The 804 new mortar cannon is mighty

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Knock knock!

On March 4, outside Kumamoto Castle, the war drums were thundering, and Li Zixiao issued an order to siege the city.

Boom Boom!

Before the infantry soldiers went into battle, the White Dragon Army routinely came to bombard for half an hour, which had basically become a routine before the White Dragon Army attacked the city.

There is no way, according to Li Zixiao, if you can solve the problem with artillery fire, don't use people.

Thundered!

Nearly 300 artillery pieces fired a salvo, and the scene was extremely spectacular.

Explosive bombs were fired into Kumamoto Castle, causing a lot of damage to the Hosokawa soldiers on and behind the walls.

And now, the generals of the White Dragon Army have long been accustomed to Li Zixiao's style of play.

Seeing the shocking scene of so many artillery salvos, the generals of the White Dragon Army also seemed very calm.

On the contrary, it was the Japanese barracks of Shuiichiro Yoshino, those Japanese generals and soldiers.

At this time, looking at the artillery positions that kept roaring and firing shells into Kumamoto Castle, they all showed a look of horror and fear.

To be honest, they had never seen such a shocking scene.

This made them feel deep in awe of Li Zixiao and the White Dragon Army.

To put it bluntly, at this time, the White Dragon Army relied on the advantages of hot weapons and equipment in their hands to bully their opponents with firepower.

Immediately, under the cover of artillery fire, the artillery of the White Dragon Army also pushed those heavy mortars to a distance of less than three kilometers under Kumamoto Castle.

There is really no way, the power of this mortar is great, but the range is too short, only less than three kilometers.

However, for the White Dragon Army at this time, it was enough.

Before the White Dragon Army had it, the two battles of destroying the Hita Domain and Sano Castle to annihilate the main force of the Shimazu Army had fully proved their strength and greatly deterred the Hosokawa Army in Kumamoto Castle at this time.

So at this time, the Hosokawa family in Kumamoto Castle had no intention of sending troops out of the city to fight the White Dragon Army in the field.

And the archers and musketeers on their walls could not attack the gunners of the White Dragon Army three kilometers away.

As for the Hosokawa army city wall, there are also some artillery pieces that have long been bombarded by the White Dragon Army for more than half an hour, and they will not be destroyed, but they will kill the gunners and scare them away.

So much so that when the more than 400 gunners of the White Dragon Army pushed the thirty mortar guns three kilometers outside Kumamoto Castle and began to relocate, they did not receive a trace of attack.

"Damn, what the hell are the Ming troops doing outside the city?

They don't send troops to attack the city, what does it mean to bombard the city vigorously.

Do they think that they can take Kumamoto Castle in the main domain with only artillery bombardment? ”

Hosokawa Mitsusho was bombarded by the White Dragon Army, causing a lot of casualties to his soldiers defending the city, and he was upset.

Although his mouth was very hard, he couldn't hide the panic in his eyes at all.

"Baga, is this the strength of the Ming army, how can they have so many artillery.

And that kind of shell that can explode, it's so hateful, so many of our warriors have been injured by that kind of explosion. ”

At this time, Hosokawa Mitsusho was not the only one who was angry, but also Hosokawa Qinian, who was appointed by Hosokawa Mitsusho as the chief general of the castle at this time and served as the commander on the front line of Kumamoto Castle.

At this time, Li Zixiao rode on a horse, standing in the middle of the White Dragon Army, looking at the Japanese soldiers waiting to defend on the city wall, and couldn't help but sneer.

"These devils are still stupidly waiting for Benhou to send foot soldiers to attack the city!

As everyone knows, the way of fighting the war has changed in the hands of Ben Hou. ”

Immediately, Li Zixiao looked into the distance, four hundred White Dragon Army gunners were placing thirty mortar cannons, and each mortar needed more than a dozen gunners to wait.

Although, at this time, the Japanese soldiers on the wall of Kumamoto Castle also discovered this white dragon soldier who was very close to their city wall.

They also only attacked them with catapults.

But because the shelling of the White Dragon Army has not yet ended, those catapult soldiers placed on the city wall will face the threat of explosive bombs at any time.

The speed at which they threw stones was pitifully slow, and they could not stop the artillery of the White Dragon Army from setting up mortar positions.

After almost two sticks of incense, Li Zixiao saw that on the side of the mortar position, there was a flag bearer of the White Dragon Army waving the flag, indicating that their side had been completed.

"Command the mortar positions, let them open fire!

Zilong and Peng Hao, led 3,000 White Dragon Army and 5,000 city defense troops to line up on the flanks of the mortar artillery position to prevent the Japanese soldiers in the city from going out of the city to destroy our mortar artillery position. ”

Li Zixiao immediately gave the battle order.

