Traveler Major League

Chapter 230 Battle of Xi’an ([-])

Five days later, the city of Xi'an was quiet, but the outside of the city was very lively. Wooden observation towers were set up on military villages outside the city gate. The Ming army needed these observation towers to better observe the city. trends.

Du Wenhuan stood outside Ding'an Gate overlooking the entire west gate of Xi'an. On the battle line that stretched for several miles near the city gate, the sound of drums and horns could be heard incessantly. Along with the sound of dense footsteps, the Ming army infantry filed in from the military camp and formed many lines. A phalanx spread across the entire front. The spear phalanx in the front row was uniform. Under the command of the flags and drums, it looked like a moving forest of spears. The front row was a scattered formation, with swords, shields, fire cannons as the weapon. Lord, there are various small cannons and short muskets mixed in between.

Today is the time for the Ming army's general attack.

However, Du Wenhuan and other Ming army generals were no longer most concerned about victory or defeat. During this period, due to Liu Ze's negative attitude of retreating into the city, the Ming army mobilized all the elites they could mobilize to surround Xi'an. To prevent Liu Ze from escaping, civilians were mobilized to siege the city and dig trenches to build a military city. In particular, three earth walls were excavated in advance outside the four city gates.

If it weren't for the fact that the firecrackers in Liu Ze's hands were far more powerful than imagined, Du Wenhuan would have already led his army to attack the city. Correspondingly, while waiting for reinforcements, as time went by, the Ming army's fortifications outside the city became more and more rigorous to prevent There are all kinds of horse traps, traps, barbars, and horse traps scattered everywhere for the cavalry to break through.

Under the dim sky, the uniform formation of the red-coat army formed a sharp contrast with the sky. The elite frontier troops in the second year of Chongzhen exuded an unstoppable momentum.

"It's going to rain." Du Wenhuan looked at the dark clouds in the distance. In the spring of this Little Ice Age, spring rain mixed with snow was the norm. War broke out in the hinterland of the main grain-producing area of ​​​​the Guanzhong Plain, and both natural and man-made disasters occurred. to.

"The only thing Liu thief relies on is a fire blunderbuss. How can an unarmored ant thief be called a soldier? The spring rain is coming as scheduled, and God wants to kill Liu thief!" Du Wenhuan drew out the long knife from his waist and slashed it diagonally upward at 45 degrees to destroy him as soon as possible. Liu thief, otherwise we will miss the spring plowing when the weather gets warmer, and there will be another great famine next year!

"Prepare for battle!"

The officers and soldiers who had already set up their positions, the trumpets sounded, and the flags of various frontline units responded one after another. Du Wenhuan looked around and saw that the formation was bright red, the flags were fluttering, and the cloth armor was still bright in the dim weather. Standing on the lookout Above, the entire front line showed a moon formation, and in the distance, there was finally a movement on the top of Xi'an City under this pressure. Rows of military green soldiers were distributed behind the battlements, raising their guns to take aim. It was just the city. There was no sign of any rolling wood or stone on his head, not even the artillery he had seen before.

"With the help of the spring rain, let's see how you can use the fire blunderbuss." As Du Wenhuan's words fell, the raindrops fell more densely, and the cold wind became more wild. It is most difficult to charge the fire blunderbuss.

Du Wenhuan is also a man who has experienced hundreds of battles. He can see at a glance that the momentum of the people's army is not weaker than his own army. It is precisely because of this that he consciously takes advantage and still chooses this bad weather to weaken the power of Liu Ze's fire guns as much as possible before attacking. The reason, but he couldn't figure it out. At this time, these soldiers who only had fire guns and short spears and wore military green cloth didn't seem to have low morale. They lined up in a tight and orderly manner.

"Shouldn't they be afraid?"

Suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, the perseverance honed by years of battles came back. He winked at Cao Tong. Du Wenhuan left his heavily damaged Jingqi behind the Chinese army for repairs, while Cao Tong He was temporarily transferred to the Central Army because Cao Tong suffered heavy losses at the hands of Liu Tie and was more familiar with Liu Tie's combat routines.

"Mr. Cao Qian, what do you think of Liu Thief's defense of the city?"

