The first to roar were not the Ming army, but the dozen or so red-haired cannons mounted on the sandbank. The cannons, already adjusted to their firing parameters, peeled off their camouflage, revealing their dark muzzles, which blazed with dazzling flames.

The shells flew over the river surface over a hundred meters wide, passed by both sides of the Ming army's battle formation, and hit the Han army's ranks at an angle.

The Han soldiers' battle formation was about 400 meters away from the Ming army. Their old artillery had not yet reached the firing range, and the ground under their feet was relatively solid. This was also the main reason why the Ming army artillery opened fire first.

Although the old artillery was less powerful, it still had considerable lethality against the tightly packed Ming army. Therefore, the Red Barbarian cannons were fired first to disrupt the Han army's deployment.

The solid shells used unstoppable force to carve a bloody path through the Han soldiers' battle formation until they stopped due to exhaustion, leaving behind a mess of broken limbs and bloody flesh on the ground.

Screams and wails echoed one after another. A single cannonball ricocheted into the enemy lines, killing or wounding a dozen men. The casualties were manageable, no more severe than a barrage of musket fire.

But the roar of the cannons, the irresistible destructive power of the impact, and the tragic scenes of killing and wounding created a greater deterrent effect.

This is easy to understand. Since both are murders, why is there lingchi, which involves being cut into pieces with a thousand cuts? The purpose is to make the death more miserable and increase the deterrent effect.

Looking at the bloody corpses, and your companions missing limbs, blood and flesh flying everywhere, screaming and rolling around, even if you have a strong nerve, your back will feel cold and your scalp will tingle, right?

Chen Sanhe's eyes were dull and he stepped back subconsciously. His eyes were full of red. It was blood and broken flesh, belonging to his companions and friends.

Fellow villagers from the same village, of similar age, even childhood friends, had been battered beyond recognition by artillery shells, lying miserably in a pool of blood and rotten flesh.

"Snap!" A whip came down hard, making Chen Sanhe almost jump up.

Ma Guangyuan's fierce voice rang out, "Anyone who retreats will be killed, march forward in formation."

The young officers suppressed their fear, shouted loudly, reorganized the troops, and continued to move forward.

"Don't be afraid. The enemy's artillery fires very slowly. It will only take a moment." Ma Guangyuan shouted from his horse to reassure the troops. "The further we retreat, the faster we will die. If we get close to the enemy, their artillery will not dare to fire."

This seems to make sense, proving that Ma Guangyuan is not incompetent and has a lot of knowledge about the performance of artillery.

As if to prove Ma Guangyuan's words were correct, the Ming army's artillery really stopped bombarding. As for the Red Cannon, its firing rate was indeed not very impressive.

Under the supervision of the officers, the shelling stopped, and the Han soldiers reorganized their ranks and continued to advance.

Whether using cold weapons or firearms, the battlefield requires careful formation and the use of collective strengths. The bird guns equipped by the Han soldiers were no exception, requiring both high firepower density and range.

During their training, Tong Yangxing, Ma Guangyuan, and others believed that a musket fight was a game of attrition. You fire a shot, I fire a shot, and at similar distances, the difference in hit rate wouldn't be that great.

Even if there were differences in the quality, performance, and power of their muskets, the advantage in numbers would more than make up for it. If they relied on a strong city for defense, the difference in weapons would be even closer.

The idea is good, and putting other factors aside, the approach is also correct.

The Han soldiers were a mixture of sword and shield soldiers and musketeer soldiers. This idea and arrangement was also very realistic.

Without a bayonet, the musketeer has no close combat capability; the sword and shield soldier can block lead bullets (tested with the musket), and does not take up as much space as the spearman.

The Ming army's battle formation stood still, with twenty Portuguese cannons placed in front of the formation, their black muzzles pointing at the advancing enemy.

Five hundred meters, four hundred meters, three hundred meters, two hundred meters... neither side opened fire with their muskets, as if they were both waiting to get within range.

Boom, boom, boom! Three roars broke the dull tension on the battlefield. Three shells rose from behind the sandbank, flew in an arc to the opposite bank, and smashed down.

Although the direction and angle of the artillery had been repeatedly calculated and adjusted, and the Ming army that landed first had set up guidance marks hundreds of meters in front of the formation, the artillery still conducted test firing.

Three shells hit the enemy camp, some near and some far away. Two of them fell into the enemy formation, and one landed in front of the formation, more than a hundred meters away from the Ming army's battle formation.

Luo Li held up the telescope, observing the impact point. Then, he saw the flag signal from the friendly forces.

"Keep the angle and direction unchanged, and open fire!" Luo Li cheered up and gave the order loudly.

He had checked more than a hundred pieces of artillery almost one by one, but only now did he feel completely relieved.

After several years of growth and experience, Luo Li has become the commander-in-chief of the artillery. Whether it is the red cannons fired from the top of Ningyuan City or the Ming Dynasty heavy fortresses, he has mastered them all.

If it were just him being good at his job, that wouldn't be a big deal.

The most important thing is that Luo Li compiled a table of artillery firing parameters. By searching and comparing the numbers on it, he can roughly calculate the landing point of the artillery shell through firing parameters such as elevation angle and charge amount.

To put it bluntly, one didn't need a high level of literacy or computing skills to operate a cannon by following a diagram. This could be considered a revolutionary invention, which was commended by the emperor and became a textbook in martial arts.

With this dictionary-like artillery manual, the requirements for artillerymen were greatly reduced and the speed of training was greatly accelerated. More war gods appeared on the battlefield, making the Ming army even more powerful.

Three test shells killed two Han soldiers and rolled on the ground, emitting wisps of green smoke. The Han soldiers who knew about the thunder bombs could not help but scream and quickly get out of danger.

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