In Yuan Chonghuan's view, although the Jiangdong Gate was lost, the situation has not deteriorated to an irreparable level. After all, he still has a large army of 150,000 or 60,000 in his hands, and his troops are still more than the emperor.

Moreover, in addition to the outer city controlled, Lishui, Liyang and other counties in the southwest of Yingtianfu, and key passes such as Dasheng Pass and Moling Pass were all controlled by the Jingnan army. In addition, Guangdezhou in the south, Taiping, Ningguo, Chizhou, Huizhou and other prefectures in the southwest, most of the entire Yingtianfu is controlled by themselves, and it is connected with Jiangxi.

With this large territory as a backup, with a steady stream of troops and money and food supplements, in Yuan Chonghuan's view, it is still very possible to hold the outer city, at least until the arrival of Huguang reinforcements. Hejiang Xihu Guang's troops were enough to launch a counteroffensive against the Praetorian Guard.

"I just received news from the north that Jiannu invaded again and attacked Liaodong, and the Mongols in Monan were also ready to move, and Chongzhen was unable to mobilize the border troops in Liaodong and various towns. Not long ago, Sun Chuanting defeated Nanyang, and the situation in Henan was very bad. In addition, the south of the Yangtze River is in chaos, and the transportation is cut off, and it won't be long before there will be chaos in the north because of the lack of food, so the day is on our side!

Our army has already invaded Nanjing, Moling Pass, Dasheng Pass and the southwestern prefectures and counties have been attached to the prison state, and Jiangxi Huguang is connected together, in terms of geography, our army does not belong to Chongzhen's side.

What's more, Chongzhen acted perversely, regarded the people of the world as dogs, the nobles of Nanjing, and the gentry and officials in the southeast all turned their backs on him. At present, the provinces in the south of the Yangtze River are in chaos, and the people have responded to my Jiangxi volunteers, and the people's hearts are on our side.

The time, place and people are all in me, although Chongzhen has tens of thousands of people in his hands, although he has won a small victory, he will eventually be defeated. As long as we work together to overcome the difficulties, it will be a matter of time before we capture the inner city! ”

Yuan Chonghuan once again convened his generals and important ministers to discuss the matter, and said so at the meeting.

"The cabinet is right, we and other Nanjing officials and gentry are willing to support the cabinet and support the prison country!" Qian Qianyi said on behalf of the civil officials.

"Rest assured, the brothers are not bad breeds, and they vow to fight to the end with the Senseless Monarch!" General Song Jin also expressed his position on behalf of the generals.

"Good, very good." Yuan Chonghuan stroked his palms and smiled, very satisfied with everyone's statement.

"Report, Cabinet Department, the Praetorian Guard launched an attack on the big stone bridge of the Qinhuai River outside Chaoyang Gate, and General Niu asked for support!" At this moment, suddenly a soldier rushed in and reported loudly.

......

Behind the big stone bridge of the Qinhuai River, Niu Zhanshan, the deputy chief soldier of the Jingnan Army, stared at a pair of big eyes, shouting hoarsely, scolding his subordinates.

Not long ago, hundreds of Praetorian Guards rushed out of the camp under their control and launched an attack on the position of the Jingnan Army, and in just one hour, they broke through two barricades one after another and attacked in front of the big stone bridge.

If the Praetorian Guards break through the Dashiqiao, it means that the defense line of the Qinhuai River will be broken, and the Praetorian Guards in the inner city will be able to attack Li Yanzhi's troops who have already attacked the Jiangdong Gate, and the situation of the Jingnan Army will be even more difficult.

And if the big stone bridge is lost, Yuan Chonghuan, the commander of the Jingnan Army, will definitely not spare himself, and he can't help but be in a hurry. After sending people to ask Yuan Chonghuan for help, Niu Zhanshan went to Dashiqiao in person and directly commanded the battle.

Standing on the high ground behind the bridge, Niu Zhanshan saw that the number of the attacking Praetorian Guards was not large, only four or five hundred. And there were as many as 5,000 of his subordinates guarding both sides of the stone bridge. However, what made him angry was that the tenfold superiority in strength could not be shown, and the situation was so that the small Janissaries were pressed and beaten. Many of his subordinates were too cowardly to fight with the attacking Praetorian Guards, and would only cower and hide behind the barricades, allowing the Praetorian Guards to attack. Some of the subordinates, I don't know what they were eating, even put guns and arrows indiscriminately, fuck, the guns are all hit to the sky, 108,000 miles away from the Janissaline who killed!

"Grandma's, what are you doing to eat!" Niu Zhanshan was furious, rushed to the barricade with a whip, and whipped at his firecrackers.

"What are the eyes for, won't they aim and shoot, and don't they cost money when they are gunpowder?" Niu Zhanshan scolded angrily.

Several musketeers were beaten and rolled on the ground, but they dared not speak in anger, so they could only get up and hurriedly reload the gunpowder.

Li Zhu stared at Niu Zhanshan coldly, slowly loaded the gunpowder, and clamped the lit fire rope on the fire rope clip.

