The gunboats that stopped at Shiyutun Reclamation were the main force of the naval brigade from Xinjin City, and as soon as they came to a stop, they began to bombard fiercely. Prior to their arrival, there were also warships that came in from the direction of the three crossings, but they were all escort ships and light artillery boats, and their mission was only to drive the Mongol troops on the east bank of the river and prevent them from crossing the river again. The gunboats from Xinjin City were obviously coming to attack the fortifications, and they lined up on the water to fire a salvo at the fortifications of the cantonment points. The few artillery pieces that were left in the cantonment point had already been destroyed by the light artillery boats that came from the three crossings of the water, and at this moment there was no means of counterattack, so they could only be beaten passively.

The Thunderbolt Army, the weak point of the defense of its own cantonment points, naturally knew best, and artillery shells naturally had to rain down on these places. Under the intensive artillery bombardment, the fortifications of the cantonment points were destroyed little by little. Sentry posts, walled gates, and corner towers are vulnerable to powerful solid bullets, and they will crack and collapse when they are hit. Trenches, earthen walls, horse rejection, and thorn bushes are naturally effective in dealing with cold-weapon armies, especially the Mongol cavalry, which was originally tailor-made for them. But it was too difficult to deal with artillery bombardment. In particular, the shells fired by the heavy artillery ships said that the earth enclosure could not be carried by them, and even Yokohara Fort could not withstand the long-term bombardment.

Chang Yun and his henchmen and the new annexes shrank and trembled. Although from time to time someone was smashed into pulp by a scorching solid bullet, no one dared to rush out. Because in the bamboo forest a mile outside the reclamation point, the cavalry of the Thunderbolt Army was waiting for them to come out. As the barrel of the gun heated, the shells fired by the gunboat were no longer dense, but gradually thinned, which made Chang Yuanchang sigh as he was hiding in a cellar in the cantonment site. When some henchmen persuaded him to flee last night, he refused because he was reluctant to accept the position of Jiangyuan magistrate promised by the Mongols. At this time, he no longer counted on Mongolian reinforcements, but wanted to stay up until night and take advantage of the chaos to escape. "Stay in the green mountains, don't be afraid of no firewood", only by saving your life can you revive the glory of the family.

It's just that the next moment, Chang Yuan's idea of staying up until the night went bankrupt. A solid bullet that missed struck through the roof of a house in the center of the cantonment. The Thunderbolts did not want to destroy the houses in the cantonment site too much, because they had to be rebuilt if they were destroyed, so the artillery was aimed at the city defense facilities, not the civilian houses. The off-target shell smashed through the roof and smashed a pile of wooden boxes in the house, and in an instant, the fire engulfed the entire house, sending out a series of explosions, and the scattered sparks ignited the surrounding houses. The roofs of the houses in this reclamation site are full of straw, wheat straw and other straws, and in this summer day they burn even more at one point, and for a time the fire turned into a prairie fire, quickly spreading to the entire reclamation site.

The reason why a single shell can start such a fire is the pile of wooden boxes in the house. These wooden crates contained clay pots of fire oil, which were originally used by the Mongol cavalry to set fires. Liu Heima prepared oil clay pots for 500 cavalry, but only half of them were transported across the river, and the other half was destroyed by Xia Dagen on the east bank of the river. Because there were so many clay pots that were transported across the river, only a small part of the half of the Mongol cavalry was carried, and most of them were kept in this room, which happened to be smashed squarely.

The Thunderbolt soldiers outside watched the cantonment point suddenly burst into flames, and they didn't know what to do for a while. While he was speculating and discussing, he saw a group of people stumbling out of the smoke and reclamation point, these people were naturally the henchmen of the new annex army and Chang Yuan. Under the fire, the temperature in the cantonment site rose sharply, and even the air became hot, and the trees were quickly dried and turned into fuel. Under the thick smoke and scorching heat, the people who hid in the trenches and cellars had to cough and flee to the cantonment site. If you don't run away, you'll either be roasted or smoked to death. But as soon as they staggered out, they saw a group of militiamen with knives and spears rushing towards them. In a panic, many of the new annexes were killed on the spot, and the rest fled in all directions.

