Great Qing Dynasty talker

Chapter 490: Xiangyang was captured! The 4th Legion did not shed blood, but the military supply department shed tears

Hutoushan,
Everyone present in the 4th Legion was silent, but did not give up.

They gathered around two 2-pound cannons and started brainstorming.

Infantry Lieutenant Gu Yidao asked:

"Can the muzzle elevation be increased?"

"12 degrees is the limit."

"Where's the medicine bag?"

"Standard quantity, 2.5 pounds of gunpowder."

"Will the barrel explode if it increases to 4 pounds?"

……

The artillery lieutenant was silent for a second.
Immediately approved this plan!
A well-cast grey iron cannon can indeed withstand greater chamber pressure without exploding.

of course.

It will seriously damage the service life of the artillery.

But the 4th Legion never cared about these details.

How can a cannon be as valuable as gold?
The life is yours, the gun belongs to His Majesty. If it breaks, just report it as damaged and ask the Army Department for it again.

at this time,
All talents realize that advanced weapons may not always have advantages, they may also have disadvantages.

If a cannon equipped with a flintlock explodes, the gunner will die.

Old-style artillery can be ignited with a longer fuse, making it safer for the gunner.

……

boom,
Under the huge recoil, the gun carriage retreated~
Everyone craned their necks and watched the small black dot disappear from their sight.

From the observation post,
Looking at the mountainside of Yanshan,

A patch of grass exploded and dust rose.

Said loudly:

"It's still at least 50 feet away."

Three consecutive large-charge bombardments yielded similar results.

"Ah~"

Everyone was discouraged and dejected.

The fact that the artillery equipped by Wu Jun did not explode after being bombarded with excessive charges for many times in a row indirectly shows that the artillery equipped by Wu Jun was of excellent quality, and its metallurgical technology and machining technology had reached new heights.

In the industrial system, a large number of apprentices have successfully graduated.

They have mastered all the data of the process and have rich practical experience.

……

Yanshan main village,

The morale of the Qing army rose by 2 points again.

Liang Shun did not dare to delay and ordered his soldiers to spread caltrops and install bamboo thorns on the hillside.

Do everything you can to create trouble for Wu Jun's attack~
Xiangyang City sent several hundred lime jars, 2000 taels of gold, 500 musketeers, and 50 women.
The Chahar governor Zheyong, who was guarding Xiangyang, even wrote a letter:
Dear Brother Liang Shun,
I must defend Yanshan at all costs.

Yanshan is the key.

If Yanshan falls, Xiangyang will fall.

Chee Chee
……

The Qing army gritted their teeth and strengthened their defenses everywhere, while the Wu army gritted their teeth and studied how to increase their range.

Soldiers who came from families of small traders or handicraftsmen were rarely illiterate, and some had received some education, but not much.

Although these people do not understand mathematics and physics, once they are exposed to it, they can understand it much faster than illiterate people.

A new gunner asked his superior:

"Sir, the larger the shooting angle, the farther the shell will fly."

The warrant officer nodded:

"Yes."

"Then let's raise the artillery, okay?"

The warrant officer was stunned for a moment, then ecstatic.

He immediately called everyone to help and used the engineer shovel to construct a slope.

then,

With the help of the slope, the shooting angle reaches 20 degrees.

Refilled again.

Everyone immediately slipped behind the obstacle, looked at the gunner with a sad and angry face, and pulled the flint rope fiercely as if to vent their anger!
Boom~
The warrant officer was the first to raise his telescope and stare at the busy queue soldiers in the Yanshan military camp.

……

at this time,

A Qing army gunner just opened a wooden barrel.

Use a ladle to take out the gunpowder inside and distribute it to the musketeers around.

Powdered gunpowder is easily affected by moisture, which will cause it to lose its propulsion force, so the Qing army only allowed it to be disassembled and distributed before a battle.

suddenly,

Someone heard a strange whistling sound.

As soon as I looked up,

A huge black dot is right in front of us.

boom,
Gunpowder explosion.

