The news of the loss of the Purple Mountain Fort spread quickly throughout Tianjing City, and the people of the various official residences were panicked.

The afterglow of the falling day shines on the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, desolate and vicissitudes, outside the city of Nanjing, the rows of new muskets cover the sky, as if it also indicates that the contest between the kingdom of heaven that once shook the world and the new power of the regent that quickly rose in the Southern Dynasty has gradually come to an end.

The Ganwang Mansion is elegant and chic, it is the ancestral house of scholars, after Hong Renji came to Tianjing, it was opened as a mansion, among the kings of Tianjing, it is relatively simple, the green trees in the house are shady, the cicadas hiss, stirring a pool of clean.

When the news of the loss of the Purple Mountain Fort came, Hong Renxuan was reading "Wang's False Words", which was written by a prominent person in the army three years ago, and he had a unique view of current affairs.

Wang Juren attributed the chaos in the world to too many people, saying: "The number of people in the world has doubled in 30 years. "People are floating on the ground several times", "Drive people back to farming, there is no land to cultivate; Driving people back to work, there is no skill to need people", "the power of heaven and earth is poor", "the power of personnel is exhausted".

Hong Renji looked at it and sighed softly, he was not so pessimistic, the world was in chaos, and he didn't know how to be the end, but now in the Southern Dynasty, the iron machine roared, and the road of foreign iron was paved everywhere, and the commercial circulation was used countless manpower, the disadvantages of "no land to cultivate" and "no skilled people" became a sharp weapon in his hands, and he traded grain and rice with industrial and technical playthings, and heard that the situation of starving people in the Southern Dynasty was getting less and less, if it did not meet the year of the catastrophe, I was afraid that the hearts of the people of the Southern Dynasty would be more and more attached, It has gradually become a prosperous scene that has rarely been seen in a hundred years.

Hong Renji remembered his various ideas again, after the kingdom of heaven was coldly treated, especially after the loss of Nanchang, he had already lost power, and his clan brother no longer had the trust in himself.

Although the "Cantonese Daily" is known as the "Devil's Words" in Tianjing, if there are people who dig out their eyes and dissect their hearts, Hong Renji always uses various channels to get one or two copies to read, which really opens his eyes, and newsprint is the pain in Hong Renji's heart.

As early as after coming to Tianjing, he proposed to set up a press officer and allow the sale of newsprint, because newsprint can "ban the evils of friends and parties", so as to eliminate all kinds of centrifugal forces that are weak and strong, and can strengthen the court and weak localities, so that the situation of centralized power weakening local power and strengthening local forces can be alleviated; Newsprint can also educate the people and change customs; Supervise the pros and cons of the official family, presenting a peaceful and prosperous era.

But these ideas of his were almost treated as a joke by the clan brothers, looking at the current situation in the Southern Dynasty, Hong Renxuan couldn't help but sigh deeply.

At this time, the soldiers outside came to report, "The Purple Mountain Fort is lost." ”

Hong Renji smiled bitterly, the loss of Nanchang was almost doomed to the defeat of the Heavenly Army, and King Zhong wrote a letter before leaving, asking him to persuade his clan brother not to let the city go, but where was the clan brother willing to listen?

Now the Wing King is trapped in Henan and fighting hard, the Loyal King has gone to the Western Regions, and the Heavenly Kingdom that once swept half of the wall is only Tianjing alone, and it is only a matter of time before the city is broken.

Sighing, Hong Renji picked up the teacup.

…… The flower hall is fragrant.

Ma Shi and the beautiful young woman in green shirt sitting across the sandalwood table had red eyes, and the two of them hugged their heads and cried just now.

The beautiful young woman in the green shirt is the cousin of the Ma family, and was forcibly admitted to the palace by the king of heaven as a deputy watcher, and the sisters have not seen each other for more than two years.

This time Xiao Ma sneaked out, she was friendly with Hong Tianjiao, the eldest daughter of the Heavenly King, and Zhong Wanxin, the eldest daughter of the Great Horse, died in the Battle of Hangzhou, Hong Tianjiao was depressed, she was extremely arrogant, and now she is even more perverse, she actually killed the maid out of anger, Xiao Ma was more relieved, and took the opportunity to plead with Hong Tianjiao in many ways, so he was allowed to go out of the palace to see his only relative in the world.

I haven't seen each other for more than two years, and both of them are extremely sad, and they can't cry for a while.

"Sister, I didn't expect you to have Brother Zhou's flesh and blood." Xiao Ma spoke, her eyes turned red again, thinking about the tragic fate of her sisters under the iron hooves of the officials and soldiers after the city was broken, she couldn't breathe with that kind of fear.

