New Shun 1730

"If they show their strength and their appearance shows their weakness, they will certainly want to fight back."

"However, the key depends on how well the rocket is burned. If it is burned well, the town and the port are completely burned, I think Gibraltar can be captured in three months at most."

"The staff will arrange it according to this idea of ​​luring the enemy to counterattack. The specific results will depend on the effect of the burning."

"All departments should prepare. The blockade at sea cannot be stopped for a moment. Send a message to the Jews and Moors in Menorca, Ceuta and other places. If they are caught smuggling, they will be hanged."

The officers said yes and went to prepare.

Soon, the main force of the combat engineers who had been repaired in Menorca for a period of time were also transported to the Spanish town and began their old work.

Digging pits.

Building artillery platforms.

Digging communication trenches.

Building a fortress to store troops and prevent enemy counterattacks.

And those special artillerymen also began to set up their large rocket launchers behind the breastwork.

Two hundred launchers were quickly set up, and they were waiting for a very suitable weather with wind direction. The main thing is that the wind should not be too strong, but not too weak. After all, even the artillery that specializes in launching this thing knows that the accuracy of this thing can basically be regarded as inaccurate.

Fortunately, the British have a town in Gibraltar, and most of the houses in the town are made of wood, especially some houses at the seaside docks, most of which are built with the ship materials of dilapidated ships.

After the engineers dug a pit for about half a month, they finally waited for a very suitable weather.

From the morning, the sun was hot and a very suitable northeast wind blew. The weather in Gibraltar is very strange. Unlike Dashun, there is a basically clear monsoon in all seasons. Instead, it may be a westerly wind tomorrow if it is an east wind today.

Since the climatic conditions are very suitable, Dashun chose the evening as the time for the launch.

Because the evening can cause the greatest panic in Gibraltar, and can also hinder any possible rescue and the limited number of British ships from leaving the port to avoid.

It's not that they are afraid that these ships will pose any threat to Dashun, but mainly that these ships will be dismantled and used as fuel for winter heating.

According to the news here, starting from November every year, Gibraltar will also be so cold that you have to rub your hands. Although it is still a little short of rubbing your ears, the average temperature is about ten degrees, and the humid climate here makes it unbearable not to warm up by the fire.

Another reason is that it is more shocking at night.

Dashun invited French and Spanish generals to observe this night fire together.

Dashun's warships have already hidden far away, fearing that these completely inaccurate things will fall on them.

The officers who watched with the Spanish and French noble generals were all in a very safe position.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the artillery was ready. This thing did not need any test firing, and it was still inaccurate after the test firing.

Large rockets were placed on the launcher one by one. Due to the processing longitude and other reasons, Dashun did not adopt the slightly more advanced design similar to the Hale rocket, which can ensure the spin of the projectile. Instead, it adopted a single nozzle for the longest range.

Of course, it did not use the idea of ​​the flying crow described in "Wu Bei Zhi", because it could not pass the test of igniting multiple rockets at the same time, and the stability of the subsequent two jets, etc., which to some extent can be regarded as the reason for the failure of Soviet rockets in later generations: it is far less powerful than a thrust nozzle.

The maximum range of Dashun's specialized rocket can be five miles, but the deviation is basically one or two miles, and it can even deviate by three or four miles if you are unlucky.

The launcher is just a broken tripod with a simple copper rail. After the fixed colloid oil bomb is installed in front of the rocket, the ignition method is no different from launching a rocket.

A fuse was pulled out from behind the spray powder mixed with saltpeter and sugar. Soldiers took torches and lit the fuse like setting off firecrackers during the Chinese New Year.

Along with the order to launch, a series of strange whistles suddenly came from the evening sky. The humming sound and the flame trails drew a strange and chaotic web in the sky.

The humming shrieks startled the Spanish and French nobles who were drinking wine in the fortress. They stood up at the same time and looked at the flying monkeys in the sky. They felt a shock that was difficult to explain.

Dashun was the first to use flying balloons for military purposes. Now it has made this large-sized flying monkey. The dream of flying and the scene of flying in the sky are universal for shocking and attracting humans.

The twilight in the evening made the flying monkeys look even more terrifying.

About 2,000 flying monkeys were thrown out after several rounds of volleys.

The Spanish and French nobles on the fortress saw a scene that they would never forget.

"That... is like hell."

De La Crew, the acting commander of the French Toulon fleet, sighed as he looked at the town of Gibraltar in the distance.

