The Third Prince Zhu climbed up with support, and then moved himself to the side of the ship. Yang Ziyun opened the window on the side of the cabin for him, allowing him to see clearly what was going on outside.
It was already getting a little brighter at this time, so Prince Zhu could have a panoramic view of the situation on the nearby shore. The official ship he was on was indeed on the Qinhuai River, and it was also on the river section of the inner city of Nanjing. Nearby was the original Jiangnan Gongyuan, which is now the Reform School, the headquarters of the reformists.
Through the window, the Third Prince could clearly see a sea of red that had gathered outside the Reform School!
I don’t know how many Chinese people and scholars wearing red robes, holding long swords, crossbows and muskets have gathered in the open space outside the gate of the Restoration Hall, and are howling to "protect the Ming Dynasty and punish the national traitors"!
Some of them had already drawn their swords and held them high, reflecting the dazzling light in the early morning sun.
A high platform has been set up at the entrance of the Reform Hall. On the high platform stands a "great scholar in red" wearing a red robe with a cross-collar collar. Prince Zhu San also recognized him. He is the leader of the Reform Sect and the deputy director of the Nanjing Reform School. Long Lu Liuliang.
Lu Liuliang seemed to be mobilizing. He was holding a loudspeaker rolled up with cardboard and delivering a speech at the top of his voice. However, the surroundings were too noisy and Prince Zhu San could not hear clearly. He could only vaguely hear "The rise and fall of the world, the rise and fall of the world." "The people of the country are responsible", "The Ming Dynasty is the Ming Dynasty of the people of the country", "Anqing has been captured by the heavenly soldiers, and the British King's army is coming" and other words.
Hearing "The King of England's army is approaching", Zhu Cijiong perked up - as long as Li Datou's army arrived, he, the third prince, would be "Zhu Mochou".
"Quick, quick, pull the boat up, I want to be with the people!" Zhu Cijiong said.
"No!" Yang Ziyun next to him immediately stopped him, "Your Majesty, let's see how the Nanjing people, Yingtian Lianjun, and Huaixi Red Scarf can quell the chaos and kill the thieves. Once the Geng thieves are eliminated, your Majesty will be hailed as the emperor. . If the king comes forward now, I’m afraid it will cause misunderstanding.”
As he spoke, Yang Ziyun raised his hand and gently touched his long neck!
Zhu Cijiong is a smart man, and he immediately understood that Yang Ziyun was passing on messages for others!
That "other" needs a puppet emperor!
The emperor still wants this after all!
Because the process of reviving the Ming Dynasty is a process of conquering the world, and conquering the world will produce many heroes. Meritorious officials must be knighted, and once they are knighted, they must be passed on to their descendants. If there is no hereditary emperor, why can the nobles still be hereditary?
So it’s impossible without the Emperor. At least for now, it’s impossible without the Emperor.
Since there is an emperor, then for the Southern King, the Northern King, the British King, the Zhong King, the Yi King, as well as Lu Zhongtang, Chen Zhongtang and others, it is better to support a legitimate heir to the Ming Dynasty throne with upright blood and legal traditions. It's more appropriate - otherwise whoever steps up to the stage to become the emperor will risk losing their heads, and the others will definitely not agree!
For example, now that Geng Jingzhong is the emperor, other kings and ministers will join forces to deal with him!
Of course, the legal heir of Ming Dynasty must also be incompetent and cowardly enough. Only in this way can he be a good puppet emperor.
Otherwise, given the old Zhu family's history of killing heroes, if the third prince Zhu showed a bit of domineering spirit, he would be killed by Geng Jingzhong!
"My dear concubine, I thought about it again and found that I can't do anything. It seems that if I go, I will cause chaos to the people. What should I do now?" Of course, the third prince Zhu is willing to lie down and be the puppet emperor.
The puppet emperor is also the emperor!
The benefits and benefits that an emperor should have are also abundant. You don't have to deal with everything every day, and you don't have to scheming with the powerful traitors below. You can just run a harem at home every day. Where can you find such a good job?
Yang Ziyun already showed a satisfied smile - Prince Zhu has passed the test!
"Your Majesty," Yang Ziyun said with a smile, "you don't have to do anything, just sit on the boat and watch the people of Nanjing quell the chaos under the command of King Ying, Lu Zhongtang, and Chen Zhongtang!"
