The Rise of the European Emperor

Before Christmas, Heynckes and his Sixth Army arrived in Dublin under the full transport of North Sea ships and warships. On the England side, because of the need to transport 15,000 combat troops and 20,000 civilian husbands, they are still in the process of transportation.

Marin also came to Dublin with the fleet, but he didn't plan to join the battle, he just came to cheer at the beginning. Moreover, Edward did not want him to go to war. After all, the unification of Ireland is a very political matter. Edward wanted to be an emperor through the ages, so he naturally didn't want others to steal the limelight.

Therefore, Marin just came to Dublin to hold a show and express his support for Edward. Then, it is time to go back. However, Marin sent an artillery battalion to facilitate Edward's siege needs.

The artillery battalion sent by Marin has 18 guns and 300 artillery. In fact, 180 men of artillery to operate the artillery would be enough. The other 120 people are the coolies of the reserve team and cannonballs.

Artillery on land is different from artillery on a battleship. There can be enough shells and gunpowder on a battleship, and only a few people are required to serve each gun. The artillery on land is more troublesome. Because the army artillery needs to be disassembled and installed. When we arrive at the location, we need to dig a hole and get an easy-to-reset artillery position or something.

Moreover, through the war in Italy, Marin discovered that the artillery could be protected by mounds...

Gonzalo de Cordoba is a tactician who is good at soil work. He likes to dig soil in front of the army to form a wall to block enemy shells. While the Spanish musketeers hide behind the mound, they can calmly use their muskets to torture their opponents...

In fact, this trick is very useful even in the wars of later generations. In the anti-Japanese films that Marin watched, soldiers often hid behind crude fortifications made of sacks filled with soil and shot at the enemy. Especially, in street fights, this kind of scene is very common.

Of course, this defense method is also limited. If the opponent only uses a gun, it is indeed difficult to break through such a defense. But if the opponent uses artillery... With the level of artillery during World War II, such simple street fortifications will definitely be taken away with one shot.

Therefore, this kind of fortification, which is full of sacks filled with sand, is only suitable for pecking at each other - everyone has no artillery, come on, let's hurt each other! But when you meet a devil with a 92 infantry gun, you can't stop it...

At that time, during the civil war, everyone used Hanyang to build, and they could rely on the mounds to shoot at each other with the enemy for a long time to decide the outcome. But when encountering opponents with aircraft and cannons, GG directly...Of course, later our army realized the huge gap in firepower and simply changed to night attack. This time, the enemy was dumbfounded—Nimma, my artillery can't show its strength in the middle of the night. Even if there are flares, if the opponent is familiar with the characteristics of the flares and hides them well, the devil will have nothing to do...

Let go of those superfluous thoughts,

Marin found that in this era, because it was very difficult to transport artillery on land, generally only some small-caliber artillery could be transported. This kind of artillery, the general shells are only 3 pounds at most, and they can't penetrate the mound at all...

Do you know why every time Turkey attacks the German region, it first attacks Vienna, the capital of Austria? It's not that the Turks are dead-hearted, but because Vienna is on the Danube, so it is convenient to transport cannons by ships on the Danube...

The Ottoman Empire had artillery with a large caliber. However, those large-caliber artillery are very unsuitable for land march transportation. And because Vienna is located on the bank of the Danube, the Ottoman army can transport heavy artillery to the edge of Vienna by boat through the mouth of the Black Coast of the Danube, and then pull it ashore to bombard the city of Vienna.

Therefore, the Ottoman Turkish army stubbornly besieged Vienna again and again, instead of choosing other breakthrough directions. Of course, there were also political reasons why Vienna was the nominal capital of the Holy Roman Empire. After all, conquering the nominal capital of the Holy Roman Empire can destroy the confidence of the Germans...

...

However, Marin's artillery is different. He has long used his memory to create a gun mount with two wheels for later generations, which can facilitate the transportation of artillery.

In particular, he also invented a simple wheel bearing with caged balls, which greatly reduced the resistance of the gun towed by the horse, so that the gun with a body weight of less than one ton could be pulled by a horse on a dirt road.

And this time, among the 18 cannons he sent, 10 were 12-pound Napoleon cannons, cast in bronze. This kind of artillery is mainly used to destroy the enemy's battle formation. The 12-pound iron ball shell flew over and hit a line, which could smash through the entire company column at a distance of 600 yards, which was extremely powerful.

As for the other 8 guns, they are even more powerful-they are 8 32-pound Karen naval guns Army version...

Regardless of the large caliber of this kind of artillery, because of the short barrel design, the weight of the gun body is only about 800 kilograms, which is not much heavier than the Napoleon gun. If you only carry 8 doors, as long as there is enough manpower, the transportation can still be done. Of course, the premise is not to encounter rainy days.

If it rains and the dirt road is muddy, it will definitely not be possible to transport such a heavy artillery. Unless, there are paved Roman roads. But Ireland has been a land of alienation for thousands of years, and the Roman Empire has never conquered it. Therefore, there is no Roman road in the indigenous control area here. Therefore, if you want to transport artillery, you can only wait for good weather...

Fortunately, the island of Ireland is so big, even if you wait a few days, the artillery can still be transported there. The Irish aboriginal forces are generally very poor, and the cities they build are small and dilapidated. Marin took out this 32-pound Karen cannon, which was definitely enough to blast the city gate.

But considering that there are too many rainy days on the island of Ireland, even in winter is no exception. Therefore, Marin also specially equipped the artillery with a huge canopy to facilitate firing on rainy days.

As for the gunpowder of the artillery being damp or something, it does not exist. Because the artillery propellants of Beihai State are all sealed in waterproof oil paper bags. Only before firing, the seal will be torn off and loaded. Even if it is raining, as long as the assembled canopy is built, it can be launched.

As for the canopy being damaged by enemy artillery? It does not exist, because the Irish aboriginals in this era did not have artillery...

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After stealing Gonzalo de Cordoba's earthwork technology, Marin discovered that when digging trenches before the war, he could put the excavated soil into sacks, and then heaped In front of the gun, only the gap designed to the outside of the barrel is left.

In this way, with the cover of fortifications piled up with sacks filled with soil, the safety of the gunner has been greatly improved.

You know, artillery is a skilled job in this era, and every one who is killed will suffer a huge loss. Therefore, with the cover of the fortifications piled up with sacks filled with soil, it is estimated that the artillery losses of the North Sea State will be greatly reduced in the future.

What? Are you worried that your opponent's artillery will do the same? Don't be afraid! Because the pile of dirt piled up by the opponent cannot stop the bombardment of the 32-pound gun. Not to mention the bombardment of the iron balls of the 32-pound Karen gun, even the 12-pound shells of the Napoleon gun, ordinary dirt piles are difficult to resist. Only the shells of those small two- or three-pound cannons will be blocked by the pile of dirt...