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

Chapter 547 Cannon Battle Across the River (End)

As a shell landed not far from the Shenji Battalion's artillery formation, there was only a short pause, and the deafening sound of the Wuzhenha Super Battalion's artillery formation burst out. Waves of big iron balls seemed to be overwhelmingly heading towards the Shenji Battalion. Come on.

Their more than thirty Shenwei generals fired one cannon at a time, and then each of the more than ten cannons fired round after round to relieve the heat dissipation pressure of the cannon.

The heavy solid iron ball bounced inside and outside the cannon array, the smoke and dust, with blood in it, the roaring cannons made the gunners of the Shenji Battalion unable to lift their heads.

The fierce artillery fire from the Qing camp was beyond the expectations of many people. From time to time, soldiers from the Shenji Battalion covered their ears and screamed loudly.

There were also people who rolled into a pool of blood and screamed, and beside them, some fragmented limbs remained.

No matter how densely packed the earth trucks and sacks are in the artillery formation, if the artillery hits the position, they will still roll and bounce to some extent, because there is always room for people to move.When the cannonball flies and bounces, it seems to be very slow. In fact, the angular velocity of the cannonball can only be seen by the naked eye. In fact, the speed is very fast. The human body often has no time to react.

Fu Yingchong got up disheveled, and just now a large iron ball weighing more than ten kilograms was shot on the left side of the circle, and a large piece of the protective ring made of thick sacks collapsed.

The sack crumbs crushed by the artillery, as well as a large piece of stirred up soil, flew over his head and chest, and the smoke from the artillery made Fu Yingchong change from a glamorous deputy general of the Shenji Battalion to a black man. Migrant workers in sand kilns.

Surprised, he roared to let the artillery fire back.

But at this time, only a few cannons were turned in the artillery array, and when the rest of the gunners were busy, they were in chaos when they bombarded from the opposite side.

With such a long distance, although it is very difficult for the artillery of the Qing army to directly hit the artillery of the Shenji Camp, the shells flew randomly, even if some of the shells hit were quite far from the earthbag wall in front of each artillery, it still made many gunners frightened. , [-]% of them can't play [-]%.

Some unlucky soldiers in the formation were brought down and wailed by the guns, which added strong psychological pressure to them.

And to be honest, the gunners of the Shenji Battalion were much inferior to the gunners of the Wuzhenhachao Battalion of the Han Eight Banners in terms of loading speed, accuracy of shelling, and distance measurement.

The more important role of artillery at this time is to hit the morale of the opponent, increase their psychological pressure from time to time, or bring casualties to their gunners.

Wuzhenhachao's cannon array, with only thirty Shenwei General cannons, has put the Shenji Battalion in a situation where they can't fight back just by being beaten.

What's even more ominous is that the follow-up artillery of the Qing army has been continuously pulled in, and the number of their mighty generals has gradually increased, from thirty to forty, to fifty... seventy...

Round after round of their artillery bombardment, the number increased from more than ten to more than thirty. The continuous firing shortened the heat dissipation distance of their artillery, and it seemed that the bombardment continued. is right in the middle.

Some artillery also fired at the rocket position next to the artillery formation, and the Fran machine gun position. These positions were helpless in the face of enemy artillery. While they panicked, their morale became more and more low.

As Kong Youde's follow-up artillery was transported up, they also began to bombard the Jingbian army's artillery formation.

He seemed to think that the Shenji Battalion's artillery formation was nothing to worry about, except for the remaining [-] Shenwei Generals, the remaining [-] heavy artillery pieces of the Generals, Kong Youde ordered to face the Jingbian Army's artillery formation, and sent his full of resentment along with the artillery. Launched, and vented to that side.

Because the artillery array was very close to the Jingbian army, many of the artillery did not even need to move as a whole. Only some strong soldiers pushed the wooden poles on the mopan gun mounts hard, and with the sound of rattling, they quickly completed the steering of the artillery.

Although such shelling may easily cause damage to some of the internal components, it goes without saying that it is flexible on the battlefield.

The loud noises of the more than a hundred generals from both sides shocked the armies of both sides on both sides of the Daughter River. It seemed that the eyes of the entire battlefield were all looking there.

