If the vanguard of the Fat Army led by Gao Dejie happened to be under the Shicheng Gate, then Li Ya and Xie Dong, two good friends, would definitely open the city gate at all costs, and completely gamble on it, either life or death! But it is a pity that the vanguard cavalry of the Fat Man Army led by Gao Dejie arrived at the foot of Jubao Gate, and went from south to east towards Chaoyang Gate, the easternmost point of Nanjing, and it was dozens of miles away from Shicheng Gate -- Li Ya and Xie Dong would open the city gate, not only would they not be able to welcome the Fat Man Army into the city, but they would also be given away immediately. 【】

So there was no way, Li Ya and Xie Dong had no choice but to whisper to the Liu brothers who came into Nanjing City together, and let them prepare that they would never come back, and then Li Ya and Xie Dong, the unlucky brothers and sisters, hardened their heads, and resolutely embarked on the road to the Jubaomen Tower to die.

In the meantime, Li Ya also found an opportunity to explain to Xie Dong in a low voice: "My lord, if the identity of the villain is exposed, you will be sure that you don't know much about the villain, but only have a relationship with the villagers, maybe the dog will not poison you." ”

Xie Dong nodded with a wry smile, did not speak, and muttered in his heart: "The only person who can expose your identity can only be Mu Futai, if Mu Futai, who knows my details, is determined to expose you, can I still run away?" ”

"And, sir." Li Ya was still righteous enough, and admonished: "If the villain's identity is exposed, and then the villain grabs the fire in his hand, or the villain rushes to the fire, then you immediately lie on the ground!" Don't stand up, remember! Don't stand up! ”

"What do you mean?" Xie Dong was a little dazed, but Li Ya no longer explained, but urged Xie Dong with a serious expression to go quickly, not to make Mangou more suspicious, and don't forget his own advice.

Worried, Xie Dong and Li Ya and others have come to the heavily guarded Jubaomen Tower, seeing the Qing soldiers standing tall in front of the tower and on both sides of the road, as well as the swords and guns in their hands, not to mention Lord Xie Dongxi, who has never been on the battlefield, that is, Li Ya, who has crawled out of the pile of dead people many times, is a little weak in his legs, this is surrounded by thousands of enemies, once his identity is exposed, no matter how rich Li Ya's battlefield experience is, how many times has he passed the test of life and death, I can't run away from anything, and I can't escape.

"It's amazing to fight with a full dog, kill one is enough, kill a pair to earn one!" Gritting his teeth, and quietly touching the shoulder knife on his waist, Li Ya quietly glanced at Xie Dong, and strode upstairs with Xie Dong, never thinking that as soon as he took a step, a Qing soldier next to him stretched out his hand and said: "Your Excellency the Governor has an order, no one is allowed to carry a weapon upstairs, General, please hand over the waist knife to the villain for safekeeping." ”

Li Ya and Xie Dong's faces changed slightly, and they secretly looked left and right, Li Ya finally took off the shoulder knife and handed it to the Qing soldier - there were hundreds of Qing soldiers staring around, and if there was a slight movement, it would be the end of the random knife and the corpse. But after Li Ya handed over the shoulder knife, two Qing soldiers came up and searched Xie Dong and Li Ya respectively............

"General, it seems that something is wrong!" The soldiers who searched their bodies screamed, and before the words fell, dozens of Qing soldiers next to them immediately unsheathed their steel knives one after another, choking and choking, and suddenly scared Xie Dong so much that he almost peed his crotch. Then, the captain of the Qing army led by the guard army shouted at Li Ya again: "Take off your armor!" ”

Li Ya didn't speak, he untied the plate armor and took it off, revealing the outer clothes of his upper body, and sure enough, Li Ya's upper body was indeed wearing an underwear similar to a vest, but this vest was strange in the shape of a sandbag that looked like training to run with weights, bulging bags, and the inner layer contained things. The Qing army guard captain pinched a few handfuls, and found that the underwear was filled with sand and soil, which was stuffed very tightly, and he couldn't help but wonder: "What are you doing with the sandbag on your body?" ”

"This general, you must not have killed Wu Gou on the battlefield, right?" Li Ya asked rhetorically.

"What are you asking for?" The Guardian Captain, who had never been on the battlefield, asked suspiciously.

