Guide to Traveling through the Northern Song Dynasty.

Chapter 382 0377 [Firearms and Cannons]

A few months ago, Zhong Shidao went south from Baoxie Road, and the whole army had nearly 5000 people (excluding civilian husbands).

The main components of the army are the Zhongjia Army and the Zhejia Army.

Kind of teacher is the main general, and he can be asked to be the deputy general.

In the northern section of the Xiegu, water and land can be sent together, but gradually it is necessary to cross mountains and ridges, and the grain transport ships can no longer be used. Next, people and animals must be used to carry grain and grass honestly.

When we arrived at Baogu, we traveled a certain distance, and we were able to transport grain by boat.

But not a single boat was found, and even the nearby villages were emptied, and all the villagers near the river in Baogu fled.

Then they had to continue to travel by land, the water flow here was fast, and the improvised boats and rafts were never dared to be used to transport grain.

Zhu thief seems to be very conscientious, and the plank road has not been demolished all the way.

Until approaching Baogukou...

The plank road, which is eight miles long, has been completely demolished!

For Ju Ming, after the plank road is demolished, it can be repaired at any time.

Because he used professional tools, he could easily remove the trestle beam by knocking off the long triangular wedge.Put away those trestle beams and install them in the future, it just takes some time.

But it is very difficult to learn the way of teaching.

Seeing that it was empty, only the cliff with countless trestle holes remained, Zhong Shidao took a long time to hold back a sentence: "Build the plank road!"

These three words are easy to say, but tormenting when done.

Because the Western Army has no ships, but Zhu Ming does have them, and there are quite a few of them.

There are dozens of warships refitted from large merchant ships.

A small leveling cannon was placed on the deck, and it went up against the Baoshui, aiming at the Western Army on the edge of the cliff and firing.

The Western Army of Zhongshidao not only has the largest number, but also has sufficient equipment.A large number of bed crossbows and divine arm bows were dragged out to shoot at the warships.

Both the bed crossbow and the divine arm bow are "big killers", and they can shoot farther and aim more accurately than the flat cannon.

They shoot at each other like this every day, and there are some casualties, which seriously slows down the pace of building the plank road.

The unlucky Zhongshi Dao, with tens of thousands of troops crowded there, can't do anything, and his daily job is to send people to build the plank road.

Well, I am also building some boats and rafts, and I have to prepare for the next step out of Baogukou.

A small number of rebel warships will sail further upstream, trying to find a place to land and attack the grain road.

However, the Zhongshi Road was tightly guarded, and the several transfer stations on the Baogu Grain Road were all guarded by heavy soldiers, so the rebels could not find a chance to burn the rations.

The two sides spent like this, and it took more than two months.

……

"The Shimen is ahead, so we can't do it without force." Zhong Shidao was worried.

Shimen are two artificial tunnels, located on the banks of Baoshui River.Through repeated fire and water pouring, a mountainside tunnel with a height of more than 3 meters and a width of more than 4 meters was opened. (The stone gate on the west wall is 15 meters long, and the stone gate on the east wall is 16.5 meters long.)
After passing the Shimen, you can go out of Baogu.

You can also go by water, but the temporary rafts built by the Western Army are not enough.

"Report!!!!"

Zhong Shidao took the letter and said after reading it: "There are also bandits in Shahe, and they have built camps. It is difficult to conquer the system."

12 miles away from Shimen, there is a small river that can be detoured. After leaving the mountain, it is between Baocheng County and Xixian County.

Although it is difficult for the army to move, it is still possible to send a small group of elites to attack.

Anyway, it takes time to build the plank road, and if you are idle, you will be idle. To cultivate the teacher's way, you will send Orihiko and lead troops to attack.

It is conceivable that the surprise attack failed.

The camp of the rebel army was stuck in a dangerous place in the valley, and only [-] soldiers were stationed there, without tens of thousands of people, it would be impossible to defeat them.

