Late Ming sea owl

Chapter 204 Thunder
For the most common three-coin bird gun in the Ming Dynasty, a distance of eighty steps is enough to kill an armored target. Of course, the premise is that the quality of the opponent's armor is average.

As long as the workmanship is sufficiently sophisticated, whether it is facing iron armor or anti-armor, the three-coin bird gun still needs a bit of luck to kill someone eighty steps away, and it usually just injures the enemy.

In front of the War Department's front, each artillery team had already put up their hard and soft cards. The three artillerymen all squatted down and hid behind their shields. In fact, they also had iron armor or armor on their bodies. This protective power was comparable to those dead soldiers of Hou Jin who wore double armor and held cards in their hands.

Jiang Yu is taller and wears a large armor. These are usually made in large sizes and can be worn by people of normal physique. They can be adjusted according to needs during war.

At this time, he was lowering his body and hiding behind the strong and soft cards set up by two soldiers, looking in the direction of the enemy through the gap between the two shields.

As the commander of the artillery bureau in front of the formation, Jiang Yu cannot just hide like other artillerymen. He must always pay attention to the enemy's movements in order to issue orders to his subordinate artillerymen.

"Mr. Jiang, you don't seem to look good." Viper squatted next to Jiang Yu and said to him.

"I'm very kind, so I don't need you to worry about it." Jiang Yu was a little angry when he heard this. He knew that it was difficult for the gunshot on the opposite side to penetrate the armor on his body, so he simply stood up.

At this moment, a lead bullet flew past his ear. Jiang Yu's heart beat wildly and he quickly retracted.

"Retreat with the musketry, move forward with the musketry!" After the first shot was fired from the pirate's end, Lin Hai immediately issued the order.

As a crisp clang sound was heard, the gunners who came forward retreated to the rear of the infantry formation to load their ammunition. During this period, seven or eight people were hit by lead bullets and suffered minor injuries to their armor, but this did not affect the continued fighting.

In the large formation formed by the killer team, two people were hit in the face and fell down to death. There were too many gunmen on the opposite side. In terms of firepower alone, Zheng Zhilong and his group of pirates were no worse than the Ministry of War, but they were not used rationally.

The so-called propellant and incendiary powder are actually black powder made of saltpeter, sulfur, and charcoal ash, but the formula is different, and it is also different from the propellant used in guns.

The Ministry of War did not initially equip rockets because the rockets had to be made very finely before they could be used in actual combat. Every component could not be careless, especially the depth of the threads. If it's too crooked, it's possible that it could fly back around and injure one of your own.

After these boring and palladium players stood in position, they inserted the boring and palladium in their hands into the ground, then took out a rocket from the arrow holder at their waist, placed it on the horizontal stock of the boring and palladium and started firing it.

While the gunners retreated, the flag and drum corps of the Chinese Army commanded the boring and palladium men to move forward. Since each killer team is lined up in a small three-person formation, the position of the boring and palladium strikers is equivalent to four people in a row. They can easily move forward in columns, and can quickly spread out into a horizontal formation in front of the artillery line.

The gunpowder barrel is made of alum paper and is divided into two layers: inner and outer layers. The inner layer is used to hold the propellant, also called the delivery cartridge, and the outer layer is used to hold the combustion powder, also called the backfire or tempering.

I have to say that the pirates' hand-to-hand charges are quite powerful. This alone can often scare off many officers and soldiers from Fujian and Guangzhou. Their ability to engage in close combat is their advantage over the southeastern Ming army. The pirates are a group of desperadoes. .

The one used by the Army Department is relatively lightweight. Its appearance is similar to that of ordinary feather arrows. It also has an arrowhead in the front, but the arrow shaft is thicker than ordinary feather arrows. There is a six-month long arrow tied to the front of the arrow shaft. A five-inch gunpowder barrel.

Therefore, after the establishment of the Construction Department, Lin Hai immediately assigned the task of rocket production, and personally led Lun No. 1 to pay close attention to the quality control of the rocket workshop, in order to set a benchmark for the quality control work of the Firearms Bureau.

But this is of no use to the Ministry of War. No matter how brave the pirates are, can they be more powerful than the Kavalan people who just hang around for nothing? Merely relying on bravery and courage is pale and powerless in the face of organization and discipline, not to mention that one side is short-handed and unarmed, while the other side is equipped with sophisticated weapons and armor.

