The most reckless man in the Ming Dynasty.

Chapter 357 The Age of Hot Weapons

artillery.

The Ming Dynasty has always had it.

The standard muskets in the Ming army now can be roughly called the Hongwu and Yongle series of muskets.

This is because the rebel army led by Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang used it the most and made great contributions to his establishment of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, after the founding of the country, Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang constantly took various effective measures to develop weapons manufacturing, standardized and unified the primitive firearms created in the Yuan Dynasty, and developed them into the Hongwu series of firearms, including three types of large, medium and small, according to the needs of actual combat.

The first is a handgun for individual soldiers, the second is a medium-sized bowl-mouth gun for use on warships and pass guards, and the third is a large-scale gun for city defense fortresses.

For example, when Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang attacked Pingjiang, which was known as the "first strong city", Zhu Yuanzhang ordered people to build a large wooden tower and sent firearms soldiers to bombard it day and night with muskets and Xiangyang cannons. It is hard to imagine the scene in the era of cold weapons. Zhang Shicheng's army was desperately defending the city, with cannons bombarding from above and soldiers attacking from below. The whole city was shaking and thundering. After the war, the Ming army on the wooden tower came down, and the whole city became a hell on earth. The advantage of firearms left a profound impact on the war.

Later, when Emperor Taizong Yongle was in the Jingnan Campaign, he was severely hit by Sheng Yong's artillery and deeply realized the power of firearms. So after Zhu Di became emperor, he established the Shenjiying. In addition, after Zhang Fu conquered Annan, he obtained the Annan firearms method, absorbed craftsmen such as Hu Yuancheng, and thus established the "Three Axe Combat System that Can Kill You".

The Shenji Battalion was composed of three battalions: chariot, infantry and cavalry. Before the war began, the chariot battalion would use artillery and long-range muskets to carry out a full-coverage bombardment. Then the infantry battalion would fire all muskets at once, suppressing the enemy with fire. Finally, the cavalry battalion would charge to the front of the enemy with short-range three-eyed guns (in the early days they were pure maces, but later the three-eyed guns were invented and used as maces after the gunpowder was used up), and then swung their maces to deal with the remaining enemies.

This was the earliest coordinated combat tactic of artillery, cavalry, and infantry and artillery in the world at that time, and the Shenjiying was also the world's first firearms special forces.

Emperor Taizong Wen relied on the tactics of the Shenjiying to launch five expeditions against Mongolia, making the enemy cry for their parents and flee in panic. From then on, firearms officially established their irreplaceable and important position in war.

But after the Hongwu and Yongle periods, firearms in the Ming Dynasty did not develop. Instead, they fell into a period of stagnation due to the deliberate suppression by civil officials and gentry. Officers and soldiers were even more reluctant to use firearms in combat because they were crudely made and prone to explosion.

Ming Dynasty firearms are divided into two categories. The first category is hand-held fire guns and bird guns, which are small in size and caliber. Generally, the barrel is filled with lead bullets and iron bullets, and the range is only tens to two hundred steps. The second category is cannons with large caliber and shape that are mounted on a mount and fired. Most of them are filled with stone, lead, iron and other objects, commonly known as "solid bullets", and a few are filled with explosive balls. The range is generally from hundreds of steps to two or three miles. They are mainly used to guard villages and attack cities, and are also used in field battles, water battles and naval battles.
This is the standard firearm used by Ming Dynasty soldiers today.

This time, the Beijing army's soldiers only advanced lightly when they conquered Hetao, and did not carry any heavy artillery, because that would make it inconvenient to advance and retreat, and would greatly slow down the march.

Therefore, in this first battle, An Guo only brought some easy-to-carry tiger squat cannons, as well as the Rumi gun and three-eyed gun that he carried with him.

Because the Ming Dynasty's iron smelting technology still had some flaws and was not very advanced.

Therefore, the firearms craftsmen in the army were unable to mass-produce heavy firearms such as artillery. Zhongshan Hou Tang Hao could only settle for the next best thing and drew the blueprints of the Tiger Crouching Cannon. He offered a reward to encourage the firearms craftsmen in the Shenji Camp, and finally this light artillery was brought to market ahead of schedule.

