A large number of infantry began to gather and slowly moved towards the city wall. Among the infantry, there were a large number of siege equipment, including a large number of ordinary long ladders, wooden mobile arrow towers, and large shield vehicles.
These equipment are some of the siege equipment commonly used by the army in the traditional cold weapon era. However, they may be very useful in the cold weapon era, but they are not so useful in the gun era, because the Ming army on the city has
There are a large number of artillery, and even the bowl-mouth cannons equipped by the Ming army, judging from the general cannon, can still cause serious damage to these wooden instruments.
One shot, regardless of whether it is an arrow tower or a large shield vehicle, they will all be destroyed!
These days, whether it is attacking or defending a city, the protagonist has actually become an artillery piece!
Especially after the puppet Tang rebel army adopted artillery on a large scale, it also directly affected the Ming army's production and use of artillery!
Otherwise, why would we say that Ji'an is a turtle shell? In addition to the city wall, it is also related to the large number of artillery on the top of the city!
Therefore, the first to initiate action will definitely not be the infantry, but the artillery!
The main function of these infantry formations was to protect the more than one hundred artillery pieces and prevent the Ming army from rushing out of the city, especially to send cavalry out to attack the artillery positions.
In order to protect these important artillery, not only the main infantry phalanx was arrayed in front, but also there was an infantry phalanx directly belonging to the artillery itself right next to the artillery position.
Yes, in order to protect themselves these days, the artillery units are often directly assigned a certain number of musketeers, spearmen and other units. Although the number is not large, and the combat effectiveness is not very good, because these musketeers and
Spearmen, sword and shield soldiers, etc. are actually the transport troops in the artillery unit.
Take the Fifth Artillery Regiment of the Fifth Infantry Division as an example. The entire artillery regiment has fifty-four artillery pieces, and the total number of gunners who control the artillery on the battlefield, including loaders, is only five or six hundred. But in reality
The strength of the Fifth Artillery Regiment reached more than 1,500 people.
Because there are nearly a thousand people transporting artillery and ammunition, as well as horsemen and so on.
The Fifth Artillery Regiment relies on its own transportation for the artillery and ammunition it carries, and does not rely on the Fifth Baggage Regiment to which the Fifth Infantry Division belongs. The Fifth Baggage Regiment is responsible for the logistics and transportation tasks of the entire Fifth Infantry Division.
, and also includes emergency supplies on the battlefield, etc.
After entering the battlefield, the grooms in the artillery unit will take away the horses and manage the hundreds of horses in the artillery regiment. Some transport troops will continue to carry artillery shells, while other transport troops will pick up spears and muskets.
, arrayed in front, back, left and right of the artillery position, acting as the last line of defense for the artillery position. The main purpose is to prevent enemy cavalry from raiding the artillery position.
If the situation is urgent, the general can also draw these transport troops to directly participate in the front-line battle. However, since the formation of the Tang Dynasty King's Army, this has only happened a few times, and the scale is not large, because these transport troops
Although they can barely be regarded as infantry, their combat effectiveness is not even as good as that of baggage troops, and their combat effectiveness is worrisome. Under normal circumstances, the generals of the Tang Dynasty King's Division would not send these transport troops to the front lines for hand-to-hand combat.
Behind the defensive squares listed by these transport troops is the field artillery position of the huge Fifth Infantry Regiment. Basically, the artillery team is a small position, an artillery battalion is an artillery group position, and each artillery group position is
, forming a large-scale artillery position.
When the order to fire was given, these field artillery began to fire one after another, firing solid shells!
When these field artillery began to bombard, a large number of Ming troops soon appeared on the city walls, especially the battlements, which also exposed many dark muzzles, and a large number of Ming army artillery on the city walls could be vaguely seen.
They were carrying artillery shells, preparing to counterattack and prevent the infantry of the puppet Tang rebel army from approaching the city.
At this time, Li Chunjing said with a smile: "The rats have been dispatched, let the siege artillery fire!"
After his order was issued, a loud noise suddenly came from behind a reverse slope in the artillery position. At the same time as huge white smoke rose, an artillery shell weighing forty-eight kilograms was drawn in mid-air.
A curve, and then hit the city wall!
This cannonball, even on the battlefield where the cannons were already rumbling, seemed so extraordinary, because its huge sound was far different from that of other artillery fires.
When this 48-pound cannon shell is fired, the propellant used is more than twice as much as that used by the 24-pound cannon. In this way, the shell can be fired even though the barrel is relatively short.
The shells traveled more than five hundred meters.
This loud noise almost made everyone involuntarily cast their sights in the direction of the loud noise. Then, they saw a small black spot climbing in the sky!
