Zhengyangmen Outer Street has always been the most lively street in the outer city, with shops on both sides of the street. More than 200 steps south along Zhengyangmen Street, there is a stone bridge erected on the Qinhuai River, on both sides of the Qinhuai River, there are many buildings, and there are brothels of Qinglou everywhere.

And now, all the shops on Zhengyangmen Street are closed, and even many yards and houses on the street have been demolished, turning into chest-high low walls on Zhengyangmen Street, cutting Zhengyangmen Street into six or seven sections, and the adjacent low walls are only thirty or forty steps apart, and behind each low wall, there is a team of anti-thief soldiers armed with spears and bows and arrows to guard, which is the barricade that Yuan Chonghuan ordered to build. The entire outer city of Nanjing, outside all the gates of the inner city, built such barricades, and surrounded the entire inner city. If the defenders want to attack the outer city, they must conquer the barricades one by one, otherwise they will not be able to attack the anti-thief camp and retake the outer city.

Each barricade was guarded by more than 100 soldiers, who ate and lived in the houses on both sides of the barricade, taking turns guarding to prevent the defenders from attacking.

There are buildings such as Shanchuan Altar, Nengren Temple, Xitian Temple and other buildings in the outer city of Nanjing, these buildings are all built into barracks, and there are heavy guards, and Yuan Chonghuan's base camp is placed in the large altar in the east of Shanchuan Altar, the big altar itself is a small fortress, there are four gates in the south, east and west, the space inside is very large, and thousands of soldiers can be stationed. Of the 200,000 troops in Yuan Chonghuan's hands, 50,000 soldiers were placed in various barricades and forts, and another 50,000 were used to defend more than 10 gates in the outer city, and the rest of the army controlled each street and each square respectively.

On the first barricade of Zhengyangmen Street, Li Zhu was lying on the low wall bored, looking at Zhengyangmen a hundred steps away. Li Zhu is a native of Lijiagou, Ganzhou, because he couldn't pay the tenant rent, he was forced too much, and followed the villagers to kill the landlord and went into the mountains, becoming a glorious thief. It is said that it is a thief, but in fact, most of the time he cultivates the thin fields in the mountains, and he will only go out of the mountains to rob in his spare time. Just when Li Zhu thought that life would go on like this, someone contacted more than a dozen cottages in southern Gannan, fought out of the mountain, captured Ganzhou City, and then fought with the official army repeatedly, and actually defeated the official army and attacked all the way to the outside of Nanchang City.

Just when everyone was looking forward to attacking Nanchang City and robbing it, everyone's identity turned out to be an official army, whether it was an official army, whether it was an official army, although the salary was not much, it could also subsidize the family, plus more than ten acres of mountain fields reclaimed in the mountains, at least the family would not starve to death.

When you are a soldier, you have to fight, and then you follow the big official called Yuan Gebu all the way to Nanjing. While in Wuhu, Shi Chang was killed by the Janissaries, and Li Zhu was also promoted to Shi Chang, in charge of nine of his subordinates.

In fact, Li Zhu has never been able to understand, why do you have to fight when everyone is an official soldier? I heard that he wanted to be the emperor in Nanjing, and he wanted to take everyone to take his cousin's country. Alas, it's all a family, isn't it different who is the emperor, why bother fighting, killing and killing, can't you discuss it well?

Anyway, Li Zhu can't understand it, but since he is paid as a soldier, he has to obey the orders of his commander, and he has to fight if he is beaten!

But it's good to fight, just take the opportunity to get some silver. Just two days ago, when repairing the barricades, Li Zhu took the opportunity to take his brothers to loot a shop next to him and robbed more than 100 taels of silver. Some of his brothers also wanted to rob the goods in the shop, but they were stopped by Li Zhu, after all, they couldn't fight with things, they couldn't take things if they robbed them, and they would be scolded by the above, so it was not as convenient as robbing silver.

The daughter of the shopkeeper grew up white and tender, and many brothers looked at it and wanted to bully the girl, but they were stopped by Li Zhu, because he thought of his sister who was snatched and abused by the landlord and died. It's okay to grab some money, it's not good to bully a woman!

Just when Li Zhu was bored thinking about it, he suddenly saw the Zhengyang Gate not far away open from the inside, and a team of soldiers with bright armor was pouring out of the city gate.

"The Praetorian Guard is here!" Li Zhu raised his neck and shouted, and while shouting, he hurriedly took out the fire fold and lit the fire rope, and then clamped the fire rope to the fire rope clamp of the fire gun, and then put the fire gun on the low wall, and fired at the opposite side.

