While transporting prisoners and digging for floating wealth in Zhangjiakou. Xuanfu's cannon finally arrived.
Li Jike looked at the sled pulled by ten oxen and the large Luzon bronze cannon mounted on it. Said: "They were quite fast this time. They brought the cannon here at noon."
Tian Peng said: "It's not the ice and snow road that helped a lot, it was pulled here with sledges and strong oxen. If the snow melts in spring and there is mud and water everywhere, they won't be able to get it over in three days."
At this time, the artillery casting of the Ming Dynasty lagged far behind Europe.
Since the United Kingdom first produced cast iron cannons, the Netherlands, Sweden, Portugal and other countries have successively produced cast iron cannons. By the late Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, cast-iron cannons had become the standard cannon of European navies. The capital ships of powerful naval powers were often equipped with more than 100 cannons.
Artillery has become the core weapon in many wars in European countries.
During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558-1603), Britain divided artillery into 16 types according to its purpose. The largest artillery had a caliber of 6.5 inches, a shell weighing 32 pounds (29 kilograms), an effective range of 3.66 miles, and a maximum range of 6.5 inches. 12.8 miles (miles).
At this time, the ammunition weight of European fortress guns used for coastal defense was even more shocking. The shells weighed 70-100 pounds. At this time, the Ming army's largest general artillery at the same time was equivalent to the British army's light artillery. Not to mention the second general, the third general, etc.
Tian Peng looked at these three large Luzon bronze cannons and remembered the artillery course he had taken in the crash course at the Martial Arts Hall. The instructor explained in detail that apart from the original red cannon, this was the most advanced artillery in the Ming Dynasty.
The red-coated cannons at the head of Ningyuan City are actually 22-caliber naval guns salvaged from a British naval warship that sank in Guangzhou. And these so-called Luzon bronze cannons are actually Spanish naval guns imitated by the Ming Dynasty. The imitation target lagged behind the British gun.
During the Wanli period, after the disastrous defeat in the Battle of Sarhu, in order to stabilize the situation. Continue to find effective counterattack weapons against the skilled Eight Banners soldiers with bows and horses.
At that time, Xiong Tingbi, the Liaodong manager, made many large firearms on his own. In the capital, 300 overseas Chinese craftsmen who returned from the Philippines were also recruited to imitate 28 "Luzon Big Bronze Cannons".
Seven of them were sent to Liaoyang and Shenyang to strengthen city defense.
These heavy artillery pieces in Shenyang fell into the hands of Jiannu. Jiannu used these heavy artillery and the surrendered Ming army gunners to forcefully destroy the Qi Army's car camp. The sidecar was blown into pieces of broken wood.
In the end, it led to the tragic defeat of the bloody battle of Hunhe River. The Sichuan white pole soldiers who had previously killed more than 3,000 Eight Banners soldiers with their spears were also bloodbathed by the Luzon bronze cannon.
At that time, officers and soldiers from the Sichuan Army who escaped described the horror of being shelled. Each artillery shell caused heavy casualties to the Sichuan troops who formed a dense military formation.
The shells hit him, causing blood and flesh to fly all the way, his limbs were separated, and his flesh and blood was smeared all over the ground.
The Sichuan Army's stomach was wrapped with a quilt, although it blocked Jiannu's heavy bows, arrows and firearms. But in front of the heavy artillery, the human beings were as fragile as those in Zhihu, and were destroyed like dry matter.
Although these heavy artillery are already the largest artillery in the Ming Dynasty. However, in the Battle of Liaoshen in March of the first year of Tianqi, the Ming army's self-made firearms, including the Luzon Bronze Cannon, performed very well.
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These artillery pieces, due to continuous firing during the fierce city wall offensive and defensive battles, frequently experienced malfunctions such as explosions, overheating and failure to fire.
As a result, it was often unable to be used when it was needed most, and it was impossible to withstand the tidal wave of attacks by the Jin Army.
These three large Luzon bronze cannons were imitated by Ming Dynasty officials themselves and recruited craftsmen based on Western cannons, that is, copycat versions. It was also the same batch of 28 cannons cast by the Ministry of Industry of Wanli Dynasty.
