Outside the city of Guangzhou, the Sun and Moon Banner raised by the Tiandihui armed forces waved in the wind, and after two weeks of fierce attack, the offensive of the Tiandihui rebel army has slowed down somewhat in recent days. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info the size of the Tiandihui's army is getting bigger and bigger, after the capture of the surrounding counties, the Tiandihui has recruited a large number of unemployed vagrants, bankrupt small farmers and handicraftsmen, shaved their hair and become the so-called "Ming army". Many of these rebels did not even have a single weapon, and some were directly armed with sticks and farm tools. In fact, after the Heaven and Earth Society conquered the nearby county town and took all the military storage warehouses of the Guangzhou Green Battalion, a large number of knives and guns had been replenished, but their organization and coordination skills were not good, and the generals of the Heaven and Earth Society did not know which troops had many people and how many weapons they lacked.

The most terrible situation is that some of the Heaven and Earth Societies are armed and cannot get the rations and salaries issued from above, so they directly raise their own funds on the spot. I don't know who came up with this bad idea, as long as the family members join the "Ming Army", then they will not ask for money and food from this family. Fortunately, even if they join the Heaven and Earth Society, those new rebels are all locals, and it is not good to play too hard in the local area, at least they do not harm the local women, and the more affected are those landlords and big families, who are the natural targets of punishment. Many of Yang Zhen's subordinates have learned some things about the agrarian revolution from the modern congregation, although they did not come to divide the land for the peasants, and joked that there are countless incense masters and hall masters of the Heaven and Earth Society, but they all want a lot of benefits, how can they get the turn of ordinary congregations. However, to a limited extent, the Heaven and Earth Society has been able to mobilize the poor and deal with the rich. Of course, almost all peasant uprisings in Chinese history have done this.

Zhang Pu, the small leader of the Heaven and Earth Society, who has been named a general, knows a little about financial management and statistics, and at this time he is holding an account book and reporting to Zheng Ji and Yang Zhen: "...... My great tomorrow army has won the admiration of all people, and now there are only the people besieging the city of Guangzhou. It has reached 30,000 people. The Tartar governor Guilin was no longer able to eat. It's hard to sleep and eat, my big tomorrow army will seize the city of Guangzhou, only on the eve of the day! ”

Zheng Ji was quite excited when he heard it, but Yang Zhen was not overly optimistic, after all, he was more sophisticated, he knew that the momentum of the Heaven and Earth Society had weakened in the past few days, although he ordered the rebel army to attack the city for several days, but the leaders of the rebel army included their subordinates. It's a bit of a lack of effort, just to cope.

"Zhang Pu, how many shells are left of our artillery?" After all, having served in the Datang Navy and knowing some modern military affairs, Yang Zhen attaches great importance to artillery. However, although he repeatedly urged the country to support more artillery before his defection, the country did not meet his request. But even so, Yang Zhen still had nearly a hundred smoothbore bronze cannons in his hands. In order to attack the city of Guangzhou, Yang Zhen even removed the cannons on the battleship and shelled the city of Guangzhou in three directions.

Zhang Pu replied: "There are not many shells left. There are about two or three hundred rounds left, and we have already requisitioned craftsmen from several places. Forge new shells for us. We also took up a large amount of gunpowder from the warehouse of the green camp, which was enough to be used for another half a year. ”

The south of Guangzhou City is the Pearl River, the north is a mountainous area, and the east and west sides are still open. In the previous siege battle, Yang Zhen commanded the warships to cover on the Pearl River and bombarded the south gate of Guangzhou City with artillery, while the Tiandihui armed forces took the opportunity to land and attack the south gate. However, the city defense of Guangzhou is very strong, and it is difficult for smoothbore cannons that fire ordinary solid shells to collapse the city wall of Guangzhou, and there is very little space for troops to deploy under the city wall on the waterfront side, even if the Tiandihui armed forces have a little foothold and attack the city wall. The Qing army, which was still struggling to support the city wall, would still use all kinds of throwing stones, boiling oil, and sassal wood to defeat the soldiers of the Tiandihui who were besieging the city.

When Guilin was in chaos at the beginning of Guangzhou, the hot hand calmed the situation. He first gathered the Eight Banners soldiers, killed the two Han people who had fluctuated in the city, and then created a terrifying atmosphere in the city, for example, the Tiandihui party was brutal and unkind, and they would definitely slaughter the old and young in the city, adulterous wives and daughters, and murder children. After stirring up the fear of the people in the city, he demanded that all men, women, and children in the city should contribute to the defense of the city, and that those who have money should contribute powerfully. Guilin trumpeted the idea of loyalty to the monarch and demanded that the Cantonese people maintain absolute loyalty to the imperial court. Once anyone is found to be a bandit, the whole family, regardless of age, will be beheaded. On the second day of the siege of Guilin, dozens of heads were cut off and hung outside the yamen of the palace to warn everyone.

It was precisely because of these things that the city of Guangzhou was able to turn the danger into a disaster when it was attacked by the Tiandihui rebels three times, and drove the rebels off the city wall again and regained control. At this moment, even if the city of Guangzhou is not united and united, the will to resist is relatively strong. Moreover, the people of Guangzhou are rich and have sufficient reserves, so even if they are besieged for a year or two, they can support it.

