Chapter 30: The Bombardment of Zhongzuosuo

The first volley from the Hall rifles was fired at a distance of 300 meters. Due to the principle of “making revolution through frugality,” the marines’ Hall rifles were converted from Minie rifles, so the caliber remained unchanged.

The authentic version of the Hall rifle had a gas leakage problem, resulting in lower muzzle energy and range compared to muzzle-loading rifled muskets. Despite its much higher rate of fire, it was replaced by muzzle-loaders before the American Civil War due to its range limitations.

The Lingao-produced version incorporated some innovations. The breechblock was made to pivot upwards, and a brass obturating ring was used at the joint. When pressed, it could be pushed forward to seat into the rear of the chamber. When the propellant exploded, the ring would expand, sealing the gas leak from the breech. As a result, the Lingao Hall rifle had a muzzle energy of up to 250 joules and an effective range of 500 meters. Not only was its power not significantly reduced compared to the muzzle-loading Minie rifle, but its rate of fire was also maintained.

The 13mm lead bullets, spinning along the rifling, screamed across the 300-meter distance and instantly tore through the bamboo bundles. While these bamboo shields could effectively stop arrows and smoothbore musket balls, they were completely useless against the Minie balls fired from rifled muskets. As the bullets passed through the bundled bamboo, the fibers were shredded along their length into countless splinters, which were then blasted outwards like a shrapnel shell. The soldiers behind the shields, even if not hit by a bullet, were riddled with these splinters. They screamed and fell, rolling on the ground in agony.

The Hall rifle had a high rate of fire. An average soldier could fire six rounds a minute, and the First Expeditionary Force, being an experimental unit, was not spared ammunition in training. Their average rate of fire was over ten rounds per minute. Although Shi Zhiqi had intentionally used a two-rank formation with volley fire to control the rate of fire and conserve ammunition, the two companies had still unleashed 1,500 rounds within a minute—a true rain of bullets.

One minute of sustained fire took down almost half of Lin Cha’s men, and their formation completely collapsed. The front rank of bamboo shields was reduced to a pile of splinters, and the shield-bearers were either dead or wounded. The wounded were a particularly gruesome sight, most of them suffering secondary injuries from the exploding bamboo splinters. Some were covered in wounds and blood but wouldn’t die immediately, writhing and screaming on the ground.

The archers behind them had long since scattered and fled. It was the rattan shield soldiers at the rear of the formation who were remarkably brave. They were known for being “loyal and disdainful of death,” and they were the “personal troops” raised by Lin Cha and Lin Sheng themselves. Now, with their waists stuffed with silver, their courage was high. They did not immediately break under the hail of bullets. The two generals, Lin Sheng and Lin Cha, ran back and forth among their personal troops, shouting encouragement and promising rewards to urge the soldiers forward.

The rattan shield soldiers ducked low, hiding behind their shields, and charged forward recklessly, with ferocious courage. In another timeline, during their battles with the Dutch on Taiwan, the rattan shield soldiers had earned the name “mad dogs” for their fearlessness.

However, the firepower density of the Hall rifles was far beyond what the Dutch matchlocks could produce. The rattan shield soldiers held out for about thirty seconds in the storm of bullets. The charging soldiers fell one after another, and the ground was littered with shattered rattan shields and broadswords. Not a single man managed to charge past the fifty-meter mark.

The surviving soldiers, who had been miraculously unscathed, could not withstand such a blow. Forgetting the promised silver, they broke and fled, dropping their swords and scattering in all directions. The two Lins couldn’t rally them and had to retreat with their personal troops.

“Defeated, just like that?!” a chill went down the spines of the Zheng family generals watching the battle. They hadn’t held much hope for Lin Cha’s bamboo shields, but for the Kunzei to rout seven hundred men, who had been bought with silver, with just a dozen or so volleys was simply absurd.

The worst part was that the enemy’s muskets were far deadlier than the rumors suggested. At a distance of over a hundred zhang (approx. 330 meters), they took lives as easily as reaching into a bag. Not only were they long-ranged and accurate, but they were also “repeating guns”! How could they fight this?

His own two guard units were equipped with Portuguese matchlocks purchased from Macau. Even by European standards, they were fine firearms, but their effective range was at most a hundred paces. Their rate of fire was pitifully slow, completely incomparable to the Kunzei’s muskets.

At this rate, the enemy could just advance slowly, firing volley after volley, and wipe out his entire force!

At this thought, he immediately called for a messenger. “Order General Ma to open fire!”

“General Ma” was Matos. At this moment, the officer of the black guard unit was on the walls of Zhongzuosuo, directing his gunners as they aimed the cannons.

On the hastily constructed gun platform on the city wall were two naval cannons taken from the patrol boat Haixun 64. It was the Kirishitan Paul’s feat of capturing the patrol boat and its two cannons that had won over the Zheng clan. That, and a few other novelties he had produced.

