Wu Yingying smiled and took a bite, the cake was hard, almost clenched his teeth, this Hu Ze has been an official residence, but the degree of food and clothing is not much different from that of ordinary soldiers, this alone makes many officials who are incompetent embarrassed. Thinking of this, Wu Yingying shook off his cheeks, ate the food in his hand in two bites, picked up the tea bowl and poured it violently, wiped his mouth with his sleeve, and grinned: "Eat well, let's go here." ”

At this time, Jinling City is not as big as it was later, but the four city walls in the southeast, northwest and northwest add up to more than 20 miles long, the width of the upper end of the city wall is two zhang and five feet, and it can place a huge bed crossbow, and the cavalry can also move on the city wall, and the width of the lower end of the city wall is more than three zhang and five feet, and the height is two zhang and five feet. The whole city is made of rammed earth, but the outer layer of bricks and stones is harder than the adobe, and the whole wall appears to be very strong. There is a wide and deep moat around the whole city. It is not only a water transport road around the city, but also can effectively enhance the toughness of the city wall defense, the moat is connected with the big river, Qinhuai water, and the waterway in the city, and flows through the various squares in the city. The communication between the water system in the city and the water system outside the city mainly depends on the east and west water gates, which are navigable during the day and locked at night.

Leaving Stone Town, Wu Yingying and Hu Ze first came to the west water pass that tightly controlled the Yangtze River waterway, that is, Longguangmen. Due to the extreme importance of this gate, the enemy is likely to use the naval army to directly rush into the city, so Hu Ze arranged a heavy defense, not only on the two urn cities on the inside of the Longguang Gate, but also rushed to make iron nets with various barbed spikes to spread under the water, in case the Song army sent people to sneak into the city. There is a thick gate made of wood and iron, which is only hung on the city gate tower with a thick cable on weekdays, once the soldiers are tight, the rope is cut and put down by the wrestlers, and the water gate is completely blocked.

"This is the Golden Gate. Hu Ze introduced that while he was talking, Ling Bo Du Yuhou, who was in charge of guarding the water gate, and Lu Jiang, the inspector of the lawsuit, came up to meet each other. His seniority in the army far surpassed that of Wu and Hu, and he had long worshiped Zhuguo, and he was also before the two as the envoy of the festival, so Wu Yingying and Hu Ze both saluted him together.

Lu Jiang laughed and said: "The two elder brothers are so polite to Lao Lu, don't they look down on the old soldiers. As he spoke, he stretched out his hand to pick Hu Ze up, and he pointed to the deep doorway of the Water Gate and said, "How many people in the Song army dare to come in, the old man will leave as many lives as he wants here." ”

"Okay, General Lu is really getting old and strong. Hu Ze high-fived and sighed, at this time, the soldiers next to him heard that the famous Wu Jiedu came to inspect the city defense, and they all gathered around to watch the excitement, Lu Jiang smiled and said: "Old, General Wu is not yet thirty and the official worships the envoy, I really envy these strong men under the old man, they are all and admire you." After speaking, he beckoned behind him and said: "Zhong Lin, Zhong Jie, Zhong Ying, you three bastards, don't you say that you should be like Wu Jiedu in the army on weekdays? ”

The onlookers burst into laughter, and a few young generals dressed in lieutenant uniforms walked out of the middle of the month and saluted the three envoys. Among them, Lu Jiang is already a veteran who is over the age of six, Hu Ze is in the prime of life, and Wu Yingying is only in his twenties, and because the living conditions are better than most people in this era, he looks like he is just over the age of a weak crown, but he has done great deeds, which makes these young generals sigh with envy.

Lu Jiang introduced with a smile: "This is a dog, and he is not young, not as much as the two elder brothers, and after a hundred years, I hope that the two elder brothers will carry them more." ”

Wu Yingying saw that these three young captains were all heroic, and said in his heart, this is the father and son soldiers who went into battle, and couldn't help sighing: "Jiangmen Huzi, it is really extraordinary." He turned to Lu Jiang and said, "General Lu is an elder in the army, and I should have a relationship with the three tiger brothers." Hu Ze also nodded yes.

Lu Jiang was quite satisfied with Wu Yingying's low-key attitude, and said with a smile: "Hugh Ti Jiangmen, General Wu, you don't know that my Lu family is a scholarly family, and my great-grandfather has also been a champion." ”

Seeing that Hu Ze and Wu Yingying were surprised, Lu Jiang couldn't help but laugh proudly: "That's true, but Lao Lu was the first to be a bad descendant, and my father sent me to Bailu Academy to study, but I really couldn't bear the rotten Confucianism, I just liked to run horses and shoot arrows, so I gathered a group of good brothers to join the army." A few of them followed me as a military man who was looked down upon by scholars. That being said, the tone was quite proud.

