The changes within the Ming court forced Zhao Ming to end the southern expedition ahead of schedule.In the process of colonial expansion, it is true that internal turmoil will limit and undermine the process of overseas colonization.In order to return to the Ming Dynasty as soon as possible, Zhao Ming decided to take Manila as soon as possible and negotiate peace with the Dutch.At this time, after receiving the order to capture Manila within half a month, Tang Tong began to prepare for the siege the next day.Early in the morning, the Spanish soldiers in the city of Manila noticed that the soldiers of Donghai Town under the city were different from the past, and the trenches were full of heads, and immediately informed the governor Manrique.At this time, Manrik stood at the head of the city, and saw the soldiers of Donghai Town in front of the city wall, shouting trumpets along the trench, pushing several huge cannons, and advancing towards the city, and he couldn't help but be frightened in his heart, "It's a mortar cannon!"
”The Spanish officers in the city, seeing the mortar slowly approaching the city, were frightened, and hurriedly said to Manrik: "Governor, the Chinese want to attack the castle with mortar!"
”Manlik smashed his fist against the fort wall, "Damn, cunning Chinese!"
”There are many artillery pieces in the fortress, and there is no dead angle in the shooting, the artillery can cover, within three miles around the castle, Donghai Town will suffer from the artillery bombardment of at least three walls when attacking any wall from the ground, and when it rushes to the edge of the fortress, it will also withstand the musket fire on each wall.Donghai Town dug a trench and marched, and the soldiers marched under the ground, and all the people were in the tunnels, so it was difficult for the artillery in the city to hit the soldiers of Donghai Town.In this way, the original advantage of the fortress was partially offset by the use of criss-crossing trenches by Donghai Town.The soldiers of Donghai Town carried ten mortars along the trench to two hundred paces below the city wall, and put the cannons into the deep pit dug in advance.The mortars were short and thick, with pitch-black bodies, each thicker than a strong man's waist.Mortars differ from redcoat cannons, which must be erected on the ground and shoot at direct aims, while mortars, like mortars, do not require direct aiming, but rather hang fire, and can shoot at the enemy without exposing themselves, hiding behind hills and rocks.Now the town of Tokai has put these cannons in a deep pit, and the Spaniards in the city of Manila cannot see the mortars, and the artillery on the city cannot bombard the mortar array in the town of Tokai.In the rear, Tang Tong rode a horse and stood three miles away from the castle, and a general clenched his fists and reported, "Command, the mortar has entered the artillery array!"
”Tang Tong put down the clairvoyant mirror in his hand and said in a deep voice: "The general made a military order in front of the prime minister, and within half a month, the city must be broken."
The herald artillery team was immediately bombarded, and the prime minister gave the general fifteen days, and the general had to wait for ten days before he entered the city, otherwise he would have pulled out his military uniform before the general apologized!
”"Whoa!"
Behind Tang Tong, many generals and colonels immediately clasped their fists together, and the aura of slaughter was permeated.The Chinese army ordered the flag to wave, the drums sounded, and the artillery team and soldiers worked together to load dozens of catties of shells into the mortar.In the deep pit, a long ladder was set up on the ground, and the commander of the artillery team climbed up the ladder, peeking his head out of the ground, stretching out his fingers, and while measuring at the fortress, he shouted loudly: "Adjust the gun position, raise the muzzle of the gun by an inch!"
”At this time, on the fortress, the Spanish artillery had already taken the lead in firing, but the artillery hit the ground and could not hit the Donghai Town artillery team in the deep pit at all.Manrik stood at the head of the city, saw that the shelling had no effect, and estimated that the mortar artillery in Donghai Town was about to start bombarding, so he prepared to go down to the city to hide, but at this moment, there was a sudden loud noise outside the city, and a cloud of white smoke immediately rose from the ground in the distance.Manrik felt the ground shake, and saw an iron bullet fly out of the ground and rise into the air.The trajectory of the mortar cannon is different from that of the Hongyi cannon, the cannonball is thrown at the same time as the catapult, and the speed of the cannonball flight is much slower than that of the Hongyi cannon, which can be seen by the naked eye.The Spaniards at the head of the city saw only a black dot at first, and then the black dot quickly enlarged, and had already drawn an arc in the sky and smashed towards the fortress.The Spanish soldiers suddenly screamed, and several soldiers hurriedly protected the governor Manrique, and at this moment, the cannonball fell on the city wall and exploded instantly."
