More than 140 iron balls slammed into the city wall of Beijing with a sharp whistling.

Heavy muffled sounds came and went, like countless gods and demons hitting the seven-zhang high barrier over and over again, and the captives in the city had already been shocked to the point that their ears were deaf, and even their hearts twitched with the dense muffled sound.

When did this ancient city with a history of hundreds of years experience such a fierce bombardment, after only one round of artillery, the vicinity of Desheng Gate was already full of foam bricks, and the surface of the city wall was full of devastation and mottling.

Jianyu also prepared more than a dozen cannons at the head of the city. At this time, under the threat of a single knife in the hands of the officer, the gunner got up from the ground tremblingly, and aimed the cannon at the Ming position in the distance to prepare for a counterattack.

In fact, at such a distance, even the two largest twelve-pounder guns at the head of the city were extremely difficult to hit the Ming army, and the range of the other small-caliber guns could not even reach two miles away.

However, the Qing army reported the attitude of a dead horse as a live horse doctor, and still hurriedly adjusted the artillery, and just as it was about to ignite the fire, the artillery position of the Ming army under the city had once again roared.

According to the pre-planning, the muzzles of all cannons under eighteen pounds in the artillery camp were raised by half a cent at this time. With the billowing smoke of gunpowder, dozens of iron balls weighing more than ten catties were shot overwhelmingly on the battlements of the city wall.

When even a few of the cannons were thrown out and smashed into the barracks in the city. The ground was full of flesh and blood, and the corpses of many captives were stirred into the dirt by the huge momentum, turning into a handful of spring fat.

Many more shells shattered the bricks on the battlements, and the barrage of bricks was no less powerful than the shells. The captives at the head of the city were as if they had been subjected to a volley of firearms at close range, and more than 100 people were suddenly pierced through their bodies by broken bricks and stones, and blood flowed down the drainage ditch dozens of feet away.

The Qing soldiers, who had narrowly escaped, were apparently frightened by the terrifying firepower - the Ming army was simply using cannons as firebolts - and immediately hundreds of people ran towards the city with their heads in their hands.

On the road to the city, a large number of people were immediately greeted by the battlemasters, and dozens of people were killed one after another, so that it was easy to stop the momentum of the deserters.

Only three cannons at the head of the city completed the firing. However, two of them were not of sufficient range, and the shells fell two or three hundred steps away from the Ming army. The only shell from the nine-pounder cannon fell into the position of the Dragon Guards, but it was also the end of the crossbow, and only some sand and gravel were splashed, causing some minor injuries to the nearby Ming soldiers.

Immediately, the Ming artillery fired a third and fourth salvo ......,

After ten rounds of artillery fire, there was no longer a single usable cannon on the wall near Desheng Gate. The captives defending the city all cowered under the battlements, begging God to worship the Buddha in horror, where did they dare to show their heads easily.

The Yuan Dynasty earthen walls outside the Desheng Gate, including the Wengcheng Gate that protected the city gate, were soon torn apart by fierce fire, but the Ming army did not intend to send foot soldiers to attack at all - in fact, the Ming army's siege equipment was still far away in the camp seven miles away - and continued to "wash" the Beijing city wall with cannons over and over again.

……

In the middle of Beijing.

The mansion of Gong Dingyu, the squire of the Criminal Department.

More than 50 Han courtiers who had surrendered to the Qing Dynasty gathered in the flower hall, which seemed quite crowded, and many people didn't even have a seat, but none of them cared about these, but cast their eyes on Gong Dingyu in the hall.

"It's been a day and a night of artillery outside the city......"

As if to confirm Gong Shilang's words, as soon as he opened his mouth, there was a roar like rolling thunder from the northwest side, and then there was a heavy and muffled sound that made his chest feel extremely sluggish.

The former is the sound of more than 100 cannons firing, and the latter is produced by the powerful cannonballs smashing on the city walls.

Waiting for the movement to subside, someone asked tremblingly: "I heard that there are more than 300 cannons outside the city, what ......is this?" But really? ”

"It can't be fake." Yuan Ren nodded solemnly and said, "I have a distant relative who was defending the city near the left side of Desheng Gate, and his arm was broken by a cannon at noon. When I went to visit, I heard him say that the cannons under the city were more than two miles wide, and they were all heavy artillery! ”

Cannons within two miles?! The people in the hall looked at each other in shock, and there was a dead silence in the flower hall for a while.

After a while, the loud sound of another round of cannons "woke them up", and Xu Qiyuan, the right deputy capital Yushi, looked at Cao Rong and Zhang Duan, "The attitude of the two adults to look at the Son of Heaven, is there still room for maneuver?" ”

The two of them looked at each other and shook their heads vigorously.

Zhang Duan's face turned pale and said: "It was Sheng Jing who sent Ganglin and Duran to beg for peace, and that master didn't even see anyone, so he cut them all in front of me and Lord Cao...... A total of more than 120 bloody human heads......"

"It seems that Nanjing is determined to fight Jianyu endlessly." Gao Eryan looked worried, "Three hundred cannons, according to the current bombardment, it will not take a few days for Beijing City to be broken." Could it be that we will all die at that time......"

Everyone remembered what Cao Rong and Zhang Duan said, and the great emperor did not allow them to bargain at all, and only gave ten "places" to avoid death, and they couldn't help but feel miserable.

Suddenly, someone said to Gong Dingyu with a cry: "Lord Gong, the army will enter the city overnight, you can quickly give everyone an idea." ”

Gong Dingyu himself felt that his life was difficult to protect, and he was thinking about whether to give up his family and escape from the city alone, only subconsciously coping, "I, what can I do......"

Everyone originally thought of him as the backbone, and they were even more panicked when they heard the words. At this moment, I saw the "personal entourage" next to Qian Qianyi walking out and said loudly: "Your Excellency has not made an inch of merit in the Ming Dynasty, and the court will have to take care of your crime of defecting to the enemy." In my contemptible opinion, instead of worrying here, it is better to think about how to make meritorious contributions and make up for the merits as the way to live. ”

Gong Dingxiao said with a gloomy face: "Who are you?" Is there your share in speaking? ”

"Hehe," the man stood with his head held high, and said proudly, "Xu Feihu, a thousand households in Weibei Town, Jinyi, Xiaming." ”

There was an uproar in the hall, and someone quickly reacted, if the person around Qian Qianyi was Jinyiwei, then his identity would definitely not be ordinary.

Xu Feihu saw that everyone was looking at Qian Qianyi, and said with a smile: "Lord Qian is ordered by the imperial court to act as an internal response in Beijing, if you can really make a great contribution to the destruction, Lord Qian will plead with the Holy Lord for everyone." ”

When everyone heard this, it was like a drowning man grasping a life-saving straw, and surrounded Qian Qianyi with a hula.

"Your Excellency is really from Nanjing?!"

"The lower officials are looking forward to the money!"

"The lower officials will definitely do their best to help the court get rid of the thieves!"

Qian Qianyi was just a puppet at the front desk, and he smiled and pointed to Xu Feihu again: "How to act must be deployed by Lord Xu." ”

"Yes, yes, please make it clear to Lord Xu."

In fact, Xu Feihu will appear here and expose Qian Qianyi's identity, also because he encountered a rather tricky situation.

According to the information recently obtained by Jinyi Weibei Town, Dolgon left a secret order before leaving, once the city is broken, he will set fire everywhere, burning the entire city of Beijing to scorched earth!