"Kill Zhu San, destroy Can Ming, and protect King Geng!"
Just when the Third Prince Zhu made up his mind to lie down, gunshots and shouts of killing were already heard around the Prince Guoding's Mansion north of Xi'anmen Street.
This palace is the original Liangjiang Governor's Office. To the south is Xi'anmenwai Street, to the east is the wall of the Imperial City, to the north is the North Palace and several military camps and warehouses, and to the west are the bustling streets two streets away. business district.
After Prince Zhu moved into this palace, the reconstruction and reinforcement projects of the palace have not stopped. In addition to the internal decoration and the "fake Wenhua Gate Project", the focus of the palace reconstruction is to strengthen the exterior walls and make eye-catching decorations on the exterior walls!
The renovated outer wall of the palace is not high, but it is very strong. It is not made of rammed earth and bricks, but is made of strips of stone taken from a section of the limestone mountain in the north of Nanjing's outer city and very hard fired green bricks. , can defend against shelling.
At the same time, many shooting positions and shooting holes were opened on the inside of the wall. The gunmen could hide in the shooting positions and fire through the shooting holes.
Just after the Third Prince Zhu left Prince Ding's Mansion and fled, Luo Dawei took Li Zhongshan's warrant and two thousand Huaixi Red Turban soldiers who had sneaked into Nanjing and slipped in from behind the Prince's Mansion, then quickly took over the palace's guards, and then completed the defense deployment .
Soon after they completed their defense, Geng Jingzhong's artillery began to bombard the palace with red cannons.
The cannonball hit the outer wall of Prince Ding's Mansion, and the sound of the cannonball falling against masonry was heard everywhere. However, this solid outer wall still withstood the test. After being subjected to dozens of rounds of 11 to 12 kilogram solid bullets, it still remained intact. It remained intact without any collapse.
After firing hundreds of rounds of artillery shells, the "Su Song Army" (that is, Yue Le's army) that had come out from Xi'an Gate had surrounded Prince Ding's Mansion. Most of these were the Eight Banners soldiers and the Green Camp soldiers who had been stationed in Jiangning earlier. The Tongding King Zhu Cijiong had a blood feud. Although the soldiers who killed their family members were Geng Jingzhong's soldiers, Yue Le did not tell them the truth. They thought it was him. The Third Prince Zhu, the number one rebel in the Qing Dynasty, ordered the massacre of the whole city of Jiangning!
Of course, if Prince Zhu's order is effective, he will definitely issue such an order without hesitation.
Therefore, Geng Jingzhong can be regarded as carrying out the "desire" of the Third Prince Zhu, and now Yue Le's soldiers are not looking for the wrong person to seek revenge on him.
Shouting the slogan "Kill Zhu San", General Yue Le's army launched a charge, approaching from all sides of Prince Ding's Mansion, firing and shooting as they advanced.
The defenders of Prince Ding's Mansion did not show weakness and fought back desperately through the shooting holes in the wall.
The outside of Prince Ding's Mansion was filled with smoke for a while!
Geng Jingzhong stood on the tower of Xi'an Gate, crouching behind a crenel, staring intently at the battlefield in front of him. Surrounded by his accomplices, they all looked in the direction of Prince Ding's Mansion with red eyes, wishing they could destroy this luxurious building. The spacious mansion was razed to the ground.
But the defense of Prince Ding's Mansion was unexpectedly strong!
Originally thought that the battle could be settled with just one charge, the Yue Le soldiers who were attacking Dingwang's Mansion were suddenly hit by a small but extremely deadly shot. The soldiers rushing in front were still several meters away from the outer wall of Dingwang's Mansion. At ten steps, they were all shot and fell to the ground. The soldiers behind were probably frightened by this scene and did not dare to charge forward anymore, but started firing guns from a distance. But how could their bullets penetrate the narrow shooting holes?
So the bullets just hit the wall and were almost unable to cause damage to the defenders inside.
This isn't an attack, it's clearly killing people!
"My lord, it's not okay to fight like this!"
Shang Zhixin suddenly spoke at this time, "I will take my troops to support Prince An. By the way, I will bring down a few more red cannons and approach Prince Ding's Mansion and open fire. As long as the outer wall is destroyed, there are many of us and we will swarm in." , don’t be afraid of not winning.”
