Rise of the 1630s South America

Chapter 455 Flesh Mill ([-])

The battlefield is full of smoke.

After the 12-pound gun fired, the next thing to speak was the terrifying 18-pound long-barreled heavy gun.When the dull roar sounded from the barrel, the rusty 18-pound solid iron balls hit their targets with lightning speed.Their target was not the artillery of the Qing army, but the infantry of the Qing army arrayed behind the artillery.These people are more than a thousand meters away from the city wall on the east bank. This distance is relatively safe in their cognition, because very few artillery can hit here, and even if they can hit it, it is at the end of their strength and will not do anything to them. Too much damage.And they didn't dare to line up too far away from the artillery positions, because if the enemy came out of the city, they might not have time to protect the artillery.

However, the 18-meter effective range of the two 1400-pound cannons on the tower (the maximum range is 2000 meters, and there is a distance bonus for shooting on the city wall) let them know that it is not safe here.The solid iron ball whizzing over caused terrifying damage in the formation of the Qing army. Although they had tried to expand the distance as far as possible, the 18-pound iron ball that passed diagonally through the entire formation knocked down more than ten people, and then After bouncing on the ground several times and rubbing against several people in a row, it finally stopped.

"I will die immediately when I hit it", "I will die when I stick to it", the words used by literati in the late Ming Dynasty to describe the red-clothed cannon suddenly appeared in Li Wenchang's mind.Two 18-pound shells caused 40 casualties in the Qing army, or it is more accurate to say that 40 people were "dead", because even if they were not killed by the shells, their arms and legs were mostly taken away. Times are hard to survive.

After the 18-pounders had been fired, the first two 12-pounders were almost ready again.Several artillery trainee staff officers were behind them to observe the landing point, calculate the trajectory, and then discuss the parameters that needed to be corrected with the gunner. After the gunner adopted it, he immediately adjusted the artillery and then fired again.This time the shells still missed, but not too much. One shot hit the crowd of working folk women, and the other shot passed by the Qing army's artillery emplacement.

Although none of the four shells hit this lucky Qing artillery position, the gunners of the Qing army were terrified that the shots could not leave their surroundings. Therefore, their counterattack came soon.Six puffs of black smoke rose one after the other 500 meters to the south, and six shells whizzed over the moat, over the barbed wire fence, and then fell headlong under the city wall.

Not enough charge, not enough kinetic energy!Li Wenchang chuckled inwardly. He guessed that the quality of the Qing army's artillery was not good, and they should explode from time to time, so they didn't dare to load a lot of propellant. It's no wonder that their shells were so weak.

After the Qing army finished shooting, the two 12-pound guns on the protrusions on both sides of the East Bank also roared and spoke.

This time, the people from the East Coast finally got their hands on it!Except for one shot that continued to sway into the crowd digging in the rear, the other shot hit the mount of a red cannon.The cannon was directly smashed into pieces, and the heavy cannon tilted to the side, directly overwhelming the two gunners of the Qing army. Li Wenchang, who was watching with a telescope from the top of the city, paid a silent tribute to the two squashed guys and died. It's too suffocating.

The people on the east bank have fired ten shells so far, and only achieved one hit. This result can only be said to be so-so.You must know that every area outside the city has been accurately measured before, and each artillery has also carried out a large number of test firings on each area. The data obtained by the test firing is processed by the staff using mathematical methods, and then obtained Out of the shot table.This shooting table has taken into account many factors that affect the measurement, such as wind speed and temperature. It can be said that theoretically, the artillery of the people on the east coast should be aimed at where to shoot.But now it took so many shells to hit one shot, and maybe it was luck, this result is really not that good.

The reloading speed of the Qing army's artillery was too slow, and they looked very nervous, because the artillery of the Yellow Bandit Army was surprisingly accurate. Although most of them missed, all the shells without exception were swirling around them.Maybe a shell will land on top of their heads at any time. The mental pressure is not ordinary, which will naturally cause their movements to be out of shape and the loading work to slow down.

The 18-pounder guns continue to fire!This time, one shell hit the gap between the two infantry formations of the Qing army, allowing them to escape, but another shell smashed into the crowd firmly again, taking the lives of seven or eight people.

The two sides engaged in artillery battles like this. After about ten minutes of bombardment, the Qing army finally couldn't hold back.With the sound of a horn, the Qing army arrayed behind the red cannon slowly retreated to 1500 meters, but it was still shrouded in the range of the 18-pound long-barreled cannon.The effective range of this terrifying artillery on the city wall may have reached more than 1500 meters, and the maximum range has reached more than 2100 meters. Although the kinetic energy of the shell was somewhat exhausted when it hit here, it could still kill a large number of people.With the array density of the Qing army at this time, the 18-pound heavy artillery with a hit rate of more than [-]% can kill six or seven people in one shot, and if you are lucky, you can kill or injure more than a dozen people.

