Chapter 911 Flying Thunder Cannon
As of noon, the Haihan militia had destroyed five forts on the way forward, killed 71 bandits, captured more than 200 people, and seized various weapons. Although the results were good, from morning to noon, the Haihan Army only advanced seven or eight miles inland from the camp at the landing point, and the speed was not ideal.
Just as Shibazhi designed, the numerous fortresses they built on the island did effectively slow down the advance of the Haihan militia. In this era, there were no sharp weapons like tanks. When encountering a fortress, they could only stop and set up positions and use artillery bombardment tactics. A company would often have to stop after traveling two or three miles to carry out operations, and during this period, it had to be prepared for sudden attacks from other nearby strongholds. The uninvited guest who came out.
For the Haihan militia, attacking these strongholds is not very difficult, but they cannot be careless at all. In the morning, when a company was attacking a certain stronghold, they were almost cut off by bandits who were ambushing in the nearby mountains and forests. Although the officer commanding this company adjusted the formation in time after discovering the abnormality, and reinforcements arrived in time, he successfully repelled hundreds of bandits who came from behind to cover up the enemy, but our side still suffered four casualties and eleven injuries. This was the most serious and concentrated casualty loss since the war started on Miyakojima.
Yu Tiezhu's luck was quite good. He also commanded a critical battle outside a fortress that morning. This three-entry courtyard was transformed to be extremely strong. It took the artillery more than half an hour to clear a frontal passage. After the Haihan Army entered, they found that there were still people resisting in the two subsequent courtyards. , showing no sign of intending to surrender. So Yu Tiezhu commanded the artillery to clamp the artillery outside the gate of the courtyard and continue to bombard the second courtyard inside.
After advancing in this way, it was already noon when they finally entered the courtyard. After the soldiers entered and counted the prisoners, they discovered that the person commanding the battle at this stronghold was Hong Xu, one of the leaders of Shibazhi. This man was from Tong'an, Fujian. In the original history, he was regarded as a fierce general under Zheng Zhilong. After Zheng Zhilong surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he joined the service of Zheng Chenggong. Later, he was an official at least Fu and the prince's military officer Zhong Zhenhou. It was not until the Kangxi period that he was Died of illness.
However, in this time and space, Hong Xu has no chance to become an important minister in the Ming and Zheng Dynasties, and it is even hard to say whether he can leave Miyako Island alive. In the battle just now, he was hit by a stray bullet under his right shoulder. Judging from the position, it may have damaged his lungs. His mouth was full of blood and he could no longer speak. With the current medical conditions on the island, it may not be possible to save his life.
"Send it to the camp on a flatbed truck as soon as possible!" After Yu Tiezhu confirmed Hong Xu's identity from the prisoner, he immediately ordered him to be sent to the camp for treatment. Regardless of whether Hong Xu's life could be saved or not, his military exploits were truly recorded on the iron pillar. Among the surviving leaders of Shibazhi, there were only a few who followed Zheng Zhilong to Miyako Island. As long as he captured one of them and had military merit, Yu Tiezhu would not let go of such an opportunity. He only hoped that Hong Xu could survive until he was sent to the camp to verify his identity. If he died on the way, it would be another hassle to verify his identity again.
However, the frontline command headquarters was not very satisfied with the current advancement speed at this time. It only took half a day to advance a few miles. If the attack continued like this, it would only take half a month to clean up the entire Miyako Island. Although the ammunition and materials prepared by the military this time are sufficient, the planned operation time is not intended to be delayed for such a long time. The initial attack on Penghu only lasted two or three days. The Military Commission and the General Staff had fully calculated that they could leave Miyako Island with at most a week of fighting time. If the action was too slow, they would eventually be able to successfully capture the Eighteen Chi Yu Party here. Your military exploits will also be compromised as a result.
After Wang Tom combined with the navy, he decided to send some navy soldiers to participate in the land battle in order to clear these scattered fortresses on the island as soon as possible. As for the artillery units responsible for attacking fortresses, they need to be divided more carefully so that the troops attacking the fortress can be more effective. In addition, Wang Tom decided to put the secret weapon to use in advance, that is, the thunder cannon that uses the projectile principle to launch explosive packets.
