Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 278 I didn’t expect the military supervisor to be so brave
"fire!"

Boom boom boom boom boom————

There were three tower ships, with 16 heavy guns on each side. With just one round of salvo, they fired 48 explosive grenades into the archer phalanx on the shore.

These iron-shell bombs, which were loaded with pounds of explosives, suddenly exploded in the crowd, accompanied by earth-shaking noises and white smoke rising into the sky. Immediately, heart-wrenching screams came from the Yuan army's archer phalanx.

Some were hit directly by the shells, having their heads or shoulders cut off on the spot; some were hit in the torso, having half of their bodies shattered on the spot; others were hit by close-range explosions of shells, having their entire bodies blown to pieces by the kilograms of bombs.

This kind of death is relatively quick and painless, but more often people are killed by a shell exploding in mid-air. Not only is the person stunned by the loud noise of the explosion, but there are also cast iron shrapnel flying everywhere.

The large pieces of shrapnel weighed several taels, like half of a kitchen knife flying in the air. The small pieces were the size of a knife and fork, and they were flying at extremely fast speeds. They were also hidden in the thick smoke, making it difficult to defend against.

These Yuan soldiers, who were encountering explosive grenades for the first time, had no idea that they could avoid the flying shrapnel by lying down. Many of them were still running around blindly and were hit by more shrapnel. A large number of soldiers hit by shrapnel fell down in the first round of artillery fire and lay in a pool of blood wailing.

More than 20% of the more than 1,000 archers were laid down. The reason why one round of artillery fire could achieve such great results was mainly because the Yuan army was caught off guard.

At that time, their attention was all on Chang Yuchun's small boats that were nearby, while the three tower ships were still two miles away. Besides, such large tower ships were inconvenient to move and were not suitable for operation in the harbor. Therefore, no one paid attention to the three tower ships at that time.

But then someone discovered that the three ships suddenly spewed out puffs of white smoke towards them, and before they could figure out what was going on, artillery shells exploded beside them.

As for the sound of the cannon on the ship, the sound from the cannon two miles away would take five or six seconds to arrive, based on the speed of sound.
"Magic! The enemy army knows magic! Run!"

"Don't run. Follow me and retreat a hundred steps to form a formation. Don't run. No one is allowed to run."

Boom boom boom boom boom——

Some Yuan soldiers who witnessed the front row of soldiers being blown into pieces were so scared that they shouted and ran for their lives, but their captain Cao Xu could probably tell what kind of weapon it was.

The strong smell of gunpowder in the air indicated that this was clearly a gunpowder weapon, possibly something like the former Song Dynasty's Thunderbolt. Although he didn't understand why Lu Jin's musket could shoot so far, it was obviously more than two miles in range, and the power was so strong, but it did not prevent him from knowing that it was a musket.

Fear comes from the unknown. If you understand the principle, there is nothing to be afraid of. But those ordinary Yuan army soldiers don’t care about this. They just know to continue standing by the river, and they may be bombed again.

Sure enough, Yu Tongyuan would not give Cao Xu time to reorganize his troops. The second round of artillery fire followed immediately. Although it was not as spectacular as the first round of salvos, the three ships now fired one after another. There were 48 guns, and the first one had been reloaded before the last one was fired, making the fighting feel more continuous.

On the outer harbor beach of Niuzhuji, there were deafening explosions everywhere and the terrified screams of the Yuan soldiers. Cao Xu found that he could not stop the archers' retreat here at all. He had no choice but to run back with the soldiers. He ran to a place more than 300 meters away from the shore, only to find that there were no more artillery shells flying. So he immediately took his personal soldiers to intercept the fleeing soldiers, killing more than 30 people in a row, and finally intercepted this group of fleeing soldiers.

"Fuck you! Don't run away! The enemy's ships can't reach here. Their muskets are useless on the shore. If they dare to land, we will shoot them to death here. Stop right there! If anyone dares to run again, I will chop him to pieces!"

