Li Shanglong looked at Han Jialang, who nodded at him, and then looked around, some of the survivors had already covered their ears. He clenched the rope in his hand, and the excitement at the beginning was being replaced by nervousness. Looking at the recruits gathered in the back, looking curiously one by one, thinking that these dirt buns would be frightened by the sound of artillery for a while, the corner of Chief of Staff Li's mouth showed a wicked smile.

Taking a deep breath, Li Weilong yan's right hand was slammed, only to hear a loud "boom", a ball of fire sprayed out from the muzzle, the barrel of the cannon sat back, and the shell retreated from the bolt. The gun carriage jumped lightly on the spot under the effect of recoil, stirring up a cloud of dust.

Ten seconds later, a message came from the observation post, "The first shot hits the target." Li Shanglong clenched his fists and waved hard, shouting "yes!" "Nangong Invincible even learned from the Japanese to raise their hands and shout;" 152 theistic religion is full of congestion! The crowd of "Divine Cult" disciples shouted in unison, "Mansai! Full of stuff! "Han Jialang looked at the target from the artillery mirror, on the hill where the target was used, between the green grass, a black hole was emitting black smoke outside." Fortunately, the craft is not yet alive! ”

The power of the Type 66 152 mm plus howitzer left a deep impression on the recruits, and compared to this big guy, the cannon they had seen before could only be regarded as a large artillery battle. When the artillery roared just now, most of the people were shocked by the sound waves, their ears were buzzing, and some of them who were not mentally strong were unstable on their feet, and they sat directly on the ground, and some people even had water stains in their stalls.

The Luo brothers are one of the very few who are not intimidated. Luo Jiahao plucked out his ears that were a little swollen and scolded: "Hang your mother, I didn't expect the battle to be so big, I almost deafened Lao Tzu's ears." ”

Luo Jiaying's eyes burned with feverish flames, and her lips trembled slightly. "In the past, when I read books about cannons, they were often 'one cannon eroded ten miles', of course I didn't believe it, but I thought that it was impossible for a cannon in the world to shoot so far. Today, I found out that I was a frog at the bottom of the well! Haha......" Seeing that the eldest brother thought that the frog at the bottom of the well was still laughing, Luo Jiajie asked Luo Jiahao nervously, "The big guy won't be crazy, right?" ”

Luo Jiaying glared at the two of them, "The bird's nest knows the ambition of the bird!" The Guangfu Army has this militaristic weapon, so why worry about not succeeding in a big event? Hearing Luo Jiaying's words, the eyes of the two lit up, and Luo Jiajie said excitedly: "That's right! Yes! When the Guangfu Army sits in the country, we, the ministers of the first righteous Conglong, have to mix up with the capital and garrison, the big guy has good skills, and a general soldier is not ready to capture! ”

"What is a general soldier? At least the Admiral. Luo Jiahao directly despised his brothers for being poor and short-minded.

Ignoring the two touted younger brothers, Luo Jiaying turned his head and saw that the Teochew Yankee was pale, two trembling, and he had to help others to stand firm, with a contemptuous smile on his face.

Li Shanglong gradually calmed down from the excitement of firing the cannon, and looking at the expressions of the recruits around him, he was very satisfied with the effect of this cannon. Han Jialang commanded the artillerymen to check the reset of Zhu Yuan, and then the second shell was loaded into the chamber. This time, Zhang Pan grabbed the rope and had the first experience, and the people around him, including the recruits, covered their ears. Han Jialang told everyone that covering his ears and opening his mouth wide at the same time can reduce the impact of sound waves on the eardrum.

In just ten minutes, a total of five shells were fired. With an average of one round every two minutes, this rate of fire is far more than that of breech guns, not to mention breech guns, even breech guns under the operation of professional gunners. However, for a novice who is operating a gun for the first time, this speed is already satisfactory.

After Li Shanglong fired his own cannonball, he began to feel heartache again. "It's tens of thousands in one shot! Five rounds is more than 100,000 or 200,000. And a total of eighty shells were delivered, and one sixteenth of them was knocked out this time, which is too wasteful! ”

"What is wasted? What is artillery called if it doesn't shoot artillery? How do you train without live ammunition? Zhang Pan heard the chief of staff's broken thoughts, and directly choked him.

