Ming Empire

Chapter 140 The Struck Dorgon
(Thanks to my friends who love fried spinach and my old friend Jian Shaonianhua for their rewards)
Dorgon personally commanded the battle at the North Gate, which was raging fiercely.

The first wave and the second wave of attacks all returned without success. At least [-] sergeants died under the artillery and musket fire of the Ming army, but Dorgon also discovered a surprising present, that is, Ming army The army's musket shooting density is obviously sparser than that of the front.

Not only did the musket fire become denser, but the firing distance of the Ming army was no longer as long as it was at the beginning. Instead, they waited for the attacking Qing army to approach before concentrating on firing.Many situations show that the amount of gunpowder in the Ming army in the city is likely to be insufficient, and Cao Yue is saving ammunition.

After a comprehensive analysis, Dorgon issued an order for a full-scale attack, and the Qing army from all directions attacked the city in an all-round way.

Duoduo commanded from the direction of the west gate, Azige from the east gate, and the Ming army from the south gate had no way to capture the few camps built on the mountain outside the city, so they dared not attack in this direction.But Dorgon also deployed nearly 2 horses, preparing to take advantage of the chaos to attack the Ming army who dared to leave the city and the village.

Dorgon knew that morale was built by hard work. If he played harder at the beginning and achieved results after paying the price, his morale would naturally rise.If everything goes wrong and it is impossible to achieve results, morale will definitely be hit.

Therefore, on the first day of the attack, he was going to fill in the Han army, the Korean army and a part of the Mongolian Eight Banners, and he also wanted to attack the city.

Whether he can stand at the top of the city is one thing. He just wants to make Cao Yue feel the pressure and consume a lot of ammunition in the city.

Dorgon now knows that the reason for the Ming army's strong combat effectiveness is that it made good use of muskets and artillery. If the Ming army's muskets ran out of bullets and the artillery's ammunition was exhausted, then the resistance encountered by the Qing army's attack would definitely It will be much smaller, and the difficulty of attack will be greatly reduced. Even if they can't attack the top of the city, they can kill a large number of Ming troops on the top of the city.

The current situation is that the Qing army that attacked the city didn't even have many chances to fight back with bows and arrows. Even if they rushed under the city wall, they still had to beware of the Ming army's musket shooting and the bombing called "Dragon King Cannon" .

Dorgon also ordered Tong Yangxing's artillery battalion to shoot at the maximum intensity, preparing to blast the tower of the North Gate of Datong to pieces, greatly killing the Ming army on the top of the city.Of course, Dorgon's orders were well executed, and Tong Yangxing's artillery battalion also fired at the fastest speed.

But what surprised Tong Yangxing was that the red cannons of the Ming army were at the head of the city, and the firing rate was much faster than the artillery battalion he commanded.

The time when the Qing artillery battalion fired two rounds of artillery, the Ming army could fire at least three rounds.

Tong Yangxing didn't know that Cao Yue had made great improvements in the shooting of the artillery, greatly increasing the firing rate of the artillery.

The simple ranging method used by the artillery of later generations: the eye jumping method and the thumb ranging method have been fully tried in the artillery battalion under the promotion of Cao Yue, which has improved the shooting accuracy of the artillery to a certain extent.

After the artillery is fired, the temperature of the barrel is very high, and it needs to be cooled down, otherwise it is very easy to explode the barrel.

Under normal circumstances, to cool down the gun after firing once, first pour water into the gun bore to cool down the gun bore, then pour out the water in the gun bore, and then dry the water stains in the gun bore before loading ammunition.

Unlike the Jiannu artillery, the Ming army did not use bulk gunpowder, but paper shells wrapped in thick kraft paper, which were filled with pre-measured gunpowder and flowering bombs, and then coated with gunpowder after sealing. There is a thick layer of grease, which can be waterproof and lubricating.

Compared with Jiannu's artillery battalion, the reloading rate of the Datong Army artillery battalion is much higher, and the firing frequency of the red cannons is also much faster.

Therefore, the impact of Jiannu's artillery on Cao Yue of the Ming army is far less than that caused by the Ming army on Jiannu.

And because a large amount of gunpowder smoke blocked the view, it was difficult for Jiannu artillery to aim at the Ming army on the city wall.

Of course, Cao Yue was also very dissatisfied with the shooting effect of the artillery.

Cao Yue really wanted to destroy Jiannu's artillery battalion, but after the shooting started, gunpowder smoke was everywhere on the battlefield, and the situation of the enemy's position could not be seen clearly with binoculars. It is roughly judged according to the shooting direction of the Jiannu artillery.

Just when Cao Yue was troubled by his inability to accurately bombard Jiannu's artillery positions, a sudden gust of wind blew away most of the gunpowder smoke on the battlefield in an instant.Just at this time, the Jiannu Artillery Battalion fired a round of artillery. Except for one shot that fell on the city wall, the other big tribes were outside the city, but Cao Yue once again confirmed the location of the Jiannu Artillery Battalion.

Cao Yue immediately ordered the artillery battalion to calibrate the shooting angle. As the commander of the artillery battalion issued another shooting order, more than [-] explosive bullets roared out, and nearly half of them fell on the Jiannu formation guarding the artillery battalion. The broken arm flew into the air.

At least five explosive bombs landed on Jiannu's artillery position, and the violent explosion of the artillery ignited the ammunition in Jiannu's artillery battalion.

Successive violent explosions followed one after another, just like setting off fireworks in the camp. It was very spectacular. At least two red-clothed cannons of Jiannu were blown up into the sky, and when they fell, they became a pile of scrap metal.

The gunpowder smoke that made people cough uncontrollably over Datong City hadn't dissipated yet, and the gunners had quickly returned to their positions, ready to reload and shoot again.

"Boom boom boom..." Before Jiannu had time to fight back, the red cannons of the Ming army roared again, and at least six shells landed on Jiannu's artillery position, accompanied by the loud noise of the earth shaking and the mountains shaking, Jiannu's artillery position exploded again, billowing thick smoke rose into the sky, and several of Jiannu's red cannons flew into the sky.

"How is this possible?" Tong Yangxing, who never thought that his artillery position would be bombarded by the artillery of the Ming army, looked at all this dumbfounded.He knew that the shooting deviation of the red-clothed cannons summoned was very large, and it was impossible to achieve precise strikes. The shooting effect generally depends on luck.

He never expected that his artillery position was bombarded by the Ming army twice in a row, and many artillery pieces were blown to pieces.

How can we fight this battle?He quickly ordered the remaining artillery to move their positions to avoid being bombarded by the artillery of the Ming army, and at the same time quickly sent someone to report the situation and the losses suffered to Dorgon.

At this time, Dorgon was riding a horse and standing on a hillside and saw that the third wave of attacks was repelled by the Ming army, and Duoduo's communication had just arrived.The failure of the war made Duo ErGun very angry, and the report sent by Tong YangXing made Duo ErGun furious.

How could the war be like this?Dorgon couldn't figure it out. He couldn't understand why his younger brother Doduo, who had always performed well, suffered repeated defeats in the city of Datong. Today, he couldn't control the situation and had to stop the attack.

How could it be possible that Tong Yangxing's artillery battalion was bombarded by the Ming army on the top of the city and suffered heavy losses?
But these things have really happened, and Dorgon cannot be doubted.

How can we fight this battle?Dorgon also decisively decided to temporarily stop the attack.

Following Dorgon's order, Jiannu, who was about to attack the city again, retreated like a tide!
(End of this chapter)