The Thunderbolt cavalry that rushed out of the bamboo forest relentlessly pursued and slashed the soldiers of the new annex army and Chang Yuan's henchmen, even if they knelt on the ground and asked for surrender. In previous battles, the Thunderbolts did not slash and kill enemies who gave up resistance, but were more than happy to take in prisoners, as the mines needed labor. The reason why these Thunderbolt cavalry violated the policy of surrender and not kill was because they were ordered not to be soft on these enemies and to eliminate all evil. This order was directly issued by Ouyang Xuan, and when he learned that the person who lured the wolf into the room was actually the deputy company commander of the Jiangyuan City Cadre Company, and most of his henchmen were also members of the second-line troops of the Thunderbolt Army, he was furious for a while. He hated the Mongols who burned and looted, and even more hated the traitors and traitors.

By the time the last of Chang Yuan's henchmen was trampled in the mud by the cavalry, the fire at the Stonefish Reclamation Point had begun to weaken. This is not because the Thunderbolts are fighting the fire, but because the combustibles are about to burn out. It's not that the Thunderbolts don't want to put out the fire, but because the oil burns so violently that it can't be extinguished. Many of the militiamen guarding the gate were people from the Shiyu Reclamation Point, and when they saw their homes burned to the ground, many of them howled and cried, and naturally they were full of bitter hatred for the enemy who came out. In fact, even if Ouyang Xuan did not give the order to eliminate the evil, the new annex army and Chang Yuan's henchmen would not escape their revenge, and Chang Yuan would die under their swords and spears, and his body would be stabbed to pieces.

When the Shiyu Tunken ignited a fire, Cao Ergou also led two infantry battalions of the field brigade to the city of Jiangyuan. Some time ago, Huang Dagen captured a large number of war horses at the Widow's Cliff in Maozhou, and the two battalions also obtained a number of sturdy horses, which strengthened their mobility. Jiangyuan City is only thirty miles away from Chongqing Mansion City, Cao Ergou came with people yesterday afternoon, and rested for one night in a village called Anfu on the way, so he stopped at three miles outside the west gate of Jiangyuan City early this morning. The reason why it did not go forward was because the effective range of the old fortress guns on the wall of Jiangyuan was two and a half miles, while the range of the new heavy artillery of the field battalion was three miles. Artillery positions were built here that could hit the walls without being hit by enemy artillery.

Seeing that the Thunderbolt army was building artillery positions, the new annexed army in the city was as anxious as ants on a hot pot, but there was nothing to be done. Just now they tried to bombard the Perak army with fortress artillery, but found that the impact point was still half a mile away from the Perak army's position, and it could not pose a threat at all. Raid on artillery positions? There are many Thunderbolt soldiers and they must be prepared. Run away, right? Obviously, they couldn't outrun the Thunderbolt cavalry outside the city. Waiting for reinforcements? The Mongol troops on the other side of the river tried several times to build pontoon bridges, but they were all destroyed by the Perak ships. Although the Thunderbolt light artillery boats and escort boats in the river did not dare to get too close to Jiangyuan City, nor did they dare to fire at the fortress guns at the head of the city, it was more than enough to prevent the Mongol army from crossing the river or erecting pontoon bridges.

After Cao Ergou set up the artillery, he ordered the fire to be concentrated and bombarded with the fortress cannon at the head of the city. After a few rounds, the fortress cannon at the West Gate was reduced to a spare part state, the stacked ammunition was detonated, and the gunner and dozens of new annex soldiers guarding the city were reduced to a pile of stumps and scraps. The scene of flesh and blood flying made the new soldiers in the city unpossessed, and they knew that if they resisted any longer, they would also end up with no corpses, so they immediately sent people out of the city to ask for surrender.

Just as Cao Ergou was about to refuse the surrender of the new annexed army, a messenger from the staff department rushed to him on a sweaty fast horse. He brought Ouyang Xuan's handwritten letter.