In the forty-seventh year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, in late December, Yingtianfu, Nanjing City.

With the end of the defense of Nanjing, which lasted for more than half a year, and the overall situation of the southeast was initially determined, this southeast metropolis has restored its former prosperity.

As the New Year approaches, the people of Nanjing wore a brand-new "Guoren robe" - a red round-necked robe, and a "Guoren Sword" - a three-foot sword hanging from the belt, swaggering back and forth in the streets, forming a rather "the world is for the public" landscape. These "national robes" and "national swords" are not casually worn and hung, but the symbol of the identity of the Chinese and the national soldiers, in the city of Nanjing, only those who have participated in the army and have been on the battlefield or served for a certain period of time, or spent money to buy or be admitted to the national soldier (Xiucai) meritorious service, can be red robe long sword, so not majestic.

In addition to the prestige, the identity of the countrymen and the countrymen has other benefits, of course, there are other benefits, one is that the countrymen and the countrymen have the privilege of not worshipping the officials and not being punished by corporal punishment; Second, the people and scholars have the right to discuss politics and write and say things; Third, Chinese people and scholars have the right to enroll in official schools by themselves or send a son or nephew to enter official schools; Fourth, a national scholar has the qualifications to participate in the parliamentary council and the conference for the restoration of vision, and has the qualifications to serve as an official, and the national can obtain the status of a national priest as long as he pays a certain amount of money or graduates from a designated official school and passes the examination.

In short, the benefits of becoming a countryman and a countryman are obvious!

In the city of Nanjing, if any big man didn't seize the opportunity of the last time Nanjing was besieged by the Qing army to join the people's army or donate military salaries, and get himself a countryman or a national soldier, it is really too late to regret it now!

Now that the battle of Nanjing is over, the number of the Nanjing People's Army has also been pressed to the scale of two or three thousand people - it is a shelf and a city guard camp, and the members are all training army (regular army) status.

As for participating in the training of the Ying Tianfu army. First, the number of places is limited, and second, the training of the army is a long-term service, and the military discipline is strict, and the citizens who make a living and trade in Nanjing are not willing to train the army.

So now those men who have no identity in Nanjing City, seeing the Chinese people and soldiers all over the street, are a little unable to raise their heads, if the family is not very poor, even if you donate, you have to donate an identity!

And those who have become Chinese people and national soldiers are also very tasteful, and Daming originally had a share of them!

The delegates they nominate can go to the Restoration of Sight Conference, they can also participate in the parliamentary and political meetings in Nanjing, and they have the right to speak on major national and local affairs. Moreover, to be an official, it is not necessary to be a countryman or a countryman. This feeling that I am the emperor's own family is really good.

In addition to feeling good, the income of the craftsmen and small merchants in Nanjing also rose to a higher level after the victory of the Battle of Nanjing!

Nanjing is the capital of silk, an important trading hub on the Yangtze River, and the southeast metropolis. However, before the victory of the defense of Nanjing until the Qing Dynasty entered Nanjing, because Nanjing's foreign trade was choked by the Qing Dynasty, silk could not be sold at a high price, and the interests of the Yangtze River trade hub also fell sharply, not to mention the southeast metropolis, the landlords in the southeast area either died in the troubled times or were frightened by the Qing Dynasty's literary prison, who would dare to come to Nanjing to publicize?

So those people of Nanjing who are a little older, there is no one who does not miss the Ming Dynasty and now, the Ming Dynasty is back, Nanjing is the capital again, and overseas trade is also much smoother, and the gentry in the southeast also flocked to Nanjing City after the end of the defense of Nanjing-if they don't come, they will be regarded as the rich man by the Shilin people! And how can I donate a national soldier if I don't come to Nanjing? If you don't donate to the country, how can you be an official and a master in the future?

Now that the Ming Dynasty has just been restored, there must be a lot of officials, and the opportunity must not be lost!

As a result, the market of Nanjing, after the end of the defense war, became visibly prosperous, and the whole city was really vibrant, and everything was competing!

But it was such a good time to "call everyone happy", and rumors began to spread in the city of Nanjing, "The East King will live long live" and "The East King will kill the king, and the Qing Dynasty will return"!

