The flying cannon seems to be a bit like a mortar, but Li Shi didn't even get a primer, so naturally he couldn't make a mortar. This thing was a replacement for Li Yanpan's failed tech tree, and this was not what he wanted originally.

There are many lessons learned in the battles of Guanyin Mountain and Yong'an in Fogang, the first point is that the suppressive firepower is insufficient, although the artillery can fire shells such as grapeshot shells, it must be put in the front line, limiting the choice of battlefield and the use of tactics. Although the Divine Arm Cannon can fire shotguns, it is not lethal enough, and it is a large shotgun.

What he wanted was a blossom bomb, but he only knew a general principle, not the details. I asked a lot of gunsmiths in Foshan for advice, and wanted to dig out the secrets of the so-called "lost" flowering shells, but they were educated by the gunsmiths.

There are flowering bullets, and they have always been there, but the reason why no one uses them, and then they are gradually forgotten, is because it is too inconvenient. To put it simply, unlike the grenades used by the Europeans in the future, the flowering shell ignites the fuse in the chamber of the gun before firing the cannon. In order to prevent the internal flame of the cannon from igniting the fuse, causing the flowering shell to explode directly in the chamber, the steps of loading the shell are very troublesome, and the reliability is very low.

If we pay attention to this problem and can improve it all the time, the descendants of the flowering bomb grenade can even come out earlier than the Europeans, but it is a pity that after the Manchu Qing Dynasty entered the customs, the development of firearms technology was curbed, and the flowering bomb gradually "lost".

When Li Xi learned of such a background, he naturally thought about improving himself. The Iron and Steel Institute was given the task of developing a new flowering bomb.

Originally, he thought that this should not be some kind of high-precision technology, but he didn't expect that the steel station was really stuck, and there has been no progress, and then he thought that during the Opium War, the British artillery was still mainly solid bullets, and Li Xian admitted that this was indeed a knowledge that the door had to make great efforts to.

It was impossible for him to turn into a craftsman to solve this problem, but instead he cast a nirvana: a bounty, and at the same time gave limits and hints, the cannon was a cylinder, not a ball, and the fuse was mounted in front.

The reward of up to 5,000 taels of silver made both the Iron and Steel Institute and the Foshan gunsmith red-eyed, and Li Xi got more than ten kinds of samples, and there was even no lack of whimsical designs, but there were still too many practical surnames and reliable surnames. Problems such as the number of fragments exploded in the projectile, the timing control of the fuse, the accuracy of the shell, and so on, will not be solved in a moment. In particular, the timing control of a slow-burning fuse is a sophisticated system, and it also requires the gunner to have a lot of experience and be able to master it accurately.

Feeling that his needs were too complicated, and that the last one still needed to spend a lot of effort to retrain the gunners, Li Xi decided to re-study his needs.

After a complete examination of his own needs, Li Xi found the root of the problem. It seems unnecessary to let the artillery fire flowering shells. The biggest problem he faced now was that muskets were not enough to suppress the enemy's close-range attacks, including the sea of dead and cavalry, not the lack of weapons to suppress enemy personnel from a distance of a mile or two.

If the range of action of the flowering bullet is shortened to the distance of the musket, which is limited to 200 paces, that is, 300 meters, then it is possible to use a fixed fuse without adjusting the time, and at the same time allow this weapon to be directly mastered by the infantry.

The demand was adjusted, the progress was suddenly accelerated, and the flowering bomb soon had a reliable sample, but the design of the launcher was full of flowers, and there was even a design made of a directly modified bed crossbow.

This problem was solved by Tian Dayou, and his thinking was very simple: "Since it doesn't have to be that far, just make the artillery thin and short." ”

The design that came out made Li Xi's first impression was...... The cannon without conscience is actually a mortar, which can launch a six-pound flowering projectile to a distance of up to 200 steps, and the barrel is directly cast from crude steel. In order to maintain flight stability, the new flowering shell was changed to an olive shape, and the rear half was added with a tail fin, which looked quite like a variant mortar shell.

