Chapter 968: Changping is on fire

The intention of holding the position is to take advantage of this imbalance between defense and offense, and this way. As long as Qi Jun firmly hold on to the position, this default fact can be confirmed. So they can achieve their strategic goals. Obviously, Tian Heng also intends to end this war. After all, the war has been fought in Qi for nearly three years. This war has exhausted Qi's national power, and Qi is on the verge of collapse.

In Qi's domestic agricultural production, young and middle-aged labor are already rare. Most of them are women. At the same time, women are also engaged in military production. They produce all kinds of weapons. In the weapons manufacturing workshops of Qi, women appear because the men have gone to war. Qi State recruited many young and middle-aged men on the battlefield.

Qi has less than 80,000 troops on the front line, but the force responsible for logistics is continuously increasing. There are about 300,000 troops in the entire Qi state to maintain its security in logistics. Plus a variety of civilians to ensure logistics. Because the front is too long. Rely on the supply and transportation situation at that time. It is very difficult. Therefore, Qi State exhausted its entire national power for this war. From this perspective, Shangwen's goal has indeed been achieved.

However, Qin has no troops to adjust. Because Qin has cut military expenditures on a large scale and abolished many troops, which put Qin in a delicate stage for a while.

And in the south of Qin State. Qin's armed merchant ships are in conflict with Chu's navy again.

"Stop the ship immediately for inspection. Stop the ship for inspection immediately." The Chu State Navy soldier on a small boat shouted loudly.

"Woo." What responded to them was the whistle of Qin's iron-clad ship.

"What are they calling?" The captain of Qin State's iron-clad ship asked loudly.

"I don't know." The chief mate on the side said.

"These Chu State navy forces, can they stop us?" The captain said disdainfully.

"Don't worry about them. We just ran into it." The captain gave the order loudly at this time.

"Okay, Captain, the driver replied loudly. Then he ran into the boat.

"Look, I said they will definitely not stop." This time. Said a Chu sailor officer standing on a hill on the bank of the Yangtze River.

"Qin people are cruel," the officer said in a puzzled manner.

The Qin man's iron armored ship in the distance directly overturned that small wooden ship. The soldiers on the boat fell directly into the water. The life and death of the soldiers are temporarily unknown.

"Show the colors of the Qin people’s iron-clad ships." Xiang Yan, who stood not far away, watched all this coldly. The Qin’s iron-clad ships were a headache for Chu’s navy, and their previous weapons were simply against them. It is difficult to pose a threat. But now it's different.

"Artillery preparation." The Chu State Navy was equipped with a new weapon, artillery. These artillery are from the Qin State, and there are a large number of such old bronze artillery in the Qin State arsenal. The number of these artillery pieces is very large, and some factories are still in production. Although the material was changed to steel pipe. However, this artillery is extremely popular. Mainly, the firepower of the rifle in the hands of the infantry has reached the extreme, and they urgently need a heavy firepower weapon to suppress the infantry weapon. At this time, the demand for artillery will become very large.

With the unfolding of trade between Qin and Chu, Qin in particular reduced restrictions on the export of weapons, which directly led to the direct export of heavy weapons such as artillery to various countries. The largest importer was not Qi in war, but Chu, which was not at war. Chu imported a lot of artillery. Artillery is a weapon that has a deep influence on them. Because this weapon is far more powerful than a musket.

Another important reason why Chu began to pay attention to artillery was that they needed to imitate them. At the same time, they mastered the gunpowder manufacturing technology, these two technologies. It made them urgently need to study the artillery of Qin State to make Chu State’s own artillery.

Chu's bronze smelting technology is very developed. The unearthed Chu State Bells show the superb bronze smelting technology of Chu State. And after Chu State imported a lot of artillery from Qin State. Start studying it immediately.

Under the developed bronze metallurgical technology in Chu State. Chu State soon developed their first bronze artillery. However, there is still a big difference between the artillery and the artillery made by Qin. The artillery made by Chu is still very heavy. Moreover, the range is not as good as Qin's artillery. The most important thing is that the cost of Qin's artillery is very low. However, the cost of artillery manufactured by Chu State is still very expensive, and the cost issue has become the most important factor restricting Chu’s own artillery manufacturing, which has led to the import of a large number of artillery manufactured by Qin State in Chu State.

"All artillery units are in battle." An officer of the Chu State Water Army shouted loudly.

A small yellow flag was constantly waving. In the bushes on both sides of the bank, there are hidden bronze guns one after another.

