Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 1084 Shelling
Then, several soldiers began to load the gunpowder-the gunners of the Dengzhou Army used fixed powder for loading, and each pack was one catty, and they were loaded according to the range of the gunpowder. If the gunpowder is too tight, it will smolder, making it impossible to ignite. It needs to be loosened with a charge shovel, but when loosened, the gunpowder may suddenly burn quickly.

These gunners were all trained by the Portuguese, so their behavior was very standard. A soldier filled the gun bore with a large bullet, wrapped it in a wooden red cloth and sent it into the abdomen.Then a pack of twelve small ammunition was sent in.Then the total is measured with a gun ruler, and the elevation angle of the artillery is adjusted according to the firing range.

This set of methods was already high-tech at the end of the Ming Dynasty-the Dengzhou Army was trained by the Portuguese, and ordinary Ming army gunners did not know that there were so many essentials for firing artillery.

Marinxi was carrying the cannonballs. A twelve-pound cannonball was not heavy, but it was still too heavy for a person who hadn't eaten anything like pot water or crispy rice in the past few days.He was holding back his strength to move the cannonball, but suddenly he was kicked hard on the buttocks, and he fell into the mud, and the cannonball rolled too far, and there was a burst of wild laughter all around.

Ma Linxi got up quickly, not even daring to raise his head, and went straight to the cannon.This cannon is very expensive, according to the master gunner, it costs a few silver coins.

It was hard to move the shells back—the rebel gunners forbade the civilians to roll the shells on the ground. It is said that they were afraid that the surface of the shells would be scratched and mixed with sand. His face was covered with white sweat, and he was panting weakly.

A small leader who was monitoring the civilian husband sneered, and said lazily: "Eating is fast, moving things is boring, what a waste!"

Ma Linxi was so frightened that he knelt on the ground and repeatedly begged for mercy, and the surrounding peasants also knelt and begged for mercy in fright.

Fortunately, the leader was just trying to scare the peasants. Seeing them trembling with fright, he laughed a few times. Seeing this, the peasants hurriedly got up one by one and continued to carry the gunpowder.

Ma Linxi has been working on this job for more than ten days. He used to be a carpenter and worked around the countryside in Huang County with tools on his back. He not only repaired farm tools for people, but also built homes for people. He also helped when building houses.Although eating and sleeping in the wind and earning a few hard-earned money, at least one person is full and the whole family is not hungry.

After the rebels came, the whole village was razed to the ground, and Marinxi had no choice but to "join" the refugees.Because of this skill, it was allocated to the artillery team-the artillery team always needs to be repaired.In the eyes of others, this Marin Creek already has great benefits: the first is that they can eat on time: whether the refugees in the team can eat or not depends on luck and fists: the rebels only give each team a day. A few baskets of refugees don't know what to make black buns, so that every day they eat, they cause fights, and several people die.

Although they worked more than cows and ate less than dogs in the artillery team - the rebels in the artillery team used them as slaves and livestock, not only whipping and bullying them from time to time, but also dragging them out carelessly and beheading them one by one .A few days ago, the cannon was towed on the way to Laide, Huang County, because the cannon was stuck in the mire, and the cattle could not use their strength. In order to urge the peasants to do their best, the artillery team's head Qian beheaded several people in one go, scaring Marinxi into doing evil every night. Dream.

There is nothing in Ma Linxi's mind now. Apart from working mechanically according to orders, he just tries to survive.As long as he can survive, he will do whatever he is asked to do.

Seeing that the artillery positions were all set up, Marinxi and the other civilians in the artillery team were able to breathe for a while. They lay down or sat one by one, and the heavy panting sound filled the air, but no one dared to speak—speaking would kill them, That's one of the lessons they've learned these days.

Boss Qian of the artillery team didn't want to play tricks on them again, and ordered the gunners to nail the ammunition packs, burn the matchlocks and fire cones red, and wait for the order to fire the cannons.

On this side of the coast, the first group of refugees has barely formed a team driven by the rebels.There are 50 refugees in each team, and there are three or four escort teams. The escort teams are all bandits recruited locally by the rebels. Most of them have no armor. After the refugee team, it is specially used to drive out the war supervisor.

The escorts and leaders of each team kept cheering up the refugees:
"Breaking the stockade, the whole army will be rewarded with wine and meat..."

"Behead the enemy soldiers, reward one white bun and one tael of silver..."

"Those who dare to retreat, beheaded on the spot!"

Ma Linxi knew that it would be good if out of a hundred people who rushed to the first battle could survive three or four—he had seen too much these days, the rebels were taking the lives of the people and wasting the ammunition and arrows of the defenders, using Corpses filled the trench.

Fortunately, I have this skill, and I can save my life.

While thinking wildly, suddenly there was a gunshot in the air, and everyone was stunned. Marinxi looked up and saw a smoke rising from the sea, and a beautiful arc came straight towards the direction of the sand embankment.