This kind of thunder cannon is an earth mortar invented during the liberation war in time and space before time travel. It uses a gasoline barrel as a ejector, puts a disc-shaped explosive package into it, and uses gunpowder to project it to a distance of one or two hundred meters. It was detonated in other places. At that time, there was a very famous name called "heartless cannon". This kind of cannon is actually very similar to the mortars that have appeared in this era, except that the shells of the mortars will not explode.
The reason why the Haihan Army started to build this kind of weapon is that on the one hand, the advancement of forging technology has allowed it to mass-produce various types of iron barrels, and the output of gunpowder has also been able to meet the needs of the army in combat. On the other hand, the Army has Various inconveniences in transportation, deployment, and use of traditional artillery have also been discovered. There is an urgent need for a simple artillery that does not require professional artillery operation and can be used immediately by ordinary soldiers after a short period of training.
Although this kind of gun has a limited range and its accuracy cannot be compared with regular artillery, it is more advantageous in that it is easy to deploy, simple to operate, and its power is indeed quite powerful. A situation like Miyako Island with fortresses everywhere makes it very suitable to use thunder cannons to carry out critical battles. Among the equipment transported to Miyako Island with the army this time were twenty newly built thunder cannons. Wang Tom decisively ordered these cannons to be immediately distributed to each company and put into use in battle as soon as possible.
In the afternoon of that day, the two flying thunder cannons were loaded on flatbed trucks and delivered to Yu Tiezhu's company. The body of this kind of cannon is ten times lighter than traditional iron cannons, and the shells are disc-shaped packets of gunpowder and explosives. Loading and transportation are more convenient and faster than traditional iron cannons.
Yu Tiezhu had also received relevant training when he was in Sanya, and was no stranger to the use of thunder cannons. He immediately ordered people to dig a pit a hundred meters away from the next target and set up the thunder cannon. This kind of weapon only needs to bury the bottom of the iron barrel in the pit to adjust the launch angle according to the target distance.
Yu Tiezhu personally checked the placement and angle of the two thunder cannons before ordering people to load the gunpowder packets. There is a layer of wood between the gunpowder package and the explosive package, so that when launched, the explosive package above the board can be thrown out with huge thrust, and the detonation time will adjust the length of the fuze according to the approximate flight distance, so that the explosive package can be Detonates when close to the ground. Iron nails and iron pieces are also added to this kind of explosive bag in order to increase the lethality when it explodes. If it explodes in the air two to ten meters above the ground, its killing range can reach 20 to 30 meters in radius.
Compared with traditional artillery, this kind of flying thunder cannon is more suitable for the current combat environment. It would take at least several rounds of artillery fire to blast through the outer walls of the fortress, and after the walls were blown down, the armed personnel inside would not necessarily be hurt. When the infantry came forward to attack, they still needed to fight. The thunder cannon throws the explosive package into the fortress through ejection, directly killing the personnel inside. In this way, when the artillery outside destroys the wall bunker and the infantry steps forward to launch an attack, the resistance they will encounter will be much smaller. This reduces the time required to attack a fortress. "Fire!" After Yu Tiezhu confirmed that the layout of the flying thunder cannon was correct, he immediately issued the attack order.
With two booms one after the other, two ten-pound explosive packets drew an arc in the air, flew over the fortifications outside the stronghold, and then two explosions were heard inside.
"Charge, fire another round!" Yu Tiezhu was not in a hurry to let the infantry launch an offensive. He had no relevant experience with the power of this new weapon. He could only try to fire a few rounds to see the effect, and then Make adjustments to tactics based on actual conditions.
After three rounds of thunder cannon fire, the artillery had already blasted open the gate of this stronghold. Under the command of Yu Tiezhu, a platoon of army soldiers rushed towards the gap in the gate and quickly rushed in. This stronghold is not large in area. Yu Tiezhu estimates that there are at most forty or fifty people inside. After three rounds of thunder cannons, many people should have been injured.
Soon after the commander gave a signal and the situation was under control, Yu Tiezhu led the team forward to review the results. It has to be said that the power of the flying thunder cannon was far beyond Yu Tiezhu's expectation. According to the platoon leader who led the attack, the place was already in a mess when they entered, and most of the people had already fallen to the ground. . Most of them were killed by the fragments after the explosion of the explosive package thrown in, and some were stunned by the air wave of the explosion. When the soldiers entered the battlefield, they encountered no decent resistance and basically just took on the task of cleaning the battlefield.
