Chapter 192: Persistence is Victory
After half an hour like this, he was even more annoyed when he saw Wang Shangli leading thousands of remnants of the defeated army to retreat to the big tent of the Chinese army. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info
Zhang Kewang slapped the other party on the cheek fiercely, and said angrily: "Long live the old man will hand over the heavy responsibility of staying behind to me, and I should have the right to deal with it on the spot."
Your nearly 10,000 soldiers and horses collapsed in less than half an hour. Tell me, do you want me to kill you right away? Or do you turn around and kill the enemy, so that I can intercede with the Lord of Long Live for you in the future? ”
Wang Shangli was embarrassed, touched his red cheeks and said, "General Pingdong, the loyal army is too terrible." When my Lao Zhang desperately resisted the front attack and disturbed the soldiers and horses, he suddenly killed a soldier and horse from behind, although the brothers fought desperately, but the opponent's soldiers were strong and strong, and they were surprised, and now they had to be defeated. ”
Zhang Kewang took out the treasure knife and put it on Wang Shangli's neck, Wang Shangli was shocked, and hurriedly led his subordinates to turn around to face the battle, so that the Chinese army recovered slightly.
The two sides fought until dawn, and after seeing that the other party had been prepared, Yang Xuan ordered the troops to be withdrawn, and several lanterns on the Chinese army's tent were gradually extinguished, and the regiments slowly retreated to the barracks.
After seeing the retreat of the loyal army, Zhang Kewang was quite annoyed and gathered the generals to prepare for a counterattack.
Before Zhang Xianzhong set off, he drew up a strategy, and in order to hold back the main force of the Loyal and Righteous Army, all units launched a counterattack early this morning to create an opportunity for Zhang Xianzhong's sneak attack.
Zhang Nengqi, Wang Shangli, Feng Shuangli, Wang Ziqi, Guan Youcai, Zhang Hu and others complained bitterly, but Zhang Kewang was the supervisor of the army, and he had always been domineering.
However, the regiments of the Loyal and Righteous Army had already returned to the defense, and the morale of the various units of the Great Western Army was low.
At this time, at the mouth of Jintang Gorge, Zhang Xianzhong led more than 10,000 soldiers to the ferry, but Guo Chonglie had already arrived with his troops and built fortifications through tricycles and wheelbarrows.
Seeing that the loyal and righteous army had already taken precautions, Zhang Xianzhong was unwilling to go bankrupt and led his troops to make a surprise attack, in a vain attempt to rely on superior forces to defeat the enemy in front of him, so as to cut off the grain route of the loyal and righteous army.
The two sides fought for half an hour, and Ma Chao and Cao Zhang led their troops to arrive one after another, so as to slightly thwart the offensive of the Great Western Army.
Sitting on the war horse, Zhang Xianzhong was pondering how to defeat the enemy in front of him, and suddenly got the news that the night attack of the loyal and righteous army was successful last night, and the Great Western Army was defeated, and more than 10,000 people were killed and captured.
Zhang Xianzhong was worried about the safety of the camp and hurriedly led the army back to the camp.
Zhang Kewang, Zhang Nengqi, Feng Shuangli, Wang Shangli and others knelt down one by one to plead guilty, and the battalion was attacked, damaging not only more than 10,000 soldiers and horses, but more importantly, more than 10,000 loads of grain and grass.
After dragging Zhang Kewang and Feng Shuangli out and beating them with thirty military sticks, Zhang Xianzhong was helpless in the face of such a dilemma, so he had to lead his troops back to Chengdu.
Yang Xuan was about to lead his troops in pursuit, but it rained heavily in those days, and the gunpowder was quite damp, so everyone had to be cautious and cautious.
Now some of the soldiers and horses have replaced flintlock pistols, which are not like arquebuses, and they are worried that the primer in the medicine room will be blown away by the wind.
But like the arquebus, black powder is consumed, and the gunpowder is easy to get damp, and the combat power is greatly damaged.
Since he led his troops to fight, although he has benefited greatly from firearms, he has also suffered from them, and the humidity in Sichuan is very heavy, and the gunpowder in his hands is often damp.
From time to time, it is baked to remove the water vapor in the middle of the gunpowder.
In order to change this situation, many changes have been thought of, but with little effect.
Now seeing that it is about to rain, Yang Xuan is worried about the gunpowder, in addition to asking the various departments to urge the musketeers to protect the gunpowder well, not to let the gunpowder get wet.
Wrapped in paper, whether it is oiled paper or ordinary paper, oiled paper itself contains moisture, isn't that diffusion dampness?
Ordinary paper is even worse, just like firecrackers, it will get wet.
