Chapter 159, Nanjing! Nanking! (Above)

Nanjing should be southwest of Tianfu, Dasheng Pass

Emperor Chongzhen, who was dressed in a dragon robe, stepped into this empty pass under the support of his personal guards.

Wherever the emperor passed, all the soldiers raised their swords and guns, cheered loudly, and the sound spread layer by layer, like the roar of the sea.

Dashengguan was the place where Zhu Yuanzhang defeated Chen Youliang in the past, so it was named. But since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, this pass has never played any role, the city wall that stretches for miles has mostly fallen into disrepair, even if 100,000 people are requisitioned, it is impossible to complete the repair in less than a month.

Therefore, when the commander of the Eastern Army, Lu Weiqi, the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, fled from the Wuhu battlefield in a hurry, and retreated to the Dasheng Pass with thousands of remnants of the defeated generals, he was faced with the ruins of this fortress that was full of cave-ins and gaps, and there were neither defenders to respond nor store a little ordnance and grain, and he suddenly became completely desperate. The remnants of the Eastern Army under his command looked at Dashengguan in such a dilapidated appearance, and even the military rations were not available, and they were also cold to the heart, and they all deserted, even if Lu Weiqi threw a lot of silver as a reward, it was useless and he didn't even have to eat, what if he had silver?

By the time the large array of tens of thousands of Western Army and Emperor Chongzhen's imperial drive arrived at the Great Victory Pass, the Eastern Army guarding the pass had fled to only a few hundred people, and as soon as they saw the dragon banner of Emperor Chongzhen, the rest of the people also lost the will to fight, but seized the time to disperse in a hurry. Even the cronies and servants of Lu Weiqi, the commander of the Eastern Army, stole his bags behind his master's back, divided the valuable things inside, and then fled.

In desperation, Lü Weiqi had to find a place to hang himself, and at the same time left a letter of repentance, begging Emperor Chongzhen to forgive his family.

It's a pity that now this time-traveling version of Emperor Chongzhen, who has changed his soul, will only be harsher than his predecessor in his attitude towards traitors!

“…… Lu Weiqi, Lu Weiqi, since you know that you are deeply favored by the country and have been named the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department, but betraying the king and supporting the pseudo-emperor is a heinous and unforgivable act of rebellion, why did you have to collude with that Donglin rebel party in the first place, and you didn't repent until last month? ”

Looking at the suicide note begging for mercy in his hand, Emperor Chongzhen's face was full of sarcasm, "...... Knowing that your sins are unforgivable, but you want to rely on your old life and a piece of tissue paper to ask for forgiveness for your whole family, what do you think you are? Do you think I'm cowardly and deceitful? If you, the old dog, are really conscience and still have loyalty in your heart, why didn't you turn against the battle in the previous battle of Wuhu and abandon the darkness and turn to the light?

If I forgive you, the culprit, with just such empty words, how can I reward those courtiers who have faithfully followed me? Hurry up! The head of the criminal minister Lu Weiqi was transmitted to the three armies, and the corpse was broken and ashes! The Lu family is full of beheadings, and the nine clans are punished! ”

Hearing the emperor's severe punishment, Lu Xiangsheng's lips moved, as if he wanted to say something persuasive, but in the end he still couldn't say it: After all, such a great crime of rebellion in favor of the puppet emperor, and the killing of the nine clans after defeat is a common practice since ancient times, and no one can say that Emperor Chongzhen is too cruel.

When leaving the Great Victory Pass, Emperor Chongzhen received another good news, it turned out that Wang Dou had been ordered to lead 3,000 troops south to attack Huizhou, all the way to the ground, and the resistance encountered was extremely slight. Now it has successfully captured the capital city of Huizhou, captured the Huizhou prefect appointed by the Nanjing puppet dynasty, and incorporated about 2,000 troops from the puppet dynasty.

