"Order, order all artillery to launch a counterattack on Jiujiang!" Seeing that the morale of his soldiers had dropped before he arrived at Jiujiang City, Zhang Xianzhong had a gloomy face and ordered in a deep voice.

"Your Majesty, our artillery is all small cannons, and they can't shoot that far......" Wang Shangli, the governor of the Chinese army on the side, hurriedly said, the Ming army fired all red-coated cannons, and the firing range could reach ten miles away, and most of the small cannons in the western army were dozens of catties and hundreds of catties, and the firing range was only three miles, and now the Western Army Brigade was five or six miles away from Jiujiang City, and all the artillery could not reach Jiujiang City.

Zhang Xianzhong didn't say anything more, just glanced at Wang Shangli with gloomy eyes, feeling the coldness in Zhang Xianzhong's eyes, Wang Shangli was shocked, and hurriedly said: "Yes, Your Majesty, the last general will pass on the order!" ”

With Zhang Xianzhong's order, although bewildered, the artillerymen of the Western Army also obeyed the order and began to load gunpowder and began to fire at the "distant" Jiujiang City.

The sound of artillery rumbled, the smoke of gunpowder filled the sky above the Western Army's military formation, and countless shells flew away from the barrel, but they didn't know where they flew?

However, for ordinary Western soldiers, their spirits were lifted. Seeing their own artillery firing at the head of Jiujiang City, and the "lively" of fighting with the Ming artillery, the fear of ordinary Western soldiers was alleviated a lot.

The vast majority of soldiers in the Western Army did not know the difference in the firing range of large artillery and small artillery, because there were not many artillery pieces in the Western Army in the first place. Seeing that his own side was also firing at the Ming army, he could imagine that the Ming army must be the same as himself now, suffering from the ravages of artillery shells, and the Western soldiers were inexplicably balanced, and their psychology was not so afraid.

Seeing that his soldiers had just been bombarded by the Ming army's artillery bombardment to slowly calming down, they began to slowly approach Jiujiang City under the command of officers at all levels. Wang Shangli, the governor of the Chinese army, was stunned for a while, and then he understood, and couldn't help but give Zhang Xianzhong a thumbs up, "Your Majesty Shengming!" ”

Zhang Xianzhong glanced at Wang Shangli and did not speak. If Dingguo and my son are here, I can understand my intentions in an instant, Zhang Xianzhong thought secretly.

......

"Damn it, the thieves are shooting at us! Is their big cannon trying to tickle Jiujiang City? "In the southern city fort of Jiujiang City, the artilleryman Qianhu Chen Goudan who was responsible for directing the artillery battle looked at the hot fire of the Western army's artillery several miles away, and said dumbfounded.

"The Western Thieves are just a group of ignorant and ignorant outcasts, who know how to use artillery, most of them still think that their artillery is no different from our Hongyi cannon!" An artilleryman grinned.

"Ordinary thieves don't understand, and don't the generals of thieves understand?" Chen Goudan shook his head slightly, he really couldn't figure it out.

"General Jin ordered, all artillery stop attacking, all artillery stop attacking!" A herald rushed over and conveyed to the artillerymen the order of Jin Shenghuan, the defender of the southern city.

"It's only been a few shots, and you haven't enjoyed it yet?" An artilleryman said dissatisfied.

"How else do you want to have a good time? A shell with gunpowder adds up to at least eight taels of silver, which is not a shell but silver! What's the point of using Hongyi cannons against ordinary thieves, it's not enough to lose money! Wait, wait for the thief army to reach within three miles, our artillery can accurately hit the target, and then it will be the time for us to exert our might! ”

Chen Goudan reprimanded his subordinates. Now the thief army is still five miles away, although the red-coated cannon can reach, but it is not the best range, at this time, it is not much point to fire at most to kill a few ordinary thief soldiers.

.....

"The Ming artillery has stopped!"

The Hongyi artillery in Jiujiang City stopped firing, which made hundreds of thousands of Western troops thunder with joy, and they thought that their own artillery suppressed the officers and troops and won the artillery battle. As a result, the pace of the march has become faster.

When the western army was three miles away from the city wall, under the order of Jin Shenghuan, the artillery at the head of the city opened fire again, the cannon rumbled, and the artillery exerted great power in the firing range, and the artillery was aimed at the siege equipment such as the thief army's rushing car and trench car, and often a few cannons could destroy a siege machine.

Three miles away from the city wall, the Franc machine artillery at the head of the city also entered the firing range, dozens of Franc machine guns fired one after another, and the firing rate of the Franc machine artillery was far above the Hongyi cannon.

The closer they got to the city walls, the more casualties the Western Thieves few, and even the armor and shields could not stop them in front of the extremely powerful artillery.

The western thieves had a total of more than 300,000 troops outside Jiujiang City, so naturally it was impossible to send them all at once, and the soldiers who attacked the city for the first time were about 30,000, and this was just a tentative attack.

The great firepower displayed by the Ming army at the head of the city caused great losses to the thief army, and before it was close to the moat, dozens of siege equipment had been destroyed, and thousands of soldiers were killed or wounded.

So, without attacking the moat at all, the thief army retreated with a roar.

......

"Jiujiang City has a total of 100 Hongyi cannons, as well as 50 or 60 other types of artillery, adding up to nearly 200 cannons. The firepower is too fierce! ”

"The Ming army built a lot of horse faces outside the Jiujiang city wall, the dogs and teeth are staggered, attacking the city from any place will be attacked on three sides of the front and both sides of the horse face city wall, if you want to break through Jiujiang City, I don't know how many lives to fill!"

In the Chinese military tent, listening to the reports of the generals, Zhang Xianzhong realized how great the difficulties he was facing. The number of artillery alone, is more than 10 years in the army Zhang Xianzhong has never heard of or seen, over the years, Zhang Xianzhong and the Ming army have fought countless times, footprints all over the Central Plains and the two sides of the Yangtze River, how have you ever encountered such a powerful artillery?

Moreover, the Ming army spent a lot of money to build countless horse faces outside the city walls, one every fifty paces, which made the siege inevitably endure huge casualties.

Zhang Xianzhong suddenly regretted that he should have launched a full-scale attack on the Ming army when the Ming army first arrived in Jiujiang, and at that time the Ming army was not firmly established, maybe he could lead the troops to break through the Ming army blockade and flee Jiangxi. And now the Ming army has turned Jiujiang into an iron city, and if it is attacked, I don't know how many soldiers' lives will be filled!

However, the plan is set, and it can't be changed easily, even if you Jiujiang is really an iron city, I will smash you completely! Zhang Xianzhong's eyes radiated a determined light.

"Jiujiang City is high and deep, and the Ming army is numerous, so it can't be easily defeated, but what about Hukou? Hukou is just a small city within a radius of several miles, so it won't be too difficult to take! Zhang Xianzhong sneered, "Pass the order, let's make a feint attack on Jiujiang from tomorrow, and let Zhang Nengqi launch an attack on Hukou with all his might, and take Hukou County within three days." I want to see if when the mouth of the lake is lost, the Ming army in Jiujiang City is still not defending! ”