Looking at the two small dishes of gunpowder in front of him, one small dish was not damp, and the other small dish was dried and air-dried after being damp, looking at these two plates of gunpowder, Yang Xuan suddenly felt a little different.
The gunpowder that has just been made is in powder form and is very fine.
The damp gunpowder sticks together, and after drying, it becomes granular, and the craftsmen around me are ready to knead the particles with their hands.
Yang Xuan stopped: "Lao He, is there anything wrong with this granular gunpowder?" Why do you have to work so hard to knead these grains? ”
The craftsman named Lao He pointed to the gunpowder that was not damp and said: "General, look at it, the gunpowder just made is very fine. ”
Yang Xuan felt suspicious in his heart, and immediately loaded two guns himself and shot at a small branch in front of him.
To Yang Xuan's surprise, the sun-dried gunpowder not only had a very loud gunshot, but also had a range of ten meters more.
At first, I didn't believe it, and I fired more than ten shots in a row, and the guns were like this.
Putting down the gun, Yang Xuan smiled, touched the small particles, and said to everyone: "Everyone, the effect of the damp gunpowder is a little better after drying."
Lao He, you can help me figure out how to make this gunpowder into small particles, you can see that this small particle is at least less susceptible to moisture than powder. ”
When Lao He heard this, he also seemed quite surprised: "My lord, after this gunpowder is damp, it will form a clump after it is wet, and when it is air-dried and sun-dried, isn't it a small particle after it is broken?" ”
Yang Xuan was overjoyed, and asked him to bring a bowl of water, wet the gunpowder that was not damp, and then kneaded it into small flour balls, and said with a smile: "Lao He, you help me sift this gunpowder after it is air-dried and sun-dried, only the particles of the sieve will be retained, and then see if it can be more resistant to moisture." ”
After Lao He took it, he looked quite excited, and after taking the left and right sides and looking at it for a long time, he said: "My lord, do you want to prevent moisture, you see, when the time comes, apply a layer of charcoal on the outside, my lord, this charcoal is very dry, do you think it's okay?" ”
Yang Xuan looked quite puzzled, looked at Lao He and said, "Lao He, how do you say to apply carbon powder?" ”
Lao He smiled: "My lord, this is easy to do, when the time comes, press the charcoal into powder, and then take it to the wooden barrel and stir, so that each particle will be coated with toner outside." ”
Yang Xuan was overjoyed, looked at Lao He and said: "Lao He, you go to the experiment immediately, oh, just find four or five catties of particles that are dried and dried after being damp, and do it according to your method, and I will practice the gun when the time comes."
Tell everyone that if anyone can prevent the gunpowder from getting wet, I will promote whom. ”
Lao He looked triumphant when he heard this, and Yang Xuan didn't know that it was by chance that he discovered the gunpowder wet method.
Now the most concerned is how to defeat the Great Western Army and how to relieve all kinds of difficulties since the barbarian Qing Dynasty entered Sichuan.
Roughly know that in history, Zhang Xianzhong led his troops to retreat north, and was shot and killed by the barbarian Qing in Phoenix Mountain, Xichong County, in order to avoid the recurrence of the tragedy, took advantage of the opportunity of the rain, discussed the route of the march with the generals, and prepared to attack the city.
In addition, it sent messengers to the various departments to inform the loyal and righteous army that they had fought for more than ten rounds under the city of Chengdu, and now they had slightly defeated the stubborn enemy, and the army was approaching the city of Chengdu, hoping that Fan Yixing, the governor of Sichuan and Shaanxi, Ma Gan, the governor of Sichuan, Zeng Ying, the deputy general, Yang Zhan, and Cao Xun, the deputy general, could lead the troops to recover the city of Chengdu.
No, the weather was sunny and cloudless on this day, the sun was slightly painful on the body, and the roads were muddy, but I was worried that the Great Western Army would take advantage of the gap to destroy Chengdu City and kill the people in the city, so I summoned all the generals to issue an order to march to Chengdu.
Yang Wei led the militia to attack Jintang County in the north, and cut off the Ming Dynasty highway to Chengdu through Shaanxi, Langzhong, Langzhong, Tongchuan Prefecture, and Santai County.
Guo Chonglie's 3rd Regiment and Wen Zirang's militia regiment escorted grain and grass to protect the safety of military food.
Considering that Dujiangyan had been destroyed and the Chengdu Plain was seriously flooded, Guo Shangyi, Lou Yi and others were scattered around Chengdu to reclaim wasteland and carry out military cantonment.
Yang Xuan personally led the 10th regiment of soldiers and horses to cross the Xijiang River, and it took two days to rush to the city of Chengdu