Since Tang Tong's unit was a field force, it was only equipped with four reddish Yi cannons weighing more than 1,000 kilograms. For these four large cannons, sixteen pack horses had to be equipped, and there were more than ten vehicles with various baggage. So many.
As an auxiliary, there are as many as twelve great cannons. This is the mini version of the Hongyi cannon. Its weight is greatly reduced, only about three hundred kilograms. It is loaded on a three-wheeled ladder-shaped vehicle and can fire seven kilograms. The qiandan has a range that exceeds that of the Folan machine.
Different from cast artillery, the Great God Cannon uses a cold forging process. It was invented by Ye Mengxiong, the governor during the Wanli period. It uses one thousand kilograms of pure iron. Its performance and cost are outstanding. It is the best among local fire cannons. Its nickname is—— "Ye Gong's Magic Gun"!
The remaining dozens of guns are all small and medium-sized fire guns, such as various small Fo Lang guns weighing from one hundred kilograms to more than two hundred kilograms, and tiger squat cannons that are smaller in weight and easy to transfer and fill.
At present, a total of fifty-five firecrackers, large and small, have been captured. In addition to the nearly a hundred firecrackers of various types originally owned by the rebels, as long as the firecrackers have a sufficient range, the gunners will load them at will and then continue to fire into Xiangyang City. Boom.
The rebel artillery positions were all arranged on Yanghu Mountain, overlooking the city. They were from a high position and were very easy to aim. As long as they were aimed in the general direction, there was almost no miss. The bombardment caused smoke and bricks to fly everywhere in the city, making it difficult for the people to avoid and miserable.
However, the gunners of the defenders are not vegetarians, especially as a large number of defensive guns are deployed at the top of the city. These are red cannons with heavy weight and long range. If they are simply shooting at each other, there is no possibility of suffering any losses!
The rebel artillery positions on the mountain were quickly hit head-on. They did not expect that the elevation angle of the official gunfire would be so large that it could hit their position in the early stage of the shooting.
Although the accuracy was not particularly high, nearly ten artillery positions were destroyed within two quarters of an hour, and the artillerymen who were reloading were all blown to the ground.
The infantrymen who stood stupidly near the artillery position and watched the artillery battle were also in bad luck. The bullets of the big guns weighed several kilograms and could penetrate even waist-thick trees, not to mention living people. After hundreds of casualties, no one dared to underestimate the gunners in the city.
The Eight Kings, who had been shot by the opponent, had already been escorted by their own soldiers and ran to the back slope near the top of Yanghu Mountain to take shelter, so that the army's bullets could not hurt themselves.
"This is unreasonable! It's so outrageous! Tomorrow we will definitely wash out this damn Xiangyang City with blood!"
Seeing that he was unscathed, Zhang Xianzhong, who was in a false alarm, observed with a telescope for a moment, and then shouted viciously that the revenge of this shot must be avenged, otherwise he would be ridiculed by the dog officials.
"Commander, if you want to do your job well, you must first sharpen your weapons! If our army wants to attack the city, we can build more bamboo rafts to cross the moat, more wooden shields for infantry defense, more carts and ladders. Use it to advance a large group of troops to the city!"
Zuo Military Advisor Pan Dubie would not blindly flatter others. The Eight Kings did not need pure waste. In terms of tactics, he still had quite a lot of experience.
Especially after watching Zhang Nengqi's troops attack Xiangyang City, which has a high city and a deep pool, he felt that it would be extremely difficult to conquer the city without enough auxiliary tools, so he took the opportunity to advise the Eight Kings.
"Yeah~! What Commander Zuo said makes sense! That's exactly what he meant! Pass the order and quickly make various types of siege equipment and cut down all the trees and bamboos on this mountain for use by the army!"
The city defense of Xiangyang is quite strong, and the defenders are extremely powerful. Three groups of rebels have been trapped here. Zhang Xianzhong also felt that it was the courage of an ordinary man to rush forward blindly.
