Chapter 6, 7, 8, thunder and thunder, and the great wind rises (4)
Under the hazy sky, the cavalry's advance was like a surging tide. The cavalry formation, totaling nearly six thousand, looked densely packed from the sky. The heavy armored cavalry at the front were like huge waves rising from the tide.
The waves charged across the plain, with such power that they could flatten the hills, crushing everything.
When the armored heavy cavalry roared forward, the half of the side and rear gradually separated and began to circle to the side. This was half of the light cavalry separated from the armored cavalry. Although the iron kite was a heavy cavalry, it was often used in Xixia battles.
Used as the main force, they are good at running attacks and can maneuver quickly. During long-distance attacks, they will be followed by an equal number or twice as many pack horses, carrying heavy armor. Although these pack horses are not as elite as war horses, when the heavy armor is removed, the accompanying deputy
Soldiers can still use it as a mount to form light cavalry for combat.
Xixia is a tribal system with strict hierarchies. As the elite among the elite, the Iron Kites are often equipped with three deputies. These deputies are the servants and personal guards of the Iron Kites knights. They are quite qualified in terms of bravery and loyalty.
, can be called one of a hundred. Even though the war horse under his crotch is not good enough, he is still a quite elite force.
This time the Black Flag Army broke through Yanzhou and showed strong combat power. In order to quickly kill the bandit army coming out from behind, Meile led 2,700 iron kites and rushed in quickly, followed by 2,700
There were a lot of packhorses and light cavalry. Since the preparations for the war, the deputy leader Chang Da received the order to interfere from the side and act according to the opportunity. He led nearly three thousand light cavalry and began to surround the side. The array on the opposite side was orderly and seemed quite
Fierce, but according to past combat experience, this extremely ferocious army will still be quickly smashed open by the heavy cavalry forwards who have been replaced by many. What I need to pay attention to is the one or two thousand light troops already lined up behind the opponent's array.
cavalry.
The opponent was riding a horse specially raised for combat. His own mount was slightly inferior, but the bravery of the knights under his command would never be inferior to anyone in the world. Chang Da had great confidence in this. Once the opponent showed something
If there is a bad clue, the cavalry led by him will rush towards the opponent without hesitation.
He stared closely at the battle situation ahead, exhaling and inhaling. The heavy cavalry with iron hoofs increased their speed to the peak, and they were about to step into the place where the arrow could be fired. According to past experience, the arrow would fly over. However, for Iron Kites
, the meaning is not big - even if you understand this, there will still be arrows, and sometimes a few unlucky heavy riders will fall off their horses.
But there were no arrows.
The next moment, an overwhelming attack came!
There was not much warning. As the first explosion flame rose, countless explosions set off a huge wave on the front line of the cavalry wave. A deafening sound swept out. The huge wave silently set off and rose, like
They rushed towards each other and faced the huge wave of iron kites. There was a stalemate for a moment, and then both sides slapped each other in.
"Wow--"
boom!
boom--
Boom boom boom boom boom boom -
Team leader Nagu shouted and rushed into the huge tide of smoke, and was smashed out from the other side. The fallen armored war horse pressed his body, and he raised his head in the feeling of pain and numbness. The huge wave of
Here, countless flowers are rising!
The gray-black barrier, smoke and dust, surging shock waves, and the choking and dry smell are all rising and expanding. Objects launched from the front burst into this barrier. Yellow light exploded in the black smoke and dust.
It opened, followed by roaring dark red flames, various small objects flying, and air waves rolling and raging.
In Nagu's field of vision, the nearby explosions were like the earth shaking. To me, the heavily armored iron kites were galloping like mountains. They rushed out of this barrier, fell over, and rolled like landslides. Against the enemy array,
The impact shrank the front of the cavalry formation. The distance between the horses became closer than usual. The rising black smoke and dust blocked the sight of the cavalry. Many cavalry were still intact. However, under the high-speed sprint, they
Either they stumbled over the corpse of the war horse, or they bumped into the frightened comrades in front of them. They were knocked to the ground with a loud noise.
The vegetation on the high loess slopes was already sparse. Although it was not as barren as it would be in later generations, the power of the explosion caused the dust to rise billowingly.
In such a huge chaos, some of the war horses were frightened.
The field of vision was trembling, and the ominous air flow was chaotic and unspeakable. His companions rushed out of the black barrier, running or collapsing, or a few were still accelerating. Nagu saw a heavy horse rushing out of the smoke, and the knight on the horse rushed out.
It still appeared to be intact, but the next moment, an object shot from the other side hit the running knight with a bang. The horse was still charging out, and the armored half of the horse's body was blown to pieces in the rear.
This is a witchcraft! Huge fear surged in his heart, and he wanted to climb out from under the horse. Just as he was using his own strength, an iron kite jumped out from behind, and the horse stumbled, flooding his field of vision like a hill...
"——The second round of the elm cannon is loaded!"
"Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up -"
"Don't let them breathe—"
On the Black Flag Army's position, the officers of the Special Regiment were shouting hysterically. From behind, two thousand cavalry began to pull out. The atmosphere in the infantry array was solemn. Hou Wu, Mao Yishan and others were waiting for the moment of charge.
Around them, the soldiers of the special regiment were quickly assembling portable resistance horses. These resistance horses used long cast iron sticks as the central axis, and iron long spears were inserted crosswise and then fixed. Six long spears and a cast iron piece were in a set, fixed and then placed
It is almost impossible to move on the ground. Even if it rolls over, it still has the same shape. After being assembled, it is quickly pushed forward.
The battle on Dong Zhiyuan has just begun, but this oncoming blow is like a dream. In this era, it is a scene that has almost never appeared.
The first round of shelling directly paralyzed or killed probably more than a hundred armored heavy cavalry, but what was really spectacular was the rising smoke barrier. It blocked the sight of the charging iron kites, and the fallen cavalry simultaneously became
At this time, the number of cavalrymen who fell was still increasing. The nearly a thousand cavalrymen covered in the entire front line were more or less affected. Some horses were frightened and ran wildly in the wrong direction -
-In these years, the cavalry has been trained to set off firecrackers or make noise to adapt the horses to the sounds of the battlefield, but it has never been to this extent.
Some cavalrymen had their eardrums ruptured while on horseback, and the flying smoke and dust blurred their eyes. The balance of the horses was also affected. For a while, the galloping heavy cavalrymen might trip over their companions and break their necks.
, or bumped into other cavalry while running, and the knight on the horse pulled the horse desperately. He ran faster and faster and then suddenly fell to the ground. The remaining cavalry continued to run after making slight adjustments, and here, the cannonballs were still firing continuously.
Launching.
Many cavalrymen were continuously filtered out.
In the artillery formation, the soldiers quickly cleaned the gun barrels. Hollow or solid shells were loaded into the elm cannons. There were more than 20 iron cannons, and most of them were hollow shells. The specifications of these iron cannons were:
The calibers are different, some are integrated. Some have been divided into two sections, like the later Franco machine guns. The barrel and the sub-cannon with the charge are in a separate structure. After one is fired, the sub-cannon is removed and the other is
A sub-cannon was quickly loaded.
Lin Jingwei and Gongsun Sheng, the person in charge of the craftsmanship section of Xiaocang River, stood near the iron cannon cluster. They frowned slightly as they looked at the heavy cavalry who were alone and wandering in front of the battle line, or struggling to get up from the ground. At this time,
The surroundings were full of loud noises, shouts, and gunfire. Lin Jingwei looked at it and shouted to the side: "Come as usual. Come as usual, what are you doing over there! Be careful of the cannonballs in your hands, they will blow you up."
What a bastard——"
Amidst the banging sound, there were also explosive packets flying into the sky. Some dropped among the horses and exploded, and some did not explode until after a while. Gongsun Sheng carefully watched the power of the explosion.
Nearly nine years have passed since Ning Yi came to the Wu Dynasty. As for gunpowder, Ning Yi has been subconsciously making improvements almost from the beginning. In a sense, the black gunpowder in ancient China is different from the yellow gunpowder in modern times.
Gunpowder is two concepts. The room for improvement of black gunpowder is not unlimited, but to develop into modern explosives, trinitrotoluene, and (stone) glycerin, a large amount of chemical foundation is required.
Bottlenecks exist, but some things are not without compromises. The three basic compounds for making glycerin, sulfuric acid, have been discovered by alchemists in ancient times. Nitric acid is not available for the time being, but its raw materials were not used in the Wu Dynasty.
There is no shortage. In these years, saltpeter is mainly used by wealthy families to make ice in the summer. Nitric acid can be obtained by carbonization of saltpeter, or reaction with sulfuric acid, and hydrolysis. As for glycerin, sulfuric acid is used to react with animal and vegetable oils and fats by heating.
Then react with soda or lime to separate it, and even make soap by the way.
For Ning Yi, these principles are not unfamiliar, but it is naturally very difficult to find the right proportions and production methods in this era. Fortunately, although his expertise is not in chemistry, it is in employing people and operations. In giving
After the craftsmen under him popularized basic chemical knowledge, these things can be done by others. Since people like Gongsun Sheng joined in, the number of craftsmen under his banner has continued to increase. In fact, his initial chemical knowledge can no longer keep up with the progress of research in the workshop.
.
In the subsequent advancement of the explosives workshop, practical results were much higher than theoretical knowledge. Craftsmen with basic chemical knowledge could not become Mendeleev. However, under the modern research system that pursues efficiency, pays attention to records, and comparisons, its achievements
The quality of the gunpowder produced has become more and more pure. After sulfuric acid and nitric acid can be prepared, substances such as nitrocellulose have appeared in the workshop. After all kinds of messy things are mixed by people like Gongsun Sheng, the explosive power of gunpowder is also considerable.
