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Yesterday night, the entire Jinling City had insomnia, and no one could sleep peacefully, especially the Liangjiang Governor A Xixu, the huge and luxurious Liangjiang Governor's Office, and the beautiful wife of Yingying Yanyan among them could not arouse his interest. The Liangjiang Governor's Office was the location of the Nanjing Presidential Palace in later generations.

Just yesterday evening, the Mawei battleship sailed to the river near Jinling City, and occupied the Jiangning Naval Division Water Village on the east and west sides without firing a single shot. In addition, nearly 1,000 horsetail troops went ashore and attacked four outer city gates, including the Waijinchuan Gate, causing more than 600 soldiers to be killed and more than 400 injured.

More importantly, the Qinhuai River West Water Pass was shelled by four fifth-class warships of the Mawei Navy, and for half an hour, thousands of flowering shells fell on the West Water Pass, and the Xishui Pass, which was mostly wooden, was beaten into ruins.

In fact, this is not the point, early yesterday morning he received a report, saying that Prince Jian Rabu was killed in Jiaxing, the Qing army of 30,000 people was wiped out, this is the point, now even if he wants to retreat, to the north, the river is blocked by the Mawei army, to the south, it is still the Mawei army, if he does not retreat, soon the Mawei army, the navy and the army are flanked on both sides, he has no confidence that he can hold Jinling City.

After the arrival of the Mawei Navy in the evening, he became even more panicked, and he didn't have to pay attention to the Mawei Army in the distance. Even the powerful navy in front of him was helpless how to deal with him. I discussed with a group of officials in Jinling City, and in the middle of the night, I couldn't come up with a proper plan. He didn't sleep all night, and he was always worried about the Mawei army attacking the city at night. Constantly commanding and mobilizing the soldiers and horses in the city to guard the city gates.

At this moment, Ma Hu, the governor of Jiangsu, and Mu Tianyan, the political envoy of Bu, were sitting in the signing room of the yamen of the Liangjiang Governor's Office, while the deputy general Tang Ning and the two generals Hong Shengzhi and Xiang Yulin were sitting on the other side, all waiting for A Xixu's decision.

"Hold on! We have no other choice! Ah Xixu finally sighed and said. Has the letter for help been sent? ”

"Back to my lordship, I have sent fifteen waves of people to ask for help from the court and Prince An (Yue Le)!"

"The military horses in the city are still nervous, most of the elite troops have been taken to the south, and the remaining less than 10,000 horses have to deal with several times the enemy, which is too stretched!"

"Back to adults. The humble post has recruited young men in the city to assist in defending the city in accordance with the instructions of the adults, plus our Jinling City is fully armoured, and the soldiers are using their lives, and there is no problem in holding the city for ten days and half a month, and with a time buffer of ten days, the reinforcements from the imperial court will definitely arrive. Adjutant General Tang Ning arched his hand and said.

"That's good, you have also read the weekly report just now, and now it is only Geng's warships plundering along the river, and after three or five days, Geng's army will also arrive. That's when we're really going to be tested, and that's when we're going to be tested in the next few days. We must vigorously mobilize the people in the city to help defend the city, we don't have Jinling City on our backs, that is, there is a lot of money and food, and it is open for the soldiers to eat, hum, if we can't hold Jinling City, we all have to die, and it is useless to keep these goods! A Xixu said coldly. Although he is greedy for money, he is still measured, and the reason why he is tyrannical in Jiangnan is not his nature, and it is not Kangxi's private instructions. He also knew that the court was difficult, so he had to use this method to get through it.

"Boom"

However, just as A Xixu and the others were about to continue their deliberations, a deafening loud noise came from the direction of the Waijinchuan Gate. Because the loud noise is so amazing, it can be heard clearly from a distance of two kilometers!

"What's going on?" Axixu asked in surprise, he had a very ominous premonition, he probably wouldn't be able to hold this fortified city, and the loud noise in this province was the signal. Several others, such as governors, political envoys, and adjutant generals, were also surprised. Yesterday evening, they urgently mobilized soldiers and horses to guard the various city gates, and the only remaining ten cannons were erected on the towers in several key areas. If the Mawei Army had already launched an attack and started to attack the city, they would also receive the news quickly.

Sure enough, within two minutes, a soldier who reported the news ran in from outside: "Your Excellency, Geng is attacking outside the Jinchuan Gate, and our army has suffered heavy casualties. "The soldier who reported the news didn't know what was going on at the Waijinchuan Gate at the moment, but at this time he didn't want to go back, even if he went back, he would grind the time, it was too dangerous to rush back, and he didn't dare to be slow when he came, so it was better to go back slowly!

Ah Xixu waved his hand, and the soldier who reported the news immediately went down. "Geng Yi has already begun to attack the city, so let's move! Lord Ma and Lord Mu, please arrange the ordnance and materials, the young and strong need to be vigorously recruited, and the number of people should not be less than 5,000. Vice General Tang, General Hong and General Xiang all went to check the enemy situation immediately! ”

"What's going on?"

"What's going on with the Waijinchuan Gate?" At this time, not only the Liangjiang Governor's Office, which was far away, but also the closer it was to the Waijinchuan Gate, the higher the surprise of the military and civilians. The loud noise in this life is so unexpected, louder than thunder, almost didn't scare anyone to death!

"It's over, Waijinchuanmen is finished!"

"Geng Rebellion has broken the Waijinchuan Gate!"

On the street near the Waijinchuan Gate, such a panicked shout broke out all of a sudden.

