Chapter 357 The hot bomb melts the ice, Dorgon desperately fights
December 8, 4334 (1637 AD).
As the New Year's Eve approaches, the ice wall of Yangcheng becomes thicker and thicker.
Li Dazhuang previously boasted about spending New Year's Eve in Pyongyang in Haikou, but now it seems that it is difficult to realize it.
Li Dazhuang convened a military meeting to discuss how to solve the ice wall outside Pyongyang City.
As long as the ice wall is broken, the heavy artillery of the Seventh Army can break through Pyongyang City in a short time.
The generals came to the headquarters of the Seventh Army.
They saw Li Dazhuang holding a big hammer and pounding a large block of ice more than two meters thick.
When Li Dazhuang saw them arriving, he knocked on the ice hard and sighed: "I didn't expect that Jiannu would use this method to block us outside Pyongyang.
We use artillery shells every day to consume the ice wall, but they can't replenish it as fast as they do.
Jiannu's ice city wall is now ten meters thick.
The heavy artillery shells exploded directly in the ice city wall.
It will not have much impact on the original city walls of Pyongyang.
The outer ice wall has absorbed all the blasting force.
We blew up the two to three meter thick ice wall, but it didn't have much effect.
Now that the weather has not warmed up, they can quickly replenish the blown ice wall."
Tan Fangyuan sighed with emotion: "That's true. I didn't expect Jiannu to think of this method and use ice to build a city wall.
This method of building a city wall is faster than building a city wall with cement in severe cold weather.
It only takes three to five hours for the ice wall to freeze very solidly.
Our army could also try to siege the city before, using ladders to attack the walls of Pyongyang City.
As long as we can endure a large number of casualties, it will not be difficult to capture Pyongyang City.
There is no way now, the surface of the ice city wall is very smooth.
Even if we wanted to attack the city in the traditional way, we would have to climb up the ice wall with great difficulty.
As long as the enemy pours hot water, the ice wall will collapse immediately.
Our soldiers who worked hard to climb the ice wall will also fall directly off the wall.
Our army still carries few heavy artillery. There are only five heavy artillery in the whole army, so there is no way to blow up a tortoise shell like the Ice City Wall at once."
When Zhuang Renyi heard Tan Fangyuan's statement, he suggested: "We don't have a water pump. Can we use a steam pump to pour hot water on the ice city wall?
This is a little more complicated. Steam engines are originally driven by high-heat steam.
We can spray high-heat steam directly onto the ice city wall.
If the ice walls encounter high-heat steam, these ice walls will melt."
Chief of Staff Duan Ruide shook his head and said: "I have also thought about this method.
The pressure inside the boiler simply cannot meet this requirement.
The pressure built up in the boiler can only allow the high-heat steam to spray out a few tens of meters away.
The Hongyi cannon on Pyongyang City has a range of more than 2,500 meters.
In winter, the frozen soil near Pyongyang City is very solid, making it impossible to dig trenches.
Our method of using trenches to avoid shelling also didn't work.
This approach is a good idea, but completely impossible to implement.
It’s not as effective as a useless incendiary bomb.”
Pan Hongcai looked at Li Dazhuang, did not join their discussion, and continued to knock the ice cubes with his hammer.
Pan Hongcai reminded: "Ice is very hard. Even if you break your arm, you can't break such a big ice cube.
Unless you heat the hammer red, hitting the ice with the hot hammer will be like cutting tofu with a sharp knife."
When Li Dazhuang heard Pan Hongcai's words, his eyes lit up.
Li Dazhuang shouted in surprise: "Yes! Blazing bombs, we use blazing bombs.
This is a traditional method of our army, how could we forget it?
I still remember our early battles, when we set out from Baoji County to attack Hanzhong. In that battle, we used incandescent bombs.
That was the first time His Majesty brought blazing bombs into our army."
Duan Ruide clapped his hands vigorously.
"I learned how to use incandescent bombs in military school.
It was mainly used by the navy to deal with wooden ships because the early solid artillery shells were not very powerful.
Blazing bombs can effectively solve the problems we encountered.
Traditional artillery shells such as scorching shells use old artillery.
The artillery we use now are all breech-loaded guns, all have rifling and are equipped with fuzes.
The most critical problem is that these shells are explosive shells. The shells contain gunpowder and cannot be heated.
The artillery needed for blazing bombs is old muzzle-loading artillery, just like the Hongyi cannon now on Pyongyang City.
This kind of artillery has long been eliminated in our army. Where can we find this kind of artillery?"
Li Dazhuang's mind was spinning rapidly, looking for ways to use blazing bombs.
Hearing Chief of Staff Duan Ruide's question, he immediately thought of a solution.
"This method is easy to solve, we will use traditional solid artillery shells.
