"Master, Zhangjiawan Fortress is five miles away!" A spy returned to Malay to report.

This was Zhao Peng's second time to come to Zhangjiawan. The first time was when he was still in Yanjing. In order to confiscate Li Sancai's home, he went to Zhangjiawan to calm the Li family. After the Qing army entered the pass, he built a fortress on the ruins of the original Zhangjiawan siege.

The city that Li Sancai originally built in Zhangjiawan was a one-meter-high earth platform. On top of the city platform, Zhao Peng broke through the Lijia City Village in Zhangjiawan, and burned down the Lijia City Village in a fire, but the Qing army quickly built the Li Jiawei Fortress on the ruins. It was originally a one-meter-high earth platform. The Qing army pushed the damaged earth city on the earth platform and rebuilt a stone fortress.

Ebilong, who retreated from Dagukou, gathered the defeated soldiers of the Green Camp and hid in the Zhangjiawan Fortress.

The Qing army thought that the Zhangjiawan Fortress could block the Ming army's road to Baliqiao, but they didn't know that the Ming army's eighteen inland gunboats were the nemesis of the Zhangjiawan Fortress.

Eighteen inland gunboats sailed along the canal towards Yanjing. After arriving on the river three miles away from Zhangjiawan, the inland gunboats fell off their anchor chains and stopped the ship, they began to prepare to bombard the Zhangjiawan Fortress.

The infantry and cavalry on the shore were arranged three miles away from Zhangjiawan Fortress to avoid being bombarded within the range of the Qing army's Red Barbarian cannons, resulting in unnecessary losses.

With the issuance of the "fire" order, eighteen inland gunboats spit out their flames, and eighteen 120-pound shells rose into the air, flew up to the sky, and smashed them down toward the head of Zhangjiawan Fortress three miles away.

The moment the mortar shell flew out of the muzzle, the shell ship with a small displacement sank under the action of recoil, and then rose again under the action of buoyancy. The ship shook on the river for a long time.

The heavy 120 pounds flew to the highest point, and fell from high altitude, landed above the stone fortress. The shells hit the stone slabs, and only a violent collision sound was heard. The stones were crushed to pieces, gravels flew across the bones, and smoke and dust filled the air. The shells that bounced up again were mixed with various gravels of different shapes, and sprinkled towards the Qing soldiers on the top of the city.

An unlucky Qing soldier was directly hit in the head by a 120-pound shell falling from a high altitude, and his whole person was immediately crushed into a pool of blood. The shells then hit the ground, smashing a huge pit, and gravel flew up one after another.

The huge cannon of the gunboat hit the Zhangjiawan Fortress in a round of cannon, with countless stones shattered on the ground, and several cracks appeared on the city walls.

The gunners who completed the first round of artillery began to load the mortar. While the gunners used wet mops to clean the barrel, they also cooled the barrel. Then they wiped the water in the barrel with a dry mops, then stuffed the fixed charge pack into the muzzle and stuffed it into the medicine room. Then the two gunners lifted a heavy shell and put it into the barrel.

After loading the shells, a gunner pierced a pointed cone through the gun door, pierced the medicine bag inside, and then inserted the medicine twist, which completed the entire loading.

The gunners who had completed the loading ignited the artillery, and the mortars made a deafening roar again. The shells rose into the air and smashed them hard towards the top of the Zhangjiawan Fortress.

While the artillery ships on the river were firing, the twelve-pound field artillery guns on the shore also spit out flames, and the whistling shells roared towards the walls of Zhangjiawan Fortress, which had already appeared in cracks.

The shells continued to hit the city wall of Zhangjiawan Fortress. The stones on the city walls shattered one after another, and the cracks on the city walls became bigger and bigger. The shelling continued from noon to night. Except for the time of irrigation and cooling of the cannon chamber, the shelling never stopped.

Every five to six shells fired by a 120-pound mortar cannon, it will stop. The gunners poured water into the barrel and cooled the barrel for a longer time. When the barrel cooled down, they lifted the tail of the cannon, poured the water out, and then wiped the water inside with a dry mop. Compared to the iron mortar cannon, it is much easier to cool down the copper cannon of the Army.

The copper has good thermal conductivity. After the gun barrel heats up, the gunners directly water the gun barrel, which quickly lowers the temperature of the gun barrel, and then can reload and launch a shelling again.

After nightfall, the Ming army shelled the Zhangjiawan Fortress overnight. The sound of artillery sounded all night and did not stop all night. The next day, the Ming army's artillery did not stop. Another day passed. After nightfall, the Ming army continued to attack.

At 8:30 am on the third day of the shelling, huge smoke suddenly rose from the Zhangjiawan Fortress. The city wall of Zhangjiawan Fortress, which had been bombarded for fifty-four hours, finally could not hold on and collapsed in the smoke and dust.

"Kill!" Zhao Peng drew out his sword and pointed at the collapsed Zhangjiawan Fortress city wall.

Amid the drum beats, a large group of infantry phalanxes walked towards the collapsed Zhangjiawan Fortress step by step.

The fortress was collapsed, and the Qing army in the city had completely lost their fighting spirit and fled from the fortress and fled towards Yanjing. The Qing general Ebilong could not stop the Green Camp's defeat at all. He could only take his close body, Goshha, and quickly fled from the battlefield on his horse and fled back to Yanjing through the Bali Bridge.

In the Forbidden City in Yanjing, it was time for the morning court again. Before dawn, the Qing officials who were waiting outside Chengtian Gate were wearing zombie suits. The expressions on their faces were similar to those on zombies. Their faces were either green or black. They seemed to be not here to attend court, but to attend the funeral.

In the Hall of Supreme Harmony, Oboi, with a bearded face, shouted at the top of his lungs: "Ebilong was defeated one after another, and lost Dagukou, Tianjin and Zhangjiawan, especially the three cities of Tianjin and Zhangjiawan, who fled without fighting and gave up the city of Tianjin, resulting in Minggou seizing Tianjin without any effort. Ebilong's crimes are unforgivable, and he should be killed in his opinion!"

"Your Majesty, please spare me! You're please!" Ebilong knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.

When the young emperor Shunzhi was about to call for the order to take Ebilong down, Suksaha stepped forward and beat him up, kneeled on the ground: "Your Majesty, you must not! Ebilong's defeat is not a crime of war, but Mingdo's weapons are well-equipped and helped by foreigners. Now, when the Qing Dynasty is alive and dead, one more person is left to be more powerful."

Fulin nodded: "Then let Ebilon make meritorious service."

Originally, Fulin had already planned to run away, but Bumubutai, Oboi and others forced Fulin to stay.

"The capital is a strong city in the world, and our army should defend the capital!" Sony said.

"Damn it!" Oboi rebuked, "The Mingdog collapsed in just two days after shelling the Zhangjiawan Fortress. Although the capital is stronger than Zhangjiawan, can it last for a month under the bombardment of the Mingdog's huge cannon?"

Everyone was speechless, especially Ebilong was very clear about the power of the Ming army's giant cannon. No matter how strong Yanjing City was, it might not be able to withstand the artillery bombardment for more than ten consecutive days!
Chapter completed!