471 Lord of War

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In the sound of the order, the soldiers of Liu Chong's 'trapped camp', with the assistance of other city defense troops, were very skillful and began to assemble and set up a formation on the wilderness plain.

Their formation is also very simple, an infantry team of more than 1,000 people, divided into three infantry phalanxes, and the three infantry phalanxes are lined up to form a large phalanx.

On either flank of this large phalanx in the front row were the four artillery units of the artillery battalion, with chariots on the outermost periphery, while musketeers lined up in front of the infantry phalanx, protected by sword and shield men.

Soon, when Zakdan rushed over with people and found that Liu Chong and them had formed a formation, he knew that they had been exposed.

Zachdan was also ruthless, and quickly rushed over with his subordinates' light horses, trying to enter the formation when Liu Chong and them failed to form a formation.

Zachdan rushed first, followed by more than 1,500 Tartars and Mongol cavalry, screaming and screaming.

It's all already here, how can Zakdan retreat.

On the side of the White Dragon Army, they had just set up their formation, looking at the smoke and dust rising in the distance, Liu Chong and the other generals were not afraid, and even showed a longing look in their eyes.

In particular, the young generals behind Liu Chong, although they are all young generals.

After many baptisms of war, they have established sufficient self-confidence in the victories of the White Dragon Army again and again.

They are eager to fight, because only through fighting can they gain merit and get more opportunities for promotion.

The Tatar cavalry that terrified the Ming border army did not have anything to fear in their eyes, and they had already formulated several sets of effective strategies to meet the battle.

On the contrary, now they saw the Tartar cavalry, still using the traditional method of cavalry charging into formation, and there was only a look of contempt in their eyes.

"How is the formation of this Ming army different from the previous Ming army?"

Zachdan, who was charging ahead, was also a Tartar veteran who fought many times with the Ming army in his early years.

Later, he was wounded in the battle, and was promoted to the third class Lazhangjing, which was equivalent to the guerrilla general of the Ming army, and was also divided into more than a dozen Han clothed minions and sent to Yongning to guard.

Based on his experience in the confrontation with the Ming army, as soon as the ordinary Ming army encountered the Tartar cavalry, they immediately lost their fear, and they were not able to fight at all, especially the Ming army in the Guannai, which was even more unbearable.

They did not dare to fight the Tartars head-on except to shrink in the city, release cold arrows, and fire two cannons.

If they encounter them in the wild, most of them will run away or surrender, and even if they barely dare to fight, they mostly use the chariot formation as a camp and hide in it to defend and fight.

Only the elite of the Ming army in the area of Guanning may be able to fight with the Tartars by relying on the chariot formation in the field, but because the Tartar cavalry always takes the initiative.

If they really let them encounter the elite of the Ming army, they will also retreat decisively, and those elites of the Ming army will not be able to keep them.

But the number of elites of the Ming army is too small, but judging from the current situation, maybe they really encountered such an elite of the Ming army today.

This made Zakdan carefully observe the White Dragon Army on the opposite side when he was charging, and decided in his heart: If this Ming army is not easy to gnaw, then forget it and retreat to Yongning to defend the city.

Moreover, what made Zachdan even more puzzled was that the Ming army on the opposite side did not build a tall car formation, but only circled in front.

In the past, the Ming army mainly relied on those chariot formations to block the advance of the Tartar cavalry!

Zachdan felt incredible, and at the same time his heart snickered with joy.

If this Ming army really used carriages, formed a chariot formation, and surrounded themselves, then he really had to work hard.

But now, they form a phalanx like this and put it in front of themselves, isn't this looking for death?

Thinking of this, Zachdan's blood boiled, he raised his big sword, and roared: "Kill them all!" ”

"Whoa, kill them all!"

The Tatar cavalry and the Mongolian cavalry in the back also broke out and shouted together, and their momentum increased greatly.

Amid the shouts of the Tartars, the White Dragon Army's side seemed too quiet.

Lei Ying, the commander of the artillery battalion under Liu Chong, did not pay any attention to the Tartar cavalry rushing from afar, and he was seriously directing his artillery to push the artillery to the designated firing position.

At the same time, his deputy is still a red-haired ghost, who is assisting Thunder Eagle on the side.

Lei Ying's red-haired ghost deputy is called Albert, a Portuguese, who was hired by Li Zixiao in the White Dragon Army at this time as an artillery deputy battalion general and tactical adviser.

