After the Ming army filled the moat, Fan Chengmo thought that the Ming army was about to attack, which made the Qing army in the city tense their nerves and wait. However, Fan Chengmo lasted three days and three nights, and did not see the Ming army attacking the city.

During these three days and three nights, the nerves of the Qing army generals and soldiers were highly tense every day, waiting for the Ming army to attack with fear, and taking turns to take women, children, the old and weak to the city as hostages every day and night, and using them as shields against the Ming army's shells. However, three consecutive days passed, and the Qing soldiers were tired enough, but they did not hear the sound of the Ming army's siege of the city. Every time I heard the rumbling of the war drums of the Ming army, the infantry lined up, and the siege equipment was pushed out and turned around, but I went back again; Every time I saw the Ming army push out the cannon, they didn't shoot, they just walked around and pulled it back.

However, the Ming army occasionally fired a few shells, but the accuracy was very poor, and the shells either fell into the moat and caused a splash, or flew over the city and flew into the city, smashing several houses. Occasionally, one or two shells landed at the base of the city wall, but they did not cause any damage to the fortified city of Ningbo.

"Minggou, these cannons are quite fast! Not at all slower than our cavalry! Standing at the head of the city, Ilde watched the Ming army rushing back and forth with fast horses and cannons, and said in surprise.

Fan Chengmo also saw that the Ming army was pulling two horses and a four-pounder cannon, and the speed of running was fast. And what is even more surprising is that the artillery of the Ming army had four wheels in operation, and after untying the horses, the four-wheeled artillery carriage turned into a two-wheeled transport vehicle and a two-wheeled cannon, and it seemed that this kind of artillery carriage could be quickly disassembled and quickly merged.

"The thief's firearm is indeed very sharp! However, we have a large number of barbarian women, children, old and weak in our hands, and the dogs dare not fire! Fan Chengmo sneered.

In fact, if it weren't for the Qing army taking a large number of people as hostages, Wang Xinyu would have ordered the artillery to bombard the city. It was in consideration of the reluctance to let too many civilian casualties that the tactics of delaying time were adopted to exhaust the Qing army and look for opportunities to launch an attack again.

In the camp of the Ming army and the big tent of the Chinese army, Wang Yuyou offered a strategy: "Marshal, it is far from enough for us to send a letter to Aobai and the puppet Qing emperor. If Ao Bai and the puppet Qing Empress Dowager deliberately concealed the truth that the city was slaughtered because of Fan Chengmo's actions, those banner people in the capital would not be able to know the news, so they still couldn't put pressure on the Tartars! We must copy more letters and post them everywhere in the capital and all over the city, publicizing that it was because Fan Chengmo took our people hostage, which led to the massacre of the city! Only in this way can they be shocked and make them dare not use this trick again in the future! ”

After listening to Wang Yuyou's proposal, Wang Xinyu suddenly had a plan: "This domain has a way!" We can select a group of literati who are good at danqing and can write quickly from among the military cadets to become war correspondents! Let them draw the scene of our siege, the scene of our people being bombarded and killed, and finally the scene of our slaughter of the city, and then add words and publish newspapers! Newspapers can be sent to all parts of the country to be sold, so that everyone can see them! ”

"Newspaper circulation? War correspondents? Everyone was stunned.

"The newspaper that the marshal said, but the newspaper?" Wang Yuyou asked.

As early as the Han Dynasty, there was already a Di Bao, and in the Ming Dynasty, there was a special General Administration Department to issue the Di Bao, and it was a Di Bao printed with movable type, and the circulation was not small. However, even the Di Bao of the Ming Dynasty was only limited to transmission between local officials and the imperial court, and ordinary people could not see the Di Bao, so it could not be called a real newspaper. Although some people sell Di Bao to make money, only some Dashi clans and big businessmen will buy Di Bao, and it is impossible for ordinary people to touch this kind of thing.

Wang Xinyu said: "The newspapers issued by this domain are different from the Di newspapers! The feudal clan decided to establish a special newspaper with a large number of newspapers published every day, which recorded the latest events. This kind of newspaper is not only passed among officials, but can also be sold in large quantities among the people! The price is not too expensive, and the average person can afford it. In this way, all the people will be able to see what is happening, learn about the battle between our army and the Tartars, and have confidence in us! ”

The implementation of a universal education system so that the majority of the population can become literate is only the first step. After all, the people's right to speak and sources of information still come from various gentry families, and ordinary people, even if they are famous and famous, are unlikely to know the latest news. By the time they got the news, it was not only old news, but also had been added by others, and there was a big deviation from the real situation.

