When I woke up, I found that the Qing Heavenly Soldiers, who loved to slaughter the city, had arrived outside Nanjing, but it was not only the third prince of Zhu and Geng Jingzhong.

About half of the people in Nanjing City were awakened by the sound of the artillery used by the Qing army to scare the Yingtian Regiment training soldiers on the Shence Gate, Jinchuan Gate, and Zhongfu Gate. In fact, the people of Nanjing knew on the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year that the Qing Heavenly Soldiers led by Yue Le had launched a major counteroffensive!

However, when they first learned the news of the Qing army's counteroffensive, everyone said that they were not panicking. The current Qing Dynasty is no longer the Qing Dynasty of more than 20 years ago, the Qing Dynasty soldiers at that time were more ferocious than the other, and the current Qing Dynasty lord was a traitor, and the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners and the Green Battalion was even more than one by one. How did this Nanjing get lost? How did Nanjing's Mancheng get beaten down by Geng Jingzhong's people? The big guy saw it with his own eyes!

Seeing is always believing, right?

As for what the ears heard, it was too good to be true. There are really all kinds of things, some say that Wu Sangui, the king of the West, has been in accordance with the method of "Longzhong Pair", the soldiers are divided into two ways, one route is led by him, out of Qishan, into the pass, and now it has reached Wuzhangyuan! If Wu Sangui, the old boy, did not die of illness in Wuzhangyuan, then the Qing Dynasty Emperor Xiao Mazi was afraid that he would be more auspicious.

Some people also say that Wu Sangui's son Wu Yingxiong has led troops out of Xiangyang, Xiang Wan and Luo, and now Wan, that is, Nanyang Mansion, has been taken by Wu Yingxiong. Luo, that is, Luoyang is also about to be surnamed Wu! Wu Yingxiong was Xiong Zhenhua this time, and the Qing court officials in the provincial capitals of Henan abandoned their official positions one after another, and even the bannermen in Beijing migrated outside the customs in groups.

If half of these rumors are credible, then the Qing Dynasty is now a "pockmarked tail" and can't grow anymore!

Since the current Qing Dynasty can't look at it, and it can't listen to it, what are the people in Nanjing City panicking about? It's time to eat, it's time to drink, and just wait to hear the good news from the front.

But no one thought that this Daqing, which doesn't look very good and is almost finished when you listen to it, is actually a little good! The Qing army from Zhenjiang counterattack first occupied Shu Town, then took Dongyang Town, and then took Longtan Port, and then advanced to Qixia Mountain, set up camp in Qixia Mountain and rested for two days, crossed the Jiuxiang River, and began to advance to Lime Mountain and Jubao Mountain, and the news that the Qing army set up camp in Lime Mountain and Jubao Mountain came two days later!

Now the people of Nanjing City are a little nervous, why are these Qing soldiers still so fierce? The third prince Zhu and Geng Jingzhong on the Nanjing side, as well as Lu Zhongtang, Li Zhongtang, and Chen Zhongtang, are they okay?

If not. Who seems to have slaughtered Jiangning all over the city before!

The Qing soldiers are going to enter Nanjing, so they can't be slaughtered back?

And just when the people of Nanjing felt that something was wrong, early this morning, the sound of artillery actually came from the northeast corner of Nanjing City!

The murderous Qing soldiers have actually fought outside the city of Nanjing. It's coming too fast, isn't it?

Just when the rumbling cannon was ringing non-stop, all kinds of terrible rumors also spread among the Nanjing market.

"Oh no, the Tartar soldiers slaughtered Xia Shu Town, and the people of the town were all slaughtered, and not even a single chicken and dog were left! How do I know? I was in Xiashu Town at the time! I have an official photo of the town of Shui Shi, and of course they won't kill me. But you Nanjing people should be careful! Prince An of the Tartars said that if you take Nanjing City, you must slaughter it according to Jiangyin's method, and Tu Guang will seal the knife! ”

"Longtan Port was also slaughtered, except for the passing sailors and merchant ships and the people on the Cao boats that transported grain to the Tatar Jingshi, not a single person on the shore was left. The people who were killed were thrown into the Yangtze River, and they were miserable! ”

"Ahhh

"I heard that Dongyang Town was also slaughtered. In Dongyang Town, Qian Juren and Master Cha took the lead in shaving their hair and lowering their heads, and their heads were cut off and hung on the flagpole next to the official road! I saw it when I hit somewhere! ”

