When Liu Jun received a reply, he knew that Zheng Zhilong was coming.▲∴▲∴,

He made great efforts along the way to catch this big fish, but now the fish has finally taken the bait. Liu Jun personally met Zheng Cai, the nephew of Zheng Zhilong, who came to send a message to him, and agreed to meet Zheng Zhilong in the new army camp outside Nanjing the next day.

In Liu Jun's view, although Zheng Zhilong's son Zheng Chenggong later recaptured Taiwan and fought with the Qing army for a lifetime in history. At this time, Zheng Zhilong was just a businessman. Only from the fact that he was recruited by the court and was appointed as a guerrilla general, he immediately left Taiwan, which he had been operating for many years since Yan Siqi, and brought all his troops to Fujian. It can be seen that Zheng Zhilong was just a businessman at this time, and a businessman who wanted to be recognized by the court and do maritime trade safely.

If he had thoughts of separatism at this time, then he would not easily abandon Taiwan and moved his family to Fujian no matter what. Therefore, Liu Jun was actually quite sure about this meeting.

In fact, the maritime merchants in the Ming Dynasty were the same and wanted to be recognized by the court. If the court refused to recognize them and did not allow them to do maritime trade, then they would be pirates. If the court recognized them, then they would go from pirates to maritime merchants. Wang Zhi, Li Dan, Xu Xinsu and others back then were all like this, and Zheng Zhilong would be no exception.

However, Liu Jun would not underestimate Zheng Zhilong. Zheng Zhilong, who was born into an ordinary citizen, could rise at the sea in just over a decade and become the current overlord of maritime business. Naturally, he is not an ordinary person.

The next morning, Liu Jun washed and changed his clothes under Liu Rushi's service, dressed in an extremely majestic manner, and rode the imperial war horse to the camp outside the suburbs.

In order to give Zheng Zhilong some advice, Liu Jun ordered Gao Juan to set up the curtains of the Central Army. Outside the tent, a hundred strong guards pointed out long swords with each other, and set up fifty cold knife doors, and sat upright in the tent.

Moreover, starting from the self-operated gate, there were rows of musketeers standing solemnly. Outside the camp gate, there were dozens of cannons.

The soldiers of the seventh battalion in the camp were still lined up to practice, and the momentum was moving.

When Zheng Zhilong arrived with a group of people, he could hear the sound of training in the camp from afar. He saw the camp was tight and the flags were flew.

After waiting for a while, a small school rode out of the camp and invited Zheng Zhilong and others to join the camp.

Zheng Zhilong rode a horse and followed him into the camp. As soon as he entered the camp gate, he saw a long row of cannons placed there.

An officer with a flag on his back and a knife on his waist shouted loudly, "Go forward in formation!"

Zheng Zhilong stopped and looked at the gunners carefully. In this era, cannons are powerful weapons, especially at sea, giant ships and cannons are the king. Zheng Zhilong had seen the purge of Liu Jun's soldiers, and now he wanted to see the artillery fire of Liu Jun's soldiers.

On the other side, with the orders of several artillery bureau chiefs, several artillery bureaus began to move quickly towards the predetermined position. The soldiers who were driving skillfully drove the carriages and horses. When they arrived at the destination, they immediately stopped and pulled the horses. The gunners ran forward, and after arriving at the destination, they quickly took off the artillery from the car in front and pushed it into the shooting position cut by the artillery bureau chiefs with their waist knives.

Each artillery is separated by four meters, which is strictly implemented in accordance with the artillery code. The purpose is to prevent the enemy's anti-artillery fire from hitting the artillery. At least four meters away, it can prevent the enemy from hitting two artillery groups with one shell.

While the artillery was deployed, the soldiers driving drove the car and then walked forward for several steps before getting off the car and dismantled the car in front from the horse. The well-trained Nine-Headed Artillery completed this task in just a few seconds. Then, they led the horses to the protective area behind and hid the horses. On the battlefield, these horses would be the enemy's main targets of attack.

Because the artillery has no horses, it is difficult to move.

According to Caodian, the car in front must roll into the appropriate position, and then each artillery will enter its own position.

Three gunners are in front of the car, and four gunners are behind the gun. Four gunners are behind the gun stand on the left side of the tail of the gun and wait for orders.

At this time, the 100 generals of each artillery bureau began to issue orders.

"Start launch!"

Zheng Zhilong and his brothers watched the nine-headed bird's artillery operate in an orderly manner, and were amazed in their hearts. These gunners were quite well-trained.

At this time, after hearing the order, the gunners on the field, the gun No. 1 gunners with bullet pushers and gun brushes, immediately walked to the right side of the muzzle, and stood there, while the gunners of gun No. 2 stood to the left of the muzzle, preparing to receive the shells and medicine bags and put them in the chamber.

The No. 3 gunner position went to the right of the breeze. One of their important tasks was to protect the fire door of the artillery when the imperial court was cleaning the barrel while loading ammunition.

The fourth gunner stood on the left side of the breeze and was about to drill holes in the medicine bag through the fire door, then inserted the fuse, and lit the fuse after hearing the order of the 100-year-old general.

The No.5 gunner stood behind the front car, often known as the ammunition carrier. He waited by his side while the No.6 and No.7 were preparing ammunition.

Gunners No. 6 and No. 7 are the busiest in the entire gun shooting, because if they are using bombs, they have to cut wooden fuze tubes and load them into the shells.

The gunner is the commander of each cannon. After receiving the firing order from the General Manager of the Bureau, he issued an order to load ammunition and specified the type of shells required, choosing whether it is a solid shell, an explosive bomb or a shotgun. They also have to explain the range of the shells reaching the target based on the target, which requires the gunner to estimate based on his own experience. Therefore, each cannon and the most experienced veterans in the gun team.

