With the advancement of the Qing army, there were already wars everywhere on the north bank of the Huai River. While the main force of the Qing army bed Xuzhou Prefecture, it also sent several partial troops to attack the major towns of Fengyang Prefecture and Huai'an Prefecture.

However, in the previous year, Zhou Shixian had already recruited more than 100,000 civilians to build countless fortresses, strengthen the city walls, and deployed tens of thousands of troops including Huang Degong and others, most of the prefectures were not captured by the Qing army.

But the most critical part of the Huaibei battlefield was to divide the Ming army in the southern Zhili into two parts, north and south, and also to restrain the Qing army in Xuzhou City.

Outside Xuzhou City, on the Qing army's artillery position, with the sound of war drums fired at the same time, more than 30 gunners holding ignition fork sticks made the same move almost at the same time, and a thunderous vibration suddenly broke out, and the artillery position was instantly covered by white smoke.

More than thirty iron shells weighing more than ten pounds whizzed out from the black hole guns, and after drawing parabolas in the air, they rumbled onto the thick walls of Xuzhou City.

On the outside of Xuzhou City, the newly built bricks and stones were easily smashed by powerful shells, and many gravels were smashed away, and they fell into the moat outside the city, splashing countless "dongdongdongdong" water splashed, and the city wall also exposed a layer of brand new bricks and stones inside.

These newly repaired and reinforced city walls are not strong enough, but they are stacked and thick enough. Even if the cannons are bombarded for several days, they may not be able to collapse. Not to mention that the Ming soldiers on the city wall will repair and reinforce the city walls while the cannons are extinguished and heat dissipated.

This is a masterpiece that Zhou Shixian conscripted tens of thousands of people and after more than half a year of construction.

Moreover, the heat dissipation and lifespan of heavy artillery in this era are not excellent. Every three or four times fired, the cannon must wait until the heat dissipation cools down before it can be reused. The firing rate is also slow, less than twenty times per hour, and no more than one hundred a day. The service life of each cannon is only about five or six hundred.

However, the situation was not entirely unfavorable to the Qing army. The walls of Xuzhou City were newly repaired and reinforced, which was not as solid as the original walls, and the possibility of being collapsed by artillery was very high.

Moreover, the Qing army's artillery production technology was not behind this land. Although the Red Cannon was a naval gun and was very bulky, it was competent for attacking cities.

After three rounds of fire, nearly a hundred iron bombs hit the city wall, many places on the south and east of Xuzhou City had already been smashed into deep pits, and smoke and dust were raised. Many Ming soldiers huddled behind the wall and did not dare to show their heads.

Immediately, above the Qing army formation, the military horns were heard continuously, hundreds of brightly colored flags were shaken hard, and countless people rushed out from the Qing army. Under the leadership of their respective officers, they charged forward, shouting and killing sounds shook the sky.

As a result, hundreds of trench bridge ladders appeared densely within the vision of the generals of the two armies.

The moats on the west, north and south outside Xucheng City were widened to nearly four feet after nearly a year of operation by Zhou Shixian, and the city gates were reduced to three, which made Xuzhou City easier to defend and difficult to attack.

The flat and open plains south of Xuzhou City are very conducive to the gathering and advancement of the army, and have also become the place where Duoduo chose to attack as a large army.

Countless civilians carrying the ladder of the trench bridge were driven to rush in front of the soldiers holding square shields, so as not to prevent these Qing troops from approaching the city wall from being shot high and killed on a large scale by Ming archers on the city wall.

This arrangement was naturally to reduce casualties of war soldiers. The Qing army still plundered more than 100,000 people before the war to act as laborers and meat shields, and created a large number of equipment.

But at this time, neither the Ming army nor the Qing army could be ruthless. On the battlefield, death and injury were the most normal thing.

As the smoke gradually dissipated on the Qing army's artillery positions, thousands of Ming soldiers on the city wall began to emerge again, and even the Ming army's artillery began to move.

Faced with the first official of the Qing army in half a month, the Ming soldiers on the city wall were all tense, silent, and dared not relax at all. Most of them were still new recruits.

Despite this, the tens of thousands of Ming soldiers on this city wall were all the elites among the Ming court's elite troops, especially Xue Laoer's troops, who received very rigorous and scientific training. However, they had not really participated in the battle or saw the tragic scene of the war.

"Duoduo started to attack the city after firing these few shots?" Gao Jie narrowed his eyes, seemed to be a little unbelievable, and looked at Xue Lao Er beside him in surprise and asked.

"Is it possible that the Qing army's artillery has not arrived yet, and today it is a tentative attack, so it has not used all its strength?" Xue Laoer also felt suspicious, but if the Qing army's artillery and ammunition has not been in place, in order not to expose this, the other party should not be so anxious to attack the city and expose his own shortcomings.

"No matter what the reason for Duoduo is, we will proceed as planned!"