So this nondescript "flying cannon" came out, the cannon weighed no more than 30 catties, three people can fiddle, a mule can camel a cannon and a number of shells.

In this battle of Shaozhou, in addition to the rifled gun snipers scattered into the wings, these flying cannons are his secret weapons. The terrain of the battlefield is complex, and the Qing soldiers are likely to use the tactics of the sea of people, and the flying cannon is the most effective means to suppress the sea of people.

At this moment, seeing a round of shelling, there were few mute shots of flowering shells, and Li Xi finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The three crowds were cut off by this violent explosion, the crowds behind were frozen like glaciers, although the crowds in front were still surging, their movements were no longer so resolute, the heat behind them overwhelmed the frenzied flames in their hearts, and the row of cold bayonets behind the low wall made their brains begin to calm down.

"Rush forward! Rush up! ”

Gao Qiwei was in the back but it was difficult to calm down, and when he saw that the crowd began to shake in the second half, spreading from sporadic routs to large areas of escape, he wanted to rush to the front of the battle with a knife. The actual damage caused by this burst of flowering bullets is not too great, and if you can resist the fear and continue to rush forward, the opponent's defense line will be difficult to stop.

"Fifty steps is enough!"

In front of Yang Tangcheng's defensive line, two flowering bombs exploded seventy or eighty steps away, and the crowd was blown into two sections like snakes, but the front section did not stop, and saw that four or five hundred people were about to rush to the low wall.

"Seventy degrees!"

The gunner of the flying cannon was also in a hurry, ripped open the powder bag, poured gunpowder, loaded the shell, and poured the primer into the small funnel-shaped fire door. Adjust the bracket, raise the muzzle, press the firing handle hard, the flintlock ignites the primer, and with a muffled bang, the gun body vibrates, and the smoke of gunpowder spews out from the muzzle and the fire door, and the cannonball flies high, crosses an extremely steep parabola, and then smashes straight down.

Rumble...... The flames exploded at a height of one or two feet, dozens of fragments shot out, and outside the low wall, less than thirty paces away, the crowd of small pieces of blood splashed one after another, with a wailing sound, tearing the eyes and ears of the spectators almost at the same time.

"Flower bold! Do you want to blow up your own people? ”

Yang Tangcheng lay behind the low wall, his helmet almost removed from the aftermath of the explosion, and he was so angry that he scolded at the gunner.

"Get down!"

But he didn't want the gunner to give up, so he picked up a flowering bomb and rushed to the low wall, lit the fuse with the flint fire machine on his body, and threw it out.

There was another loud bang, and a group of Qing soldiers who had rushed seven or eight steps away were blown up in all directions, and the Qing soldiers behind were finally completely awakened by the explosion, and they all turned around and fled.

"Comfortable...... Haha......"

The gunner laughed as he picked up his musket. Yang Tangcheng rolled his eyes, it was difficult to deal with this madman.

"Hunan soldiers are brave and ......"

On the tower of the Shaozhou City Gate, seeing the officers and soldiers retreating, Li Shibang sighed, and everyone else nodded in agreement. Although this wave of officers and soldiers was repulsed, they finally rushed close to the defense line, replaced the Guangdong soldiers, and the first round of flowering shells were all dispersed.

But after all, it was defeated and retreated, and it retreated faster than it rushed, the flowering bombs kept exploding in the crowd, and you could vaguely see the human bodies flying in the air one after another, and the spectators on the tower of the city gate all exclaimed in surprise, and many women who accompanied the nobles to watch the battle also covered their eyes.

"It's time for Gao Junmen to stop, it's so bad, doesn't he admit defeat?"

Qu Wansheng shook his head, this wave of more than 3,000 soldiers had lost at least one-third, so he had to rest and find another way.

"Keep rushing! This trick works! If you fail to break through, your soldiers are frightened! ”

Gao Qiwei is unwilling to give up, he has already seen the opportunity to win, even if he is bombarded by the flowering shell, he can still rush to the defensive line, which shows that his tactics are correct.