"There are also corpses all over Qixia Mountain. Even the monks of Qixia Zen Temple did not let go. Amitabha Buddha, even an honest monk, is Fujian Putian South Shaolin came to Nanjing to place an order, never spoke, if it wasn't for the day before yesterday to escape from the wall, now I have seen the Buddha of the West Heaven! ”

Of course, the above legends about the massacre, except for "Conquering Nanjing City, Tu Guangcai Sealing the Knife" is a little more reliable, the others are rumors Although Yue Le is murderous, he is by no means a "brainless person", he took the slaughter of Nanjing as a heavy reward to motivate the soldiers. The so-called "slaughter" is actually robbery and murder! Except for a small number of Eight Banner soldiers and Green Battalion soldiers whose family members died in Jiangning Mancheng to vent their anger, the others actually still wanted money. If Yue Le let them burn and loot all the way, I am afraid that the troops have not arrived in Nanjing, and some of the soldiers have already robbed enough.

Then Xiashu Town, Dongyang Town, and Longtan Port are all quite rich. If some of the soldiers are allowed to grab enough, Nanjing will not be attractive to them for the time being, but it is important to save their lives.

In addition, it is difficult to maintain discipline when the army is free of robbery, and the army that loses discipline can easily be broken down.

And to the south of Xia Shu Town, Dongyang Town, and Longtan Port, there are continuous hills, such as Baohua Mountain, Dahua Mountain, Ge Mountain, and Wuqi Mountain, all of which are not controlled by Yue Le's soldiers.

Moreover, there are many Zhuangzi in these hills, and many of the Lian Yong recruited by the Jiangning regimental training with a lot of money are from the mountainous areas in this area (the mountain people are poor and willing to be soldiers).

If Yue Le's troops were to plunder, maybe the regimental training hiding in the mountains would rush out and raid

But soldiers don't get tired of cheating! Li Zhongtang, Lu Zhongtang, and Chen Zhongtang are not good people in the first place, and if they want to "cheat", they won't even let go of their own father (of course Chen Yonghua won't do this, because his father died early), not to mention the people in Nanjing?

You have to use nonsense to coerce these people!

And these nonsense, the Diao people in Nanjing City are very convinced - what kind of virtue does the Qing Heavenly Soldier have, who in the Jiangnan area does not know? Yangzhou 10th, Jiading three massacres, Jiangyin slaughter has not been many years!

And no matter how good Yangzhou, Jiading, Jiangyin and other places are, they have never slaughtered the Eight Banners soldiers and the families of the Eight Banners!

Yangzhou people basically slaughtered without doing anything, and Jiading people were slaughtered three times because they refused to shave their hair! And Jiangyin resisted for eighty-one days, and in the end the whole city was slaughtered to only a few dozen people!

Therefore, when Yue Le broke Nanjing, it was bound to slaughter the city, and most of them were slaughtered according to Jiangyin's standards!

At this time, the people in Nanjing City panicked, and some of the more clever ones hurried home to pack up their softness, preparing to run away while Nanjing City was not surrounded by Qing soldiers. However, when I arrived at the Yifeng Gate, Dinghuai Gate, Jiangdong Gate, and Jubao Gate, which were open to the west and south, I found that the city gates had long been closed, and there were still heavily armed Yingtian regiment training troops guarding there, prohibiting anyone from leaving Nanjing City!

And their "ban" makes a lot of sense!

"Can't go out, there's already a team of Tartar cavalry horses outside!"

"The Tartar horses kill people everywhere, and when you go out and meet them, you will die"

"To go out is to die, you can't go out of the city!"

As if to prove that they looked honest and spoke with a Jiangbei accent, Huai Yong did not deceive people, and there was a "crackling" gunshot outside the city!

The sound of this gunshot sounds like firecrackers, but it must not be firecrackers, but murderous Tartars shooting the people outside the city!

It seems that escaping from Nanjing City is also a dead end, and you will die faster!

As soon as they thought that hiding in Nanjing City was waiting for death, and escaping was sending them to death, both horizontally and vertically, some timid Nanjing people couldn't help crying.

"Woo. How good is that? ”

"I can't run, so I have to wait for death."

"Whoa, whoa"

"Smack!"

On this side of the Jiangdong Gate, when a group of people who wanted to escape were crying sadly, someone suddenly escaped and a flintlock pistol was shot into the sky, which frightened everyone - this gunshot sounded much crisper than the gunfire outside the city!

