Chapter 275: The Death of a Warrior is a Proper Place

"Times are different."

This thought arose in Ilahab's mind, and then became stronger and stronger, and long after Feng Yuanlang fell into the city, he still stared blankly at the place where Feng Yuanlang had disappeared, hoping to see this brave warrior get up again.

But he also knew in his heart that it was time for personal martial arts to withdraw from history, and in future wars, gunpowder weapons would become the dominant and king.

Feng Yuanlang's death was a heavy blow to the Jin soldiers, because Feng Yuanlang and the Jin army he led fought hard to capture the city, and after just a few minutes, it returned to the hands of the Song army, and the new weapon of the Song people, the iron melon grenade, swept up and down the city. Although there were still Jin soldiers fighting with the Song army in some parts of the city, it was only a desperate death throes, and the offensive of the entire Jin army began to be exhausted because of the addition of grenadiers.

"Marshal, marshal!"

The staff desperately shook the body of Ilahab, who had lost consciousness, to wake him up from his grief and disappointment. Ilahab wiped his face vigorously, this is not the time to be depressed, since it has reached this point, he can't take care of much, the things that were originally going to be used under the city of Xuzhou are going to be used now.

"Someone, pass on my orders, use ...... Cannon! Ilahab shouted angrily.

It is the cannon, the powerful weapon that the Song people have, and now it is no longer the exclusive possession of the Song people. The people of this era also possessed enough wisdom, especially for the Jin Kingdom, which occupied the fertile land of the Central Plains, they did not lack skilled craftsmen. As early as after the loss of Xuzhou, the Jin people began to explore the secrets of the cannon in every possible way, and in the long-term war with the Song Dynasty, they would also use primitive gunpowder weapons such as assault rifles, thunderbolts, rockets, etc., and in order to get the secrets of the cannon, they sent countless spies on the one hand, and on the other hand, they gathered the skilled craftsmen of the Central Plains for research and development. Although the only thing that the spy can bring back is the shape data of the artillery, it is enough for those skilled craftsmen to refer to.

Half a year ago, Jin Guo cast its first artillery that could be used in actual combat, and since then Jin Guo has continued to manufacture it, and now it has also gathered the number of sixty guns.

However, they could use the shape of the cannon to make artillery, but they could not get the gunpowder formula of the Great Song Dynasty, and until now, the gunpowder weapon production base of the Great Song Dynasty is still placed in Liuqiu: saltpeter from several natural caves in Sichuan and Shu is boiled out and transported to Liuqiu as a raw material for gunpowder and chemicals.

In terms of smelting and casting technology, the artillery of the Jin people cannot be compared with that of the Song State, which makes the artillery of the Jin people use a large amount of medicine, is easy to explode, has a short range, and is weak. Under the same conditions, twenty or thirty artillery pieces of the Great Song Dynasty could use the advantages of range and accuracy to completely suppress the artillery of the Jin Kingdom, and even let it be completely smashed before it could play its role. Ilahab also knew this, so he was very cautious, and even did not hesitate to sacrifice a large number of civilians and siege equipment to consume the artillery of the guards of the Blue Dragon Fort.

Therefore, after discovering that there was a problem with the artillery of the guards of the Blue Dragon Fort, Ilahab decided that he could take the Blue Dragon Fort. It's just that he still wants to keep this killer move, and it is best to keep it under the city of Xuzhou, and then use this to blow up the gate of Xuzhou by surprise, and then attack the city by virtue of the absolute superiority in troops, seize the important iron-making center of the Song Kingdom, and then use the iron of Xuzhou to cast cannons for the Jin State.

In that case, the Jin State will have more and more artillery, and the gap with the Song State in military technology will be shortened, and it will no longer be threatened by Meng Yuan.

It's a pity that no matter how well the wishful thinking is, the appearance of grenadiers has wiped out the manpower advantage of the Jin State, and it also makes the Song State still have a powerful suppression weapon in addition to the cannon. Relying on the soldier's bravery alone, it is obviously impossible to take Qinglong Fort, after all, Yilahab is also a general of the Jin State, he immediately made a decision and decided to take out his hole cards.

