There is a spacious open space in the rear camp of the Chu army, thousands of auxiliary soldiers shuttle back and forth, transporting the big trees and moso bamboos that have just been cut down, the craftsmen wield axes and saws, these big trees and moso bamboos are roughly processed, and then made into various siege equipment, many of them have not slept all night, their eyes are bloodshot, their bodies are sore and tired, but they still grit their teeth and work hard.

Craftsmen have a transcendent status in the Chu army, and they don't have to go to the battlefield until the last moment, but they have always received a generous salary, and the only thing they have to do is to ensure the support of the front-line soldiers.

In the middle of the site is a rudimentary half-cut ship, unusually large, covered with two thick layers of guards, made of tough bamboo, to protect against both bows and arrows, and flying lime bottles. The twister circled the half-cut ship twice, and then went in to watch it for a long time, and when he came out, he nodded to the craftsman's steward.

"It's almost done, but don't forget the fire attack, when you really use this guy, wipe it with wet mud again, please Uncle An bother." Covering the surface of the half-ship with wet mud can withstand all kinds of fire attacks, such as rockets, oil and so on.

The craftsman's steward surnamed An, with a gray beard, nearly sixty years old, is upright, and has a high prestige among the craftsmen, and the officers and soldiers of Chu respect him very much, from Wang Kefan to ordinary soldiers, and they have to call Uncle An when they see him.

"General Xiaolin, don't worry, just leave it to me, ensure that your subordinates can't hurt a single hair, and you can defeat Xianning in one breath, so that General Xiaolin can make another great contribution!" Steward An smiled, and had both the kindness of the elders and the necessary respect for the twister.

Twist Zi became an orphan when he was more than ten years old, but in fact, he also had his own name, and with the expansion of the Chu army, he had been promoted to the five-rank garrison. Except for a few close friends such as Heiyu, no one calls him by the nickname Twister, but all call him by his big name - Lin Shi. Of course, the Wupin garrison is not a general, and the security manager is just a high honorific title.

Hearing Steward An say this, Twist (Lin Shi)'s face was a little embarrassed: "If I don't let me go in this battle, it's not necessarily, Chen Shangwu's cannon is powerful, maybe nothing happens to me......"

Over the past few months, Twist and his demolition team have not been idle. A large number of research experiments have been carried out on the blasting technology of black powder, and two breakthroughs have been made.

The first is to be able to use local materials, use materials and tools in the army, and then dig a relatively strong coffin in the field grave, and make a "coffin explosive package" with actual combat power after a little processing. This is not just a matter of saving a few new coffins, but it shows that they are more proficient in the use of black powder. There is also a better understanding of the principles of explosions. It can give full play to the power of black powder under rudimentary conditions.

The second is the pursuit of greater and stronger blasting power, and in the test has achieved initial success, the twist in the Chinese New Year to make a super large "blasting canister", earth-shattering put a cannon battle, if there is a suitable opportunity can be used in actual combat.

But in this battle against Xianning, it was Chen Shangwu's artillery team that served as the main attack. Twister's demolition team may not have a chance to play, he is busy for half a day just in case.

In the land of Xianning County, there are thousands of Qing troops stationed, and the defensive forces on the city wall are sufficient. It is difficult to gain a foothold in the first one or two hundred people attacking the city, so using a cloud ladder to attack the city is just a disguise, Xianning is too close to Wuchang Mansion, and it is too late to attack the city through tunnels, and the key to breaking the city is whether the city gate can be opened with artillery.

Wang Kefan's only worry is that the Qing army will not act according to common sense and block the city gate with stones or something, and the Ming army only has a Portuguese six-pounder cannon, and the others are three-pounder and four-pounder guns, which are limited in power and cannot open the stone pile behind the city gate.

In order to prevent this kind of accident, the demolition team under the twister was also prepared, and asked the craftsmen and auxiliary soldiers to build a very strong half-cut boat, if the city gate was really full of stones, Wang Kefan planned to dig the root of the wall under the city tower, and then use the half-cut boat to go up the gunpowder coffin and blow these stones apart.

However, in this way, it will definitely be delayed for a long time, so Wang Kefan asked the demolition team to prepare in advance.

……

In front of Xianning City, a big war was about to break out.

The Xianning city wall was condescending, and when more than a dozen cannons were pushed onto the artillery position, the obstacles formed by the flags could no longer block the view on the city wall, and Lu Renqing's Puqi battalion put away the extra flags and moved three hundred meters to the east, still protecting the flanks of the artillery position, but exposing the vision facing the city gate.

"The Red Cannon!"

"The Southern Barbarians have a lot of cannons!"

There was an immediate exclamation on the city wall, and the Qing army standing neatly and neatly was faintly in a commotion, and the cannon was a high-precision weapon in this era, and it had a strong deterrent effect.

Xu Bin was standing on the city tower, his face changed suddenly, and he hurriedly turned to a Eight Banner general next to him and said, "Please leave, your lordship, there is danger here!" ”

The general of the Eight Banners was an Alihachao Hajia Lazhangjing, but after seeing the artillery of the Ming army, he was quite calm, and scolded Xu Bin: "Bastard! What are you afraid of! These small cannons are afraid, what kind of battle are they fighting? ”

Aliha Chao Hajia Lazhangjing, after the seventeenth year of Shunzhi, was renamed the Xiao Cavalry Commander, the military attache of the Xiao Cavalry Battalion of the third grade, and belonged to the middle-level generals in the Eight Banners. The Xiao Cavalry Battalion is the armored cavalry in the Eight Banners, as the name suggests, Aliha Chao Hajia Lazhangjing is the cavalry officer of the Eight Banners Xiao Cavalry Battalion, and his subordinates are all armored Eight Banner Cavalry.

