Anti-Qing: Starting from the Jintian Uprising

Chapter 97 Qing Navy: Doesn’t our Qing Dynasty also have strong ships and powerful guns?
On the battlefield, the distance between the two sides is constantly narrowing.

On the side of the Restoration Army, five-jin field cannons were pushed to the front of the battle by gunners.

The gunners performed the loading and aiming tasks skillfully.

During this period of time, it seems that the Restoration Army has not made any major moves except for attacking Wuzhou.

actually not!

Since the capture of Cenxi County, the various units of the Restoration Army have never stopped fighting.

Either they were fighting the Qing army, or they were suppressing the armed resistance launched by local tyrants and evil gentry.

And the latter is much more than the former!
During this process, the Restoration Army used these high-frequency, low-intensity armed struggles to hone their combat skills to a high level.

The same is true for the gunners. With standard artillery specifications and tables, as well as sufficient experience in operating artillery, they can operate artillery with ease.

"The enemy is within 500 meters!"

"Prepare for test firing!"

"..."

Amid the shouts, the gunners began to adjust the direction of the muzzles and prepared to fire.

"Fire!"

Amid the loud shouts, the penetrating sound of a copper whistle resounded throughout the battlefield.

boom! Boom boom!

A few scattered artillery fire rang out across the battlefield, thick smoke rose, and several fist-sized shells flew out of the barrels and shot towards the Qing army formation in the distance.

The artillery pieces responsible for the test firing used different firing parameters. The gunners of the Restoration Army attempted to select the most appropriate firing parameters through the test firing.

……

Zhou Junlu was enjoying the flattery of the people around him when suddenly a burst of artillery fire was heard. Zhou Junlu subconsciously turned his head to look in the direction of the sound.

I saw several black shells breaking through the air and shooting towards the Qing army formation.

The shell fell to the ground, bounced up again, and continued to bounce forward.

A shell lost its kinetic energy halfway through its flight and fell to the ground.

But more artillery shells poured directly into the Qing army's formation.

The shell flew across the sky and pierced through the bodies of several people in succession before its kinetic energy was exhausted and it fell to the ground, spinning around.

However, the blood that was still steaming on the shells shocked countless people.

In the face of the Restoration Army's artillery bombardment, the Qing army's already not very neat formation inevitably began to fall into chaos.

Seeing this, Zhou Junlu couldn't help but widen his eyes.

"No, how can the enemy's artillery fire so far?"

He saw the bandits pushing the artillery to the front of the formation.

But after a brief observation, he judged that what the enemy soldiers pushed up should be just some small earth cannons.

In his stereotype, the range of this small earth cannon is at most a hundred steps, which is almost the same as a rifle.

(PS: In the Qing Dynasty, one step was five feet, one foot was 0.32 meters, and one step was about 1.5 meters)
But now the distance between the Qing army and the Restoration Army is at least three hundred steps.

Why is the range of the bandits’ light artillery so long?
Is the cannon used by the bandits a homemade cannon or a foreign cannon?

Zhou Junlu really couldn't understand it.

But before he could figure it out, the Restoration Army began to deliver real firepower after completing the test firing.

"All gun crews, listen up! Prepare for three rounds of rapid fire!"

"Fire!"

The next moment, the sound of artillery fire was no longer scattered, but suddenly became continuous.

Boom! Boom!
Amid the deafening sound of artillery fire, a barrage of shells was fired towards the Qing army positions.

In order to defeat this detachment of the Qing army as quickly as possible and secure victory, Li Yi directly transferred all the field artillery regiments of the Restoration Army to Li Sheng.

With the continuous replenishment of the arsenal, the field artillery regiment of the Restoration Army now has a total of 112 five-jin field guns.

The sound created by more than a hundred artillery pieces firing at the same time is truly terrifying.

The humming sound of the shells breaking through the air was quite low. Looking up, they saw a dense mass of black spots in the sky flying towards them.

The shell seemed to be flying very slowly, and one could even see its trajectory, as if it could be avoided by just dodging a little.

However, before the Qing soldiers could dodge, the shells had already flown in front of them.

This round of artillery fire directly set off a bloody storm in the front row of the Qing army's formation.

It caused huge casualties to the Qing army!

Unlike the Restoration Army which used three rows in horizontal formation, the Qing Army still used the traditional dense infantry formation with more than ten or even dozens of rows in horizontal formation.

Such a dense array would be a sitting duck in front of artillery!

This is also the reason why the Qing army was easily defeated by the British army during the Opium War.

Obviously, I'm very stubborn.

Although they had suffered a loss during the Opium War, they still had no intention of reforming the military...