"These Chu people will only cause us trouble." The captain said to the first officer.

"The people of Chu have nothing to do with us at all," the chief mate said.

"Let it go." The Chu State Water Army officer shouted loudly. At the same time, the flag fell quickly.

"Boom. Boom." The loud roar of the artillery shot out. Thunder and lightning flashed in an instant. Several artillery fired at the same time.

"Boom." The shells roared and flew directly towards the iron armored ship of the Qin Army.

"Woo. ‘The howling of cannonballs roared.

"Woo." A sharp voice came.

"It's a cannon." The first officer shouted immediately.

"Boom. Boom. Boom." There were several explosions in succession, and explosions occurred around the Qin Army's iron-clad ship, and the iron-clad ship began to sway from side to side because of the explosion.

"Ah." The captain was still in the joy of defeating Chu's navy. He didn't even hear the sound of the Chu State Water Army shells being fired.

A scream. The captain fell directly onto the deck.

"Woo." At this time, the shells still flew in howling. The shrill voice made people shudder.

"Damn it. Chu people actually have cannons." The captain said, trying hard to get up.

"Boom." At this moment. There was a shaking caused by a loud explosion.

"Ah." The captain just stood firmly, and was overturned to the ground by a huge explosion.

"It hit. We hit it." A Chu State navy soldier exclaimed in excitement.

"Don't care about the number of hits. Immediately concentrate the firepower and hit these Qin merchant ships severely." Xiang Yan commanded loudly at this time.

"Here." A Chu State officer replied loudly.

"Focused on fire." Chu State officer shouted loudly.

The armed merchant fleet organized by the Qin State armed merchant ships was attacked by many Chu State navy artillery at this time.

"Damn it. Our ship was hit." This time. The sailor with blood all over came and reported.

"Damn it," the captain scolded, getting up again.

"What's the matter?" the captain asked.

\"Our cargo hold was hit. Water is leaking continuously over there." The sailor replied.

"Quickly, order our people to repair it." The first officer shouted.

"How to fix it?" the sailor asked.

"Use wooden blocks and linen cloth to plug it up, think of a way." The captain roared loudly.

"We must leave this ghost place quickly." The captain said at this time.

"The situation around us is not very good either." The pilot of the ship said at this time.

"The Changping was hit and a fire started." A sailor reported at this time.

"What?" the captain asked loudly.

Sure enough, at the side of the ship, an identical iron-clad ship was hit by the hull, and black smoke was already emitting from the hull. The smoke has covered the entire ship’s superstructure.

"The Changping was actually shot." The captain said at this time.

"Sir, we were also shot. We have to think of a way." At this time, a trainee officer said.

"We have to get out of here," the captain said.

"Go forward. Go fast," the captain shouted.

The artillery units on the shore of the Chu State Navy used bronze artillery that they used normally. The artillery unit of the Chu State Navy was equipped with such artillery. The number of them has reached a staggering two hundred, and the number of artillery thrown by the Chu's naval forces this time has passed more than sixty. It can be said. The density of artillery is quite large.

The Qin State iron-clad ship, after using steel welding technology. It began to be simplified and shrunk on a large scale. Under the welding technology of steel, the steel plate can be made into a whole. However, the price of steel and the production demand of steel cannot meet the needs of shipyards. Under these conditions, Qin's shipyard began to study a low-cost shipbuilding method with a relatively simple manufacturing process.

The engineers turned their attention to the iron armor. Because welding iron plates is much easier than welding steel plates. Most importantly, the cost of iron plates is much lower than that of steel plates. The production cost of steel plate is very high. Ever since, the armored ship was born.

The birth of the armored ship conformed to the needs of the times, because steel plate production and welding technology were unable to meet the increasing demand for shipbuilding, and an emergency solution was born.

While the ironclad ship was launched quickly, they also simplified another process, that is, they built a single-hull ship instead of a double-hull ship. This kind of ship is easier to manufacture. The cost is lower, but the defensive ability is reduced a lot. However, the opponents they face are the water pirates and the Chu State navy who use very few rifles, so there is still a big market for this kind of ship.

However, after the Chu State Navy quickly equipped a large number of artillery. This situation quickly changed. The solid shell directly penetrated the single-hull hull of the iron-clad ship. Even some grenades pierced its weak iron armor, and the shells hit the cabin. Caused the iron armored ship to hit and catch fire.

"The Changping had a roll." At this time a sailor shouted loudly.

"Shut up." The captain shouted.