Hue.

It is already the beginning of the fifth lunar month, and the early rice in the rice field has begun to bloom and sprout, and the rice in individual plots has begun to fill the grain. The pieces look very pleasant. If nothing else, this year should be another good year.

On the ridges of the paddy fields, a few farmers wearing hats and trouser legs rolled up are talking about whether this year's harvest will be better than the previous year. The frogs in the hands of the children next to them were beating unwillingly, trying to escape from the restraints.

However, the defenders of Hue were not in the mood to enjoy the imminent harvest. In their eyes, there is only the Nanzhong Army camp in front of the rice field, and the artillery forts.

The six artillery forts outside the south gate have been bombarded non-stop for a morning, and hundreds of shells have smashed into the Hue city wall. The officers and soldiers at the head of the city did not dare to flee from the city in front of the steel swords of the warlords, so they had to hide on the other side of the city wall to gamble their luck.

Fortunately, everyone's luck seems to be good this morning, and not too many people died. Fewer than 150 people went to see the Buddha, and more than 200 others were injured by Cheng Dù and groaned in the rubble of masonry.

"Damn, after a morning fight, I'm not afraid of cannon explosions!" Guan Qi at the head of the city spat fiercely at the city, expressing his anger.

He didn't know that the purpose of the six newly cast steel cannons in the fort was to test and see under what circumstances they would explode and obtain various technical numbers. Otherwise, why did the timid gunners build another protective barrier behind the fort to prevent the cannon from exploding.

"Look, my lord!" A sharp-eyed team leader pointed to the distance with his index finger and gestured to Master Guan Qi.

Looking in the direction of his finger, not far away, the channel and sluice of the Qianchang River and the moat have been filled. Without the replenishment of the river, the water in the moat is a pool of stagnant water, which will soon dry up. Then, a barrier that was relied on to block the advance of the South China Army was broken by the South China Army with a pile of straw bags and soil.

I couldn't help but frown.

The sound of the cannon stopped, but more annoying sounds began.

"Brethren in the city, it's lunchtime, and as the saying goes, thunder doesn't beat anyone who eats. We don't fire, everyone eats. A somewhat muffled voice came from the barret.

"What are you eating today? Let me start with our meals. Each of us has a tamale, half a catty of meat! And the flour from the north, the meat steamed buns, what do you eat?! Is it fish sauce mixed with rice? ”

"What's the point of being a hungry soldier? How long will the food in the city last? Don't think there are reinforcements! The Ruan family no longer has a single soldier anywhere else! Do you know why you haven't hit the city for the past few days? It's because we're going to sweep somewhere else! Nowadays, from north to south, there is not a single village and town that belongs to the Ruan family! Want to break through? All right! Look at the cannons around, we also have countless muskets. To the east is the sea, to the south, to the north, to the west, are our army. Brothers, think about it, are you willing to go hungry for the Ruan family's funeral, or are you willing to eat enough to serve my Ming Southern Chinese Army! ”

"! These boat guys are too bullying! "Master Guan Qi was so angry that he didn't take such a bully! If you besiege us, forget it, and tell us why we don't beat you, we are beating you in other cities. Now you are defending the city, there is not enough food and grass, and there will be absolutely no reinforcements. Break through, there is nowhere to go.

"Where's our cannon! Hit that farting guy and give me a shot! Send him to Hades! "Lord Guan Qi is looking for artillery like crazy at the top of the city. In the rubble, in the ruins of the collapsed enemy building, he punched and kicked every officer and soldier he thought was in the way, "Quick! Bring the cannon out! Give that guy a shot! ”

Finally, in the rubble, he spotted a six-pounder cannon, "Quick! Drag the cannon out! Give that guy in the city a shot, come on! Drag the cannon out! ”

The people around him looked at this guy who had just changed from a palace guard to Guan Qi with a strange look, "My lord, no! The team leader reminded him in a whisper, "Yesterday, the brothers of the Xuanzi Fort returned fire to the city, and as a result, even the brothers with the Huangzi Fort went to see the Buddha together. Bench's predecessor, Guan Qi, was also killed in yesterday's fire. ”

"I don't care! I don't care! I'm going to kill that guy in the city today! ”

"Look, my lord!" The team leader hurriedly grabbed Guan Qi and stopped his further behavior in a state of madness, "Kite! The kite is here again! ”

In mid-air, more than a dozen kites rise and fall in the warm wind. Judging from the level of craftsmanship of kite making, no one looks at these kites when they are thrown on the side of the road, there is neither pattern nor painting, at most they can fly, and the bomb load is very large.

That's right, it's the bomb load.

On the belly of the kite, a paper bag is tied with a thin cotton thread, and on the cotton thread, the fire head of an incense stick is blown by the wind. The kite flew over the city walls, and the incense sticks burned to the cotton thread. Under the action of the south wind, the ammunition in the paper bag burst out one after another.