Because there is an example of Jack in the White Dragon Army, there are really a lot of crooked nuts in the White Dragon Army at this time who want to come to Albert for refuge.

You must know that at this time, Jack was under Li Zixiao, but he was the top person in charge of the cannon casting workshop of the White Dragon Army Military Factory, responsible for all the cannon casting work of the White Dragon Army.

Jack alone is led by hundreds of craftsmen and apprentices, not to mention the high status, but also the salary is good, Li Zixiao hired him, and he had to spend tens of thousands of taels of silver every year.

But it was really worth the price, and at this time, all the artillery in the White Dragon Army was basically rebuilt or designed by the craftsmen of the cannon casting workshop led by Jack.

Let the artillery used by the White Dragon Army at this time become more and more reliable, and more and more powerful.

With the living example of Jack, many crooked nuts suddenly heard the news and came to join Li Zixiao.

Most of these crooked nuts have a skill, either they used to be soldiers or technicians, Li Zixiao came and did not refuse, as long as they could be used by him, he left them all.

Albert came from Macau because he had worked as an artillery officer in Portugal, later as a mercenary, and finally came to the East to adventure.

After he defected to Li Zixiao, he was arranged by Li Zixiao to serve as a tactical guide and technical adviser in the artillery of the White Dragon Army, and he also came with him at this time.

At this time, Albert stared at a cannon in front of him, his eyes full of fanaticism.

As a former Portuguese artillery officer, he was very familiar with all kinds of artillery, whether in Portugal or later in Macau, he served in many mercenaries.

But he all encountered the same situation, the gunner was a very embarrassing existence, not taken seriously, just the same existence as the craftsman.

The main reason for this is that artillery is not something that anyone can build by the way, especially a powerful artillery unit, which is even more difficult to establish.

Not to mention, the training of artillery and the casting of artillery are the greatest difficulties simply in designing one or two powerful and stable and reliable artillery.

After all, the design of artillery is not something that anyone can do, and the investment is not small.

"Our artillery should be the largest artillery unit in the world today, with world-class artillery and world-leading artillery shells."

But at this time, Albert did not hesitate to admire the artillery of the White Dragon Army.

Especially, when he touched the new cannon that had just been equipped, he was like an old bachelor touching the hand of a young and tender girl.

It was a newly cast twelve-pounder cannon from the White Dragon Military Factory, and it was the first new type of artillery developed by Jack and his people.

According to the statement, this new type of artillery is not an ordinary cannon, nor an ordinary howitzer, but a new type of artillery unique to the White Dragon Army at this time, the cannon howitzer.

I have to say that at this time, the artillery technology of the West has indeed been ahead of the Ming Dynasty, and the mainstream of Western artillery at this time is cannons, and howitzers have also appeared.

Westerners also make the caliber of artillery larger, the more powerful it is.

"It's so beautiful, I can't wait to see your power, baby."

Albert touched the bronze cannon in amazement, muttering to himself, the affection on his face, as if looking at his beloved woman, let the Thunder Eagle next to him quickly distance himself from him.

Albert was an artillery fan, and he had seen all kinds of artillery in Europe, but this was the first time he had seen such a gun.

When he first came, he even looked down on the White Dragon Army, and he was arrogant, because he had seen the artillery and artillery of the Ming army in Macao.

Albert believed that the Ming artillery was not only lagging behind, but also their artillery tactics.

However, this idea of Albert has long since disappeared, because not long after he arrived, the artillery of the White Dragon Army taught him a lesson.

Even, Albert thought in his heart at this time that the White Dragon Army had surpassed the Western European countries at this time in terms of artillery technology and application.

Albert knew that the artillery in Western European countries today is mainly cannons, with long barrels, small firing elevation angles, and low ballistics.

It can shoot directly at the shell, and the muzzle velocity of the shell is high.

This kind of artillery is also generally known as the front-mounted sliding tire frame retreat cannon, and the naval guns, siege guns, and field guns at this time are mainly cannons.

While naval guns and siege guns generally have longer barrels and are also known as long cannons, field guns have shorter barrels and lighter weights and are called short cannons.

The cannon is the mainstream of artillery in Western countries today, known for its long range and strong firepower, but its disadvantage is its large weight and inconvenient movement.