"What?" Everyone was shocked, "The city gate has been breached?" ”

Everyone couldn't believe it at first, Geng Shun actually broke through the Waijinchuan Gate so quickly! Waijinchuan Gate is quite sturdy, how did these guys do it? But they didn't think much about it, they all knew that the gate had fallen, and all they had to do was to run away, flee home and close the gate, otherwise they might be in a different place!

The guards of the Outer Jinchuan Gate also quickly retreated towards the inner city, but he was bitten by the rifles of the Mawei Army just now. Shot in the leg with limited mobility. But it was still supported by two personal guards. Desperately jumping and jumping back. On his left leg, he was bleeding constantly, and although the wound was tied up with a sackcloth, the blood continued to seep out, which can be imagined how severe the injury was.

Tang Vice General and General Hong, General Xiang, two generals accompanied A Xixu on horseback and soon arrived at the location of Jinchuan Gate, Jinchuan Gate is one of the thirteen inner city gates built for the Ming Dynasty, there is a Jinchuan Bridge built outside the city gate, and there is a water gate near the city gate. There is a sluice gate near the city gate. Control the circulation of the moat and the Waijinchuan River. The inner city gate is not comparable to the outer Guo City, what is tall and majestic, what is shocking, magnificent, this is it!

The height of the Jinling Ming city wall is generally between 14 meters and 21 meters, the width of the city base is about 14 meters, and the width of the top is between 4 meters and 9 meters. As one of the thirteen inner city gates, the height of this Jinchuan Gate has reached 20 meters, the width of the city base is about 14 meters, and the width of the top is about 6.6 meters. Most of these walls built by Zhu Yuanzhang were first based on granite or limestone strips. The top is then built with large bricks inside and outside the wall and the top, and between the inner and outer walls are often compacted with broken bricks, gravel and loess layers. In the brick joints at the top of the city wall and on the inner and outer walls. are watered with a kind of "slurry". This kind of slurry is mixed with lime, glutinous rice juice (or sorghum juice) or tung oil, and the adhesion is very strong after solidification, so that the city wall can endure for a long time. It's the same with Jinchuan's side.

This Jinchuan Gate is five meters higher than the highest part of the Fuzhou City Wall, and five meters is almost as high as the top of a two-story building, think about it, you can know that the Jinchuan Gate is a 20-meter-high city wall, and it is the top of the sixth floor of a multi-storey building in later generations, this height is simply daunting! However, at this time, the Qing army had already set up all four cannons, lined up, and aimed at the road ahead. Yesterday evening, the Mawei Army was the total of the Waijinchuan Gate, so this direction was focused on defense.

All the officers and soldiers of the Qing army were all ready to fight. As soon as you spot the enemy, shoot and fire immediately. It was indeed surprising that the Mawei Army could break the Waijinchuan Gate so quickly, but the Waijinchuan was not big after all, and now that it was broken, they also had a more secure Jinchuan Gate, so they were not very worried. This guerrilla is still thinking: If your Mawei Army wants to enter Jinling City, don't even think about it! His confidence came not only from the four cannons at the head of the city, but also from a large number of artillery pieces in another place.

Geng Jingzhong was standing on the gate tower of the Outer Jinchuan Gate at this moment, raising the telescope and looking at the southwest, the Outer Jinchuan Gate was broken, and the Qing army inside and outside the city was also defeated, but it was still impossible to really attack Jinling City. Because, in front of him, in the southwestern position, there is also a huge roadblock: Lion Rock. The Lion Rock in the north of Jinling City is the support point for the defense of the northern part of Jinling City, and a large number of artillery pieces have been erected on it. The current Jinling City should be fully mobilized and armed, right? The artillery on the Lion Rock should all be in place. I don't know how fierce the artillery fire of Lion Rock is?

"Let's go, let's take a look ahead!" Geng Jingzhong waved his hand and shouted.

Behind him are the guards led by Gu Ping, this place has been occupied by the Mawei Army, the first squadron and the sixth squadron plus the marines on the Yuanzi battleship have all landed, adding up to more than 2,000 people, so they specially selected this direction, and the rest is not taken care of. Behind the Marines was the 10,000 troops of the Navy who landed on the shore, and they were not responsible for attacking the city, but just following behind to receive, and 2,000 people attacked in one direction, which was enough. After all, 400 of the 2,000 people were in charge of the artillery. Twenty twelve-pounder army guns were prepared on board the battleship at the time of departure, which were specially used for siege purposes, although they could not necessarily be used.

Soon, Geng Jingzhong and several others appeared in front of Lion Rock. Lion Rock is actually not tall, the relative height, may be less than 30 zhang (the actual elevation of Lion Rock is 78 meters), but in the case of plain areas on all sides, its location is the absolute commanding height.

"Tom Tom"

"Tom Tom"

"Tom Tom"

Far away, before Geng Jingzhong raised the clairvoyant mirror, a fierce cannon sound came from the direction of Lion Rock. Sure enough, there are a large number of cannons on the top of Lion Rock. Finding Geng Jingzhong and them in sight, the cannon on the Lion Rock opened fire without hesitation. Strings of solid cannonballs fell in front of Geng Jingzhong and others, smashing the grass in front of them into pits. Some of the solid bouncs even rolled along the slope as if they were bowling balls. Fortunately, Geng Jing was loyal to them and was far out of range. If Geng Jingzhong and the others had continued to get closer, more shells would have fallen.

Geng Jingzhong held a telescope and carefully observed the shelling. Soon, he deduced that there were about fifty pieces of artillery on the top of Lion Rock alone. Moreover, this is just the exposed artillery that fired, and the artillery that did not fire and did not expose it, no one knows how many there are. After all, Jinling City used to be the capital of the Ming Empire, and it has always been the capital of the Ming Empire, and the heritage is very profound. The Qing army's defense arrangements must be very tight. (To be continued......)