Dawn of the Empire

Chapter 263 Tao Ranwo Xihuang (2)

"General Zhao, I have to remind you at the end," when Jin Changtai called Zhao Xingde this way when there were only marching Sima and the captain in the middle army account, it was a bit of a joke, which was also recognized by the Han army. The joyful mood that comes with ownership. "Supplying three thousand stones of grain and grass to the Han army is almost half of our army's stockpile. We are also facing the problem of insufficient grain and grass. The army grain is only enough for three months." When Jin Changtai joked, he usually had a response Method.

Zhao Xingde naturally knew this well, and said with a smile, "What is Jin Sima's countermeasure?"

"There are still three months to harvest the wheat, and four months to harvest the red beams." Jin Changtai spread his hands, "If you want not to eat bark and grass roots, you have to buy food from the Central Plains. This time, three thousand shi of military food has been paid. In the future, the Battle of Kaizhou will still cost money. At least five thousand shi of grain will be needed." He laughed, "Is this money for grain?"

"Dongmu Xing will pay five thousand guan in advance. If there is still insufficient, I will find a way."

"It's easy to handle!" Dongmuxing is a joint stock company of the soldiers of the Eighth Battalion of Chengying. Military expenditures are accounted for separately.Jin Changtai nodded and said: "Because of the five thousand stones of grain and grass, the Han army is willing to mortgage the tax of Baozhou. If the Huguo Mansion refuses to accept the account in the future, will the tax be collected by Dongmu Bank?" The tax on this land, Whether it is collected by Dongmu Bank or by the tax collectors of the Prime Minister's Mansion, the meaning will be completely different.If Dongmuhang enjoys the right to levy taxes, it is tantamount to breaking the ground and closing the border.

Zhao Xingde shook his head and said: "Huguofu will not be so stupid." He paused, and said in a deep voice: "Call the centurion, and have another military discussion before going out."

This is the wind blowing from above the river. Li Sihai greedily sniffed the unique smell of land. People who have been floating on the sea all year round have this problem.The Yalu River is not wide, and the river is green and clear, enough to carry [-] ships on the main channel.On the east and west banks of the river stands a city wall, as if guarding the two gates of the Yalu River.Laiyuan County on the west bank and Baozhou City on the east bank are both in the hands of the Communists, and they are both within the firing range of the ship's artillery.

Both Laiyuan County and Baozhou City were built by the people of the Liao Kingdom, which are slightly different from the cities in the Central Plains. There are not many people in the city.The largest fortress is on the hills along the river bank, and then small camps where soldiers are stationed, scattered all the way to the river like a string of pearls, and finally the wharf water fortress.The two city walls built on the north and south sides of the camp also extend from the high hills of Dazhai to the wharf, where they join together, and wooden towers stand on both sides of the wharf.On the piers on both sides, there are dozens of wooden ships, large and small, of which more than a dozen are warships with crenels for arrows on both sides, and two or three very large ones have arrow towers at the bow and stern.

The Japanese invaded the mouth of the Yalu River and seized all the goods upstream, which undoubtedly gave Li Sihai a chance to show off his navy's strength.He immediately returned to Yueyang Island by fast boat, summoned all the troops of the Fourth Battalion of Chengying, and rushed to Baozhou almost excitedly.As for the land, Li Sihai believed that there was no need to discuss with Zhao De from the understanding of getting along these days.He firmly believes that Zhao De, like him, is a person who cannot tolerate sand in his eyes.Since the Eighth Battalion of Chengying is determined to spread its influence on the Yalu River in Taibai Mountain, it will never tolerate the provocation of the Communist Party.People like them, with only one arrow in their hands, will immediately 'shoot' into the enemy's formation.

The gunships on the docks on both sides spotted the unexpected guest, but they didn't pay much attention to it.Although Chengyingying's sea-going ship looks a bit strange, compared with ordinary sea-going ships, it doesn't look particularly hawkish.Although there are not many sea-going ships with a thousand materials in Liaodong, they can be often seen in the ports of ***. Among the sea-going ships between the Song Dynasty and ***, the hulls can only be regarded as medium to small.Therefore, the Japanese Navy moored at the Baozhou Wharf only stirred up for a moment, and then sent a small boat over. It seemed that they regarded the warships of the Fourth Battalion as ordinary merchant ships, and wanted to come up to extort some benefits or is to collect taxes.

"Lieutenant Li, do you want to fight first? Wait for the troops of the Eighth Battalion."

"Fire the cannon and destroy the naval ships first." Li Sihai said expressionlessly, "This is the letter of war."

There are ten gun ports on each side of the ship's side. The gun ports have already been opened, and the sergeants are guarding the deck with their weapons.No one in Chengying Fourth Battalion would dare to disobey Li Sihai's military orders.Even Zhao Xingde trained himself, and the gunners newly assigned to the fourth battalion did not dare.Marching Sima Wu Mai conveyed the military order, and the gunner said in a drawn-out voice: "Ready—" The gunners who had already been waiting on both sides of the four-inch gun struggled to grab the cables that bound the gun carriage and pulled the gun carriage back.The gunner in the back was already waiting there with the punched 'drug' bag in both hands.The position of the artillery loading has been calculated long ago, and it is not bad at all.Soon, the 'powder' bag was sent into the barrel, and the push rod made it stick tightly to the bottom of the barrel. The gunner in front reloaded the round cast iron shell, and the gunner in the rear pushed the sharp awl through the fire door. Wrap up a hole in the 'medicine', and then install the 'medicine' primer.After all this was over, the gunners hurriedly pushed the gun carriage back to its original position.