A cloud of black smoke rose straight into the sky~
On the top of Hutou Mountain, Wu’s army burst into wild cheers.

……

Liangshun looked up at the sky, then looked down at the explosion site.

The shell killed three of his Green Camp soldiers on the spot, seriously injured two, and slightly injured five.

He couldn't understand,
What's the point?
Could it be that

Does the thief chief really know witchcraft?
The witchcraft is terrible and more terrifying than guns and cannons.

Hundreds of eyes stared at Liangshun. At this point, everyone wanted to hear the chief's opinion.

but,

It seems that the chief officer is also confused.

The familiar shrill whistling sound was heard again, and two extended-range artillery shells once again visited Yanshan.

One shot missed.
One shot hit the wall of the village, and stone chips flew everywhere.

……

The 4th Corps accidentally discovered the artillery tactics used by the Northern Army to bombard Confederate fortresses during the American Civil War in the 19th century.

Unexpected, but reasonable.

in comparison,

Western armies pay more attention to hard power when fighting, while Eastern armies like to do fancy things in addition to hard power.

On the insidiousness,
The 4th Army was far ahead.

For most of the hour,
The artillery observation post standing on the temporary watchtower witnessed nine artillery shells hitting the Qing army camp in Yanshan.

……

but,

The problem comes again.

Not to mention that the two cannons were about to be scrapped due to being overloaded, which decent cannon could withstand such high chamber pressure?

Then there is,

It could cause casualties to the Qing army, but it could not achieve the goal of completely destroying the Yanshan military camp.

The power is far from enough!

……

then,

Everyone brainstormed again.

The artillery lieutenant put it bluntly:

"The killing effect is limited. The bombardment kills a dozen or twenty Qing soldiers every day, and the military camp is still a military camp. They can also get reinforcements from Xiangyang."

This was a quality all-male gathering that produced the idea king.

"Hot bomb?"

"Yes, that's a solution."

"Increase the number of artillery?"

"It's also a way."

In the corner, a thin gunner suddenly said:

"Blooming bomb."

……

The atmosphere at the scene suddenly fell silent.

The infantry brothers were all confused and asked:

"What are bloom bombs?"

The artillerymen all frowned and rejected the proposal outright:
"Evil magic, whoever tries it will die."

original,

Not long ago,
While stealing bayberries, two students from the artillery department of the Dongshan Infantry School accidentally met two researchers from the Royal Academy of Sciences who were also stealing bayberries.

What can we talk about at an all-male gathering?
boast!

In order to save face,
The artillery students, feeling a little inferior, put forward the novel concept of "shrapnel shells" on the spot, advocating that this was a new direction for the future development of artillery.

……

It’s novel, but actually it’s not new.

The concept of bloom bombs has been around for hundreds of years.

The principle is not complicated.
The only difficulty is how to control when the shell explodes?
So far,

No one has yet solved this problem.

It is not uncommon for shells to explode on the spot before they even leave the barrel.

Royal Navy,

He had always refused to use shrapnel shells, believing that an accident would most likely destroy the battleship.

……

In order to save face,
Researchers from the Royal Academy of Sciences decided to study bloom bombs.

It took 1 month.

He actually made a test artillery shell and took it to the artillery department of the Infantry School to show off.

For face,

The two sides gathered more than 20 people, took away the school's teaching aids, and went to the shore of Taihu Lake for test firing of a 3-pound cannon.

The result was a tragedy.

The shrapnel exploded in the barrel.

Four people died on the spot and three were seriously injured.

The rest were all slightly injured.
The shortcomings of an all-male party were exposed.

……

Wu Ting was shocked!

The Military Industry Bureau was terrified and quietly stopped the shrapnel bomb project.

The War Department remained silent.

Only Dongshan Journalism School stood up and clearly supported this unsuccessful experiment.

At last,
His Majesty was alarmed and issued an order that the four people killed in the explosion be treated as dead in battle and be given compensation.

Simultaneously,

Director of the Health Department Wu Ao and people from the palace visited the wounded and cured many people's wound infections with allicin.

