Lin Gao Qiming

Chapter 639 Artillery Battle
The six-gunner standing next to the ammunition box immediately opened the cover of the ammunition box, searched for the number he needed from a form pasted on the inside of the cover, and then answered loudly:

"The shooting angle is 4 degrees and 40 minutes!"

The three gunners standing on the left and right sides of the gun tail immediately rotated the handle to adjust the gun to the correct angle-the new gun mount developed by the mechanical department can not only adjust the shooting direction, but also improve the elevation angle adjustment system, and the angle indicator is directly installed on the gun. Tail, the three gunners can quickly adjust it in place by turning the handle.The work of the four-gunner and one-gunner is reduced.At the same time, the sixth gunner took out a shell from the ammunition box and handed it to the fifth gunner who was waiting aside.The shells are old-fashioned fixed shells: the spherical shells are bundled together with cloth strips and propellant bags wrapped in cotton cloth. The fifth gunner puts the shells into a rattan basket, and then carries them to the first gunner for inspection by him.

"Correct ammunition! Reload!"

As a result, the second gunner put the shell towards the tail of the gun and loaded the shell into the barrel. The third gunner holding the pusher immediately inserted the pusher into the muzzle and pushed the shell to the bottom of the bore.Gunner No. [-], standing on the left side of the breech, pierced a long awl through the fire door of the breech into the bore of the gun, pierced the wrapping cloth outside the charge bag, took out a fire tube, and hooked it with the hook on the fire rope. The pull tab on the fire tube then inserts it into the fire door.

"Ready!"

This series of dazzling and complex movements only took a few tens of seconds, and the movement coordination between the six gunners must be very skilled to keep them busy and not chaotic.A well-trained M1857 gun group can reach 1 rounds per minute when firing rapidly.But in this way, the artillery will soon be unable to shoot due to overheating.Now the artillery on the embankment is firing at a continuous rate of fire of one shot per minute.

"put!"

The fourth gunner immediately pulled the matchlock in his hand vigorously.With a loud noise and a long jet of fire, the whole artillery and the gunners around the artillery were enveloped in a huge cloud of white smoke, and the artillery propelled by the huge recoil rushed out to the rear.

"M1857, the price is cheap and the quantity is sufficient." Standing beside Zhang Bolin, Lin Shenhe murmured to himself while holding up a binoculars.He claimed to be here to occupy the land to test the performance of weapons and equipment and the results of artillery training, but he was actually here to watch the excitement.By the way, let's see what new things we can tinker with.

The killing effect of solid bullets is very satisfactory, but in such a turbulent crowd, it seems difficult to force the enemy to flee.The two Ming soldiers and horses were still shouting and rushing towards the camp.
"Don't worry!" Lin Shenhe pretended to be calm and said, "According to the experience of the Civil War, the infantry must at least persist until they eat shotgun within 100 meters before they flee..."

"Boss, this is the Ming Army, not the Federal Army or the Confederate Army." Because Zhang Bolin taught all the gun shooting tactics of the muzzle, he regarded Lin Shenhe as an expert among experts. Shouldn't the army of the era collapse soon?"

"It's not my idea that the Ming army will collapse once it is hit by artillery." Lin Shenhe shrugged, "But the whole army will collapse if it is bombarded. Only the Qing Dynasty can do it."

According to his observation, the density of the shelling was still a little less than that of the crowd.This artillery density was at the average level during the Civil War era.

"Quick! Pull!" The soldiers of the Firearms Battalion roared, whipping the conscripted peasants, cattle and horses continuously, and the red barbarian cannons were dragged towards the cannon amidst scolding, moaning, wailing and neighing of cattle and horses. bit.The cannons had been placed last night behind the trenches of the various camps as defensive weapons.Since the artillery was four miles away from the bandit's camp, the shells couldn't hit it at all.Li Modao organized people to haul the cannon, in order to get as close as possible before firing.

However, the mobilization of troops in front blocked the progress of the Firearms Battalion, and it was not until the Chaozhou soldiers began to attack that the road was considered to be out of the way.Li Baidao didn't dare to hesitate, and hurriedly urged the soldiers to push the cannon.

