The Ming army launched an attack from the Lishan Gate in the south and the Luoyuan Gate in the west, and in the direction of the two city gates, the artillery of the Qiongzhou Army raised two hot air balloons, and the Ming artillery observers on the hot air balloons looked for the artillery positions of the Qing army, and then used the flag to guide the artillery on the ground to launch an artillery attack on the Qing artillery positions in the city. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

The front-loading rifled gun was not fast, but it had a long range and high accuracy. Guided by a hot air balloon, the whistling shells landed accurately on the gun emplacements of the Qing army.

Four hexagonal rifled guns and twelve front-loading rifled guns fired in turns, the front-loading rifled guns were changed from three-pounder guns, due to the adoption of conical shells, the weight of the shells also increased from three to six pounds, the bore pressure increased, the original bronze cannon body plus a copper sleeve was added to increase the strength of the gun breech, and the copper sleeve was then hooped with a steel ring on the outside. Of course, the weight of the cannon has also increased from the original 200 catties to 500 catties.

The flowering shells of the hexagonal rifled gun were too expensive, and they fired solid shells. Flowering shells for front-loading rifled guns were much cheaper, and after a test shot with a solid shell, flowering shells began to be fired.

The rifled artillery shells that rotated at high speed were mixed with the smoothbore artillery shells that fell all over the sky and smashed on the Qing artillery positions. The falling flowering bombs exploded into a ball of fire, and in the blink of an eye, the artillery of the Qing army at the head of the city was blown into a sea of fire, and the cannons built by the Qing army in Shandong were destroyed one after another.

The Qing army at the head of the city also fired artillery to counterattack, but neither the range nor accuracy could be compared with the artillery of the Ming army. After an hour of artillery bombardment by the Ming army, all 20 Hongyi cannons of the Qing army were destroyed, and many small cannons such as the Franc machine, the general cannon, and the tiger squat cannon were also destroyed. However, Zhang Fengyi saw that the situation was not good, so he asked those small cannons that were light and easy to carry to be moved down the city, and escaped the shelling of the Ming army, so that those cannons could be preserved.

Although it failed to destroy all the artillery of the Qing army, it did not matter, the range of the remaining small artillery of the Qing army was not as far as that of the Ming army's siege mortars, and the Ming army would no longer be threatened by the Qing army's artillery fire when it used 64-pound siege mortars to bombard the city.

While the Qiongzhou army raised the hot air balloon to observe the Qing army's artillery positions in the city and guide the artillery to fire, the Ming army's hydrogen airship also rose into the air. Zhao Zheng and his three brothers pedaled, and the propeller pushed the spindle-shaped airship into the sky above the city of Jinan, reconnoitred the city, and drew a defense map of the city.

"Obviously, in addition to the Tartars in the city, they have also arranged in the city, and they also know that the city walls cannot be defended, and they have to learn from our street fighting!" Zhao Zheng said to his brother while drawing.

The flight altitude of the hydrogen airship is 100 zhang, which is of course low-altitude if it is placed in later generations, but in this era, there is no weapon that can threaten this hydrogen airship. Some Qing troops tried to raise the muzzle of the Franc cannon and fire at the hydrogen airship flying in the air, but the elevation angle of the gun was not enough, and it could not reach the airship at all. Zhao Zheng piloted the hydrogen airship, flew around the city, and spent an hour reconnoitring.

By the time the hydrogen airship returned safely and returned to the ground, the Ming army had already completed the devastating attack on the Qing army's battery, and a large number of auxiliaries were digging trenches to advance forward, preparing to build a fort within a mile and bombard the city wall with mortars.

After two days and two nights of construction work, the fort used to house the mortar was completed. The forts were arranged behind mounds of earth, and the earth was dug when the trenches were dug. The Ming gunners and auxiliaries pulled the sixty-four-pounder mortar in an ox cart, entered the gun position, set up the mortar, and aimed it at the Jinan city wall in front.

The next step is to fill in the moat.

Jinan City is known as the spring city, the water source of the moat is from Daming Lake, and the water of Daming Lake is mainly from the spring water, there are pearl springs, Maoying Spring, Furong Spring and Wangfu Pond (Dewangfu) and other springs in the city, which provides abundant water for Daming Lake, so that the Ming army can not cut off the water source from outside the city, and can only fill a part of the moat.

The war drums rumbled, and the shield carts loaded with sandbags were pushed out by the auxiliaries and slowly pushed towards the city wall. Before approaching the moat, the Ming army auxiliaries were forced to stop their cars and use knives and axes to chop down obstacles such as wooden stakes and deer barricades blocking the road.

The Qing army at the head of the city fired arrows at the auxiliary soldiers who were operating, causing certain casualties among the auxiliary soldiers. However, the firepower of the Ming army's retaliation was even more ferocious, and stragglers and snipers armed with new rifled guns boarded the nest car and watchtower, and shot bullets condescendingly; The ordinary line infantry also switched to rifled guns, and used Mini bullets to shoot at the city's head Qing soldiers.

The suppression of firepower can be said to be one-sided, with a long range and high accuracy rifled guns constantly firing scorching bullets, like a sharp blade cutting through the air, taking the lives of one Qing soldier after another in the city.

Heavily wounded by rifled guns, the Green Battalion Qing Soldiers archers and bird gunners no longer dared to shoot with their heads out.

It took only two days for the Ming army auxiliaries to fill in four passages in the moat. Due to the continuous gushing of spring water in the spring city, it is impossible for the moat to be cut off, and the Ming army auxiliary soldiers also dug a diversion ditch under the city to divert the river water, so as not to rise the river and affect the attack of the Ming army.

After filling in the trenches, the next thing to do was to shell the walls.

The 64-pounder mortar is still the best siege weapon, although the Qiongzhou army has a more powerful 32-pounder long-barreled cannon, a 64-pounder cannon, and a 110-pounder rifled cannon, but those cannons are all naval guns, very heavy, and can still be used by the river, and the relatively light 64-pounder mortar cannon is still effective for attacking inland cities.

Eight 64-pounder mortars were erected, and the gunners loaded their shells and fired solid shells at the city walls for test firing.

The "boom" muzzle erupted fire, heavy solid shells flew into the sky, and some shells fell in the moat, raising a column of water to the sky; Some smashed on the city wall, and when such a heavy shell fell, the city wall was immediately smashed into cracks; Other shells swept through the walls and landed inside the city, destroying houses.

After the correction, the mortar roared again, and this time half of the shells fell on the city walls.

"Replace the flowering cannonballs and blast the walls open for me!" Wang Yu gave the order.

The cannon roared, and the mortar shells that rose into the air were like meteors in the rain of fire, smashing down on the city wall. Flowering shells landed on the city walls, blasting open cracks. The sixty-four-pounder flowering shells loaded with the new type of explosives were so powerful that a few shells fell, and a large part of the wall collapsed.

At the same time as the mortar bombardment of the city wall, the Ming army in the other two directions launched a fierce offensive. Under the cover of rifled gunners, the Ming army auxiliaries advanced the siege vehicles under the city, and then the demolition team blew down two sections of the city wall.

The two Huai soldiers who served as sword and shield bearers rushed to the bombed city wall, and some Ming troops rushed directly through the filled moat; Some Ming troops pushed the moat carts, rushed to the unfilled moat, rushed to the edge of the moat, erected the moat, and then killed the moat like a whirlwind, and rushed to the breach.