In the first year of the Christian era, the first day of October.
The long streets inside and outside Yifengmen in Nanjing were already full of people of the Ming Dynasty wearing decent clothes. These two long streets once became depressed and desolate during the years under the rule of the Qing Dynasty. But now it has not only restored its former prosperity, but also under the auspices of Yu Chenglong, the minister of the Ministry of Industry, the road has been expanded, paved with stones from Caishiji, and willow trees have been planted on both sides of the road. Both sides of the two connected long streets now look a bit like high-rise buildings. Although the height of these high-rise buildings is limited, they are just three- and four-story new-style enclosed buildings. But in today's era, the rows of tall buildings together still look very spectacular. This capital of great virtue in the Ming Dynasty already vaguely resembles the capital of the Celestial Dynasty.
Since the day before yesterday, the people of the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing City have known that their grand duke and emperor Zhu Heji will return in triumph on the first day of October and return to Nanjing Yingtianfu City, which is loyal to him. Also returning with him were the three most elite "old brother" towns, plus a full 20,000 Eight Banners soldiers who surrendered!
At that time, a grand military parade and prisoner presentation ceremony will be held, and this military parade and prisoner presentation ceremony will also be part of the enthronement ceremony of the Grand Duke and the Emperor - the emperor should be a ruthless man with strong military virtues and the ability to rule unyielding people. .
For Zhu Heji, the great emperor who re-established the Ming Dynasty, what could be more proof of his legitimacy and correctness than a major victory worthy of being recorded in history and 20,000 dejected prisoners of war, and what could be more convincing to the buried people? Is Ming Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang satisfied with it in Xiaoling?
For the people of the Ming Dynasty in Nanjing City, this great victory in the Battle of Huguang also heralded that the troubled times that began before the Battle of Saarhu were coming to an end. . What made them even more excited was that the Grand Duke and Emperor who was reviving the Ming Dynasty was by no means a reckless man who only valued martial arts but did not understand civil arts. In fact, his martial arts skills far exceeded his illustrious martial arts. Just look at the people's livelihood and prosperity in the six southeastern provinces of the Ming Dynasty today... The Hongwu Emperor who founded the Ming Dynasty was probably far inferior to today's Grand Duke and Emperor in terms of culture and governance.
The day when this grand duke and emperor rules the world will probably be the arrival of the Ming Dynasty!
If there were still people who had doubts about this prospect before the Battle of Huguang, then this victory in Huguang would be enough to dispel all their doubts.
Before the great victory of Huguang, the world was still divided into three parts. The Ming Dynasty only had six southeastern provinces, one province in North Korea, a Dengzhou city and several small islands in Shandong, Jinzhou in Liaodong, and a small territory in Hunan.
After the victory of Hubei Province, except for Xiangyang and Yunyang, all other places in Hubei were already owned by the Ming Dynasty! The province of Hunan was completely owned by the Ming Dynasty. Although the four provinces of Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan and Guangxi have not yet been actually controlled by the Ming Dynasty, Wu Yingxiong, Wu Guogui, and Zu Zeqing have all declared themselves vassals.
Regardless of whether these people are reliable, at least on paper, the Three Kingdoms have become the Northern and Southern Dynasties!
Moreover, the Ming Dynasty, as the "Southern Dynasty", had the upper hand because it had absolute advantages in population, financial resources, sugar, and North Korea, an overseas province close to the Qing Dynasty's hometown in the northeast.
Now anyone with a discerning eye can see... The Ming Dynasty is going to win, and the Qing Dynasty is going to end!
In order to show his love for the Grand Duke and the Emperor, the entire Nanjing Yingtianfu City was deserted. The welcoming team stretched from Yifeng Gate to Hongwu Gate in the Imperial City of Nanjing. Among them are not only Nanjing people, but also Ming people who came from the neighboring Jiangnan and Jiangbei prefectures...
Although Li Guangdi and Wang Shirong could not be regarded as real citizens of the Ming Dynasty, they also disguised themselves and came to the inner street of Yifengmen. He looked at everything around him with complex eyes - the spacious streets, the tall buildings, the people who looked wealthy and happy... Isn't this what they ideally wanted for a peaceful and prosperous age?
