The soldiers didn't take artillery fire of this magnitude too seriously, but the officers could discern something else from the scale of the bombardment.
An officer gently tapped his fingers on the edge of the table and, during a brief lull in the bombardment, looked at his colleague and said, "That's not a small scale, at least 50 muzzle-loading field cannons!"
"My count is about the same, roughly 50 cannons. It seems the enemy has assembled the artillery of at least 5 legions..." another officer spoke up in agreement with his comrade's assessment.
"Is it worth returning fire?" the first officer turned to the artillery commander beside him and asked.
The artillery commander nodded slightly and ordered the signal flag orderlies standing not far away, "Have the regimental artillery open fire! Serve the enemy an appetizer!"
"You really are stingy." Another officer mocked the artillery commander, "The enemy has shown half their cannons, and you still hesitate to use the C80?"
