Jamukha, who was walking next to Zhang Hong, said: "Zhang Yingzheng, when I came here, I saw that your Tiger Flag convoy brought a lot of cannons. Where did these cannons come from? I remember that your Ming Dynasty was The buying and selling of cannons is not allowed.”
Zhang Hong said as he walked: "Every year, some cannons are damaged in border towns, so my proprietor will use his money to buy such cannons for his own use."
The cannons were made by their Tiger Banner themselves, and only some Folan cannons were bought from the border generals. He did not intend to tell Jamuka about the cannons made by the Tiger Banner.
"That's it." Jamuka nodded slightly.
In his mind, he never thought that the Tiger-Character Flag could make cannons. He only thought that the cannons of the Tiger-Character Flag were purchased from the Ming Dynasty's border troops.
As the personal guard general next to the Great Khan, it’s not like he doesn’t know everything. A business like Huziqi that comes in and out of the border forts and grasslands at will must have a close relationship with the Datong border generals. It’s not like he bought some cannons from the border generals. It was impossible, but this time the Tiger Flag brought too many cannons, so he asked one more question.
Soon, Zhang Hong took Jamuhe and others to the school grounds of Zhan Barracks.
On the school grounds, there were artillery carriages parked one after another.
These artillery carts were different from ordinary carts used to pull goods. There was nothing on the carts, only some iron balls and gunpowder, a brush for brushing the barrel, and a bucket.
There is a cannon hung on the back of each artillery carriage, including a Franco machine gun and a four-pounder cannon.
Jamukha walked a few steps and came to the back of a gun truck, touching the barrel of a Franco machine gun with his hand.
The Folang machine gun is a mother-and-child cannon. The child cannon is in the belly of the mother cannon. It has good air tightness, can shoot far, and has sufficient power.
"What kind of cannon is this? Why are there two barrels? I think it's different from the cannon over there?" Jamukha pointed at the four-pounder cannon in the distance.
Zhang Hong explained: "This is called the Fran cannon, and we call it the sub-cannon. Many side forts use this kind of cannon. The general should have seen it, but maybe he didn't see the sub-cannon because he was far away."
After hearing the explanation, Jamukha nodded, and then said: "I heard that your Ming Dynasty's artillery will be destroyed for ten miles when it is fired. Unfortunately, I have never seen it. Can you let me see it?"
Zhang Hong hesitated for a moment and then said: "Since the general wants to see it, I will have someone prepare it."
"Thank you." Jamuka said with a smile, and then added, "And the cannon over there, let's fire it twice and see which one of the two cannons is more powerful."
"Okay." Zhang Hong nodded.
A Franco machine gun weighs several hundred kilograms, and a four-pounder cannon weighs about the same. Even if there are wheels underneath, it would take several people to push it.
The edge of the school field is connected to the fort wall, and there is a break where you can climb directly onto the city wall.
Zhang Hong called over a small team of soldiers and ordered: "Assist the gunners to transport these two cannons up the city wall. I will test the cannons later."
The soldier team was divided into two teams. One cannon was followed by a team of men, who pushed the cannon body hard and moved the cannon to the fort wall.
Zhang Hong said to Jamukha: "Let's go up too!"
"Okay." Jamuka nodded and eagerly climbed onto the fort wall.
The two cannons have been placed in the hands of their respective gunners, and several gunners are standing behind their respective cannon bodies.
Zhang Hong held the parapet with one hand, looked into the distance, and said: "General, please choose a target at will in front! We will use these two doors to hit the target selected by the general in a while."
Jamuka leaned out of the parapet and looked outside for a long time. Finally, he pointed forward with his hand and said, "There is a bump in front of you. Let's target that bump."
Zhang Hong looked in the direction of his finger.
About three or four hundred paces away, there is a mound of earth that looks like a tomb from a distance.
"Just target that bumpkin, okay?" Jamukha asked Zhang Hong.
Zhang Hong nodded and said, "Okay."
With the target in mind, the gunners of the two guns quickly adjusted the angle of their guns. The muzzles of the guns were aimed at the earthbags a few hundred steps away. The wedges were placed under the gun bodies to fix the muzzles.
"Report to the camp, preparations are complete, and can fire at any time." The gunner said to Zhang Hong.
Zhang Hong turned his head to look at Jamuka and asked: "General Jamuka, please take a few steps back and cover your ears with your hands. The sound of the artillery will be louder in a while."
Jamuka hesitated for a moment, and finally followed Zhang Hong's instructions, retreated to the back and covered his ears with both hands. At the same time, he did not forget to tell Anzabu beside him: "Cover your ears too."
Anzabu next to him had a disapproving look on his face, and his hands covering his ears were tilted, deliberately exposing most of his ears.
Zhang Hong stood beside Jamuka and nodded towards the gunner.
The gunner picked up a torch, lit the match rope on the gun barrel, and then hurriedly retreated to the back.
boom! boom!
The two cannon shots sounded almost at the same time, and the green bricks under everyone's feet seemed to tremble.
The iron ball shot out turned into an arc and hit the earth bag hard, causing dust to fly. However, the iron ball did not stop. It bounced up again the moment it landed on the ground and flew farther away. .
The iron ball rose and fell several times before finally falling to the ground motionless.
Standing behind the female wall, Jamuka and others could no longer see the landing point of the iron ball. They only knew that the iron ball shot far away.
A total of two shots were fired, and both iron balls were shot at the earth bag in the distance, but only one iron ball hit the earth bag. The other iron ball did not hit the earth bag, but it also bounced very far when it landed. It was difficult to See the final drop.
"It's a pity that one of the shots missed." Zhang Hong looked regretful.
But I was very satisfied in my heart.
The first shot is just to test the distance and deviation, and it is often the second shot that hits the target. However, these gunners hit the target with the first shot. Even if the shot missed, it was only a few steps away. Can hit dirtbags.
It can be seen that the gunners of their Tiger Flag are not bad in every skill.
At this time, he noticed that Anzabu next to Jamuka looked wrong, and he couldn't help but take a second look.
This man's face was pale and his legs were shaking, as if he was frightened by the gunfire just now.
Jamuka also noticed something was wrong with Anzabu next to him. When he saw Anzabu's appearance, he frowned and said with dissatisfaction: "Anzabu, go below and wait for me."
Anzabu carefully glanced at the two cannons whose barrels were being cleaned by the gunners, hesitated, and finally nodded.
However, as soon as he took a step, because his legs were still weak, he stumbled forward uncontrollably for several steps and almost fell to the ground. After he regained his balance, he looked embarrassed and hurriedly walked down the fortress wall. .
Jamuka's face darkened when he saw this scene, feeling that Anzabu had lost the face of their Mongolian warriors.
Zhang Hong said: "General Jamuka, do you want to fire a few more shots?"
"No need." Jamuhe shook his head and said immediately, "The sound of the cannon just now made my ears buzz. But a few of them were so close to the cannon, but nothing happened."
As he spoke, he pointed at the gunners.
Zhang Hong waved to one of the gunners and pointed to his ear.
The gunner came to Zhang Hong, pulled out a ball of cotton wool from his ear and handed it over.
Zhang Hong took the cotton wool into his hands and said to Jamuka: "The gunner will put cotton wool in his ears before firing to protect his ears."
"That's it." Jamuka suddenly realized.
