Hearing Liao Qing's words, Su Hao was not too surprised, although he treated the wealthy families in Shandong well, but the wealthy families are wealthy families, and the nobles are nobles, the former has not so deep a relationship with the Ming Dynasty, and there is still the possibility of taking refuge in Daqi.

However, it is impossible for those nobles in Nanjing City to take refuge in Daqi, because their status and status are obtained by relying on their titles, if he has destroyed the north, then those nobles in Nanjing City may surrender in order to save their lives.

But now that the Ming Dynasty in the north is still there, and reinforcements from other provinces are still coming, those people will never surrender to the Great Qi, after all, their net worth and lives are tied to the Ming Dynasty, and the title is the basis for them to guarantee their family business.

Since ancient times, there has been no good end for the remnants of the previous dynasty, not to mention that they still occupy a large amount of land and wealth in Jiangnan, once they surrender, the land and wealth will be taken away by the officials of Daqi, even if he promises to keep their titles now, it is useless.

Because the title must be used in conjunction with power, such as the nobles in Nanjing City, it is because of the Nanjing garrison and the coordination and cooperation of the two real power officials who hold the military power of the Nanzhili that they can share the entire Jiangnan with the wealthy families in the south of the Yangtze River.

And now even if those nobles in Nanjing surrender, it is impossible for him to let these people retain real power, after all, even Tang Xiangjin and the others raised the flag with him to rebel, he has never let go, let alone a group of outsiders, so it is impossible for these nobles to surrender before they reach a desperate situation.

After thinking for a while, Su Hao continued, "Where is the sailor over there from Liang Ping?"

Since he wants to conquer Jiangnan, he will naturally not give up the huge river system in Jiangnan, especially the Yangtze River, which can directly reach Nanjing City, so if he wants to cut off the reinforcements of Nanjing City, he must first cut off the Yangtze River.

"Back to Your Majesty, the sailor has already set off, and will soon block the mouth of the Yangtze River."

Liao Qing replied.

"Pass the order and speed up the siege!"

After pondering for a while, Su Hao opened his mouth and said, if he continued to drag on, it would only make Nanjing City's preparations more sufficient.

Liao Qing nodded and replied, "Chen, let's go."

…

Soon, the Qi soldiers assembled again, the war drums thundered, and nearly 300 large and small tiger squat cannons were pushed to the front of the formation, and then began to be more accurate.

At the same time, the siege carts also moved forward slowly, and in front of the ballistas, a large number of Qi troops carrying sandbags approached the city wall under the cover of wooden mantle chariots and shields, trying to fill the moat for the siege ladders, battering rams, and arrow towers.

The gunners in the rear also aligned the muzzles of the Hongyi cannons, and then lit the arquebus.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

A series of earth-shattering loud noises, more than 160 solid iron balls weighing 20 catties turned into a small black dot with terrifying kinetic energy under the action of gunpowder, and quickly crossed the sky, and then flew towards the city wall.

Bang! Bang!

Some cannonballs smashed on the wall, directly smashed a big pit, countless rubble flew in all directions, some fell directly into the city, smashed the houses, and some smashed on the city wall, smashing the wall bricks.

Although there were no soldiers on the city wall of Huai'an Mansion at this time, the power of the Hongyi cannon was still shocking.

At this time, a large number of Qi troops were only 400 zhang away from the city wall under the cover of wooden mantle chariots and shields.

"Hurry up and defend the city!"

Seeing that the Qi army outside the city was almost to the moat, the personal soldiers of the guards commanding the envoys waved their leather whips one after another, driving the guards to the city wall to defend the city, and for a while, a large number of guards were driven to the city wall.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

At this time, the tiger squat cannon on the urn city began to exert its might, more than 20 tiger squat cannons ignited at the same time, and thousands of stones and iron beads were sprinkled like a rain curtain on the Qi army outside the city.

However, for the long-trained Qi army, most of them had already taken refuge under the wooden mantle chariots and shields, and there were not many casualties at all.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The tiger squat cannons of the Qi army under the city also fired back again, and nearly three hundred tiger squat cannons threw countless stones and iron balls, completely covering the entire city wall

The guards suffered heavy casualties in an instant, and for a while, the wails were endless.

Frightened by this tragic scene, the guards fled the city wall one after another, and even the guards of the guards generals drew their swords and killed a few of the guards who fled first.

At this time, the Qi troops under the city threw sandbags into the moat, and soon filled in the sand roads, and the siege ladders in the rear rushed through the moat and leaned against the city wall.

Rumble! Rumble! Rumble!

The tiger squat cannon under the city opened fire again, and the stones and iron beads also shrouded the city wall again, this time even the personal soldiers of the generals of the guard also fled from the city wall, and with the cover of artillery fire, a large number of Qi soldiers climbed the city wall along the siege ladder.

At this moment, there is no suspense in the battle situation.

