national surname chiming

Chapter 371 Completely Conquering Azig

The new stage of artillery battle in Nanyang City lasted until the third day.

The success of the first two days made Tong Tulai secretly happy.

He hid and deployed his Hongyi cannons on the reverse slope of the earth dam, slowly consuming the walls and fortifications of Nanyang City.Although I have accumulated experience in school shooting for two consecutive days, and the hit rate is poor, but the general trend of getting more and more accurate is foreseeable.

However, the Ming army's counterattack artillery fire was still unable to hit the Qing army's cannons deployed behind the reverse slope. After the wasted effort on the first morning, the Ming army's artillery changed its strategy from the first afternoon and stopped doing these useless efforts. Instead, the Hongyi cannons were used to bombard the Qing soldiers who were hiding in wooden donkey carts and digging the city.

This made Tong Tulai more at ease, feeling that his troops were as stable as Mount Tai.Although the soldiers in the wooden donkey dug the city will continue to suffer casualties, but those are not Tong Tulai's episodes, and Man Dahai has to feel sorry for him.

Within any country and military, the interests of small groups and the interests of the whole are often not completely unified.

One-third of an acre of his own land is not damaged, and he can still make meritorious deeds, so the little days will be very nourishing.As for the life and death of the cannon fodder, does it have anything to do with him?

Today is the third day, and Tong Tulai is also more slack than the previous two days, he didn't get up so early in the morning, and he no longer pointed out the details personally.

Anyway, what should be said was said two days ago, and those who were not operating in a standardized manner, those who should be whipped and batons have also been smoked.I believe that these artillerymen of the Qing Dynasty are still within the warranty period of memory, and will not repeat low-level mistakes so quickly.

After Tong Tulai washed up, he took some time off to eat some wild game that his servants slaughtered and grilled in the morning, served it with freshly baked fire burritos, and drank some kumiss. At about the end of the day, he rode his fat and strong horse, Shi Shi Then came to the artillery position and strolled around.

I stopped and watched for a while, and found that the gunners' accuracy has improved again today. Basically, three or four of the ten rounds are guaranteed to hit the city wall or tower. Although the concentration of the impact point cannot be guaranteed, it is already worth encouraging.He also showed a gratified smile.

"Bang bang bang-"

While he was patrolling, as the Qing army's Hongyi cannons opened fire again, there was also a little fire and sound from the turret fort of Nanyang City opposite, but everyone was used to it, and they were not immediately alert.

The shells of the Ming army's Hongyi cannon fell on the earth dam in front of the Qing army's Hongyi cannon again, but it was impossible to damage the reverse slope, causing the Qing army artillery to laugh contemptuously.

"Those southern barbarians must have been blown out of control. It has been quiet for two days, and they don't give up and start wasting shells!"

One of Tong Tulai's artillery officers hurriedly flattered him, interpreting the resumption of the Ming army's counter-bombardment as the impotent rage of the southern barbarians.

Tong Tulai was secretly happy in his heart, but the hypocrisy of the traitorous family made him pretend to be modest: "Hey! Don't be careless, the art of war is bound to be defeated. Even if you know you can't hit, don't take it lightly." I have overlooked the enemy. If the southern barbarians dared to bombard our artillery positions again, they must have new ideas, and it is better to be careful..."

After Tong Tulai finished speaking, he rode his horse to the next position.What happened later here didn't immediately follow Cao Cao's words and Fleiger flew up.After all, it is also necessary to pay attention to the laws of physics.

The artillery shells fired by the Ming army in the next few rounds only gradually became slightly more accurate, and occasionally landed on the reverse slope.

But Tong Tulai himself had gone away, and the senior officer was waiting for him to inspect again.Those grassroots artillerymen who flicked and flicked did not notice immediately:
Among the artillery shells of the Ming army this time, there are obviously two batches of ballistics. One batch is more accurate, but can only be fired directly, while the other batch is inaccurate, but the ballistic trajectory is much higher.

However, the Ming army still used solid ammunition and old-fashioned explosive ammunition in the initial calibration stage, and did not use special strong-charge explosive ammunition for mortars with more reliable fuzes. More and more careless.

