A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 477 The Battle of Huangtu Ridge
On August 14, [-]th year of Chongzhen, for several days in a row, the Ming army built a large number of mountain attack equipment, such as 轒辒车, pointed 轳, nest carts, mantle carts, trench bridges, etc.These equipment, etc., are replicas of siege weapons, but they are lighter and more flexible.

In addition, a large number of Liaodong garrison troops gathered, and the car battalions under the command of the general soldiers gathered a large number of civilians to collect wheelbarrows, two-wheeled carts, and long-board carts from various places to carry earth bags and baskets. It will be used for trench filling in the future.

Daming's huge manpower and material resources played a positive role, and a large amount of materials for attacking the mountain were continuously gathered.

The Qing army was keenly aware of the Ming army's intentions. These days, more soldiers and horses were mobilized to Huangtuling.Their sentry cavalry also frequently went to the vicinity of Songshan Castle to spy. The Ming army sentry cavalry resolutely counterattacked. The two sides launched a series of confrontations.

At the same time, the final tactics of attacking the mountain, the officials and the generals, also conducted repeated discussions, and there were no heated disputes.

When Wang Dou was on the East Road, he had a rough sand table map of the topography of Liaodong. After arriving at Songshan Mountain, after these days of surveying, the terrain of the mountains and terrains in various places was described in more detail.Hong Chengchou and others also admired the Jingbian army's sand table. With a detailed sand table map, talking about armies on paper has become a real possibility and realization.

The defense line of the Qing soldiers was very clear. Their heavy artillery, which weighed more than ten catties, was deployed on the top of the mountain and surrounded some piers.The artillery that hits five or six catties of guns is arranged in the middle layer.There are also some small cannons, Franc cannons, etc., which are arranged in the front line of defense in the mountains.

Then these artillery are matched with the earth wall of the trench, and some bird guns, bows and arrows are added.In each line of defense, the Han army and the Koryo army mainly hold bird guns and three-eyed guns.The authentic Tartar soldiers hold bows and arrows, shields and broadswords, which are used for subsequent hand-to-hand combat, and it is not without the intention of supervising the battle team.

It seems that there are still some crossbow arrows, catapults, gray bottle guns and other weapons on the mountain. It seems that the Qing army in Huangtuling guarded the wall as a city.

Wang Dou suggested that when attacking the mountain, the formation can be spread out more sparsely to prevent the opponent from ricocheting and causing serious damage.

This is very easy to do. Generally, when each army forms an formation, they use trumpets, that is, the sound of swans to set up the formation, and each soldier and each team has an open space.

When the trumpets are blown individually, the distance between each team is one foot and five feet. If the trumpet is blown again, it will be looser or denser.Sparse and dense, turn left and turn right, can be done only by the sound of the horn.Of course, the speed and slowness of deployment also have a lot to do with the elite level of each army.

Of course, Yang Guozhu and others had no objection to Wang Dou's suggestion.

Wang Dou also believed that there is no need to gather a large number of civilian convoys, mountain attack equipment, car camp artillery, etc. in the front army. These are all close-combat weapons and difficult to fight at a distance.

The Frang machine in the special car camp is waiting for the artillery. Can you fire while walking, and still hit the target enemy?That's really the possession of the gun god, the self-propelled artillery descends, and it's better to attack the enemy's wall before dispatching.

Wang Dou's proposal made the generals of the chariot battalion heave a sigh of relief, thinking that they were stationed at the front and marching under the artillery fire of the Tartars, everyone was a little apprehensive, Uncle Zhongyong's proposal could not have been better.

Therefore, the light tanks of each battalion are the ones walking in front of the army, covering the soldiers as much as possible.There is no way to deal with the possible casualties. The current Ming Dynasty does not have a chariot that can withstand the Hongyi cannon. Even if it does, it is extremely heavy and difficult to implement.

On this point, Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu Town, and Li Fuming, the commander-in-chief of Shanxi, both considered it, but nodded with serious expressions.

In war, there will be casualties, which is unavoidable.

However, Wang Dou's next suggestion made Fu Yingchong, the former deputy general of the Shenji Battalion, hesitate.

Wang Dou's suggestion was to push the artillery of the Shenji Battalion as close as possible to support the friendly troops attacking the mountain.

Of course, the first wave of offensive was to capture the Qing people's first mountain defense line, which was composed of some enemy towers, fire road piers, and village walls.

