When he woke up, he found that the Qing soldiers who loved to massacre the city had arrived outside Nanjing. It was not just Prince Zhu and Monk Geng Jingzhong.
About half of the people in Nanjing were awakened by the sound of cannon fired by the Qing army to scare the training soldiers of the Yingtian Regiment at 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 troops led by Yue Le had launched a major counterattack!
However, when they just learned about the Qing army's major counterattack, everyone said they were not panicked. The Qing Dynasty today is no longer the Qing Dynasty it was more than 20 years ago. The Heavenly Soldiers of the Qing Dynasty at that time were each more ferocious than the last, and the current Qing Dynasty leader is cowardly and treacherous. The combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners Soldiers and Green Camp Soldiers is even more fierce than the last one. Pull the crotch. How did Nanjing get lost? How did the entire city of Nanjing be captured by Geng Jingzhong’s men? You guys have seen it with your own eyes!
Seeing must be believed, right?
As for the news I heard, it was too good to be true. There was really everything. Some said that Wu Sangui, the king of the West, had divided his troops into two groups according to the method of "Longzhong Dui", with him personally leading one group. After leaving Qishan and entering Guanzhong, we have reached Wuzhangyuan! If Wu Sangui, an old boy, had not died of illness in Wuzhangyuan, the pockmarked Emperor of the Qing Dynasty would have been in grave danger.
Others say that Wu Sangui's son Wu Yingxiong has led his troops out of Xiangyang, Xiangwan and Luo, and now Wan, that is, Nanyang Mansion has been captured by Wu Yingxiong. Luo, that is, Luoyang will soon have the surname Wu! This time Wu Yingxiong shocked China. Qing officials in various prefectures in Henan abandoned their offices and fled. Even the bannermen in Beijing also moved out of the customs in groups.
If half of these rumors are to be believed, then the Qing Dynasty is now a "pockmarked tail" that will never grow!
Since the current Qing Dynasty looks bad, and sounds even worse, why should the people of Nanjing be panic? When it's time to eat, when it's time to drink, just wait to hear the good news from the front line.
But no one expected that this Qing Dynasty, which looked incompetent but sounded like it was about to be finished, was actually quite capable! The Qing army that counterattacked from Zhenjiang first captured Xia Shu Town, then Dongyang Town, and Longtan Port. Then they advanced to Qixia Mountain. After setting up camp and resting for two days in Qixia Mountain, they crossed the Jiuxiang River. They began to advance towards Lime Mountain and Jubao Mountain. Within two days, news came that the Qing army had set up camp in Lime Mountain and Jubao Mountain!
Now the people in Nanjing were a little nervous. Why were the Qing soldiers so fierce? Can Prince Zhu San, Geng Jingzhong, Lu Zhongtang, Li Zhongtang, and Chen Zhongtang here in Nanjing be able to do it?
Otherwise, someone seemed to have massacred the whole city of Jiangning before!
If the Qing soldiers were to enter Nanjing, why not massacre them back?
And just when the whole city of Nanjing felt that something was wrong, early this morning, the sound of cannons actually came from the northeast corner of Nanjing!
The extremely ferocious Qing soldiers have actually reached the outside of Nanjing. Isn't this too fast?
While the rumbling of cannons continued, all kinds of terrible rumors spread among the people of Nanjing.
"Oh no, the Tatar soldiers massacred the town of Xia Shu, killing all the people in the town. Not even a chicken or dog was left! How did I know? I was in the town of Xia Shu at the time! I have backup Of course they won't kill me for destroying the official photos of Shuishi Town. But you Nanjing people should be careful! Prince An of the Tatars said that if Nanjing City is captured, it must be massacred according to Jiangyin's method, and the sword will be sealed after all are slaughtered!"
"Longtan Port was also massacred. Except for the people on the passing navy merchant ships and the canal boats transporting food to the Tatar capital, no one on the shore was left alive. The people killed were all thrown into the Yangtze River. What a misfortune!"
"Ah, it turns out that the floating corpses I saw on the Yangtze River two days ago were all the people of Longtan Port!"
"I heard that Dongyang Town was also slaughtered. In Dongyang Town, Mr. Cha took the lead in shaving his hair and lowering his rank. His head was cut off and hung on the flagpole next to the official road! I saw it when I was passing by somewhere!"
