The rumbling sound of artillery completely opened the prelude to the offensive and defensive battle of Nanjing, and the Wuzhen Chaoha Division of the Qing army had already pressed all the 200 Hongyi cannons that could fire six-pound shells. These cannons were all built by the Qing army after entering the customs, using the equipment and craftsmen of the Beijing Division's Military Department, and when Li Zicheng withdrew from Beijing, he turned a blind eye to these things and talents, but Dolgon did not waste them. Although the Qing army was good at arching horses, it favored artillery in recent years, and the Wuzhen Chaoha Department also made great progress.

Most of the gunners of the Qing army were soldiers of the Ming army, and these people were very familiar with artillery and were very easy to operate. The original non-commissioned officers of Wuzhen Chaoha were all promoted to the rank of commander of the ranks, that is, to firmly control the entire artillery unit.

The targets of the first two rounds of shelling were the walls and gates of the southern city of Nanjing. Jubaomen is the south gate of the capital city of Nanjing, which was built by Zhu Yuanzhang of Hongwu Emperor during the period, and it is also an urn city of fortress style, there are three roads in total, which are connected by four city gates, interlocking with each other, easy to defend and difficult to attack. The middle is separated by a sheep and horse wall, and even if the urn city outside falls, the defenders inside the treasure gate can still hold on.

Yan Yingyuan's artillery unit was arranged on the city wall of Jubaomen, all of which were equipped with field artillery from Shandong, and pushed up to the city head by two-wheeled vehicles.

The Qing army had suffered more than once from the artillery and rocket vehicles under Zhu Ping'an's command, so the artillery positions of Wuzhen Chaoha were more than 1,000 steps away from the city wall, so it was very difficult to form a precision strike.

The news that Zhu Youlang, the king of Gui, rebelled against the Longwu court in Wuzhou, Guangxi, also reached the Qing army, and Bo Luo and others were overjoyed. Before the war, the Ming people were in turmoil, which was undoubtedly great news for the Qing army. Therefore, Bolo hoped to take advantage of the panic of Shi Kefa and others to take Nanjing City as soon as possible. After that, we will advance to the Jianghuai area, the granary of the Ming Dynasty, and if we can conquer Huaiyang, the land of the anointed land, then the Qing Dynasty will be sure to win.

After the first two rounds of shelling, Bolo and other Qing generals couldn't wait to use a clairvoyant mirror to probe the results of the battle, and finally saw the outline of the city wall through the layers of gunsmoke, but found it. The tall and majestic walls exude a blue-black color. Combined with the rain and snow that had fallen in the previous days, the walls were covered with ice. Therefore, that blue-black color is even more conspicuous.

After the bombardment, the city wall was still the same, as if hundreds of cannons had just been scratched by the boots, except for a few faintly visible white marks, the rest were unscathed. This scene can't help but make the generals of the Qing army look at each other.

"This, this Nanjing city wall is inevitably too strong!" Bolo was a little stunned and rubbed his eyes vigorously. After a closer look, I really couldn't figure it out.

"I can't!" Kong Youde took off his helmet, revealing a bluish-white forehead, his hair was thin, and he wiped the lenses of the clairvoyant mirror again and again. "Lao Chen came to Nanjing many years ago, and our meticulous work also carefully surveyed the city defense of Nanjing two months ago. Although the city was built during the Hongwu years, the wind and rain of more than two hundred years have made the city wall look old. The former Ming court has been stretched thin since the Wanli period, and there is no silver to seriously rectify and improve the city defense. To say that these two rounds of shelling are hundreds of shells. Anqing City is so strong, it doesn't seem to be so unscathed! ”

Kong Youde studied artillery all his life. At this time, his words were reversed and his logic was confused, which showed the fear in his heart. In just one or two months, the city wall of Nanjing, which was already somewhat dilapidated, is now extremely strong, and the artillery cannot exert any power. This made Kong Youde, an artillery expert in the Manchu army, a little uneasy.

"Not to mention artillery, I don't know if you have found it!" Geng Jingzhong, who was on the side, said with a pale face: "Everyone, please take a closer look at the city wall of this treasure gate, we have seen a lot of cities in this world, how have you ever seen this city wall without wall cracks!" ”

Geng Jingzhong's words surprised everyone again, and they hurriedly went to check. This look. Suddenly, cold sweat broke out on the backs of many people.

"That's true!" Everyone was talking, "It's really weird! There is no crack in the wall of the bricks, but what is the reason? ”

"My Eight Banners White Armor is good at climbing, one of the masters has a rope and an iron hook in his hand, and he can climb the city with this wall crack, and when the soldiers attack the city, they can also use the brick joints to gain a foothold, such a slippery wall, but let them climb how to climb! In this way, we don't know how many lives will be used to fill it! ”

The city of Nanjing is close at hand, but it is full of eccentricities. Since entering the customs, whether it is in the face of the Dashun army and the Ming army, Wuzhen Chaoha's artillery is invincible and invincible, coupled with the bow and horse kung fu that the Manchus are proud of, the Qing army can be proud of the world. But today, hundreds of cannons were put on board, but they didn't see the slightest effect, and they couldn't help but make everyone's hearts feel bottomless, and they were feeling weak.