The Ming Dynasty built piers in Liaodong, a typical three-mile one, five-mile one, especially enemy towers, mostly two-story hollow enemy towers.It is generally three or five feet high, and the surrounding width is twelve, or seventeen, or eight feet wide.The middle layer is empty, with arrow windows on all sides, and the upper layer is built with oars, surrounded by crenels, which are mostly made of large stones, which are very strong.

There are also many such piers in the mountains around Songshan Castle. There are hundreds of piers on weekdays, and the heads of the piers vary.However, the Qing army besieged Jinzhou and Songshan, and the Huoludun and enemy towers near Songshan Fort were captured by the Qing army long ago, and instead they were used as the defense line of the Qing people.

Attacking this line of defense, the artillery of the Shenji Battalion is not in any danger. They can be bombed from a distance, and the artillery of the Qing army on the main ridge cannot hit them.Even if they hit it, several miles away, what threat can there be?
However, after capturing this line of defense, Wang Dou suggested that the command headquarters for attacking the mountain be set up here, and part of the artillery battalion of the Shenji Battalion could also be set up here.

He said: "The tower of the Niangniang Temple is only more than two miles away from Huangtu Ridge. On the main ridge, there is also an enemy tower, which is used for the enemy's chieftain. If you set up artillery camps here, you can threaten the thieves and slaves within range. , to provide maximum assistance to the friendly forces attacking the mountain.”

Of course, there is a problem here, that is, the artillery battalion is pushed here, and along the way, it will face the bombardment of the Qing army's artillery on the mountain.Moreover, it is said that at the first mountain line of defense in the original Dongnu, there will be artillery battles with the Qing army on the main mountain.

Looking at Fu Yingchong's face, Wang Dou comforted him: "Don't worry, they can hit the Hongyi cannon with a weight of more than ten kilograms, and they can hit three or four miles at most. But what can they hit in three or four miles? Unless there is a dense army formation, So it is safe for the artillery to go all the way. Even if it is more than two miles away from the mountains...it is difficult for their artillery to hit the artillery formation. Therefore, there is no worry about the deployment of the artillery battalion of the Shenji Battalion. Besides, the Shenhuo Flying Crow , Mortars and other sharp weapons, if you don’t deploy them there after you go up the mountain, you won’t be able to hit the thieves.”

Yang Guozhu and others were very moved, Hong Chengchou stroked his beard and said: "Uncle Zhongyong's proposal is very feasible."

Seeing that Fu Yingchong's face was still changing, Wang Dou said: "If something cannot be done, my Jingbian Army Artillery Battalion will come up to support."

The artillery of the Jingbian army, the Hongyi six-pound gun in the army, can hit more than two miles, and the Hongyi three-pound gun can also hit nearly two miles.Pushing it to the artillery array, it can compete with the Hongyi [-]-pound artillery in the Qing camp.

In this way, the deputy general of the former battalion of the Shenji Battalion finally made up his mind to fight on the battlefield, and if he wanted to make military achievements, how could he not take some risks?Fight!

……

The final deployment was completed, and in the early morning of August [-], the main forces of the Ming army to attack the mountain, supporting the large army, and attacking equipment, etc., continuously gathered on the open hills to the east of Songshan Fort.

People called horses neighing, sentinel cavalry roared, and drums and trumpets kept sounding. Most of Yang Guozhu's Xuanzhen Army of 5000 people was dispatched, with a total of [-] cavalry and [-] infantry.

These [-] infantry troops are all new troops, all of them have serious expressions, all with cloud-winged helmets, and the pikemen all wear red waist armors, red and green interspersed, and the color is touching.The fire blunderbuss soldiers, holding Donglu Jinggong bird blunderbusses, all wore red cotton armor, looking like clouds of fire.

His army is deployed in front of the formation.

Li Fuming, the General Soldier of Shanxi, also led a large army to deploy beside Yang Guozhu, and there were more than [-] soldiers in all.

There are about [-] troops in his headquarters, including [-] cavalry. There are also some generals in the town, guerrillas and other soldiers and horses.Some of them fought side by side with Hu Dawei and Wang Dou back then.

Maybe they have been in Liaodong for a long time, and their military horses are dressed a bit like Liaodong soldiers.

Cavalrymen wear long body armor with nail leaves embedded, and iron helmets with arms and hands, while infantrymen wear a turban on their heads, or wear red hats, waist armor, and short armor.This kind of short nail basically has no nail leaves in the inside, and only some nail blisters are nailed on the surface.

Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of the Ningyuan regiment, also led his troops to arrive. In Liaodong, he controlled a total of more than 2 soldiers and horses, more than Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, including [-] family members.Riding four or six times according to step, there are thousands of cavalry under his command.

After he set off from Ningyuan with Hong Chengchou, governor of Jiliao, he stayed behind with some troops, but at this time there were still nearly 2 troops in Songshan.

In this battle, he also pulled out most of the troops, leaving only a small number of people to guard the camp. There were the governor's soldiers and horses, Uncle Zhongyong, and Zuo Guangxian who helped and suppressed the troops to guard the inside of Songshan.There are also Ma Ke and Tang Tong, who are deployed to the west of Songshan Fort, and Wang Pu, who are deployed to the north of Songshan Fort.

In this battle, Wu Sangui may not have the idea of ​​making great contributions.

His soldiers and horses were arranged on the right side of the formation, and Bai Guangen, the chief soldier of Ji Town, led the army beside Wu Sangui.

Similarly, there are thousands of people in the headquarters, and the rest are deputy generals, participating generals, guerrilla soldiers and horses in the town, and there are [-] army horses.Of course, it is normal for them to eat empty salaries and drink soldiers' blood in the army. The actual number of soldiers and horses is everyone's secret, and even the superiors are wise enough not to get to the bottom of it.

Wang Pu's 3000 men lined up on the left side of the army. The Wang family had always been a wealthy man in Datong Town. Not to mention the [-] cavalry in his main barracks, the [-] new troops under his command also wore cloud-winged helmets and long body armor.Each new army also has horse mules, which are luxuriously equipped, almost comparable to Wang Dou's Jingbian army.

Of course, the generals in the town cannot be compared with Wang Zongbing.

This is the lineup of the Ming army to attack Huangtuling and defend Songshanling from Qingqi attacks, with nearly 8 soldiers and horses.Not to mention throwing all the troops at once, but launching a steady stream of offensives as much as possible.It can be seen from this that the Ming army was determined to capture Huangtuling.

Fu Yingchong, the deputy general of the Shenji Battalion, also led the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion to the central army.

His Shenji Battalion is lined with banners and flags, and the armor is bright, needless to say.Their equipment includes cloud-winged helmets, long dark red armor, excellent arms, brass belts on the waist, hemming around the hem, and two bright red pompoms protruding from the shoulders. The first-class army of the frontier army.

What he holds in his hand is the same color Lumi gun, which is still flintlock.

The disciples of the capital, of course, pay attention to their appearance. This time they went to battle, each of them trimmed and polished their armors, and they all looked taller and mightier, with distinctive armor.Moreover, the army formations and chariot formations formed by them are straight, front, back, left, and right. When it comes to the appearance of the army, people who don't know it think they are the Jingbian army.

In fact, since the Shenji Battalion went out, some people couldn't bear the hardship along the way and ran back secretly, and hundreds of people dispersed.However, those who have persisted here all show some vigor. If they can survive the flames of war, they may not be able to become a strong army and restore the grandeur of their ancestors.

There are 25 rocket vehicles in the front camp of the Shenji Camp, [-] light vehicles carrying Francophones, nearly a thousand large rockets such as Shenhuo Flying Crows, [-] Shenwei General Cannons, [-] large-caliber mortars, and nearly a hundred All the small-caliber mortars were also pulled out, causing the attention and cheers of the troops wherever they passed.

All the soldiers in the army were full of anticipation for the artillery fire from the Shenji Battalion.

Especially those Shenwei Great General's guns, the doors are extremely heavy, and each needs ten, twelve, and fifteen strong cattle to pull the cannons. The thick muzzles arouse the awe of many people.Looking at these cannons, it is easy to hit ten catties, and there are not a few cannons that hit fifteen catties and twenty catties.

Most of them are iron cannons, and there are also a few bronze cannons. Looking at the way those strong oxen are struggling to pull the cannons, and the ground has run over deep marks where they pass, one can imagine how difficult it is to transport cannons thousands of miles to Liaodong.

In fact, in order to transport these cannons, the Shenji Battalion exhausted many horses and oxen along the way.

Thousands of soldiers from the Shenji Camp are just the main army. In fact, in order to supply the supplies of the Shenji Camp, there have been many minfu Layi who have followed them since the capital, and as the baggage team of the army, they enjoy the treatment of the soldiers.

