Late Yuan Dynasty: I am the true emperor

Chapter 297: Battle of Xiaomao Mountain (VI)
At the pavilion halfway up Xiaomao Mountain, Liu Liu and Qiu Chuyi finally got to the front. They looked around and saw that on the flat ground below the mountain, there were hundreds of thousands of troops from both sides arrayed in a strict formation, with the enemy and ours clearly distinguished between the two armies, flags fluttering, and drums beating loudly.

Liu Liu was illiterate and could barely recognize a few characters, let alone the art of war. Although he could not understand it, he could intuitively see that there were five large square formations in the front, middle, back, left and right of the government army. Then he looked at the Shengwu Army on the opposite side which had only one horizontal formation, and he took a breath of cold air.

"The government troops have so many soldiers, and the volunteers have so few. Can they win?"

Upon hearing this, Qiu Chuyi quickly pulled him by the arm and leaned closer to whisper, "Don't talk nonsense. If you shout righteousness in front of so many people, be careful of being reported."

Liu Liu was so scared that he shut up immediately. He looked around nervously at the crowd and saw that everyone was pointing at the battlefield below the mountain and talking about it. It seemed that no one was paying attention to them. He then breathed a sigh of relief.

But Mr. Shen and the middle-aged Confucian scholar next to him were different. They spoke much more cautiously.

Mr. Shen asked the scholar beside him, "Mr. Chen has read the Art of War and is familiar with military strategies. Can you predict who will win, the government army or the Luzhou Red Turbans?"

"Chen has only read a few miscellaneous books, but cannot be said to be well versed in military strategy."

Chen Mao, a Confucian scholar known as Mr. Chen, was humble at first, and then said, "The government troops are more numerous, and the Red Turbans in Luzhou are at most only 30% of the government troops, so naturally the government troops have the advantage.

“But Luzhou has opened mines and smelted iron, so it can produce its own armor. The 20,000 to 30,000 Red Scarves here are all armored soldiers. They have just captured Dangtu and Caishi, and with the momentum of a great victory, their combat power should be quite good.

“Plus, there are many examples in history books of a smaller force defeating a larger one, so I think it’s too early to make a definitive conclusion about who will win or lose.

"Moreover, I really don't understand the formation of the Luzhou Red Turbans. Tens of thousands of people are arranged in a horizontal formation, with large carts in front and behind. It is neither an offensive spearhead formation nor a chariot formation. They are using the chariot formation for defense, but this formation is too weak and can be easily penetrated. They should be arranged in a square formation or a circle formation, or a half-moon formation with the chariot formation behind.

"The whole army is arranged in a straight line. This kind of fighting style has never been recorded in military books of previous dynasties. I really don't understand it."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Shen laughed and said, "It seems that this Marshal Lu from Luzhou is really extraordinary. I have heard of a story. Sir, do you know the origin of Marshal Lu?"

Chen Mao shook his head, "I don't know if Mr. Shen has any news?"

"Rumors are just hearsay. I heard that Marshal Lu claimed to be a descendant of Gongshu, and a direct descendant of Gongshu, and had family knowledge. It is said that Gongshu also had military tactics passed down from generation to generation. Perhaps this formation that I have never seen is recorded in the family military book."

"Oh? Gongshu clan? But is it Gongshu Ban and Lu Ban clan from the pre-Qin period?" Chen Mao asked in surprise.

"Exactly."

Chen Mao immediately laughed and said, "That's interesting. Most of the people who rose up in rebellion in the past dynasties recognized the royal family of the previous dynasty as their ancestors. The Han in the north claimed to be a descendant of the Zhao and Song dynasties, and Xu Shouhui in the south even usurped the title of false emperor. But this guy in front of us actually recognized a skilled craftsman as his ancestor."

Mr. Shen asked again, "Sir, have you never heard of the Red Scarf incident in Luzhou?"

Chen Mao shook his head. "I haven't paid attention to his background, but I have heard of his decrees in Luzhou."

"Oh, then tell me about it."

Chen Mao immediately said, "That commander Lu distributed land to the landless people in Luzhou, used work as relief, distributed money and grain to recruit people to build the city, and abolished the usury money lent by the government, and all the IOUs were written off.

"It is also forbidden for the common people to keep slaves and servants, and it is forbidden to trade in people. If he wins this battle, I am afraid that the slaves and servants of your Shen family will also be forced to be released and returned to the people."

