Dominate the Country

Columns of smoke rose one after another, and huge explosions that could shatter one's eardrums connected into a line, rumbling like a series of thunderbolts falling from the sky, making people feel that the explosions were always ringing in their ears and never stopped.

This is the Shahe battlefield east of Yancheng.

The Qing army used firepower that was absolutely superior to the artillery fort of the Chen family army to bombard the not-so-large position. The thunder-like artillery sounds outside kept coming into the ears of the team officer. This feeling was completely different from the dull and depressing explosions heard in the artillery fort. The team officer was also an old man in the artillery camp. He had fought many battles since Fenghuangtai, but he had never seen such fierce artillery fire as now.

Even in the battle of Ford, the Qing soldiers had many artillery, but rarely fired such fierce bombardments. However, the Qing soldiers' artillery fire was not accurate enough, and they were just fighting for fun.

From the perspective of the team officer, there was no pattern in the landing of the Qing army's shells. They were everywhere, very blindly. This kind of blind bombardment without any pattern could pose a certain threat to the breastworks or checkpoints between the artillery forts, but it did not pose any substantial threat to the four artillery forts on the surface and the trenches under the surface.

However, such "indiscriminate bombardment" caused him to lose an experienced artillery commander. When he was out observing, he was hit in the head by a shell and his whole head exploded. The team officer was extremely depressed just thinking about it. At present, the Qing soldiers were still a little far away. They had not tried to cross the river head-on. In fact, they did not need to cross the river facing the artillery fire of the Chen family army. They only needed to retreat a few miles to the north, and they could easily cross the river without any threat. The Qing army had plenty of canal boats.

This Chen Jiajun position is the only one in the whole Yancheng. It guards the largest dock leading to the east of Yancheng and the throat of the entire Yancheng waterway. Because the width of the Shahe River opposite it is more than 300 meters, it is the widest place in the entire Yancheng Shahe River section. Of course, its existence also directly provides the greatest cover for the eastern defense of Yancheng.

Because it is not far from Yancheng County, the straight-line distance is less than six miles.

If the Qing soldiers' canal boats really dare to come here to make trouble, the team officer swears to the sky that he will definitely entertain the guests "extremely warmly".

But looking at the groups of canal boats on the surface of the Shahe River in the distance, docked on the shore like dead fish, the team officer did not have any hope for this. It is understandable that the Qing soldiers transported the cannons to the other side of the river and used them to bombard the artillery position, because they wanted to pull out the nail of the artillery position and dredge the entire water transport line. But a large number of Qing troops drove the cannon boats from the upper reaches of the Shahe River to the west bank in the face of artillery fire. The Qing soldiers were really stuck in the door.

On the Qing army's position on the other side of the river, the white smoke from the cannons after firing enveloped the artillery positions. There were at least twenty general cannons, and it was very likely that there were general cannons among them. The number of Qing soldiers in Anhui was small, but the artillery strength was stronger than that of the Green Camp in Shaanxi. Did Chen Huizu take all the cannons on the top of Anqing City?

This range definitely exceeded the two-jin and three-jin cannons of the Chen family army, which was also the biggest reason why the artillery of the Chen family army rarely counterattacked. The team officer was in charge of the artillery forts in four places, but there were only two heavy three-jin cannons, which could barely reach the Qing army's position, and the artillery effect was too poor.

The thick smoke made it difficult for the observation post of the position to see the true face. The only thing that can be confirmed is that the Qing soldiers continued to build artillery positions near the artillery forts.

Chen Huizu was determined to take down the tough nut of the artillery position first.

The Qing artillery on the other side fought for a long time, and seeing that the counterattack of the Chen family army was only a few, and the four seemingly solid artillery positions had not made any big movements, the artillery stopped bombarding. Then the billowing smoke rose from the other side, and the Chen family army knew without thinking that the Qing soldiers were playing tricks and doing small tricks to cover the position change of their artillery team.

Of course, not all the Qing soldiers' artillery were extinguished, and some of them were still bombarding from time to time. But it was very different from the previous unscrupulous look, as if there was endless ammunition.

Then, wait until the billowing black smoke dissipated, and there was no need for the observation post to report, the artillery officer used a telescope to clearly see the Qing artillery position. This is even closer, is the distance between the two sides 500 meters?

"Team officer, the Qing soldiers are so bold that they look down on us. At this distance, our cannons can definitely hit them. These green dogs are looking for death."

"Team officer, as long as the cannons of our artillery fire, if we can't kill the green dogs on the opposite side, I will not be surnamed Wu."

On the Yizi artillery fort, Zhang Junxian looked at the Qing artillery position on the opposite bank with a sharp gaze. The observation post sent a message that the distance was no longer a problem, and Zhang Junxian was just waiting for the order from the team officer.

The team officer gently tapped the iron cannon next to him, which was shining brightly, over and over again, with his eyes fixed on the opposite bank. From the position of the lookout, there were already Qing soldiers busy on the river bank. Does this mean that the Qing soldiers are preparing to go further? Put the muzzle directly on the bank of Shahe River?

"Don't panic. It's not time yet. When it's time to fight, I will naturally order you to fire!" The team officer felt that if the Qing soldiers were allowed to go further, their accuracy would be higher. Moreover, he was fully confident in the defensive capabilities of his own artillery fortress and was not worried at all that the artillery fortress under his feet would be collapsed or destroyed by the Qing army's artillery fire.

Zou Yong, the commander of the Jiazi artillery fort, said confidently: "Don't worry, team officer. As long as you give the order, I promise to let the Qing soldiers eat iron bullets. How many times have we tried the artillery? We remember all those angle numbers." Although the artillery of the Chen family army has introduced the necessary technical parameters for artillery to hit the target, such as scale, height, angle, direction, etc., and has also produced standardized artillery tables, in this era when hot weapons are not mature at all, and at this moment, the Chen family army gunners have low mathematical calculations, their actual artillery fire still relies more on experience.

The team officer did not turn his head, but just looked at the Qing army artillery position opposite and said, "I also believe you have this ability. But we still have to wait. What if the Qing soldiers really don't know how to live or die and push the cannon to the river bank?" Then the accuracy will be much higher than the current firing. The distance is about 30 feet shorter, and the accuracy of the artillery fire may be improved by 10%.

The artillery team of the Chen family army, who were enduring the bombardment and the "noise" in exchange for a little increase in the hit rate, had no idea that Chen Huizu, the big boss of the Qing army in front of them, was preparing for the "transfer" of the entire army.

"Waste, what a bunch of waste. Four or five thousand people defended Xuzhou, but they only defended it for three days. It's ridiculous!" What's more serious is that after receiving Asiha's request for help, he really led the troops to Yancheng. "Pass my order, the whole army retreats quickly."