His decision disrupted Du Zun's plan, and Du Zun, who had already sneaked to the edge of the artillery camp, had to shrink up and peek out through a crack in a camp tent. When he saw more than a dozen mules pulling a huge cannon towards the outside of the battalion, his complexion immediately changed.

During his training, he understood what it meant to siege a city with artillery, and no matter how strong the city gate was, it would not last long in the face of artillery.

"One, two...... Twelve Gates...... Twenty Gates"

Every time he passed a door, the sweat on his forehead weighed a point, how could the Jin people have artillery, although their artillery was bulky, each one needed more than ten mules and horses and dozens of soldiers to push, but this was an artillery after all, when the artillery at the head of Xuzhou City could not play a role now, relying on the defensive equipment in the past, it was very good to hit it within the attack distance of the artillery.

The only way is to blow them up with your own ideas...... However, although he had a few iron melons with him, it was impossible to blow up all the twenty guns.

"What to do, what to do...... Don't worry, there will be a way, there will be a way, let me think about it, when I was in Liuqiu training, the instructor said how to protect artillery, the most vulnerable place of artillery is ......"

When Du Zun was racking his brains, the first artillery had been pulled out of the Jin army camp by mule, and such a big movement of the Jin army would of course alarm Qin Dashi standing on the watchtower. When he found out through the clairvoyant mirror that the golden man was pulling out the artillery, Rao was that he had always been motionless, but he couldn't help but change his face.

The Jin people who had just bullied the besieged city with gunpowder weapons were now immediately treated with their own way.

"How's the cannon, go ask how the cannon is!" Qin Dashi grabbed a herald, and when he spoke, his voice was very urgent, but when he said it a second time, he slowed down.

The herald hurriedly ran away, Qin Dashi took a breath and frowned, if his own cannons can't be used yet, but the cannons of the Jin people are numerous, then what should I do? For a long time, it was the Song people who bombarded the enemy with artillery, but now do they say that they want to watch being bombarded by the enemy?

Just as the Jin people were slow to use artillery, there was also something in Qin Dashi's hand that had not moved for a long time, and at this time, he remembered that thing. That thing is very shocking, if it is used, it will inevitably have a great impact on the Jin people, taking advantage of the chaos at this time, Luo Anqiong and the others who have been holding back for a long time can take the opportunity to go out of the city, or they can destroy the Jin people's artillery in one fell swoop.

"You go and tell Zheng Guanqun, let him lead the two men with good arm strength and good vision to go to the platform with a light body, remember, bring more iron melons." Qin Dashi grabbed another herald.

Zheng Guanqun received this order when he retreated to replenish the iron melon grenade, and he was stunned: "What am I going to do on the platform, there are no gold people there, and the gold people are on the city wall!" ”

"This is a military order, a military order!" The herald yelled.

Zheng Guanqun scolded and ordered two little men to leave the city wall with him. The Qinglong Fort was not very large, and it only took him less than five minutes to run to the "platform" that Qin Dashi said with a basket of iron melons on his back.

This place is called "Platform" because it is a flat piece of concrete, and when Zheng Guanqun arrived, Qin Dashi was already waiting for him there.

"Zheng Guanqun, there is a task for you." Qin Dashi's expression was calm: "The Jin people also have cannons, you go and blow up the Jin people's cannons." ”

"Huh?" Zheng Guanqun's mouth opened wide.

When Zheng Guanqun questioned whether Qin Dashi was crazy for making this order, Qin Dashi patted a young man with a leather helmet next to him: "Huo Qiu will take you there in an airship." ”

"Airship!" Zheng Guanqun's originally wide open mouth formed a circle, and he looked at the young Huo Qiu and gestured to him, and then pointed to the huge guy on the platform behind him.