It's okay to fight in the field. To deal with such a city, you must combine bravery and tactics to defeat the enemy, especially to strengthen the defensive capabilities of your own soldiers.
Without Hong Chengchou, the loss of some soldiers would be okay.
Now Hong Chengchou may be attracted by his second son Dingguo, but there may still be a group of people left in Gucheng.
After receiving a distress call from Xiangyang, they will definitely respond quickly. The rebels have lost too many troops, and even if they capture Xiangyang, they will not be able to hold on.
Four thousand soldiers and horses were lost before. If another six thousand were lost after dawn, the total would be ten thousand. More than a thousand people were lost in the battles in Gucheng and in the mountains.
Calculated in this way, from the time of raising troops to the capture of Xiangyang, more than 10,000 people would be lost, which was almost equivalent to 30% of his own troops. Therefore, Zhang Xianzhong had to make plans for the future, and he had to act within his ability.
"Commander, our army can mainly attack Xiangyang after dawn, and send another group of troops across the river to join forces with General Ke Wang, and strive to break through Fancheng as soon as possible. Fancheng's city is far inferior to Xiangyang!"
Pan Dubiao had already said it, and Xu Yixian, the right military advisor, could no longer remain silent. Xiangyang City had always been difficult to attack, as had been the case in all dynasties. If he insisted on attacking hard, he would probably suffer heavy casualties, so he had to find another target.
This target is Fancheng, whose city defense is much weaker than Xiangyang. This city is also built along the river, but the city is arc-shaped and crescent-shaped. The city defense is long and it is very difficult to hold on. It is good to choose this city as a breakthrough.
"...Hmm! What the right military advisor said is also a clever plan, which is very beneficial to our army. Wang Dingguo led three thousand troops across the river, first joined forces with my son Ke Wang, and then worked together to besiege Fancheng!"
Zhang Xianzhong thought for a while and then agreed, because Xiangyang City is indeed very difficult to defeat, and it seems that Fan City's defense capabilities are much weaker. It would be good to capture Fan City and loot it.
Xiangyang City is difficult to fight, and there is Hong Chengchou's army in the south of the Yangtze River. It is really difficult. The worst option is to cross the river to Fancheng, capture Fancheng, and then take advantage of the situation to capture Henan.
I heard that the Xinyang and Runing areas are also very rich, so we will cleanse those two sacred places first. If Hong Chengchou comes after us, we will move to southern Zhili and dig up the ancestral graves of the Dog Emperor to make him look good!
There are still five Gezuo battalions there who can cooperate with me.
"I will obey your orders!"
Wang Dingguo immediately ordered people to go down the mountain to prepare. When they arrived at the river, a group of minions carried torches and searched along the coast for a long time, but they did not find a ship, not even a fishing boat.
Perhaps because of the darkness, everyone had to expand the search area and searched nearly twenty miles upstream and downstream. In the end, they found about thirty small boats, and that was all.
I heard from the boat owners and fishermen that the approaching boats were urgently ordered by the government to sail to the waters outside Xiangyang City. If not, not only would they not be able to sail in the future, but they would also be sunk immediately by the official boats. Who would dare not listen?
They had just heard the news and planned to wait until dawn before sailing to the waters strictly ordered by the government to gather. Unexpectedly, they encountered a requisition by the rebels. Fortunately, not many of the rebels knew how to sail. They still had skills to save their lives, otherwise they would all have turned into fish. Food.
But this boat is obviously not enough to transport people. Each boat can carry six or seven people, and it can only transport 200 people at a time. It takes at least fifteen round trips to transport all the soldiers across the river. This does not include the baggage and gunfire. .
Each trip takes two-quarters of an hour, so four trips can be made in an hour, and it takes four hours to transport all the soldiers to the other side. However, it can be completed before sunset. Wang Dingguo thought about it, and it seemed that this efficiency was acceptable.