When talking about the Tiger Crouching Cannon, we have to mention the national hero Qi Jiguang, the famous general who fought against the Japanese pirates in the middle and late Ming Dynasty!
When Qi Jiguang was fighting against Japanese pirates on the southeast coast, he found that the bird gun and the Portuguese gun were not satisfactory to use. "Although the bird gun is accurate, it has little power. It is difficult to defend against large groups of enemies, difficult to defend against dangerous obstacles, and difficult to show power." "The Portuguese gun is heavier and more difficult to operate." Therefore, Qi Jiguang planned to create a firearm that was more powerful than the bird gun and could defend against large groups of enemies. In the end, he developed a light artillery, which is the famous "Tiger Crouching Cannon."

In order to facilitate shooting, the cannon was placed in a fixed posture, much like a crouching tiger, hence the name "tiger squatting cannon".

The tiger squat cannon is "better than a bird gun, one can be worth a hundred"; it is lighter than the Portuguese gun and easier to carry. It has strong maneuverability in field battles and can control dangerous passes for defense.

The Tiger Crouching Cannon is not very powerful. To put it simply, it is an early type of mortar. Because the barrel of the cannon is thin, its range is not far, about 500 meters. It is a cannon that mainly uses indirect fire.

However, the advantage of the Tiger Crouching Cannon lies in its flexibility.

Its slender barrel makes it more suitable for mountain warfare. It is maneuverable and flexible, can fire at high elevation angles and be equipped in large quantities by grassroots troops. It is suitable for combat areas such as mountains, forests and paddy fields that hinder the mobility of artillery. Compared with European mortars of the same period, it is more advanced and easy to carry, far superior to those heavy artillery!

"Artillery ready!"

On the top of the city wall, An Guo shouted sternly.

Different from Wuriankhai offal.

When it comes to those bastards, we just try to kill them as much as possible. There's nothing much to say.

The hatred between the Uriankhai tribe and the Ming Dynasty was even deeper than that between the Tatars and the Oirat.

Who made these bastards disobey orders and repeatedly rebel to act as the vanguards and guides of the Tatars and Wala?
But these right-wing Mongols in front of us are different!
An Guo did not forget the task assigned by Zhongshan Hou.

We have to fight, and we have to win.

However, these right-wing Mongols must be beaten hard to make them clearly realize how powerful the Ming army is today. Only then can they regain their awe of the Ming Dynasty and then sit down to discuss how to fight against Dayan Khan together!
Then, using artillery is undoubtedly the best choice!

After receiving the order, the artillerymen on the city wall all took a deep breath.

After observing the distance and adjusting the direction, they immediately fixed the gun body to the ground with large iron nails to prevent the recoil from overturning the gun body.

To put it simply, this tiger squat cannon is the simplest mortar, like a large grenade launcher with a low depression angle.

Because the gun body is too light, it must be fixed to the ground with large iron nails before firing.

Moreover, each time the gun is fired, it can be loaded with a hundred small lead bullets or small stones weighing five cents, and a large lead bullet or large stone bullet weighing thirty taels is used to press down on the top. When fired, large and small bullets fly out together with a thunderous sound. The lethality and radiation range are very large, which is especially suitable for field battles.

"Let go!" "Blast the hell out of him!"

An Guo gave an order.

The artillery that had been prepared long ago fired quickly. A row of thirty tiger-crouching cannons suddenly issued a deafening salvo of artillery fire, aiming directly at the charging right-wing Mongolian cavalry.

In an instant, stones and lead bullets shot out from the sky, heading straight for the right-wing cavalry!

Thirty tiger squat cannons fired at the same time, and in an instant the front of the battle was filled with bullets as dense as rain, covering the sky and the earth.

"not good!"

"Retreat quickly!"

Mandulai's face changed drastically and he gave the order hurriedly.

He never imagined that these Ming troops were so cunning!