"The outside is loose and the inside is tight. In the past few days, the bandits have allowed our troops to set up strongholds and besieged them, without coming out to fight. However, the subordinates tried to attack many times. Every time they reached [-] steps from each side, they were driven back by their fire blunderbuss. There were also explosive shells falling from the sky. Even the shields and chariots cannot be fully protected, and the weapons are so exquisite that they cannot be broken without attacking from all sides. The spring rain is coming suddenly today, God help me, our army will win!" Cao Tong looked at it for a while, and then said to Du Wenhuan: " However, my lord, I see that the Liu bandits' formation is to defend the city of Xi'an. Now that most of our army has arrived, we will surround them at the top and attack them at the bottom. The people's infantry is strong and the cavalry is weak, but our cavalry is strong. In this plain of Jedi, although the bandits have sophisticated weapons and the defense of the city seems impregnable, there are still flaws."

"Tell me something." Du Wenhuan said.

"You can't hold on for a long time if you don't have food. There are millions of people in the city. Without food, there will be chaos. Since Liu Ze was born, he has often talked a lot to win people's hearts and gathered hungry people to survive. He only captured Xi'an because Xi'an has not been in war for a long time. The defense is just lax."

"shit!"

"Sir, please wait at least a few more days. It's not too late to wait for our army's artillery to arrive before attacking the city. Otherwise, if you force the brothers to attack the city, there will be heavy casualties." Cao Tong said again, and the army had already said it many times. In the Ming army's frontier army system, almost all of them used artillery as the core of firepower output, and the routine of coordination on horseback and foot. This time, they came in a hurry, only with the tiger crouching cannon, pack cannon, guzhu cannon, and franc. Small cannons such as machine guns and prisoner-killing cannons, taking the Pearl Cannon as an example, have one 18-tael iron bullet, ten 38-tael lead bullets, and ten 76-tael iron bullets, with a total projection of [-] taels, and eight taels of propellant, once The quality of the ammunition projected is equivalent to [-] salvoes of five-cent bird cannons.

Although powerful, these are only suitable for field battles and not suitable for sieges. On this rainy day, it is expected that while the firearms of the People's Army will be ineffective, the bows and arrows, three-eyed blunderbuss and bird blunderbuss commonly used in the Ming army will also lose their effect. This almost indicates that The next battle will be the bloodiest hand-to-hand combat with heavy casualties.

Du Wenhuan nodded. Cao Tong's words were exactly what he wanted. However, this battle is not purely military but political. Once Xi'an cannot be captured for a long time, the world will be in chaos. I am afraid that the first step will be the Holy Emperor's subordinates. A criminal edict was issued.

"It will take half a month for General Jiuhu's artillery to arrive. Attacking the city is not a field battle. Even if we wait, we can only destroy the battlements. Xi'an is a huge city and cannot be destroyed by this artillery in a short time. The Liu thieves are holding on to the city. Needless to say, the city gates The inner side is blocked with bricks and stones, and the city gate cannot be breached with artillery. Even the three urns require human lives to attack." Du Wenhuan explained that he had a unique preference for this brave young general, and he gradually became a teacher by teaching his younger generations. A hobby for people his age.

The general cannon mentioned here is a large artillery commonly used by the Ming army. It was manufactured and used in October of the ninth year of Jiajing (1530). The body is made of pig iron. It is more than three feet long and weighs 2000 kilograms. It has a star in the front and a rear sight. The charge is more than one kilogram, and the shells weigh three to five kilograms. The range can reach some one mile, and even most can reach two miles. The barrel has multiple reinforced hoops, which are divided into large, medium and small. It can fire 7 kilograms, The 3-pound and 1-pound lead bullets are carried in a vehicle. The wheels are high in the front and low in the rear. They can be fired directly from the vehicle. They are heavy guns with great power.

At this moment, a lookout soldier shouted: "The city gate is open!"

This shout interrupted the conversation between Du Wenhuan and Cao Tong. Raindrops fell densely, and the creaking sound of the city gate opening seemed to be right in front of my ears. After all the city gates were opened, an extremely round car with a height of nearly three meters appeared. , a behemoth with a length of 7.5 meters and a width of 3 meters drove out of it.The rumbling engine noise and the metallic friction of the tracks could be heard even by Du Wenhuan, who was two miles away.