Upon learning of this, Emperor Chongzhen immediately felt that this seemed to be a good sign, so he discussed the matter with the generals in the army, and all the generals said that the troops on the Nanjing side were enough, and there was no need for Wang Dou's thousands of partial divisions to rush over to cause chaos. Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen crowned Wang Dou as the commander-in-chief of western Zhejiang, and ordered him to lead his troops across the provincial border, continue to march eastward, and wait for an opportunity to recover Anji, Chun'an and other counties in the northwest of Zhejiang, which theoretically still respect the Nanjing court.

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Then, after the whole army peacefully passed the Great Victory Pass, the majestic and magnificent capital of Nanjing appeared in front of the eyes of the Chongzhen Imperial Court.

With some indescribable complex emotions, Emperor Chongzhen held a Western telescope, stood on a high place, looking at this other majestic Ming Emperor Capital, only to see the Zhongshan Mountain in the east winding around like a coiling dragon, and the stone mountain in the west like a tiger standing on the shore of the river. The mighty Yangtze River flows northeast from under the Jinchuan Gate. The dazzling golden pavilion in the southeast corner of the city is the Ming Imperial City of Nanjing.

As far as the eye can see, Emperor Chongzhen couldn't help but be agitated for a while to flee from Beijing, the helplessness of losing the north, the despair of the Central Plains, the hardships of recruiting troops in Wuchang, and the pride of swearing to the east...... The scenes of the past all appeared in front of his eyes.

It's been a whole year, from the confusion at the beginning of the crossing, to the despair under the advance of the Qing army, to the hasty escape under the rebellion of the relatives, and then to endure the humiliation little by little, clean up the mess, accumulate strength, and turn things around...... Now, he finally got his first decisive victory.

As the orthodox monarch of the Ming Empire, he was finally able to recapture a capital city of his own!

Although there were still the tall walls of the imperial capital Jinling in front of him, this could not stop him from advancing.

It is true that Nanjing's walls are stronger and more majestic than Beijing's, but even the strongest walls need to be guarded. In today's Jinling City, except for a very small number of "anti-party leaders" who are still trying to resist stubbornly, the vast majority of princes, ministers, civil ministers and military generals have sent envoys to have a fruitful secret communication with Emperor Chongzhen, saying that they want to abandon the dark and turn to the light and put things right. Even several nobles of the national dynasty who controlled most of the army in the city sent their sons and nephews to the military camp of Emperor Chongzhen, or to act as hostages to win the trust of the Son of Heaven. said that he was just waiting for the rebel army to come to the city, and he would kill those leaders of the rebel party, and then open the door to welcome the emperor into the palace.

However, just as Emperor Chongzhen and the generals of the Western Army stopped outside the city, looking forward to the scene of "Nanjing opening the city without blood". The first thing to wait for was not the guard of honor of the gentry in the city to greet the "true son of heaven", but a cavalry that came around from the south of the city to attack!

And what's even more incredible is that behind the heads of these cavalrymen, all of them are dragging a money rattail pigtail!

“…… This is...... Liaodong Tartar? It's weird! How did they come to Nanjing? ”

Emperor Chongzhen was stunned at first, but when he came to his senses, he was immediately furious, "...... Outrageous! These Donglin gentlemen had already established a puppet emperor before, and they had no loyalty. Now even the Tartars dare to collude! Did they read all the books of the sages into the dog's belly? ”

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Although this group of Jurchen Tartars suddenly appeared in Nanjing, the Western Army, which was originally waiting to pick the fruits of victory, was a little caught off guard for a while. But surprise is surprise, this Nanjing City still has to go in, after all, everyone has gone through a lot of hardships to fight the battle to this point, Emperor Chongzhen and the generals of the Western Army have no room to retreat, and can only fight to the death with these pigtailed soldiers who come to stir up the situation.

Fortunately, in this time and space, due to Huangshi's invincible brilliant record in Liaodong, as well as the dazzling performance of the rest of the Ming Dynasty camp traversers, the battlefield myth of "Jurchen is not more than 10,000, and Manchurian is invincible" has long been bankrupt, but is generally regarded as a group of guys who pick up leaks by luck. Although most of the Ming army still lost more than won against the Shangqing army, at least they would not feel weak when they saw the braids on the back of their heads.