When this rumor first came out, the people of Nanjing did not believe it - now they are all "the original monarch, the original minister", even if the king ascends the throne, that is also a hypocrisy of the arch and rule, according to the "Ming Dynasty Law" that has finalized the principles of the Restoration Conference, the future Ming Dynasty national affairs will be discussed and decided by a meeting called the "Grand Duke Conference", and then the great tomorrow will nod and seal. The day-to-day affairs of the state are also managed by the Cabinet Office, which is elected by the Ecumenical Council, and the head of the Cabinet Office is called the Prime Minister. The real power of this prime minister is much greater than that of the emperor!

Geng Jingzhong wants to seize power, can't he find a way to be a prime minister? Why bother to kill the king and live long-lived? If King Ding wants to be a "long live the seal", he might as well be the prime minister or even the king of the east! If he wants to be a real power, long live although now Wu Sangui, the king of the West, is the son of Zhou Tianzi himself, regardless of the affairs of the Ming Dynasty, there are still the king of the south, the king of loyalty, the king of Ying, and the king of wings. Oh, and the King of the North, as well as Lu Zhongtang and Chen Zhongtang, can they agree? Even if the North King and the East King are close and support him in the end, then the opposition is not small!

One is not good, the group of kings, Zhongtang, and Jiedu envoys of the Ming Dynasty will be slaughtered, and the Qing Dynasty may really be killed back at that time!

But on the twentieth day of the twelfth lunar month, with Shang Shuying, the princess of the north in silver armor and silver armor, landed with 5,000 troops of the northern king from the outer Jinchuanmen wharf in Nanjing, and then drove into the Shence Gate in a mighty way, the rumors of "the king of the east will be long live" and "the king of the east will kill the king, and the Qing Dynasty will return" suddenly spread wildly in the city of Nanjing.

However, there are still many people who still don't believe that Geng Jingzhong wants to rebel and kill the prison country and become the emperor.

And on the twenty-fifth day of the lunar month, that is, today, Yue Le, the envoy of Susong Town, Li Zhifang, the observer of eastern Zhejiang, Fan Chengmo, the observer of Fujian, and other foreign ministers were ordered by the king of the east to lead their troops to Beijing, and the news that the army was entering the gate above the outer city of Nanjing suddenly spread all over the inner city of Nanjing like a fried pot, and now everyone knew that something was wrong!

Not only did the "red-clothed people" on the streets of Nanjing's inner city carry swords, but some even brought newly bought flintlock pistols when they went to the streets!

On the blacksmith street outside the Dinghuai Gate in the inner city of Nanjing, it is even more red, all of them come to buy cloth iron armor and chain mail at their own expense - according to the regulations, the Chinese people and the national soldiers can not only hold muskets, bows and crossbows, but also buy armor, of course, there is a limit on the quantity, and you must hold the "national brand" and "national soldier brand" to purchase, and the purchased armor, muskets, bows and crossbows must be engraved with the name and brand of the country's people or national soldiers.

And on the street outside Dinghuai Gate, where Chinese people and scholars gathered, the rumors spread even more powerfully.

"Did you hear that? King Geng Dong is really going to rebel, the old imperial city he occupied has been completely under martial law, and no one is allowed to enter or leave without the order of King Dong! ”

"Not really. Yesterday, I saw with my own eyes on the bridge above that the troops of Yue Le, Li Zhifang, Fan Chengmo, and Liu Bingzheng drove in large numbers, and the number of people together was 10,000 or 20,000! ”

"The Dongwang Army is also moving to Nanjing these days, and there are troops coming in from the Xianhemen side every day!"

"The soldiers of the Northern King are also here! The North Wangfu in the Jinchuan Gate is about to become a military camp, and the Northern Princess Shang Shuying, who came back with the troops, is the sister of Sima Shangzhixin of the East Palace! ”

"It's the other way around, it's the other way around!"

"Afraid of what? Are they as many as we are? There are tens of thousands of training troops in Nanjing, and there are no less than 150,000 Chinese people and soldiers, and there are tens of thousands of troops in Anqing and the king of the south! Yangzhou in Jiangbei also has Chen Zhongtang's Huaiyang regiment training army. If the surname Geng dares to rebel, we will destroy him! ”

"Yes, destroy him!"