Occasionally encountering a high-throwing projectile that fell not far away was considered an accident. On the chaotic battlefield, no one thought of deeply pondering the scientific principles involved.

This kind of negligent state of clearly seeing the god of death getting closer and closer without noticing it seems a bit unreasonable, but it is in fact very in line with the quality of the artillery of the Qing army at that time. Culture, will think about physical principles?
Tong Tulai patrolled for half a circle, touched two cups of tea, and finally, with two explosions and roars, blood and flesh flew all over the artillery positions of the Qing army, and a shell directly exploded to a very close distance of two or three steps near a certain artillery On the top, the other two or three also covered the surrounding area not far away.

The Ming army assembled a team of mortars to focus on a certain calibrated area and cover it intensively.

A Qing army Hongyi cannon was directly damaged, and almost everyone in the corresponding artillery team was injured, and several people who were close were killed on the spot.There was also a cannon that was damaged by some of the artillerymen, but fortunately the cannon itself was not damaged.

Tong Tulai was startled when he heard the screams behind him, and when he turned his head to look, he was stunned.

"How did the Nanmanzi hit our cannon? Was the earth dam collapsed?" Tong Tulai's first reaction was that the earth dam where the anti-slope artillery was deployed was collapsed first, so that the shells could penetrate. come over.

It's not his fault, anyone tends to use existing knowledge to explain new unknown things first.

This delay caused the Qing army to respond like chickens without a head. It was not until the second and third rounds of shells fell that they fully understood the situation.

But it was too late, Zhang Huangyan and Song Mingde were blessed with good luck. Although the precise bombardment after the first two rounds of calibration firing was completed, the most accurate shot only hit the position of the enemy gun a few steps away, and did not cause any greater damage. .But in the third round, as the shelling became more and more accurate, one of them finally hit the pile of gunpowder barrels stored by the Qing army near the position.

Because of the success of the previous two days, the Qing army was also careless. Knowing that the reverse slope of the earth dam was safe, they stored a large amount of ammunition near the artillery position in advance, which was also convenient for loading and loading, and reduced the workload of the soldiers——

When being shelled by the Ming army, if you go to the rear to get ammunition and leave the projected area of ​​the earth dam cover, you may be bombarded by the Hongyi cannons of the Ming army.Human life is at stake, and the artillerymen are willing to take more risks. Of course, a large amount of ammunition must be stored in a safe place in advance.

So when this safe position is bombed, the loss will be so tragic.

Seven or eight barrels of gunpowder were directly killed by the bombardment of the Ming army, and dozens of large iron balls and more small crushed stones, iron pieces, and lead beads piled up next to them all splashed randomly.It is also thanks to the fact that the gunpowder is not installed in the barrel, so the direction of gas explosion is not restricted, and it is impossible to push the iron ball shell too far.

But no matter how you say it, the soldiers within [-] steps near the ammunition pile basically have no physiology.Within fifty or sixty steps, everyone was injured. If they were hit by the splashing iron ball, they would be killed immediately.

Tong Tulai himself also came back to inspect at that time, but at least he did not stand near the ammunition pile that was hit. In the end, his face was blackened by the explosive gas, and his face and hands that were not protected by armor were also covered by gunpowder. The aroused splash of sand broke the skin everywhere, penetrating three points into the skin, almost turning into a slightly pockmarked face.

Regardless of the blood on his face, Tong Tulai finally screamed out after being stunned for a few seconds:
"The Nanmanzi used mortars! But they are much more accurate than mortars! They are still explosive bullets! This is impossible! How did they shoot so accurately?
Quickly evacuate the ammunition!Move the cannon again!The barbarian must have accurately pinpointed where we fired!Soon the next round of shells will come! "

"Your Excellency, you should withdraw first, and let the general find a military doctor to apply to your face to stop the bleeding!" The artillery officer next to him was also worried that something might happen to the great man, so he hurriedly lifted him down first.Then the artillery was bombarded.