"The area around Qixia Mountain was also littered with corpses. Even the monks from Qixia Temple were not spared. Amitabha, I am an honest monk. I came to Nanjing from the Southern Shaolin Temple in Putian, Fujian. I never lied. The day before yesterday If I hadn't escaped over the wall, I would have seen the Buddha of the West by now!"
Of course, the above legends about the massacre, except that "the city of Nanjing was captured, and the sword was sealed after massacre" are slightly more reliable, the others are all rumors. Although Yue Le is cruel, he is by no means a "brainless person". He was the one who massacred Nanjing. Use it as a big reward to motivate the soldiers. The so-called "slaughter" is actually robbery and murder! Except for a few Eight Banners soldiers and Green Camp soldiers whose family members died in Jiangning all over the city, who wanted to vent their anger, the others actually wanted money. If Yue Le lets them burn, kill and loot all the way, I'm afraid some of the soldiers will have already looted enough before the troops reach Nanjing.
Then Xia Shu Town, Dongyang Town, and Longtan Port are all quite wealthy. If some soldiers and generals rob enough, Nanjing will no longer be attractive to them for the time being. If they rob enough, it is important to save their lives.
In addition, it is difficult for the troops to maintain discipline when they let go of robbery, and an army that loses discipline can easily be defeated.
To the south of Xia Shu Town, Dongyang Town, and Longtan Port are contiguous hills, such as Baohua Mountain, Dahua Mountain, Ge Mountain, and Wu Qi Mountain. These hills are not controlled by Yue Le's soldiers.
Moreover, there are many Zhuangzi in these hills, and many of the practitioners recruited by the Jiangning regiment, which earns a lot of money, are from the mountainous areas in this area (the mountain people are poor and are willing to serve as soldiers). Many of them are in their hometowns. It’s Chinese New Year!
If Yue Le launches a large-scale raid, the regiment training hiding in the mountains may rush out and make a surprise attack.
But war never tires of deceit! The three Zhongtangs, Li Zhongtang, Lu Zhongtang, and Chen Zhongtang, are not good people in the first place. If they want to "cheat", they will not let even their own father off the hook (of course Chen Yonghua will not do this, because his father has died long ago), not to mention The common people in Nanjing?
We must use lies to coerce these unscrupulous people!
And these lies are believed by the unscrupulous people in Nanjing - who in the Jiangnan area knows the virtues of the Qing soldiers? On the 10th day of Yangzhou, there were three massacres in Jiading and the massacre in Jiangyin. Not many years had passed!
Moreover, no matter how good Yangzhou, Jiading, Jiangyin and other places were, they never massacred Eight Banners soldiers and Eight Banners family members!
The Yangzhou people were slaughtered without doing anything, and the Jiading people were slaughtered three times because they refused to shave their heads! Jiangyin resisted for eighty-one days, and finally the whole city was slaughtered until only a few dozen people were left!
Therefore, if Yue Le breaks through Nanjing, he must massacre the city, most likely according to Jiangyin's standards!
At this time, the people in Nanjing were panicked. Some of the more clever ones hurried home to pack up their belongings and prepare to run away before Nanjing was surrounded by Qing soldiers. However, when they arrived at the city gates that opened to the west and south, including Yifeng Gate, Dinghuai Gate, Jiangdong Gate, and Jubao Gate, they found that the city gates had long been closed, and there were fully armed training soldiers of the Yingtian Regiment guarding them. , no one is allowed to leave Nanjing City!
And their "ban" makes sense!
"You can't go out, there's already a Tatar cavalry team outside!"
"Tatar cavalry are everywhere killing people. If you meet them when you go out, you will be dead."
"If you go out, you will die. You can't leave the city!"
As if to prove that Huai Yong, who looked honest and honest and spoke with a Jiangbei accent, was not lying, "crackling" gunshots were heard outside the city as if to match the occasion!
The gunfire sounded very much like firecrackers, but it was definitely not firecrackers, but ferocious Tatars shooting people outside the city!
It seems that escaping Nanjing City is also a dead end, and you will die faster!
When they thought that hiding in Nanjing City meant waiting for death, escaping would mean death, no matter what, some timid Nanjing people couldn't help crying.
"Woo. What should we do?"
"I can't run anymore, so I have to wait to die."
"Wow wow wow"
"Snapped!"
Just here at Jiangdong Gate, when a group of people who wanted to escape were crying sadly, someone suddenly shot a flintlock pistol into the sky, startling everyone - the sound of the gunshot was comparable to that outside the city. The sound of gunfire is much clearer!