Pieces of paper fluttered one after another, flying in the air in various colors.

"It's okay! Isn't it the one who crusaded against my Ruan family! What kind of husband is in the south, since ancient times, it has been my Ming territory, and now there are treacherous and evil disorders, and the people are not happy, etc., just official articles, such as a fart! They don't know how many people in our army are literate?! Illiterate people, when they see these things, aren't they just straw paper for going to the toilet? Master Guan Qi was very unimpressed.

However, when a soldier picked up a leaflet that had fallen on the city and looked at it for a while, Master Guan Qi felt that something was wrong. What kind of flyer will a big-headed soldier who doesn't know a word read?!

He snatched the leaflet from the soldier's hand, but there was not a word on it.

It's a set of drawings.

At first glance, the picture is nothing more than a soldier of the Ruan family and a bunch of uniforms, official hats and the like, and the other is a number of ingots. It's a little confusing to watch.

"Brothers, listen up! I'm going to tell my brothers! Lest you don't understand! In the distance, the voice came again just right, a picture of a warm-hearted person.

"Anyone who comes to join our Nanzhong Army, each soldier has a reward of one or two silver, and if he comes with his own weapons, swords, and guns, he will add another one. But if you kill your rebellious rulers and turn away from darkness to the light, you will be rewarded differently according to the size of his office. The prizes are......"

Guan Qi looked at the painting carefully, and sure enough, behind the official hat of Guan Qi's suit, which he was most familiar with, there were three ingots painted. That is to say, if anyone kills him and takes his head to the Nanzhong army, he will be rewarded with at least thirty taels of silver.

In the blink of an eye, he didn't feel right when he looked at the soldiers around him. It turned out that those soldiers who were like cattle and horses, like slaves, seemed to have something different in their eyes. He shuddered, as if, in the eyes of the soldiers, he was the silver ingot.

"What are you seeing?! Why don't you hurry up and repair the city walls! Master Guan Qi yelled inwardly.

"Brothers, remember! The yellow one is the proof of submission of our Southern Central Army! Take it well, on the day of the siege of our Nanzhong army, as long as you abandon your weapons and kneel on the ground and hold this thing high with both hands, our army will not only not fight or kill, but if you meet the conditions, if you are willing to join, you can join, and if you are unwilling, our army will issue travel expenses and go home.

The sound of the tin trumpet, like a spell, made the people on the city stand still one by one.

"Here we go again! Not again! Suddenly, there was a commotion in the city, and several soldiers pointed to the city with their hands.

Groups of soldiers came from the camp of the South Central Army like a tidal wave, silently heading straight to the direction of Hue City. In the queue, there were more than a dozen soldiers in groups carrying ladders made of long bamboo. Countless people also came and went in the fort, transporting shells and gunpowder.

"Quick! Fast! Master Guan Qi waved his waist knife, "The Ming army is about to attack the city!" ”

Amidst his shouts, people lazily carried the tools and instruments of the city guard, such as the wolf's tooth palap and the night of righteousness, without the slightest tension when the war was about to come.

The formation of the Nanzhong Army rushed to the city wall in the bronze whistle of the leading officer, getting closer and closer, and from the clairhand, the people in the city could also see that the gunners in the fort were nervously loading gunpowder and shells.

"Quick! Fast! Get ready! As he shouted, he scanned the horse road down the city with the corner of his eye. Master Guan Qi dragged the team leader next to him, "Say, have you found a way?" He whispered in the back of the castle tower about the man who had been more obedient and obedient since he took office.

If these guys find a way and get in touch with the Ming army outside the city, then he doesn't mind abandoning the darkness and turning to the light. You can't turn your own good head into a bargaining chip for others to receive rewards for meritorious service.

"My lord, the brothers are loyal to the lord, where will there be a heart of rebellion, the Ming army under the city, hehe, they are training there." The team leader smiled bitterly.

This scene, since the artillery fortress was built, and the firepower under the city was able to completely suppress the artillery fire at the head of the city, it has appeared for a long time. Practice formation, practice climbing ladders, practice how to cross moats, how to pass those dense bamboo sticks, how to destroy deer and reject horses. Now, one day, under the cover of artillery fire, the Nanzhong army has landed at the head of the city.

"I see!" Seeing the queue under the city stop behind the side of the barre, people began to move nervously, and the officers who came out of the barracks were discussing something with the officers in the training team.

"Excellent! Since you have always been loyal and righteous, I should be a good lord and ask for merit and reward for you. "Master Guan Qi, who fell to the ground with a stone, regained his official authority.

