With the loss of Zhenjiang, the army of the 8th Brigade of the Ming Royal Army, with the help of the navy, landed at Fengyimen and immediately camped at Lion Rock.

Wu Sheng personally arrived in Nanjing to command, and the other departments arrived at the city of Nanjing from all directions, and in the face of more and more Ming soldiers, Nanjing's anger seemed to have entered despair.

Attacking the heart for the top, attacking the city for the bottom, as the so-called attacking the heart for the top, attacking the city for the bottom, and surrendering the soldiers without a fight, Wu Sheng also began to surrender the Southern Ming army in the city.

On July 11 of the first year of Dingxin, the army that arrived under the city of Nanjing has exceeded more than 50,000 people, which is divided into three parts, namely Wu Sheng's department, Cheng Shi's department, Jiang Wu's department, and nearly 100,000 Nanming troops, it can be said that the Ming army has the strength to attack Nanjing.

Zhou Yanru, who was in Nanjing City, stood on the city wall and looked at the Ming army camp outside the city, bonfires and torches, like a devastated galaxy, extending from the horizon to the sky...... It's all over......"

However, ants still steal life, let alone people?

Zhou Yanru sent the famous Confucian Lu Weiqi to arrive at the Lion Rock Ming Army camp, although it is said that Cheng Shijie did not directly appoint the commander-in-chief of the south, but in fact, Wu Sheng's qualifications are deeper than Jiang Wuji, Cheng Shi is nominally Cheng Shijie's righteous son, but with the return of Cheng Jialong, Cheng Shi's position is a little embarrassing.

Wu Sheng naturally became the temporary commander-in-chief of the south, commanding the 18th Brigade, the 17th Brigade and the 8th Brigade.

Because the biggest difference with the Jiangnan gentry is that Lu Weiqi was dismissed from the post of secretary of the Nanjing Military Department as early as the eighth year of Chongzhen, because of his ineffective suppression of bandits, returned to his hometown in Luoyang, Henan, returned to Luoyang, established the "Yiluo Society", recruited disciples, and wrote books and speeches.

At that time, there was a great famine in Henan, and the momentum of the Dashun army was like a rainbow, and there was a tendency to capture Henan in one fell swoop. Lu Weiqi did his best to give out his furniture and set up a bureau to help.

"Lord Lu, please!"

Lu Weiqi thought that Wu Sheng would put up a team of swords and axes to scare him, who knew that when he came to the Lion Rock camp, it seemed to be an empty camp, and as far as the eye could see, there were only hundreds of soldiers standing far away.

Wu Sheng, Cheng Shi, Jiang Wuxian and other generals came to the big tent and had a direct meal with Lu Weiqi, although the meal was quite rich, but for Lu Weiqi it was only ordinary, after all, he was not born with mud legs, no matter how poor he was, he couldn't be poor.

The dish is six dishes, one is potato stewed chicken pieces, one is vinegared bean teeth, one is sauerkraut button meat, and the other is scrambled eggs with tomatoes, as well as lotus root and braised fish, which are not delicacies from the mountains and seas, but they are full of color and flavor, and they also make people appetize. Lu Weiqi ate two bowls of good rice.

Wu Sheng said with a smile: "You can't do without fruit after dinner, this is a tomato, Lord Lu will also taste it." ”

Lu Weiqi saw that the fruit was not big, it was about the same as an egg, it was bright red, and it was very attractive. He took a bite, and a sweet and sour juice splashed into his mouth, and he couldn't help but exclaim, "It tastes good!" What is the name of this fruit, General Wu? ”

Wu Shengdao: "We all call this thing a tomato, we call it a tomato, it is from the West, it is as big as a chicken, bright red as blood, sweet and sour, very popular, widely planted in Liaodong, in short supply." ”

Lu Weiqi sighed: "Everyone says that life in Liaodong is good, originally I didn't believe it, but now I can't believe it." It seems that Nanyang is really rich, and the property is so abundant! I'm afraid that this kind of delicacy is not something that everyone can afford to eat in Liaodong, right? ”

Cheng Shi said with a smile: "Lord Lu, what you just ate is just the ordinary war meal of our Ning Navy, and this tomato is just the most common fruit used by the people of Liaodong for recreation after dinner, even a farmer can afford to eat it." ”

Lu Weiqi's eyes widened: "How is it possible?" ”

Cheng Shi said with a smile: "I don't mean to deceive Lord Lu in Xia, if you don't believe it, you can go to Liaodong to live for a while and see if you are lying." ”

"In fact, there is no need to be so time-consuming, Lord Lu is a native of Henan, and now Henan has carried out land reform, if nothing else, the same will adopt the policy of Liaodong, Daxing factories, scientific planting, at most three or five years, Henan will become rich, although it is difficult to catch up with Liaodong, but it is still possible to eat and drink, and have enough food and clothing!"

