Tiantang Splendid

Chapter 3416 Burning Ping Rang
In the early morning of the next day, the sky was dim, and the sailors were able to live and cook on the ship.After the meal, the soldiers on each ship gathered on the deck, hoisted the dismantled cannons with thick cables, and slowly hoisted them to the sampan beside the warship.

Soldiers rowed sampans and approached the shore until they were unable to move forward on the edge of the ice, then hoisted the artillery again and moved it to the sledge made of wooden boards, and then dragged the sledge with manpower or animal power Head towards Ping Rang City.

Thousands of soldiers with muskets and large shields led the way.

Halfway through the journey, the heavy snow that had stopped all night began to fall again. Fortunately, the sledge was driving on the ice and the road was not blocked by the heavy snow.In addition, the heavy snow also obstructed the line of sight. Unless Goguryeo's scouts approached, it was extremely difficult to spot the sailor soldiers advancing in the snow.

It was not until they arrived twenty miles west of Pingrang City that they bumped into a group of Goguryeo scouts. After being shot and killed several people with muskets, two riders escaped and rushed back to Pingrang City to report the news.

The advancing sailors immediately lined up and slowly advanced towards Ping Rang City, beware of the Goguryeo cavalry who might come at any time.

Sure enough, ten miles away from Pingrang City, a group of more than a thousand Goguryeo cavalry came galloping through the wind and snow.The horses are strong and the soldiers are fierce, shouting and shouting in the wind and snow, rolling up countless ice foam and snow, with a fierce and murderous aura, they bumped into the sailor soldiers head-on, after a little rectification, they killed them recklessly.

The cavalry has an innate crushing advantage against the infantry. Even if they suffered too much from the "shocking thunder" when confronting the Tang army, the Goguryeo soldiers were not afraid.Countless confrontations with the Tang army made the Goguryeo cavalry find out a rule, that is, although the "shocking thunder" is powerful, but obviously the Tang army has limited equipment, as long as the charging speed is fast enough, they will be able to withstand a wave of "shocking thunder" After the bombing, quickly rushing into the Tang army's formation will make the rest of the Tang army be afraid.

You can't be so red-eyed that you don't even care about your own life to launch an "indiscriminate" attack, right?

So at this moment, the Goguryeo cavalry is thinking like this. The Tang army is brave, but as long as the cavalry rushes into the formation against the infantry, isn't it wanton slaughter?

When the Goguryeo cavalry advanced to about [-] or [-] feet, there was a sound like popping beans in the Tang army formation, and a thick gunpowder smoke rose up, mixing with the snowflakes all over the sky. blow off.

Immediately afterwards, countless lead bullets pierced through the air.

"Puff puff"

Although the distance is a little far, the kinetic energy of the lead bullets is insufficient, but Koguryo's iron smelting technology is backward, and there are basically no iron armors except for the generals, and there are not many cavalry even leather armors. A strange and irregular ballistic trajectory easily pierced through thin clothing, causing damage to Goguryeo soldiers and war horses.

The lethality of lead bullets is very powerful. Once it hits a human body or a war horse, it is difficult to cause penetrating wounds due to its irregular shape and insufficient kinetic energy. The war horse lost its fighting power in an instant and was difficult to treat.

Thousands of soldiers held muskets, and they pulled the trigger to fire after just a little aiming, and then took two steps back to prepare to load ammunition.

The "three-stage strike" can fully make up for the lack of range of muskets. If the accuracy of muskets is insufficient, the victory is completely based on numbers. Thousands of muskets fire in salvo, and lead bullets fly freely in the air to form a large net without aiming at all.

When the Goguryeo people rushed closer, countless "shocking thunders" were thrown into the formation, and everyone was turned on their backs.

The ferocious Goguryeo cavalry criss-crossing Liaodong with powerful combat power, but at this moment, it was as if they had crashed into a city wall made of steel. The horses neighed and the soldiers screamed. Lei Chi took half a step.

The power of firearms is so terrifying!
Su Dingfang, who stood in the rear and commanded the battle, looked at the scene in front of him, feeling infinitely emotional.The cavalry, known as the "King of War" in the past, finally met its nemesis this time.The lethality of the firearms on the cavalry is too great, and when the firearms are fired, sparks, smoke, and shocks are emitted, and the horses are frightened, easily confusing the formation, making it difficult to take advantage of the group charge, and can only be slaughtered.

