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In this battle, the Marine Corps on the Fujian side dispatched the vast majority, including the artillery division, a total of 15,000 men, and the rest was the first, fourth, and seventh fleets, totaling 35,000 men. The Marine Corps that boarded the ship directly from Mawei was only 2,000 from the First Division, 2,000 from the Second Division, and 8,000 from the Artillery Division, and the other 3,000 people had already been deployed in Longyan Mansion, all of whom were from the First Division, that is, the group that is now attacking Meizhou.

Meizhou is also located inland, so close to Longyan, it is convenient to attack from the inland. The first detachment carrying 2,000 artillery division troops and 2,000 troops of the second division landed at the wharf in Chaozhou Chao'an County yesterday morning, and the total number of soldiers who landed on the shore was 5,000.

Chaozhou is adjacent to the Hanjiang River, which can be said to be one of the important rivers on the southeast coast of China, flowing through a very wide area, mainly involving Fujian and Guangdong provinces, that is, Jiangxi accounts for a small part. However, the water level of the Hanjiang River is relatively shallow, and it is impossible to pass any heavy ships at all, and basically ships of more than 100 tons cannot sail. Therefore, the Mawei Army had to start landing at the mouth of the sea. The Marines were all landed, and the Navy was also down a thousand men. The 5,000 men went straight to the capital city of Chaozhou, while the First Fleet turned slightly, continued to sail dozens of kilometers forward, turned into the Rongjiang River, and went straight to Jieyang County in the south of Chaozhou.

Jieyang is only about 20 kilometers away from the capital city of Chaozhou, but Jieyang is just set up on the edge of the Rongjiang River. The Rong River is not the same as the Han River, it is a famous deep-water river in Guangdong Province. Second only to the Pearl River. Cargo ships between 3,000 tons and 5,000 tons can pass unimpeded. For example, the third-class warships of the Mawei Navy are only less than 2,000 tons. You can directly reach the city of Jieyang County, and with just one bombardment, Jieyang County can go down lightly. Maybe it only takes a bit of deterrence, and the defenders in the city will take the initiative to come out and surrender.

Under the city of Chaozhou, 4,000 soldiers who marched for a day camped outside the city. The two counties of Chao'an and Chenghai along the way have been taken immediately, and the 1,000 navy that disembarked from the ship will be left behind to garrison. Chaozhou is close to the sea, the terrain is flat, but there is a good piece of fertile land. Just this place. It is worthy of the two northern provinces of Fujian, which is really a good place.

Shang Kexi's second son, Shang Zhixiao, brought 5,000 soldiers and horses to the north to garrison, but he didn't expect that as soon as he arrived, Chaozhou was surrounded up. Several nearby county towns under its jurisdiction were taken down one after another, and letters asking for help were sent one after another. Especially when he saw the 4,000 people of the Mawei Army arriving at the city, he didn't dare to fight at will, even if he had more troops than the other party. The fact that the opponent was able to take down several cities in such a very short period of time shows that the opponent's combat effectiveness is really strong, and the probability of winning out of the city is too low. It's better to resist the city and defend it. I want to come to the city with 5,000 troops and want to break through. Anyway, we need more than three times as many troops.

Shang Zhixiao only refused to defend in Chaozhou City, and ordered his subordinates not to go out of the city to attack without his orders. At the same time, he also hung a heavy reward: the horsetail army attacked the city, and whoever beheaded the enemy was rewarded with 20 taels of silver, and those who shot one enemy were rewarded with 10 taels of silver, and those who were wounded were also rewarded with 10 taels of silver. There must be brave men under serious injuries, and when the soldiers under his command heard this reward, and knew that there were only 4,000 people outside the city, their morale immediately soared.

The commander-in-chief outside the city was Fang Dahong, commander of the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Division of the Mawei Army, who commanded the 4th and 5th Battalions under his command, plus the 7th and 8th Battalions of the Artillery Division, which were temporarily under his command, totaling 4,000 people. In the morning, after a full meal of 4,000 people, the queue marched neatly to the city of Chaozhou, ready to attack the city. When he arrived here yesterday, Fang Dahong had already ordered people to shoot several letters of persuasion to surrender in the city, advising the defenders in the city to surrender. But there was no result overnight, which also shows that the other side is going to resist to the end!

"Luza, the second son of the Shang family in the city is really not ready to die, the city wall is so full, is it going to be a target for us?" Zhong Da, the commander of the fifth battalion, looked at the dense defenders at the head of the city, and said with an undeniable smile. After all, Chaozhou City is a capital city, and the city walls are much better than ordinary county seats, and the shortest places are six meters high. The 5,000 soldiers and horses brought by Shang Zhixiao are also fully equipped, plus the original reserves in the city, at this moment, the people standing on the city wall are basically archers, and the visual inspection is no less than 500 people. There are also six cannons placed at the head of Chaozhou City, all of which are old-fashioned tiger squat cannons, but the maximum range of this kind of cannon is only 500 meters, which is not a cause for concern.