In Western countries, howitzers have long appeared, with small barrels and calibers, small muzzle velocity, short firing range, and curved ballistics, suitable for shooting hidden targets, or large-area targets.

Especially for explosive bombs, the power is terrible.

However, although this howitzer has long been available in various countries, it has never been the mainstream.

The biggest reason is that this howitzer, although it can fire explosive shells because of the low chamber pressure, but because of the extremely short range, the killing effect is not strong.

In particular, at this time, the explosive bombs of Western countries were relatively simple to manufacture, and the performance of the delayed fuze was not good, and the explosion time could not be controlled well.

Therefore, the explosive shells fired by howitzers often cannot explode at an accurate time, and there are few fragments after the explosion, the killing effect is low, and the firing range is short.

Finally, howitzers are often used to fire shotshots directly.

However, at this time, Wu Yao of the White Dragon Army Military Factory made improvements to the explosive bomb, that is, the flowering bomb, so that the explosion time of the White Dragon Army's explosive bomb was quite accurate.

It can be said that because of Wu Yao's improvement, the explosive bomb of the White Dragon Army at this time is already a brand new bomb.

And Wu Yao's improvement of this bomb is not only that, he also used the technology of casting the shell of the explosive bomb as a whole, and inside the explosive bomb, many small shotguns have long been loaded. 、

The original explosive bomb only had gunpowder in it, and before it was fired, the fire rope on it was lit first, and then fired, and finally exploded, with a short range and weak killing effect.

Now, after a number of improvements by Wu Yao, the explosion time of the explosive bomb is controlled more accurately.

In addition, the new shell casting technology can make the shell break into more fragments when the bomb explodes, and the small shotgun contained in it will be multiplied in power.

This is no longer a simple explosive bomb, not a simple grenade, this is a primary version of a shrapnel!

Because of the invention of this howitzer, the power of the howitzer has finally been fully exerted.

Prior to this expedition, Jack's Cannon Forge had just cast a batch of these new guns.

This new type of artillery, which can fire both horizontally and curvedly, is shorter than the cannon barrel, but has a larger firing angle, longer than the howitzer barrel, but has a long range.

This new type of cannon howitzer has the advantages of both cannon and howitzer, but it is not bulky and has a short range.

This is the real weapon of field warfare, with the shrapnel and howitzer, Albert knows that the situation of future wars will undergo major changes.

Liu Zhong only brought one of these twelve-pounder field guns this time, mainly because this kind of artillery has the advantages of both cannon and howitzer, and it is powerful in field battles, and it can also be used for siege.

At this time, the main types of artillery in the White Dragon Army were three-pounder, six-pounder and eight-pounder guns, and there were still relatively few twelve-pounder guns.

The three-pounder gun has been gradually replaced because of its small power, mainly six-pounder and eight-pounder guns, and also cannons.

"From today onwards, our artillery is the king of war on the battlefield in the future, and these barbarians dare to ride horses and charge at us, which is simply looking for death."

Albert stroked the bronze cannon body, glanced up at the Tartar cavalry in front of him, who was still accelerating, and snorted coldly: "Let you barbarians see the power of this new type of artillery today." ”

This twelve-pounder field gun, weighing about 2,000 pounds, was operated by eight gunners.

Fortunately, the logistics capacity of the White Dragon Army was greatly strengthened at this time, and the twelve-pounder field gun was carried on the gun carriage, and it did not cost the gunner much effort to push it to the designated position.

After a routine inspection, the White Dragon gunners began to skillfully reload their shells.

Albert assists Thunderhawk and is very strict with the management of their artillery battalion.

He not only asked each gunner to be familiar with his own position, but also asked them to be familiar with the position of the other gunners.

According to Albert, a well-trained group of gunners, even if there were only two people left in the battle, would still be able to keep the guns firing.

With the increased production of the White Dragon Army's clairvoyant mirrors, at this time, many senior officers of the White Dragon Army were equipped with one each, especially the artillery generals, which were prioritized by Li Zixiao.

Because, Albert was also assigned a clairvoyant mirror, and at this time he held the clairvoyance to observe, and when the Tartar cavalry had galloped closer, he nodded to Thunderhawk.

Lei Ying was also using a clairvoyant mirror to observe the Tartar, and then shouted loudly: "Twelve-pounder field gun, loaded with solid bullets, the target is 1,800 paces away!" ”

(End of chapter)