readx; After nightfall, an extremely strict curfew system was imposed in the city of Zhangde Province, except for the soldiers of the Imperial City Guard Regiment in charge of the guards patrolling the streets in groups, anyone who walked around at will would be regarded as a spy of the rebels, and would be arrested and interrogated severely. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

In the second hall of the prefect's yamen, which was used as a temporary governor, Lu Xiangsheng, Hao Yongzhong, Li Laiheng, Cao Wenzhao, Cao Bianjiao, Meng Gong, and other civil and military generals all sat upright and listened to Zhu Youzhen's general explanation of the urgent reports delivered from Shaanxi and Nanjing.

Zhu Youzhen's face was cold, and he said in a hoarse voice: "Everyone, tell me your opinion!" ”

Lu Xiangsheng has the highest status among the people, coupled with his upright temperament, at this critical juncture, of course, there is no need to talk about humility, so he spoke first: "Your Majesty, in the opinion of the ministers, the situation in Shaanxi should be as Tang Bao said, but not in Nanjing. ”

"Oh? Please elaborate! Zhu Youzhen was also unceremoniously authentic.

"Sun Chuanting has been in Shaanxi for a long time, experienced in a hundred battles, and there are Zuo Guangxian, He Renlong and other fierce generals in Xi'an and Tongguan, with no less than 20,000 elite soldiers. If it was just a small group of thieves, it would have been exterminated by itself a long time ago, and it would never have complained to the imperial court. Lu Xiangsheng analyzed seriously, "Moreover, Hanzhong and Shangzhou are also under the jurisdiction of Shaanxi, if it weren't for the huge strength of the rebels, Governor Sun would not have easily abandoned it." From this point of view, the strength of the rebels entering Shaanxi is likely to be more than 100,000, which is not inferior to the frontal battlefield in Henan. ”

"Well, that makes sense." Zhu Youzhen was the first to say. In fact, of course he believed in Sun Chuanting and Yang Sichang, they were the two of them who were reused when they were vassal kings, and with his understanding of the two, they would never deliberately exaggerate the enemy situation in exchange for the support of the imperial court.

Lu Xiangsheng went on to analyze: "As for the Tang newspaper from Nanjing, the minister is really suspicious. I want to respond to Tianfu as the place where I have a great Ming dragon, the terrain is tigery, easy to defend and difficult to attack, especially the main city is on the south bank of the Yangtze River, and the total number of officers and soldiers in the city and nearby guards is not less than 100,000. How bold did the rebels have to be to storm Nanjing? What's more, most of the rebels are thieves, and the combat characteristics of the thieves are good at long-distance raids, and they will often go around the city when they encounter a strong city. If you really want to storm it, with the strength of the Nanjing city wall, I am afraid that the siege for several months will not yield results. Most of the thieves are cunning people, and they will never do such an unhelpful act. ”

"Do you mean that this Tangbao in Nanjing was deliberately exaggerated by local officials in order to protect themselves, so as to force the imperial court to send reinforcements to them?" Zhu Youzhen frowned and asked.

Lu Xiangsheng couldn't answer directly, so he had to be silent. In fact, he didn't say it, Zhu Youzhen also understood what he was thinking in his heart, why didn't Zhu Youzhen himself have this mind?

Although he had never been to Nanjing, after ascending the throne, he still deliberately spent energy to get to know the capital of the empire. At that time, Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang raised troops in Huaixi, and after the development and growth, he first decided to make Tianfu, which is now Nanjing; With the expedition of the army to the north, Zeng Liliang (i.e., Kaifeng) was Beijing, and Yingtianfu was Nanjing. Until Chengzu Zhu Di set the capital of Beiping, renamed Jingshi, and changed the name of Tianfu to Nanjing, and since then it has been customized.

Nanjing's position in the Ming Empire is very important, and with Nanjing, you can hold the Yangtze River and control the wealth of the southeast. Therefore, the imperial court has always regarded Nanjing as a fundamental place, and it is also significantly different from other places in terms of official setup and military deployment.

First of all, as the capital of Liudu, there is a complete set of central government agencies in Nanjing, including six ministries, five temples, and the Metropolitan Procuratorate, but there is no cabinet, and the official settings and grades are almost exactly the same as the corresponding institutions in Beijing.