"The enemy is delivering artillery," came the message from the observation post.

"Where is it?" Ying Yu pushed his hat on his head, raised his binoculars to look, "I saw it!" he shouted, and then he picked up the phone:
"Berlin, the officers in front of you on the right are pushing the Hongyi cannon! Hurry up and give them a cannonball!"

"Fill with solid bullets, and the target distance is 1320 meters!" Zhang Bailin went into battle in person, holding up a telescope to measure the moment, "The whole company shoots rapidly!"

A few minutes later, an artillery company organized by Zhang Bolin immediately opened fire on the moving Hongyi cannons of the Firearms Battalion.

The solid bullets fired by the 12-pound Napoleon gun hit the firearms battalion one after another.The first round of shells fell on the formation of infantry not far from the firearms battalion, causing confusion.Li Modao watched in shock as the artillery shells fired from the embankment flew past the charging infantry in front of them with smoke, and fell straight down here!

"Oops!" Just as this thought flashed through his mind, the second round of shells had already slammed down on the team of the Firearms Battalion.

A shell landed not far away, and then bounced towards the team.It directly beat a cow into two pieces, and then the bloody cannonball jumped up again and brought several civilian husbands to the ground, leaving a place of stumped limbs and meat.Then a few more shells landed in the ranks.The whole firearms battalion was in a mess, shouting horses, neighing and cows. Horses and cows ran wild in the ranks, mercilessly trampling the wounded soldiers on the ground.The cannon fell to the ground, and one of the cannon carriages was hit directly by the shells. The cannon body was hit up on its back and then fell down heavily, smashing the brains of a few unlucky guys.The sturdy and cumbersome cannon carriage fell apart as soon as it was wiped by the flying shells.

Li Modao saw that the most powerful Hongyi cannon was either overturned on the ground or the cannon cart was hit by the shell and fell into the mud and could not move. Not to mention the casualties of the cattle and horses, the frightened cattle ran around with blood red eyes, and the infantry around them were rammed by the cattle and horses. , the queue was chaotic.Some people are scolding "pushing the street", some are scolding "Mother X",
Fortunately, the rapid fire of the 12-pound cannon did not last too long, and Li Baidao only found out a small life.The most valuable and powerful Hongyi cannon in his firearms battalion has been smashed to pieces.Some were broken in two, some gun barrels were cracked, some gun carriages were destroyed, and the cannons sank deeply into the mud.It takes a lot of manpower to dig out the cannon.

Li Modao already knew that the range of the enemy's artillery fire was far beyond his own, so he couldn't take the idea of ​​pushing the artillery closer to fire--if he went any further, he might not even be able to support the artillery.

Immediately, the remnants were packed up and retreated, ready to use the two [-]-jin cannons that could fire [-]-jin shells.These two Hongyi cannons can reach as far as three miles away.But it's hard to say what to hit.

"The Ming army is firing!" the observation post yelled through the walkie-talkie.Zhang Bolin squatted down subconsciously in surprise, and saw two black shadows piercing through the smoke and flying towards here, but the two shells landed one after another far away from the trench, only arousing Lots of dirt.Then two more shells flew in, one bounced a few times on the ground, and finally fell into the ditch.

Yingyu calls the observation post with a walkie-talkie: "Find out the enemy's artillery positions!"

Soon the place where the firearms battalion fired artillery was found out, and the distance measurement showed that they fired at a distance of about 2100 meters.

"If it's so far away, the range of the Hongyi cannon will not be able to reach it at all." Lin Shenhe said.

As if to confirm his words, the two Hongyi cannons fired several shots, but none of the shells hit the embankment, and the furthest one just bounced and rolled into the ditch by the shells.

Li Modao saw that the shells didn't even touch the enemy's soil, and he was very anxious.Shouted "Re-dosing!"

The gunners had already loaded the gunpowder with the most gunpowder according to the number on the blunderbuss ruler, but now they heard that they would need to add more gunpowder, and everyone was shocked.Because the bombing of cannons was a common thing in the army at that time, once the cannons burst, even if the surrounding gunners were not killed on the spot, it would be difficult to survive.

