The city of Beijing in the Ming Dynasty was originally expanded on the basis of the capital of the Yuan Dynasty, divided into two cities inside and outside, the inner city was built successfully during the orthodox years of the Ming Dynasty, the circumference was forty miles, the wall height was nearly four zhang, the wall base was more than six zhang, and the top of the wall was more than four zhang.

There are nine gates in the inner city, which are Desheng Gate and Anding Gate in the north; Dongzhi Gate and Chaoyang Gate in the east; Chongwen Gate, Zhengyang Gate, Xuanwu Gate in the south, also known as the first three gates; Xizhi Gate and Fucheng Gate in the west.

In addition, there are more than 16,400 battlements in the inner city, 48 nests, and each city gate is also equipped with defensive facilities such as urn city, arrow tower, enemy tower and watchtower.

As the political center of the Ming Dynasty and the forward base against the Hu people in the north, more than 1,100 artillery pieces of various kinds were deployed in the inner city of Beijing.

The outer city of Beijing was built during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, mainly for the purpose of the inner city of Beijing, the important buildings such as the Xiannongtan and the Temple of Heaven were guarded, in fact, only the south, north and west three city walls were built, so that the Beijing city became a convex shape from a rectangle, but due to the Jiajing period, the court was worried about internal and external troubles, the height and width of the outer city wall were not as strong as the inner city, but compared with Jinan and other places the city is much more majestic.

Like the inner city, the outer city of Beijing has seven gates, namely Yongding Gate, Zuo'an Gate, You'an Gate, Guangning Gate, Guangqu Gate, Dongbian Gate and Xibian Gate.

The Jingbei army pressed the border, which made Li Guozhen, the governor of Xiangcheng and Jingying, very anxious, although he was a gentleman, but he was still a little loyal to Emperor Chongzhen.

Out of the Wuying Palace, he hurriedly put Huang Degong, the chief soldier of the Yongwei Battalion, Zhou Yuji, the general of the Beijing Battalion, and Huang Wenchang, the general of Baoding stationed outside the Guangqu Gate, to discuss the strategy of war and defense.

"You say, 'How should this city be defended?'

On the upper floor of the Guangqu Gate, Li Guozhen looked at Huang Degong and the others worriedly.

Although the Beijing camp claims to be 200,000, it is actually only about 20,000, and this point of soldiers and horses to defend the city wall with a circumference of fifty miles is tantamount to a fool's dream.

"Uncle Xiangcheng, the last general has fought with Li Yan's army in Tongzhou, his army is only ten thousand and a half, plus Tang Tong and Gaodi's rebellious official army, there are only more than 20,000 people, but the Guanning army and Miyun soldiers, not long after joining the enemy, should not be able to form combat effectiveness, think Li Cheng can not besiege the city on all sides, the last general thinks that we only need to defend the outer city, and the rest of the gates only need to divide troops to guard."

Among the generals, only Huang Wenchang had fought with the Jingbei Army, and although Li Guozhen asked the generals about it, Huang Wenchang knew that Li Guozhen was actually consulting him about the actual strength of the Shandong Army.

"Then Huang Shuai knows what the combat power of Li Shun's army and horses is?"

Li Guozhen asked again about the past incident of the Shandong army beating the Beijing camp when Li Xingzhi dedicated the Beijing division last year, and he still has lingering palpitations.

"Uncle Xiangcheng, it is a matter of the safety of the Beijing Division and His Majesty, the last general can only tell the truth, although the combat strength of the Shandong Army is not as good as my Baoding Army, but it is more than enough to fight our Beijing camp."

Huang Wenchang's face turned pale, and his eyes showed a light of confidence and disdain.

"Huang Shuai is really ashamed, he fled to the Beijing division in disgrace, and he dared to underestimate my Beijing army, Admiral Li, the last general is not talented, he is willing to raise troops out of the city, do not break Li Shun, and never withdraw troops."