Soon, as a large number of Qi soldiers poured into the city, in less than an hour, all four city walls fell into the control of the Qi army.

…

The government office.

"Your Majesty, Zhu Dadian, the governor of Caoyun, and Yu Zhixian, the prefect of Huai'an, have been captured, please send them down."

Liao Qing led people to escort Zhu Dadian and Yu Zhixian to Su Hao.

"Will you wait?"

After glancing at the two of them, Su Hao said lightly.

"Sinners will surrender! The sinners will fall!"

Hearing Su Hao's words, Yu Zhixian, the prefect of Huai'an, hurriedly said, although the silver of the running official will definitely not be able to recover the capital, but he doesn't want to take his life together, and the silver of his running official is borrowed from the nobles in the capital, as long as he takes refuge in Daqi, this silver does not have to be repaid.

"Yu Zhixian, you are deeply favored by the emperor, you don't want to repay the king, and today you have to surrender to the thief, where is your courtesy, righteousness and shame?"

Before Su Hao could speak, Zhu Dadian on the side had to open his halberd and scolded directly.

Being scolded by Zhu Dadian, Yu Zhixian's face instantly turned red, but he couldn't think of a reason to refute for a while, so he could only twist his head to the side.

"Escort Zhu Dadian down and lock him up with Hong Chengchou and Chen Qiyu."

Seeing this, Su Hao waved his hand and said, the last time he fought outside Dezhou City, Chen Qiyu was arrested by Tang Xiangjin, and Hong Chengchou was arrested by him.

"Yes."

Liao Qing nodded in response, and then slapped a golden nail into the back of Zhu Dadian's head, and Zhu Dadian also collapsed to the ground, Zhu Dadian and their Confucian cultivators' Yuan Shen cultivation is not weak, although it is difficult to deal with masters, but it is easy to deal with ordinary people, if they don't seal their Yuan Shen, it is easy to have an accident.

…

After Liao Qing took Zhu Dadian down, it didn't take long for him to return to the lobby.

Su Hao asked again, "What's going on with Guo Hong?"

"Back to Your Majesty, Guo Dudu and their troops are divided into three routes, and now they have captured Muyang, Haizhou, and Suqian, and are converging here."

Liao Qing replied.

Hearing this, Su Hao nodded and said, "Let them come as soon as possible."

The battlefield is determined by the army, whether it is the Ming Dynasty or the Great Qi, neither side will disperse its forces to various county towns, because this will make people break through one by one.

"How's the situation on Fengyang's side?"

After a pause, Su Hao then asked, now there are 40,000 Ming troops in Fengyang Mansion, and there are only 30,000 soldiers and horses on the Ganyang side, and it is still difficult to take Fengyang.

Liao Qing arched his hand and replied, "Back to Your Majesty, the Gandu Governor has sent back the news that he has now taken Guzhen and is heading towards Fengyang Mansion."

"Let him proceed with caution."

Su Hao said in a deep voice, Fengyang Mansion is not particularly important, there are few rivers over there, and it is impossible to support Nanzhili from there, after all, whether it is from Henan or Huguang, if you don't use the river, you will have to go at least thousands of miles.

Even if the army keeps rushing every day, it will take more than 20 days, plus logistics, the consumption is too large, so if Huguang and Henan want to support Nanzhili, they can only use the Yellow River and the Yangtze River waterway, so as long as these two places are blocked

, you can cut off the reinforcements of Nanjing City.

He is ready to fight a protracted battle in this battle, if the defense of Nanjing City is firm, it is not a strange thing to fight for three or five years, and even he is ready to retreat, because any strong city is not so easy to fight.

Even if Mongolia swept the world at the beginning, it was still blocked in Xiangfan for so many years, and his southward movement this time did not mean that he had to take the entire Nanzhili, it was best to take it, if not, then it was acceptable to occupy the north of the Yangtze River.

…

Time passed day by day, and half a month later, Guo Hong came to Huai'an Mansion with more than 20,000 troops, and the army went south again.

Soon the county towns on both sides of the canal were taken one after another, and the army stopped outside the Yangzhou capital.

On the other side, Ganyang also led an army of 30,000 to defeat the 40,000 Ming army in Fengyang Mansion.

………

Nanjing City.

Garrison the yamen of the central government's office.

Wang Jia, Chen Guangyu, and Fan Jingwen's faces were extremely gloomy, they never thought that it had only been more than a month, not only the 50,000 troops of Huai'an Mansion had been defeated, but even the 40,000 troops of Fengyang, the central capital, had also been defeated, and the Fengyang Imperial Mausoleum had fallen into the hands of the enemy again.

"Princess, what now?"

Fan Jingwen sighed, the imperial tomb fell into the hands of the enemy again, and if the imperial court surrendered, all three of them would lose their heads.

"We can only atone for our sins by defending Nanjing City now."

