Zhao Huan knew that what Li Gang said was not bragging. The terrain of Jinling City was really dominated by dragons and tigers, and the city walls were as solid as gold.
Although there were not many defenders, there were a million people in the city, including no less than two to three hundred thousand strong men...most of them were "national citizens" who followed Zhao Huan south.
Although Zhao Huan did not let these "citizens" serve as soldiers, he deeply felt that the civil servants who led the troops were domineering. In the past few years, he had vigorously supported the bow and arrow club in Jinling City. A competition between bows and divine arm bows is held every year - yes, Zhao Huan allowed the people of Jinling and Jiangdu to possess divine arm bows! Moreover, an archery competition is held every year, and all archers (god-arm archers) and archery clubs who achieve the highest rankings can receive extremely heavy rewards.
Under the heavy reward, there must be a sharpshooter!
After seven or eight years of promotion and training, almost everyone in Jinling City can now draw a bow and shoot an arrow or use a divine arm bow to shoot an arrow.
There are also a large number of folk bows and arrows, and divine arm bows. Not to mention bows, there are tens of thousands of divine arm bows alone (although Jinling folk are allowed to own divine arm bows, they must be kept by the bow and arrow society, and must be carried out. Register)!
The arsenal of Jinling City also contains hundreds of thousands of paper armors, 50,000 spears, 50,000 long-handled knives, more than 30,000 divine arm bows, 80,000 bows, and countless feather arrows and wooden feather arrows. If all were used to arm the citizens, two hundred thousand militiamen could be raised immediately.
Although they could not go out of the city to fight in the field, they could still climb the walls of Jinling to defend the city.
In addition, there are 50,000 troops lying on Zhongshan Mountain outside Jinling City... When they enter the city, there will be 250,000 defenders.
Even if Zhao Kai really has an army of one million, he may not be able to capture Jinling City held by 250,000 people, right?
Moreover, it is unlikely that Zhao Kai has so many soldiers. He has a total of 600,000 soldiers. It is impossible for him to lead the southern expedition without leaving any one behind, right?
Even if he takes 500,000 people to march south, it's impossible for them all to go to Jinling City in one wave, right? He is not allowed to leave troops to occupy territory in Huaibei? It was already a lot for 300,000 people to follow him to the gates of Jinling City.
It is impossible to win by relying on 300,000 people to storm Jinling City, which is defended by 250,000 people.
Moreover, the Southern Song Dynasty navy set out from Jiangdu and sailed upstream for two or three days to reach the Yangtze River near Jinling Prefecture. By then, the Northern Army's retreat would be cut off when it reached Jinling City. Wouldn't the morale of the army be in chaos?
Of course, in order for the Northern Army besieging Jinling to become morally chaotic, the soldiers and civilians in Jinling City must first stabilize their emotions...
Thinking of this, Zhao Huan calmed down a little and said in a low voice: "Now I am afraid that the people of Jinling will be shaken... I am personally on the expedition. If the people of Jinling are shaken, and the Queen and Zhang Bangchang are unable to control the situation, That would be a bad thing."
As he spoke, Zhao Huan cast an earnest look at Li Gang.
Li Gang understood what this official meant... In fact, he had asked Zhao Huan for a battle early in the morning and wanted to stay in Jinling City to take charge of the overall situation.
But Zhao Huan refused to agree - this was because Li Gang had already made trouble once. So Li Gang could only recommend Zhang Suo, the deputy privy envoy from the left, to stay in Jinling City and serve as the "four-wall envoy".
But now Zhao Huan was worried that Zhang Suo could not suppress the situation, so he wanted Li Gang to take action.
Li Gang had no choice but to go out and ask: "Officials, please allow Lao Zhuo to go to Jinling Mansion to reward the army."
"Okay," Zhao Huan nodded repeatedly, "I will feel relieved if Li Yuanshu goes to Jinling."
"I accept the decree..." Li Gang accepted the decree and murmured in his heart: Official, you are relieved, but I am really worried! Without the old man watching over you in Jiangdu, would you be afraid again?
Thinking of this, he had no choice but to wink at He Su, and He Su nodded slightly, meaning that he would keep an eye on Zhao Huan.
With He Su's guarantee, Li Gang felt relieved and said goodbye to Zhao Huan immediately. He left Jiangdu with only a few personal followers, and then crossed the river from Guazhou to Zhenjiang Prefecture on the other side, where he transferred to the "Cai Ma" , galloping towards Jinling City. It was not until the evening of the next day that we entered the east gate of Jinling City.
However, after entering the city, Li Gang was shocked by the scene in Jinling City. It's not because the changes in Jinling City are too big, but because there are no changes at all.
The streets of Jinling in the evening were still as bustling as ever. People in Jinling, who had made a lot of money because of Zhao Huan's "need to run away," crowded in the streets. The shops and restaurants in the city, as well as the Qin Lou Chu Pavilion, are all open as usual, and they are still full of customers... Li Gang even wondered whether Zhao Kai from Jiangbei did not come to Jinling, but turned to Jiangdu?
On the streets near the imperial city, cavalry occasionally passed by. The knights on the cavalry were all carrying bows and arrows, sabers, and hammers. They all hurried toward the Jinling Imperial City as if they were facing a formidable enemy. It seems that the situation is not good!
Li Gang also hurried to the Jinling Imperial City. After entering the imperial city, he went straight to the Political Affairs Hall. When he arrived at the entrance of the Political Affairs Hall, he saw Zhang Bangchang and Zhang Suo hurriedly coming out of the door.
The two of them were stunned when they saw Li Gang.
