88th Quarter Artillery Battle

The six gunners, who were standing next to the loaded ammunition box, immediately opened the ammunition box lid, searched for the number he needed from a form attached to the inside of the lid, and then replied loudly:

"Angle of fire 4 degrees 40 minutes"

The three gunners standing on the left and right sides of the gun tail immediately rotated the handle to adjust the gun to the correct angle -- the new gun carriage developed by the mechanical department not only could adjust the direction of the shot, but also improved the elevation angle adjustment system, and the angle indicator was directly mounted on the gun tail, and the three gunners could quickly adjust it into place by turning the handle. Reduced the work of four gunners and one gunners. At the same time, the six gunners took a shell from the ammunition box and handed it to the five gunners waiting on the side. The shells were old-fashioned fixed-loading shells: spherical shells were bundled together in propellant packets wrapped in strips of cloth and cotton, and the five gunners loaded the shells into a rattan basket and carried them to the first gunner for inspection.

"Ammunition is reloaded correctly"

The second gunner turned the shell towards the tail of the gun, loaded the shell into the chamber, and the third gunner with the bomb pusher immediately inserted the bomb pusher into the gun muzzle and pushed the shell all the way to the bottom of the chamber. Gunner No. 4, standing on the left side of the tail of the gun, pierced a long awl through the fire door at the end of the gun into the chamber, pierced the cloth on the outside of the medicine bag, took out a fire pull, hooked the pull ring on the top of the fire pull pipe with the hook on the pull rope, and inserted it into the fire door.

"Ready"

This series of dazzling and complex actions took only a few tens of seconds, and the action coordination between the six gunners had to be very skillful to be busy and not chaotic. A well-trained crew of the M1857 gun could fire up to 4 rounds a minute at a rapid rate. However, this will soon be too hot for the artillery to fire. Now the artillery on the earthen embankment fires at a sustained rate of fire of one round per minute.

"Put"

The four gunners immediately pulled the pull rope in their hands hard. With a loud bang and a long ** fire, the entire gun and the gunners around the gun were enveloped in a huge cloud of white smoke, and the guns pushed by the huge recoil rushed out to the rear.

"M1857, the price is cheap and the quantity is sufficient." Standing beside Zhang Bolin, he was holding a telescope to see Lin Shenhe muttering to himself. He claimed to have come to occupy an area to test the performance of weapons and equipment and the results of artillery training, but in fact he came to see the excitement. By the way, we'll see what new things can be made.

The lethal effect of solid shells was very satisfactory, but in such a surging crowd, it seemed difficult to force the enemy to flee. The two Ming soldiers and horses were still shouting and rushing towards the camp,

"Don't worry," Lin Shenhe pretended to be calm, "According to the experience of the Civil War, the infantry will at least hold out until 100 meters and eat shotguns before they can break out......

"Boss, this is the Ming Army, not the Union Army or the Confederate Army." Because Zhang Bolin taught all the breech artillery tactics by him, he regarded Lin Shenhe as an expert among experts, "Shouldn't the Ming army, an army in the Middle Ages, collapse soon?" ”

"It's not for me that the Ming army will collapse as soon as it is hit by artillery." Lin Shenhe shrugged, "But if it is shelled, the whole army will collapse, and it can probably only be done by the Great Qing Dynasty." ”

According to his observations, the intensity of the shelling was still a little less than that of the influx of people. This artillery density was the average level during the Civil War era.

The soldiers of the "Hurry Up" firearms battalion roared and whipped the requisitioned men and cattle and horses, and the Hongyi cannons were dragged to the gun positions amid scolding, groaning, wailing and neighing of cattle and horses. The cannons had been set up as defensive weapons last night behind the trenches of the various camps. Since the artillery was more than four miles away from the bandits' camp, the shells could not be hit at all. Li Modao organized men and horses to haul the artillery, in order to get as close as possible before firing the artillery.

However, the movement of men and horses in front blocked the advance of the firearms battalion, and it was not until the Chaozhou soldiers began to attack that they could get out of the way. Li Baidao did not dare to hesitate, and hurriedly urged the soldiers to push the cannons.

