"Newspaper, King Han. The vanguard of our army has arrived in Nanjing City as scheduled. A messenger from the vanguard came to report.

"Got it, you go down and rest for a while!" Zhang Rui nodded.

"Yes..."

"Taiping, pass the order. After arriving within five miles of Nanjing, they rested and camped. Let the soldiers cook first, and everyone will have the strength to eat and drink. At the same time, he asked Commander Li De to arrange for someone to call for surrender, and they were limited to surrender within two hours. Zhang Rui commanded to Chen Taiping, the flag officer on duty.

"Yes, King Han. The subordinates will go to give orders. Chen Taiping replied neatly.

The siege of Nanjing City was carried out by the Sharp Knife Army (Li De), the Chiye Army (Wang Yan), the Loyal Warrior Army (Zhang Zhishan), and the Tiger Army (Li Guozhong). The main battle strength of the Fourth Army is 130,000, combined with logistics, and the total strength of troops is about 300,000, and it is claimed to be 1.2 million troops to the outside world.

The march crosses the border, like ants moving. The long queue does not take a moment or a half to arrive in general.

At this time, the Qing army hid within the tall city walls. It would be unwise to rush into a city with a tired body if the striker arrives. It is better to paralyze the enemy by giving the city time to surrender, so that the soldiers who are on the road can recharge and wait for the logistics to arrive.

Although the front was in Nanjing City, Zhang Rui did not mean to order the army to speed up. The army is still moving forward in an orderly manner, and it is not necessarily a good thing to disrupt the progress of the march at will.

……

An hour and a half later

……

"Boom... Boom... Boom..."

The drums of the anti-bandit army were loud, and the resting anti-bandit army began to formally assemble.

Outside the city of Nanjing

The surrounding area is covered with snow, but only the towering city walls stand out. The sun shines brightly on this vast city. When it appeared in Zhang Rui's sight, Zhang Rui had to be shocked by the momentum it displayed.

"It's really hard to attack such a tall wall. I really can't understand why those guys in the Southern Ming Dynasty lost such a good city. I don't know what Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang thinks, knowing that the city he built was beaten down so easily. Standing on the hill at the height of the battlefield, looking at the magnificent Nanjing city wall, Zhang Rui couldn't help but complain in his heart.

"Sure enough, defense is offense, and the best wall is people's hearts. However, the Manchu pig-like stuff could take the city. Shall we still be able to? Seeing the phalanx that had been assembled into neat rows below, Zhang Rui felt a sense of pride in his heart.

"Ask the vast earth, who is the lord of ups and downs?"

"Newspaper, King Han. Chief of Staff Zhao asked me to come over and report it. Yi Jishan, the puppet governor of Liangjiang in the Qing Dynasty, claimed that the time given by our army was too tight, and I hope we can give him more time so that he can persuade others to agree to surrender! Please let the King of Han decide. "A staff officer from the front who participated in the surrender came back to report.

The words of this staff officer sounded very normal, but Zhang Rui immediately alerted himself in his heart and said: "Wasn't it because of this mistake that Zheng Chenggong suffered a big loss, and now these guys want to make this trick again, I must not make the same mistake." ”

"Got it. You go and inform Chief of Staff Zhao Li and bring someone back immediately. Zhang Rui replied.

"Yes, my subordinates obey." The staff officer immediately retreated.

"King Han, what do you do now? Will those Qinggou really surrender? Are we waiting for those clear dogs? Li De, who was on the side, asked anxiously.

"Wait? When we're fools. He just thought that he could delay time and let other Qinggou come over and relieve them. Wasn't this how Zheng Chenggong was defeated, he could have nearly 100,000 armored soldiers and hundreds of thousands of troops at that time. Zhang Rui said angrily.

"Give the order to go down and prepare for the siege."

"All right, King Han." Li De said happily.

"Yes, King Han." Wang Yan still replied respectfully.

……

"Boom... Boom... Boom..."

The drums beat again in the bandits.

"Tiger... Tiger... Tiger..."

There was a loud cry in the army. Three shouts, the sound is compelling, and the momentum is majestic and shocking. The defenders on the Nanjing City Wall were all nervous.

……

"Attention, the thieves are going to attack the city, the thieves are going to attack the city..."

"Golden juice... The golden juice is boiled quickly..."

"Stones, stones are not enough, hurry up and bring some more stones... Quick..."

“… Wood... Yes, wood... And lime..."

“… Firewood, firewood... Hurry up, don't grind. Petroleum (1)... Did you get the oil? What the? Not yet? Then why don't you hurry up and transport it, do you want the thief to send it to you? …”

On the road of the city wall, all kinds of shouts were chaotic.

Nanjing, after a long war!

"Boom... Boom... Boom..."

When the head of Nanjing City was constantly preparing defense materials, the drums of the bandit army were still beating unhurriedly.

The vanguard battalion in front of the bandit army

This is a special battalion, about three thousand people.

Unlike other groups that are purely young and strong, they are mixed with many children from 16 years old to 50 years old. But they all have something in common, that is, they are all children of Eight Banners.

The bandit army has always carried out a brutal bloodbath against the Qing Eight Banners that dared to resist, which is as good as the practices of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom.

When he broke through Jingzhou City, in addition to following the defender Tumen. In addition to the Eight Banners soldiers and their families who surrendered together, the other Eight Banners were almost slaughtered. The discarded corpses covered the surface of the Yangtze River, causing the water of the Yangtze River to be dyed red for a while.

Zhang Rui actually doesn't hate them much, it's just that war has always been cruel, either you die or I die.

Zhang Rui always believed that as long as he was defeated, then his death would definitely not be easier than these people. After all, none of the Heavenly Kings of the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom were captured alive without being executed by Ling Chi.

Zhang Rui didn't want to be executed by Ling Chi.

So, even if it's inhumane. Zhang Rui also believes that in this era, it is necessary to follow the rules of this era, and it is necessary to kill and deter.

Since the Manchus could tame the Han people by slaughtering, why couldn't they do the other way around?

It is precisely because of this that when the bandit army attacked Fujian and Hangzhou, most of the banner men surrendered.

Naturally, it is fine for these small number of banner men to surrender, but if there are many people who surrender, once the battle situation is unstable, there will be danger.

For this reason, Zhang Rui could only get a labor camp out.

That's right, surrender is to avoid death. But the death penalty is forgiven, and you have enjoyed the people's fat and people's anointing for so many years? It's just not counting these, how many Han people did your ancestors kill? Father and son are not wrong!

It is a promise not to kill you, but your ancestors have it.

There have been, and you have no merit, so naturally you can't talk about merit.

Then you have to go to labor reform until you can make up for the mistakes made by your ancestors.

As for how long it will take, it depends on what kind of credit you can make. Maybe it's three or five months, or maybe it's just three or five years!

……