There is a huge boiler in the shipyard, which usually provides power for the shipyard's steam forging press, and when necessary, provides power for the defense system. The shell of the boiler is made of pressure-resistant steel plates and is riveted. It cannot be penetrated by ordinary attacks, but it can be deflected.
This cannonball hit the root of the pipe that transports steam from the furnace. The pipe couldn't help but break on the spot. The huge pressure of steam threw the pressure reducing valve on the pipe hundreds of feet away. The uncontrolled pressure exploded instantly, causing
There was a big explosion, large pieces of the shell flew up into the air, scalding boiling water poured down, and red coal from the furnace flew all over the sky. The shipyard suddenly became a hell.
There were numerous casualties among the workers in the factory, and the soldiers exposed on the city wall were also hit with missing arms and legs. Fortunately, there were still some soldiers in the hidden soldier cave who were not injured. The shipyard still had the capital to resist, but seeing the huge boilers had already
Half of it collapsed, and many disgraced soldiers were frightened and felt that the battle could not be fought.
The city defense weapons of Wuchang Shipyard represent the highest technological level in Central China. The technical content of steam cannons and steam repeating crossbows is no worse than that of the National Railway Plant. However, once the boiler is destroyed, these weapons are suddenly useless. Li Guo naturally understands this.
It makes sense, but he promised Zuo Mengeng that he must persist until the reinforcements arrive and must not retreat at this time. A few soldiers were tiptoeing to slip away, but he chopped them down with a knife, and then shouted: "Who dares to escape?
I will kill you without mercy!" Seeing his blood-red eyes, even a ruffian would feel terrified.
As a former slave in the iron factory, Liu Ziguang naturally knew the use of boilers in weapons. He immediately ordered He Renlong's cavalry to charge and attack the city. He Renlong said nothing and drove the army to attack fiercely. However, halfway through the charge, suddenly shot out from the city wall.
Large clumps of iron caltrops were scattered all over the path of the charge. The war horses were caught off guard. The first wave of horses were hit and fell down. The ones behind could not hold back their horses' hooves and fell to the ground. Crossbows were fired again from the city wall. This time
It is a pedal crossbow as thick as a spear. Although it is not as powerful as the steam repeating crossbow, it is enough for the cavalry to drink a pot.
Seeing the heavy losses suffered by his brothers, He Renlong couldn't bear it, but war is like this, and no one is immortal. Liu Ziguang was also worried. The defense of this shipyard was too strong, comparable to that of the Liguo Iron Works, and it must be removed.
, otherwise it will cause endless trouble. While he ordered the artillery to continue firing to suppress it, he said sincerely to He Renlong: "The left army's momentum has been lost. At this time, we must work hard to seize the city. Success or failure depends on this."
He Renlong didn't know the importance of the shipyard. A large amount of armor weapons and heavy equipment were stored here. After the capture, it would be difficult to accomplish anything with just tens of thousands of soldiers on the other side of the river. He made a determined decision and led the ship in person.
The soldiers attacked, and the artillery fire from the death battalion concentrated its fire on the main entrance of the shipyard. After two rounds of shooting, the city gate was finally opened by twenty artillery shells. The soldiers on the city wall finished shooting the arrows in the crossbow trough before discovering that the arrows were stored there.
Li Guo didn't think so. He picked up a spear and shouted: "Brothers, if you have the guts, fight with He Renlong."
!" There were many brave men among the bandits. Seeing the generals working so hard, a surge of pride surged into their hearts. They drew their weapons and stood together with Li Guo, facing the oncoming cavalry without fear.
The city gate of the shipyard has been broken. It is too late to block it at this time. We can only use people to fill it up. Fortunately, there are many spears in the shipyard, which are quite effective against cavalry. After all, He Renlong's cavalry is better than the Manchu Qing's.
The quality of the cavalry was poor, and they could not even shoot arrows on horseback. They could only rush forward and use their sabers to kill people. The people on both sides collided and started a desperate fight. Liu Ziguang watched and shook his head: "The level is too poor.
"After finishing the cigarette, Liu Ziguang found that the gap in the city gate had not yet changed hands. Liu Ziguang couldn't tolerate it anymore. He threw away the cigarette butt and said, "Brothers, it's our turn." After saying that, he picked up a long blunderbuss with a bayonet and walked away.
Arrive at the front of the team.
The artillerymen did not carry many artillery shells, and there were still big battles to be fought in the future, so they could not spend them all here, so they simply dropped the artillery, all fixed their bayonets, and followed Liu Ziguang to start a hand-to-hand assault.
Thousands of people were fighting fiercely near the city gate of the shipyard, but in Liu Ziguang's opinion, it was just a fight between farmers and farm tools in the countryside. Although the shouting was loud, it was far from the brutal level, which was similar to the Manchu Qing's previous attack on Jinan.
The intensity of the battle is far different from the previous ones. They basically fight on their own, catching and killing each other, with almost no decent tactical coordination at all.
Liu Ziguang led three hundred fire gun soldiers to quickly join the battle group, and the battle situation changed drastically. Generally speaking, the exchange ratio in hand-to-hand combat is one to one, especially when the combat effectiveness is close, but the guy in the death camp's hand
It's not a fire stick, it's a life-threatening fire blunderbuss. They won't fight you hand-to-hand at all. It's just a shot in the chest. No matter how thick the armor you wear, it's useless. If you can't kill you, you can be knocked to the ground. Come and use it again.