"General, if you've ever been on the battlefield, you know the use of wearing this kind of sandbag on your body." Li Ya casually bragged, pointed to his chest and said: "I have been shot by Wu Gou's arrow in the chest, and I have also been shot by Wu Gou's musket in the stomach, if it weren't for wearing such a sandbag, I wouldn't have lived now." If you want to live longer, it's best not to be afraid of the heavy, in addition to wearing armor or outer clothes, it's best to wear a sandbag like this, at a critical moment, it can save your life! ”

"I see." The captain of the Guardian suddenly realized. At this time, a voice suddenly came from the city tower, and said with a smile: "You saw it all, right?" What is the old fritter on the battlefield for the rest of the battle, and what is the old Qiu Ba? Learn a little, don't think that after a few days of riding a horse on the school field, shooting arrows, and cutting straw men for a few days, you think that you are an elite soldier. ”

"Your Excellency the Governor, General Ha." Xie Dong hurriedly saluted, it turned out that Ah Xixu and Halehaqi and others in the city tower heard that there was movement outside, so they went out of the door together to check the situation, and they happened to see Li Ya with a shy face, and Harehaqi, the deputy commander of Jiangnan who was not worried about the serious experience of the army under his command, praised this greatly, and couldn't help but praise Li Ya a few words.

"Learn a little, you're about to have a decisive battle with Wu Gou, learn more from these veterans, and you can save your lives!" A Xixu also scolded decently, and the Qing soldiers around Li Ya and Xie Dong hurriedly nodded, bowed to Li Ya and retreated in fear, and memorized the 'experience' taught by Li Ya with his heart. Ah Xixu waved his hand again: "Lord Xie, General Li, come up quickly, just wait for the two of you." ”

"Pierce." Xie Dong saluted and hurried upstairs. Li Ya also quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and went upstairs while putting on the plate armor again, and said happily in his heart: "God forbid, if those two full dogs just now touched the fuse and detonator on their waists, then Lao Tzu would be dead!" ”

Entering the city tower, the important civil and military officials in Nanjing City have all arrived, and they have all been seated according to their ranks, seeing that A Xixu does not seem to be trapping himself, Xie Dong quietly breathed a sigh of relief, and at the same time wondered how such an important meeting could allow Li Ya to participate in the promotion of a firing line, but he did not dare to ask, so he had to honestly sit in front of Zhang Hao, who knew him, and Li Ya stood behind Xie Dong.

"It's all here, let's get started." Ah Xixu nodded, coughed and cleared his throat, and said very seriously: "Ladies and gentlemen, before I explain the mission, this governor wants to tell you the bad news that I just received. Two days ago, on the night of 17 April, the main force of our Great Qing Dynasty Jiangning led by Jiangning General Echu Ejunmen, on the way to reinforce Anqing by boat, encountered an ambush by the sailors of the Wu rebel thief army in the area of Nixiakou, and fought fiercely all night, because our troop transport team was not escorted by warships, and was killed by Wu Gou's sailors. ”

"What? And such a thing?! The civil and military officials of the Qing army present were all as pale as earth, and Li Ya also screamed in surprise, and his heart was full of ecstasy - the Mangou troop transport fleet without the protection of warships was able to collide with the main fleet of his own sailors, and it seemed that the luck of his own army was really not only ordinary.

A Xixu nodded helplessly, admitting that this was true, and said: "Ladies and gentlemen, as well as generals, the situation in Jiangning City is now more critical, and our reinforcements don't know when they will arrive, and Wu Gou's sailors may go down the river at any time to attack the four water gates north of our Jiangning City, so we have to draw up our small forces to set up defenses on the water gates." However, this official believes that as long as we work together and rely on the dangerous terrain of Jiangning City, we will definitely be able to stop Wu Gou's army of eastern invaders and hold on to the reinforcements of our Qing Dynasty. ”

"The Governor is right, as long as we work together, we will definitely be able to stop Wu Gou and hold out until reinforcements arrive!" According to the inspector, Chen Bingzhi hurriedly agreed, and other civil and military officials also rushed to echo one after another, but the nervousness and fear in their hearts were nothing to say, and many officials still had such thoughts in their hearts, "I don't know if Wu Gou's side accepts our surrender?" ”

"Okay, time is urgent, and I won't say anything superfluous." A Xixu waved his hand to interrupt the gambling and swear of the officials, and said: "Just now, this official discussed with General Halehaqi, after the Wu dog cavalry arrived in Jiangning City, it was mainly active in the south and east of the city, these two places are open, which is conducive to the gathering of Wu Gou's superior forces, and the Wu dog thief army is likely to choose Nancheng or Xicheng as a breakthrough, and our main force must also be arranged to the area of Nancheng and Dongcheng. ”

