The herald sent Pang Yue's order to the Agni Battalion, and the soldiers of the battalion were very excited. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoAs a technical class in Huguang Town, they don't have many opportunities to fight the Tartars face-to-face, and using advanced weapons to attack the Tartars from a distance like this is often the time when they are most proud of their faces.

Battalion officer Wang Juntao laughed and said, "This Tartar in Ji'an City is really a blessing!" Our battalion's new rockets, they are the first to try them! ”

The Spaniard Margio, a foreign officer of the Agni Battalion and technical adviser to the General Directorate of Manufacturing, was also flushed with excitement: "Let the barbarians in the city taste the wrath of civilization!"

This new rocket, which is about to be put into use for the first time, is produced by the General Administration of Manufacturing under the personal guidance of Pang Yue, and the principle refers to the later Congreve rocket.

In the original history, the British army used Congreve rockets in the Opium War to attack Qing army batteries and burn Qing army ships to attack ships. At that time, the Qing army had never seen such a novelty, and was repeatedly caught off guard and suffered heavy losses.

"The British reverse rocket is its long skill, which can shoot hundreds of feet,...... With a solid wood as the tail, eight or nine feet long, or zhang Xu, the barrel of medicine, two feet long, three inches large, with thin copper or tinplate for it, six holes under the cylinder to ignite the fire, the wood of the arrow tail, with iron broax through the cylinder, and the barrel through the sharp wooden ruler. Wood powder or iron such as the barrel of a gun, two of the three are subject to the fire of the medicine, and the third of the three is subject to the firecracker medicine, and the arrow is ignited by the medicine, and the barrel bursts, and the fire is scattered, and the tent and house are burned......"

Nearly two hundred years later, the Qing army was taken by surprise, let alone this era.

Compared with the original Congreve rocket, this new rocket in Huguang Town has been improved in many aspects. Although due to the limitations of the craftsmanship of the times, it has not yet reached the effect of rocket artillery in later generations, but in this era of alternating hot and cold weapons, the lethality is undoubtedly terrifying.

One by one, the launchers were placed in the preset positions, and the thick rockets were intimidating.

Then, with Wang Juntao's order, the soldiers lit a fire.

In an instant, dense and piercing screams came and went, and rockets rushed straight to the city with red flames and white smoke.

Pang Yue saw it clearly in the Chinese army. It wasn't that he hadn't seen the Agni Battalion test launch a rocket before, but when he saw this scene again today, he couldn't help but sigh softly: "Spectacular!"

Zhang Yunli, Shi Youliang, Lu Qiwu and others all showed surprise: "It's really an artifact!"

Hao Yongzhong and Zhang Xianbi were dumbfounded: "My God!"

Looking at the fire dragons that were whistling and flying over, the Qing army at the head of the city all stood on the spot. It wasn't until the rocket hit the ground, made a loud noise, and then ignited a fire, that they woke up like a dream and screamed in panic.

After a series of loud noises, a series of sudden fires rose one after another in the city, within the city walls, and in the camps near the city gates. A corner of the city tower was burned, part of the wooden fence of the camp was burned to death, and even a few barrels of fierce fire oil stored behind the horse road that were specially used to deal with the siege Ming army were also affected, and the flames that exploded completely engulfed several Qing soldiers nearby in an instant.

"Ahh Two Qing soldiers who were covered in fire but still conscious ran wildly in all directions, and the people around them avoided them, and the atmosphere of panic spread like a plague.

"Panic what! Hurry up and put out the fire! Liu Wuyuan was also frightened at first, but he reacted quickly.

The Qing soldiers hurriedly prevented the fire from extinguishing it, and although it could not be completely extinguished for a while, the fire was gradually brought under control.

At the top of the city, thick smoke billowed and figures stumbled.

Outside the city, the soldiers of the Ming army cheered.

Pang Yue was both happy and a little regretful. This new rocket has basically achieved the expected goal in terms of power. Unfortunately, due to the limitations of the craftsmanship of the times, the power of the rocket after landing and exploding is insufficient, and it is far from achieving the shocking effect of the later generations of rocket artillery ploughing.