Once there were newspapers, they could deprive the gentry in the area ruled by the Qing court of the right to speak and control the news, so that all the common people could know what was going on as soon as possible, so that it would be difficult for the Qing court to use those gentry to control the common people, publicize the news that was favorable to them, and conceal the news that was unfavorable to them.

As for the areas controlled by the Ming army, Wang Xinyu could encourage the gentry to set up a newspaper and establish a newspaper office, so that they would not be completely deprived of their right to speak, and the newspaper could still make a profit. At that time, there will be not only the gentry's own private newspaper, but also a number of gentry cooperation with local newspapers.

As for war correspondents, they are still selected from among the military cadets, and they belong to the military establishment, and the army also runs a newspaper, which is one of the official newspapers in the country.

Wang Xinyu is reluctant to drag the mud and water, and says that he will run a newspaper. On the same day, a group of talented officers who were good at danqing and fast writing were selected from among the military cadet officers, and they were appointed as war correspondents, whose task was to follow the army, record the situation on the battlefield, and then send the original manuscript back as the original news manuscript that the newspaper was preparing for publication.

Another four days passed, and on the night of the fifteenth day of the second lunar month, the bright moon hung high in the sky, and the moonlight sprinkled a layer of silver on the earth, and the visibility was very good, although it was beneficial for the Qing army to defend the city, but it was even more beneficial for the Ming army to attack the city.

"All the troops! The siege begins! Wang Xinyu, who was standing on the podium, gave an order.

War drums rumbled, trumpets sounded, and flags were waved in the night wind. The artillery of the Ming army set up all kinds of artillery, the infantry formed a neat formation, and the auxiliary soldiers pushed this siege equipment and advanced step by step in the direction of the city head.

"Is Minggou going to attack?" The Qing soldiers at the head of the city heard the movement under the city, and with the help of the moonlight, they saw the Ming army in the distance, and someone asked.

A Qing army officer said: "I'm afraid Minggou is bluffing again!" We have barbarian people as hostages in our hands, and Ming Gou will definitely not dare to mess around! ”

Another Qing army officer said: "No matter what, as usual, catch up with the women, children, old and weak of the barbarians in the city!" Just in case Minggou suddenly attacks the city! ”

Every day, as soon as the war drums of the Ming army sounded and the army moved, the Qing army would catch up with the women, children, old and weak behind the city wall. After a few days in a row, I have become accustomed to nature. But in the past few days, the Qing soldiers have not slept well, and their nerves are tense. The women, children, old and weak in the city took turns waiting behind the city walls, and they were all exhausted by the Qing soldiers who drove them around like sheep.

"Hurry up!" A Qing soldier whipped the woman with the child in her arms.

Before the Qing soldiers could catch up with all the women, children, old and weak to the city, someone heard the roaring cannons outside the city.

"Minggou has fired!" Someone shouted.

"Don't be afraid! They didn't dare to shell the city, it must be another bluff! "Qing officers cheer up their soldiers.

Before he could finish speaking, a piercing whistling sound was heard, and a shell fired from a sixty-four-pounder mortar gun smashed down. The shell hit very accurately, and with just one shot, it hit the city impartially.

"Boom" The dazzling firelight flashed, and the cannonball burst into a huge fireball, making a loud noise like hundreds of heavy cannons firing at the same time, and the fireball expanded rapidly, and in an instant, the color changed from white to orange and dark red, but the volume of the fireball became larger and larger, covering a large part of the city.

With the deafening sound of explosions, the city wall shook as if there had been a violent earthquake, and the exploding cannonballs blew away a large part of the female wall and the battlements at the head of the city, leaving a large pit on the city wall that could fit into a carriage! Around the center of the explosion, all the soldiers and hostages were reduced to blood and flesh, scattered in the air. Far from the center of the explosion, a powerful shockwave pushed people out one after another, and sharp fragments burrowed into the crowd, tearing through the soft flesh and overturning a large number of people on the spot.

The mortar shells of the first siege were so accurate, because the inaccurate shelling of the Ming army a few days ago was actually corrected to obtain the best data, so as to ensure that during the siege, the mortar could hit with one hit, and destroy the city wall in one fell swoop with the new flowering shells loaded with Dana explosives.

