The army was arrayed, and Zheng Chenggong was quickly attracted by those mortar cannons. Pen? Interesting? Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 It was not uncommon for the Ming Dynasty to have such guns with short barrels and thick muzzles, but they were basically products of the early and middle Ming Dynasty, and with the introduction of European artillery such as the Franc machine and the Hongyi cannon into China, the civilian and military generals who led the troops focused more on these long-barreled artillery. After all, the range and power of the Hongyi cannon and the rate of fire of the Franc cannon have great advantages.

Despite a long period of training, the mortar gun is still surprisingly slow to reload, whether it is aiming and ranging, adjusting the direction of the muzzle, or loading gunpowder and those huge shells, the whole gun crew is always careful. To put it mildly, with this kung fu, the Hongyi cannon has fired several shots.

Zheng Chenggong silently watched the loading of those artillery groups step by step, he could see that these artillery groups were strictly trained, the steps were uniform, the speed was almost the same, and the cooperation within the artillery group was extremely tacit, and everyone knew what they should do.

"Furen, are these cannons used to siege the city?"

"Yes." Chen Wen nodded, and then said to Zheng Chenggong: "Yesterday I said that I wanted to give you a gift, it is this kind of weapon, but you have to send someone to be trained, because this kind of artillery is more difficult to operate than the ones we used before." ”

"So that's the case, then it's time to see the power of Furen's gift first."

Zheng Chenggong has a number of artillery strikes on the city wall, he has also carried out siege operations many times before, but Chen Wen's cannon is a little too strange, the cannonball is so big, the power should not be small, but with such a short cannon body, the range is bound to be affected, and if it can't hit the city wall, it will be useless.

Zheng Chenggong thought about this, and the commander of the artillery position also reported to Chen Wen that the artillery was ready. Seeing this, Chen Wen did not intend to waste time, and directly gave the order to shoot.

In order to attack a series of fortified cities under the strategic objectives of the two divisions, Chen Wen specially brought six mortar guns, a total of 14 large-caliber mortar guns in front of the formation, Chen Wen felt that it was a little too extravagant.

After the artillery crew was ready, Chen Wen's order had been issued, the fuses were lit in turn, and a huge cannon sound sounded, and the huge cannonballs that Zheng Chenggong had just watched with his own eyes were carried into the muzzle by four Ming army loaders using special tools and whistling out.

Next, Zheng Chenggong's line of sight followed the flight trajectory of the cannonball, first rising sharply, and then falling abruptly, this angle made him very uncomfortable after seeing the shelling, but when the cannonball landed, this discomfort was immediately left behind by him, and only the Jiancheng of Quanzhou in the distance was left in his eyes.

The first cannonball landed on the city wall as expected, but the cannonball that fell into the moat caused a splash higher than the city wall, and the defenders were immediately cold. The first cannon was like this, and the second cannon was even worse, and it fell to the ground without even reaching the moat, and at the moment when the vibration came, the third cannon actually hit the top of the gate tower of Renfeng Gate.

The sound of squeaking came from a distance, and the city gate tower tilted and collapsed at a speed visible to the naked eye at the moment of being shelled.

"This?"

Zheng Chenggong was dumbfounded, and the remaining mortars roared in turn, some of the cannonballs were not very lucky, either outside the city, or smashed into the moat, but some of the cannonballs hit the city wall like this one, and the huge kinetic energy instantly blasted out of the city wall large or small gaps, and the Geng family army who were injured by the flying masonry abounded.

"Fire!"

At the head of the city, Xu Degong, the general soldier of the left wing, who had just not supervised the battle in the city gate tower, could not go up to check the arm that was hurt by the stones, and immediately ordered the artillery at the head of the city to return fire.

However, after the order was given, it would take time for the artillery crew at the head of the city to restore order before it could be reloaded in a step-by-step manner. This time is not short, but it is still much faster than the mortars of the Ming army. However, Chen Wen's mortar was specially made for siege warfare, and the range and power were maximized as much as possible, and it didn't matter what rate of fire or whether it could keep up with the march.

As a result, although the artillery at the head of the city is condescending, the range is slightly inferior, even if it is a few red cannons. Xu Degong was not ignorant of this, but if the Ming army continued to bombard like this, and did not fight back, the morale of the defenders at the head of the city could not be maintained.

However, the counterattack soon proved to be completely ineffective, and the limited few shells that rolled in front of the Ming artillery positions also ran out of kinetic energy in the process of flying and disengaging from the ground. On the side of the Ming army, the phalanx of infantry was still standing, and the loading speed of the artillery was not affected, and the only thing to be thankful for was that in the round after round of shelling, the defender gunners on the head of the city did have something to do, and the mouth where morale was rapidly declining with breathing chaos was temporarily blocked.

However, as the second round of artillery bombardment by the Ming army of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Zhejiang began, the defenders soon discovered that the ugly-looking artillery outside the city was even more accurate than the first round under the control of their artillery crews.