When Zhou Junlu saw this scene, he was stunned and stood there.

After a moment, he finally reacted and shouted.

"Steady! Steady!"

"Everyone, don't panic, just rush forward!"

"As long as we get close, the enemy's cannons will be useless."

Well, when the Opium War broke out and Zhou Junlu led his troops to resist the British invasion, he also said the same thing to his subordinates.

As for the result, those who understand will understand!

Before Zhou Junlu's military order was implemented, the second round of artillery fire from the Restoration Army followed.

Boom! Boom!
Another barrage of shells came flying in densely.

Wherever the bullet passed, there was invincibility!
Chaos inevitably spread rapidly in the Qing army's ranks like a plague.

Screaming, shouting, wailing, all kinds of life are present.

A cannonball fired and hit the horse under Zhou Junlu's crotch.

The fist-sized shell instantly penetrated the warhorse's body, crushing all of its bones, internal organs, and flesh.

The warhorse lost its life and began to fall to the side.

Seeing this, Zhou Junlu quickly pulled his feet out of the stirrups, but even so he was still knocked to the ground by the fallen warhorse.

Fortunately, he just fell and was not crushed!

Several personal soldiers came forward and hurriedly helped Zhou Junlu up. Zhou Junlu shouted angrily.

"Pass the order down, charge!"

"Everyone, charge forward!"

"As long as we charge forward, the enemy's artillery fire will be ineffective!"

The command flags waved, and the various Qing troops received the orders and began to move forward slowly.

However, under the threat of the Restoration Army's artillery bombardment, they were not able to advance very quickly.

Zhou Junlu was extremely angry when he saw this.

"You are a bunch of cowards, you are afraid of death!"

"Immediately send a message to my personal soldiers to supervise the battle. Anyone who is afraid of fighting and hesitates to move forward will be killed."

Soon, Zhou Tianlu's personal soldiers received military orders and began to supervise the battle.

Several heads fell to the ground as the long swords were swung, and the speed of the Qing army's advance increased significantly.

Immediately, the Restoration Army artillery fired the third round of salvos.

Shell after shell whizzed through the air, and the Qing army once again endured a round of bombardment.

"When the enemy advances 300 meters, change the volley fire to round fire."

"Keep firing!"

The artillery officer of the Restoration Army gave the command.

The purpose of firing a volley at the beginning is to achieve the highest firepower density possible.

However, as the distance between the enemy and our army shortened, if we continued to use volley fire, the interval between firing would be too long, making it impossible to effectively suppress the enemy.

At this time, the best option is to use round shooting to pursue higher firepower continuity.

Soon, the Restoration Army's artillery attack method changed.

More than one hundred artillery pieces were divided into three batches and then fired alternately.

The booming sound of artillery fire continued.

The Qing army's offensive was obviously suppressed, and under the pressure of the supervision team, the speed that had just been accelerated slowed down again unconsciously.

……

Zhao He stood in the queue with a shotgun in his hand.

Listening to the incessant bombardment on the battlefield, his originally nervous mood gradually eased.

It is said that artillery is the courage of infantry, and this is true.

Listening to the roar of their own artillery on the battlefield, even the most timid soldier would burst out with some courage.

Seeing the enemy getting closer, Li Yiwen, who was standing in the queue, also shouted.

"The enemy is 200 meters in, everyone, check your weapons and prepare to engage the enemy!"

While shouting, Li Yiwen drew the command knife from his waist and directed everyone to move forward steadily while boosting their morale.

"Everyone hold steady, advance according to the drum beat, and keep the formation in order!"

"The Qing demons on the other side were beaten into a mess by our army's artillery. What about the government troops? There's nothing to be afraid of!"

Zhao He and others felt relieved when they heard this.

Yes, what about the government troops? They were beaten into such a mess by our Restoration Army!
The distance between the two sides continued to narrow.

The artillery shells used by the Restoration Army began to be replaced by shotgun shells instead of solid bullets.

The Qing troops that rushed up were suppressed even more badly!
The soldiers in the front row fell one after another. If it weren't for the supervision team behind them, the Qing army would have collapsed long ago.

"When the enemy advances a hundred steps, everyone, raise your guns, aim, and prepare to shoot."

"But, without orders, no one is allowed to fire first, otherwise you will be subject to military law!"

Li Yiwen continued to shout, and then ordered his men to prepare for a volley of fire.

Although the Restoration Army had a certain production capacity for breech-loading rifles, its production capacity could not keep up with the speed of its military expansion.

The main weapons equipped by the Restoration Army are still the old muskets, and there are even a large number of cold weapons such as swords and spears.

Therefore, if the Restoration Army wanted to use muskets to create a sufficient firepower density on the battlefield, volley fire was the best solution.

