"Wrong! Absolutely wrong!" Chongzhen said calmly.

"Your Majesty, please enlighten me!"

"The more Li Zicheng does this, the more afraid the surrendered Ming army will be! They are not direct descendants, and the trust they have gained is limited. If they continue to follow Li Zicheng, they will end up with the same fate sooner or later."

"When he rebelled, he declared that he would never collect taxes. As he conquered more and more places, Li Chuang's 'treasury' could no longer hold out, so he recently changed his slogan to 'no taxes for three years.'"

"Such inconsistency has already lost the support of the people."

"Failure is only a matter of time!"

"Everything has its limits, and Li Chuang is starting to go downhill!"

Yan Yingyuan and Wang Guoxing looked at each other and saw shock in each other's eyes.

But the reality did not allow them to be shocked. With the sound of artillery fire, the siege began again.

After Chongzhen briefly boosted morale, he quickly left the city wall.

He didn't dare to joke with his own life because the number of people attacking the city was too large.

Everywhere you look there are people!

Moreover, outside the range of the Ming army's artillery, the bandits were building artillery positions with wood.

The higher the artillery is mounted, the farther it can hit!

The city wall of Beijing is thirty or forty meters high. As long as the artillery batteries are built higher than the city wall, they can use their range advantage to suppress the defenders with firepower.

With the lessons learned from the first day of siege, Liu Zongmin came up with this method.

"The fort is higher than the city wall, with sandbags piled on top and cannons installed. Do you hear me?"

"I obey your orders!"

far away.

The first wave of civilians rushed to the moat carrying wood, facing the Ming army's artillery fire.

After throwing the wood into the moat, the men turned and ran.

Soon after, the second wave of laborers rushed up with wet quilts on their heads. With tools for prying bricks in their hands, they stepped on wood to the city wall and started prying bricks without saying a word.

The third wave of people carried simple ladders, held shields in their left hands and knives in their right hands, and immediately set up the ladders to climb up the city after crossing the moat.

The fourth wave of people stood not far behind them, holding firearms and crossbows and continuously shooting at the defenders on the city.

These people may seem like a lot, but they are pitifully small compared to the army behind them.

The total number of Shun troops attacking the city this time was as high as 70,000!

The 70,000-strong army was deployed vertically in the west of the city, stretching for more than ten miles.

You know, the entire capital is only fifteen miles from north to south.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

The shouts and cries outside the city grew louder and louder. These sounds gathered together like a giant dragon, flying around outside the city, constantly hitting the city walls that had stood for hundreds of years.

Under such an attack and amidst such shouts and cries of killing, Wang Guoxing, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, felt like an ant.

So small!

Helpless and powerless!

The courage and morale that had been accumulated before disappeared in the blink of an eye.

There is only fear in my heart.

But at this moment, a loud voice rang out beside Wang Guoxing: "The sun, moon, mountains and rivers will last forever, the Ming Dynasty will last forever, kill!"

The sound came from the West Gate and quickly spread throughout the capital along the city wall.

"The sun, the moon, the mountains and the rivers will last forever, the Ming Dynasty will last forever, kill!"

The artillerymen on the city wall quickly loaded gunpowder, fuses, and projectiles. The matchlock in their hands lightly touched the fuse, and with a bang, the shells shot out.

The shells fired were either a rain of bullets or large projectiles with great destructive power, causing casualties to the Shun army in groups or in a straight line.

Seeing the bandits had reached the city wall, the defenders raised logs and rocks and threw them down with all their might.

After knocking down a group of people, the people nearby threw down various grenades, earth-shattering mines, and small ten thousand enemies.

After a burst of explosions, flames rose and smoke filled the city.

The mouths and noses of the Shun army attacking the city were covered with wet cloth, so the pungent smoke had little effect on them. Moreover, the wet cotton on their bodies could not be ignited, so these Shun soldiers were not burned to death like yesterday.

However, their eyes felt uncomfortable in the smoke.

But in the face of life and death, these people didn't care about much. They closed their eyes when they couldn't open them, and used their hands to pry bricks through the cracks in the wall.

The other defenders held bows, crossbows and various firearms and kept shooting down.

While they were shooting, the defenders under the city were also firing back.

Shun army infantrymen were standing by the moat, holding Ming army standard weapons and firing continuously at the city walls.

The Shun army holding ladders and shields climbed up one after another.

The Shun army artillery was afraid that large projectiles would fall from the city wall and accidentally injure friendly forces, so they used 100-bullet rapid-fire bullets to fire back at the city wall.

Under the intensive rain of arrows and bullets, the defenders suffered casualties rapidly increasing.

Even worse, some civilians were already running back with bricks from the city wall. (The Shun army had a rule: after prying off a brick, they would return to the camp to rest, and those who fell behind would be beheaded immediately.)

"Pour kerosene!" The guards at each city gate shouted almost in unison.

Barrels of boiling kerosene were poured down from the top of the city wall, splashing onto the Shun army, making a sizzling sound.

"Ah!" The Shun army that was poured with hot oil screamed in agony.

"ah--!"

Before the screams ended, even more tragic screams suddenly rang out.

The defenders on the city wall threw torches onto the hot oil, and flames and thick smoke rose up instantly!

One by one, the Shun soldiers turned into burning little firemen and struggled in the crowd.

At this moment, they just wanted to jump into the moat and extinguish the flames on their bodies.

Under the influence of flames and thick smoke, they had already lost their sense of direction and were rolling and crawling while screaming.

Wherever they went, there was a sea of fire. Everything they touched and all the clothes they touched were immediately set on fire.

The Shun army, whose clothes were set on fire, also panicked and turned around and jumped into the moat.

Shunjun, who was hiding under the wet quilt, was about to rejoice when the ground beneath him began to surge, followed by a violent explosion.

The Ming army buried gunpowder cans under the city wall last night, which began to explode when ignited by open flames.

Boom boom boom!

The violent shock wave not only killed the Shun army nearby, but also blew away the soldiers on the ladders.

Lead and iron balls mixed in the gunpowder flew through the air.

After the violent explosion, the Shun army under the city wall turned into broken limbs and corpses amid wailing.

The Shun army in the distance was also affected and fell to the ground one after another. Some were injured and could not get up, while others quickly got up and ran back.

Snap!

The fleeing soldier was killed by the infantry behind him as soon as he turned around!

"Those who escape will be killed without mercy!"

The defenders on the city had no time to rejoice because the bandits attacked again.

"People down there, hurry up and move the stones up!"

"The gunpowder is running out. You guys should work in pairs to carry the gunpowder to the city wall!"

"Put on the pan and heat up the oil. The bandits are attacking again!"

Lieutenant General Li, the garrison commander at Fucheng Gate, was directing the battle while keeping an eye on the logistics supply.

With a loud bang!

A powerful general cannon exploded!