First send scout horses across the river to search for Zhang Kewang's men. As long as they can catch up, it will be easy. The two armies will be able to meet up tomorrow afternoon at the latest, and then start a large-scale attack on Fancheng. They will definitely call the dog officer army huddled in Xiangyang City. It is difficult to take into account the city defense on the other side.
However, he was worried that he would be discovered by the officers and soldiers after dawn, so Wang Dingguo immediately ordered his soldiers to get on the boat and cross the river as soon as possible. Taking advantage of the cover of night, he transported as many soldiers as possible to the other side before dawn.
At first, there was no problem with transportation. Since it was used as a ferry berth upstream of Xiangyang and Fancheng, even if an abnormality was found in the city, and the ships were small in size, it would be difficult to be damaged by artillery fire.
But after only about four trips, we arrived at the end of Yinshi. At this time, it was almost dawn. Since the weather was clear and there was no fog on the river, the visibility was excellent.
The soldiers who were responsible for watching the river at the north city of Xiangyang immediately discovered the suspicious target, and without any hesitation, immediately reported it to the military commander Wang Ruinan.
Wang Ruinan invited deputy general Yang Shien and prefect Wang Chengzeng to discuss. Based on the current situation on the river, the three of them concluded that the rebels had seen that Xiangyang was impregnable, so they adopted a method of avoiding the real and striking at the weak. This move must be to cross the river to attack Fancheng.
In order to prevent the thieves from capturing Fancheng, which had much lower defense capabilities than Xiangyang, the defenders immediately summoned naval personnel, dispatched more than twenty warships at a time, and began to blockade the river, striving to sweep away all thieves ships.
"No! The dog officer army is here!"
The rebel soldiers with good eyesight saw the huge official warship from a distance, and they were so frightened that they stretched their necks and shouted. Everyone looked in the direction he pointed, and they saw that the other party was going to put them to death. !
"Oh my god~! How can we fight against this?"
The small boat not only has a limited number of people, but also has a very shallow draft, making it impossible to carry large or medium-sized firecrackers. After people are installed, even the Crouching Tiger Cannon cannot be moved up, otherwise there is a risk of being crushed and sunk.
Even if the Tiger Crouching Cannon is installed on the ship, it cannot be fired on the ship. The recoil can cause the boat to capsize when encountering wind and waves.
How can you fight against the powerful navy warships with only the sword and gun in your hand?
Isn't this a joke?
The rebels fired a volley, but the other side didn't do much. Just by using brute force to run rampant on the water, they were able to destroy everything.
Seeing the fiercely approaching warship, the soldiers on the ship, including the big and small leaders, were stunned. When they came to their senses, they hurriedly ordered the boatman to leave the main channel as soon as possible.
But they forgot that many small boats were going down the river, heading in the opposite direction to the warships of the army, bow to bow. Driven by the river water, it was impossible to turn around quickly.
The warships of the government navy also have large and small muskets, and most of the warships are equipped with small Folang machines that can fire rapidly. The original intention of these warships was to use the big to bully the small, but now they have come in handy.
When the two sides gradually approached and were less than two hundred steps apart, the battleships began to shoot. The navy here in Xiangyang had no intention of close combat. If they could sink the pirate ship from a long distance, it would be less dangerous for themselves. There were so many Fo Lang machines. , Only fools would engage in close combat with bandits.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
A column of water more than ten feet high suddenly burst out around the small boat the rebel soldiers were riding in. The situation was extremely frightening, and many landlubbers on the boat were frightened to the point of being scared to their throats.
The weather is not cold now, and many of them are not wearing thick armor. If that doesn't work, they can jump off the ship, but if they don't know how to swim, this will be very fatal. If they jump off the ship, they will be drowned directly.
For some reason, he couldn't escape from his shell. As long as the ship he was on didn't sink, he would stay on the ship, pray to God to protect him, and smash the bullets fired by the officers and soldiers into the water. Or on a companion's boat...
