On February 1 of the fourth year of Chongzhen, in the military barracks and school field of Jingbian Fort, Liu Renyu, Li Jiye, Yang Desheng and other generals stood on the platform of the generals.

Liu Renyu engaged in such a big battle today, but he wanted to meet the chariot that was about to be shipped from Zhenbei Fort.

The generals who stood with Liu Renyu, Li Jiye, as the military commander who was about to receive the chariot, were naturally happy because they were about to get a large number of weapons and equipment, while the other generals were with strong curiosity to see what this legendary chariot looked like.

The officers and men of Jingbian Fort waited for a long time, and suddenly saw a herald with a small flag on his back galloping to the left of the Dianjiang platform, clasping his fists and saying, "General, the chariot shipped from Jingbian Fort is about to arrive at the barracks. ”

"Okay, drummer listen." Liu Renyu said loudly.

"Yes,"

"Play music," Liu Renyu ordered.

"Yes,"

The drummers said yes, and the song "Our Ranks to the Sun" was played.

Then everyone craned their necks to see what the chariot really looked like.

After a while, a carriage at the head of the row slowly galloped into the barracks under the control of the coachman, and the officers and soldiers of Jingbian Fort looked around, only to see that this carriage was a common four-wheeled carriage style in Jingbian Fort, pulled by six horses, about two zhang (6 meters) long, more than one zhang (4 meters) wide, and about one zhang (more than 3 meters) high, it looks like a moving house, and because there is a female wall on this chariot, it looks like a mini small military fort, and on each side of this chariot, There are also several patterns of white-fronted tigers with hanging eyes.

A group of officers and soldiers looked at the chariot from a distance, as if they saw a tiger walking with its bloody mouth wide open, which was very powerful.

The officers and men of Jingbian Fort were amazed and amazed when they looked at such a behemoth. However, none of these officers and soldiers dared to leave the team to see what was going on inside the chariot.

When all these chariots entered the barracks, Li Jiye's mouth was crooked with a smile, and he pointed to these chases tremblingly: "General, are all these 128 chariots from my artillery?" ”

"Yes, it's all your artillery."

"That's a good idea, but I don't have enough artillerymen, and I'm afraid that I can't use so many tanks." Li Jiye said with great regret.

"Don't worry, you don't have enough people now, it doesn't mean that you won't be enough in the future, and if you have enough people in the future, you can use all these chariots again." Liu Renyu said with a smile.

"Oh, that's good. By the way, General, this tank does not have a name yet, please give the General a name for the tank of our artillery. Li Jiye clenched his fists and pleaded.

"Jiye, can you see the pattern drawn on our chariot?" Liu Renyu pointed to the tiger pattern on the battlefield and asked with a smile.

"See." Li Jiye nodded.

"Tiger, the king of beasts, is very powerful, I plan to name this chariot 'Tiger Heavy Chariot', what do you think?" Liu Renyu asked with a smile.

"Good name, general, mighty and domineering, just listen to it and refresh yourself." Before Li Jiye could answer, Zhang Tieniu said happily.

"Tie Niu is right, this name is indeed very good." Li Jiye also praised him.

"If you like it, come, gentlemen, you will give the order that your men be disbanded, and let them all see how our chariots are growing."

"Yes, General,"

When the generals received the order, they said to their men, "Brothers, the general has an order to go and see the chariots." ”

"Yes," the soldiers were ordered, and they disbanded, and went in groups of three or five to look around and see the Tiger chariot.

Liu Renyu took a group of his generals to visit one of the chariots, and as he walked, he introduced the construction characteristics of this chariot to the generals.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this Tiger heavy chariot is made of hardwood throughout, and can be equipped with cannons inside, so that soldiers can fire cannons to kill and wound enemies from a distance, and there is a female wall on the roof of the vehicle, and soldiers can rely on the female wall to fire arrows and guns to kill and wound nearby enemy troops. Gentlemen, although everyone in our army has horses, but in addition to Ren Jie's cavalry, the rest of our army is mounted infantry, just imagine, if our army is on the march, encountering Mongolian soldiers who are skilled in bows and horses, or Jiannu, they send a small number of soldiers to harass, we can no longer fight in formation, just let the chariot fire, you can repel the enemy.

Even if they gather a large number of men and horses to fight with our army in the field, our army can completely line up the chariots on the flanks and in the rear, so that the flanks of our troops no longer have to fear the attack of the enemy cavalry, and the chariots in the rear can fire shells to bombard the enemy in front of them and help our troops in the battle.

And when camping in the field, our army can circle the chariots together, and you can get a well-defended camp.

In addition, as you have seen, this chariot has a lot of space and can also be used to transport baggage. You see, isn't there a lot of use for our Tiger chariot? Liu Renyu stood next to the chariot, and after the initial introduction of the chariot, he smiled and asked his subordinates if the chariot was very useful.