"Let's get here today." After a round of test firing, Pang Yue commanded. The purpose of shock and deterrence has been achieved, and there is no need to waste too many rockets. After all, the battle is still long.

For the whole afternoon after that, Pang Yue did not officially order the siege of the city, and the besieging army was just making a series of preparations before the siege.

Cutting down trees, digging soil, and preparing sandbags for filling the moat...... Of course, these very physical and unskilled jobs were handed over to Hao Yongzhong and Zhang Xianbi's soldiers, and Huguang Town also happened to have spare strength for the subsequent war.

In addition, Nanchang should also send someone to report as soon as possible to tell them that reinforcements have arrived. Although Pang Yue knew that in the original time and space, Jin Shenghuan and Wang Deren had been holding on until the first month of the second year, in case the situation changed, they should still be given a reassuring pill as soon as possible. Otherwise, as soon as Nanchang is broken, Huguang Town will be in a passive position.

The candidates sent to report also have their own standards, the first thing that needs to be has is a brave word, and ordinary courage is not enough, it has to be different from ordinary people's bravery.

For example, in the second year of the Tang Dynasty, coinciding with the Anshi Rebellion, Zhang Xun insisted on Suiyang to resist the rebels, and sent his troops to Nan Jiyun to break out of the encirclement several times to move troops elsewhere.

Pang Yue thought about it for a while, and then thought of a suitable candidate, and sent someone to call Wang Zhangtang, the deputy commander of the 1000th Brigade of the Flying Tiger Battalion.

Wang Zhangtang is the old man who joined the army in Hangzhou, the name of bravery in the whole army of Huguang Town can be called the best, two years ago the battle of Ji'an had personally broken into the enemy formation, killed the Qing general Gao into the warehouse, so that the Qing army present was frightened.

"Little Zhangzi, I'll give you a task." Pang Yue said lightly, "Go and report to Nanchang, just say that the reinforcements have arrived, and tell them to hold on with peace of mind." ”

"No problem, Dashuai, when will I leave?" Wang Zhangtang happily accepted this task.

"This is hundreds of miles to Nanchang, the situation on the way is unpredictable, you may encounter the Tartar rangers at any time, you have to be careful. When you arrive at the city of Nanchang, how to send the news into the city, and how to get out of the city, you also have to think carefully. Pang Yue said, "I'll give you three hundred cavalry, go back quickly." ”

"Haha, where can you use three hundred people for this little thing?" Wang Zhangtang laughed and said, "Please rest assured, a hundred people are enough!" ”

Pang Yuewen was used to his unafraid temperament, so he just smiled and asked, "So confident?"

"Don't worry, this is not my whim. This kind of thing can't be done well by a large number of people. Just imagine, if you only rely on hard fighting, tens of thousands of Tartars are there, let alone 300 people, what is the use of going to 300? There are many places where cavalry is used in the army, and there is no need to use it too much. However, the 100 people who went with me, the commander promised to let me choose them personally. ”

"Well, I'll give you a hundred cavalry. Take care of yourself and go back quickly. Pang Yue thought about it, and finally agreed, and also carefully explained some specific details.

Wang Zhangtang took the order and left.

The next morning, Pang Yue still did not order a full-scale siege of the city, but only ordered the bombardment of Ji'an with artillery.

All kinds of heavy artillery in the army roared in turn, and the terrifying power greatly shocked the Qing troops in the city. For a time, the city wall shook, and the camp outside the city gate was also blown down.

At noon, Liu Wuyuan finally couldn't sit still, and took advantage of the Ming army's withdrawal to return to the camp and bury the pot to cook when he sent a cavalry to break through to the north and go to Nanchang to report for help.

According to Pang Yue's orders, the cavalry of Huguang Town, which was patrolling outside the city, intercepted and killed most of the Qing troops who broke through the siege, and deliberately let a few go.

In the afternoon, Pang Yue ordered all battalions to prepare to launch the first round of siege. (To be continued.) )