Su Tong, leader of the first regiment, led the second and third battalions and finally climbed up the northern city wall. It was already dark by this time. Until the arrival of the leader. Lin Hu breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, there are more than 20,000 well-equipped old guards and swordsmen below. He was worried that these people might launch a counterattack at any time. But obviously, the opponent was not ready yet, and did not launch a counterattack until dark.
Now the head of the regiment is here, as are the second and third battalions, and the number on the north wall has increased to 1,500. Only then did he really feel relieved.
The other two battalions of their regiment were outside responsible for blocking the road. Currently, only 1,500 people from three battalions and 600 people from the regiment are under the city.
"Tonight, one shift will be responsible for the defense every hour. Pay attention to their counterattack at night." Su Tong arranged.
After dark, a group of people threw a lot of burning wood from the north wall for lighting. Prevent the enemy from sneaking into the city while it is dark.
However, time passed slowly, and the ink-like night below the city fell into silence, with no movement at all.
Those business compound compounds also seemed to be under light control. It was pitch black without any light.
In the early morning, around three o'clock, Su Tong slept in his clothes, feeling uneasy, then put on his coat, opened the door of the Jade Emperor Pavilion, and walked out. The guard quickly followed.
The soldiers of the first regiment were all sleeping in the corners under the battlements. Occasionally, patrolling soldiers would pass by and shoot down with light beams from carbide lamps. See if there is any enemy sneak attack.
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"Captain, are you up?" Lin Hu came over and asked.
"Well, I can't sleep. Let's come out and see if there's anything going on."
"No, it will be dawn in two hours. I guess they won't attack tonight."
Su Tong looked at the dark night sky. It was cloudy today, with no moon or stars.
"The only explanation why they did not counterattack in the afternoon is that they were not prepared. Now the city wall is in our hands. It is five hundred meters long and can accommodate 1,500 people. It is the limit. They know very well that this By that time, all the people we could come up have already come up. Our muskets are too powerful during the day, and most likely they want to wait until the early morning when people are sleepiest to launch a counterattack."
While the two were talking, a sentry suddenly noticed the movement. Someone accidentally stepped on a dead branch under the city. In this quiet night, it is very noticeable.
Then countless carbide light poles swept over. As a result, a large number of people armed with various weapons were found, lying on the ground and crawling along the street.
Bang, bang, bang, the alarm gong sounded. All the officers and soldiers immediately got up and grabbed the guns beside them. But it was too dark outside to see anything.
Only with the light beams swept by the small electric stones hung around the camel's neck, could someone be seen in an instant. It was the only lighting tool they brought out.
Su Tong made a prompt decision and said: "Shot three red flares and request artillery support."
Three red flares flew into the sky. An Sanxi, who was lying on the camp bed, woke up immediately when he saw a red light flashing outside the tent.
"What's going on? Who's sending the flare?"
The guard came in and said: "Report to the commander that the attack was on the north wall. Please ask for artillery support."
An Sanxi immediately understood that this was Su Tong's request for lighting.
"Use spherical explosive bombs. Each gun fires six rounds every three minutes."
"Here"
Then the camel guns set up on the hillside opened fire. This time, explosive incendiary bombs with aluminum powder added as an incendiary agent were used. Shells of this type bring less. Mainly used for arson and night lighting.
All the people in the residential houses on the north side of Baozili have fled, and the houses are all empty. Houses in this era were basically made of wood or adobe, with roofs made of wood and thatch.
Boom boom boom! Fifteen camel guns opened fire.
The shells jumped over the city wall and landed in the city. Artillery in this era basically fired directly. Only a handful of people who understand mathematics know about indirect targeting.
Therefore, the impact points of the artillery shells are very scattered. However, at this moment, the illumination caused by the scattered shells was better.
Boom, boom, boom!
The incendiary bomb fell on the city and exploded, emitting a violent white light. Cannonballs with sugar and aluminum powder added as accelerants exploded to temperatures of thousands of degrees. The wooden building was instantly ignited.
An incendiary bomb landed on the street, in a dense formation, among the crowd who were preparing to charge. There was a violent explosion, and a group of people were blown away. Then the burning objects flying after the explosion fell on the people and set their clothes on fire.
Almost instantly, dozens of people's clothes were set on fire.
This season is winter, and people generally wear thick clothes. Especially fur here is much cheaper than in the mainland. So they all wore clothes and robes made of furry skins. Once an incendiary bomb falls on a person, it will instantly burn the person into a torch.
The firebombing was so intense that there was no time to take off my clothes.
A small amount of white phosphorus was also added to the incendiary bomb.
When exploded, the aluminum powder is responsible for emitting high heat and light. Sugar is both a combustion accelerant and a viscosity agent. Fertilizer and explosives are responsible for blowing up these burning materials, causing them to fly everywhere and ignite more buildings.
Soon, many fire spots appeared in the streets below, and people inside screamed and ran out. Now the city can no longer remain silent. People ran out of the burning houses.
After a round of shelling, the houses in the fort burst into flames everywhere, with hundreds of fire points lighting up the fort as if it were daytime.
The militiamen who quietly approached the city wall below saw that they had completely lost the possibility of a sneak attack. They immediately made a decisive decision, swarmed forward, and changed the sneak attack plan to a violent attack.
Through the light of many burning houses in the city, Lin Hu could clearly see dense crowds of people on almost every street, holding weapons and swarming up.
Those at the front were holding shields.
It seemed that they all knew about the great power of the flintlock guns today. They brought a lot of shields with them in this attack. It is used to resist lead bullets in the front and protect the spearmen and other combatants behind.
Su Tong looked at the various shields below and his mouth widened in surprise.
There are many types of shields here. When Su Tong was studying in the martial arts hall, he learned almost all the shields here.
There are all long cards, hand cards, and playing cards, and even some rare shield types have appeared. For example, there are long steel needles on the cards, and iron nails on the bottom of the shield, which can be inserted into the soil and fixed by themselves.
Su Tong actually saw the Hard and Soft card invented by Qi Jiguang. These Shanxi merchants in the north hated Qi Jiajun and other southern soldiers very much. However, they accepted all the advanced military technology brought by Qi Jiajun.
This is a shield made of composite materials that can withstand musket fire at long distances. The Gangrou brand weighs fifteen kilograms. It is framed with light wood and covered with cowhide on both sides. It is fastened with nails. The surface of the cowhide is coated with gray paint and oil in order to be waterproof. There are two layers of cotton quilts sandwiched inside the cowhide, and a thick paper layer made of thin tissue paper is sandwiched between the two layers of cotton quilts.
At a distance of forty or fifty steps (60~75 meters), the musket cannot penetrate the rigid and soft cards, but at a distance of thirty steps (45 meters), the rigid and soft cards cannot resist the muskets. Since in actual combat, the shooting distance of a musket is generally greater than thirty steps, so the rigid and soft card is still very useful.
Su Tong saw no less than three hundred hard and soft shields, and sighed at the wealth of Shanxi merchants. This kind of shield was very expensive. At least five taels of silver a side. It’s not easy to get money either.
"Everyone is ready, use flintlock rifles, and fire freely." Su Tong gave the order to fire on the exposed enemies below.
