Guangzhou was founded in 1600, the Pearl River Delta has been vicissitudes, and the site of Guangzhou has undergone many changes.

Guangzhou City in the Ming Dynasty is located in the plain area on the north bank of the Pearl River in front of Yuexiu Mountain and Baiyun Mountain. In the old system of the Song and Yuan dynasties, the three cities of Guangzhou, Xicheng and Dongcheng were juxtaposed, and the three cities had independent city walls, moats or natural rivers. The city of Guangzhou in the Ming Dynasty connected the three cities as one, demolished the wall that separated it in the middle, and expanded to the north to Yuexiu Mountain. Due to the direction of the mountains and rivers, the city of Guangzhou in the early Ming Dynasty was an irregular semicircle, and the main residents of the city were officials, military households and their families.

The sediment brought by the Pearl River has been silted, and the southern boundary of Guangzhou has been continuously expanded downward. Mainland merchants traveled from the Pearl River to the Chengnan Water Wharf in Guangzhou, and foreign merchants' ships traced up from the Lingding Ocean and also docked at the Chengnan Wharf. The river and sea trade converged here, forming the most prosperous business district in China, and the moat in the south of Guangzhou became a Qinhuai River-like entertainment venue.

In the forty-third year of Jiajing, the strongest naval division in Guangdong, Zhelin Town, mutinied and sacked the prosperous Nancheng District of Guangzhou.

The Guangdong government of the Ming Dynasty relied on Portuguese warships from Macao to quell the mutiny, and then in order to protect the best southern city of Guangzhou, Guangzhou added a new city and expanded the formed commercial area into the city. The city of Guangzhou has now become a bell-shaped, with the upper half of the district being a semi-circular administrative district and the lower half being a square business district. The old Cantonese people called it the old city and the new city respectively.

For the Tatar besieging army, the northern wall of the old city is in the northwest Yuexiu Mountain, the city wall is built on the mountain, and you have to climb the mountain before climbing the city wall.

The west and south city walls are covered by the Pearl River, and unless the Guangzhou Navy Division is eliminated, it is also delusional.

Outside the eastern city wall, there is a moat extended by a tributary of the Pearl River, which is by no means comparable to an ordinary city moat, and is actually an insurmountable natural obstacle.

Only the northeast city wall is the Achilles heel of Guangzhou.

Guarding the order to climb the small north gate tower, the Guangzhou city tower is large and strong, with enough food and ammunition in reserve, which can accommodate 500 defenders to rest in it. The small north gate is said to be small, because there is no urn city in front of the city gate, and here is the main breakthrough point of the Tatars.

Pulling open the binoculars, the sky was gray and the visibility was not very good.

In the distance, the Tatar camp was located at the foot of the Baiyun Mountain, from the Baiyun Mountain to the northeast moat, and was now occupied by the Tatars. It's muddy everywhere. Outside the northeast city wall of Guangzhou is a section of rice fields about 2km wide, wading through such a long muddy ground in summer, and then swimming through a moat more than 10 zhang wide, storming the 11-meter-high city wall, it is simply a great death. It is almost impossible for heavy artillery to advance through this section of rice field to effective range in the summer, braving the fire of the defenders.

Shang Kexi could only wait until the rainy season passed in the autumn, fill in the earth to build a passage, and push nearly 70 heavy guns out of the moat. The whole process of advancing the artillery battle with the batteries outside the city was very difficult, and it took two whole months.

A flash of fire flashed from the bunker made of bamboo baskets and sandbags, and more than a dozen artillery pieces were fired. Shou Xuan turned his head to look over, and the cannonball slammed into the collapse of the city wall, stirring up a cloud of smoke and dust. The collapse site is located between the small north gate and the large east gate.

The northeast corner of Guangzhou is the weakest part of the defense system, but it is also the section of the city wall with the largest amount of earthwork. The wall is 11 meters high, 11 meters wide at the bottom and 6 meters wide at the top. The ground of the outer city has been dug up in its entirety, and the vertical drop is higher than that of the real city wall. The base of the wall is made of large red sandstone one person high, and it is covered with rammed earth and huge bricks. Although the walls had been crumbled, the slopes were still difficult to climb, and the Tatars had to work hard to make the openings wider.

