"Jin Zhong? Why did you cross the river?"
When Shang Shuying asked this question, she already knew something was wrong.
Because she saw behind Liu Jinzhong standing on horseback on the street, there was a large group of infantry wearing cloth-covered iron armor and helmets, holding long spears, simple knives, shotguns and bows and arrows - they were getting ready for the battlefield!
Moreover, Liu Jinzhong led a large number of troops, filling the entire street and paving all the way to the Jinchuan Gate at the end of the street. There were at least several thousand in number! Of course, so many people could not be the guards protecting Liu Jinzhong, the Northern King, but the troops who followed Liu Beiwang to Nanjing to kill people!
Then the question becomes. Who are they going to kill following Liu Jinzhong?
Kill the people on Prince Zhu’s side?
Liu Jinzhong was supposed to be against the Third Prince Zhu, at least that's what Shang Shuying thought. But the problem is that Shang Shuying doesn't know about Liu Jinzhong's crossing of the river!
The original plan was not like this, and it seems that Geng Jingzhong never gave an order for him to cross the river. What made Shang Shuying even more suspicious was that Jiang Sheng, the navy commander on the Yangtze River, was Zheng Jing's man. He was following Chen Yonghua in Nanjing, and there was no way he could be bribed by Geng Jingzhong.
If Jiang Sheng wanted to stop him, Liu Jinzhong's five thousand elite troops stationed in Jiangbei would not be able to cross the river without the consent of Prince Zhu San (theoretically, it was Lu Sanhao and Geng Jingzhong who represented Prince Zhu San).
Previously, Shang Shuying could bring 5,000 people across the river into Nanjing only with the approval of Geng Jingzhong and Lu Sanhao.
But as far as Shang Shuying knew, neither Geng Jingzhong nor Lu Sanhao approved Liu Jinzhong's bringing five thousand troops across the river. So how did he cross the river? How did you get into the city? The Jinchuan Gate, Shence Gate, and Yifeng Gate in the north of Nanjing City are all guarded by Yingtian Tuanlian. Without Lu Sanhao's order, how could Liu Jinzhong's people get in?
Is it possible that Liu Jinzhong is an enemy of the Geng and Shang families?
Thinking of this, Shang Shuying trembled and looked at her husband in surprise.
Liu Jinzhong smiled bitterly and said: "Shuying, I am the King of the North. Do you think that I, the King of the North, can rebel with Geng Jingzhong, the King of the East?"
Shang Shuying's heart sank, her almond-shaped eyes widened, and she glared at Liu Jinzhong: "Jinzhong, King Dong has been kind to you!"
"The late Emperor was also kind to me!" Liu Jinzhong said sternly, "If the late Emperor hadn't promoted me from the ranks, how would I, Liu Jinzhong, have enjoyed the good life of being popular and popular in these decades? As for the promotion of Dong Wang. As long as Dongwang doesn’t rebel, I will definitely support Dongwang. But if he wants to rebel against the third prince, then I can’t follow him and become a rebel!”
In fact, as long as Wang or Dazhongtang are in their right mind and can act independently, they will not follow the Eastern King Geng Jingzhong to rebel against the Third Prince Zhu.
Because as long as Prince Zhu, the virtual king, stays on the throne, the prince and Dazhongtang below can live a comfortable life! Whether it is Geng Jingzhong or Wu Sangui, even if Li Fuchen and Li Zhongshan become emperors, the princes below will not be happy - this is not just replacing the virtual king with the real king, but also replacing the ruthless real king. Sooner or later he has to be killed!
In fact, Shang Shuying also understands this truth. She didn't want to bring down the third prince Zhu, but she had an insoluble grudge with Li Fuchen and Li Zhongshan.
The last time Li Zhongshan took her to fight in Huaixi, he had already revealed some murderous intentions. But she can also work hard to please and flatter him, and resolve the other party's murderous intention.
But not long after, after Li Fuchen captured Anqing and Jiujiang, this murderous Lu Bu will arrive in Nanjing! That was a ruthless person who had experienced several rounds of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. How could he possibly spare her?
Moreover, once Li Fuchen enters Beijing, the Li family's strength in Nanjing will at least double. Coupled with the "Three Central Hall Alliance", even Geng Jingzhong will have to bow his head by then, let alone Liu Jinzhong, the Northern King who is not powerful enough?
By then Shang Shuying might have died of the disease herself.
