Chapter 1944 Gui Zi Juan crosses the sea to kill the long whale and starts an all-out war. How difficult is life and death?
“Bang! Bang! Bang!”
The projectile drew an arc that was not straight in the air, and hit the city gate with huge potential energy. It broke through the city gate in an instant. The iron-wrapped city gate also had horizontal bars and wooden grilles inside, and it still remained. Unable to resist the huge collision force driven by gunpowder, a terrifying hole was formed in the city gate.
And the dozen or so soldiers who gathered behind the city gate were like melons and mud, with **** and **** limbs scattered around. The screams, howls, and cries for help could be heard incessantly, and it was extremely tragic.
At this time, not many people could take care of this. The follow-up shield carts in the city hurriedly pushed up, intending to block the broken city gate. Everyone knew that this point was the most critical. Once it was defeated, Then everything will be over.
But then two more artillery shells were concentrated at the city gate. Five or six seemingly solid shield vehicles were instantly shattered and disintegrated under the impact of such projectiles that could not be resisted by human power. Twenty or thirty soldiers were also taken away. His life left a city gate hole like a gourd of blood.
You Shilu's eyes were cold, he took back the telescope and handed it to the soldiers beside him, "Order the front army to prepare. When the wall around the North City Gate is broken, they will engage in battle. In half an hour, I will see the North City." The door is in our hands."
The early contact battle in the ancient city was not going well. You Shilu had already been reprimanded by Sun Chengzong twice in letters. The main reason was that Sun Shaozu was too cunning and had been fighting in small groups and refused to fight head-on.
You Shilu also had some problems, mainly due to the shortage of firearms troops. In addition, the number of cavalry troops going south this time was even thinner, so he always felt constrained and made himself very dissatisfied.
Sun Shaozu's Datong Army had a large number of cavalry, and they cooperated very well with the Datong Army. They adopted a steady and mobile fighting method in the north and west of Gucheng County. The infantry faced off against the Jizhen Army, and then immediately summoned the cavalry. The army attacked from the flanks, making it difficult for the Jizhen Army to gain an advantage, and then retreated steadily to the Gucheng County in this way.
Sun Chengzong angrily criticized You Shilu for delaying the battle in order to preserve his strength. He originally asked him to reach the gate of the old city within ten days, but it was delayed until the twentieth. The two also had constant exchanges in their letters.
You Shilu also knew that if he couldn't perform well in the battle of Gucheng, he was afraid that Sun Chengzong would take advantage of him in the future, so he was upset and prepared to let go when the army finally approached the county seat of Gucheng. Beaten.
More than ten bronze cannons were slowly pushed to the ground less than 300 steps away from the city gate. Soldiers continued to work hard to twist the winch to raise the muzzle of the cannon. There were two specialized auxiliary soldiers beside them who were calculating the shooting angle and distance to achieve optimal shooting accuracy.
Ji Town should be the first group to start reforming the artillery team. In addition to innovating the production process of bronze cannons, Ji Town and Liaodong Town recruited soldiers from Guangdong and Luzon at almost the same time. Several Western missionaries and gunners, on the one hand, taught how to use the new bronze cannon, and on the other hand, they began to learn the range measurement and calculation of the new bronze cannon.
Fortunately, after Feng Ziying asked Duan Xigui to learn and popularize the earliest new arithmetic and double-entry accounting methods among the merchant apprentices, a large number of the most basic students were cultivated, so when the Liaodong Town and Jizhen Artillery Teams both realized this understanding When students with arithmetic and distance calculation methods became more useful, they naturally became thirsty for talents. In addition to recruiting many people, they also began to actively train such soldiers.
It must be said that Feng Ziying responded to Duan Xigui's request and recruited a large number of distant descendants of the Feng and Duan families in Linqing and Datong to learn arithmetic and double-entry accounting, which played a key role. After one year of study, this group of people Then he worked in Haitong Yinzhuang and the related Gyeonggi Coal, Iron and Military Industrial Complex, which served as a seed. Under the training and teaching method similar to night school in Haitong Yinzhuang and Gyeonggi Coal, Iron and Military Industrial Complex, many talents were cultivated. A large number of apprentices who were proficient in calculation and double-entry bookkeeping were recruited into the army's artillery corps.
With a foundation in arithmetic, and after being taught by Western gunners, the new bronze cannon even underwent two rounds of improvements. In particular, the angle of the muzzle was adjusted by a winch to quickly complete the aiming problem of the gun carriage, which also made the original rather cumbersome and slow. The effectiveness of the gun carriage has been greatly improved.
“Ready! Release!”
There was another round of fierce bombardment, and more than a dozen bronze cannons roared one after another, spitting out huge projectiles, flying out along sharp arcs, heading straight for the city gate.