"Is this the kind of cannon that bombarded Ganzhou?"

The city defense of Quanzhou was in charge of Xu Degong, the general soldier of the left wing, and Lian Decheng, the general soldier of the right wing, and the main direction of attack of the Ming army was clearly the east, so they naturally gathered the elite of the city here, and the officers below were responsible for all other directions.

It stands to reason that the fortified city of Quanzhou, even if it is not famous, is not a tofu scum project, but under the shelling of the Ming army, this city wall is almost the same as paper paste. In just two rounds of shooting, not only the city gate tower was blown down, but there were also several large or small gaps in the city wall. The besieging troops didn't need to do anything else, as long as they shot like this for a day, and by the afternoon they could basically cross the gap and engage the defenders in street fighting.

"Tell the company commander that this city can't be defended at all if it goes on like this, and you must attack as soon as possible to destroy those artillery outside the city!"

Xu Degong is like this, and Lian Decheng is also a general, and he knows that the key to whether he can defend the city now lies in those artillery. In this case, Lian Decheng had to take the elite cavalry out of the city, but he still played some small tricks in the direction of attack.

"My lord, the enemy's cavalry went out of the city from the small east gate, and the number was no less than two thousand."

According to intelligence, Geng Jimao's army numbered 20,000 people, and 2,000 cavalry was about half of his total cavalry.

In fact, after Geng Jimao moved to Fujian, after Tong'an and Zheng Chenggong were defeated, there was a plan to expand the cavalry, so as to rely on the absolute superiority of cavalry to annihilate the main infantry of Zheng Chenggong's department in the next war. However, Fujian does not produce war horses, and the situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang has also caused the war horses sent from the north to be constantly throttled by guys like Hong Chengchou who he can't afford to provoke.

There are more than 3,000 riders here, which is not a few, at least not less than Zheng Chenggong. It's a pity that this time his opponent is not only Zheng Chenggong, but more importantly, Chen Wen's army is outside the city.

"Let the cavalry of the Jinhua Division go to yo-yo the horse, this king and the king of Yanping County are here, and he can't play any tricks."

The cavalry fought out from the left flank of the army, and the cavalry of the brigade roared past, and the generals who saw Zheng Chenggong really swallowed their saliva. The mobility of cavalry plays a great role on the battlefield, whether it is strategic maneuver or tactical maneuver, generals who are good at using cavalry can always find the weak point of the opponent on the chaotic battlefield, and then launch a surprise attack with cavalry, so as to achieve a reversal of the tide of battle.

The cavalry of the defending army was killed, and soon the cavalry of the Jinhua Division became a group, and a cavalry battalion plus the cavalry team directly under the Jinhua Division and three subordinate battalions were just in the middle of this cavalry in terms of numbers.

The key to siege warfare lies in these mortars, Xu Degong understands this truth, and Chen Wen and Zheng Chenggong are naturally very clear. Soon, the third round of mortar shelling began, and at the same time as the huge shells fell one after another, the gates of Renfeng Gate were wide open, and another cavalry came out of it.

"This is probably Geng Jimao's last resort."

The strength of the two sides is very different, even if Chen Wen is not counted, Zheng Chenggong is higher than Geng Jimao in terms of overall strength even after last year's defeat, only the cavalry still has a gap. Now Chen Wen has brought nearly 30,000 soldiers into Fujian, and the overall situation has been turned upside down, and Geng Jimao has only expanded the army and strengthened training with rewards, nothing more.

Chen Wen and Zheng Chenggong looked at each other and smiled, Chen Wen was very relaxed, but Zheng Chenggong smiled a little bitterly at the opponent who could still fight with him back then, but now they have been thrown away too much, just like him, Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang, these army leaders who had tens of thousands of troops back then have now been quickly overtaken by the generals who led the troops when they heard the name Chen Wen.

"In this battle, this king and His Royal Highness the King of Yue joined forces together, precisely to recover Quanzhou and completely eradicate Geng Jimao's rebellion from the land of Fujian. The guards listened to the order and attacked with the guards of the Yue Wangfu to meet Geng Rebellion. ”

As soon as the order was issued, Chen Wen and Zheng Chenggong's guards and the cavalry battalions of the Minzhong Division were slaughtered one after another, compared to the fierce fighting on the left flank battlefield, this side already had a numerical advantage before the engagement.

The cavalry clashed in the center of the battlefield, and the artillery fire did not stop for a moment. After a few rounds of impact, Lian Decheng was injured by the handcuffs of the Ming army of Jiangsu and Zhejiang and was forced to retreat to the city. And as time passed, the passively defended Quanzhou city wall was really unable to support it in the afternoon, and with a loud rumbling sound, a city wall to the north of Renfeng Gate collapsed, and even blocked the moat. Seeing this, Chen Wen also gave the order for a general attack.

The infantry of the Ming army of the brigade was killed, and in the loud sound of the artillery continuing to fire, the mandarin duck array of the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the rattan armor soldiers of the Ming army in Fujian lined up to kill the gap.