Ma wiped his tears and said, "You are in the palace, has anyone bullied you?" ”

Xiao Ma shook her head, she didn't want to say much about the affairs of the palace, under the power of the Heavenly King Yinwei, how could it be as simple as bullying? The whole day was trembling, the queen in the palace, a little disobedient to the will of the king, punched and kicked, tortured, the gorgeous palace, for them, is tantamount to Shura hell.

Ma sighed softly and said, "If you don't want to say it, I won't ask, anyway, it won't be long anyway, and I'm relieved......"

Both sisters were silent.

After a while, Ma Shi whispered: "I heard that the fort of Purple Mountain was occupied by officers and soldiers, is it true?" ”

Xiao Ma sighed: "It's not just the Four Mountains Fort, my sister doesn't know yet, King Hai led 30,000 sailors, wanting to rush out from Xiaguan and cross the river to southern Anhui, and the officers and soldiers besieging Tianjing will definitely have to rush to help." ”

As soon as Ma Shi heard this, he became concerned: "What happened later?" ”

Mart shook his head and said, "What else?" Just out of the Xiaguan was followed by the iron ships of the official army, a few cannons sank the big ship of the king of Hai, and the cannons of the Xiaguan fort could not reach the people, 30,000 sailors, I heard that more than half of them died, sank hundreds of boats, and the rest ran back. ”

Ma was speechless, and after a long time, he muttered, "Amazing, so powerful." ”

Xiao Ma sighed quietly: "Sister, you said, five years ago, why didn't the regent come?" ”

Ma Shi was silent, yes, now things are wrong, the two sisters are bandits, what can the officers and soldiers do?

There was a faint noise outside, the two didn't pay attention to each other at first, they didn't say anything to each other, just silently thinking about their own thoughts, but the noise was getting louder and louder, and the footsteps of thousands of people running on the street could be heard, and there was a faint sound of gunshots, "Bang", the door was almost knocked open, and Qiu Xiang, the maid of the Xiao Ma clan, rushed in with a frightened face, shouting: "Demon Dragon!" Demon Dragon! And the boiling of the city seems to be following Qiu Xiang.

The entire city of Nanjing seems to be boiling.

"What's going on? What demon dragon? Xiao Ma reprimanded, but couldn't help but follow Qiu Xiang out of the house, and looked in the direction of Qiu Xiang's finger, and was immediately stunned.

But I saw a black carp floating in the air, the carp was holding a huge basket under it, and it was moving slowly, sweeping over the head of Tianjing City, Qiu Xiang was so frightened that her legs were weak, and she knelt down and kowtowed desperately.

"Yikes." There was an exclamation from behind Xiao Ma, but it was Ma who also followed, looking at the sky with a pale face at this time.

"Sister, go back to the house quickly, don't move the tires, let me go and see." Xiao Ma hurriedly carried Ma back to the inner room and comforted: "Sister, don't worry, Lang Lang Qiankun, where did the monster come from?" ”

When Xiao Ma and Qiu Xiang walked on the street, they saw a crowd of people on the long street, some of them were lying on the ground and kowtowing desperately, some were holding muskets and letting go of guns, and some of them splashed their own black dog blood, and they were jumping and asking Erlang Zhenjun to go up and kill demons...... The whole city of Nanjing was in a mess, the red turbans, like headless flies, ran around, from a bird's eye view from the sky, the streets and alleys, densely packed with people, even the most fierce soldiers, could not help but look up at the sky, stunned by the scene in front of them.

The palace of the king of heaven also fell into a huge panic, the chickens flew and the dogs jumped, the king of heaven set up a spiritual altar to no avail, and urgently summoned the king of the east and the king of the gods into the palace to discuss matters.

Just when the men, women and children of all ages in the city were burning incense and praying, suddenly the basket carried by the black carp fell violently, and countless pieces of white paper flew down, drifting into the streets and alleys of this ancient city with the wind.

Xiao Ma grabbed a piece of paper that flew in front of him, looked at it, and then leaned over to pick up a few pieces of paper, glanced at Qiu Xiang, and left in a hurry.

In the flower hall, when he saw the pieces of paper picked up by Xiao Ma, Ma was also dumbfounded, both of them were scholarly and knew the words on it, and these words were extremely simple, even if they were rough and ink, they could be completely understood.