Everyone hurriedly looked in the direction of the gunshot, wanting to see if there were Eight Banners Heavenly Soldiers entering the city, but at first glance, they were all confused. It turned out that the one who was holding a pistol to the sky was a Confucian in a scarf robe, a little thin and short, with a wisp of goatee, and a little older, a face that had been through the vicissitudes of life, in addition to the traces left by the years, was an excitement that could not be concealed, and the excitement was a little hideous! In addition to holding a musket, he also had a long sword hanging from his belt, the hilt and scabbard showed signs of wear, and it looked very old, apparently in regular use.

Seeing that everyone stopped crying and looked at him, the scholar shouted: "I am Nanyang Buyi Lu Liangliu invited by the position of the prison country to come to Tianfu and the heroes of the world to discuss the country!" What grievances do you have? Why are you crying inside the Koto Gate? If there is a grievance and cannot be redressed, Lu is not talented, and I am willing to lead you to the prison to petition! ”

Petition?

Wrong?

A group of ordinary people who want to run away but can't, even if they are wronged, they don't want to escape at this time, it's too late to escape, what else can they do?

Just when the big guys didn't know what to say, someone suddenly spoke their "heart" for them.

"Mr. Lu, we just want to fight the Qing Dynasty well!"

"That's right! Now that the city of Nanjing has been slaughtered, the Tartars will not let us Nanjing people go. If you want to survive, you have to fight with the Tartars! Mr. Lu, can you lead us to petition the Prison King? ”

"Mr. Lu, please lead us to petition against the Qing Dynasty! We don't share the sky with the Tartars! ”

"Yes, kill the Tartars, protect the sky!"

The people inside the Jiangdong Gate were a little dumbfounded. They just wanted to run for their lives, why are they desperate now?

"Kill the Tartars! Bao Ying Tian! ”

"That's right! Fight with the Tartars! ”

"Nanjing City is so strong, as long as we fight, how can we not be able to hold it?"

When the people were in a daze, a few to. No, it's not Tuo, it's the very brave Ying Tiannan who has already let out an angry roar, and he pulled out his long sword at the same time!

The old man named Lu Liangliu nodded his head at this time and roared: "Okay! Ying Tiannan, Erguo is the descendant of the founding army of the Ming Dynasty, and the old man will take you to the prison to petition! ”

"Let's go! Go to the prison house to petition! ”

"Petition to go!"

Those Ying Tianmen wielded swords, and they were all fierce and vicious. The people who wanted to run away saw it, but they reluctantly followed. If you don't go, you might get beaten!

And when these people who tried to escape from Nanjing City from Dongjiang Gate but could not do so were taken to the open school field outside the Dingwang Mansion by Lu Liangliu, the "Nanyang Cloth Cloth" and a group of good men with sharp blades, there were already a sea of people here, and at least 20,000 or 30,000 Jinling people who tried to leave the dangerous city but could not were gathered outside the Jianguo Mansion for the same reason.

Leading them were more than a dozen "Great Confucians" who came to participate in the Restoration of Vision, and at this time, they were already in the disciple sect and the good man of Ying Tian who was holding a sharp sword, standing outside the gate of the palace of the king of the prison country.

Lu Liuliang also walked through the crowd and squeezed to the side of those "great Confucians", and a young Confucian who looked a little like him immediately saluted him: "My lord, the people from the prison palace just came out to spread the word, saying that His Royal Highness will soon come out with the East King, Li Zhongtang, Chen Zhongtang, and Lu Zhongtang to meet with us." ”

Lu Liangliu nodded lightly and said with a smile: "Baozhong, it seems that His Royal Highness and several Zhongtang are still willing to listen to the people's opinions at this juncture. This is the way for the country to thrive! ”

This young Confucian named Lü Baozhong was one of Huang Zongxi's disciples, and had previously followed Huang Zongxi south to Guangdong. Because he was relatively young and his knowledge was not deep enough, he entered the Restoration School, and under the teaching of Huang Zongxi, Luo Wenzao, Dai Zi and others, he read books for two whole years, and made great progress.

This time, he came to Nanjing as Li Zhongtang's staff, and of course he was also one of the masterminds behind this great petition against the Qing Dynasty.

