Ma Tan guarded the street pavilion, occupied the high ground and abandoned the middle avenue, and was cut off from the water source by Sima Yi's siege of the mountain, which led to a great defeat, which was determined by the weapons of the year. The terrain of the street pavilion is similar to that of Zhang Shuling, which is a relatively gentle hill, and the rolling wood and stones are smashed down from the mountain, and when they reach the middle avenue, they have lost their strength, and the range of the bow and arrow is not so far, so Sima Yi can calmly surround the mountain, cut off the water source, and wait for Ma Tan to lead the troops down the mountain to break through, and then let go of a road, and then cover up from behind.

But now that it has entered the era of semi-firearms, Wang Xinyu not only stationed a small number of troops in the valley and used fortifications and terrain to block the Qing army, but also arranged a secret weapon on the mountain.

On the hill, Xie Yongchang watched hundreds of gunners fiddling with dozens of new guns. This cannon is clearly a mortar, but the mortar has a thin barrel wall, and the caliber is not too large, firing eight-pounder shells.

In addition, there were four mortars of larger caliber, and the caliber of which was thirty-two-pounder.

"Isn't this a mortar? But why is it not iron, it is a copper cannon? Xie Yongchang asked. When attacking the castle of the Dutch in Taiwan, Xie Yong often used 64-pound siege mortar cannons, using solid cannonballs and flowering shells to match, and the unusually strong castle of Geranza was vulnerable to mortar bombardment, forcing the Dutch to surrender out of the city.

Chen Biao, who was in charge of commanding the bronze mortar artillery team, replied: "Lord Hui, this is a mortar cannon, because the cannon made of copper has a thin barrel wall, so the weight can be very light, suitable for mountain troops to carry, mainly used to fire flowering shells to kill and injure the enemy. These cannons worked with the firearms we left in the valley to block the valley path, making every step the Tartars take a heavy cost! We also have sub-cannons on the hillside, which are used to match the mortars on the top of the mountain. ”

"With this new weapon, the Tartars can't conquer the valley path, so they can only attack the mountain!" Xie Yongchang looked at the copper mortar cannon that was laid out and laughed loudly.

At the foot of the mountain, there was a low sound of a trumpet.

"The Tartars under the mountain have attacked!" Someone shouted.

Xie Yongchang stood on a large rock and looked at the foot of the mountain. I saw the banners of the Qing army flying under the mountain, swords and guns like a forest, and the Qing army, which could not be seen from the beginning to the end, lined up in formation and launched a charge to the valley.

"The Tartars are attacking, and you don't open fire?" Xie Yongchang asked Chen Biao. Although this bronze mortar artillery team is here to help in the war, it is not subordinate to Xie Yongchang. Xie Yongchang had no right to give orders to Chen Biao, and it was entirely up to Chen Biao to decide when the mortar would fire.

Chen Biao replied calmly: "Lord Hui, we are not in a hurry, let's watch the performance of the brothers under the mountain first." The number of Tartars in this round of attacks is small, and the brothers under the mountain will be able to hold it. ”

At the foot of the mountain, the first thing to speak in the Ming army camp was the sub-mother cannon, and the ten sub-mother cannons spit out tongues of fire in turn and spewed out white smoke, and a pound-heavy solid cannonball flew out and pierced into the crowd of Qing troops. Lines of blood were pulled. The cannonball landed and bounced, taking the lives of several Qing soldiers and flying into the sky with severed limbs.

"Snap" a Qing soldier's shield was hit by a cannonball, the shield broke a large hole, and after the cannonball penetrated the shield, it took away the upper body of the human body, and the knife in his hand also flew up, and when it fell, it was inserted into the waist of a Qing soldier.

The sub-cannon is an improved version of the Franc machine, with an extremely fast rate of fire. The gunners, who had finished firing the shells, pulled the bolts with iron hooks. Pull the gun out of the belly of the gun and put a new one in. Cover the cannon latch, ignite and fire, and another round of shells whistled out and fell into the crowd of Qing troops, stirring up a bloody storm.

This improved artillery is more airtight than the original Franc cannon. The firing range was long, and the target could be accurately shot at a distance of 300 paces, making the road of the Qing army's attack a bloody road.

"The thieves are so fierce!" Some of the Green Battalion soldiers turned around and ran.

The overseers who pressed the formation behind were unceremoniously, and their knives fell, cutting off the heads of all the fleeing Qing soldiers.

"Rush forward! There are not many thieves! Rush into us and we win! Cai Yurong shouted to cheer up the Qing soldiers.

The Qing soldiers charged hard against the heavy artillery fire of the Ming army. After paying the price of more than 300 casualties, they rushed to within 100 paces, and at this moment, tongues of fire spat out from the fortresses, and the guns hiding behind the shooting holes sprayed dense projectiles, killing and wounding a large number of Qing troops. Because there were ten guns in a fortress, which could be loaded in turns, and the forts in front looked like they would never stop breathing fire, and the goose-egg-sized projectiles continued to burrow into the crowd of Qing troops.

