Haisheng Mingdi

Chapter 260

Mid-Autumn Festival.

The weather turned colder, and when Hangzhou was captured without bloodshed, everyone in Daming rejoiced.

Naturally, Zhu Yihai was not stingy with the soldiers of the besieged towns. Tens of thousands of people were rewarded with ten days' salary and a set of autumn clothes.

"A total of 160 intact cannons in red clothes, 120 bronze tributes, [-] Franji guns, [-] Weiyuan guns, [-] other tiger squat guns, [-] bird guns, gunpowder and lead bullets were seized. More than ten thousand catties..."

"In addition, a lot of cotton armor, iron armor, cloth face armor, leather armor, etc. were seized, with a total of more than [-] sets,"

The excited voice of Yu Dafu who reported the report was a little trembling. Winning Hangzhou is equivalent to picking up a treasure house. After all, this is an important town for the Tartars to go southeast. Before Boluo led the army to go south, he stayed here for a few months and left. At that time, many ordnance materials were not taken away.For example, there are more than 300 artillery pieces of various types, all of which are left in Hangzhou. Except for the [-] or so damaged ones, the rest are intact.

There are more than 1 sets of various armors.

As for knives, guns, arrows, gunpowder, etc., it is quite gratifying.

Zhu Yihai's imperial camp now has a low rate of armor, and now it has directly made a windfall.

Many of these cannons in Hangzhou City were cast in Guangdong and Fujian during the reign of Tianqi and Chongzhen, and the Ming Dynasty. They are basically imitation Hongyi cannons, but many of them are smaller. And lighter guns weighing several hundred kilograms, and there are also many Franco machine guns.

These cannons are quite complicated, but for today's Ming army, they are still treasures.

Especially those ten Hongyi cannons, with the cannon emblems on them, the original naval cannons produced by the Dutch Cannon Factory, somehow arrived in Fujian, and then under the escort of Fujian Governor Xiong Wencan during the Chongzhen period, they went all the way to Hangzhou.

The standard 24-pound naval gun is quite powerful. Zhu Yihai had taught him before, and a [-]-pound cannon was abolished.

The maximum range is more than ten miles, and the effective range is about two or three miles. It is definitely easy to use to attack cities and villages, but it is too bulky.

"All the guns were dismantled and transported to the navy ship on the Qiantang River."

Zhu Yihai recently chatted with Bi Fangji and his mercenary captains for a few nights, and gained a deeper understanding of the artillery and firearms of this era, as well as the new tactics of firearms.

He accepted Lao Bi's suggestion and planned to form an artillery unit in the army, not a separate town like Shenji Town before, but a subsidiary artillery unit under the towns of the imperial camp.

The preliminary plan is to set up a new Artillery Association directly under each town, and the number is still under study.

In order to give full play to the advantages of artillery, Lao Bi suggested that he should not adjust too many artillery and make such a fuss. Instead, he suggested that he follow the example of the former Swedish king Gustav II, saying that he is a great king of artillery and uses artillery. Very profound.

Gustav II was regarded as the first coach in Europe to establish an artillery regiment alone. His artillery regiment had six artillery companies, each with three regiment guns, three lighter regiment guns, and some blasters and guns. Siege cannon.

His artillery regiment has about 200 people, one cannon is equipped with a coachman, the regiment cannon is equipped with a gunner and an assistant, and the heavy artillery is equipped with a gunner and two assistants. Every two guns are assigned a non-commissioned officer. coordination.

His artillery regiment mainly uses three types of artillery, siege artillery, field artillery and regimental artillery. They were lighter guns, three-pound shells, two for each infantry regiment.

Both field artillery and regimental artillery use grape shells and shot shells, and their positioning is to support infantry in close combat, while siege artillery uses large projectiles.

In the later period, Gustav II even abandoned most of the guns, and only kept three types of guns. The three-pound guns were equipped with regiments, two for each regiment, for field support.

24-pound heavy guns were used for siege.

