Ming Empire

Chapter 229 Another suggestion from Fan Wencheng

This time, Cao Yue ordered that during the first wave of Jiannu's attack, the artillerymen of the two frontal defense divisions who did not show their performance also began to shoot.

The twenty new artillery pieces of the two guard divisions remained silent, and nearly a hundred other old-fashioned artillery pieces joined the bombardment.

For a moment, the world was shaken by it, and the sound of rumbling guns was everywhere, making the eardrums of the soldiers hum.

The bombardment of hundreds of cannons was still very spectacular, and the sky was darkened by dark clouds for a while.The solid bullets whizzed across Jiannu's impact array at high speed, smashing Jiannu and their horses in a line into a bloody mess.The blooming bullet mixed in the middle of the powerful bomb blasted the Jiannu and war horses near the landing point into pieces, and threw countless stumps, arms, and mud into the air.

The lethality of solid bullets mainly depends on the kinetic energy brought by high-speed flight, while flower bullets are shrapnel that fly around with the air waves when they explode.The explosive bombs are filled with lethal things such as iron sheets and spikes, and the exploded shell casings are also fatal.Although the lethality of artillery in this era is far from comparable to that of later generations, except for Cao Yue, almost no one else in this era has the technology to defend against artillery bombardment. Dodge, or spread out away from the bomb drop point, to avoid greater damage.The formation of Jiannu's charge was very dense, and when a shell fell, a lot of people were killed.

In fact, the actual lethality of artillery to Jiannu is not very great, and many people who are killed by artillery will not die directly, but the huge psychological shocking power of intensive artillery bombardment is not comparable to other weapons.

For example, when solid bullets fall at high speed, seeing your companions being smashed into pieces by a huge iron ball or a pile of meat paste, or even the bones are gone, even the horses are like this.A flower bounced off, and many people were blasted into the air by the huge air wave, and finally turned into a pile of stumped limbs and broken arms, and even disappeared. The dead didn't feel anything, but the living next to them saw this Scenario, how could it not be frightened?Being shot by a bow and arrow, at least the person is intact, and it will not be so tragic.

What's more, the black smoke that covered the sky and the sun engulfed everything around, and people around couldn't see it, which would also cause great panic.

In the great panic, many people lost their fighting spirit and turned their heads to flee.

Not surprisingly, Jiannu's second wave of attack was repulsed by several rounds of artillery fire from the Ming army.

Seeing the Han army, Korean army and Mongolian Eight Banners receding like the tide, Dorgon's mouth was almost crooked.

Needless to say, he also knew that this attack on the Qing army must have suffered heavy losses, but he didn't even reach the Ming army's position.Such a result was something he never dreamed of.The battlefield is shrouded in black smoke everywhere, and the specific situation cannot be seen clearly.But Dorgon, who had become murderous, immediately ordered to kill all the routs who dared to retreat, and continued to organize the attack, and must attack the Ming army's position.

But at this time, Fan Wencheng, who was standing beside Dorgon, tried to dissuade him: "Master, this slave thinks that we should suspend our attack and change our strategy. The Ming army's artillery is so powerful that we did not expect it, and their artillery firing intervals It's very short, we don't know how many rounds they fire before they pause, and when the ammunition will run out. Moreover, our intensive charge just happened to let the Ming army's artillery exert its maximum power. The slave feels that the master should not rush to attack , take a break for a while, wait for the smoke on the battlefield to dissipate, and then launch the next wave of attacks after seeing the formation of the Qingming army. The formation of the charge can't be so dense, it must be changed."

After Dorgon heard this, it made sense to think about it, and immediately ordered to withdraw the troops first.

As the order to retreat was issued, Jiannu, who had planned to attack again, slowly retreated, while the retreating Han army, Korean army, and Mongolian Eight Banners also temporarily stopped their positions under the rectification of their respective generals.At this time, the sun had already risen very high, but black smoke shrouded everywhere. Although there was wind, it did not blow the black smoke away, but instead blew the black smoke everywhere.The sun has been completely covered, making people feel extremely irritable and stuffy.Some wounded Jiannu chose to commit suicide because of despair and oppression in the air.

Dorgon had already returned to his big tent, and Fan Wencheng followed him in.

"Sir must have thought of a way to deal with it, hurry up and talk to me!" After entering the tent, Dorgon didn't talk nonsense, and asked Fan Wencheng directly while drinking water.

"Master, the attack of our Qing army must be launched in multiple directions, and the formation should not be too dense." Fan Wencheng did not hesitate, and immediately said his own strategy: "After all, the number of artillery in the Ming army is limited. If our army launches an attack from several directions at the same time, their artillery can't bombard all directions. If our army's attack formation spreads out, the lethality of the artillery will be much smaller. This method can also deal with the Ming army's close-range musket fire at the same time. Also, when attacking during the day, the artillery and muskets of the Ming army can easily find the target, but if my Qing army changes to attack in the dark, the lethality of the artillery and muskets of the Ming army will be much smaller. Therefore, the slave thinks, is the master right? Can we change our strategy, abandon the daytime attack, and instead attack the Ming army's position in multiple directions at night?"

After hearing this, Dorgon remained silent, frowning and thinking seriously.

Fan Wencheng didn't dare to say anything more, and stood aside with his hands down, waiting quietly for Dorgon to make a decision.

After a while, Dorgon finally loosened his thick eyebrows, nodded slightly at Fan Wencheng, and said: "What you said is good, sir, is an excellent countermeasure, but this king thinks that we will launch another attack during the day today. Otherwise, if we fail two consecutive attacks, we will give up, which will greatly affect morale. If the attack still fails to achieve results during the day, then continue at night. I don’t believe it. The artillery of the Ming army can keep firing, and there are endless shells. Hmph, as long as you find a way to rush to the front of the formation, their muskets can withstand the dense impact of our Qing army."

Seeing that Dorgon basically accepted his opinion, Fan Wencheng finally heaved a sigh of relief, he quickly knelt down and kowtowed: "Master is wise."

Dorgon signaled Fan Wencheng to get up, sat down beside him, and continued to ask some questions. Fan Wencheng didn't dare to sit down, but stood very respectfully, and told Dorgon more of his thoughts.

After resting for a while, Dorgon stood up, "The smoke is almost gone, our attack from behind can continue!"

With that said, he quickly walked out of the tent.Seeing this, Fan Wencheng quickly got up and followed out of the big tent.

Dorgon walked to the high slope where he was originally standing, and took a look at the situation on the battlefield with the monocular binoculars he got from the Ming Jiang Army.

Because several consecutive gusts of wind blew, most of the black smoke on the battlefield was blown away, and the entire battlefield situation could basically be seen clearly.

On the battlefield, there were wounded or dead Qing soldiers lying on the ground everywhere, and there were countless war horses. The tragic situation was a bit unbearable to look at.However, the front of the Ming army was the same as before the battle, without any damage, but Dorgon still couldn't see the specific formation of the Ming army.

The Ming army hid behind the fortifications. Whether it was sergeants or artillery, Dorgon couldn't see the specific situation clearly with binoculars.

However, the characters "Ming" and "Cao" hanging high above the warships of the Ming army in the canal can still be clearly seen through the telescope, and Dorgon also knows the approximate direction of Cao Yue's travel, which is the location where the largest warship is docked. nearby.He suppressed the anger in his heart and calmly gave the order to attack again.

When he gave the order, he also secretly swore that he would wipe out all the tens of thousands of Ming soldiers and smash Cao Yue into thousands of pieces.

(End of this chapter)