Shou Xuan randomly selected a young Ming soldier and asked, "Soldier, what are you thinking?" ”

The soldier who was questioned turned pale and looked very frightened, "Great, my lord......

"I hear your accent is from Guangzhou?"

"The Left Guard Army in Guangzhou...

Shou Xuan nodded slightly, Li Chengdong went south from Songjiang, with 4,100 troops and Tatars to strengthen Luo Chengyao, Yan Keyi, and Ma Bao, a total of only 67,000 people. These veterans have been fighting for many years, and many of them have suffered losses, and the 10,000 defenders of Guangzhou are mostly locals, especially the four guards in Guangzhou.

Shou Orderly patted the soldier on the shoulder, "Hold on, soldier. The longer we hold the line, the better the chance that your family will be evacuated safely. ”

Shou Orderly put away his binoculars, turned and walked down the steps down the city.

Du Yonghe had always refused to allow any reinforcements to enter the city. A few days ago, all the batteries outside the city were destroyed, and the Tatars finally opened the passage for the forward movement of siege guns. The fortification works could not be concealed, and it was obvious where the Tatars would launch a general attack. Du Yonghe was as anxious as an ant on a hot pot, he was blocking the reinforcements from entering the city, and now he has to kneel around and beg for reinforcements.

Chaohui changed hands, Humen Chen Qice was a sailor, and Li Yuanyin was blocked in Sanshui and could not take a step forward. The Xiangshan Ming Army was the only reinforcement that Du Yonghe could count on. I have been waiting for this day for a long time, and I got on the boat as soon as I received Du Yonghe's letter for help.

Du Yonghe's request for help came too late, and the situation in Guangzhou was already very critical by the time the order arrived. Fortunately, the Ming army of Xiangshan moved quickly and arrived before the city was broken, otherwise with the morale of the Ming army after the destruction of the city wall, the Tatars would easily capture the first city in Nantian. The city wall is the last psychological support of the defenders, and many times, when the city wall collapses, the defenders disintegrate and scatter. In fact, a collapse of this magnitude, the fallen ruins are still an obstacle that is difficult for the attacker to overcome. From now on, every second counts, and if no mistakes are made, the people of Guangzhou City still have a glimmer of life.

Zhang Yue levied 6,000 strong men, rushed to work day and night, and rebuilt a new fortification after the breach. The fortifications took the yamen compounds in the north of the city as the core support points, removed the masonry and large wooden door panels, piled up sandbags and bamboo baskets containing soil to build the fort chest wall.

There is a very good geographical condition in the northeast corner of Guangzhou city to fight street battles, there are many tributaries of the Pearl River and more than ten moats in Guangzhou city, among which there are 2 canals in the east of the old city, a canal in the north flows through the Gongyuan from Yuexiu Mountain, and injects Wenxi into the east from under the city wall, which is called Dongxi in old Guangzhou. The Pearl River Delta has a large amount of water, although it is called a small stream, but the river channel is still 20 meters wide and the river channel is up to 4 meters deep, which is difficult to cross easily. The new defense line in the city was built on this stream.

Riding on the war horse in order, clenching his teeth, Dongxi must be defended.

The Guangzhou City Defense Headquarters was located in the Yamen of the Governor of Liangguang, which was rebuilt from the Yamen of the Political Envoy of Guangzhou.

The main generals in the city of Guangzhou, Cheng Dong's subordinates Du Yonghe, Zhang Yue, Zhang Daoying, Wu Wenwen, and Li Jianjie, Du Jun mainly defended the most dangerous north and east of the city.

The commander of the Guangzhou Hui Army, Yu Fengqi, the commander of the left guard palm print in Guangzhou, Ma Chengzu and Sa Sanfu, the commander of the Han soldiers of the left guard, Zhang Qixian, and the left guard guarded the south of the city.

The hereditary palm print of the avant-garde in Guangzhou commanded the Shi Kunran brothers, and the avant-garde mainly guarded the west of the city.

Guangzhou has the strongest military mobilization potential in the Southern Ming Dynasty, is well-equipped, and has a large number of officers and soldiers, including elite soldiers with combat experience. Yuan Chonghuan is a native of Dongguan, and he took many people to Liaodong. After Yuan Chonghuan's death, most of these people returned to Guangzhou. For example, the guerrilla general Guo Yao served in Liaodong with the rank of garrison, and local veterans like them were the backbone of the Ming army in Guangzhou.