Everyone quickly looked in the direction of the gunfire to see if any Eight Banners heavenly soldiers had entered the city. At first glance, they were all confused. It turned out that the person holding a pistol towards the sky was a Confucian scholar in a turban and Taoist robe. He was a little thin and short, with a goatee. He was a bit older, and his face had been weathered except for the traces of time. The trace is the excitement that cannot be concealed, so excited that it is a bit ferocious! In addition to holding a musket, there was also a long sword hanging on his belt. The hilt and scabbard had signs of wear. It looked very old, and it was obviously used frequently.
Seeing that everyone had stopped crying and looked at him, the scholar shouted loudly: "I am Lu Liangliu, a commoner in Nanyang, who was invited by the prison country to discuss the affairs of the country with the heroes of the world! What grievances do you have? ? Why are you crying in Jiangdong Gate? If there is an injustice that cannot be redressed, because Lu is not talented, I am willing to lead you to the Supervisory Government to petition!"
petition?
injustice?
A group of ordinary people who want to escape are unable to escape. Even if they have a grievance, they don't have time to escape, so what grievance can they have?
Just when everyone didn't know what to say, someone suddenly spoke their "heartfelt voice" for them.
"Mr. Lu, we just want to fight against the Qing Dynasty!"
"Yes! Now the whole city of Nanjing has been slaughtered, and the Tatars will not let us Nanjing people go. If we want to survive, we have to fight with the Tatars! Mr. Lu, can you lead us to petition the prisoner?"
"Mr. Lu, please lead us to petition against the Qing Dynasty! We and the Tatars are sworn in!"
"Yes, kill the Tatars and protect Yingtian!"
The people in Jiangdong Gate were a little stunned. They just wanted to escape for their lives, why are they desperate now?
"Kill the Tatars! Bao Yingtian!"
"Yes! Fight with the Tatars!"
"The city of Nanjing is so strong. As long as we fight hard, how can we not be able to defend it?"
While the people were in a daze, several Tuo. No, not Tuo, but the particularly brave Yingtian man had roared and pulled out his long sword while fighting!
The old Confucian named Lu Liangliu nodded at this moment and shouted: "Okay! Ying Tian's son is indeed a descendant of the founding of the Ming Dynasty and its strong military. I will take you to the Supervisory Palace to petition!"
"Let's go! Go to the Supervisory Office to petition!"
"Petition!"
Those Yingtian men were waving their swords, and they all looked fierce. The common people who originally wanted to run away had no choice but to follow them. If you don't go, you might get beaten!
And when these people who were trying to escape from Nanjing City through Dongjiang Gate were brought to the open school grounds outside Jian Guoding Prince's Mansion by "Nanyang Commoner" Lu Liangliu and a group of Yingtian good men armed with sharp knives, the place was already crowded with people. , at least 20,000 to 30,000 Jinling people who tried to leave the dangerous city but could not, gathered outside the Jianguo Mansion for the same reason.
Leading them were a dozen "great Confucians" who had come to attend the meeting to restore the Ming Dynasty. At this time, the disciples and Ying Tian, a good man holding a sharp sword, were already standing outside the gate of Jianguo Dingwang's palace.
Lu Liuliang also passed through the crowd and squeezed to the side of the "great Confucianists". A young Confucian scholar who looked a bit like him immediately saluted him: "Sir, the people who just supervised the country came out to spread the word, saying that His Highness will soon join Dong Wang and others. Li Zhongtang, Chen Zhongtang, and Lu Zhongtang all came out to meet us."
Lu Liangliu nodded lightly and said with a smile: "Baozhong, it seems that His Highness and the other ministers are still willing to listen to public opinion at this time. This is the way for the country to prosper!"
This young Confucian scholar's name was Lu Baozhong, one of Huang Zongxi's disciples, and he had followed Huang Zongxi south to Guangdong before. Because he was relatively young and his knowledge was not deep enough, he entered the Reform School. Under the guidance of Huang Zongxi, Luo Wenzao, Dai Zi and others, he studied for two full years and made great progress. Now he has learned a bit about both Chinese and Western knowledge. That makes sense.
This time, he came to Nanjing as Li Zhongtang's staff, and of course he was one of the masterminds behind the petition against the Qing Dynasty.
Hearing his father's words, he immediately smiled and said: "If a country is going to prosper, listen to the people! Now that the supervisors and all the officials are willing to listen to the people, it is certainly a sign that the country is going to prosper. But the people who can shoulder the responsibility for the rise and fall of the world, They are not ordinary people, but 'original people'. I wonder if the people of Yingtian are the original people who match the original monarch and the original ministers?"