In the midst of everyone's attention, Fu Yingchong led the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion and gathered them into the Chinese army. He also enjoyed the attention, smiling and nodding to everyone from time to time.

In the position of the central army, Zhongyong Bo Wangdou, Zuo Guangxian, the general of the aid and suppression army, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, Zhang Ruoqi, the supervisor of the army, and Wang Chengen, the supervisor of the army, have arrived.Seemingly stimulated by Wang Dou and others' handsome flag chariot, Hong Chengchou also built a big chariot, and hung his own big flag on it, flying high with the big flag in Hong characters.

In addition, they also have their own Yuanrong chariots for command and protection.

In addition, the position of the Chinese army is also full of wagon camps. There are all kinds of chariots, single-wheeled, two-wheeled, and even partial box wagons. These are the chariots used in Qi Jiguang's era, and the weight of the wagons is as high as [-] jin. .On the chariot, there are countless small cannons such as Flang machine, rocket, Mielu cannon, Baizi blunderbuss and so on.

All kinds of mountain attacking equipment, such as shackle carts, pointed carts, and curtain carts, gathered together. There were also tens of thousands of peasants pulling small carts filled with soil baskets and sandbags for trench filling.There are many people inside, resisting hoes and iron picks, they are preparing to dig trenches.

The army gathered more and more, the sea of ​​people covered the ground, and when the morning wind blew, the sound of banners and flags was heard.

In this situation, anyone would be full of pride, Wang Chengen looked at the army, his face was full of relief, and he muttered to himself from time to time.

Zhang Ruoqi stroked his beard and smiled, nodding from time to time, while Hong Chengchou, surrounded by his staff and officials, just looked forward with a reserved expression.Beside him, Governor of Liaodong, Qiu Minyang, whispered something to him, Hong Chengchou remained calm, occasionally nodding his beard slightly.

After the commanders of the towns arrived with their troops, they went to the governor Hong Chengchou to retaliate. Finally, all the troops from the major battles arrived.The continuous army formation was silent and dignified, and even the civilian men who dug and filled the trenches were intimidated by the force of the army, and they all fell silent.

Occasionally, a few horses neighed, cutting through the empty wilderness.

It was Zhang Ruoqi, the supervisor of the army, who laughed: "If the masters gather, we will surely be able to win the battle and go down to Huangtuling in one battle."

Hong Chengchou smiled and said, "What Zhang Jianjun said is true."

At this time, the staff said: "The auspicious time has arrived."

Hong Chengchou nodded: "Blow the horn!"

The Chinese army in the standard battalion shouted: "Blow the horn!"

"Ohh Ohh ohh!"

The horns of the Chinese army sounded in unison, and a passionate atmosphere rippling, the whole army looked at the position of the Chinese army, and there was a slight commotion.

Hong Chengchou shouted again: "Beat the drums!"

"Boom!"

In the middle of the army, the big drum in a drum cart rang, and the thick drum sound immediately spread all over the field, shaking people's hearts and minds.

"Boom!"

The drummer beat three more times, and suddenly, from the front army to the middle army, from the left army to the right army, the drums of the whole army echoed together, and the gongs, gongs, and gongs rang together.

Hong Chengchou shouted, "Let's go!"

Instigate the horses to go out first, followed by tens of thousands of troops, marching densely with the drumming of passion.

The sea of ​​people was like a tide, and the earth trembled for it.

Looking at the grand scene of the army covering the sky and the sun, the spectacular scene of thousands of troops marching together.

Zhang Ruoqi couldn't help raising his head, raised his head to the sky, and chanted loudly, expressing his endless pride: "The clouds, dragons, winds and tigers are all returned, Taibai enters the moon, the enemy can be destroyed. The enemy can be destroyed, the head is destroyed, and the blood of the tiger is involved. Hang Hu in the sky, and bury Hu Zi in the side. There is no one, Han Daochang!"

……

"The Ming army is dispatched, and they really want to attack Huangtuling!"

Above the mountain city of Rufeng Mountain, Huang Taiji and the officials of the Qing Dynasty were closely watching the movements of the Ming army. In the telescope, the dark sea of ​​Ming soldiers was undulating along the mountains and hills, and they were rushing towards the Huangtuling to the east.

In the past few days, sentry cavalry kept reporting strange movements of the Ming army. I was on the mountain city, and I also saw the Ming army constructing large-scale construction and building equipment to attack the mountain. I guessed that they were going to attack the mountain, so I didn't know which direction.

