The wind rises at the end of the Ming Dynasty

Chapter 410: Advance
The rumbling sound of artillery fire echoed in the west of Xuzhou City.

In front of the Hanzhong Army’s artillery position, clouds of smoke slowly rose up, obscuring everyone’s vision.

However, the thick white fog was soon blown away by the strong north wind.

A strong wind blew past, dispersing the white fog and also carrying up the flags of the Hanzhong army arrayed in the suburbs west of Xuzhou city.

The western suburbs of Xuzhou city had already turned into a vast ocean of red.

Tens of thousands of soldiers were lined up in a line, and the huge military formation stretched for several miles, almost covering the entire countryside.

Swords and spears are like wheat ears, halberds are like hemp forests, and flags cover the sky and connect to the earth.

Chen Wang wore a three-flag sun and moon helmet on his head, a Qilin robe inside, a bright silver fish scale armor outside, and a sword on his waist. He stood on the observation platform and surveyed the entire battle situation.

In the artillery position not far ahead, a group of artillerymen were reloading in an orderly manner.

"Clean the barrel!"

A captain wearing light chain mail and a helmet stood in the center of the artillery position, shouting loudly.

As he shouted, a loud whistle sounded, followed by a group of artillerymen wearing colorful battle jackets moving quickly.

The soldier in charge of cleaning the barrel picked up the long-handled brush in his hand, reached into the barrel, and quickly cleaned it.

As the small red flags were raised by the gunner kneeling beside the artillery, the artillery commander also randomly issued the second order - load.

As the order was given, another whistle sounded, and the red flag next to the artillery position fell and the blue flag rose.

The gunner in charge of loading quickly pushed the shells and propellant bags into the barrel.

Then the loader who had been standing nearby holding the ramrod immediately stepped forward and pushed the shells and propellant packs to the deepest part of the barrel to further compact them.

At the same time, the fire gate operator stepped forward, picked up the awl in his hand, and inserted it into the ignition port.

This is done to puncture the package to facilitate the subsequent ignition process, and then the fire door is filled with gunpowder to prevent the fuse.

"Solid bullet loading!"

The gunner who had been in charge of observation shouted loudly and then raised the blue flag in his hand.

"Solid bullet loading!"

Soon more voices were heard, and the red flags turned into blue flags.

What followed was the artillery commander waving his sword and the order to shoot.

"put!"

The blue flag raised at the artillery position suddenly fell, and a huge roar instantly resounded throughout the west of Xuzhou city.

The thunder-like sound almost overwhelmed all other sounds between heaven and earth.

Dozens of artillery shells flew over the suburbs west of Xuzhou City and slammed heavily into the outer wall of Xuzhou City, instantly stirring up countless bricks, stones and soil.

The front of the artillery position was once again obscured by thick fog.

A new round of reloading began again.

The artillerymen restored the gun carriage, which had been pushed back due to the huge recoil, to its original position.

Several officers standing on the observation tower behind the position carefully observed the effects of the bombardment through binoculars and quickly recorded them in a notebook with charcoal pencils.

These documents record the key points in the use of artillery and areas that need improvement.

Hu Zhili not only brought more than 4,000 combat soldiers from the Second Regular Battalion, but also brought the most needed thing for the current war - artillery.

They were not small-caliber artillery pieces, but twenty 18-jin cannons and eight 24-jin cannons.

The Hanzhong Army's artillery was named after the weight of the shells.

Eighteen Ming pounds converted into Western standards is equivalent to a 24-pound cannon, which is no longer a field artillery piece.

And twenty-four ming jin has reached thirty-two pounds, which is undoubtedly a real heavy artillery.

The 18-jin cannon weighed more than two tons and required more than ten pack horses to pull it.

Heavy artillery such as the 24-jin cannon is even more difficult to move. Including the total weight of the gun carriage, it exceeds three tons.

The Logistics Department prepared forty-eight war horses for each 24-jin cannon, which took turns to tow.

Hu Zhili led the infantry for more than a month.

These heavy artillery pieces were dispatched in advance, and the journey from Hanzhong to Xuzhou took more than two months.

Each gun was manned by ten gunners and ten trainee gunners.

The purpose of setting up trainee gunners is to make plans for the future and prepare talent reserves.

In addition to the gunners, there are ten infantrymen to assist in moving the artillery, adjusting the angle of the artillery, and acting as guards.

There are thirty people on each gun, and the total number of the twenty-eight guns, including various personnel, is one thousand and forty-three people, with one artillery commander in chief.

In order to allow this artillery unit to come over, Chen Wang mobilized heavy troops to escort it along the way. When this artillery unit entered the territory of Nanyang Prefecture, Chen Wang even sent out the Guards Cavalry Battalion to support it.

Even though there was not much banditry in the whole of Henan Province, the largest rebel army was still a self-directed drama.

