Chapter 515 514 Tiger Crouching Cannon

"The Japanese pirates set up camp in Wudang Mountain and also set up camp in Xucuo."

Tan Lun knew that there were about 6,000 Japanese pirates, but they were divided into three places, and he couldn't help but sneer in his heart.

Although such an arrangement can resist the offensive of the Ming army layer by layer, the weakness of the dispersed forces is exposed.

"You should all know the role of firearms in the battle formation. Although the Zhejiang soldiers came from afar, there are many firearms in the camp, which are enough to crush the Japanese pirates on the battlefield.

I decided to use Qi Jiguang to lead the Zhejiang soldiers as the center and attack head-on. In addition to leading his own troops, Yu Dayou will also lead the navy as the right-wing army to cut off the enemy's retreat at sea. Liu Xian will be the left-wing army to flank the Japanese pirates."

Tan Lun naturally would not forget the reason why he came here. He assigned combat tasks as soon as he opened his mouth to compete for credit for Qi Jiguang.

And Liu Xian and Yu Dayou below heard Tan Lun's deployment of troops and looked at each other helplessly.

In fact, they had already guessed when they heard that Tan Lun was going to Xinghua Prefecture with the Zhejiang soldiers.

Yu Dayou and Tan Lun only met once, but he knew that when Tan Lun was in Zhejiang, he participated in the battles to encircle and suppress Japanese pirates many times as the right councilor of the Provincial Administration and the deputy envoy of the Provincial Surveillance Commissioner. Last year, Tan Lun was the commander of the Zhejiang troops to aid Fujian, and Qi Jiguang led the troops to participate in the war.

There is no doubt that even if he, the deputy general, was present, he would have to listen to the civil officials, not to mention that Tan Lun was the governor of Fujian and the highest official here.

Even if the court appointed him as the general of Fujian, he would still have to listen to him.

Yu Dayou has learned that in officialdom, talking less and doing more is the way to deal with things.

Since he can't beat Tan Lun, just listen.

He thought so, but Liu Xian didn't think so.

He was the general of Guangdong, but was temporarily sent by Governor Zhang Nie to rescue Xinghua Prefecture. He would not stay in Fujian, so he was naturally not afraid of Tan Lun making things difficult for him.

In fact, if Zhang Nie could not spare troops and could dispatch two or three thousand troops to reinforce him, he and Yu Dayou would have attacked the Japanese pirates in Xinghua directly after joining forces, and there was no need to wait for Qi Jiguang's troops to join the battle and share the credit.

After Tan Lun finished speaking, Liu Xian stood up and clasped his fists and said, "Sir Tan, the Zhejiang soldiers came from afar, and they are exhausted. In addition, many of them are newly recruited soldiers. It seems inappropriate to use them as the middle route."

Qi Jiguang sat on the left side of Liu Xian, and was naturally in a lower position. Hearing what Liu Xian said, he admired this military general who dared to challenge the civil officials.

Since Liu Xian had spoken, he would not just let it go vaguely, but make it clear. Anyway, he would go back to Guangdong, and who would be afraid of you, a governor who had nothing to do with him.

"Lord Tan should know that the central route is to fight the Japanese pirates head-on. General Qi has too many new recruits. If there are those who are not determined, they will cause chaos in the battle formation, and the consequences are unpredictable."

Directly opposing Qi Jiguang's troops as the central army, this was also Liu Xian's decision after careful consideration.

Among the three armies of Liu, Yu, and Qi, Yu Dayou's troops are the strongest, and with the morale boosted by defeating Zhang Lian's rebels, it is the most suitable to be the central army.

Although Qi Jiguang's troops are much more than his, they can only serve as a force to cooperate with the central army, and like him, they are arranged on the left and right roads to attack the Japanese pirates.

According to Tan Lun's words, that is to let Qi Jiguang's troops fight in the middle road, and let him and Yu Dayou change to the side roads to cooperate.

Everyone knows that the Japanese pirates only take one road when fighting. When they fight with the Ming army, they rely on bravery to break through the middle road directly.

If they act according to Tan Lun's command, Qi Jiguang may get all the credit, and he and Yu Dayou will get nothing at all.

Even if Yu Dayou still had the task of commanding the navy to blockade, what was the use of this group of Japanese pirates on the shore?

However, Liu Xian was not stupid enough to point fingers and scold, saying that Tan Lun was just helping Qi Jiguang to gain military merits, and used the reason that Qi Jiguang's troops had many new recruits.

"General Liu, I have just said that General Qi's subordinates use more firearms, which is the only way to face the Japanese pirates head-on and eliminate them. There is no need to use the lives of the soldiers to fight the Japanese pirates to death."

Tan Lun just said lightly.

He had heard clearly when Liu Xian described the situation before. Now they have squeezed the Japanese pirates on a halfway point, and the troops are dispersed to prevent the Japanese pirates from breaking out.

