"Lord Belle! The thieves opened fire on the artillery positions of Kirin Mountain! ”

On the Niutou Plain, two Meler Zhangjing of the Wuzhen Chaoha Battalion happily told Cao Zhenyan and Cao Beile, who were sitting under the weaving golden dragon and drinking tea for a while, calmly and leisurely, about the military situation they had observed.

"Say!"

"So far, the minions have found forty-six artillery forts of the thieves, about fifteen eight-pounder cannons in red, twenty six-pounder cannons in red, and the rest are big Buddha Lang machines. There should still be more than a dozen heavy cannons on the head of the city, but they have not yet fired, and the minions dare not speak falsely. ”

Cao Zhenyan, who was in charge of commanding the artillery of the Wuzhen Chaoha battalion, snorted with satisfaction and put down the fine porcelain teacup in his hand, "A guerrilla battalion, a strange battalion, Sun Degong's bait is really not small, Ma Shiyao doesn't bite the hook, that's weird!" ”

"So, what's next for the minions? The minions below reported that there were heavy casualties on the side of Yuanwanggou. I'm afraid that these two or three thousand people won't last long! ”

Cao Zhenyan raised his eyes and looked at the two Meler Zhangjing in front of him.

"Compere, Ulinda, didn't you two wake up from last night's drinking?" Cao Zhenyan is a slave in front of Duoduo, but in front of these two Mele Zhangjing, he is the master of the heavens! Ulinda is a slave under the Eight Banners of Manchuria, and this Kongpere, although it sounds like a Chinese name, is definitely not of my Chinese Miao descent.

This man is a true Portuguese, and although he has the same pigtails of money rat tails, he can still be seen at a glance. His Portuguese name was Pereira, and he was originally a Portuguese gunner in Macau.

At that time, Xilao, who led Gongsha, and Lu Weiluo, the deputy commander. There were also officers such as Coddello and Rodrigo, four hundred soldiers, who served the Ming court as mercenaries, and trained gunners under Sun Yuanhua as teachers.

After the Kong Youde Rebellion, many people died in battle. However, the Ming court was good to them, and Xilao, who commanded Gongsha, was posthumously presented as a general, deputy commander Lu Weiluo gave guerrillas, and the commander Fulang Aranda gave the garrison, and the companion Fang Sigu and Ehong Luo each gave the general position, and the rest also received silver taels.

And Pereira didn't know whether it was good or bad, he did not die in Kong Youde's rebellion, but was captured, and he and other captured Portuguese officers and soldiers, along with the remnants of more than 1,300 men and women, as well as elite artillery teams, craftsmen, and firearms men, were taken by Kong Youde to Houjin at that time.

As a teacher in the army, Pereira was valued by Huang Taiji because of his good handling of guns and the use of measuring tools such as quadrants, measuring rulers, and moments. After asking him about his official position, he was named Niu Lu Zhangjing and specialized in training gunners. Later, he was promoted all the way, and now he is the third-class Meler Zhangjing of the Red Banner of the Eight Banners Han Army, managing the Wuzhen Chaoha Battalion.

There is also a private identity. It is precisely because he has excellent artillery skills, in order to envelop him, perhaps to hold him firmly in his hands, according to the habit at this time, he was accepted as a godson by the prince Kong Youde. Although the two are of the same age. He also took a Chinese name, called Compere. Threw his long, stinking Portuguese name back to Portugal.

The Portuguese name is long and recognized all over the world. Even they themselves often laugh at themselves. It is said that there is a joke in Portugal that once upon a time a king went out hunting and got lost in the forest, so he had to go to a farmer's house to stay overnight, and when he heard a knock on the door, the farmer asked who it was, and the king replied, "I am Don?" If hot? Dominguez? Paul? Bagodoro? Anastasia? Conceição? Pinerido ......" Before he could finish speaking, a frightened voice came from the house: "Let's go, where can so many people live in such a small room." ”

However, from this point of view, the Qing Dynasty did understand better than the Ming Dynasty and knew that there was a give-and-take. is also recruiting mercenaries, and Da Ming said to the Portuguese: "What, let you and others help the Celestial Empire fight, and you are embarrassed to ask for money?" "The same is the recruitment of mercenaries, what is the attitude of the Qing Dynasty towards the victorious army and foreign guns in Shanghai? The military salary was the most generous at that time, and after capturing a city, according to the rules that everyone tacitly took, they robbed for a few days, not to mention, the property in the Taiping military treasury in the city was owned by the foreign guns. This also allowed Wall to quickly go from a foreign homeless man on the beach to a person who could casually donate 10,000 silver to the U.S. government to quell the war in the south. In the end, he was naturalized with the rank of deputy general, became a Chinese citizen, and was buried in the robes of Qing Dynasty officials after his death.

