In the city of Nanjing, the killing array against Zhu Cixiang was also quietly unfolding.
It needs to be explained here that not all Nandu nobles particularly want to fight Zhu Cihong for their lives. Although everyone was cruel to Zhu Cihong for taking away their interests, the amount of interests taken away from each family varied. There is a group of nobles who have been passed down from the reign of Taizu and Chengzu, and there is no break between them. They are powerful and have many interests, so they naturally have the capital to resist.
There are also some honors that were first granted during the reign of Taizu, but were later discontinued due to various reasons. It was not until the Jiajing period that they were continued by the descendants of meritorious officials, such as Huaiyuan Marquis Chang Yanling, Lingbi Marquis Tang Guozuo, Chengyi Bo Liu Kongzhao and others. Just because it was renewed too late, all the interests of the Southeast Guard were divided. They couldn't get in at all, and the profits they received were not much. Naturally, there was nothing worthy of their family's lives to defend. At the critical moment, he either walked away or became a coward and stayed behind closed doors.
So those who are now gathered in the relatively cold outer city of Nanjing, in a secluded garden belonging to the Xu family somewhere inside Guanyinmen, are Xu Hongji, Zhao Zhilong, Xu Yunjue, Xu Yongji, Liu Zuochang (Marquis Anyuan), Guo Zuoyong, and those who just left Huang Shu and Lu Jiude who came from Fengyang, the former Minister of Civil Affairs of Nanjing, the veteran minister Zhang Shenyan who was only seventy years old, and the Nanjing garrison eunuch Han Zanzhou.
Zhang Shenyan and Han Zan were true loyalists in Zhoudu. Even though they were advised by Chongzhen when they were in Yangzhou, after returning to Nanjing, they still devoted themselves to the cause of "loyalty to the emperor and cheating the Ming Dynasty" without hesitation.
"Greed, lewdness, unfilial piety, bloodlust, cunning, tyranny, and evil... The prince has seven major faults in total. Even if he has the merit of escorting the southern tour, it is not enough to compensate for the faults. What's more, he has forced his father to drive away his younger brother. The crime should be abolished in any dynasty. As for the fact that the Holy Emperor has no son, there is no need to worry. King Yong and the fifth prince have already got the news and can try to redeem it from the traitor. And the emperor already has someone by his side. If you choose a servant to get pregnant, you might also be able to give birth to a prince."
The one who was speaking was Zhang Shenyan, an upright veteran with white beard and hair. Now that the Six Ministries in Nanjing have been abolished, most of the officials in the Six Ministries are either employed elsewhere, waiting for election, or simply going home to retire.
However, this veteran minister who became an official in the Wanli Dynasty and had experienced the Wanli, Taichang, Tianqi, and Chongzhen dynasties had to stay in Nanjing because he was too old, in poor health, and his hometown of Shanxi was occupied by Li Zicheng. And because he had a close relationship with Zhao Nanxing, the former leader of the Donglin Party, he was also considered a Donglin Party member and had good relations with Donglin and Fushe gentlemen in Nanjing. After walking around Yangzhou, he had seen through Zhu Cihong's true face and formally admitted the seven deadly sins that Huang Shu had summarized for Zhu Cihong.
With Mr. Miaoshan's certification from Zhang Shenyan, Zhu Cixiang's identity as the evil prince is now confirmed!
"What the old gentleman said is absolutely true!" Huang Shu, who had just returned to Nanjing after a long journey, nodded proudly, "General Ma and Huang Zongrong have already sent 6,000 elite soldiers south, and will soon reach Nanjing! There are still more soldiers in Nanjing. The soldiers of Zhao Zongrong and Guo Zongrong, as well as the servants of Wei Guofu, as well as the troops from various families, total 60,000 people! And Nandu Shilin also supports us! In the past few days, the scholars of Shilin Everyone hates the prince for being unfilial and unfaithful, and they all want to get rid of him quickly!"
Zhang Shenyan twirled his snow-white beard, nodded slightly and said, "It's okay to waste it, but don't hurt his life."
"That's what the old gentleman said." The old gentleman spoke, and Zhao Zhilong could only nod his head and said, "It's just that the prince also has some troops, and he will probably resist when the time comes. This sword and gun have no eyesight..."
"Zongrong Zhao still wants to fight?" Zhang Shenyan looked at Zhao Zhilong, "Since we know that swords and guns have no eyes, aren't we afraid of hurting the Holy One? If anything happens to the Holy One, we will have to commit a sin that cannot be redeemed until death!"
"If we don't fight..." Zhao Zhilong was stunned, "What's wrong with this matter if we don't fight?"
Zhang Shenyan said: "You can't fight, you can only force!"
"Force?" Zhao Zhilong asked, "How?"
Zhang Shen said: "Of course it is to show him a sure-kill formation and force him to repent and return his power to the Holy One!"
"But what is the sure-kill formation?"
