Nanjing garrison camp.

When the news that the King of Jin was killed by Song Dali in public reached Wang Lanping's ears, he was stunned and furious.

"Song Dali, come here, bring Song Dali to me" Wang Lanping shouted in the hall, he was so angry that Song Dali's move almost disrupted his plan.

"No need, I'm here to ask for sin" Song Dali, who was dressed in a big tie of flowers, walked in from outside the door like a child who had done something wrong, came to Wang Lanping, and knelt down, "Master Hou, I invite sin"

Wang Lanping rushed up and grabbed his collar, "Confession? Confession is a, who do you think you are? Ah, you dare to kill King Jin? Why don't you take a knife and slash me," he pushed Song Dali to the ground.

At this time, all the generals who rushed to hear the news also ran in, all of them with surprised faces.

Song Xian picked up Song Dali and said, "You really killed King Jin?" ”

"Kill it, it's a big deal, I'll just pay him my life," Song Dali said while glancing at Wang Lanping.

Song Xian exclaimed, "Oh, this, you're in trouble" But at the same time, he gave Song Dali a thumbs up with Wang Lanping's gaze, meaning, kill well!

When Fang Guoan heard that this was true, he stepped forward and patted Song Dali's shoulder, and sighed, "You, hey, a Jin King who has passed his breath, can you take your own life?" How to end" Listening to Fang Guoan's tone, he thought that Song Dali would die, and killing the king of Zong was a heinous crime, if it was a crime, the three clans would be destroyed and punished, although Fang Guoan was loyal to Wang Lanping, but he was not anti-Ming in his heart, the world was still the world of the Zhu family, killing the king of Jin would be equivalent to anti-Ming, Song Dali must die, even if it was a brother, he had to kill.

Chen Wanliang came to Wang Lanping's side and said, "Master Hou, what should I do about this?" I want to save General Song, or he will have to die."

Wang Lanping waved his hand and said angrily, "Help, how can I save it?" The champion army is coming to Nanjing City, and he has attracted the suspicion and dissatisfaction of the governor of the world, so he can hardly find a reason to deal with us.

Song Dali is also self-aware of what he has done, it is not easy to live, he knelt and moved to Wang Lanping's side, and said earnestly, "Hou Ye, if I Song Dali was not you, I would be just an unknown centurion, it was you who gave me unprecedented honor and today's status, I do these things, one person does one thing, and I will never implicate Hou Ye and the champion army, I will go to the criminal department to surrender, I only hope that Hou Ye can save the family for me, thank you, I hope I can follow Hou Ye in the next life, go" So saying, he stood up, glanced at his brothers, and was about to go out the door.

Seeing this, Song Xian hurriedly stopped him and said to Wang Lanping, "Master Hou, they are all brothers in life and death, you can't see death and not save it, there are so many first-class officials in the court, if you don't say kill it, no one dares to say a word, now no one in the court dares to be disrespectful, why don't you write to let the emperor pardon Brother Song"

Wang Lanping was really angry, he felt unprecedented pressure, he didn't have this kind of pressure when he took hundreds of remnants to fight against Li Laixiang's six thousand iron cavalry, this pressure not only came from Song Dali's reckless actions, but also the short-sightedness of these generals around him.

Wang Lanping shook his head, sighed, turned around slowly, and his eyes swept over everyone's faces, "Are you all thinking this way?" ”

Everyone nodded, but Fang Guoan was noncommittal.

Wang Lanping smiled bitterly and nodded, "Close the door"

Song Xian ran over, looked outside the door, and turned around to cover the door.

Wang Lanping sat back in his chair, tried his best to calm his tone, and said, "Everyone sit down, I know that you must have a lot of questions about what I have done in the court these days, so I will explain it to you today so that you can understand the significance of what our champion army has done today."