Wall is the best example of using people's money to help others, and he should be able to be rated on the list of the top ten conscientious people in the mercenary industry. Compared to Chennault, another American mercenary leader decades later, he was much stronger. At the very least, he did not turn the foreign gun team, which was armed with Chinese funds, into a unit of the US Army. And this Chennault, who was touted to the sky and claimed to be able to bomb Japan to the bottom of the sea with 500 bombers, turned the Flying Tigers hired by Miss Song San at a great price, the planes purchased with the hard-earned money of the Chinese people, and the airport built by the large tracts of fertile land donated by the Chinese civilian farmland, and turned them into the US Air Force.

"Now that you've discovered the location of the thief's artillery, it's your place to use. Determine the position of Benbel one by one, use our Shenwei General Cannon, as well as Nanban's artillery, and knock out Benbel one by one! ”

Cao Zhenyan's eyes were full of fierce light and murderous aura!

Compere and Ulinda did not dare to slack off, and each took his own orders.

"Minions, hurry up and eat, drink, and untie your hands! As soon as the cannon sounds, we will all prepare for battle! Those small cannons of the thieves are killed by our cannons, and the soldiers and horses of the vanguard will rush up to fight them! At that time, it will be time for us to raise our guns and show our majesty! ”

One of the spearmen, a Lazhangjing, who was also Cao Zhenyan's minion Cao Rong, had two short firearms pinned to his waist, and the two cowhide cartridges from his shoulders to his waist were full of sub-medicine cartridges, and there were two sub-medicine boxes hanging from his waist, which were all high-grade lead bullets; While shouting loudly to boost morale, he checked the readiness of the soldiers in the ranks, grinning and scolding a few rudely from time to time, and punching the shoulders of the soldiers and officers with his fists. He had long been concerned about the position of Mel Zhangjing on the left wing of the spearmen, and Cao Zhenyan also made a promise to him, and when the battle was fought, he played to Prince Yu and the regent to ensure that he was promoted to Mele Zhangjing on the left flank.

"There are fourteen artillery positions on the hill on the left flank of the thieves, eight big Buddha machines, six suspected eight-pounder guns and six six-pounder guns!"

"There are twenty artillery positions on the hill on the right flank of the thieves, ten suspected eight-pounder guns, ten six-pounder guns, and ten big Buddha machines!"

The observers of the Qing artillery team were all trained by the Portuguese such as Kong Pere and the Dengzhou rebel artillery team brought by Kong Youde, and their professional skills were quite exquisite.

After carefully measuring the position of the artillery positions in the distance with moments, measuring rulers and quadrants, Compere nodded with satisfaction. He walked up to a twelve-pounder cannon, stretched out his hand and drew a cross on his chest, silently reciting scriptures and asking the Virgin Mary for protection.

This twelve-pounder gun is the benchmark gun he selected, and all the artillery firing data of the Wuzhen Chaoha battalion must be based on it, and the profit and loss will be increased or decreased. Therefore, Compere hopes that Our Lady in Heaven will be merciful and let him start the shot! It's good to show his face in front of Prince Yu and Cao Beile! But he seems to have forgotten that the land in the east is not under the jurisdiction of the Virgin Mary and her son, but under the jurisdiction of a large number of immortals such as the Buddha and Taishang Laojun.

Finally, when Compere's prayer was finished, he opened his eyes, took a deep breath, and said, "Fire!" ”

The commander of the twelve-pounder replied loudly, "Yes!" ”

Turning around, he waved his hand and said majestically: "Ignition!" ”

A gunner lit the cannon fuse of the twelve-pounder cannon, and everyone looked nervous, looking at the hissing and sparkling fuse of the fire gate, the area where the Qing army was fighting, most of them belonged to the arid and rainy north wind, and there was no need to worry about the fuse being soaked in water. Therefore, over the years, although there have been small improvements and small improvements in artillery firearms, the most traditional fuze technology is still used for the problem of fuze, unlike the Nanyue Army and the Dashun Army, which use the letter tube to fire.

