Because the Ming Army did not have proper bearings, if the body of the carriage was too heavy, the axles would not be able to bear it, and the friction would increase exponentially. Although the Ming Dynasty craftsmen did not understand this principle, they knew that they could not increase the weight of the carriage without limit, or else the carriage would collapse.
But for the shield carriages that were used to protect their lives, the heavier they were, the sturdier they were. As for the fact that the carriages were slower and more laborious, these were all acceptable to the soldiers pushing the carriages. They would even wish for the carriages to fall apart. This way, they would not have to rush to the front and die.
However, for the generous rewards promised by their superiors, there were still many soldiers who felt that their lives were worthless to push the shield carriages. They often had a sumptuous meal the night before, and after a good night's sleep, they had another meal the next morning. This way, their cheeks would sink in, and their skinny and bony bodies would have enough strength.
Hundreds of meters away from the rebel positions, the tens of thousands of Ming Army troops had already finished assembling. Behind the hundreds of carriages were groups of infantrymen. Following City Head Yao's order, the fifty shield carriages creaked as they were pushed forward. There were four or five people behind each carriage.
The shield carriages were in front, and behind them were side carriages carrying the Extermination Cannons and gunners. Behind them were large groups of infantry protecting them. The entire formation was densely packed, and the speed of their advance depended on the shield carriages at the very front.
The east side of Tongzhou led to the canal docks. The road here was relatively flat. The soldiers pushing the carriages felt that it was quite laborious. It only took them a few minutes to push a hundred meters. In the direction of the city walls that they were defending, two heavy cannons had already been loaded. The artillery company commander in charge used a cannon gauge to determine the angle of elevation of the cannons. Coupled with the precise amount of charge, he determined the range.
Zhou Qingfeng stood on the city wall. He had already delegated command, and the artillery fire would be carried out by the artillery company commander. He only cared about observing the enemy's movements with his binoculars. The "Godfire Crows" that the enemy had set up behind them were very eye-catching. It was those things that made it impossible for him to play the trick of dropping bombs in an air raid.
The artillery company commander was also equipped with binoculars and saw that the enemy had entered the effective range of 500 meters. With the help of the crosshairs on the two cannons, he aimed and then waved his hand to give the order to fire. The gunners inserted the ignition rods into the fire transmission holes of the cannons. With two loud booms, the two cannons violently recoiled with a roar. They slid down the slope, ran out of momentum, and fell back into the pit.
Two solid lead balls spat out of the cannon barrel with flames and flew hundreds of meters away. From the perspective of the Ming Army in the distance, thick white smoke suddenly appeared on the rebel's position. Following closely, a black ball appeared in the white smoke. At first glance, the ball didn't seem to be flying very fast, but in the span of a breath, it had already arrived in front of him.
The artillery company raised the firing angle of the cannons to the maximum and fired the maximum effective range. The first shot was fired 500 meters away. The cannonball was aimed at a heavy armored vehicle in front of them, but unfortunately, it missed. The first point of impact was two to three meters away from the side of a armored vehicle. The cannonball landed heavily on the ground. Countless grains of sand exploded with a bang and flew in all directions.
The flying grains of sand transmitted the enormous kinetic energy of the cannonball and smashed into the bodies of the soldiers pushing the armored vehicles. The grains of sand contained large amounts of pebbles that could blow the defenseless soldiers to pieces. If they were unlucky, they would almost fall on the spot.
The moment the cannonball landed, the Ming Army side let out cries of surprise. All of the soldiers instinctively lowered their heads and dodged. Even City Head Yao, who was commanding from the back, was no exception. Even though he was quite far from the point of impact, he still shrank his neck in fear.
Just as everyone in front of the position shrank their necks, the cannonball that landed on the ground bounced up again. It continued to fly forward like a rubber ball. This time, it hit a carriage loaded with an Extermination Cannon. To be precise, it brushed past the side of the carriage.
But with just a light brush, the side carriage that had been hit immediately broke into pieces. The wooden planks turned into thousands of wood shavings. These wood fibers exploded like steel needles. With a snap, the skin of two gunners standing on the carriage split open. They cried out as they fell from the carriage. One stumbled and ran, while the other ran a few steps before falling to the ground and convulsing.
Not only did the gunners suffer, but the soldiers pushing the side carriage were also beaten until they covered their heads and scurried away like rats. The cannonball did not stop. It fell again and bounced up again, bursting headfirst into the ranks of infantry following behind the side carriage.
City Head Yao had prepared a large number of infantry to charge with the chariots, waiting to borrow the defense of the chariots to charge into the city in one go. The formation of these people was extremely dense, with more than ten people standing in a row. When the cannonball flew over, it immediately blasted a path of flesh and blood through the crowd. Anything that stood in the way of the cannonball was blown to pieces. The ground was immediately covered in severed limbs as howls shook the heavens.
The two cannonballs from the first round of bombardment both produced a similar effect. The armored vehicles that had been aimed at were not destroyed. Instead, the Ming Army following behind suffered greatly. Because the Ming Army's formation was too dense, the two cannonballs killed twenty to thirty people. Many of the Ming Army infantry were so frightened that they turned around and ran.
"Pass on my order. Those who turn around and run will be executed immediately." Lookout cars rose high in the rear of the Ming Army. Liu Gu, who was leading the troops, saw that there were people on his side fleeing and did not hesitate to give the order to maintain military discipline. In a short while, the house servants supervising the battle used long knives to chop the people who ran and ran. Then, they carried the severed heads and loudly repeated military discipline in front of the formation.