Most of the people and soldiers of Nanjing became after more than half a year of war, and they really regarded themselves as their own people of the Ming Dynasty. Now, of course, we have to take up arms to defend the newly born Ming people and the Guoshi regime!

Moreover, Yue Le, Li Zhifang, and Fan Chengmo are all defeated generals under the Nanjing Guozhong, and they have led so many troops to fight for more than half a year, and they haven't touched the edge of the inner city of Nanjing, and now there are only 10,000 or 20,000 people, what is there to be afraid of?

As for Geng Jingzhong. The people of Nanjing looked down on him and gave him the nickname "King of Rats" in private.

The reason why he has this nickname is because Geng Jingzhong looks a bit like a roe deer and looks like a mouse.

The second is that Geng Jingzhong is a thief.

On the one hand, he wanted to be a long live - everyone knew about it; On the other hand, he is a little timid, and he is always afraid that others will murder him.

Therefore, Geng Jingzhong hid in the imperial city of Nanjing all day long, rarely went out, and even when he went out, he went out quietly at night. It's a bit like the Rat King.

Even if such a rat king is lucky, he will definitely not be able to hold the situation, and he will come back if he can't do it!

Of course, Geng Jingzhong himself doesn't feel that he has "rat nature", he also thinks that he has a good plan, and it should be foolproof!

Just when the gates of Nanjing began to spontaneously strengthen their arms, the king of Gengdong was still in his palace and conspired against Yue Le, Fan Chengmo, Li Zhifang, Liu Bingzheng, Shang Shuying, as well as his henchmen Shang Zhixin, Yu Renying, Li Daoren, Bai Xianzhong, Xu Wenyao, Wang Shiyu and others in Nanjing.

"Lord Wang, now there are 15,000 of your army in Nanjing, 20,000 of Yue Shuai, Li Guan, Fan Guan, and Liu Guan, and 5,000 troops of the King of the North, with a total of 40,000 people. On the opposite side, there are only 10,000 regiments of Lu Sanhao and two or three thousand militiamen, and our advantage is very great! ”

"Lord Wang, now Dashengguan, Dangtu, Quarshiji, Wuhu, Tongling, Guichi and other places are under the control of Zeng Dashuai, and the soldiers of Lu Bu are still under the Jiancheng of Anqing, Chen Yonghua's soldiers have just captured the city of Huai'an, and they are now resting As for Lu Sanhao, he fell into embarrassment because Wu Sangui claimed to be the son of Zhou Tianzi, and our people were impeached, so that he was entangled by the people of the Restoration Conference every day. In the city of Nanjing, there is no character who can compete with you! ”

"Lord Wang, you don't have to worry about Lu Bu's father and son, they can't come to Nanjing at all, my prince of the north led 5,000 elite soldiers to guard the Puzikou camp! Living Lu Bu father and son don't have a water army, how can they come over? ”

"Lord Wang, don't worry about the return of the Qing Dynasty, the Qing Dynasty is also in a mess, Kangxi and his second brother regent Wang Fuquan are already tense, and there will be a battle after the spring next year, they can't fight themselves, will they still care about our affairs?"

"Wu Sangui doesn't have to worry about it, the first thing he has to deal with is Li Zicheng, these two are old enemies, it is impossible to make peace, there will be a dragon fight!"

"King Kang of Jiangxi will not be our enemy, he has been besieged by the living Lu Bu father and son and Li Zicheng for so long, it is difficult to protect himself! As for Fujian's Yiwang, he has always been a thief who guards his family, and his vision can't get out of southern Fujian, so he doesn't have to worry about it at all. ”

"Lord Wang, the right time, place and people are on our side. Let it go! ”

Geng Jingzhong listened to the analysis of his subordinates from all aspects, and the result was of course very certain, as long as he let go of it, he could succeed nine times out of ten.

It seems that the proverb of the Son of Heaven is not wrong at all!

Since that's right, Geng Jingzhong has also made up his mind!

