Steam Cannon 026

  The sound of clashing steel rose again within the Great Wall of China, as the infantrymen beneath the Iron Foundry retreated like a receding tide, leaving behind several blazing war chariots that had been pierced by javelins and resembled hedgehogs, and corpses scattered all over the ground.

  The young emperor's face had already turned green. He was unwilling to admit defeat and decided to regroup and fight again. The iron factory's weapons should have been almost depleted by now.

  "Bring the cannons closer and fire fiercely. Let the soldiers think of a way to get the infantry close to the city wall." The emperor gave the order.

  The Qing army had a clever plan, hiding skilled archers in carts carrying grain and hay, covered with mud and wet quilts to protect against arrows and firearms. Pushed under the city walls, the archers could fire accurately, suppressing the iron foundry's shooting ports. Additionally, small cannons were deployed, disregarding casualties, to fiercely bombard the drawbridge, aiming to blast it down. With the bridge destroyed, carts covered with quilts and mud could crash open the city gates, allowing cavalry to charge directly into the city.

  The emperor thought the plan was feasible, and arranged for his subordinates to pass on the order. The sky had already darkened somewhat, having fought from morning till dusk without rest. He sought to capture the iron factory before nightfall, thinking that he would spend the night in a warm southern-style house.

  The snow didn't know when it stopped, the gloomy sky seemed to be brewing another heavy snowfall. "Late arrival of heaven's desire for snow, able to drink a cup without." The emperor whispered, saying to the guard: "Prepare wine for me, I want to see through the city under the lamp."

  Soldiers on both sides started having their meals, with smoke rising from cooking fires everywhere. The Qing dynasty's corpse collection team, carrying a white flag, took advantage of the ceasefire to pull carts and collect the bodies of dead Qing soldiers. The iron factory did not obstruct them but shot arrows to intimidate when they approached the city walls.

  The battlefield was littered with corpses, everywhere were the bodies of men and horses, banners, weapons, war chariots, and countless wounded soldiers crying out in despair. The kind-hearted burial team often put an end to these severely injured guys with a knife, ending their endless suffering.

  Old Man Peng set up a banquet to thank the hero Liu Ziguo for saving his daughter. He listened attentively as Peng Jingrong told him all about it, including Liu's background and his previous contributions in the accounting room. The old man nodded repeatedly as he listened.

  Outside, the city might be attacked at any moment. The banquet was a simple affair, with no fancy dishes. There were just some plain wine, dumplings, braised pork, a few fish, one chicken and several ordinary vegetarian dishes. The factory owner sat at the head of the table, accompanied by two young ladies. Liu Ziguang sat in the seat of honor, while Yu Xiaolong also made an appearance.

  After the polite words, Old Man Peng asked tentatively: "Manager Liu, now that the truth about your frame-up has been revealed, I'd like to appoint you as the Chief Accountant of the Iron Factory and also as the Deputy Commander of the Iron Guard. Are you willing?"

  Peng Jingrong gazed at Liu Ziguo with eager eyes, hoping he would nod in agreement soon.

  Liu Ziguang hastily swallowed a few mouthfuls of food and absent-mindedly replied, "I don't want to." The current Liu Ziguang was skilled and fearless, not afraid to offend anyone. He was confident that he could subdue the old man before the guards at the door reacted, so he bluntly refused the factory owner's kind invitation.

  "Why?" The old man was puzzled. Such a generous condition for a slave-born person was simply a blessing from heaven. This kid actually refused without even considering it.

  Peng Jingrong's face turned white on the side. Peng Jingwei was also shocked, her mouth wide open, looking at Liu Ziguo one moment and then at Father the next.

  "For no reason, I don't want to work for a slave owner now, I hate slave owners." Liu Ziguang's face was expressionless as he continued eating. More than a year of being a slave had made him very uncomfortable, and this debt should also be settled now.