Yu Dayou and Liu Xian's troops just played the role of blocking the Japanese pirates' breakout route. Otherwise, he would divide the three troops into the front, middle and rear armies and advance in layers. At that time, the two troops at the back would have no military merits.

In fact, many wars have such episodes hidden in them, some of which are to avoid fighting to preserve strength, and some to fight to gain credit, but all of this will not be recorded in history books.

History books will only record the time, place and people, as well as who they fought with and the results of the battle.

However, only the parties involved know that in the deployment of troops, the various departments have already begun to fight openly and secretly, just to get the results they want.

And in the whole process, nothing else matters. No one will pay attention to who is treated preferentially and who is wronged.

Tan Lun came here, naturally, to leave the most lucrative merit of this battle to Qi Jiguang. No matter what Liu Xian and Yu Dayou said, he would not listen.

Moreover, in his opinion, with Qi Jiguang and Yu Dayou participating in the battle, this battle will be won.

With this judgment, what Liu Xian said is actually insignificant.

Seeing Tan Lun's firm eyes, Liu Xian knew that he would not get any good if he continued to pester.

Zhang Nie was not here, what else could he say, he couldn't turn his face.

He must have the courage to deal with the military generals and civil officials falling out.

Even if the news reached Zhang Nian at this time, Governor Zhang would not look very good.

Not only because he doubted Liu Xian's attitude towards civil servants, but also because he was Liu Xian's backer and it would be difficult to explain in front of his colleagues in the future.

There should be no suspense about victory. As a winner, whatever Tan Lun does is right.

And if he continues to pester and spread the word, it will only mean that he is wrong.

What's more, Yu Dayou didn't say anything at the side, just lowered his head.

Although he was dissatisfied, Liu Xian still clasped his fists at Tan Lun in response, but in his heart, Liu Xian had already made up his mind that this trip was just for fun.

Nearly half of the people around him are his close soldiers and his personal soldiers.

Since you can't get much credit this time, try to avoid excessive casualties and let Qi Jiguang fight.

Later, Tan Lun laid out the attack routes of various ministries on the map, and the three armies attacked. The final target was naturally the last barrier in front of Pinghai Acropolis-Xu Cuowo Chao.

Once you capture this place, you can face off against the Pinghai Acropolis, the last camp of the Japanese pirates.

During the three-arms attack, the role of the navy is also very important.

Because the battlefield is a peninsula, it is also necessary to prevent Japanese pirates from escaping by sea.

Although the monsoon was not good for the navy's voyage, the waterways of Wan'an in the north and Hui'an in the south were not far away, so there was a chance of escape, so Yu Dayou was asked to command the navy to guard against the Japanese pirates' escape.

Among the three generals here, the one who commands the navy is of course Yu Dayou.

Others, even Qi Jiguang, would not worry him.

After setting a time for the troops to enter, it was natural to give the Zhejiang troops who had just arrived three days to repair themselves. On the fourth day, all three armies would go out to encircle and suppress the Japanese pirates.

After leaving the camp, Liu Xian was still a little unconvinced and just glanced at Qi Jiguang contemptuously.

Not only Liu Xian, but Yu Dayou also noticed that Qi Jiguang and Tan Lun might have a relationship. Thinking of some of the news he had heard before, he just shook his head, and then he and Liu Xian waited for his own soldiers to bring the horses, and then turned over. Mount your horse, whip up your whip and prepare to leave.

After riding on the war horse, they were much higher than the people around them, and their field of vision was much wider. Liu Xian and Yu Dayou immediately noticed many black artillery placed behind the horses on the right side of the camp.

These artillery pieces are different from the common Ming army firearms. The barrels are short and thick, about two feet long from head to tail. Seven iron hoops are added around the body. The head of the cannon is held up by two iron tiger claws. It looks very majestic. .

It is different from the general cannons and large bowl-mouth blunderbuss that were common in the Ming army.

"Captain Liu, look at that cannon."

Yu Dayou couldn't help but said to Liu Xian.

"That might be the Crouching Tiger Cannon of the Zhejiang Army. I've heard of it before."

Liu Xian stared at the bracket under the cannon and said.

"Tiger Crouching Cannon?"

Yu Dayou asked curiously.

After all, the Tiger Crouching Cannon was not the standard equipment of the Ming Army, at least not at this period.

The artillery of the Ming army was mainly short and thick, with a bowl-shaped barrel, a bowl-shaped blunderbuss with a bulging medicine chamber, and large straight-cylindrical fire blunderbuss, which were various general cannons.

Of course, the most advanced thing the Ming army has now is the Franco machine cannon, which is imitated by the Western Yi. After many actual battles, due to its remarkable effect, the Ordnance Bureau under the jurisdiction of Yu Heng, the Qing Li Department of the Ministry of Industry, and the Military Staff Bureau under the jurisdiction of the inner government began to expand It was cast on a large scale and distributed to all armies.

Of course, the priority was still given to the Nine-Border Town, and the southern garrison posts were naturally ranked behind.