Someone was so bold that he sold some of them to slaves who had sneaked into the Great Wall, disguised as bandits, and served as internal agents for Huang Taiji's subsequent invasion.
It was finally captured by Yang Fan, and later added a gun mount, wheels, and ammunition cart, and resold it to Sakurai Momo in Nagasaki.
Because Yang Fan has better artillery, he has long stopped looking at these crappy imitations. Even the officers and soldiers of Yang Fan's system scorned this cumbersome and faulty cannon.
"But you still can't underestimate the enemy. After all, there are three 24-pound heavy artillery on the opposite side. When you can't even defeat the Qi family's army. When the battle starts, withdraw the people from the top of the city first, and then come back when the bombardment stops." Tian Peng said .
Li Jike nodded and said: "Okay, I will first place my rifle squadron under the base of the city wall. If the enemy infantry reaches the bottom of the city, throw grenades. Blow up their ladders."
Tian Peng nodded and said, "Yes, that's it."
After a morning of busy work, the three Luzon bronze cannons were finally set up.
Chen Guang asked for instructions: "Sir, do you think we should start the attack now?"
"Fight now. We'll have lunch after the fight." Hou Shilu looked at the sun, which looked about ten o'clock in the morning. Said nonchalantly.
Until now, he had not realized the strength of his opponent. I just think it’s just relying on the favorable terrain.
"Fire!" Following Chen Guang's order, the gunner's door immediately began to light the cannon's fire door. These cannons were fired with fuses.
The squadron leader Lu Jiong, who was led by the Camel Artillery to support this time, was observing the operations of the gunner on the opposite side with a monocular telescope from a hidden gun emplacement on the mountain. This is a rare opportunity to learn about the regular artillery of the Ming Dynasty.
The telescope is a newly produced product of the Optical Instrument Factory in Xincheng. Now Yang Fan has a glass factory to produce flat glass. Naturally, it is not difficult to find some experienced jade craftsmen to grind glass lenses.
Since monocular telescopes are relatively easy to manufacture, a batch of them were first put into production for equipping the troops.
This time he was ordered to come for support and brought ten camel cannons, which were scattered on the mountain walls on both sides. After all, the valley entrance was too narrow. If the artillery is too concentrated, it will be easily destroyed by the opponent. And there aren't many cannons placed there.
They found a suitable slope on the mountain wall, used fertilizer and explosives, and blasted into a large enough earth pit. Then dig into a concealed gun emplacement.
These gun positions are covered with shrubs and dead branches outside. A camel cannon can be placed inside, as well as a gun crew of eleven people, and enough ammunition.
The Gatling team also built a machine gun position near the gun position.
The cavalry is equipped with lightweight 7.92mm three-barreled Gatling. Each corps is equipped with one gun, and the corps leader and gunner carry the gun and gun frame. Three men were left to carry the ammunition boxes. A squad was equipped with six machine guns, plus thirty-five horses. Normally, marches are carried on horseback. This time it was replaced by camels.
boom! boom! boom! Three large Luzon bronze cannons opened fire.
With a burst of smoke and fire, three 24-pound lead shot shells accurately hit the ice wall. At a distance of less than two hundred meters, this heavy artillery is still very accurate.
The power of the 24-pounder gun is quite good, and this caliber is also considered a siege gun in Europe. Infantry guns in Europe never exceeded 12 pounds.
Because the ramp is inclined at 60 degrees, after all, the water flowing downward will freeze thicker at the bottom.
The ice wall hit by the three shells cracked and ice shards flew everywhere. Because of the slope, the shells were ballistically refracted. The three shells ricocheted upwards, directly creating three deep grooves, carrying ice shards all over the sky. It paddled upward along the ice wall until it destroyed the sandbag crenel at the top, and then flew into the sky.
The cooking team is preparing lunch in the valley behind. A large iron pot with a diameter of one meter is boiling water and preparing to make noodles. The cooks are busy.
Suddenly, a spherical object fell from the sky and crashed into the iron pot with a clang. The iron pot made a loud noise and broke into pieces, splashing everywhere together with the boiling hot water.
The leader of the cooking team was doused with hot water. He screamed and rolled into the snowdrift nearby. Several other people were also scratched by fragments of the iron pot.