Next to the cannons were piles of shells unloaded from the boat. The round cannonballs looked ordinary at first glance, but each was tightly secured to a wooden sabot with iron straps. A silk powder bag was tied to the back of the sabot. The sabots were painted different colors to indicate their type: solid shot and high-explosive. Most of them were solid shot.

At Matos’s command, a dozen or so Portuguese and black gunners got busy. The beach where the marines were advancing was over three li (about 1.5 km) away. Not long ago, the Kirishitan who had overseen the dismantling of these two cannons had demonstrated how to operate them.

The Kirishitan seemed to be an expert. He had personally demonstrated the firing technique for the gunners and had even conducted a test firing. The range of these two cannons could not only cover the beach but also reach out to the sea.

In Matos’s opinion, there was nothing special about the cannons themselves—they were just exceptionally well-cast. But their ammunition was unique, especially the high-explosive shells. The small copper discs that could be attached to the shells were something he had never seen before. It was said that with this device, the high-explosive shells had a detonation rate of over ninety percent.

Although high-explosive shells existed in this era, they were mostly fired from mortars. They were rarely fired from cannons, let alone with a ninety percent detonation rate. At the time, there were no reliable fuses; they all relied on powder trails for ignition. They either failed to explode upon impact or exploded in the barrel before being fired. As a result, high-explosive shells were considered an “unreliable” type of ammunition, with unimpressive power, only capable of breaking into a few large pieces. Gunners preferred to fire the safe and reliable solid shot and canister shot.

If the Kirishitan hadn’t personally demonstrated how to use them and fired several rounds himself, Matos would have been very skeptical of these “high-explosive shells.” But after seeing the demonstration, he was completely convinced. Not only was the detonation reliable, but the explosive power surpassed any high-explosive shell he had ever seen. The Kunzei were indeed formidable, and this Kirishitan artillerist was no less impressive.

Matos had heard some stories about how powerful the “Australians’” cannons were and that they could fire a large number of powerful high-explosive shells. It seemed this Kirishitan also possessed such technology, and he had even claimed he could build cannons that were more powerful, had longer range, and were more accurate.

Whether the Kirishitan could actually build such cannons remained to be seen, but it was clear that today, the only thing that could make the Kunzei feel the sting of battle was their own cannons and shells.

Through his telescope, he could see the “Kunzei’s” battle line advancing steadily towards them. They were about to enter what the Kirishitan had called the effective range.

The data the Kirishitan had given them was that these two cannons, at an elevation of 5 degrees, could fire a shell over half a legua (league, approx. 2 km). And an elevation of only 5 degrees meant the firing accuracy was much better than other cannons. Combined with the effective high-explosive shells, they could inflict great casualties on advancing infantry.

“The ‘Aussies’ march beautifully!” Matos said, admiring the marines advancing in a neat line under their banner. Their formation was no less impressive than that of Spanish veterans! He lowered his telescope and gave the order to prepare to fire.

The gunners methodically measured the range, aimed, swabbed the bore, and prepared the ammunition. A gunner, based on the range, punched a hole in the copper disc and screwed it onto the shell. The shell was carefully loaded into the chamber. Another gunner pierced the silk powder bag with a priming iron and poured priming powder from a powder horn into the touch-hole.

“Fire!”

A gunner touched a lit matchcord to the priming powder. A flash of fire erupted from the touch-hole, and the great cannon spewed a thick cloud of fire and white smoke. Pushed by the recoil, the heavy gun rolled back, its four wheels creaking.

The smoke and fire from the city wall immediately caught Shi Zhiqi’s attention. He knew they were still 2 kilometers from Zhongzuosuo. No matter which side it was, no one should be firing at this distance.

A few seconds later, the sound of the cannon reached them. The first shell fired from the walls of Zhongzuosuo landed on the beach a hundred meters in front of the battle line. It exploded with a roar, sending sand and iron fragments flying. A palm-sized, red-hot piece of iron plunged into the sand less than five meters from the line, hissing and emitting a wisp of white smoke.

“Artillery!” The terrible thought immediately flashed through Shi Zhiqi’s mind. In an instant, fear gripped his heart. The enemy was suddenly firing at them from a range that should have been impossible, and with high-explosive shells!

Before he could process this, the second shell screamed in. This time, it flew over the heads of the battle line and landed on the beach a few dozen meters away, throwing up a column of water mixed with sand. A soldier at the very edge of the line grunted, swayed, and fell.

Shi Zhiqi’s face turned pale. The thirty seconds between the two shells felt like a century. He was completely unprepared for an artillery attack. With great effort, he squeezed a command from his dry throat: “Hold the line! Battalion guns, fire! Target: Zhongzuosuo city! Suppress the enemy artillery, quickly!”