Han Jialang once again supported Zhang Pan's opinion. "We are running out of time, so we must seize the time to do actual combat drills. Now with a few more shots, you can improve the hit rate in actual combat and it will be back. "The final result of this test firing was that all five shells hit the target, and the impact point should be no more than 20 meters. Although most of the artillery work was completed by Han Jialang, the novice artillerymen have also been trained, and at least they have mastered the basic skills and can fire the cannon.

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When the whole camp was boiling in the Stonecutters Island barracks because of the artillery test firing, on the other side of Hong Kong Island, a group of people were hiding in the fort at Mount Davis, looking at the smoke of gunpowder on the small island of Ilha Verde in horror.

The construction of the Davis Ridge Fort began in 1909 and was completed in 1911. Located on the top of Mount Davis and the mountainside, facing the East Porio Strait and the Iwo Strait of Great Military Strategic Value at that time, there were many forts built on the nearby hills and shores. However, because Hong Kong was now under attack for the first time, after the start of the war, the British strengthened their vigilance here and began to build forts, which were already beginning to take shape. When it was discovered that the Chinese were building a military camp on Whetstone Island, General Spintozi personally set up observation posts here to closely monitor the movements of the Chinese day and night.

When the Chinese saw a strange cannon pulled down from the ship, the observation post immediately reported to the general, but by the time the general arrived, the artillery had been pulled into the barracks, and the general could only hear the observation post's description of this strange artillery. The long, thin barrel, very heavy, required forty or fifty people to pull the cannon, with a shield in front and so on.

After listening to the description of the observation post, the general fell into deep thought, but a British major laughed. "Thin and long barrels, these Chinese must have given up their power in pursuit of range, maybe their shells are not much bigger than eggs."

"What if it increases the range? Can you still hit Hong Kong Island? Another officer chimed in, saying that his knowledge of the artillery of the Liberation Army was still limited to mortars.

As if to confirm his words, the observation post suddenly screamed. "Shelling! Take cover! Everyone on the fort, both officers and soldiers, subconsciously squatted on the spot, and General Spintozi stood still and quickly picked up his binoculars and looked at Stonecutters Island.

By this time, the flames of the muzzle had disappeared, and the general could only see a puff of smoke rising from the earthen embankment. The officer who had just made a sarcastic remark crouched down and immediately stood up, frightened by the Chinese shelling, which made them blush. Suddenly, there was a whistling sound from far and near in the sky, and before everyone could react, the whistling went straight to the small desert island in the northwest, and then a loud bang was heard, and the cannonballs hit the hill on the desert island. Because of the angle, the British could not see the explosion point, but judging by the smoke and sound that came from it, the shell was more powerful than all known shells of the British army.

All the telescopes looked towards the island, but they couldn't see anything but the smoke that was slowly rising. A British officer who was slapped in the face still stiffened his mouth, "It must be luck." That's right! Luck for sure. Unfortunately, today was destined to be his bad luck day, and more than a minute later, another cannonball flew and hit the place just now. All the British were shocked, it was nearly three miles away! Shooting an island at this distance is no different from shooting a fishing boat at five hundred yards, and even the best British gunners can't do it. Looking at the smoke and dust raised, the landing points of the two shells should not be far apart, and judging from the power of the shells, this error is completely negligible.

Under the frightened gaze of the British, a total of five shells fell on the island one after another, and the British finally understood that the Chinese artillery not only hit far, but also accurately, and from the vaguely parabolic trajectory, this is not the range limit of the Chinese artillery, the place where they are standing, and even the entire western part of Hong Kong are within range. The British artillery could barely reach the beachhead on the Kowloon Peninsula, and no further could be reached. Thinking that in the future battles there would be a situation where the enemy could hit them, but they could not hit the enemy, and the officers felt a headache. Fortunately, the Chinese's artillery was not fast enough and there were not many of them, otherwise there would be no hope of winning at all. Of course, if they knew that this was the result of a group of novices, their jaws would have dropped.

After waiting for another half an hour, the Chinese did not fire again, and General Spintozi offered to go to the island to see the effect of the shelling. A group of officers dissuaded in unison, and Adjutant Davis was especially opposed, "General, this is too dangerous, what if the Chinese fire again, or if they find out that you go up to the island and shoot at you?" The army needs you, and we cannot afford such losses. ”

"No, second lieutenant, if we do not figure out the power of the Chinese artillery now, then we will suffer even greater losses in later battles". As a veteran, the general has the consciousness of putting life and death out of the way.