Hu Ze said to Wu Yingying: "Brother Wu, brother, I am a rough man, but General Lu is the same as you, a person who is both civil and military. made a good hand, and when I was young, I was also intoxicated by many young girls. ”

Wu Yingying didn't expect this old general to have such a heroic character, so he couldn't help but be heartbroken, and said in a deep voice: "Rather be a centurion than a scholar." When the army is being used today, a good man should be a pen. ”

These words were very good for Lu Jiang's temper, and he praised Wu Yingying again, Wu Yingying and Hu Ze also had to patrol the city wall, so Lu Jiang asked his three sons to accompany him to patrol the city, which was also a little beneficial.

Along the way, from time to time there are young generals who come to pay respects, the Southern Tang Dynasty originally emphasized literature over military force, and these days Wu Heroes have risen rapidly with their military exploits, which makes these military elites feel quite honored.

"If there is the most important place in the city, I am afraid that this is it. Hu pointed to the South Gate Fugui Corridor not far away.

The rest of Jinling City is surrounded by mountains and rivers, it is extremely easy to defend and difficult to attack, only outside the south gate is a plain with a horse and a flat river, and the enemy army can easily gather a large group of men and horses outside the south gate to besiege the city tower. Wu Yingying remembered that nearly a thousand years later, a beast army also broke through the Jinling city defense from the south gate later called Zhonghua Gate, and only then did the tragic massacre occur, and frowned heavily.

It is precisely because the south gate is the weak point of the whole Jinling city defense, the monarchs of the past dynasties have made a special strengthening of this, the city wall here is built higher and thicker than other places, not to mention, three urn cities have been built in the city, the moat outside the city is twice as wide as elsewhere, and the tradition of wooden buildings has been changed, the city tower is built purely with bricks and stones, in order to prevent the enemy from bombarding with a huge stone thrower on the plain, the city tower is built to be as low as the pillbox of later generations, like a turtle. Therefore, it is called the turtle tower.

Seeing that the group fell silent, Hu Ze suddenly turned his head and asked, "Brother Wu, if you lead the army to attack the city, how sure are you of breaking the south gate?"

Wu Yingying looked into the distance, the Song army has set up a camp five miles away from the south gate has begun to take shape, the soldiers wearing coarse cloth military robes are sweating like rain under the sun, a wide trench encloses a rectangular camp shape, the low wall made of red mud on the inside of the trench is constantly increasing, and there are carts in the distance to transport the big trees that have just been cut down and pile them up in the camp, some craftsmen make these wood into camping fences or catapults, ladders and siege equipment. A cavalry force of about 5,000 men stood guard. Farther away, thick dark clouds were gathering in the west, cascading like a towering mountain slowly moving eastward, and a storm was approaching.

Probably to prepare a camp for the upcoming Wang Ming Pan Mei Division, Wu Yingying estimated that the size of the Song army camp under repair could probably garrison 50,000 troops, and the south of Jinling would be basically blocked by the Song army at that time. He listened to Hu Ze's question, and replied in a deep voice: "The south gate city is thick and deep, although the geographical advantage is not as good as the other gates, but as long as the troops defending the city are strong enough, relying on swords and arrows alone, if there are no surprise soldiers, the frontal siege of the city will not be able to be taken." ”

Hu Zeyan frowned when he heard this, since the main force of the Shenwei Army was defeated by the Song army in one fell swoop, Jinling City, which originally garrisoned tens of thousands of troops, now has only 50,000 troops, and the strength is greatly weakened compared to before. Originally, it could be expected that Wu Yingying's troops who had just left Jinling would come back to help, but since the situation in the upper reaches of the Dajiang River has eroded, Wu Yingying's subordinates have become the only rear that Jinling can rely on, and its strategic position is very important. When Wang Ming, Pan Mei, and Liu Yu led the army to solve the various fortresses and fortresses along the Tang River, and joined forces with Cao Bin under the city, the total number of Song troops was nearly 200,000, forming a four-to-one advantage over the Tang army. Brother Wu, now the strength of the city is thin, and the defense of the south gate is very important, my brother wants to play Your Majesty, you are responsible for leading the Divine Guard Army to stay in Jinling, and my Tiande Army is responsible for the defense of the south of Jinling, I don't know what you think?"

Wu Yingying also thought that before the gunpowder passed, the southern city wall was indeed the most vulnerable part of Jinling City, and he could rest assured that he could defend here, but most of the troops under his command were not his direct subordinates, and I was afraid that it would be a little laborious at that time, so he smiled and said: "If you dare to disobey your fate, Brother Xie Hu recommends it." ”

Hu Ze reached out and patted him on the shoulder, laughing and said, "I know that my brother is not a bad seed." "With Wu Yingying's current prestige and status, it is overkill to be responsible for the defense of a city wall, so Hu Ze is not afraid of the imperial court, so after speaking, he called the Tiande military captain of the southern city wall to come and see.