You Shilu withdrew his eyes from the telescope with satisfaction and smiled: "Very good, this round was a good fight, but the Datong Army is not an ordinary person. I didn't expect that Sun Shaozu didn't find anything surprising. He was here, but he trained these soldiers to be quite fierce. Under such a fierce attack, they didn't even get into trouble..."
"Sir, this old city is a key part of the Northern Line Iron Triangle. Without the old city, the flanks of Dezhou will be completely exposed to us, and the canal can be easily cut off by us." It is impossible for Sun Shaozu not to understand this. , he must also put his elite here, if he loses it here, the leader of the army will probably have to sacrifice his head when he goes back."
The person who answered was Li Sanwang, one of You Shilu's most trusted men. He had big yellow teeth, a lion's head and a nose, and a beard. He looked even ferocious, but he was a good fighter, especially when charging into battle and fighting hand-to-hand. He was extremely brave and brave. enemy.
"Well, no wonder this group of people risked their lives to counterattack. The power of such artillery can actually be resisted by human beings. The shield vehicles are very useful against the artillery team, but in front of the artillery team, they are like chickens and dogs. , defeated in one blow, completely useless.”
Speaking of this, You Shilu was a little shocked by the scene he just saw in the telescope.
Although the artillery bombardment was also used in actual combat during the drill, it was a drill after all, and considering the lifespan of the gun barrel, it was already very rare to be able to fire two rounds to show the soldiers under his command, but today he was considered I have truly seen what it means to be invincible and what it means to be invincible.
It turns out that with the intensive shooting of the Fire Gun Team and the arbitrary angle changes of the formation, even when facing cavalry, as long as you choose the right position, you can still be fearless. This has made You Shilu feel more and more the power of this hot weapon. , but after truly seeing the power of the artillery team today, he has made up his mind that after this battle, he must ask his brother to transfer the other two artillery teams to him. This will be very useful for siege warfare.
There was another round of banging. You Shilu, who was thinking and leaning forward, subconsciously raised his telescope and observed again. This round of bombardment obviously lowered the height, and almost all of it poured on the line of the city wall centered on the city gate. On the top, the masonry and soil of the city wall continued to collapse, and then became crumbling. Finally, when a projectile hit the upper end of a crack in the middle of the city wall, the city wall less than five steps next to the city gate suddenly collapsed. .
"Well done!" You Shilu waved his hand violently, with a flush on his face, and roared excitedly: "This time the city is broken, the artillery team has to take the lead. I will ask the court for credit on their behalf, and order The Fire Gun Team immediately followed up and opened the gap!"
The flag bearer at the height behind You Shilu immediately began to wave the red, black and white flags in his hands, using the flag language to instruct the fire gun team in front to start the attack. The observer who had been observing all the time saw the order conveyed by the flag language. And convey the order to the leader of the Fire Gun Team.
The firecrackers who had already lined up behind were accompanied by a burst of shrill whistles, one long and three short. The firecrackers began to move forward steadily with their guns silently. The formation was slightly larger than the previous assembly. So that the pace can be doubled.
The spearmen and shieldmen who were swarming from both sides also began to spread out. Their speed was slightly faster than the fire gunmen, because they had to provide two-wing cover for the fire gun carriers who were preparing to attack. protection in order to maximize the firepower advantage.
Yo Shilu's firecrackers team did not have heavy firecrackers such as turtledoves. He was almost entirely equipped with light firecrackers, mainly matchlocks, and there were a small number of self-generated firecrackers as his personal soldiers, or as his own soldiers. The reserve team numbered less than 300 people.
But the equipment of this personal army was all obtained from the consortium through his painstaking efforts through connections with Feng Ziying, and the money has not yet been paid in full.
The price of the matchlock gun is much cheaper than the self-generated firegun, but the steps to use it are much more complicated. However, for the big-headed soldiers, they can practice all day long if they have nothing to do, so this is not a big problem. It is better than having to become a proficient Archers don't know how much easier it is.
As the Fire Gun Team approached, the entire city wall and the Datong Army, which was blocking the gap crazily, also poured out of the gap. They knew very well that if they did not disrupt the Fire Gun Team when they were assembled, then they would have no choice but to become enemies. A living target, and no one around this gap will be spared.
Seeing hundreds of people pouring out from the gap, the whistles from the experienced officers' mouths became short and fierce. The spear team suddenly accelerated like a pair of pokers piercing and closing in the middle, resisting the enemy who wanted to charge, and The now rested Fire Gun Team began to raise their guns and aim in an orderly manner. Their target was not the assault camp in front, but the crossbowmen on the city wall who were still guarding the city.
First deal with these people and completely eliminate their threat. Then these infantry will lose their support and they will have no choice but to wait and die.
It's getting better, I'll take my time to make up for it. A new volume, a new beginning.
(End of this chapter)