He looked at the group of henchmen and allies in the hall, nodded heavily, and said: "The number of Da Ming Qi is exhausted, the southeast is actually a borderless land, if the widow does not take it, after the living Lu Bu father and son defeat Anqing to obtain Jiujiang, they will definitely join Li Zicheng to take it. They have now restored the surname Li, and they are now united with Li Zicheng, and they are already one. In addition, there is a proverb that says, 'Eighteen sons have the world'. It can be seen that the world in the future will either be ear-fire or eighteen! The widow has now decided to strike first!

Are you willing to work together with Geng to clean up the world? ”

That's what the big guy is waiting for!

So they all got up and knelt, clasped their hands into fists, and shouted at Geng Jingzhong: "The ministers are willing to take the world with the king of the east!" ”

Geng Jingzhong nodded: "Okay!" Each battalion has a full meal tonight, and tomorrow the third watch will send troops to attack the Dingwang Mansion! ”

"Yes!"

"Whoa"

Dingwang's Mansion, back garden.

Dingwang Zhu Cijiong was sitting in a secluded pavilion at this time, looking at Lu Sanhao, Chang Wei, and Luo Dawei in front of him, with a helpless face.

The city of Nanjing has been spread all over, Geng Jingzhong wants to rebel, and it is also "the king of the east kills the king". After Emperor Xian was deposed, there was still a Shanyang County Gongdang, how could he only kill his head?

This won't work!

He's dying! Gotta work hard to survive! Gotta take a bite on the verge of death!

But he, the king, has no soldiers or generals, so he can only rely on the loyal ministers below, and it is the powerful ministers who help!

But the problem is that now there is no powerful minister in Nanjing except Lu Sanhao, Chen Yonghua is in Jiangbei, so he sent a courteous and elegant Chang Wei to help. Li Zhongshan was still besieging Anqing, so he sent a kind-looking, easy-going and weak Luo Dawei to escort him.

And what made the third prince of Zhu speechless the most was that these three people didn't have much army in their hands, Lu Sanhao only had 10,000 people, Luo Dawei and Chang Wei each brought back 3,000 people, and there were also some militiamen. And then there was no more!

There are less than 20,000 people in total, and Geng Jingzhong's side is at least 40,000 or 50,000, which is still a hair!

The Ming Dynasty is going to end, and the Ming Emperor is going to die!

"Don't worry, big king," Lu Sanhao was quite calm, "Although King Gengdong has 450,000 horses, there are still more than 100,000 countrymen and soldiers in Nanjing City, as long as we can resist a little, when the Chinese and nationalists in Beijing are assembled, we can eradicate the rebels in one fell swoop." ”

Luo Dawei said with a gentle face: "King, our Huaixi Red Turban Army can fight one by one, and we can use one as ten, not afraid of Geng Jingzhong's Hu, if he dares to rebel, the minister will capture him alive for you!" ”

The third prince of Zhu, who is quite capable of blowing, looked at Chang Wei again, as if he was even more helpless, dressed as a scribe, looking like a scholar!

Chang Wei said with a smile: "Since ancient times, those who have won the hearts of the people have won the world, and now the hearts of the people in Jinling are in the king and not in the king of Geng, and if King Geng dares to rebel, the people of Jinling will not spare him!" ”

Third Prince Zhu nodded: "Okay, then you hurry back to the barracks to arrest the troops, maybe tomorrow, maybe the day after tomorrow, Geng Jingzhong, the thief, will rebel!" ”

After speaking, he waved his hand to let Lu Sanhao, Luo Dawei, and Chang Wei all retire.

Seeing them go away, the third prince of Zhu coughed again, and then saw Jinyiwei soothing Liu Shuochuan out of the woods next to him, and quietly came to the third prince Zhu's side.

"King, Geng Jingzhong will be reversed early tomorrow morning!" Liu Shuochuan said in a low voice.

"Really?" Zhu Cijiong glanced at him.

"It's true!" Liu Shuochuan said, "The minister planted eyeliner in the Northern Wang's army. ”

"Then the ships of the Hokukari are ready?" Third Prince Zhu asked.

Liu Shuochuan nodded: "It's ready!" King, are we going to leave right away? ”

Third Prince Zhu sighed and said in a low voice, "Wait, wait. Wait until it's dark before you go! I really didn't expect that it would be so difficult for a widow to be an emperor! ”

(End of chapter)