For Wu Sheng's words, Lu Weiqi actually doesn't believe it very much, although he is not from a poor family, but what kind of life the poor live, he couldn't be clearer, not to mention that the six dishes and two soups are meat and vegetarian, and the kind of nest head mixed with bran and wild vegetables can be mixed Thank God!

Such a meal is actually just the war meal of the Ning Navy, not the Ming Royal Army? Oh my God, that's hard to believe, isn't it?

Wu Sheng smiled and became serious. It's all done, and it's time to get down to business. He said leisurely: "Lord Lu, if General Ben attacks Nanjing now, do you think he can capture it?" ”

Lu Weiqi was silent for a long time, and finally shook his head in frustration: "You can attack it!" ”

Lu Weiqi didn't want to admit it, but after seeing that Cheng Shijie was so rich that even a farmer could eat several dishes at once, on such a good day, who wants to let people mess up? As long as they give an order, many people in the Nanming army will defect, just like Anqing, Chizhou, Tongling, Yangzhou, and Zhenjiang at the beginning, and it can even be said that there is no need for Wu Sheng's hundreds of thousands of horses to do it, just a promise, and tens of thousands of horses and horses will be able to pull up tens of thousands of horses in Nanjing to fight with them!

Lu Weiqi said: "Is it really impossible to talk about it?" ”

Wu Sheng said aggressively: "The meaning of the regent is to let you surrender unconditionally. ”

Lu Weiqi lost his voice and shouted: "What? General Wu, you're not kidding, are you? ”

"How could Wu make a joke about this?"

Wu Sheng smiled bitterly: "I only have one head, this unconditional surrender is not really killing all the officials and gentry, as long as you surrender, you will never kill innocents indiscriminately, but if you are guilty, you can't be tolerated, your children and officials, if you don't have a life, you will have books to read, food to eat, land to cultivate, and work to support your family!" ”

This is actually not the result that Lu Weiqi wants, their idea is that they will only get rid of the first evil, coercion will not be investigated, and the official will do it, even if it is a demote and recruitment, and now Cheng Shijie is also engaged in the imperial examination, although the examination is not the Four Books and Five Classics, but the problem is that these scholarly families have spent a lot of resources on cultivating offspring, unless there are a few stupid talents, most of the children are still very good.

If they have a fair competition channel, they actually have a competitive advantage over those mud legs, just like Lu Weiqi, in history, his son Lu Zhaolin. Lu Zhaolin's sons Lu Luheng and Lu Qianheng, Lu Shouzeng, the son of Lu Luheng, Lu Yaozeng, the son of Lu Qianheng, and Lu Gongzi, the grandson of Lu Luheng, have been admitted to the Jinshi and are known as the "Fifth Jinshi".

Although Lu Weiqi's sons are only Lu Zhaolin admitted to the Jinshi, he does not have only one son, but seven sons, of which two are concubines and five sons-in-law, in addition to Lu Weiqi, he also has three brothers, and his disciples have three champions, forty-three Jinshi, three hundred and two people, ninety-seven tributes, and it is difficult to count the talents.

As early as Xu Guangqi entered the cabinet with Western studies, Lu Weiqi added Xu Guangqi's translation of geometry and arithmetic in his teaching curriculum.

Zhou Yanru sent Lu Weiqi to come forward, because he took a fancy to Lu Weiqi's influence in Shilin in the world, which is the largest opposition party Yiluohui in addition to the Donglin Party, the Chu Party, the Jin Party, and the West Law Party.