"So, this official decides now." Asxyu sent an envoy and said: "From now on, this official and General Khalhaqi will lead the main force of 5,000 to personally sit in this Jubaomen, and be responsible for the Jubaomen, Tongjimen, Zhengyangmen, and Sanshanmen in the south; Governor Mu Tianyan and General Dange led the main force of 2,000 and 2,000 recruits to sit in Chaoyangmen, responsible for Chaoyangmen and Taipingmen in the east; According to the inspectors, Zhang Bingzhi and General Qi Techa led the main force of 1,000 and the new army of 1,000, and sat in the north of the four water gates and Dinghuai gates. As for the stone city gate and Qingliang gate on the west side, ....... ”

Speaking of this, A Xixu pointed to Xie Dong and instructed: "Governor Xie, these two gates of the West City will be handed over to you." You led two thousand new troops to defend these two city gates to your own officials, and you must not let Wu Gou break through! ”

"Obedience." Xie Dong respectfully agreed, and a heart that had been mentioned in his throat was finally put back into his stomach.

"Lord Xie, although the Shicheng Gate and Qingliang Gate you are responsible for are covered by Mochou Lake, it is not conducive to the deployment of Wu Gou's troops, and it is unlikely that Wu Gou will choose to break through from here." A Xixu admonished again: "But Lu Yifeng's dog thief is notoriously cunning and cunning, and it is not ruled out that he will highlight the surprise soldiers and break through the two gates you are responsible for, so you must be very careful." General Halehaqi and I will deploy more troops in the area of Sanshanmen, and as soon as there is a situation on your side, we will immediately light wolf smoke or light a fire to call the police, and I will immediately rescue you. ”

"Please rest assured, Your Excellency, the humble duty will definitely guard the stone city gate and the Qingliang gate, the gate is in the people, and the door is dead." Xie Dong replied with a clear conscience.

"Li Ya, this official has also discussed with General Hallehaqi, you have rich experience in the battlefield, you must help your relative Lord Xie more, and give him more ideas to help him defend the city." Ah Xixu pointed at Li Ya and ordered: "When Wu Gou's attack is repulsed, this official will keep you guarded." ”

"Servant Xie Governor Lift." Li Ya hurriedly thanked him a thousand times. But at this moment, Mu Tianyan suddenly spoke: "Lord Governor, please wait. ”

"Could it be that Mu Tianyan is going to betray me?" Xie Dong almost peed his crotch again. Ah Xixu turned his head again and asked Mu Tianyan, "Master Mu, do you have any questions?" ”

Mu Tianyan pointed at Xie Dong with his hand and asked, "Lord Governor, Lord Xie is in charge of the treasury of Jiangning Mansion, and he also went to the city to help defend it, so what about the supply of grain and grass for the defenders?" ”

"Brother Mu, I was almost scared to death by you." Xie Dong breathed a sigh of relief again.

"Of course, this governor has already thought about this, so let's bother Lord Lao Dao Zhou to be responsible." A Xixu pointed to Zhou Lianggong of the Jiangnan Grain Road with his hand, and said: "Lord Zhou, you are over seventy years old, and it is really inconvenient to go to the city to help defend the defense, so this official will not arrange an errand for you to defend the city, you stay in the city to be responsible for the supply of grain, grass and materials for defending the city, and the military supplies used will be temporarily allocated from the Jiangsu Domain." ”

"Please, Your Excellency the Governor, even if the subordinate gives up this life, he will definitely ensure that there is no shortage of food and grass for the whole army, and there is no shortage of military supplies." Zhou Lianggong replied with a cough.

"Then please Lord Zhou." A Xixu nodded again, and then pointed to Zhang Hao, the governor of Jiangning Mansion, and instructed: "Lord Zhang, I will leave it to you to organize the people to go to the city to help defend and carry the materials for defending the city. ”

Zhang Hao also respectfully agreed, and Ah Xixu stood up and said: "Okay, everyone go back to their respective posts, from now on, no one is allowed to leave their posts without permission, and they must eat and live on the city wall!" Don't forget, once Jiangning City is breached by Wu Gou, none of us will be able to escape! ”

"Obey the orders of the Governor!" The civil and military officials hugged their fists together and agreed, and then left the Jubaomen Tower as ordered, and each returned to his respective posts to prepare for battle.

"Master Xie, General Li, wait a minute." When leaving the city tower and going down to the city wall, Mu Tianyan suddenly stopped Xie Dong and Li Ya again, Xie Dong and Li Ya turned back and agreed with fear, but Mu Tianyan came up and said in a very low voice: "Lord Xie, General Li, the lower official has helped you so much, and in the future, the net worth of the lower official will be life, but I will ask you two to protect it." ”

"He's seen it through." Xie Dong and Li Ya both trembled in their hearts, but Mu Tianyan said loudly: "Lord Xie, it's so decided, if this official unfortunately dies in the line of duty, then the coffin of this official will have to ask Lord Xie to arrange for people to be sent back to his hometown in Gansu." With that, Mu Tianyan arched his hand and swaggered away.