There was a "boom", but it didn't hit anyone, and then I saw the Praetorian Guards on the opposite side raising their shields and quickly forming a formation outside the city gate.

The sound of firecrackers woke up the other soldiers who were resting in the courtyards on both sides of the barricade, and more than 100 soldiers poured out, and the gunners began to reload gunpowder.

The soldiers of the Jingnan Army also had a large number of firearms, especially the original anti-thieves, and the number of firecrackers was really quite large, all of which were exquisite firearms purchased by the gentry from Foshan, Guangdong. The reason why Li Zhu was able to become the chief was because he was good at fire.

"Boom Boom" suddenly shot several cannonballs from the head of Zhengyangmen City, and one of the shells happened to hit the low wall, smashing a large part of the low wall.

"Raised by a son of a bitch, when did you get artillery in the city?" Li Zhu hid behind the wall, watching one of his subordinates have his head cut off by a shell, and scolded loudly in horror.

When the barricades were being built, there was no attack from the city at all, and all the thieves thought that there was no artillery in the city. After all, Nanjing has been in Chengping for more than 200 years, and it is not in the frontier, so there is no need to install artillery on every city gate, and the original artillery is mostly antique, and even the artillery in the Hongwu period cannot be used at all.

The fact is that there is no artillery on Zhengyangmen City at all, and these artillery pieces have just entered the city. A month ago, a large number of firearms, including more than 100 artillery pieces of various types, were transported from Beijing to Zhenjiang, and they were placed in various towers in the inner city to deal with the barricades built by the anti-thieves.

On the tower of Zhengyangmen City, a total of ten artillery pieces were placed, all of which were more than 100 catties of Francophone artillery, and the power was not very great, but there was no problem in dealing with these hastily built barricades.

The sound of "boom boom" artillery was incessant, and one shell after another was fired at the barricades, some on the ground in front of the barricades, some over the barricades to the rear, and some directly on the houses on both sides. However, one of every few shells will hit the barricade wall.

The biggest advantage of the Franc machine gun is that it has a fast rate of fire, with nine guns per gun, and a skilled gunner can do three rounds per minute. More than a dozen artillery pieces fired continuously, almost without stopping the shells.

Behind the barricades, all the thieves, including Li Zhu, trembled, or squatted behind the low wall, or crawled on the ground, and no one dared to show their heads, this artillery fire was too terrifying.

No one thought of escaping, because there were several barricades behind them, blocking the way to escape, and they had nowhere to escape.

It seemed that a long time had passed, in fact it was very short, only a bag of cigarettes, and all the guns of the Franc machine guns on the city wall were exhausted, and more than a hundred shells were fired, most of which hit other places, and maybe only eight or nine shells hit the first barricade wall, but these eight or nine shells almost completely collapsed the barricade wall.

Of the more than 100 anti-thieves, only four or five anti-thieves happened to be hit by shells, and the casualties were not large, but they were broken bones and muscles, and the flesh and blood were blurred, which looked very scary.

"Rush!" The shouting of killing suddenly remembered, Li Zhu raised his head and looked at the opposite side, and saw that the Praetorian Guards who had gone out of the city before had come over at some point, only forty or fifty steps away from the tattered low wall, and were rushing quickly with a shout.

"Line up, fire your guns, stop them!" A panicked voice sounded from their hundred households. The thieves behind the low wall hurriedly raised the firecracker, but found that the firerope had not yet had time to be lit, or that the firerope that had been lit at the beginning had been burned out. "Bang bang", only a few sparse firearms fired, knocking down two or three rushing Praetorian Guards, but the other Praetorian Guards did not pay any attention to them, and rushed over with bright spears, and rushed to the gap in the low wall in the blink of an eye.

Some of the anti-thieves tried to block it, but they were directly stabbed by the spears, and the other anti-thieves fled to both sides, trying to escape into the courtyards on both sides of the barricade, but were stabbed to death in the back by the Praetorian Guards. After repeated shelling, several anti-thieves were killed by shells, and the anti-thieves guarding the barricades were already frightened and could not have the intention of resisting at all.

Li Zhu was very lucky, when the Praetorian Guards rushed in, he decisively threw away the weapon in his hand, knelt on the ground and raised his hands, and several Praetorian Guard soldiers rushed past him without making a move on him.

"Boom", "boom", several loud sounds, Li Zhu knew that it was the Praetorian Guards throwing "grenades", he had seen this kind of grenade in the Battle of Wuhu, a large explode, the power was very amazing. At that time, the Yuan Pavilion also ordered the production of this kind of grenade, but for some reason, the craftsmen in the army never succeeded in making it.

