The battle situation in Xicheng was also turbulent and tragic.

Zhang Xianzhong's department already has many former Ming sergeants, and his army's combat effectiveness and combat awareness are relatively strong among the rogues.

The reason why the rogues are rogues is because they are constantly wandering. Wandering around and having no fixed place to live, large equipment naturally cannot be carried.

Therefore, although Zhang Xianzhong tried his best, temporarily built a lot of rudimentary equipment, and made reasonable arrangements for the army, he still could not cross the city wall guarded by Liu Wenxiu himself.

The battle has been stalemate, and the Liukou can't take the city wall for a while, and Liu Wenxiu also guards it very hard. After all, there are too many rogue generals, and after several years of wandering and fighting, Zhang Xianzhong and other rogue generals have also greatly improved their technical and tactical level.

The fierce battle lasted for a whole day, and the corpses of the rogues piled up under the city were half a foot high, and the blood stained the entire Yangtze River red, and floating corpses abounded.

Zhang Xianzhong had no choice but to withdraw from the army. It's been a long time since I've seen such a tough officer and soldier.

From time to time, there were rogues who climbed up to the top of the city, and they were all surrounded and suppressed by the officials and soldiers in an orderly manner.

Later, the officers and soldiers who participated in the defense did not look like the soldiers and horses of the previous general surnamed Liu, and their tactical will was much worse, and it was obvious that there were not many men and horses under the command of General Liu, no more than 2,000.

With 2,000 elite soldiers and a group of miscellaneous troops, he repelled the attack of the 40,000 army under Zhang Xianzhong himself. Zhang Xianzhong had a strong curiosity about the general surnamed Liu at the head of the city. After taking Wuchang, there was an opportunity to say that this official and army general surnamed Liu was surrendered.

………………

After Zhu Shunming judged that Zhang Xianzhong had signs of attacking Wuchang, he sent scouts to consciously investigate.

Waiting for the return, all the ships in the upper and lower reaches of Wuchang have been requisitioned by the Liukou, and the Liukou is likely to invade Wuchang by boat.

After getting accurate information, Zhu Shunming opened a huge net and waited for Zhang Xianzhong to throw himself into the net.

Leaving Liu Wenxiu to defend the city, Zhang Pan waited for an opportunity outside the city, and Zhu Shunming led the sailors to go upstream, hiding in Paizhou Bend, Xianning County, waiting for the fighters.

When nearly 100,000 people from Zhang Xianzhong's eastern and western armies gathered under Wuchang City and attacked the city frantically and uninterruptedly, Zhu Shunming knew that the fighters were coming.

Shi Xuanwei's ancestral home is Henan, and he grew up in Fujian since he was a child.

Chongzhen returned to Henan in four years to worship his ancestors, and the war and chaos caused him to live in Huguang, and later joined Zhu Shunming's Wugang Water Division.

Later, Zhu Shunming's water division expanded, and two water divisions were established, and Peng Yulin was selected from the original Dongting Lake water division as a water division of 1,000 households. Out of balance, Shi Xuanwei was promoted from the original Wugang Water Division to be another Thousand Households of the Water Division.

Peng Yulin's sailors kept pouring soldiers and materials back and forth in the coastal waters, but Shi Xuanwei's sailors could only wander on the Yangtze River, which made Shi Xuanwei, who grew up by the sea and yearned for the sea, very aggrieved.

As a result, the water bandits along the Yangtze River suffered. Shi Xuanwei drove a big boat of 2,000 stones, and when he saw the water bandits' boat, he opened fire, and the water bandits on the Yangtze River who were sunk by him did not know how to go. Therefore, it is called "Shi Cannon".

"I heard that you play with cannons all day long, and hit small sampans with cannonballs, are you accurate?"

Shi Xuanwei sneered: "This ...... Play around...... I can't really ......"

Zhu Shunming said seriously: "It must be taken seriously, and it must be trained as a daily operation." Don't be afraid to waste shells. Skilled gunners are fed shells. ”

Shi Xuanwei originally thought that Zhu Shunming would scold him for fooling around, but who knew that Zhu Shunming not only did not criticize him, but encouraged him to waste cannonballs, and rubbed his hands with excitement.

………………

The naval warship sailed out of Paizhou Bend, Zhang Manfan, smooth wind and water, one hundred and fifty miles, and arrived in Wuchang in three hours.