After all, only close combat has the chance to kill someone. Those killed by bullets don't count. Whoever wins in the end counts. Li Kuiqi's army does not have a collective reward system like the Qi Jiajun.

Only then did the pirates realize that your mother was going to set off rockets. They captured a lot of this thing from the Ming army. The navy especially had more equipment, but they didn't use it very much. The pirates, like the Ming army, didn't like to use this thing.

There were many types of rockets in the Ming Dynasty, all of which were paper tube rockets. Many of them were impractical, such as fire dragons coming out of water and divine fire flying crows, which sounded very bluffing.

Of course, the raw materials for paper tube rockets are not expensive, and the working hours are not long, so the cost is not high. The main test is the management ability of the production workshop.

A few pirates holding scimitars had an idea. They were about to start a melee fight on the other side, so they shouted and rushed forward, hoping to get the high head reward offered by Li Kuiqi.

At this time, a group of pirates saw the gunmen on the opposite side retreating, and a group of people with boring machines rushed out. They were all a little confused.

In addition, the loading of gunpowder and the assembly of various components are also very particular. A slight deviation will have a great impact on the ballistics. It can be described as "a slight difference is a thousand miles away".

There was also an unlucky man in armor who was hit in the forearm. He endured severe pain and ran back. Since he was fighting with his back to the camp, the Chinese army quickly sent someone back for treatment.

These people were the first to charge, and soon attracted many accomplices who were jealous of the bounty. The firepower of the pirate gunmen had not yet been fully utilized, but they were unable to shoot now, so they simply drew out their knives and charged after them, and for a while there was a loud roar.

The War Department's line remained motionless in the face of the hand-to-hand assault. Even in the dense rain of bullets in front, there was only a slight disturbance. The pirates were surprised to find that this group of officers and soldiers neither attacked nor dispersed. Only the boring and palladium hands were still arranged in an orderly manner in front of the formation.

After several months of trial production and improvement, the Firearms Bureau finally has the ability to mass-produce qualified rockets. The Army Department just started equipping them more than a month ago, and the boring and palladium technicians have only been intensively training for a month.

This expedition to Dongshan Island was the first time that the Army Department carried rockets. They had never been used in the war against the Kavalan people before. The landing on the beach was a good opportunity, but it was a pity that the landing was against the wind and the north wind was very strong. Otherwise, we could have tried to see if we could burn the woods on the opposite side.

Lin Hai was also very concerned about the actual combat effectiveness of the rocket. At this time, he was waiting with bated breath behind the infantry formation.

There are ninety-two boring and palladium shooters in the three bureaus. After setting the rocket on the horizontal stock of the boring and palladium, they first ignited the powder line, then used their front hand to steady the arrow shaft, and their rear hand to adjust the direction, and then the tail flame erupted. Let go in an instant.

Whoosh whoosh... Ninety-two rockets screamed and flew toward the enemy like a meteor shower, dragging white trails in the air.

These contrails were relatively straight at first, but their parallelism to each other was not very good. Some of them deviated in any direction: high, downward, left or right, and some even landed after flying for thirty or forty steps. .

In an instant, the white trail was blown by the wind, and a faint white smoke filled the space between the two army positions.

Although the white smoke that was blown was very light, it still disturbed Lin Hai's sight to a certain extent. For a moment, he could not clearly see how many people had fallen on the opposite side. He could only see the enemy troops starting to riot on a large scale from a distance. There were several screams mixed in with the chaotic shouts.

Before the white smoke completely dispersed, the second wave of rockets began to be launched one after another. The rocket does not need to be loaded and can be fired again in a few seconds. Basically, the shooters do not aim much and just want to level the rocket before launching.

Swish, swish, swish, swish... The launch of the second wave of rockets was far less orderly than the first wave, and the more than 90 boring and palladium players were faster and slower. Suddenly, rockets with sharp screams flew towards the enemy in a steady stream.

In less than two minutes, all the drillers fired the fifteen rockets they carried, and white smoke filled the space between the two armies, as if they had just finished a grand fireworks show.

After releasing the rocket, the boring and palladium hand automatically returned to the formation without having to listen to the Chinese army's shouting. This process had been rehearsed many times by the Army Department before equipping the rocket.

At this time, Li Kuiqi's troops on the opposite side had already turned into a mess. There were chaotic shouts and pirates running around everywhere, and a large-scale collapse was staged again.

