novel-bin Chapter 519
Chapter 519
Episode 519: Decisive battle. (3)
Dung! ridge! ridge! Puhuu~!
A low platform was built in front of the command tower. A large drum placed on a platform spread the dull sound of drums all around, followed by the sound of a large horn (a trumpet made from a conch shell). With the sound of drums and trumpets encouraging the soldiers’ fighting spirit, the soldiers on both sides began to advance toward each other.
The leaders of both formations approaching in this way were musketeers.
* * *
Before the musketeers appeared, the leaders of the formation were the archers. And in the previous period, cavalry was at the forefront, and one-on-one combat was the main battle.
It was an extremely classic method in which famous warriors from two warring camps came out to introduce themselves to the other side and compete against each other for their skills. Even
when the Yuan Empire set out to conquer the Japanese Empire together with Goryeo, the Japanese insisted on this method.
When a famous Japanese general came forward and tried to introduce himself, the Mongolian army responded with a shower of arrows.
Only after such a bitter experience were the Japanese able to abandon the fighting method they called ‘Ikkiuchi (一騎打ち)’.
As the form of battle changed, archers came to the forefront. And this was due to the inevitable performance limitations of the Japanese bow.
The best route for Japanese pirates was a range of about 20 shots (approximately 60m).
And at that distance, if the enemy infantry was charging at full speed, it would be fortunate to be able to fire two to three shots.
Thanks to this, when the enemy dug in beyond the range of the bow, the archers immediately retreated and the infantry stepped forward.
And the cavalry, which was encamped behind the infantry, was to move at the moment victory or defeat was decided and was responsible for expanding the battle or stopping the pursuing enemies.
As musketeers were added to this formation, the musketeers took the lead.
This was because the Joseon-made long gun showed a fairly high hit rate when the enemy was within 25 shots (approximately 75m), and even in the case of suppressive fire aimed at a group of enemies, it showed clear power beyond 40 shots (approximately 120m).
* * *
On top of the command tower, Mochiyo was directly leading the soldiers, checking their movements.
“It’s dangerous, my lord. “Please leave it to the warden.”
The subordinate general warned him of the danger and earnestly asked him to step back, but Mochiyo firmly shook his head and said.
“The rise and fall of the family depends on this one fight. “I will never back down.”
The generals had no choice but to back down at Mochiyo’s firm reply, who would have said that he had heard a lot of incense somewhere.
After biting his men like that, Mochiyo examined the battlefield with a monocle.
“The enemies have entered within 60 yards (approximately 180m)!”
After confirming that the front line of the shogunate army had reached within 60 pieces, Mochiyo put down the monocle he was holding and waved his fan.
“Discharge the lightning bolt!”
“Let go!”
At the command of the generals, Ouchi’s artillerymen lit the wicks in unison.
pop! Puff!
The heavy thunderbolts flew into the sky with a heavy explosion and fell among the musketeers who were at the forefront of the shogunate army.
bang! Quack!
“Ahh!”
“evil!”
Dozens of musketeers fell down screaming, accompanied by loud explosions.
The musketeer commanders of the shogunate army shouted urgently and directed the shocked soldiers.
“San dog! “A mountain dog!”
“Spread out to the left and right and advance!”
“Their artillery cannot change direction easily! “Spread out and advance!”
* * *
Joseon used a little trick while handing over the artillery.
The carriages loaded with toys were replaced with items durable enough to only be transported. If it was fired while placed on the carriage, the recoil could not be overcome and the carriage collapsed.
– Unless you’re as stupid as a pebble in a stream, you can’t lose with the amount we handed over even if you wanted to. When the war is over, we will definitely try to replicate it.
The toy handed over after such anticipation had to be removed from the carriage and firmly fixed to the ground when a battle broke out.
Despite this trick, Hyang made an excuse that wasn’t an excuse.
“Toys are originally meant to be firmly fixed to the ground.”
And this wasn’t wrong.
* * *
It was usually not difficult to spread out while maintaining order even while being bombarded by bigyeokjincheonroe.
Quack! bang!
“Wow! evil!”
At Mochiyo’s order, the Ouchi artillerymen began firing thunderbolts at the shogunate army batteries.
bang! Kwakwakwak!
Following the explosion of the rain bomb, a loud explosion occurred at the shogunate army’s artillery position. However, the shogunate army also fired back at Ouchi’s artillery, and a bloody fight began between the artillerymen on both sides.
Even as shells from both sides flew over their heads, Ouchi’s spearmen and riflemen continued to advance steadily.
Seeing this, the shogunate’s rifle corps and spear corps, which had dispersed, gathered together again and began to advance.
The musketeers and spearmen of the two camps formed a tight formation and approached from the front.
Before we knew it, musketeers were at the forefront of the two camps.
“stop!”
When the distance between the two sides fell to about 15 feet (about 45 meters), the commanders on both sides stopped their men.
“Aim for the first row!”
“shooting!”
Ta-ta-ta-tang!
“Aaaah!”
With loud gunshots ringing from both sides at the same time, the space between the two camps became hazy with smoke, and soldiers fell to the ground with screams.
“Aim for the second row! shooting!”
Ta-ta-tang!
“Aim for the third row! shooting!”
Ta-ta-tang!
Firing continued from the first to the third row, and the soldiers who survived safely began to reload diligently.
And after two laps of this shooting war, the winner was decided by the time it entered the third lap.
“shooting!”
Ta-ta-tang!
The Ouchi musketeers began shooting before the shogunate army’s musketeers finished reloading.
“shooting!”
Ta-ta-tang!
“shooting!”
Ta-ta-tang!
“Ahh!”
“Run away!”
Even before reloading was over, the musketeers on the shogunate side, unable to withstand the barrage of gunfire, began to break away from the line.
This was also the result of Joseon’s trick.
* * *
Joseon supplied long guns and gunpowder and bullets of the right caliber at the same time.
In this process, Chosun did not supply the two items separately, but supplied them in the form of paper cartridges.
Containing a single shot’s worth of gunpowder and bullets in a single paper bundle provided a tremendous advantage in battle.
– You can shoot more safely by not adding more gunpowder than necessary.
-Oiled paper packaging is resistant to moisture.
– During the loading process, the oil on the paper helps with loading and at the same time wipes away gunpowder residue inside the gun barrel.
But the biggest advantage was the faster firing rate. Not having to manually measure gunpowder each time you reloaded was a huge advantage.
* * *
In a battle between musketeers, the shogunate musketeers collapsed, and the collapse of the shogunate formation began.
After confirming that the enemy camp was collapsing, Mochiyo immediately gave an order.
“Send out the cavalry!”
“hot!”
After a while, cavalry belonging to the Ouchi Army began charging towards the shogunate camp. The musketeers and artillerymen, whose fighting spirit had not yet broken, resisted, but they were swept away without causing any real damage.
Looking at that, Mochiyo clenched her fists.
“Tell this to the lords! “Advance immediately!”
“hot!”
Mochiyo stood on the command tower holding onto the railing and shouted loudly to the soldiers below.
“The road to Kyoto has opened!”
“Oooooh!”