Yang Fan and his wife also climbed to the top of the mountain. Originally he wouldn't let them come up, but when they heard that there was going to be a fight, their little faces turned red with excitement and they all wanted to come up to watch.
Especially Tu Shanyue and Lin Yueru, they plausibly stated that they would protect the master one on the left and the other on the right.
Yang Fan was also speechless. Do the servants live for nothing?
When did the crisis reach the point where he had to rely on his wife to protect him?
Moreover, the Sauron Infantry Regiment has also arrived and is marching in the valley.
Yang Fan temporarily placed the command post on the ridgeline on the south side. A simple camp has been built here with sandbags as the central army.
Yang Fan could see with a telescope that it was a very open place from the foot of the mountain to Dabancheng City, which was more than ten miles away.
There were many Hoshuote people, and densely packed groups were marching into the open area.
"With so many Rumi guns, it seems that Orqitu Khan has rested on his laurels." Yang Fan said with a smile.
The sleighs in the distance stopped, and bundles of matchlocks were brought down.
A large number of knights dismounted and began to distribute muskets.
Rumi guns are not cheap. Looking at the musketeers lined up, there are tens of thousands of them.
It seems that Orqitu Khan knew very well that the antlers, horse-repelling spear formations, barbed wire and other obstacles currently deployed by the Ming army at the front, coupled with the influence of the terrain, cannot be charged by cavalry.
If you use cavalry to charge hard, you will be blocked under the gradually tightening terrain of the bell mouth, and then you will be shot by waves of three rows of musketeers.
This loss would be huge. Moreover, the Ming army's arrangement was to block the main road and occupy both sides, forming a crossfire attack on both sides. He saw those artillery positions.
Not only was a circular defense line deployed at the exit of the valley, but a regiment was also deployed on the slopes on both sides.
Orqitu Khan made a prompt decision and decided to dismount some of the cavalry and join the battle as infantry.
The cavalry has a big target, so riding up and attacking from behind is disadvantageous to one's own side.
The infantrymen were heavily armored and armed with weapons such as large axes and hook-and-scythe guns. They rushed forward to chop up the antlers and muskets in hand-to-hand combat, and pulled apart obstacles such as barbed wire fences.
Although he did not have a telescope, his eyesight was as sharp as an eagle's.
He saw the winding trenches on the mountainside and the forts built from the soil dug out from the trenches.
The opponent had heavy artillery! This surprised him.
Because heavy artillery is not conducive to long-distance marches. I heard that Yang Fan walked 900 miles into the desert to get to Gaochang. How did he drag the heavy artillery here?
Although he couldn't understand it, his face was also uncertain.
However, now the arrow has to be fired when it is on the string, and extending the head and retracting the head are also the same.
Yang Fan's army has reached his doorstep, and he can't help but make other plans.
Regardless of the advantages or disadvantages of this battle, we have to fight it bravely.
"Sir, have you seen the heavy artillery of the Heshuote people?" The little girl's little finger pointed to the position of six twelve-pound cannons in the distance.
"Well, it is indeed a bit surprising. I didn't expect that Orqitu Khan not only has 500 camel cannons, but also six 12-pound cannons. He is really well-armed. Among the Mongols, they are also considered to be first-class in equipment." Yang Fan praised.
road.
"But I think those cannons seem to be much bulkier and bigger than ours. Are they really twelve-pound cannons?" Xiao Niangpi asked with some confusion.
Those bronze heavy cannons looked obviously longer, thicker, and heavier than the Yang family's cast steel cannons.
Yang Fan explained: "Our materials are different. Bronze is much heavier than steel. The total volume difference is 13% for the same volume. Moreover, their casting technology is not good, and there are bubbles and cracks inside. The cannon wall must be thickened.
It needs to be reinforced with a hoop, otherwise it will explode."
"Our steel cannon is made of cast steel pillars, which are then forged with giant water hammers. They are red-hot forged and extruded for a long time before forming. There are no cracks or bubbles inside."
"So, the inner wall can be made thinner. This saves another 15% of the weight. Then our barrel is dug out with a boring machine, and another 7% of the weight is cut."
"In terms of design, we are more reasonable and more in line with the envelope of the gradual attenuation of gunpowder pressure from the inside to the muzzle, which reduces the weight by another 5%. Calculated in this way, our steel cannon has reduced the weight by 40%."
Lin Yueru asked: "Sir, I see that the Heshuote people not only have more than 10,000 musketeers, but they also have 500 camel cannons. Do we have an advantage in the number of artillery?"
Yang Fan said: "Each of our battalions has eighteen three-pound guns. They are used as front-line infantry direct-aiming artillery. They are used as flat-fire artillery to destroy the enemy's technical equipment and fortifications. The First Infantry Division has three regiments plus
A division headquarters.”
"The three regiments have a total of 18 infantry battalions, the regiment and division headquarters have 7 infantry battalions, and one artillery battalion."
"The 25 infantry battalions are equipped with a total of 450 three-pound cannons. The artillery battalion is equipped with eighteen 12-pound cannons. The total number is not much less than theirs. And our performance far exceeds their camel cannons."
