Su Tong, the leader of the first regiment, led the second and third battalions and finally climbed up the northern city wall. It was already dark. It was not until the arrival of the regiment leader that Lin Hu breathed a sigh of relief.
After all, there were more than 20,000 well-equipped old guards and swordsmen below. He was worried that these people would launch a counterattack at any time. But obviously, the other party was not ready yet, and did not launch a counterattack until dark.
Now that the head of the regiment has arrived, so have the second and third battalions, and the number of people on the north wall has increased to 1,500. Only then did he really feel relieved.
The other two battalions of their regiment are responsible for blocking the road outside. Currently, there are only 1,500 people from the three battalions and 600 people from the regiment headquarters below the city.
"Tonight, one shift will be responsible for the defense every hour. Pay attention to their counterattack at night." Su Tong arranged.
After it got dark, a group of people threw a lot of burning wood from the north wall to provide lighting to prevent the enemy from sneaking into the city while it was dark.
However, time passed slowly, and the ink-like night below the city fell into silence, with no movement at all.
Those business compound compounds seemed to have also been under light control. It was pitch black with no light at all.
In the early morning, around three o'clock, Su Tong slept in his clothes, feeling uneasy, then put on his coat, opened the door of the Jade Emperor Pavilion, and walked out. The guards quickly followed.
The soldiers of the first group were sleeping in the corner under the battlements. Occasionally, patrolling soldiers would pass by and shoot down with light beams from carbide lamps to see if there was any enemy sneak attack.
"Captain, are you up?" Lin Hu came over and asked.
"Well, I can't sleep. Let's come out and see if there's anything going on."
"No, it will be dawn in two hours. I guess they won't attack tonight."
Su Tong looked at the dark night sky. It was cloudy today, with no moon and no stars.
"The only explanation why they didn't counterattack in the afternoon is that they were not prepared. Now the city wall is in our hands. It is 500 meters long and can accommodate 1,500 people. It is the limit. They know very well that this
By that time, all the people we could come up have already come up. Our muskets are too powerful during the day, and most likely they want to wait until the early morning when people are sleepiest to launch a counterattack."
While the two were talking, a sentry suddenly noticed the movement. Someone accidentally stepped on a dead branch under the city. In this quiet night, it was very noticeable.
So countless carbide light poles were swept over. As a result, a large number of people armed with various weapons were found, lying on the ground and crawling along the street.
Bang, bang, bang, the alarm gong sounded. All the officers and soldiers immediately got up and grabbed the guns around them. But it was too dark outside and they could not see anything.
Only with the light beam swept by the small calcium carbide hanging on the camel's neck, someone could be seen in an instant. This was the only lighting tool they brought out.
Su Tong made a prompt decision and said: "Shot three red flares and request artillery support."
Three red flares flew into the sky. An Sanxi, who was lying on the camp bed, woke up immediately when he saw a red light flashing outside the tent.
"What's going on? Who is sending the signal flare?"
The guard came in and said: "Report to the commander that the attack was on the north wall. Please ask for artillery support."
An Sanxi immediately understood that this was Su Tong's request for lighting.
"Use spherical explosive bombs. Each gun fires six rounds every three minutes."
"Here"
Subsequently, the Camel Cannon set up on the hillside opened fire. This time, explosive incendiary bombs with aluminum powder added as an incendiary agent were used. The shells of this type of bomb brought little. They were mainly used for arson and night lighting.
All the people in the residential houses on the north side of Baozi have left, and the houses are all empty. Houses in this era were basically made of wood or adobe houses, with roofs made of wood and thatch.
Boom boom boom! Fifteen camel cannons opened fire.
The artillery shells crossed the city wall and landed in the city. Artillery in this era basically fired directly. Only a few people who knew mathematics knew how to shoot indirectly.
Therefore, the impact points of the cannonballs are very scattered. However, at this moment, the lighting effect caused by scattered cannonballs is better.
Boom, boom, boom!
The incendiary bombs fell in the city and exploded, emitting a violent white light. The shells, which were added with sugar and aluminum powder as accelerants, generated a high temperature of thousands of degrees after the explosion. The wooden buildings were instantly ignited.
An incendiary bomb landed on the street, in a dense formation, among the crowds who were preparing to charge. There was a violent explosion, and a group of people were blown away. Then, the burning objects flying after the explosion fell on the people, and their clothes were blown away.
ignite.
Almost instantly, dozens of people's clothes were set on fire.
This season is winter, and people generally wear thick clothes. Especially furs here are much cheaper than in the mainland. So they all wear clothes and robes made of furry fur. Once an incendiary bomb falls on them, they will be instantly destroyed.
This man is burned into a torch.
The incendiary bombs were so violent that there was no time to take off my clothes.
A small amount of white phosphorus was also added to the incendiary bomb.
When it explodes, the aluminum powder is responsible for emitting high heat and high light. The sugar is both a combustion accelerant and a viscosity agent. The chemical fertilizer explosive is responsible for blowing up these burning materials, causing them to fly everywhere and ignite more buildings.
Soon, many fire spots appeared in the streets below, and people inside screamed and ran out. Now the city could no longer remain silent. People ran out of the burning houses one after another.
After a round of shelling, the houses in the fort burst into flames everywhere, with hundreds of ignition points, lighting up the fort as if it were daytime.
The militiamen below who quietly approached the city wall saw that they had completely lost the possibility of a sneak attack. They immediately made a decisive decision, swarmed forward, and changed the sneak attack plan to a violent attack.
Through the light of many burning houses in the city, Lin Hu could clearly see dense crowds of people on almost every street, holding weapons and swarming up.
Those in the front are holding shields.
It seemed that they all knew about the great power of the flintlock guns today. They brought a large number of shields with them in this attack. They were used to resist lead bullets in the front and protect the spearmen and other combatants behind.
Su Tong looked at the various shields below and his mouth widened in surprise.
There are many kinds of shields here. Almost all of the shields that Su Tong learned when he was studying in the martial arts hall are here.
There are all long cards, hand cards, and playing cards, and even some rare types of shields have appeared. For example, the cards have long steel needles on them, and the shields have iron nails at the bottom, which can be inserted into the soil and fixed by themselves.
Su Tong actually saw the Hard and Soft card invented by Qi Jiguang. These northern Shanxi merchants hated Qi Jiajun and other southern soldiers. However, they accepted all the advanced military technology brought by Qi Jiajun.
This is a shield made of composite materials, which can withstand musket fire at long distances. The rigid and soft shield weighs fifteen kilograms, is framed with light wood, and is covered with cowhide on both sides. It is nailed with nails. The surface of the cowhide is coated with gray in order to be waterproof.
Lacquer and oil. There are two layers of cotton quilts sandwiched inside the cowhide, and a thick paper layer made of thin tissue paper is sandwiched between the two layers of quilts.
At a distance of forty or fifty steps (60~75 meters), muskets cannot penetrate the rigid and soft cards, but at a distance of thirty steps (45 meters), the rigid and soft cards cannot resist the muskets. Because in actual combat,
The shooting distance of a musket is generally greater than thirty steps, so the Rigid and Soft cards are still very useful.
Su Tong saw no less than three hundred hard and soft shields, and was impressed by the wealth of the Shanxi merchants. This kind of shield was very expensive. It cost at least five taels of silver each. It was not easy to get even if you had money.
"Everyone is ready, use flintlock rifles, and fire freely." Su Tong gave the order to fire on the enemies exposed below.