Although they had firearms and artillery, they had never used them. They pretended to be weak and lured them into the trap, then launched a fatal attack!
Those damn Uriankhai bastards must have been wiped out!

And there is a high possibility that I might follow in their footsteps!

Mandulai discovered the Ming army's plan in time!
But it was still a step too late.

Tang Hao is the most qualified person to speak on the power of the Tiger Crouching Cannon, which has a longer range than the crossbow.

Although the Tiger Crouching Cannon did not fire the kind of shells that could explode like in later generations, the explosion of hundreds of lead bullets was actually no different from an artillery shell explosion, and the destructive power was equally astonishing.

On the battlefield, faced with the overwhelming swarm of bullets as dense as locusts, the right-wing cavalry didn't even have time to react, and were directly shot into sieves and fell in a pool of blood.

The cavalry on the right wing had never imagined that the Ming army's firearms were so ferocious. From the very beginning, they formed a dense charge formation, so that under the huge inertia they could not even turn around. They could only rush towards the Ming army's artillery and firearms one after another, and instantly became rare good targets!
The artillery fired the tiger squat cannon, and the musketeers were not idle either.

After a long period of training, they have already mastered the firing procedures and can fire the muskets with their eyes closed.

After the front row of musketeers finished firing, they quickly retreated to the back, and the second row of musketeers took over. When they finished firing, the third row took over, and this cycle repeated itself, greatly improving the efficiency of musket firing.

However, in the blink of an eye, the right-wing cavalry that had been charging forward with a roar was now wailing, with internal organs flying around, limbs scattered all over the ground, and countless people with broken hands and feet. Those who were charging in the front were even beaten into sieves.

Their fall caused the right wing cavalry formation to be in chaos, but the dense lead bullets kept firing at them, giving them no chance to resist. One after another, the right wing cavalry fell in a pool of blood, and either died on the spot or were trampled into meat paste by the horses behind them.

Because the distance was too close, the right-wing cavalry had no way of stopping the charge, and there was no room for buffering. They could only keep moving forward and face the Ming army's hail of bullets!

After the artillerymen finished firing, they continued to load the second round of ammunition, while the musketeers filled the time gap and, according to the three-stage shooting method they had trained in daily life, they madly poured the lead bullets in their muskets at these Mongolian barbarians.

In just a blink of an eye, the right-wing cavalry, which was once so invincible, was instantly beaten to the point of wailing all over the place. Broken limbs and arms were everywhere, and blood was flying in the sky. There was not a single intact person to be seen.

Even Mandulai was nearly hit by the lead bullets fired from the Tiger Crouching Cannon. Fortunately, his personal guards knocked him off his horse in time, so he escaped and saved his life.

However, his personal guards died as a result. The lead bullet weighed thirty taels, and the kinetic energy of the gunpowder directly pierced the personal guard in the waist, turning him into "two people".

The guard's upper body fell to the ground, but the warhorse was still carrying his lower body and continued to charge.

Mandulai couldn't understand why firearms were so powerful!
As an old soldier, he had used firearms before. After all, the Mongols had fought with the Ming army for so many years that they always had some captured firearms and were accustomed to these loud weapons on the battlefield.

But that thing was prone to exploding and couldn't hit the enemy, so it had long been abandoned by Mongolian warriors.

Especially for the Mongolian cavalry, those firearms were completely useless.

Compared to these muskets, Mongolian warriors trusted the scimitars and bows and arrows in their hands more!

Even if the enemy has firearms, the worst that can happen is that we charge for a while, sacrifice the front-row cavalry, and wait until the enemy is silenced, then charge forward and chop them all down, leaving them no chance to resist.

However, in today's battle, he witnessed with his own eyes the correct way to use firearms, and personally experienced the terrifying lethality of firearms!

However, the price he paid for this was fatal.

The 5,000 elite cavalry brought by Mandulai this time were killed or wounded in the blink of an eye!
And he, the great lord of the right wing of Mongolia, was directly captured by the Ming army!

(End of this chapter)