Everyone burst into silence and listened, they really didn't understand Wang Lanping's thoughts, whether the champion army was messing with Ming or Baoming, no one could figure it out, especially Fang Guoan, he knew that Wang Lanping was the best of all the generals in the Ming Dynasty, with him, Daming was a little safe, but at the same time he was also afraid that Wang Lanping would usurp Ming, and at that time, he really didn't know what to choose.

Wang Lanping said indifferently, "Many people, including some generals of the champion army, think that I will do something rebellious when I enter Nanjing, today I tell you, I, Wang Lanping will not do this, the son of tomorrow will be loyal to the Ming day by day, and I will never do anything against the Ming."

Song Dali suddenly interjected, "What if the Son of Heaven is not there?" ”

Wang Lanping glared at him, "Listen to me first, these days, our army oppresses Nanjing, controls the imperial court, punishes corrupt officials, kills the country, whether you believe it or not, my purpose is not to control the government, I just want to make the Ming Dynasty strong one day earlier, so strong that any foreign enemy will not dare to covet it, but these things are not easy to do, and if you don't do anything, there will be a catastrophe, you can follow me to this day, I think I must also have the loyalty and courage of Zhongxing Daming, to do all this, It is necessary to resist the pressure and misunderstandings of all sides.

More than a dozen governors and commanders outside the court are staring at us with open eyes, just waiting for us to make mistakes, waiting for us to be spurned by the government and the opposition, killing corrupt officials we can use the name of the emperor to purge the rule of officials, those governors are speechless, what I do I don't care about the illegal actions of the Ming family, it's not that they all have any help to the strength of the Ming Dynasty, it's just that they all have the ancestral tablets of the emperor and nobles on their heads, I can't do anything to them, yes, the people of the world regard them as tigers and wolves, and the officials of the government and the opposition regard them as big moths that devour the world, I can't wait for them to die early, but no one dare, just because they are a clan, what can I let the emperor do? Ordered to kill his uncle and brother? No.

Today, Song Dali's killing of the King of Jin is tantamount to making the group of governors of the world who are ready to move find an excuse, killing the King of Jin is a rebellion, do you understand? It won't be long before they will attack Nanjing in the name of King Qin, causing our champion army to die, but don't think that they are here to protect the royal family, their real purpose is to take advantage of the fire and rob, because our champion army of 30,000 people dares to occupy Nanjing to control hundreds of officials, and they also want to follow in the footsteps, do you understand? Soon, hundreds of thousands of troops will gather in Nanjing, even if both sides are defeated, the Ming Dynasty will be finished."

Song Xian muttered, "No, it's not that serious."

Wang Lanping took the case, "Hundreds of thousands of Ming troops fought under the city of Nanjing, and at that time, the Manchu army in the north immediately went south, Li Zicheng, who was entrenched in Huguang, and Zhang Xianzhong, who had already been called emperor in Xichuan, would also pounce on him like a vicious dog. ”

As soon as these words came out, everyone was silent, they really didn't expect it to be so far.

Song Dali was remorseful, and knelt down with a puff, "Hou Ye, I, I was wrong, I know what to do, only if I die under the national law of the imperial court can the situation be calmed down, Hou Ye, I, Song Dali, have caused you trouble, I will go to the Criminal Department now"

Wang Lanping waved his hand, "It's too late, do you think that if you die, those generals and governors under the banner of Baoming will stop?" No, even if I die, I can't stop them from entering Beijing to fight for power, this is because of this, Song Dali just lit the fuse"

Hearing this, all the generals stood up, and Song Xian said, "Then, what should we do?" You can't sit still."

Wang Lanping's face was straight, and he said in a loud voice, "Of course not, the death of King Jin can't be without an explanation, Song Dali, if I let you die, will you accept it?" ”

Song vigorously kowtowed, straightened his waist, "Let the Hou Ye dispose of it"

Wang Lanping said, "Okay, dare to be bold, now remove you from the post of commander of the heavy cavalry battalion, your military power will be handed over to Song Xian, and you will be heavily responsible for fifty military sticks in front of the Fengtian Palace, and you will be a pawn in my escort battalion, and from tomorrow, you will wear linen and filial piety for the king of Jin for three days."

