April 26 of the first year of Ming Hongguang, sunny!

The Ming Dynasty used the lunar calendar, and April was equivalent to May and June in the later Gregorian calendar, which was the most beautiful season of the year. However, in this season of prosperity, there is untimely chaos on the streets of Nanjing.

The news that Yangzhou in Jiangbei was occupied by the Manchus came over, making the citizens of Nanjing, who had just been relieved, nervous again. Everyone knows that bandits are like combing soldiers, and now the legendary Manchurian soldiers who kill people without blinking an eye are coming, which has set off a wave of escape in Nanjing.

Merchants of all sizes in Nanjing closed their doors one after another, and they were ready to leave the city and flee south, but when they arrived at the city gate, they were stopped by the soldiers guarding the gate, and the imperial court ordered that no one should go out of the city.

The city of Nanjing is at the foot of the Son of Heaven, and naturally many wealthy businessmen are inextricably linked with the ruling class, and several businessmen want to come forward to open the city gate by virtue of their connections, but the sticks of the soldiers guarding the city let them know that it is impossible to reason with these Qiu Ba.

Since this city gate is not good, then change the city gate, there are thirteen city gates in Nanjing City, two water gates, and five or six other gates, if you don't open here, don't you open other city gates? However, when these fugitives changed the city gate, they found that the entire Nanjing city gate was strictly controlled, in addition to the inspection department that used to guard the gate, some soldiers wearing armor were also added, which made these merchants panic, and thought that the Manchurian soldiers had hit the door.

When the crowd was panicking, a hundred households at the city gate stood up and shouted: "Fellow villagers, according to the order of Ma Junmen, the commander of the Daxiao Field, the entire southern capital city gate will be closed from today, without the emperor's decree and the cabinet's writings, the city gate will not be opened, please go home!" ”

The hundred households shouted several times, and everyone knew that the city gate was not open. Someone asked, "Who is this Ma Junmen?" How can there be so much power? ”

An informed person explained on the side: "This Ma Junmen is Ma Shiying's son Ma Cheng, I heard that he became the admiral of the university field half a year ago, but is the school field not outside the city?" Why did you get into town? ”

Although the people had doubts, those who dared to step forward to distinguish between those fierce and vicious soldiers had no choice but to return home one by one, and order was restored in a short time at the gates of Nanjing.

This order to close the city gate was asked by Ma Cheng to find Ma Shiying, it is very simple, Ma Cheng has decided to fight with Duoduo here in Nanjing, what is important to defend the city, it is naturally the population. There are seven or eight hundred thousand people in the city of Nanjing, and there are millions of people outside the southern city, which is the confidence of Ma Cheng and Duoduo.

After Ma Cheng learned that Yangzhou City was broken, he was already thinking about what to do next, there were two roads in front of Ma Cheng, the first was to escape, Ma Cheng retreated to Hangzhou with more than 20,000 people under his men. But what to do in Hangzhou? Even if you retreat to Guangzhou, what else can you do? Aren't you still going to have a fight with the Manchus? In this case, why not fight with the Manchus here in Nanjing, and it is better to retreat from defeat. Therefore, after a short period of thought, Ma Cheng decided on the strategy of relying on the city of Nanjing and fighting a decisive battle with the Manchus.

In addition to the tall city, the city of Nanjing is also very tricky in terms of geographical location. Nanjing is the Yangtze River to the north and west, from Jinchuan Gate to Sanshan Gate are close to the Yangtze River, where the river network is dense, the Manchu Qing Dynasty's iron cavalry can not be used at all, and the siege here can only be filled with human lives.

The east side of Nanjing from Zhongfu Gate to Chaoyang Gate is the big mountain, outside the Zhongfu Gate is the Shogunate Mountain, outside the Chaoyang Gate is the Purple Mountain, although the two hills are not high, but also limit the development of the Manchu siege team. At the same time, between the Shogunate Mountain and the Purple Mountain is the famous Xuanwu Lake, this large lake is next to the city wall, there is a waterway to connect with the Yangtze River, it is not at all human can fill it, so this place is not a place to use soldiers.

The only place outside the entire city of Nanjing that is quite flat is outside the south city, that is, the location of the three city gates of Jubaomen, Tongji Gate and Zhengyang Gate. In particular, the Daxiaochang outside the Zhengyang Gate, which was the location of the Nanjing Military Airport in later generations, was really a vast array of Pingchuan, and Ma Cheng estimated that hundreds of thousands of Manchu troops would definitely attack the city from here.

And Jubaomen and Tongji Gate are the gates of the inner three Weng, Zhengyang Gate is the inner two Weng, but Zhengyang Gate is the gate of the Son of Heaven, the base of the city wall is one hundred and twenty meters wide, and the horse road on the city wall is also forty meters wide, enough for ten horses to gallop side by side on it. Therefore, after Ma Cheng decided to defend Nanjing, he used Zhengyangmen as his headquarters.

Ma Cheng asked Ma Shiying to close the city gate on the 25th, and then began to prepare for defense. Ma Cheng transported all the weapons and equipment from the large school field outside the city to the city, and at the same time moved the villagers from various villages outside the city, the displaced people outside the southern city, and the families of the soldiers from various guard centers to the city and lived near the primary school field in the north city. Defending the city requires manpower, so Ma Cheng will never allow a useful person to leave Nanjing casually.

In addition to gathering manpower, Ma Cheng also sent soldiers to loot the county town of Lishui, which was the largest iron-making center outside Nanjing, supplying half of the pig iron production of the entire Nanzhili. In the past, Ma Cheng looked at this piece of fat and was greedy, but there was no way, in peacetime, Ma Cheng didn't dare to touch this piece of fat at all, there were too many interests in it, but it was not Ma Cheng who dared to provoke such a small Admiral from Yipin.