All the Yuan army archers stood there in fear, their hands trembling as they held their horn bows. The rapid secretion of adrenaline made their fingers tremble uncontrollably. In this situation, it would be difficult to shoot the arrows.
Chang Yuchun squatted at the bow, looking at the beach in front through the gaps in the bamboo strips that blocked the arrows. A personal soldier beside him glanced at the beach and asked, "Commander, the Yuan army has been blown away. Shall we go ashore now?"

"Wait a little longer. Didn't you see the navy's ships coming again? If you go ashore now, be careful of being bombed by our cannons."

After saying this, Chang Yuchun cursed again, "Damn it, that guy Yu Tongyuan from the navy, he won't stop until all the Yuan army is blown to death. All the people have been blown away by him, so how can we count the merits of our vanguard?"

The guards beside him muttered, "This is good, we can have fewer deaths."

On the other side, Yu Tongyuan, who was commanding the tower ship, found that the effect of the artillery fire was getting worse and worse after three rounds of shooting. Sometimes the shells did not hit a single person. The Yuan army had already run deeper into the port. After all, the enemy was not stupid and it was impossible for them to stand in such a tight formation and serve as targets for you.

So he immediately gave orders to the other two ships, "Ship No. 4, keep firing and suppressing, and Ships No. 5 and No. 6, approach the shore and fire!"

The signal flags were waving, and the other two ships immediately stopped firing, raised their sails, turned their rudders, and moved towards the shore of Niuzhuji. When they got to about 400 meters away, the two ships swung their tails and aimed their other sides at the shore. After adjusting the direction, they immediately launched another round of bombardment.

This time they used reduced charge and a low firing angle, directly covering all areas within three hundred to one thousand meters from the shore, causing the fleeing soldiers who had just been intercepted to flee once again towards the harbor.

On the altar on the Hezhou Port side, Feng Guoyong, Yang Heng, Li Shanchang, Shi Naian, Bian Yuanheng and others also accompanied Lu Jin and took turns watching the battle through the telescope.

Shi Naian, who saw the power of the artillery for the first time, was even more astonished and exclaimed, "I never thought that this artillery could have such a terrifying power, like thunder from the sky, and in an instant, it slaughtered all the Yuan army on the shore."

Bian Yuanheng also clenched his fists and said excitedly, "My lord, you have such a magical weapon. It's just a matter of time for us Han people to recover the Sixteen Prefectures of Yanyun that we have lost for hundreds of years!"

Everyone looked at Lu Jin after hearing this, but they found that Lu Jin's face was as gloomy as water, and he didn't look excited at all. Shi Naian immediately asked in confusion, "Does the Marshal think there is something wrong?"

Lu Jin immediately shook his head and explained, "The power of this grenade is weaker than I expected. I have done a test before. I used an eight-jin field artillery to fire solid iron bullets at an enemy formation two miles away. Each shell can kill four to eight people. Theoretically, the power of the blooming grenade will be greater, after all, it will explode.

"But if we assume that one shell kills ten people, with 48 grenades in the first round of shelling, at least five hundred people should have been killed. That means the enemy's archers could have been killed in just three rounds of shelling. Unfortunately, they ran too fast, and it seems that less than four hundred were killed in the first round."

"."

Everyone was speechless when they heard this. Good man, is this how you use what you learned in math? The enemy is not stupid, of course they will run away if they are bombed.

Qin Zhao, the artillery officer of Zhang Wen's Second Brigade, said, "I just noticed that there were three rounds of artillery fire, and most of the casualties were caused in the first round. The effects of the next two rounds were very poor. Now it seems that when using artillery in the future, we should try to be more accurate in the first round, so that we can achieve the greatest effect."

"You're right. We should study how to improve our first-round hit rate as much as possible."

Lu Jin was stunned when he heard this, and immediately nodded in agreement, because even in modern times, the tactics of artillery warfare are still trying to improve the hit rate of the first shot, and only the first round of artillery fire is the best. Unexpectedly, this law still applies in ancient times.