He believed that once the mortar positions were fired, that would be when the battle between the two sides officially began.

It's just that when the time comes, the first to sit still and launch an attack will probably not be the White Dragon Army outside the city, but the Hosokawa Army inside Kumamoto Castle.

As long as the commander of the Hosokawa Army in Kumamoto Castle is not a fool, after he has seen the power of those mortars that become them.

We will never sit idly by and let this mortar position continue to exist.

Otherwise, with the power of those mortar cannons, it would only take a few rounds to destroy their walls.

The only trouble is that these mortar cannons are too troublesome to load, and the interval between each launch is enough for two sticks of incense.

In such a long blank time, this mortar position needs the protection of the White Dragon Army's foot soldiers.

"Luo Chao, Li Tianba, Yoshino Shuiichiro, Du Tengfei, you also lead the men and horses of each department to their respective attack locations.

When the mortar positions are fired, you will start the siege, and go. ”

Then, Li Zixiao issued combat orders to Luo Chao and other generals of the White Dragon Army.

Li Zixiao didn't plan to just wait for the mortar cannon to be powerful, he wanted to take a multi-pronged approach, while the mortar cannon was fired, other sections of the city would also launch an attack to distract the Hosokawa army in the city.

Anyway, Kumamoto Castle is not small, and this time Li Zixiao attacked three city walls.

What the mortar artillery wants to attack is only the east city wall, and the north and south city walls are Luo Chao and Li Tianba who are responsible for attacking.

"Fire!"

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

Soon, Li Zixiao's order was received from the mortar position, and an artillery commander roared, and those gunners stabbed the red-hot soldering iron into the fire door behind the mortar cannon.

Immediately, thirty mortar cannons roared, and the fire flickered, making a deafening sound.

Then, you can see mortar shells larger than a football in an arc in mid-air, and then bombard the eastern wall of Kumamoto Castle.

Suddenly, the entire eastern section of Kumamoto Castle shook.

At this time, Li Zixiao's arsenal had already solved the problem of the fuse of the cannonball.

Li Zixiao used the kind of Hotchkiss grenade made during the American Civil War, replacing the unstable explosive bomb before the White Dragon Army, and basically there will be no more explosions.

Not only that, but now the White Dragon Army mortar cannon fires this kind of shell, using a delayed fuse.

Li Zixiao let the White Dragon Army use more stable and mature artillery shells two hundred years in advance, which greatly enhanced the strength of the White Dragon Army's artillery.

The iron bullets, which were bigger than footballs, weighed as much as they smashed into the wall of the city, creating a large crater surrounded by cobweb-like cracks.

Some also fell directly on the city wall, not only killing many Hosokawa soldiers.

The football-sized iron bullet smashed directly into the city wall, half-embedded inside.

A moment later, there was a loud bang, and the huge mortar shells embedded in the wall or on the top of the city wall exploded.

This kind of mortar shell, which weighs several hundred kilograms, has a charge of dozens of catties inside, and the power of the explosion is already comparable to that of the aerial bombs of later generations, and it is difficult to find living creatures within a radius of more than ten meters, and it is the most effective to attack fortified positions.

Thirty loud bangs rang out on the eastern walls of Kumamoto Castle.

Then, the soldiers of the White Dragon Army outside the city saw that the originally intact city wall not only appeared with large pits, but also surrounded by larger cracks.

Even, on the top of some city walls, a section was directly cut off, and the entire city wall was crumbling.

And that's just a round of shelling.

The walls of Kumamoto Castle are tall on the side of the Wakoku Castle.

But in fact, on the side of Daming, it can be regarded as middle and upper.

According to the power of the White Dragon Army's new mortar shells, I am afraid that if there are three or four more rounds, the wall of Kumamoto Castle will not collapse, it will really be unreasonable.

"I'm rubbing, it's so powerful!"

Even Li Zixiao, who was outside the city, was shocked.

This is this new type of mortar shell, the first time Li Zixiao used it on the battlefield, he tried these little devils first, and the power was even more terrifying than what he saw in the arsenal test site.

The white dragon soldiers were also shocked, they had never seen such a powerful cannonball, and they grew their mouths one by one.

They all clearly felt it just now, and the ground was shaking.

As for some of Yoshino's subordinate soldiers who stayed here, they felt that the soles of their feet were weak and almost fell.

"Reload!"

On the side of the mortar position, the gunners of the White Dragon Army were also very excited.

Immediately after the first round of shelling, a quick reloading began, reloading the shells in preparation for the next round of shelling.

At this time, the Hosokawa soldiers on this side of the east city wall have been blown up.

Looking at the two half-meter-high city walls that were directly blown down, as well as the dozens of Japanese soldiers who were killed, the surrounding Japanese soldiers were all dazed and frightened.