He was unwilling to give up, and the other subordinates, especially the general Zuo Zhenbiao, who was not under his control, quit doing it, and they all shirked it with a difficult face. The tragic situation of the two waves of soldiers in front of them can be seen clearly.

"Gao is here, which means that the platform is here, and the platform is here, which means that the emperor is here!"

Gao Qiwei roared, and with an order, the general of the battalion in the Yongzhou town standard, and the general of the battalion before the standard fell off his head, and the two bloody human heads suppressed the other generals, and the third wave of attacks was quickly organized.

"One blow, then decline, three and exhaustion......"

Gao Qiwei's eyes burst into bloodshots, and he recited such a common saying in his heart, he knew very well that if he stopped attacking today, he would have no chance of winning.

"Is this called not hitting the south wall and not looking back?"

Li Shi shook his head and smiled bitterly, the Qing soldiers attacked in two waves, and they didn't even touch his defense line, leaving more than a thousand corpses, and Si Wei was killed and wounded only a few dozen people, this is the difference of the times.

It was nearly noon, the third wave of the Qing soldiers was organized, and both sides had experience, and the Qing soldiers were running wildly, just hoping to rush through the coverage area of the flowering shells as soon as possible, while Si Wei's side organized a row of guns a hundred steps away, and at the same time, the gunners of the flying cannons had a more accurate grasp of the fuse, and more and more shells exploded directly in mid-air.

But this wave of Qing soldiers is different, thousands and even guerrilla garrisons are connected in several lines in the crowd, pushing the crowd forward, even if the shrapnel flies sideways, the flesh and blood are splashed everywhere, and the crowd is peeled off layer by layer, but it still does not retreat as a whole.

"Throw! Ignite a few and throw them away! ”

In front of the defensive line where Yang Tangcheng was, hundreds of Qing soldiers rushed within thirty steps without fear of death, and the flying cannons and muskets could no longer stop them.

More than a dozen flowering bombs were thrown, and the fuse fixed for four to five seconds could not be delayed in the hand, and looking down from the mountainside, on this small line of defense, a line of fire formed by flames and lights exploded instantly, and at least hundreds of Qing soldiers were swallowed by this line of fire.

"What a crazy ......"

In the smoke and dust, there were still a large number of Qing soldiers rushing up, although their eyes were full of fear, and their faces were hideous and stiff, but their feet did not stop at all. Yang Tangcheng spat and beckoned his subordinates to get up and take their guns.

The sound of the bell clattering with gold and iron, and the bayonet and the waist knife and spear collided together, and the steel entered the flesh, and the muffled sound of the human body crashing then covered the sound of gold and iron.

This group of Qing soldiers who rushed up looked like crazy, Yang Tangcheng, even if the more than 100 people were veterans, they were almost crushed by this wave of collision, but fortunately, the sentry commander and the head of the eyes fired again and again, knocking down several of the most fierce guys, otherwise they would really be scattered.

"The bayonet—it's that long—drink!"

Yang Tangcheng shouted, and finally lifted the hearts of his subordinates, and on the training ground, the memories of hard training with that slender figure rolled, which also made them full of confidence in the weapons in their hands.

Footsteps came and went, blood and sweat were swaying, these two or three hundred Qing soldiers were not afraid of death, and more than 100 guards would never retreat, and the two sides couldn't hold each other for a while.

But it was only for a moment, and then the sound of footsteps came from the left and right sides and the rear, and reinforcements arrived, surrounding this group of Qing soldiers on all sides, and the sound of bayonets and guns quickly harvested lives.

"High position...... Do you know that you have invented the pig assault tactic......"

On the mountainside, seeing the strangeness of the Qing soldiers, Li Shi sighed with emotion. Most of the Qing soldiers were fleeing, but the small half continued to rush forward, clearly in a posture of death.

(To be continued)