Wang Jia opened his mouth and said, but he sighed in his heart, guarding Nanjing City, Chen Guangyu and Fan Jingwen can atone for their crimes, but his position in Zhu Youzhen's mind is impossible to recover, and all they can rely on as eunuchs is the emperor's favor, if Zhu Youzhen doesn't believe him, then he will be finished.

"Hou Ye Chen, there are not many food reserves in the city now, and I hope Hou Ye can raise a little more."

Hearing Wang Jia's words, Fan Jingwen looked at Chen Guangyu on the side, Nanjing City is the territory of the nobles, and if they want to raise more food to defend the city, they can only rely on Chen Guangyu and their nobles.

"I'll ask someone else for help."

Hearing this, Chen Guangyu nodded, guarding Nanjing City is guarding their own family business, and now there are 100,000 soldiers and horses in Nanjing City, of which 40,000 are villagers they temporarily recruited.

These 100,000 soldiers and horses will get millions of stone of grain a year, and this time I am afraid that it will be a long-term defense of the city, so it is necessary to reserve enough food for several years.

…

On the other hand, the Qi army at this time had already taken Yangzhou City, and there were not many soldiers and horses in Yangzhou City, and the guards basically did not have much morale and fighting spirit, and in a few days, Yangzhou City was breached.

After taking the capital city of Yangzhou, Su Hao led his troops along the river to Nanjing City, and Liang Ping at this time also entered the Yangtze River with more than 500 large and small warships.

………

Outside the city of Nanjing, there are many military formations and banners.

Outside the camp, Su Hao looked at the majestic Nanjing city wall in the distance, and a different color flashed in his eyes, Nanjing City was built by Zhu Yuanzhang's order, the outer city wall is seventy miles long, the shortest city wall is four zhang and two high, and the highest city wall is seven zhang eight, which is much higher than other cities.

If the city of Dongchang is easy to defend and difficult to attack with the help of geographical advantages, then the city of Nanjing is a natural danger built by force, if this kind of natural danger is piled up by human life, I am afraid that two or three hundred thousand people may not be able to pile it down.

After thinking for a long time, Su Hao asked, "Where is Liang Ping's side?"

If you want to take Nanjing City, the best way is to besiege, as long as you are trapped in Nanjing City without food and water, then Nanjing City will be self-defeating, but it is not easy to trap Nanjing City, Nanjing City is backed by the Yangtze River, if you want to trap Nanjing City, you can only seal the Yangtze River.

"Back to Your Majesty, Governor Liang has already led the sailors to be stationed at the mouth of the Xijiang River."

Liao Qing on the side replied.

"Let him closely monitor the Yangtze River, and never allow any ships to pass through the Yangtze River."

Su Hao opened his mouth and said, "Another order was sent to Liaodong to mobilize 30,000 soldiers and horses to come to Jiangnan, and then from Yanzhou Prefecture

, Jinan Mansion City, Dongchang Mansion City mobilized 30,000 soldiers and horses to sit in Xuzhou."

"I'll go."

Liao Qing gave up, and then turned around and went down to arrange.

"Guo Hong, you lead 20,000 troops to Luzhou Mansion, and you must take Luzhou Mansion."

After Liao Qing left, Su Hao looked at Guo Hong on the side.

"Obey!"

Guo Hong hurriedly replied.

"Ganyang, you lead 20,000 troops to Zhenjiang Mansion, and you must take Zhenjiang, Changzhou, Suzhou, and Songjiang Mansion."

Su Hao then instructed that these four prefectures along the canal can be said to be one of the richest areas in the south of the Yangtze River, and taking these four prefectures means that he can collect more taxes and recruit more soldiers and horses.

"Obey!"

Gan Yang on the side also gave up, for the four provinces, he felt that there was no difficulty, because the entire Nanzhili soldiers and horses were in the city of Nanjing, at most there were only some temporarily recruited Xiangyong left, and if you want to rely on these Xiangyong to deal with the army of Daqi, it is simply a fantasy.

Not long after leaving Ganyang, Liao Qing walked back.

"Order the prefects of Huai'an Mansion, Fengyang Mansion, and Xuzhou to immediately count all the fields and shops of the Ming nobles in their jurisdictions, and all of them will be confiscated."

Su Hao instructed: "In addition, let Hao Yi recruit new soldiers in these three places, and the conscription treatment will be first-class, and 100,000 new soldiers will be recruited."

The first class is the highest, with three taels of settling silver, two taels of silver, two acres of land, three people exempted from forced labor, and ten acres of land tax.

Now that he has just taken these three places, if he wants to recruit soldiers, he can only rely on heavy rewards, and there must be brave men, although he can also forcibly recruit soldiers, but in this way, he will lose the hearts of the people, what he wants is to occupy Jiangnan, not to grab a handful and leave, so the people's hearts are quite important.

As long as you can recruit 100,000 recruits in these three places, then these three places can be regarded as stable, after all, the relatives of these 100,000 recruits are at least one or two million, accounting for a large part of the population of the three places.

(End of chapter)