Everyone was a little stunned, what a crime it was to kill the King of Jin, Song Dali was a little unconvinced, "That's it, that's it?" ”

Wang Lanping said, "What, do you really want to die?" ”

Song Xian hurriedly pushed Song Dali, "I'm stupid, don't thank Hou Ye for not killing him."

Song Dali grinned, "Thank you, Lord Hou, for not killing."

Wang Lanping helped him up, untied the rope and said, "I punished you because the country has national laws, the army has military regulations, and human life is a matter of heaven, no matter who can kill people at will, I don't kill you because I don't want to lose a warrior for the scum like King Jin, you can leave this account on the battlefield to pay it back, and you are the same, you can't abolish the law privately."

All the generals clasped their fists together, "Obey!" ”

Then Wang Lanping asked Fang Guoan to immediately count the grain, grass and soldiers raised these days, and there were more than 10,000 newly recruited soldiers, but these people had not had time to train, and their combat effectiveness was almost none, and Fang Guoan was stepping up training.

The hoarded military rations totaled 500,000 stones, enough for 50,000 troops for a year, and a lot of firearms and ordnance were added.

Therefore, Wang Lanping secretly ordered Fang Guoan to find a safe place to bury the unused silver money gathered from hundreds of officials, totaling more than 5 million taels plus 400,000 stones of grain, on the Purple Mountain outside Nanjing, this is Zhu Yuanzhang's imperial mausoleum, no one dares to come, even if a foreign enemy comes, it is unlikely to throw the emperor's grave.

At present, it seems that whether this governor of Zhejiang is appointed or not is of little significance, and even establishing a foothold in Nanjing has become uncertain.

Wang Lanping prepared for the worst on the one hand, but did not give up on the other hand, 100 spies have been sent to various places, as long as anyone dares to use troops in Nanjing, Wang Lanping plans to send troops first, kill one policeman, so that others do not dare to move, and then urgently ordered Zheng Hongkui, the chief soldier of the naval division, and Cao Dingjiao, the Dingyuan battalion, to immediately march westward, and take the initiative to attack and start a war with the Shun army stationed in the Anqing area, so as to divert the sight of the Ming army in various parts of the south of the Yangtze River from Nanjing.

Zheng Sen's department of the Huai'an Army can't count on it now, because Liu Kongzhao, the commander of the Yangtze River Naval Division, has gathered all 1,200 warships in the Yangzhou area, and all the guns are either aimed at Yangzhou City or the mouth of the canal, Zheng Sen can only look at the river and sigh, and he can't save Nanjing at all.

Sure enough, a few days later, Tan Malay reported that Zuo Liangyu's 150,000 troops stationed in Jiujiang Mansion moved, advancing by land and water, quickly going down the river, the warships stretched for more than ten miles, the river covered the sun, the momentum was mighty, its vanguard had arrived in Chizhou Mansion, Zheng Hongkui, who was rushing to attack the Shun army Li Laixiang garrisoned, was caught off guard, and the sailor Dazhai was broken by Zuo Liangyu, and Zheng Hongkui had to flee to Nanjing with hundreds of defeated ships.

However, Zuo Liangyu seemed to ignore the Shun army, and after defeating Zheng Hongkui, he did not seize Anqing City on the north bank of the Yangtze River, but sent troops to Chizhou on the south bank of the Yangtze River, plundering war materials on a large scale, and preparing for the march to Nanjing.

Soon, all kinds of war reports flew into Wang Lanping's hands like snowflakes, and the governors of various places were gathering troops, and their vanguard troops were marching towards Nanjing, and as far as the battle reports were obtained, the Ming army besieging Nanjing would be no less than 300,000.