When the army was lined up, Zheng Chenggong was soon attracted by those mortars. There were not such artillery guns with short barrels and thick muzzles in the Ming Dynasty, but they were basically products from the middle and early Ming Dynasty. With the entry of European artillery such as the Folang machine and the Red-Eleven Cannon into China, the civil servants and generals who led the troops were more focused on these long-barrel artillery. After all, the range and power of the Red-Eleven Cannon and the rate of firing of the Folang cannon have great advantages.

Although after a long period of training, the loading speed of the mortar cannon is still surprisingly slow. Whether it is aiming at the range, adjusting the direction of the muzzle, or loading gunpowder and those huge shells, the entire gun crew is always careful. To put it to an exaggeration, with this skill, the Red Barbarian cannon has fired several shots.

Zheng Chenggong watched the gun teams loading step by step. He could see that these gun teams were strictly trained, with uniform steps and almost the same speed. The cooperation within the gun team was even more tacit. Everyone knew what they should do.

"Fu Ren, are these artillery used to attack the city?"

"Yes." Chen Wen nodded, and then said to Zheng Chenggong: "I said yesterday that I would give you a gift, which is this kind of weapon, but you have to send someone to receive training because the operation of this kind of artillery is more difficult than the ones we used before."

"So that's the case. Then I have to see the power of Fu Ren's gift first."

Zheng Chenggong knew the attack on the city walls. He had already engaged in siege battles many times before, but Chen Wen's cannon was a bit strange. The shells were so big that they should be quite powerful, but with such a short cannon body, the range would inevitably be affected. If you can't hit the city wall, then there would be no use.

Zheng Chenggong thought about this, and the commander of the artillery position also reported to Chen Wen that the artillery was ready. Seeing this, Chen Wen did not intend to waste time and directly issued a shooting order.

In order to attack a series of strong cities under this strategic goal, Chen Wen even brought six mortars, a total of fourteen large-caliber mortars placed in front of the formation. Chen Wen felt that it was a bit too luxurious.

After the gun crew was ready, Chen Wen's order had been issued, and the fuses were ignited one by one. The huge cannon sounded. Just now, Zheng Chenggong watched with his own eyes lifting the huge cannonballs placed in the muzzle with special tools.

Next, Zheng Chenggong's eyes rose suddenly along the flight trajectory of the shells, and then suddenly fell suddenly. This angle made him very uncomfortable after seeing the shells. However, when the shells landed, he immediately left behind this discomfort, leaving only the city of Quanzhou in the distance.

The first shell fell and did not hit the city wall as expected, but the shells falling into the moat stirred up a splash higher than the city wall, which immediately poured the defenders into a heart-warming mood. The first shell was like this, and the second shell was even worse. It fell to the ground before the moat even arrived. At the moment of the vibration, the third shell really hit the top of the city gate tower of Renfengmen.

A creaking sound came from a distance. The city gate tower tilted at a speed visible to the naked eye at the moment of shelling. Through the telescope, Chen Wen could clearly see the bricks and stones splashing everywhere, knocking the nearby Geng family army to the head and blood flowing, and running around.

"this?"

Zheng Chenggong was stunned, and the remaining mortars roared one after another. Some of the shells were not lucky, either hitting outside the city or hitting the moat. However, some of the shells hit the city wall like this. The huge kinetic energy instantly blasted the wall into a gap of large or small, and Geng's army was injured by splashing bricks and stones.

"fire!"

On the top of the city, Xu Degong, the left-wing general who had not been supervising the battle at the city gate, didn't care about checking his arms, which were hurt by stones, immediately ordered the artillery on the top of the city to fight back.

However, after orders were issued, the gun crew at the top of the city also needed time to restore order and then load them step by step. This time is not short, but it is still much faster than the Ming army's mortar. However, Chen Wen's mortar cannon was specially made for siege battles, with the maximum range and power as much as possible. As for the rate of fire, it doesn't matter whether it can keep up with the marching.

As a result, although the artillery on the city was condescending, the range was still slightly inferior, even those few red cannons. Xu Degong was not unaware of this, but if the Ming army continued to bombard and did not fight back, the morale of the defenders on the city could not be maintained.

However, the counterattack was quickly proved to be ineffective. The limited number of shells that rolled in front of the Ming army's artillery positions also exhausted their kinetic energy during flight and removal from the ground. On the Ming army, the infantry formation was still standing, and the artillery's loading speed was not affected. The only thing to be thankful was that in rounds of artillery bombardment, the defenders on the top of the city did have something to do, and the morale quickly declined with breathing and thinking was temporarily blocked.

However, as the second round of artillery attacks by the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang began, the defenders soon discovered that the ugly-looking artillery outside the city was even more accurate than the first round under the control of their gun teams.

"Is this the kind of cannon that collapsed Ganzhou?"