Immediately after that, the second, third, and fourth flowering shells fell one after another, all of which exploded near the landing point of the first shell. In the midst of the violent shock, these flowering shells, which were equivalent to the power of the 155 howitzer shells of later generations, easily tore a gap five zhang wide in the city wall! The walls of that area all collapsed, and the bricks and stones of the city rolled into the moat, and the collapsed walls formed a slope.

When the first shell hit the ground, the women, children, old and weak at the head of the city let out a cry, they already knew what fate awaited them! But the shells that came one after another smashed into the city as if they had no pity for them, tearing the women, children, old and weak to pieces along with the bricks.

The violent explosion frightened the Qing soldiers.

On the steps of the city, the Qing soldiers who were driving away women, children, the old and the weak threw away their whips and lay on the ground. Frightened by the sound of shell explosions, women, children, the elderly and the infirm scurried in all directions, only to have many people thrown in pools of blood by the bricks and stones that had fallen from the explosion.

"Kill!" Elite light armor knife players, elite mountain soldiers in rattan armor, and Russian musketeers, considered the king of melee combat by Wang Xinyu, slaughtered the crumbling city walls.

The position that was shelled happened to be the section of the city wall that was filled in by the auxiliaries. The attacking Ming soldiers did not need any siege weapons at all, and they were able to rush over the filled moat and rush up the slope.

"Hurry up! Plug them up! The Qing officer shouted.

The Qing soldiers, who came to their senses, drove some women, children, old and weak, and held them in front as meat shields, and followed behind, trying to plug the gap opened by the heavy mortar shelling. However, when these women, children, old and weak appeared at the gap, the Ming army's direct-fire artillery gunners did not hesitate, and aimed at the gap and smashed through another round of shells.

The shotgun fired at close range formed a face-to-face kill, and the women, children, old and weak who appeared at the gap let out a miserable scream, and their bodies spurted blood mist, and they fell in a pool of blood.

Seeing with her own eyes that dozens of ordinary people in front of her were wiped out by shells at once, the woman squatted on the ground, holding the child tightly in her hands, as if relying on her flesh and blood to protect the child. At this time, a solid cannonball smashed over, hit the city bricks, and rebounded on the woman, tearing her waist into two at once, and the upper half of her body flew out horizontally, leaving the remaining two legs on the ground. Flying out, his arms still tightly clinging to the baby who had been beaten into a pile of rotten flesh by the shells.

The shells kept falling on the gaps, and the men, women, the elderly, the children, and the Qing soldiers in the back were ruthlessly torn to pieces, turning into flying stumps and splinters.

The people in front were all shelled, and the Ming army's extremely fast three-pounder guns were followed by the second round of rapid fire, coupled with the shotgun fired by the bipod heavy fire, the Qing soldiers who had just rushed to the gap were hit head-on, and a large number of casualties were killed.

"Hurry up and go up!" Tian Xiong, who rushed over, shouted, "If you don't retreat, you won't be killed!" ”

The light armor swordsmen, mountain soldiers and Russian musketeers of the Ming army had just rushed across the moat, and when they saw that the Qing soldiers in the gap ahead had all been swept away by the shells, the Ming soldiers rushed up the slope with shouts.

Another group of Qing soldiers appeared from the gap, and the crossbow arrows in the hands of the mountain soldiers and the muskets of the Russian musketeers fired in a volley, and the Qing soldiers fell down with screams. Immediately afterwards, the soldiers of both sides collided fiercely.

The lightly armored sword soldiers holding rattan cards struggled forward, using their shields to hit the spears of the Qing army, although many people were accidentally stabbed by the pikemen, but the sword soldiers still knocked the Qing army's spear array backwards. Immediately after that, the sword soldiers approached and swung their knives and slashed. Blood splattered, and the pikemen of the Qing army who were close to them fell down screaming.

The Qing saber soldiers in the back stepped forward and collided with the swords of the Ming army, the shields of the two sides collided with each other, and the knives collided with each other and spewed sparks. A flash of knife light flickered, and many people's arms and thighs were separated from their bodies, letting out heart-rending screams.

The desperate mountain soldiers and the sturdy Russian musketeers also rushed forward, and Ivanov, who was as strong as a brown bear, carried the musket on his back, and swung his long-handled axe, which split a Qing soldier in front of him in two with a wooden sign.

Another soldier from the side came out and slashed it with a knife, but was split in two pieces by Ivanov with an axe. The unabated big axe slashed down from the Qing Soldier Heavenly Spirit Cover, directly splitting the head in half, and the brain mixed with blood spurted out and splashed on the city bricks. (To be continued.) )