Of course, the original people developed this principle based on the original king, original ministers, and original laws.
In a country, it is not enough for the monarch and his ministers to know that "the people are the foundation and the monarch is the most important" and that "the world is for the Lord and the monarch is the guest". The scholars and people under the monarch and ministers must also know this!
And it’s useless to just know the big principles, you also need to know how to implement these principles, and you should have the means and courage to implement these principles!
According to the principles of "New Confucianism", one of the most basic conditions that "original scholars" and "original people" must possess is to possess martial ethics!
The so-called martial virtue is to pick up a weapon (hold a sharp blade), go into battle (fight bravely), and win (win the battle)!
If they cannot do this, they are not true original scholars and original people. Without original scholars and original people, the original monarchs, original ministers, and original laws are all without roots. Even if they can exist for a period of time, they will inevitably be corrupted in the end. .
To achieve these three points is easier said than done!
However, just like Yuan Jun, Yuan Chen, and Yuan Fa, it is not necessary to achieve perfect scores. If you can do something, do something. It is better than doing nothing.
Or in other words, you can have as much as you can do.
For example, now, the abilities of the monarchs, ministers, scholars, and people in Yingtian City are limited. It is impossible to expect them to transform into violent men and chase the Qing soldiers outside the city. Moreover, Yingtian is not Foshan. This is a textile industry center. It cannot produce large quantities of arms, so it is impossible to arm so many people.
But definitely start doing it!
Starting from this time when Yingtian is surrounded and in danger!
If the people of Yingtian are still unwilling to take up arms and participate in the battle when the city is about to be massacred, then they are not worthy of being aboriginal people, and it will be difficult for the original soldiers, original ministers, original kings and original laws to continue. .
If they have to rely on the protection of a small number of military nobles with strong martial virtues to survive, then they can only live as obedient people!
Lu Baozhong told Lu Liangliu that the situation was different. At this time, in the lobby of Prince Guoding's palace, a debate in front of the palace about whether to mobilize and arm Yingtian's "original people" was underway.
"Your Majesty, now the school grounds are full of common people and gentry who are willing to protect Yingtian and fight against the Tatars. Their hearts can be used, and Yingtian can be protected!"
"Wang Shikai, are you kidding? You want the people of Yingtian Mansion to fight the Eight Banners soldiers? Aren't you asking them to die?"
"Why do you want to die? Sanhao, how many people are there in Yingtianfu City? How many young men can be mobilized?"
"how many?"
"Report to your Majesty, if we do not count the area outside Yingtianfu City, but only the area west of the Qinhuai River in the inner city and the outer city, we have more than 100,000 registered households in Yingtian City, with a population of 500,000 or 600,000! If we also include temporary residents and Among the businessmen and scholars who came to Yingtianfu, the current population of Yingtianfu City is probably 700,000, which is more than Beijing! The largest city in the world must be Yingtian!
And among the population of 600,000, there are over 100,000 strong men! "
"If hundreds of thousands of people are all armed, do we still need to be afraid of the Qing army? How many people does Yue Le have? Thirty thousand? Fifty thousand? We are five times more powerful than him, so what can he use to fight Yingtian?"
Just when Wang Zhongxiao opened his mouth and said that he would arm all the hundreds of thousands of strong men in Yingtianfu City, everyone in the lobby was stunned. Even Lu Sanhao and Chen Yonghua, who had always supported him, did not expect that his heart was so big.
"Shikai, I'm afraid we don't have that much equipment!" Chen Yonghua reminded, "Most of the muskets, artillery, and even swords stored in Yingtianfu City have been distributed, and the remaining ones can only make up for the battle damage. "
"Then make a batch of long spears. You can also make powerful crossbows! Crossbow machines can always be made in Nanjing, right? There are many craftsmen who make textile machines here, and there are enough wood and silk threads!" Wang Zhongxiao said with a smile, "As long as There are 100,000 powerful crossbows and 50,000 spears, why should Yue Le be afraid?"
"But we don't have that much money to pay!" Prince Zhu San shook his head and said, "Back then, the late emperor also recruited people from Beijing to join the army to defend the city, but because he had no money, so..."
"If you don't have money, you can give me a piece of paper," Wang Zhongxiao said, "Land, official position, and the reputation of a scholar. You have to have this, right? Let's teach more crossbow and spear talents!"
(End of chapter)
