Big sacrificial altar.
The cheers of the three armies floated over from the east bank of the Qinhuai River. And the light of the torch began to flicker and swim.
Funing Marquis Zhu Guobi, wearing a loose Confucian shirt, stood at the window of a two-story building facing the east, holding a telescope and looking motionlessly at the east bank of the Qinhuai River.
The 10,000 to 20,000 Nanjing troops stationed at the Great Sacrifice Altar are now commanded by Zhu Guobi. Among the nobles in Nanjing City, he is considered to be more effective in combat. He had earlier worked with Lu Zhenfei to reorganize the grain transport army in Huai'an Prefecture. He also recruited hundreds of servants for himself, and conveniently stole 200,000 taels of silver that he was going to send to Dengzhou.
It is precisely because of these 200,000 taels of silver that he has fallen step by step to where he is now - otherwise, he might have been a hero in overcoming difficulties together with Lu Zhenfei.
But after he learned how Zhu Cixiang "forced donations" in Beijing and how Denglai reorganized the guardhouse, he felt that a corrupt official like himself would not end well if he fell into the hands of the prince.
So I went to Nanjing and worked with Xu Hongji and Huang Shu to become King Qin. Before this afternoon, King Qin’s career looked pretty good. He was also highly regarded and led troops to garrison the large sacrificial altar. If the military remonstrance was successful and the prince handed over power, he would undoubtedly be Emperor Chongzhen's great meritorious official. The previous problem of corruption no longer exists, and maybe there will be more corruption.
But as soon as Zhu Cihong's army entered Qilin Gate, the situation became unexpected!
The prince does not go to Xiaoling to pay homage to his ancestors, nor does he go to the imperial city at Chaoyangmen. Instead, they set up camp east of the Qinhuai River, and sent large groups of cavalry to occupy bridges, inspect the river banks, and expel the idlers... Is this a battle formation?
When Zhu Guobi received the report from his subordinates, he immediately panicked. He was not in the mood to drink and listen to music. He took out a telescope and found a high place to watch. As a result, I heard the cheers of the new army that had overcome difficulties...
"Sir, what are they shouting for?"
A woman came up from downstairs. She was about eighteen or nineteen years old. She was wearing a white Suzhou embroidered satin dress. Her posture was graceful and very touching. Her bulging chest is extremely impressive, she has an oval face, willow-leaf eyebrows, and a pair of big watery eyes with rippling autumn waves, making her look charming and charming. As soon as the beauty appeared, she immediately attracted Zhu Guobi's attention.
He put down his telescope, turned to look at his beloved beauty, and sighed: "Bai Men, let's go... I put three hundred taels of gold at Dou'er's place, which will be enough for a while. You and She will go back to Chaoku Street for a while first."
Speaking of sadness, Zhu Guobi burst into tears.
This woman is his concubine, named Kou Baimen, one of the eight beauties of Qinhuai, and one of the eight beauties.
Seeing Zhu Guobi crying sadly, Kou Baimen was a little puzzled, "Why is the master like this? During the day, the master told the slave that after King Qin succeeds this time, he will be able to enjoy wealth and wealth in the south of the Yangtze River..."
Zhu Guobi just shook his head: "Don't say more. If I can escape this death, I will go to Chaoku Street to find you. If not... you can find a good family to marry. Just remember, don't Enter the Hou family again."
Kou Baimen looked at Zhu Guobi's fearful look and just sighed softly and made a blessing ceremony: "The slave family must be waiting for the master at Chaoku Street."
After saying that, he turned around and left.
Zhu Guobi watched her go downstairs, and then turned his eyes again to the east of the Qinhuai River. He just stared blankly, doing nothing and not knowing what to do?
Now all the bridges on the Qinhuai River are controlled by the prince's new army, and nothing can stop them from rushing towards the almost undefended altar.
The reason why the large sacrificial altar is undefended is because it has long been in disrepair, with most of the earthen walls on all sides collapsed, and few of the buildings inside are intact, making it difficult to fortify.
Moreover, Zhu Guobi did not dare to set up defenses outside the large altar. It's night now... Let those rabble out, they might just run away!
Now I can only stand at the altar for a while. If I can wait until Huang Degong sends troops, I may be able to escape.
...
"Fix the bayonet! Fix the bayonet... If the enemy is not five steps in front of you, you are not allowed to fire!"