Emperor Shao Wu sent the officers and soldiers of Guangzhou to Sanshui to fight a civil war with the Guangxi soldiers of Zhaoqing in Yongli, and Li Chengdong's 300 cavalry successfully attacked Guangzhou, controlled the families of the officers and soldiers in Guangzhou, and surrendered the local Ming army. The absurd scene left a lot of benefits, Guangzhou did not have a bloody battle, and the mobilization potential of the city was preserved to the greatest extent, and now it is all used in this battle of Guangzhou.

When the order arrived, several generals were red-faced. The atmosphere of the military discussion at the venue was very depressing,

Someone whispered to Shou Order, Yu Fengqi and Du Yonghe had a big quarrel.

"Generals, we don't have time to talk nonsense." Shou Zhi picked up the scepter, and the bright red and blue gems glittered in the light, shining the kryptonite eyes of a blind man.

"At the current pace, the Tatars will be able to completely open the breakthrough tomorrow. We have one day to rebuild the front. It is conservatively estimated that there are still 180,000 people in Guangzhou, and Yangzhou and Nanchang are in front of Yinjian, so we have to hold on and evacuate the people in the city. ”

"Guard, how to guard? There are more than 20,000 Tartars outside the city, and we can't stop them at all, and they will be all over if they rush into the city. Du Yonghe's face was drunk, and he obviously drank a lot.

Shou Xu had long heard that Du Yonghe basically ignored the city defense at the last moment, and spent his days with beautiful women in his arms and wine. Desperate generals are mostly like this in the last moments, venting their last energy on many women, and the so-called battlefield daughter-in-law is nothing more than that.

Yu Fengqi was furious, "You have prepared hundreds of boats, you can run away at any time, what should the people of my Guangzhou City do?" Throw hundreds of thousands of people under the knife of the Tartar? ”

Every time Du Yonghe proposed to get on the boat and leave, Yu Fengqi was scolded. The Tatars have always slaughtered the city to resist the city, and Guangzhou held on for 8 months, once forcing Shang Kexi to a dead end. It is conceivable that Shang Kexi will promise his soldiers what to motivate the army. Even if the Ming army in the city surrendered now, it could not avoid the fate of being slaughtered.

In order to stabilize the morale of the army, the scale of the retreat has not been large, and now more than 40,000 people have been evacuated, and most of them are still in the city.

Du Yonghegui is the governor and has the strongest military power, but now there is no way to take these local snakes like Yu Fengqi at this juncture. There are signs of disintegration in the relationship between the superiors and subordinates of the Ming army in Guangzhou.

"Two generals, there's no time to argue." Shou Xian hurriedly stopped the two, walked to the map, and drew a new battle line along Dongxi from Yuexiu Mountain to the north side of the East City Wall.

"The city is about to be destroyed, and we must defend Dongxi."

Du Yonghe: "As for the pile of rags newly built by Zhang Yue, it can be destroyed by just transferring a few Hongyi cannons." ”

Shou Order: "Du Junmen, I saw it very clearly when I went up to the city wall just now. The Tatar artillery was still on the other side of the moat, and they had to capture and expand the breach, at least one tower, to carry the cannon up the walls. Until then, we can hold on to Dongxi and buy time to evacuate the residents of the old city to the new city. ”

Yu Fengqi came to the spirit, "What about after retreating to the new city?" ”

"General Yu, we will hold on to the walls of the new city when the time comes. The Tatars had to rebuild artillery fortifications to attack the city, and there were many canals in the city of Guangzhou, so we dismantled all the bridges and burned all the ships, and it took a long time for the Tatars to transport the cannons. With these times, everyone can get on board and evacuate. ”

The words of the order rekindled the hope of the local officers in Guangzhou, their home was in Guangzhou, their parents, brothers and relatives were in Guangzhou, Du Yonghe and others could leave at any time, and the local soldiers could only die with the city.

Du Yonghe's spirit was completely broken, and it was difficult for him to shoulder the heavy responsibility of command, so he took over the command in an orderly manner.

Shou Xiang looked around at the generals, "There are not enough reinforcements, I need volunteers." ”