At this moment, the plank road has been built more than ten meters away from Shimen.

The Xijun who was in charge of repairing the plank road wore infantry armor weighing tens of kilograms, and even pulled off his helmet and neck to protect his face and neck.The same is true of the soldier who puts the trestle, and the same is true of the soldier who pulls him with the rope behind.

Every time a beam is put in place, someone has to be replaced to work.

Not only was he exhausted enough, but his whole body was covered with arrows, and he was shot into a hedgehog by the rebels long ago.

It's a pity that Zhu Ming doesn't have a bed crossbow and a magic arm bow, otherwise one arrow would be one!
But Ju Ming has other interests.

In the artificial tunnels on both sides of Baoshui, a musketeer walked to the entrance of the cave.

Several heavily armed soldiers of the Western Army were using ropes to pull their comrades to work at high altitudes, when they suddenly saw someone holding a strange stick in the stone gate.

What the hell is that?

"boom!"

With a gunshot, the iron armor was pierced.

The soldiers of the Western Army who were laying the trestle were convulsed and struggling with pain, and the hammer in their hand fell into the river.

The Western Army behind dragged the rope back, and found that the neck of the dun had been pierced, and there was a bloody hole in the neck.

The accuracy of the blunderbuss is very high, with a distance of more than ten meters, not only can it easily hit the target, but it can also aim at the neck and shoot.

The soldiers who were in charge of building the plank road all flinched in fright.

A quarter of an hour later, the body was dragged to display in front of Zhong Shidao.

Zhong Shidao first observed the punctured neck, and then looked at the wound, and used a knife to pick out a lead bullet that had been deformed by impact.

"What do the bandit soldiers' weapons look like?" Zhong Shi asked.

The soldiers of the Western Army who witnessed the whole process replied in horror: "A stick about three feet long, raised to ignite, there will be a bang, and there will be smoke."

Zhu Guoxiang and Zhu Ming also made flintlock guns, but for some reason, the firing rate just couldn't increase.The flintlock gun was fired ten times, but three or four times it failed to fire, so it was decided to mass-produce matchlock guns first.

Zhe Keqiu also came over, and after examining it carefully, he muttered, "Could it be that the Zhu thief really knows how to bewitch?"

Decades after the establishment of the Southern Song Dynasty, the Song people also developed tubular firearms.

But instead of firing bullets, it's like a flamethrower.It originated from the gunpowder formula in the Northern Song Dynasty that would not explode after being ignited, but would burn violently.

This kind of flamethrower was learned by the Jinren and even used against the Mongols.

As for the invention of the musket, we have to wait another 100 years.

Zhong Shidao convened a meeting with the generals to study what weapons the Zhu thief possessed.

There are different opinions, and they all talk about the magic and fairy art.

Zhe Kecun said: "The old Zhu thief has a celestial relationship overseas, most likely it is some kind of magic weapon bestowed by the celestial beings."

Zhong Hao said: "With this kind of magic weapon of the immortal family, it is difficult to repair the last few feet of the plank road. We have to attack from the water with a raft."

Zhe Keqiu said: "Hundreds of boats, big and small, have been built, and hundreds of bamboo and wooden rafts have been built. But the bandits have big boats, and our army is all small boats and rafts. I am afraid that water warfare will be difficult to deal with."

All the generals now understand that it is very difficult to win against the bandits.

The plank road, which is several miles long, has been repaired to the last ten meters, and it looks like it will be done, but it is blocked by a strange weapon.

Originally wearing infantry armor to protect the whole body, even being shot like a hedgehog would not kill him, but that kind of weapon can directly pierce the iron armor!

Zhong Xi said: "Can you make a huge shield, cover it with several layers of cowhide, and then smear it with blood and feces, maybe you can break this magic weapon."

"You can try." The teacher nodded.

Cowhide is a strategic material, and a lot of it was brought with the army. It was originally used to make siege equipment.