He stared with his mouth wide open for less than a second, then he suddenly understood and threw himself on the ground, crawling behind the mound with hands and feet.

Almost at the same time, a shell had fallen from the sky and landed on the ice next to the battery.There was a loud explosion.

The shattered shell fragments and ice edges splashed in all directions, and the rebels and refugees nearby who had no time to escape screamed and fell to the ground bleeding.
Then, there were more cannon shots from the ice surface and the direction of the fortress on the island. Under the clear blue sky, the shells trailing white smoke pierced the air, and continued to fall towards the sand embankment with a howling sound.

Shells fell around the six Hongyi cannons, and the explosions were deafening one after another. Thick smoke and flames still enveloped the entire artillery team's position.
Showing off his might, Mr. Qian, who has always been decisive in killing and beheading people like a chicken, has been blown into more than a dozen pieces of meat in the first shelling, and one of his arms fell on Marinxi's head, which almost didn't scare him. die.

God!This Xiangyong's cannon is so powerful!Just as Marinxi's thoughts turned, a 68-pound spherical grenade that hissed and sparked fell directly on the trolley containing the sub-powder. The fire flashed, and several gun carts full of gunpowder were detonated at the same time. The air wave lifted Marinxi directly from the ground.

For a moment, Malinxi thought he was dead, he was completely out of breath, and his eyes turned black.It took a while to recover, and I felt the world was spinning, my ears were buzzing, I couldn't hear anything, I only saw black and red in front of my eyes, burning hot.When he regained his composure, he saw Qian Erleng, the peasant who was with him, lying motionless under a blown wheel, with blood all over his body.Qian Erlen used to give him half a bowl of noodle soup to drink, and the two were considered friends in times of need.He hurried over and pushed Qian Erlen, only to see Qian Erlen turned over and rolling down the sand embankment, leaving bloodstains along the way, and the internal organs scattered all over the ground - only the internal organs remained. The half of the body above the chest was cut in half, as if cut in half by a large guillotine.

Ma Linxi didn't know if he yelled, but he couldn't hear anything.All I saw were vehicles, cannons, and human corpses mixed with mud being lifted up, shredded and dropped.He let out a silent scream, and slammed his head into the ground.

On the bridge of the Daishuang, Lu Yang used his binoculars to search in vain for the situation on the sand embankment—black smoke was billowing in the distance, and the shells fired from warships and wicker bastions on the sea had completely covered the target area. He couldn't see the effect of the shelling at all at this distance.

However, in terms of this level of firepower coverage, the rebel artillery team completely exposed to the ground should no longer exist.He observed at least three gunpowder explosions in the telescope.

A "stop firing" signal rocket was fired from Chim Island.

"All ships stop shooting!" He ordered, and walked quickly to the radio station, and it turned out that Chen Sigen was calling him.

"The artillery position has been eliminated. After 5 minutes, transfer the firepower to the 2976 area. Use shrapnel!"

"After 5 minutes, shift the firepower to area 2976 and fire shrapnel!" Lu Yang repeated his instruction.The gunnery commander and several sergeants leaned over the homework table, working nervously with slide rules and gauges.

In order to save calculation time and to adapt to the low-level artillery commanders, they adopted a numbered calibration shooting mode. All around Qimu Island were numbered with squares, and each square had a specific shooting table.Make sure that each lot can be shot intensively in the shortest possible time.

The 901mm cannon on the 130 gunboat was emitting white smoke. The gunners scrubbed the gun bore as quickly as possible, and quickly cleaned the medicine residue after continuous firing to cool down the gun body as soon as possible.

Conical shrapnel shells and cylindrical silk charges had been hoisted on deck by tackle, waiting to be loaded.

Chen Sigen put down the binoculars: the sea breeze has already blown away the gunpowder smoke in the distance, although the burning gun carriage is still emitting thick smoke, but no complete cannon or living person can be seen from the binoculars.The power of the grenade cover shot is really amazing.Now that the greatest threat has been removed, the mob remains.He observed that the platform went down to the fort, and the two navy 68-pound Caron guns had been restored to a horizontal position, and the gunners were quickly scrubbing the barrels.The direct firing range of this kind of gun is very short: only a short 50 meters, but the shells fired are extremely powerful and have a strong damage effect on wooden ships.Chen Sigen didn't have a battleship target available, so he used it as a mortar this time.

When shooting in a curved line, the trajectory of the Caron cannon is similar to that of a mortar, and the range is naturally much longer.The 68-pound grenade fired continuously just now exerted a considerable power-the power of the high-density loaded black powder is far better than Chen Sigen's best estimate.

A few more shrapnel shells, not afraid that the enemy will not collapse.

"All guns loaded with shrapnel!" he commanded.All the cannon on the wicker fort, including two 2-pounder carons and four 68-pounder smoothbore cannons, began to load the terrible shells.

(End of this chapter)