"This guy is also leaving a way back." Xie Dong suddenly realized, and after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it was not strange at all, with Mu Tianyan's cunning and shrewdness, he wanted him to be buried with the Mangou Imperial Court, didn't that mean that the sun would come out of the west?

……………………

Waiting in fear, when the sky is slightly dark, the dilapidated Guo Fengtai gate outside Nanjing, the military flag flutters, a huge army that can not be seen at a glance is pouring in, crossing the Qing army because of the lack of troops and the city wall in disrepair and many collapses of the Ming Dynasty Waiguo City Wall, gradually assembled near Yuhuatai, Lu Fatzi's Lu character banner, and finally fluttered on the highest point of Yuhuatai.

The main force of the Fat Man Army finally arrived, and the brothers Gao Dejie and Gao Hongchen, who had already arrived in the city, hurriedly led the army to greet them, and they came to greet them, as well as Li Ya and other old lackeys of Lu Fat who should have been sent out of the city to contact the Fat Man Army, and on the note written by Xie Dong and Li Ya to Lu Fat Man, there was only one line of words - Shicheng Gate, with fireworks as the number.

"Stone City Gate?" Fat Lu's fat face was full of mud, and he hurriedly asked, "Where is the Shicheng Gate?" ”

"In that direction." Gao Dejie first pointed out the location of the stone city gate, and then said in a low voice: "After Brother Shen handed me this note, I was afraid of attracting the attention of the full dog, so I deliberately led the army to inspect the direction of Nanjing Dongcheng, looking for a breakthrough in the siege of the city, and never took a step in the direction of the stone city gate. Now judging from the banner of Mangou, the main force of Mangou has indeed been attracted by us to the area of Nancheng and Dongcheng, and the defenders on the Xicheng side are quite scarce. ”

"Don't be happy yet, be careful to make the Ten Thousand Year Ship." Lu Fatzi muttered cautiously, and then ordered: "Let the whole army rest in place for half an hour, eat enough dry food, feed the war horses with fodder, and prepare to attack the city overnight." Xiao Erlang and the others took the order and went to convey Lu Fatzi's order to all the armies, and Lu Fatzi pulled Shen Xin aside and asked him separately about all the incidents that happened after he came into contact with Xie Dong, so as to judge whether Xie Dong was cheating.

Judging from the situation introduced by Shen Xin, Lu Fatzi quickly analyzed Xie Dong's psychology, wanting to repay his kindness and save his life, and at the same time worried that after surrendering to the Wu army, the Wu army would not be able to reach a few days after the autumn, and when the time came, he would give away his family's life, so he hesitated, and did not make up his mind to surrender the city until the last moment - this is also human nature. But after analysis, Lu Fatzi didn't dare to conclude whether this would be a trick that Xie Dong had set for himself, ready to use the blood of his 40,000 army to dye his official hat in the Qing Dynasty - this is also Lu Fatzi's favorite lewd trick, and he naturally didn't dare to believe it.

"Things have come to this point, and I have to take a gamble." Fat Lu, who had no choice, gritted his teeth, and said secretly in his heart: "If it's really a trap, it's a big deal to flee to Taiwan or kill in Fujian, with Brother Lu's great reputation, I'm afraid that I won't be reused when I go there?" ”

Thinking of this, Fat Lu stomped his feet and shouted: "Order, thirty sub-mother cannons stepped forward and hit me fiercely at the Jubaomen Tower!" ”

After a while, the main force of the Wu army stepped forward with the thirty sub-cannons carried by the army, adjusted the firing angle to the target, and ignited the charge and ammunition together. Hearing this explosion, Xie Dong, who was waiting nervously on the tower of Shicheng Gate, couldn't help but be taken aback, and hurriedly pulled Li Ya's sleeve and asked tremblingly, "General Li, why is it to hit Jubaomen?" Is your messenger on a mistake? ”

"Don't worry, this is our general's old routine." Li Yajian replied with a smile: "The place where our generals concentrate artillery bombardment has never been the main attack point!" Our general must have wanted to use artillery to attract the attention of the dogs, and then take advantage of the cover of night to touch the Shicheng Gate and come down, this is our general's old trick, not new. ”

"Three good brothers fighting, so cunning?" Xie Dong was even more surprised, and he couldn't help but be even more depressed, why didn't he see through the evil face of Lu Fat back then?