Yu Tiezhu looked through several corpses on the ground to confirm that the injuries on these corpses were caused by the explosion of the explosive package just now, and then ordered people to take the center of the explosion as the center of the circle to check the range of power in all directions, and measured and Record. These actual combat data will be fed back to Sanya, and then the military equipment department will communicate with the ordnance industry units to gradually improve this new weapon. However, judging from the current actual combat effects, this weapon is still very lethal in a small range, and it is extremely convenient to use. It is more suitable than traditional artillery for the attack on such small fortresses.
After twenty thunder cannons were put into the battlefield, the speed at which each company cleared these fortresses suddenly accelerated. By evening, more than a dozen strongholds had been destroyed, and Haihan's control area had advanced several miles to the south of the island. But judging from the overall war situation, it is unlikely that the Haihan Militia will end the war within a day or two.
However, the Eighteen Zhiyu Party, who were full of hope for a turning point, did not see any hope after the end of the day's fighting. The result of fighting hard for a day was just the loss of hundreds of people. The Haihan Army did not retreat but advanced, but its own movement space was compressed even smaller. Zheng Zhilong still did not make a clear statement on this, and still asked his subordinates to continue to resist and wait for a turning point.
The only time-delaying tactic Zheng Zhilong could think of at the moment was this. If all the people on the island were gathered together to fight the Haihan people head-on, it would probably not last even half a day before they would be completely defeated. He originally planned to surrender decisively if the Haihan people captured these fortresses with overwhelming force, but this day the fortress tactics seemed to have achieved good results, which made Zheng Zhilong hesitate about his original decision. Even if he knew that the Kaihan people came to Miyako Island this time to most likely not achieve their goals, he still refused to give up on that sense of luck. Perhaps if he held on for one more day, the Kaihan people would choose because of too many casualties or lack of urgent supplies. Withdrew the troops.
But ideals are full, and reality is skinny. Although Zheng Zhilong is full of expectations for the variables of the battle, the strength gap between the two sides is difficult to change because of this targeted deployment. Even if the number of Shibashiba participants on Miyako Island doubled, they would still not be able to match the Haihan Militia. The complete defeat of Shibashiba would only be a matter of time, and there would not be any suspense or unexpected ending. occur.
The next day, the fighting continued. The Haihan militia, equipped with flying thunder cannons, obviously accelerated their advance, and Shibazhi, whose military morale became increasingly disorganized, began to flee without a fight, and even the personnel stationed at the stronghold surrendered collectively. Although Zheng Zhilong and other leaders have not yet been captured, Shiba Zhi's fighting will has declined significantly. The number of fortresses captured by the Haihan Army in this day was more than double that of the previous day. By evening, the command headquarters ordered Ming Jin to retreat. The Haihan Army had advanced to a position less than three miles away from Shiba Zhi's base camp on the island. As expected, Shiba Zhi would be cornered in the next day.
And Zheng Zhilong seemed to realize that his previous thoughts were too wishful thinking. The Haihan people had no intention of retreating despite the difficulties. Seeing this posture, it would be impossible to withdraw without completely wiping out Shibazhi. Although Zheng Zhilong had previously thought about killing himself when he was cornered, he still couldn't suppress his inner desire to survive when the situation came to an end. Under the current circumstances, escape was impossible, and the only way to survive was to surrender.
Although this choice would make Zheng Zhilong very unwilling, but today, there is no other option for him to choose. Either die in battle or surrender, there are only two options before Zheng Zhilong.
Zheng Zhilong finally decided to choose the latter. On the morning of September 5th, he sent Gan Hui, one of the leaders of the Eighteen Zhi, as a representative to discuss surrender with the Haihan people. However, Shibazhi, who was already in dire straits, really had no capital to bargain with his opponents, so the conditions given by Haihan were also very ruthless, requiring all Shibazhi personnel on the island to surrender unconditionally, otherwise they would be regarded as If they resist stubbornly, they will be killed without mercy.
(End of chapter)