Many people didn't understand when they saw this scene, because they were sure that the little black spot in the sky was definitely a cannonball, but the trajectory of the cannonball was really weird.
You can't blame them for finding it strange, because these days' artillery guns are basically aimed directly, and their ballistic trajectories are relatively straight. Even if there are curves, the curves are very small.
But the cannonball in their sight seemed to be hitting the sky directly!
There is another thing that I find strange, that is, the artillery makes too much noise when it is fired, and even though the cannonball looks like just a small black dot now, the black dot is so obvious that people with a little battlefield experience can see it.
Come out, this cannonball is definitely bigger than the common five-pound, seven-pound, or even the nine-pound heavy artillery in the puppet Tang rebel army, and it is much bigger!
And what does such a big cannonball mean?
Represents huge power!
At this moment, many Ming troops on the city wall, especially an officer in the Ming Army's artillery unit, had a very bad feeling in their hearts. When did these pseudo-Tang rebels come up with such a large heavy artillery?
According to this momentum, the weight of this artillery body alone may be seven to eight thousand!
If it is an exaggeration, it can be said that it is a heavy artillery!
Of course they don't know that this 48-pound howitzer has a very short barrel. Excluding the base, the gun body weighs less than 1,500 kilograms. Its weight is not even as heavy as a nine-pound field gun. Generally speaking,
It is only slightly heavier than the seven-pound field gun. As for the smaller 24-pound heavy-duty short-barreled howitzer, its weight is only over 800 kilograms, which is roughly the same as a five-pound field gun.
And this is because the cannon is made of iron, resulting in a heavier weight. If the Tang Dynasty's material technology and cannon-casting technology pass the test, this weight can even be further reduced.
Although this primitive ultra-short-barreled howitzer sounds scary in terms of caliber and bullet weight, its actual weight is far from comparable to that of a cannon of the same caliber or a long-barreled howitzer.
However, now they were surprised by the loud rumbling sound and the weight of the shell, but when the shell landed on the city wall, their mouths were so long that they couldn't close their mouths!
Because, after they saw the cannonball on the top of the city, a violent explosion occurred in that section of the city wall!
Was it the ammunition that exploded?
Or is there some other unexpected situation?
For a moment, they did not think that it was an explosion caused by a falling shell.
Although they all knew that the puppet Tang thief army was equipped with explosive bombs that could be thrown by hand, and even the craftsmen of the Ming army had imitated some and equipped them with them, let alone seeing the explosive bombs that could be fired by artillery.
Don't say I heard it, I didn't even think about it.
When the cannonball is loaded into the cannonball, aren't they afraid of it exploding directly when firing?
Well, their worries are very reasonable, and the Tang Army also paid a certain price for this.
But under the temptation of the huge power of the short-barreled howitzer, they would rather grit their teeth and use it even if it means dancing with death!
And now, this short-barreled heavy howitzer has demonstrated its huge power. The violent explosion overturned almost everything within the explosion range on the city.
A Ming army artillery group at the center of the explosion was directly destroyed on the spot, and the impact of the explosion even caused the five-pound artillery to fall from the top of the city!
This power is so terrifying!
This was the thought of many people at this time. Even Li Chunjing showed a hint of surprise, but he quickly regained his composure, and then said: "Let the heavy artillery battalion take its time, don't be anxious!"
The power of the shell explosion was so great that he could imagine that if the shell exploded by mistake, the entire gun crew would be wiped out.
At the same time, I am glad that these heavy howitzers were deployed in a dispersed manner, with a relatively large distance between them. In this way, even if the chamber is exploded, other artillery groups will not be harmed.
As soon as Li Chunjing finished speaking, several loud noises were heard from the heavy artillery position behind the reverse slope. At this time, three 48-pound short-barreled howitzers began to fire continuously at a certain frequency.
At the same time, more slightly smaller gunshots also sounded. These were nine 24-pound short-barreled howitzers firing!
There are a total of twelve medium- and large-caliber mortars. Even if the rate of fire is slowed down for safety, even the backbone of veteran artillerymen cannot accurately hit the target due to difficulty in operation. However, the huge power of the shells makes up for all these shortcomings.
Every time a cannonball landed on the top of the city, or flew over the top of the city and landed inside the city, there would be a violent explosion, followed by a huge column of smoke.
This kind of bombardment was almost impossible for the Ming army on the city to adapt to. They had finally gotten used to the artillery that fired solid bullets. They knew that as long as they hid behind the city wall, as long as they were not extremely unlucky, they would be hit by solid bullets.
If it is hit by debris, safety is still guaranteed by hiding behind the city wall.
But now, they find that hiding behind the city wall is no longer safe!
War has changed and they can no longer understand it!