In the palace of Nanjing City, Zhu Youxiao just got angry and cursed all the civil and military ministers. The battle actually reached Nanjing City. I really don't know what these marshals on the front line are doing.
Judging from the banner of the Qing army under the city, it should be the troops of Hong Chengchou from Shandong. Didn't it mean that the Hong army was dragged by Xu Zengshou to the Qingzhou front line in Jinan and was fighting fiercely? How could they arrive in Nanjing overnight? There are also those in the water transport yamen and the Yangtze River Navy.
Are you free of charge? How could you just watch the Qing army march over the canal in such a swaggering manner?
Zhu Youxiao threw several blue and white porcelain vases to vent his anger. While organizing the Gyeonggi army to defend, he ordered people to send a series of telegrams to Liu Ziguang, asking him to rush to help at night. As for his elder brother-in-law Xu Zengshou, who has high ambitions and low abilities, Zhu Youxiao is
I don't dare to count on it. As for the soldiers and horses of Jiangnan Guards, except for the soldiers of Shanghai Guards, who are said to have some fighting ability, the others have neglected their martial arts for a long time. If they attack them, it is no different than sending them to death.
Generals such as Yuan Chonghuan, Xu Zengshou, Liu Ziguang, etc. are all out on expeditions. There is not even a single capable general in the capital. Fortunately, the city wall is tall and there are complete defense facilities. If Jinyiwei, the five-city army, horse division, etc. are all pulled up to the city wall, they should be able to withstand it.
A while ago.
Hong Chengchou's army began to attack Shence Gate. The cannons roared and the killings shook the sky. Emergency martial law was implemented in Nanjing. This was a situation that had never happened in more than ten years. The enemy actually came to the city. For a time, people were panicked and countless people took care of them.
Xinruan was crowded at the south gate, but the thirteen city gates of the capital had been closed tightly. People from outside could not get in, and people inside could not get out, which further aggravated the chaos.
From Zhu Youxiao to the officials in the cabinet and then to the ordinary people, they all had one thing in their minds, that is, the past events of the Northern Song Dynasty when the Jin soldiers conquered Bianliang and captured the two emperors and all the royal family members alive, so some people also commented.
The capital was moved to Shanghai, but Zhu Youxiao was very determined and refused to leave Nanjing without becoming an emperor who ran away.
The Ming army retracted its front line, including several yamen in the south of the city, withdrew into the city. The defenders in the capital were short of strength, and even the Nachang fans went up to the city wall. The twelve or thirteen-year-old students in the first grade of the Jiangwu Hall also came to help with swords and guns.
In addition, all kinds of weapons from the Royal Academy of Sciences in Beijing that were still in the experimental stage were brought out for fighting, and the Qing army could not take any advantage for a while.
However, this could not last long. Zhu Youxiao sent thirteen telegrams to Liu Ziguang in one day, asking him to personally lead troops to rescue him. Each one was more harsh than the other. It seemed that if Liu Ziguang did not come, Nanjing would be destroyed in a minute.
Like falling.
Liu Ziguang was in a dilemma with Zhu Youxiao's telegram. Only then did he realize that he had fallen into the Qing court's conspiracy. Da Yu'er used his weakness of greed for money and love to gain temporary peace in Beijing and the opportunity for Hong Chengchou to attack Nanjing. Now the situation is really
All of a sudden everything was reversed. The initiative was in the hands of the Qing army. If he returned to Nanjing, his efforts in the past few months would be in vain. After weighing the balance, he still couldn't make a decision, and neither did his generals.
Dare to say anything, one side has an easy victory, and the other side is the capital and the emperor. Their families all live in Nanjing. It is nonsense to say that they don’t want to go back for rescue, but they fell into Qing Gou’s trick. It’s really hard to swallow.
I can't stand this mood.
Liu Ziguang asked everyone with a stern face: "What do you generals think we should do?"
All the generals seemed to have reached an agreement and said in unison: "But just listen to the commander-in-chief's orders." This means that you can fight us however you want, without any hesitation.
Liu Ziguang looked around and slammed his fist on the table: "Okay! Then let's go straight to Beijing tonight!"
The red-shirted troops were preparing for battle around the clock. After the three-tone drum sounded, the fully armed soldiers stood on the school field. Liu Ziguang did not do much mobilization and just said: "Gentlemen, the national movement of the Ming Dynasty is here to fight.
Please!" Then he took the lead in boarding the Sky City.
This was a large-scale airborne operation decided on a temporary basis. Only airships could cross the tall Beijing city wall. The messy cardboard buildings such as the Lingxiao Palace and the Nantianmen on the City in the Sky were demolished. The Death Battalion, Water Ghost Team,
Green Hat and other elite troops boarded the airship. In order to carry more soldiers, unnecessary items were removed.
All the airships and hot-air balloons in the entire Hebei battlefield were gathered together, and they could pull as many people as they could. The unpowered hot-air balloons were dragged behind the airships with ropes, and the gondolas were filled with soldiers. Even so, the troops could be delivered at once.
The number of people is only more than a thousand, so these people are all the best soldiers among the best soldiers.
Although the action was hasty, the Red Shirts were well-trained and quickly completed pre-war preparations. The vast airships flew towards Beijing at dusk.
The afterglow of the setting sun rimmed the silhouettes of the soldiers on the Sky City with a layer of gold. Because the load was too heavy, the Sky City had to be very low. Six refined kerosene internal combustion engines were running hard, driving the Sky City and dragging them along.
A long string of hot air balloons flew north. In the cabin of each airship and in the basket of each hot air balloon, there were soldiers with stern faces and weapons in their hands. The sun set in the west, and their resolute faces gradually became less clear.
