Chapter 238: Surrounding Nanjing City and occupying Jiangnan

Author: This Ganges Beacon

Chapter 238: Surrounding Nanjing City and occupying Jiangnan

Su Hao was not too surprised when he heard Liao Qing's words. Although he treated the wealthy families in Shandong well, the wealthy families were wealthy families, and the nobles were nobles. The former had not had that deep relationship with the Ming Dynasty, and there was still the possibility of surrendering to the Da Qi.

However, the nobles in Nanjing could not surrender to the Daqi, because their status was obtained by their titles. If he had already destroyed the north, the nobles in Nanjing might surrender to save their lives.

But now the Ming Dynasty is still there in the north, and reinforcements from other provinces are still coming. No matter how they are, those people will never surrender to Daqi. After all, their wealth and lives are tied to the Ming Dynasty, and their titles are the basis for them to ensure their own family business.

Since ancient times, the remnants of the previous dynasty have no good ending, let alone they occupied a large amount of land and wealth in Jiangnan. Once they surrender, the land and wealth will be taken away by the officials of the Daqi. Even if he promises to retain their titles now, it is useless.

Because titles must be coordinated with power to be useful, for example, the nobles in Nanjing City are because of Nanjing's garrison and coordinated preparation, two real-power official positions that hold the military power of Nanzhili, can share the entire Jiangnan with the wealthy families in Jiangnan.

Now even if the nobles in Nanjing surrender, he would not be able to let these people retain their real power. After all, even Tang Xiangjin and others raised their flags to rebel with him, he had never let go, let alone a group of outsiders, so before they reached the desperate situation, these nobles could not surrender.

After thinking for a while, Su Hao continued, "Where has the navy from Liangping gone?"

Since he wanted to conquer Jiangnan, he naturally would not give up the huge river system in Jiangnan, especially the Yangtze River, which could directly reach Nanjing City. Therefore, if he wanted to cut off the reinforcements in Nanjing City, he had to cut off the Yangtze River first.

"Go back to your Majesty, the Navy has set out and will soon block the estuary of the Yangtze River."

Liao Qing bowed and replied.

"Send the order to speed up the attack!"

After pondering for a while, Su Hao spoke, saying that if he continues to drag on, it will only make Nanjing City more prepared.

Liao Qing nodded and replied, "I'll go now."

…

Soon, the soldiers of the Qi army gathered again, with thunderous war drums and nearly three hundred large and small tiger squat cannons pushed to the front of the formation, and then began to be more accurate.

At the same time, the siege crossbow chariots also slowly moved forward. In front of the crossbow chariots, a large number of Qi troops carried sandbags and faced the city wall under the cover of Muman chariots and shields, hoping to fill the moat for the siege ladder and siege hammers and arrow towers.

The gunners behind them also made the guns of the Red Cannon more accurate and then lit the fuse.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

A series of loud noises were heard, and more than 160 solid iron balls weighing 20 kilograms turned into a small black dot with terrifying kinetic energy, and quickly crossed the sky, and then flew towards the city wall.

Bang! Bang!

Some shells hit the wall and directly smashed a big pit. Countless gravel splashed around, some fell directly into the city, smashed houses, and some hit the city wall and smashed the wall bricks.

Although there were no soldiers on the walls of Huai'an Prefecture at this time, the power of the Red Cannons was still shocking.

At this time, a large number of Qi troops were only four hundred feet away from the city wall under the cover of Muman chariots and shields.

"Hurry up and defend the city!"

Seeing that the Qi army outside the city was almost at the moat, the personal soldiers of the commanders of the garrison waved their whips and drove the garrison soldiers to the city wall to defend the city. For a moment, a large number of garrison soldiers were driven to the city wall.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

At this time, the tiger squat cannons on the urn city began to show their power. More than twenty tiger squat cannons were ignited at the same time, and thousands of stones and iron beads sprinkled on the Qi army outside the city like rain.

However, for the trained Qi army, most of them had already hid under the Muman chariot and shield, and there were no major casualties at all.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The tiger squat cannons of Qi army under the city also fired a counterattack. Nearly three hundred tiger squat cannons shot out countless stones and iron beads, completely covering the entire city wall. The guards on the city wall were killed and injured in an instant, and for a moment, there were constant wailings.

The soldiers of the garrison who were frightened by this tragic scene fled from the city walls. Even the soldiers of the generals of the garrison who drew their swords and killed several of the first garrison soldiers, could not stop the soldiers from escaping.

At this time, the Qi army under the city threw sandbags into the moat, and soon filled out sand roads. The siege ladders behind rushed across the moat and leaned against the city wall.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

The tiger squat cannons under the city fired again, and stones and iron beads also covered the city wall again. This time, even the personal soldiers of the garrison generals fled from the city wall. With the help of artillery fire, a large number of Qi soldiers climbed up to the city wall along the siege ladder.

At this moment, the battle situation is no longer suspense.

Soon, as a large number of Qi soldiers poured into the city, in less than an hour, all the city walls on all sides fell into the control of the Qi army.

…

Government office.

"Your Majesty, Zhu Dadian, the governor of the grain transportation, and Yu Zhixian, the governor of Huai'an, have been captured. Please give it to you."

Liao Qing led people to escort Zhu Dadian and Yu Zhixian to Su Hao.

"Can you surrender?"

After looking at the two of them, Su Hao said lightly.

"The sinner is willing to surrender! The sinner is willing to surrender!"