Boom!"
There was a loud bang, deafening, smoke and dust billowed out, and a violent explosion blew a gust of wind, blowing away the surrounding soldiers, and many Spaniards were swept off the city by the air wave, smashed to the ground, and shattered their bones.Manlik was dumbfounded, he heard the Spanish navy who fled from the sea say that the Chinese had a terrible shell, and he initially thought that the navy deliberately exaggerated the power of the Chinese's shells in order to cover up the defeat, and the battleship was built of wood, which could not stop this shell, and the fortress was built of stone, which was exceptionally strong and could withstand the shelling.Now, he was so shocked that his face turned pale, he didn't expect the explosion to be so powerful, and it actually fell from the top of his head.It's a good thing that it didn't fall on his side, otherwise I'm afraid that he would be killed directly by a single shot.On the city wall, the Spanish naval soldiers, who abandoned the battleship and entered the fortress defense, trembled with horror when they saw the explosion.The mortar cannon body is stubby, and the shells that can be fired by the same weight are much heavier than those of naval guns, so the flowering shells fired by mortar cannons are larger than naval guns, and the power is several times greater.Just as the city was bombed to smithereens and the Spaniards were stunned, another series of loud noises were heard.The Spanish soldiers in the city saw several more shells rising from the ground, piercing the sky, getting closer and bigger, and they cried out in fear: "Oh God!
Not again!
”"Governor!"
The Spanish officer roared and knocked Manlik down, and the cannonballs whizzed and smashed in, and immediately there was a loud bang.The walls of the fortress were constantly hit by cannonballs, rising thick black smoke, and the Spanish soldiers fell into a large area with the explosion as the center, and the screams and wails of the city rang out.For a time, the fortress was in shambles, thick smoke billowed everywhere, black smoke rose into the sky, and wounded soldiers wailed and rolled on the ground."
Your Excellency the Governor, please leave immediately!"
The Spanish officer helped Manrik who was lying on the ground to his feet, and then fled quickly from the city, but before everyone took a few steps, a cannonball fell on the side of the group, and several Spanish soldiers who were guarding were blown away in an instant, and Governor Manrik was also swept to the ground by the waves, his head was buzzing, and his expression was a little sluggish.When he came to his senses, Manrik suddenly roared urgently, "Fire back!"
”The artillery of Donghai Town is huge, and the artillery in the city shoots like crazy, but it is all on the ground, and it can't hit the artillery of Donghai Town nesting under the ground at all.The Spaniards in the city shot for a while, and the explosions continued to sound at the head of the city, blowing up the Spanish gunners, so that the Spaniards finally recognized the reality, and could only let the Donghai Town bombard, and the Spaniards in the city were embarrassed to cannon down the city wall, hiding in the dead corner behind the city wall, leaving only a few soldiers lying on the head of the city.Outside the city wall, the mortar artillery of Donghai Town continued to bombard, and the cannon sound was like thunder, and under the bombardment of the mortar artillery, the city of Manila was filled with gunsmoke, and the thick smoke in the city was billowing out, and the howl was everywhere, like hell.Standing outside the range of the Spaniards' artillery at the head of the city, Tang Tong was watching the results of the artillery with great interest, and did not immediately make the soldiers launch a strong attack."
General, with such a sharp weapon, is there a city in the world that our Donghai Town can't defeat?"
Han Chaoxuan couldn't help but praise loudly, and his heart was full of pride.()