Upon hearing this, Mr. Shen frowned and said, "One size fits all? So what if you keep slaves at home? Is there any punishment?"

Chen Mao shook his head. "To punish without teaching is cruelty. How can we do it all the time? I heard that they will release all of them, abolish the indenture, and allow slaves without land to be given land and settled. The government will issue household registrations, and those who are willing to stay in the original owner's house will all be changed into servants. They will have to sign employment contracts and be paid. The personal freedom of servants is not allowed to be restricted. Violators will be punished by setting up private criminal courts and abducting and trafficking people."

Mr. Shen smiled bitterly and said, "What a cruel decree. If he does this, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep a servant in my house in the future. But as long as there is no punishment, it doesn't matter. Isn't it just signing an employment contract and paying wages? At most, there will be fewer servants in the future. Sir, do you know what other decrees he has?"

Chen Mao continued, "I haven't heard much about other things, but I know that he has held two imperial examinations in Luzhou, and anyone who can read can take the exam."

Mr. Shen, who was still smiling bitterly just now, suddenly brightened up, "Can I take the exam and become an official?"

Chen Mao nodded, "Of course, but that person only had Luzhou at that time, and there were few official positions, so naturally there were few candidates. If you don't have real talent and knowledge, it's not easy to pass the exam."

Mr. Shen immediately asked, "Sir, do you know what he is testing on?"

"I heard that it focuses on practical learning and policy essays, and does not pay much attention to the classics." Chen Mao said.

Mr. Shen was even more excited when he heard this. He was a businessman, mainly engaged in cotton and cloth business. Although his son was also educated, he would definitely not be able to score as well as those Confucian scholars who specialized in studying classics. But if the test was on practical knowledge and policy essays, that would be a test of vision and ability to do things.

In this regard, they, the children of merchants, have more advantages. They are knowledgeable and capable of getting things done, and are definitely better than those nerds.

Chen Mao then said, "I have also heard an interesting story about the imperial examination in Luzhou. It is said that in the first imperial examination, the person who took the criminal law exam in Luzhou said that the Yuan law was cruel and there were many evil laws that harmed the people and were unfair to the Han people. They were not worth using, but the case could not be judged arbitrarily. There must be laws to follow.

"But it takes a long time to compile a new law. It's not a one-day job. Guess how that person did it?"

"How was it done?" Mr. Shen also became interested.

Chen Mao did not keep the secret and said immediately, "That person told the candidates on the spot that when Emperor Gaozu of Han entered Xianyang, he also found that the Qin law was too tyrannical and inadequate, so he made three laws with the people of Guanzhong, and the people were at peace. He also wanted to follow Emperor Gaozu of Han's example and make three laws with the people. So he asked all the candidates present to write down the twenty most important laws and compiled a temporary law. Now all counties and prefectures in Luzhou judge cases according to this law."

Shen Yuanwai was stunned when he heard this, and immediately sighed, "This man has great ambitions, compares himself to Han Gao, and does things in an organized way. No wonder he can accomplish things."

Chen Mao also nodded in agreement, "It is indeed extraordinary."

Liu Liu and Qiu Chuyi were also listening at the side. Liu Liu wanted to know whether the Shengwu Army could win. If so, he would dare to join the army. Qiu Chuyi wanted to hear more about the land distribution policy, but the two of them went off topic and started talking about taking exams to become officials. It was none of their business as they couldn't write any articles.

After listening for a long time, Liu Liu finally couldn't hold it in anymore. He glanced at the battlefield at the foot of the mountain, then went up to Chen Mao and asked.

"Sir, why are the government troops marching forward while the red scarves from Luzhou are standing there motionless? Can they win?"

Chen Mao found it funny. He had heard Liu Liu calling the Red Turbans the rebel army just now. He thought that these two people were probably common people who wanted to join the army and share the land, so he didn't take them seriously. Unexpectedly, this man actually came to ask him about it.

But he still said patiently, "Do you see those big carts in front and behind the Red Turban Army?"

"Yeah, I saw it." Liu Liu nodded.

Chen Mao stroked his beard and said, "Have you ever driven a car? Cars are not flexible enough to move, and are usually placed outside for defense. They are waiting for the government troops to attack first, so they naturally stay where they are."

"Oh I got it."

Liu Liu nodded as if he understood, but in fact he still didn't understand. So you didn't tell me whether the rebels can win or not.
At this moment, Qiu Chuyi suddenly pulled him aside, pointed at the battlefield below the mountain and said, "Look, what is that? How come there are so many white mists and flames out of nowhere?"

