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The weather in June should have been scorching, but God is so strange, one moment the sun is shining, the next moment it is dark clouds. The thunderstorms in the summer came without warning, but this rain also brought coolness to Jinling City. Due to the sudden heavy rain, the Mawei soldiers also had to suspend the siege mission, and this heavy rain also brought a respite to the Qing army in the city.

Boom, dark clouds mixed with lightning roared across the sky. The sound of rain hitting the leaves of the houses and the rattling of cars. The power of nature gives people a terrifying deterrent and makes people afraid to look at them directly. However, a thundershower is a thundershower, and although it lasts for a long time, the wind stops after about half an hour of heavy rain. As soon as the wind and rain stopped, there was no more spectacular sight of black clouds pressing down on the city, and instead there was a dazzling sun, which spilled through the mountains and soothed the life frightened by the terrifying power of nature in the storm. The sunlight shines through the clouds like a pillar of light on Jinling City, and the brightness and darkness combined with the misty water vapor form a beautiful pattern of clothes, and there is no indication that this place has just experienced a great war.

It was already early afternoon, and although this thundershower came and affected the continuous attack of the Mawei Army, several troops still took two Waiguo City Gates in the rain, namely the Qingliang Gate in the west and the Tiefeng Gate in the north. Others either did not go right and retreated temporarily, or rested at the gates that had already been taken. It was also a good time to take a good rest, take out the jerky in his arms, take two bites, and then drink saliva. Replenish the body that has been consumed. It's better to continue fighting in the afternoon.

The drainage system of Jinling City is still very powerful. Compared with other cities, it is stronger than a star and a half, in the end, it is one of the oldest and largest cities in the world, the Ming Dynasty has been founded for hundreds of years, and the construction of Jinling City, which is the vice-capital, is also constantly improving, and it is easy to cope with such a rainstorm. However, on the side of Waiguo City, there were still some places where water was still standing up, and the horsetail warriors had to stop their attack.

Noon has passed. At about two o'clock, the Mawei Army units continued to move. The weather is no longer hot at this moment, and this rain has also brought coolness to the soldiers, and fighting in such weather, even if there is still a lot of standing water in some places, is still a joy in life. During the previous break, the officers of the various divisions once again carefully observed the surrounding terrain and studied the battle plan to prepare for the upcoming battle again.

"Grand Governor, the latest information from the city. There were already less than 8,000 defenders in Jinling City. In the morning's battle, we had already wiped out about two thousand. However, since yesterday evening, it has been until now. The government has been recruiting young people to prepare to assist in defending the city, and so far it has gathered 5,000 people, which is about 10,000 people when combined with the Qing army. In addition, it is said that the two Huai salt transport envoys ordered the assembly of the anti-private troops in the city and the private armies of all the salt merchants, totaling 2,300 people. The 5,000 young men are negligible, and it is estimated that they will not actively resist. However, the remaining Qing army, especially the newly assembled armed contingent of more than 2,300 anti-private and salt merchants, should not be underestimated. Geng Hou's time in the morning was not idle, the dark lines he had laid down earlier in the middle of the city came into play at this time, almost every quarter of an hour he would receive a piece of information, and then he would synthesize this information and present it to Geng Jingzhong for Geng Jingzhong to decide.

"This is understandable, although these people are the richest group of people, hehe salt envoys, big fat differences, etc., aren't the two Huai salt envoys in Huai'an? How did he end up in Jinling? Geng Jingzhong suddenly felt strange as he spoke, and couldn't help asking.

"I don't know this subordinate, but the two Huai salt merchants have industries in Jinling City, and there are not a few guards, plus the anti-private people have indeed reached more than 2,300 people, this group of people has weapons and armor, and even there are a lot of muskets, which can be said to be all high-quality, plus most of these people can be killed, and their combat power is stronger than that of ordinary Qing troops." Geng Jingzhong reported truthfully.

"Well, that's right, are they already in the fight?"

Geng Hou immediately replied: "No, for the time being, it is as a reserve, ready at any time, it is estimated that those officials and masters want to leave the most elite troops to protect themselves." ”

"By the way, Ah Hou, you can tell me, the family property of these two Huai salt envoys, no, how much is the family property of all the officials? How much can we get by going down this net? Geng Jingzhong asked with interest.

Geng Hou shook his head and said, "No one can say, no one knows." In short, it should be a lot. There is a way that "three years of Qing Governor's Mansion, 100,000 snowflakes of silver", the name of the rich in the south of the Yangtze River is the most in the world, and the officials in Jinling City should all have thousands of family properties. Conservative estimates, our annual tax burden in Fujian may not be as much as theirs! ”

"Three years of Qing Governor's Mansion, 100,000 snowflakes of silver", the word "Qing" in this is not the "Qing" of the "Qing Dynasty", but the "Qing" of "incorruptible". In fact, this sentence existed in the Song Dynasty, and the original meaning was that even if it was an honest prefect who was not corrupt and bent the law, after serving for three years, the income from all the bad rules and regulations alone had an input of 100,000 taels of silver. If it's a black-hearted and greedy prefect, then I don't know how much to catch.