Of course, these officials usually do not have a real thing, so the various yamen in Nanjing are also called "pension yamen", and the imperial court has to take out a large amount of money to support such a group of idle officials. However, in the unlikely event that the Jingshi were to fall and the officials in Beijing were wiped out, then the government agencies in Nanjing could immediately play a new role, and this was the original idea of the establishment of these institutions.

Second, in terms of military deployment, Nanjing still retains a large number of troops. In Nanjing, there are also five military governors' mansions, and the specific guards are Jinwu Qianwei, Jinwu Guard, Yulin Left Guard, Yulin Right Guard, Yulin Qianwei, Fujun Guard, Fujun Left Guard, Fu Jun Right Guard, Fu Jun Qianwei, Fu Jun Guard, Fu Jun Guard, Hu Ben Left Guard, Jinyi Guard, Banner Guard, Jinwu Left Guard, Jinwu Right Guard, Jianghuai Guard, Jichuan Guard, Xiaoling Guard, a total of 18 guards, and a sacrifice of a thousand households directly led by eunuchs.

According to the customization of the health office, each health has jurisdiction over 5,000 households, and each 1,000 households has jurisdiction over 100 households, and each 100 households has a quota of 112 people. In this way, the total strength of the Eighteen Guards has reached more than 100,000 people, not counting the officers and troops of the guards near Nanjing. Of course, the shortage of guards in various places is very serious, and Nanjing is no exception, but it is still no problem to gather 100,000 officers and troops when defending the city.

As for the two people who issued the emergency report, Zhu Youzhen also knew a little. In the past, Nanjing's military command system was quite special, and it was commanded by the Nanjing garrison eunuch, the Nanjing garrison, and the counselor. Among them, the Nanjing garrison eunuch was directly sent from the celebrant eunuch, and Zhu Youzhen's nemesis, Guan Ning, once sat in this important position.

The Nanjing garrison is served by the lords, and the current Nanjing garrison Huaiyuan Marquis Chang Yinxu is the founder of the Ming Dynasty and the founding prince of the Ming Dynasty. As for the counselor service, it is concurrently served by the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, and the current counselor is called Hu Yingtai, who is also a veteran Donglin Party official who has experienced the ups and downs of the Huan Hai.

Now due to Zhu Youzhen's abolition of the eunuch system, the garrison eunuchs are naturally gone, and the military command of Nanjing is held by Chang Yinxu and Hu Yingtai. Zhu Youzhen had just ascended the throne, and the people's hearts were not stable, and he did not want to carry out large-scale personnel adjustments at the local level, so he did not move these two people for the time being.

But he knows very well in his heart that although Chang Yinxu is a famous general after Chang Yuchun, he has been pampered for many generations, let alone fighting, I am afraid that he will not be able to kill even a chicken. Let him command the battle, it must be a mess. As for Hu Yingtai, although his resume is quite prominent, and he also includes military-related official positions such as the squire of the military department and the governor of Liangguang, he has lived a peaceful life during his tenure. If the rebels really pressed the border, handing over more than 100,000 troops in Nanjing to such a person with no experience in battle would be like betting on it.

Regarding Lu Xiangsheng's analysis just now, Zhu Youzhen agrees with it very much. However, Nanjing's position is too important, even if the rebels do not intend to storm and only send a partial division to fight, under the command of the two straw bale commanders, will the defenders of Nanjing suffer heavy losses or even abandon the city and flee? Although the victory or defeat of the war does not depend on the gains or losses of one city or one place, the consequences of losing Nanjing are absolutely unbearable for Zhu Youzhen.

Therefore, he was very eager to send a force to reinforce Nanjing, even if the rebels did not go to Nanjing, the general of this army could command the defenders of Nanjing on his behalf. However, in doing so, there are two very big practical difficulties: First, the troops here are already overstretched, and there are only 20,000 people when they are fully armed, and if there are too many troops, it will not be able to defeat Hong Chengchou in the front, which will have a greater impact on the overall situation; Second, Zhangde Mansion and Nanjing are thousands of miles apart, and the middle is full of "enemy-occupied areas", can this army arrive safely?

Just when he was in a dilemma, Cao Wenzhao and Cao Bianjiao got up at the same time and asked for their lives: "Your Majesty, the ministers are willing to lead Guan Ningtie to ride to save Nanjing!" ”