Half a moon later, on the banks of the Daling River.

Daling River, known as Yushui, Longchuan, White Wolf Water in ancient times, the "U-shaped" river meanders from the famous city of Huanglongcheng in the north of Yingchang City, where Mangui is stationed, and then flows into the sea through Panjin in the southeast.

When the western Liaoning corridor had not yet emerged from the sea, the Daling River Valley was the main transportation artery between Liaodong and the Central Plains.

At its entrance to the sea, there is the fertile Panjin Plain, where the rice of Northeast China, which will later become famous throughout the country, is produced.

On a mound, Sun Chengzong, who came from afar, looked far away, but he still couldn't see the former Liaodong town guard, the location of Guangning City.

"Credit villain, donate to the whole Liao, Wang Huazhen... It's really a eunuch who misleads the country! Sun Chengzong, who usually has excellent cultivation, also gritted his teeth at this time.

Yuan Chonghuan on the side waited carefully, "Da Sima (the elegant name of the military department) don't abandon the ministers for this, and get angry, the emperor has already given permission, I will recover Guangning, but I will take charge of things." ”

Sun Chengzong glanced at him and scolded with a smile, "You barbarian, you were put in the prison by the emperor, and you have been beaten a few times. And now it's up again? ”

Yuan Chonghuan catered to him, "Thunder, rain and dew are all Jun's grace." Besides, the saint finally asked Sun Yuanhua to train an artillery team, didn't he still let you take it to the front line? It can be seen that my Yuan is a saint who has not decayed. ”

Sun Chengzong sneered, "That's not because you are tight here, Your Majesty is worried that the silver of the imperial court will be lost, so I asked me to bring the artillery team to support." ”

Yuan Chonghuan scratched his head, "It's not that I said, although the new cannons brought this time are all shiny new copper, but the caliber and barrel are too small, compared to the Hongyi cannon, the power is still a lot worse." ”

"This is what you don't know, these cannons are also made by the Holy Lord Xu Guangqi and asked Hongyi to cast, and they are specially set up for the cavalry army."

Sun Chengzong said as he stroked the barrel of the cannon. Yuan Chonghuan followed him, looking at the field guns that were mounted on cast-iron carriages.

All of the gun carriages had exaggerated huge wheels, and there were also special pack horses to tow the shells.

Sun Chengzong ordered Zhang Chun, the leader of this artillery team, "You should fire five bullets first, and let Inspector Yuan see your skills." ”

Zhang Chun responded, and immediately ordered the soldiers around him to take the pack horses away, set up the gun carriage, and then clean the gun chamber and load the ammunition.

Yuan Chonghuan watched these people move, all of them were quick and efficient, revealing a sense of ability, and he couldn't nod secretly.

Even if it is an elite soldier trained by himself, the quality is no more than that.

Looking at Zhang Chun and their adjustment of the gun carriage, so that they could flexibly adjust the angle of fire, Yuan Chonghuan understood the role of this artillery carriage and why it could be called a field artillery.

Just when he was in high spirits, Zhang Chun asked, "Inspector Yuan, where do you want us to fight?" ”

Yuan Chonghuan was a little surprised, and when he saw Sun Chengzong on the side, he smiled and didn't say anything, and replied, "Where do you do the artillery?" Of course, the farther you play, the better. ”

Zhang Chun shook his head and said, "Inspector Yuan, the caliber of our cannon is not large, if it is only fired from a distance, the damage is limited, it is better to hit accurately." ”

Yuan Chonghuan was a little unconvinced, just a shot, how accurate can it be? He looked at a few birches two or three miles away. "Okay, then you can fight that little tree!"

Zhang Chun asked again, "Is it that all five cannons are fired there?" ”

Yuan Chonghuan was a little impatient, "If you send five cannons, and if you can hit one cannon, the governor will already count you as 'accurate', why bother to make such a big statement again?" ”

Although Zhang Chun was looked down upon, he was neither discouraged nor refuted, but just picked up the surveying and mapping instrument, made a little calculation, and then ordered several gunners beside him to adjust the angle.

