roccoschili Chapter 113 The Western Liang Army Enters the Capital!
Chapter 113 The Western Liang Army Enters the Capital!
Chapter 113 One Hundred Thousand Xiliang Army Enters the Capital!
The deafening explosion made Ling Luoshi's ears ring.
The destructive power of the artillery was even more terrifying to Ling Luoshi.
Ling Luoshi looked at the craters on the distant hilltop and took a deep breath. Could such immense power really have been caused by a single artillery barrage?
The earth-shaking power of this event left Ling Luoshi speechless.
If it were the red-coated cannons on the walls of Datong, it would take at least seven or eight rounds of shelling to achieve the same effect.
And this distance—is it really too far?
Ling Luoshi surveyed the distant mountain peaks, estimating that it must be at least a thousand feet away from here to the location of the blasting pit.
A distance of over a thousand feet is not even a thousand feet for the Red Coat Cannon, let alone its effective killing range. Even if it were fired into the sky, its maximum firing range would not reach a thousand feet!
This powerful cannon with an extremely long firing range appears to be a new firearm developed by the Ministry of Works.
This new type of artillery, with its enormous power and extremely long firing range, is enough to overturn the current way of defending a city.
Ling Luoshi estimated that if he could be given a hundred such cannons, then even if he only had ten thousand soldiers, it would be enough to keep an enemy army of one hundred thousand at bay outside the pass.
Of course, the premise is that there is a sufficient supply of pills.
As long as there is enough ammunition, there will be no pass that the Ming Dynasty cannot defend.
Thinking of this, Ling Luoshi was secretly alarmed. Just how many trump cards did Zhu Houzhao still have hidden in his hands?
In that short fifteen minutes, Zhu Houzhao demonstrated to him two main types of firearms capable of turning the tide of battle.
One type of flintlock musket already has a stockpile of 20,000 units, and the number that will be available in the future is an unpredictable figure.
Ling Luoshi looked serious, his brows furrowed, just as he was about to ask Wang Shouren how many such cannons the Ming Dynasty still had.
"Boom boom boom!"
Another earth-shattering roar resounded behind Wang Shouren.
As the roar subsided, several plumes of dust, several meters high, simultaneously erupted from the distant mountaintops.
Ling Luoshi frowned almost imperceptibly, suddenly realizing that things might not be as simple as he had imagined.
The next moment, another roaring sound rang out, the sound still coming from behind Wang Shouren.
Meanwhile, on a distant mountaintop, in roughly the same spot, several more plumes of dust, several meters high, erupted once more.
At this point, Ling Luoshi could no longer sit still. He suddenly stood up, his face serious, his brows furrowed, and his eyes constantly searching behind Wang Shouren.
Soon, Ling Luoshi found the target he was looking for.
That was an artillery unit, small in number, only twenty or thirty people, with a total of ten cannons.
But after seeing their location, Ling Luoshi's eyes widened in disbelief.
This artillery unit was located on a small hill outside the Xishan military camp, and its current position was at least 500 zhang away from them.
In other words, the effective killing range of this new type of cannon must be at least 1,500 zhang!
Fifteen hundred zhang—what a terrifying distance!
The next moment, a string of firelight lit up next to the small black dot, and the roar arrived as expected. Several more clouds of dust exploded on the mountain behind Ling Luoshi!
That's them!
They were the ones who fired the cannons!
Ling Luoshi's gaze was fixed on the artillery team, his eyes fixed on them without blinking.
Moments later, the muzzle flashes of the artillery fire lit up, the roar resumed, and dust exploded once more!
Ling Luoshi's heart was instantly filled with a tremendous upheaval!
He slumped back into his seat, his eyes staring blankly ahead, looking utterly lost.
Because at that moment, something happened that completely shattered his preconceived notions!
Before his very eyes, the same cannon fired twice in a short period of time!
Furthermore, the two shells landed at essentially the same points!
In other words, all those cannons were fired by the same artillery unit!
Such images shocked Ling Luoshi's mind, stimulated his nerves, and overturned his impression of artillery.
In Ling Luoshi's original impression, cannons were bulky, slow, and their barrels were prone to overheating.
Normally, after one shell is fired, it takes at least 15 minutes before the second shell can be fired.
But he never expected that artillery could fire so rapidly.
The new artillery has such a terrifying rate of fire that it's almost catching up with the rate of fire of a flintlock musket!
With such a terrifying rate of fire, the new artillery's super-stable accuracy seems less remarkable.
Ling Luoshi couldn't help but wonder how terrifying such new artillery would be on the front lines.
Ling Luoshi couldn't imagine it.
Because people cannot imagine things that are beyond their cognitive scope.
At this moment, Ling Luoshi felt his whole body was ice cold and his back was chilled.
