1627 Rise of the South China Sea

Chapter 3242
Although Sun Zhen had seen the live ammunition shooting effect of this new type of artillery six months ago, it was the first time that it was actually deployed on the battlefield.

Sun Zhen didn't quite understand why Tiandu Armory named this artillery "howitzer", but he knew that this thing was extremely powerful. The spindle-shaped hollow shell could be filled with high explosives and a large number of steel balls. , the former is used to blast solid fortifications, while the latter focuses on killing people.

When I was testing the cannon in the deep mountains, this thing could blow up the blockhouse made of stone in one shot, and the damage area of ​​the shell fragments could reach a radius of ten feet, which was far better than the previous solid shells.

Moreover, the operation of this gun is extremely simple, as long as the shell is inserted into the barrel, the breech block is closed, and the target is fired, and then the breech block is opened to eject the shell case, and the next shell is loaded.Compared with the old artillery, the frequency of firing has at least doubled.

Whether it is combat efficiency or killing effect, Sun Zhen is very satisfied with the performance of this howitzer.The only problem is that the manufacturing process of this thing is said to be complicated, and the current production capacity is very low, so the cost is extremely expensive. Even if the rich are as rich as Haihan, it is difficult to get a large number of them in the military in a short period of time.

Sun Zhen did not know the exact number of new artillery pieces assigned to the garrison troops in the northern region, but he speculated that there should be no more than twenty.

Even for a difficult task like attacking Shanhaiguan, powerful weapons must be used to suppress the formation. Only then did Sun Zhen get four howitzers. It can be seen that Chen Yixin's inventory is extremely limited.

Whether these four cannons can blow through the Shanhaiguan defense line, Sun Zhen actually didn't have much confidence in his heart.But now that the arrow is on the string, it has to be launched, and we can only use it first to see how the effect is.

With the sound of several cannons, a huge cloud of smoke and dust exploded on the Great Wall two miles away.The effect of the high-explosive grenade did not disappoint Sun Zhen. He observed in the telescope that the position where the shell hit had been blown away and a small gap was formed.

However, this section of the city wall is built with rammed earth on the outer layer of masonry and the inner layer is nearly two feet thick. It is far stronger than the outer walls of those fortresses captured by the Haihan Army yesterday. Such bombardment is far from enough to destroy it.

"Continue to bomb! until the city wall collapses!"

At this time, Sun Zhen didn't care about the limited ammunition anymore. He had to blow up a gap here in order to break through the Shanhaiguan defense line.

At the same time, the shelling of Nanyi City and Weihai City on both sides of this attack point has also begun.Although Sun Zhen didn't plan to attack these two small cities by force, it was still necessary to maintain the offensive so that he could not easily divide his troops to reinforce the upcoming gap in the defense line.

However, Sun Zhen's limited troops limited the scale of the feint attack. The defenders soon noticed that Haihan had changed the main attack direction to the south of the line of defense, and immediately took countermeasures.

The two battalions of soldiers rushed to the area where Haihan was shelling. Once Haihan really broke through the city wall, they would form the first line of defense inside the city wall.

A cavalry force of nearly a thousand cavalry was killed in Dongluo City, and they began to harass the Haihan army's flanks.

Sun Zhen didn't dare to be careless, so he could only allocate part of his troops to strengthen the defense of the flanks first.

At this time, the shortcomings of the Haihan army were gradually exposed. Due to the lack of troops, they could only maintain a relatively narrow offensive surface.

For the ten-mile-long Shanhaiguan defense line, Haihan's attack range is actually very small, and the defenders can increase their local strength advantage through mobilization, thus forming a new front on the Haihan army's flank. It made it impossible to fully concentrate its forces on the main attack direction.

However, these Ming troops who were operating on the flanks did not dare to get too close to the defense line of the Haihan army, nor could they be too concentrated, and they could not stop still, otherwise they might become living targets for the Haihan army.

Several snipers under Sun Zhen had already climbed onto the high platform and began to use binoculars to search for suitable targets on the battlefield.

These cavalry needed flags as a signal to act, and the commanders in the team must be very close to the flags. Even if a certain degree of camouflage was carried out, their mounts were probably better than ordinary soldiers, and the process of giving orders was easier to identify.

And once the target is confirmed by the sniper, how long it can survive on the battlefield is a matter of luck.

After seven rounds of bombardment on the selected target, there was a burst of cheers among the Haihan army, because the city wall had collapsed visibly with the naked eye after eating more than 20 shells, and there was a giant wall at least two feet wide. the gap.

Seeing this, Sun Zhen began to change his tactics, using other artillery to go into battle to suppress the firepower of the Ming army near the gap.At the same time, let the artillery launch the mortar, and strive to further expand the width of the gap.

The stubby mortar has a much larger caliber than ordinary artillery, and can fire high-explosive bombs with time-delayed fuzes, which are more powerful than grenades.

But the shortcomings of this gadget are also obvious, because of its high-throwing trajectory, its range is much shorter than that of ordinary artillery.Moreover, because the shells are heavy, the loading process is more troublesome, and the firing frequency is extremely low.Therefore, before entering the shooting position, the firepower points that can pose a threat must be cleared.

This process took a lot of time for the Haihan army, and when the Ming army noticed that the opponent was changing mortars to go into battle, they dispatched more troops from Nanyi City and Weihai City, trying to prevent the Haihan army from expanding their victories.

The Haihan army has opened a gap in the defense line. If it is not stopped, the Haihan army will occupy this gap, and the Ming army will fall into a passive position.By this time, casualties were no longer a major concern for commanders on both sides.

At this time, thousands of Ming troops appeared on the north and south wings of the Haihan army. Sun Zhen had limited troops, so he could only suspend the bombardment of the Great Wall first, and let the artillery troops turn their muzzles to deal with the Ming troops who were forming a pincer attack on their side. military.

Although the Ming army is obviously superior in terms of military strength, its weapons and equipment are more than one level behind the Haihan army. Most of the Ming army can only be equipped with knives and bows as their main weapons.

The musketeers are still relatively elite units in the Ming army, and their weapon range is already at a disadvantage, and if they are assembled in an array, they will become a real target.

The two teams of Musketeers who came out from Nanyi City and Weihai City had already eaten Haihan's shells before they fired.

Seeing that nearly half of the manpower had been lost before the battle, the commander of the Ming army had no choice but to order the Musketeers to retreat first.

Although the Haihan army had superior firepower, they did not dare to extend the battle line further because of their limited strength. They could only adopt a strategy of steady defense and counterattack, and fought back the harassment war of the Ming army first.

It was nearly noon, and the Ming army finally retreated.Although thousands of corpses were left in the east of the defense line, the Ming army basically achieved its combat objectives and delayed the Haihan army's offensive.

During this period, the civilians in the line of defense have piled a large number of sacks filled with mud and bricks at the gap in the Great Wall, and they are still under construction.

Although the temporary repairs were not as reliable as the original ones, at least [-]% of them had been restored.Seeing this scene through the telescope, Sun Zhen couldn't help crying secretly.

(End of this chapter)