But Chen Wang still didn't relax at all.

The reason is simple: it is too expensive.

Not only are the guns expensive, the gunners are even more expensive.

All gunners were carefully selected from various armies. They were familiar with artillery drill manuals, proficient in arithmetic, could calibrate artillery scales, and had considerable experience in operating artillery.

These artillery pieces are the most precious of all treasures.

If a cannon is lost, it can be rebuilt with just money, but the death of one of these skilled artillerymen really means one less.

Chen Wang put down the telescope in his hand. After the smoke cleared, the situation of the outer city of Xuzhou was clearly visible to Chen Wang.

The heavy artillery caused great damage. The arrow towers, parapets and battlements of the western city of Xuzhou were almost all destroyed. The outer bricks and stones were scattered outside the city, and a lot of soil and rocks collapsed.

The southwest corner of the city wall, which was bombarded hard, is already riddled with holes and will probably collapse soon.

Seeing Chen Wang put down the telescope, Hu Zhili, who was standing beside Chen Wang, stepped forward and reported to Chen Wang about the artillery problem in Hanzhong Town.

"The size of the artillery factory has doubled compared to 13 years ago."

"Now, except for the First Battalion, the other five battalions are required to be equipped with five seven-jin cannons, eight five-jin cannons, and twenty-four three-jin cannons, for a total of thirty-seven cannons per battalion."

As a cavalry battalion, the Guards Cavalry Battalion was not equipped with artillery.

The First Regular Battalion is directly under the command of Chen Wang, so its standards are naturally higher than those of the other five regular battalions.

The First Regular Battalion had eight nine-jin cannons and twenty seven-jin cannons, but was not equipped with any other types of artillery.

The 9-jin cannon is a Western-made 12-pound cannon.

The twelve-pounder was already the heaviest field gun.

"In addition, there are two independent artillery companies for training. Each of the two artillery companies has eight 9-jin cannons, a total of 16."

"There are now 229 artillery pieces of varying sizes in the town."

Chen Wang nodded slightly.

Twenty-five thousand people were equipped with 229 artillery pieces, which means there was almost one artillery piece for every hundred people. Such firepower could be said to be extremely terrifying in this era.

At the same time, Europe was in the critical period of the Thirty Years' War.

In 1643, two years later, it was the sixteenth year of Chongzhen.

France and Spain meet at Rocroi. The French army has 24,000 men and only 14 guns.

The Spanish army had 27,000 men and only 30 guns.

Of course, the artillery used by the French and Spanish armies were all cannons.

Historically, after the defeat in the Battle of Songjin, the Qing army seized more than 3,000 artillery pieces of various sizes, many of which were small cannons.

However, even if these small cannons were excluded, the number of field cannons and the scale of artillery used by Songjin exceeded the Battle of Lützen, the largest battle in the Thirty Years' War in Europe during the same period.

The Hanzhong Town under the command of Chen Wang now has 229 cannons, the smallest of which are Western-made four-pound cannons.
Such firepower can only be described as terrifying.

It takes a lot of silver and money to cast cannons, and what Chen Wang lacks the least right now is silver and money.

Chen Wang had a large amount of fields and minerals in Hanzhong, Yunyang and Henan prefectures, which were the foundation for Chen Wang to maintain his troops.

There are also two specialized trading companies in Hanzhong Town, which can bring Chen Wang considerable profits every year.

In addition, there are customs duties collected in various places.

After taking control of Xiangyang, all merchant ships passing through Xiangyang had to pay a tax into Chen Wang's pocket, making the tariff even more generous.

Now Chen Wang no longer needs to worry about money. The remaining money every year is enough for him to recruit tens of thousands of elite troops.

The food problem is no longer a problem. Huguang is the granary of the world, and Hanzhong Prefecture will no longer be troubled by drought and locusts starting this year.

Although the imperial court has sent officials to take over Xiangyang, it is still Chen Wang who actually controls Xiangyang.

Zhang Xianzhong captured Xiangyang and killed all the wealthy families in the city, and a large amount of land fell into Chen Wang's hands.

There were countless mountain people in the Yunyang Mountain area. Just by spreading some information, Chen Wang gained a large number of tenant farmers.

In fact, the area around Xiangyang had been regarded as a civilian settlement area by Chen Wang.

Chen Wang had already resolved the worries about food and wages.

At least in the next year, there is no need to worry about food and salary issues.

"What's the situation in Pizhou?"

Chen Wang put the telescope back into the box on his waist and did not check the situation in the outer city of Xuzhou again.

Chen Wang now has an intuitive understanding of the lethality of heavy artillery such as the 18-jin cannon and the 24-jin cannon.

The maximum weight of field artillery for European armies during the Napoleonic era was basically twelve pounds, and this has been tested in practice.