Not only were the ears of many of the Japanese soldiers buzzing, but they were even bruised and bleeding.

Fortunately, the thirty mortar shells of the first round of shelling by the White Dragon Army only covered a small area of the eastern wall of Kumamoto Castle, and most of the other Japanese soldiers were fine.

However, the damage caused by this round of shelling by the White Dragon Army's mortar artillery had already frightened Hosokawa Qi Nian, the main general of the Hosokawa Army.

At this time, Hosokawa Qi Nian didn't want to stay on the city wall anymore, he looked at the mortar position of the White Dragon Army outside the city, his face turned pale, and his voice trembled and said: "Mortar, that's mortar, how can the Ming army have so many mortars."

And how can it be so powerful, these mortars must be destroyed, otherwise two more rounds of fire, and the city walls will collapse. ”

Until this time, Hosokawa Qi Nian finally understood why the Ming army outside the city did not launch a siege against them like the previous army.

Although Hosokawa Qi Nian had also seen mortars, he had never seen such a terrible mortar in the current Wa Kingdom, and even in the historical documents of the Wa Kingdom.

Naturally, he couldn't think of it, but at this time he understood it very clearly.

This time, if they want to hold Kumamoto Castle, the mortar position of the White Dragon Army outside the city must be destroyed.

Otherwise, when their walls were bombarded by mortars, their Kumamoto Castle would not be able to hold it at all.

"Kimura, Suzuki, the two of you immediately order five thousand elites, fight out of the city, and give the artillery position that Ben will destroy the Ming army, at all costs."

A moment later, Hosokawa Qi Nian yelled hysterically at the two Hosokawa generals behind him.

"Hey!"

The two Japanese generals bent down and nodded in response, then went down the city wall, gathered 5,000 elite Japanese soldiers, opened the city gate, and killed them.

This is exactly the same as Li Zixiao expected in advance.

In Li Zixiao's opinion, if they didn't have mortars in their hands at this time.

With more than 50,000 horses and horses in Hosokawa's army at this time, if he defended Kumamoto Castle, he would not have had 100,000 horses in his hands, and it would be impossible to storm it in the traditional way.

Unless, the White Dragon Army used the tactics of siege, the water source in Kumamoto Castle, forced the Hosokawa Army out of the city to fight a decisive battle with the White Dragon Army, and defeated it in the field.

However, that is too time-consuming, and at this time, for Li Zixiao, what is more lacking is time.

Yoshino's inner line in Edo Castle has also spread the news of the shogunate's mobilization of troops and horses.

Li Zixiao knew that within a month at the latest, the Tokugawa shogunate would send troops to land in Kyushu.

Therefore, he wants to pacify Kyushu within a month, which seems to be an impossible task.

In the eyes of others, Li Zixiao led the White Dragon Army, and it would take more than a month just to conquer Kumamoto Castle of the Hosokawa family and Kagoshima Castle of the Shimazu family in the west.

But now, Li Zixiao can greatly shorten the siege time by using mortars and new shells.

"The little devil is out!"

When the two Japanese generals led 5,000 elite Japanese soldiers out of the city, Li Zixiao smiled, exactly as he expected.

But to greet the elite of these 5,000 Japanese soldiers will be the 8,000 men and horses led by Zhao Zilong and Peng Hao, who have already lined up on the side of the mortar position.

"Ready, shoot!"

Bang bang bang!

When these charging Japanese soldiers approached the mortar position, they were blocked by the 3,000 musketeers led by Zhao Zilong, and the Japanese soldiers fell in pieces and could not rush through at all.

Helplessly, these two Japanese generals had to use other methods to make a detour from both sides, but they were blocked by the 5,000 city defense army led by Peng Hao.

Kumamoto Castle, which Li Zixiao was personally responsible for, turned out to be a field battle at this time.

The White Dragon Army and the Hosokawa Army had tens of thousands of Japanese soldiers, and at this time they surrounded the mortar artillery positions and fought a field battle.

On the contrary, Luo Chao and Yoshino Shuiichiro, who were responsible for the attack, were in charge of attacking the north and south walls, which were being carried out extremely fiercely at this time, and the two sides were penetrating fortified battles.

"General, Kimura and General Suzuki are outside the city, and they are stopped by the enemy and can't rush over!"

A general of the Hosokawa Army shouted anxiously at Hosokawa Qi Nian.

"Ben will see it."

Hosokawa Qi Nian stood on the city wall, looking at the battlefield outside the city, which had been slaughtered, and said impatiently.

Hosokawa Qi Nian was very impatient, he didn't expect this battle to be like this, it was completely different from what they expected!

Tomorrow's Qingming Festival, everyone is having fun!!

(End of chapter)