  "Ah, I see. Well, as I said earlier, your brothers are now free men. I won't hold it against you for killing the 300 guards either. As for the hardships you've suffered over the years, I'll compensate you fully. However, the issue of slave breeding is a complicated one and not something that can be changed by my own power alone. Will this satisfy you?"

  Years of slave-like life had cultivated Liu Ziguang's habit of eating extremely fast, while others were still picking up their chopsticks, he had already finished his meal. He squatted on the chair, wiping his mouth with his sleeve, and then used his fingernail to pick out a hard wooden splinter from the chair to pick his teeth. What prime minister or vice general, if it were yesterday, he would have been interested, but now it's different, not only did he have divine skills, but also 500 brothers, the temptation of going out to make a name for himself was far greater than being a white-collar worker in an iron factory.

  "Never mind, you all eat first, I'll go take a look." Liu Ziguang patted his butt, abandoned the whole house of people, and went out to climb the city wall to enjoy the view.

  Seeing Liu Ziguang behave so unreasonably in front of his father, Peng Jingrong was anxious but didn't dare to interrupt. After seeing Liu Ziguang leave, Father surprisingly wasn't angry and sat there deep in thought. The girl's heart stabilized a little.

  Liu Ziguang wandered to the top of the city wall, gazing out at the Qing army's camp in the distance. The massive army of 100,000 had already set up camp and was busy cooking meals, with soldiers squatting on the ground, one hand holding a pancake wrapped around scallions and the other holding a bowl of hot noodles, while several people sat in front of a sauce dish, eating scallions dipped in sauce and drinking hot noodle soup. The officers had all retreated into their tents, no doubt enjoying some delicacies. As the sky gradually darkened, countless lanterns made of dead grass floated up on the desolate plain, while torches fueled by pine oil and cow fat illuminated the Qing army's camp as brightly as daylight.

  The iron foundry's turrets lit up countless gas lamps, competing with each other to see who was brighter. In a short while, the Qing soldiers finished their battle meal and began to form ranks, and a new round of attack was about to begin.

  Large battering rams covered with wet sponges and sandbags began to move forward, each of which could hold fifty soldiers. Twenty such large battering rams were deployed in this round of attack. Soldiers holding long shields formed a turtle array, covering all parts except the feet and back with rectangular iron shields. From a distance, it looked like rows of iron arrays moving without any visible men inside.

  The howitzer battery moved forward, with commands rising and falling in succession. In pursuit of a better striking effect, the position was slightly advanced, and incendiary shells and armor-piercing shells with stronger city-breaking capabilities were replaced. The small-caliber howitzers also began to approach the city wall under the push of fearless gunners, preparing to provide direct firepower support for the infantry.

  The master brought a few hands up to the city gate, and the two daughters were sent back to be in charge of manufacturing defensive equipment. All workshops in the iron factory started working overtime to produce weapons for defense. The finished products in the warehouse were all transported to the north gate for the defenders to use at any time.

  The ironworks combined the functions of a mine, smelter and armory, with war potential almost on par with Leningrad. The loss of weapons was hardly worth considering, after all it was the largest contractor providing arms for the imperial army! Now all this is operating under the command of the highly respected old factory owner at an unprecedented efficiency. The first blow of the Qing's southern expeditionary force landed squarely on the iron plating.

  The boss asked his men: "Is the cannon in position?"

  "Report to the commander, the large cannon has been connected to the steam pipeline and the pressure is sufficient. It's ready to fire at any time!"

  Old Peng nodded in satisfaction and walked towards a huge cylindrical weapon on the city wall, Liu Ziguang was very curious and followed him to watch.

  This is a large cannon that relies on steam power to launch, with steam injected into the air chamber through pipes, and the pressure constantly increasing, squeezing the piston. The piston is blocked by a steel-cast cannon bolt and cannot move. The pressure continues to rise until it reaches a critical point, at which time the gunner suddenly releases the cannon bolt, and the pent-up steam rapidly drives the piston to move, shooting the previously loaded projectile in the barrel towards the distance. The trajectory is long, and since the barrel is sealed, the projectile and the barrel are closely combined, so the range is extremely far and the power is extremely great.