Huang Taiji hoped that the Ming army would attack Rufeng Mountain, so that the war would be easier to wrestle.Unexpectedly, early in the morning, I saw the Ming army gathered in the east of Songshan Fort. I had a bad feeling in my heart, guessing that they were going to attack the Huangtuling position, and my guess came true.

Seeing the movement of the crowd below, Huang Taiji felt solemn, the Ming army was powerful, tens of thousands of troops were dispatched this time, can the defenders of Huangtuling hold it?
……

Jingbian Army's Right Battalion Rear Division B Division D Team A.

Looking at the front, back, left, right, and even far away, there are countless armors and flags. There are Jingbian soldiers, and most of them are the soldiers and horses of Youzhen.

Looking at the countless heads, Zhao Rongsheng, the leader of the armor, who was riding the horse, sighed regretfully, and then looked at Lai Dexiang and Luo Liangzuo of the friend armor, who also showed regret.This time when attacking Huangtuling, our own army was only for watching the battle, cheering, and providing assistance, and did not participate in the attack on the mountain.

This disappointed him, and he wished that his Jingbian army would go up and attack soon, but in this way, the attack on the mountain on behalf of Youzhen failed, which he didn't want to see.

For a while, Zhao Jiachang was in a complicated mood.

Amidst the passionate marching drums, Wang Dou was also riding on horseback. Beside him, Datong General Soldier Wang Pu was sniffling from time to time. Could it be that there is something wrong with his nose?Looking at the other side, Fu Yingchong, the former deputy of the Shenji Battalion, has a strange expression, sometimes ferocious, sometimes excited, sometimes laughing loudly, and sometimes gnashing his teeth and scolding something.

Looking at these two people, Wang Dou shook his head, battlefield syndrome, these two people are immature.

Looking at Yang Guozhu, the chief soldier of the Xuan Mansion who was not far away, his face was calm, and he just kept looking ahead. Perhaps for this veteran, fighting is just a rare and common thing, right?

Like Wang Dou, all the commanders are at the position of the central army at this time, following the governor of Jiliao Hong Chengchou, and if they arrive at the reserved battlefield, they will lead the troops to move to their positions one by one.

……

The tide-like army flocked firmly towards the Huangtu Ridge. Wang Dou looked towards the Songshan Ridge in the southeast.He originally guessed that during the march of the army, the soldiers from Xianglan Banner and Zhenglan Banner over there might come to intercept them from the side.

But no, they have been standing still, I don't know what they are thinking.

Finally, before the mighty Ming army arrived at Huangtu Ridge, it could be seen that the Qing soldiers on the mountain were already preparing for battle.

And here, only two miles away from the first line of defense of the Qing soldiers in Huangtuling, amidst the sound of long horns, the torrent-like formation of the Ming army stopped.

Hong Chengchou boarded his tall Yuanrong chariot and looked towards Huangtuling and Songshanling for a long time, then he looked at Wang Pu with a serious face on his elegant face, and ordered: "General Wang Pu, the left guard of the army attacking the mountain, I leave it to you. Be sure to intercept Dongnu's possible attack here!"

Wang Pu whispered in Wang Dou's ear, "Look at me."

Then he shouted loudly: "Don't worry, Supervisor, the last general will lead Datong Erlang, one soldier at a time, and he will not let the Tazi soldiers threaten the left wing of the army that attacked the mountain!"

He shook his cloak and cloak, taking advantage of the wind to make it flutter high, and then took control of the reins, leading his personal guards to run wildly.

Amid thousands of troops, his face sank like water, and he ran all the way through the army formation and returned to his headquarters.Then he pulled out the lance from the saddle, lifted the reins abruptly, let his mount fly into the air, and neighed loudly, Wang Pu shouted: "Young men of Datong, come with me!"

Echoing like a tide, the Datong Town Army rushed to the left.

Zhang Ruoqi, the supervisor, looked towards the direction where Wang Pu was leaving, and exclaimed, "General Wang, you are truly a hero!"

Hong Chengchou nodded with a smile, and all the officials admired in unison, only Bai Guangen, the chief soldier of Ji Town, curled his lips.Wu Sangui, the commander in chief of Ningyuan, also smiled, and whispered something, Wang Dou looked at his mouth shape, and seemed to be saying: "He will play tricks."