While the gunner was busy loading the ammunition, under the command of Li Sihai, the warship was slowly turning. It ignored the boat that was weakly rowing towards this side, and pointed the port side at Baozhou Wharf , the largest ships of the Japanese Navy are moored there.In the cabin on the ground floor, some other gunners walked along the narrow stairs, carrying the separately placed ammunition bags and round shells to the upper deck where the artillery was located.In order to prevent it from being detonated by the enemy's fire attack, the compartments of the 'powder' packs are carefully placed in several isolated compartments on the bottom floor. Come in and soak the 'powder'.However, this also caused trouble to carry the 'medicine' package during the battle.After the two runners boarded the ship, half of the time was spent training on loading ammunition, restoring gun positions and aiming, and the other half of the time was training on quickly moving ammunition in a narrow sea ship.

Now gunners and sailors are still two different systems. Therefore, after Wu Mai, the marching commander of the [-]th Battalion, issued the military order to fire the guns, the gunner centurion and the gunner were responsible for how to aim.Unlike on land, the narrow gun ports of sea ships limit the accuracy of each gun's aiming accuracy, and the sea ship itself is constantly shaking, so it has become a very test of the gunner's skill to shoot accurately .

"Fire!" the gunner centurion in charge of the port side gun position ordered.From the bow to the stern, the gunners gave the order to fire in turn, and the gunners carefully lit the 'powder' lead with fire pockets.Since Zhao Xingde trained the artillery battalion, the burning speed and length of these 'powder' primers are strictly regulated, and the cannons that are ignited with a difference of two breaths must burn to the 'powder' packs one by one, and will not fire at the same time.

This is the first time for the gunners to actually fight on a ship. In the cabin, all the gunners looked stern. The gunner on the starboard side put his hand on the cable binding the gun carriage, as if the cable would suddenly come off if he didn't do so. similarly.The gunner who carried the 'drug' package stood between the 'medicine' package and the gun position on the port side, for fear that a little spark would splash here.At this moment, the deck where the artillery was installed became quiet, only the sound of splashing water and the sound of the "powder" primer burning, and soon, the "powder" primer of the artillery closest to the bow ignited. At the end, the gunner almost saw a wisp of smoke rising from the fire door.

After the military order was issued, Li Sihai secretly calculated the firing time, and he put his hands on the ship's side.Although the power of this cannon is astonishing, the damage to the hull at the moment of firing the cannon is huge. In the ship test report to the Ordnance Department, Li Sihai suggested that all the planks should be doubled in thickness, the keel thickened, and the ship's ribs also thickened. Double the encryption and add horizontal ribs to prevent the ship itself from being shaken apart by the artillery.Li Sihai also suggested to the Ordnance Department with his keen eyesight that if artillery is used as the main weapon of a sea-going ship, the bigger the hull, the better. The larger ship has more gun positions than the small ship, and it can provide the most stable firing platform and is sturdy. , It can withstand both the waves and the toss of the artillery.The only downside is that it costs money.

The **** boat was getting closer and closer, and the faces of the Japanese soldiers on board could be clearly seen. Li Sihai even saw the surprised eyes of the other party. Needless to say, they just discovered the sergeant waiting on the deck .

Just before the Japanese had time to issue a warning to the stockade, there was a loud "boom--", a stream of flames and smoke gushed out from the port port gun port, and the black shells were almost visible. The visible arc flew out, and with a strong momentum, it slammed on the city wall of Baozhou Wharf.Immediately afterwards, there were nine consecutive "boom", "boom", and "boom", accompanied by huge recoil, the shells fell around the Baozhou water village, and two hit the underside of the ship's side of the first floor ship, and immediately penetrated the thin ship board.This round of bombardment was like a sudden rainstorm in summer, which frightened the approaching military boats to slam into the water.The four or five sailors above all stared at this side dumbfounded. Not only did they dare not stop them from coming forward, but they couldn't even think of running away.

Li Sihai watched with satisfaction the ship's wood chips flying around on the upstairs of the pier: "The first shelling was not bad." He still felt a little regretful, after all, he didn't personally train these gunners.After the tenth gun on the port side fired, the sailors immediately changed the sails and rowed the oars, and aimed the starboard side of the ship in the direction of Baozhou Wharf.

The sound of the cannon boomed, resounding on both sides of the Yalu River.On the official road four or five miles away from Laiyuan County, Zhao Xingde squinted his eyes and smiled at Jin Changtai: "It seems that the Fourth Battalion has arrived before us." Right beside them, the soldiers of the Eighth Battalion maintained their marching formation, He walked unhurriedly towards the place where the gunfire sounded.