Chapter 168 Charming Edo Castle
"How many shells do you think can break down their walls or gates?"
Chen Cao stood on his horse and looked at Ning Guoxing, who was making arrangements in front.
"Master Marquis, the city gate is easy to talk about. If the flower shell hits, it can be solved with one shot. If you want to blow through the city wall, you will need at least 300 solid bullets."
"Three hundred?" Chen Cao has never tried to use artillery to hit a city wall. Although the Japanese city wall is very low, this is the first time: "What if two cannons are used at the same time?"
"It starts with solid bullets and ends with flower bullets. I estimate it will take about two hundred rounds at the end."
Chen Cao shook his head, because the total number of rounds he brought this time was only two hundred, and he used ten rounds in the process: "How many mortar shells are left?"
"Not a single cannon has been used since the Japanese landing, but all fifty rounds are available."
Chen Cao clicked his tongue. He felt that before the invention of high explosives, there should be less siege warfare because it was not cost-effective...
'Boom...'
There was a muffled thunder in the sky, and Chen Cao looked at the artillery position at first glance, but their Shenwu artillery was still being installed, so...
"Protect the Marquis..."
Song Che shouted...
"Master Hou, be careful..."
Zhao Xin, who was beside him, threw Chen Cao off his horse and fell off his horse. When Chen Cao and Zhao Xin fell off their horses at the same time, a round solid cannonball stopped kinetic energy and stayed between the gun position and his horse.
Chen Cao trembled all over, reluctantly stood up from the ground, and then quickly stepped back fifty steps...
"Do those Japanese Japanese in Dog Day still have cannons?"
Chen Cao really didn't know this, and the spy in Edo didn't explain the matter clearly. Liao Yaowen got angry immediately, grabbed the spy from his side, and slapped him roundly: "You damn... How to do things?"
Ning Guoxing, who was deployed in the front, was also frightened and trembled by the artillery fired from Edo Castle. The most important thing was that the incident was too sudden, so he quickly ordered the Shenwu cannon being assembled to be disassembled immediately and took fifty steps back.
Chen Cao got on the horse again, his butt hurting: "Xin Zhao, if it weren't for you, my life would have been handed down here."
Xin Zhao looked embarrassed: "What are you saying, Lord Marquis? This is what subordinates should do."
"I want to ask you, how are the Japanese artillery at Edo Castle?"
The spy who had been slapped by Liao Yaowen before learned that he had caused a big disaster, so he crawled to Chen Cao's horse and knelt down: "I am not doing well in my humble position. Please forgive me, Lord Marquis. I am a man of virtue in Edo City." The Sichuan family has its own firearms workshop, but they don’t produce artillery, just because the use of artillery consumes a lot of copper, and they can’t afford it.”
"Where did they get their artillery?"
Chen Cao asked, and the spy then said: "I remembered it, the shogunate has purchased a lot of cannons from the red-haired ghost in the past few years. The number is unknown."
Chen Cao waved off the spies, then raised his telescope and observed carefully. Sure enough, there was a cannon hole coming out of the hole in the female wall of the arrow tower directly in front: "Hey, there are a lot of people who paid him back, six in total, no. Do you know if they have any flower bombs..."
If the opponent has flower bombs, it will be difficult to attack the city this time, and a few people will die...
"We are at a gun position two miles away from the city. Their cannons hit right in the middle. In other words, their cannons can only hit two and a half miles. It just so happens that our Shenwu cannons are made by Tang Ruowang and several Western masters. It is installed on the basis of the Folan cannon, and can fire shells up to three and a half miles away."
Chen Cao analyzed it and then said: "Ning Guoxing, attack the artillery position. The five cannons must fire twenty rounds of shells. First, shoot the artillery on their archery tower, and then knock down their city gate. "
The Shenwu cannon was disassembled and loaded on mules and horses. Most of it had been installed just now, so it had to be reinstalled now.
The castle tower of Edo Castle stands proudly in the entire city, looking down like a signal tower. In his hand, Tokugawa Iemitsu held a telescope that was a tribute from Satsuma Kingdom.
"This is..." Tokugawa Iemitsu looked at the small dot four miles away in the distance, and then exclaimed: "Aren't the Ming people in civil strife? Their armor and equipment are so sound. If it were a field battle, those tens of thousands of cavalry would be enough to defeat us. All samurai.”
Ishikawa Sukazu was standing next to Tokugawa Iemitsu. When he heard his lord say this, he said: "My lord, don't worry. Our Edo City was built according to the Ming Dynasty. They only have cavalry and they have artillery. Our army is also equipped. If they attack the city, they must build siege equipment. In this way, reinforcements from Tatebayashi, which is closest to us, can arrive in an hour. As soon as the reinforcements arrive, the entire army can attack and destroy these I don’t know how powerful the people are, they will kill you and leave no trace behind.”
"good..."
'Boom...'
Tokugawa Iemitsu had just shouted hello, and his voice was accompanied by a muffled thunder. Of course he was familiar with this sound. It was the artillery fire of the Ming army.
There was a loud bang, and a black solid bullet slammed into the main gate of the watchtower, smashing a large piece of the watchtower's roof tiles.
Obviously, this is the first positioning gun fired by the artillery battalion.
