Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 245

Zhu Yihai called the gunners of the meritorious general cannon. The guy who was in charge of aiming the cannon was very tall, close to two meters, with a big golden beard that was very eye-catching. When asked, he turned out to be a Swedish man in his 40s. The mercenaries are also veterans of the 30-year battlefield in Europe.

Back then, he fought with King Gustav II of Sweden and had a period of glory. However, after Gustav II died in battle, the bearded man did not continue to serve Gustav II's six-year-old daughter. Queen Christina accepted the employment of the Spaniards, but she was not very lucky, and then came to the East.

Facing Zhu Yihai's commendation inquiry, Von Philippe honestly said that the shot actually depended three points on skill and seven points on luck.

Zhu Yihai was very satisfied with this guy's sincerity, and not only rewarded him with ten more dragon silvers on the spot, but also promoted him to be the chief artillery officer of the young army of Qianniu Town, and awarded him the rank of guerrilla.

Von Philip was holding a 20-yuan silver dollar and was in a daze.

When I was in Macau, although I heard that Lu Jianguo was generous and generous, but I didn’t realize that he was so generous. After just one shot, he was rewarded with 20 silver dollars.
After coming to the Far East, Philip also got used to Ming’s silver. There are many countries in Europe, and the currency is chaotic. For example, the British pound, because the silver is not very valuable, so the reform of the British pound is closer to gold, and the silver content continues to decline, about one or two taels. Gold is worth five pounds, and one tael of gold in the Ming Dynasty can now be worth 15 taels of silver, from one tael of gold in the Ming Dynasty to four taels of silver, to seven taels of eight taels, from 12 taels to 15 taels at the beginning of Chongzhen, to [-] taels today, Due to the war, the gold-silver exchange ratio continued to increase.

According to this calculation, one pound is worth about three taels of silver at this time. This dragon-patterned silver coin looks pretty good. Philip quickly calculated in his mind that he is an excellent gunner, and he is good at mathematics. It is equivalent to about six pounds in hand, which is more than one tael of gold.

"Your Highness, let's directly pull up these 26 Zhenwei Invincible General Cannons and blast them at the south gate. They should be able to collapse directly." Wang Zhiren came up very excitedly to propose.

Zhu Yihai was quite calm.

The shot just now really had a lot of luck. Under normal circumstances, the accuracy of the front-mounted smoothbore artillery is very low. Of course, if so many artillery pieces are concentrated to bombard, it is indeed very powerful.

But the Qing army in the city also had artillery. Although there were not many cannons, there were still many small and medium-sized artillery pieces, which were still very threatening if placed on the top of the city.

Zhu Yihai asked Philip for his professional opinion. He first asked Zhu Yihai carefully about the defensive forces and artillery in the city before giving an affirmative answer.

"Our artillery does have a great chance to blast through the city wall and open the city gate, but I suggest that it is best to clear the front of the city wall first, especially those trenches, otherwise even if the artillery blows down the city wall, the infantry cannot follow up in time. If we break into the city, the opponent can completely block the gap."

"Another point is that if our artillery is pushed too forward and too densely, it may be hit by the artillery fire from the city, but if it is placed behind, the power will be greatly reduced."

The role of the artillery is definitely very strong, but he still recommends regular combat first, and when the city is cleared and even suppressed, the artillery will assist in blasting the city gate and opening a gap for the infantry to enter the city.

City head.

Zhang Cunren, Xiao Qiyuan, Tian Xiong and others went up to the top of the city again. They looked carefully, and indeed they saw only one cannon.

Tian Xiongtong blushed, "There are four cannons in red clothes on the top of the south gate, are you all dead? Watching the other party bombard us, you fucking won't fight back? The other party has pulled the cannons to such a close distance, You are condescending, aiming at Lao Tzu!"

Several officers were scolded bloody, got the order, and hurried to scold the general in charge of the artillery.

Soon, the four red cannons of the Qing army counterattacked one after another.

The large Qianjin Frang machine guns, Weiyuan guns, general guns, and short-barreled mortar guns, the Weiyuan general guns, also began to load and aim.

There are hundreds of cannons on the head of Nancheng, one third of them are heavy cannons, and they all claim to be able to shoot a thousand steps away, but in fact these cannons are the strongest among the four red cannons. relatively backward.

