On the tenth day of the first month of February, the north wind howled, the weather finally cleared, Shi Kefa, Lu Jiude, and Wang Tingchen boarded the Zhengyang Gate to look south. For more than ten days, the main force of the Qing army is besieging Anqing non-stop, and the rest of the soldiers and horses have begun to attack Nanzhili, Chizhou Mansion is already in danger, and even the Qing army's rangers have appeared in Qingyang and Tongling, and the situation is becoming more and more serious.

Shi Kefa's eyes stared at the morning glow in the southern sky, and muttered: "Huang Zhenxi has done what he can do, a few days ago, Tanma finally sent the news over, the Qing army continued to attack the city, but suffered heavy casualties, so he had to sneak attack Zhenhaimen at night, but Huang Zhenxi was prepared, a fire burned the Qing soldiers, and killed the rebel general Shang Kexi, which made the Qing army helpless!" ”

Lu Jiude was quite touched, "Therefore, after Zheng Zhilong's first battle, his fighting spirit disappeared, and it was really a mistake to insist on retreating to Fujian." Although the Qing army is powerful, as long as the upper and lower hearts are united, it is not difficult to break the enemy! ”

Shi Kefa sighed, "It's not that he can't see this, it's just that he still has other thoughts in his heart, and the power of the Zheng family has been affected and his strength has been depleted!" ”

Lu Jiude shook his head sympathetically, "With such thoughts, Zheng Zhilong is no more than Erer, and the Zheng family is now the end!" ”

Shi Kefa heard what he said, but he didn't continue to talk about this topic, but set his eyes on the people who were busy like ant colonies in the city and under the city.

Lu Jiude followed his eyes, and immediately understood his thoughts, and did not dwell on it, but explained: "Cabinet Department, as of yesterday, there have been more than 60,000 young people from Dangtu, Jianyang, Jianning, Hezhou and other places. The soldiers and horses transferred by the state capitals around Nanjing also reached 30,000 people, although they were not elite soldiers, but relying on the garrison of the fortified city, they still had the strength to fight. A large amount of grain and grass transported by Jianghuai can arrive in a few days, and Governor Lu and Huang Degong are concentrating troops and horses, and then they can gallop to help Nanjing! It was Yan Yingyuan, who was recommended by the governor of this road. These days, more than 3,000 people have been found from Jiangyin to call friends, but they are all kinds of blacksmiths, stonemasons, masons, peddlers and pawns, all of them, and after arriving in Nanjing, they are very busy, and they look quite peculiar! ”

Shi Kefa stared at the people coming and going in the city, and at a glance saw Yan Yingyuan and Chen Mingyu, the Jiangyin Dianshi he recommended, both of whom were dressed in short clothes. He just put on a cotton coat that was no longer clear in color, and shouted to Minzhuang to mark the original gaps on the city wall. The carpenters made wooden frames of the felled timber and inlaid them on the openings, along with the crushed stones of various sizes that the stonemasons had prepared these days.

Under the city, the young men panted and carried buckets of mixed blue-black silt up to the city, mixed with gravel and bamboo tendons, and poured them into the wooden frames. The people of the city came to help with food and water, and at the same time they were curious about these strange actions. For a while, the city was bustling with activity.

"From the day Yan Yingyuan came, our family has followed his words. Control the whole process. Grain and ordnance are kept and monitored by the government. The people who entered the city were inquired by the Jinyiwei and Dongchang joint household departments, and many Tartar spies were caught in this move. In the market, the street is the unit, and the households are jointly protected, and the people of the street are responsible for maintaining law and order, and at the same time, they are equipped with water wheels and other materials to prevent the Tartars from setting fires. The city is much quieter now than it used to be. Even those rooster and dog thieves who fish in troubled waters have been caught a lot! ”

The corners of Shi Kefa's mouth pursed, revealing a hint of a smile, and waved his hand, "Gong Lu, let's go over and have a look!" ”

It was the middle of winter. But the more than 10,000 people in full swing in the city and under the city, plus the people who came to comfort and watch the excitement, there was a ripple of warmth near the Zhengyang Gate for a while, which made Shi Kefa unconsciously rush to the whole body to get hot, and even his steps were much brisker.

"...... you guys?" Shi Kefa and the others squeezed into the crowd.

As soon as Yan Yingyuan raised his head, he realized that it was Shi Kefa, and hurriedly bowed and saluted, "Cabinet ......!" ”

The surrounding people suddenly exclaimed, "The Shi Pavilion Department, it turned out to be the Shi Pavilion Department!" Suddenly, a large number of people fell to their knees.

Shi Kefa hurriedly clasped his hands and asked the people to get up.

Chen Mingyu is about the same age as Yan Yingyuan, but his figure is far inferior to his sturdy, but his eyes contain perseverance, and at a glance he knows that he is a man with a bold personality. He didn't talk much, and after saluting Shi Kefa, he lowered his head and just beckoned the craftsmen to carefully water the green and black. Seeing that the craftsmen did not like it, he snatched the mud bucket, jumped into the huge hanging basket, and went to water and fill it himself.

Shi Kefa couldn't help but nodded, this Chen Mingyu was a solid official.