What the Qing Dynasty had not been able to do for more than 20 years of governing the world, this Grand Duke and Emperor did it in just a few years... Although such a peaceful and prosperous age can only appear in Nanjing, Guangzhou, Yangzhou, Quanzhou, and Chaozhou , Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, and the emerging commercial port of Shanghai. But it is much better than the Qing Dynasty!
The two people looked at each other, and both showed helpless smiles - they seemed to be on the wrong team!
If I had known earlier, I would have taken refuge in the Ming Dynasty, and now I am already a highly respected minister... I regret it!
Just when Wang Shirong and Li Guangdi were regretting it, the loudest cheers suddenly broke out from the Yifeng Gate!
"The Ming Dynasty is victorious! The Ming Dynasty...is invincible!"
"Long live the Ming Dynasty!"
"Long live the Holy One..."
"The Ming Dynasty is invincible!"
Wang Shirong and Li Guangdi quickly stretched their necks and looked toward Yifeng Gate. What appeared in their sights was a group of cavalry guards wearing shining breastplates and riding tall horses. The leader of the cavalry wore a breastplate. The armor is very special... the "breast" part of the breastplate is very spectacular, and the face under the saucer-shaped helmet belongs to a charming and charming woman.
Needless to say, this person is Da Bo Ling - if there is Da Bo Ling, there must be Zhu Heji!
Due to the threat of rifled guns, Zhu Heji himself could not easily show up on the street, so he had to let Da Boling do it for him.
Following this group of guard cavalry led by Da Bo Ling were columns of Ming army infantry one after another. The officers and soldiers walking at the forefront of these formations also wore polished breastplates!
Anyone familiar with the Ming Dynasty's army knows that only some of the elite infantrymen in "Old Brothers Town" will be equipped with infantry breastplates.
Therefore, these battalion-level infantry phalanxes are Zhu Heji's "old brothers" and are the elite aces of the Ming Army.
Wang Shirong and Li Guangdi both opened their eyes and counted carefully. They started counting to twenty-four.
A total of twenty-four battalion-level formations!
It’s all the “Old Brothers” camp!
However, the Ming Army only had eight battalions of infantry in one town, and twenty-four battalions were all the infantry in three towns. In other words, Zhu Heji not only returned to Nanjing, but also brought back his most elite "old brother" town.
It can also be judged from this that the main offensive route of the Ming Army's Northern Expedition is likely to be on the eastern front... It should be crossing the Huaihe River to the north, taking Xuzhou directly, and then attacking Shandong and heading north to Zhili. Liaodong and North Korea should also launch attacks at the same time, attacking Beijing from both sides.
The tasks of the Huguang Ming Army were mostly diversionary.
At this moment, the people on the street burst into cheers again, but this time the words of the cheers were a bit messy.
"Eight Banners Soldiers, really Eight Banners Soldiers..."
"The demon is gone, Ming Dynasty has won!"
"The demon is over..."
Wang Shirong and Li Guangdi, who were planning the next phase of the Ming army's main attack direction, also quickly looked in the direction of Yifengmen.
The scene they saw this time surprised them both to the extreme.
Because this time the Eight Banners soldiers are coming back... Wearing red, blue, and white cotton armor, with their heads bare, revealing their iconic braids, and there are people carrying the three flags of red, blue, and white. military flag. Their ranks were quite neat, and they formed large vertical formations. The Eight Banners soldiers in each vertical formation all had the same flag, which showed that they were organized.
But these regular Eight Banners soldiers are now dejected, with empty hands, and panic and fear written on their faces. Moreover, on both sides of their team, there are Ming army cavalry and infantry with live ammunition guarding them... ...This means they are all prisoners!
Wang Shirong and Li Guangdi both worked in the Qing court and had seen real Eight Banners soldiers. Now of course they can see that these captured Eight Banners soldiers in front of them are genuine... not necessarily the old Eight Banners, but they are definitely It's the Eight Banners.
This shows that during the Battle of Huguang, a large number of Eight Banners soldiers surrendered to the Ming army in an organized manner!
Wang Shirong and Li Guangdi couldn't believe their eyes... The Eight Banners soldiers actually surrendered in an organized manner, and so many people surrendered!
Judging from their uniforms and numbers, it seems that three new Eight Banners troops from Gushan surrendered together.
The Qing Dynasty...is really coming to an end!