This thing is the product of Xiao Bolang's long-cherished wish for many years, since returning to Lin'an for the steam locomotive, Xiao Bolang has devoted most of his energy to the manufacture of this thing, and due to the development of the chemical industry and metallurgical industry, the technology of Liuqiu manufacturing and storing hydrogen has been quite mature, and with his personal guidance by Zhao Youju's side, the airship has finally been usable after five tests and five improvements. This Huo Qiu was originally Xiao Bolang's assistant, because among the group of assistants around Xiao Bolang, he was the smallest and lightest, so he "unfortunately" became the pilot of the airship, Zhao and Ju sent him to Qinglong Castle, in case Qinglong Fort was besieged but needed to contact the outside world, his airship could come in handy.

Zhao and Ju themselves did not consider the plan to form an air force with airships, and the current airships still have many shortcomings that limit their application and cannot be overcome: the first is the influence of weather and meteorology, and if the wind is slightly stronger, it is not suitable for lifting; The second is the influence of the load force, the load of the airship piloted by Huo Qiu can only be less than 2,000 catties, although the lightest material is used, but at most it can only take eight people with lighter bodies; The third is the restriction of power, the power used by Huo Qiu's airship is a propeller pedaled by manpower, and if conditions permit, without the help of wind, it can only fly about six song li per hour, which is equivalent to the walking speed. The most important thing is that the airship cannot be mass-produced today, because of the limitation of the application field, it is determined that the airship can only be built in an experimental nature at this time, and the cost is very large, but the value generated is very small.

"Come up with me, remember, your position is fixed, for balance, tie yourself with a leash, and don't get up and move around." Huo Qiu smiled, just like Xiao Bolang, he also liked the feeling of the airship flying in the sky very much, after coming to Qinglong Castle, because of secrecy, he never took off, and now that he had the opportunity, he completely forgot about the fact that there was still a war outside.

Ilahab looked at the cannon pulled out, and his heart was both proud and sad, proud that this was the sharpest weapon of this era, and although the Jin Kingdom was broken, it could also be made. Sadly, in the face of a small Qinglong Castle, he had to come up with his killer weapon.

Because the iron-making and casting technology was far inferior to that of the Great Song Dynasty, the solution adopted by the Jin State to solve the problem of cannon bore was to thicken the bore, and the result of this was to double the weight of the cannon. The road after the snow was a little muddy, and after the Great Song artillery ploughing, the soil on the battlefield was even softer, which made the advance of the cannon still very slow, despite the many mules and horses. Ilahab muttered a few curses, but had to wait patiently, he was still a little worried in his heart, although the Song people's artillery in this direction was dumb, but who knows if they still have one or two guns for critical time, if they bombarded them, their own cannons can't hit them, but they can hit themselves, it's really depressing.

Fortunately, the Song people's cannons seemed to have been broken, and they were within the range of the Song people's artillery fire for five minutes, and the Song people did not fire the cannons.

The Jin soldiers who had retreated from the city shouted cheers when they found out that they also had artillery on their side, and their morale, frustrated by the failure of the siege, rose again, and the middle and junior generals gathered their troops and were ready to continue the siege. It's up to them, as if they have been forgotten at this time.

Duan You kept turning back, anxiously waiting, he had already scattered in the crowd with everyone, just waiting for a change in the rear, and he was going to take the opportunity to start an incident. But half an hour has passed, there is still no movement behind him, which makes him feel uneasy, in the past two days, Du Zun has become his backbone, and he vaguely guessed that Du Zun must be a spy sent by the Song people, but as long as he can rescue his mother, he will not serve the Jin State or the Song State.

Just as he turned back again, the people around him were clamoring loudly.

In the sky above Qinglong Fort, a "cloud" rises, the "cloud" is like a jujube pit, the two ends are pointy, the waist is very thick, under the cloud, there is a thing similar to a basket, looking at it from a distance, it is like a small box.