Yan Yingyuan explained in detail on the side. Nanjing city is in disrepair, from the beginning of the Wanli years, the imperial court has never carried out large-scale repairs to the city defense, many places on the city wall are rammed with loess, the outside is reported on the green bricks, it seems to be good, but in fact it is simply unable to withstand the attack of external forces, coupled with the disrepair, the loess, the green bricks have fallen off, so it is necessary to carry out a thorough renovation of the wall.

However, time was limited, and the Qing army was about to march to Nanjing, and then use the old methods to strengthen the city defense, and the time was no longer allowed. Therefore, Yan Yingyuan adopted a set of methods used in Shandong and Jianghuai to consolidate the city walls.

Among them, cement is used in Shandong and Jianghuai, which is popular to this day. The construction of official roads with cement is nothing new in Shandong and Jianghuai. As we all know, the cement road is extremely hard and not afraid of wind and rain, and the construction period is much shorter than before. At present, Jianghuai is repairing the city defense with cement, and the effect is also good.

At this stage of the Ming Dynasty, there is no way to talk about steel bars, so Lu Zhenfei adapted measures to local conditions and found an alternative product, that is, the bamboo tendons of moso bamboo. This thing is very tough, and it is most suitable for cooperating with cement and gravel to strengthen the city defense.

The specific method is to first use a wooden frame as a frame, inlay it in the position that needs to be repaired, and lay the bamboo bars in it to bear the weight and increase the hardness and toughness. The cement and gravel are then mixed together and poured in one place, and after they are fully dried, they are as solid as a rock.

The method was simple and easy, and with the countless cements transported from the Jianghuai River, the city defense reinforcement project in Nanjing had been completed in just 10 days.

"Cabinet Department, please see!" Yan Yingyuan led Shi Kefa to the east, stopping at a completed city wall. It seemed that the cyan on the city walls had dried out, and it was cold and hard to the touch.

Yan Yingyuan touched around, stretched out his hand and copied a twenty or thirty pound iron hammer from the craftsman's hand, strode to the city wall, and asked Shi Kefa and the others to retreat a little, and then picked up the hammer and smashed it towards the cement paving on the city wall.

In the midst of everyone's exclamations, the hammer smashed firmly into the city wall, and with a bang, everyone's hearts trembled.

Yan Yingyuan didn't care, and threw the hammer back to the craftsman, "Cabinet Department, please take a look!" ”

Shi Kefa and Lu Jiude stepped forward curiously, and looked at it, but they couldn't help but be taken aback, on the cement wall, there was only a white mark, and there was no trace of damage.

Shi Kefa was very surprised, looking at this blue-black mud was inconspicuous, he didn't expect it to be so hard after solidification. Shi Kefa's hands kept stroking the cement wall, and he kept chanting the word "fetish" in his mouth, but his eyes refused to leave for a moment.

Although Lu Jiude was surprised, he had seen many strange things, and he was no stranger at this time. "Speaking of which, this is still something that Prince Rui made up when he was the chief soldier in Shandong, and the official roads in Shandong are all paved with cement, which really benefits the people and businessmen a lot!"

Shi Kefa studied for a long time, and then reluctantly withdrew his gaze, and when he followed Lu Jiude out of the crowd, he couldn't help but admire. "With this thing, what can the artillery fire of the Qing army do! King Rui's move will benefit the people of the world! ”

But in an instant, Shi Kefa's eyes darkened again, "Duke Lu, you tell me the truth, King Rui, when will he be able to return to Nanzhili?" ”

Lu Jiude shook his head, "Our family can't be sure of this, you know about the war in Liaodong, and now Shandong, Hebei, and Henan are not peaceful, although they will fight with the Qing army, as soon as this war starts, it will affect the entire territory of my Ming Dynasty, and King Rui also knows how powerful it is, but as soon as the situation in Liaodong calms down, he will definitely rush back in time!" ”

Shi Kefa nodded, still a little worried, "Anqing is a lonely city, Huang Zhenxi only has 20,000 soldiers and horses under his command, which can be defended but not for a long time." He came to defend the city with a will to die, in order to buy time for us, but we stick to Nanjing, but also to buy time for the Ming Dynasty! ”

Lu Jiude nodded frequently, thinking that it was, and was just about to explain a few words, but a personal entourage hurriedly ran up from the city, "Report, the Qing army is divided, and the Blue Banner under the command of Belle Bolo is Gushan Ezhen Dachun led 30,000 green battalions and 10,000 Mongolian cavalry to attack Luzhou Mansion, and has now picked up the station with Jingnan Bohuang Degong's department in the area of Shucheng, and the battle situation is unknown!" ”

Shi Kefa and Lu Jiude's hearts suddenly chuckled, and their faces couldn't help but become a little pale. The chief general of the Qing army is not a general, and the division of troops this time is clearly to drag the soldiers and horses in Luzhou and prevent Huang Degong's troops from moving closer to the front line in Nanjing.

Lu Zhenfei because he wanted to support Yang Tinglin in Henan, the main force was stationed in Suzhou and Lingbi, and it would take a certain amount of time to assemble and march, in case Anqing fell at this time, Nanjing would become the target of the main force of the Qing army. Can Nanjing hold out until the moment when Lu Zhenfei's soldiers come to help? (To be continued......)