On the top of the city tower, three alarm bells rang, and huge rocks thrown by the Qing army's artillery carts flew one after another, hitting the outer wall one after another.
Wang Jinchao saw the opportunity for the prisoners to reload, and immediately replaced the infantry and archers on the archery tower, and sent the firearms battalion to climb the wall to counterattack, and the replaced soldiers would enter the urn city in order to stand by.
Before the war began, Chongzhen and Wang Jinchao conducted numerous offensive and defensive calculations, and based on the artillery carriages and artillery ranges used by the Qing army, they formulated a relatively complete plan to deal with it.
The center of Datong City has been completely emptied. Except for the city defense troops on all sides standing against the walls, the rest have all moved to the west of the city. The purpose of this move is to free up nearly half of the city's residences as an "attack zone" to welcome the enemy. Long-distance offensive.
The plain to the east where the Qing army is currently located has a flat road, so Jianlu can easily deploy their siege equipment. However, there is no high slope, and the military platform originally set up outside the city was bulldozed by the Ming army. Therefore, it is impossible to gain insight into the trends in the city from a high position.
Before the Qing army crossed the Yuhe River, facing Datong's towering city walls, thick wall bricks, and the "depth" prepared by Chongzhen in advance, the Qing army, which had lost its visual field advantage, could achieve very limited results by relying solely on long-range artillery fire.
Dog Diaozi was dressed lightly and carried two bright yellow flags behind his back. The moment he heard the alarm bell, he ran wildly along the road and ran towards the city like the wind.
Chongzhen set up "Feizu" messengers at a distance of 200 paces on the road between the city wall and the camp. The soldiers passed the battle information and orders back and forth in the form of running relays. As Feizu, who was closest to the battlefield on the east side, , Gou Diaozi felt that he was carrying a heavy burden. Seeing that he was getting closer and closer to the next place to deliver the order, he waved his arms anxiously and shouted: "Build the captives and smash the cannon! Build the captives and smash the cannon!"
The next one, Feizi, squatted by the road, pricked up his ears from a distance, and after confirming that he heard correctly, he started running to the next one before the dog ran up with a piece of meat in his mouth.
The dog was panting heavily, intending to squat by the roadside like the man did, but as soon as his butt stuck to the ground, he suddenly remembered that Long live the Lord once said that the messenger should try to find cover as much as possible, so he simply moved to the side of the courtyard wall. wait.
Chongzhen was sitting in the commander's camp, staring at the map and making silent calculations. First he vaguely heard the ringing of bells coming from behind. In a moment, Fei Zu, who sent the order, arrived with the news that the prisoners were smashing cannons.
There was no need for him to give the order. Wang Jinchao must have started to organize the firearms battalion to counterattack according to the preset. Chongzhen thought for a while and said calmly: "Tell Wang Jinchao to keep an eye on the enemy's equipment, first the artillery, and then the artillery truck."
"promise!"
After the soldiers were ordered to leave, Chongzhen couldn't hold himself back. He paced back and forth in the camp, unable to calm down and think.
This emotion is difficult to describe. It is neither timid nor nervous. The intuitive feeling is that the limbs are slightly sore and breathing is no longer easy.
Even though he had made adequate preparations in advance, when the war began, he was still unavoidably confused. Chongzhen couldn't help but sigh in his heart.
During the previous reorganization of the army, there were 18 operable artillery pieces, of which three were small Franchise guns and 15 were Tiger guns. After cleaning and simple maintenance, they were all installed in the firearms battalion. Used on the Eastern Front battlefield.
"Quick! Set up the cannon!" Wang Jinchao climbed up the city wall first and commanded the gunners of the firearms battalion. The Tiger Cannon is light in weight, about thirty-six kilograms, and can be easily picked up by one person. Even a small Franco machine It still weighs a hundred kilograms and requires the combined efforts of many people.
Wang Jinchao was urging loudly while looking out of the city. When he saw the last Franco machine being brought up, he immediately shouted: "Fill the medicine!"