"Then I'll do it!" Davis argued.

"Nope. I can't make a proper assessment without seeing it with my own eyes. "The general is also very persistent. However, for the sake of safety, he still took some precautions. "Wait another half an hour, if the Chinese stop firing artillery, we will go to the island." By the way, go find a few Chinese clothes and hats, and then find a Chinese fishing boat. ”

Half an hour later, General Spintozzi led Davis and two guards from the south to the island, and carefully circled to the north. On a small gentle slope, they found five large pits. The power of the high-explosive grenades of the twentieth century was unimaginable to the soldiers of the nineteenth century. Each crater was about ten feet in diameter and three feet deep, and the shattered shrapnel swept through all the surrounding vegetation. The general jumped into a bomb crater, grabbed a handful of dirt with his hands, and was secretly shocked that the Chinese's grenades were so powerful that they shook the rocky red soil as soft as a sponge. The soil was mixed with small pieces of iron, and the general asked Davis to use the crater as a dot to inspect the surroundings, and found that the fragments were extremely widely distributed. The general who heard the result was a little distracted for a moment, and he could fully imagine what kind of bloody rain this grenade would bring if it fell in the phalanx of the infantry troops.

The general then examined several other craters and saw much the same. Looking at the five craters, the general was speechless for a long time, and finally left the island at the urging of Davis.

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This brief shelling was not only shocked by the British, but also by the Chinese in Xiyingpun. At noon, the abnormal movement of foreign soldiers in the nearby military camp attracted the attention of some people, and when the explosion on Ilha Verde Island came, several blocks exploded. The news of the short-haired bandit immediately began to circulate in the market, and people rushed to their homes and locked their doors and windows. Shops have also closed their doors, and some wealthy families have even begun to pack up their gold and silver and prepare to flee. Many of these people moved to Hong Kong to escape the Long-haired Rebellion, although this long-haired and short-haired family is not a family, but the essence of the rebellion is the same, if they also ask the rich people to "dedicate the holy treasury" at that time, it would be a great disgrace.

Mo Shrimp is a fisherman, and it would be more accurate to say that he is a tanker. Because Hong Kong is the territory of foreigners, there is no restriction on Tan people going ashore, so he often comes to Sai Ying Pun to sell his catch. A half-old fishing boat is his only property, and he lives a life where one person eats enough for the whole family and does not go hungry.

He was sleeping on a ship when he was sleeping on a ship when a violent explosion woke him up from his sleep. Seeing the people on the dock scattering and fleeing, he was not nervous at all, even if the short-haired bandit really called, he would just drive the boat away, could it be that the short-haired bandit would embarrass himself as a poor fisherman.

Shortly after the gunfire subsided, he went back to sleep in the cabin, only to feel someone shaking his body half-asleep. "Wake up! Mo shrimp boy, wake up! ”

When he opened his hazy eyes, Mo Shrimp found that it was Jin Siye, the owner of the fish stall, who woke him up. Jin Siye is his old customer, and he usually doesn't buy fish very well, and occasionally gives him some opportunities to make extra money. This time it was he who brought a few people to rent his own boat. Mo Shrimp took a sneak peek at the person who rented the boat, although he was wearing a short coat and a hat, it was obvious that he was a foreigner. If you contact them again to go to Little Qingzhou, it must have something to do with the sound of artillery just now. And it was sent by the owner of the fishing stall in person, and the status must not be low. Mo Shrimp had the intention to refuse, but for the sake of the three eagles, he agreed.

After getting on the island, Mo Shrimp quietly followed behind a few foreigners, and also planned to go and see what was going on. In fact, his identity as a fisherman is only part-time, and his job is a spy for a group of pirates, but he is well hidden enough that no one has been discovered. At the same time that the foreigners sighed at the power of the artillery of the Liberation Army, he was also deeply shocked. He has also seen the craters after the shell exploded, the crater from the cannon of the short-haired bandit, not to mention the Qing army, even the foreigners are far inferior, this news must be reported to the boss quickly. Since the appearance of this group of short-haired bandits, all the heroes on the sea have invested great attention, and no one dares to act rashly before the details are known, and now it seems that this group of heroes on land is not easy to mess with than foreigners.