There were more than a thousand rockets in total. Although some of them fell to the ground midway, most of them flew into the pirate team with white smoke behind them.

It should be noted that the range of rockets is far beyond that of cannons. If the rocket of the Ministry of War is fired upwards, it has a chance to fly to 700 steps, which is more than two miles away. Even if it is fired levelly, it can fly nearly one mile. For rockets with rear fire, the maximum range can also be regarded as the effective range, because incendiary firearms do not rely on kinetic energy to kill. Of course, this rocket also has an arrowhead on the front. If it is shot within 150 steps, it is almost certain to die. No armor in this era can stop it.

The rocket only reaches its maximum speed when the propellant is exhausted. It is most lethal after about a hundred steps. In terms of power, it is far beyond what a bow and arrow can match. The money bird gun is also much stronger.

The only drawback of this thing is that it is inaccurate. Since the paper tube rocket and the arrow shaft are connected in parallel, the thrust line of the rocket does not pass through the center of mass, and the center of pressure of the arrow feathers is not on the same vertical axis as the center of mass. This will interfere with the flight attitude. Stablize.

This is an inherent problem caused by the overall design and aerodynamic layout, which cannot be improved through the production process. Fine workmanship can only ensure that no more chaos is added to the production process.

Because of this, Qi Jiajun was very inconsistent when using rockets. The assessment distance was eighty steps, but the tactical distance was only fifty steps. There was a serious mismatch between range and accuracy. It could obviously fly very far, but it was at a very close distance. It's so crooked.

Therefore, even though Qi Jiajun had a target set up during the rocket launch assessment, the assessment results only depended on whether his movements were standardized. As long as he didn't look back or shake his hands when igniting, he would be considered qualified. If he didn't hit the target, he would have to leave it to fate.

Despite this, Qi Jiguang still believes that "the rocket is also a powerful weapon on land and water, and its effectiveness is not inferior to that of the cannon." The reason is that in addition to its unparalleled accuracy, the performance of the rocket in other aspects is extremely excellent.

It is more powerful than a musket, and its rate of fire is comparable to that of a bow and arrow. Training is not time-consuming or demanding, and it can be fired continuously without exhaustion. In addition to the physical damage caused by the kinetic energy of the arrow, the sharp chirping sound and the burning rear fire after the propellant is exhausted can also bring magical damage, causing great panic to the enemy.

Of course, the premise is that the workmanship must be up to standard and no one will be accidentally injured. Otherwise, it will be a seven-injury fist that "kills one thousand enemies and damages oneself eight hundred."

"Guoyi, what do you think of the rocket's actual combat effectiveness?" Lin Hai asked Wu Guoyi from the back.

"It is a wonderful weapon to deal with rabbles, but it is of little use against elite soldiers and strong generals." Wu Guoyi said and added, "If the enemy has many cavalry, it will not be of any use in the field. .”

Lin Hai nodded when he heard this. Wu Guoyi's views coincided with his. He continued: "There are a lot of experiences and lessons worth learning from this battle. We should summarize them after returning to Dongfan."

"Chief, are you planning to withdraw the troops?" Wu Guoyi always felt that something was wrong after Lin Hai saw the letter from Zhoushan, so he couldn't help but ask.

Lin Hai remained silent, just looking at Tongshan City across from him in the distance. Maybe he had to give Zheng Zhilong a chance to breathe.

In the west tower of Tongshan City, Zheng Zhilong, who had been watching the battle with a telescope, was silent for a long time. He had seen rockets many times and did not take them seriously. He did not understand why he could turn decay into magic in Lin Hai's hands.

At this time, Master Du had also finished shooting the morning cannon, and was invited over by Zheng Zhilong's cronies, who were watching the battle beside him.

Zheng Zhilong put down the telescope and asked in a low voice: "Old Master, what do you think is the strength of Lin Hai's command?"

"Everyone is good at weapons, but the main thing is the strength of the soldiers. As a master, your soldiers must be trained diligently." Du Ning's answer was concise and to the point. He was just a half-hearted scholar, but he was able to work under the generals. Tell me one, two, three.

"What the old master said makes sense. Let's not care about the rockets. When it comes to blunderbuss, Zheng's side is also a fine weapon, but they just can't beat the momentum of Lin Thief's troops." Zheng Zhilong continued, "But Zheng had previously I’ve asked my subordinates to train their troops, and I asked myself why I still can’t fight even though I’ve tried my best?”