The fierce artillery bombardment did play a role in attracting the Qing defenders, and the inexperienced Qing defenders were bombed to the point of crying wolves, but also unanimously determined that the Wu army must attack the main gate of Jubaomen, struggling to say that they did not dare to leave their posts. The experienced main force of the Wu army took advantage of the cover of night and quietly returned to the shore of Mochou Lake in the west of Nanjing, leaving only a small number of troops to continue the shelling on the same place, and at the same time lighting more torches and bonfires near Yuhuatai, so that the defenders mistakenly believed that the main force of the Wu army was still outside the South Gate.

At the beginning of the second watch, a red dot exploded in the air, blooming a huge beautiful flower, seeing this fireworks, Xie Dong and Li Ya did not hesitate, first fixed the hanging door winch of the two urn cities, and sent henchmen to watch it, Li Ya continued to stay in the city to prevent accidents, Xie Dong led a dozen henchmen to rush down the stone city gate tower, first let the soldiers open the inner gates of the two urn cities, and then quickly rushed to the outer gate, holding a sword at the gate official who guarded the gate and shouted: "Open the city gate!" ”

"My lord, are you crazy?" The gatekeeper exclaimed. Cao Guoxing didn't say a word, he drew his sword and stepped forward to cut it, but Xie Dong stabbed the sword into the heart of the city gate official first, pulled out the sword, and shouted with the bloody sword: "If you don't open the door again, cut it immediately!" Open the door! ”

Xie Dong, who had always been gentle and elegant, suddenly became as vicious as a jackal and a hungry tiger, and the Qing army recruits guarding the city gate were all frightened, and hurriedly took out the key from the corpse of the city gate official, and then opened the door lock, pulled up the door latch, and opened the city gate. Immediately afterwards, Xie Dong's henchman Cao Guoxing raised a torch and shook it, sending out a signal, Liu Zhen and Liu Xu, who were guarding the suspension bridge winch at the city gate, did not hesitate, and immediately released the winch, and the suspension bridge fell to the ground with a bang, and a cheer and shouting suddenly sounded in the dark night outside the city wall, "Brothers, the city gate is open, rush!" ”

"This official has dedicated the city to the Great Zhou army, and those who follow this official will be rewarded!" Xie Dong returned his sword to cut off the tail of the money rat on his head, raised his sword and shouted: "Those who don't follow, cut it immediately!" ”

"The little ones are willing to follow the adults." The Qing soldiers guarding the door were recruits recruited by Xie Dong himself, and they had neither experience nor much fighting spirit, and they suddenly fell to their knees when Xie Dong raised his sword, knelt a little hesitantly, and was immediately cut down by Cao Guoxing mercilessly swinging his knife, and the rest did not dare to hesitate, and quickly knelt down.

"Get out of the way and ask the Great Zhou army to enter the city!" Xie Dong shouted again, and the Qing soldiers guarding the gate hurriedly retreated to kneel on both sides of the road, while the cavalry of the Wu army flew into the city from their side, and rushed through the first, second, and third gates. And when the first team of Wu cavalry finally rushed into the third city gate, the earth-shattering cheers also resounded outside the city, "Long live the Great Zhou!" Anti-Qing and regain sight! Kill! ”

In the thunderous cheers, the soldiers of the Wu army cheered the slogan of the Great Zhou, and the tide poured into the city of Nanjing, rushed through the three city gates, smashed into the street, and killed the stone city gate city wall. But Xie Dong was unaware of this, just standing on the side of the road in a daze, deaf to the surrounding shouts and screams, and even more ignorant of the soldiers of the Wu army who were constantly pouring into the city like a tide, as if they had settled down as an old monk, and the old past was like an illusion, constantly flashing in front of Xie Dong's eyes.

Suddenly, Xie Dong suddenly found that a group of people walked in front of him, and when he looked closely, the familiar and unfamiliar fat face of the fat man Lu had also appeared in front of Xie Dong in the light of the torches. After staring at each other face-to-face for a long time, Lu Fatzi's fat face, which had obviously lost a lot of weight, suddenly showed a kind smile, bowed deeply to Xie Dong, and said gently: "Brother Xie, it's hard work." ”

Xie Dong threw away the sword, knelt down on one knee to the fat man Lu, clasped his fists and saluted, his mouth was not yet open, but the tears were already rolling down, and he choked up and said: "Don't be polite, Xie promised to Engong back then, if Engong is sent, Xie Dong will go to the soup and go to the fire, and he will not give up - today, Xie Dong is fortunate not to break his promise." ”

"Brother Xie, you are true to your words, your words are like a mountain, and you are a true gentleman." Fat Lu also burst into tears, holding Xie Dong up with both hands, and a pair of friends who had only met once looked at each other again, and tears welled up together.

(To be continued)