The fuse sparked, hissing and burning, and suddenly the fire door flashed, and then there was a loud bang, and the thick muzzle of the cannon spewed out a large thick cloud of gunsmoke. In the firelight, the cannon body shook violently, and a huge black cannonball rushed out of the barrel, leaving a fleeting trajectory in people's field of vision, and flew quickly towards the Shunjun artillery position in the distance.

For a while, the artillerymen on both sides held their breath, their eyes widened, and carefully observed the trajectory and target of this shell.

With a sharp and piercing whistle that pierced the air and broke through the sound barrier, the twelve-pound iron ball of the base cannon whistled and smashed squarely against the wall of a fort. This walled wall is a stone wall made of stones, and the inside of the stone is rammed with loess, which looks indestructible on the outside, but the resistance to the attack inside is far from good!

With a loud bang, the stones piled up on the stone wall were hit into broken stones by the huge impact force, flying everywhere, and several gunners and ammunition men who were standing nearby did not have time to hold their heads and squat, they were hit in the head and chest by the stones flying around, and when they fell to the ground, they writhed in pain. After a while, a stream of blood flowed from the corners of his mouth and nostrils, and he died.

The first hit is the hit! Suddenly, there was a cheer on the artillery position of the Wuzhen Chaoha battalion! The morale of the gunners was boosted!

"Blessed Virgin Mary!" Compere's heart was overjoyed! But there should not be a hint of joy on his face. "This official has made a show to you, just like that! Hit those cannons that Lao Tzu is staring at the thieves! ”

The cannon rumbled, and the shell marks pierced the sky, rushing towards the position of the Shun army not far away, the sharp and piercing whistling sound came and went, and the cannon sound echoed in the deep ravine of the hillside, no longer rumbling, but a dull "Goo Dong!" Boom! It sounded like the water in a kettle was boiling, and it was boiling with blisters.

Boom, boom, loud noise, several twenty-four-pound cannon heavy shells, carrying the domineering arrogance that destroyed everything and swept everything, smashed on the gun positions of the two Great Buddha Lang machine guns.

Rumble! The twenty-pound iron ball smashed on the stone wall, and the huge impact force knocked several large stones into sharp gravel blocks at the moment when the cannonball fell, causing the killing effect of the shotgun. Many people were hit by stones, like sacks, and fell out in different positions, spurting blood from their mouths and breaking bones.

Puff puff puff, the people on the artillery positions of the Shun army, in front of or behind them, or on their heads, shot out a stream of blood mist. How could these gunners, in order to facilitate the operation of the artillery, not be issued armor in the first place, only a cotton coat and a trumpet, and a wicker hat on their heads, how could they block such a sharp and broken stone from sweeping and indiscriminate fire?

After a round of artillery fire, there were many casualties on the artillery positions of the Shun army.

The sound of the cannon was deafening, and another shell whistled in, and the sound of thunderbolts was incessant. Compared with the Shun army, the artillery of the Qing army was superior in caliber and heavy artillery. In that year, the Dashun Army formed a firearms battalion, and in order to facilitate the march, the first choice for artillery was mobility. Therefore, the eight-pounder gun, the six-pounder gun, and the equivalent of the ten-pounder cannon are the best choices. And artillery over twelve pounds, it is few and far between. Today, this shortcoming was grabbed by the Qing army, and they kept kicking the weakness of the Shun army.

The large iron balls of the twelve-pounder cannon and the twenty-four-pounder cannon kept smashing on the stone and earthen walls of the Shunjun artillery position. The sound of collapse continued. These earthen walls and stone walls are quite rudimentary, and as long as they are hit, there are no ones who will not collapse.

The earthen wall was fine, but the stone wall was hit, which was a disaster, and the shells brought a shower of stones. Sweep the perimeter. Screams and moans mingled together. wanted to fire back, but the artillery range could not reach it, and for a while, the Shun artillery team did not know what to do.

In the artillery array of the Wuzhen Chaoha battalion, the gunners of each artillery immediately used woolen wooden sticks soaked in vegetable oil to clean the chambers of the guns after the guns were fired.