Seeing the rampant artillery formation of the Jingbian army, they were suppressed so much that they couldn't lift their heads. Kong Youde was satisfied and laughed loudly: "Good fight!"

His voice was drowned in the deafening sound of cannonballs. The shrieking shells and billowing smoke drowned Kong Youde's figure, and the gunners of the Wuzhenhachao Battalion beside him were desperately brushing the chamber and reloading the ammunition after the shelling.

They also have perfect spotters, loaders, and crackers, and they also use cotton pouches.

They also have binoculars for observing hands, although there are few, there are also a series of complete sets of square and round utensils, and many of them are skilled in their movements.After all, Sun Yuanhua spent a lot of time and energy on this artillery team back then.

These Han army gunners knew that this was the capital of their fortune, and they all performed very hard, especially those Portuguese gunners, who shot fast and accurately.

Regardless of the number of artillery pieces, it is the level of training of both sides. The gunners of the Shenji Battalion are not their opponents.

As for the artillery formation of the Jingbian Army, because the artillery range was insufficient, they could only watch them shelling helplessly.

The water vapor in the brush chamber sizzled, and amidst Kong Youde's big laugh, another round of more than [-] cannons, following the sound of the thunderbolt, sprayed hot flames forward one by one, and the billowing white smoke quickly filled Wuzhen again. Ha Chao cannon array.

……

Nearly a hundred cannons weighing more than ten catties, the bombardment of General Shenwei brought an astonishing momentum,
The cannonballs fell like rain, and the vibration brought by the heavy solid iron ball seemed to tear people's hearts and lungs.

boom!boom!boom!
Hearing the deafening roar from the other side, there was a huge puff of white smoke from the artillery formation on that side, Zhao Xuan and some officers and generals of the artillery battalion hurriedly hid their bodies tightly behind the bamboo baskets, shouting Greet other artillery battalion soldiers to hide.

At this time, Zhao Xuan's cannon array had 23 Hongyi six-pounders, 25 Hongyi three-pounders, and 25 General Frang cannons. The remaining artillery of the artillery battalion was placed on the small cannon on the left side of the small pontoon bridge. In the formation, those small and medium Flang machines supported Yang Xingling in the battle.

These cannons, except for the Hongyi six-pound cannon, can fire more than two miles, and the rest of the cannons can only fire more than one mile, so they can only watch the opponent fire without any power to fight back, which makes Zhao Xuan feel aggrieved. .

His batteries were spread out in long rows along certain rises and slopes of the river bank.Generally speaking, General Fran's machine gun is at the front, Hongyi's three-pound gun is in the middle, Hongyi's six-pound gun is placed at the end, and some highlands are on the top, forming an artillery array of considerable length and depth.

On the left and right of these artillery pieces, there are multiple bamboo baskets that are taller than wooden barrels, filled with soil as shelters.This is Zhao Xuan's discovery that a tall bamboo basket filled with soil can withstand a greater impact from a red barbarian cannon than a sack filled with soil.

Of course, if the bamboo baskets were hit, the bamboo fragments flying across them might cause quite a lot of damage, so a layer of soil bags were piled up outside these bamboo baskets as a buffer.

In fact, it is best to use rattan baskets to hold the soil, but at this time there are no rattans in the north, and even Qi Jiguang's long sword and rattan soldiers at that time had to use light wood instead of rattan shields. The next best thing is to use bamboo baskets.

Although the probability is small, in order to prevent the shells from directly hitting the artillery, or some shells jumping over, causing damage to the artillery and the gunner, some sacks were piled up in front of each artillery, and the height did not reach the muzzle. , does not affect artillery bombardment.

What Zhao Xuan hid was behind a bamboo basket next to a six-pound cannon. He could only hear the sharp whistling sound of the cannonballs, and the heavy cannonballs fell in the cannon array, constantly flying and bouncing.They bring a strong sense of threat. No matter how brave you are, if you are hit or swept by shells, you will be killed or injured instantly.

Zhao Xuan covered his ears and opened his mouth. When the shell landed, it seemed to bring about a huge vibration, especially when it landed not far from him, it made people's ears buzz, and it felt like their internal organs were about to burst .

From time to time, bamboo baskets were hit, or were bounced by cannon shells, and the splashed mud covered them and scattered them behind to avoid the gunners' helmets, which soon made them ashamed.

