The Swedish artilleryman Letna, who was relied on by the Dzungar Ministry, looked at a strange large ball that flew into the sky on the opposite side, and he didn't know why.

The formation of the Han army on the opposite side also made him feel strange, it seemed that it was a little too thin.

He's outdated.

When he was captured by the Russians, it was 1709, during the Battle of Poltava, and he almost escaped to Turkey with the Swedish king, but was eventually captured by the Russians.

At that time, neither the Swedes nor the Russians used flintlock pistols in large quantities. Arquebuses are still being used as the main force.

Later, in 1716, he was captured by the Dzungars, and now more than ten years have passed.

In the past decade or so, tactics have changed dramatically.

He had been training artillery for the Dzungars and did not know how the distant world had changed.

Fifteen four-pounder guns, twenty ten-pounder mortars, and eight eight-pounder guns, this is the full strength of the most elite "Baoqin" artillery in Dzungaria.

The style of these cannons was all learned by him thirty years ago.

And what he learned thirty years ago was fifty years ago.

The casting of the cannons was good, it was all copper, there were copper mines near Lake Issyk-Kul, the Dzungars mined there, and he was responsible for the casting.

Before this battle, Renate received a promise from the Great Khan of the Quasi-Minister.

After this battle, he will be able to go home.

The artillery team of Dzungaria was not very good, and Renate knew this very well.

It is true that the gunner can rely on experience and does not need mathematics, but the commander must be proficient in mathematics, otherwise there is no way to command an artillery unit well.

In this era, a person who can command five cannons at the same time can be called an excellent artillery officer. And if you can command ten cannons at the same time, you can be called a famous artillery general.

It wasn't until a few decades later that Napoleon, who claimed to be very good at using artillery, also lamented: ordinary artillery generals are nothing. However, a general like Drouot, who was able to properly deploy, manage, and command thirty guns, is worth mentioning. Generals who can command thirty pieces of artillery are very rare.

This cannon refers to cannons of caliber of more than eight pounder.

Camel cannons, gyroscopes, tiger squat cannons, and the like, real artillerymen will not recognize them as cannons, but will only call them "large smoothbore guns that strengthen infantry firepower."

Most of the artillery under Renat were Uzbeks, or Bukharans.

The Quasi-Sect didn't trust them much, because they weren't Yellow Cultists, most of them were Green Cultists.

As commanders and officers, it was either a Swede like Renat, or a captured Orthodox Russian.

The Orthodox Russians were officers, the Uzbeks of the Green Church were gunners, and it was the Yellow Christians who really owned this artillery.

Renate is the only one who knows mathematics, and he knows some geometry.

The rest is all based on experience.

Renate commanded eight artillery pieces alone, which was extremely difficult.

The artillery of the Dashun army was very powerful, which Renate had heard of, at least it had been very good before, because their artillery officers had to study geometry and surveying.

The artillery in front of him should be even more powerful, he heard about the general of this army fighting against Russia, and knew that an excellent sieger must be a good artillery general.

Renate was worried that the eight eight-pounder guns in his hand would not be able to counter the opponent's artillery position. As for the smaller four-pounder guns, according to the characteristics of the Swedish army, he suggested that the Great Khan of the Quasi-Ministry should attach these four-pounder guns to infantry support.

As for the mortars with a shorter range, they don't need to be deployed at this time, because they can't hit the opponent.

Fortunately, the terrain here is very suitable for artillery, the ground is hard, and the shells can bounce on the ground.

Shouting for the Uzbeks under his command to unfurl their cannons, Renate once again looked up at the strange ball floating on the opposing position, and a shadow drifted through his heart.

Bowing his head and looking at the infantry on the opposite side, Renat aimed at the infantry line on the south side according to the orders of the Great Tseling Dundob.

"Lower the muzzle a little! Lower the muzzle a little! Don't try to hit them directly, let the shells fall in front of the formation, and bounce them to hurt. ”

With more than 30 years of artillery experience, he could see at a glance that the muzzle of the cannon next to him was raised a little higher.

The Bukhara gunners hurriedly lifted the tail of the gun, pulled the slightly larger wooden wedge, chose a smaller one, and stuffed it in.

Quickly stuffing the gunpowder into the cannon, Renate visually measured the distance, and with years of experience, decided to test fire it first to see how much more adjustments were needed.

At this moment, he saw several puffs of gunpowder flash from the opposite position.

The sound of the cannon was much later than the smoke of gunfire, and Renate almost subconsciously jumped into a nearby pit.

Call......

Several shells whizzed by, landing within a hundred paces of these cannons. There were no casualties, but Renat's face turned pale.