In addition, the [-]-pound gun is retained, which can be used for siege or field battle, and is convenient for transportation and maneuvering.

The rest of the giant mortars that can fire 32-pound stone bullets, and the overweight [-]-pound long guns were all discarded to emphasize their maneuverability. At the same time, the lighter leather guns in the past were also eliminated, leaving only three kind.

Therefore, Lao Bi suggested that Zhu Yihai only use these three types of artillery in the future. The three-pound copper cannon weighs more than 300 catties, and the cast iron cannon weighs even more than 200 catties. Four soldiers or one horse can move in the field.

Zhu Yihai's imperial battalion adopted the town association standard battalion system, basically a battalion of [-] soldiers, if a battalion could be equipped with two three-pound guns, it would be really strong.

Among the elite troops of the Ming army before, there was a car battalion, which was a firearms troop, but they were mainly equipped with tiger squats, Franco cannons, and some general cannons. , Their disadvantages are that they have a shorter range and weaker power than the three-pound gun.

The longest range of the three-pound gun can reach nearly five miles, and the effective range is nearly 300 meters, so it is far stronger than the tiger squatting and other guns in field battles.

Of course, if you are very rich and have overflowing artillery, you can indeed add some tiger squats and small Francophones, which can be used as sentry-level firepower, or even team-level front-line fire support. Of course, if it is really matched to the whistle, the cost is not low, let alone the team.

In the most ideal state, such as Zhu Yihai's Ten Towns Imperial Battalion, if Shenji Town is positioned as a pure firearms support force, equipped with enough 24-pound cannons for siege, and even equipped with some larger mortars, etc., equipped with With enough musketeers, etc., it can play a very strong role in legion battles.

In other towns, each battalion is equipped with two three-pound auxiliary guns for fire support. More than 100 people are equipped with two hundred-pound guns below, or directly equipped with a few tiger squatting guns that weigh only thirty-odd catties. The kind that can be carried and walked, without the need for a cart or horse, is even stronger.

This kind of heavy artillery is dispatched when Shenji Town is attacking the city, while the largest artillery in other towns is only attached to the three-pound gun, which can be pulled by a carriage, and four people can also move, so it will not be affected when maneuvering. .

Another advantage of this simplification is that with only these three types of guns, it is more convenient and quicker to manufacture, and even the shells are more versatile and convenient to use.

For example, three-pound guns are basically shotguns, which can be used in common with tiger squats, so they can carry one type of ammunition, saving a lot of trouble.

Other Francophones of various sizes, Weiyuan Cannon, General Cannon, Bamboo Cannon, etc., can be eliminated, or they can only be used to defend the city in the rear, without moving, and supplies are not so troublesome.

After all, the maximum lead of a Franji cannon of several hundred catties is only one catty, and the range is still within a hundred feet.If shot, the effective range is closer.

They will not be able to exert the real power of the artillery.

During the Tianqi period, many Hongyi guns were imitated, also known as Western guns, and even divided into five or six grades according to weight. The first Western gun was over 300 catties, the No. There are small western guns weighing more than [-] kilograms, and there are even smaller ones.

During the reign of Chongzhen, more and more Hongyi cannons were imitated by Fujian and Guangdong, and their weight became heavier and heavier, ranging from three thousand catties to four thousand catties.

However, although the Chongzhen Dynasty once wanted to build a new army of artillery and cast guns and artillery in an all-round way, the various specifications were chaotic, and later the new army of the Denglai Rebellion went to sea to surrender, and later it was abolished.

"The ten intact [-]-pound Hongyi cannons seized in Hangzhou were given to Dinghai Town, the naval officer of the imperial camp, to equip them on the new-style big bird boats. For the other cannons, the tiger squatting can leave some for the imperial camp to serve as sentinel cannons. The sentry is equipped with two doors, and shotgun melee support."

"The rest of the mortar guns, Weiyuan guns, Frang machines, etc., were all transported to Zhoushan to strengthen the defense of Zhoushan city and the shore of the fortress."

