The Zhenyuan gunboat sailed to the river surface north of Nanjing City, and its huge hull was erected in front of Nanjing City.

The Qing army on the top of the city squatted behind the walls and looked timidly at the side of the hull.

On the deck of the Zhenjiang River, Guo Zhong stood up and directed the soldiers to load the cannons. After the soldiers loaded, they pushed the cannons into the cannon position and then fixed them with iron chains.

War was one of the best ways to train troops. Zhao Ming fought from Chongming to Nanjing, and along the way he carried a large number of ships, as well as fishermen, boaters and dock coolies.

Now Zhao Ming has money, food and weapons on hand, so Zhao Ming ordered Guo Zhong to select some men, organize them into the water camp, and form a naval army of 3,000 people.

At this time, the water camp warships lined up on the river surface, and the scene was spectacular. However, 90% of the water camp ships were not equipped with artillery, only the Zhenyuan and several Dafu ships had cannons on them.

The deck of Zhenyuan was full of people, and many soldiers on other ships were organized to watch how the gunners on Zhenyuan operated.

In order to let them know how to operate the cannon, an officer explained in front of the watching soldiers, explaining in detail the steps of operating the cannon and the things to be paid attention to.

The officer was a hundred households named Xu Rong, who was a friend recruited by Guo Zhong. He had worked under Sun Yuanhua and was very familiar with artillery operations.

He held a booklet in his hand and checked the medicine bag and iron bullets. While guiding the gunner to load, he said to everyone: "Different artillery must use different medicine bags when firing." He pointed to the red cannon that was loading and said: "A 2,700-pound red cannon like this is the second medicine bag. If you use the third one, the power will be too small to kill the enemy. If you use the first medicine bag, you may explode the chamber and hurt yourself."

While he said, he showed the soldiers medicine bags. These soldiers were not soldiers from Zhenyuan, but newly recruited men from the Shui Camp.

In order to make the water camp combat power, Zhao Ming asked Guo Zhong to organize new soldiers to study on the ship and let them intern on the gunship so that they can master the skills as soon as possible.

The artillery firing technology of the Ming Dynasty was already quite advanced, and gunpowder was actually available more than ten years ago.

At first, Zhao Ming was surprised when he saw a bag of bags wrapped in cotton cloth with a numbered medicine bag on it. He thought the Ming Dynasty was very backward and did not think that many things were already very advanced. They were the best things under the conditions at that time, which made him lose the opportunity to make suggestions.

Xu Rong introduced the medicine bag, followed the actions of the gunner on the Zhenyuan, and introduced how to pierce the medicine bag, insert the lead, and aim and shoot.

At this time the gunner was ready, and Xu Rong reminded the new servant: "It's time to fire!"

"Boom boom boom!" A deafening sound of cannons suddenly erupted on the side of the gunship. In the lightning and thunder, thick white smoke covered the side of the gunship. The gun mounts of each gun retreated in turn. The soldiers on the deck felt that the ships were trembling and were extremely shocked.

At this time, dozens of iron bombs rushed out of the muzzle, hitting the river surface, and hitting the city wall. The head of Nanjing immediately became dusty, and countless gravel rose into the air, and then fell like raindrops, splashing dense white water on the river surface.

The red cannons of the Qing army on the top of the city began to fight back, splashing water columns on the river surface, but no one shot hit the Ming army's ships.

The effective range of artillery on the Ming army's gunship was far greater than that of the Qing army's Red and Barbarian cannons. In addition, the ship movements made the target smaller than the city, and the Qing army's artillery could not hit Ming army ships at all.

Since the Ming army approached the city, the Ming army infantry was stationed outside Nanjing City. Apart from defeating a Qing reinforcements from Ningguo Mansion, they did not attack Nanjing City.

The most intense battle between the Ming army and the Qing army was the artillery battle between the Qing army on the north city of Nanjing and the Ming army's water camp on the river.

The Ming army ships lined up and bombarded Nanjing City, giving people the feeling of the Ming army escorting the Qing army to fight, and also pulled the Qing army's attention to the river.

The Ming army was approaching Nanjing, and the Qing army's heads were to behead the Qing army, to build a city of Jingguan, cut off Tian Xiong alive, and shelled Nanjing, which greatly shocked the Jiangnan area.

Although the vast majority of the gentry and people in Jiangnan were on the verge of watching and did not dare to support the Ming army rashly, for fear that the Ming army would be defeated and would implicate themselves when the time came, there were still some men who were not confused by Hong Chengchou's little engraving and Xiaohui. They did not forget the Qing army's killing in Jiangnan and resolutely chose to join the Ming army.

At this time, under the city of Nanjing, the Ming army gathered and the people who came to join had reached more than 30,000. Zhao Ming and Li Chengdong both took the opportunity to recruit soldiers and expand their power.

While the Ming army grew, the strength of the Qing army in Nanjing was also growing.

When the Ming army was at the city, Hong Chengchou ordered Qing troops from all over the country to rush to Nanjing for reinforcements. Now, except for a Qing army from the Ningguo Mansion south being defeated by Li Chengdong and fled back to Ningguo in a hurry, the 6,000 Qing troops from the upper reaches of Anqing and Wuhu have entered the city of Nanjing.

In addition, the 10,000 Qing soldiers who came from Xuzhou and Huaian also arrived in Jiangbei, but they did not have ferries, and there were Ming army ships on the river, so they were unable to cross the Yangtze River to reinforce Nanjing.

On the 22nd day of the first lunar month, the Ming army had been stationed at the city of Nanjing for more than half a month. As Qing reinforcements arrived one after another, the situation became increasingly unfavorable to the Ming army.

Early this morning, Hong Chengchou led many Qing generals to personally go to the city to check the enemy situation. As reinforcements entered Nanjing one after another, the Qing army became more courageous.

"Master Zhongtang, the enemy soldiers under the city obviously do not have the strength to capture Nanjing, but why do they not fight and retreat without retreating?" Qing general Gao Jinku was a little confused about the behavior of the Ming army.

It was not just him, but Hong Chengchou didn't understand why the Ming army had not left yet.

In the current situation, the Ming army cannot capture Nanjing. Once another elite Qing army arrives, the Ming army will face the situation of being attacked inside and outside, and will be defeated by then.

Hong Chengchou pondered for a while, shook his head, and said in a deep voice: "If something goes wrong, there will be a demon! No matter what the enemy's intentions are, you just need to guard the city!"

Many Qing generals nodded when they heard the words, but at this moment, a horn suddenly sounded in the Ming army camp.

"Zhongtang, the pirates can't hold back and are finally going to attack the city!" Gao Jinku couldn't help but exclaim.

All the Qing army's attention on the city wall was attracted outside the city. The guards pulled away the soldiers huddled by the wall. Hong Chengchou, surrounded by the generals, walked to the wall and looked out of the city.

Accompanied by the sound of trumpets, in the wilderness east of the city, the Ming soldiers slowly set out from the camp, lined up outside the city, and took an attacking posture.

Hong Chengchou frowned slightly, "Did the pirates feel that they will be defeated when stationed in the city for a long time, so they decided to take the risk of siege?"

At this time, in the Ming army array, Li Chengdong and Zhao Ming stood together on horseback.

Li Chengdong looked at Zhao Ming with a serious expression, but was still worried, "General Zhao, your coffins can really blow up the city wall."

This is a successful case. Zhao Ming was full of confidence and patted his chest and promised: "Standle Li put his heart in his stomach, I will definitely lift the city wall."
Chapter completed!