"If you want to find out, you might as well go to Xicheng to have a look, it is said that there is a little." When the team leader and Guan Qi passed sideways, the trivial matter muttered in Guan Qi's ear.

This sound was like a thunderbolt exploding in Guan Qi's ears.

In the fort, craftsmen from several cannon foundries used bamboo clips to place a note of paper at the muzzle, and the high temperature of the muzzle caused the paper to be quickly charred, but it did not burn.

"How?" The craftsman at the head asked the assistant next to him in a deep voice.

"It's similar to the situation at the tail of the gun, the ear, etc., five minutes after the shelling stops, the temperature drops. The note will not be lit, according to the director, the temperature is less than 200 degrees, and the burning point cannot be reached. ”

"Don't be careless, experiment with something else and see if you can cook the raw meat."

A few people hurriedly flattened a few slices of raw meat on the place they had just tested with a strip of paper, and soon, bursts of the aroma of roasted meat filled the barracks.

This is the latest artillery cast in Nanzhong, and it is not only made of steel. On the gun carriage, the craftsmen also thought about it very much. According to the requirements of Li Shouhan, the chairman of the meeting, it was necessary to facilitate the maneuvering of the artillery and the accuracy of the artillery firing, and at the same time, it was necessary to reduce the operation intensity of the gunners.

After some twists and turns, according to the record of Qi Jiguang's military training, the craftsmen researched a new gun mount. However, they were denied by themselves.

"According to what the director said, this seems to be a bit close."

After several revisions, the craftsmen were finally satisfied, and sent the drawings and models to the front line to ask for the guidance of the directors. Li Shouhan has seen the drawings and models, damn me! Isn't this an upgraded version of the four-wheel grinding disc gun carriage developed by Gong Zhenlin later?

Thank you Gao Yang! Thank you Hu Xueyan! Thanks to Gao Yang's historical novels, Shouhan also read the red-topped merchant back then, became interested in this predecessor who did not have much pen and ink in it, and looked for his related works.

After reading it, I was very impressed. Under the technical conditions of the time, his iron mold casting cannon method and engine gun mount were even more sophisticated than the most skilled British.

So, an edict ordered the foundry to load the newly cast five steel cannons on this engine gun mount, maneuver for thousands of miles, and go south to Hue, especially in the order, to keep a good record of each day, how much animal power to drag when marching, how many people to push and pull, how fast the march was, and so on.

When he arrived at Hue City, he regarded this city as the best training and test object, and as a live target.

Ye Qi led the battalion officers of each battalion to supervise the troops to train various tactical actions for siege, the coordination between infantry and artillery, the cognitive signs of each battalion, and how to guide and indicate the target for the artillery in the formation of the charge. On the other hand, let's look at the power of this new cannon.

"This is the new gun mount, huh?" The battalion officers looked at the four-wheeled gun carriage in the fort with curiosity. "You're really spending money! This fine yellow Li wood and fine iron were used by you to make artillery mounts? He joked with the master he knew.

The four wheels of the gun carriage are indeed made of steel, and gears and pawls are added to the axles below. The gun carriage is made of Huangli wood produced in Annan, and it is its durability that is valued. (Damn!) Using Vietnamese Huanghuali as a gun carriage is a typical loser's behavior! ）

"This gun carriage is equipped with four wheels, which can be pushed back and pulled forward, and the frame surface is equipped with a grinding disc, and the cannon is placed on the grinding disc and can be rotated in all directions, so it is also called the grinding disc frame four-wheeled vehicle, and the most important thing is this, the square instrument (rectality) and the round instrument (gun gauge)." The craftsman pointed out the attachments on the gun carriage for the battalion officers one by one.

"This pawl," the craftsman pointed to a small component on the wheel, "and when it is pinned up, "after the cannon is fired, it only retreats, so that our gun emplacement, as you see, is built into a slope behind it, slightly higher than the front, and the cannon retreats backwards, and the rear wheel rushes up the slope, and when it is exhausted, it naturally moves forward." As long as there is a slight adjustment, the gun position will naturally return to its original position, and the gunner brothers will not have to work so hard. ”

"The most important thing about this gun carriage is a wheel axle and two gears, with the normal operation of these two objects, the cannon can pitch freely and return to the loop." The craftsman pointed to the two oily gears at the ear of the cannon, "Put it in this position, the cannon, it can be balanced and stable, and the weight is even, and there is no risk of recoil jumping." "The heavy Hongyi cannon needs to be fixed by piling, because it is necessary to connect the retreat rope with the gun body on the pile, and there is a rope to lead it, so that the artillery will not retreat too far, and it is easier to reset, but the disadvantage is that it can only be played back and forth, and it is difficult to rotate left and right.