Not only was Ling Luoshi utterly shocked, but all the garrison troops who returned from Datong Town were speechless with astonishment.
They had assumed that after the recent display of the brand-new flintlock muskets, nothing could possibly shock them so much.
But they didn't expect the slap in the face to come so quickly.
This time, they were shocked a hundred times more intensely than before.
They had no doubt that the emergence of this new type of artillery would change the entire world!
At the banquet next to the training ground, everyone fell silent once again.
Only the thunderous sound of artillery fire echoed in their ears.
Wang Shouren raised his hand and waved it, and the deafening explosions stopped. The hilltop that had been continuously bombarded by artillery was flattened by several meters.
Wang Shouren smiled slightly, brushed the dust off his clothes, and looked at Ling Luoshi.
"General Ling, did you enjoy the second performance?"
Ling Luoshi snapped out of his daze and clapped three times slowly but forcefully.
"Slap! Slap! Slap!"
"Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! I thoroughly enjoyed it!"
After Ling Luoshi finished clapping, he asked Wang Shouren, "General Wang, what do you know about this new type of cannon—"
Wang Shouren knew what Ling Luoshi wanted to ask, and before he could finish, he took the initiative to say, "His Majesty named this cannon a breech-loading cannon, with an effective firing range of over 2,500 zhang."
Two thousand five hundred feet?!
Ling Luoshi, Emperor Tang, Xiao Jianseng, and others were greatly shocked!
So, this distance of 1,500 zhang is only considered a medium firing distance for this breech-loading cannon?
But before they could be too shocked, Wang Shouren dropped another bombshell.
"And the firing rate of this breech-mounted cannon is more than two hundred rounds per hour."
"What?!"
Upon hearing the data Wang Shouren presented, Ling Luoshi couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
One hour — more than two hundred shots —
Ling Luoshi and the others recognized these two words, but when they were put together, they felt completely unfamiliar to them.
Ling Luoshi instinctively didn't believe the data, but the breech-loading cannon had just been right in front of them, demonstrating its terrifying rate of fire.
Seeing is believing, leaving them no choice but to accept it.
Finally, Wang Shouren added.
"The Ministry of Works has produced more than three thousand of these breech-loading cannons, and thirty breech-loading cannons are being produced every day."
The series of shocks had left Ling Luoshi somewhat numb.
But these words caused Ling Luoshi's heart to tremble uncontrollably.
With three thousand rifled cannons, thirty new rifled cannons can still be produced every day.
Ling Luoshi felt a chill run down his spine when he thought of that number.
At this point, Ling Luoshi was completely unable to estimate what kind of power the current emperor, Zhu Houzhao, possessed.
He could no longer see how much power and hidden cards Zhu Houzhao possessed that he knew nothing about.
A powerful enemy with both hands on the poker table is not scary; what's scary is an opponent who always hides one hand under the table.
You never know what kind of hand your opponent is holding, or when and how they will deliver a fatal blow.
Clearly, in Ling Luoshi's eyes, Zhu Houzhao is now such an opponent.
Eastern Depot, Western Depot, Embroidered Uniform Guard, Six Doors, Dragon Guard Manor, flintlock muskets, breech-loading cannons —
Ling Luoshi had no idea what other cards Zhu Houzhao was holding.
At this moment, Ling Luoshi had completely abandoned his contempt for Zhu Houzhao and genuinely respected him.
Ling Luoshi nodded solemnly: "This breech-loading cannon is truly unstoppable. With Your Majesty possessing so many divine weapons, the Ming Dynasty will be forever secure and prosperous."
"I am truly looking forward to seeing how these divine weapons will be used in actual combat."
Ling Luoshi said with deep emotion.
Wang Shouren smiled faintly and said, "This breech-mounted cannon already has real combat experience."
Do you know how the Shaolin Temple was destroyed?
Ling Luoshi's expression hardened: "You mean, the Shaolin Temple was destroyed by this breech-loading cannon?"
"That's right."
Wang Shouren nodded: "Three hundred rifled cannons bombarded the Shaolin Temple continuously for an hour and a half, directly blasting a deep crater into it."
"The monks of Shaolin Temple were blown to bits, leaving not a single trace."
Ling Luoshi lowered his eyes, a chill running down his spine.
Even the high monks in Shaolin Temple couldn't withstand the cannons pounding the land. What if Ling Luoshi were to be bombarded by these cannons one day?
Will he survive?
Ling Luoshi's heart sank lower and lower because all the answers he gave himself were negative.
At that moment, a scout quickly approached Wang Shouren and reported with clasped hands.
"Reporting to Your Excellency, Governor-General Shen Ying of Gansu and Ningxia has led 100,000 troops from Xiliang into Juyong Pass and is heading towards the capital!"
Ling Luoshi's pupils contracted, and he stared intently at Wang Shouren, a chill spreading from the depths of his bones.
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