"Is this Nanjing City really unfortunate?" Hearing what Qian Qianyi said, Hou Fangyu asked anxiously.

For the Donglin Party, Chongzhen is not a good king, since Chongzhen ascended the throne for more than ten years, the Donglin Party has been repeatedly suspicious, and one by one they have been expelled from the court. At present, Qian Qianyi chose to cooperate with King Fu for the benefit of the Donglin Party, once Chongzhen re-ascends the throne, who knows if he will retaliate?

And for Hou Fangyu, King Fu reigns Qian Qianyi as the second assistant, with Qian Qianyi's power Hou Fangyu himself will soon soar, if Chongzhen ascends the throne, even if he will let Qian Qianyi go, he will never be reused.

"According to the imperial decree, the nobles of Nanjing can recruit troops on their own, so that Nanjing's troops will definitely far exceed Chongzhen's Pingnan army. As long as we form a rope with Xungui and work together, Nanjing may not be able to hold it! Hou Fangyu was puzzled.

"Hehe, you're thinking too simply." Qian Qianyi smiled bitterly, "Don't look at Liu Kongzhao's ambition to reshape the status of the noble general, but for most of the nobles in Nanjing, there are few who are willing to follow him.

Who is willing to spend their own money to recruit the army, and for these lords with hereditary titles, what is the difference between King Fu being the emperor and Chongzhen being the emperor? Liu Kongzhao thought too simply, he thought that everyone was as greedy for power as he was, and they were willing to lead troops to fight?

The long-term peace has already worn out most of the nobles' ambitions, how many of them can hold knives and guns?

How many of them know the art of war? Let them lead the troops, what is the difference between sending them to death!

As long as Chongzhen's army is in the city, I am afraid that these nobles will surrender first! ”

"This, this, this, what to do? Chongzhen, will he really forgive Uncle Shi, your sins? Hou Fangyu opened his mouth and stammered.

"As long as I am willing to do it, sin will not lead to death, after all, I chose to cooperate with King Fu under his military might. But if you want to enter the cabinet again, you can't think about it. ”

Qian Qianyi sighed, "It's still Shi Daolin's long-term vision, and he is not tempted by temporary interests, and the future of our Donglin Party will still fall on him, which is why I let you go to see him."

That's it, it's useless to talk more, I'll write a few letters, and you will send them out early tomorrow morning, tell our people, all use their family property to recruit soldiers, and I will discuss with Ma Shiying to try to let our people go to the city to guard. ”

......

On this night, many people in Nanjing couldn't sleep, and all kinds of conspiracies and thoughts continued to breed.

Ruan Dacheng led the soldiers to frantically search for the fleeing Jinyi Guard, was ambushed and suffered more than 30 casualties, the generals who led the team were furious, the soldiers launched a more cruel search and revenge, a team of soldiers rushed into the people's homes, searched from house to house, half of the city of Nanjing was in a noisy, the soldiers took the opportunity to commit adultery and loot, and even more ruffians and hooligans took the opportunity to make trouble.

The riot did not stop until dawn, and Lu Zonghan, who fled, was not caught, and there were very few Jinyi guards found, but countless people were killed.

In the morning, there was a sudden news that the advance of the Pingnan Army had reached 30 miles outside Nanjing. Ma Shiying, on behalf of the Hongguang Imperial Court, immediately ordered to close all the gates of Nanjing, and a group of soldiers under the leadership of the generals went to the city, rolling wood and stones, ash bottles and oil pots, and were carried to the city in the same way, preparing for the enemy's siege.

Ma Shiying ordered that each city gate be guarded by ministers loyal to King Fu, and Zhao Zhilong, the Duke of Xinguo, led the Nanjing Guards to be responsible for the defense of the outer city walls and sixteen city gates, and the thirteen inner city gates were handed over to Liu Zeqing's army.

As for Liu Kongzhao, the Duke of Chengguo, he was going to take the water battalion to deploy defenses by the river, and guard against Huang Degong's troops in Jiangbei from crossing the river. Huang Degong had already led his army to Pukou on the other side of the river, and was trying to organize a fleet to cross the river, and once his army came, the city of Nanjing would be in danger of being attacked on both sides.

The outer city wall of Nanjing is 160 miles, 16 city gates, Zhao Zhilong's Beijing camp is only more than 20,000 people, even a soldier standing on a battlement is not enough, so these troops are too thin to put on such a long city wall.

Ma Shiying ordered that the noble ministers were allowed to recruit soldiers privately, as long as enough troops were recruited, after the imperial court inspection, they would be awarded the corresponding official positions, and as long as they made meritorious contributions, they would be awarded knighthoods. King Fu has decreed that he will not hesitate to reward the marquis. Ma Shiying hoped that through the temptation of official positions and titles, these nobles would choose to stand with King Fu.

What disappointed him was that except for a few nobles in Liu Kongzhao, there were not many people who really responded to this holy decree, and many nobles used the lack of money in their families as an excuse to disobey the yang and the yin, and even worse, organized the servants and even the maids in the family to pretend to be recruited officers and soldiers. What was even more surprising to Ma Shiying was that the civil officials and gentry in Nanjing actively responded to this holy decree, and many gentry took out their own silver and grain, recruited people into the army, and took the initiative to take the responsibility of guarding the city gate.

Maybe it was because Qian Qianyi knew that he had no way out and was afraid of Chongzhen's revenge after entering the city, so he mobilized the Donglin Party to actively cooperate with the defense of the city, Ma Shiying thought.

When Ma Shiying was busy defending the city, Ruan Dacheng suddenly came to see him happily and told him that he had caught a thousand households who had been persuaded by Lu Zonghan to surrender, and from this he thought of a plan and came to report it.

"Yuan Fu, the art of war is cloudy, we can attack and defend, we can't defend Nanjing, we must send troops to fight the arrogance of the Pingnan Army, so that we can hold Nanjing. The subordinates have a plan. Ruan Dacheng said.

"Come on!" Ma Shiying was overjoyed, although he didn't understand the art of war, he also knew that he couldn't defend to the death, and he should send troops out of the city to fight against the Southern Army. However, there is really no army in Nanjing that can fight against the Southern Army, Liu Liangzuo's combat strength is acceptable, but to guard the inner city, this is the last honor guard of King Fu, and he cannot be sent out to fight. But if Liu Liangzuo's army is not sent, the other armies in Nanjing will be even worse, these troops have not been trained all year round, basically have not fought, and are not the opponents of the Pingnan army at all. Therefore, Ma Shiying was very interested in Ruan Dacheng's strategy.

"Yuanfu, let's ...... like this" Ruan Dacheng leaned into Ma Shiying's ear and said softly. With Ruan Dacheng's words, Ma Shiying's expression slowly changed, and a trace of a smile appeared on his face.

"As long as it is done, you will be my military secretary!" Ma Shiying promised Ruan Dacheng, which made Ruan Dacheng overjoyed.

......

Inside the Qilin Gate, groups of newly recruited soldiers are transporting materials to the city to defend the city. Chen Jianghe carried a piece of wood and walked steadily on the horse road in Shangcheng, while Liu Neng, Xu Qingtian and others walked in front of and behind him.

Recruitment notices were posted all over the streets, and Chen Jianghe and his Jinyi guards successfully joined the army of a squire, and each of them received two taels of silver and became a member of the Nanjing garrison.