Sure enough, the people sent by the officials and gentry in the city for the second time were much smarter. Although their attitude was neither humble nor arrogant, they did not pretend to be Tang Dynasty or bandits at all, and then they were making all kinds of mysteries.
Therefore, both parties can still conduct practical negotiations!
But the negotiation was unsuccessful because the conditions negotiated by the two parties were too different.
The city asked the Tang Army to protect the lives of officials and gentry in the city and allow them to come and go freely, and then said that they should not send troops into the city to disturb the people.
Li Chunjing's condition was that they surrender unconditionally and not destroy buildings in the city, burn granaries and armories, etc.
The differences between the two sides were too big, so naturally they couldn't reach an agreement, so naturally they continued to fight!
In the evening of that day, after the assault battalion of the Second Army boarded the city, the officials and gentry in the city once again sent people to negotiate. Li Chunjing directly refused and only replied: Surrender or die!
The visitor was very angry at Li Chunjing's simple and rude attitude, saying that a scholar should be killed but not humiliated, and that a jade should be broken rather than destroyed.
But half an hour later, the officials and gentry of Jinling City led all the soldiers and civilians in the city to surrender and respectfully welcomed the king's troops into the city!
Wang Yiqi's hope before his death that their attempt to defend Jinling for several months to buy time for Jiangbei to deploy defenses was shattered in just one day!
In fact, the defenders in the city also put up a tenacious resistance, but the number of Ming troops defending the city now is smaller than a few days ago. At first, the defenders in the city still had more than 10,000 soldiers and horses left by Wang Yiqi.
Another seven to eight thousand defeated troops fled back to Jinling City.
But in the following days, these troops were gradually led across the river by their generals, including the core of the city's defenders, the 3,000 Jiangnan New Army.
By the time the Tang army blocked Jinling City and attacked the city, the number of defenders in the city was less than 10,000, and they were all weak in combat power.
Even if you want to defend the city, you can't. If you can't defend the city and don't want to die, you naturally want to negotiate. If the negotiation fails, you can only surrender completely and unconditionally.
Moreover, the officials who led the surrender were not of low rank. There were two among the Six Ministers of Nanjing. There were a lot of other high-ranking officials, such as the Six Ministers, the Minister, the Censor of the Inspectorate, the General Affairs Department, and the company in the Governor's Mansion.
There are many dignitaries and the like.
Its high grade and rich varieties are unprecedented since the war between the Tang and Ming Dynasties. Even in the past dynasties, unless the enemy's capital is conquered and the country is destroyed, this situation will not be possible.
Many.
Why, because the Ming Dynasty adopted the dual-capital system, and Jinling was also the capital. The six ministries in the city, including the Supervisory Office, the General Affairs Department, the Governor's Office, the Hanlin Academy, the Imperial College and other central institutions were all available.
After Jinling City was breached, many high-ranking officials surrendered.
Of course, not all officials surrendered. In fact, many ran away beforehand, some hid secretly, and some committed suicide.
But in any case, the high rank and large number of officials who surrendered in Jinling City this time are still very rare. This is also the reason why Li Chunjing is willing to accept their surrender and even negotiate with them. Otherwise, according to the
His temperament is to just break into the city, and then these people will have to be obedient prisoners.
But in this case, the political influence will not be so great.
After all, the difference between surrendering on their own initiative and being captured is still very big, and the political influence attached to it is also huge, and this kind of political influence is also urgently needed by the Tang Dynasty.
Li Chunjing looked at the large group of Ming soldiers in red robes who were demoted in front of him, and he could even imagine how excited the editors and chief writers of the Chao Bao Department of the Ministry of Rites would be when they found out about this.
Another propaganda article will be spread all over the world immediately, promoting the victory of the Tang Dynasty and the achievements of His Majesty.
When promoting the victory of the Tang Dynasty and the greatness of His Majesty, Li Chunjing, as the commander-in-chief of the Second Army, captured Jinling City and captured the generals in Jiangnan. He would inevitably occupy a small page in the court newspaper, while other
Naturally, the page belongs to the wise and great Eternal Saint Li Xuan, who is greater than the sun.
At this time, Li Chunjing was in a very good mood, quite good!
After entering the city, he walked around the city with great interest. This was not to see the scenery. To be honest, although he was a scholar, he had been in the army for several years and was not interested in the scenery. He mainly wanted to check the damage of the city.
Condition.
When he saw the city gate tower and many buildings behind the city wall collapsed and burned, he couldn't help but blame his artillery generals. The artillery fire was too hard, too hard!
This city is damaged, but it needs to be repaired!
Then he ran to the Ming Palace in the city to have a look, but found that the palace was somewhat dilapidated and dilapidated. This sight made him frown a little.