"Snap" whipped heavily on Li Zhu's neck, hitting him with a stagger, the back of his neck was hot and painful, and he couldn't help but turn his head and look at Niu Zhanshan angrily.

"Grinding, loading gunpowder is so slow, when you pretend to be a Praetorian Guard, you will be killed right under your nose!" Niu Zhanshan scolded, seeing that Li Zhu was still staring at him, he couldn't help but get even more angry, and whipped it down again.

Li Zhu twisted the fire gun and blocked the whip drawn with the handle of the gun, and the mouth of the gun was already aimed at Niu Zhanshan.

"Bastard, dare to block it!" The whip was blocked, Niu Zhanshan was furious, and raised the whip again and whipped it down fiercely at Li Zhumian's door.

However, before the whip fell, he heard a "bang", and then Niu Zhanshan froze, looked down at the blood hole in his chest in disbelief, and touched it with his hand, and blood was gushing out. He never imagined that his soldiers would dare to fire at his general!

"...... you" Niu Zhanshan only said one word, all the strength in his body had disappeared, and his body fell backwards in a daze, slamming heavily on the ground.

The thieves present were all stunned, looking at the corpse of Niu Zhanshan who fell to the ground, and then looking at Li Zhu, who had not yet dispersed the smoke of gunpowder, they all felt incredible.

Niu Zhanshan, the former leader of Ganzhou Wohuling, the deputy general soldier of Ganzhou canonized by Zhu Yousong, was beaten to death by his subordinates!

"Big boss!"

"General!"

His henchmen finally screamed out, and then raised their swords and guns one after another, wanting to kill Li Zhu to avenge Niu Zhanshan.

However, before they could rush a few steps, someone suddenly held a weapon in front of Li Zhu, blocking their way.

"Get out of the way, he killed General Niu, and we're going to cut him with a thousand knives!" Niu Zhanshan's men shouted. However, more anti-thieves silently stood up and stood in front of Li Zhu.

"Brothers, don't give your life to the gentry and landlords anymore!" Glancing at Niu Zhanshan's corpse with contempt, Li Zhu shouted loudly, "His Majesty the Emperor wants to divide the land and land for the poor people in the world, we are all the people of the Ming Dynasty, and only by following the emperor can we live a good life!" Brothers, kill the doglegs of these generals, let's go to the Praetorian Guard! ”

"Join the Praetorian Guard!"

"Join the Praetorian Guard!"

On the stone bridge position, countless anti-thief soldiers raised their weapons and roared loudly.

Dozens of Niu Zhanshan's henchmen and guards watched all this in amazement, and they were shocked to find that they had been surrounded by hundreds of their own people.

In the past, as the henchmen of the generals, they were high up and looked down on these ordinary soldiers very much, and regarded them as objects that could be bullied at will, but now, these people who were bullied by them before stood up, and they realized that their power was so small.

"Brothers, we are our own people......" Finally, someone couldn't hold it anymore, threw down the weapon in his hand, squeezed out a smile at the Li Zhu who surrounded him, and tried to beg for mercy.

"Yes, brothers, Niu Zhanshan is not a good thing, Brother Li Zhu killed it well!" Other Niu Zhanshan's henchmen also squeezed out smiling faces.

At this moment, no one thought about avenging the dead Niu Zhanshan.

"Niu Zhanshan is not a good thing, and so are you!" Li Zhu came out of the crowd and treated these people with contempt.

is also from Crouching Tiger Ridge, and it is also from anti-thieves, but anti-thieves are also divided into three, six, nine and so on, some people are high, and some people are bullied.

Take Wohu Mountain as an example, Niu Zhanshan is the big boss, a henchman old thief is his accomplice, the entire field around Wohu Ridge is Niu Zhanshan and a group of old thieves, and the thieves who joined later can only give them tenants, go out of the mountain to rob, and grab the things Niu Zhanshan and his henchmen take the big head, and the other thieves can only follow to drink soup.

Before the rebellion, everyone was exploited and oppressed by the gentry and landlords, and after the rebellion, they were also bullied by Niu Zhanshan and his subordinates.

With the continuous attack of the Praetorian Guards, almost all the barricades and camps between Chaoyang Gate and Dashiqiao were captured by the Praetorian Guards, and the number of captured anti-thief soldiers was as high as two or three hundred. The indoctrination of Juntian and the idea of equality for all, coupled with the accusations and criticisms of the gentry and landlords at the public trial, these rebels now knew who was really good for them and who was their own, and most of the released captives had already developed an identification with the emperor and the Praetorian Guard.

And after they came back, they would naturally tell the other anti-thieves what they had seen and heard after they were captured, and it can be said that the anti-thieves on the entire front line of the war were all moved, not only Niu Zhanshan's subordinates. And for this situation, from Yuan Chonghuan down to Niu Zhanshan, they have not attracted enough attention. In their opinion, the rebels under their command are all from Jiangxi, and their families are all in their own territory, so they are naturally trustworthy, and it should be impossible for them to be easily rebelled by the Praetorian Guard. Judging from the results of the interrogation of these prisoners after they returned, the Praetorian Guard did not rebel against them, but simply released them.