There were several loud "booms", and the cannonballs drew a perfect parabola with different trajectoryes, and at the same time hit the bush that Yuan Chonghuan was pointing at.

Pity a few birches, they didn't recruit anyone and didn't provoke anyone, but they were hit by flying shells and sawdust flew straight away, and the trunks were broken, and they lay down on the ground in a dull state.

It wasn't until the tree fell to the ground that Yuan Chonghuan came back to his senses.

All along, the gun tactics of the Ming army were to prioritize firepower and range.

Even when the change had passed, Yuan Chonghuan once bombarded the Jianzhou camp with red-coated cannons in Nanchizi to force it to withdraw his troops, but also relying on the range of new cannons.

But he never expected that artillery could be like a bow and arrow, pointing wherever it hits, and piercing through Yang in a hundred steps.

He looked at Sun Chengzong, "Gao Yang Gong, how did Yuanhua become so powerful?" Can you teach this kind of gunner? ”

Sun Chengzong smiled, "This is a science called geometry in Taixi, and Xu Guangqi has translated it before. The emperor specially appointed Sun Yuanhua as the head of the Xishan Artillery School, and he must be familiar with geometry before operating the cannon in the academy. ”

Yuan Chonghuan's eyes showed eagerness, "This geometry can be so magical, I don't know if the original gunners in my Liao Town can learn it." ”

"You still only know one thing, but you don't know the other." Sun Chengzong waved his hand and asked him to continue watching.

I saw that Zhang Chun and his men quickly moved the guns that deviated from their original positions due to recoil, and then wet the barrels with water to eliminate the remaining sparks that might exist and clean the chambers.

Then another round of recharge was carried out, and most of the remaining stumps were cut off.

Yuan Chonghuan's eyes were straight, which showed that the rate of fire of this field cannon was also faster than the Hongyi cannon used by the Ming army before.

"Okay, with these more than 20 cannons, it's better than thousands of troops. Even if Huang Taiji leads all the Eight Banners, he will have to suffer the loss of cannonballs! Yuan Chonghuan laughed heartily, and his attitude towards Zhang Chun and others was also much closer.

Sun Chengzong smiled and said nothing, "Now you know how powerful these new cannons are?" To be honest, I've been in battle for a long time, and the first time I've seen these cannons, I can't imagine how I can win them. ”

Yuan Chonghuan was in a happy mood and was about to talk to Zhang Chun again, but Sun Chengzong pulled his sleeve and accompanied him to the side.

I saw that Sun Chengzong's face became serious, "You also saw that these 20 or so cannons are the emperor's lifeblood." Not to mention the gunners trained by Yuanhua, who will be widely advertised in the future, will be the spark of our Daming artillery army. ”

"Your Majesty has already decreed that the whole army of Liaozhen must protect the artillery team as if it were guarding the Beijing division, and it is better to let the Liao soldiers cover the arrows and stones than to cause any damage to the artillery team."

Yuan Chonghuan also got up and knelt down and said, "The minister's order." The three armies will be ordered, and everything will be given priority to the escort artillery team. ”

Sun Chengzong helped him up and said slowly, "The emperor also said that victory and defeat are common things in soldiers, and if you don't think about victory, you should think about defeat first." ”

"If Liaozhen can't keep the artillery team at that time, first of all, we must protect the gunners from returning, and secondly, destroy all these artillery pieces so that Jianzhou will not be able to get them."

"If it is really difficult to protect itself, then these gunners cannot fall into the hands of Jianyu."

Yuan Chonghuan's heart sank, and he hurriedly agreed.

Sun Chengzong sighed, "I'm already old, and I can't shelter you from the wind and rain anymore." ”

When Yuan Chonghuan heard Sun Chengzong's words, he was a little sad, and he was about to persuade him, but he saw Sun Chengzong looking at him fixedly, "In this battle of Daling River, you can fight it yourself." ”

Yuan Chonghuan nodded solemnly.

But I heard Sun ask again: "If one day, you are not in Liaodong, who should continue to rule Liaozhen?" ”