What's more, after being repeatedly devastated, the Qing Empire, which is now trapped in the two Huai, can only use the words "lingering and breathing" to describe the Liaodong base area, which has been painstakingly operated for many years, and has no foundation in the newly occupied area.

Therefore, under the command of Lu Xiangsheng, the two sides soon launched an outpost battle near the outskirts of Nanjing. Due to the dense population, complex terrain, and many houses and trees, although the Ming army, which had a numerical advantage, could not be used, the cavalry of the Qing army could not be impacted.

So, after some scuffle, the more than 1,000 Qing cavalry who came to harass them soon suffered heavy losses and were driven out of several main streets, where they could only wander in the distance. The 50,000 troops led by Emperor Chongzhen were able to continue to advance rapidly towards the western wall of Nanjing.

At the same time, the city of Nanjing was also in flames, shouting and killing shook the sky, and Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei, who had already pulled the flag "anyway", was leading more than 2,000 cronies in his house, together with several other Nanjing nobles who held military power, to start street battles with the vanguard of the Qing army who broke into the city.

After leading 8,000 pigtailed soldiers from Yangzhou to cross the river south and land in Zhenjiang, although Huang Taiji had already understood that time was pressing, he hurriedly ordered 5,000 soldiers and horses and galloped towards Nanjing City at the fastest speed. But before the Qing army arrived, the city of Nanjing had already changed: the Nanjing nobles led by Xu Hongji, the descendant of Xu Da, the first general of the founding of the Ming Dynasty, led the armed forces they controlled to launch a mutiny, preparing to welcome Emperor Chongzhen into the city. Zhou Yanru, the first assistant with few soldiers at hand, was soon defeated by them.

When Huang Taiji took 5,000 pigtailed soldiers and rushed all the way to the outside of Nanjing, Zhou Yanru, who was the inner response, had also been expelled from the imperial city by the defective nobles, and was leading a few cronies to escape to Taipingmen. And Emperor Chongzhen's imperial drive has already passed the big victory level!

In the face of such a crisis, Huang Taiji, who refused to admit defeat, had no choice but to personally lead 4,000 pigtailed soldiers to enter the city of Nanjing from the Taiping Gate, which Zhou Yanru could still control, and prepare to defeat the Nanjing nobles who launched a mutiny, seize the imperial city and Nanjing city defense, and keep Emperor Chongzhen's army out. At the same time, he ordered Abatai to lead a thousand Qing cavalry as a special force to go around from the outskirts to the west of Nanjing, and do everything possible to prevent Emperor Chongzhen's soldiers and horses from entering the city.

In the end, only 25 percent of Huang Taiji's tactical objectives were achieved: although after a fierce battle, he successfully repelled the nobles' families, entered the imperial city of Nanjing, and controlled a large part of the city, but due to time constraints, he still only controlled less than half of the city gates. On the other side, the Qing Army's Einsatzgruppen, which had long been exhausted due to the long journey, failed to stop Emperor Chongzhen's 60,000 army, but was defeated and suffered heavy losses because of the unfavorable terrain, and even the leader Abatai was seriously injured in the melee.

Next, Emperor Chongzhen's soldiers and horses crossed the Qinhuai River in a big way, passed through the Qingliangmen and Jubaomen in the west of Nanjing, and entered the urban area in a steady stream, and joined the remnants of the soldiers mastered by the nobles of Nanjing. At this moment, the small Nanjing court, which was originally run by the Donglin Party, had in fact collapsed and ceased to exist. In the Nanjing battlefield, there are only two protagonists left: Emperor Chongzhen's Ming army and Huang Taiji's Qing army.

Since last year's fierce battle around Beijing, these two old rivals who seem to be destined to fight for Nanjing City, which is thousands of miles away from the previous battlefield, have once again invested all of each other's hole cards and launched the craziest competition!