The auxiliary troops pushed the artillery carriage forward slowly, and the Qing army's Hongyi artillery could not only ensure accuracy in one and a half miles, but also not be concentrated by the Ming army's fire because of the close distance. Although this is only within the normal range of front-loading smoothbore guns, its caliber, range, and especially its scale are indeed terrifying.

The artillery of the Qing army advanced slowly, and this time their target was the north fort of Lufeng's twin fortresses. Concentrate firepower and break one point, with the assistance of Xu Degong and Lian Decheng, two long-standing cronies and marshals, Geng Jimao will not make too many mistakes in decision-making.

Coming to the established artillery position, the auxiliaries stopped the artillery carriage on the order of the artillery commander. Next, fixing, aiming, loading, and correcting, everything is going according to plan, and the Ming army is still as silent as death, if it weren't for the fact that you can still see the figure of the Ming army from the Half Moon Fort and the main fort, maybe there will be some reverie about empty city plans.

The operation of the Hongyi cannon is cumbersome, and it took a while to toss for a while before the Hongyi cannon one after another was loaded. There was still no movement on the side of the Ming army, and it seemed that the range of the artillery was not enough to pose an effective threat to the artillery of the Qing army.

From the mouth of the Qing army who participated in the last battle, it was learned that the range of the artillery of the Ming fortress could not reach such a distance, and the artillery of the Qing army had no fear, tossing everything, just waiting for the order of the artillery officer, they lit the fuse of the artillery in turn.

"Knock...... Boom...... Boom...... Knock ......"

The artillery of the Qing army covered their ears stiffly, and the seventy-three Hongyi cannons rang out one after another, and the speeding shells broke through the curtain woven by the fire and gunsmoke, and quickly shrank in the line of sight at a speed invisible to the naked eye. However, while the sight of the Qing army was rapidly shrinking, it was rapidly becoming larger on the side of the Ming army, and the artillery shells of the Qing army were whistling, and only the first cannon bombarded the impact slope in front of the moat.

The crater was still smoking, but the shells behind it were coming one after another. The huge kinetic energy of the instantaneous combustion of the gunpowder not only shot out the shells, but also made it contain a huge kinetic energy, only a little contact with the Ming army's fortifications, in the impact slope, on the moat bank, in the moat, and even on the parapet wall of the Half Moon Fort, a large area of plaster, river water, and even fragments of masonry, rammed earth, and smoke and dust were blasted.

The first round of firing seemed to have lasted for a long time, and the ears of the Qing army and the sight of the Ming army were already overwhelmed by the roar of artillery fire and the smoke and vibration of the shells when they came into contact with the ground, the river, and the parapet wall.

Geng Jimao is still a big distance from here, but everywhere he can see, the artillery shells of the Qing army cover the impact slope, moat, and even the parapet wall of the Half Moon Fort like a rain curtain.

The momentum of the artillery bombardment is like this, and then the artillery is readjusted, re-aiming, and the re-firing can hit the target more accurately. Once you think about the continuous shelling, you will collapse the outer wall of the castle little by little, and the Ming troops defending the city will be killed and stunned under the fortress wall, and then rush in to kill all the undead, rush across the pontoon bridge, and kill into the troubled paradise of the place that has not been affected by war for several years.

"This is just the beginning!"

Geng Jimao sneered, and the artillery crew of the Qing army had already begun to prepare for the next round of shooting. The Hongyi cannon is a kind of relegated front-loading smoothbore gun, and every time it is fired, it will seriously deviate from the original firing position. The first thing the Qing artillery crew did after the first shot was to reset the artillery and restore the original firing position.

This work required the joint efforts of the gunners and auxiliaries, because the weight of the Hongyi cannons of the caliber of the Qing army, which should have been twelve or eighteen pounds according to the British calculation, was unimaginably heavy.

The Qing army laboriously restored the artillery to its position and general orientation when it was first fired, and then the slag cleaner first hooked out the remaining cloth, and then used a brush dipped in water to poke into the muzzle of the cannon to extinguish the unburned gunpowder residue inside. When the gunpowder residue is completely extinguished, the residue is brushed out, and the slag cleaner will use a gun shaft wrapped in a dry cloth to reach in and wipe the inside of the muzzle.

The cannon has been fired, and the body of the cannon is already hot, and the wiping of the dry cloth and the evaporation caused by the self-heating of the cannon sound make this work much easier.

Next, use a wooden shovel to shovel the gunpowder from the powder keg, aim it at the muzzle and send it down, after a few shovels, estimate that the amount is enough, then compact it, and then wrap the cannonball in a cloth and slowly slide it in. In this effort, the gunner has also used his eyes, arms, and fingers to constantly adjust, or used various tools to re-estimate the required angle and direction, and those gunners will make the final adjustments to the gun according to the gunner's orders.

Unlike the rear-loading Franc cannon and the various front-loading guns produced and improved in China, this cannon was extremely powerful and had an incredible range, but each shelling took so much time that even the most skilled British gunners of the era could take up to two minutes to complete a reload. With this skill, the cavalry was enough to kill the artillery crew, and the infantry was enough to line up far from the direction they were aiming at in the last shot, and even like the Franc machine gun, let alone four guns, even fourteen or twenty-four guns have already been exhausted.

The slow reloading speed is a great test of the endurance of the crew members, because under normal circumstances they are reloading in the middle of the fire, but this time the range of the two sides is very unequal, but it seems to be a little leisurely.

I don't know how long it had been, but the reloading had finally been completed, and the commanders of the guns had already adjusted the angle of their shots, and in general they had to move the aim forward, so as not to hit the shells on the impact slope and the moat, as they had done last time.

The Qing army was about to open fire again, and the officers of the artillery team were already waiting for the report that the various guns had been assembled and filled and aimed. Ten, nine, eight, there are fewer and fewer artillery crews that have not yet been completely completed, and with this process, their intervals are getting shorter and shorter.

"Four Doors...... Three...... Two doors ......"

There was still the last one left, and the officers were already a little impatient, but this kind of artillery required extremely cumbersome steps, and none of them could be wrong, otherwise it was likely to be wasted, or even cause unnecessary casualties.

In fact, this is normal, such a powerful weapon, dangerous and nothing new. It's just about doing it perfectly, that is, spending more time. Anyway, now it is a one-sided shelling, and the opponent can only stare dryly.

As far as the officer's eyes could see, the gun crew was not too far away, and he could still see the general movement. By now, it's basically done, all that's missing is the final adjustment angle, and even this has been almost done. Seeing this, the officer was ready to give the order to shoot, but at this moment, a cannon shot startled him.