The way of teaching teachers directly allows craftsmen to make chariots, which can be pushed on the plank road.

The chariot stretches out a three-foot-long wooden pole, and the front of the wooden pole is a wooden plank.

On the surface of the board, nail ten layers of cowhide, and then smear feces and other filthy things.

The soldiers of the Western Army pushed forward tremblingly, and the soldiers responsible for repairing the plank road hid behind the cowhide boards.I no longer wear heavy armor, and go into battle lightly to do things well.

The rebels fired two shots, but to no avail.

Ten layers of cowhide, it would be amazing to wear it through!

The soldiers of the Western Army were overjoyed, it seems that the filthy things can really break the spell.

A plank road several meters long was repaired, and the rebels carried a tiger squatting gun to the entrance of Shimen Cave.

Instead of shotgun, use solid bullets.

Only ten meters away, and fired at the cowhide baffle.

I don't know if it will wear ten layers of cowhide, but the wooden boards behind it will definitely not hold up.

"boom!"

There were two loud bangs in a row, and the stone gates on the east and west walls fired shells at the cowhide baffles on the opposite side.

The planks were made of ordinary trees that were felled casually, and were instantly shattered, but not completely shattered, and were joined together by cowhide.

But it doesn't matter, the wooden pole supporting the baffle was directly blown off.

The wooden planks and cowhide were smashed back, and the soldiers who were repairing the plank road died instantly, being knocked to death alive.

This battle is much bigger than the previous bird guns.

The generals who got the results were all too frightened to speak, the Zhu thief's magic weapon was too powerful, and there was more than one kind.

After thinking hard for a long time, Master Zhong said: "Build more boats and rafts, and attack from the water."

Zhu thief has two powerful magical weapons, even if the plank road is completely repaired, it is impossible to kill him through the stone gate.

The Western Army attacked from the plank road, at most two people attacking side by side.The rebels put their artillery at the entrance of the tunnel, and one cannon could fire a series, because the Western Army lined up on the plank road.

If the Western Army was really brave enough to hold muskets and cannons and rush to Shimen between loading and ammunition, they would also be stabbed repeatedly by the spear array.Then, the guns were filled with ammunition, and they fired at the face at close range.

Zhong Shidao ordered the soldiers to cut down trees and bamboo crazily, and the largest boat made temporarily could carry more than ten soldiers.

Ships and rafts gradually became more abundant, but it was difficult for Zhong Shidao to make up his mind to attack.

Because the odds of winning are close to zero.

"Jing Lue, Gao Taiwei sent a letter to urge again!"

After reading the letter, Zhong Shidao sat there for a while without saying a word.

The imperial court urged Gao Qiu Gao Qiu to urge the teacher to teach, anyway, it had one meaning, to enter Hanzhong as soon as possible to wipe out the bandits.

But how can he survive this damn terrain?

There are cliffs on both sides of the strait, and the Western Army can only pass through the plank road.However, the rebel army occupied two artificial tunnels and blocked the plank road. Even without muskets and artillery, the two sides only fought with cold weapons, and it would be difficult for the western army on the plank road to win.

The rebel army not only had large ships, but also arranged heavy troops at the landing point downstream.

What Zhong Shidao didn't know was that there were iron-cast giant cannons on both sides of the downstream, just waiting for the Western Army to pass by by boat and raft.

Moreover, the Western Army had to board the ship eight miles away, because the plank road area could not dock the rafts.

Eight miles away, Baoshui is still in the flood season. Facing the turbulent river, how can small boats and rafts control it?By the time they floated downstream to look for a landing point, they had already rushed to the east and west, and the soldiers of the various ministries could not organize the battle at all.

Even if you attack from the water, you have to wait until the dry season in winter.

Zhong Shidao decided to wait until the water level of Baoshui dropped.

And Gao Qiu was rushed by Wang Fu, and messengers came over every few days, urging Zhong Shidao to attack quickly.

(End of this chapter)