Iron Age

The sound of golden bells sounded again in the Qing Dynasty's large formation, and the infantry under the iron factory retreated like a tide, leaving behind several blazing buildings, javelin-like hedgehog-like buildings and corpses all over the ground.

The young emperor's face had turned blue. He was unwilling to fail and decided to fight again with the whole army.The iron factory's weapons should be almost exhausted.

"Come closer to the return cannon and hit it hard. Let the soldiers find a way to get the infantry close to the city wall," the emperor ordered.

There were many talented people in the army of the Qing Dynasty, so they quickly figured out a way to let the elite archers hide in the carts transporting grain and grass. The carts were covered with soil bags and soaked quilts, which could prevent crossbows and fire javelins.Pushed to the bottom of the city, the archers can shoot accurately and suppress the firing port of the iron factory.In addition, small return cannons were sent to approach the suspension bridge regardless of casualties, trying to blast the suspension bridge down, so that the crash vehicles that were also covered with quilts and soil bags could smash open the city gate, and the cavalry could charge directly into the city.

The emperor felt that the solution was feasible, so he arranged for his generals to deliver orders. It was getting late, and he hadn't rested for a day from morning to evening. He tried to take down the iron factory before it got dark. I wanted to stay in a heated house in the southern dynasty Overnight, the Emperor thought so.

The snow did not know when it stopped, and the gloomy sky seemed to be brewing for the next heavy snow.The emperor sang in a low voice, and said to the guards: "Prepare me wine, I will see the city broken by a lamp."

Soldiers on both sides began to eat, and smoke was everywhere. The corpse collection team of the Qing Dynasty held a white flag and took advantage of the truce to pull a cart to clean up the corpses of the soldiers who died in the Qing Dynasty. The iron factory did not stop them, but only when they were close to the city wall. Threatened with arrows.

The battlefield is littered with corpses, corpses of people and horses everywhere, flags, weapons, chariots, and countless wounded soldiers wailing in despair. The kind corpse collectors often make up for these seriously injured guys and finish them off. Endless pain.

Old man Peng set up a banquet for Liu Ziguang, the hero who saved his daughter. He listened to Peng Jingrong explain everything to him in detail, including Liu Ziguang's background and his previous contributions in the account room.The old man who listened kept nodding.

The city may be attacked at any time outside. The banquet is at the level of a casual banquet. There are no fancy dishes, shochu, dumplings, braised pork, a few fish, a chicken, and a few ordinary vegetarian dishes. The factory owner sits on the table, two Accompanied by the young lady, Liu Ziguang sat in the guest of honor seat, and Yu Xiaolong also attended the event, thanks to his efforts.

After some polite words, the old man Peng tentatively asked: "Manager Liu, the fact that you were framed by the traitor has come to light. This old man wants to appoint you as the chief accountant of the iron factory and also the deputy general of the iron guard. Would you like it?"

Next to him, Peng Jingrong looked at Liu Ziguang eagerly, hoping that he would quickly nod in agreement.

Liu Ziguang ate a few mouthfuls of food, and absently replied casually: "I don't want to." Now Liu Ziguang is a bold man, and he is not afraid to turn against anyone at all. He is absolutely sure to subdue the old man before the guards at the door react , so unceremoniously rejected the kind invitation of the factory owner.

"Why?" The old man was very puzzled, such a favorable condition was simply a godsend for a person who was born as a slave.This kid actually refused without even thinking about it.

Peng Jingrong's face turned pale.Peng Jingwei also opened her mouth wide in shock, looking at Liu Ziguang for a while, and at her father for a while.

"No reason, I don't want to work for slave owners now, I hate slave owners." Liu Ziguang remained expressionless and continued to eat.Living in slavery for more than a year made him very uncomfortable, and it was time to pay back the debt.

"Oh, that's how it is, how about it, as I said just now, your brothers are now free, I don't care about killing the three hundred guards, I will compensate you for all the suffering you have suffered all these years , As for raising slaves, it’s a long story, and I can’t change it on my own. You can see if this is satisfactory.”

Years of slave life has formed Liu Ziguang's habit of eating very fast. Before others have touched his chopsticks, he has already finished eating. He squats on a chair and wipes his mouth with his sleeve, and picks a hardwood thorn from the chair with his nails to pick his teeth. .What about the prime minister's lieutenant, if it were yesterday, he would be interested, but now it's different, not to mention the miraculous skills, and there are five hundred brothers, the temptation to go out and make a fortune is far greater than being a white-collar worker in an iron factory.

"Let's talk about it, you eat first, I'll go out and have a look." Liu Ziguang patted his butt, left the people in the room behind, and went to the tower to see the scenery.

Seeing Liu Ziguang acting so unreasonably in front of her father, Peng Jingrong didn't dare to intervene even though she was in a hurry. Seeing Liu Ziguang going out, her father was actually not angry, sitting there thoughtfully, the girl calmed down a little.

Liu Ziguang wandered to the city wall, looking at the Qing army in the distance. One hundred thousand troops had already set up camp and were burying pots for cooking. A bowl of sauce, scallions dipped in sauce, and hot noodle soup. The officers all hid in tents and didn’t know what to eat. The wax illuminated the Qing camp as if it were daytime.

Countless gas lamps were lit on the city wall of the iron factory, and they competed to see who was brighter.After a while, the soldiers of the Qing Dynasty had a full meal and began to form a team. A new round of attack was about to begin.