"The enemy is transporting artillery." News came from the observation post.

"Where?" Ying Yue pushed his hat on his head, raised his binoculars and looked at it, "See" he exclaimed, and then he picked up the phone:

"Berlin, the officers and soldiers in front of you on the right are pushing the Hongyi cannon, hurry up and give them a cannonball."

"Loaded with solid bullets, the target distance is 1,320 meters" Zhang Bolin personally went into battle, holding a telescope to measure the moment, "the whole company fired rapidly"

A few minutes later, an artillery company organized by Zhang Bolin immediately opened fire on the moving Hongyi artillery of the firearms battalion.

Solid shells fired from the 12-pounder Napoleon guns smashed down on the firearms battalion one after another. The first round of shells smashed into the ranks of the infantry not far from the firearms battalion, causing a wave of confusion. Li Modao watched in horror as the cannonballs fired from the earthen embankment dragged the smoke and flew past the charging infantry in front of him, and fell straight down here

"Oh no," the thought crossed his mind, as the second round of shells had already slammed down on the firearms battalion.

A cannonball landed not far away, then bounced towards the team. Directly beat a cow into two pieces, and then the bloody cannonballs jumped up and took several people to the ground, leaving a ground of stumps and broken meat. Then a few more shells landed in the ranks. The whole firearms battalion was shouting horses and neighing cows, and the unbridled horses and frightened cattle were scurrying around the ranks, mercilessly trampling on the wounded soldiers to the ground. The cannon fell to the ground, and one of the gun carriages was directly hit by the shell, and the cannon body was hit so hard that it was planted on its back, smashing several unlucky eggs to the point of bursting their brains. The gun carriage, which was so strong and bulky, was only scratched by a flying shell that fell apart.

Li Modao saw that the most powerful Hongyi cannon either toppled to the ground or the artillery carriage was destroyed by the cannonballs and fell into the soil and couldn't move, not to mention the dead and wounded cattle and horses, the frightened cattle ran around with blood-red eyes, and the infantry around them were rammed by the cattle and horses, and the queue was chaotic. Some people are scolding "hitting the street", some people are scolding "X old mother",

Fortunately, the rapid fire of the 12-pounder gun did not last too long, and Li Baidao found a small life. The most valuable and powerful Hongyi cannon in his firearms battalion had been beaten to pieces. Some were broken in two, some cracked, some were destroyed, and the cannons were sunk deep into the mud. It took a lot of manpower to dig out the artillery.

Li Modao already knew that the enemy's artillery fire range was far beyond his own, and he couldn't fight the idea of pushing the artillery closer to launch - I am afraid that he would not even be able to set up the cannon if he went any further.

At that moment, he packed up the remnants of the army and retreated, ready to use the four thousand pound cannons that could fire fifteen catties of cannonballs. These two Hongyi cannons can go as far as three miles. But it's hard to say what will hit.

"The Ming army has opened fire," the observation post shouted over the walkie-talkie. Zhang Bolin was startled and subconsciously squatted down, only to see two black shadows cutting through the smoke and flying towards here, but the two shells fell one after the other and fell far away from the trench, only stirring up a large amount of soil. Then two more shells flew, one bouncing off the ground a few times, and finally landed in the trench.

Walkie-talkies should be used more to call the observation post: "Find out the enemy's gun position"

Soon the place where the firearms battalion fired was located, and the range showed that they opened fire at a distance of almost 2,100 meters.

"If it's so far, the range of the Hongyi cannon can't reach it at all." Lin Shenhe said.

As if to confirm his words, the two Hongyi cannons fired several cannons, but none of the shells hit the earthen embankment, and the farthest one was just a projectile that jumped and rolled into the trench.

Li Modao saw that after the cannonball was fired, he didn't even touch the enemy's soil skin, and he was very anxious. Shouting "refill the medicine"

The gunners, who had already filled the most gunpowder according to the number of guns, were shocked when they heard that they had to be refilled. Because cannon explosions were a common thing in the army at that time, once the cannon exploded, it was difficult for the surrounding gunners to survive even if they were not killed on the spot.