, enough to be used decisively on the battlefield.
(Shi Xiao) At this time, there was already a certain basis for the preparation of glycerol, but Ning Yi did not rush to develop this. Firstly, after the rebellion, there was a real shortage of materials. Later generations raised pigs, and they were all fat. In these years, they raised pigs.
Pigs are all lean meat, so making glycerol from animal and vegetable fats is too luxurious and not cost-effective. Secondly, there is still a long way to go from the invention of (Shi Xiao) to the relatively safe use of glycerol.
Ning Yi didn't dare to mess around until the craftsmen in the workshop understood diatomaceous earth. In this dispatch, basically everything that could be used in the Xiaocang River had been used.
Several delay fuses made in the self-made workshop, hand-made hollow bullets, including the large-yield explosive packets that Ning Yi requested from the beginning, and extremely luxurious iron launch tubes - these extremely large-caliber projectile explosive packets
The cylinder was called flying thunder in later generations.
During the War of Liberation, the power of explosives fired from oil barrels when dropped was much more astonishing than ordinary cannons. The power of the modern explosives contained in them could sweep across an area of more than 20 meters at a time, wiping out all humans and animals, because
He was killed by the shock wave, and even his wounds could not be found when he died, so he was also called the "heartless cannon".
Naturally, the explosive package launched at this time would not have such power. However, after it landed on the ground and exploded, the shock wave expanded to a range of three or four meters around.
It will be thrown out and slam into the companion next to it.
"The world is about to change..."
The dark clouds dispersed in the sky. Gongsun Sheng looked at the small number of heavy cavalry rushing towards him, said something, and then reached out to pick up the big hammer on the ground. He was dressed in a Taoist priest's robe, and he looked like an immortal, but he could actually occupy the top spot among the Liangshan gangs.
He had a place in his position, but he was quite powerful. At this time, he dragged the hammer and rushed forward. A heavy horse was galloping towards him. The two of them touched each other in an instant. The Taoist priest used the momentum to swing the heavy hammer violently, and from below
Then there was a terrifying loud bang, hitting the war horse on the head. The whole war horse roared, its hooves flew and hit the ground beside it, causing blood and dust to roll.
He took the hammer and walked towards another cavalryman who was charging towards him. Infantrymen also rushed over from beside him. Only when he knocked the cavalryman to the ground did Gongsun Sheng yell towards the rear: "Hurry up -"
The heavy cavalry that galloped from the opposite side, survived the explosion area, and successfully reached the front line here was only one third in number. Some of the heavy cavalry were still there due to damage to the knights or horses.
They were confused in the smoke and dust. More than twenty iron-made horses were carried by soldiers and waited in front of them, followed by sabers, spears and hammers. The soldiers waiting here also received a huge blow in their ears.
Shocking, there was almost no sound in their ears. The iron cavalry lost some speed due to the turbulent bombardment, but they still came over like an overwhelming force. The heavy armored cavalry hit the horse, breaking it or pushing it.
It was forced to walk on the ground, and more heavy horses came over. They waved their sabers and spears to meet them. The hammer soldiers swung their heavy hammers and smashed them hard on the armor of the horse or knight, and blood flowed from the gaps in the armor.
gush out.
At this time, the center formation of the Iron Kites had also rushed past the huge wall of smoke and dust. They were relatively cautious and slowed down slightly. They moved more around to both sides of the smoke and dust. Due to the weakening of the shelling, the rising
Black smoke was coming from the sky, and Mei Le from behind could roughly see the situation ahead clearly.
In these years, the general army will collapse once it loses 10% of its battle losses. The Iron Harriers are not such a weak army. They are the elite of the elite. In many cases, they do not hesitate to sacrifice in order to win, but the important thing is
, sacrifice can bring victory.
At this time, not long after the war started, there was a charge. The front formation rushed over. The middle formation hesitated a little. At this time, they had already entered the range of a stone's throw for the battle. They still wanted to charge forward, but when more
In front, the army was like a giant beast, swallowing up a third of the Iron Kites troops. Before this, there had been no long-range confrontation that could threaten the Iron Kites like this.
The central formation was still charging, but things happened so fast that they had no time to collapse. The soldiers in the formation just felt confused. The officers with a little sense looked back at the huge handsome flag. Meile was also leading the crowd to rush towards - he
Originally he wanted to rescue or support the front line caught in the explosion, but at this time, even as a battle-hardened man, his mind was blank.
The entire front line has almost completely lost its combat effectiveness - it's over.
But morale has not been lost, and it seems that we can still fight after charging forward. To continue charging, or not to charge, that is the question.
At this moment...he thought of his mom...
************
Not many people noticed that the entire artillery array had fallen silent at this time... (To be continued.)
ps: I don’t know if I can code it out tomorrow, but I wish you all a Happy New Year first^_^