"What are you doing with this?" A battalion officer of the artillery division picked up an iron rod next to the gun carriage, "Is this Sun Xingzhi or Lei Zhenzi?" "In this era, the story of Journey to the West and the Fengshen List has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and when they see this iron rod, the battalion officials have to make a joke about it.

"My lord, I'm sorry for you to insert this object into this hole and spin it around."

The battalion officer was suspicious and operated according to the instructions of the craftsman, but he saw that the huge cannon body, under the action of the iron rod, slowly moved to the left. "Huh! It's kind of interesting! The muzzle of the gun moves, the gun carriage does not move! And the straight lady thief, the effort-saving! ”

"Commander Ye. If you want to adjust the pitch angle of the cannon, you can simply insert the iron rod into this hole. ”

Ye Qi stared intently at several battalion officers operating the cannon with great interest, and the muzzles of the left and right pitches kept moving. Nearby, a Portuguese watched in amazement as the huge twenty-four-pounder cannon was constantly moving to the giggling laughter of two strong men.

"That's it! Stop it. ”

Ye Qi ordered several of his battalion officers and assistants, "How far is it from here to the Ruan family's star fort at the head of the city?" ”

"Returning to command. About two miles or more. One of the gunners narrowed his eyes and looked at it.

"Your Excellency, one thousand and one hundred steps." The other gunner looked up from the gun mount, he had just measured the distance from the square and round instruments on the guò gun mount.

"That's right." Several craftsmen and other gunners agreed with the two men's account.

"That's good!" Standing on the side of the gun carriage, Ye Qi carefully observed the star fort with a clairvoyant, and then took out a very tightly wrapped cowhide book from the inside of the armor. After unfolding, he looked at the dense characters on it, and read the words in his mouth. Immediately after, a series of numbers were reported.

"As I asked, load, aim. Target, flag on the third battlement to the left of the battery. The artillerymen were like falling into the clouds, and the artillery division and battalion officer next to them looked confident.

"The commander told you to wait to do it, and you just did it!"

It's so far away, and it's just a flag, how can you hit it?! The gunners operated while complaining in their hearts.

"Boom!" With the sound of a cannon, there was a huge pit on the battlement, and the flag that had just been targeted by Ye Qi could not be seen on the fort that was hit by the cannonballs.

The gunners and craftsmen in the protective fortress were all shocked. This Nima is too much, isn't it?! Even if our gunpowder is powerful and our artillery is strong, but hitting a flag more than a thousand steps away, this is indeed too much!

"This is the secret art of artillery bombardment taught by the general, and we will naturally teach you these secret techniques one by one when we have spare time."

The battalion officer of the artillery division stood up and shouted loudly to the group of stunned subordinates in front of him. "These cannons are now the latest and best cannons in the South Central Army, and if you are trained by good students, you will have a great future in the future!"

This was the first time that the secret position system was used for live firing, and it did not cause any shock to the troops defending the city, but it was very strong for those who knew the inside story.

"The general divides a circle into 6,000 parts, each equal part is a dense position, and uses this to measure the position of the target, combined with other instruments, it is naturally only where to hit." On the way back to the camp, Ye Qi, who was entangled by several unaware battalion officers, had to briefly explain his behavior. to prove that he was not pinching the mantra.

When Kankan arrived at the gate of the camp, he flew out head-on, and came straight to Ye Qi and his party.

"Commander Ye! General Hoi An has a military order! Please sign for it! The person who came was the deputy of the traffic team who was responsible for delivering letters back and forth by Shouhan's side.

After carefully inspecting the fire paint seal on the envelope, Ye Qi took out his seal, carefully used the seal on the receiving book, and ordered several battalion officers present to use their own seals at the position of the witnesses, and then waved everyone to return to the camp.

"Inform me that from tomorrow, the whole army will launch a general attack on Hue."

After Ye Qi read the 100,000 urgent letters, he issued an order to his group of subordinates in a low voice.

"My lord, why is that? Although our army has besieged the city, there are still many affairs that have not been perfected in the matter of attacking the city, so why should we attack the city in a hurry? ”

"What? Scared? The three battalions of my Guards Battalion, the Left Battalion of the Guards Phoenix, and the Three Battalions of the Guards Kirin Middle Battalion are the main forces in the siege troops. With only one order from the commander, we can naturally attack Hue City and capture the clowns of the Nguyen family. ”

Several people quarreled with each other.

"Shut up Lao Tzu!" Ye Qi was a little irritable. "For the generals, they will not raise up troops out of anger. The lord does this, and the lord is free of the lord's truth. To tell you the truth, Ha Jing has a detailed report, and the Zheng family in Shenglong in the north is mobilizing troops and horses to raise grain and grass, which seems to have the intention of harassing the south. If our army is under the fortified city for a long time, I am afraid that something will happen to the northern homeland. ”

There is one more chapter in the evening.

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