Liu Guoyu also said: "It must be, otherwise how can these Ming troops easily capture the Great Victory Pass." What is hateful is that the defenders of this big victory pass were deceived by the Ming army so easily, if they were not deceived into opening it, otherwise when the battle of Dasheng Pass was together, Nanjing City must have known that there was a big army to attack. ”

The soldiers of the Restoration Army who were guarding the prisoners next to him saw that the more they talked, the more excessive. Said: "Let me tell you, these people used to be the real Manchurian Eight Banners, but now they have surrendered to our Restoration Army, and they have all changed to Han Chinese, no longer Manchurians." ”

Seeing these people looking at themselves with a surprised face, the Fuming army soldier said: "I don't understand, if you good Han people don't do it, why are you still willing to be a dog for the Manchurian Tartars." Are you impatient to be human? Or can you only be a slave if you are lowly? ”

Hearing the words of the soldiers of the Restoration Army, these Qing prisoners were shocked at first. I didn't think that these people who came to cheat the customs were actually real Manchurians. Then some were very ashamed, and the more they heard the soldiers of the Restoration Army, the more unbearable they became, and many people lowered their heads and did not dare to raise their heads.

Liu Guoyu had a lot of feelings in his heart, and was about to defend himself. I heard a Qing soldier shouting: "Look, there are many warships on the Yangtze River, and they are all heading to Jiangning." Liu Guoyu looked at it, and sure enough, there were dense sailor warships on the Yangtze River, and they were going downstream.

At this time, Zhu Youdong walked up to the wall, looked at the Yangtze River, and said: "Send a message to Lin Xingzhu and them, and let them all play the banner of the Qing army." Ignore Nanjing's inquiries and go directly to Zhenjiang. Zhou Chang said: "Your Highness, these sailors ignore the inquiries of the defenders of Nanjing, will they provoke the artillery of the Nanjing city defense to open fire." In that case, wouldn't it be a matter of exposing the surrender of the sailors. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "Don't worry about this, as long as the sailor doesn't stay, don't pay attention to it." The defenders in Nanjing City probably did not dare to fire the cannon directly, and would only step up to let people contact the people of the water division. Liu Zhen said: "That is, what can you say if you contact them?" Do you tell them that they have surrendered to us? ”

Zhou Chang smiled suddenly: "Oh, I'm confused, it's best for us to ignore them." I think it's better to let the sailors fire a few cannons into the city of Nanjing when they pass through Nanjing, which will be more conducive to our siege," Jiang Chao said: "What you said is not right, we have too late to cover up, you actually let them fire the cannons directly." Doesn't this tell them that the GIs are overwhelmed? ”

Zhu Youdong said: "What Zhou Chang wants is to let them know that there is an army to attack. Liu Zhen said: "Why? Only if we don't expose it can we have the effect of a sneak attack. Let the Qing army in Nanjing know that there is a large army to attack, what will they think? It will definitely seize the city defense and increase the difficulty of our heroes. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "The sailor suddenly appeared on the Yangtze River and attacked the city, if you were the defender of Nanjing City, what would you do?" Liu Zhen said: "What else can I do?" Of course, it is to mobilize a large army to defend the city. Zhou Chang said: "Yes, but there are not many defenders in Nanjing." What's more, only the naval division opened artillery, and when the time came, Lang Tingzuo and Kakam could only transfer all the defenders to the line of the Yangtze River. Are there any defenders at these gates that we are going to attack? ”

Liu Zhen and others figured it out. Immediately, they were all full of joy and said, "Zhou Chang, you can do it, how can you come up with such a wonderful method so quickly." Yes, the first merit of attacking Nanjing City was taken away by your mouth. Zhou Chang hurriedly said: "Don't dare, don't dare, if there are no generals, you can't talk about Nanjing City alone." To attack Nanjing, you have to ask the generals to contribute. ”

Zhu Youdong said: "Notify the people of the water master first and let them do it." After waiting for the person to be informed, Zhu Youdong said: "It doesn't matter whether the sailor side fires the cannon or not, but our plan remains the same." Weidu has already set off with the army, and we must also set off immediately, and strive to rush to the city of Nanjing when it gets dark. ”