"Add medicine!" Li Modao pulled out his saber and slashed into the air, "Those who disobey the order - chop!"

Under the threat of beheading, the gunners charged an extra third of the gunpowder.In order to show that he is not afraid of charging too much medicine, Li Modao personally lights up the cannon.

The four-thousand-jin Hongyi cannon exploded with a loud bang, and the heavy sports car almost bounced back.The two soldiers who couldn't dodge in time were knocked to the ground, spitting blood, and died.

The shell finally flew a distance of almost two kilometers and hit a bulge in the camp, but at this time the ballistic trajectory was so low that it could only slam into the wall of the bulge and lay down a piece of soil.

"The position of the enemy artillery..." The observation post finally discovered the smoke when Li Modao's Hongyi cannon was fired through the thick gunpowder smoke.

"Destroy the enemy's artillery positions!" Ying Yu ordered, "I don't want the enemy's artillery to interfere."

But even Lin Shenhe couldn't guarantee that the M1857 could destroy these two lone emplacements immediately at a distance of 2000 meters.Even firing several shells deviates far away.When everyone was aiming and calculating in a hurry, suddenly there was a loud noise from the direction of the artillery battalion, and a thick smoke shot straight into the sky.

"An unknown explosion occurred at the enemy's artillery position!" The observation post reported.

"Did the powder magazine explode?" Zhang Bolin quickly raised his binoculars.

Lin Shenhe shook his head: "The powder depot exploded much more violently. I think it exploded."

His estimate was correct. After firing the "supercharge" twice, a cannon suddenly exploded.The shock wave and fragments of the explosion killed more than a dozen people around in an instant. Li Modao was rushed more than ten meters by the shock wave and fell on a dead horse before escaping.

Li Modao supported his body and got up, his head was dizzy and his ears were buzzing.He shook his head vigorously, and found that all the soldiers around him had fled, and even the intact Hongyi Cannon was left behind.Several of his personal soldiers came to pick him up.Li Modao wanted to continue loading and firing the cannon, but found that the intact cannon actually had cracks on its body.If he fires another shot, he will surely die.He was so angry that he slashed his saber in the air.

The whistling sound of the bandit's artillery shells rang out again in the air.A soldier quickly snatched his knife away and said: "Master Guard, get out of the way, the bandit is about to fire again." Several other people picked him up and ran back.

"The enemy's artillery position is over." Zhang Bolin called Ying Yu.

"Very well, quickly organize artillery fire to stop the enemy's infantry!"

Although the firepower of the 12-pound cannon was fierce, it did not shake the enemy quickly. Although the huge killing effect produced after each shell landed caused some soldiers to waver and retreat, they quickly surged up again driven by the officers.The officers and soldiers of the brigade had rushed to a place 500 meters away from the earth embankment.The howitzers of the Fubo Army also joined the roaring ranks, and the flowering bullets continued to fall in the ranks.Although the killing effect was mediocre, the explosion of the shells on the ground caused the officers and soldiers to be greatly shaken.

When they finally approached under artillery fire to a distance of about 300 meters from the wall, the infantry officers of the Fubo Army on the wall raised their command swords at the same time:

"The ruler is 300 meters—let it go!"

Hundreds of Mini rifles fired crackling gunshots, and the dense rain of bullets swept the entire forward, and hundreds of people were shot and fell to the ground immediately.This sudden blow made the already shaken infantry finally unable to hold on, and the road to the enemy seemed never so far away and dangerous.Tong Yizhen killed several defeated soldiers, but he still couldn't stop the soldiers who retreated like a tide.He was shouting loudly, asking the generals to hold on and prevent the soldiers from fleeing.But a bullet suddenly knocked his horse down, and he immediately fell to the ground. The soldiers around him hurriedly picked him up, and the boy ginseng immediately jumped onto the second horse, but at this time, his flag bearer The armor suddenly burst open in front of his eyes, and the flag officer fell off his horse without even groaning.

It broke his heart, and the thief was shooting with some firearm he couldn't see.Knowing that he was already in a very dangerous situation, he no longer insisted on continuing to attack, and let the guards of his own soldiers withdraw.As soon as the master retreated, the soldiers ran faster.The gunpowder smoke dissipated, leaving only the flag armor and corpses on the ground.