Yu Dayou and Liu Xian's army also had several Franco machine guns, but more of them were bowl-mouth blunderbuss left over from earlier.

As for general cannons, they are heavier. Most of them are placed at the top of the city and do not move with the army.

The general cannon of the Ming army is actually very similar in appearance to the Hongyi cannon later introduced from the West, but it is much different in size.

I don’t know whether it was a matter of materials, craftsmanship, or craftsmanship. Although many cannons were cast during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, no one developed large-caliber and powerful artillery.

Decades ago, in order to capture Constantinople, the prosperous Ottoman Empire found the Hungarian artillery designer Urban and spent all his money on him to build an artillery that would be very huge even in later generations. -The Urban Cannon, sometimes called the "Turkish Cannon" or the "Dardanelle Cannon".

The gun is 17 feet long (approximately 5.18 meters), weighs 17 tons, has a barrel thickness of 8 inches (approximately 20 centimeters) to withstand the huge impact when fired, and a caliber as high as 30 inches (approximately 762 millimeters). Large enough to hold an adult, the granite shell used weighed 1,500 pounds (approximately 680 kilograms), making it the most powerful firearm of the era.

When a cannon is fired, the earth is turned upside down and the earth is shaken. No matter how strong the city wall is, it is like paper in front of this super large artillery. Wherever the cannonball passes, everything falls apart.

While Liu Xian and Yu Dayou were talking quietly, Qi Jiguang, who was standing behind them, had already stood up and introduced this artillery to them.

Although he knew that Liu and Yu were dissatisfied with him for taking credit, Qi Jiguang would not hide his secrets when it came to this newly developed firearm, and there was actually nothing to hide about it. The craftsman could understand it at a glance.

Liu and Yu are naturally well-informed people. Although they are not as good as professionals, they can roughly judge the use of this weapon based on its appearance.

Today's firearms are indeed too simple.

"As Governor Liu said, this gun is exactly the squatting tiger gun used extensively in our Zhejiang Army."

Qi Jiguang introduced them when he came up, and kept leading Liu Xian and Yu Dayou over there.

Soon, the three of them had arrived at the cannon, and then they all dismounted and squatted beside the Tiger Crouching Cannon to observe carefully. Qi Jiguang also introduced the characteristics and usage of this cannon.

"The reduced-size general cannon can shoot loose bullets and attack Japanese pirates at close range."

When Yu Dayou heard Qi Jiguang's introduction, his eyes began to shine.

Of course he knew that when fighting Japanese pirates, the Japanese pirates generally used no tactics. They didn't care which way you went, they would just rush all the way and break through the Ming army's defense line, and the Ming army would collapse.

Simple and straightforward.

Use this small cannon, load it with shotguns, and shoot a large area with one shot. It is really a good way to break the situation.

Liu Xian next to him should have heard of it before, but this was the first time he saw the real thing. Through Qi Jiguang's introduction, he could not help but think of the way and effect of using this thing on the battlefield, so he couldn't help but nod.

"Give me two of these cannons, and I'll take them back and let them try them."

Liu Xian said: "If the effect is good, I think we can report it to the imperial court and vigorously promote this cannon."

"It's a pity that reloading is not easy."

Yu Dayou just sighed.

In fact, except for the Fran cannon, the loading of Ming army firearms was not very good.

But those firearms are released when the enemy is at a slight distance, so there is still a chance for a second or even third round.

But this Tiger Crouching Cannon is mainly used in close combat. It has no chance to reload for you. After another round, it is almost a disposable consumable on the battlefield.

If you win, you can naturally recycle it. If you lose, the cannon belongs to someone else.

"Actually, I heard about this cannon from a friend. I later modified it slightly."

Qi Jiguang saw that both of them were interested, so he spoke again.

If some things were not mentioned earlier, if word spread in the future, someone would inevitably say that he was greedy for merit and was a solitary eater.

"Oh? Are there similar artillery pieces there?"

Liu Xianqi said.

"There is one in the Jiujiang Guards in Jiangxi Province. My friend works in the Nanjing Ministry of War. A few years ago, he was ordered to go to the various guards in Jiangxi for inspection and found this thing. It is said that a Qianhu invented this thing after fighting the Japanese pirates.

However, they were temporarily transferred to Zhejiang at that time, and they did not do many external transfers after that, so the news did not spread.

He also made an inspection and discovered that after having people test the cannon, he felt that the effect was good, so he paid attention to the matter and wrote to me to inform me. "

Qi Jiguang smiled and explained the original origin of this cannon.

However, Yu Dayou frowned slightly, somewhat doubting whether the Qianhu he was talking about was from the Wei family.

But when I think of Wei Meng and Wu Zhankui, they all look like they don't want to make progress, and they don't bother to express their guesses.

In Yu Dayou's view, a real man should do something great when he is born in the world. Wu Zhankui and Wei Meng are obviously capable, but they are a little greedy and afraid of death. They would rather stay in their own one-third of an acre and not move. I just want to pass on my family's protection, and there's really nothing to say.