Chapter Sixty-Nine: Why Fear Pirates Climbing the Hanging Mountain

"One day, the barrel is overheated, and it can't be put anymore!"

The young man in charge of loading yelled at Li Yilao's ear, Li Yilao took off the plug that plugged his ear, and laughed: "Pull the cannon back, chase them up!" ”

The young men pushed the bronze cannon out of the gun position with all hands and feet, and fixed it on the deck with an iron lock, Li Yilao gently patted the cannon whose barrel was still hot, and couldn't help laughing: "This explosion is really powerful!" ”

The two cannons on the ship are the weapons that Zhao and Ju prepared for this giant ship, and the huge empty cabin in the middle of the bow of the giant ship is where the cannons hide. These two cannons took three years and cost Zhao and Ju nearly 200,000 yuan to be successfully cast, and Ou Laogen's father and son were almost white-headed for this. In terms of cost, these two cannons are probably the most expensive weapons in the world, and it is impossible to mass produce them at all, but Zhao Youju doesn't care about this, because he doesn't want too many in the first place, and only needs these two cannons to accumulate experience for future mass production and train artillery at the same time.

In terms of future generations, this cannon was a 12-pounder short-barreled howitzer, weighing 600 catties, with a direct firing range of less than 400 meters, and it was not the king of the era of hot weapons, but in this period of cold weapons, it was an unparalleled weapon on the battlefield (Note 1).

The cannon used chain shells, mainly used to destroy the sails of enemy ships at sea, it was a series of scattered bullets wrapped together, scattered by the pressure of the discharge, there was no rifling, and the range of the shells was not far, but more than two miles. Li Yilao likes gunpowder, and the gunpowder that ignites the cannon is also a large particle of gunpowder that he took a few people to make little by little according to the formula and process handed over by Zhao and Ju, and in three years, all the gunpowder he made added up to not much. After casting these two bronze cannons, Zhao and Ju immediately handed them over to him and asked him to test the cannons. There are many uninhabited islands outside the hanging island, and almost every ten days and a half months, Li Yilao will take his group of people to transport these two bronze cannons to the uninhabited island by boat to practice. Because of the lack of gunpowder and shells, they can only say that they can only fire the cannons. Li Yilao was bold, but despite this, he still pushed the cannon out and gave these pirates a "surprise".

Zhao and Ju attached great importance to the safety of the cannon, the amount of gunpowder, the action, the cleaning after the launch, and the maintenance on weekdays all had extremely strict regulations. This kind of cannon is more suitable for the needs of the battlefield than the Hongyi cannon hundreds of years later, and it is equipped with sights and high and low frames.

Because the cannon used is mainly bronze, the rate of fire of this cannon is not fast, and it is easy to get too hot, and it can only shoot twelve cannons per hour, and it can only fire one cannon in an average of five minutes, but it can fire more than 40 cannons in a row.

Although the front-loading smoothbore gun was primitive, the craftsmanship was relatively simple, and with the bronze casting technique of the Great Song Dynasty, it was completely possible to manufacture such a light gun with a range of less than two kilometers (Note 2).

The pirates were frightened by this weapon that transcended the times, they didn't know that the cannon could no longer be fired due to too many shots in a short period of time, and when they saw the giant ship coming towards them, they all fled regardless of the full strength of their accomplices, only to be afraid that they would be attacked by the "demon law" on the giant ship again. Li Yilao said that he wanted to chase after him, but after all, this huge ship was not fully successful, and he did not have many people on board, so he saw that even the pirate ships that had lost their masts were slowly moving by rowing, so they turned their sails and returned to port.

A total of 12 cannons were fired from the two bronze guns, breaking the masts of eight pirate ships, sinking one medium-sized ship and three small boats, and almost all of them were damaged in the collision. The pirates were killed and wounded, but the spiritual shock was unprecedented.

This is also the first time that artillery has been fought in this time and space, and Li Yilao's comment that "this explosion is really powerful" has also been recorded in history.

Huo Chongcheng on the wall saw everything in his eyes, he was dumbfounded, and he didn't know what to say to Meng Xisheng.

"This giant ship, Da Lang called it 'Dingyuan', and what he just spoke, Da Lang called 'artillery'." Meng Xisheng smiled: "I also saw its power for the first time, and I knew that it was so sharp, so I let the pirates get closer." ”

"Na Ding Gong Ai ran away again!" There seemed to be a bow on his tongue, and Huo Chongcheng pouted for a long time before he said something completely irrelevant.

"Great official, that ship and that sharp weapon, could it be the power of my Great Song Dynasty sailor?" The companions who were separated from each other had never heard the conversation between Meng Xisheng and Huo Chongcheng, and they were all faces, so someone raised their voices and asked.

"Exactly." Meng Xisheng also responded loudly: "This is a warship built by the Jiangnan Manufacturing Bureau for the coastal system. ”

"Is it really for the coastal system?" The corners of Huo Chongcheng's mouth curved, and he asked in a low voice while thinking in his heart.

