Chapter 628: Before the Storm

Nearly half of the troops of the Huazhou fleet stationed on the Yangtze River began to pave the road, and of course the locals such as the manors by the river provided a lot of convenience and help.

Half a day later, a road of about 300 paces was built, and under the watchful eyes of the soldiers defending the city on the city wall, the soldiers of the Huazhou battleship began to disassemble the guns on board and transport them to the shore. The Huazhou army was three hundred steps closer to the city wall, and although it was still out of the range of artillery, the people in the city began to panic again.

Nanjing City is a real mess at this time, not people's hearts, but the situation is a little uncontrollable, Nanjing town guard eunuch and the military department Shangshu collegiate the method of gathering the family soldiers and horses, opening the arsenal in the city to arm the strong men, I don't know who spread it.

This suddenly set off an uproar, all the big families with private soldiers began to shut themselves up, never obey the orders of any government, Nanjing garrison Wei Guogong Xu family originally had 2,000 private soldiers, all mobilized, and other soldiers of various families united to build a fortress on the street.

The officials of Ying Tianfu could no longer suppress the situation, and the people of Nanjing, who were already extremely panicked, saw that the noble clan was still like this, which further confirmed the truth of that rumor.

The common people in the neighborhood did not dare to go out, and some of the big merchants and factory owners in the city did not know where they had learned the method, so instead of sending the workers and their men home and hiding in their houses with gold and silver as they had done in the past, they paid double their wages, organized the men and workers, and relied on the shops and factories to form associations to protect themselves.

This has some effect, since the warships of Huazhou appeared on the Yangtze River, there have been rogue bandits in Nanjing who take advantage of the fire to rob, more precisely, take advantage of the chaos to rob, but these people go to shops, factories where they think they have money and cheap to earn, they are all discouraged.

Ordinary people see that the rich and noble families have their own ways to protect themselves, they are the most afraid of the rumors of Ding, but they are also the weakest self-protection ability of the group of people, originally resigned to fate, but seeing the shops in the city, the factories are mobilized to protect themselves, these people are also aroused, the same township and the same neighborhood of the common people, are all handed over to each other, ready to resist.

Poor Nanjing town guard eunuch and Nanjing military department Shangshu, the two people are just in the plan, the whole city is already completely opposed to them, the two people's soldiers and horses total 6,000 soldiers with their backs to the imperial city, at this time not to go out to break the house and kidnap people, but to guard against them.

At noon on the fourth day when the Huazhou battleship appeared on the river, the outside of the city was much quieter than the inside of the city, and the area around Nanjing City was also unusually prosperous, the manors of the big clans, the shops of the chamber of commerce, and the households were all connected, but the fields were not seen to be much, and when the Huazhou fleet was stationed on the river, those households also ran towards the city in panic, but later they found that the shops and manors were safe, and everything was as usual.

The commoners have always been very blind obedient, and when they see that these great families are not afraid, they are not so panicked, and they have no chance to enter the city, because as soon as the fleet is discovered, the gates of Nanjing are all closed, and the city gates are still in the hands of the eunuchs.

As if it were a daily military parade, a few horses from the civilian temporary expedition pulled the artillery unloaded from the ship, moving in the direction of the city wall, and under the gaze of the soldiers guarding the city wall, they calmly unloaded, loaded ammunition, ignited and fired, and there was a loud bang without suspense.

The walls of the city of Nanjing were tall and heavy, and this cannon was about six pounds in caliber, and it was not too precisely calibrated, and the cannonballs whistled down on the city walls, breaking a few pieces of masonry and stirring up a cloud of dust.

The soldiers of the Ming army lying behind the battlements on the city wall were relieved at this time, and looked down with trembling eyes, looking at the artillerymen who were pulling the artillery under the city, laughing and laughing, completely inappropriate, slowly loading ammunition there, and then ignition, and obviously not aiming will not be accurate.

To deal with a big city like Nanjing, if you want to use artillery, you must raise the ground under the artillery, so that the artillery can hit the head of the city or the city, and for the city wall like Nanjing, the six-pounder cannon has a very small effect, at most it is to break a few city bricks, so I don't know how many years to open the opening.

It's just that this sound of cannon is like a hammer constantly hitting the heart for the military, civilian, official and businessmen in the city, and the heartbeat is one minute faster.