Xue Laoer paused, his tone was very steady: "As long as the Qing army attacked the city, the ambush troops above and below the city immediately went out and caught him off guard. If the Qing army retreated, he would take the opportunity to seize all the Yunti thieves and bridges needed to attack the city, which would weaken his morale."

"Well, General Xue is right. Although it is not clear why Duoduo is like this, as long as these Qing troops rushed into the city wall, they would definitely not be able to escape." Gao Jie flattered.

Soon, as the Qing army approached, Ming soldiers began to report numbers on the city walls, and the Ming army gunners on the fortress on the wall also began to adjust the position and angle of the artillery, preparing to bombard these dense Qing army troops.

When thousands of Qing army and civilians carrying equipment entered the range of artillery attacks, the artillery soldiers on the city wall began to fire shells in the dense direction of the Qing army under the command of the military roster...

The civilians who were carrying the cloud ladder and thunder bridge were empty in front of them, and even the arrows that were fired from the Ming army from the wall could not be used, let alone dealing with artillery shells weighing more than ten pounds. Moreover, the shells shot from top to bottom from top to top from the Qing army's artillery positions outside the city were more powerful than the shells shot from bottom to top from the Qing army's artillery positions outside the city.

At this time, let alone these unarmed civilians, even those with very strict protection, if the Qing army soldiers were hit by shells, they would have to be smashed into meat paste and had their hands and feet broken.

"Boom, boom, boom..."

On the city wall, orange-red flames flashed by, dozens of iron bombs flew out of the thick smoke, and more than a dozen bloody roads were trampled out of the Qing army's . Above the plains, there were constant wails and screams.

With just this attack, hundreds of casualties were found in the Qing army's charge troops, many soldiers and civilians who were hit by artillery shells were smashed in half, many Yunti trench bridges were thrown directly to the ground, and even civilians collapsed and turned around to escape.

However, the Qing army soldiers did not waver, nor did they care about the civilians, and continued to rush forward. They knew very well that behind the charge army was a group of fierce military judges. At this time, when they were deserters, there was only a way out.

As expected, when the Qing army Bayala saw this, he immediately chopped and slashed several fleeing civilians without any mercy, and then continued to draw his sword to supervise the battle. Some officers rushed forward and personally hunted down deserters.

As the first round of artillery fire in the Ming army ended, the Qing soldiers and civilians holding shields and Yundihuo Bridge no longer hesitated, and then accelerated forward in order to seize the artillery preparation time in less than half a quarter of an hour and rush out of the range of the Ming army artillery.

After another bombardment of artillery and hundreds of casualties, some soldiers and civilians had already built a trench bridge on the moat and held shields to cross the river with their shields.

Just like almost all the large cities of this era, after the Xucheng moat, there is a half-meter-high wall of sheep and horses. After climbing over this short wall, the army can set up ladders in the flat area in front of the city wall and climb to the .

However, the Sheep and Horse Wall is only thirty or forty steps away from the city wall, and it takes a lot of effort to climb through it. It is an excellent target for musketeers and archers on the city wall. This is also the second line of defense that consumes the Qing army's military strength.

But the Sheep and Horse Wall is actually just a thin low wall. It is not difficult to destroy it, not to mention that several Sheep and Horse Walls under the city wall have been smashed by shells just launched by the Qing army.

Not only that, the Qing army had already prepared for the obstacles of the sheep and horse wall. With the rumbling sound of more than a dozen sheep and horse walls exploded, and the explosives buried under the wall quickly collapsed. More than a dozen earth flowers bloomed almost at the same time, and mud and dust flew.

The Qing army soldiers took advantage of the dust and smoke and quickly passed the explosion of gaps and rushed towards the next wall of sheep and horses, and went further away from the wall of Xuzhou City.

The Ming army on the city wall was shocked when they saw this scene. They did not expect that the Qing army would have another appearance - these Tartars would actually attack the city.

But the rigorous training on weekdays has made them form muscle memory. No one will shoot without the orders of the officers, otherwise they will be killed on the spot.

However, the Ming generals on the city wall quickly reacted. As the fire flashed and the strings were roaring, countless lead bullets and arrows shot out from the city wall, and fierce gunfire burst into the thick smoke.

However, the vision was not good, and the Qing army was covered by the Sheep and Horse Wall. The Ming army's attack had little effect. It was supposed to be in such a place, taking advantage of the Qing army's difficulty overtaking the Sheep and Horse Wall, and the Sheep and Horse Wall was a powerful cover for the Qing army.

On the Xuzhou City Tower, looking at the scene at the sheep and horse wall, many generals had lost their calmness just now, frowned and whispered.

"Wave the flag and prepare the ambushers on the city wall and the inside of the city wall. As long as the Qing army rushed under the wall, they would attack immediately!" Xue Laoer looked calm and uneasy, and he had already left a backup plan.

"No!" Several generals beside Xue Lao Er responded immediately.

Soon, thousands of Qing soldiers who crossed the moat and rushed through the Sheep and Horse Wall set up ladders on the flat land under the city wall.
Chapter completed!