In addition to Ali Ha Chao Ha Bing and Ali Ha Chao Ha Zhangjing, there are also Baya Soldiers and Baya La Zhangjing in the Eight Banners, as well as Kabush Xianchao Ha Bing and Kabush Xian Zhangjing, simply put, after the seventeenth year of Shunzhi, Baya Lama soldiers evolved into a guard battalion, Ali Ha Chao Ha soldiers evolved into a cavalry battalion, and Kabush Xianchao Ha soldiers evolved into a forward battalion, which is the so-called three major battalions, before and after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the so-called Eight Banners elite generally refers to these three troops.

In the Aliha Chaoha soldiers, the senior commanders are directly served by the banners, Aliha Chaoha Zhangjing is a middle-level officer, and the low-level officer is called Fende Paishku, and after the seventeenth year of Shunzhi, it was renamed Xiao Cavalry School, which is commonly known as "Daizi", and ordinary soldiers are called Aliha Chaoha soldiers.

Xianning City's Aliha Chao Ha Zhangjing was born as a veteran of the Eight Banners, and he often dealt with artillery when he fought in Liaodong, and he was very familiar with all kinds of artillery, he only glanced at the artillery of the Chu army, and concluded that the other party only had three-pounder guns and four-pounder guns, and their power was limited, so he was so calm.

Xu Bin was not familiar with artillery, and saw that the artillery of the Ming army was methodically charging and loading, adjusting the elevation angle, and the muzzle of the black hole was clearly facing the direction of the city tower...... If he was killed by the explosion, he would be a hundred, and if he killed this Ali Hachao Ha Zhangjing with one shot, I am afraid that even the eldest brother Xu Yong will not be able to afford it.

"Lord Zhangjing, the target of the castle tower is too big, and Nanban will definitely bombard it with cannons......"

"Don't be afraid, this kind of artillery can't collapse the city tower, and the Southern Barbarians haven't tested yet, so they definitely can't hit accurately, let's take a look again." That Aliha Chao Hazhangjing was very brave, pointed at the artillery position of the Chu army with a horsewhip and said with a smile: "The generals of the Southern Barbarians can't fight, and the city wall of Xianning is so strong, it can't be blown up with this kind of artillery......"

At this time, the artillery company under the city roared angrily, and more than a dozen cannonballs were shot out one after another, and the trajectory of the cannonballs dragging the afterimage roared towards the direction of the city tower, and the momentum was amazing!

Xu Bin couldn't care about the humility of the upper and lower levels anymore, and ran backwards with that Ali Hachao Ha Zhangjing, and the Lord Zhang Jing scolded repeatedly, but Xu Bin dragged him desperately to rush out, only to hear a loud bang, the city wall under his feet shook violently, followed by two clicks, which seemed to hit the city gate, Xu Bin didn't care to look back, and pulled the Ali Hachao Ha Zhangjing to rush to the outside of the city tower.

"Bang", a cannonball smashed on the wall bricks on the side of the city tower, the rubble and bricks splashed everywhere, the wall shook violently twice, but it was safe and sound, that Aliha Chao Ha Zhangjiang felt that Xu Bin was loyal to the lord, but did not scold him again, pointed to the bullet point and said: "You see, the southern barbarians can't shoot artillery, the first test shot did not hit a cannon, only this cannon is the closest to the city tower." ”

"Yes! Be! Xu Bin nodded and said with some hesitation: "But it seems that two cannons happened to hit the city gate, I don't know what happened." ”

"City gates?" That Aliha Chao Hazhangjing was stunned for a moment, and suddenly shouted: "It's broken!" The Southern Barbarians are not going to bombard the city walls with cannons, but to bombard the city gates! ”

……

On the artillery position of the Chu army, the artillerymen were busy.

The firing procedure of the breech guns was very cumbersome, and it was an individual work, and around each cannon, there were more than two dozen artillerymen, repeating the steps in the training.

Fill the muzzle with a water bag to extinguish the remaining sparks in the bore and cool down the bore, then the artillerymen work together to turn the heavy muzzle to the ground, pour out the sewage mixed with the residual medicine, and then clean it with a cotton mop and re-erect the bore. The auxiliaries poured the residual medicine into the nearby waste pit, and the ammunition hand loaded the ordered small packets of gunpowder according to the required dose, and the loader stuffed the solid iron shells into the gun chamber.

The observer put down the binoculars and reported the number of shells of the cannon, although his work was easy, but the responsibility was heavy, and more than ten guns were fired at the same time, if he could not see where the shells of the gun position fell, the accuracy could not be adjusted for the next launch.

The gun commander calculated, reported the angle required for the lugs and the gun table, adjusted the direction of the gun with the horizontal hand, and bound the elevation angle with the high and low hands, and the gun was reset, loaded and calibrated, and finally ready to fire again.

The artillery unit of the Chu army has just been established, and the soldiers are not very skilled, and the whole process takes about five minutes. (To be continued......)