When Yang Fan received the telegram, he was so excited that he almost went crazy with a small cotton-padded jacket.
Although he couldn't go back, it didn't stop him from imagining how cute his little cotton-padded jacket was.
What he didn't know was that more than ten years later, this little cotton-padded jacket not only leaked air, but also often made him angry and almost crazy.
Yang Fan held the telegram in his hand and smiled stupidly. But he was not happy for long, so he went to Beicheng.
The main siege of the Oirat people finally began. Starting three days ago, the Oirat people, who had built enough siege weapons, launched a truly large-scale attack.
Yang Fan now spends most of his time on the high platform in Beicheng, directing battles at any time.
This morning, just after dawn, the horn was blown. After a while, the rumble of war drums came. The loud sound made by dozens of cowhide drums made the earth tremble and vibrate.
The Oirat people had prepared heavy siege equipment such as chariots and chariots for a long time and finally put them on the battlefield.
Two miles away, hundreds of carriages were being pulled and pushed by cattle and slaves. Walking slowly towards the city wall. And a large number of Oirat soldiers dismounted and formed a military formation, carrying ladders and shields, and rushed towards the city wall.
There were also trebuchets, dragged into the battlefield by pack horses and strong oxen.
Yang Fan used a telescope to carefully observe their formation. He was thinking about how the Oirat people would fight. But it didn't take him too much thinking. Soon, today's style of play appeared.
Groups of camel cavalry quickly ran to a stop three hundred meters away from the city wall.
The Oirats who were driving their camels made them lie down on the ground. Then adjust the swivel camel cannon bracket. Aim the muzzle at the crenellations of the city wall.
Yang Fan narrowed his eyes, the Dzungars really weren't the ones to cover. Such an advanced combat mode can be imagined. He actually started playing infantry and artillery coordination with me.
The length of these camel guns is about 1.2 meters, the caliber is about 70 centimeters, and the projectile weight is about one pound. The effective range is about 3,780 meters. The maximum range can reach about five hundred meters.
After the camels lay down, the muzzles of these guns were aimed at the crenellations of the city wall and began to charge.
Yang Fan observed more carefully. He could see clearly that the Dzungars used dry gunpowder. This kind of gunpowder has poor performance.
The so-called dry type means that it is made by mixing raw material powders together. Because the specific gravity of different ingredients is different, heavy ones will sink under the bumps during transportation. Floating lightly on top. Automatic layering. Therefore, long transportation time or severe bumps will lead to performance degradation or even misfire.
Yang Fan saw them on the battlefield, still stirring and mixing the gunpowder before firing. Couldn't help but laugh.
It seems that gunpowder technology here in Central Asia still lags behind Europe. They didn't even have granular gunpowder and no wet preparation methods.
Only by mixing with water and then drying and grinding the powder will the proportions be fixed together. No matter how it is transported, there will be no problem of stratification and sedimentation. And it needs to be made into granular materials to increase the gaps between the charges, which is more conducive to combustion.
Soon, the camel artillery team, hundreds of camel cannons, opened fire.
One-pound lead balls and stone balls flew towards the crenellations of the city wall.
Because the mineral lead is relatively expensive, the Oirat people mostly use slaves to polish stone balls to make cannonballs.
This is similar to Japan. Their island is also short of metal, so they basically use stone balls. To be a cannonball for the collapse of the country. They also call the collapse of the country the stone fire arrow. The reason why cannons are rare in Japan is also related to their lack of lead for making cannonballs.
There was a banging sound, and debris flew from the top of the city.
These stone balls hit the crenellations made of large stones and cement and broke into pieces. The stones and stones used to build the walls were damaged.
Because the hardness is almost the same, not only the stone balls are completely broken, but some pieces of the stone will also be broken off.
The soldiers on the city wall crouched and hid under the roots of the female wall. Try to avoid being hit by these gravels. These broken and flying gravels are almost as powerful as shotguns. If you are hit, you will definitely be injured.
For a time, the counterattack on the city wall was suppressed.
The Oirat army below seized the opportunity and advanced quickly. Siege vehicles, building vehicles, and catapults are approaching quickly.
Within the city walls, hundreds of steel trebuchets were also preparing to fire.
These trebuchets are all steel structures and assembled from spare parts.
It was designed and produced after the Battle of Rock Beach. This kind of trebuchet has only been developed for one generation. It was eliminated by artillery. These are pulled from the warehouse in Xincheng.
After Yang Fan succeeded in developing artillery, he basically eliminated these trebuchets and stored them in warehouses to eat dust. Now that the war situation is urgent, these trebuchets come in handy.
Moreover, this thing is not afraid of the court knowing. Therefore, Huang Hao was asked to ship it.
These trebuchets are very brief. It is a door-shaped steel frame, with several steel pipes driven into the soil seven or eight meters below, and it is fixed very firmly. The counterweights are cement prefabricated blocks with a total weight of ten tons. One piece and fifty pounds. Can be increased or decreased as needed. The method of raising the weight box is to use a pulley block and manpower to pull the iron chain.
Therefore, the size of this trebuchet is much simpler than the original method of using people to run around in the drum like a guinea pig.
The machine was fixed, and the fifteen-meter launching arm quickly launched the live ammunition after the weight box fell.
This trebuchet can be operated by only five people.
The live ammunition is also made of cement molds. Production is fast. There are also fist-sized Tiannu scattering bombs. There is also a mounted solid cement sphere.
"Fire the trebuchet," Yang Fan ordered.
Now that the city wall has been suppressed. The soldiers didn't dare to stick their heads out at all. Then use the trebuchet to deal with these pesky camel cannons.
The biggest weakness of Jingying is still the lack of firearms. Their equipment is not good.
"Use the Goddess Scattered Shells." Yang Fan said, "Let's do ten rounds first."
The counterweight box has already been lifted high. The soldiers immediately put pebbles and small cement balls into net bags.
With the corps commander's wave, a soldier suddenly pulled off the latch. The weight box broke away from its restraints and fell from a height. It hit the ground hard, and the swing arm bounced up with a roar.
The rocker arm reaches its maximum angle and is blocked by the limiting rod. There was a loud banging noise. The rocker arm stopped moving, and the net bag threw out the dense stones.
There are hundreds of trebuchets inside the city walls. A dense barrage of stone bullets was fired almost simultaneously.
After the stone projectile flew out, the rocker arm bounced back after being blocked by the limiting rod. The net bag fell back to the ground again.
At this time, the four soldiers pulled the iron chain, passed the pulley block, and worked together to raise the weight box to the top position again.
In the past, it took five minutes for a drum-type trebuchet to fire a round. The size is still very large. It also occupies a large area and employs many people. But now this trebuchet that uses a pulley block has greatly increased the rate of fire, and can be fired once a minute.
The camel artillerymen looked at the city being suppressed, and the fear of the Beijing camp began to dissipate in their hearts.
After all, the black ship never appeared again.
At this time, just as they were watching. After the siege army entered a distance of 150 meters from the city wall, they thought in their hearts that if nothing unexpected happened, there would be no more suspense about their attack on the city today.
Often at times like this, if nothing unexpected happens, something unexpected will happen.
Just then, they heard a series of loud bangs and bangs, and they immediately recognized the sound of a trebuchet. They looked up at the sky, and there seemed to be a dark cloud rising within the city walls.
Then, they discovered to their horror that it was not dark clouds, but densely packed cobblestones and stone bullets.