The first test launch on the opposite side was within a hundred paces...... It was clear that the artillery officer on the opposite side had discovered his position and was ready to reverse all his artillery at the beginning.

"God, the artillery on the opposite side is too fast."

…………

None of the artillery of the Qingzhou Army had thirty years of experience like Renat, and most of them had only touched the cannon for three or five years.

However, the overall quality of artillery, for the whole world at this time, was a luxury.

The commander of each cannon had a foundation in geometry and surveying, and the officer who commanded a three-gun crew had learned more about geometry, looked up tables, and calculated simple parabolas in the past five years or so.

The cannon of the Qingzhou army used momentum to swing, and tried to measure the speed of the shell, although the error was very large, but at least tried.

The officers followed Liu Yu to learn parabolic calculations for two whole years, although it took longer to learn some more advanced mathematics, and Liu Yu had limited energy and could only teach a small number of people, but this was enough.

The theoretical quality and mathematical level of the Dashun artillery officers will only be able to catch up with Austria in 10 years, and now they should be unbeatable.

The sappers had chosen the gun emplacements in various places yesterday, and had dug dozens of artillery positions in total, which could be transferred at any time.

The gun emplacements are pretty standard.

The sappers dug pits, cut down trees, and made earthen ramparts against artillery.

After the earthen ramparts, the felled fir trees were laid, and the sapper carpenter scraped the planks.

This way the cannon will not get stuck in the dirt and will be easier to reset after firing.

The French twelve-pounder guns were heavy, but they were much more accurate than the eight-pounder guns cast by Lenath.

Threaded jacks replaced wooden wedges for height adjustment, and smaller thread adjustments were also installed on modified gun carriages.

Four-wheeled gun carriages allow the weight of the cannon to be pressed against the wheels instead of the horse, which can be pulled more easily.

The hot air balloon was raised early, and the observers above had already set their eyes on the artillery of the quasi-department. The landmarks that had been marked yesterday were easily recognizable, and the location of the quasi-artillery was drawn and thrown on the map, and the herald delivered the map to the artillery commander.

The artillery staff officers sat next to the artillery carriage, using powder kegs as tables, calculating the distribution positions of these artillery crews, deploying them to different gun positions, and striving to eliminate the artillery of the quasi-division as soon as possible.

The three cannons were assigned different tasks, and the gunners, who had been trained on Liugong Island with gunpowder that didn't seem to have money, didn't know much about geometry or parabola, but they could understand the officers' orders.

On the orders of the officer, adjust the angle of the muzzle.

The battle at the northern foot of the Altai Mountains was fought first by the artillery of the Qingzhou Army.

Fifteen twelve-pounder guns, divided into five gun groups, were deployed in several artillery positions on the Southern Front.

After the first test firing, the crew members took off their uniforms and put them on their shoulders, and used wooden poles to lift the tail of the cannon, while the rest of the men pushed the heavy cannon.

Fortunately, the pits dug by the sappers are good, and the wood is also very smooth, and the planks carved by the carpenters in the sappers are far from those carved by the owner of the coffin shop, but they can be used improvised.

"One, two, three! Hard! ”

The officer shouted a trumpet, and the shirtless artilleryman pushed the cannon back into place, quickly cooled down, and stuffed the paper-wrapped amount of gunpowder into it again.

According to the situation of the test firing just now, the gun commander quickly turned out the prepared test firing table and fine-tuned the angle of the muzzle according to the above data.

"Put!"

With a shout, the gunners who ignited the fire stood on the side of the cannon, and the rest covered their ears and waited for the next reload.

The pack horse hiding in the dug pit next to him did not know how many times he had heard the roaring sound of cannons, nor how many times he had smelled the stench of burning gunpowder, but he was not afraid, and he concentrated on licking a little oatmeal on the ground. This crop, which is now grown in many places in Inner Mongolia, has a low yield, but it is also more suitable for the local environment, and horses prefer to eat it.

The sound of thumping cannons continued to sound, and the gun positions were already filled with gunsmoke. The wind was not very strong today, and the smoke on the gun emplacements was a little slow.

The smoke gradually cleared, and the artillerymen stared at the Dzungar artillery in the distance and let out a burst of cheers.

…………

Renate looked at the smashed copper cannon next to him, and knew in his heart that this time his artillery was finished, and the artillery of Dzungaria was no match for the artillery of the Dashun army at all.

One test fire, one correction, and then two successive rapid-fires, three of the eight bronze cannons have been destroyed.

Of the remaining five, many of the horses that pulled the guns were killed, and the Uzbek gunners panicked.