But now it's different, the Manchus are going to come to the city in half a month, this piece of fat Ma Cheng will be cheap if you don't eat it, and the Manchus will be cheap, and whoever cares about what forces are behind you with the blocking the door, grab it first, and then talk about it, if you are not satisfied, wait for Nanjing City to be lifted.

Lishui County is an upper county, the population of the county seat is more than 20,000, plus the workers of dozens of iron-making workshops outside the city, there are 40,000 people, these people have been moved to Nanjing by Ma Cheng, Ma Cheng's subordinates implemented Ma Cheng's orders very thoroughly, and even the county order and county officials were also arrested.

Xu Zhan, the commander of Lishui County, was working in the county office, and knowing that a disaster had fallen from the sky, a group of soldiers rushed into the county office and arrested him. At first, Xu Zhan thought it was a defeated army in Jiangbei, but when he left the county office, he found that the entire county had become a large construction site, and thousands of soldiers in red clothes were expelling the county residents to move.

This is not a defeated soldier, Xu Zhan frowned and asked where these soldiers came from, only then did he know that these Qiu Ba were soldiers outside Nanjing, under the management of the newly appointed Admiral Ma Cheng.

Xu Zhan knew that this Ma Cheng was Ma Shiying's son, and he also knew that the military discipline of the Ming Dynasty army was not good, but this Ma Cheng was too presumptuous, Lishui was less than twenty miles away from Nanjing, so close you dared to send troops to loot, so is the next step to enter Nanjing City to loot?

Xu Zhan is a native of Shanyin, Zhejiang, and is considered half of the Donglin Party, and now he sees that the eunuch party is making trouble, and said angrily: "You gang of killers, quickly take this official to see Ma Cheng!" ”

These soldiers received an order to move all the materials and personnel in Lishui County to Nanjing, but what to do with this county order was not said above, the small flag headed by the leader and his subordinates were totaled, since this county commander wanted to see the military master, he would send him to see him. There was no way that Xiaoqi found two soldiers and accompanied Xu Zhan to find Ma Cheng here at Zhengyangmen in Nanjing.

Ma Cheng was so busy now that he hit the back of his head, and when he heard the order of Lishui County to see him, he thought that this guy had some constructive suggestions, so he hurriedly ordered someone to invite him in.

Knowing that Xu Zhan scolded Ma Cheng after entering the house, Xu Zhan was from Zhejiang, Wu Nong said softly for a long time Ma Cheng didn't know what he said, but looking at the demeanor of this Qipin County Order, it is estimated that he is not very happy.

When he saw that Xu Zhan had said enough, Ma Cheng asked: "This old man, you speak slowly, this governor didn't hear clearly just now!" ”

Xu Zhan was so angry when he heard Ma Cheng say this, it turned out that he didn't listen to the good scolding he quoted the scriptures just now.

"Ma Cheng, this official asked you, why did you send troops to loot Lishui County without authorization? Do you think you can do whatever you want with Ma Shiying? This official is definitely not afraid of you! This time, Xu Zhan used official dialect, and Ma Cheng heard it clearly.

Ma Cheng looked at Xu Zhan who was standing in front of him, in his thirties, medium build, with a half-foot-long beard on his chin, and looked dignified. Although Ma Cheng doesn't know what Xu Zhan's official reputation is, he should have some administrative ability to stand up and speak for the people of Lishui County.

There are some ways to deal with this kind of self-esteemed official Ma Cheng, one of which is to put the facts and reason, put all the difficulties in front of you, and do it yourself!

Ma Cheng spread his hands and said, "This brother, Bendu can't help it!" You know that the northern captives have occupied Yangzhou, and now the northern captives have slaughtered 800,000 people in the entire city of Yangzhou, and it will be the turn of the southern capital in half a month! Now His Majesty the Emperor has decided to rely on the southern capital and the northern captives to fight to the end, defending the city needs population, it needs materials, you Lishui County is full of iron, what do you say the governor should do? Is it left for the Northern Captives? ”

Xu Zhan was speechless when he heard Ma Cheng say this, although Ma Cheng's methods were a little excessive, but it was right to do so. In the middle of the Ming Dynasty, the emperor was arrested, and it was Yu Qian's refusal to defend the city that continued the national fortune of the Ming Dynasty for more than 100 years. Xu Zhan is a native of Zhejiang, and he has always admired Yu Qian, a fellow villager, but now he can't refute Ma Cheng at all.

"That... Couldn't Ma Junmen's methods be gentle? ”

"Dude, you know that Bendu's subordinates are all Qiu Ba, what kind of truth do you know there!" Ma Cheng rolled his eyes after speaking, since this old guy is the commander of Lishui County, and now he is persuaded by himself, it is better to let him take care of the relocation.

After thinking about it, Ma Cheng stood up and came to Xu Zhan and bowed deeply, and then said: "This lord, now when the country is in crisis, it is in need of loyal and patriotic people like adults, this governor wants to ask adults to be responsible for the relocation of Lishui County, I wonder if adults can help?" ”

To tell the truth, it is appropriate to hand over this matter to Xu Zhan, Xu Zhan is Chongzhen's thirteenth year of promotion, and it has been three years since he became a county magistrate in Lishui County, and his official reputation and political performance are not bad, and at the same time, there are more than 200 officials in Lishui County, they are all sitting on the ground, and they can help move much faster.