Chapter 803: Bombardment

"Get on board, get on board..."

While the sailing warships were preparing to bombard Niutou Beach, teams of royal palace soldiers boarded the troop transport ships.

Sixty large troop transport ships will be the main force of this crossing, capable of sending 30,000 soldiers to land at one time.

In addition, there are small boats collected by Chang Wei from the north of the river.

These small boats will be steered by militiamen who are familiar with ship operation, and will transport soldiers to the other side of the river together with the troop transport ships.

Together with the troop transport ships, about 50,000 people can be sent at one time.

At this moment, Zhao Xu and Chang Wei stood at the Baima Ferry, holding a telescope to observe Niutou Beach.

During this period, the hot air balloon soldiers kept going back and forth between the two sides to conduct reconnaissance on Niutou Beach.

Since the steamship arrived at the Baima Ferry.

The powerful tribe army has been continuously reinforcing Niutou Beach.

Originally, there were only 20,000 mercenaries stationed here.

Now there are about 130,000 powerful tribe troops to supplement here and enter the trench fortifications of Niutou Beach.

Unlike the previous artillery groups, the artillery of Niutou Beach is combined with the trench, and there is a deep trench in front of the artillery.

Zhao Xu didn't know whether the powerful clans had learned from the failure of Jinhe or the generals of the Western Land had given them guidance.

However, this did increase the difficulty of their attack.

Fortunately, Niutou Beach was built along the river, which provided convenient conditions for the sailing warships to tilt their firepower.

Before crossing the river, he wanted to blow Niutou Beach to pieces.

"Start the attack!" Zhao Xu gave the order after all six sailing warships arrived at the designated positions.

This time, the sailing warships did not go to the center of the river to fire again.

The width of the Jiujiang River in Jinling ranged from two kilometers to ten kilometers.

The narrowest section from Baima Ferry to Niutou Beach was two kilometers.

With the range of rifled guns, the entire Niutou Beach could be fully covered.

So the sailing warships only needed to shoot along the north bank of the river, without going to the center of the river, so they would not be bombarded by the enemy's artillery.

Nowadays, the shells of rifled guns are all shrapnel shells, which will make the enemy feel very sour under the rain of bullets.

In the wars of World War I and World War II, warships in the river or in the sea often provided artillery support to the army.

"Yes, Your Highness." Chang Wei responded and immediately conveyed the order.

"Boom boom boom..." Soon, a huge roar sounded.

Ripples appeared on the river surface, and the sailing warships swayed slightly, and shells flew towards Niutou Beach.

At the same time, Luther had been observing the movements of Baima Ferry since morning.

Seeing the Yanzhou soldiers boarding the troop transport ship and the sailing warships moving positions, he became nervous and ordered all the soldiers to enter the trench fortifications and the artillery to enter the artillery platform.

Different from the sloppy artillery platforms of the powerful families before.

The artillery platforms at Niutou Beach are all made of blue bricks piled up into a gun room, leaving only one gun muzzle aimed at the river.

But even so, he was not very satisfied.

There is no cement in Dasong Jiangnan. If there is this thing, it is completely possible to build a more solid gun room.

"Get down!"

While he was observing, he suddenly saw flames coming out of the sailing warship. He was startled and shouted an order.

Niutou Beach is about ten kilometers wide, and his order can only cover a small area in front of him.

But before the war, he had deployed mercenaries in every corner of the battlefield to lead the army of the Dasong clan to fight.

He believed that the veterans under his command knew how to avoid artillery fire.

However, even though he had been fully prepared, he was still frightened next.

After the fire, dense shells flew straight to Niutou Beach.

Because the beach is a slope, it is low near the river surface and high upwards.

The enemy's shells hit the slope hard.

But this is not what scares Luther.

What really scares him is that these shells that fell on the beach exploded instantly.

Huge flames rose on the beach, rolling up the wet river mud.

Some soldiers in the trenches were lifted up by the huge power, flew into the sky and fell, and blood was sprinkled like rain.

Luther's eyes widened, he was stunned for a moment, and cold sweat soaked his back.

"Bolt, you bastard, you really gave me a good job this time." Luther cursed.

Originally, he thought that the army of King Yan was at most better than the natives of the East.

Going a step further, it was on the same level as the British army.

But this bombardment immediately made him understand that the army of King Yan had mastered the firearms technology that even the British army did not master.

Up to now, the British fleet has only used solid bullets.

Explosive shells are only used in low-pressure howitzers, and it is even more impossible to use them in high-pressure naval guns.

While cursing, he was more shocked at how the army of King Yan achieved this.

However, the situation on the battlefield took a sharp turn for the worse, and he had no time to think about these things. He immediately lay in the trench to avoid the bombardment to avoid being blown up.

At this moment, Baima Ferry.

The lens of the telescope in Zhao Xu's hand reflected a large rising fireball.

Satisfied with the effect of the bombardment, he put down the telescope.

Xu Lie brought a chair over, Zhao Xu sat down and looked across the river.

This was the pre-war artillery coverage, which would last for a while.

Chang Wei still refused to put down the telescope, grinning, "Your Highness, these sailing warships are simply too powerful. Six sailing warships are equivalent to a gun group. They can handle it this time."

Zhao Xu smiled and nodded. This was his confidence.

This was also the confidence for him to lead the lonely blue dragon of Dasong to deal with the wolf pack.

"Then let the shells fly for a while. Didn't Liang Kai find mercenaries from the West? This time, I will let him know that it's useless to invite anyone." Zhao Xu said coldly.

Chang Wei heard this and laughed twice, echoing: "Then blow them up hard."

After that, the two looked at Niutou Beach together.

"Boom boom boom..." The first round of shelling ended, paused for a while, and the second round of shelling continued.

Balls of flames burst out on Niutou Beach.

Their artillery fire covered the entire Niutou Beach fortifications.

In the explosion of the shells, the blue brick turrets built by the powerful family were constantly destroyed.

When Zhao Xu and Chang Wei looked at the opposite side.

Luther was miserable, and the trenches were full of groans of injured soldiers.

These shells were powerful. If one fell into the trench, the soldiers within a range of 20 meters would be either dead or injured.

In one round of shelling, they suffered at least nearly a thousand casualties.

"General Luther, I think we should not continue to guard Niutou Beach. We should retreat to the trench fortifications outside the city. The warships of King Yan are too terrible." Wang Xie came to Luther in armor, crouching down.

As he spoke, his body was shaking slightly.

This time he was really scared. These shells exploded above his head, just like standing under a big tree in a thunderstorm.

"No, when they cross the river, it is the best time to attack." Luther frowned.

Although the war was in a disadvantage, he was not ready to give up.

After a pause, he continued: "You also said that King Yan's artillery can also fire explosive shells. What's the point of retreating to the second trench fortification? I can only assist you. In the end, if you want to agree to King Yan, you can only rely on yourself. Without the will to die, you might as well surrender to King Yan."

Wang Xie was speechless by Luther's words.

He punched the mud wall of the trench hard and turned back.

Gritting his teeth, he thought to himself that he had no choice but to fight this time.

It also made King Yan realize that not all the people in their powerful family were cowards.