"Add medicine" Li Modao pulled out his saber and slashed into the air, "Violator - Chop"

Under the threat of decapitation, the gunners added an extra third of the gunpowder. In order to show that he was not afraid of more charges, Li Modao personally lit the magnifying cannon.

The four-thousand-pound Hongyi cannon burst out with a loud bang, and the heavy sports car almost jumped backwards. The two soldiers, who could not dodge, were immediately knocked out and vomited blood and fell to the ground.

The shell finally flew a distance of almost two kilometers and hit a convex fort in the camp, but by this time the trajectory was so low that it could only slam into the bulge wall, leaving a patch of dirt.

The observation post of "Enemy Artillery Position ......" finally discovered the smoke from the firing of Li Modao's Hongyi cannon through the dense gunsmoke.

"Knock out the enemy's artillery position" should be ordered, "I don't want the enemy's artillery interference." ”

However, even Lin Shenhe could not guarantee that the M1857 would be able to destroy these two lonely gun emplacements at a distance of 2,000 meters. A few shells in a row deviated very far. While everyone was busily aiming and calculating, suddenly a loud bang came from the direction of the gun position of the firearms battalion, and a thick puff of smoke shot straight into the sky.

"An unidentified explosion occurred from an enemy artillery emplacement," the observation post reported.

"Did the powder magazine blow up?" Zhang Bolin hurriedly raised the binoculars.

Lin Shenhe shook his head: "The explosion of the powder magazine is much more violent. I think it's blown up. ”

He was not wrong in his estimate, after the **** was fired twice in a row with the "super charge", a cannon suddenly exploded. The shock wave and fragments of the explosion killed more than a dozen people around in an instant, and Li Modao was swept out by the shock wave for more than ten meters and fell on a dead horse before escaping.

Li Modao supported his body and climbed up, his head was dizzy, and his ears were buzzing. He shook his head vigorously and found that all the soldiers around him had fled, and even the Wanhaode Hongyi cannon had been left behind. Several of his own soldiers ran to set him up. Li Modao also wanted to continue to load and open the cannon, but it turned out that this finished haode cannon had actually cracked on the cannon. If you fire another shot, you will surely die. He was so angry that he slashed his saber in the air.

Once again, the air was filled with the whistling of thief shells. One of his own soldiers hurriedly snatched his knife and said, "Guard, get out of the way, the thief is about to fire again." Several others picked him up and ran backwards.

"The enemy's artillery positions are finished." Zhang Bolin called Ying Yu.

"Very good, quickly organize artillery fire to stop the enemy's infantry"

The 12-pounder cannon's fire, though fierce, did not shake the enemy quickly, and although the great lethality of each shell caused some of the soldiers to falter and retreat, they were quickly re-energized by the officers. The officers and soldiers of the brigade had already rushed to a distance of 500 meters from the earthen embankment. The howitzers of the Fubo Army also joined the roaring ranks, and the flowering shells continued to fall in the ranks. Although the lethal effect was average, the ability of the shells to explode when they landed still greatly shook the officers and men.

When they finally approached about 300 meters away from the wall, the infantry officers of the Fubo Army on the wall raised their command knives at the same time:

"Ruler 300 meters - put"

Hundreds of Mini rifles crackled and rained down on the entire striker, knocking hundreds of people to the ground. This sudden blow made the already wavering infantry finally unable to hold on, and the road to the enemy seemed so far and dangerous as never before. Tong Yizhen beheaded several defeated soldiers in a row, but he still couldn't stop the soldiers who retreated like a tide. He was shouting loudly for the generals to hold on and not allow the soldiers to flee. But a bullet suddenly knocked down his horse, and he fell to the ground at once, and the soldiers around him hurriedly set him up, and Tong Ginseng immediately jumped on the second horse, but at this time his flag officer's armor suddenly burst in front of his eyes, and the flag officer fell off the horse without snorting.

It was a hell of a crack, and the thief was shooting with a firearm he couldn't see. Knowing that he was already in a very dangerous situation, he no longer insisted on continuing the attack, and let his soldiers escort him to retreat. As soon as the Lord retreated, the soldiers ran faster. The smoke cleared, leaving only the flags and corpses on the ground.