The loud voice of Hao Yaoqi, the first infantry commander of the new army to overcome the difficulties, kept ringing in the ears of more than a thousand gun soldiers. In fact, he didn't need to remind him, these veterans who were former bandits knew what to do.
They are the heavenly soldiers who defeated the Tatars! Later, when Zhu Cixiang reorganized the new army again, he specially awarded them the designation of the First Association to show their bravery!
How could such a "celestial soldier" shoot indiscriminately on the battlefield? And after several months of rigorous training and another actual combat in Zhenjiang not long ago. These "celestial soldiers" all know the benefits of approaching and firing.
In their opinion, what they are holding now is not a firecracker at all, but a long gun that can fire deadly projectiles - blasting one shot before fighting the enemy in hand-to-hand combat is the correct way to use the firecracker!
Moreover, they also discovered a new situation during the Battle of Zhenjiang. Their enemies were extremely afraid of a blunderbuss with a bayonet and ammunition, but which had not yet fired! When average-level servants saw the fire-gun soldiers of the new army rushing towards them, they all had to flee and didn't even have the courage to fight...
Using a big knife to fight hand-to-hand with a rifle with a bayonet is telling a story! Do you really think they won’t open fire? If you fire a shot from a few steps away, isn't this just a matter of life?
Therefore, Hao Yaoqi had to suppress his men now and prevent them from firing. He charged with a blunderbuss and reached the enemy.
...
Bang bang bang...
The sound of fire cannons sounded outside the east, south, and north walls of the great altar!
It was not the attacking New Army that was firing, but the defending Nanjing Camp troops that were firing their cannons. Of course it's indiscriminate shooting!
It's all in the dark, no one knows where the enemy is? I could only hear the shouts of "Wan Sheng! Wan Sheng" from the new army that had overcome difficulties getting louder and louder. So the Nanjing Jingying fire gunman who was guarding the collapsed earth wall couldn't help but open fire.
As the guns roared, casualties inevitably occurred!
Instead of hitting the enemy, there were multiple gunshot accidents! Heart-rending screams echoed on the east, south, and north fronts of the large sacrificial altar.
Almost none of the officers from the Nanjing Jingying Camp who commanded the operations had ever been to the front line, and they did not train the troops very much at ordinary times - they were all N-generation officers selected from some guard troops and worked as errands in the Nanjing Jingying Camp to earn a living. After taking Xu Hongji's money, he followed King Qin. He thought he was responsible for making noise, but who knew he would actually fight!
Oh, actually there hasn’t been a real fight yet, none of the muskets fired by the New Army have fired!
The casualties suffered by the Nanjing Camp now are all caused by the bombing!
These days, all the firecrackers supplied to the frontier troops have exploded. How can the firecrackers supplied to the Nanjing camp be any better? Moreover, the skills of the Nanjing Camp's gun soldiers were not good, and their ammunition was not fixed. Many of them had no idea when loading the ammunition, either too much or too little. If it's loaded too little, it won't be able to hit far; if it's loaded too much, it'll explode.
Therefore, the new army did not fire a single shot, and Zhu Guobi's men had already been injured a lot...
The sound of gunfire from the Great Sacrificial Altar spread far in the quiet night, and could still be heard faintly at Linggu Temple.
"Mr. Huang, it seems like there's a fight!"
At this time, Ma Shiying, already dressed in military uniform, appeared in front of Huang Degong. Huang Degong looked at the attire of the Fengyang Governor and admired him deeply.
Are you going to fight King Qin personally? What a loyal minister!
Huang Degong frowned and said: "It should be a fight. Zhijun, do we want to send troops?"
Ma Shiying shook his head, "Not yet... Wei Guogong is the commander-in-chief. Without his order, we cannot move, but we must be prepared."
"How to prepare?" Huang Degong asked.
"The first step is to set up the formation. The governor's Guizhou soldiers are good at marching in the mountains. They can take the lead and let them set up the formation outside the mountain gate."
"That's fine." Huang De nodded lightly. Ma Shiying was his boss, and there was Chongzhen's "handkerchief edict", so of course he had to obey.
Ma Shiying then took out a blank memorial and handed it to Huang Degong, "We have to jointly write a memorial to His Majesty, explaining why we raised the army... I will write the memorial myself, you can sign it first. "
"Okay! It all depends on the military command."