At this moment, Zhang Desheng suddenly reminded, "Marshal, Lao Chang's 13th Regiment is about to go ashore." Upon hearing this, everyone immediately looked to the opposite bank and found that the ship with Chang Yuchun's regiment flag was indeed charging towards the shore.

Seeing this, Lu Jin immediately ordered, "Ye Sheng."

"The end will be here."

"Take your cavalry battalion and board the ship immediately and prepare to cross the river!"

"Yes, I will obey your order!"

Ye Sheng immediately took the order and left, and began to command the cavalry who had been prepared long ago to board the ship. Small boats were used to transport the cavalry, and each boat carried one cavalryman and one horse, to avoid too many horses gathering together and causing accidents.

The cavalrymen led their war horses onto the boat. Some of the horses felt the boat shaking and showed signs of panic. The cavalry masters immediately hugged the horses' necks, stroked their faces with one hand, and took out beans, bean cakes and other food from their pockets with the other hand and stuffed them into the horses' mouths, using food and actions to calm the horses' emotions.

On the other side of Niuzhuji ahead, Chang Yuchun commanded the first echelon of eighteen boats, each carrying 50 soldiers. These eighteen boats carried a battalion of soldiers.

When he saw the two approaching warships opened fire and destroyed the enemy's archer phalanx again with just one round of bombardment, Chang Yuchun could no longer bear it. He immediately lifted the anti-arrow board on the bow and shouted to the sailors on the ship.

"Go to the beach, I will be the first one to go up today. As long as I don't retreat, no one is allowed to retreat a single step. My men, today is the day to establish your career and to be honored as a wife and son. The Yuan army on the shore is vulnerable, follow me and kill them all!"

"Kill!"

Taking advantage of the moment when the bow of the ship hit the beach, Chang Yuchun leaped ashore in a flash, holding an iron spear and immediately rushed towards the Yuan army in the harbor. Beside him, the flag-bearer of the 13th Regiment followed closely behind him. A six-foot-long red flag suddenly fluttered high above the land of Niuzhuji, leading nearly a thousand red-armored Shengwu Army soldiers behind him to charge bravely.

As soon as the two tower ships saw their infantry land, they immediately stopped firing, thinking that they had not fought enough. Each cannon had only fired three or five rounds from the beginning of the war to now. But now they had no choice but to stop. War drums were beaten on the top floors of the tower ships to cheer for the Shengwu Army soldiers who had landed.

The second echelon of the 13th Regiment waiting in the middle of the river was led by the training officer Shi Heng. Shi Heng was also wearing armor at this time and did not look like a scholar military supervisor at all. Seeing that the commander Chang Yuchun had successfully landed and the red flag was flying on Niuzhuji, he immediately shouted to the soldiers around him.

"Soldiers of the Thirteenth Regiment! How many years have you served the Tartars like cattle and horses? How many of your parents, wives and children have died at the hands of the Tartars' tyranny? Today, the Marshal is leading us across the river. The day of revenge has come. Those who are afraid of fighting will die, those who make meritorious deeds will be rewarded, and those who sacrifice their lives will be compensated by the Marshal. Follow me if you are not afraid of death. There is not a single coward in my Thirteenth Regiment. If a scholar like me does not retreat, neither will you. Kill!"

At this moment, several arrows flew in from the shore. Shi Heng's personal soldiers immediately raised their shields to block them for him, and shouted, "Instructor, be careful!"

"Get out of here and follow me to shore!"

Shi Heng pushed the personal soldier away and jumped onto the pier holding a smoking grenade. When he saw several Yuan soldiers rushing over with guns raised, he immediately threw the grenade in his hand over to them.

With a loud bang, three Yuan soldiers were blown to the ground on the spot. Seeing that their instructors were so brave, the other Shengwu Army soldiers also jumped onto the pier, formed a formation and charged towards the depths of the dock, and soon occupied several piers.

