The originally calm defense line of Chongguang City resounded with rumbling cannons early in the morning.

In the rumbling of artillery, many soldiers and middle- and low-ranking officers stationed on the front line were stunned.

"What's going on? Where did the shells come from! ”

"The Southern Navy has hit!"

"How is it possible, aren't they thousands of meters away, how can their artillery hit?"

Many people have questions!

It's not that they don't know that the Southern Navy on the other side is preparing to attack the Chongguang City Fortress, but their camp is unexpectedly a few kilometers away, and even if they want to fight, they have to go to the city first, at least about two kilometers away.

However, now there is not a single figure in the South Navy, only the shells are constantly falling!

This way of fighting is beyond the imagination of many people.

However, this is only limited to ordinary soldiers and some middle- and low-ranking officers, but many high-ranking officers in the Guang'an Army know that this is really the South China Navy on the opposite side of the cannon.

As for why it was able to hit so far.

This still needs to be asked, the other side must have used rifled artillery!

It is no secret that the troops under Lin Ziran took the lead in using breech-loading rifled guns.

Lin Ziran led his troops all the way to Luo'an County, and then to Luohai County, during which several battles were fought using breech-loading rifled guns.

Well-informed people know that Lin Ziran has a rear-loading rifled gun under his hand, which can hit far and is powerful.

But according to the previous intelligence, there are not many such artillery pieces under Lin Ziran's hands, and there were only a few when he set the Jiang Fortress, and later there were only dozens of them when he went south to Luohai County.

But now, looking at this formation, there are at least more than 200 breech-loading rifled guns on the opposite side.

Could it be that after Lin Ziran took Luohai City, he used the Nanzhou Machinery Bureau to produce these breech-loading rifled guns in large quantities?

Thinking of this possibility, the faces of many Guang'an generals were not very good-looking.

When one of the lieutenant division commanders hurried to the head of the city, he saw a mess of forts.

"How is this possible?"

Seeing this scene, it directly made this Zhongqing division commander completely collapse.

This is the largest artillery battery on the entire defense line on the fortress of Chongguang City, with at least 80 artillery pieces arranged, more than half of which are large-caliber smoothbore heavy guns.

But now, the whole battery is in shambles, the artillery is crooked, and there are heavy casualties.

What's more, there is still a steady stream of shells falling!

Under such heavy shelling, this battery was completely routed without firing a single shot.

Once the fire support of this fort is lost, the defensive strength of the entire Chongguang City fortress, and even the entire defense line, can be directly reduced by half.

"It's over......"

This is not only his idea, but also the thoughts of many other middle and high-ranking generals in Guang'an who witnessed the shelling of the other side!

Although the enemy's infantry has not yet appeared, looking at the posture of this artillery bombardment, it is afraid that our own defense line will collapse before it has been hit.

"Quick, let them withdraw for the time being, don't stay on the defensive line, withdraw first!"

If you continue to stay on the defensive line, you can only serve as a living target!

After the withdrawal of this large number of personnel, the casualties were finally reduced, but Rao was like this, and the Guang'an army also suffered heavy losses.

The three main batteries were all devastated, and the ammunition hoarded on one of them was even triggered.

The fortifications on the other batteries were also destroyed, a large number of artillery pieces were scattered, and even the gun carriages were damaged, and the casualties were actually even heavier in comparison.

In the early rapid-fire artillery bombardment, in addition to bombarding these batteries, the artillery units of the South China Navy actually did not land in the defense line, but in the camp behind the defense line of Chongguang City.

The Guang'an Army also has 40,000 or 50,000 troops, and a large number of troops are actually not on the defensive line, but in the barracks in the rear.

According to the usual concept, these barracks in the rear are more than 1,000 meters away from the defense line, which is absolutely safe.

Even the enemy's rear-loading artillery can only hit more than 4,000 meters according to previous intelligence, and judging from the position of the artillery units of the South China Navy, it is impossible to hit these places at all.

But the artillery unit under Lin Ziran can't stand it, and it has a large number of long-range 100-millimeter cannons!

At the same time, there was a batch of 75-millimeter field guns produced by the Nanzhou Machinery Bureau, which had an effective firing range of 5,500 meters, and if they were deployed a little closer, they could barely hit the enemy's barracks.

As a result, the enemy's almost unprotected barracks were subjected to intensive shelling by dozens of artillery pieces, causing heavy casualties.

The artillery batteries in front were devastated, the city walls, trenches and other defensive lines on the front line were also shelled, and even the barracks and material reserve warehouses in the rear were devastated.

This series of events happened in just half an hour!

Half an hour later, the enemy shelling outside the city finally weakened the offensive a little, and the shelling was not so intensive.

But at this time, the generals of the Guang'an Army found that many of their troops had been defeated and collapsed by the formation.

More than 20,000 people who remained in the rear barracks suffered heavy casualties on the spot after the heavy shelling, and it also caused riots.

Although there are no specific statistics, this heavy shelling caused at least 1,000 casualties in the barracks, and tens of thousands of people scattered and fled to the north.

The generals defending the city only had time to gather more than 8,000 intact troops!

As we know, the defensive line in front of it was shelled more heavily, but there were only two or three casualties, and there was no formation rout.

The two sides have not yet made face-to-face contact, and the defenders in Chongguang City have already lost more than 10,000 troops!

In this case, not to mention the Guang'an Army itself, even Lin Ziran outside the city did not expect it.

Of course, in fact, they don't know about Lin Ziran now!

On the hill outside the city, all they could see through the telescope was the smoke and dust of the explosion, and they couldn't see anything more detailed.

Seeing that the shelling suppressed the other party, Lin Ziran was a little relieved and ordered Kong De: "Continue to keep the shelling, don't let them relax!" ”

Comte said: "Humble obedience!" ”

Then he said to Wu Guanlin: "Let the first and fifth divisions unfold according to the predetermined plan!" ”

Wu Guanlin said: "Yes! ”

Not long after, Xu Zhongshu, who personally led the first division forward, also received an order from the herald, and there was no accident, and everything unfolded according to the predetermined plan.

Immediately, Xu Zhongshu said: "Order the whole division, make a detour according to the predetermined plan!" ”

In this battle plan, the 1st Division is still the task they are best at, attacking in a roundabout way!

The task of frontal attack was undertaken by the 5th Division.

However, the frontal attack of the Fifth Division was actually only to contain the enemy's forces, and if it wanted to break through the defense line of Chongguangcheng, it had to rely on the first division's roundabout breakthrough.

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