This solid cannonball has a spherical shape and is also convenient for overall heating.
As for the artillery, we have a lot of artillery with smoothed rifling.
These artillery can only be remanufactured, and they are all piled up in the logistics warehouse.
It is completely possible to transform these old artillery pieces.
It doesn't matter how good its performance is, it just needs to be able to fire the cannon without exploding the barrel.
Find the artillery in good condition and let the craftsmen modify it, then let the craftsmen process some solid iron balls, and the red-hot bullet will be formed."
When everyone heard Li Dazhuang's method, they all thought that this method was very feasible.
Li Dazhuang made the final decision: "Just try it with a hot bomb.
If this method fails, we will slowly burn it with incendiary bombs.
This method is extremely slow to take effect, but it can also slowly wear away the ice wall.
There is really nothing we can do, so let's just wait and wait until the spring ice wall melts, and we will naturally win.
There’s no need to be too anxious about capturing Pyongyang.”
Li Dazhuang finalized the plan, and the Seventh Army immediately took action.
Soldiers from the artillery regiment found old artillery pieces whose rifling had been smoothed.
They modified the old artillery and changed the breech-loading cannon into a front-loading cannon.
Some veterans still remember the structure of the muzzleloader cannon.
Regardless of the service life of the artillery, the gun bolt only needs to be completely sealed and simply blocked.
A modified muzzleloader cannon can be officially put into use.
They renovated a total of fifty old artillery pieces.
Even these old artillery are more airtight than the artillery made by Jiannu and have a longer range than their artillery.
Li Dazhuang stood here in the artillery regiment, watching the effect of the hot bombs.
The briquette stove was burning very vigorously, and several red solid iron balls that had been roasted by the charcoal fire were neatly placed in the large briquette stove.
The soldiers loaded the propellant in the artillery, and they used a thin wooden board to isolate the hot shells and gunpowder.
The soldiers used iron pliers to tightly clamp a red-hot bullet.
His hands were very steady and he dropped the hot bullet directly from the muzzle.
The artilleryman has adjusted the angle of the muzzle, and the barrel is slightly raised.
The iron ball slowly rolled to the bottom of the barrel by gravity.
The temperature of the incandescent bomb was extremely high, and it quickly ignited the thin wooden board and ignited the propellant powder.
The hot red iron ball drew an arc in the air and flew directly towards the ice wall of Pyongyang City.
The hot iron ball with a temperature of seven to eight hundred degrees comes into contact with the ice city wall.
The ice wall melted immediately and made a loud hissing sound.
The ice wall is like tofu cut with a knife, and the entire iron ball directly penetrates the inside of the ice wall.
The hot bomb melted the ice, which was surrounded by a large amount of water.
The sound of chi chi kept sounding.
This water quickly turns into hot water and then into high-temperature steam.
A large amount of hot water and hot steam flowed among the ice cubes.
Li Dazhuang observed carefully with a telescope. He saw a large amount of white smoke coming out of the ice wall that was hit by the hot bomb.
A huge hole was punched directly into the ice city wall.
Li Dazhuang was very happy to see this situation. He issued an order:
"It works. The method of blazing bullets is very effective. Use the blazing bullets to attack immediately."
The Seventh Army began to attack the ice wall west of Pyongyang City with a large number of hot bombs.
A single blazing iron ball has little effect on the ice wall.
But a large number of hot iron balls brought huge heat to the ice wall.
The heat released inside the ice wall is enough to make the ice wall riddled with holes.
Heavy artillery combined with the attack of blazing shells, the ice wall outside Pyongyang was quickly blown to pieces by the shells.
Heavy artillery continued to exert its powerful power, and the cracks in Pyongyang's city wall gradually increased.
…………………………
Dorgon, who had white hair, saw that the ice city wall he was thinking of was actually broken by the Dahua army.
Pyongyang City Wall, an old city wall, cannot withstand the continuous bombardment of the Chinese army.
The cracks on Pyongyang's city wall will expand a little more every time it is bombarded by artillery.
Dorgon predicted that the walls of Pyongyang City would completely collapse in the near future.
This time will be very fast, and maybe the city wall will not be able to survive tomorrow.
Dorgon summoned all the Eight Banners generals to discuss matters.
He said in a sad tone: "We cannot wait to die in Pyongyang, we must find a way to break out."
The generals of the Eight Banners heard Dorgon speaking in this tone.
Panic arose in their hearts.
Dorgon escaped from Shenyang City. He was still full of energy and prepared to rise again with Hou Jin.
Duduo was killed in battle and the entire Zhengbai Banner army was annihilated. Dorgon still had some energy left and was ready to fight the Dahua army.
Listening to Dorgon's tone now, it seems that Hou Jin has reached the end of his rope.
