Chapter 667: The Battle of Seeking Rain Mountain (3)

Sun Kewang asked, "Don't you wait for the person who broke into the king to come immediately?" ”

Zhang Xianzhong observed the situation in front of him and replied: "There are only four or five thousand people who will die here, and tens of thousands of troops will push it over, so I don't believe that we can't take this mountain." The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info Let's go first, so as not to make him laugh at us, so that the officers and soldiers will join forces." ”

Sun Kewang gritted his teeth and took the initiative to ask: "Father-in-law, I am willing to fight this battle." ”

"Okay, you take 3,000 people to attack the front, and I will let Wenxiu and Nengqi each lead 2,000 people to outflank both sides." Neng Qi is another righteous son of Zhang Xianzhong, whose full name is Ai Nengqi, and Sun Kewang, Liu Wenxiu, and Li Dingguo were known as the "Four Generals" in the Southern Ming Dynasty, and they are known for their courage and bravery.

The battle of this encounter began to fought, and the first wave of the offensive of the Wanderers began. Sun Kewang led 3,000 men to attack the front, and Liu Wenxiu and Ai Nengqi each led 2,000 men to make a detour from the flank of Qiuyu Mountain. Since it was an attack on the slopes of the mountain, no cavalry was used, and only the main general rode horses.

Wei Lianheng watched with a monocular as the Wandering People's Army launched an offensive a few miles away, and couldn't help but say to himself: "Investing six or seven thousand people in the first tentative attack is really a big deal. "You must know that the total strength of the Qiong Navy this expedition is only 5,000 people.

Regardless of military discipline and combat skills, the speed of running of the Wandering People's Army is a bargain, and it may be a magic skill that has been chased and practiced by officers and soldiers all year round. As a puff of dust rose and obscured the sky, thousands of people swarmed close to the mountain to ask for rain.

Wei Lianheng ordered: "Order the regimental artillery battalion to open fire!" The herald beside him immediately turned around and waved the small flag in his hand towards the mountainside to convey the order.

After the expansion of the Qiong Navy, except for each battalion, the configuration of an artillery company was maintained, the establishment of the artillery battalion directly under the regiment was increased, and a large killing weapon -- 10 catties of field guns -- was introduced. This is the first time that the field gun, which was born from the M1857 12-pounder Napoleon gun, was used in field battles outside of Qiongzhou, and the last time this big guy was used was during the Bofu Defense War, and it was placed on a temporary fortress to deal with the Guangdong army led by He Rubin.

Compared with the effective firing range of 700 meters and the weight of 6 catties of ammunition of the 6 catties of the battalion artillery company, the key data of the 10 catties field gun are almost doubled, and the firing range of 1400 meters and the solid bullet of about 10 catties can be fired, which is a well-deserved king of field warfare in the era of black powder. The heavy Hongyi cannon of the Ming Dynasty may be able to achieve a similar range, but the transportation of the cannon body of several thousand catties is extremely inconvenient, and it cannot be used in field battles at all, so it can only defend the city.

The battalion commander of the artillery battalion of the second regiment was Zuo Wuwei, the commander of the artillery company of the first battalion of the former Qiongzhou battalion. Since Bo Fu was captured in the defense of the battle, he joined the Qiong Navy, which was still the escort at that time, because of his love for artillery, and the importance of the Qiong Navy to artillery far more than any army of the Ming Dynasty, he was like a fish in water in this post - there was no need to flatter the superiors, no need to withhold the soldier's salary to support himself, as long as he gave full play to his expertise and pondered how to shoot the cannon accurately, he could advance to the rank, be promoted, and get a very decent salary.

Under the guidance of Portuguese instructors such as Wu Duowang, Zuo Wuwei learned basic physics knowledge, and compared with the previous experience operation, his understanding of artillery skills has reached a new level, and he has faintly become the first person in the artillery of the Qiong Navy.

After receiving the order of the regiment commander, he instructed the artillery battalion: "The muzzle of the gun is lowered and flattened, and the 10 guns in the middle are tested for one round." ”

Because the field artillery is placed on the mountainside, there is a drop of about 200 meters from the flat ground, if the firing angle of 5 degrees is followed in the past, the shells will fly over the enemy's head, and only after leveling, the principle of the parabola of the shells is used to strike the enemy, and even so, the height difference of 200 meters can extend the firing range by nearly one-third.

Sun Kewang led his subordinates to start the attack from two miles away, about 800 to 1000 meters away, according to previous experience, this distance is extremely safe, whether it is a bird gun or a bow and arrow can not touch a cold hair of their own, although the Hongyi cannon of the imperial court can hit so far, but only Luoyang, Kaifeng such a big city is equipped with Hongyi cannon, the rest of the place does not have to worry at all, even if there are officers and soldiers on the opposite side have a small cannon such as a long machine, the range is not much stronger than the bird gun.

Hearing the sound of "booming" cannons coming from the opposite mountain, Sun Kewang turned a deaf ear, brandished a steel knife and shouted: "Give it to me, scatter the officers and soldiers at the foot of the mountain, reward 20 taels of silver, rush up the mountainside and seize the cannons of the officers and soldiers, reward 50 taels of silver!" ”

The bounty opened, and the homeless people became excited, brandishing their weapons and screaming and rushing forward. Because it was a frontal attack on thousands of officers and soldiers who looked elite, Sun Kewang did not dare to be careless, and did not use those "cannon fodder" who did not even have weapons, these charging homeless people had a decent weapon in their hands, from knives and swords to spears and hammers, and even the nail rakes used by farmers to break the soil, which looked shabby, better than holding a branch or even empty-handed.

The whistling sound of "woo woo woo" came from far and near, and then reached the top of everyone's heads. When the displaced people in the impact heard this strange sound, they couldn't help but look up, only to see black balls flying above their heads, and then landing in the crowd behind them.

"Bang bang bang", the muffled sound of metal hitting the dirt sounded, and several 10-pound solid bullets fell into the back of the charging crowd, smashed on the ground and then bounced up, like a huge bowling ball through the dense crowd, knocking down all the people on the trajectory, the flesh and blood body was as fragile as paper paste in front of this iron ball, and dozens of people could not stop its forward momentum.

According to Lin Weiye, the designer of the field gun, according to the experience of the Civil War, a solid bullet fired by the M1857 12-pounder Napoleon can penetrate 105 soldiers with live ammunition at a distance of about 500 meters. Although the distance of the solid shells fired by this round of field guns is close to 1000 meters, it has a bonus of height difference, and the killing effect is not much different from that within 500 meters. After a cannonball bounced up on the ground continuously, it knocked down thirty or forty people, and it still had some remaining strength, and it fell in front of Zhang Xianzhong's mount, who was supervising the battle in the rear, and swept down a personal soldier before it completely stopped.

Zhang Xianzhong killed people like hemp, and he had seen bloody scenes, but it was the first time that a cannonball hit him. He wiped the blood that had fallen on his face after his soldier was hit by a cannonball, and muttered, "Thief, mother, how can these melon-skinned cannons hit so far?" After walking before the ghost gate closed, he couldn't help but feel a little worried in his heart, and pulled the reins and took a few steps back. He actually wanted to take a few hundred steps back, so as not to die unjustly under the artillery, but the big battle was imminent, and the retreat of the commander would shake the morale of the army, so he had to give up this plan.