"Okay!" Geng Jingzhong nodded, "I'll tell you, I'm done!"
"Your Majesty," Shang Zhixin's sister Shang Shuying saw her brother asking for a fight, and she was a little itchy, "I also want to think of some strength. I want to lead my troops to detour from the north of Prince Ding's Mansion to capture the North Prince's Mansion and the North Camp. There is also the highland of Lion Rock. The Yuejiang Tower on Lion Mountain is also equipped with cannons. As long as we can capture the Yuejiang Tower, we can bombard Yifengmen and Longjiang Estuary from above. If we can capture Yifengmen and control Longjiang Estuary, then the North The king’s army can come from Puzikou.”
"What a great idea!" Geng Jingzhong smiled, "I didn't expect you, Sister Shuying, to be proficient in military affairs!"
Shang Shuying said with a smile: "Look what you said, I, the female vassal who has been in charge of Duke Xushun's Palace for many years, all the five subordinates of Duke Xushun's Palace obey my command!"
"Well, go quickly!" Geng Jingzhong nodded.
"嗻!"
As soon as Shang Shuying and Monk Zhixin left the Xi'an Gate Tower, a guard from the East Prince's Palace hurriedly came to report.
"Reporting to the King of the East, Li Kuan's soldiers and horses were blocked by Yingtian Tuanlian and part of the Yingtian civilian army on Changfu Street. They were unable to attack for a while. Please ask for support!"
"What?" Geng Jingzhong was stunned, "Changfu Street"
Just when he was surprised, there was another elongated "report" sound.
"Reporting to the King of the East, Fan Kuan's soldiers and horses encountered strong resistance from the Yingtian people in Taiping."
Geng Jingzhong was a little stupid now.
How come this is a bad start?
Excluding Shang Zhixin and Shang Shuying's two groups, he had previously sent Yue Le, Li Zhifang, Fan Chengmo and other three groups, but now they are all blocked!
What should I do?
"Your Majesty, send reinforcements!" Geng Jingzhong's military advisor Yu Renying immediately suggested, "Now is the time when we meet on a narrow road, the brave will win!"
"Your Majesty, now is not the time to conserve our strength!" Li Daoren also suggested, "If we include the Shang family's brothers and sisters, we have now dispatched five armies and invested more than 20,000 people! If we cannot win quickly, once When the people of Nanjing are mobilized, Prince Zhu’s side is not only 10,000 or 20,000 people, but more than 100,000 or 200,000!”
More than a dozen or two hundred thousand. Geng Jingzhong was startled by this number and thought to himself: Why was it that when planning big things before, it was all the people of Nanjing who acted as a mob? Why don't you just mess up now?
Thinking of this, Geng Jingzhong gritted his teeth and stamped his feet: "Here are the people coming. Give me eight thousand elite troops. I will personally conquer Changfu Street!"
"嗻!"
Changfu Street, as the name suggests, is the street where Chang Yuchun's family's house is located. This is an old place name. Originally, there were no Chang family members on Changfu Street, but this time when the Ming Dynasty reopened, the Chang family invested and took shares!
Now of course I have to go back to Changfu Street!
So what Li Zhifang's men encountered on Changfu Street was Jiangdu's Red Scarf Army Chang Wei's men!
Chang Wei's soldiers are not as capable as Huaixi Red Scarf, but they are well equipped! They are Chen Yonghua's people, and Chen Yonghua is a big capitalist! Moreover, they occupied the geomantic treasure land of Yangzhou, and elsewhere they were making pots of salt to welcome the king. However, the salt merchants in Yangzhou were very simple, and they did not do anything fake and just sold silver directly! Silver mountains and silver sea welcome Master Wang!
Therefore, Chang Wei's entire army exchanged their long spears for flintlocks, and all the stocks in Guangfu and Foshan were sold out!
In addition to being equipped with flintlock muskets, the Chang Family Army's regimental warriors also wore armor, and all wore top-quality cloth-covered iron armor. The cloth on the outside and the iron on the inside were all made of the best materials, and nothing was skipped.
Therefore, as soon as they rushed out of the two big houses on Changfu Street, they gave Li Zhifang a slap in the face. Hit them with intense flintlock fire until they couldn't even lift their heads!