Asking everyone to arrange the departure of the army, Zhu Youdong said to Lin Zhuang: "Now Gou Xingwang and where are they?" Wang Xing: Can they catch up with the army to attack the city? ”

Lin Zhuang said: "Your Highness, rest assured, Gou Xingwang walked all the way to Ningguofu, except for the delay in raising necessary food, he did not stay at any other time. I just received news that Gou Xingwang has arrived in Guangtong. It was just a rapid march all the way, and the soldiers were very tired, so they rested in Guangtong for the night. It is estimated that he will reach Liyang today, and even if he can't capture Liyang, General Gou can hold the south and prevent the Qing army reinforcements from coming. ”

Then Lin Zhuang hesitated for a moment and said, "Wang Xing, their marching speed has risen, but their army along the way has some bad military discipline. The damage to the local area is great, and the local people's grievances are also great. Zhu Youdong was stunned for a moment and said, "They harassed the people? ”

Lin Zhuang said: "They didn't directly harass the people, but the places they passed through caused a lot of damage to the local crops, and it is estimated that nearly forty percent of the crops along the way were destroyed." Zhu Youdong frowned and said, "Don't care about these now, where are they now?" ”

Lin Zhuang said: "Wang Xing and they didn't go to Lishui, but went directly to Moling Pass. Zhu Youdong said: "Why did they suddenly change direction?" Lin Zhuang said: "It was suggested by Hu Yiqing, he said that if you go north from Lishui, you still have to go through Moling Pass, why not go directly to Moling Pass, so that Nanjing can be defenseless." ”

Zhu Youdong said: "We don't care how they fight, we don't care now, as long as we can reach Nanjing." Now that the army has set off, it's too late for us to change. Let's rush to Nanjing as soon as possible, the sailors have been in the past for a long time, and if they are any longer, it will be difficult to catch up with them. ”

Ever since he sent his army to Anqing, Lang Tingzuo had been feeling irritable. always felt that something was about to happen, but when they asked the soldiers who went to give orders, Liu Guoyu and the others did not show any reluctance.

Finally survived the morning, Lang Tingzuo explained, and then came to the military academy. When I saw the empty barracks here, I was always not very sure. Remembering what Kakam said, he immediately called Liu Fangming, the general soldier of the Nanjing garrison, and said, "General Liu, why don't you go out for training?" ”

Liu Fangming said: "Your Excellency Governor, we just came back from Suzhou, and it has only been two days. When he returned, the army was also marching fast. The soldiers are very tired, and if they are forced out to train now, I am afraid that the soldiers will complain a lot. ”

Lang Tingzuo was suddenly displeased: "Then if someone comes to attack Jiangning now, can you three thousand people defend Jiangning?" Liu Fangming was frightened and said: "Your Excellency the Governor said that he laughed, just humble these 3,000 people, and it is not enough to just defend the inner city, where can he defend the entire Jiangning." ”

Seeing that Liu Fangming directly denied it, Lang Tingzuo tried to say: "What if I organize 10,000 people for you in the city?" Liu Tiren, the son of Liu Fangming on the side, said: "Your Excellency the Governor, it's not us who will grow up others and destroy our own prestige. If there are only 3,000 of us, there is no hope for holding Nanjing. Even if you add 10,000 people, you can't do it, it's not sure. ”

Lang Tingzuo's face suddenly looked ugly, and said, "Thirteen thousand people can't hold it?" What's more, there are nearly 2,000 servants in the city, and they can go to the city to defend at any time. That's 15,000 people, can't that? ”

Liu Fangming explained: "Your Excellency, this city can't be counted like this, Jiangning City has a total of more than 30 gates just the two outer city walls. And this ten thousand people can only assist at most, and they can't afford to take on a big responsibility. My 3,000 soldiers here are divided into 30 city gates, and only 100 soldiers are guarding one city gate, how can this be guarded? ”