When Liu Jinzhong saw that Shang Shuying was silent, he smiled and said: "If I don't rebel with him, I will be the King of the North. If I follow him and the rebellion succeeds, I will still be the King of the North. If the rebellion fails, I will be ruined. What do you think I want?" ?Shuying, stop following Geng Jingzhong, lead the way and lead your husband to capture Geng Jingzhong! Once you capture Geng Jingzhong, you will be the first to put an end to the chaos!"
"Jin Zhong!" Shang Shuying's face darkened, "Who do you think I am? How could I do such an ungrateful thing? I don't want this kind of first achievement!"
Shang Shuying is not stupid. She certainly knows that the first success in quelling the chaos cannot be that her family clearly set up a trap to deceive people like Geng Jingzhong, Yue Le, Li Zhifang, and Fan Chengmo!
How come she has a share in this song?
"Do you want to meet your husband in battle?" Seeing Shang Shuying's stubbornness, Liu Jinzhong's face darkened, and he looked a little scared. It's not that he really wants to turn against Shang Shuying, but that he has to make his position clear! He has a large group of subordinates and a large family!
Shang Shuying shook her head and sighed: "You are my husband and I am your wife. The husband is the wife's guide. How can I lead the troops to fight with you? Moreover, my family does not have any deep hatred against Prince Zhu San. We only have the Nanwang and Prince Zhu. The hatred of the British royal family is difficult to explain."
Liu Jinzhong smiled: "Don't worry. As long as you don't care about this matter, King Nan and King Ying won't care!"
What he said made sense. It was not Li Zhongshan's grandfathers who were killed. What did he care about? If he really cared, he would have killed Shang Shuying last time.
"Really?" Shang Shuying was still a little worried, with a worried look on her face, "Of course I can let go of the hatred of killing my father, but I'm afraid the King of England won't believe it. I was almost killed by him during the last expedition to Huaixi. Obtain military law!"
Liu Jinzhong saw that Shang Shuying's attitude was wavering, and quickly comforted her: "Yes, yes, of course you can let go of the mere revenge of killing your father. Wouldn't Li Fuchen's godfather be killed by Azig? How would he and Azig get along later? Got it!"
If you have more fathers, you won’t be surprised anymore.
Shang Shuying shook her head: "Jin Zhong, I don't believe what you say, until His Highness the King of England says it to me personally!"
"That's easy to handle," Liu Jinzhong said with a smile, "The King of England is at Mochou Lake. You tell me where King Dong is first. We will go and capture King Dong, and then we will go to see the King of England and settle the differences with him."
Shang Shuying sighed and said: "The East King is sitting in the East King's Mansion. But I won't go to the East Prince's Mansion with you. I'd better go to Mochou Lake to find King Ying first."
"That's okay," Liu Jinzhong nodded, "You have a grudge against the King of England. If you talk to him carefully, your grudges will definitely be resolved."
Shang Shuying looked around and asked, "Who is willing to go to Mochou Lake with me to meet the King of England?"
There are really not many people who are willing to follow Shang Shuying, that is, some of the servants who married her to the Xushun Duke's Palace still follow her loyally, and none of the generals who came from the Xushun Duke's Palace are willing to follow her now.
Obviously, these people have been "digested" by Liu Jinzhong
Shang Shuying breathed out and said nothing more. She just led dozens of soldiers and rode away towards Mochou Lake.
Liu Jinzhong watched his wife leave, then turned to look at the thousands of Liu family soldiers left behind by Shang Shuying, and suddenly opened his throat and shouted: "I have been ordered to attack Geng Jingzhong, will you follow me to kill the thief?"
"I am willing to follow the king!"
The crowd cheered!
The backbone of Liu Jinzhong's department were either from the Yongwei camp or from the Xushun government. Among them, the former had the most people and belonged to the mainstream. But even the people in the Xushun Palace are not willing to follow Geng Jingzhong to rebel against the Ming Dynasty. They have no enemies with Prince Zhu San, Li Fuchen, and Li Zhongshan, so why bother to be cannon fodder for Geng Jingzhong?
Seeing that everyone was willing to follow him, Liu Jinzhong became more confident and shouted loudly: "The enemy is in the East Palace and is marching towards the East Palace!"
"The enemy is in Dongwang Mansion!"
Everyone shouted together, and then the whole army turned around and followed Liu Jinzhong towards Bei'anmen in the Imperial City of Nanjing!
Shang Shuying did not tell the truth to Liu Jinzhong. Geng Jingzhong was not in the East Palace. In fact, Shang Shuying did not know Geng Jingzhong's true location. Because Geng Jingzhong led 8,000 elite troops to support Li Zhifang who was blocked in Changfu Street shortly after Shang Shuying led the team to leave Xi'an Gate.