Ning Guoxing drew his sword and shouted: "The gun position remains unchanged, the elements are loaded, the shells are fired and ready..."
"Zhu Yuan has been loaded..."
"ignition..."
'Dong dong dong dong dong...'
The five divine weapons fired in unison. In the eyes of war fanatics, this was a beautiful symphony.
The flower bombs fell directly on the watch tower at the speed that the Japanese army could visually detect. In their eyes, the Ming army's positioning cannon just now was solid, and the one coming now must also be solid, but the situation was unexpected.
'Boom boom boom...'
The huge explosion and the action of five rounds of shells caused the arrow tower to be blown to pieces, and the defenders at the main gate were killed and injured.
Tokugawa Iemitsu was shocked. If he continued to fight like this, the city gate would not be able to hold on.
How did he know that Chen Cao's artillery tactics were the artillery truth of later generations of Lao Maozi? In addition to the famous saying "The truth is within the range of artillery" that was passed down from generation to generation, the idea that Chen Cao instilled in Ning Guoxing was "Before starting a war, you must Use artillery to plow the opponent's position.'
Since your opponent also has artillery, you must give your opponent a heavy blow at the beginning.
"Load the elements, prepare the real bullets..."
"The various elements are loaded, the solid core bullets are loaded..."
"Light the fire and start the cannon..."
'Dong dong dong dong dong...'
After twenty rounds of gunfire were fired, the entire archery tower was in ruins, and the artillery on the city head was also affected and destroyed, and these solid bullets were all fired towards the city gate.
Although Edo Castle was built in imitation of Nanjing, the Japanese nation did not implement defensive measures such as door openings. The city gates were simply blocked by gates, and the depth of the door openings was only three meters. How could it withstand the impact of the army in this situation.
This tactic of specifically attacking city gates was the only one invented by Chen Cao. Even when the Ming army fought in the early days of Liaodong, artillery did not hit the city gates.
The most critical reason is that although the usage rate of firearms in Liaodong was high at that time, most of them were muskets. The large number of Hongyi artillery was put into use only seven years after Chongzhen, and the current Ming army's serious artillery is still the old-fashioned general cannon. The weight alone is over a thousand kilograms, and explosions are common.
Compared with the Shenwu Cannon, which is made of thousand-layer steel and weighs less than 800 kilograms, the General Cannon is completely outclassed by the Shenwu Cannon, and the range of the General Cannon cannot hit three miles at all.
Arriving more than two miles is already the limit.
The so-called "one shot can destroy ten miles" is just an exaggeration of the ancients.
"Master Marquis, the bombardment is over..."
Looking at the wide open gate of Edo City, Chen Cao looked at it with his telescope for a long time, and then he made up his mind and told Song Che: "Be careful when riding horses into the city. Since they have red barbarian cannons, they must also have red cannons." Be careful with other firearms."
Song Che nodded: "Don't worry..."
"Prepare artillery cover..."
Chen Cao shouted and sailed the ten thousand year ship with caution. Even if Tokugawa Hidetada took away most of the elites, he had to proceed with caution.
Song Che rushed away with thousands of cavalry. The high-rising suspension bridge was blocked by the moat, making it impossible for Song Che's team to move forward due to the distance of less than two feet across the moat.
At this moment, many Japanese soldiers suddenly appeared on the city top, each carrying their iron cannon...
"Be careful, the enemy has an ambush..."
Song Che's shouts were ineffective, because the Japanese iron artillery team on top of the city had already opened fire, and the continuous sound of muskets had drowned Song Che's shouts.
"His..."
Chen Cao cursed loudly, and his telescope sight clearly saw the smoke at the top of the city and the Dingwu soldiers who fell off their horses because they were shot.
"Fire back..."
More than a thousand cavalrymen were unable to retreat in front of the moat and could only fire back.
'Bang bang bang bang bang...bang bang bang bang bang...bang bang bang bang bang...'
'Bang bang bang bang bang...bang bang bang bang bang...bang bang bang bang bang...'
'Bang bang bang bang bang...bang bang bang bang bang...bang bang bang bang bang...'
Both sides engaged in musketry exchanges, one high and one low, resulting in considerable casualties.
"Tang Kainian, the first division pressed forward and used muskets to suppress their muskets. Quickly..."
Chen Cao shouted: "Ning Guoxing, artillery cover..."
'Dong dong dong dong dong...'
The Tokugawa shogunate's garrison in Edo Castle is now led by Ishikawa Sugawara, but he is only responsible for dispatching. The guard general is Sakai Iehira. At this moment, Sakai Iehira is directing the battle in front of the urn castle tower.
"Iron artillery team, put up the muskets. If the Ming people rush into the city gate, blast them..."
"yes..."
.
"Take off the ropes of the suspension bridge. Where is the sharpshooter?"
Song Che's shout made those who boasted about their invincible marksmanship during training all turn their guns, and the lead bullets beat the ropes holding the suspension bridge to pieces like dense rain.
'Boom...'
The suspension bridge fell in response.
"Come in..."
"Kill..."
A company of cavalry rushed towards the city, but what Song Che never expected was that the cavalry who had just rushed into the city gate were knocked to the ground after a burst of gunfire.
Song Che's eyes turned red at that time and he shouted: "Fierce oil...thunder jar...throw it in, throw it all in..."