Then Hong Chengchou looked at Wu Sangui, the commander in chief of Ningyuan, and Bai Guangen, the commander in chief of Jizhen, and said warmly: "You two generals, the right wing of the army, I will leave it to you to wait. You must protect the slave cavalry attacking Songshanling. Do your best to cover the civilians. Digging a trench between Huangtu Ridge and Songshan Ridge cut off the connection between the slaves of the two lands."

Wu Sangui said solemnly: "Duke Hong, don't worry."

Hong Chengchou was naturally relieved of Wu Sangui, and nodded in relief.

Bai Guang'en, the chief soldier of Ji Town, said carelessly: "Why don't you just hit the Tartars? Don't worry, the supervisor. With my old Bai here, digging a trench will be easy."

The two led the army and rushed south, followed by a mighty contingent of civilian husbands.

With the departure of several general soldiers, the Ming army in the army was much less at this time.

Finally, Hong Chengchou said loudly to Fu Ying, the deputy general of the Shenji Battalion: "General Fu, your Shenji Battalion cannon fire is sharp, blow it up hard for me, let the slaves have a good taste, my Ming cannon fire is very powerful!"

He turned around sharply, pointing at the Qing army's position on the mountain, his eyes widened to the maximum.

Fu Yingchong's chest slapped loudly: "Hong Du, just wait and see!"

He rode his horse and ran in front of the soldiers of his Shenji Battalion, shouting loudly: "Brothers, our ancestors followed Taizu Emperor Gao and took the country from the Tartars. It was the Mongolian Tartars back then, but now it is Manchuria Tartars are all the same Tartars. Let’s let the Tartars take a good look at it, and we, the disciples of the capital, can also fight!"

He roared angrily: "The cannon is going to hit his mother!"

All the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion cheered, and Hong Chengchou nodded repeatedly.

Qiu Minyang, Governor of Liaodong, said softly to Hong Chengchou: "The Shenji Battalion's army is ready."

Hong Chengchou said: "Xungui's children have their own basic salary."

……

The watchman of the Shenji Battalion held a spy tube, that is, a binoculars. After looking at the Qing army's positions, he selected several artillery positions.

After Tang Ruowang presented the telescope to Emperor Chongzhen for seven years in Chongzhen, the government at that time organized forces to imitate it.The manufactured binoculars are naturally equipped in the army, and needless to say, the Shenji Battalion must be the first priority.

The peeping tubes they hold are exquisitely crafted, and their appearance is made of refined copper, shining brightly.

The main artillery formation of the Shenji Battalion was arranged on a protruding hilly highland, facing the Qing army's empress temple tower.

The mountains there are gentle and will be the main attack area of ​​the Ming army attacking the mountains.

Moreover, it is more than one mile away from here, Fu Yingchong bullied the small cannons of the Qing army's first line of defense, and couldn't hit him.

But just in case, safety measures still need to be in place.

After visiting the defense line of Changling Mountain, Fu Yingchong was quite inspired and directed the civilians to stack many sackcloth earth bags in front of the cannon and on both sides.There are also things like earth baskets, which form the crenel wall to protect the shells of the Hongyi cannon from ricochets.

At this time, the front army of the Chinese army was not far from this place. Hong Chengchou, Zhang Ruoqi and others, as well as Wang Dou, Yang Guozhu, Li Fuming, and a large number of generals under their command all gathered on the hill curiously to watch the Shenji Camp The arrangement of the artillerymen.

Seeing the protective wall of the sack crenel built by Fu Yingchong, Wang Dou sighed in his heart: "This is a typical study and application. Who said the ancients were not smart?"

General Zhao Xuan of the Jingbian Army Artillery Battalion looked at those huge red barbarian cannons, his eyes were full of desire and jealousy, wishing to snatch them all into his camp.

However, he also saw that these cannons were too heavy, the bronze ones were fine, and the iron ones were extremely heavy, so they all used four-wheeled gun mounts.Launching requires digging some holes in the ground and fixing them with piles, so it is naturally very difficult for the artillery to rotate.

However, the angle adjustment is okay, and the spiral iron handle is also used. Of course, the gunner will work harder when turning the handle.

Technology fan Zhao Xuan fell into deep thought. Donglu already had a four-wheel mopan gun mount, which solved the problem of artillery steering. What does the four-wheel mopan gun mount look like?

While meditating, the heavy artillery of the Shenji Battalion had already been pulled to the hill and set up.On the high ground, fifteen Shenwei General Cannons and thirty large-caliber mortars were lined up, and some artillery were arranged in other positions.