After all, the captured thieves are their own people, since they were released back, there is no reason not to re-accept them, the Praetorian Guards have not killed them, and Yuan Chonghuan has no reason to dispose of these released prisoners, so he can only break up and reintegrate into the army.

Because of the submission of the gentry and nobles in Nanjing, Yuan Chonghuan has always believed that the people's hearts are on his side, but he ignores that ordinary soldiers are also people, and ordinary thieves also have thoughts. Perhaps in the eyes of a high-ranking official like Yuan Chonghuan, only the gentry are considered people, and ordinary anti-thief soldiers and ordinary people are not worth mentioning at all. But it was these ordinary anti-thief soldiers who dealt him a heavy blow at a critical moment.

"Kill them!" Coldly looking at Niu Zhanshan's henchmen who threw down their weapons and were surrounded, Li Zhu ordered.

Li Zhu knew in his heart that since he wanted to vote for the Praetorian Guard, Niu Zhanshan and the heads of his henchmen would vote for him. And killing these people also cut off the retreat of the anti-thief soldiers on the entire stone bridge, so that they could only follow themselves wholeheartedly to defect to the Praetorian Guard.

Some of the anti-thief soldiers were still hesitating, although they had decided to join the Praetorian Guard, after all, they were still their own accomplices not long ago. After hearing Li Zhu's order, some of the thieves raised their knives and guns to Niu Zhanshan's men without hesitation. These Niu Zhanshan's henchmen used to bully people a lot, and now it's time for revenge.

Liu Wenxiu led the team to rush to the big stone bridge, and was surprised to find that all the thieves on the opposite side had laid down their weapons.

"General, we have already killed Niu Zhanshan, the general of the bridge guard, and his henchmen, and we are willing to surrender to the Praetorian Guard." Li Zhu led everyone to say respectfully to Liu Wenxiu.

"Very good, very good!" Liu Wenxiu nodded with satisfaction. Although the righteousness of Li Zhu and others made him not have so many achievements, he did not need to fight and no casualties to take the important position of the anti-thieves, Dashiqiao, which made Liu Wenxiu very happy.

After taking the big stone bridge, the hinterland of the outer city controlled by the anti-thieves will be directly open to themselves, and they can directly attack the "Great Altar" where the anti-thieves are located through the big stone bridge.

While sending people back to the city to report the battle situation, Liu Wenxiu began to rectify the surrendered anti-thieves. Niu Zhanshan was killed, the Praetorian Guards attacked, some of the anti-thieves fled in a hurry, and most of the anti-thieves surrendered with Li Zhu.

There were as many as three or four thousand of these surrendered thieves, and there were too many of them to be brought back to the inner city. Moreover, one or two hundred of these three or four thousand rebels had already been captured once and had undergone ideological education, and most of the remaining rebels had heard about Juntian from their mouths and had some understanding of the policies of the Praetorian Guard, so there was no need to bring them back to the city for education. Moreover, the anti-thief army's heart has been shaken, and a full-scale counteroffensive is imminent, so there is no need to release these people back to carry out a psychological war.

Therefore, Liu Wenxiu organized these righteous thieves, divided them into several teams, and temporarily sent his subordinates to serve as team officers, and Li Zhu, who led the people to surrender, was also appointed as one of the team officers. Then Liu Wenxiu led them to continue the attack on the outer city.

After receiving Niu Zhanshan's request for help, Yuan Chonghuan also dispatched 2,000 men to Dashiqiao to support. However, before they could reach the big stone bridge, Li Zhu had already killed Niu Zhanshan and led the people to surrender. Seeing that the Praetorian Guards had already occupied the big stone bridge, these reinforcements had no choice but to retreat.

Yuan Chonghuan was shocked when he received the news of the loss of the big stone bridge, he never expected that the heavily guarded stone bridge would be taken by the Praetorian Guards in such a short time.

However, the loss of the big stone bridge was only the beginning, and the following time, the bad news was borrowed one by one. The camps outside the Zhengyang Gate, the Red Gate, and the Golden Gate were lost one after another, and in two days, more than 10 important camps were successively captured by the Praetorian Guards, and the reason for the loss was that the anti-thief soldiers guarding the barracks rebelled, and the attacking Praetorian Guards should cooperate with each other.

"How can this be, how can this be......" General Song Jin muttered.

"Prisoners, those who have been put back!" Yuan Chonghuan gritted his teeth and finally realized the problem.

There were a large number of prisoners who were released in more than a dozen front-line camps, and these prisoners must have been rebelled by the Praetorian Guards, so they would invariably do things that should be coordinated with the outside and the outside.

But these captives are all from Jiangxi, their homes are in Jiangxi, why did they surrender to the emperor? Yuan Chonghuan was puzzled at first, but soon understood that it must have been the emperor's Juntian who tempted them!

"The morale of the army has been lost!" Qian Qianyi on the side sighed.

PS: The hard-working veteran wishes you all a happy new year!