This is naturally what the Heaven and Earth Society does not want to see, at that time, Zheng Ji agreed with everyone to capture Guangzhou City, recover the Ming Dynasty, and then call the emperor, and now the war is dragging on more and more, he still did not break through Guangzhou City, and he is stuck at this juncture and cannot be called the emperor. Zheng Ji wanted to be the emperor directly several times, but Yang Zhen told him that if he didn't break through the city of Guangzhou, he would be the emperor, which would be tantamount to losing his trust and would be a blow to them.

At this time, Yang Zhen sighed: "If we have the heavy artillery of the Tang people in our hands, then this Guangzhou city wall must be nothing." ”

Zheng Ji also said: "I heard that the city defense of the capital is thicker than that of Guangzhou, and the Tang people still broke through the capital overnight. ”

Immediately, Zheng Ji became a little worried, and he asked: "Father-in-law, the Tang people sent a messenger to us a few days ago, asking us to take refuge in them and listen to their orders, we don't even pay attention to the Tang envoy, will the Tang people be angry because of this?" The military strength of the Tang people cannot be underestimated, so far they have been invincible, and they can gallop across the ocean and come and go as they please. If we become a thorn in the side of the Tang people, wouldn't it be troublesome? ”

Yang Zhen's face was not good-looking, he didn't see the Tang envoy, and he didn't even say a word, it was his idea. Although Zheng Ji is a little incompetent and timid, he is afraid that there is a reason. He himself is a Tang man, and he clearly knows that Tang people are not easy to mess with. But the ambition and pride in his heart would not allow him to return to that ridiculous country. As far as his own understanding is concerned, it is unreasonable for a group of chaotic people to casually raise an ancient country name, and then they, the Ming Dynasty, gave up the Ming Dynasty. He has ambition to dominate the industry, and he stepped on it step by step with the platform of the Tang people. Already so close to success, he couldn't give up.

Yang Zhenqiang said to himself: "The Tang people's main energy is in the north now, they have stabbed a hornet's nest, I don't know how many people are staring at them, it must be impossible to take care of us." ”

Zheng Ji asked carefully, "What does the righteous father mean that they were bluffing before?" ”

Yang Zhen nodded and analyzed: "That's right, although the Tang people have a lot of magical technology, strong weapons, and a lot of ingenuity, but in the final analysis, their country is too small and the population is too small. At this time, we must not be chaotic, step by step to stabilize our strength, occupy the city of Guangzhou, and expand to the whole of Guangdong. Finally, it swept through the whole south, and the south is the rich essence of China, with a lush population. The Tang people in the north were just petty fights, they couldn't occupy anything, and they couldn't take those lands for their own use. We think that the Tang people may still have to support the Manchu monarch, and then they will lose the hearts of the Han people in the world. The Tang people are just a star, and all they want is gold and silver, and even the people who have been plundered from the north to the wild overseas land, and in the end the north can only become more and more chaotic and weaker. And if my Ming can integrate half of the power of the country, the Tang people will not dare to despise it, even if there is the benefit of weapons, with the unity of my Ming Dynasty, the Tang people will not be able to win. And if the Tang army can be severely damaged, the Tang State has few people, and it will not be able to bear this kind of loss, and it will retreat. When the time comes, look for a brave general, lead the army to swear to the Northern Expedition, and the battle will be decided, and my Ming country will be glorious! ”

Zheng Ji naturally couldn't hear how many loopholes there were in Yang Zhen's words, but he was so excited that Zheng Jichang shook himself to the ground, and then bowed and said: "If the Ming Dynasty can be determined, this great achievement of recovery is completely done by the righteous father, and the country will go down in history for all generations, and the righteous father and national teacher will go down in history, and be worshiped by the incense of the people of my Ming Dynasty." ”

Yang Zhen was very satisfied after hearing this, and he couldn't put away his smile, as if he believed what he had just said. He was originally a eunuch, and the people without a queen paid more attention to incense. If you really enter the ancestral hall of the Ming Dynasty, it will naturally be the future of incense, which is something that Yang Zhen attaches great importance to.

Zheng Ji listened to Yang Zhen's words, Yang Zhen said that the Tang Dynasty was only about 200,000 people, and at this time, sending more than 10,000 troops was already the limit, and it was necessary to maintain the situation in the north, and there was no extra force to take care of Guangdong. However, Yang Zhen has long since lost any domestic sources, and he does not know that the population of Datang is already as high as 600,000, and it can also mobilize various forces such as overseas consulates and foreign brigades. His vows are not a comfort to himself.

Because Yang Zhen knows more or less that the Tang Army is really coming, then the so-called forces of the Heaven and Earth Society are all local chickens and dogs, and they will all be destroyed. But he had a sense of superiority in his mind, and even he paralyzed himself, treating the Tang Dynasty as a small foreign state, or not recognizing their Chinese attributes. In my opinion, even if you are strong in technology, what can you do? As long as he controls tens of millions of people in China and holds the wealthy southeast in his hands, then the Tang Dynasty can only be defeated in the end.

Excessive self-confidence and desperate bets are obviously useless, because now they have not even been able to fully contain the Qing army, and Guilin has already begun to plan a more proactive response after stabilizing its position. (To be continued.) )