While Liu Jinzhong led his troops to attack Bei'anmen, the area around Changfu Street was already a mountain of corpses and a sea of blood!
Because the rebels along this route were personally commanded by Geng Jingzhong, and their numbers were so large that they couldn't afford to lose. If they were to lose, what would they do to the rebels elsewhere? Run away quickly!
Therefore, the gains and losses of Changfu Street can directly determine the outcome of the Nanjing Incident!
Therefore, the most intense fighting during the entire Nanjing Incident was in the area around the Chang family mansion on Changfu Street.
On the one hand, Geng Jingzhong could not afford to lose, and on the other hand, relying on his strong military strength, he mobilized more than 10,000 people to attack a long street and a large mansion in an attempt to win quickly. So as soon as they came up, they used all their strength and sent out troops to launch a fierce attack one after another. I just wanted to remove this important point as soon as possible, and then continue to march along Changfu Street towards the most prosperous area of Nanjing!
And Chang Wei is also fully defending! The number of troops under his command was not large at the beginning, only more than 2,000 people. It seems that we can only defend it with a big house that is not very strong!
But not long after the fight, those "national citizens" who had been forced to hide in the Chang family mansion by the fire ignited by the Geng family rebels began to "deserve the army" and join the Chang family army to fight against Geng Jingzhong's men.
Their number is not too large, only about two thousand. There were originally more than 2,000 people under Chang Wei's command, but now it became more than 4,000. The density of troops suddenly increased.
Moreover, this group of Nanjing nationals and soldiers had all participated in the previous Nanjing defense battle. Although they had not participated in any fierce battles, they had smelled the smoke of gunpowder for more than half a year and participated in quite rigorous military training during the siege of Nanjing.
In addition, their home had just been set on fire by the Geng rebels, and their eyes were red, so their morale was extremely high!
After almost a morning of bloody fighting, corpses were piled up around the Chang family mansion, and the walls were soaked in blood and dyed red. But this wall is also in danger! This wall can't be compared with the wall of Prince Ding's Mansion. It's much thinner and lower, and it's also in disrepair. The brick walls are full of gaps left by time, large and small. The lowest point can be climbed over with just a hand. Fierce hand-to-hand combat also took place near several larger gaps. The bodies of soldiers from both sides were lying on top of each other, overlapping and dying together!
Chang Wei, who always presented himself as a scholar, now showed his true face. The cloth-covered armor he wore was soaked with human blood - the blood of the Geng soldiers he killed with his own hands!
I saw that he was holding a very long horizontally sharpened sword, standing in front of a group of Chang family disciples who were covered in blood, cheering them loudly, and he really looked like a warrior.
It's a bit like the legacy of his ancestor Chang Yuchun!
At this time, a national warrior with three long beards, fair skin, who looked like a scholar, wearing a red robe, and carrying a spear helmet he picked up from nowhere on his head came flying over with two big swords. He shouted: "Brother Wei, our reinforcements have arrived!"
"Reinforcements?" Chang Wei took a deep breath and asked loudly, "Are they soldiers from His Royal Highness?"
"No," the "robber scholar" carrying two broadswords smiled and said proudly, "it's our Nanjing scholars and people who came to the rescue. Thousands of them came!"
Chang Wei picked up his long sword and said to his left and right with a smile: "Hello, fellow countrymen and countrymen. We are also countrymen and countrymen. Gather a thousand warriors for me and follow me to fight out to receive reinforcements!"
"yes!"
"Why were they kicked out? They were beaten in, so why can't they stand still?"
Shang Zhixin held up the telescope, with a livid face, staring blankly at the palace in front of him.
He brought several red cannons to join the battle of Prince Ding's Mansion!
He originally thought that as long as he pushed up the red cannon and blasted hard, opened a gap, and then the infantry swarmed in, he would be able to defeat Prince Ding's Mansion.
But the wall was blown open a little. Although the gap was not big, only about ten steps wide, and only half of it collapsed, the attacking troops could still climb in relatively easily.
So Yue Le immediately organized hundreds of death warriors to charge in. They also rushed in! For a time, Shang Zhixin danced with joy, thinking that victory was in sight.
But who knew that there was an ambush by the Ming army in that gap. The daredevils who rushed in were immediately hit by intensive flintlock fire and an artillery bombardment. They immediately suffered heavy casualties, and then were driven out by a charge. Not all of them came out. There were four or five hundred when we went in, but less than a hundred when we came out!