"What the hell are the Song people doing?" Ilahab's eyes widened: "Hex, hex? ”

Even he was so panicked in his heart, not to mention the soldiers everywhere, everyone's attention was focused on this behemoth that rose from the Blue Dragon City, watching him rise over the city wall, and flying higher and higher, until he flew nearly a hundred steps, this calmed down.

Then this strange-looking cloud began to fly towards the Jin army, and although Ilahab didn't know what it was, he felt a strong sense of crisis in his heart.

"Quick, quick, go on, get ready to fire artillery, siege the city!" Ilahab roared.

Only then did the generals come back to their senses, and while scolding the panicked soldiers approaching Qinglong Fort, they looked at the slowly flying clouds in the air from time to time. Knowing that this was not right, Ilahab pulled one of the sharpshooters in the army and asked, "Can you shoot that high?" ”

"Too high to shoot...... The sharpshooter only felt dry in his mouth, and tried to swallow his saliva, but he didn't swallow anything.

"These Song people...... These Song people ......" Ilahab let go of his hand, a little distracted, and at this moment, he heard a bang behind him, which was earth-shattering, and the walls of Qinglong Fort seemed to jump a few times.

Jin Bing, whose attention was all on the "clouds", looked back, his face full of astonishment.

A huge mushroom-shaped cloud rose over their barracks, and the place where the barracks had once been swept away was now like a hurricane, and the flags were all over, and the dust and gravel that flew up hit the people like hail.

Just a moment ago, taking advantage of the opportunity when the Jin soldiers were diverted by the airship, Du Zun finally broke into the tightly guarded rear camp baggage, he understood the most Achilles heel of artillery, that is the danger of gunpowder, if it can ignite the gunpowder, then the cannon that the Jin soldiers worked hard to push to the front will only have a few rounds of power at most, for a fortified city like Qinglong Fort, unless it is really unlucky, it is impossible to be broken by these shells.

However, Irabuha also understood this, and in the camp where the gunpowder was stored, there were people on duty at twelve o'clock, and as soon as Du Zun entered, he was discovered by the people on duty, and when he heard the question, Du Zun immediately understood that he had no intention of retreating.

"Our lives were saved by the Emperor of the Great Song Dynasty, our family was supported by the Great Song Dynasty, everything we have belongs to the Great Song Dynasty, and we will be loyal to the country when necessary, and we will not hesitate to spare our lives!"

In an instant, Du Zun's mind remembered the sentence that he had to recite every day when he was training, thinking of the days when his family was in Liuqiu, he grinned and scolded: "Golden dog, grandpa is a great Song secret spy ......"

He only shouted the golden dog, and the golden soldiers reacted, waving their knives and guns to rush at him, Du Zun threw out an iron melon, and there was a "boom", and the iron melon exploded in the camp tent filled with gunpowder, and then there was an earth-shattering loud noise.

"Lei Gong has appeared!"

Duan Qu shouted hoarsely, he had Du Zun in mind, so he was the first to react: the big movement behind him must be related to Du Zun.

"Lei Gong has appeared!" First a dozen, then hundreds of people who had been captured like him shouted. The "cloud" flew up on the Qinglong Castle, and there was a big explosion in the golden camp here, if it wasn't for the manifestation of Lei Gong, what would it be!

"Lei Gong has appeared!" The golden soldiers also shouted, and even among the guards around Irabuha, there were also desperate shouts, these soldiers could not understand what was happening now, and they really couldn't think of any other explanation except to attribute it to the gods.

Note 1: From today's Mianyang 40 kilometers north to Jiangyou City, and from then 40 kilometers north into the little-visited town of Chonghua, the group of nitrate caves here shows that from the Ming Dynasty, it was used for military purposes to make gunpowder.

Note 2: In 1784, the Frenchman Robert brothers built a streamlined primitive airship with a capacity of 940 cubic meters and a silk air paddle with a diameter of two meters by seven people, which opened the prelude to manned airships. The speed data of the airship here is based on the author's speculation based on historical records, and if there is any error, please forgive me.