  They are still waiting for the launch command, and the gunners are nervously watching the pressure gauge, releasing a little steam to relieve the pressure whenever it approaches the critical point to prevent the cylinder from bursting.

  Old Peng carefully inspected the cannon again and picked up the telescope to look at the Huihui cannon in the distance, ordering: "Fire a test shot and correct the trajectory."

  The gunner's pressure gauge pointer reached the red zone, and with a sudden pull of the lanyard, the breech was opened, followed by a deafening roar. A projectile shot out of the muzzle at an extremely high initial velocity, almost invisible to the naked eye. Then, a black shadow streaked across the sky in a parabolic trajectory, landing in the enemy's artillery position, slightly ahead of target. The impact sent flames soaring into the air, and the infantrymen were burned, scattering in all directions, rolling on the ground.

  "Elevate the muzzle half an inch, load incendiary shells." The old man observed the results of the battle and continued to give orders.

  Several gunners pushed the piston back to its original position at the front of the barrel, which was not difficult since there was no pressure left. Then they inserted the breech plug, injected steam and another loader brought over a black iron ball, opened the iron lid on top, scooped up several pieces of red-hot charcoal and put them in, then closed the lid. The iron ball was placed at the front of the piston through the loading port, which was then sealed shut.

  After a round of shelling, the steam had also been injected to about the right amount, and the Qing forces unexpectedly came under attack from outside the range of the iron foundry, hastily opening fire with their recoilless guns in counterattack.

  A fireball tore through the dark night sky and slammed into the city wall, leaving a long string of visual residual light shadows. The stone carpet was soaked with oil, and several fireballs caused casualties among the iron factory personnel. The damage control personnel quickly extinguished the flames with sandbags and carried the injured down from the city.

  Both sides started cannon warfare.

  The steam-filled cannon fired again, this time accurately hitting a trebuchet, the thick wooden beam of the trebuchet was broken under the impact of the iron ball, and then the iron ball shattered, the fierce fire oil inside the ball was ignited by the wood charcoal, poured on the wooden frame of the trebuchet, instantly bursting into flames, and in an instant, a trebuchet was rendered useless.

  The advancing turtle formation and the successful defense of the steam crossbow's shooting, just as they were about to approach the city wall, the crossbows switched to another type of arrow. The arrowheads were fragile ceramic pots filled with fire starters, and the arrow bodies were made of split bamboo, hollow inside and filled with strong fire oil, wrapped in lacquer cloth on the outside. One round of arrows went down, and the turtle formation was drenched in strong fire oil, fierce flames burning so hot that the infantrymen couldn't hold onto their scorching iron shields, could only throw away their shields and expose themselves to the ordinary bow crossbow's attack. However, the battering ram was not afraid of this move, thick wet cotton and sandbags blocking the flames and arrows, advancing steadily.

  "Elevate the gun tail, switch to armor-piercing shells, and fire at the ramming vehicle." The factory owner gave the order.

  The steam cannon was shaken by the gunners, this time it was a direct shot, a sharp-headed iron bullet was inserted into the barrel, a loud noise, the sharp-headed bullet pierced the layered armor on the collision car, and opened a big hole on the top of the car. Suddenly, various arrows shot in from the big hole, and the car transmitted wailing and black smoke.

  The battle was extremely fierce, and Liu Ziguang was stunned. It was completely different from what he had seen on TV before. There were no generals dueling one-on-one, no rolling logs or stone catapults. Both sides were using long-range high-tech weapons to exchange fire, especially the iron factory. First, there were the screaming Katyusha rockets, then the multi-turret flamethrower tanks, and now the incredibly powerful steam cannons. It was too terrifying, this kind of warfare was truly frightening, and individual bravery seemed so small in the face of such massive weaponry. He couldn't help but feel interested in the old man who had invented these super weapons.