"What about him, if outsiders know that we have such a sharp weapon, it will not be regarded as a rebellion, but I am afraid that we will not have it as an official." Meng Xisheng's voice was lowered.

For the righteous boy in Yuzhang Villa, Huo Chongcheng is also his own person, and there are some things that don't need to be kept secret from him. But if he hadn't seen this scene with his own eyes on Hanging Island, Meng Xisheng would still not have mentioned this artillery matter to him.

"Only Ah Ju can think of these ...... How wise and close to the demon, how wise and close to the demon! Huo Chongcheng said with half admiration and half dissatisfaction: "I don't know how his heart grows, I have always boasted of being smart, but in front of him I am no different from a child!" ”

Meng Xi laughed and said nothing, he had also thought about this question, and he could only say that Da Lang really got the guidance of the immortal family. He looked at the "Dingyuan" entering the port, and said with a sigh of relief: "It seems that there is nothing to do, the pirates are bold, and they should not dare to come again." ”

He underestimated the pirates too much, although the power of the "Dingyuan" and the cannon, although the pirates were scared to sail away, but after coming back to their senses, they also aroused the greed of the pirates, with such a huge ship, and with such a sharp weapon, they can completely cross the five oceans, and even the sailors of various countries are not in their eyes!

"Brother Wang, if you don't take this thing, you and I will be useless on this sea!" Zhao Lang cleared the prince after calming down.

"That's true, send a signal, let the leaders of all the families gather on our ship to talk, and a hard attack will not be possible." Wang Ziqing also showed a fierce light, their original ship was smashed, although it did not affect the navigation, but it always made the two of them palpitate, so they were all terrified.

The leaders of the pirates gathered were all disgraced, and they inevitably complained to each other, especially a few who broke the ship and damaged people, and they were constantly scolding, without exception, they were all scolding Ding Gong Ai. The news given by Ding Gong Ai only said that there were hundreds of young people on this island, but he never said that there were such sharp weapons. If I knew that there was such a thing, everyone would not have come to the door in a big way.

"If you don't give us an explanation, you don't want to go back." There are people who have always been at odds with Ding Gong Ai, so they take this opportunity to simply count the new hatred and old hatred together.

Ding Gongai's eyes rolled around, and when he saw that everyone was looking at him with a look of anger, it was Ouyang Yingfeng, who had made an appointment with him to eat black, and now he was also calm and did not speak for him, so his heart was raised. He knows what these pirates are doing, and they are indeed capable of doing things on the spot.

"Hahahaha......" In a panic, he was not afraid of rejoicing, and suddenly looked up to the sky and laughed.

All the pirates were stunned, and some people shouted angrily: "Wo Ai, you have hurt us so badly, and you still have the courage to laugh, do you think you are not happy to die?" ”

"Not only that, only, I, I want to laugh, you should laugh too." Ding Gong Ai gave the man a blank look.

"What do you mean by that?" Ouyang Yingfeng had collusion with him after all, and when he heard him say this, he knew that he had other ideas, so he intended to help him.

Ding Gong Ai grinned and said, "We, why are we...... And come? ”

He originally stammered when he spoke, but now in his eagerness, it was even more intermittent, someone was already scolding, he didn't pay attention to it, Ouyang Yingfeng heard him ask, and replied: "Since I came here for that quarter of an hour." ”

"Quarter of an hour, the ship, that thing." Ding Gong Ai knew that if he stuttered again, he was afraid that someone would really want to draw a knife against him, so he just said these seven words. His voice was not loud, and when he first spoke, there was still shouting and scolding among the crowd, but after the seven words were finished, no one spoke.

Being able to make a living on the sea and survive until now, none of these pirate leaders are fools, so they naturally understand what Ding Gong Ai means.

A quarter of an hour can bring wealth, but the shipwright who built the great ship can also bring wealth, not to mention "that thing", if "that thing" is not some magic but a certain weapon, then with this thing, they will no longer be afraid of anyone on the surface of the ocean.

The ship and "that thing" are more coveted by the pirates than the quarter of an hour, and the quarter of an hour can only make money, while the big ship and "that thing" can save lives!

Wang Ziqing and Zhao Lang looked at each other, they originally thought that it would take a lot of lip and tongue to get these daring pirates to continue to attack the Hanging Island, but now, they don't need to do anything more.

"If you have no objections, then we will continue to attack the island." Wang Ziqing glared at him and said coldly: "If you want to break through head-on, it is obviously impossible, although we are pirates, we are not sea fish that can't climb the mountain." There was a lighthouse on that island, and there must have been a guard post, so we ventured at night to approach the landing from the flank, and then climb over the ridge and break into the wall. ”

This was a plan he had discussed with Zhao Lang, and when he said it, the pirate leaders nodded one after another.

