After the fixed glider was developed, the emergence of hot air balloons was a matter of course.
In fact, the principle and difficulty of making a hot air balloon are far inferior to those of a fixed glider.
Especially after the great progress in textile technology, various fabric variants based on canvas have provided conditions for the molding of hot air balloons.
This thing has become very common in the empire, and even schools with conditions will use it to teach physics knowledge.
The application in the military started even earlier.
The military has long discovered that hot air balloons are condescending and conducive to reconnaissance.
Zuo Mengeng even asserted that as long as hot air balloons continue to be developed, there will be no problem in crossing the ocean and reaching the New World.
The Battle of Taiyuan was the first large-scale application of hot air balloons.
There are four soldiers in the basket under each hot air balloon.
One of them is responsible for observation and delivering intelligence to the army, while the other three are responsible for firepower output.
They all had muskets in their hands, and some small explosive bags were piled in the baskets.
After being lit and thrown from the air, the effect is extraordinary.
When had the Qing army seen this kind of integrated air-ground attack?
Not to mention being beaten, the hot air balloon alone scared the Qing army out of their wits.
In their simple thoughts, this thing must have come from the gods and definitely not from the human world.
Many people even knelt down on the spot, kowtowed to the hot air balloon, and muttered words without knowing what they were praying for.
The Wehrmacht soldiers in the hot air balloon couldn't hear it and naturally didn't care.
They loaded their muskets as if they were busy, and then aimed at targets on the ground and fired.
As for accuracy, it's naturally lackluster.
The hot air balloon floating back and forth seriously reduced the accuracy of shooting.
But despite this, many Qing soldiers were still killed.
Seeing the people around them die from gunshots, the Qing soldiers who were still alive became even more frightened.
They only think that this is a punishment from the gods, and they must be guilty.
Niksai has come to his senses, but is about to go crazy again.
As a well-informed general, he certainly knew that the hot air balloon in the sky was a novel weapon created by the National Defense Forces and was not a magical weapon at all.
But despite his shouting, the Qing soldiers still ran around randomly and lost their fighting spirit.
Nikki had no choice but to organize some relatively strong soldiers to defend the city wall.
It is an inevitable trend that city walls lose their effectiveness in the face of thermal weapons.
Later generations generally believed that the reason why the city wall lost its effectiveness was that it could not stop the indiscriminate bombardment of thermal weapons.
In fact, the real reason is far more cruel than this.
Not only could the city wall not stop the indiscriminate bombardment of thermal weapons, but once the enemy rushed up and occupied it, it would be impossible for the defenders to engage in street fighting even if they wanted to.
Because the enemy can stand on the city wall and have a commanding view of the city's defenses, and can smoothly deliver firepower, making it easier to eliminate the defenders.
After all, as long as it is a city surrounded by walls, no matter how large it is, it will be limited. As long as the muskets and artillery are mounted on the city wall, there will be no place that cannot be hit.
This will greatly increase the difficulty of street fighting for the defenders.
The progress of military history shows that terrain is actually more helpful to the party with advanced weapons.
Niksai had already tasted the power of the Wehrmacht's long-range weapons, so he did not dare to throw away the city wall.
In that case, I'm afraid that Taiyuan will be lost before today is over.
He could only pile up the troops on the city wall helplessly and angrily, trading lives for time.
The National Defense Forces' air and ground attacks together put tremendous pressure on the Qing army.
After several sections of the city wall collapsed, the infantry began to move forward and compete with the Qing army for the city wall.
Nikki was under time pressure, and so was Jian Zongan.
The Sixth Division must conquer Taiyuan as soon as possible, and then go north to help the Ninth Division eliminate Duduo.
If we delay here for too long, we are afraid that the strength of the Ninth Division will not be able to stop Duduo.
Therefore, Jian Zongan could only speed up the attack and strengthen the intensity of the attack.
The soldiers of the National Defense Force were naturally not afraid of sacrifice. After receiving the order, they began to attack like a tide.
Seeing the infantry of the National Defense Force coming forward, the Qing army really burst into tears.
I can finally take action, no longer passively being beaten.
The remaining Qing soldiers on the city wall drew their bows and arrows with gritted teeth, suddenly leaned out from between the wall stacks, and at the same time loosened their bowstrings.
After completing these actions in one breath, he quickly retreated.
But although his movements were already very fast, the Wehrmacht's muskets were even faster.
At the same time that a bow and arrow hit a Wehrmacht soldier, the Qing soldier was also shot in the right shoulder.
The strong inertia caused him to fall backwards, unable to get up for a long time, which also caused a lack of firepower output in this section.
The Wehrmacht soldier was shot in the thigh by an arrow. It was not fatal, but he was unable to continue participating in the battle.
The health worker who was mixed in the queue immediately ran forward, grabbed the straps of his tactical vest, and dragged him back.
Just as the infantry rushed under the city wall, mortars began a final round of bombing on the city head.
The artillery absolutely did not dare to fire at this time.
Otherwise, you will definitely hurt your own people by accident.
Even though the power of the mortars was much smaller, the Qing army was still unable to lift their heads and could not gain a foothold on the city wall.
The ladders were erected one after another, and the vigorous soldiers began to climb up.
When they heard the bombardment stopped, the Qing troops huddled under the other end of the city wall also began to run upward crazily.
Both sides appeared at the city head almost at the same time.
Seeing the National Defense Force coming up, the Qing army was shocked and hurriedly swarmed forward, trying to defeat the enemy.
At this time, the Qing army was more numerous and promising.
But they didn't know that the weapons in the hands of the Wehrmacht soldiers who were the first to scale the city wall were all shotguns.
Facing the tide of Qing troops, these soldiers showed no fear and pulled the triggers one after another.
A shotgun has eight shells in the revolving wheel.
Each shotshell contains hundreds of steel balls.
When these eight shotshells were shot out in one go, a large fire network quickly formed.
None of the Qing soldiers who were wrapped in it were spared, and they fell into a pool of blood screaming, leaving a large open space at the top of the city.
After just a short delay, the subsequent Wehrmacht soldiers followed.
Although these soldiers did not have shotguns in their hands, they did have grenades.
Each soldier threw four or five grenades, causing more horrific damage than shotguns.
After two consecutive waves of attacks, no one in the Qing army dared to rush to the city anymore.
It was only then that the Wehrmacht soldiers began to use muskets to block the entrance to the city ladder, which was considered to have completed the occupation of the city wall.
Taiyuan, the capital city of Shanxi Province, could not hold out for even a day under the defense of 30,000 Qing troops.
Neksai could only helplessly lead the participating troops to retreat into the city and engage in the most frustrating street fighting.
(End of chapter)