At about the end of the day, after eating breakfast, Liukou opened his posture, and was about to attack in a big way, when the lookout hand on Zhang Xianzhong's flagship suddenly blew a rapid horn.

"What's going on?" The rogue was confused.

Soon, a large number of ships came from the upper reaches of the Yangtze River, and it can be known from the height of the mast and the size of the sail that the ships are not small.

"The sailors of the officers and soldiers. Oh no, the sailors of the official army are here......"

Zhang Xianzhong was stunned by the sudden sailor. The rogues were a little reluctant to take a boat, but they didn't know anything about water warfare. How good is that? Plenty of supplies are still on board!

The officers and soldiers quickly lowered their sails and turned their rudders, the sides of the ships were aimed at the rogue ships, and the muzzles of the black holes kept adjusting their aiming.

Shi Xuanwei often plays with artillery and has sorted out a set of effective artillery combat methods. In front of Zhu Shunming, in the face of the rogue who was almost powerless to fight back, Shi Xuanwei decided to show his skills.

"......Boom" Shi Xuanwei's flagship was the first to open fire, and the cannonball arced, flew over the head of the largest ship of the Liukou, and fell into the water more than ten zhang away.

"The muzzle of the gun is lowered by two degrees, the amount of gunpowder remains the same, all of them are there, ready to ...... Ignition ......," Shi Xuanwei commanded loudly.

Shi Xuanwei has eighteen thousand-pound cannons on his flagship, and nine on one side of the ship.

Under the command of Shi Xuanwei, the nine cannons fired at Zhu Yuan in unison, and ignited at the same time, sparks flashed from the muzzles of the cannons almost at the same time, and the hot iron balls roared towards the big ship of Liukou.

Only one of the nine shells missed, grazing the stern of the rogue ship, and the remaining eight shells hit the target accurately, and one of them hit the target's mast.

"Crunch......" The waist-thick mast kept moaning and leaning slowly. When it tilted to a certain angle, it suddenly accelerated and fell, slamming heavily on the deck, sweeping everything on the deck.

A cannonball hit the target's waterline, and the river water poured into the cabin from the hole in the basin.

The rogue who remained on the ship was hit by flying cannonballs and flying sawdust, and the field was full of grief.

After the volley, Shi Xuanwei's flagship tilted to the side sharply, shaking out huge waves. When the flagship stabilized, the mast of the rogue ship collapsed, the ship tilted, the river water continued to pour into the hold, the ship gradually sank, and the rogue on the ship began to jump ship to survive.

Zhu Shunming was very appreciative of Shi Xuanwei's tactics of directing the gunners to fire a salvo.

Only one skilled gunner on a ship needs to set up the shooting elements, and the rest of the gunners only need to be able to fill the shells and ignite.

In this way, the need for good gunners can be drastically reduced. You must know that an excellent gunner not only needs strict and hard training, but also needs to hone his skills in actual combat, and more importantly, he needs to have talent in this area.

Later, Britain defeated the Spanish Armada, and this tactic of commanding a salvo of ships by skilled artillery contributed to it.

Zhang Xianzhong was frightened by the shelling of the official army. Sinking your biggest ship in one fell swoop is too ferocious, isn't it?

Food, yes, the requisitioned food is still on board. Zhang Xianzhong jumped up as if he had been stepped on his tail. Without food, how can his army of nearly 100,000 survive? The official army is drawing salaries from the bottom of the kettle!

The rest of Shi Xuanwei's ships all opened fire, aiming at the big rogue ships.

In the face of the rogue ships that had no power to fight back, the Wuchang sailors fought more simply and freely than they trained.

Shi Xuanwei also abandoned the salvo tactic and gave the gunner free rein to play. He himself dominated a cannon and showed Zhu Shunming the precision artillery technique of "cannon fighting mosquitoes".

In less than half an hour, the ships that Zhang Xianzhong had worked so hard to collect were either sunk or captured by the officers and soldiers, and there were no more rogue boards on the river.

The rogues who were preparing to attack Wuchang City were stunned to witness the scene of the devastated battle of the official army and the naval division, and they were all frightened by the efficient attack of the official army. Can the war still be fought like this?

If the official army had placed such a large number of cannons at the head of the city, would the numerical superiority of the rogues still be reflected? Zhang Xianzhong's heart showed a hint of gloom.