"No!"
"Absolutely not!"
"Your Highness, please think twice..."
Before Prince Zhu finished speaking, three virtuous veterans, Yuan Jixian, Qiu Yu, and Fang Gongyue, jumped up to remonstrate.
Wu Sanfu, who had always been obedient to Prince Zhu, was also stunned on the spot.
The cannon mounted on Fenghuang Mountain is not a three-pound regimental cannon, nor a 12-pound Hongyi cannon, but a 24-pound cannon that was shipped to Shanghai from the Bojialao Artillery Factory in Hao'ao in late June this year. and a thirty-six-pounder gun.
These two cannons were shipped as prototypes of fortress artillery and were handed over to the Artillery Section of Nanjing Jiangwutang for several months. Zhu Cihong brought them with him during his western expedition this time and planned to use them to attack Li Zicheng.
After arriving in Wuchang Fucheng, Feng Sizhong, the artillery regiment commander of the Model New Army, chose the Fenghuang Mountain highland in the north of Wuchang City to erect two giant cannons.
This Phoenix Mountain is the strategic location of Wuchang. There is a saying that if you want to conquer Wuchang, you must conquer Snake Mountain first; if you want to conquer Snake Mountain, you must conquer Phoenix first. Although he is not very tall, he is about 14 to 50 feet tall. But the geographical location is very important. It is a "mountain in the city" located in the north of Wuchang City, about two or three miles away from the Yangtze River. It is only about five miles away from the highland Guishan in Hanyang City on the other side of the Yangtze River. A 24-pound or 36-pound shore defense cannon was set up on Fenghuang Mountain, and it could barely reach Guishan on the other side of the Yangtze River.
However, it is difficult for the cannon mounted on Phoenix Mountain to hit the Hanyang Gate Pier because it is blocked by the city wall! Those two cannons are direct-firing cannons, not indirect-firing mortars or howitzers. They cannot be fired across the city wall!
"Master Qian Sui," Wu Sanfu said, "the two giant cannons mounted on Phoenix Mountain cannot reach Hanyangmen Pier. They are blocked by city walls and towers."
"That's right, it's out of reach."
"It's better to appease him."
"Old minister, let me go. I will go right away..."
The three respected veterans were very clever and quickly followed Wu Sanfu's words.
Wu Sanfu then said: "Master Qiansui, please mobilize the three-pound cannon to Hanyang Gate! The three-pound cannon can shoot loose shells at close range, and one blast will cover a large area!"
This Wu Sanfu is good at coming up with ideas... Now the three virtuous veterans immediately became anxious.
"My lord...what did you say?"
"You can't shoot loose bullets!"
"Those are the seeds of Huguang's study! You can't hit them with cannons!"
Zhu Cixiang saw the three veterans jumping up and interrupted quickly: "Who said we were going to bomb the Hanyang Gate? Don't I know the ballistics of the twenty-pound and thirty-six-pound long-barreled artillery? Those who teach the artillery department of Wutang "Ballistics" was written by me... Sanfu, I want you to bombard Guishan Mountain in Hanyang! Aren't the group of scholars outside Hanyang Gate going to the Northern Expedition? Then let's do it! Go quickly , let Feng Sizhong hit it more accurately!"
"Here!" Wu Sanfu responded, turned around and went to deploy the artillery bombardment.
Yuan Jixian, Qiu Yu, Fang Gongyue and other three veterans also sighed. Looking at Zhu Cixiang, the young Prince Fujun had a faint smile on his face... That's not quite right. Are you harboring some bad ideas again?
...
Boom boom......
When the twenty-four-pound and thirty-six-pound cannons started roaring, Emperor Dashun Li Zicheng was having lunch in his palace, which was the original Hanyang government office! There were no delicacies, just a few vegetarian dishes, a steamed Wuchang fish stuffed with white flour buns, and a large pot of stewed mutton. A mouthful of white flour steamed buns with Wuchang fish and a mouthful of mutton soup, what a beauty!
Because good news came from everywhere, Li Zicheng was in a good mood today and had a good appetite. When he was eating happily, the roar of cannons came.
Li Zicheng raised his head and looked at the open window. It was a beautiful day outside. It was obviously not thunder, but someone was having sex! Could it be that the artillery battalion at Guishan Fort was training?
Just when he was wondering, Liu Zongmin hurried over!
Li Zicheng greeted with a smile: "Jixuan, you're here just in time, let's have some together...the steamed buns and fish are so delicious!"