"Brigade Commander Fang, it's time to send me to the field, the brothers can't wait!" Xu Siwen, commander of the seventh battalion of the artillery division, said impatiently: According to the combat strategy, if the enemy troops in the city do not surrender, they must first bombard themselves with artillery, and then the infantry will attack. Now is the time for their artillery to show its skills.

Liu Siming, the commander of the eighth battalion, was not happy: "Why is your seventh battalion, my eighth battalion should be, which shooting competition is not my eighth battalion better than you, brigade commander, send me up, and promise to smash the city wall within a quarter of an hour!" ”

", just lose to you once last time, okay, on the whole, it's not that my seventh battalion is stronger, brigade commander, send me up, I promise to take it in less than a quarter of an hour!" Xu Siwen is as unyielding as a fighting.

"Okay, don't fight, this is a siege battle, not a test ground. If you really compare, let's see which one can break through the walls the fastest. This is our first joint operation, and there are still many opportunities ahead. Now both of your battalions have set up for me, and all the artillery is up, and give me a round of bombardment over it! Fang Dahong didn't bother to say more to the two of them, at this time, he had to blast across the opposite city tower in one go, otherwise it would affect the morale of the whole army. After all, they have been lining up here for a while, and as the saying goes, one blow and then three times exhaustion, and the benefit of early action is the greatest.

"Yes!" The two of them were overjoyed, and they had been looking forward to playing for a long time, this was the first battle of their artillery division, and they must not embarrass their division commander.

The Mawei Army did not prepare even a siege ladder for this expedition. They also had no intention of sending people up to climb the castle tower to storm it, and they had the most powerful god of war in their hands, and they didn't need any of the siege equipment needed in the era of cold weapons. This point is only known best to the more than 10,000 veterans under the command of the original King of Jingnan. In the past, when we fought a battle, which siege did not cost a lot of lives, and the most people died in short-handed combat.

A total of 120 general guns and general guns belonging to the two battalions were arranged on the left and right sides, all in two rows, front and rear, and the muzzles of the guns were aimed at the castle tower in the distance, and the angle of fire began to be adjusted. There is still a distance of six or seven hundred meters from the city tower, so from the city tower, there are only dense people here, and more than 100 artillery pieces are arranged here is not conspicuous at all. There are not many people in Chenglou Mountain who can hope for a telescope, and the few people who really hold the telescope are all shocked at the moment, and the most frightened of them is Shang Zhixiao.

His eldest brother Shang Zhixin began to prepare for the construction of a naval division a few years ago, and brought in warships built in Fujian, and those battleships were equipped with some Hongyi cannons. Although Geng Jingzhong sold Shang Zhixin the oldest-fashioned one, he had still seen the scene of a hundred cannons. At this moment, although the number of cannons seen in the telescope looked much smaller, he still had a natural fear of artillery, so he went down the tower very decisively. It was this decision that saved his own life.

"One set is ready!"

"The second group is ready!"

"Three sets are ready!"

"Ignition!"

"Tom tom!"

"Tom tom!"

"Tom tom!"

One hundred and twenty cannons scrambled to let out a roar, and more than a hundred shells crossed a parabola and fired at the tower. Every qualified gunner of the artillery division has undergone no less than 100 times of training, and the accuracy of fixed-point shooting is beyond doubt, and at such a distance, the error will basically not exceed 20 meters, no matter how outrageous. Therefore, it is almost impossible for the time for the cannonballs to fly over the walls and hit the houses behind them. The shells followed a line, and half fell directly on the walls.

Immediately afterward, there were bursts of explosions, and shells exploded on the towers. Not only did it shatter the bricks and stones, but it also killed some of the defenders. The screams came and went, like a purgatory on earth. And this was only the first wave of shelling, and the gunner, after striking the first blow, immediately fine-tuned the muzzle of the gun, and then continued to reload.

"Go on!" The actions of the commanders of the artillery battalions on both sides were generally the same, and even the orders issued were the same. As soon as the gunners were ready, they gave the order to continue firing.

"Tom tom!"

"Tom tom!"

"Tom tom!"

This round of shelling was more accurate, and at least eighty percent of the shells fell on the city. At this moment, on the city wall, the soldiers defending the city could no longer see a single one, and the more than 1,000 defenders who were standing neatly and were not killed basically fled off the city wall, and some of them were cowering and hiding under the battlements, not daring to come out. When the first round of shells fell and killed a large number of people, the defenders had no morale at all, they didn't even see the face of the Mawei army clearly, and they suffered more than half of their own casualties.

On the side of the artillery battalion, Fang Dahong did not order to stop at all, so Xu Siwen and Liu Siming kept shelling. Anyway, they had enough shells to shoot, and if they wanted to finish them all, they had to take more than two hours.

The rumbling cannon not only crushed the more than 1,000 defenders at the head of the city, but also the army of King Pingnan under the city tower was also psychologically crushed. Shang Zhixiao had already led people to escape directly from the West Gate at this moment, and fled directly back to Guangzhou through Jieyang County. The Mawei Army is so powerful, such a powerful artillery is simply unheard of and unseen, how can he resist it with the remaining 3,000 soldiers and horses under his command? (To be continued......)

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