And Cheng Shijie's subordinates, there are many Henan nationals, including Shen Mingyu, a general under Cheng Shijie, who is from Suiyang, Henan Guide, Song Xiance is also from Yongcheng County, Guide, and Yang Qingyun is also from Guide, only in Cheng Shijie's cabinet, there are three people from Henan.

Wu Sheng handed over the land reform bill and tax bill formulated by Cheng Shijie and the cabinet, as well as various policies, to Lu Weiqi, who left from Lion Rock with dozens of dossiers.

After Lu Weiqi returned to Nanjing City from Lion Rock, he went to Zhou Yanru's mansion, and the two discussed until late at night, when he was close to the child's time, Lu Weiqi left from Zhou's mansion, and at dawn, Zhou Yanru, the first assistant of the Nanjing small court, committed suicide by taking poison with his family of sixty-eight people, only three little grandchildren under the age of ten, and six granddaughters survived.

Cheng Shijie arrived in Nanjing on July 13, and did not enter the Lion Rock camp, but cruised on the Yangtze River, and his boat was Chang'an, which was a new ship Giant Shark-class battleship that had just been launched for four months, as Cheng Shijie's new ship.

Wu Sheng, Cheng Shi, Jiang Wuji, including Shen Huandong and Shen Tingyang, went to meet He Jiejie on the Chang'an.

"Meet the King!"

"Excuse me!"

Cheng Shijie looked at Wu Sheng and other generals and said, "How is the situation now?" ”

"All the deployments before the attack have been made, and you only need an order from the king, and you can attack anytime and anywhere!"

Wu Sheng continued: "According to our insider intelligence, Nan Ming is now a frightened bird and is vulnerable, but. No matter what, Nanjing is also the capital, more than 200 years of operation, the city walls, fortresses are extremely strong, this is by no means a city that can be easily gnawed down, careless! ”

"It's good that you have this prudence, we can despise the enemy strategically, but we must value the opponent tactically!"

Wu Sheng then told Cheng Shijie the news of Zhou Yanru's suicide.

Cheng Shijie learned that Zhou Yanru's family was almost dead, and as for the remaining nine children, he did not pursue them: "Although Zhou Yanru is dead, their family property is all people's fat and people's ointment, and they still have to copy the house!" ”

Wu Sheng said again: "The king doesn't know, since Zhou Yanru's whole family committed suicide, Nanming's side began to give up on himself!" ”

Cheng Shijie looked at the detailed information, Nanjing seemed to have given up treatment, hundreds of thousands of Ming soldiers were coming to the city, and they had no intention of strengthening the defense.

On the contrary, there were fewer and fewer soldiers on the walls. The city is drunk and gold-obsessed, the Qinhuai River is noisy, the joy of silk and bamboo is endless all night, the Fengyue place is also open all night, I don't know how many writers and gentlemen who move one side are soaked in fireworks and willow alleys all day long, flower boat restaurants, eating and drinking, spending a lot of money, drunk on the pillow on the knees of the beauty and falling asleep, waking up and continuing to drink.

After squandering their family wealth, they chose to commit suicide, hanged themselves, jumped into the river, took poison, and the whole of Nanjing simply became a suicide club!

Obviously, these literati, who were accustomed to using intrigue to solve their opponents, did not have the determination to fight to the end, and the aggressive offensive of the Ming army had completely broken their minds, and they no longer had any luck mentality, but only indulged in pleasures, numbed themselves with beauty and alcohol, and ended themselves when they were crazy enough.

Everyone knows very well that the Ming Dynasty will never forgive these traitors to them, once the city of Nanjing is broken and they are still alive, the fate that awaits them will be a hundred times more terrifying than death!

After reading this information, Cheng Shijie sighed and said: "I'm afraid Nanjing is not easy to fight!" ”

Wu Sheng was a little strange: "How is this possible?" ”

"When a group of people know that they are going to die, they are not even afraid of death, is there anything they are afraid of?"

Wu Sheng still didn't believe it, he ordered a tentative attack, but was unexpectedly beaten back, the Southern Ming army had no way out at this last moment to squeeze out the last point of bravery, desperate resistance, artillery stones rained down, the tentative attack of the Ming army suffered a lot of casualties, can only retreat.

