Even when galloping, many war horses were frightened by the huge sound of guns and cannons and ran around in panic, making it impossible to organize an effective charge formation.
For a time, the positions in the northeast of the Western Xia rear were in chaos. At least 10,000 to 20,000 people were shot around by muskets and artillery, and the army was almost completely routed.
Soon this situation swept the entire Xixia army. A large number of fleeing soldiers broke up part of the army formation, causing the Xixia army's rear defense line to almost collapse and it was completely impossible to form an army.
If you look down from a high altitude, you will see that in the northeastern rear corner of the Western Xia army, a small Song army position composed of artillery and musketeers is launching a fierce attack on part of the corps in the northeastern corner of the Western Xia army.
The number of troops in this part was actually only about 10,000 people, but they could not withstand the firepower of the Song army at all, and the horses were frightened and ran around in panic.
Howitzers are not as powerful as solid bullets, but they are very effective against cavalry.
Because it would explode after landing, making a huge noise, the horses would panic and not listen to the knights' commands at all after hearing it, resulting in the fall of this place within just two or three minutes.
Then the entire Western Xia army began to retreat.
In an instant, the army was defeated.
Li Yuanhao stood on the hillside and looked out, and saw that his troops had inexplicably fled. The entire legion was shocked and subsequently defeated.
He was stunned for a moment and quickly gave the order, "Quick, call back the troops! Call back the troops!"
But before he could strike the bronze bell, the gate of Lanzhou city opened wide in the distance.
All the Tibetan soldiers rushed out.
Then the Song army in the rear also launched a charge, chasing like a hunter chasing prey.
Li Yuanhao had no time to gather his troops. All 50,000 soldiers fled in all directions without any formation. Many people were even trampled to death or fell off their horses in the crowd.
At this time, Li Yuanhao had no way to control his men and horses, and he was forced to flee westward on horseback.
Wang Shiyun, watching the defeated Xixia army from the rear, watched as Zeng Yong and Zhang Wenwu sheathed their spears, drew their ring-handled straight swords from their waists, and rushed forward shouting. He grinned and said disdainfully, "They are no match for him!"
"Bang!"
The next moment, a small steel cannon more than 30 meters away from him on the right finally exploded under the heavy load, making a loud noise.
A friend mentioned that the cannon's range is incorrect. I guess they missed something: the cannons in the book are all rifled, which have twice the range of smoothbore cannons. Some people have also said that rifling is impossible to create by hand, but in fact, rifling has existed since the 15th century. There are many ways to create it by hand, including documentation on molds, knife engraving, and even primitive lathes.
The range and rate of fire of the gun are also different from the original flintlock rifle, because the Minié bullet was directly used. After the Minié bullet was invented, the flintlock smoothbore gun was changed into a flintlock rifled gun. Wouldn’t the rate of fire and range be different?
The firing rate of the small steel cannon is also reasonable, with 10 rounds per minute being the maximum firing rate. There are records of the Anglo-French War in the 18th century, where bronze smoothbore small-caliber cannons could reach a maximum firing rate of 7-8 rounds per minute, but this would easily cause the barrel to explode.
If it is made of steel, the burst rate will be lower, and it is normal to increase the firing rate.
Minié bullets and rifling are not products of the industrial age. They were basically already available in Britain and France around the 18th century. Therefore, the data in the book is basically reasonable, so please rest assured.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