"That's an inhuman thing used by the master. The person who trains soldiers must be proficient in the art of war." Du Ning replied, stroking his beard.

"Old Master, would you like to train troops for Zheng?" Zheng Zhilong suddenly had a whim. Although he had read several military books, they were only suitable for high-end players like "Sun Tzu's Art of War". In fact, he knew nothing about land warfare.

"This old man is not good at it." Du Ning was still self-aware, and he went on to brag about his employer, "When it comes to proficiency in the art of war, the leader's sworn brother Wang Guerrilla is an expert."

Zheng Zhilong sighed helplessly after hearing this, thinking to himself, didn't you say that you didn't say anything? Wang Mengxiong, a dignified guerrilla general, came to train soldiers for a pirate like him. Isn't this nonsense?
Besides, Zheng Zhilong didn't think that his sworn brother's soldiers were very strong, but Wang Mengxiong himself was very good at fighting. In terms of duel, I'm afraid that few of his 20,000 men could match him.

He raised his telescope and looked at the battlefield again, and saw that nearly half of Li Kuiqi's more than 4,000 men had escaped. Many of them were not on the front line, because many of the rockets deflected upward after flying out, and ended up flying to the rear. among.

The commotion caused by more than a thousand rockets was extremely huge and covered a wide area. There were burning backfires everywhere in the pirate team, and many people's clothes were set on fire by the flames. The whole scene was chaotic.

Of course, there were not many people actually shot to death by rockets. There were probably more than a hundred people, and most of them were in the front line. But the entire team was in chaos. The rear team arranged by Li Kuiqi to suppress the front team had failed, and the pirates in the front took advantage of the chaos to escape.

Drawing on the experience of their predecessors, this group of pirates ran directly into the sea, both in the open sea and in the direction of Dongshan Bay. Some of the pirates closer to the coast actually jumped into the sea to put out the fire. In the end, they did not stop doing anything and simply swam back. Come on.

Many of the pirates behind were escaping. Even one member of Li Kuiqi's team turned around and ran back. Li Kuiqi was so angry that he chased him and killed him with a knife.

"Brother, why don't we retreat?" A confidant next to Li Kuiqi suggested.

"What did you say?" Li Kuiqi was already red-eyed at this time. He was hoping to defeat Zheng Zhilong in this battle, but he didn't expect this result.

"I said we should retreat...retreat the troops." The young man hesitated when he saw Li Kuiqi's unkind expression.

As soon as he finished speaking, a sharp sword flashed through. This man had been beheaded by his elder brother, and blood splashed on Li Kuiqi's face.

"I have long said that those who dare to retreat will die!" Li Kuiqi held the bloody head and grinned ferociously with a bloody face, "Blow the conch and kill those bird officers and soldiers!"

The whine of the conch shell sounded, which was the horn of the pirates' charge. Many leaders shouted at the top of their lungs: "Charge! Kill the man named Lin, and you will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver!"

Most of the pirates who had not escaped at this time were very brave. After hearing the bounty, their eyes suddenly turned red. About 70% to 80% of the two thousand people held their scimitars high and screamed as they rushed forward.

The sharp blade was particularly dazzling in the sun. In front of the artillery position, Jiang Yu felt that his eyes were filled with the light of dancing swords, and the world was filled with the hysterical shouts of pirates.

He thought that the battle was over after the wave of arrows, but his already relaxed nerves suddenly became tense again.

"Fifty steps, fifty steps, be sure to put the enemy at fifty steps before giving the order to fire!" Jiang Yu kept thinking silently in his heart. He only felt that his mouth was dry and his whole body was unbearably hot, as if he was in front of him at this moment. The woman is not a pirate, but a stunningly naked beauty.

"Eighty steps!" Jiang Yu's heart was already in his throat.

Do you want to give the order to fire? If the enemy is placed too close, will the artillerymen under his command be in a hurry, or even abandon the artillery and turn around and run away?

After sixty steps, Jiang Yu finally couldn't hold it anymore and loudly ordered: "Fire at each sentry!"

The flag was grinding, the fire was rising into the sky, and the three sentry commanders were trotting all the way to give orders.

On the artillery line composed of ten Weiyuan guns and twenty Franchise guns, thunderous artillery fire burst out. This was the most violent roar since the war began.

(End of this chapter)