please make me king

Chapter 648 Shield Car
After the formation of the rebel army, Zhang Shun didn't panic at all. Not only was he not in a hurry to give orders, but the old god was sitting on his horse and yawned.

Even Wukong, who has always been big-hearted, was a little anxious.He couldn't help asking: "Master woke people up in a hurry early in the morning. Do you come here to bask in the sun or blow the northwest wind for the New Year's Eve?"

It was the [-]th day of the twelfth lunar month, and there were only two days left before the Chinese New Year.Under the pressure of officers and soldiers besieging the city, everyone was in a state of panic and precarity. How could there be any thoughts about celebrating the New Year?
It's strange to say that since Zhang Shun raised his army, he hasn't had a good year every year, even though he didn't have a good year when he was farming in Chenzhou.

People often say that "the New Year is the end of the year, and the new year is like passing the customs." Whether it is for the poor people under the Ming Dynasty or for the rebels who occupy Luoyang City today, it is generally the same.

You can breathe a sigh of relief if you pass the New Year's Pass, but if you don't pass the New Year's Pass, you will naturally stop everything.

In winter in northern China, the northwestern wind basically blows, and the rebel army happened to line up in the northwest corner of Luoyang, without any shelter, so it was naturally terribly cold.

Fortunately, the officers and soldiers are not much better, not to mention the elder brother.Although the rebel army was short of supplies, many soldiers lacked cotton-padded clothes for the winter, so they had to wear stiff cotton-padded armor to make up for it.The officers and soldiers owed a lot of salary, and even the soldiers under Lu Xiangsheng lacked shoes and trousers, let alone cotton clothes.

Fortunately, in addition to the iron leaves inside, the cotton armor on the soldiers is made of compacted cotton, which can more or less play a role in keeping out the cold.

Of course, although this thing is much better than the Ming Iron Armor, it is an armor after all, not a cotton coat.

This clothing is really hot when it should be cold, and cold when it should be hot.Now in the twelfth lunar month of winter, this cotton armor does not feel soft and wrapped around the body at all, but the neckline, sleeves and other places are full of wind.

Inside Zhang Shun's golden chain mail was a fur coat sent by San Chuan Ji Lu Sanye, which could not only serve as a lining, but also had a warming effect, which was much better than ordinary soldiers.

But Zhang Shun didn't know the hard work of the soldiers, but he knew better that the officers and soldiers were eager to fight, and the rebels could defend calmly.

The two sides waited for about half an hour. When the sun rose, Hong Chengchou, the governor of the five provinces, suddenly realized that he had forgotten one thing.

As the saying goes, "A wise man is bound to make a mistake if he thinks a lot." Hong Chengchou never thought that he would forget to calculate the sun after all the calculations.

Ordinary people generally think that the sun rises from the east, but in fact, with the different seasons, the direction where the sun rises also changes.

Generally, in spring and autumn, the sun rises from the east; in summer it rises from the northeast, and in winter it rises from the southeast.

The officers and soldiers lined up in the northwest corner of Luoyang City, facing the northeast direction.If the sun had waited until the sun had crossed Luoyang City, the sun rising from the southeast would surely dazzle the officers and soldiers, not only affecting the shooting of bows, arrows, blunderbuss, and artillery, but also affecting Hong Chengchou's observation of the battlefield.

Thinking of this, Hong Chengchou couldn't sit still anymore, he quickly ordered: "The whole army goes out!"

He didn't want to wait until the sun set in the northwest in the afternoon, and the officers and soldiers gained the advantage before launching an attack.Not only was Hong Chengchou worried that the morale of the officers and soldiers could not be maintained, but he was also worried that the rebel army would be alive and well. When "Lu Xiangsheng" came to attack, the expected effect would not be achieved.

The officers and soldiers moved, slowly.Pushing their heavy chariots, they approached the northwest of Luoyang City like snails.

A satisfied smile appeared on Zhang Shun's face, and he couldn't help but ordered: "Order the artillery on the city to prepare, the enemy approaches three hundred paces, and starts shooting!"

Of course, Hong Chengchou was not that stupid, he directly moved the large formation under his command to within the range of the artillery on the city, and let the rebels bombard him.

When the big formation was [-] steps away from the northwest corner of Luoyang City, it stood there like a small city.Immediately, the "small city" and "city gate" opened suddenly, and more than a hundred chariots filed out, continuing to approach the rebels.

The officers and soldiers were very careful, very cautious, and moved very slowly.Zhang Shun couldn't help being secretly happy, and thought: Hong Chengchou's reputation is so great, I didn't expect it to be mediocre.I have a lot of cannons, so I'm afraid you won't be able to make live targets with a few of them?
When the officers and soldiers approached [-] paces, a cannon sounded from the city, indicating that the rebels had begun to calibrate their artillery.Unexpectedly, the officers and soldiers were still unafraid and continued to advance slowly and firmly.

After a few more test shots on the city, the artillery was calibrated.Immediately, the cannons exploded, and the deafening cannons sounded continuously, and dozens of iron balls flew over in pieces.

A few of them hit the chariots of the officers and soldiers directly, but the scene of flying sawdust did not appear as Zhang Shun expected. On the contrary, after smashing the front shield of the chariot, they could not continue to cause damage.

It turned out that after Hong Cheng suffered from the artillery of the rebel army, he summoned all the generals to inquire about countermeasures.Lintao Commander Wang Chengen couldn't help offering advice: "In the past when there was an incident in Liaodong, I led troops to help the capital. I heard that Jurchen is the best at attacking the city with shield chariots. Although the artillery of the officers and soldiers is fierce, they are powerless!"

"Now that the bandits and artillery are prepared in our army, why don't we follow the example of the Jurchen Tartars and destroy them with shield chariots?"

Hong Chengchou was overjoyed when he heard this, and quickly ordered his soldiers to select a hundred chariots for modification.The soldiers were ordered to cover the front of the van with cowhide, and then piled wet soil on top of the van, and patted it firmly for defense.

These one hundred chariots looked the same as before, but their strength was not the same.The cowhide on the nails can prevent the splashing of sawdust, and the compacted soil can absorb the impact of the shells.

In this way, even if it is hit by the rebel artillery, it will not cause too many casualties.The officers and soldiers can use these shield vehicles to approach the rebels, and then use the firecrackers and artillery behind the vehicles to fight back.

Although the rebel army had a lot of artillery, it was not as numerous as the number of officers and soldiers' shield vehicles. Coupled with the poor hit rate of this era, it was even more difficult to destroy the tanks in front of them in time.

Not long after, the one hundred chariots of the officers and soldiers only cost more than a dozen damaged vehicles, and approached eighty steps in front of the rebel formation.Immediately, the officers and soldiers began to shoot at the rebels with the help of shield vehicles.

Most of the weapons used by the officers and soldiers were extermination cannons, Franglers, and bird guns. The range of the Franglers and bird guns was relatively short, and the rebels did not suffer much damage.

On the contrary, the extermination artillery in the hands of officers and soldiers is a small artillery modified with Western technology. It has a caliber of about two inches and can shoot cobblestone-sized shells.One shot could penetrate two or three soldiers, and the rebels couldn't help being terrified and began to stir up trouble.

Zhang Shun quickly ordered Li Shi'an to carry the artillery in the formation to fight back, and at the same time asked Wei Congyi to lead [-] cavalry to prepare for a surprise attack after the artillery was suppressed.

Li Shi'an carried more than a hundred cannons hidden in the formation, which were supposed to be used as trump cards at critical moments, but now he had no choice but to launch them to fight back against the officers and soldiers' shield vehicles.

(End of this chapter)