"If the ship with a broken mast is inconvenient, find a small island to hide first, and distribute all the manpower to a good ship." Zhao Lang added: "There is 'that thing' on the island, and there may be some guards, so we should be careful." ”

None of them objected to this decision, and none of them proposed how to distribute the quarter of an hour, the giant ship, and "that thing" after the successful robbery of the island. These people are the eighteen largest groups of pirates in the South China Sea, each of them is a greedy person who can swallow an elephant, and everyone is also a cunning person who is as treacherous as a fox, so he naturally knows how to keep himself from being deceived afterwards.

There was no moon that night, and in the afterglow of sunset, the pirates sailed towards the hanging island again. In the distance, they saw that the lights were bright on the hanging island, and after they moored the big boat, they used a small boat to bypass the hanging island pier and landed on the beach behind the mountain, and more than 1,000 people quietly went ashore, crowding a piece of sand.

The mountain road is extremely difficult, although it is not high, but it is not much different from the cliff. These pirates were used to climbing on the sail mast, but they still suffered enough on this cliff, and the four pirates who were selected to pull the cable up not only got bruised all over their bodies, but one even broke his leg because of a misstep. Fortunately, the sound of the sea breeze and the tide hid his cry, which did not alarm the people on the hanging island.

Ascending to the top of the mountain, they lowered the cable and began to pull the rest of the pirates up. When Ouyang Yingfeng came up, he saw that there were more than 100 people on the top of the mountain, and it was already crowded, so he called more than a dozen of his own subordinates and began to touch the lighthouse.

It was not the first time Ouyang Yingfeng had done murder and overkill, but for some reason, he felt uneasy at this time.

Because of the good relationship with Ding Gong Ai, he knows more about the grievances between Ding Gong Ai and this hanging island, last year Ding Gong Ai led a hundred people here, but he suffered a big loss, and even the old nest in Liuqiu was ended, and since then it has been sluggish. At that time, Ding Gongai didn't know how the brother who climbed the wall and entered the gate died, but he could hear the screams inside, and then the body was thrown out, he was so defeated that even if he just heard him talk about it, Ouyang Yingfeng couldn't help but feel terrified.

"Be careful, be careful, don't give your life." He thought so as he went, for he could not see very clearly under his feet only by the light from the lighthouse, and as he walked, his feet tripped over something, and the man stumbled a few steps, and almost fell.

At the same time, the bell rang in the lighthouse.

"Oops!" Ouyang Yingfeng's heart sank, an alarm bell was set up on the island, obviously on guard!

Sure enough, the bell suddenly rang on the lighthouse, and at such a night, the bell was loud and far. The village at the foot of the mountain was still full of laughter and laughter, but it was quiet for a moment, and then there was a noisy sound of chaos.

Ouyang Yingfeng didn't care about this, he rushed forward quickly, they had already come up with more than 100 people, as long as they could hold it, the team would soon be able to climb up, at that time, with the absolute superiority of the pirates' combat effectiveness, it would only take more time to slaughter this stockade.

While he was so bold for his own family, he shouted loudly: "Kill people, kill people, pirates have attacked, kill people, run for your life!" ”

This was originally his usual method of being a pirate, and the thief shouted to catch the thief, which could not only confuse the public, but also make the plundered chaotic. Before coming out to do business, it was tried and tested, and every time I got it because of this.

The rest of the pirates shouted loudly and poured down the steps. Some people tried to open the lighthouse and kill the people on duty in the tower, but the gate of the lighthouse was made of iron, and they were locked with iron rods from the inside, and it only hurt their arms with the strength of their old noses. The pirate was afraid that he would not be able to steal his belongings after the others, so he abandoned the lighthouse and rushed to the stockade with the others.

Ouyang Yingfeng felt that something was wrong after rushing for dozens of steps, in the past, he rushed and shouted like this, even the Xiang army was also in chaos, but there were only a few exclamations from the village below, and then there was no sound, and most of the lanterns and torches that were originally lit everywhere were extinguished almost in a moment.

His heart was furious, and he didn't dare to rush to the front anymore, so he quietly found a hidden place to squat. After a while, a person squeezed around him, and he was about to cut with a knife, and that person was also a normal person, but with a glimmer of light, they recognized each other, and they all "shhh

That person turned out to be Ding Gong Ai.

"I ...... I can't ...... Something is wrong. Ding Gong Ai stammered.

"Me too." Ouyang Yingfeng swallowed his throat hard, but there was no saliva in his mouth, he hadn't been so nervous for many years.

Both of them kept silent and quietly looked down the mountain, where more than two hundred pirates had rushed over, and there was a steady stream of pirates coming up behind them. The two of them are looking at each other again, they have a large number of people, and they are both good players, there should be no problem, right?

Then they heard a series of sounds.

Note 1: This paragraph of artillery information was provided by Pheasant Mulberry, and we would like to thank him. The author is blind, if there is a bug, welcome to point out.

Note 2: For bronze cannon casting, you can refer to the text of the pheasant mulberry quoted in "Walking with the Song Dynasty", and another netizen said that he had translated a Western source, saying that the bell caster in the fourteenth and fifteenth century was enough to make a bronze cannon.