The deputy artillery commander in the back always saw the waving red flag, stood on the baggage truck and once again observed the position of the Qing cavalry, waved his hand, and ordered: "Take off the camouflage and prepare for launch." This article is written by. Starting elevation angle, 40 degrees, left deviation, 5 degrees. ”

The artillerymen uncovered the blanket, revealing the hidden rocket shells inside. The artilleryman quickly adjusted the angle, first adjusting the swivel rod in the tail, and then adjusting the left and right angles. In particular, the control of the left and right corners is based on the principle of grinding discs, and the base is composed of two semi-circular iron plates, but when adjusting, the direction is opposite. Therefore, the words "left" and "right" were written in opposite positions on both sides to remind the artillery to adjust in the right direction.

Inspired by the Divine Fire Raven and the Swarm of Bees, the Bazooka is a new weapon created by the Artillery Workshop. Like a rocket, gunpowder is burned to make the thrust, but instead of firing feathered arrows, a fragmentation projectile is mounted on the front end of the rocket, which is three inches thick and two and a half feet long, and a pointed end made of paper shells is mounted on the head. Moreover, it adopts a swarm of cluster firing style, and each gun position is composed of a total of ten firing slots in the horizontal and vertical directions.

Of course, the propellant of the rocket is also different. When Wang Renli, Ma Chaodong and others tested the ratio of various gunpowders, they found that increasing the sulfur content and reducing the saltpeter content at the same time allowed the rocket to get more thrust. The idea of directly using rockets as carriers to deliver bombs was given by Li Yan himself. However, due to many problems such as flight stability, range, and safety, the intermittent test of rocket artillery was improved for two years before finally achieving some results.

Each launch slot is first assembled into a cuboid with a triangle, and then connected to two prefabricated 60-degree arc-shaped grooves, the edge of the groove is smooth, the edge is also very smooth, and there is a gap in the middle reserved for the tail of the rocket. The bottom bracket, which includes a curved groove, also creates a gap large enough for the rear wing to pass through. The tail is made of three thin pieces of iron in the way of feathered arrows, mainly to balance the center of gravity of the rocket, and at the same time let the tail and the gap serve as a stabilizing mechanism, so that the rocket can fly straight out smoothly along the direction of the guide rail.

The bracket of the rocket is also made of triangle iron, screwed together, and the four legs are divided outward, especially the two hind legs, which are more open outward, so that the base can be rotated left and right twenty degrees.

However, in order to allow the rocket launchers to fire steadily, the artillerymen also assembled a wooden platform. It is made of thick planks of the same specification one by one, and there are holes on both sides of the plank, so you can wear the planks together. This platform made of thick planks can effectively disperse the pressure of the gun carriage on the ground during firing, and now ordinary artillery has begun to use it, so that the artillery can also be effective in soft and muddy areas.

Theoretically speaking, rocket artillery can also combine more rockets, but after collecting more, the ignition of rockets will become a problem, so Wang Renhui and his team did their best, but they only made a model of ten launch slots at most. Because when the rocket is launched, the tail flame is very large, and the igniter has enough time to dodge before the rocket ignites. But against an enemy like the cavalry, which has the ability to move quickly, no time can be wasted.

The artillerymen quickly adjusted the angle, and the loud report of the gun commander of the gun emplacements was ready. The commander did not dare to delay, fearing that the cavalry of the Qing army would charge before the launch, so he immediately waved the command flag and gave the order to launch.

The artillerymen quickly ran to the ammunition truck, ten paces behind the flank, and covered themselves with shields, leaving only the torchbearers with torches. The igniter used a torch to light the exposed fuse as the others ran away. The lead is long and short, so that the rockets can be fired one after the other without affecting each other.

The igniter quickly lit the fuse with the flames of the torch, and then fled with the torch. Next to the ammunition truck, his companion had already prepared a shield for him, and he only needed to put the torch in the iron bucket for the time being and hide behind the shield. Although the rocket artillery has been tested many times and is relatively safe, if it does not fly out and explode in place, the power of a three-inch fragmentation projectile is greater than that of a paper shell projectile.

Some of the ten igniters had not yet run to the ammunition truck, and some rockets had already spewed red flames, slowly moving forward along the track. As soon as the rocket broke away from the guide rail, its speed increased sharply, and with whistling and white smoke, it crossed its own line fifty paces ahead and flew in the direction of the Qing army.

The Qing army began to see people waving small flags on the opposite side, thinking that the enemy was about to charge the battle, so they immediately began to prepare for the attack. But before they could start, they saw several smoking things flying towards them.

"What's that?" Many people asked in confusion. Some of them have seen a swarm of bees, divine fire flying crows or something, but those are all flying all over the sky, and they can only fly thirty or fifty steps, how have they ever seen something that can fly so far?

When Dolgon saw the rockets flying out from behind Li Yan's cavalry formation, he knew that it was not a good thing, and maybe Li Yan had come up with some new weapon.

He immediately ordered: "Impact! Immediate impact! ”

Duoduo immediately had the herald blow the horn and tell the whole army to prepare to charge. But as soon as the trumpet sounded, the rockets were already in front of them, and began to turn downward, and fell down at a rapid speed towards their formation. Some had already landed on the grass in front of the formation, while others continued to fly.

"Boom," a rocket that had just flown over the head of the military formation exploded, and shrapnel hit down at a rapid pace from top to bottom, hitting many people and horses around it. However, since they were still six or seven paces away from the top of the horseman's head, they only let the horses collect some skin wounds, and the horses began to become restless, while the horsemen on the horses were protected by cotton armor, and there were no casualties.

Immediately, another rocket burst into the ranks of the cavalry, planted on the grass, but did not explode. But the flames in the tail continued to erupt, and several horses around the hot one jumped wildly. And the rockets, which continued to scurry under the impetus of the flames, continued to hurt the other horses and go berserk. In the end, there was a bang, and the five or six war horses around, as well as the cavalry on horseback, were all blown down at once.

At this time, dozens or hundreds of rockets, under the influence of the northwest wind, turned around and fell. An explosion rang out, and at the same time the horses of the Qing army stirred, neighing, and kicking.

Although the thick cotton armor of the Qing army could withstand the attack of the fragments, due to the large amount of charge, the shock wave of the explosion alone made the men and horses within five steps unbearable. Especially the horses, under the fright and damage of explosions, flames, smoke, and other sounds and lights, many horses began to go crazy, and collided in all directions, seriously disrupting the Qing army's own formation.

A rocket swooped into the vicinity of Zilharang, burning several horses and exploding, knocking a panicked Zilharang off his horse.

"Retreat! Retreat! Zilharan grabbed the reins and leaned on the frightened horse, crying out in terror. At the same time, he tried to control the horses and fled to the rear.

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