As for the rocket car, etc., it is not the right time to launch at three hundred paces or one mile.Large rockets such as the Shenhuo Feiya also depend on the wind direction, otherwise they will not be able to shoot within two miles, and the small-caliber mortars also have a range of less than two miles, so there is no deployment for the time being.

According to Fu Yingchong's arrangement, these cannons were fired in several batches to ensure a steady stream of cannon fire, which has been passed down for hundreds of years, and the tactics of the Shenji Battalion are still mature.

Each of these artillery pieces has many gunners, spotters, loaders, and gunners.Those observers, with gorgeous armor, looked like noble children, because their words and deeds were similar to Fu Yingchong and Chen Jiugao.

After the Red Barbarian Cannon was introduced to China, the Ming Dynasty believed that the sighting and aiming technique of the Red Barbarian Cannon was a secret military skill, and it was only used by reliable and honored children, so there were many honored and honored men in the Beijing camp.

The artillery arrays were set up one by one, and the rest of the soldiers of the Shenji Battalion lined up around the artillery arrays as guards. They held Lumi guns and chariots in front of them, majestic and majestic.There are also large herds of cows and horses pulling cannons, gathered behind the hills, staring blankly in a daze.

The sun rose slowly, and the sun shone down. The observers of the Shenji Battalion held binoculars and a device, nervously estimating the distance of the enemy.

That kind of equipment is the square, and Ming people call it a square, a copper square plate, and the two sides of the plate, B, C and C, are divided into twelve equal parts.Then make a connection from point A to each subpoint, which is called degree, and each degree can be further subdivided according to the size of the moment degree.

In addition to many scales, there is also a pendant hanging under the square vessel, which can be used with the telescope to calculate the distance of the enemy.

These observers may be a little nervous, or maybe their skills are a little unfamiliar, and they haven't calculated the distance of the Qing soldiers' wall for a long time.

The Hongyi cannon, in fact, cannot be pre-loaded with ammunition, because you don't know the distance to the target.The gunpowder used is different for different distances, so it needs to be used temporarily on the battlefield, which is a test of the elite and qualification of the gunners.

Looking at their appearance, Zhao Xuan felt disdainful in his heart, such a simple thing would take a long time, luckily it was not a battle between the two sides, otherwise these gunners would have died countless times.

But looking at the others, it was Hong Chengchou, governor of Jiliao, who was waiting patiently without any displeasure.

In the Ming Dynasty, the gunners of the artillery battalion, regardless of the officers and generals, maintained great respect and considered them mysterious.Just like the people's respect for literati at that time, it was mysterious because it was not popular.

The observers of the Shenji Battalion debated for a while, and finally made a decision. The observer shouted: "The wall of the bandits and slaves is 720 steps away!"

Immediately, voices rose and fell: "The distance is 720 steps!"

"The height of the gun is five points and four degrees!"

The gunners also used the circular device, that is, the gun gauge, to read the elevation angle of the barrel on the arc.

Immediately, there was a forehand, and he desperately turned the spiral iron handle behind each gun to adjust the elevation of the gun barrel.

"The distance is 720 steps, the height of the gun is five points and four degrees, and the medicine is very heavy."

The gunners of the Shenji Battalion yelled loudly, asking the loaders of no status in the battalion to quickly reload the ammunition, which made all the civilians and generals nervous.

Amidst the roar, each ammunitionist quickly took out the propellant packs from the ammunition cart and put them into the barrel one by one.They are all packed in cotton cloth, with a number on it, and how much to use, just refer to the number to take it.

The loader used a thick cleaning rod to forcefully push the propellant package into the chamber, and another guy used a sharp iron awl to pierce through the fire door, piercing the charge package inside.Another guy plugged a fuse made of paper and gunpowder into the fire door.

If this kind of lead wire is pre-installed for a long time, it will be knotted, and the thread eye will be jerky. If it is poured with bulk primer, it will be easily blown away by the wind when there is a strong wind. It is really a dilemma.

Finally, the loaders held the heavy shells and pushed them into the barrels of the guns.

All the artillery pieces are ready, and the artillery battalion of the Shenji Battalion is ready.

Under the sunlight, the cannons at the gate of Shenji Camp were shining brightly, facing the Qing army's position in Huangtuling.

And behind them, the army of attacking mountains lined up in the hills and wilderness, and the world was awe-inspiring!
(End of this chapter)