The soldiers on the embankment burst into heartfelt cheers. Many of them were already prepared to fight to the death, but they didn't expect the army to retreat so quickly.Pride, contempt, and pride filled their hearts, and many waved their arms and cheered their first victory

He Rubin watched helplessly as four thousand soldiers retreated under the gunfire of the Kun bandits without even approaching the enemy's embankment.He had high hopes that the firearms battalion, which he believed to be comparable to the guns of the thieves, was beaten up by the enemy's cannons without even setting up the gun positions.His face was completely gloomy, how can such a battle be fought?There is no chance of melee combat!He had already seen that the Kun Bandit's cannons were farther and more accurate than the Hongyi cannons, and they fired much faster.Compared with the Hongyi cannon, which took a long time to fire, the cannon set up by the bandits on the embankment sprayed thick smoke and fire almost non-stop, raining projectiles on the officers and soldiers' heads.

"My lord!" A soldier hurried over and knelt down, "Lei Lian's general, General Zhao, is dead!"

"What?!" He Rubin was taken aback, and quickly raised his binoculars to look in the direction of Zhao Qiansi's main attack. The 2000 people were fleeing back in defeat.

A general died before the battle!He hurriedly asked, "How did General Zhao die in battle?"

"Reporting to my lord, I was shot by a shotgun..."

"Nonsense!" He Rubin could no longer contain his panic, "This town can see clearly, his banner is six or seven hundred steps away from the wall of the village, how can he be shot?"

The soldiers didn't know why the lord was so fussy about who was killed in battle, so he hurriedly said: "I don't dare to talk nonsense, General Zhao's body has been recovered, he is in the camp, he was indeed shot by a shotgun."

"Get out!" He shouted angrily, took a breath, and ordered loudly: "Beat the drums!"

With the sound of drums, a new wave of new troops came out from the camp.This is the army training guerrilla troops, as well as bid making and bidding.It can be called the most elite troops in this expedition.Of course, he still has town pacesetters and [-] servants, but this is his capital, and he will not use it until the most critical moment.

He called the generals of the three battalions to give them face-to-face instructions.

"Everyone has seen it." He said with a gloomy face, "The cannons of the gangsters are very powerful. They can shoot far and accurately. Li Modao's firearm battalion was crippled before firing—it's hopeless. When you know how to set up your formation, you must remember that the team must be loosely arranged. One team must be separated from the other. Don’t rush up like the two generals Tong and Zhao.”

"The humble generals understand!"

He Rubin said slowly, "Which general's troops are the first to ascend the village, this town will give him a credit!"

He Ming was very surprised to see that the army collapsed before approaching Dazhai. He secretly counted his mistakes. The cannon on the entire embankment fired the most cannons and only fired more than 50 shells.The artillery fire was far from intensive, and 5000 people retreated like this.Even if it was the army of the Middle Ages, it seems that the Zulus beat the British back then, and it seemed that the corpses were scattered all over the field before they collapsed.It seems that the fighting will of the Ming army is not high.However, he heard people from the historical research team of the Great Library say that there is a big difference between the elite of the Ming army and the general army.

"It was General Lei Lian and General Chaozhou who launched the attack just now." Dongmen Chuiyu has already received the latest report from the observation post.

"According to observations from the observation post: At least 31 officers of the Ming army with the thousand generals and above participated in the attack. We confirmed that 5 people were killed, and 7 people were suspected of being killed. According to the sniper report, General Lei Lian Zhao Qiansi was shot by a sniper during the battle. Hit, life and death are currently unknown."

He Ming nodded when he heard that the sniper had hit a major general. The power of the sniper should not be underestimated.After all, no matter how powerful the artillery is, it can't do such a precise strike.

"The artillery fired a total of 493 shells, 371 solid shells, and 122 grenades." He turned a page, "Destroyed eleven Hongyi cannons."

"Numbers of our casualties and lost equipment."

"Five people were slightly injured, no death, no loss."

(End of this chapter)