……

This incident has a huge impact.

Anyway,

Everyone avoids bloom bombs.

The 4th Army was no exception.

finally,
It was decided to increase the number of artillery and use hot shells for nighttime bombardment.

……

Before evening,

7 cannons are in place.

After one round of test firing, the gun position was adjusted and then the firing stopped.

Everyone was so tired that they fell into a deep sleep.

At 3: PM,
The officer woke everyone up one by one:

"It's time."

Everyone hurriedly got up to have a hearty midnight snack, silently watching the solid iron ball heating in the charcoal stove.

After supper,

The hot bomb is just out.

The gunners used special iron clamps to clamp the red-hot bullets and carefully placed them into the muzzle.

……

The first seven shells flew towards the Yanshan military camp with red light.

2 hits,
The rest fell through.

A wooden building was set on fire and a huge flame rose.

"It's on fire, it's on fire."

The Qing soldiers screamed and rushed out of the tent to put out the fire.

The gunners of the 4th Legion cooperated to fire red-hot iron balls out of the gun barrels and onto the enemy's heads.

Again,
Your life is your own, but the cannon belongs to His Majesty.

It is better to suffer the pain of cannons than to let people cry.

in the night sky,
It was like meteors falling on the Yanshan military camp, and the fire gradually became uncontrollable.

Under the night,

The burning Yanshan military camp looked like a torch, extremely eye-catching.

……

According to the scheduled arrangement,

An infantry company that was on guard saw a huge fire at the Yanshan military camp.

A warrant officer took out a fire starter.

When I opened the lid and shook it, flames as big as beans came out.

He carefully lit a bundle of straw first, and then lit the torch.

Fire,

One passes to two, two passes to four, four passes to countless~
The soldiers each held two torches and formed a column to attack the Yanshan military camp with great momentum.

mountain top,

The Qing army saw it clearly.

Two fire dragons came towards him.

……

The clever Green Camp soldiers left the military camp without saying a word.

The sluggish ones are still running around,
It was not until I realized that there were fewer people around me that I woke up from my dream.

Night blindness and pre-arranged caltrops became the biggest dangers.

From time to time, someone screamed and rolled down the hillside~
Liang Shun held a saber in his hand.

The delusion of using carrots and sticks to stop the retreating troops.

however,
A crudely made arrow flew out from the darkness and pierced his throat.

Dozens of pairs of military boots stepped on his body as they left the Yanshan military camp.

in the night sky,
From time to time, a flaming trajectory was pulled,
The illiterate Qing soldiers who witnessed this scene unanimously believed that Wu's army was using sorcery.

……

the next morning,

As soon as day broke, the Wu army launched an attack impatiently.

As usual,

Led by the 1st Expeditionary Army, the fully armed soldiers successfully climbed to the deserted top of Yanshan Mountain.

All I saw was a charred mess.
The flag bearer planted the ferocious Grizzly Legion flag on the highest point and lit a rocket at the same time.

boom,
A ball of red mist exploded~
A few miles away, Huang Si breathed a long sigh of relief and rode back to his tent to write a letter reporting the victory.

On the deck of the navy flagship cruising on the Han River,
Liu Wu also breathed a sigh of relief, put down the telescope, and ordered his men to row the transport boat to the large ship of the Ministry of Commerce and ask the cook to prepare a fresh Wuchang fish for him.

Buy some more good wine~
After a whole summer of being on edge, it's time to relax.

He didn't even care whether his actions would reach the ears of His Majesty.

Even if Your Majesty knew about it, it might not be a bad thing.

A person who loves life must be a good person!

……

The gates of Xiangyang were blocked by huge rocks.
This was the last contribution that Zheyong could make to the Qing Dynasty.

He led the Eight Banners of Mongolian soldiers under his direct command and shot and killed a group of Green Camp soldiers who were trying to escape from the city.

Chahar,
Born as a Qing citizen, die as a Qing ghost.

