The Chinese artillery positions were covered with hundreds of cannons, surrounded by three circles of trenches and earthen brigades. Now, hundreds of black-clad pirates are driving dozens of cows and mules, dragging three huge water tanks of cast iron. The mortar cannon cart - This is a heavy mortar cannon "thunder" that is shocking the sky. At the foot of Beigu Mountain, there are ten mortar cannons with a large muzzle that are thick with a waist, "thunder" that are also being dragged down by cattle and horses to transport it here.
And this strange flying mushroom is the first time artillery used in the Southern Front war to observe hot air balloons.
Xiong Tingbi had read the Fujian General Chen Yourong's Tangbao. He had heard that the Chinese army had a strange cannon that could fire gunpowder packs. Seeing this, he couldn't help but take a breath.
"No. Who is the commander of the local army?" he shouted loudly, looking around. Seeing most of the officers and soldiers lying behind the walls, they dared not look up. The bold soldier carefully poked his head to look at the strange and strange Hot air balloon. Xiong Tingbi shouted several times. A genital general ran over from the city tower. He bowed in disorganized armor and said, "Mr. Xiong. I am here in Suzhou genital general Li Nongping. I..."
Xiong Tingbi interrupted him sternly: "The enemy is in front of you. How can you retreat in the face of the battle? What are you like? Hurry up and get ready to face the enemy. Most of the pirates are going to attack the city."
The ginseng general Li Nongping looked ashen. He couldn't help but raise his hand and pointed to the monster floating in the air and said, "Sir. This, this, what is this? How can he fly."
Xiong Tingbi frowned and said, "Why are you panicking? Didn't you see the fire under this thing? Is it empty in the middle? This is just a large Kongming lantern. What's there to panic? There are no monsters in broad daylight. Come on, hurry up and make a move. Team. Prepare for combat." Xiong Tingbi did not understand the relationship between this large Kongming lantern (hot air balloon) and those artillery soldiers for a while. After all, he was a traditional civil servant. Although he knew very well about military affairs, he was a natural science and artillery. I don't know anything about shooting principles.
At this time, there were officials and soldiers on the front of the city, facing Jinchuan Gate. Xiong Tingbi came to the battlement and looked out. He was shocked: on the plains of the north of the city between Shence Gate and Jinchuan Gate. It was about the distance from the city wall. About 300 steps. The Chinese army has excavated a crisscrossing trench soil trench in a radius of about one mile. A surprisingly large bronze cannon is being dragged and pushed by hundreds of people. The cannon trucks were put together using four flatbed trucks. The giant cannon is being transported to the temporary earthen fortress on the front line of the Chinese army.
"This cannon must be three or five feet long. I'm afraid it's not 5,000 kilograms. How can these Taiwanese pirates have so many cannons?" Suzhou gentry general Li Nongping was stunned by the endless heavy firearms of the Chinese army. He forgot these cannons, etc. I was about to hit my head. I forgot to be afraid and lay curiously on the wall and looked down.
Xiong Tingbi's face turned from tiny to white. He shouted loudly: "General Li Shen, prepare for war immediately. The enemy's enemy is powerful. Do not neglect it."
Li Nongping trembled and came back to his senses. He said tremblingly: "Yes. I'm down..."
Xiong Tingbi turned around and went down the Shence Gate Tower and walked into the city. A personal soldier asked in confusion: "Master, sir. Don't you still have to go to Zhongfu Gate to inspect?"
Xiong Tingbi snorted coldly, "What a big deal to patrol. A big battle is about to be fought. I'll go to the city to send troops to reinforce. Go quickly."
...
The giant cannon in the direction of Jinchuan Gate is the copper-core cast iron cannon that has been jointly cast by Chinese and foreign craftsmen. The world's first heavy copper-core cast iron cannon. It weighs about 4,500 kilograms. .The stone bullets fired, the lead bullet weigh more than 50 kilograms.