"Prince Regent, there are so many red cannons on the walls of Pyongyang, and we also use the walls to defend ourselves.
I think we can delay it for a while."
Dorgon sighed and said: "It can't be delayed, even a fortified city like Shenyang can't be delayed, let alone a city like Pyongyang.
We must take the initiative and fight to the death.
If we can escape, then we still have a chance.
If we can't escape, there will be no us Eight Banners disciples in the world.
Staying in Pyongyang is just waiting for death.
Once we are trapped in Pyongyang by the Chinese army, we will not be able to use the mobility of the cavalry.
With the crossbows and knives in our hands, we can defeat muskets and artillery in the city.
Instead of waiting for death, it is better to fight to the death and survive in death.
Do you want to be caught by the Han people and become a dead man or a eunuch?"
Dorgon analyzed the choices faced by the Eight Banners, and he convinced many Eight Banners generals.
The general of the Eight Banners said with a sad look on his face: "Prince Regent, can we bring our family members?"
Dorgon slammed the table and roared angrily: "What good thing do you think of? We are fighting to the death.
The first step is to escape from the encirclement of Pyongyang City, and the second step is to escape from the pursuit of the Chinese army.
Every step becomes more dangerous, and the strength of the army must be ensured.
Not to mention family members, some Eight Banners disciples who are too young, too old, or have physical injuries cannot be carried.
Let them all stay in Pyongyang City and try to hold on to Pyongyang. If that doesn't work, surrender.
Don't say it's your family certificate, it's my family certificate.
Even the Great Khan Fulin and the Great Khan's mother Dayu'er must stay in Pyongyang.
Taking them out of the city will only make them die, and it will also affect the success rate of our breakout."
When the generals of the Eight Banners heard what Dorgon said, they were unable to refute.
The regent Dorgon did not take his family with him and left the Great Khan in Pyongyang. They had nothing to say.
"Prince Regent, where do we break out?"
Dorgon is well aware of the situation around Pyongyang.
"We broke through from Beicheng. Although Beicheng has powerful artillery, Beicheng is the defense area of the new North Korean army.
Everyone knows the fighting power of the Koreans.
If we break out from Beicheng, the success rate will be higher.
As long as you rush near the military formation, the role of artillery will be greatly reduced.
Artillery does not have the ability to fight at close range.
As long as we can break through the Korean defense line, we can destroy the artillery of the Dahua army.
We won’t even lose the confidence to defeat the North Koreans.”
Dorgon used the method of stimulating generals to stimulate the self-confidence of the Eight Banners generals.
"Haha, the regent is joking. We have not degraded to the point where even a useless army like North Korea cannot defeat it."
Dorgon calmed down when he saw that the Eight Banners generals were confident.
This time it is a desperate fight. If they succeed, they will continue to flee. If they fail, they will be completely destroyed.
Dorgon immediately arranged for the Eight Banners disciples to start preparations.
He almost refused to accept the Eight Banners disciples who were born in Jurchen in Jianzhou.
These people know their fate, life is worse than death, and their determination to fight is the strongest.
Soldiers of the Eight Banners began to prepare for war in Pyongyang.
The preparations for war can be hidden from North Korea's ministers, but they cannot be hidden from Kim's senior officials.
When Fan Wencheng discovered the movements of the Eight Banners, he had already guessed Dorgon's plan.
He sat at home and kept sighing, thinking about his next choice.
The ship of Houjin now seems to have completely sunk.
When he chose to seek refuge with Houjin, he had already thought about what would happen to him if he failed.
Fan Wencheng also enjoyed some time of glory and wealth.
He assisted Huang Taiji, the leader of the Jin and Ming Dynasties, and almost succeeded in overthrowing the Ming Dynasty.
It was only because of bad luck that he failed.
Dayuer directly found Dorgon.
"Dorgon, are you going to leave us, mother and son?"
Da Yuer directly questioned that she and her children did not want to stay in Pyongyang and wait to die.
Dorgon said helplessly: "Why don't I want to take everyone with me?
But we are going to a battlefield, and we may not be able to survive, and the chance of survival is even lower if we take you with us.
I didn’t even bring my own family, and all the soldiers didn’t bring their families, just to increase the chance of survival."
Dorgon hardened his heart and ignored Dayu'er's call.
He put on his armor and rode directly to the military camp.
The Eight Banners soldiers have prepared everything.
Dorgon chose to leave the city near dusk.
In this way, if the war goes well, they will escape under the cover of darkness.
Dorgon ordered the gates of the North City of Pyongyang to be opened.
He led a strong army of thirteen thousand and eight banners and rushed out of the North Gate of Pyongyang.
Dorgon fought to the death. Whether he will continue to write the invincible glory of the Eight Banners or disappear into history will depend on the outcome of the next battle.