When Geng Hou reported, there was another person beside Geng Jingzhong, he was Wang Zhenbang, commander-in-chief of the Mawei Navy, when he heard this, he immediately clapped his hands excitedly and said fiercely: "So much? Now we are developed! ”

"Okay, then give orders to the battalions, give two quarters of an hour to prepare, and then attack at six quarters (half past two in the afternoon)."

The attack of the Mawei Army, at first glance, did not quite conform to military principles. For attacking a fortified city, the traditional concept is to concentrate the main force to break through one point and then expand in all directions. However, the various units of the Mawei Army, especially the Marine Corps at the head, have a strong blasting ability, so Geng Jingzhong doesn't matter. For the defenders of the Qing army in Jinling, the city wall is their last psychological line of defense, and once the city gate is breached, their combat effectiveness will basically be equal to zero. If the Mawei Army is equipped with appropriate psychological tactics, maybe they will fight back.

The order to attack was issued again, the Mawei army ordered the soldiers to ride horses and quickly run to the city gates, Geng Jingzhong's plan was to take all the gates of the outer Guo City within today, and the Jiang Qing army besieged the inner city, as for the several troops that had taken the city gates, they immediately sent soldiers to approach the vicinity of the inner city, and shot the Qing defenders on the head of the city with rifles in their hands, the purpose was very simple, that is, to cause strong psychological pressure on the Qing army defenders in Jinling.

Of course, the Marines who were sent out were all considered to have good marksmanship, not to mention one shot at a time, but it was no problem to hit one of the three or five shots. At the beginning, the Qing defenders at the head of the city would also use a few scattered cannons to fight back. Later, they found that the use of artillery against the small and scattered Mawei Marine soldiers was really a cannon to fight mosquitoes, and it had no effect. What's even more odious is that the marines of the Mawei Army especially like to clean up these gunners. As long as their figures are exposed, it will be difficult to avoid the blows of the Ponytail Army.

As the casualties gradually increased, the remaining gunners of the Qing army became more and more afraid of battle, and the speed of firing artillery became slower and slower. This is a great danger to raise their heads, and they don't dare to look up to check the location of the Mawei Army, but as long as they do, there are very few people who can go back with all their bodies, and they are basically killed by a few shots, so where do they dare to take their heads? was killed by the Mawei Army, that is not much better if you don't say that you died in vain, counting on the court to give you a pension, what is that little silver enough for? At that time, there will be no one to take care of the wife and children in the family, and even the wife will follow someone else, and the son will have someone else's surname, only a fool will do this.

As a result, after being shot by the Mawei Marines at several inner gates for about two quarters of an hour, the artillery of the Jinling defenders was all dumb. All the gunners, hiding behind the city walls, said that they were not willing to stand up and open fire. The Mini bullets fired by the Ponytails chirped over their heads, so that their heads were lowered. Even the Qing army officers who commanded the artillery had nothing to do at this time. Not to mention those gunners, even they themselves did not dare to approach the edge of the city or show their bodies, as a lesson from the past, several commanders have already died!

All the gates of Jinling City have the figure of the Mawei Army, and those who have conquered the target city gate have not only sent marines to attack the defenders of the inner city gate, but also sent the naval soldiers who followed them to occupy various key points, and at the same time launched an attack on the city gate that was relatively close, and cooperated with the troops outside to attack on both sides. With the passage of time, the sky was no longer bright, and at ten o'clock in the evening, a large number of horsetail troops appeared at the gates of the inner city. It's late today, and the various units of the Mawei Army are still acting like this, which is to deter the Qing army in the city.

"Ding Ding Ding"

"Ding Ding Ding"

"Ding Ding Ding"

The area between the outer city and the inner city, especially near the inner city gate, sounded almost at the same time, and the Mawei army began to collect its troops on time at the beginning of the hour, and all retreated to the gates of the outer Guo city, and set up camp nearby. Fortunately, there are not many small places at the city gates, and more than 10,000 people and horses of the Mawei Army have set up military tents on top of this city tower, and it is not a problem to deal with them temporarily for one night. As for occupying a private house to rest, it is also expressly forbidden in the military regulations of the Mawei Army. Although Geng Jingzhong does not require the current army to completely sleep on the road like the People's Liberation Army that everyone loved during the liberation period in later generations, it is still possible to do it without casually taking the people's property. (To be continued......)

PS: There is another chapter later