Chapter 301: Offensive and defensive battles in the southern capital

On the ninth day of November in the second year of Chongzhen, the weather was sunny

Just after the hour, the war drums outside the Ande Gate sounded, and above the Ande Gate Tower, Qin Liangyu, who was dressed in military uniform, was holding a clairvoyant mirror to look at the Fuwang army advancing in formation one after another three miles away.

Qin Liangyu instructed his son Ma Xianglin and his younger brother and nephew to guard the eight city gates and city walls that stretched twenty miles long from the Jiangdong Gate to the upper gate of the southerly wind.

He himself was stationed on the Ande Gate: "The rebels are going to attack..."

Qin Liangyu's daughter-in-law Zhang Fengyi stood beside her, and immediately turned around and shouted: "Prepare all artillery positions, check the firearms, and go to the city as soon as the siege equipment is ready." ”

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"According to the news from the inner city of Nanjing, Nanjing has mobilized 1,700 artillery pieces of various types this time, including 400 Hongyi cannons alone, 50 Hongyi cannons and 100 general cannons have been placed in Andemen, and 3,000 turtledove guns."

Listening to Zhao Xin's return, Chen Cao couldn't help but sweat for King Fu, in the era of cold weapons, this kind of firearm strength was guarded on a city wall more than ten meters high like Andemen, and the disadvantages of the offensive and defensive sides would soon appear.

Even if he handed over all the Shenwu cannons he was carrying to King Fu, if he couldn't break the Ande Gate for a while, the casualties would only increase sharply.

"By the way, Grandpa, after King Fu swore an oath over there, he announced in front of more than 100,000 people that you would be the 'Governor of Fengtianjing's Difficult Battalion', Zhang Gaoping was the Governor of the Left Metropolis, and Li Wanchang was the Governor of the Right."

Chen Cao sneered: "This is to put me on it." ”

"King Fu ordered that you launch an offensive against the Qilin Gate, Grandpa."

Huang Chunyao's fan is an ornament in winter, and it is the same at this moment: "The guard of the Qilin Gate is the Duke of Wei and a group of relatives, they are going to be tempted." ”

"What are you going to fight?" Chen Cao frowned: "All the hundred artillery pieces in our army have been given to King Fu, what should I use to fight?" Besides, there are no siege equipment in our army, Zhao Xin, you personally go and reply to King Fu and tell King Fu about our situation. ”

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"When today's son has no way, brutalizes the first emperor, his position is not right, you and other ministers, the world bestows the grace of the dynasty, His Royal Highness King Fu is the livelihood of the Ming Dynasty, and follows the example of Emperor Chengzu Fengtian Jing, in order to return the peace of the great tomorrow, you wait, and do not open the city quickly, His Royal Highness King Fu will definitely give preferential treatment to you."

'Knock knock...'

A series of cannons rang out, and more than a dozen stone bullets fell on the perimeter of the shouting cavalry, which frightened him and hurriedly rode his horse back.

Zhu Changxun had already seen this, and couldn't help but be furious, so he immediately ordered Li Wanchang, who was under the command of the former army, to launch an attack on Nanjing City.

'Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock...'

'Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock...'

'Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock... Knock knock...'

The two sides launched a fierce artillery battle at the beginning, and the attack distance of the Shenwu Cannon and the Hongyi Cannon was exactly the same, but Chen Cao only carried the Blossom Shell, and the number of Blossom Shells obtained by Nanjing was limited, and it was absolutely impossible to use such a luxurious Blossom Shell in the initial artillery battle.

When the cannonballs exploded on the walls and heads of the city of Andemen, the Fuwang army outside the city cheered, and it was obvious that although the stone shells fired by the northern army were at the same distance, the casualties caused by Li Wanchang's front army after several rounds of salvo fire were negligible.

Only the two Shenwu cannons were broken, which made him feel a little distressed.

"Mom, it's too dangerous here, so you'd better go down first." Zhang Fengyi reached out to pull Qin Liangyu.

Qin Yiming nodded and said, "Auntie, leave it to your nephew here, you go down first, the firearm doesn't have eyes." ”

How do you know that Qin Liangyu waved his hand and said: "Life and death are in peace, how can you be frightened by the rebels' firearms, you hurry back to the command post, and if you dare to mess around, don't blame my military law for dealing with you." ”

After more than a dozen rounds of artillery battles, three thousand men from two battalions of the front army began to charge with various siege equipment.

Seeing this, Qin Liangyu drew his long sword and shouted: "The rebels are attacking the city, the bow and crossbow are ready, and the musket is ready..."

"Kill..."

The shouts of killing shook the sky, and three thousand people rushed towards Andemen like ants.

As soon as the vanguard rushed to the edge of the moat, the bows and crossbows on the head of the city were fired, and the besieging troops who had been prepared for a long time immediately held defensive weapons such as large shields and round shields, and filled the wooden planks and sandbags crossing the river into the moat as soon as possible.

After paying hundreds of casualties, the construction of bridges across the river that could walk for four people side by side was completed, Qin Liangyu saw this and shouted: "Musket preparation..."

"Bang bang bang... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang..."

'Bang bang bang... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang...'

'Bang bang bang... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang...'

A three-stage salvo, the power of the turtledove's foot gun, the shield-holding soldiers under the city who were condescendingly hit at such a close distance, turned on their backs.

"Put..."