"Reload the bomb, five hundred steps ahead!" the cannon leader shouted loudly.

Gunners No.6 and No.7, located at the rear of the front car, immediately check the table posted on the cover of the front car. This table has a detailed column of the corresponding shells, the shooting angle required for charge and range, and also has a detailed column of the flight time of the corresponding shells. After the gunner No.6, after checking the required shooting angle and time, he immediately reported the gun captain loudly.

"Report the Gunner"

After receiving the report, the gunman immediately began to use the gun to determine the firing angle and use the sight to adjust it. While shouting swear words to the gunner No. 3 and gunner No. 4 with a loud voice, asking them to adjust the artillery. At the same time, appropriate corrections must be made according to the wind direction and wind power.

At the same time, gunner No. 7 must delay the length of the fuze according to the hit time, and then extract the movable blockage from the shell fuze hole and insert the fuze into the appropriate position of the fuze hole.

After the shell was ready, Gunner No. 5 loaded it into the Gunner's canvas backpack, a backpack specially used to carry the shells and used it to transport the shells to the gunman's position.

The gunman checked the shells to ensure that the shells were equipped with fuses, whether the gunpowder was leaked or otherwise damaged.

After completing the detailed inspection and finding that everything was normal, the gunman issued an order again with a loud voice.

“Continue!”

After receiving the order, Gunner No. 5 walked straight to the muzzle, where he handed the shells to Gunner No. 2.

The bomb was placed at the muzzle by the gunner No. 2, and the gunner No. 1 bounced it into the barrel with a bullet pusher. After completion, the gunner No. 1 and the gunner No. 2 left the gunners and stood behind the muzzle and looked towards the enemy.

At the same time, the No. 4 gunner made a hole in the medicine bag, then inserted a fuse on the fire door, then left the cannon, pressed Caodian, and faced the enemy with his back.

Everything was ready and the gunner gave the firing order.

"put!"

The fuse was lit, and the cannons roared. The heat, roar and black smoke suddenly spread out, and it was difficult for the gunners to figure out when the shells flew out of the muzzle.

After the shell was launched, the launch was not finished. The shells fired must also be observed and evaluated. The gunman must determine where the shells fired landed so that the next shell can be corrected.

While the gunners were observing, the gunners pushed the gun back to their positions, then began to clean the gun barrel, and then the gunners issued a command to fire the second round, readjust the gun, correct the firing angle, and even correct the delay time of the fuse, and then the second launch. As long as the gun bureau has no orders to stop, the shooting will be repeated.

Zheng Zhilong and his party watched from beginning to end and shot ten shots in a row.

Zheng Zhilong silently recalled the operations of the Chu army's artillery just now. One gun grouped eight artillerymen, one gun captained seven gunners. One cannon, one car in front of two ammunition trucks, and each car was eight mules and horses. And one artillery team seemed to have four guns. The artillery fire just now had nine artillery teams, and three were in total. A total of thirty-six artillery pieces.

"Brother, the Chu army's artillery was fired so fast. It was probably only a single incense stick, and ten cannons were fired, which was so fast."

Usually, it is said that a incense stick is about five minutes in the West. The nine-headed bird artillery fires two shells in one minute. This speed really shocked Zheng Zhibao and others.

"Yes, and the Chu army was still a bomb fired, and almost most of the time spent repeatedly adjusting."

"This bomb is so powerful. Have you noticed that their delay fuse is so accurate. Every time the shell is shot out, it explodes before landing. This time is very good." Zheng Cai also exclaimed.

"And you also notice their cannon, they are not long-barrel cannons, but short-barrel cannons. This cannon fires such explosive bombs, and there is no explosion at once, and the shells can be exploded every time, and they are still blinking."

Zheng and his group were all experts in using cannons, fighting at sea, mainly in artillery battles. The three-masted gunboats built by Zheng even had more than 40 cannons in a ship, but the current shooting demonstration of the Nine-Headed Bird still shocked them.

This short-barrel, large-mouth cannon is similar to the tiger squat cannon, and is very different. It can be used and fired explosive bombs, but its effect is extremely strong. Since the Nine-Headed Bird has such a powerful weapon, it goes without saying that ordinary Red Cannons or Folang machine cannons will definitely be better used.

There was another drum sound, and the gunners who fired ten rapid-fire bombs pulled the horses back, loaded the cannons into the carriage, pulled the cannon away, and the ammunition truck followed.

The horn continued, and another artillery team appeared. This time they carried heavy red cannons with long tubes.

First, solid iron bullets fired from a long distance, and then shot shotguns. A hundred lead bullets were loaded with iron barrels and placed in the gun barrel. With a roar, the iron barrel was shot out of the chamber and exploded immediately after leaving the chamber. Hundreds of lead bullets exploded in a fan-shaped shape.

Zheng Zhilong and others knew that this kind of shotgun was powerful and sacrificed long-range range, but it was extremely powerful for melee combat. Especially when firing this kind of shotgun, it did not require special elaboration. But Xin did not need to wipe the barrel or aim. She just fired along the direction of the enemy's attack, killing one by one, and the speed was fast.

"The Dutch artillery is just like this!" Zheng Zhilong sighed. Today, he came here and saw this as soon as he entered the camp. The artillery of the Chu army was not only advanced, but also more skilled in artillery. Liu Jun's strength was far beyond his imagination.

After three rounds of artillery fire, the Chu army officers led them to continue in. (To be continued.)
Chapter completed!