Even City Head Yao, who was leading the charge, felt a layer of sweat appear on his forehead. He had been scared out of his wits by the damage caused by these two cannons, let alone the infantry soldiers who had personally experienced the bombardment. They were panicking uncontrollably, their minds buzzing, and all they could think about was running.
The fleeing infantry begged and cried before they died, but they were still mercilessly executed. Even though the other infantry at the front of the formation were scared out of their wits, they could still brace themselves and continue to push forward.
In the first three minutes, the two heavy cannons would fire once every half a minute. After each shot, the gunners would perform their duties. They would grab the soaked cannons to clean the barrel and extinguish the remaining sparks inside. Next, they would reload the gunpowder. Two gunners would use a wooden frame specially used to carry the cannonballs to stuff the cannonballs into the muzzle and stab it tightly.
The steps to reload were complicated and orderly. They had to go through long periods of training to not make mistakes in the chaos. This was the first time the newly formed artillery troops went into battle. All of them were slightly nervous.
The commander of the artillery troop came from Jinzhou University, which had just been integrated. He had been appointed to lead this artillery troop because he was good at mathematics. He had never thought that a poor scholar like him would one day know how to operate cannons. His first battle was with tens of thousands of people. He panted heavily as he paced back and forth between the two cannons. He continuously instructed the gunners to adjust the height and direction of the muzzle and did his best.
Fire …
The second round of cannonballs came.
Another two cannonballs shot out of the barrel. They once again flew several hundred meters and smashed heavily into the front lines of the Ming Army. A cannonball accurately hit its target and smashed a shield cart in front of it into pieces. It didn't matter what kind of absorbent quilt, thick wooden planks, or even sand, if it was hit head-on by a 150-caliber cannonball, even God couldn't save it.
The shield cart that was hit seemed to have sunk into the space it was in. Then, it exploded and was completely smashed. The soldier who pushed the cart died on the spot. His flesh and blood were mixed in the broken wood and debris that exploded. The cannonball didn't stop after smashing the shield cart. It continued to bounce forward like it was skipping on water. Once again, it destroyed and killed the Ming Army in its way.
The soldiers of the Ming Army all wanted to dodge this terrifying cannonball. But in reality, the moment they dodged, the cannonball had already hit their companions beside them. Those who were hit directly would be smashed into pieces of flesh on the ground. The scattered area could cover one or two basketball courts. The exploded flesh and blood would splatter all over the faces of their companions and cause them to run away on the spot.
Every cannonball would cause a large commotion. Once or twice, it could be suppressed by the supervising troops. But as the cannonball increased, more and more berserk infantry appeared. They would grab their weapons and hack the supervising retainers to death before fleeing in all directions.
In just three minutes of explosive firing, seven or eight chariots had been destroyed on the offensive line, and more than a hundred people had been killed or injured. The corpses of those who had died in battle covered the entire front of the formation. The grayish-black ground was covered in large amounts of blood-red flesh. It was an unbearable sight.
City Head Yao, who was in charge of commanding, was already drenched in cold sweat. He continuously wiped the sweat off his forehead and used his hoarse voice to try to drive the soldiers back to the front lines. At this time, there were very few soldiers who were willing to turn back. Even though not many chariots had been destroyed, unless an officer personally came to kick their butts, they would rather lie on the ground than push the chariots.
After more than ten percent of the soldiers had been killed, there were even fewer officers than infantry who were willing to run to the front lines. Even City Head Yao himself only dared to shout and yell from afar. But no matter how much he shouted, no one in front of him paid any attention to him. Even he didn't understand. How could this rebel's cannonball fire so quickly? So accurate? And so powerful!
The Ming Army's Extermination Cannons, which had high hopes placed on them, only had a range of around a hundred meters. The cannon's barrel was small, and its power was small. If there was too much gunpowder, the barrel would explode. Before they could enter the firing range, the enemy's heavy cannons would destroy their cannons along with their carriage.
In addition, because the Ming Army's gunpowder was small, the cannon barrels were also small. Compared to the heavy cannons, which could fire ricochet attacks and fire in a straight line, the two were not opponents of the same era. The Ming Army had never seen such vicious cannons from the rebel army.
But inside the city, the temperature of the two cannons had risen and could no longer continue firing. If they stuffed the gunpowder into the barrel at this time, the high temperature would directly ignite them. The cannoneers also had no way to cool down the cannons. If they poured water on them, the cannons would become useless. The only way was to lower the rate of fire and let the cannons cool down naturally. Solid bullets could only be fired once a minute.
Less than a quarter of an hour into the battle, the entire Ming Army's attack had come to a halt. Liu Zhaosun, acting as the leader supervising the battle, instantly became restless. He spurred his horse back to Liu Gu's side and yelled, "Godfather, the rebel army's cannons are sharp, but they will have to stop after a long time. Why don't we force those miscellaneous soldiers forward? When the rebel army's cannons can no longer fire, I will lead the cavalry to charge. "
Fighting a war was to use reasonable casualties to exchange for victory. Liu Gu was an old general and would not overly cherish the lives of his soldiers. He had seen clearly from the lookout car. The rebel army's cannons were indeed powerful, but they only had two. As long as they slowed down their firing rate, they would be able to cover the distance of a mere few hundred meters in a single charge. They would be able to charge in with a single breath.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