It took almost a stick of incense to shoot a cannon, and it rang out uninterruptedly for a whole afternoon, and the originally impetuous and abnormal city of Nanjing became dead and silent, and there were no people on the street, just a cannon, more than a dozen people, extremely arrogant under the city, and their actions did not take the army in the city seriously at all.

The officers defending the city wanted to open the city gate several times to kill them, but they still held back, and their superiors, the eunuchs guarding Nanjing Town and the military department Shangshu, all gritted their teeth, saying that it was possible that the outside was a trick to lure the enemy, and the city gate could not be easily opened. And the distance from the artillery is about 500 paces, which is the camp of the sailors who came down from the Huazhou fleet.

If you go out, you are indeed in danger, so let's bear with it!

Outside, the sound of artillery echoed in the silent city of Nanjing, as if urging something, the eunuch of Nanjing Town finally realized that he could not continue to delay, a cannon today, tomorrow may not be a cannon, how many cannons on the ship, looking at the city wall makes people palpitate.

The eunuch guarding the town did not even inform the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, and directly ordered his officers to arrest the whole city tonight, collect the private soldiers of the family, and open the arsenal to arm the strong men, although the eunuchs also knew that doing so was very likely to cause the soldiers to disperse, causing extremely disastrous consequences, as for what disaster, there have been many times in history, armed bandits and uncontrollable soldiers burned and looted throughout the city.

Even the chief officer couldn't control it, and the next day the city was often turned into a pile of ruins, in fact, when the cannon sounded, the situation in the city was already in chaos, and the scoundrels and the rebels were combined, ready to move, and there were even Jinyi guards involved here.

The old, weak, sick and disabled of Ying Tianfu and the Soldiers and Horses Division couldn't control the situation at all, and the people among them either stuck to the yamen or went out to rob with them.

The officials put their families or something inside the leadership yamen, and then closed the gate to guard, the cannon outside the city roared, every sound, I felt that the tension in the city was a little more, and the people of Li became more and more frightened, but it was not only the people of Li who were depressed, but also those scoundrels and bandits who were depressed.

Over the years, watching merchants and factory owners make a fortune is not like words, and the flow of oil is really eye-catching, and the power is also more and more inflated, the former businessmen have no social status, and it is easier to extort, but these people and the government have to curry favor with these people.

The opportunity to rub oil and take advantage is also a lot less, and now the army outside the city is pressing, the Ming Dynasty is stormy, and the change of dynasty may be tomorrow, when it comes to such a time, most of them are lawless moments, take this opportunity to make a fortune, and wait until the time of Ding Ge to be a rich man.

But the merchants' homes were well-equipped and well-trained, and most of them were veterans or good bandits, who, for some reason, did not have the intention of robbing their masters' homes in such a chaotic situation, but were loyal guards.

The area inhabited by the rich has long been fortified, and the heavily armed guards have been assembled, and when they see that there is a wrong momentum, they are immediately heavily guarded, and they also take the initiative to attack, the largest gang of rogue bandits in the city, I thought that there were veterans and weapons in my gang, and the people in the city were panicked, and they must be invincible, but they didn't expect to just arrive.

The watchtower immediately beat the gong and drum, and then the bow and arrow shot down, the bandits outside did not react further, and there were already horseback guards inside who rushed out viciously, and there was a fierce killing, how could these people resist, and they immediately hugged their heads and ran away.

There are many places where the rich people live in the city, I thought that there would be a good harvest if there was some trouble here, but I didn't expect it to be the case, some soldiers felt that it was wrong, these rich families were clearly organized, and I was afraid that this preparation would start before the Huazhou fleet appeared.

The rich can't rob it, so it's good to go to the civilians to make a profit, there are a lot of casualties, the extremely tired bandits are ready to change their targets, the streets are deserted, and there is no one to see at all, although these people are depressed, but they are also at ease, listening to the sound of artillery outside the city, they are no longer afraid there, and the bold ones are still spitting in the direction of the cannons, expressing their disdain.

After tossing for a day, it was already dark, and these people had already begun to think about how to go to the places where civilians lived, and how to grab them and be comfortable.

It's just that the city is getting quieter and quieter, and the silence makes people feel a little scared, but these bandits talk and laugh loudly, highlighting their existence.

Suddenly, the quiet city of Nanjing began to erupt, and bursts of shouts and killings burst out, which was clearly a movement only in the army, could it be that the Huazhou army was going to attack the city?

No, this voice is in the city of Nanjing......