For most of the day's shelling, the defenders suffered a lot of damage, and they were basically beaten, and their morale was also very low. In the siege battle, a vine armor soldier quickly attacked the city with more flexibility, and the mandarin duck array that followed it also broke into the city. Next, the Ming army opened a city gate, entered in turn, and gradually suppressed the defenders through the advantage of numbers. Until the palace in the city changed hands, the defenders also completely collapsed, after Ganzhou, another heavily armed city was captured by the Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Ming armies with small casualties.

"What about Geng Jimao?"

"Back to the king's words, when the last general catches that guy, that guy is chanting in the Buddha hall."

Hearing this, Chen Wen almost burst out laughing. Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming, among the three Shun kings, Kong Youde is the most courageous, Shang Kexi is the most cunning, and Geng Zhongming is a member of the group when he says something bad.

At the end of the third year of Yongli, the Qing court sent the king of Sanshun south to attack Liangguang, but Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming were reported that their army had taken in thousands of fugitives.

The Manchu Qing Dynasty's fugitive law was very strict, and it was originally planned to cut Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming off the prince, and each fined 5,000 taels of silver, but Dolgon, considering that he was employing people, decided to exempt him from cutting the knight in the name of "sailing and surrendering to sincerity", and the fine was reduced to 4,000 taels. As a result, the holy decree was still on the way, Shang Kexi was not good, Geng Zhongming was so frightened that he looked for a short-sightedness, and in the end, he was angry that Dolgon did not let Geng Jimao attack the lord until he died, and even the throne of the king of Jingnan was still given to Geng Jimao after Shunzhi defeated the "Dolgon anti-emperor Taiji group".

Geng Zhongming is like this, and so is Geng Jimao's son Geng Jingzhong. In the rebellion of the three feudatories, Geng Jingzhong fought with the governor Li Zhifang in Zhejiang, and as a result, as soon as the main force of the Qing army went south, Zheng Jing jumped out to trap people, Geng Jingzhong quickly coaxed, and jumped back to help the Qing army suppress Zheng Jing and monk Zhixin. In the end, the rebellion of the three feudatories ended, and Geng Jingzhong still could not avoid the fate of being executed by Ling Chi.

Compared with his father and son, Geng Jimao has done nothing in his life, but judging from Li Dingguo's performance during his two expeditions to Guangdong, his person is as fierce and introverted as his father and son, unscrupulous when he is strong, and he will immediately become an ostrich burrowing into the ground when he is weak, which is ridiculous.

"Locked up, he didn't go to Guangzhou, it's too early to kill him."

After the capture of Quanzhou, the Ming army of Jiangsu, Zhejiang and Zhejiang did not enter the city, but withdrew, and officially handed over the city to Zheng Chenggong. Chen Wen's good attitude of cooperation made Zheng Chenggong's generals let go of a lot of worries, and after a few days of rest, Chen Wen said goodbye to Zheng Chenggong and led the army to Tingzhou Mansion.

The army is far away, Zheng Chenggong and his generals overlook the city, a few days ago and they joined forces to capture Quanzhou, the Ming army marshal in these years has the remnants of the eunuch party, the chaotic political warriors, murderous demons and many other contemptuous titles, but also has a large number of reputations such as the Buddha of ten thousand families, the famous general of Zhongxing, the hero of the world, and the savior of the people of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, but in any case, the first strange man in the world is well deserved. It's just that this strange man is a big warlord of Nanming like them, and maybe one day, the two sides will still be unable to avoid the fate of a duel.

"The lord of the domain, the king of Yue is now powerful in the world, and in the future, he will go north to the Central Plains and drive the Tartars out of China, but I am afraid that it will inevitably be a matter of seeking to usurp the throne. Even if he wanted to be a pure minister, his generals might not be able to agree. ”

As Zheng Chenggong's mastermind and confidant, Zhou Quanbin is very worried about this. It's just that when he heard these words in Zheng Chenggong's ears, what he got in exchange was just a heartfelt sigh. It wasn't until a long time later that Zheng Chenggong said what he thought in his heart.

"Bang Xian, whether this is the case or not, at least Chen Wen and I are still friends today. If he dares to do that disobedient act, he will die, and I will fight with him to the end. It's just that now our strength is weak and we need to recover as soon as possible, so we must recover the big people as quickly as possible and open up the South Seas, so that we can continue to maneuver in the future and leave a glimmer of vitality for the emperor. ”

However, Taiwan is a small country, and now it is a wild place where the indigenous people are dense and rampant, and it is not easy to gain a foothold and develop there.

In fact, from the moment he decided to attack Taiwan, Zheng Chenggong was already determined to die, this was his last way out, and in his eyes, it was probably the last way out for Huang Ming. It's just that at this moment, whether it is Zheng Chenggong or Chen Wen, no one thought that this attack on Quanzhou was not only their first meeting, but also the last.