, but a pair of eyes are still shining brightly in the night.
Except for the death battalions and specialized airborne battalions that have received airborne training, most troops have no experience of falling from the sky, but they know that after this battle, everyone can wear a gold-plated airborne badge on their chest.
, this represents the supreme honor and an extra allowance of one tael of silver per month. Every soldier is very proud to participate in this airborne battle in Beijing. Although everyone knows in their hearts that they will have a narrow escape from death, but they can and
With so many good brothers dying generously for the Ming Dynasty and for Marshal Liu, even death is worth it.
Night has fallen, and the stars are dim tonight. Nothing can be seen in the sky except the occasional flash of fire from the alcohol blowtorch of a hot air balloon. There are no electric lights and televisions these days. People eat and sleep as soon as it gets dark. There is no trace of light in the entire North China land. Airship troops
They could only advance by relying on the compass. Fortunately, darkness also covered the attack. I am afraid that the Ming army would not be able to find the Qing army even if they reached the outside of Beijing.
At the same time, the heavy-armed troops led by Li Yan were also marching quickly on the road from Tianjin to Beijing. It was difficult to suppress the 130,000 Qing army with light paratroopers and weak air firepower alone. The large forces of the Red Shirt Army had to keep up.
, we have just received urgent military information. Shanhaiguan has been fiercely attacked by Qing troops outside the Pass. Since the Red Shirt Army only has 2,000 troops left in Shanhaiguan, the military situation is also very critical. They are asking for help and are in emergency everywhere, but now no one can
I don't care, everything is for Beijing. As long as Beijing is conquered, all problems will not be a problem. It is like two people playing chess. Both sides are approaching the city. It depends on who moves faster. Li Yan helped Liu Ziguang analyze Nanjing's defense.
The strength is not that weak. Hong Chengchou's army must not have brought too many supplies for the surprise attack. It will not last long before it will be defeated, so there is no need to worry for the time being.
Thirty medium-sized airships, sixty hot air balloons, and a huge city in the sky, after several hours of marching, finally arrived outside Beijing under the guidance of the compass. It was already late at night, and Beijing was in the dark.
There was silence, only the pine oil torches every ten steps on the Yongding Gate illuminated the night sky, and the rest of the place was still deathly dark.
The defenders of Yongding Gate were dozing off while holding matchlocks and muskets. Suddenly they saw a dark thing floating in the sky, and there were waves of low roars. You can hardly imagine the panic that a normal ancient person would feel when he saw the airships all over the sky.
The Qing soldier who first saw the enemy attack couldn't even speak. The people next to him saw his legs trembling and drops of water running down his pants. Others followed his eyes and also entered.
He was in a petrified state, his heads turning with those huge things in the sky, and he just watched helplessly as these mysterious invaders crossed the city wall of Beijing.
For the safety of airborne landings, the airship flew at a very low altitude, almost grazing the top of the Temple of Heaven as it flew into Beijing. The layout of Beijing has been firmly engraved in the hearts of every airship pilot. It passed the Yongding Gate and flew over the Xiannong Temple and the Temple of Heaven.
, flew along the dark streets and passed the Zhengyang Gate of the inner city. The people in the capital were still sleeping, and the low roar of engines in the sky could not wake them up from their sweet dreams.
When the airships filled the sky over the imperial city, the alarm sounded from the Yongding Gate. The shrill sound of gongs spread from the outer city to the inner city, and from the inner city to the imperial city. Every household began to light lamps, and in the barracks
Many soldiers with torches and weapons also appeared. The city of Beijing gradually lit up, and the outline of a huge city appeared in front of the red shirts.
As a protected object, Sky City was parked in the center of the airship's protection, which is above the Forbidden City in Beijing. Liu Ziguang put on his helmet, checked the weapons and equipment on his body, raised his arms and shouted to the eager eyes behind him: "
Brothers, get off!"
Twenty ropes were thrown down from the Sky City and hung down to a height of one foot above the ground. The airborne soldiers used this to grab the rope and slide down quickly. They all wore half-fingered leather gloves on their hands specifically to prevent abrasions.
With the palm of his hand, teams of elite airborne troops jumped out of the airship first, grabbing the rope and falling quickly, like magic soldiers descending from the sky. After landing, they rolled on the spot, took off the muskets on their backs, and knelt down on one leg to establish a defensive position at the airborne field.
The airborne soldiers all wore light armor. In addition to a Western-style iron vest on the upper body, they only had anti-collision knee and elbow pads on the knees and elbows. On their feet were canvas leggings and lightweight canvas rubber-soled shoes, thick
The rubber soles fell silently and were extremely elastic. On his hands were black lambskin fingerless tactical gloves. On his head was a rubber-lined steel helmet without a helmet. His face was smeared with oil paint, and each one was painted like an evil ghost. Except for his hands,
In addition to the firing pin breech-loaded firecrackers inside, each person also had two four-shot short firecrackers, a dagger, a saber, and four grenades. It could be said that they were armed to the teeth.
The Ouchi guards of the Qing court were not slow to respond. Within a short time, a large number of people rushed over with torches and steel knives. However, as soon as they appeared, they were shot dead by the airborne troops one by one.
Liu Ziguang only came down after the airborne landing field was established. When his feet stepped on the brick floor of the Forbidden City, a long-lost fighting passion filled his body and mind. It had been a long time since he had taken the lead in a decisive battle. He took a deep breath and started from there.
The bodyguard Dai Wenlong took a three-pointed two-edged sword made of pure iron weighing sixty-four kilograms. He waved the sword in the air and pointed forward: "Brothers, follow me to capture Kangxi's son.