"Could it be that the Liu thief wants to surrender?" Cao Tong pointed to the closed city gate in the distance. This behemoth leaving the city alone has a shocking beauty. It is similar to the sidecars commonly used by the Ming army at this time, but it travels faster. A lot of things happened, and the red flag on top was unfolded in the rain during the march, which was full of a sense of speed.

"Want to surrender?" Du Wenhuan put away his sword and stroked his beard.

At this time, an official on the side also stepped forward and talked: "There are no soldiers in the car. It is traveling so fast, so the body of the car must be extremely light." The sidecars in the Ming army were 1.3 feet long, 0.9 feet wide, and 0.75 feet high. Each two vehicles is equipped with a carbine gun in the middle to fill the gap. The upper and lower parts of the vehicle frame are surrounded by cotton tents to prevent arrows and stones. The vehicle is equipped with two Franconian machines, a thunder flying cannon and six rapid guns each at the bottom. Each Juma gun has 12 long guns on the top, thunder cannons on the bottom, six fast guns each, and 25 pawns per vehicle, so it can only travel on flat ground and is extremely slow.

This speculation aroused the approval of the surrounding generals, but there was also a discordant voice: "Could the cylinder on it be a cannon?"

"The cannon is so long and thick. Isn't it three thousand pounds? How can the cart travel so fast?"

The objector thought for a moment and said, "That's true."

"Is it really necessary to surrender?"

"The one-carriage coming here must be afraid of the power of our army! Look, it has stopped! There seems to be someone on it!"

Du Wenhuan nodded, "He goes on a rampage without knowing etiquette! Come on, who wants to see what kind of medicine is in Liu Thief's gourd?"

"I go!"

"I am coming too!"

Not long after, while the subordinates were fighting over each other, Du Wenhuan selected the most capable people and then stopped competing for credit. "It's time to organize and promote the flag, and we must not reduce the military power of our army!"

"As ordered!"

Surrounded by nearly a hundred soldiers, this army of officers and soldiers sounded gongs to clear the way, and passed through the temporary wooden planks laid above the trench. "The Liu thief wants to surrender, and our army will win without a fight soon!" These words were heard all the way! The news spread as the flag was waving, and the Ming troops along the way cheered when they heard the guess of the subordinates in the team.

"I thought it was going to be a fierce battle, but Thief Liu is a softie!"

"It is said that Liu Ze, the leader of the bandit, is a scholar who has no strength. He must have been scared out of his wits when he saw us. He sent a side car to drop him, but no one dared to come out, so he just stuck his head there. Only the head is exposed, could it be that he is afraid of dying from being lost?"

As the flags fluttered, a voice came from the car, which was alone facing the Ming army formation with no horizon in sight.

"There's a Ming army coming. Do you want to fire?"

"The Yankees said that a group of Ming troops are coming. Do you want to open fire?" one person translated.

"Wait a minute, wait until they have passed the trench, and first aim at the Ming army official on the observation tower. It is the one with the most flags, the most gorgeous clothes, and the biggest pomp." Only one head of the crew-cut man was visible at the top. He glanced back and forth through the telescope and spoke into the microphone in his throat. The clear words could be heard clearly in the noisy environment inside the vehicle. This is a Sherman medium tank that has been modified with a modern communication system. The gunner and driver are composed of The original owner of the tank was the tank's owner, and the other commanders, loaders, and radio operators were volunteer veterans from the Third World.

"Alright, I'm waiting for your order. This antique tank from World War II, coupled with this hard-earned shell, is about to unleash its power again, do you believe? My grandfather has driven this type of tank before."

"What did this foreigner say?"

"He said he listened to you." The radio operator who acted as translator and machine gunner wiped the sweat from his hands. Although he had learned to operate the 0.30-inch caliber machine gun in the spherical machine gun mount on the front of the car on the previous shooting range, he could really Targeting real people still has some psychological barriers.

(End of this chapter)