Just like the General Weiyuan Cannon, it is a kind of extremely short body but huge mortar cannon. This kind of cannon is shaped like a bell, commonly known as watermelon cannon or cupola cannon. Western sailing warships usually have this kind of cannon on the bow. The shooting elevation angle is large, it is difficult to shoot directly, and the shells fired are very huge. It is most suitable for attacking the city, especially for throwing over the city wall and attacking inside the city wall.

Putting it on the city wall is of course not bad, but the problem is that the range of this kind of gun is actually not far, and the accuracy is even worse.

As for the Weiyuan Cannon, the General Cannon, and the Franco Cannon, they are actually more suitable for loading shotgun shells, and are suitable for bombarding infantry groups at close range.

But there were orders from above, and the gunners couldn't care less.

A cannon was reloaded quickly, and regardless of the actual range, it just rushed to the giant cannon that had just fired.

All of a sudden, a hundred cannons were fired on the south city wall, and the earth shook.

Countless iron ball lead bullets of various sizes and even huge stone bullets from mortars flew all over the sky.

It's like poking a hornet's nest.

Zhu Yihai was standing a mile away at this time, and he was also very frightened, so he hurriedly dragged the old scholar Xu Shiqi and others to run away.

"Go back!"

These guns are not a joke. Although they are not accurate, who dares to block luck.

······
When the gunpowder smoke cleared, Zhu Yihai got up from behind a shield car in a panic. Although he was several miles away from the city wall, he still had lingering fears from the stormy shelling just now.

"Your Highness, the Zhenwei Invincible General's cannon is gone."

Yang Boxing came over to report with some heaviness.

The Tartars fired a volley of hundreds of artillery pieces, and then fired more than one cannon, but fired at that cannon for a long time.

He had just performed meritorious service and bombarded half of the roof of the south gate of Hangzhou, and the 24-pound cannon that Zhu Yihai had named the Invincible General of Zhenwei had already been bombed to pieces.

The gun mounts fell apart completely, and the shield vehicles in front were also smashed to pieces.

Fortunately, Philip waited for the gunner to run fast when he saw the opportunity.

The Tartars counterattacked so quickly that they didn't even have time to withdraw their artillery.

"It's careless."

Zhu Yihai looked at the gun emplacement still filled with smoke and dust, and could only say helplessly.

Pushing the cannon one mile in front of the city just now did greatly increase the power of the cannon, but it also made the cannon within the range of the city's counterattack. Originally, Zhu Yihai thought that there were only four [-]-pound red cannons in the city, and let them shoot them. It is unlikely to hit a few shots.

But who would have thought that this Tartar is crazy.

Actually, the hundreds of large and small cannons on Nancheng were recklessly retaliated and bombarded indiscriminately for a long time. No matter how poor the accuracy is, they can always hit them, after all, they are only one mile away.

He Tengjiao stood there with a pale face. When he was in Huguang, he also guarded one side, but he had never encountered such a style of play.

This scene of hundreds of artillery bombardments is too spectacular.

Xu Shiqi didn't look good either, he sighed, "5000 taels of silver, is this gone?"

Zhu Yihai is fine, "It's not that they are gone. The copper and iron bumps are not still there. They can be pulled back and recast. We also have gunsmiths and technicians now. It is worth a lot to recycle them."

"Don't pull the cannon to the front for the time being, at least three miles away from the city wall. It is best to build a bunker for the cannon, build a wall and erect a fence."

This punching to death of the old master really caught everyone off guard.

Because of the power of the cannon just now, the Ming army's momentum was high, and they shouted long live, but they were beaten a little bit dumbfounded immediately.

Wang Zhiren rushed over, "His Royal Highness, we must not let the Tartars lose our spirit, please retaliate with cannons."

Zhu Yihai looked around, and found that everyone was indeed bombarded by this mess, which was a little dazed, which greatly hurt morale.

"That's right, we have as many guns as the Tartars, how can we let him take away morale?"

"Here's an order to pull up the cannon and set up an artillery position three miles away. Since we're going to bomb, let's have a blast and see whose cannon is more powerful."

There are hundreds of large and small cannons in the city of Tazi, but they are divided into four guards, and the position at the top of the city is also limited, so it is not easy to place them.

