Toon chief Chris Hughton rested several regulars and the decision backfired as Posh tore his side to shreds.
Only a series of stunning saved from Dutch keeper Tim Krul - along with the intervention of the woodwork - saved the visitors from being on the receiving end of a sorry scoreline.
Quite how they survived until the 20th minute when Craig Mackail-Smith broke the deadlock with a glancing header after rookie defender Ben Tozer had seen his clearance ricochet against George Boyd is still a mystery.
Mackail-Smith had already forced Krul into the first of many fabulous stops and Gaby Zakuani had seen a power-packed header from a Paul Coutts corner crash against the bar before Posh hit the front.
They doubled their lead 11 minutes later when eagle-eyed full-back Tom Williams seized possession and cleverly caught Krul napping at his near post, but the keeper redeemed himself by tipping a Mackail-Smith drive onto the bar soon after.
Newcastle did break forward to have two strong penalty shouts ignored by referee Keith Stroud in the opening period.
The official was unmoved when Kazenga LuaLua went down under a Craig Morgan challenge and was equally unimpressed on the stroke of the interval when goalscorer Williams appeared to catch Peter Lovenkrands.
And things went even further downhill for the Toon when Danny Guthrie was dismissed nine minutes into the second half for picking up a second caution when clattering into Boyd.
His first booking had been for kicking the ball away in the opening period.
Hughton called for well-known reinforcements from the bench soon after when sending on Kevin Nolan, Alan Smith and Geremi, but it was the hosts that continued to wreak havoc.
Half-time arrival Dean Keates drilled just wide after collecting a classy Boyd pass before Boyd and Aaron McLean twice both failed to apply the killer blow during another bout of penalty-box pinball.
And while Posh failed to stretch their margin of victory, the gulf between the two teams was massive.