The Rise of Ming Dynasty 1646

Chapter 744 Identity
More than 140 iron balls slammed on the city wall of Beijing with a sharp whistling sound.

Heavy muffled noises came and went, like countless gods and demons hitting the seven-foot-high wall over and over again. The captive soldiers on the city had already been deafened by the shock, and even their hearts twitched with the dense muffled noises.

When did this ancient city with a history of hundreds of years experience such a violent bombardment? After only one round of cannonball, the area around Deshengmen was already filled with soil, foam and bricks, and the surface of the city wall was even more devastated and mottled.

Jianlu also prepared more than ten cannons at the head of the city.At this time, under the threat of a single sword in the hands of the officer, the gunner climbed up from the ground tremblingly, and aimed at the Ming army's position in the distance to prepare for a counterattack.

In fact, at such a long distance, even the two largest [-]-pound guns at the top of the city could hardly hit the Ming army, and the range of the other small-caliber guns could not even reach two miles away.

But the Qing army reported the attitude of a dead horse as a living horse doctor, and still hurriedly adjusted the cannon. Just as they were about to light the fire, the Ming army's artillery positions under the city roared again.

According to the prior plan, the muzzles of all the cannons under [-] pounds in the artillery battalion were adjusted up by half a cent at this time.Accompanied by billowing gunpowder smoke, dozens of iron balls weighing more than ten kilograms were shot on the crenels of the city wall.

When even several Jianlu's cannons were thrown out, they slammed into the barracks in the city.The ground was covered in blood and flesh, and the corpses of an unknown number of captive soldiers were stirred into the soil by the huge momentum and turned into handfuls of spring fertilizer.

And more shells shattered the wall bricks on the battlements, and the brick slag shot around was no less powerful than the bullets.The captive soldiers at the top of the city seemed to have been hit by a volley of gunfire at close range. Immediately, more than a hundred people were pierced through their bodies by broken bricks and stones, and blood flowed down the gutter for tens of feet.

The soldiers of the Qing army who escaped by chance were obviously frightened by the terrifying firepower—the Ming army was using the cannon as a firecracker—and hundreds of people immediately ran down the city with their heads in their arms.

Immediately, a large number of Ba Yala, the supervisor of the battle, came up to the city on the horse road, hacked dozens of people to death one after another, and managed to stop the momentum of desertion.

Only three guns at the top of the city fired.However, due to the lack of range of two of them, the shells fell two or three hundred steps away from the Ming army.The only shell of the nine-pound gun fell into the position of the Dragon Guards, but it was at the end of its strength, and only some sand and gravel were splashed, causing minor injuries to the soldiers of the Ming army nearby.

Immediately, the Ming army artillery fired the third and fourth volleys...,

After ten rounds of artillery fire, there was no usable cannon on the wall near Deshengmen.The defenders of the city were all huddled under the battlements, begging God and worshiping Buddha in horror, and how dare they show their heads so easily.

The Yuan Dynasty earthen wall outside Desheng Gate, including the Urn City Gate protecting the city gate, was quickly torn apart by ferocious firepower, but the Ming army did not intend to send infantry forward to force the attack—in fact, the Ming army’s siege equipment was all It was still far away in the camp seven miles away—still continuing to "wash" the city wall of Beijing with cannons over and over again.

……

In the city of Beijing.

The mansion of Gong Dingzi, the servant of the Ministry of punishment.

More than 50 Han courtiers who voted for the Qing Dynasty gathered in the flower hall, which seemed quite crowded. Many people didn't even have a seat, but no one cared about it. Instead, they all cast their eyes on Gong Dingzi in the hall.

"It has been a day and a night of shelling outside the city..."

As if to answer Gong Shilang's words, as soon as he opened his mouth, there was a series of thunderous roars from the northwest side, followed by a heavy muffled sound that made his chest feel extremely stagnant.

The former is the sound of more than a hundred cannons firing, and the latter is the sound of astonishingly powerful shells smashing hard on the city wall.

When the movement subsided, someone asked tremblingly: "I heard that there are more than 300 cannons outside the city. Is this... true?"

"It can't be fake." Yuan Ren nodded solemnly and said, "I have a distant relative who was guarding the city near Deshengmen, and his arm was broken by a cannon at noon. When I went to visit, I heard from him that the cannon under the city The line is more than two miles wide, and they are all heavy artillery!"

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

After a long while, they were "woke up" by the sound of another round of cannons. Xu Qiyuan, the right deputy governor, looked at Cao Rong and Zhang Duan.

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

Zhang Duan said with a pale face, "It was Shengjing who sent Ganglin and Dulan to beg for peace. That master cut them off in front of Mr. Cao and me...a total of more than 120 yuan. A bloody human head..."

"It seems that Nanjing is determined to fight with Jianlu forever." Gao Eryan looked concerned, "Three hundred cannons, according to the current bombardment method, the city of Beijing will be destroyed in a few days. Could it be that by then we I can't escape death..."

Everyone remembered what Fang Cao Rong and Zhang Duan said, that the Son of Heaven did not allow them to bargain at all, and only gave ten "places" to avoid death, and they couldn't help but feel gloomy.

Suddenly someone cried to Gong Dingzi: "Master Gong, the army will enter the city sooner or later, please give everyone an idea."

Gong Dingzi himself felt that his life was in danger, and was thinking about whether to give up his family and escape from the city by himself, and he just subconsciously coped, "I, what can I do..."

Everyone originally regarded him as the backbone, but they were even more panicked and at a loss when they heard this.At this moment, I saw the "personal follower" beside Qian Qianyi come out, and said loudly: "My lords have not made any contribution to the Ming Dynasty, and the imperial court will definitely consider your crime of surrendering to the enemy. In my humble opinion, instead of doing this here Worry, don't think about how to make meritorious deeds, making up for the mistakes is the way to survive."

Gong Dingzi said with a sullen face: "Who are you? How can you speak here?"

"Hehe," the man stood with his head held high, and said proudly, "Xu Feihu from a thousand households in Xia Daming Jinyiwei North Town."

There was an uproar in the hall, and someone soon realized that if the person around Qian Qianyi was Jin Yiwei, then his status must be unusual.

Seeing that everyone was looking at Qian Qianyi, Xu Feihu said with a smile: "Master Qian was ordered by the court to act as an internal response in Beijing. If you can really make great contributions to breaking the barbarians, Lord Qian will plead for mercy for everyone."

Hearing the words, everyone was like a drowning man grabbing a life-saving straw, and surrounded Qian Qianyi with a huff.

"My lord is really from Nanjing?!"

"The lower officials follow the example of Mr. Qian!"

"Your official must do his best to help the imperial court get rid of the captives!"

Qian Qianyi was just a puppet at the front desk, he smirked and pointed at Xu Feihu and said, "How to do it depends on Mr. Xu's arrangement."

"Yes, yes, Master Xu please express."

In fact, Xu Feihu would show up here and expose Qian Qianyi's identity because he encountered a rather difficult situation.

According to the recent information obtained by Jinyiwei Beizhen, Dorgon left a secret order before leaving. Once the city is broken, he will set fires everywhere and burn the entire Beijing city to scorched earth!
(End of this chapter)