At the fourth watch of the next day, the Ming army buried pots to make rice and had a hearty meal.
At the same time, several channels were filled in the trench with sandbags and covered with iron plates.
At the fifth watch, everything was ready, and the soldiers of the Ming army began to pull and drag the cannons to the camp.
Originally, there were two main types of Ming army artillery. One was bowl-mouthed artillery that weighed no more than 100 kilograms. This small artillery could fire small solid shells, as well as lead or gravel. Its main function was to kill people and horses.
One type is the mortar with a short body and wide mouth. This is a large artillery with a short body and a thick caliber. It has a short range and powerful projectiles and is mainly used to destroy solid fortifications. The Hongwu iron cannon was cast in the 10th year of Hongwu.
, with a caliber of 21 centimeters and a total length of three feet and three. It was the most powerful large-caliber city bombing cannon in the world at that time.
But it has two problems. One is that it is too bulky. The naked gun weighs 900 kilograms, and it is difficult to pull it with two horses. It is extremely inconvenient to transport. The other is that the cast iron gun body is easy to explode, and the gunner is taken away in a wave.
Therefore, he was not welcomed by the Ming army.
Thinking about it, the Ming army in this era only attacked but did not defend. The attack was mainly based on cavalry pursuit. The Hongwu Iron Cannon was not born at the right time. Therefore, after its birth, the Communist Party did not build a few. In another time and space
Gradually being annihilated.
Fortunately, Lao Liu was there this time, and his navy needed this kind of heavy artillery. Moreover, His Royal Highness the King of Chu, who was wealthy and wealthy, changed the cannon body from cast iron to cast copper.
In this era, the advantages of copper cannons are unmatched by iron cannons. It is easy to cast, not easy to explode, and there are no fragments in the chamber, so it will not cause harm to personnel. Therefore, the barrel of a copper cannon of the same caliber is better than that of an iron cannon.
The thinner it is, the lighter it naturally is.
Moreover, it is not easy to rust and is especially suitable for naval equipment.
Of course, copper cannons also have shortcomings, the main one being that they are expensive. In this era, copper was used to make money, and most people could not afford to use it to make cannons.
Fortunately, Lao Liu was not an ordinary person. His Prime Minister's Maritime Administration obtained huge profits through the maritime trade share of the Municipal Shipping Fleet and the customs revenue of the Municipal Shipping Department.
The proceeds from Zheng He's seven voyages to the West were enough to enable Lao Si to cast a forty-six-ton bronze bell. Lao Liu and the generous donations from wealthy households in the south of the Yangtze River were able to build ships and cannons on a large scale, and even
Build yourself a garden...oh no, it's the sanatorium of Hai Zheng Yamen.
~~
The Hongwu bronze cannon that Wang Bi pulled from the ship weighed 700 kilograms. It was indeed 200 kilograms lighter than the iron cannon of the same caliber, but it was still extremely heavy.
Without animal power, one cannon required eight strong soldiers to pull forward and push back. An hour later, the first cannon was finally in position a hundred feet away from the stone wall... It sounds good, but in fact, let's put it another way.
In just two hours, we traveled more than 100 meters.
Of course, the three men would not sit idly by and watch. They kept sending death squads to harass, but they were all repelled by the Ming army who was waiting for them with fire blunderbuss and small bowl-mouth blunderbuss.
During this period, the three men also had a heated discussion on whether to send the main force to launch a general attack. However, due to their superstition on the sacred wall of the protector and their lack of confidence in front of the Ming army, they finally gave up.
At noon, twenty large Hongwu bronze cannons were finally in place. In fact, the effect would be better if they were farther forward, but the Japanese big bows and arrows had a very long range, and they were shooting from a high position. If they were farther forward, they would be within the range of the Japanese army.
"This is exactly half the range of yesterday. Let's try it here first." Wang Bi said solemnly: "Let's fire!"
"Fire!" Hu Bo ordered loudly, and the gunner who had been prepared immediately lit the fuse, covered his ears and hid aside. This was the habit they had developed when using iron cannons.
Amidst the deafening sound of the cannon, twenty fiery snakes spurted out from the muzzle, launching twenty large iron bullets into the stone wall opposite. Suddenly the sky shook and the earth shook, and gravel flew...
When the thick smoke that shrouded the artillery position dissipated, the Ming army saw that the reduction of half the firing range had an immediate effect. They saw large holes appearing on the stone wall opposite, and some of the holes even collapsed...
"Okay! Lower the muzzle and continue shooting!" Wang Bi happily patted the cannon and quickly raised it again. It was really hot to the touch.
The gunner was also encouraged and quickly refreshed the barrel and reloaded.
~~
One was happy and the other was sad, but the three of them were dumbfounded.
"Nani?!"
"Once it was rotten, how about another one?" They shed tears as they watched a round of shelling turn the National Protectorate into rubbish. This was not only a collapse of defense, but also a collapse of faith.
How come the stone wall that once withstood the Mongols was so vulnerable? Could it be that Amaterasu no longer protects his people this time?
"Go and repair it quickly!" They urged the ashigaru hysterically to carry stones and sandbags up the wall to fill holes.
However, as soon as the Japanese soldiers climbed up the wall, the second round of shelling came again. The large iron bullets roared in with great force and hit the wall near the hole hard.
Immediately, the sky collapsed and rubble filled the sky. The flesh and blood of the Japanese soldiers were riddled with holes by the flying rubble, and almost no one survived.
Looking at this horrific scene, no one dared to go up and fill the hole with their own flesh and blood. The Japanese in this era had not been brainwashed by militarism. The Ashigaru went to the battlefield mainly to wave flags and shout for Taipingquan. How could they stand it?
To endure such a tragic scene?
No matter how the warriors drove him, they refused to move forward.
The three of them did not dare to push too hard, otherwise it would be counterproductive. These ashigaru, who were born as farmers, had no fighting will to begin with. Fortunately, this was to defend their hometown. If it were another war, the birds and beasts would have dispersed with a roar.
.
The warriors were not afraid of death, but the three of them were reluctant to take their lives to fill the hole.
Seeing that the stone wall was riddled with holes after rounds of shelling by the Ming army, it continued to collapse, and soon the entire section would collapse.
"Retreat!" Young Master Laicheng made a difficult decision that went against his ancestors.
"The purpose of retreating is to better annihilate the enemy!" Dayou personally agreed: "We retreated a hundred steps to stand ready and resolutely block the Ming army rushing in from the gap!"
"This is the only way." Shimazu didn't object for a long time. If he only knew how to act recklessly, the Shimazu family would have been doomed long ago.
~~
The original stone wall built by the jade accumulation method was indeed not very useful. After a few rounds of shelling, a section of it collapsed.
However, Wang Bi did not rush to attack, but ordered the artillery bombardment to continue, destroying as many sections of the stone wall as possible to create more breakthroughs for the charging troops.
The bombardment continued until the sun turned to the west, and a gap of more than ten feet wide was blasted out in the stone wall in front of him. Only then did Wang Bi give the order to attack.
The Ming army soldiers who had been waiting for a long time launched a charge towards the gap in the stone wall under the cover of the gunners.
The Japanese did not completely abandon the stone wall. Many archers emerged from both ends of the gap, facing the covering fire of the Ming army, and fired arrows at the charging Ming army.
Ahead, the three men had also reorganized their defense line inside the stone wall. In order to withstand the attack of the Ming army, they all spent a lot of money and sent out their elites to prepare for the attack.
