three-coin bird gun is small and can be withstood by the wrist joint alone. Therefore, there is no butt for shooting at the chest at the end of the gun bed, only a wooden bent handle for holding.

This not only reduces the weight of the gun, but also eliminates the need to lower your head when aiming, which means that you can shoot from behind a higher parapet, which may be a slight advantage brought by the small caliber.

The gunners of the Army Department all took aim. At this time, the smoke on the front line had long been blown away by the wind, leaving only a faint smell of fire and saltpeter. On the line connecting the front sight and the rear sight, the enemy's figure eighty steps away was very striking. clear.

The flames above the lid of the medicine pool formed a line, and the fierce volley of gunfire sounded again. The long silence of the Army Department's gunners' front suddenly ended at this moment, like a silver bottle being broken, and like thunder.

This time, the smoke rings all rushed forward, and the pirate team suddenly felt like being blown by a hurricane. In an instant, more than 40 pirates fell backwards, and there were wailing, screaming, and crying sounds.

At the top of Tongshan City, Zheng Zhilong had already stood up from his seat, holding a monocular and standing at the crenel to watch the battle.

After seeing this scene, his face became a little solemn and he was speechless for a long time. This was the first time he had seen a volley of gunfire. Zheng Zhilong had far more gunners than Lin Hai, but they had never fired such a volley, and neither did the Fujian or Guangdong Ming armies who had fought against him.

Although they were four miles away, the sound of more than a hundred muskets fired almost simultaneously could still be heard clearly. Zheng Zhilong could imagine how shocking it would be if he were on the front line.

This is the significance of salvo. In fact, the hit rate of free fire is higher than that of salvo, but it cannot bring the same degree of shock to the enemy - again, the war may be complicated, but when it comes to a specific As far as fighting is concerned, it is nothing more than a collective psychological game.

"Master, is this how Uncle Chen and Uncle Yang were defeated in the first place?" Zheng Zhipeng's face also turned pale. He was not sure whether his men who had been trained by Zeng Wulao could withstand such a volley.

"It should be." Zheng Zhilong put down the telescope and nodded slowly. Like Li Kuiqi, he also learned in detail about the battle in Xiamen from the defeated troops.

However, unlike Chen Zhongji and Yang Tiansheng's thousands of men, Li Kuiqi's troops were not defeated.

This is because all the pirates on the battlefield are his subordinates, and the rear team is more numerous and more powerful than the front team. Li Kuiqi also gave the order to advance without retreating before the war, and the rear team could kill the deserters of the front team at any time.

Of course, the main reason is that the distance of this salvo is relatively long, and not enough people died. Otherwise, any ragtag group can become a strong army according to Li Kuiqi's arrangement. The forty-odd people are only one percent of the total number of more than 4,000 pirates.

For the gunners of the Ming Army, eighty paces was both an assessment distance and a tactical distance. But in fact, this distance is still a little far, and the shooting accuracy is not very good. Even if you hit one out of three shots in training, it is considered qualified. It is very difficult to achieve this hit rate in a battlefield environment.

After all, the gun barrels of this era were not accurate enough. Spherical projectiles were not conducive to flight stability, and gunpowder combustion was also a problem. In addition, muskets did not have rifling, so it would be a ghost if they could shoot accurately.

Even those heavy matchlock guns in Western Europe that are much more powerful and have a range far greater than the three-coin blunderbuss have an actual tactical distance of only a hundred yards on the battlefield, which is only sixty steps when converted to weights and measures in the Ming Dynasty, because they cannot be fired accurately at any distance.

The reason why the Ming army was accustomed to firing cannons at 80 to 100 steps was mainly because a large number of light artillery took on the heavy responsibility of close-range firepower output, which was different from the Western tactical thinking.

In this context, the Ming army preferred to use blunderbuss for long-range shooting. After all, the matchlock gun was already a first-class long-range sniper weapon in this era. Those fire gate guns such as fast guns and three-eyed guns are not suitable for long-range shooting. After all, it is impossible to fully aim by firing with a powder line, so these fire gate guns don't even have front sights and rear sights.

The volley of gunfire from eighty steps away only caused Li Kuiqi's men to temporarily stop their advance. Only a dozen pirates turned around and fled, and they were quickly killed by the rear team.

During the commotion, everyone on the boat shouted at the top of their lungs: "Those who retreat will die! The musketeers come forward and shoot, I will defeat this group of bird officers and soldiers!"

After hearing the order, the gunmen among the pirates began to fire back with their guns. The gunshots were sparse at first, but gradually became denser and louder, like the sound of firecrackers being lit up after being coiled into a ball.

(End of this chapter)