Like his sworn brother Ma Zhongyi, Zheyong is a veteran, afraid of death, and shameless.

But now,
He still couldn't bear to betray the Qing court and surrender to Wu Ting~
I would rather die in battle!

Comparing the flexibility of the Torghut people, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion.

All the areas that were deeply cultivated by the Qing Dynasty were obedient.
Southern Mongolia,

Since the time of Nurhaci, they have been carefully managed, crushed militarily, rubbed by the government, conscripted, married into the upper class, strangled by the Yellow Sect, and locked up by Shanxi merchants~
This is what happens when you are completely "conquered".

I would rather die than betray you.

……

The messy city of Xiangyang,
Finally, after two hours, we encountered Yanshan's artillery bombardment and shooting.

It’s still the familiar formula.

Hot bomb, damage and arson, the effect is excellent.

There is no aiming~
The huge city of Xiangyang can firmly accommodate every bit of kindness.

quickly,

Fires broke out in many places in the city.

The 4th Legion was known to be insidious. It concentrated all its riflemen and first filled the hillside and then the mountainside.

The muzzle of the gun is always pointed upward at a 45-degree angle.

Free Fire~
It's very careless. On average, each rifled rifle fires one shot every 100 breaths.

……

With the full theoretical support of the late Lord Niu,
Each Minié bomb would fall into the city, randomly killing an unlucky person, regardless of status, gender, or even official or civilian.
Zheyong looked at the people running around and the fire burning in the city.

self-mumbling:

"I can understand the shells."

"But I really don't understand how a bullet could reach three miles away."

"The battle has gotten so bad that I don't even have the courage to fight outside the city!"

After all,

He held the knife across his neck and pulled hard.

The big face instantly lost its life force, its eyes dimmed, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

"Oh no! The chief steward committed suicide."

"It's over, it's over, Xiangyang is over."

……

Half an hour later,
Many white flags were raised on the city wall of Xiangyang.

The defeated soldiers gathered their manpower and dug out a huge stone behind the city gate, creating an entrance to the city that could only accommodate four people walking side by side.

Lower the drawbridge.

Raise your hands and leave the city, throw down your weapons and surrender.

Li Ergou from the Mixed Battalion was sitting outside the city bored.

They received more than 4000 prisoners and then entered the city to take over the city defense.

Wu Qi,

Flying in Xiangyang City~
Fancheng, separated by a river,

The Qing army was terrified and sent a flying horse to Nanyang to report the death.

……

The third order urging the troops to march from Army Minister Lin Huaisheng had just arrived in Xiangyang.

Mr. Lin was anxious.

We will hunt in the Jianghan Plain and encircle and annihilate the Mongolian cavalry, which requires a lot of manpower.

The military order was harsh in its wording and contained a final warning.

Huang Si and Liu Wu discussed it together.

It was decided to leave 2000 soldiers and 10 warships to defend Xiangyang.

In addition to the wounded,

The rest of the people immediately went south to carry out General Lin’s military order and hunt in the Jianghan Plain.

The 4th Legion's old problem recurred.

He cursed all the way and complained that there was no time to rest.

The number of patients increased dramatically, groaning and asking to lie down on the boat!

……

Officers from various regiments and battalions came in and out of the headquarters like a revolving lantern.

"Commander-in-chief, are there any extra ships?"

"No boat."

"Are there any horses?"

"No horses!"

"What about a mule? Even a donkey will do. The distance from Xiangyang to Jingzhou is as long as 400 miles. If we walk all the way, the troops will be tired and exhausted. Once the war starts, the consequences will be disastrous."

"nothing."

Li Ergou looked at the performance of this group of shameless people in shock, and at the same time kept looking at Huang Si and Liu Wu, expecting their proper reactions.

Shouldn't such a cunning soldier be severely criticized?
However, it was beyond his expectation.

Huang Si is calm~
Liu Wu is calmer!
In the end, he came to a conclusion in a fit of rage: people should die when they reach 30, and if they don't die, they should be shot.

……

(End of this chapter)