The 26 three-pound guns from Macau were first drawn to the standard bearers of the imperial infantry and the warrior towns, and the remaining 25 24-pound guns were all assigned to Shenji Town to form siege artillery marks.

The artillery factory to be established in Zhoushan tentatively has five factories. The first factory is dedicated to casting 24-pound long cannons, the second factory is for 12-pound cannons, the third factory is for 3-pound auxiliary cannons, the fourth factory is for casting whistles belonging to tiger crouching cannons, and the fifth factory is for casting cannons. Fortress artillery for coastal defense and city defense.

Those gunners from Macau, Zhu Yihai gave them very high treatment, requiring each of them to bring two assistants of the Ming army, teaching by word and hand, and including teaching and training. Zhu Yihai gave these gunners nine taels of silver per month, and another one tael coaching fee.

One month is ten taels of silver, which is twice as high as the four taels of silver for a private first class in the Ming army.

But as technical arms, they enjoy the treatment of non-commissioned officers, and the gunners of the Ming army are qualified and become coaches, and they also receive subsidies.

A cannon cost 5000 taels of silver to buy, how could Zhu Yihai be reluctant to pay another ten taels of silver a month for a gunner.

The town commanders were envious of the hundreds of guns seized in Hangzhou, and wanted to divide the family into dozens of guns. Unexpectedly, this would be the end result.

Everyone's dream of bombardment was shattered, so they had to turn to the captured armor, knives and guns.

You even asked Zhu Yihai to host it.

Zhu Yihai is very fair, more than 1 sets of various armors, the good ones are basically distributed to the towns of the imperial camp, and the rest are given to the Beijing and Zhejiang camps.

Each town of the Beijing camp was only allocated [-] sets, and only about half of the better cotton armor was available, which was enough to newly equip two combat battalions, increasing the armor rate of each battalion by [-]%.

This Mid-Autumn Festival, everyone is very happy. Even the Beijing and Zhejiang camps each received [-] sets of armor and a lot of knives and guns. Everyone is satisfied.

At the celebration banquet on the evening of the Mid-Autumn Festival, Shoufu took the lead in playing the invitation, please change the name to Shaotian, and use this year as the first year of Shaotian, to issue the Supervisory State Shaotian Datong Calendar.

Last year was the 17th year of Chongzhen, and this year was originally the first year of Hongguang, but now the grand scholars’ request is tantamount to abolishing the Hongguang reign, or even promising the Hongguang Dynasty after Chongzhen, let alone being a five-day supervisor Lu Wang.

Seventeen years after Chongzhen, it was the first year of Shaotian, Jianguo of Lu.

Before, Zhu Yihai respected Hongguang as Emperor Sheng'an, and also adopted the reign title of the first year of Hongguang, but now the grand scholars suddenly asked for it after they captured Hangzhou.

Was it gone, or was it supposed to be?

Holding the wine glass in his hand, Zhu Yihai looked at the expectant eyes of all civil servants and generals.

"Certainly, let this year be the first year of Jian Guo Shaotian, and change it to update."

With Zhu Yihai's reply, the Ming Dynasty officially no longer recognized the throne of Hongguang Emperor Zhu Yousong, just like after Zhu Di won the throne in the battle of Jingnan, his descendants and emperors would never recognize the emperor of Jianwen position.

Emperor Jingtai had better luck. Although Yingzong seized the door and restored it, abolishing his throne, his son Xianzong still resumed his uncle Jingdi after he succeeded to the throne. Shangmiao is named Daizong.

Emperor Hongguang was originally reasonable and legal, but he collapsed in less than a year. In the eyes of the people at that time, both Hongguang and the Hongguang Dynasty were guilty of Daming, the country and the people.

Now that the situation is very good, everyone is no longer willing to recognize Emperor Hongguang and his collapsed Hongguang Dynasty.

(End of this chapter)