'Bang bang bang... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang...'

'Bang bang bang... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang...'

'Bang bang bang... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang ... Bang bang bang...'

Another three-stage salvo, and there were only a handful of soldiers under the city who could hold shields.

Although the power of the turtledove foot gun is huge, there are only 500 turtledove foot musketeers under the command of Qin Liangyu of Andemen, and there are only soldiers with three-eyed guns, arquebuses, shotguns and other messy firearms.

Even if they retreated, the bows and crossbows caused them a lot of casualties.

Li Wanchang saw that there were less than a thousand soldiers who had retreated, and he was furious at the moment, but although he was angry, his reason quickly returned to himself, and this situation was also staged in Fengyang a few times at that time, but in the end they still took Fengyang.

"Pioneer battalion, stop the team, prepare to strike again."

The first attack was also a temptation, the purpose was to see how the defense of the city was, but the three thousand people were driven back in less than half an hour, and two thousand people were killed and wounded.

"Immediately send someone to inform the prince, and ask for an order to send troops to attack the other gates."

"Yes..."

Qin Liangyu's movements of the Fuwang army were condescending, and with the help of the clairvoyant mirror, he saw that tens of thousands of people were moving towards Xiao'andemen and Fengtaimen, and immediately judged that the rebels were going to divide their troops.

"Immediately order the guards of Xiao'andemen and Fengtaimen, but whether the rebels feint or not, they must be repelled with all their strength, and let them know the pain."

"Yes..."

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Chen Cao rode his horse forward, circled outside the Qilin Gate, and then returned to the front of the formation, Xu Hongji stood in front of the city, although Chen Cao put 120,000 troops outside the Qilin Gate, but those soldiers camped three miles away, motionless.

In front of the Qilin Gate, Chen Cao only brought more than a thousand people here, and walked through the motions like a green walk, and there was no longer any action.

Even so, Chen Cao's formation also made Xu Hongji and the others guarding the Qilin Gate fidget.

Jin Youzheng still has a shadow on Chen Cao's new army in his heart, Chen Cao's mansion outside Zhengyang Gate fought a battle, and he went with tens of thousands of business soldiers, but he was defeated by more than 1,000 people, and he was stripped of his clothes and thrown on the side of the road.

It is also because of this incident that Jin Hezheng has been laughed at by those relatives in Nanjing for a few years, this time Chen Cao came again, he was the most active, not to defend Nanjing, but to show his hatred for Chen Cao, and he was also the one who would never rebel.

"It's a good thing not to attack, lest we face him head-on, and no one knows if he dies when the time comes."

Xiongwu Marquis Zhou Rui said indifferently, things have reached the situation in front of him, even Xu Hongji resigned from the position of Nanjing garrison at the beginning of Chen Cao's rebellion, if it weren't for the emperor's strong advocacy, maybe now Xu Hongji is already unofficial and light, a few of them have a grudge against Chen Cao Now they are not willing to take the initiative to provoke Chen Cao, even the You brothers are folded in Hangzhou, they still have a clear number of catties and two.

Xu Hongji didn't scold Zhou Rui's words, but frowned and looked at Chen Cao, who stopped his horse not far from the door, and when he raised the clairvoyant mirror to look over, he found that Chen Cao had already held the clairvoyant mirror and looked at them.

"Domineering side leak..."

After reading it, Xu Hongji put away the clairvoyant mirror, and unconsciously repeated this sentence that Chen Cao had unintentionally said to them.

It wasn't until Chen Cao rode his horse and went away with the guards that the lords on the Qilin Gate breathed a big sigh of relief, and they vaguely heard the sound of artillery in the southwest, and they thought that the rebels were going to attack in many ways, but they didn't expect that they were idle here at this moment and had nothing to do.

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"Do you hear those intermittent cannon shots? Maybe the prince is already leading the army to attack. ”

Although he was more than 30 miles away, Zhang Gaoping seemed to have heard the sound of cannons, perhaps his own hallucination.

At the pre-war meeting, there were hundreds of people from the rank of guerrilla under the generals.

"After nightfall, launch an attack on Shangyuanmen, first let the night not collect and climb the city, the forward battalion is responsible for the main attack, and the firearms battalion attacks from the side, striving to take Shangyuanmen before tomorrow."

Attack Nanjing, choose the best place to choose the city gate is the north of the Yuejiang, Fengyi, Dinghuai three gates, these three gates are the inner city wall of Nanjing, especially the Yuejiang Gate, its gap is close to the lime mountain remnants and the starting point of the inner city Lion Mountain, the height of the Yuejiang Gate is only eight meters, compared to the Fengyi Gate and Dinghuai Gate of up to 12 meters next to each other, Yuejiang Gate is the best choice.

"The last general thinks that he will be a surprise soldier."

One of the generals opened his mouth, Zhang Gaoping looked over, and shook his head: "Do you want to say that you cross the river from the Qinhuai River into the outer wall of the inner city?" ”

"Exactly."

"Don't think about it, Tanma returns, the northern army sank hundreds of flower boats at the mouth of the Qinhuai River in front of the Dinghuai Gate, the river was blocked, and 20,000 heavy troops were stationed at Qingliangmen, and even the walkways on both sides of the bank connected with the outer city were all blocked, if they were forcibly attacked from the Dinghuai Gate and Qingliangmen, they would be hit by the inner city and the outer city."