Whether it is a shield or an iron armor, it can't stop the bullets and shells of the cannonball, and the Qing soldiers who are hit are either broken to pieces, broken in two, or have different heads. Even if the arm and leg are rubbed, the broken arm and leg will fly out immediately.

When the Qing army rushed to within fifty paces, the tongues of fire spouted from the shooting hole became more dense, not only raising the guns to fire, but also the flintlock pistols were constantly firing, and the gunshots like fried beans were continuous.

The Qing army counterattacked with bird guns and bows and arrows, but they were helpless to find that the opponent's shooting hole was too small, whether it was a bow and arrow or a bird gun, it was difficult to hit the shooting hole, let alone cause damage to the defenders behind the shooting hole. And the Ming soldiers inside could shoot calmly under the cover of the fortress.

It was useless to shoot with a light arrow, the top of the fortress was sealed, and a feathered arrow shot in a parabola could not penetrate the strong roof of the fortress at all.

After all, the technology was limited, and after rapid fire, the barrel and barrel of the gun were hot and hot, and the frequency of firing decreased, and the Ming army was forced to stop firing and cool down the barrel of the gun and the barrel of the gun.

In the fortress, all that remained was the rapid sound of the flintlock pistol's three-stage fire. Obviously, the power of the flintlock pistol was still a little smaller, and the thick shields of the Qing soldiers could barely resist it, which reduced the losses of the Qing army a lot.

"The barbarians have stopped shelling! Rush up and kill the Bright Dog! Hordes of Qing troops shouted, rushing to the fortress ahead.

The flintlock pistol alone could not stop the infantry charge, and in the blink of an eye, the Qing army rushed to the Ming position.

Xie Yongchang, who was at the top of the mountain, saw the Qing army rushing up, and shouted in a hurry: "Why don't the mortar cannons fire yet?" ”

Chen Biao just smiled: "Lord Xie is not in a hurry!" The Tartars still can't take down our camp in this round of attacks! We should not expose our sharp weapons too early. ”

The Qing army rushed to the front of the formation and found that there was a trench in front of them blocking the way, and these Qing soldiers were hesitating to jump over, but the Qing soldiers behind had already rushed up and pushed the Qing soldiers in front. Under the crowd of people behind, the Qing soldiers jumped into the trenches one after another. That's when it happened. Behind the female wall above the fortress, countless Ming saber and shield hands suddenly appeared, holding ten thousand enemies, earth-shaking thunder, lime bottles, fire oil canisters and other weapons to defend the city.

Ten thousand enemies and earth-shattering thunder threw themselves into the trench, raising clouds of flames, and the iron balls and thistles inside flew out, blowing up the Qing soldiers who jumped into the trench to the point of flesh and blood.

The watered lime bottles fell one after another. There was a series of firecracker explosions, quicklime splashed everywhere in the trench, and the Qing soldiers inside turned white all over their bodies, and they were burned by the hot lime.

Seeing more Qing soldiers jumping into the trenches, the sword and shield men threw fire oil bottles and torches.

As a result, needless to say, it was known that the inside of the trench burned into a sea of fire, and the Qing soldiers inside turned into burning men, letting out heart-rending screams. Struggling in the fire.

At this time, Cai Yurong and Liang Huafeng and others discovered the power of this kind of fortress, this kind of fortress is connected, in fact, it is a continuous castle, even if the Qing army drains the blood, it is difficult to take these fortresses. And Liang Huafeng didn't know that because of the use of cement, the cost of these fortresses was actually not high, and the construction period was also very short.

"It seems. We can only wait for our artillery to come up. Liang Huafeng said.

Cai Yurong added: "It's useless for those small cannons to come up, no thieves' cannons can hit far!" We can only wait for the Hongyi cannon to be brought up to blast these cities open. ”

Mulima said: "The Hongyi cannon is too heavy. It's too slow, and when will the cannon arrive? It's better to build siege weapons, and use human lives to fill up the barbarian camp in front. ”

Liang Huafeng was horrified in his heart, he knew how to use siege weapons to attack, and he didn't know how many people he would lose. So he stepped forward and knelt on the ground. Clasped his hands into fists and bowed: "My lord, the thief's cannon is too powerful!" It took us half a day to build siege weapons, but they were all gone when the thieves bombarded them with cannons! ”

"And what do you think should be done?" Mulima said.

Liang Huafeng replied: "My lord, Lord Ao has ordered the middle lane to slow down. Wait for both wings to attack at the same time. Let's wait patiently, as soon as the Hongyi cannon arrives, the thief's camp will be broken! ”

"Good! That's up to you! Mulima nodded.

Zhangtai interjected coldly: "We can attack in a roundabout way and bypass this big battalion." ”

Liang Huafeng's face changed greatly: "Around? From where to get around? Past the hillside, the thieves on the hill are waiting for us to attack the mountain! They can repel us with rolling wood and stones! Walk around the jungle on the side, where a group of madmen are waiting for us! ”

"Crazy? General Liang is talking about the thieves' native soldiers, right? Those people are just individual warriors, how can they match my army? Zhangtai said disdainfully.