Such heavy artillery is indeed not suitable for field battles, but it can be very effective when used in sieges.

"On October 15, the Shandong Wanmin Army defeated the Shandong soldiers again. Yang Yufan, the general of Denglai, was injured, and the army of Liu Zeqing, the general of Shandong, was defeated and fled. As a result, the Shandong soldiers were trapped in Xin'an, west of Pizhou, and dared not move lightly."

Hu Zhili recalled what had happened during those days and replied.

"On October 16, the Shandong People's Army assembled tens of thousands of elite cavalry and crossed Xin'an, and with hundreds of naval vessels, they advanced towards Pizhou."

"At 5 a.m. on the 17th, the Shandong People's Army Navy clashed with the government soldiers' navy. The Shandong People's Army cavalry took advantage of the night to move south, captured the Pizhou wharf, and burned the boats."

"The officers, soldiers and navy were badly defeated and could only barely maintain a defensive position."

Li Qingshan imitated the Water Margin and gathered the heroes, entrenched in the Liangshan area, and cut off the canal transportation many times, so he had a strong navy under his command.
"The people's army south of the Huai River took the opportunity to launch a massive attack. Now most of the people's army has crossed the Huai River and is besieging Pizhou."

Chen Wang was not particularly surprised at the outcome of the Battle of Pizhou.

Over the past few days, the officers and soldiers of the central army have conducted dozens of sand table simulations, and without exception, the Ming army was defeated.

Whether it was the right time, the right place, or the right people, everything was on the side of the People's Army...

"The development of the navy must be put on the agenda."

Chen Wang held the railing in front of him with a serious look.

Natural disasters continued, with the north suffering the most severe damage. A major epidemic broke out again, so naturally we could not take the north.

The situation in the southwest is complicated. Although the marriage with the Ma family has been agreed, it does not mean that the Ma family will support him in seizing the southwest.

The Mu Palace in the southwest is still there, and Qin Liangyu is extremely loyal to the Ming court.

As long as Qin Liangyu is around, it will be difficult for changes to occur in the southwest.

Furthermore, the roads in the southwestern Shu area are difficult to travel. Although the area is prosperous, it is difficult to sustain and support a large army.

In the current situation, there is actually only one way left - to take the land of the South first.

The southern country is densely networked with waterways and boats are everywhere.

To conquer the southern country, we must have an elite navy.

The primary reason for making heavy artillery is indeed for siege purposes.

The second reason is, of course, to accumulate experience for future naval gun manufacturing.

"Sun Shenwu already controls a hundred ships, including more than thirty silk ships, with a total of more than three thousand sailors. Some of them were promoted to generals due to their operations in the Battle of Wuchang."

The so-called Gan Zeng boat is a large Fujian ship.

It took more than a hundred years from the time Zheng Chenggong's fleet sailed eastward to expel the Dutch.

The Qing navy's main warships were sternboats and silk-carrying ships.

During this period, the shipbuilding industry in the West was extremely developed, and the combat power of its warships had surpassed that of the East at this time.

Chen Wang naturally wanted to build a soft-sail warship, that kind of large sailing battleship.

With low sides, cross sails, and cannons on both sides, several such ships are lined up in a long row to take advantage of the firepower on both sides. This is also the origin of the name battleship.

However, the craftsmanship required for shipbuilding is too advanced, and Chen Wang does not have shipbuilders with such capabilities or experienced sailors under his command.

Moreover, sailing battleships are not inland warships.

The current situation of driving the silk boats is sufficient.

"In addition to Sun Shenwu, we need to support another person in the Southern Kingdom Navy. Let Zhou Yumao handle this matter, and you will be the one to review it."

Sun Shenwu was originally the lieutenant general of the Huguang Navy. During the siege of Xiangyang, he was pulled onto the chariot of Hanzhong Town by Chen Wang.

The war machine of Hanzhong Town has been launched, and now Sun Shenwu can no longer get off the boat.

Sun Shenwu's family is now settled in Yunyang Prefecture, and Sun Shenwu's right-hand man has been replaced by Chen Wang.

If you obey orders, it will not be difficult to gain the credit of following the dragon and be appointed as a general and given a title of nobility.

If you dare to act rashly, your whole family will be ruined, and you will die and your clan will be wiped out.

How to choose doesn’t need to be too simple.

From the very beginning, Chen Wang knew very well what he should do and how he should do it.

It is undoubtedly naive to pin one's hopes solely on national justice or slogans of saving the nation from extinction.

The world is so big, there are so many different kinds of people.

Just in the name of justice you can win the support of the people and gain their unity.

Then how can there still be uprisings, civil unrest, corruption and bribery in this world?

The human heart can never withstand temptation.

In that case, let's put a few more layers of shackles on them.

Fame and fortune can drive people forward.

Fear can also drive people to act.