The sound of grenade explosions, gunfire shots, shouts of killing, and screams all disappeared after a quarter of an hour, and only the shouts of the Praetorian Guard soldiers behind the barricades were all official dialects with the characteristics of northerners, and Li Zhu could only understand a little.

More than 30 of the more than 100 rebels were killed on the spot, and the remaining 60 or so were captured.

The weapons were confiscated, all the captives were tied up with ropes, and under the escort of several Praetorian Guard soldiers, they walked towards Zhengyangmen.

Li Zhu looked around with his eyes and found that the Praetorian Guards had not all retreated, as if they were going to continue to attack.

The distance between the two barricades was fifty or sixty paces, and in the battle just now, the anti-thieves guarding the back barricades tried to support with firearms, but at that time, the Praetorian Guards and the thieves were close to each other and mixed with each other, and the anti-thieves and firecrackers at the back barricades did not dare to let go of their guns, but a dozen Praetorian Guard soldiers took the opportunity to rush behind the second barricade, threw grenades behind the low wall, and then rushed into the second barricade along the gap. In the shelling just now, the second barricade was also blasted out of several gaps.

The Praetorian Guards also defeated the rebels behind the second barricade, but instead of occupying the second barricade, they temporarily confronted the thieves with the second barricade wall and the third barricade. Now they're finally going to attack the third barricade.

Li Zhu didn't see too much, so he was slammed by the Praetorian Guard soldiers who escorted him, and he honestly lowered his head and walked towards the front, and soon walked into the Zhengyang Gate.

He had thought day and night about entering the inner city to loot, after all, the elite of Nanjing were all in the inner city, and compared with the outer city, most of the rich families lived in the inner city. Now he finally entered the city, but he entered as a prisoner.

......

In Li Zhu's view, he is a rebel thief, although he has become an official soldier, his actual identity is still a thief, and now he is caught by the emperor's army, I am afraid it will not end well. Whipping, sticks, tiger chairs, and even having his nose cut off and tattoos on his face, Li Zhu imagined the punishment he might receive, trembling with fear, and he secretly prayed that he would not be executed and that he would save his life. Even if he is recognized as a slave, he may have the opportunity to meet his wife and children in the mountains of Ganzhou in the future.

However, to Li Zhu's surprise, the officers and soldiers did not beat him or punish him. He and dozens of his captured companions were locked up in a large mansion, surrounded by soldiers armed with knives and guns. These soldiers guarding them don't seem to be fierce and vicious Praetorian Guards, they all seem to be southerners, and they all speak with southern accents, and Li Zhu can understand them.

Except that the silver on his waist was not taken away, he was not abused at that time, but Li Zhu and the others did not dare to complain. Although silver is a good thing, it is not as important as life.

However, the soldiers guarding them brought food to the captives, and the brown rice boiled to the bridle, plus some pickles, was very simple, but it tasted very sweet, and the amount was quite large, and they could eat seven or eight percent full.

After eating, with food in his stomach, the fear in Li Zhu's heart disappeared, and he knew that the emperor would not kill his captives again. Otherwise, they won't give themselves food.

After eating, the captives were ordered to sit in the courtyard, on the floor, in neat rows. Some of the captured brothers sat in disorder, and were reprimanded by the soldiers guarding them, who forced them to stand up first and then sit down with spears.

The defenders were holding knives and guns, they were prisoners, and they had just given themselves food, Li Zhu honestly followed the words of the guards. Isn't it just to stand and sit neatly, it's not too difficult.

After looking left and right, Li Zhu found that his prisoners were really fucking neat, when he was not captured, when he was a Jingnan army, he had also practiced many times, but he had never been so neat.

Is there something wrong with these emperor soldiers guarding themselves, they are just prisoners, why are they sitting so neatly? Li Zhu secretly slandered.

As soon as they were seated, an officer walked up to them and began to lecture them. The emperor's officers were northerners, and Li Zhu could only understand part of the official language he spoke. However, it was a matter of his family's life, and Li Zhu still listened carefully.

What the officer said was full of truths, saying that everyone is equal, and there is no distinction between high and low, which sounds very good, but Li Zhu disagreed. Where in this world is there that everyone is equal? Can the gentry and tenants be equal? Are commoners and officials equal? Although he was so long before, he didn't want to kowtow when he saw the generals?

Everyone is equal, what a joke! This officer is either a madman, or he is fooling his own people. As for why he fooled himself, Li Zhu couldn't think of it.

But then, Li Zhu was suddenly stunned, and he suddenly heard the word "Juntian"!