Hearing Su Hao's words, Huai'an Prime Minister Yu Zhixian said quickly that although the money he ran to the office must not be able to recover his capital, he still didn't want to pay even his life. Moreover, the money he ran to the office was borrowed from the nobles in the capital. As long as he defected to Daqi, the money he would not have to be paid back.

"Yu Zhixian, you have received the emperor's kindness and do not want to repay the lord. Today, you are going to surrender the thief. Where is your courtesy, righteousness, integrity and shame?"

Before Su Hao could speak, Zhu Dadian, who was beside him, had to start a stern and cursed directly.

Yu Zhixian's face turned red instantly when Zhu Dadian scolded him, but he could not think of a reason to refute him for a moment, so he could only turn his head aside.

"Hold Zhu Dadian down and locked up with Hong Chengchou and Chen Qiyu."

Seeing this, Su Hao waved his hand. Last time he fought outside Dezhou City, Chen Qiyu was captured by Tang Xiangjin, while Hong Chengchou was arrested by him. He had always persuaded these captured Ming officials to surrender once, and if he did not surrender, he would not persuade him again.

"yes."

Liao Qing nodded and responded, then a golden nail slapped into the back of Zhu Dadian's head, and Zhu Dadian collapsed to the ground. The spiritual cultivation of Confucian practitioners such as Zhu Dadian and others is not weak. Although it is difficult to deal with masters, it is easy to deal with ordinary people. If their souls are not sealed, something will easily happen.

…

After Liao Qing took Zhu Dadian down, he returned to the lobby not long after.

Su Hao asked again: "What's going on with Guo Hong?"

"Go back to Your Majesty, Governor Guo and his troops were divided into three groups. Now they have captured Muyang, Haizhou, and Suqian, and are gathering here."

Liao Qing bowed and replied.

Upon hearing this, Su Hao nodded and said, "Let them come as soon as possible."

The battlefield is determined by the army. No matter whether it is the Ming or the Qi, neither side will disperse its troops to various counties, because this will make people defeat them one by one.

"What's going on in Fengyang?"

After pausing, Su Hao continued to ask, there are now 40,000 Ming troops in Fengyang Mansion, and only 30,000 troops in Ganyang. It is still quite difficult to take Fengyang.

Liao Qing bowed and replied: "Go back to Your Majesty, Governor Gan sent back the news. Now he has taken down Guzhen and is moving towards Fengyang Prefecture."

"Let him do it with caution."

Su Hao said in a deep voice, Fengyang Mansion is not particularly important, there is little land on the other side, and it is impossible to support Nanzhili from there. After all, whether it is from Henan or Huguang, if you don’t rely on the river, you will have to travel at least a thousand miles.

Even if the army continues to travel every day, it will take more than twenty days. In addition to logistics, the consumption of this is too high. Therefore, if Huguang and Henan want to support Nanzhili, they can only use the Yellow River and Yangtze River waterways. So as long as these two places are blocked, reinforcements from Nanjing can be cut off.

He was ready to fight a protracted battle in this battle. If Nanjing City had a firm defensive will, it would not be a strange thing to fight for three or five years. He was even ready to retreat, because no strong city could be defeated so easily.

Even though Mongolia swept the world and was still blocked in Xiangfan for so many years, his trip to the south this time did not mean that he had to take over the entire Nanzhili, and it would be best if he could. If it didn't work, it would be acceptable to occupy the north of the Yangtze River.

…

Time passed day by day, and half a month later, Guo Hong brought more than 20,000 troops to Huai'an Prefecture City, and the army headed south again.

Soon the county towns on both sides of the canal were taken down one after another, and the army stopped outside the Yangzhou Prefecture City.

On the other hand, Gan Yang also led an army of 30,000 to defeat the 40,000 Ming troops in Fengyang Mansion.

………

Nanjing City.

The government office in the garrison.

Wang Jia, Chen Guangyu, and Fan Jingwen had extremely gloomy faces. They never expected that in just over a month, not only the 50,000 troops of Huai'an Prefecture were defeated, but even the 40,000 troops of Fengyang, Zhongdu were also defeated, and Fengyang Imperial Tomb fell into the enemy again.

"Eunuch Wang, what should I do now?"

Fan Jingwen sighed, the imperial tomb fell into the enemy again, and if the court punished the crime, all three of them would be in danger.

"We can only defend Nanjing City now to atone for our merits and sins."

Wang Jia spoke, but lamented in his heart. After defending Nanjing City, Chen Guangyu and Fan Jingwen could atone for their merits, but his status in Zhu Youjian's mind could not be restored. The only eunuchs could rely on the emperor's favor. If Zhu Youjian didn't believe him, then he would be finished.

"Mr. Chen, there are not many grain reserves in the city now, so I hope the Marquis can raise more."

Hearing Wang Jia's words, Fan Jingwen looked at Chen Guangyu beside him. Nanjing City was the territory of the nobles. If you want to raise more food to defend the city, you can only rely on Chen Guangyu and others.

"I'll ask someone else for help."

Upon hearing this, Chen Guangyu nodded. To defend Nanjing City means to defend their own family business. Now there are 100,000 soldiers in Nanjing City, of which 40,000 are the village heroes they temporarily recruited.

These 100,000 soldiers will have millions of stones of food a year. This time it is probably a long-term battle to defend the city, so you must reserve enough food for several years.

…

On this side, Wang Jia and the other side were struggling. On the other side, the Qi army had already taken down Yangzhou Prefecture City. Yangzhou Prefecture City had not had many soldiers, and the guards basically had little morale and fighting spirit. In a few days, Yangzhou City was captured.
To be continued...