mesbooks Chapter 608 Red Cannon
Chapter 608 Red Cannon
What Dorgon said was true.
Wu Sangui was Zu Dashou's nephew. In the Battle of Dalinghhe, Zu Dashou was forced to surrender to Huang Taiji due to the situation.
But soon, Zu Dashou returned to the Ming Dynasty on the pretext of helping the Qing Dynasty to defraud the opening of Jinzhou City, and he continued to be in charge of Guanningjin.
But Zu Dashou's relatives were left in the Qing Dynasty from then on.
When Dorgon said this, he naturally hoped that Wu Sangui would consider their family ties and not be stubborn, and would preferably surrender to the Qing Dynasty.
If it were two or three years ago, when the situation of the Ming court was deteriorating, perhaps Wu Sangui would have had a chance to consider it.
But now there is not even a slight possibility.
Not only did the court confer the title of Earl on him, the Grand Marshal also let bygones be bygones and appointed him as the Vice Governor of the Tiger Guards' Military Governor's Office and the Commander-in-Chief of the Guanningjin Military Affairs.
His uncle Zu Dashou was also granted a title. He wrote to him a while ago saying that they were living very comfortably in the capital and asked him to work well with the Grand Marshal.
Whether from the perspective of close relationship or loyalty to the emperor and the country, Wu Sangui had no reason to surrender.
Not to mention that it was impossible for Dorgon to break through the Jinzhou city wall in a short period of time.
He didn't want to pay attention to Dorgon, but after a moment of silence, he asked a loud guard beside him to pass on his message:
"If you are really sincere, and send my distant relatives here first, maybe I can consider it."
Although Dorgon had made remarkable military achievements, Wu Sangui believed that a group of people who had just emerged from a tribe that ate raw meat and drank blood were full of barbarism and ignorance.
Of course, he could also roar himself like Dorgon, but that would be so vulgar.
After hearing Wu Sangui's reply, Dorgon frowned deeply.
This scene seemed familiar. He remembered that in the letters his royal brother wrote to Zu Dashou, many of Zu Dashou's replies were also perfunctory in this way.
Thinking of this, Dorgon could almost conclude that Wu Sangui would not surrender, so he said angrily:
"You are as cunning as your uncle!"
Wu Sangui read it but did not reply.
Dorgon was extremely angry and said:
“To tell you the truth, all of my thirty red-coated cannons have been transported here.
Are you sure that the walls of Jinzhou City can withstand the red artillery of the Qing Dynasty?"
When Dorgon talked about the Red Cannon, a proud expression unconsciously appeared on his face.
These red cannons were the first batch of artillery produced by the Qing Dynasty last year, with a total of fifty.
The entire cannon was designed by craftsmen from the Netherlands, but craftsmen from the Qing Dynasty participated in the entire process and had already learned the technology to manufacture the red cannon.
His royal brother has tested it many times and found that the Red Cannon is more powerful than the various French cannons seized from the Ming court. Its range alone is incomparable to those scrap copper and iron.
It was also because of the breakthrough in the Qing Dynasty's firearms that his royal brother made up his mind to mobilize the entire country to attack the Ming court.
"If you continue to be stubborn and refuse to change your ways, don't blame me for being ruthless after you capture Jinzhou City!"
The implication was that Dorgon intended to massacre the city.
After all, this was the tradition of the Qing Dynasty. Although his royal brother had repeatedly ordered that the people of the Ming Dynasty should not be slaughtered at will, Dorgon didn't care.
But Wu Sangui still didn't answer him, which made Dorgon's threat seem like hitting cotton. He was particularly angry and said:
"Wu Sangui, tell me the truth! Do you want to surrender or not?"
Wu Sangui still ignored Dorgon's questioning, but turned his head and whispered to his subordinates:
"Aim at him and fire."
Soon, white smoke began to rise from the city walls of Jinzhou.
How could Dorgon, a veteran of the battlefield, not know that the other side wanted to attack him? He cursed Wu Sangui's ancestors and ran away.
"Shame on you! Pass my military order, pull out all thirty red cannons and fire at me!"
As soon as he arrived at the central military tent, Dorgon kicked away the objects in the tent and gave orders to his subordinates.
Two quarters of an hour later, the red cannons of the Qing Dynasty were lined up in a row. Their target was naturally the north gate of Jinzhou City, which had experienced several sieges.
Wu Sangui finally frowned.
Because the so-called artillery of Dorgon was placed outside the range of Jinzhou City’s defense artillery.
Although the General Manufacturing Bureau can currently produce copper cannons with more advanced performance, since it is a new technology and requires a large amount of copper ore, the output is not high and can be said to be very low.
At present, the General Manufacturing Bureau has produced a total of 100 24-pound heavy cannons, all of which are used in the artillery battalion of the Guards.
However, the city defense artillery in the border towns of the Ming Dynasty and even in the Ming Dynasty’s capital, Beijing, was still using old-style artillery.
These city defense cannons are heavier than ordinary falconets and have a longer range, but that’s all.
Before this, whether it was the Mongols or the Qing Dynasty, they basically relied on cavalry to enter the pass to plunder. It cannot be said that they did not have firearms, but they were better than nothing. At most, they relied on the Portuguese cannons looted from the Ming Dynasty to hold up the scene.
And now, the Qing Dynasty also has heavy artillery, which is bad news for the defenders of Jinzhou.
"All officers, listen to my orders. Archers and soldiers, take cover. Gunners, be on guard..."
Boom-boom-boom-boom-
Wu Sangui had only said half of his words when the red cannon outside the city opened fire.
The huge sound of artillery fire spread to inside and outside the city, and the shells landed on the city walls, causing the walls to tremble slightly.
Fortunately, Wu Sangui had strict military discipline. After receiving Wu Sangui's military order, most of the soldiers on the city wall quickly hid behind the parapet, and the gunners on standby hid behind the battlements with their heads in their hands.
In the years when firearms were in their infancy, siege warfare was somewhere between firearm siege and traditional siege, and the prerequisite for firearm siege was that the attacker had firearms with a longer range.
Faced with this situation, the defenders would have to go out of the city to fight, otherwise the city wall would be breached sooner or later.
Wu Sangui is now facing such a dilemma. If he leaves the city, it will be exactly what Dorgon wants. But if he does not leave the city, it is unknown when support will arrive.
Dorgon's army had a total of 50,000 people, and the number of defenders in Jinzhou City was roughly equal to that of the enemy.
But if his soldiers could fight one-on-one with Dorgon's elite troops, the Ming Dynasty would not have lost territory one after another before.
With this in mind, he immediately wrote a letter and handed it to the Jinyiwei in the city, asking them to quickly pass the message to Lu Xiangsheng, the commander-in-chief of the Huben Army, to inform him of the actual situation here.
The next two days were uneventful, as the military and civilians in Jinzhou City spent every day amid the rumbling sound of artillery fire.
Wu Sangui still did not order his troops to leave the city to meet the enemy. He believed that it was a last resort. Anyway, even now, his superiors did not force him to leave the city to meet the enemy.
But by noon on the third day, the north gate of Jinzhou City had been completely blown down, and the city walls on both sides of the gate were also crumbling.
Jinzhou General Liu Zhaoji, wearing armor and looking anxious, said:
"Sir, the northern wall can no longer hold out. We cannot wait until the wall is breached before we meet the enemy, otherwise the people of Jinzhou City will suffer.
I request to go out of the city to meet the enemy!"
As Liu Zhaoji spoke, he lifted the hem of his armor and knelt down to ask for orders.
……