As for Zhu Yihai on the siege side, he could pull all the cannons over and focus on attacking one point. Although the Tartars had the upper hand and had the advantage, he had more heavy cannons.

Of the 26 24-pound guns, one was lost, and there were 25 more. What's more, although the three-pound regimental gun only weighed more than 500 catties, this gun was not a bit stronger than the Weiyuan guns and general guns in the city.

The order was passed down, and Wang Zhiren went to direct it himself.

The soldiers of the imperial battalion rushed to help push the cannon.

An hour later, about three miles from the south gate, an artillery position was built.

Twenty-five 25-pound long guns, plus 24 three-pound guns, as well as some Francophones, general guns, etc. were also pulled up. Anyway, all kinds of guns in the imperial camp were gathered together this time.

All of them were handed over to the artillerymen in Shenji Town for use.

"Artillery in position, call for fire!"

For the sake of safety, Zhu Yihai and others were dragged to a position ten miles away from Hangzhou City, and stood under the banner of Sitting.

Taking out two balls of cotton, Zhu Yihai plugged his ears, "Shooting is allowed!"

Hangzhou Nanchengtou.

In the dilapidated city gate building, Zhang Cunren and others have been watching the reaction of the Ming army outside the city, watching one after another cannon being pulled out and placed several miles away.

The heart keeps sinking.

Tian Xiong and the others all had expressions of disbelief.

The excitement of destroying the cannon of the Ming army just now was like falling into an ice cave. They couldn't believe how the Ming army had more cannons than theirs.

Tian Xiong gritted his teeth and suggested, please let him gather the cavalry in the city and go out to destroy the artillery of the Ming army.

Zhang Cunren wanted to agree very much, and even wanted to lead the cavalry out personally, but at this time Hangzhou was caught off guard. There were only a few thousand soldiers in the city, and even a few hundred cavalry.

Facing the tens of thousands of Ming troops, rushing out is tantamount to beating a dog with a meat bun.

The artillery positions of the Ming army, which were at least three miles away, were basically beyond the range of the artillery on the city. The cavalry dared not go out, and the artillery could not hit them.

In the end, all that was left was to wait to be bombarded.

Seeing that the other party had completed their preparations, Zhang Cunren had no choice but to run down the city again with a dark face.

Xiao Qiyuan, Tian Xiong and others also followed downstairs, and the magistrate Zhu Guofan also followed downstairs full of excitement, if he didn't go downstairs this time, he would probably be blasted to the sky.

Hiding in the cave for hiding soldiers on the city wall, several people were silent.

The atmosphere is stagnant.

There was a dull thunder in the distance, and then I felt a huge earthquake under my feet.

An hour later.

Zhang Cunren led Xiao Qi Yuan Tianxiong and others to climb up the south city wall again, the city gates and buildings were completely gone, even the battlements of the south city wall were smashed, and even the brick-clad city wall had many collapses and cracks.

Although it has not collapsed, it is also crumbling.

The four red-clothed cannons and more than a hundred other types of artillery deployed on the south city wall were destroyed in this round.

Zhang Cunren patrolled around the city, ignoring the broken arms and limbs on the ground, finally stood on the city and looked down the city for a long time, then turned and went downstairs.

In the early morning of the next day, Tian Xiong went to Governor Zhang's yamen to meet with Governor Zhang to discuss the military affairs. He was told that the Governor had broken through the siege last night and went to Jiangning City to rescue soldiers, and Governor Xiao Qiyuan also left.

When Governor Zhang left, he left a message that Admiral Tian Xiong was in charge of the defense of the city, and the prefect Zhu Guofan was in charge of logistics and civil affairs.

The two of them are required to work together and stick to the city, and he and Governor Xiao will be able to bring reinforcements back soon.

Tian Xiong was in a daze for a long time, unable to believe it.

When he confirmed that Zhang Cunren and Xiao Qiyuan ran away shamelessly, he kicked down the door angrily.

The governor and the governor absconded in the middle of the night and took away a thousand Manchus and Eight Banners in the city, which is tantamount to making matters worse.

Tian Xiong cursed inwardly, why didn't the Ming army outside the city encircle and wipe out these two guys last night.

(End of this chapter)