Only then did Lang Tingzuo understand, and immediately said: "I just asked, besides, in the entire Jiangnan now, where can there be so many troops to surround Jiangning City?" At most, they can only attack two or three city gates, how can they not be able to defend them? Liu Fangming said: "That's what I said, but if the besieging army sends people to sneak attack, should the other city gates be defended?" ”

Lang Tingzuo sighed and said, "Listening to General Liu's words, it seems that only by transferring the army from Tongzhou back, otherwise Jiangning City is really dangerous." Liu Tiren said: "Lord Governor, is there any military situation, no one is really going to attack Jiangning City, why haven't you heard of it?" ”

Lang Tingzuo said: "There is no clear military situation, I can only want to be prepared." As for the military situation, only Anqing has said that there are untouchables making trouble recently, and it is estimated that some nearby mountain bandits are involved. But it doesn't matter, I have already sent Liu Guoyu to lead troops to quell the rebellion. ”

As soon as they heard that Lang Tingzuo sent Liu Guoyu to quell the rebellion, Liu Fangming and Liu Tiren's eyes suddenly lit up, and they regretted why they didn't send themselves to quell the rebellion. In this counterinsurgency process, the Qing Dynasty was very strict with the killing of good people and the merit, but you only grabbed things and did not repay the merits. But no one cares about you. This is a good opportunity to make a fortune, and it was actually given by Liu Guoyu.

Lang Tingzuo continued: "Because there are too few defenders in Jiangning City now. I also asked General Tikhamu to send 1,000 soldiers from the Eight Banners with him. As soon as he heard that there were still Eight Banners soldiers going together, Liu Tiren was immediately disappointed. There are Eight Banner Soldiers, and the things they rob are all Eight Banner Soldiers, and they have to serve these Eight Banner Soldiers along the way. It's just a crime, and Liu Tiren suddenly lost interest.

But Liu Fangming is still very interested, Liu Fangming is an official fan, and he wants to climb up with a sycophant. So he thinks that money is not important, as long as he knots the Eight Banners, he will be able to prosper in official fortune. When the time comes, I don't have everything I want, and I have everything I want.

While a few people were talking, a small official from the Governor's Mansion hurriedly ran in and said to Lang Tingzuo: "Your Excellency, it's not good. A large number of naval warships appeared on the Yangtze River, and they were thinking about Jiangning City. Lang Tingzuo hurriedly stood up and asked, "Have you sent someone to ask, I haven't heard about it recently, where to mobilize the sailors to pass through Jiangning." ”

The little official said: "Why didn't you send someone to ask, but two waves of people have been sent, but no one has come back." I didn't see any response from the sailors' fleet. When Liu Fangming heard this, he said to Lang Tingzuo: "Your Excellency Governor, it seems that the situation has changed, let's go to the city to check the situation first." I asked the dog to take the army to the city wall to defend and prepare for the eventuality. ”

Lang Tingzuo said: "Okay, let's go and let the virtuous nephew take the army to set up defenses." Then he said to the little official: "You go and inform Wang Shaolong, the prefect of Yingtian, and ask him to immediately organize the people in the city to go to the city, and go to Shangyuan Gate, Waijinchuan Gate, Foning Gate and Guanyin Gate to prepare for defense." ”

Then Lang Tingzuo said to Liu Fangming: "Let's go to Yuejianglou to check the situation first." With that, he rushed to Yuejiang Tower with Liu Fangming. Because the school is located between the Shangfang Gate and the Jiagang Gate of Nanjing City, that is, it is located in the south of Nanjing City. The Yuejiang Tower is directly north of Nanjing City, and Lang Tingzuo and Liu Fangming almost cross the entire Nanjing City.

The two directly took the guards to find war horses from the barracks, and then a group of people rode horses in Nanjing City. I don't know how many stalls I knocked down along the way, and I don't care how many people I killed. After Lang Tingzuo and the others left, the person who was hit on the head and bleeding got up from the ground and pointed at the horse team that was far away and scolded loudly.