Xiong Tingbi was shocked and puzzled. He couldn't understand how a group of pirates had such powerful energy. They could actually cast these thousands of cannons. And such huge monster-like heavy cannons. He had nothing to do with defending Nanjing now. Grasp it.
However, the setting of these giant cannons takes a long time to adjust the launch position. While waiting for the siege cannons to set up the position, a strange silence appeared in the north of Nanjing City. The hot air balloon rose higher and higher, and finally rose to about 70 meters. It can be seen by almost half of the people in Nanjing. Panic and uneasiness spread throughout the city like a plague.
During this period, Yin Feng, who had been visiting the beautiful scenery of the Yangtze River with two beauties, had to receive a large group of employees of the Commerce and Trade Department and a large number of businessmen who came from Taiwan Port.
These people were merchants who came to Jiangnan to grab business under Han Jing. In the past, silk, silk, tea and other goods were purchased by local merchants in Jiangnan and sold them to Huaxing Lianhao and semi-code. Or some intermediaries were transferred to Taiwan The company's board of directors sold to China Company. Now, the company's board of directors decided to take advantage of the Chinese army to invade Jiangnan. It sent its own businessmen to directly purchase silk silk and tea from the place of origin. At the same time, it promoted the company's best-sized white sugar, self-tone bells, gold jewelry and jewelry produced by the company. Wait and transported several ships of food.
After all, China Company is an armed business group. It will never forget to do business.
Yin Feng spread out the map in the cabin. He pointed to Han Jing and said, "From this, he went south to Wuhu, Taihu and Suzhou. Most of the Ming Dynasty's official troops had been disbanded. Or they were trapped in the prefectures and counties and dared not come out. The area in Jiangnan is almost empty. Of course, our Chinese army does not have so many troops to occupy it. Therefore, you still have certain risks when you go to Jiangnan to do business. The military disciplines of the Ming army are extremely poor, and the defeated soldiers are even more so. Like a bandit..."
Han Jing rubbed his hands and said, "Ship owner. This is an opportunity to make a fortune. The goods we purchased in Taiwan this year are not as good as one-third of the previous years. Overseas customers are urging goods to hurry up and the prices soar. And if we Can skip the middleman and get goods directly from Jiangnan. Then our profits are hard to say. The ship owner..." Han Jing's eyes shone brightly and stared at Yin Feng and said, "This is an opportunity. Originally, we could only be Dangdang Erdao dealer can now purchase goods directly from the place of origin. Even if we offer prices higher than local merchants, it is much lower than the price we acquired in Taiwan. Our profits can double."
Yin Feng smiled self-deprecatingly. He remembered that he was still the largest shareholder of China Company. He nodded: "Okay. I asked the newly transferred sailors and musket team to as a bodyguard for the caravan. You can do it boldly. .Remember the purpose of our company: fair trade, credit first. If any middleman or trader is a secret shareholder of our company, then don’t rob his business.”
Han Jing stood up excitedly and patted his chest and said, "Ship owner. I will do my best to protect the interests of shareholders. Don't worry. The trade profit this year will definitely double. I promise."
Yin Feng bowed farewell to the merchants, but did not expect the risky behavior of the merchants in the company, which brought a good reputation to the Chinese army.
After the merchants started to act, some went deep into the fields of the Jiangnan area under the protection of sailors and musketeers, one in one person, and went from village to household. They purchased various goods at high prices everywhere; some opened gatherings near the Chinese military camps. The city recruited a large number of people to buy and sell various goods. In Zhenjiang, Yangzhou, Wusong, Wuhu and other Chinese military-occupied areas, trade suddenly flourished within a few days. Those merchants affected by the war, weaving households and even farmers who planted mulberry trees and raised silkworms Suddenly, I found that the Chinese army was not a pirate, but a group of businessmen who came to do business. They even brought cheap rice to the poor. The emergence of the Chinese army did not seem to affect the people's living and working in peace and contentment. And it could also give They bring benefits.