The soldiers on the earthen embankment erupted in heartfelt cheers, many of whom were already ready for a desperate battle, but they did not expect the officers and soldiers to be defeated so quickly. Pride, contempt, and pride filled their hearts, and many waved weapons in their hands and cheered their first victory

He Rubin watched as the 4,000 soldiers retreated under the gunfire of the thieves without even approaching the enemy's earthen embankment. He had high hopes that the firearms battalion, which he thought would be comparable to the artillery of the thieves, was beaten by the enemy's artillery before he could even erect a gun position. His face was completely gloomy, how could such a battle be fought? He didn't even have a chance to fight hand-to-hand, and he could already see that the thief's cannon hit farther and more accurately than the Hongyi cannon, and the speed of fire was much faster. Compared with the Hongyi cannon, which can only be fired for a long time, the cannon set up by the thieves on the earthen embankment is almost incessantly smoking, pouring projectiles on the heads of officers and soldiers like droplets.

"Lord Qiyu" A personal soldier hurriedly ran to kneel down, "General Zhao of Lei Lian is dead"

"What?" He Rubin was taken aback, and quickly raised his binoculars to look in the direction of Zhao Qiansi's main attack, where the 2,000 people were fleeing back in a rout.

Before he could engage in battle, a general died, and he hurriedly asked, "How did General Zhao die?" ”

"Lord Hui, I was shot ...... shotgun"

"Nonsense" He Rubin could no longer contain his panic, "This town can see clearly, his banner is six or seven hundred steps away from the wall, how can he be shotgunned?" ”

The soldiers didn't know that Lord Weishenme was so concerned about what he had been killed, so he hurriedly said: "The villain doesn't dare to talk nonsense, General Zhao's body has been snatched back, and he is in the camp, and he has indeed been hit by a shotgun." ”

"Get out" he shouted angrily, gasped for air, and shouted the order: "Drumming"

With the sound of drums, a new wave of new forces emerged from the camp. This is the training of guerrillas, as well as the making of standards and the raising of standards. It can be said that he is the most elite man in this expedition. Of course, he still has the town pacesetter and five hundred family members, but this is his capital, and he will not use it until the most critical moment.

He called the battalion generals of the three battalions and gave them a face-to-face lecture.

"Everybody saw it." His face was gloomy, "The thief's cannon is very powerful. Hit far, hit accurately. Li Modao's firearms battalion was crippled before the cannon was fired-there was no hope for it. When you set up your formation, remember that the line should be loose. One team at a time should be separated. Don't be crowded like the two generals Tong and Zhao, and rush up densely."

"The lowly generals understand"

He Rubin said slowly, "Which general's men and horses are the first to go to the village, the town will give him the first credit."

He Ming was very surprised to see that the official army had broken up before it approached Dazhai, and he secretly remembered that the cannon on the entire earthen embankment fired the most cannons only fired more than 50 shells. The artillery fire was far from intensive, and four or five thousand men and horses retreated. Even if it was an army in the Middle Ages, it seems that the Zulu fought the British before they were scattered. It seems that the will to fight of the Ming army is not high. However, he heard that someone from the historical research group of the Great Library said that there was a big difference between the elite of the Ming army and the ordinary troops.

"It was General Lei Lian and General Chaozhou who launched the attack just now." The east gate blowing rain has got the latest report from the observation post,

"According to the observation post observation: at least 31 officers of the Ming army of 1000 and above participated in the attack. We confirmed the killing of 5 people, and it is suspected that 7 people were killed. According to the sniper's report, Lei Lian's general Zhao Qiansi was shot by a sniper during the battle, and his life and death are currently unknown. ”

Hearing that the sniper had hit a major general, He Ming nodded, and the power of the sniper should not be underestimated. After all, no matter how powerful the artillery is, it can't do such a precise strike.

"The artillery fired a total of 493 shells, 371 solid shells and 122 grenades." He turned the page, "Destroy eleven Hongyi cannons." ”

"Figures of our casualties and lost equipment."

"Five people were slightly injured, no deaths, no losses."