"Ok?"

Upon hearing this, everyone looked towards the battlefield at the foot of the mountain, and saw a thick white fog suddenly rising in front of the Shengwu Army's formation. The momentum of the Yuan Army's advance suddenly came to a halt. A group of people frowned, not understanding what was happening.

On the battlefield, looking at the Yuan army rolling in like a tide, Lu Jin stood on the watchtower, using the precision scale in the telescope to carefully measure the distance between the two sides. When the Yuan army finally reached about 1450 meters away, he suddenly swung his raised hand down with force.

"fire!"

The red flag of the central army was waved, and Yang Huan, who had been looking at the central army, immediately gave orders to each company.

"fire!"

"Fire!" Upon seeing the signal, the gunners at each gun position waved the small red flags in their hands.

The gunner immediately stretched out his firing fork and poked the smoldering fuse towards the fire port at the breech of the gun. There was a slight hissing sound and a puff of white smoke came out from the breech.

Two seconds later, there was a loud bang, and a thick white smoke suddenly spurted out of the muzzle. A black, round cannonball also shot out from the smoke and flew towards the Yuan army formation in front. The entire artillery carriage also suddenly retreated.

The gunner standing nearby immediately stared at the direction where the cannonball came from. In the blink of an eye, he saw a shield in the opposite Yuan army formation was knocked over by a cannonball. The cannonball flew into the enemy group, wreaking havoc on the enemy's lives.

The gunner immediately raised a small blue flag and shouted, "Hit!"

Boom boom boom boom boom————

There was an earth-shaking burst of artillery fire. Except for the 128 light howitzers in the middle, the 32 cannons of the two artillery battalions did not fire. The 96 field guns and heavy artillery on both sides opened fire. In an instant, 96 shells flew into the enemy camp.

The eight-jin field artillery positions on both sides fired eight-jin iron balls, which rolled and smashed into the enemy formation. The front shields were shattered on the spot after being hit, and the Yuan army soldiers holding shields were also beaten to pieces.

Then the iron ball continued to move forward and hit the shoulder of the second person behind, cutting off half of his body and arm on the spot. It then hit the chest and abdomen of the third person, making a big hole in his chest. Finally, it narrowly passed by the person behind and hit the ground hard.

But the kinetic energy of the cannonball was still there. After hitting the ground, it bounced again, breaking the fourth person's thigh, the fifth person's knee, and the sixth person's ankle. Then it hit the ground and bounced again until it hit the seventh person. The cannonball finally lost its kinetic energy and rolled to the back of the Yuan army's front line, motionless.

In the middle of the front of the Yuan army, there was a firing area for 32 heavy howitzers. In order to heat up the guns, the first shot was a fragmentation grenade with reduced charge. The shells here did not have a double jump effect, but the bombs weighing more than ten kilograms exploded violently as soon as they fell into the enemy group. Shrapnel flew around the explosion point, the loud explosion was deafening, the smoke was choking and blinding, and 32 grenades hit the enemy group, instantly blowing up the Yuan soldiers. The effect was no weaker than those solid bullets, and each shell achieved more than double-digit results.

The power of the blooming grenades filled with black powder is indeed incomparable to the artillery shells of later generations, but there is no way, the Yuan army is too densely packed.
The first round of salvos from the two artillery battalions caused six to seven hundred casualties to the Yuan army. There was some chaos in the front of the Yuan army, and the pace of advance slowed down slightly. However, hearing the drumbeats behind them and countless officers urging the soldiers to keep moving forward, it seemed that this round of artillery fire did not have as much impact on the Yuan army as imagined.

The truth is that the Yuan army's formation was too long. Six or seven hundred casualties may sound like a lot, but when they are scattered across a large formation of more than 25,000 people, such casualties are actually not that noticeable.

Except for those who witnessed the people around them being hit by artillery shells, many people still don't know what happened. The first row only saw a puff of white smoke suddenly spewing out from the opposite side of the Shengwu Army's line, and then they heard the thunder-like sound of artillery a few seconds later, but it seemed that nothing happened around them.

The formation was so crowded that no one could see more than a small area in front of them. There were friendly forces blocking the view in front of them. Unless the shells hit nearby, no one would know what had happened. Only those who had seen the shells passing by them with their own eyes knew what horror was!
Yue Lu also saw the white smoke coming out from the opposite side, and then there was some chaos in his front line, but it was quickly suppressed by the officers of each team, and the formation continued to advance.