Zhang Bangchang asked: "Bo Ji, you came so quickly...you only sent out the good news!"
Li Gang was even more surprised when he heard this, "What good news? Could it be that Zhao Kai has withdrawn his troops?"
Zhang Suo shook his head and said with a smile: "How is this possible? My mother gave birth to a prince... she just gave birth yesterday, a fat boy weighing six and a half pounds!"
Li Gang said: "That's a good thing... How is the situation of the Northern Army? Where are Zhao Kai's soldiers?"
Zhang Bangchang said: "The Northern Army has arrived at Hezhou... and is camping in the north of the Yangtze River. We have just received the report. The company has been camped for dozens of miles. It was very large in its prime, probably hundreds of thousands of people!"
Zhang Suo also said: "Xianggong Zhang and I are going to the imperial city to report this matter to the empress... Bo Ji, let's go together."
Li Gang nodded, "Okay, let's go together... By the way, what's going on in Jinling City?"
Zhang Bangchang and Zhang Suo were both stunned. Zhang Bangchang asked: "What? Everything is normal."
Yes, it's so normal. They are about to start a fight, but they are still so determined. The people of Jinling are too nervous, right?
Li Gang frowned and asked, "The Northern Army is about to approach the city. Aren't the people panicking?"
Zhang Suo shook his head, "What's there to panic about? Most of the people in Jinling New City are from Bianliang... General Tiance still promoted him to the Imperial City Division back then!"
Yes, Zhao Kai is not an outsider... so the people of Jinling are very emotionally stable and have no worries about being robbed by Zhao Kai.
Li Gang felt something was wrong as soon as he heard this... Could these Jinling people be preparing to welcome the new master? If that were really the case, that would be a big deal!
Thinking of this, he quickly followed Zhang Bangchang and Zhang Suo to the palace. After the announcement at Donghua Gate, the three of them were led by the chamberlain to Kunning Palace where Zhu Lian lived.
Along the way from Donghua Gate to Kunning Palace, Li Gang felt more and more sad as he walked... Because the palace was also peaceful, and no one, no matter the chamberlain or the maid, looked panicked.
This calmness is truly unparalleled...it doesn't look like a powerful enemy is pressing down on the situation at all.
Oh, maybe these people don't regard Zhao Kai as an enemy at all!
Now I don’t know what the Queen is thinking? Li Gang's heart sank! He knew that Zhu Lian and Zhao Kai were childhood sweethearts...and Zhu Lian's sister was Zhao Kai's queen!
This relationship is so strong!
If she had no intention of resisting and "complied" with Zhao Kai, then the battle in Jinling would be unwinnable!
...
Although Zhu Lian is an "advanced mother", her pregnancy and delivery went very smoothly this time, so her physical condition after delivery is very good, but she is a little fatter... Her body was already plump, and now it is even plumper. It's embarrassing. The very loose clothes I wore before giving birth are now a little tight.
Her milk supply was also abundant, so she did not use a wet nurse, but breastfed her newborn son by herself. When Zhang Bangchang, Li Gang and Zhang Suo arrived, Zhu Lian had just finished feeding his son and was coaxing him to sleep with a happy face!
After hearing the palace maid's announcement, she had no choice but to have her child taken away. Then she straightened her clothes and was helped to sit on the throne in the main hall, waiting for the three of them to come in and pay homage.
Zhu Lian looked a little surprised when he saw Li Gang, so he asked, "Li Qing, why are you here?"
"Your Majesty, the officials asked me to come here."
"What's the matter?" Zhu Lian asked with a smile.
Li Gang said: "The officials have received news that there are many Northern troops coming from the south, so they are worried that there will be changes in Jinling City..."
Zhu Lian nodded, "I already know that there are many Northern soldiers. It is said that there are millions of them!"
"Millions of people are a false claim..." Li Gang said as he secretly looked at Zhu Lian and found that Zhu Lian was not afraid at all and was still smiling.
Seeing Li Gang's surprised expression, Zhu Lian smiled and shook his head and said: "Millions of people may be deceiving, but there are always hundreds of thousands of people...but I will not be afraid of them."
Yes, what is there to be afraid of?
Li Gangxin said: You are your childhood sweethearts and childhood sweethearts... You are both his sister-in-law and aunt-in-law. The worst that can happen is that you will be humiliated!
"Empress," Zhang Bangchang said with a calm expression at this time, "I have just reported that the Northern Army Brigade has arrived in Hezhou, Jiangbei, and is setting up camp... There are dozens of people in the company. It seems that the force is strong, no less than a few. One hundred thousand!"
Zhu Lian smiled and said: "I know it, and there are hundreds of thousands of troops."
Li Gang's heart went cold, Zhu Lian wasn't afraid...even that coward Zhang Bangchang wasn't afraid either! Haven't you already agreed on the terms of surrender?
Seeing Li Gang's expression, Zhu Lian knew that he had misunderstood him. In fact, she had not discussed the terms of surrender with Zhao Kai, and she did not intend to surrender. She would rather die than surrender!
However, she was originally the concubine of the King of Wu and a minister of Zhao Kai, so there was no question of whether she would surrender or not... As for the previous matter of presumptuously calling herself queen, Zhao Kai would probably not pursue it.
So she is not afraid of Zhao Kai having too many soldiers, and the more soldiers Zhao Kai brings, the better!
If Zhao Kai's troops come too few, there might be someone in Jinling City who wants to resist. If one million people really come, then the world will be at peace. Since we can't fight anyway, we might as well stop fighting and let Zhao Kai enter the city.
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