However, the Qing army's infantry obviously could not retreat any further, and any further withdrawal would not be able to protect the artillery positions.The cavalry team of the bandits in yellow might kill them at any time, if they didn't have time to help the artillery team, then the new recruits like them wouldn't be able to bear the blame.

During the 15-minute shelling just now, the Qing army only fired three rounds, and only four of the 18 shells hit the city wall of Yantai Fort.However, this kind of thick city wall made of bricks and strips of stone is obviously not something they can easily shake. A few shells only knocked off the cement layer on the outer layer, and the damage to the city wall itself is limited.If the Qing army wanted to really blast through the walls of Yantai Fort, they had better move the artillery forward another 300 meters, but this was really difficult for the heavy and slow red cannon. In 15 minutes, the artillery of the people on the east bank fired violently at a constant rate of one round every 2 minutes, but still only one shell hit. This shell injured several Qing army gunners, but the artillery itself was not damaged. .

Taking advantage of the retreat of the Qing army array, the gunners on the east bank also took the time to cool down the artillery.They covered the cannon barrel with a large wet towel, and a large steaming mist suddenly rose from the towel.Strictly speaking, this cooling method is harmful to the barrel, but at this time during the battle, in order to quickly cool the artillery so that it can be put into battle as soon as possible, it is understandable.

The Qing army on the opposite side seems to have dispatched a cavalry.After paying the casualties of one or two hundred worthless new attached troops, the Qing army was finally willing to transfer out the precious Manchu Banners and Han Banners cavalry, but they were still stationed far away from the artillery range of the people on the east coast. Greatly deterring the cavalry troops of the East Coasters.As long as they make the move to go out of the city to attack the Qing army's artillery, then they will rush forward with a thunderous force and completely wipe out this enemy cavalry.

But in fact they are likely to be disappointed.Mo Ming, who just came to watch the battle at the top of the city, sneered at the range, rate of fire, accuracy, and destructive power of the Qing army's artillery, thinking that the damage they caused to Yantai Fort at a distance of 500 meters was quite limited.This is not a city wall with rammed earth on the inside and bricks on the outside. This is a solid city wall made of large bricks and stones specially used for city walls. The thickness is not less than 3.5 meters. The thickest part is even Reached 6 meters.You backward artillery want to blow down my city wall from more than 500 meters away, what a dream!Therefore, he didn't plan to send cavalry out of the city to attack the Qing army at all, so he just bombarded them with cannons to see who can't hold it first!

Up to now, the people on the east coast have not suffered any injuries in terms of personnel except for the consumption of dozens of shells.On the other hand, the Qing army on the opposite side, those infantry that surrendered to the Ming army have already been killed and injured by the artillery on the east bank, and more than 100 people were killed and injured. The master has worked hard.At this time, the coaters of the Eight Banners were stepping forward, begging for shells not to fall on their heads, while holding knives and guns to force the masters to the front, continuing to build those uncompleted buildings. emplacement.

The artillery battle continued.After cooling down, the artillery on the east bank fired several rounds of fire at a rate of fire every 2 minutes. During these rounds of artillery strikes, another Qing army artillery was finally destroyed, which was also a cannon in red. Incidentally, two gunners were reimbursed.However, the Qing army's counterattack was still weak. Their rate of fire was extremely slow, and the shells they finally hit had different landing points. The destructive power on the slightly broken city wall of the people on the east bank was almost nothing to mention.According to this style of play, it will take the Qing army years of monkeys to break through the walls of Yantai Fort!

Perhaps seeing the limited role of his artillery team, the coach of the Qing army no longer asked to transfer the remaining artillery to the front line, because it was useless to go there.After they sent someone to communicate with the commander of the artillery team, the power of the Qing army's artillery suddenly increased. It seemed that the superiors specifically asked them to increase the amount of gunpowder loaded.But doing so is obviously tragic. Although the quality of the Qing army's artillery is much better than that of the Ming army, it obviously has a limit.After two artillery shells hit the city wall of Yantai Fort hard and knocked down a large amount of cement and brick chips, the artillery team of the Qing army, who had not had time to be happy in the future, was extremely happy and sad. A artillery suddenly exploded, and the broken barrel flew straight up It was more than one meter high, and the seven or eight gunners nearby were either killed or injured, which can be described as extremely tragic.

So far, three of the six artillery pieces of the Qing army have been destroyed, one of which was completely damaged, one was seriously damaged, and the other artillery carriage fell apart.However, the people on the east bank did not intend to let them go. Except for the two 18-pounder guns that were still searching for Qing soldiers within range, the other four long-range cannons continued to hit the Qing army's guns with fierce artillery fire. The counterattack interval of the Qing army became longer and longer, and the accuracy dropped sharply.

(End of this chapter)