This is for sure. The three-pounder gun was an improved design imitating the three-pounder gun in the Civil War. It has a caliber of 75mm and a maximum effective range of 750 meters. The barrel is wrapped with a removable iron sleeve that can be filled with water, functioning as a Maxim water-cooled machine gun.
function, there is no need to worry about the problem of barrel overheating.
Moreover, this is a steel barrel, not a bronze barrel, so it is less likely to overheat and cause deformation and jamming.
It's winter now, so there's no need for liquid water, and it's too late to start a fire and boil water now. But it doesn't matter, the sleeve opening of the three-pounder is fifteen centimeters square. Just use a shovel to shovel the snow and throw it in. It will be fine after a while.
The cannon is fired. The barrel is very hot and will automatically melt the snow.
Yang Fan's Gatling gun does not need cooling, because the rotating gun can be air-cooled and dissipated. Only field guns have this problem. It is impossible to install a cooling device on the twelve-pounder gun, so only the three-pounder gun is equipped with a water sleeve.
The camel cannon is not a standard one. It is about a large one-pounder. It cannot be fired while on the move. It is a camel standard carrying vehicle. When it is necessary to fire, the camel lies down and the bracket is lowered. The small one is actually a large-caliber matchlock gun. It is similar to the Japanese large barrel.
Pretty much the same meaning.
The general caliber is only thirty to forty millimeters, and it can be fired while moving. The gun mount is a rotating gun mount, and it can shoot up, down, left, right, and pitched.
"Sir, the army has been laid out. Do you want to know when the battle will begin?" Zhang Geda came over and asked for instructions.
The servants had already mounted their horses and gathered outside Yang Fan's central army.
Waiting for an order at any time, he would rush down from a high position and defeat the Heshuote people in the valley.
"Don't worry, after they finish setting up, I want to see what the camel city in Mongolia, Mongolia, looks like. How they fight. Speaking of which, this is the first time we have a warm-up with their real main force.
There's a firefight between weapons." Yang Fan lit a cigarette and took two puffs.
The third regiment, with 3,600 men, has built a breastwork with sandbags behind the trench. They are organized into squadrons. A small group consists of thirty-four people in a row. A total of three rows of people form three horizontal lines.
Flintlock rifle in hand, ready for battle.
Behind the arc of defense, the Sauron Infantry Regiment has arrived.
Behind the arc of defense, they have organized their offensive formation.
The Saurons formed a phalanx of one hundred people, forming a total of 36 phalanxes.
They wear specially-woven armor in a scientific way, with chest plate armor, shoulder pauldrons, bucket helmets and collars added with large whole metal plates.
The inner part of the armor is made of leather armor captured from the Mongols, and there is a layer of cotton armor one centimeter thick in the innermost part. The cotton armor is used to offset the impact of a musket shot.
Yang Fan's stab-proof clothing with steel plates is limited in quantity and cannot be widely used. Foreign soldiers are even more useless.
Although the equipment is not as good as that of the regular army, the Sauron people are extremely satisfied with these armors.
They were very poor and usually wore tattered leathers.
They are especially keen on metal armor. They don't like light stab-proof clothing, but prefer iron armor. Especially the innermost cotton armor, which is soft and warm, and is very comfortable to wear through close-fitting muslin underwear.
When the fight begins, the three infantry regiments of the 1st Infantry Division are the first line of defense. They will face the 50,000-strong Heshuote army, while the Sauron Regiment and Jia Ding Regiment are responsible for defeating their attack and then fighting another one.
Fight back.
The First Division has three infantry regiments with 3,600 men each, totaling 10,800 men.
The division headquarters has an artillery battalion, plus two directly affiliated infantry battalions with a total of 1,500 men, and a scout cavalry brigade of 200 men.
Including the Chinese army's staff officers and various non-combatants, there are about five hundred people.
Such a division has thirteen thousand men.
The Jia Ding Regiment and the Sauron Infantry Regiment each have 3,600 people, totaling 7,200 people. This makes the total number more than 20,000. In addition, there are about 2,000 people in the automobile squadron and militia battalion. They are responsible for auxiliary work and guarding baggage supplies.
, patrol and protect highways, etc.
Yang Fan didn't feel much pressure when it was 20,000 versus 50,000.
The main reason is that Yang Fan's personnel are of higher quality and their equipment is much more advanced.
The musketeers on the opposite side have been organized. There are about 15,000 people, each armed with a Lumi gun.
They were arranged in five rows, and in front of the musketeers was a row of shield soldiers and a row of spearmen.
Behind the five-row array of musketeers came the camel artillery team. Five hundred camel teams carrying one-pound cannons were lined up at the back.
Yang Fan looked towards the two wings, and there were fifteen thousand people arranged on each side.
Five thousand infantry, plus ten thousand cavalry. The infantry are very elite because they are all armored.
This was the first time since Yang Fan's Western Expedition that he saw ten thousand armored soldiers.
As expected, the Heshuote people have family background and strength.