This seems to prove Cheng Shijie's judgment that Nanjing's hard bone is indeed not easy to gnaw. At first, Cheng Shijie wanted to take Zeng Guofan's way of breaking through Nanjing, letting people dig into the attack, get close to the city wall, and then bury explosives, but it was a pity that seeing the Ming army in the excavation operation, the Ming army also adopted the same way, digging each other.

At a distance of more than 400 meters from the city of Nanjing, the two sides controlled the secret passages, and the explosives planted in several tunnels exploded at the same time, and the earth-shattering explosion made a loud noise, and more than 600 people of the Ming army in charge of the attack were buried under the tunnels, suffering heavy casualties, and for a time the battlefield hospitals were full of wounds.

Cheng Shijie originally thought that there was no need to bombard Nanjing with new heavy artillery, but now it seems that he has to adopt this method.

In fact, for the judgment of the Nanjing war, Cheng Shijie is actually far less optimistic than Sun Zhili and others, the Ming Dynasty has been raising soldiers for more than 200 years, until the end, the Ming court actually did not let go of the shackles of the gentry and landlords, once it was released, the landlords around the country would immediately organize a large number of landlord arms.

These landlords may not be able to fight, but the problem is that the Ming Dynasty has too many generals to fight, because they can't get promoted, they just don't have a chance, once these generals who can fight are recruited and incorporated by the landlords, they will definitely form a huge force.

After all, the landlords have money and grain, because of the dumping of steel products in Liaodong, they have obtained a lot of equipment, and it is very simple to solve this problem.

But the problem is that this is not the result Cheng Shijie wants.

With the landing of not too large transport ships at the ferry, hundreds of young and strong people began to lay simple tracks under the command of craftsmen, there is no way, this new type of cannon is too heavy, relying on manpower alone, it is difficult to promote, in desperation, had to take the way of laying tracks.

With the completion of the track laying, a series of fire cattle began to assemble on the track, busy for more than a day, the fire cattle were assembled, under the drag of the fire ox, a cannon began to slowly move towards the Nanjing city gate. The caliber of the cannon reached one hundred and fifty-four .5 millimeters, and the barrel was several meters long, which was extremely heavy.

Even if it is a giant shark-class battleship, this kind of battleship cannot withstand such a huge recoil, and in desperation, the Gun Bureau gave up the plan to equip heavy artillery at sea and changed this kind of cannon to land use.

The fire ox made a huge roar, dragged the artillery, and slowly advanced along the track, the range, rate of fire, and accuracy of this new type of artillery are greatly improved compared with the 126 mm naval guns of the four-inch guns currently equipped with a large number of them, and it is not an exaggeration to call them sharp weapons of the town, no need to read the explanation, no need to test fire, just the black hole and the slender barrel, you can see the destructive power contained in these iron guys.

Unfortunately, this became a testing ground for these cannons, and engineers had to test the power of these new cannons with the Nanjing City Wall.

The weight of this cannon reached an astonishing thirty-two times, and the principle of restraint and retreat was also used, and these improvements made the weight of this cannon reach an astonishing twelve and a half tons, and even if solid rubber wheels were installed at any cost, the road surface was quite strong, and it was very difficult to transport such a large creature to the front line.

What's more, this kind of artillery is in the terrain of Nanjing, and the ordinary road surface simply can't withstand such a heavy artillery, so in desperation, it has to be transported by rail.

Seeing these precious cannons in place, Cheng Shijie showed a rare smile, and surrounded him with a group of generals, he reached out and stroked the cannon body that was boring and slippery, and flies would fall down a lot, feeling the murderous aura condensed inside this weapon like an art treasure, and sighed: "It's really the god of war...... With it, all the strategies of defending the city are nonsense, and no matter how strong the fortress is, it can't withstand a few cannons! ”

"How far can this cannon hit with one shot?"

"At least twenty miles, the ultimate range is twenty-four miles and one hundred and thirty-six steps!"

"Doesn't that mean that the whole of Nanjing is within its range?"

"Of course! Most of the cities are within range of every corner, and there is no safe place to go. ”

Cheng Shijie smiled: "When can you fire?" ”

"Half an hour of preparation will be almost!"

At this time, Hou Shi came over and said, "Your Majesty, Catherine is here and wants to see you?" ”

"She didn't come to see me, she probably heard that we were going to experiment with a new cannon, and she smelled it!"