The paper said, all the people in the city should not be frightened, the regent led the Pingyuan official army and the autumn did not commit any crime, only punished the first evil, the Taiping army soldiers in Jinling City, under the brigade commander, those who laid down their arms were exempted from the death penalty, the brigade commanders of each team, those who abandoned the darkness and turned to the light had their own rewards, and those who returned to the kings were amnesty for meritorious service for their crimes, and several kings who were not allowed to be amnestied were listed on the paper, the king of heaven, the king of the east, and the king of Gan, all of whom were among them.

It is also said on the paper that the dependents of the Taiping army, those who have no evil deeds are all regent princes and people, protected by the regent, and are originally good people who are forced to follow the army, and the official family also has a sympathetic silver distribution, even if they are forced to be the king's mother, they are also good people.

In the end, there is a regent's own handwriting, saying that he can't save the people from fire and water early, his faults, goodness was slaughtered, women were forced to be silver, his faults, every time he thinks about it, he is heartbroken, and angry and ashamed, and tears are like rain. Pray to heaven that after three days, the women and children in the southeast will no longer suffer from this infinite suffering.

Ma read it over and over again, and was stunned for a while.

"Sister, this seems to be true, I heard people from Nanchang say that officers and soldiers really don't kill people indiscriminately." Xiao Ma said faintly, in fact, she didn't know the bottom in her heart, perhaps, she hoped that this was true, she was forcing herself to believe that it was true, so that there was hope, right?

Ma Shi suddenly said urgently: "Sister, don't go back these days, just stay here, I, I know the female generals of the official army, I will definitely not make it difficult for you." Xiao Ma was stunned: "Stay here?" ”

Ma Shi said: "Didn't the regent say it? After three days of attacking the city, now the city is so chaotic, if you don't return to the Heavenly King's Palace, who can take care of it? ”

Xiao Ma said: "The regent is suspicious, right?" How can anyone tell the time of the siege? ”

Ma said: "Whatever? Just a few days, you listen to me, yes. ”

Xiao Ma was stunned for a while, and finally, nodded slowly.

When Zhou Lichun returned home, it was late at night the next day, and his face was quite unsightly, and when he saw his beloved wife reading a piece of paper under the red candle, he leaned over to take a look, and immediately smiled bitterly.

Since yesterday evening, one day and one night, all the brigade commanders have led soldiers all over the city to collect this piece of paper, but where is the time, now rumors are spreading in the city, the regent is a real dragon descended, there is a black carp striker to help, three said that it is easy to break the sky, and each of them is very good.

And how the Pingyuan army did not commit any crimes in Nanchang, Hangzhou and other places, and how to treat the people kindly, spread all over the streets and alleys.

Although many people who spread rumors were arrested, and a few people who were said to be from Nanchang and Hangzhou were killed, it is obvious that the morale of the army and the people is fluctuating, and it is beyond the power of manpower to return to heaven.

When I get home, I don't want my beloved wife to read this kind of flyer, so how can people not feel desolate in their hearts?

Zhou Lichun sighed, didn't say anything, and slowly sat down on the bed.

"Brother Zhou, what's wrong with you?" Ma sat down next to him gently.

Zhou Lichun shook his head and didn't squeak.

Ma said: "Ah, let me tell you something, my sister is here, and she lives in our house for the past two days." ”

"Your sister?" Zhou Lichun looked at her in surprise, he had never heard that his beloved wife had any sisters.

Ma said: "Yes, we haven't seen each other for more than two years, and she is the deputy caretaker of the Heavenly King Palace." ”

Zhou Lichun was stunned for a moment, and said urgently: "How can this be?" Send her back to the palace quickly. ”

Ma Shi smiled and said, "Brother Zhou, she lived in our house yesterday, and now she is sent back to the palace, but it's too late." ”

Zhou Lichun was stunned and couldn't make a sound.

Ma Shi smiled again: "I call her to meet you now?" ”

Zhou Lichun hurriedly shook his head and said, "Still, still...... Alas" sighed deeply, looked at his wife, and said helplessly: "Could it be that you also persuaded me to surrender?" ”

"The concubine doesn't dare." Ma lowered his head, and when he heard her husband use the word "again", he knew that the people in the army were panicking, and he didn't know who had already made a statement.

Hanging his head, Ma said: "It's just that the concubine looks at the flyers of the officers and soldiers, and she is really the teacher of the king......" Speaking of this, I won't say it anymore.

Zhou Lichun was silent, stunned.

...... "boom boom" ten thousand cannons roared, the city wall of the ancient city of Nanjing trembled under this seemingly endless baptism of artillery fire, outside the east gate, countless soldiers of the Pingyuan Army wearing gray military uniforms lay in the trenches, covered in mud, waiting for the horn of the general attack.

The Pingyuan army Anmin announced that the city would be attacked after three days, and it really launched an attack on the east gate of Jinling on the third day.