If the eight thousand men led by Geng Jingzhong hadn't arrived in time, Li Zhifang's men would have been almost defeated by Chang Wei!
But Geng Jingzhong personally led 8,000 men out of the imperial city. After arriving at the battlefield, Chang Wei's two or three thousand Jiangdu soldiers could not withstand it - after all, there were more than 10,000 opponents!
Moreover, Changfu Street is not a battlefield where an army of 10,000 or 20,000 people can be deployed to fight. It is surrounded by streets, and it is very prosperous. The houses are densely built, which greatly affects the shooting range.
In addition, these streets are all interconnected, and Geng Jingzhong has many people, so he can spread out and march separately to outflank the Chang family army.
Due to this outflanking, Chang Wei had no choice but to take his people and hide in several large houses around them, relying on walls and doors to resist.
And Geng Jingzhong's soldiers were not hesitant. They immediately found something to ignite the fire, and lit a fire around the mansion where Chang Wei and others were guarding!
This is a big deal!
There are a lot of old wooden houses these days. In addition, Nanjing is a textile center. There are also many machine shops near Changfu Street. There are many spinning wheels, silk threads and silk cloths piled up, and they are all set on fire at once.
The fire spread quickly and became more and more intense!
The area around Changfu Mansion on Changfu Street was filled with sparkling firelights for a while. Encouraged by the fire, the ferocity of Geng Jun and Zhejiang Li Jiajun (actually the original Green Camp Army and Zhejiang Banner Army) also became fierce. People began to approach Chang Zhai from all directions.
The walls and doorways of the Chang family's mansion were full of flintlock guns. However, these Chang family soldiers were obviously not as well-trained as the Huaixi army. When they saw the fire around them and the approaching enemies, they began to panic. , completely ignored the officer's command and just fired randomly. Looking from a distance, the walls of the Chang Mansion were filled with smoke, and there were dots of muzzle flashes.
In the Changfu Mansion, many people were crowded in to avoid the fire at this time, and among them were many Chinese scholars and Chinese people who lived in the Changfu Street area. The Chang Family Mansion on Changfu Street was originally a gathering of these Chinese scholars and Chinese people. land. They had all put on red robes and various kinds of armor, holding spears and swords. Some of them carried crossbows on their backs, and all of them had angry looks on their faces.
Geng Jingzhong burned down their home!
Seeing the soldiers on the wall hurriedly opening fire, many Chinese soldiers and Chinese people couldn't help at the moment, so they simply cheered and became cheerleaders!
"Be accurate and kill a few more Geng thieves!"
"Kill all the traitors!"
"Is the Geng thief approaching?"
"General Chang, we want to kill the thief."
Chang Wei couldn't hear their shouts at all. He was lying on a wall at this time, with a coffee table under his feet and his fingers digging into the cracks of the bricks. He just stared at everything in front of him, watching the crowd of Geng Jun in the firelight. Pounce on them and watch them keep advancing, with people constantly falling down.
His big white face was still quite calm, but the sweat inside his vest was already running down in streaks.
We must not lose this battle. If we lose, it will be all over. Not only will the Chang family never recover, but all the members of the clan will also be killed or injured.
It can be said that the Chang family has blocked everything!
If you win, the Chang family will be the "shareholders" of Ming Dynasty. If you lose,
It’s not just the Chang family who are risking everything, but also Shang Zhixin and Shang Shuying!
At this time, one of the two brothers was leading the embers of the Shang family to help Yue Le besiege Prince Ding's Mansion, while the other was leading 5,000 Liu family troops to march in the north of Nanjing on an open street near the North Prince's Mansion.
The northern part of Nanjing is relatively depressed. Both sides of the street are either military camps or warehouses. The North Prince's Mansion is the only mansion. I didn't know which Ming Dynasty nobleman's mansion it was before? It's pretty big anyway.
Shang Shuying has been walking along the wall of Beiwang Mansion for a while, but she hasn't seen the end yet. Suddenly passing by a three-way intersection, she caught a familiar figure in the corner of her eye. It was Liu Jinzhong!
Shang Shuying quickly reined in her horse and looked back. Sure enough, it was her husband, Liu Jinzhong, the Northern King of the Ming Dynasty!
(End of chapter)
