October of the second year of the Daqian calendar (AD 201), Hanzhong, outside Yangping Pass!
After five days of marching, Liu Shi led the main force of the Xiliang Army to fight Ma Chao!
Ma Chao reported the military situation to Liu Shi and said: "General, there are 5,000 soldiers and horses stationed around Yangping Pass, of which 3,000 are at Yangping Pass, and there are 1,000 Hanzhong troops at Dingjun Mountain outside Yangping Pass, and 1,000 at Tiandang Mountain. Defenders, these three camps form a corner. If we attack Yangping Pass, we will be attacked from three sides! Yesterday, Liu Bei's general Wei Yan led 1,000 elite Jingzhou troops to support Yangping Pass. Now there are 6,000 enemies opposite us! "
After listening to Ma Chao's report, Liu Shi led 100 personal guards to inspect the surrounding area and found that the surrounding terrain was basically the same as what Ma Chao said. With the terrain of Yangping Pass, it would be difficult for ordinary troops to break through the defenses here. .
But after Liu Shi explored the terrain here, he smiled and said: "The Hanzhong Army is indeed a frog in the well. If they knew the information about our battle with the various princes in the Central Plains, they would not arrange their camps like this. If Dingjun Mountain and Tiandang Mountain were in It might have been impregnable before, but with artillery, these two places are just a target!"
Liu Shi found that the camps at Tiandang Mountain and Dingjun Mountain were still the same as those of the Han Dynasty more than ten years ago, and he had not thought about how to prepare for artillery. If the princes of the Central Plains would not have made such a mistake, they would have to prepare the camps before building them. They would dig trenches in the camp and build some sandbags and other defenses to protect the artillery! They would also place the artillery at the highest position in the camp for easy firing. But there were none of these on Dingjun Mountain. Liu Shi knew that Tiandang There are no artillery in the mountains and Dingjun Mountains, so what else is there to say? Just use artillery to attack!
On the other side, after Wei Yan came to Yangping Pass, he directly took over the defense of the entire Yangping Pass. He also discovered the Dingjun Mountain and Tiandang Mountain camps, so he immediately asked Yang Ang: "What is the distance between the Dingjun Mountain and Tiandang Mountain camps?" offensive weapon?"
Yang Ang said inexplicably: "There are 1,000 crossbowmen and 10 crossbows up there!"
Wei Yan sighed and said: "Don't you know that the Daqian Army has artillery with a range of more than 300 steps? Even at an elevation angle, I'm afraid it can attack the camp on the mountain 200 steps away!"
Wei Yan also felt in a dilemma. If the Daqian Army did not have artillery, he was confident that he could use the terrain of Yangping Pass to block the Daqian Army's attack. However, he blocked the Daqian Army because they had a large number of artillery, and their Jingzhou Army's artillery was simply useless. It had not been transported, and Yizhou did not have many artillery. Liu Bei had already begun to mobilize troops from Yizhou to support Hanzhong. However, Yizhou's mountainous terrain meant that the artillery could not keep up with the speed of the march. At least within 2 months, It is impossible for them to have artillery support inside.
Yang Ang hesitated and said: "It is said that the artillery weighs several thousand kilograms. Considering the steep terrain of Dingjun Mountain and Tiandang Mountain, I'm afraid this artillery won't be able to go up!"
Wei Yan did not answer, but looked at the surrounding mountains and asked: "Find a way to let the defenders in the two places dig deep trenches, and at the same time use bed crossbows to point at the artillery of the Daqian army, otherwise these two camps will not be able to defend for long!" "
Wei Yan originally wanted the defenders from the two places to come back, but later he thought that there were 30,000 Daqian troops outside Yangping Pass. It would be difficult for these defenders to return to Yangping Pass safely. Secondly, without these two camps, the direction of the Daqian Army's attack would definitely be different. It’s Yangping Pass. Er Yangping Pass is not even as good as the camps at Tiandang Mountain and Dingjun Mountain. It’s better to leave these two camps behind and buy more time for Yangping Pass!
Yang Ang said: "No!"
He didn't know the power of the artillery and had never fought against Daqian's army. He could only listen to the words of Wei Yan, the general's confidant. But the defenders in the two places had no time to change the defenses of the camp.
The next day, Liu Shi sent a battalion of troops to defend against the defenders of Yangping Pass to support Tiandang Mountain and Dingjun Mountain, and then sent 2 battalions to surround Tiandang Mountain and Dingjun Mountain, and then established two camps in Tiandang Mountain and Dingjun Mountain. At 200 paces, there were 20 long circular tubes facing the two camps of the Hanzhong Army.
This is Daqian's latest flying thunder cannon. No, it should be said to be a mortar!
Although the thunder cannon is powerful, it is not without its shortcomings. One is that the range is short, and the other is that it is easy to explode the chamber. Therefore, every time it is fired, the thunder cannon must be buried in the ground to place the explosive chamber. Using this method The flying thunder cannon is difficult to move. The third is that it consumes a lot of gunpowder. Now the army has more and more warships and more artillery. Thousands of artillery consume a huge amount of black powder, and one shot of the flying thunder cannon It is equivalent to 10 rounds of ordinary artillery, which is a huge waste for the Daqian army.
So Xu Wei developed a mortar, made a seamless steel pipe, and left a hole for launching. Mortar shells are also the kind of shells with tails, but there is a lead that needs to be ignited together with the propellant, so every Reloading ammunition is a little more troublesome! And its power is much smaller than that of a tornado.
But mortars have many advantages: they are lightweight, have a long range, and are highly accurate. They can even hit enemies in trenches. This is considered the first battle of mortars!
The defenders of Tiandang Mountain did not know what kind of weapons they would face, and the Daqian army was far away from the range of their crossbows. The Han troops on the mountain were still watching the actions of the Daqian army curiously.
After the mortar battalion's preparatory activities for launch were completed, the battalion commander Liu Yaxin reported to Liu Shihui: "Report to the general, the mortar battalion has completed its pre-launch preparations and requested an attack!"
Liu Shi ordered: "Fire!"
Battalion Commander Liu Yaxin immediately gave an order to his soldiers: "Fire!"
"Puff!" 20 mortars fired 20 shells!
These cannonballs flew through a graceful curve, and all 20 cannonballs were fired into the camp on Dingjun Mountain!
"Boom, boom, boom!" 20 artillery shells exploded violently. For a moment, the entire camp was filled with smoke, and the groans of injured soldiers were heard. This wave of attack alone injured hundreds of Han soldiers!
And the Han army on Dingjun Mountain was stunned by the bombing and didn't know what to do for a while?
But Liu Shi did not give them time to think, and ordered: "Fight 10 rounds in a row, and I will completely level the camp at Dingjun Mountain!"
Liu Yaxin said loudly: "No!"
Then he issued an order to his soldiers: "Mortar battalion, fire 10 rounds in a row!"
"Puff puff!"
"Boom boom boom!"
Hundreds of artillery shells completely flooded the Dingjun Mountain camp. Smoke and dust filled the entire Dingjun Mountain. When the smoke cleared, a white flag hung on the Dingjun Mountain camp. Just these 10 rounds of shelling completely destroyed the morale of the Han army. !
When Yang Ang and others at Yangping Pass saw the smoke and the fierce sound of artillery in Dingjun Mountain, they were horrified and said: "Is this the artillery of the Daqian Army?"
Wei Yan said helplessly: "Yes, this is the artillery of the Daqian Army. In this era, if you don't understand artillery and can't defend against artillery attacks, you can no longer be regarded as a general. Your Hanzhong Army is no longer up to date!"