Hearing his father's words, he immediately smiled and said, "The country will be prosperous, listen to the people!" Now that the prison and the central hall are willing to listen to the people, of course, it is a sign that the country will prosper. But the people who can shoulder the rise and fall of the world are not ordinary people, but 'original people'. ”

Of course, the aboriginal people developed the truth on the basis of the original king, the original minister, and the original law.

It is not enough for a country to know that "the people are the foundation, the king is light", and it is not enough to know that "the world is the lord and the king is the guest", but the soldiers and the people under the monarch and ministers must also know!

Moreover, it is useless to know the great truths, but also to know how to implement these principles, and even more so to have the means and courage to implement these principles!

According to the principle of "Neo-Confucianism", one of the most basic conditions that this "original scholar" and "original people" must have is to have martial virtues!

The so-called martial virtue is to take up a weapon (hold a sharp blade), throw yourself into battle (brave battle), and win (battle must win)!

If they can't do this, they are not the real original scholars and original people, and without the original scholars and original people, the original king, the original ministers, and the original law are all rootless wanderers, and even if they can exist for a period of time, they will inevitably be corrupted in the end.

And to do these three things. It's easier said than done!

However, just like the original monarch, the original minister, and the original law, it is not necessary to achieve full marks, and it is better to do some if you can do some than to do nothing.

Or to put it another way, you can have as much as you can.

For example, now, the ability of the kings, ministers, soldiers, and people in Yingtian City is limited, and it is impossible to expect them to turn into violent men and chase the Qing soldiers outside the city. And Yingtian is not Foshan, this is a textile center, it can't produce a lot of munitions, so it can't arm so many people.

But be sure to start doing it!

From this time when the sky is besieged and precarious!

If the people of Yingtian are not willing to take up arms and participate in the battle when they are about to be slaughtered, then they are not worthy of being the original people, and then the original soldiers, former ministers, original kings, and original laws will be difficult to continue.

If they have to rely on a small number of military nobles with abundant martial virtues to survive, then they can only be honest and obedient to the people!

And Lu Baozhong told Lu Liangliu that the situation was different, and at this time, in the lobby of the palace of the palace of the king of Jianguoding, a debate in front of the palace on whether to launch and arm the "original people" of Yingtian was underway.

"King, now the school field is full of people and gentry who are willing to protect Yingtian and the war Tartars, and Yingtian can protect it!"

"Wang Shikai, are you kidding? Do you want the people of Ying Tianfu to fight with the Eight Banners? Didn't you send them to their deaths? ”

"How is it to die? Sanhao, how many people are in Tianfu City? How many strong men can be activated? ”

"How many?"

"Returning to the king, if you don't count the area west of the Qinhuai River in the inner city and the outer city outside the Tianfu City, we should have more than 100,000 registered households in the Tiancheng City, and 560,000 mouths! If you count the merchants and scholars who lived temporarily and traveled to Yingtianfu, the population of Yingtianfu City now is afraid that there are 700,000, which is more than Beijing! The largest city in the world is none other than Yingtian!

And the number of strong men in the population of 600,000 is more than 100,000! ”

"If more than 100,000 people are all armed, do you still need to be afraid of the Qing army? How many people are Yue Lecai? Thirty thousand? Fifty thousand? We are five times as big as him, what will he do to fight the sky? ”

As soon as Wang Zhongxiao opened his mouth, saying that he would arm all the hundreds of thousands of strong men in Yingtianfu City, the people in the hall were stunned, and even Lu Sanhao and Chen Yonghua, who had always supported him, didn't expect his heart to be so big.

"Shikai. I'm afraid we don't have that many instruments! Chen Yonghua reminded, "Now most of the muskets, artillery, and even swords in Yingtianfu City have been issued, and the remaining little can only be supplemented by the battle damage." ”

"Then build a bunch of spears. You can also make powerful crossbows! Crossbow machine Nanjing can always be built, right? There are many craftsmen who make spinning machines here, and there is enough wood, silk thread, etc.! Wang Zhongxiao said with a smile, "As long as there are 100,000 strong crossbows and 50,000 spears, what are you afraid of Yue Le?" ”

"But we don't have that much money to pay!" The third prince of Zhu shook his head and said, "Back then, the first emperor also recruited the people of Beijing to serve in the army to defend the city, but because he had no money, he was only."

"If you don't have any money, you can give white strips," Wang Zhongxiao said, "land, official position. Oh, and the fame of the show, there is always this, right? Let's give more crossbow talents and gun talents! ”

(End of chapter)