After listening to Zhang Shenyan's words, Zhao Zhilong was still confused. To be honest, his ability as the commander-in-chief of Nanjing and leading troops was still lagging behind that of Zhu Chunchen and Li Guozhen, the commander-in-chief of Beijing, let alone fighting Wu Xiang and Wu Sanfu, a father and son who escaped from the dead.
With his little ability, what kind of killing array can he create?
Cough cough cough...
Old Man Xu's cough suddenly sounded, and then he heard the old man speak: "Isn't it easy to kill the enemy? If the prince does not enter Nanjing City, it may not be easy to deal with it. But as long as he enters the city, it will be our world. ! With less than 20,000 troops and horses, can he fight against our more than 60,000 people?"
"My lord, please tell me if you have any clever tips!" Zhao Zhilong looked at Xu Hongji, who was probably sick and confused. He couldn't resist him, so he could only follow his words and ask him to take action.
Old Xu twirled his beard and asked, "Is the prince's party going overland this time?"
"It's by land." Han Zanzhou said, "First cross the river at Guazhou, and then take the main road between Zhenjiang and Yingtian to Beijing."
Old Man Xu smiled and said: "If you want to take the main road, you should enter from Qilin Gate or Xianhe Gate in the southeast of the outer outline, and then walk along the outer wall of Xiaoling Mausoleum toward Chaoyang Gate. Entering Chaoyang Gate is the imperial city.
On the way into Chaoyangmen, there are Purple Mountain and Xiaolingwei (castle) in the north, the Great Sacrifice Altar and Shanchuan Altar in the south, the Chaoyangmen Urn City in the west, and the Qinhuai River in the east. As long as we deploy our elite troops at Purple Mountain, Xiaoling Guard, Great Sacrifice Altar, Shanchuan Altar, and Chaoyang Gate, and then ambush the dead soldiers on the Qinhuai River. If we wait until the prince and the emperor's chariot enters the area and then launch an attack together, are we still afraid that we won't be able to force the prince to return to power? "
Zhao Zhilong nodded: "If this is true, we will definitely win... I'm afraid that the prince will not fall into the trap! The prince is known for being cunning and cruel, and we have been tossing in Jinling for so many days, he will not know anything. ?Can you be fooled so easily?"
Xu Hongji twirled his beard and said, "If he is not fooled, the worst we can do is withdraw our troops into the inner city. We can fight against him with the help of Nanjing Fort! As long as the Pingtai general is willing to come east of the Yangtze River, we still have a chance of winning."
"What the Duke said is absolutely true!" Huang Shu took over the topic, "The lower official has good relations with the generals who are peaceful and thieves. You can go to Wuchang and persuade the generals who are peaceful and thieves to send troops to clear the emperor's side."
"But General Ping Zei has already joined the prince." Han Zanzhou reminded, "The prince also made General Ping Zei the feudal lord of Wuchang, giving him half of Huguang."
"Hahaha," Huang Shu laughed and said, "The prince is openly rewarding and secretly taking away the prize! Now the whole province of Huguang is the territory of the thieves generals, but the prince has handed over the southern part of Huguang to the jurisdiction of He Tengjiao and Huaiyuan Marquis, and also let Uncle Chengyi station in The troops in Jiujiang made it clear that they did not trust the generals who were thieves.
As for the feudal lords and so on, they are all for nothing, so it would be better to reward him with hundreds of thousands of taels of silver! This prince has done so many things in Yangzhou and Huai'an, but he doesn't know how to give them to generals who are thieves. How short-sighted! "
"Not only did General Ping Thief not get any benefits, Huang Chuangzi didn't get anything either." Lu Jiude, the eunuch guarding Fengyang, interjected, "The prince only said that Ma Zhijun would raise military pay in Fengyang Mansion. This is obvious. Huang Chuangzi’s 30,000 troops are going to starve to death!”
Huang Shu said loudly: "With the help of General Pingthief and General Huang, even if we start a war in Nanjing, we will definitely win!"
"Yes!" Old Man Xu nodded heavily, "We have the strong city of Nanjing in our hands, reinforcements from two towns outside, and the righteous title of King Qin... Even if the prince has 20,000 new troops, what can he do to me? ?”
However, Zhao Zhilong still frowned, "But the Holy Emperor and the Crown Prince are coming, and we should greet him on the outskirts of the city. What should we do if the Crown Prince arrests people while I am waiting on the outskirts of the city to welcome him?"
This is a problem!
Zhang Shenyan smiled at this time: "This matter is easy to handle. I am the head of the civil service in Nanjing, the general is the garrison of Nanjing and the head of the nobles in Nanjing, and Eunuch Han is the garrison eunuch of Nanjing. As long as the three of us come forward, everyone else can do whatever they want. Just send someone to deal with it. Eunuch Han, what do you think?"
Han Zanzhou shouted loudly: "Our family is not afraid!"
Zhao Zhilong looked at the two people in front of him who were not afraid of death, and thought to himself, I am not afraid either! I have been an undercover for a long time... If the prince sees through the Nanjing nobles' conspiracy, I will be a loyal minister of the undercover. If he does not see through, then I will be a loyal minister of the emperor. I am so smart!
