I'm sure of the prosperous age of Kangxi and Qianlong!

Chapter 171 The artillery exploded

Tongling County is located in the middle of southern Anhui, on the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

It borders Hefei to the north, Chizhou to the south, Wuhu to the east, and Anqing to the west.

The origin of its name has been difficult to verify. There are currently two mainstream theories. One is that there is a Tongguan Mountain to the west of Tongling County. Dafu is called Ling, so it is named Tongling.

Another theory is that the five townships of Nanling in the Tang Dynasty were combined into one county and became Tongling.

However, no one denies that this place is an important place for copper smelting, which can be traced back to 3000 years ago.

In the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, although large-scale coining and copper smelting had basically stopped, the Qing government still established a copper official prison here.

It can be seen that this place is still profitable. It is said that Kangxi once sent a teacher to work for two years because the teacher was too honest (poor), so that he could make some money.

On the eighth day of May, what is supposed to come will always come.

Yang Gong personally took charge of the expedition, and his troops were divided into three groups, advancing by land and water, leaving the plains in the west, entering the mountains in the south, and blocking Nanyi Lake in the east.

Of the three armies, only the west route is the main force, while the south and east routes are both for containment.

Under the great momentum of the Ming army in Fanchang and Jingxian, Tongling and Qingyang counties were defeated in one day. The Ming army did not even fight much. It was all due to the collapse of the two counties themselves, and the artillery was not used.

Tongling magistrate and Tongguanjian and other officials responsible for making money decisively committed suicide and died in the Qing Dynasty, but Qingyang magistrate Ma Liu surrendered.

All the areas east of Chizhou Prefecture, except Shidai County, were lost. Even Shidai County was separated by Jiuhua Mountain, so it can basically be regarded as gone.

By the time Chizhou Prefecture learned the news, the Ming army had already crossed Shuanghe and Jiuhua Mountains and rushed to the east of Chizhou Prefecture, which was only twenty miles away.

"Yang Shuai, if we walk another fifteen miles, we will reach Chizhou City." Yang Gong said on horseback, with a staff officer beside him holding a very abstract map.

"Ah."

Yang Gong nodded slightly, noncommittal.

The army can cover the fifteen-mile journey in less than half a day. It is not yet noon, and based on the current marching speed, Chizhou City will be visible at about one or two in the afternoon.

As soon as Chizhou was reached, the entire Yangtze River defense line in southern Anhui belonged to the Ming army.

At that time, as long as Tang Tongjiang's navy is released to the Yangtze River, the combat effectiveness of the Qing army's Jianghe navy will not be able to break through the Ming army's Yangtze River defense line.

The Ming Navy had little experience in water warfare, and its naval warfare was quite irregular. However, in addition to the original Fujian Navy, Guangdong Navy and Nan'ao Town, the Puppet Qing's river navy could only be said to be inferior to The Ming army is not as good as that.

"Huh? Look, Marshal Yang!" the staff officer suddenly reined in his horse and exclaimed.

I saw a large number of figures appearing on the horizon in front of the Ming army, and the figures brought up billowing smoke.

Yang Gong then took out his telescope from his waist and stretched it to take a look.

The Qing army was still training in uniforms and not even armor.

The Ming army had already learned from the prisoners that the troops they fought were quite powerful, but their discipline was worse than that of the Green Battalion. The rather strange Qing army was actually a newly recruited and trained army formed by Longkodo.

Not to mention using a telescope, just by looking at the large smoky figure, you knew that the number of Qing troops on the opposite side was not small.

With so many Qing troops coming, considering logistics and other factors, the only way to do this was to dispatch the training troops from Chizhou Prefecture.

Good guy, this Chizhou official is really a damn talent!
The Ming army came to attack in large numbers. After they got the news, they didn't think they could defend the city. They even took the initiative to send a large army to fight with the Ming army in the field.

Is this out of my mind?
In addition to being a little confused by this, Yang Gong also felt a bit of shame. It stands to reason that his reputation as the number one warrior in the pseudo-Ming Dynasty has been spread, but the Qing Gou of Chizhou Prefecture actually dared to take the initiative to fight.

Is this looking down on him, Yang?
The distance between the two armies was rapidly approaching, and the forward sergeants on both sides could already see the enemy soldiers on the opposite side with their naked eyes.

In fact, the officials of Chizhou Prefecture were at their wits' end. The puppet Ming army came to attack and defeated three counties in one day (Shidai County had been defeated by default), but Longkodo's reinforcements had not yet arrived.

