The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 197 Artillery Battle
After the chariot, Jianlu arranged a mixed square formation they used to, which was called the "nine advances and ten series" battle formation in Kangxi's time.Of course, this name has not yet appeared at this time. At present, most of the Qing army calls it the continuous shooting method.

This mixed phalanx consists of 300 to [-] people, roughly divided into three layers.

At the front are the gunners of the Han Army Firearms Camp, with a total of about 50 people standing in three to five rows.There is one heavy cannon weighing more than 30 jin and several small cannons such as tiger squatting cannons, which are placed among the gunners.There are [-] gunners in the Eight Banners, living on both sides of the gunners of the Han army.

The middle layer is mainly ordinary soldiers with swords, shields or spears, a total of 80 to [-] people.On both sides of them are about [-] elite infantry, also holding swords, shields or spears.

The last row consisted of thirty or forty ordinary soldiers as a backup, ready to replenish the positions in the phalanx that were killed by the enemy.And behind them, there are several Ba Yala who are in charge of supervising the battle.

This Bayala means "army guard" in Manchu.They are selected from the brave and strong soldiers of the Eight Banners, and only ten people are selected from each cattle record. They are equipped with the best equipment and are directly managed by the Ba Ya La Battalion.Usually each person is equipped with two war horses, double armor, hard bow, fine steel knife, and even three layers of armor when necessary.

In addition to Bayala, which is directly under the Qing court, each banner also has its own elite troops, which are Xiaoqi Battalion and infantry soldiers.Both are equipped with cotton armor, hard bow and steel knife, the difference is that the former is cavalry, also known as vest, while the latter is infantry.Usually about 50 people are selected for each cattle record to serve as vests and step armors.

As for ordinary banner soldiers, their equipment is much worse than that of horse and infantry soldiers. Generally, a hundred people are equipped with less than [-] pieces of cotton armor. They are also equipped with knives and bows, but they are not as sophisticated as armored soldiers.

It can be seen from this that almost everyone in the phalanx of the Qing army carried a bow except for the musketeers, plus a large number of cannons. Among them, the long-range projection firepower was very strong, and they never suffered from the Ming army equipped with light bird guns.

In addition, their elite soldiers are placed in the back row and on both sides, which can effectively prevent the phalanx from collapsing and prevent the soldiers in the formation from escaping.

Jianlu's continuous shooting formation has been formed since the Huang Taiji era. It is a phalanx tactic created by the Eight Banners soldiers on the basis of the formation of the Ming army. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, it was one of the most advanced phalanxes on the Eastern Continent.

So don't be fooled by the words that the Eight Banners Bow and Horse wins the world.

At that time, the Qing army used a large number of muskets and cannons, combined with advanced phalanxes, and was extremely advanced in weaponry and tactics.In most battles, they defeated the Ming army with cannons, firecrackers and recurve bows. As for the cavalry, they mostly played a role in chasing and harassing the defeated army.

However, if it is compared to the advanced nature of the phalanx, Jianlu will naturally be ten blocks away from the infantry line formation of the Dragon Guards. After all, the difference between the two is hundreds of years.Even compared to the Morris phalanx of the Polu camp, the Qing army was somewhat inferior.

But in Tulai's mind, what he was going to face was just a group of slightly stronger Ming troops, and it would probably be the same as before, after several attacks from his army, they would disperse.

Zhu Linmei saw dozens of wooden carts piled with sandbags being pushed to the front of the queue by Jianlu through the binoculars, and knew that these were Jianlu's famous carts. He immediately signaled to the messenger, "Let the artillery battalion implement the plan B."

"Yes!"

To say that the Eight Banners infantry led by Tulai has been training and fighting since childhood, and they are still very proficient in battle formation. It took less than 10 minutes to complete the formation reorganization.

Tulai immediately gave an order, and sixty cannons of various types were pushed to the gap between the chariots, and a group of Han army gunners began to load gunpowder.

According to the Jianlu company's round-to-round shooting method, when fighting the enemy, first fire several rounds of salvos with cannons, then advance six to twelve feet, and then bombard, and then cycle in turn.

After advancing to the range of the blunderbuss, the blunderbussmen will also shoot together.Until the enemy army approached and began to fight hand-to-hand.

However, at this moment, it was heard that the right side of the Ming army's position was bursting with dense artillery roaring. Immediately, twenty or thirty iron balls slammed in from the left front of the Jianlu army's formation, first overturning several carts, Then in an instant, nearly a hundred captive soldiers in the front row were smashed into pieces.

Among them, four of the larger shells weighing eight and a half catties fell heavily to the ground after crushing the Qing soldiers in the front row, rebounded twice and broke the legs of more than a dozen soldiers, and finally stopped.

But Tulai didn't panic, just now he heard the sound of the Ming army's cannons, there were at most thirty or so, and there should be no heavy cannons weighing more than [-] jin.

In his army, however, there were twenty three-thousand-jin heavy artillery pieces, and forty cannons weighing more than one-thousand-jin weight. Compared with cannon firepower, the Ming army was no match at all.

Without his orders, Tong Yangjia immediately ordered the gunners to fire back at the Ming army, but as soon as the cannon on his side was full of gunpowder, the Ming army's cannon sounded again.

Tong Yangjia was an expert in using artillery, so he couldn't help frowning. The Ming army artillery fired so fast that it was weird.

When the cannon was filled with iron balls before the formation of the soldiers, the artillerymen of the Dragon Guards diagonally opposite also stuffed the fixed gunpowder pouch into the barrel. Several gunners cooperated skillfully, the ram was pulled out, and the shells and ignition tube were installed at the same time.The management team immediately reported the shooting parameters, the loader used the gun gauge to measure the elevation angle of the muzzle, and the firing hand turned the screw on the tail of the gun twice according to the angle.

In just five or six seconds, the elevation and direction of the cannon were adjusted as required.

"Ready!"

At the same time, the Qing army's artillery was struggling to lower the muzzle a little.

A soldier hit the wedge on the breech of the gun three times with a sledgehammer, and the slope of the wedge raised the breech.But the other gunner looked at the gun gauge, shook his head and shouted, "It's low!" The man with the hammer had to hit the wedge in the opposite direction...

The cannons of the Ming army roared again, and at this moment, Jianlu's side finally fired the first cannon slowly.

Tong Yangjia's face was livid, just now he counted clearly, the Ming army on the opposite side had fired three times.Although there are a lot of cannons on my side, but at this speed, I am afraid that the firepower advantage is actually on the side of the Ming army!
And Tulai at the side looked even more gloomy.

He didn't care about the rate of fire of the cannons, he was watching the formation of the Ming army - a long snake formation with only three rows.The artillery shells on my side shot at most six or seven Ming troops.Many shells even flew over the heads of the Ming army. After all, it is definitely not easy to hit such a narrow queue.

No matter how powerful the shells of the heavy artillery are, they can bounce off the ground four or five times, but... they cannot cause any damage at all.

On the other hand, because the Ming army's cannons were fired from an oblique angle, and his own army had three layers, with a total of more than a dozen rows of people, every shell of the Ming army could stir up a large amount of blood and severed limbs. , and basically hit the nail on the head.

"These damned Nikans!" Tulai said angrily, "I'll let you use cannons to gain some advantage. But with such a thin formation, let's see if you can still be proud of such a weak formation with bows and blunderbuss!"

"Gushan Ezhen," he ordered Tong Yangjia, "the artillery battle is too disadvantageous. Stop firing the cannons, order the army to rush forward to meet the enemy, and break them with bows and blunderbusses!"

(End of this chapter)