Who could bear the sharp stab from the bayonet? As soon as they faced each other, dozens of Li Guo's brothers fell down. Those soldiers who did not believe in evil rushed at them with their iron shields, but they still had grenades in front of them.
A dozen men in the platoon threw grenades together, knocking the shield soldiers off their feet. Li Guo was not willing to accept it, and personally led his men to launch a counterattack. He just took his life to fill the grenades. The soldiers from the death battalion threw away their long guns and took out their repeating short guns.
The gun fired continuously, and Li Guo was hit by one bullet on the spot. The bullets destroyed the mountain pattern armor.
He was penetrated and bleeding profusely. The soldiers tried their best to pull him down and tried to persuade him: "General, leave quickly, I can't stand it anymore." Li Guo's eyes were red from the killing and he was unwilling to retreat, so he was dragged away by the soldiers.
After leaving, there were still several boats parked on the dock. They jumped on one and drove towards Hanyang. In order to avoid being chased, they cut off the cables of the other boats. The boats went down the river. On the dock were
There is not a single boat left.
As soon as Li Guo left, the resistance in the shipyard collapsed immediately. The soldiers no longer had the will to fight and threw down their weapons and surrendered. Liu Ziguang and He Renlong's troops entered the shipyard at the same time. He Jun searched everywhere for the remaining enemies and Liu Ziguang's people.
Then he looked around for usable mechanical equipment and materials. Liu Ziguang picked up a piece of boiler wall with rivets from the ground and said with emotion: "The riveted ones are not as strong as the welded ones." At this time, he suddenly heard countless people screaming for mercy.
He raised his eyes and saw that it was He Renlong who gathered the prisoners together and made them kneel on the ground to start a killing spree. No wonder he was angry. In this battle, more than 500 of his brothers were killed and injured, and the horses were also dead.
Quite a few, ten battalions destroyed one and a half battalions.
However, Liu Ziguang did not agree with killing prisoners. He immediately shouted and stopped this behavior, because many of these prisoners were shipyard craftsmen and were high-level skilled workers. They were rare talents. How could they be killed casually?
He Renlong didn't know Liu Ziguang's identity and thought that he was at best a member of Qianzong. Now that the shipyard had been destroyed and his great achievements had been achieved, it was time to show off with some prestige, so he said dissatisfiedly: "I will kill a few prisoners."
What the hell, your honorable official won’t even have to take care of this.”
Liu Ziguang said: "General He can kill the soldiers from Chuangzi camp, but not the craftsmen from the shipyard. I want them all."
He Renlong was furious. The people who killed and injured a large number of his men with steam repeating crossbows were the armed workers of the shipyard. He wanted to settle accounts with these people." He then said forcefully: "I just want to kill, what can you do?"
Liu Ziguang said: "I have use for these people, but I say not to kill them!"
Everyone had just fought a bloody battle, and their emotions were unstable. When they saw a dispute between the two generals, the soldiers immediately attacked each other with swords and guns. He Renlong had many soldiers and immediately surrounded the death camp, but the death camp was not affected.
Not afraid, he held the fire cannons in the shape of a hedgehog. Ten of them were aimed at He Renlong. As long as Liu Ziguang gave an order, he could beat them into a hornet's nest. He Renlong knew the power of this weapon and felt that at this time
It was not appropriate to fight internally. Just when he was about to talk about reconciliation, Liu Ziguang burst into laughter first, showing the air of a general who didn't care. Then He Renlong also laughed. After the two of them finished laughing, they ordered their subordinates to put away their weapons.
"General He wholeheartedly avenges his subordinates. Zi Guang admires him very much. However, these workers are indeed of great use. If they are killed, the shipyard will be completely destroyed. Why don't General He sell me a favor? How about I buy these lives for three hundred taels with one life?"
?" Liu Ziguang first proposed a concession condition. Three hundred taels per person is really a very suitable price. Instead of killing him, it would be better to sell it to Liu Ziguang as a favor.
He Renlong was not stupid and immediately accepted the proposal. He instructed his men to screen out the prisoners and pull those from the Chuangzi camp to the riverside and chop them down, leaving all the workers behind. In fact, many Chuangzi campers were saved in this way.
After all, it was better to exchange more money for the soldiers' lives, so the prisoner-killing activity ended quickly and ended in an anticlimactic manner.
"The general's name is Ziguang? I don't know what his surname is?" He Renlong asked politely.
"Excuse me, my surname is Liu." Liu Ziguang replied.
"It turns out that Marquis Zhenwu has arrived, and the crowd has been rude." He Renlong then realized that this person was the famous Ming Dynasty's most powerful general. He quickly lifted his robe and knelt down. Of course, Liu Ziguang comforted him with kind words.
There was no boat on the dock, so he could not cross the river to pursue him, so he could only stand ready. He Renlong told Liu Ziguang that it would be difficult for Zuo Menggen to mobilize the troops on the other side without Zuo Liangyu's order. It would take at least tomorrow until they could coordinate. It was already noon, so why not
He went into the city to meet with He Tengjiao, the governor of Huguang, and have some food and wine by the way. Liu Ziguang readily agreed.
Some people from the death camp were left to continue searching for valuable things. Others followed Liu Ziguang into the city. At the same time, they also sent people to pick up Hou Xun, Liu Zhijun and others at the station to take over Wuchang City on behalf of the imperial court.