Listening to his platoon leader's shouting, Zhao He took deep breaths and tried to calm himself down.

Seeing the Qing army getting closer and closer, and even being able to see the ferocity on their faces, Zhao He's heartbeat gradually accelerated.

While the Qing army on the opposite side was charging, some people were constantly shooting with guns.

Amid the crackling sound of gunfire, some soldiers from the Restoration Army inevitably fell to the ground.

The sound of bullets breaking through the air could be heard, and from time to time a bullet flew past his ears. Zhao He's finger on the trigger could not help but twitch, wanting to pull the trigger.

At this moment, Li Yiwen suddenly blew the whistle in his mouth and it finally sounded.

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Zhao He knew that this was an order to open fire.

Before his brain could react, the finger on the trigger pulled the trigger according to muscle memory.

The next moment, the fuse ignited the gunpowder in the powder pool.

The gunpowder in the barrel burned rapidly, releasing huge energy, pushing the bullet out of the barrel.

As the front-row soldiers of the Restoration Army opened fire, a thick cloud of smoke rose up, directly blocking everyone's vision.

As another whistle sounded, the first row of Restoration Army soldiers put down their muskets and began to reload.

The soldiers in the second row pulled the trigger, and the soldiers in the third row raised their guns and aimed, ready to shoot.

The three rows of rounds are connected very well!
The Qing soldiers who rushed forward were hit by three rounds of volleys, and their original momentum of the charge was subconsciously slowed down.

Immediately, the shrill charge sounded.

The soldiers of the Restoration Army held up their modified muskets that could be equipped with bayonets and launched a bayonet charge.

Amid the earth-shaking shouts of killing, the Qing army showed signs of defeat.

Seeing this, Li Sheng sent out his trump card.

He sent up the two guard battalions assigned to him by Li Yi.

Let them be the last straw that breaks the camel's back!
After the two battalions using breech-loading rifles were thrown into the battlefield, they immediately showed their advantages.

Relying on the extremely high rate of fire of the breech-loading rifles, the two battalions of troops achieved a higher firepower density in a short period of time than if two regiments fired together.

The dense sound of gunfire, like the crackling of popping beans, resounded throughout the battlefield.

In an instant, the Qing army, which had been barely able to maintain its front line, collapsed.

The various units of the Restoration Army began a large-scale pursuit.

In order to expand the results of the battle!

……

While the Qing army and the Restoration Army were fighting fiercely in the west of Wuzhou City, the situation in the east and north of the city was also not peaceful.

In order to support Zhou Junlu's troops who were ambushed, Xu Guangjin ordered his own naval forces to launch an attack in the direction of Guijiang River in an attempt to reopen the retreat route of Guijiang River.

On the other side, he commanded his main force to launch an offensive towards Wuzhou City.

They attempted to exert military pressure on Wuzhou City in order to force the Restoration Army west of the city to return to Wuzhou to relieve the predicament of Zhou Junlu's troops.

To the north of the city, on the surface of the Guijiang River, the navy of the Restoration Army and the navy of the Qing Army were fighting fiercely.

The ships of both sides approached each other and then fired fiercely at each other.

The sound of cannons rang out from time to time, creating ripples on the surface of the Guijiang River.

Unlike the land battle where the Restoration Army had the upper hand, in the naval battle, the Restoration Army was at an absolute disadvantage.

The reason is simple: there is a huge gap in weapons and equipment between the two sides.

The warships equipped by the Qing navy were mostly red single ships, fast crab boats and the like.

Take the red single ship as an example. This type of ship is actually a type of Guangdong ship. It is just that when Guangdong merchants build ships, they need the government to issue a red single ship, so it has the nickname of red single ship.

This type of ship is large and solid, and travels fast. Each ship can be equipped with twenty to thirty guns. Compared with the Western sailing battleships of the same period, it is nothing.

But compared with the Restoration Army Navy, whose main warships were small vessels such as sampans and wupeng boats, it is no exaggeration to say that they had strong ships and powerful guns.

What is this called?
This is called the theory of relativity of powerful ships and guns.

The Qing navy soldiers operated the red single boats and fired at the Restoration Navy on the river from a high position.

Amid the rumbling of artillery fire, the Restoration Army Navy suffered heavy losses.

There were corpses floating on the surface of Guijiang River, and the blood was almost dyeing the river red.

However, the counterattack of the Restoration Army Navy was quite powerless against the Qing army.

The soldiers of the Restoration Army Navy stood on the deck, raised their guns and aimed at the Qing army's large ships.

The fired bullets posed almost no threat to the Qing army.

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(End of this chapter)