Some Qing artillery shells hit the river in front of the artillery formation, stirring up a large jet of water.

Or shoot into the open space in front of the artillery formation, bringing up a large stream of rubble and flying across.From time to time, cannons landed on the area behind the bamboo baskets, bounced vigorously, and happened to rush onto the row of dirt carts in the back, causing the dirt carts to vibrate and dust to fall down.

Or the solid iron ball directly crosses the truck and rushes backward again.

Wave after wave of artillery from the Qing army, the ground seemed to be shaking all the time, and the sound of bombardment was endless. Numerous solid iron balls jumped and rolled between the dirt carts and bamboo baskets, and they were also fired at the artillery barracks behind the slope. Yibing area.

Although the gunners hid tightly behind the soil baskets or soil truck sacks, there were still a large number of them, and the jumping and rolling iron balls still caused casualties to them.

A young artillery soldier hugged his calf tightly and said nothing, but his forehead was covered with bean-sized beads of sweat, and his body trembled from time to time. His right leg was covered with bones. , It was cut off at the knee, and there were still a few traces of blood rain on it.

The accident came very suddenly, probably because the Tartar shell just now happened to hit the raised earth bump not far in front, and then the bullet rolled back, taking his little right foot away.

He sat on the ground, the blood flowing from the wound stained the ground under him red.He still has a childish face, as an artillery apprentice, he was full of longing for the future when he was in the army, but this accidental disability made him spend the rest of his life disabled.

In the pool of blood, the soldier's eyes were full of pain, both physically and psychologically. Everything he dreamed of was over.

Although the general will take care of his future life, but this is not what he wants.

There are many such accidents in the artillery formation, and sometimes luck is really important in war.

The artillery of the Qing army did not target a certain artillery of the Jingbian Army, but the entire artillery formation.The cannons they shot over fell into the artillery formation like raindrops. Even if a blind cat ran into a dead mouse, it would still cause casualties to the gunners of the Jingbian Army.

This is the result of the gunners hiding next to the bamboo basket trucks before fighting. If the two sides fired at each other during the battle and the gunners came and went, there would be more casualties.Sacks and soil baskets can only alleviate the casualties of soldiers, but cannot completely avoid them.

A solid iron ball jumped over the dirt basket and hit the ground not far behind Zhao Xuan hard, which startled Zhao Xuan. He gritted his teeth, feeling so aggrieved that he was completely at a disadvantage when he was beaten and couldn't fight back. Since he joined the Jingbian Army, he has never had it.

Looking at the artillery array of the Tartars on the other side, it seems that the sound of artillery is constant. They divide the artillery into several rounds of bombardment. Even if each artillery has three or five shots, it will take a quarter of an hour to cool down. After cooling down, they can fire again, causing their artillery to wave continuously.

These Tartar gunners are well-trained, which is also surprising.

He said bitterly: "I, Zhao Xuan, have been in the Ming Dynasty for many years... oh, I have been in the Ming Dynasty for many years with the general, and I have never been so useless. The hateful Ertazi dared to stand still at a distance, and he had the feeling to pull me up. Master, I will make them look good!"

The officer of the battalion, Zan Hua, scattered the earthen baskets to avoid the artillery. In the smoke, Yang Qianzong, the artillery battalion with copper bells and big eyes, sat next to a bamboo basket not far from him, sitting on the ground, Hearing the words "hmm".

Zhao Xuan was dissatisfied: "Old Yang, you haven't eaten, you are weak."

His eyes lit up: "Okay, the step formation of the Ertars is coming up, they are going to cross the bridge, hum, their artillery is concentrated on this side, let's pull those Frangji up, near the pontoon bridge, and give those Ertars Some awesome colors!"

Mr. Yang Qian said: "That's right, I want to give those two...two Tartars a little color..."

His voice was intermittent, and Mr. Yang Qian always had a loud voice, but Zhao Xuan was quite careless and didn't notice anything unusual about Mr. Yang Qian.

Amidst the sound of cannons and drums, the Eight Banners troops of the Han Dynasty began to cross the river. At the same time, the sound of killing from the side of Yang Xingling shook the sky, and the roar of the Hongyi cannons continued to come.

(End of this chapter)