Seeing that the death warriors who suffered heavy casualties were being knocked down by lead bullets fired from behind as they ran to fight back.
Geng Jingzhong put down the telescope and shuddered a little.
The fighting power of the Dingwangfu guards was too strong, and they seemed to be very large in number, at least three to four thousand, and they were also equipped with a large number of firearms. This was not the firepower that the original Dingwangfu guards could have.
Is it possible that the other party was already prepared?
Is it possible that someone set up a bureau in Nanjing city?
He suddenly trembled and listened, as if he heard a familiar voice saying to him: "Brother, we have been fooled! Liu Jinzhong had sold us to Prince Zhu San and Wang Datou a long time ago. They set a trap together. With the strength of us and the King of the East, Liu Jinzhong has now led an army of 10,000 to the imperial city."
Shang Zhixin turned around suddenly and found that there was really someone beside him talking to him. That person was none other than his sister Shang Shuying.
"Shuying. What's going on? What you just said?" Shang Zhixin became even more nervous, and his voice was trembling a little.
Shang Shuying's eyes flashed with tears, and she nodded hard: "Brother, our ungrateful Liu Jinzhong has suffered a lot!"
"Is what you just said true?" Shang Zhixin felt as if he had been hit hard on the head, unable to think for a moment.
Shang Shuying nodded heavily.
"Here, what should I do?" Shang Zhixin's head was spinning and he was already at a loss.
Liu Jinzhong was regarded as a confidant by that fool Geng Jingzhong. Liu Jinzhong knew everything about Geng Jingzhong. If Liu Jinzhong wanted to betray Geng Jingzhong, then Prince Zhu, Li Zhongshan, Lu Sanhao, and Chen Yonghua would all be sorry for their bad consciences if they didn't set up a series of traps to trap Geng Jingzhong.
And the trap carefully designed by Li Zhongshan, Lu Sanhao, and Chen Yonghua.
"Brother," Shang Shuying waved to the soldiers around Shang Zhixin, telling them to stay aside. Then she moved closer to Shang Zhixin and whispered, "Liu Jinzhong has entered the city. But he still wants to bring me with him. They defected, so I was able to trick out the whereabouts of the Third Prince Zhu, Li Zhongshan and others. As long as we kill them, we can get back a win and repay King Geng for his great kindness!"
"Then, where are they?" Shang Zhixin asked.
"At Mochou Lake," Shang Shuying said, "They are all at Mochou Lake! The enemy is at Mochou Lake!"
In fact, Liu Jinzhong did not tell Shang Shuying that the Third Prince Zhu was in Mochou Lake. This was made up by Shang Shuying herself. Since Li Zhongshan and the others had known for a long time that Geng Jingzhong was going to rebel, they would inevitably move Prince Zhu San from Prince Ding's Mansion. Where could he move him?
Shang Shuying also knew that the garden next to Mochou Lake was also heavily guarded, and Mochou Lake was located in the Western Outer City, far away from the imperial city and was not easily affected by the war. If Li Zhongshan and the others must find a safe place for Prince Zhu San The place I clicked must be Mochou Lake.
"Mochou Lake" Shang Zhixin thought for a while, "But how can we get there?"
"I have a way!" Shang Shuying said, "I have the Northern King's token. Since Liu Jinzhong voted for Prince Zhu San, the Northern King's token must still be effective. In addition, our military uniforms are the same as those of the Ming army. We just wrapped a black cloth on the helmet to show the difference. As long as we take off the black cloth and have the token again. If we declare that we are going to Mochou Lake to protect our troops under the order of the Northern King, the soldiers and checkpoints we encounter along the way will definitely not be able to stop us!"
"This." Shang Zhixin still wanted to think about it, but he suddenly heard the faint cry of "protect the Ming Dynasty and kill the traitors of the country"!
"It's the Nanjing regiment training and the national soldiers." Shang Shuying's reaction was quite quick, and she immediately said to Shang Zhixin, "Brother, this is our last chance! If we delay it any longer, it will be over. Let's do it. If it doesn't work, we can still Find a way to escape!"
Shang Zhixin nodded, gritted his teeth and said, "Sister, what should we do? How many people should we take to Mochou Lake?"
"We can't bring more people, so let's gather a thousand men and horses!" Shang Shuying said, "Bringing too many people will easily arouse others' suspicion, but bringing too few will not accomplish big things."
Shang Zhixin said: "Okay, just one thousand. Whether it can happen or not depends on this time!"
(End of chapter)