The smoke coming out of the opposite side could see the position of the Dashun artillerymen, which should be adjusted quickly at this time, but the gunners were stunned.

The smoke came out not in one place, but in several places at the same time, and it was not known which direction to bombard.

Renate looked through his binoculars, a little desperate.

The cannons on the opposite side were hidden in the dug gun emplacements, and there were piles of wood and a thick layer of soil outside, which would be difficult to blast away even if they counterattacked.

After four shots, he had knocked out three of his cannons, and Renate knew that the artillery on the opposite side was much stronger than the group of men under him.

Although I had known for a long time that Dashun's artillery was slightly stronger, I didn't expect it to be so strong. Lehnat thought to himself that even Sweden and Russia would have absolutely no such artillery.

"Pull the cannon away! Pull the cannon away, don't bombard! Can't get rid of their cannons, retreat and retreat one after another! ”

Wielding his saber, Renat shouted loudly, trying to cheer up these Bukhara gunners. The scattered corpses next to them frightened these Bukhara gunners, they had never thought of such an accurate shelling.

At Lehnat's order, the Bukhara gunners praised Allah the Greatest, and the Russian captured gunners drew a cross and shouted the Virgin Mary, and hurriedly led the horses to leave.

Renate jumped on his horse and galloped to the rear of the Grand Zeringtondobna, shouting, "Our cannons can't beat them." If this continues, they will soon reverse all the cannons. The 'Bao Qin' people should retreat, they can't bombard them. ”

Da Ce Ling Dun Dobu looked at the gunpowder smoke rising from the opposite side and asked, "Is the cannon of the Han army so powerful?" ”

"They have more guns and they hit more accurately. Their general is a good siege general, a good artillery general, very powerful. They hit farther and more accurately. ”

Renate didn't want to die in the gun position, he could return to Sweden after almost thirty years of absence, he didn't want to die here.

Xiao Celing Dundob shouted: "Without artillery, can't you fight?" When Genghis Khan, did he have to use cannons? Our warriors are all in armor, and our armor is very good, and if the arrow can penetrate it, we will kill the artisan. Just rush and let those Bukhara go back, they're all cowards. ”

As he spoke, there was another burst of artillery on the other side. After looking around, two more cannons had been blown off, and the Bukhara gunners who were still busy there had already scattered and ran away. The Quasi-Division's Overseers rushed over, slashed two to death with their knives, and whipped the rest back, shouting, "Go back, go back!" ”

Renat was sure that the gap in artillery was too great, and before the Quasi-Ministry and the Kazakhs fought, his artillery was superior. Fight with the Russians, the Russians don't have much artillery here.

Da Celing Dundob looked at Lehnat and said with relief, "It's not your fault. The artillery of the Han army has always been good, they have more craftsmen and more money. Well, what about the remaining small cannons and mortars? Is it to be scattered in front of the battle? Or is it used with camel cannons? ”

Renate also didn't know what to do, before fighting with the Kazakhs, the Kazakhs did not have such strong artillery, his artillery always had an advantage.

Now he has no power to fight back, and after thinking about it, he said: "When we Swedes fight, we all assign small cannons to the battalion to support. Then separate it. The remaining eight-pounder guns retreated to the back and waited for an opportunity to use them again. ”

Knowing that if the bombardment continued, the artilleryman's foundation would be gone, and he agreed with Renat's opinion.

"Then stand down. Wait until I'm storming the Chinese army later, and then find an opportunity to bombard. Without artillery, you can fight the same war. The Han army didn't even have armor, they only had muskets, not even covering spearmen, we shot for a while, and we should be able to rush away. ”

Rumble......

Another round of artillery bombardment, this time not at the retreating artillerymen, but at the arquebusiers lined up on the south flank.

A twelve-pound cannonball could directly penetrate seven or eight people, and a camel carrying a gyroscope cannon was directly shattered.

The cannonball did not stop, and after rolling twice on the ground, it was blocked by a stone, jumped up directly, and smashed a bloody path.

Da Ce Lingdun Dobu did not doubt, according to his experience, the artillery in the field could not kill too many people, and the quasi-division did not have a dense spear formation like Dashun, so it seemed that there was no need to worry too much about the killing of artillery shells.

It looks scary, the flesh is blurry, but in fact, you can't die much at a time, but the blow to morale is greater.

"Let the musketeers from the south go forward and shoot at them. The warriors in armor waited for a while, and after a while, they rushed to the south side. To get their Chinese army to support to the south. ”

Da Ce Ling Dun Dob still stuck to his tactics.