Of course it won't arrive. It takes time to get the letter for help back and forth, and to cross the river for reinforcements, all the ferries and cities on the other side of the river that can be lost have been lost, and only Chizhou Fucheng is left.

How can Longkodo mobilize troops?

Although Chizhou Prefecture has been repaired many times and has thick walls, the officials of Chizhou Prefecture have no confidence in whether the puppet Ming army can defend the city because of its powerful fighting force and the leader of the puppet Ming Dynasty, Yang Gong.

In addition, during this period of time, almost all the rich and powerful gentry who could escape from Fucheng ran away. Even many officials from Fucheng sent their families away, and the remaining ones were either officials from other places or did not bring their families.

When these people left, they not only took away a large amount of money and food in Fucheng, but also took away the confidence of the people in Fucheng.Therefore, it is definitely impossible to defend Chizhou City.

Since we can't defend it anyway, we might as well send out the army to intercept the puppet Ming army and fight it decisively.

This is because you know you can't win and just go ahead and show off!

As the saying goes, out of sight, out of mind, it seems that as long as they can't see it, these Chizhou officials can continue to live and die in a dream.

Returning to the battlefield, southwest of Wuxi Bridge, it is only six or seven miles away from Chizhou Fucheng.

It was past noon. Although the farthest distance between the two armies was still more than 1000 meters, the closest distance was also 700 meters.

But at this time, the war has officially begun, and even if one side wants to escape, there is no chance.

Yang Gong saw that the Qing army had reached the range of his own heavy artillery, and then he waved his hand and issued an order: "Send the order and ask the artillery battalion to fire a shot from the opposite side first!"

The messenger got on his horse and the flagman quickly waved the flag to convey the order.

The flag carriers stationed at the artillery battalion quickly received the order: "The commander wants the artillery battalion to fire a cannon on the Qing army on the opposite side first!"

Su Weicai, the artillery battalion officer of the First Army, nodded and said, "Yes, to report back to Yang Shuai, the artillery battalion officer Su Weicai obeyed the order!"

After that, he turned around and shouted to the artillerymen behind him: "Cheer up, everyone. Yang Shuai told us to fire a cannon on the opposite side first. Although it is a test cannon, we must first build momentum for the army." Come!"

"it is good!"

All the artillerymen shouted in unison, and their emotions were high.

As the artillery battalion of the First Army, these artillerymen can be regarded as the oldest group of artillerymen in the entire Ming Army. Naturally, there is no such thing as nervousness in the face of battle.

Around each heavy cannon, eight gunners worked together in an orderly manner. They first checked and cleaned the remaining powder residue and shrapnel in the barrel, and then moved the gunpowder barrels and shells. According to the azimuth, distance and range reported by Su Weicai through the telescope, Determine the amount of gunpowder to be filled.

There are also various operations such as ranging, adjusting elevation, and aiming.

The first shot is just a test shot, used to test the accuracy and artillery status.

However, these veteran gunners still tried their best to do their best. From filling, measuring range to adjusting the angle, it took no more than 1 minute.

"The whole artillery battalion is here. The Puppet Qing forward military formation is directly in front. Fire immediately!"

The gunners fired, backed away quickly, and covered their ears.

"Oh!"

There was a loud noise, and the image of artillery shells flying into the Qing army's positions, killing several Qing soldiers and breaking several legs did not happen.

The sound was also obviously wrong.

Su Weicai was instantly knocked to the ground by the huge impact, shook his head, and got up in disgrace, his ears buzzing due to the close contact.

When he raised his head, he saw broken limbs everywhere in front of him, as well as several Ming army gunners who were either wailing or lying on the ground. Surrounded by other Ming army soldiers shouting "silently", they rushed over to try to save people.

The barrel of the Ming army's red cannon exploded.

It also blew up two doors at once, taking away the sugar barrels stacked around it, directly triggering a violent and rapid explosion.

As a result of the additional damage caused by the explosion, the 16-man artilleryman responsible for operating the two artillery pieces was killed on the spot. The others who were close by, even those who were not artillerymen, were more or less affected.

Su Weicai, the battalion officer, was very lucky. At the last moment, he subconsciously turned his back and jumped out, only to be blown away by the shock wave.

Not dead, just a little shaking in his internal organs.

Of the eight remaining artillery pieces, two misfired, and six others were caused by the explosions and "earthquakes" caused by the two explosive-bore artillery pieces, which caused the shells to deflect.

The Ming army's rear was thrown into chaos by this sudden change.

On the other hand, the Qing army was unscathed.

No one expected that such a sturdy and easy-to-use artillery piece would suddenly explode after being used for so long.

　Some people say it's not detailed enough, so I'll try to refine it.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)