Yan Duxian, a trainee battalion officer recommended by Li Huafu and assigned to the 13th Regiment by Lu Jin, was amazed when he saw Shi Heng rushing to the front. He said, "I didn't expect that a scholar military supervisor could be so brave!"

"What military supervisor? He is our instructor."

The platoon leader of the second platoon of the third battalion of the 13th regiment immediately refuted, and then turned around and shouted to the soldiers around him, "Brothers of the second platoon, Shi Xunjiang is usually very good to you. Now even Shi Xunjiang has come. If you are injured by the Tartars, will you agree?"

"No!"

"Then follow me and kill them. I'll touch your crotch. If you're a man, don't be left behind the instructor. Kill them!"

Upon hearing this, the second platoon leader was the first to rush onto the pier, immediately raised his gun and charged into the harbor, and the other soldiers immediately followed suit.

In less than a moment, all four combat battalions of the 13th Regiment had landed, and under the leadership of Chang Yuchun, they commanded three battalions of soldiers to attack the catapult positions deep in the harbor. Shi Heng had stayed behind, commanding a battalion of soldiers to guard the prisoners, clean up the dock, and prepare to receive the next batch of troops crossing the river.

The auxiliary battalion of the 64th Regiment was waiting at Hezhou Port. The auxiliary battalion was composed of four-wheeled carriages, each equipped with four horses. It was not easy to cross the river with these carriages. If they had to cross the river ahead of the combat troops, it would definitely slow down the speed of the main force crossing the river, so they simply left the auxiliary battalion of each regiment behind.

Seeing that the Niuzhuji dock had been controlled, Ye Sheng immediately urged the navy to send his cavalry battalion across the river.

According to the last intelligence update received before the war, the 1,000 cavalrymen deployed by Nahachu behind Caishiji had all been taken away by Dong Tuanxiao, so there should be no cavalry behind Niuzhuji and Caishiji now. Therefore, Ye Sheng's combat mission became to break out of the encirclement in the harbor and control the important roads along the way from Caishiji to Dangtu City, especially the wooden bridges, to prevent them from being destroyed by the enemy and affecting subsequent operations.

At Hezhou Port, when Lu Jin saw through the telescope that Ye Sheng personally led his white horse to the dock of Niuzhuji, he immediately gave the order.

"Send a message to Yang Jing, asking him to start attacking the city. Tong Hai, lead your Ninth Regiment to cross the river immediately and assist the Thirteenth Regiment to completely wipe out the Yuan army in Caishiji!"

"Yes!"

The messenger and Yu Tonghai both received their orders and left.

The messenger ships parked in the river raised flags one after another and quickly passed the order to the Southern Army in Dangtu. Yang Jing was also commanding the tower ships to bombard Dangtu City. The 48 artillery pieces had already fired six rounds, completely defeating the defenders on the city walls.

However, the port landing battles in Dangtu City and Niuzhuji are different. They have city walls here. If the tower ships get too close, they can't hit the city walls. They can only hit the base of the wall at close range. Therefore, the tower ships can only stop two miles away and fire at high angles to hit the city walls. Now that they are going to attack the city, it means that the heavy artillery bombardment has to stop. Fortunately, the dozen or so revolving submachine guns (small rear-loading Franki guns) on the top of the tower ships can continue to suppress the city.
When Yang Jing saw Lu Jin's order, he immediately understood that Niuzhu and Caishi had already landed, and now it was time for him to show his ability. He immediately ordered to stop the shelling. The three ships were divided into two groups. One ship sailed in from Guxi River, stopped in the west moat, and bombarded the west gate at close range.

The other two ships sailed into the South moat, first using swivel guns to suppress the defenders on the city walls, and then moved the ships close to the city walls to engage in boarding battle!

Well, use ships and city walls to engage in boarding battles
(End of this chapter)