But this can only protect a small number of people in actual combat. Luck is on the one hand, and battlefield conditions are on the other. Most people will become targets of warships and eventually become fish food.
No matter how small the boat target is, as long as the distance is not too far, it can be easily spotted by the naked eye on the unobstructed river surface. The only difference is the hit rate.
For the navy officers and soldiers who operate the Folan aircraft, low accuracy can be compensated by high fire rate, and warships like themselves are very strong, and the counterattacks of the small boats of the pirates are not worth mentioning at all.
Naval battleships can shoot freely on the river, cruise vertically and horizontally, and if they can't hit from a distance, they can get closer and hit them. If there is no other way, they can hit them. A battleship collision with a small boat is still guaranteed.
The order given to them by the military commander Wang Ruinan was to sink all the pirate ships they saw without leaving a single one alive. Otherwise, even if they returned to the dock, they would never be able to eat meat again in their lives.
Correspondingly, each person received one tael of silver and a pound of sizzling and oily braised pork. Thinking of eating a big bowl of fatty meat, everyone was certainly very motivated.
In fact, they are only good at fighting this kind of downwind battle. They have no control over whether the thieves are dead or alive after jumping off the ship, but the ship must be sunk so that everyone can claim rewards when they return.
The rebels' plan to cross the river to attack Fancheng is shameless. The government troops coming here won't even give you a chance to surrender.
Because many boatmen knew the navy soldiers, they could be rescued by warships after falling into the water, and they would not hate each other. After all, the boatmen were all coerced by the pirates.
But there was no such favor for those bandits who fell into the water and were still swimming. After the warships approached, they used bows and arrows and blunderbuss to greet them.
They can ignore the thieves in the distance. It is important to carry out the military orders. The navy has no time to catch mice for fun. However, anyone they meet on the battleship channel must go to see the Dragon King in advance.
No matter how powerful Zhang Ni is, he is ten times more powerful than the tigers in the mountains, and his claws can't touch the navy. If we can beat him, we will fight. If we can't, we will go down the river. How can you resist me?
The navy officers did not take the Eight Kings seriously at all. The battleship is my home, and I just like to go with the flow. Can you catch up with me or beat me in the river?
"Thank you to the Eight Kings on the mountain for feeding the Bastard Brother in the river!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Ha ha ha ha……"
Seeing that the pirates' boats were so weak and our own side was so ruthless, it was easy to clean them up. The unscrupulous navy soldiers began to fight and taunt them.
These rough and strong men don't know a few Chinese characters, but when it comes to sarcasm, they are definitely no worse than the scholars who have studied hard for many years, and they often write casually.
"I'm married to you...how dare you hit grandpa???"
Seeing that the warships of the government navy were so rampant, about half of his own boats were soon sunk, and there were only a few boats left. Wang Dingguo, who was watching the battle on the shore, was anxious and anxious, but he was unable to help at all.
Suddenly two warships showed signs of approaching the shore, and they hurriedly ordered the mobilization of more than a dozen small Folan aircraft, and asked the gunners to shoot violently at the warships in an effort to sink the two large ships.
Originally, he was afraid that shooting on the shore would harm his gunners. Shooting against a battleship was no joke. Even if both sides had the same range of gunfire, it would be too much of a disadvantage if they had a battleship as a bunker and had nothing for their own gunners. .
But it was not an option to allow the army to wreak havoc on the river. Wang Dingguo planned to seize the fleeting opportunity and catch the opponent off guard. If he could sink the naval warship in one fell swoop, it would be considered as if the soldiers who were feeding the fish had not died in vain. .
"Brothers! Shell the bandits on the shore!"
It was easy to clean up those small broken ships. The navy did not lose a single warship. It was a wild victory with zero losses. But now the bandit army actually dared to scream at the navy on the shore. Is this okay? ...Friends who read books, you can search "Blue Chinese Network" to find this site as soon as possible.