"Otherwise, let Wuzhen Chao Habu move forward a little further and try a few shots?" Liu Zhiyuan, the general of the Han army, suggested tentatively.

"No!" Kong Youde shook his head like a rattle, "This Nanjing is no better than Anqing, Henan's soldiers and horses came to reinforce, that is Zhu Ping'an's men and horses, their artillery has not been seen before, it is easy to break through the range of 1,200 steps, and the artillery moves forward, isn't it in their arms!" ”

It seems to be to verify that Kong Youde's words are extremely correct. As soon as the words fell, the Ming artillery at the head of the city began to roar, and the rumbling sound was deafening. The power was several times greater than the artillery bombardment of the Qing army just now.

Kong Youde couldn't help but be frightened, trembling and looking at the artillery fire of the Ming army with a clairvoyant mirror, fortunately, the goal of the Ming army was not to target the Qing army's Wuzhen Chaoha, but began to directly bombard the siege troops that the Qing army had already set out of the camp.

……

"That's it?" Yan Yingyuan walked out of the dysprosium tower, leaned on the battlement and looked at the wall of the city wall, and nodded with satisfaction. It has to be said that although the main structure of the city wall is still something from the Hongwu period, it is still strong and durable. It is said that it took 12 years to build the Jubaomon Gate, the Ichiying Castle Wall, and the Urn Castle alone, all of which were built with huge stones and glued with glutinous rice juice, lime, and tung oil. This repair, covered with cement and supported by bamboo tendons, the artillery fire of the Qing army did not pose much of a threat to the city wall.

The Ming soldiers were all overjoyed, touching the cold cement wall with their hands, and sighed.

"Don't make a fuss!" Yan Yingyuan shook off the dust on his body and waved his big hand, "Let's also let the Tartars see the power of the artillery sent by His Royal Highness King Rui!" ”

The Ming sergeants responded violently, all of them were in good spirits, and they were still a little apprehensive at first, but today they saw that the artillery of the Qing army was at a loss, and they were immediately greatly encouraged, and even their movements were much sharper than before.

After Yan Yingyuan took over the defense, he unloaded all the old artillery pieces and replaced them with Shandong field artillery provided by Jianghuai. The caliber is 122 millimeters, the length is 2.29 meters, the weight is 880 kilograms, the weight of the shell is 12 pounds, which is converted into catties, about 11 catties, and the firing range reaches 1,000 paces away.

The Qing army's siege troops had already left the camp, and after waiting for artillery fire, they began to attack the Jubaomen Urn City. Most of them are green battalion soldiers, with some Eight Banners, a full 40,000 people.

However, the Qing generals were surprised by the solidity of the city wall of Nanjing, and they couldn't make up their minds for a while, whether to start the siege immediately. Therefore, the Qing army's siege troops did not receive the order, but still lined up in formation, hiding behind shield carts and light artillery carts, and waited for the order to arrive and launch an attack at any time.

After the Ming army's twelve-pounder artillery began to bombard, the Qing army was really caught off guard. No one could have imagined that the range of the Ming army's artillery would be so far. Fifty cannons roared at the same time, and the shells fired from the first round of shelling went straight into the dense formation of the Qing army.

Without warning, the shells pierced directly from the front of the formation to the back of the formation, and the originally dense formation was instantly opened out of dozens of bloody alleys. How many people's chests were pierced, how many people's arms and heads flew into the sky, gun carriages and shield cars were smashed to pieces in response, and the artillery bodies were overturned and rolled down, and even a piece of Qing soldiers were knocked down.

Bolo and the others stood on the high post in front of the Chinese army camp, and were shocked by the tragic scene in front of them. But the order to withdraw seems to be a little redundant, and the Qing soldiers have already retreated in the direction of the camp with their heads in their hands, and countless weapons and flags have been dropped along the road, and more than 1,000 people have been lost before the siege begins.

Qin Guanglian and other green camp generals were extremely distressed, but they didn't dare to say anything to complain in front of Bolo, so they could only dare to be angry and dare not speak.

The Qing army's first siege ended hastily.

When Shi Kefa and the others heard that they had won the first battle, they also hurried to the city, and when they saw the Qing army retreating to the Jubaoshan camp in embarrassment, they immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

This battle relied on the sharpness of the artillery of the Ming army, and the officials who had some complaints about Yan Yingyuan had nothing to say at this time, so they could only smile and say hello to Shi Kefa.

Yan Yingyuan only coped with it for a moment, and then issued an order to expel the guest. The Qing army lost the first battle, and it will inevitably not give up, and if it is not surprising, it will inevitably launch a fierce attack on Nanjing with crowd tactics. The Qing army had a numerical advantage, and if it relied solely on a war of attrition, it would ultimately be detrimental to the Ming army. So the battle after that is the most critical battle. It depends on whether the Ming army can hold out until reinforcements arrive.

Yan Yingyuan meant that Shi Kefa and other senior officials staying in the city would certainly boost morale, but it would also involve a part of the troops, and it would interfere with his command. Therefore, it is better for them to stay in the yamen with peace of mind. (To be continued......)