Zhou Yuji, the general of the Beijing camp, was furious, although the Beijing camp was only one-tenth of the approved number of soldiers and horses because of the empty salaries of the nobles, but since the emperor promoted himself to general, he followed the example of the Yongwei battalion and selected 5,000 elite soldiers, with the support of the Beijing city wall, he may not be defeated by Li Yi.

"General Zhou, Li Cheng invaded Liao with 30,000 troops, annihilated tens of thousands of Dongyu since October, and Shenyang, the capital of Dongyu, also surrendered under his troops, its combat power is really not to be underestimated, tomorrow the army will come east, or I will fight the vanguard of Baoding soldiers!"

Looking at the indignant Zhou Yuji, Huang Wenchang was overjoyed, he liked such a bloody warrior, if Zhou Yuji and Huang Degong could be provoked to go out of the city to fight, and then imitate the old skills of Tongzhou, he could break the city in one fell swoop.

"Okay, don't talk about it, my Shenjing wall is high and deep, and there are more than 1,000 large and small artillery, going out of the city to fight Li Bian, isn't it too short to attack the enemy's strength? Tomorrow, the Baoding army will be deployed under the Guangqu Gate, and Ben Bo will help him with artillery, and Li Wei will not dare to storm the city wall of our Beijing division. ”

Li Guozhen, the commander of the Beijing camp, waved his hand to stop Zhou Yuji, who was eager to try, and joked, Tongzhou was lost just now because of the field battle out of the city.

Kunning Palace!

"Your Majesty, although the rebel army has captured Tongzhou, but I still have more than 100,000 Beijing battalions in Beijing, this palace heard that Li Shun and Defan are only 20,000 troops, it should not be difficult for us to hold the city, and when the army of the king of all walks of life arrives, the rebels will be defeated at that time, what do you mean by not eating or drinking?"

Queen Zhou held a bowl of freshly stewed lotus seed soup and walked cautiously in front of Zhu Youzhen.

"Zitong, the country has been eroded so far, the Central Plains is more and more ruthless, and the Jiannu of Liaodong regard me as nothing, the front-line generals, the dead dead, the defeated, and finally there is a Li Shun who can fight, I am very kind to him, and even reopened the Metropolitan Governor's Mansion for him, but he actually turned his back on me, you say, what did I do wrong? What did I do wrong? ”

In front of his own queen, Zhu Youzhen no longer has the bearing of the emperor, and his eyes are already full of tears at this moment.

"Your Majesty, the slave family doesn't know any national affairs, the slave family only heard people say how difficult it is to prosper the country, Li Zicheng is just a rogue, and the Shenyang that was beaten by Li was lost, and now the king of the world is also troubled, as long as Your Majesty can cheer up and defeat the Shandong army that came to attack, I think it will still be able to prosper the Ming Dynasty."

Looking at Zhu Youzhen, who was only thirty years old but had gray temples, Zhou felt a pain in his heart for no reason.

"Alas...... What you said is light, since I ascended the throne, the Jingshi has encountered the enemy several times, this Songjin battle, the morale of the soldiers in the border town has long been defeated by the Dongyu, I really don't know who else to count on? I have a lot of clothes and food, but those civil and military generals are on the pole to surrender to the enemy, not the monarch and the minister, but the minister is really the king, I am ashamed of the ancestors and the ancestors, and I am ashamed of the teachings of the first emperor! ”

"Your Majesty, if you lose your heart, who among the ministers in the court is willing to die for the country? You better use some soup, otherwise, tomorrow morning, those ministers will see His Majesty's haggard look, and I am afraid that they will lose the courage to defend the city. ”

Zhou was already in tears at this time, since she and Zhu Youzhen moved into the Forbidden City, although the state affairs were difficult, she had never seen the emperor so depressed.

"What Zitong said is that I haven't lost yet, I haven't lost yet, although the ministers have no deeds and no virtues, but I still have the Jingying, as well as the city walls of the Jingshi, as long as I hold on for a while, as soon as the army of the Qinwang from all walks of life arrives, it will be the death of the Defan and Li Yan."