The Hu Zun cannon and the Franco machine have different structures, so the gunner's operation methods are also different. The Hu Zun cannon is front-loaded, while the Franco machine is rear-loaded. Each Hu Zun cannon only needs one gunner to operate, and the charge is aimed and ignited in one go. .The Fran machine is divided into mother cannon and sub-cannon due to its rear-loading characteristics, which is relatively complicated and requires the cooperation of three gunners.
The gunners fixed the two Fran machines with matching wooden frames and set them up in the center of the city wall, while the Tiger Guns were deployed to both sides in sequence.
Seeing that a wave of artillery fire was hitting the city wall, Hedu immediately ordered the artillery car to advance another thirty steps.
"Hedu Beile, please stay away from here and be careful of the Ming army's artillery." Goshiha next to Hedu advised.
After hearing this, Hedu nodded in approval. Although he looked down on the Han people, the artillery invented by the Han people was really powerful. Our ancestors had learned from their past mistakes, so we should be cautious. He immediately led Goshiha back to an open space three hundred steps away and watched from a distance.
Wu Weihua returned to the camp, and with Wu Zhenchaoha from the Eight Banners Han Army, he pushed eight "red cannons" specially made by the Qing army and rushed to the front of the formation. At Hedu's signal, he stopped at a position of two hundred paces. .
Artillery can eliminate stone-throwing equipment such as "gun carriages". The key lies in the range.
The time-consuming and labor-intensive gun carriage requires more than ten people to operate, and the projection range is only 150 steps, but only a small Fran cannon can easily reach a range of about 200 steps.
Even though the range of the Hu Zun Cannon was not enough to bombard the Qing army's positions, Wang Jinchao still ordered the charge to be fired. The first battle must be done with great momentum.
Following the order, the cannons on the tower fired and smoke billowed out.
"boom."
"boom."
"boom."
Without enough time to look at the other side, Wang Jinchao covered his helmet and shouted: "Get down, everyone get down."
Another dozen boulders swarmed in, this time the cannons were closer, and the boulders would fly higher. The city wall was "humming" and shaking, and the thick smoke was mixed with the dust-filled defenders on the wall. Can't open my eyes.
A maverick boulder drew a high parabola, crossed the Wengcheng archery tower, jumped over the city tower, and fell straight into the city.
Goudaozi was rushing towards the city wall with the order sent back. Suddenly, things in front of him changed, as if it was getting dark. He couldn't help but look up and saw a huge boulder hanging above his head, blocking all light.
The dog had no choice but to throw it forward and fell to the ground. In desperation, he could only close his eyes and grit his teeth and cursed: "Your mother!"
Like a joke, the huge boulder passed over the top and hit a house behind him, bringing up countless wood and stone debris with a "bang".
"I'm so lucky..." Goudaozi was in shock and only felt burning pain in his chest and arms. The pain reminded him of his own duty.
Gritting his teeth and using his hands and feet, he stood up and continued running forward.
"Exploded!"
"General, the chamber is exploded!"
Wang Jinchao got up from the ground and looked in the direction of the cry. The outermost Tiger Cannon had flowers blooming in the center of its barrel and rolled over in the corner. There were many casualties nearby and they were wailing.
"You continue to clean the tube and load it!" Wang Jinchao ordered the others while walking towards the position of the explosive cannon.
The gunner in charge of the cannon was the closest and was already dead. His hands were blown away and his face was covered with iron thorns and lead. Wang Jinchao stepped forward with pain on his face and removed the iron thorns from the gunner's face. Pull it out and smooth his eyes with your hands.
"Sign a flag and call for people to carry the wounded down." Wang Jinchao called to the messenger on the wall.
...
Hedu didn't care about the jokes of the slaves around him. He covered his ears with his hands and said, "The red cannon is good at everything, but the sound of the cannon is too loud, like thunder."
His confidant Goshiha understood this and raised his hand to signal Wu Weihua in front to fire.
"Bah!", the fuse of the red cannon was lit, the gunners retreated one after another, and there were eight loud "rumblings", like thunder on the plains. This chapter has been completed!