The Qing army began to move and deploy again and again, but it was so troublesome to reload the heavy artillery without a gun mount. The fixing on the artillery had to be removed first, and the sturdy carriages specially used to transport the artillery had to be dispatched from the camp.

During the whole process, the mortars of the Ming army kept firing.Several artillery crews of the Qing army were bombarded into panic. Even though they waited for a few cups of tea, they all felt that their days were like years.

As another artillery piece was wounded, many artillerymen of the Qing army finally couldn't bear it anymore. They forcibly stopped several passing ox carts in a state of chaos, put a knife on the driver's neck, and then put the car on the cart. The escort kicked to the ground, pushed the supplies on the car to the ground, and threw them in a mess.

The requisitioned coachman yelled again and again: "I'm here to pull wine and meat for Master Bei's camp. My car can't be loaded with heavy artillery."

"Stop talking nonsense! Quickly drag our guns to move! Otherwise, I will chop you up!"

The artillerymen of the Qing army forcibly lifted the cannon upwards, and a dozen soldiers dragged and dragged something weighing more than 3000 kilograms onto the wagon, and forced the wagon driver to leave.However, the bullock cart did not take a few steps, and the weak carriage board was directly crushed by the iron guy weighing more than 3000 kilograms.

The carriage collapsed with broken boards, one of the wheels was broken, and the gun barrel rolled down, directly pressing several artillerymen sitting on the inclined side of the carriage, and was crushed by several thousand kilograms of iron cylinders, and suddenly their seven orifices swelled. The blood and internal organs were all smashed into meat paste.

"Don't panic! Don't mess up! The special artillery truck will be here soon! Don't randomly intercept the grain and hay carts! Those small carts can't carry the weight!" Tong Tulai's artillery officers could only shout at the top of their lungs to command their subordinates Be quiet and don't make unnecessary fuss.

But the entire chaotic process of unilateral slaughter will not be shortened just because of their calmness.After being bombarded in vain for more than a quarter of an hour, the Qing army's red barbarian cannons were transferred one after another.

During the whole process, five or six artillery pieces were damaged to varying degrees. In less than half an hour, the damage was double that of the first day of the full-scale attack.

After Tong Tulai was dragged down to heal his wounds, Azig also got the news very quickly and went to visit to understand the situation in person. Afterwards, he also had to order to adjust the artillery battle thinking.

It is required that once the artillery unit finds that the Ming army uses high-throwing ballistic bullets to counteract, it must adjust the position of the firing position as soon as possible, load and transfer the artillery, and cannot wait for the Ming army to complete the calibration and grasp the shooting accuracy before moving.

But the sequelae of doing so are also obvious: every time the Qing army moves its position, it has to re-explore the accuracy of firing and re-find the trajectory.The artillery of the Qing army had absolutely no theoretical knowledge of ballistics and no mathematical skills, and everything relied on experience and feel.

So after changing positions, if you want to regain the sense of distance to fire, the speed must be several times slower than that of the Ming army.This is almost equivalent to the fact that if the artillerymen of the Qing army want to prevent being beaten, they can only change places as soon as they are targeted, and they cannot open a few rounds of effective output in one place.

Soon, within a few days, Azig had to abandon this expendable artillery battle.

After several setbacks in a row, he can only turn into complete passiveness. It is estimated that he will not be able to win Nanyang City this winter.

He also had to report all the latest situation here to Dorgon and Duoduo.For Dorgon, his purpose is of course to apologize and excuse his incompetence.

As for Duduo, it is emphasized that "the enemy of Huguang is the most elite division of the Ming army, and the elite soldiers and generals in Zhu Shuren's entire army were all dragged by him in Nanyang and Xiangyang, so they failed to advance."

Of course, Azig didn't mean to deceive Dodo, but he also needed some fig leaf for his slow progress, which was human nature.

He was already prepared for the long-term siege to consume Zhang Huangyan, and the siege and reinforcements to starve the Nanyang defenders to death.After the beginning of spring, once the ice and snow melt and the water volume increases, he will also consider storing water to soak the base of the city wall, but these are far away water that cannot quench the thirst of the near, and cannot be taken this winter.

(End of this chapter)