The city defense of Quanzhou was led by Xu Degong, the left-wing general, and the right-wing general, the Ming army was clearly in the east, so they naturally gathered the elite troops in the city here, and officers below were responsible for each direction.

Logically speaking, Quanzhou's strong city, even if it is not famous, is not a shoddy project. However, under the shelling of the Ming army, the city wall was almost as pale as paper. In just two rounds of shooting, not only did the city gate tower collapse, but there were also several gaps, large or small, on the city wall. The siege troops did not need to do anything else. As long as they shot for a day, they could basically cross the gap and engage in street battles with the defenders in the afternoon.

"Tell Lian Shuai that if this continues, the city cannot be defended at all. We must attack as soon as possible to knock down the artillery outside the city!"

Xu Degong was like this, and Lian Decheng was also a long-time general. He knew that the key to defending the city or not now lies in the artillery. Since this is the case, Lian Decheng had to take the elite cavalry out of the city, but he still used some tricks in the attack direction.

"King, the enemy's cavalry has left the city since Xiaodongmen, with a number of no less than two thousand cavalry."

According to information, Geng Jimao's army had 20,000, and the two thousand cavalry were roughly one-half of the total cavalry.

In fact, after moving to Fujian, Geng Jimao had a plan to expand the cavalry after both sides suffered a loss in Tong'an and Zheng Chenggong, so as to rely on the absolute advantage of cavalry to annihilate the main infantry of Zheng Chenggong in the next war. However, Fujian did not produce war horses, and the situation in Jiangsu and Zhejiang also caused the war horses sent from the north to be constantly reduced by guys like Hong Chengchou who he was not very promising.

There are more than three thousand cavalry here, at least not less than Zheng Chenggong. Unfortunately, this time his opponent is not the only one with Zheng Chenggong, but more importantly, Chen Wen's army is outside the city.

"Let the cavalry of the Jinhua Division go and let the horses go. This king and the Prince of Yanping are here, so he can't play any fun."

The cavalry emerged from the left wing of the army, and the cavalry of the brigade roared by, which made Zheng Chenggong's generals really swallowed their saliva. The cavalry's maneuver power has a great effect on the battlefield. Whether it is strategic maneuver or tactical maneuver, generals who are good at using cavalry can always find their opponent's weakness in the chaotic battlefield, and then launch a surprise attack with cavalry to achieve a reversal of the battle situation.

The defenders' cavalry emerged and soon formed a regiment of cavalry with the Jinhua Division. A cavalry battalion, a direct cavalry team of the Jinhua Division and three battalions were exactly the same as this cavalry.

The key to the siege battle is these mortars. Xu Degong understood this truth, so Chen Wen and Zheng Chenggong were naturally very clear. Soon, the third round of artillery shells began. As the huge shells fell one after another, the Renfeng Gate city gate opened wide, and another cavalry rushed out from there.

"This is probably Geng Jimao's last method."

The strength of the two sides is very different. Even if Chen Wen is not counted, Zheng Chenggong is still higher than Geng Jimao's overall strength even after experiencing last year's defeat. Only the cavalry still has a gap. Now Chen Wen brought nearly 30,000 combat troops into Fujian, and the overall situation is earth-shaking. In the information, Geng Jimao only expanded his army and used rewards to strengthen training, that's all.

Chen Wen and Zheng Chenggong smiled at each other, Chen Wen was very relaxed, but Zheng Chenggong smiled bitterly. The opponents who could still fight with him back then were now too much left by them. Just like him, Li Dingguo, and Sun Kewang, these army leaders who had tens of thousands of soldiers back then were now quickly surpassed by the general who had only led thousands of soldiers when he had just heard of the name Chen Wen.

"In this battle, I joined forces with His Highness the King of Yue to regain Quanzhou and completely eliminate Geng Jimao, the rebellion, from the eight Fujian areas. The guards obeyed the orders and followed the guards of the King of Yue's palace to attack Geng Ni."

Once the order was issued, Chen Wen and Zheng Chenggong's guards and the cavalry battalion of the Minzhong Division all came out one after another. Compared with the fierce fighting on the left-wing battlefield, this side already had a numerical advantage before the battle.

The cavalry confronted the center of the battlefield, and the artillery fire did not stop for a moment. After several rounds of impact, Lian Decheng was injured by the hand guns of the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang and was forced to withdraw to the city. As time went by, the passive defense of Quanzhou City Wall could not hold on in the afternoon. With the rumbling sound, a city wall on the north side of Renfengmen collapsed, and even caused a moat to be blocked. Seeing this, Chen Wen also issued an order for the general attack.

The brigade of Ming army infantry came out, and as the guns continued to shoot, the mandarin duck formation of the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and the vine armored soldiers of the Ming army in Fujian lined up to the gap.