Liang Huafeng said: "Master Pei, don't you know, fighting in the mountains and forests, the army can't be arrayed, only to compete with martial arts. Those madmen are not afraid of death, they are simply a bunch of beasts and animals. ”

Zhangtai sneered: "If it is a competition of personal martial arts, who can compare to our Eight Banners warriors?" Ben Beizi is willing to personally lead the Eight Banners warriors to break the thieves! ”

Mulima is also a brave and unscrupulous person, so he immediately agreed to Zhangtai's proposal, let him take more than 1,000 Eight Banner soldiers, followed by more than 1,000 Han Eight Banner Bird Soldiers, and then give him 3,000 Green Battalion soldiers to cooperate, trying to detour from the path.

As expected, when Zhangtai led the team with the Eight Banners as the core main force from the small road, he bumped into the crazy mountain soldiers of the Qiongzhou Army.

The roundabout Qing soldiers ran into traps and suffered many casualties. So Zhangtai asked the Green Battalion soldiers to step on the trap, and after paying the lives of more than 500 Green Battalion soldiers, the Eight Banners Army met the Mountain Army.

In the mountains and forests, the arrows are shot back and forth, and Zhangtai's old Eight Banners archery skills are extremely superb, but those Miao Li soldiers who have been hunting since they were young are not bad in archery. The bird gunner of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty had a short range, and was shot into a hedgehog before he could get close.

In addition to using bows and arrows to shoot at the Eight Banners, some of the mountain soldiers took advantage of their familiarity with the mountain roads to make a detour from the side and launch a fierce attack on the flank of the Eight Banners.

Before the people arrived, poisoned arrows and throwing knives arrived first.

A large number of Eight Banners were knocked down, and the mountain soldiers rushed into the crowd of Eight Banners.

What is madness? Madness is to rush into the enemy's ranks, obviously see the enemy slashing, but do not dodge, in order to use their own weapons to slash at the enemy, not to seek to hit the fatal point, as long as you can smash the enemy's head, can unload the enemy's limbs, can make the enemy's tendons break and fracture!

After Liang Huafeng was defeated in the last fierce battle, the mountain soldiers had not fought for several days. They rushed into the crowd of Qing troops, like tigers that had been hungry for several days, roaring excitedly, holding various weapons, and killing the Eight Banners.

Although the old Eight Banners have strong combat effectiveness, they are also masters who are not afraid of death, but after all, they have been in the customs for many years, and their fighting spirit has been worn out a lot.

"Crazy! They're all crazy! Zhangtai regretted not listening to Liang Huafeng's advice, and was the first to turn around and run. After all, Zhangtai is young, although he was not born in the customs, he was still very young when he entered the customs, and he had never participated in any battles at all.

Originally, the Eight Banners were still fighting with the mountain army, but when they saw the main general's banner fleeing backwards, the morale of the Eight Banners suddenly dropped to the lowest point, and they all turned around and ran.

The defeat was like a mountain, and the fleeing Eight Banners soldiers were chased and beaten by the crazy mountain army behind, and there was no one who turned back to resist it, they were all fighting for their lives, just hoping that they could run faster than their companions.

If it weren't for Zhangtai taking the lead in escaping, in fact, Lao Baqi would not have lost so badly. This is really a soldier bear, will be a nest of bears.

In the mountains, the mountain soldiers chased the ordinary infantry, which was equivalent to the cavalry chasing the infantry on the plains, and these poor Eight Banners soldiers were killed all over the field and the blood flowed in rivers.

"You! You! Mu Lima wanted to slap Zhangtai in the face, but the other party was Beizi, a relative of the emperor, so he had to hold back his anger and pointed at Zhangtai, "General Ben wants to let Ao Da ginseng you!" You just wait to lose your position! ”

More than 1,000 old Eight Banners and more than 1,000 Han Eight Banners were almost lost by the waste of Zhangtai, and hundreds of people ran back, which made Mulima so angry that he almost vomited blood.

Just when Mulima's attack suffered a big loss, Yue Le's attack also suffered a big loss, and he was defeated in front of the Ming army's fortress. Yue Le also suspended his attack and waited for the Hongyi cannon to arrive.

After waiting for five days with difficulty, the Qing army auxiliaries in the rear team delivered the Hongyi cannon.

Seeing the Qing army at the foot of the mountain transporting the Hongyi cannon, Chen Biao said: "Now it's our turn to shoot!" Prepare to shell the Hongyi artillery of the Tartars! ”

The Hongyi cannon has a range of seven to eight miles, while the copper mortar cannon on the mountain, only four 32-pounder copper mortar cannons have a range of up to six miles, which is still inferior to the Hongyi cannon of the Qing army, can this hit the Qing artillery? Xie Yongchang was very skeptical. (To be continued.) )