More importantly, training a qualified or even excellent cavalry requires too many resources and takes too long.Why are the Han people often vulnerable to a battle when facing the Hu tribe's cavalry?It is precisely because the Hu people grew up on horseback since childhood, and their riding skills are superb.It is almost impossible for the Han people to train that level of riding skills when they are teenagers.Even if there are talented people who are even better at riding, how many people can there be?

The firearms are easy to operate, even women and children can go into battle temporarily with a little practice, and can still maintain a certain degree of combat effectiveness.

It is conceivable that with the development of firearms, their power will become more and more powerful, and the advantage of cavalry will be gradually reduced. Eventually, firearms will completely replace cavalry and become the masters on the battlefield.

He was very fortunate that such a powerful weapon first appeared in the Tang Dynasty, and countless tigers of the Tang Dynasty could use it to run rampant in the world.

If firearms first appeared in foreign lands, when countless barbarians of the Hu nationality armed with firearms, and even drove warships equipped with artillery to invade the territory of the Tang Dynasty, what would the Tang Dynasty do to resist it?

Su Dingfang felt more and more that Fang Jun was the most outstanding person in the world. If he hadn't invented gunpowder and developed guns and cannons, he would have been successfully developed by the Hu people first, and when the murderous Hu tribe barbarians entered the empire and burned them to death Looting, such a miserable situation, is simply unimaginable...

Only the invention of gunpowder, Fang Jun is enough to go down in history, his meritorious deeds are outstanding throughout the ages, and he has been admired and worshiped by his descendants forever!

……

This Goguryeo cavalry of more than a thousand people was quickly slaughtered. Obviously, most of the troops were sent to chase the Tang army retreating north. Ping Rang City was short of troops, especially the extreme lack of cavalry.

Killed more than a thousand cavalry, the army did not stop at all, leaving only a small team to clean up the battlefield, and continued to march towards Pingrang City.

When the navy dragged the artillery and arrived at the foot of Ping Rang City, the sound of "woo-woo" horns was heard on the top of the city, the city gate was "creaked" closed, the flag was erected on the top of the city, fluttering in the cold wind, and countless soldiers They rushed to the top of the city, crowded with people, and prepared for defense.

The city was short of troops, and the strength and combat power of the navy were uncertain, and after sending out a cavalry force to be wiped out, the defenders in Pingrang City adopted a conservative strategy-they couldn't defend themselves.

In their view, hundreds of thousands of Tang troops could not break through the city after two months of siege, so how could a mere navy break through the city wall?As long as you can't hold on, when the cavalry chasing the Tang army return, these stragglers under the city will naturally collapse without a fight.

The Tang army arrived at the city smoothly, and they quickly lined up without even encountering any resistance.The cannons were dragged up one by one, and the engineers waved their shovels to level the ground covered with ice and snow, placed the cannons, and then adjusted the elevation angle of the muzzles.

Everything was ready, and Xi Junmai, holding a small red flag in his hand, gave an order: "Let go!"

"dong dong dong"

More than a hundred cannons were ignited together, and the gunpowder burned and exploded in the barrel, releasing violent kinetic energy, and violently ejected the kerosene bomb.A stream of flame mixed with gunpowder smoke and shells spewed out, and then the soldiers on the side stuffed bristle brushes into the barrel, quickly cleaned up the residue in the barrel, and loaded gunpowder packs and kerosene bombs.

"put!"

"dong dong dong"

Dozens of cannons hissed and roared under the city of Ping Rang, and each volley burst out with deafening noises, shaking the sky with heavy snow and being swept up, dancing wildly.Numerous kerosene bombs were fired from the gun barrel, flew over the city wall, and fell into the city.

"boom boom"

When the kerosene bomb hits the ground, it bursts open, and the flammable material soaked in kerosene inside is thrown around, no matter where it splashes, it will adhere to it, even a piece of snow will burn violently.Before the defenders and people in the city understood what happened, countless kerosene bombs fell from the sky, and the entire "Little Chang'an" was instantly engulfed in flames.

The people of Goguryeo were barren and impoverished, and many of them could not afford to build brick and stone houses, so they could only build them with wood, and they were most afraid of fire.At this moment, kerosene bombs fell from the sky, and houses, government offices, and shops burst into flames. The people and soldiers tried to put out the fire in horror, but found that the fire was like maggots on tarsus bones. As long as it was touched by sparks, it would burn blazingly, and it could not be extinguished no matter what... …

In just one cup of tea, half of Pingrang City was engulfed in a sea of ​​flames, the flames billowed into the sky, smoke and dust billowed, and the soldiers and civilians in the city cried and howled in terror.

(End of this chapter)