Storms and rains, lightning tore through the sky, thunder one after another, the power of heaven and earth, terrifying.

Ye Zhao was in the temporary command post next to Xiaohong Mountain, looking at the direction of Nanjing with a clairvoyant mirror.

The so-called black carp striker, needless to say is naturally an airship, since its birth at the end of the last century, it is not the first time that an airship has appeared on the battlefield, and the scholars and technicians under Ye Zhao are not a few who are keen on developing airships, and they even ask the regent to allocate funds to vigorously develop airships.

However, Ye Zhao really has no preference for airships, even in the golden age of airships a few decades later, in fact, its safety surname is also frighteningly low, long-distance airships carrying passengers, it is good to be able to fly safely twenty or thirty times, almost all airships have no safe retirement, they are all crashed because of crashes, although airships meet the fantasy of human beings to take off, and there are many warriors who do not hesitate to bet their lives in order to fly into the sky, but they will soon be replaced by airplanes, and it is not wise to spend a lot of effort to study them now. Because the airship is expensive, but it is easy to crash, especially in the current hydrogen stage, it is not possible to produce helium in large quantities, and the risk factor of the airship crash is higher, and the military benefits it can bring at this stage are far from compensating for the losses caused by its crash.

Of course, it is a good choice to build some lightweight, uncomplicated hot air balloons occasionally used for reconnaissance or other military purposes, this flyer airship has a very simple function, the Southern Dynasty can produce it, once the surname is used, relying on the wind direction and simple pedal power to travel, the warrior on the airboat is to be sentenced to death, the person is a filial son, for his parents to get a pension to die voluntarily, after he cut the rope and sprinkled the leaflet, the airship went with the wind, where to float, how to fall, he lived or died, and he could only resign himself to fate.

"Boom" a loud sound, the gate of the east city slowly fell, and then the long and majestic horn sounded, immediately the sound of killing shook the sky, the dense gray uniformed soldiers jumped up from the trenches, the tide rushed to the city of Nanjing, the front, several soldiers in a group, carrying the wooden plank pontoon, facing the rain of bullets and bullets bravely.

"Kill!" A group of fierce men with bare shoulders and tattoos were extremely eye-catching, they were about a few hundred people, and they followed the gray soldiers to the city, but they did not enter through the city gate, and chose a section of the wall that already had gaps, and quickly threw on the ropes, biting the shiny knife and grabbing the ropes to go up the city.

This is Bai Laoheng and his Miao Dao team. After the regent avoided the disaster of extermination, Bai Laoheng contacted the people of Sixiang clan, a total of 700 soldiers joined the army, they each made good use of swords, deep mountains and dense forests, such as walking on the ground, now said to be under Tianjing, Bai Laoheng set up a military order, will be cut to capture the flag and break through the Jinling city wall.

"Bang bang bang", the rows of gray uniformed soldiers under the city stood up straight and shot at the red turbans at the head of the city, covering the Miao Dao team to capture the city.

One by one, they fell and lined up to meet them, and the red turbans were finally suppressed by the dense rain of bullets, and each of them hid behind the wall battlements and did not dare to probe, only to shoot indiscriminately with their rifles stretched out. There were also those who drew their waist knives to chop the ropes of iron claws, and many bent down and ran down the city wall as quickly as possible.

When hundreds of Miao knifemen poured into the city to chop melons and vegetables, it also heralded the loss of the Taiping Gate, and the red turban, which had long been demoralized, was immediately defeated.

Near the east gate, the sound of killing shook the sky, hundreds of thousands of gray uniformed soldiers poured in like a tide, and were knocked down by the rain of bullets fired from the firing points of the corner towers that occupied the danger, and the blood mist filled the sky, and the shouts were deafening.

The rainstorm is pouring, the firepower of the red turbans is gradually thinning, those paper-shelled bullets are most afraid of moisture, and those who use Tessie's smoothbore guns decades ago are even more afraid of wind and rain.

Soon, near the east city, there was a white-knuckle battle duel, the king of the east Yang Xiuqing personally supervised the battle, and his own soldiers were exhausted, and there were thousands of barefoot female soldiers, armed with big swords and spears, like a tiger to pounce on the gray military uniform that poured into the city.

After all, Ye Zhao was not so perverted that he wanted his soldiers to practice bayonets with living people, and did not turn his soldiers into beasts, so the rifle team that rushed to the front fell down in an uproar, but soon, these female soldiers fell in a pool of blood one by one under the cold bayonets.

The rain and blood converged into a river, and the area around the east gate became a tragic Shura field.

(To be continued)