Under such circumstances, the Ming Dynasty official army, who had been planning to accumulate troops to counterattack, seemed to have become redundant people.
...
Yin Feng had just sent away the group of merchants. The dull roar of thunder came from the north of Jinling City.
Li Kuiqi's artillery observation battalion had five hot air balloons in total. Two were assigned to Chen Zhongji's troops on the northern line. He had three. After being heated on the ground with a large fire, the balloons were woven into silk and heat-resistant paint. Heated by high-quality coal blocks and charcoal fire in the hanging basket, it can basically be kept for more than an hour when floating in the air. After landing, it will be reheated for half an hour. So he used three hot air balloons to take turns to maintain it. Continuous observations.
The huge thunder fired a stone bomb first, which slowly landed behind the Shencemen urn. The next stone bomb fell on a corner of the urn. Dozens of artillery soldiers struggled to push the winch and used the thunder firecracker to use the thunder firecracker. A set of gear transmissions adjusted the pitch angle of the thunder muzzle again. Then another stone bullet landed accurately outside the Tibetan camp behind the Shence Gate Tower.
Xiong Tingbi just walked into the south gate of the urn city with the "guerrilla camp". A tin bomb weighing more than 100 kilograms fell down. With a rumbling sound, gunpowder filled the smoke and fires ran around. Most of the more than 100 Ming soldiers in the Tibetan soldiers' cave were exploded. The iron shock wave behind him was killed. Two other thunders were also fired. The huge flowering artillery shells blew the outside of the Tibetan camp, causing gravel to splash, and the walls collapsed. The Ming army hiding in the urn city waiting for the Chinese army to attack the city. The officers and soldiers were killed and injured.
Then, ten "Sky Thunders" also began to test the fire. After several irrelevant shells fell, the next one was the bombardment of the flowering bullet. There was a smoke of fire inside and outside the Shence Gate. The Ming army officers and soldiers were killed and injured. They were extremely scarce. He had never expected that the vernal cannon could be so accurate, nor did he know the power of the flowering bomb. Therefore, a large group of soldiers were concentrated in the urn behind the city gate. After waiting for the Chinese army to bombard it, they went to the city to defend. Now they were connected to the city. There was no chance of fighting. Thousands of soldiers were either killed or injured in the urn.
Not long after, the Shence Gate Tower was blown down. Li Nongping, the Suzhou gang general who was hiding there to observe the enemy situation, was blown up to the sky.
Xiong Tingbi was knocked down by the shock wave of the thunder and flowering bullet at the gate of the urn city. His official hat was blown away to the point where he went. His forehead was broken by stones. After he was unconscious for a while, he was rescued from the rubble by his personal soldiers and gradually woke up. He was rushing. He turned over and saw that the officials and soldiers were fleeing to the city around him. He shouted sternly: "Don't leave. The enemy has not yet entered the city."
"Boom." The gunpowder depot in the urn city was detonated by Chinese military shells. The huge fireballs soared into the air. The shock wave made the hot air balloons a hundred steps away shaking. Everything on the ground that could move was driven by the explosion shock wave of the gunpowder depot. Before Xiong Tingbi could react, he was hit on the shoulder by a wooden beam, turned over and fell down, and was buried in a pile of gravel again.
Li Kuiqi was busy commanding his soldiers to reload. A second lieutenant from the observation battalion grabbed him.
The sound of cannons rumbling around. The voices of people were completely inaudible. Li Kuiqi saw the lieutenant pointing at the balloon in the sky and handed over a note.
The hot air balloon can be connected to the ground through the signal flag, or through the paper strips in the basket tied to the rope. This paper strip was scribbled by the hot air balloon observer. Li Kuiqi tried hard to identify it for a while. Haha A smile: "What? No one is defending inside and outside the Shence Sect. It's true or not. Ask that guy in heaven whether the situation is true."