change the composition of the Junta. Meanwhile, General Ceballos managed to introduce spies and agent-provocateurs into the city, who come to offer money to the leaders of the canton, which they rejected, although some officers were arrested and imprisoned on 21 November for accepting it. The discouragement and demoralization of the besieged increased when the bombing of the city began in late November. On 14 November the Minister of War José Sánchez Bregua informed General Ceballos that "It would be convenient to throw 5,000 projectiles into the plaza because that way the defenders' spirits could be broken or at least disturbed, so as not to allow them to remain as they have remained, completely calm." The bombing began on 26 November 1873 without warning and lasted until the last day of the siege, accounting for a total of 27,189 projectiles, "a true deluge of fire", which caused 800 wounded and twelve deaths and damage to most properties – only 28 houses were left unscathed. After the first week of bombardment in which the besiegers realized that Cartagena's defenses were still intact, General Ceballos resigned, alleging health reasons and the "lack of resources to take the place in the period that interests the Government" That is to say, before the Cortes was reopened on 2 January, when it was expected Castelar would be forced to resign. On 10 December he was replaced by general José López Domínguez. The surrender of Cartagena after Pavia's coup The approach of the constitutionalists and the radicals of Castelar met with the opposition of the "moderate" Nicolás Salmerón and his followers, who until then had supported the government, because they believed that the Republic should be built by "authentic" republicans, not by the newcomers that were "out of republican orbit." The first sign that Salmerón had stopped supporting the Castelar government came in December 1873 when his supporters in the Cortes voted along with "centrists" and "intransigents" against Castelar's proposal that elections be held to fill the vacant seats. Following Castelar's parliamentary defeat, Cristino Martos, leader of the radicals, and General Serrano, leader of the constitutionalists, agreed to carry out a coup d'état to prevent Castelar from being replaced at the head of the Executive Branch by a vote of censure that Pi y Margall and Salmerón were expected to present as soon as the Cortes reopened on 2 January 1874 . When the Cortes reopened