After most of the artillery attacks, the defenders were seriously injured, and they were basically beaten, and their morale was also very low. As a vine armored soldier became more flexible, he quickly rushed to the city, and the Mandarin Duck Formation that followed him also broke into the city. Next, the Ming army opened the city gates and entered one by one, gradually slowly suppressing the defenders through the advantage of numbers. Until the royal palace in the city announced that it had changed hands, the defenders were completely declared collapse. After Ganzhou, another city with heavy troops was captured by the Ming army in Jiangsu and Zhejiang with slight casualties.

"Where is Geng Jimao?"

"When the king said, when he was about to catch that guy, he was chanting sutras and chanting Buddha's name in the Buddhist temple."

Hearing this, Chen Wen almost burst into laughter. Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming, among the Three Shun Kings, Kong Youde is the most brave and Shang Kexi is the most cunning, and Geng Zhongming said that it is a contributor.

At the end of the third year of Yongli, the Qing court sent King Sanshun to attack Guangdong and Guangxi, but Shang Kexi and Geng Zhongming were reported, saying that they had taken in thousands of fugitives in their army.

The law of fugitives in the Qing Dynasty was very strict. It was originally planned to use Shang Kexi, and Geng Zhongming cut off the title of the prince and fined 5,000 taels of silver. Considering that Dorgon was using people, he decided to exempt the title from being rewarded for his contribution to "sea surrender", and the fine was reduced to 4,000 taels of silver. As a result, the imperial edict was still on the way, and Shang Kexi was not doing anything. Geng Zhongming was so frightened that he found a brief look. In the end, Dorgon did not allow Geng Jimao to inherit the title until his death. Even the throne of the King of Jingnan was said to have been defeated by Shunzhi after he defeated the "Dorgon's anti-Huang Taiji group" before giving it to Geng Jimao.

Geng Zhongming was like this, and Geng Jimao's son Geng Jingzhong was also like this. During the Three Feudal Rebellion, Geng Jingzhong fought with Governor Li Zhifang in Zhejiang in a very good manner. As a result, the main force of the Qing army went south and Zheng Jing jumped out to cheat people. Geng Jingzhong quickly became cowardly and turned around to help the Qing army suppress the monk Zheng Jingxin. In the end, the Three Feudal Rebellion ended, and Geng Jingzhong still had the fate of being executed by Ling Chi.

Compared with his father and son, Geng Jimao was mediocre all his life, but judging from the performance of Li Dingguo's two expeditions to Guangdong, he was just like his father and his son, as fierce as his body, and was unscrupulous when he was strong, and when he was weak, he would immediately become an ostrich lying on the ground, which was ridiculous.

"Closed, I haven't arrived in Guangzhou. It's too early to kill him now."

After capturing Quanzhou, the Ming army of Jiangsu and Zhejiang did not enter the city, but instead withdrew and officially handed over the city to Zheng Chenggong. Chen Wen's good cooperative attitude made the generals in Zheng Chenggong's army let go of their concerns. After a few days of rest, Chen Wen said goodbye to Zheng Chenggong and led a large army to Tingzhou Prefecture.

The army was gone, and Zheng Chenggong and his generals looked out from the city. The Ming army commander who joined forces with them to capture Quanzhou a few days ago has many despised names such as eunuch party remnants, turbulent political warriors, murderous demons, etc., and has a lot of reputations such as Buddhas from thousands of families, famous generals in Zhongxing, great heroes, and saviors of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. However, in any case, the most amazing man in the world deserves his reputation. However, this strange man is like them, both sides are all warlords of the Southern Ming Dynasty. Perhaps one day, both sides will not be able to avoid a fate of a ferocious man.

"The vassal lord, King Yue, is now influential to the world. In the future, the northern expedition to the Central Plains and drive the Tartars out of China, I am afraid that it will inevitably lead to the usurpation of the throne. Even if he wants to be a pure minister, his generals may not be able to agree."

As Zheng Chenggong's planner and confidant general, Zhou Quanbin was very worried about this. However, when Zheng Chenggong heard this, he received only a sincere sigh. It was not until a long time later that Zheng Chenggong expressed his thoughts.

"Bangxian, no matter whether this is the case, at least I and Chen Wen are friends today. If he dares to do such an unjust act, I will deal with him to the end. But now we are weak and need to recover as soon as possible, so we must recover the officials as quickly as possible and explore the South China Sea so that we can continue to deal with each other in the future and leave a glimmer of hope for the Emperor Ming."

However, Taiwan is small and now it is even more indigenous and wilderness, and it is difficult to gain a foothold and develop it there.

In fact, from the moment he decided to conquer Taiwan, Zheng Chenggong had already determined to die. This was his last way out, and in his eyes it was probably also the last way out for Huang Ming. However, at this moment, no one thought that the capture of Quanzhou was not only their first encounter, but also their last time.
Chapter completed!