Chen Guodong's face was a little embarrassed: "I have to ...... after I humble my post"

"Actually, it's not necessary, when it's time to show your muscles, you also need to show your muscles!"

Cheng Shijie wants to open the country and trade with Europa, and if he wants Europa to do business with Daming honestly, he can't rely on modesty, but needs to show off his fists and show off his muscles.

Soon Catherine came to Cheng Shijie, and she bowed down and said, "Your Majesty the Emperor, Catherine, on behalf of the Doge of Venice, would like to extend my most sincere greetings to you!" ”

"Catherine, you came just in time, our Ming New Cannon is about to start actual combat training, you have a good eye!"

Speaking of this, Cheng Shijie smiled and said: "Send to the city of Nanjing to shout, let them leave the city wall quickly, otherwise there will be a dead end!" ”

Immediately, hundreds of soldiers with loud voices came to the city wall, holding iron trumpets and shouting: "Brothers of the Southern Ming Army, we are about to open fire, you should leave the city wall quickly, otherwise you will bear the consequences!" ”

However, the soldiers of the Southern Ming Army on the city wall did not see the artillery, and they were a little puzzled, but they saw that the Ming army under the city did not seem to have the posture to attack, at least in the line of sight, the Ming army was not prepared to attack.

In this way, the two sides have a very tacit understanding.

After the Southern Ming army left the city wall, Cheng Shijie gave the order to open fire.

With Cheng Shijie's order, the two artillerymen held a shell, which was thicker than a thigh and half a person tall, stuffed the shell into the barrel, closed the door and closed the cannon, and began to pray: "Ready!" ”

"Fire!"

After Cheng Shijie gave the order, he directly covered his ears with his hands, and the other people were a little puzzled.

"Boom Boom Boom Boom ......"

On the gun position, the smoke of gunpowder was filled, the dust and smoke were billowing out, and the momentum was huge. Even if there was a stationary hoe, it didn't work, the heavy body of the giant cannon still moved back nearly two feet fiercely, stirring up a large cloud of smoke and dust, and a blazing and violent flame erupted from the muzzle of the black hole, and in a thunderbolt, six heavy projectiles spun out at high speed along the rifling, and chiseled fiercely towards the city wall!

The whole section of the city wall burst into flames, the remnants of sand and gravel rushed straight into the sky, the tower collapsed in the loud bang, several soldiers of the Southern Ming Army who did not retreat flew into the air like pieces of paper, the loud explosion of the cannonball shook everyone's thinking blank, and within the stiff line of sight, everything was as terrifying as a nightmare.

The soldiers near the blast point either disappeared in a flash of the blast, or were blown high by the blast wave, and then tore into pieces and fell one after another, pouring blood down.

The soldiers of the Southern Ming Army, who were a little farther away, sat down on the ground, covered their ears with their hands and screamed, but even they themselves couldn't hear their own voices, and the hot and viscous liquid gushed out from their ears, a smear of blood! They were deafened!

When the smoke cleared, everyone was shocked to find that there were six more large holes in the bombarded city wall, many city bricks were blown away, and the entire section of the city wall was obviously tilted. That's just the power of six shells!

Although Cheng Shijie covered his ears, he saw the mouths of the people around him open and close, but he couldn't hear any sound, he squeezed his ears hard with the palm of his hand, and repeated it three times before he regained his hearing.

Catherine's face turned pale with fright, although she had not come to Nanjing, she had heard of the sturdiness of Nanjing's city walls, compared to Nanjing City, most of Europa's castles could only be regarded as small toys.

Even the city wall of Nanjing City cracked under a single shot, and large pieces of city wall masonry rolled and threw into the sky, and the soldiers of the Southern Ming Dynasty near the explosion point were blown up all over the sky, and after the terrifying explosion, the city wall was blown down several gaps.

Catherine had no choice but to recognize a reality: "There is no city in Europe that can withstand its bombardment!" ”

Song Xiance actually didn't quite understand why Cheng Shijie wanted to trade with the Spanish Empire, seeing this shelling, Song Xiance understood, this is Cheng Shijie's confidence.

Obedient eats fruit, disobedient will spank. It was not a hand-beating, but a spanking with a five-inch 154.5 mm caliber cannon with a diameter of 32 times. (End of chapter)