The large crash vehicles covered with wet quilts and sandbags began to move forward. Each vehicle can carry fifty soldiers. Twenty such large crash vehicles were dispatched in this round of attack. Soldiers with long shields formed a formation. After entering the tortoise formation, except for the feet and the back, everything else is protected by rectangular iron shields. From a distance, it is invisible iron formations moving one by one.

In the return artillery position, orders came and went. In order to pursue a better strike effect, the position was moved forward slightly, and replaced with flame bombs and iron bullets that were more effective in breaking the city. The small return artillery was driven by the artillery that is not afraid of death. Begin to approach the walls, ready to provide direct fire support to the infantry.

The owner of the factory brought a few men down to the tower, and his two daughters were sent back to be responsible for the manufacture of the city defense equipment. All the workshops of the iron factory were activated. In order to defend the city, they worked overtime to produce weapons, and the finished products in the warehouse also All shipped to the north gate.For the defenders to use at any time.

The iron factory has three major functions: a mine, a smelter, and an arsenal. The war potential is almost the same as that of Leningrad. The loss of weapons can hardly be considered. After all, it is the largest contractor to provide weapons and equipment for the imperial army!Now all of this is under the command of the old factory owner with high prestige, and it is running with unprecedented efficiency. The first kick of the Southern Expedition Army of the Qing Dynasty was kicked on the iron plate.

The factory owner asked his subordinates: "Is the cannon in place?"

"My lord, the cannon has been connected to the steam pipe, and the pressure is sufficient, ready to fire at any time!"

Old man Peng nodded in satisfaction, and walked towards a huge barrel-shaped weapon on the city wall. Liu Ziguang was very curious and followed to watch.

This is a cannon, a cannon launched by the power of steam. The steam is injected into the air chamber through the pipe, and the pressure is constantly increasing, squeezing the piston, and the piston is blocked by the steel breech block, so the pressure continues to rise. When the temperature rises to a critical point, the gunner suddenly releases the breech breech, and the suffocated steam quickly pushes the piston to move, shooting the shells loaded in the barrel far away. The stroke is long, and the barrel is sealed, so the shells and The barrel is tightly combined, so the range is extremely long and the power is extremely powerful.

Still waiting for the order to launch, the gunner watched the pressure gauge nervously, releasing a little steam to relieve the pressure every time it reached the critical point, so as not to explode the chamber.

The old man Peng carefully checked the cannon, picked up the binoculars and looked at the returning cannon in the distance, and ordered: "Test fire a shot and correct the trajectory."

The gunner waited for the pointer of the pressure gauge to point to the red zone, and yanked the gun rope, and the steel bolt was pulled away. With a loud noise, something was ejected from the muzzle, with an extremely high initial velocity, which could hardly be seen clearly by the naked eye of ordinary people. , and then I saw a black shadow passing by, falling into the position of the return artillery in the shape of a parabola. roll around.

"Raise the muzzle by half an inch and load incendiary bombs." The old man observed the results of the battle and continued to order.

Several gunners hurriedly pushed back the piston located at the front end of the muzzle. Fortunately, there was no pressure. For black iron balls, open the iron cover above, scoop up a few pieces of red-hot charcoal and put them in, then close the cover, place the iron ball in front of the piston from the loading port, and then close the upper loading port.

After a set of procedures was completed and the steam was almost injected, the Qing government was accidentally attacked outside the threat distance of the iron factory, and hurriedly activated the return artillery to fight back.

A round of flame bombs pierced the dark night sky and hit the city wall. Behind it was a long series of residual light and shadows. The fire blanket wrapped around the stone was soaked in oil. The flames were quickly extinguished with sandbags, and the injured were carried down the city.

The artillery battle between the two sides began.

The steam-filled cannon was fired again, and this time it hit the cannon accurately. The thick wooden beam of the cannon broke under the rapid impact of the iron ball, and then the iron ball shattered. Burned, and poured it on the wooden body frame of the return gun, and a fire suddenly ignited, and a return gun was scrapped just like that.

The advancing tortoise array and the crashing car successfully defended against the firing of the steam crossbow. Seeing that they were approaching the city wall, the crossbows replaced with another kind of arrow. The arrow was a fragile clay pot filled with fire. The arrow body is made of planed moso bamboo, the cavity is filled with fire oil, and the outside is wrapped with oil cloth.A round of arrow feathers went down, and the tortoise array was poured with fierce fire oil. The fierce flames made the infantrymen unable to hold the hot iron shields, so they had to throw away the shields and be exposed to the blows of the ordinary bows and crossbows of the iron factory.However, Crash was not afraid of this move. The thick wet quilt and sandbags stopped the flames and arrows and moved forward steadily.

"Raise the breech of the gun, replace the armor-piercing shell, shoot and crash the car." The factory owner ordered.

The steam cannon was shaken by the gunners, and this time it was a direct shot. A pointed iron bullet cup was inserted into the barrel of the gun. A big hole was opened, and all kinds of arrows shot in from the big hole, and there were howling ghosts and wolves and black smoke from the car.

The battle was so fierce that Liu Ziguang was dumbfounded. It was completely different from what he saw on TV before. There was no generals singled out, no rolling wood and rocks. Katyusha howling all over the sky, then a fire-breathing chariot with multiple turrets, and now an extremely powerful steam cannon.It's too powerful, this kind of war is really terrifying, and individual bravery seems so small in front of huge weapons.He couldn't help but become interested in this old man who invented super weapons.