These primitive rockets, which were inaccurate, fired at a volley of 2,000 rockets in a short period of time, relying on the faster firing speed than heavy artillery.

The rockets that fell into the town were either explosive bombs filled with a large amount of gunpowder, making a deafening roar.

Or, they were filled with a mixture of refined petroleum and dissolved rubber, which exploded on the ground and splashed everywhere. No matter where they landed, even on the water, they would continue to burn.

Of the 2,000 rockets, about 350 landed on the town of Gibraltar, and the rest were scattered in a wide range around it.

Even the bare stone mountain of Gibraltar seemed to be on fire.

The pungent smell of burning rubber and sulfur, as well as the thick black smoke unique to rubber, mixed with the screams of the residents of the town and the cries of the defending soldiers, set all the houses in the town on fire.

Several British warships docked at the dock were also stained by these oily and sticky things. Soon, the gunpowder magazine of the warship made a shocking loud noise, pulling the tragedy of burning the town to the most shocking scene.

The towering fire column triggered a strong whirlwind. The rising black smoke could be seen even dozens of miles away in the dusk. The strong flames rolled with the whirlwind, reflecting the evening into a red.

In the chaos, the residents of the town could only flee frantically. Some jumped into the sea, some ran to the stone mountain, and more people piled up on the beach, looking at the huge fire dragon that appeared in the town in horror and despair.

The Bible does not describe what hell looks like, and of course the Koran does not describe it in detail. People can only imagine what they have seen. So this fire, in this town where Catholics, Protestants, Moors, and Jews gather, transcends the differences between religions and becomes a common template for the hell of different religions.

Visual devil's flames.

Smell the stench of sulfur and the strange smell of burnt corpses.

Hear the crackling sound of burning and the strange whistling sound of the fire column after rolling up the smoke and dust.

All of this makes the people here intuitively feel a panic that the end of the world is coming.

The fire burned all night, and about 400 civilians died in the sea of ​​fire. Almost all the buildings in Gibraltar were burned down, including the ships moored at the dock.

However, the British troops stationed here did not suffer much loss.

Among the 4,200 defenders, only about 100 were killed or wounded, because the rockets were aimed at the town, so the British troops in the trenches and fortresses did not suffer huge losses.

However, the British commander understood that the defense of Gibraltar had reached the most difficult moment.

The fire last night burned down the town and the dock.

Almost all the food, vegetables, fruits, shops, bakeries, sugarcane wine, etc. in the town were burned.

After the French captured Menorca, Britain chose to send reinforcements to Gibraltar. Most of the 4,200 defenders were reinforced here after the failure of the siege on Menorca.

However, there was not much food.

Because the British army quickly regained control of the sea after the fall of Menorca. Spain has always been neutral, and the British merchants, Jews, Moors, etc. in the town can continue to do business with the local garrison.

Being stationed in such a place, a large amount of fresh vegetables and fruits are needed every day, otherwise scurvy will make these soldiers lose their combat effectiveness.

Therefore, the food reserves are only some salted beef, wheat, and a small amount of strong liquor as military supplies.

Because they had control of the sea before, the military supplies here were mainly purchased locally.

Generally speaking, the town is very safe.

Because of the obstruction of the stone mountain, normal cannons at this time cannot threaten the town. Unless they attack from the sea, but the artillery will sink the warships at sea if they bombard from the sea.

What they never expected was that the Dashun navy suddenly wedges in, not only regaining the control of the Mediterranean Sea to the French side.

They also used this weird artillery that seemed like oriental magic to burn the originally safe town to ashes.

This is not the real Central Europe of the past 30 years. This is what Britain cut off from Spain. Therefore, the British army could not rob and rob on the spot to raise food before coming here. The military discipline is still good, and they have to create a look of buying things and paying for them.

In addition, in order to attract more people, especially Jews, Moors, and Protestants who were hated by Spain's religious policy, to settle here, Britain maintained the business atmosphere of the town as a whole.

Now the town was burned to ashes. Even if the defenders suffered little loss, supply immediately became a big problem.

"If the navy cannot provide us with effective support, we can only hold on until December of this year at most. The cold wind in December will make all the defenders lose their combat effectiveness. The Chinese burned the town, which is equivalent to burning our firewood for heating and the supplies we can requisition in wartime."

Facing the town that was bombed into ashes by flames and the strange cannons, the British commander stationed here said so.