After the chamber is cleaned, the loader fills in a new cartridge while a gunner's thumb is pressed against the fire door to prevent the backflow from igniting the uncleaned embers. Iron bullets were then sent in to compact, and new powder ropes were installed at the fire door, ready to be aimed and fired.

Since the four-wheeled gun carriage was piled and fixed, the artillery retreated less, and it was quite easy to aim again, and the artillery was fired in several shifts, so it was easier to be more accurate.

The right-wing Meljangjing Ulinda roared: "Hit hard! Fuck it up for Lao Tzu! ”

There was another deafening sound of artillery in the artillery position of the Wuzhen Chaoha battalion, and in the billowing smoke, another wave of heavy iron bullets roared out from the gray-white gunsmoke, rushing towards the artillery position of the Shun army with a grim smile.

This wave of shells, using a group. Each big bullet is accompanied by more than a dozen small bullets, and the momentum is even greater. The shells whistled in, and the head and face smashed into the front and back of the gun positions of the Shun army's artillery positions.

"Boom!" There was a loud bang, and one of the artillery barricades was directly hit by shells.

"Boom!" A large iron ball broke through a wall of earth, and in the dust, a large mist of blood was sandwiched, and a Shun gunner was beaten to pieces on the spot, and the blood-soaked dirt was sandwiched with some broken and broken limbs flying in all directions.

Several others fell to the ground, all of them grizzled and covered in dirt and flesh. A gunner was hit by a shell, his lower body did not know where it flew, he was thrown far away by the shock wave, but he could not die for a while, and could only struggle and crawl on the ground in pain, while letting out a heart-rending wail.

Rumble! Rumble! ……

Large and small shells were fired and jumped indiscriminately, and some shells landed in the low wall of the trench in front of the main wall, and after a few jumps, they remained motionless.

"Boom!" A small cannonball hit the powder keg of the Shun army, and suddenly, the powder keg was rushed into the air and exploded, causing a series of martyrdom.

"Master! Forward observers reported that at least 12 rogues and large and small artillery pieces were paralyzed, and eight fortresses of rogues were destroyed! Cao Rongxing rushed to Cao Zhenyan, who was drinking tea in front of the camp tent, and reported the military situation.

"How's the thief's fire going?" Although the sound of the Shun army's return fire had long been heard, Cao Zhenyan still had to ask.

"Master! Listen! Cao Rong excitedly stretched out his hand.

In the valleys of Yuanwanggou and other places, there was another shouting and killing sound. The Qing soldiers all over the mountains rushed to the defensive position of the Shun army with arrogance! The red uniform-colored armor and various colored flags render the loess slope colorful.

In the lens of the telescope, several generals of the new annexed army, each holding a sword and waist sword, rushed ahead.

"Cao Rong."

"The minions are here."

"Do you think these guys will be able to rush up this time?" Cao Zhenyan had just finished drinking hot tea, his mouth was bubbling with white gas, but the tone of his words was colder than the weather.

"Does the master want to hear the truth or a lie?" Cao Rong has also followed Cao Zhenyan for many years, and has cultivated into a thousand-year-old fox.

"What about the truth, and what about the falsehood?"

"Lies sound good, the truth is harsh, and besides, slaves will offend people if they don't do it well."

"It's your master and you here, are you still afraid of spreading it?" Cao Zhenyan was a little angry.

"Master, the lie is that our army has destroyed the thieves' artillery team with artillery fire, the morale of the thieves has been greatly reduced, and the morale of our army is like a rainbow, and Tongguan can be decided in a battle!"

"Well, there's some truth to that. And what about the truth? ”

"The truth is that although the Rogues Artillery Team has suffered losses, his brigade of thieves is still there. And relying on the defense of deep ditches and high bases, the troops invested by our army may not be able to curry favor in front of these thieves! Maybe," Cao Rong wanted to continue, but peeked at Cao Zhenyan's expression, and swallowed the second half of the sentence hard.

After a while, Cao Zhenyan opened his mouth.

"You go up with two thousand spearmen. Tell Sun Degong, just say that Ben Beile sent you up! One is to suppress the rogue infantry team and provide fire support for our Qing soldiers and horses. The two are also warlords! No matter who it is, those who dare to retreat will be rectified on the spot! ”