The generals naturally replied in a low voice: "The chariot that the generals are focusing on creating, how can it be bad, this chariot is naturally very powerful." ”

"Hey, you guys." Liu Renyu first chuckled, then pointed to a wooden door on the side of the chariot and said, "Ren Jie, open the door, let's go in and have a look." ”

"Yes, General." Liu Renyu received the order, and walked straight to the side rear of the chariot.

In this position, there is a wooden door of the same size as the door of the house, this door is tied by a wooden bolt, Liu Renjie removed the wooden bolt, and opened the wooden door outward.

"Go, gentlemen, follow me inside."

After Liu Renyu said this, he raised his feet and stepped into the chariot. A group of generals also followed.

The generals entered the chariot, looked around, and found that there was a staircase facing the door, leading to the top of the chariot, and next to the staircase, that is, on the outer side of the chariot, there was a rectangular shooting hole about 3 meters long and half a meter wide, and on both sides of this shooting hole, there were 12 small shooting holes of about 30 centimeters in length and width, and on the inner side of this chariot, it was also arranged in this way, and in front of this chariot, there was a shooting hole about 1 meter long and half a meter wide. There are 8 small shooting holes on each side of it.

Liu Renyu pointed to the larger shooting hole and introduced to his subordinates: "This larger shooting hole is the gun emplacement of the Franc cannon, and three Franc machines can be arranged on the gun emplacement on this side, and one Franc machine can be placed on the gun position on the front. Those smaller shooting holes are the shooting holes of the firecracker. With such a overlapping of firepower from far and near, there is no need to fear the impact of enemy cavalry. Go, follow me up again. ”

After Liu Renyu finished speaking, he took the first step and walked up the top of the chariot along the steps, and the rest of the generals also followed Liu Renyu and climbed the stairs in turn.

When he came to the top of the chariot, Liu Renyu smiled and said to several generals: "Our chariot also has a female wall, in the field, just connect the chariot together, you can form a small military fort, and our soldiers can rely on the female wall to resist the enemy." How, our tank is fully functional, and it is very suitable, right? ”

"This chariot has both offense and defense, it is indeed very powerful, and our army has this sharp weapon, which has added a lot of combat power." Yang Desheng praised.

When the generals heard this, they all nodded their heads one after another.

Then Li Jiye opened his mouth and asked: "Dare to ask the general, how should the manpower be allocated on this chariot?" ”

"I will, one artillery team and one firecracker team will do. The artillery maneuvers and the firecrackers fire their guns and cooperate with each other to kill the enemy. Liu Renyu replied.

"Dare to ask the general, these carriages are all pulled by mules and horses, if during the battle, the artillery fires in unison, the mules and horses are frightened, and they run in all directions, will our army not be in chaos?" Ma Wenshan asked coldly.

"It's ....., it's a problem." Liu Renyu only thought that this carriage has strong maneuverability, strong firepower, and both offensive and defensive, but forgot a very important problem, these carriages are pulled by mules and horses, mules and horses are animals, if they are frightened, they will inevitably run around, although the carriage has brakes, but at that time, the mules and horses must be crazy, and the current brakes may not be able to withstand it, and the car formation is only afraid that it will be chaotic.

Liu Renyu pondered for a while, and then asked Ma Wenshan with a bitter face: "Wenshan, since you see this loophole, do you have a good way to deal with it?" ”

"General, there is a strategy for the humble position, and I don't know if it is suitable or not?"

"Tell me about it!" Liu Renyu commanded.

"When the artillerymen and musketeers trained, the horses were placed on the side of the training ground, so that the mules and horses were familiar with the roar of the guns. The first time these horses and mules hear the sound of gunfire, they must be greatly frightened, but after listening to it for a long time, they will get used to it, and when they get used to it, they will no longer be afraid. In this way, when it comes to the battlefield, our army will fire artillery and guns, and mules and horses may not run around because of fright. Ma Wenshan suggested.

"This plan is very good, Jiye, left hanging, when you two train in the future, you should follow Wenshan's suggestion, every time you release guns and cannons, put the mules and horses next to them, let them listen to the sound of gunpowder explosions, and when they are familiar with it, they will naturally not be afraid anymore when they get to the battlefield."

"Yes, General, Remember!" Li Jiye and Wang Zuohang responded.

"Well, gentlemen, when I got married, Hong Junmen came to officiate for marriage, and when he left, he told me that the imperial court is currently discussing whether to build a city on the site of Dalinghe Fort in Liaodong? In its current form, it is highly likely that the imperial court agreed to build the city. When the time comes, we will go to Liaodong, I told you before, I have sent people to Jinzhou to ship grain and cement and steel bars, and I have already arranged our retreat, what you need to do is to train carefully, remember, sweat more in peacetime, and shed less blood in wartime. ”

"Yes, General." The generals responded in unison.

"Gentlemen, several of you, except for the left hanging department, all have veterans who have experienced several wars, this expedition, your various departments must mix new soldiers and veterans, with the old to lead the new, so that you can not panic. Left hanging, your subordinates have not experienced a vicious battle since they became an army, but I am afraid that there will be accidents on the battlefield, I have an idea, let your soldiers experience how to fight on the real battlefield. Liu Renyu smiled.