Cannonballs thrown from at least half a mile away, or even a mile or so, easily smashed holes into holes in the ladder boards, which were not very sturdy for easy handling. However, perhaps because of the daytime, the casualties and losses were not much.

As for the possible means adopted by the defenders, Yuan Keli had previously estimated with some strategists in the army with a hypothetical thinking. It was felt that in the face of such a siege battle, which was covered by fire from few dead angles from all directions, the only thing the defenders could do was to place a trench or fortress area near the inner wall, and rely on the fortifications to fire at the officers and soldiers who had climbed the city. Another method is to attack from a distance of half a mile to a mile or so with artillery fire on a large scale, focusing on hitting the bridge from the city wall to the inner wall for accuracy and its own safety. Of course, it is not excluded that the defenders will also resort to large-scale explosive attacks during the day. These are all ways to resist an attack with the smallest possible casualties and material attrition. It is not impossible for the defenders to change their minds and adopt attrition tactics during the day, regardless of casualties.

Therefore, the "month-end offensive," which was well planned and prepared, did not completely pin its hopes on the "breakthrough at the city corner," but centered on the main attack direction of about one mile at the corner of the city wall, and gradually expanded the offensive area by virtue of the superiority of troops, and returned to a range of about ten miles in a row.

In order to reassure the attacking elite officers and soldiers, in addition to a lot of armor, the attacking Ming army also prepared a lot of light hooks and ropes with wooden knots about three zhang long. If the ladder is interrupted by the opponent's fire attack or is in danger. Using the hook, the attacking team can also launch a climbing attack directly on the inner wall.

At first, the attacking enemy, who had just risen within a mile or so of the corner, was immediately met with a gunsner, who had been waiting in the covered bunkers thirty paces away. The guns of about three or two rounds fire a dozen to dozens of shotguns weighing about one or two cents, and also play the extended planks that have long been adjusted to deploy firepower, which can often accurately let the firearms hit the top of the inner city, even if many shooters inevitably have tension on the battlefield. And three or so live ammunition can destroy all the defensive shields that individual soldiers can carry. Even if there are sporadic attacking enemies who are able to climb over the interior walls, they often suffer casualties when they climb over the interior walls and begin to organize an inward attack. Within two miles of the entire Chengjiao battle line, 1,000 shooters formed a dense fire blockade with more than 5,000 loaded firearms that had been prepared long ago, and with the assistance of more than 2,000 auxiliary personnel. The firepower of the fire blockade may not be tight by field standards, but it is an insurmountable obstacle to enemy forces who attempt to climb over and descend from the inner wall. When the attacking enemy expanded the area of the attack to about five miles to the north and east of the city, he still encountered a dense range of guns.

However, at this time of the battle, Yuan Keli, who organized the siege of the city, also learned some information about the deployment of enemy troops in the city through the reports of his own soldiers who came down from the front line, which was also the biggest gain from the attack in the northeast corner.

"The main firepower of the defenders seems to be very dense in this area, and it doesn't look like a makeshift mobilization. In the southeast corner, the enemy forces seem to have some reserves. If our army suddenly attacks again at this time from the city wall at a certain distance from the Dongzhi Gate, or from the west of the city. Even if the defenders had a certain number of men to form a barely decent manpower around the capital, they would certainly not have the combat power and firepower in this direction. Moreover, since they have given up the battle for the head of the city, our army can easily organize blasting attacks everywhere at any time to break down the opponent's inner wall protection. If the garrison in the city is true, even if they have enough manpower and material resources to barely resist during the day, they will definitely be broken through by our army after nightfall, or force the defenders to fight our army head-on... A well-versed general seemed to see very clearly at this time the disadvantages of the defenders giving up the battle for the city, and relying on the inner walls to defend it.

Yuan Keli and others also immediately made arrangements: "Tell You Shiwei and others that our army has pinned down the opponent in the east of the city, and tell them to attack according to our methods at all costs." There is no shortage of food and pay for the army for the time being, and the compensation for the casualties of the soldiers is paid by us... ”

In this way, the Ming army, which soon gradually occupied the head of the city, began to attack and assault from the entire east, north, and west of the city. About 1,000 officers and men of each of the three directions who were on duty to prepare for battle in rotation were to reinforce and prepare for war as quickly as possible with horses in the city and roads that had been prepared in advance, and strive to be able to cope with the enemy's key attacks in the mountain direction, and when the enemy's main attack direction changed, they would strive to be able to reinforce them in about a stick of incense. The cavalry was accompanied by decent firearms of two or three thousand each. The other 3,000 to 4,000 officers and men of the Teaching Brigade were responsible for preparing for night battles or resting to maintain their strength.

Of course, a thousand people is very thin, and it is impossible to form a sufficient rate of fire in the organization of defense at a range of about two or three miles. At this time, it was often relied on the officers and men of the Guards Battalion and the Yongwei Battalion brigades who maintained combat readiness in various cities, and even the tens of thousands of Shandong family members who had been temporarily mobilized in the ranks to form sufficient manpower to temporarily serve as the manpower to load firearms in the predetermined positions, and to load the three firearms in three groups of six people at the fastest speed and hand them over to one person for firing. In this way, an elite officer and soldier can exert a dense firepower of about ten rounds per minute, or even more, like a multi-row gun. When these fires could not withstand the attacking enemy's sea of people, hand-to-hand combat began to be unleashed in more and more places throughout the city.

Night is gradually approaching, the attacking Ming army once again paid thousands of losses but did not break through the inner wall after all, but Yuan Keli also found some strange doorways: obviously there do not seem to be many defenders in the city at any time to watch and investigate, they are all suppressed by superior firepower and troops, and there is no obviously higher watchtower or the like. However, the movement of troops outside the city seems to be unable to conceal the investigation of the defenders, and they can always reasonably allocate troops in the direction of the main attack? But none of this seems to be very important. Because as night fell, the attacking side seemed to have many ways to achieve a breakthrough while occupying the city, and the defenders must not be able to judge the direction of the main attack at night.

(End of chapter)