After listening to Lin Weiye's introduction, Xia Nan waved his hand: "It can create this project to be launched immediately." I want to step down Wang Zunde www.biquge.info, who has seized all our stores in Guangzhou. If he is in power, we will not be able to win this battle. ”

The closure of the store means that the financial resources are cut off, and Lin Weiye is serious, and this issue cannot be ignored.

"In this case, I will temporarily hand over the work of supervising the construction of naval cannons to Sun Yuanhua and Wang Yihammer, and go all out to make a 10-inch mortar cannon."

"However, our warships can only reach the mouth of the Pearl River, and cannot enter the inland along the Pearl River, so how to reach the outside of Guangzhou is a big problem." Lim added.

"Is it because the battleship has too deep a draft?" Xia Nan was a little worried, this was a technical obstacle.

It's not easy to do big things, one link after another. Because he wanted to force Wang Zunde to step down, he asked Lin Weiye to provide corresponding siege weapons, and how to deliver weapons to the city of Guangzhou involved the issue of sea and inland shipping.

William's statement was unexpected: "According to my observations, the conditions for navigation on the river connecting Canton to the estuary were quite good, and ships of several hundred tons were able to sail without any problems, and warships of 500 tons were able to reach directly outside the city of Guangzhou." ”

Xia Nan and Lin Weiye looked at each other.

Lin Weiye was puzzled: "Is the water depth of the Pearl River really enough to accommodate warships to sail?" Could it be that sediment accumulation is much better now than it was in a few hundred years? ”

Then he patted his head, "I have a preconceived idea, and I always feel that sea ships can't enter inland rivers." There is a precedent in history: during the Opium War, the British fleet ran to Baietan, which was a third-class battleship of several thousand tons. The 500-ton Wuyi class can naturally do it. ”

William added: "However, inland waterways are not as complex as those at sea, and the hydrological conditions are still more complicated, not only with many bends, but also with dark sand and different depths. To be on the safe side, it is better to send small boats to measure the depth of the water in front of you, set up channel buoys, and sail slower for the fleet. ”

"There is also the problem that must be faced, the warship is sailing on the wind, while the inland river navigation does not have enough wind, and it may take more time to stop and go to reach the destination." William added.

"If you go slower, you can go slower, as long as you can get to the outside of Guangzhou safely. Then it was decided, after defeating the main force of the official army, drive the battleship into the inland river and bombard the city of Guangzhou! ”

This side discussed how to meet the battle and counterattack, and the Guangdong side enjoyed the dividends of the war in advance. Because of Gao Hongtu's report, the Governor Yamen seized the shops run by Xia Nan and Zhang Mingli, and the turnover of the cloth shop and the winery totaled more than 50,000 taels, and the value of the goods was estimated to be more than 70,000 taels according to market conditions.

Wang Zunde was very satisfied with this result, Lu Yizhong and Li Xijue were even more satisfied, and the two of them swallowed more than 10,000 taels of silver when they confiscated, and they were divided into seventy-three parts, which was not only appreciated by the people who made Taiwan, but also benefited.

After getting the benefits, their expectations for entering and suppressing Bofu are even higher - just by seizing the shops in Guangzhou, more than 100,000 taels of silver goods have been put into the account, and the other party's nest is captured, isn't it Jinshan Yinhai waiting to move by themselves? The two staff members looked forward to making a bigger profit, and Wang Zunde was looking forward to having more money to reorganize the armament, train the villagers, and renovate the warships, so as to eliminate Liu Xiang in one go, stabilize his position as governor, and even enter the cabinet in the future.

With the 200,000 taels allocated by the Guangdong Domain, plus the 50,000 taels of silver obtained from the seizure of shops, the arrears of wages, settling-in allowances, and the expenses for repairing warships and artillery were basically collected for the army, and the 15,000 troops were gathered one after another, and the large camp was arranged in Humen.

As the commander of this attack, He Rubin, the chief soldier, spent a lot of thought in order to win this battle. Not only did they requisition a lot of newly cast Hongyi cannons, but they also formed a firearms battalion to deal with the thieves who were said to be "sharp in firearms". He Rubin himself came into contact with Hongyi artillery very early, and also learned Western artillery skills, so he can be regarded as a military attache who has a lot of experience in firearms.

After the new cannon was delivered to the Humen camp, he chose an auspicious day for the zodiac to hold a cannon sacrifice ceremony.

Since the Yuan Dynasty, the appearance of cannons, its huge power dwarfs the original trebuchets and other siege equipment, dyed with a layer of mystery, and there are various rituals for cannons to be named and sacrificed. He Rubin attaches great importance to the sacrificial cannon. On the one hand, he thought that this would help improve morale, and on the other hand, he wanted to know how powerful the Hongyi cannons made in the province were.

He Rubin's staff and major generals all participated in this cannon sacrifice ceremony. I saw that the ten glittering blue cannons were mounted on the newly made old elm two-wheeled and two-legged gun carriages, which looked very thick and strong. An offering table was placed in front of the cannon, and there was a red paper tablet on it, on which was written "The Divine Position of the Great General Cannon". In front of the tablet are three animal offerings, sake, incense burners, candlesticks and other items.

Accompanying He Rubin was the firearms battalion commander Zuo Wuwei. Zuo Wuwei was originally a general under him, but because of his obsession with firearms, he was very appreciated, and he was promoted all the way to the garrison rank, so that he could form a firearms battalion, and all artillery was used intensively.

He Rubin took Zuo Wuwei to burn incense with his hands, and bowed to the god of artillery three times. He also recited a prayer prepared by his staff, then took the jug, filled the cup, and poured it on the ground.

The following is the artillery exercise, the so-called "cannon fire". The ten gunners first knelt down and saluted the commander-in-chief, then walked to the guns, knelt down and kowtowed three more times, and then came to push the guns.

With an order, ten gunners pushed out one of the cannons. Hongyi cannon is very heavy, even if it is a light gun that fires five pounds of heavy guns, the gun body is also 1,500 pounds, at that time, the gun truck was made in order to bear the weight and be durable, the materials used were particularly heavy, and many iron nails and hoops were added to the gun wheel, the whole gun was very cumbersome, and it was quite difficult for ten gunners to push.

The gunners pushed the guns into place, and one of them was the first to measure the angles with a gun. The Hongyi cannon is actually a cannon and is generally fired at a small angle of fire for maximum range.

The gunner shouted loudly: "The gun gauge is six points higher." "The gun gauge is six points higher, roughly equivalent to an angle of 45 degrees, which is the elevation angle used for the maximum range of the smoothbore cannon.

A gunner then hammered the triangular wedge between the barrel and the gun carriage with a hammer, causing the gun to rise gradually.

When the cannon body was raised in place, the gunner shouted again: "Two catties and six taels of medicine." ”

The other two gunners hurriedly brought a porcelain jar from the earthen pit, which was specially used to hold gunpowder, glazed inside and out, with a girdle for fastening, and a sleeve made of rattan and bamboo for easy handling.

The gunner opened the sealing jar of cement, unsealed the porcelain dish, used a wooden measuring spoon to measure the gunpowder, poured it into the barrel, and a gunner poked the gunpowder into the bottom of the barrel with a long pestle, inserted a fuse made of paper and gunpowder into the fire door near the bottom of the barrel, continued to charge, poked tightly, and loaded a wooden yard, and then loaded the iron bullet. (To be continued.) )