However, seeing this scene with his own eyes still made his eyelids jump. It turned out that the captives who were released did not lie or exaggerate. The rebel army's muskets could really shoot so far, and not only two miles, but even three miles away. What kind of musket was this?

After defeating the enemy, we will definitely seize the spoils and show them to you.

At this time, Yuru Timur's impression of the artillery was, "Well, it can indeed fire very far, but its power seems to be just so-so." He did not take it seriously for the time being and continued to order the drums to be beaten and the troops to move forward.

But soon, he will regret his judgment.
"Hit!"

"Hit!"

As the blue flags at each gun position in the first row rose, Yang Huan quickly received firing feedback from each gun. Seeing that everyone had hit the target, he immediately issued orders again.

"Field artillery position, keep all firing parameters unchanged, fire ten rounds rapidly, ready!
"Heavy artillery company, No. 1 charge, solid bullets loaded, unchanged sights, ten rounds of rapid fire, ready!"

"Ten rapid shots, ready!"

"Good job, first company!"

"Erlian is good"

"fire!"

Boom boom boom boom boom————

When the two armies were 1400 meters apart, the Shengwu Army launched its second round of artillery fire.

The so-called ten-shot rapid fire, also known as the effective fire, means that on the premise that the first shot successfully hits the target, accuracy is sacrificed in exchange for a faster rate of fire to cover the enemy with firepower. There is no need to recalibrate after each shot. You only need to simply reset the gun, reload it, and then fire.

In this artillery subject, the passing rate is to fire one shot every 20 seconds during normal training. When firing at full speed, the reloading speed is even faster than that of a flintlock rifle.
As soon as a shot was fired, the gun carriage was still in the back seat, and the barrel cleaner had already picked up a brush from the bucket. There was a wool felt tied in front of the cleaning rod, which had absorbed water from the bucket at this time. The barrel cleaner raised the rod and poked it into the muzzle, pushing it to the bottom, extinguishing all the burning sparks and cloth scraps inside, to prevent the sparks from igniting the ammunition prematurely when the next round was loaded, causing a launching accident.

By the time the gun stopped recoiling, the barrel cleaner had already pulled out the barrel cleaning rod, then turned the rod around, replaced the end with dry cotton and poked it back into the muzzle, wiped off the water, and then pulled it out.

While he was cleaning the barrel, the other members of the gun crew were pushing the cannon back into place.

"Load the medicine!"

The charge loader immediately took the linen bag and stuffed it into the muzzle. The charge pusher next to him picked up the ramrod and pushed the bag all the way in.

"Load!"

The loader also took the shell and stuffed it into the muzzle, and the pusher loaded it into place again with the ramrod.

During the loading process, the primer operator also inserted a steel needle into the firing port to puncture the powder bag, then took out a paper bag of primer from his pocket, tore it open with his teeth, poured it on the firing port, and then covered the firing port with his hand to prevent the gunpowder particles from being blown away by the wind.

When the gunner saw that the gun was fully loaded, he immediately ordered, "Fire!"

The gunner extended the firing fork and poked at the firing port. With a loud bang, the gun recoiled again and the previous loading process was immediately repeated.

There are four people in front of each cannon, responsible for cleaning the barrel, loading the powder, loading the bullets, and pushing the bullets.

There are three people behind the tail of the gun, responsible for priming, ignition and commanding respectively.

There are four more people behind, an ammunition sergeant, who is responsible for distributing ammunition of corresponding specifications according to the gunner's orders, plus three ammunition deliverers.

There is also a horse post at the very back to monitor the draft horses pulling the cannon to prevent them from getting frightened and running around.

A gun crew consists of 12 people, each with their own duties, racing against time to complete rounds of firing, firing at an extremely fast rate of three rounds per minute, unleashing their firepower on the Yuan army formation in front of them.

There is no need to even mention aiming at this time. What's the point of aiming? With more than 20,000 people in the formation, victory will be achieved as long as the shell hits the crowd!

Hundreds of cannons fired at the same time. If each shell hits three people, it's not a loss. One round of shelling can kill more than 300 enemy soldiers. If it hits five people, it's a profit. One round of shelling can kill more than 500 people. If it can hit seven or eight people, it's a huge profit. In one round of shelling, a thousand-household battalion on the opposite side will be destroyed.

