Chen Yongfu had to envy Zhou He's good luck, and the sneak attack happened to meet the retreat order of the intruding army. But he regrets it and can't do anything, he can't get this credit on the side, who made him cowardly.

Although Zhou He also learned about Li Zicheng's retreat order from the captive, he was still very cautious and did not let the troops continue the pursuit. Since Li Zicheng is going to fight Hangzhou, their task can be regarded as successfully completed. Moreover, there were many rivers south of the Yangtze River, and their artillery baggage would be greatly affected, so he asked his troops to guard the captured enemy lines and wait for dawn.

Early the next morning, Huang Desheng, who was on the outskirts of Nanjing, received a report that the army besieging Nanjing had retreated south. So he immediately sent a thousand vanguard troops to Nanjing, and the large army followed. This is also for his sake, after all, Li Chuang has an army of 100,000, and if he is ruthless enough to eat them, he is still a little jealous.

When he arrived at the city of Nanjing at noon, he did not find any signs of Li Chuang turning around and returning to his division, so he was finally relieved. And Guo Chengdong and others in the city came out first. Only seventeen people came out, and three of them were wounded.

Guo Chengdong clenched his fists and reported: "Report to the general, the lowly fell into Nanjing City to assist in the defense, and fought fiercely for five days, killing 12 people, seriously injuring 8 people, and slightly injuring 3 people. The deceased has been cremated and the injured are still being treated in the hospital. ”

"You're all good!" Huang Desheng solemnly returned the salute with his fists, and also saluted the soldiers in the back row: "I will report your merits to the generalissimo in detail." Comrades who have died in battle will be treated with due courtesy. The accompanying medic would immediately go into the city to treat the wounded brother. ”

"General Xie is sympathetic." Everyone hugged their fists in thanks, but there was not much excitement and gratitude. After all, they were assigned the task of nine deaths and one life, and there was some element of being deceived in the middle, so it was normal to have some resentment in their hearts.

At this time, Zhao Zhilong, Han Zanzhou, Qian Qianyi and others, who had been watching on the city wall for a while, led the civil and military officials to come out. They came out to sacrifice the city, although they only came as a general, only with 10,000 men and horses, but they didn't feel that Li Yan's strength was too weak. Only about 30 people came before, and they could help them hold Nanjing. These 10,000 people alone can scare Li Chuang's hundreds of thousands of troops away, and they have fully felt Li Yan's strength.

"The subordinate Zhao Zhilong saluted the general." Xincheng Bo Zhao Zhilong humbly bowed down and hugged his fists and saluted Huang Desheng. The rest of the civil and military also bent down.

Huang Desheng hugged his fists: "The contemptible Huang Desheng is the chief military officer under Generalissimo Li." You don't have to be polite, let's go into the city to talk. ”

Although some officials heard that this name was somewhat similar to Huang Degong, and wondered if this General Huang had some kinship with Huang Degong, they did not dare to ask more at this time. Even if it is the same clan as Huang Degong, there is nothing strange about it, after all, the old wisdom of betting on both ends will be used by the big family, and the survival of the family is fundamental, and it is absolutely impossible to make a desperate move.

Last year, because of the demotion of Beijing officials, there were not a few children of the same clan who broke off friendship and abused each other, otherwise many big families would have been torn apart by the local people and scholars. In order to quell the riots in various places, the imperial court also specially sent senior officials to inspect and resolve the situation in various places to stabilize local order.

After entering the city, Huang Desheng sent people to control the city gates, and the other city defenses were still guarded by the original Beijing battalion soldiers. And those who came to help in the war let them go home immediately after settling the completion money. He had only 6,000 men and horses, and he could not spend all his troops on the walls. As for the retraining of the soldiers in Beijing, this should be started only after Nanjing has been completely stabilized, and the most important thing at this time is stability.

Huang Desheng and the others came to the palace and found that someone was carrying a large box in the side hall of Wuying Palace. As soon as he waved his hand, his own soldiers stepped forward and detained them.

The soldiers opened the box and found that it was filled with silver ingots of various shapes. Some official silver, some private smelted private silver, these dozens of boxes, I am afraid of no less than millions of taels.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this is the beginning of the transfer of the assets in the palace?" Huang Desheng asked coldly.

Han Zanzhou hurriedly stepped forward and explained: "General Huang, this is all the silver taels donated by the lower officials and others to reward the soldiers defending the city, and if they are not used up, they will be returned to the adults." The property in the palace is recorded in the account book, and the villain will bring it to the general. ”

At the same time, three officials stepped forward and handed over the account books of the officials' donations to Huang Desheng.

Huang Desheng looked at the account book, the records on it were very detailed, and even the fineness of each bank was clearly recorded, and according to the price comparison of the official bank, the expenditure was also remembered in great detail.

Huang Desheng was a little disdainful in his heart, these officials were concerned about their money, but the account books of the government were a mess. Looking at these silver boxes again, not all of them are full, and some of them only have one foundation.

He handed back the account book and said with a smile: "When you were in a great disaster, you generously donated money to raise Ding Zhuang, which is really a great good act for the people of Nanjing, so that the people of the city can avoid being slaughtered, and the contemptible people are here to thank you." As he spoke, he bowed to the officials.

Zhao Zhilong and other civil and military officers also hurriedly returned the salute humbly, and they didn't dare to take it seriously. However, their eyes were all on Huang Desheng, for fear that Huang Desheng would deduct their money. This is the life-saving money they gritted their teeth, and they have squeezed and deducted the results of those people in every possible way to have some surplus, if they let Li Yan's subordinates take it away, they will lose a lot. After all, Li Yan's troops have good military discipline, even if they don't have money to offer, they don't have to worry about their lives, which really makes them feel distressed.

Huang Desheng lightly ordered to continue, and then led the soldiers into the palace to check the belongings in the palace. This made all the civil and military officers happy, and the joy of losing and regaining it could not be concealed.

When the time came to dusk, the two and a half children hidden in the Tianhou Temple outside the city couldn't bear it anymore, so after a few words of deliberation, they lit the fuse, and then rode away to the east.

When the defenders at the head of the city spotted the two fleeing knights, they immediately reported them. However, before Shangguan's order, there was a loud bang, and the city wall opposite the Lion Rock in the north of the city was blown down by five or six zhang, and the bricks and stones were scattered and splashed from the sky, smashing the nearby pedestrians and houses with a lot of damage.

Huang Desheng and others in the palace in the east of the city were also shocked. The civil officials and military generals who had already returned to the yamen were all frightened and trembling, their faces were pale, some thought that the sky had fallen and the heavens were angry, and some thought that Li Chuang had returned to attack the city.

"General Yu, a section of the city wall near Yifeng Gate was blown up, it should have been lit by the thieves in ambush, just now the city saw two horsemen fleeing eastward." After a while, Huang Desheng's own soldiers ran in to report.

Huang Desheng ordered dissatisfiedly: "Let Guo Chengdong lead the team, go and go outside the city, and clean up all the hidden dangers for me!" Send people to treat the wounded and count the casualties. "Fortunately, he has already ordered that Wei Cheng in Pukou do not have to cross the river, otherwise they will explode when they enter the city from Yifeng Gate, and the casualties will probably not be small.

"Yes!" The soldiers immediately went to give the order.

Chen Yongfu and others, who were still marching towards Nanjing, were also disturbed by the huge explosion and stopped advancing. When they saw the smoke and dust billowing from the city of Nanjing, they knew that it was the power of the explosion of thousands of catties of gunpowder.

They put their troops on guard and sent more sentries to see if the city of Nanking had fallen.

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