Boom! A dazzling flash of fire appeared from the muzzle, illuminating the faces of several artillerymen. The shell had already left the barrel and flew in an arc towards the Jiannu camp.
Even with a telescope, it is not easy to find the impact point in the dark.
But Luo Li, holding up the telescope, managed to find it, thanks to previous training and live-fire shooting, as well as data collation and field surveys.
The shells fell into the Jiannu camp, bounced on the ground, overturned a tent, and knocked over the torches erected in the camp.
Luo Li did not find the shell accurately, but his trajectory was clear from the consequences.
"Keep the elevation unchanged and fire." He put down the telescope and gave the order loudly.
Boom, boom, boom... one after another roars rang out. More than a dozen red-haired cannons concentrated on this section of the city wall roared and fired shells at the camp of the Later Jin army.
Nurhaci had just fallen asleep. Age was not forgiving, and the long journey through the wind and snow had consumed most of his strength. The Later Jin soldiers in the camp had also rested early, preparing for tomorrow's brutal siege.
At this moment, screams were heard. After a brief reaction, the Jiannu finally realized that they were under bombardment.
This was a flaw of solid shells, which were far less lethal than shrapnel shells that exploded on impact. However, against densely packed battle formations, if the ground was hard enough, the ricocheting shells could penetrate an entire regiment.
Moreover, the Red Cannon was incredibly powerful when fired, and the sound alone was enough to scare many people. Coupled with the hard ground in winter, the bombardment of the Jiannu camp was still quite lethal.
One of the shells hit the target very accurately, bounced a few times, and hit the old slave's tent, overturning it and carrying it several meters away.
The old slave woke up from his sleep, saw the stars in the sky, heard screams and shouts, and then the guards rushed over in panic, protecting him and moving him quickly.
"Can the Ming army's artillery hit the main camp?!" The old slave woke up and widened his eyes in shock.
No one needed to answer. The miserable corpse lying on the ground proved it was true. Half of the body was beaten off, and the head was nowhere to be found. The only thing that could be seen from the armor was that it was at least a Niulu Ezhen.
Bang! Not far away, another shell landed, ricocheting along a low trajectory. As luck would have it, it left two more mutilated corpses on the ground.
The flying speed of solid artillery shells does not seem to be very fast. Sometimes when looking at it with the naked eye, it gives the illusion that you can catch it with your hand.
But this is definitely a terrible illusion. If you reach out your hand, it will be gone. If you touch it, it will be a bloody mess, or even a pool of meat paste.
Taking advantage of its high position, the Red Cannon fired at an almost level angle, a bit like skipping a stone on water – applying force close to the water surface would definitely be more effective.
If the projectile is fired at an angle on flat ground, its bounce will definitely be affected, with a considerable amount of force being consumed in hitting the ground. The greater the angle of elevation, the softer the ground, the shorter the bounce distance, and the smaller the power.
As the Jiannu camp became more chaotic, more and more figures were moving, running, and calling out, and the damage caused by the artillery shells was even greater than before.
But that was all. Xiong Tingbi had not expected to kill many enemies. It was just a show of force to gain the upper hand.
From this point of view, Xiong Tingbi achieved his goal. The bombardment caused casualties among the Jiannu, created chaos, formed a deterrent, and forced Nurhaci to move his camp overnight.
At the same time, Nurhaci had to postpone the attack for a day to allow the army to adjust and rest, and sent Han soldiers to prepare a large number of earthbags and wood to fill the trenches.
Although this did not matter much to the Ningyuan defenders, psychologically, it was a setback for Nurhaci and the Jiannu. In ancient times, this was called military morale.
As one side gained strength while the other side lost strength, the Ming army saw the Jiannu's bustle, even panic, and naturally felt contempt or pleasure.
Among the defenders were those who had experienced the Battle of Guangning, and those who had participated in the Liaonan rotation war within a year. The combination of old and new greatly stabilized the morale of the army, and they were not afraid of the Jiannu's large-scale attack.
On the morning of the third day of the Lunar New Year, Nurhaci led his troops out of the camp and formed a battle line, directing the main attack direction towards the southwest corner of the city.
The wind was not strong, but it was very cold. The tense atmosphere before the war was like being frozen, as if the air had solidified.
The heavily armored infantry were like an indestructible city wall, and all kinds of weapons were like a dense forest, flashing with cold light, and the power they exuded was suffocating.
The shield carts were in front, and as the wailing horns sounded, the armored personnel shouted and pushed forward, forming a shielding barrier in front of the first wide and deep trench.
Sandbags and broken wood were thrown from the back of the shield cart and fell into the trench, ready to fill in a path.
Boom, boom, boom... The red cannons on the top of the city roared, and their target was the Jiannu army formation that was on standby for attack.
This was not Nurhaci's negligence, but a necessary posture for launching an attack. When the trenches were filled, the main attacking force was still several miles away. What kind of game was that?
The artillery attack the night before had caused some damage to the Jiannu, but it was not serious. But now, the Jiannu finally witnessed the power of the Red Barbarian Cannon.
The weight, speed, and combined impact of the shells carved a bloody trail through the Jiannu army's formation, leaving behind a trail of broken limbs, rotten bones and flesh.
Moreover, the Red Cannon had been repeatedly tested and had a very high hit rate within the range. After only five or six shots, they had already caused great damage to the Jiannu.
The tragic scene like a slaughterhouse and the inhuman screams and wails made the Jiannu army's battle formation tremble.
"Father Khan." Degelei rode up to Nurhaci and said hurriedly, "Please supervise the command in the rear, and leave the front to me and my fifth brother."
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