With this killing efficiency, infantry would have to use swords and guns for half a day to kill, but artillery only needs 20 seconds!
At this time, every time you fire a cannonball into the enemy camp, the balance of victory will tilt towards your side.

After this round of ten rapid shots is completed, with each cannon firing ten shots, at least five to eight thousand Yuan soldiers in front of them will be killed. The 25,000-man front army will be directly reduced by one third. Let's see what Yulectemür can use to fight against us!
Boom boom boom boom boom————

There was continuous round after round of artillery bombardment, and the thunderous sound of the artillery shook the whole area. There was no sound of pause or intermission, as if a boiling oil pan was boiling.

The muzzles spewed out flames and smoke of death, and it was impossible to lock onto them. The shells whizzed past in the smoke, mercilessly reaping the lives of Yuan soldiers one after another. The shield line in the front of the Yuan army was soon shattered.

As more and more people around him died, and there were screams from those who had their limbs cut off by shells and were temporarily injured but not dead, even those who had not taken it seriously before felt deeply frightened at this moment!
Boom—whoosh—

The shell whistled through the air, and an iron ball with a diameter of 155 mm, as big as a child's head and weighing 23 kilograms, slammed into the Yuan army formation, knocking down a dozen people on the spot and plowing a bloody alley in the crowd of Yuan army.

A Yuan soldier whose shoulder was cut off fell to the ground, crying and grabbing his comrade next to him with his only remaining arm, "Save me, I want to go home, I don't want to die"

"Ah, don't come over~~~~" The comrade next to him was also frightened and screamed.

A captain in the front row of the Yuan army turned around and looked at the catapult array behind him, glaring with bloodshot eyes and shouting angrily.

"Why don't you fire back? Are you just going to watch my soldiers get beaten? Fire quickly! My soldiers are almost dead! What are you still standing there for?!"

The trebuchets behind them also suffered heavy losses, but with a range of two or three miles, what could their fennel cannons do to hit them? This thing could only shoot three hundred meters at most.

An officer in the trebuchet array also cried out anxiously, "It's too far, our cannons can't reach it!"

Boom——whoosh——

At this moment, another 23-pound iron ball whizzed over, instantly overturning the Yuan army's vehicles. The dozen people along the line that were passed by the shell all fell to the ground in pieces, with broken limbs flying everywhere.

The thousand-man officer who was clamoring for the cannon to fire back was also hit in the abdomen. He was cut in half by the bouncing iron ball. Half of his body was thrown high into the air and fell heavily to the ground. The iron armor on his body was useless, as if it was made of paper.

The officer stretched out his arms and dug into the dirt on the ground, trying to get up, but he couldn't. He turned his head and looked down, and found that he had nothing below the waist. Suddenly, he was overwhelmed by endless hatred and fear.

He raised his head with all his might, trying to see the formation of the Shengwu Army opposite, but he could see nothing. There was only thick smoke drifting from the opposite side, like a thick fog. The drifting smoke was like the ghost hand of the underworld, pulling him into the darkness. The officer finally died unwillingly, and his broken body fell on the loess, and was stepped on one by one by the Yuan army soldiers who were driven forward by the central army supervision team behind him.

boom--

Another shot was fired. Mao Zhen, a barrel cleaner from the first squad, first platoon, second company, artillery battalion of the First Guards Brigade, immediately took out the barrel cleaning rod from the bucket and poked it into the muzzle. After he finished cleaning the barrel and wiped it dry, he did not see the loader reloading the gun, and was stunned.

"Huh? Don't you want to fight?"

He was concentrating on the cannons and water barrels, with his back to the Yuan army formation. He was busy cleaning the barrels and did not even turn around to look at the Yuan army formation behind him.

At this time, seeing that the whole class had stopped and looked at the Yuan army opposite, he turned around and saw that the Yuan army's shield formation, which had been in tight formation just now, had now been beaten to pieces and looked shaky.

Only three and a half minutes, or 210 seconds, passed, leaving no time for the Yuan army to react and adjust. This round of ten rapid shots left more than one-third of the more than Yuan army soldiers lying down, on the verge of collapse at any time.

Up to this point, the Yuan army had only advanced 400 meters, and there was still a long distance of more than meters to go before the Shengwu army.
"Mao Zhen, the eviscerator."

"To!"

"Inspect the gun and clean the chamber a second time with an iron brush."

"Yes!"

(End of this chapter)