"Your Majesty!" Liu Zongmin kowtowed quickly, and then hurriedly reported: "The red thieves' cannons are blasting our Guishan Fort!"
Li Zicheng smiled nonchalantly: "Well, it's no big deal...just call him back!"
Liu Zongmin shook his head: "You can't fight back!"
"Why?" Li Zicheng was stunned.
Liu Zongmin said: "Because the two cannons that bombarded Guishan were not mounted on the tower of Hanyang Gate, but on Phoenix Mountain!"
"Put it on Phoenix Mountain...how far is that!"
"Yes, it's five or six miles away! The Hongyi cannon on Guishan Mountain is very difficult to reach. Even if you can barely reach it, it won't be accurate."
Li Zicheng breathed out and laughed: "Then don't panic... If our Hongyi cannon can't hit, their Hongyi cannon will definitely not be able to hit either."
Liu Zongmin shook his head: "Your Majesty, their cannons can fire... The brothers in the artillery camp have already picked up the shells they fired. They are one or two rounds bigger than the shells fired by our Hongyi cannons." !”
"How big are the Hongyi cannon shells?" Li Zicheng didn't react for a moment.
Liu Zongmin said: "Your Majesty, their cannons are bigger than ours!"
"Ah..." Li Zicheng touched his forehead, he was really confused! Zhu Cixi occupies the treasure land in the southeast, and can trade with the Red Yi Kingdom in the west, so he can naturally buy huge cannons.
"Then we have to fight back!" Li Zicheng said calmly, "Now is the moment when the two armies are confronting each other. We must not lose our prestige."
"But our cannons can't hit Phoenix Mountain!"
Li Zicheng thought for a while, put down the half-eaten "fish clip steamed bun", and stood up: "Let's go and have a look at the Chao Zongmen."
Chaozongmen is the east gate of Hanyang City, located at the foot of Guishan Mountain and on the edge of the Yangtze River. Li Zicheng and Liu Zongmin quietly climbed up the city wall near Chaozongmen without daring to make a big fuss or even go up to the city tower. When Lao Li was attacking Beijing, he had plotted against Zhu Cihong with the red cannon. Now, of course, he gained wisdom from every loss. .
So he went up to the city wall next to the city tower, looked around with a telescope, and found that it was very lively outside the Hanyang Gate opposite. There were a lot of noisy people, most of whom were Confucian scholars, and they were holding many tattered flags. , I don’t know what I want to do?
"It's right there! A place where many people are crowded." Li Zicheng put down his telescope and raised his hand to point. "What's the name of that city gate?"
"It's called Hanyang Gate." Someone from the left and right answered.
"Hit! Just shoot Hanyang Gate!"
...
"I hit it, I hit it..."
Outside Hanyang Gate, a group of talented people were cheering!
Not cheering for what they hit, but cheering for the cannon on Phoenix Mountain to hit Turtle Mountain. Although they didn't know whether they had killed the evil bandits, they felt indescribably happy when they heard the roar of the cannons and watched the sand stirred up by the cannonballs!
Peng Ziqin also shouted "Win, win", just like he shouted when he won the exam. When he was feeling energetic, he saw several clouds of smoke suddenly coming out from the Turtle Mountain opposite, and then several black specks flying towards him at extremely fast speeds. In just the blink of an eye, there were two loud "bang bang" sounds behind him, followed by screams.
Peng Ziqin quickly looked back and saw two large holes in the outer wall of the Hanyang Gate Tower! There was already a mess under the big hole. How many people dressed as scholars were running around with their heads in their hands, and a few of them had blood on their heads and faces - they were injured by city bricks falling from the tower of Hanyang Gate.
It turns out that the Hanyang Gate Tower is a traditional straight brick wall. Once it is bombarded, even if the thick city wall is not penetrated, a lot of bricks on the wall will be broken, and then fly down and scatter like explosive bombs. Likewise, it can cover a large area. The people standing below will suffer a disaster, their heads will be smashed and their blood will flow.
Bang bang...
Two more twelve-pound stone bullets hit the Hanyang Gate Tower. Broken bricks fell down, leaving a group of troublemaking scholars with no place to hide.
Now everyone knew that it was the bandits on the opposite side who were firing cannons at Hanyang Gate!
Now Hanyang Gate is a real battlefield... Guys, stop making trouble and run for your lives!