You must know that during the negotiations with the Ming army in the city, Li Chunjing asked them to keep the Ming Palace intact in the city, which was one of the main conditions listed by Li Chunjing. However, what he did not expect was that the Ming army did not deliberately destroy it.
Ming Palace, but this Ming Palace has been empty for more than a hundred years and has long been in dilapidated condition. Even many building materials have been demolished and used for other purposes.
And this made him a little worried. If the Ming Palace cannot be used for its full purpose, the matter of moving the capital may be a bit troublesome!
Moving the capital was something that no one among the senior officials of the Tang Dynasty had mentioned in the past year, but everyone had paid attention to it and even discussed it secretly.
Although Zhaoqing is a good place, it is located in a remote place in the south. Not to mention the distance to the north, even the distance to the south of the Yangtze River is too far. Even if the five-hundred-mile emergency report is used, the news from the south of the Yangtze River will have to reach Zhaoqing.
So many days.
Because of Zhaoqing's geographical location, Li Xuan himself revealed on several private occasions that the capital would definitely be moved in the future.
But where to move the capital?
Some people suggested that it be in Changsha, some suggested Nanchang, and some suggested simply going to Wuchang. Not many more people suggested moving the capital to Jinling City. As the person in charge of the Jiangnan strategy, Li Chunjing was naturally extremely determined.
The Jinling Sect!
If the capital is moved to Jinling, then the strategic core of the Tang Dynasty will definitely be in the Jiangnan and Jiangbei areas. This will be of great benefit to him personally and many soldiers of the Second Army.
But if the capital is moved to Nanchang, Wuchang, Changsha and other places, then the future strategy may be Hubei, Sichuan and other places. In this way, the first army will naturally benefit.
However, although the Jinling City was captured, the Ming Palace within the city was in dilapidated condition. If it needed to be repaired, I am afraid it would not be possible in a short time. It was not only a matter of time and manpower, but also a matter of cost.
Li Chunjing knew his Majesty's character to some extent, and he was very stingy on certain issues. If you dared to ask Li Xuan to spend millions or tens of millions of taels of silver to build the palace, he would dare to chop your head off!
With so much money, Your Majesty must have the reason to expand the army by another hundred thousand!
But if we don’t build this palace, where will he move when His Majesty comes to Jinling in the future? We can’t let him live in the shabby Ming Palace!
Li Chunjing was extremely worried about this. Although there are many other large-scale residences in Jinling City, such as the Han Dynasty Palace, the Duke of Wei Palace, etc., they are all large-scale, exquisite and gorgeous residences, but the reason why these residences are called
A house is already represented, it cannot be used as a palace!
In the huge Jinling City, only the Ming Palace can match the noble status of the eternal sage Li Xuan!
But the damage to the Ming Palace was really serious. It would be no small project to repair it!
But Li Chunjing just shook his head and stopped thinking about these things. These are all things for the future. The important thing is that Jinling City has been taken by himself now. As the largest and most prosperous city in the south, Jinling City is of great significance.
Incomparable.
So Li Chunjing couldn't wait to write a good news and send it to Zhaoqing!
He guessed that Zhaoqing had almost received news of the Jianping victory by now, and it would probably take many days for the news of his victory over Jinling City to be delivered to Zhaoqing.
What he expected was correct. The news of the Jianping victory passed through the military's fast horse. It was speeding all the way. After entering Jiangxi, it continued to be transmitted rapidly through the military post system. At this time, this victory message had passed through the hands of many military messengers.
, finally arrived in Zhaoqing City!
In a post station in Zhaoqing City, several knights were still drinking tea and chatting, but suddenly, a sharp whistle came from a distance, accompanied by the whistle and the rapid sound of horse hooves. Upon hearing this sound, they immediately became fast.
They stepped out, and then two of them jumped onto their horses without saying a word.
Because the rapid sound of horse hooves and the sharp whistle already let them know that there was an emergency report coming, and it was the highest level of five-hundred-mile emergency!
In the delivery of this five-hundred-mile expedited express, no delay is allowed. If the military newspaper knight cannot deliver the letter to the next post within the specified time, he will be severely punished.
Anyone who blocks or delays the delivery of military reports on the road will be severely punished, and beheading will be a light punishment.
The rapid sound of horse hooves was getting closer and closer, and soon they saw two knights riding horses in the distance. They all recognized the two knights as the military messengers from the previous station.
When the two men got closer, one of them shouted: "Five hundred miles, hurry up!"
Then, after the two envoys at the inn took over the letter, without saying a word, they just galloped away. What they carried was the good news of Li Chunjing's handwritten letter that was officially delivered all the way back from Jianping!
The military messengers flew all the way and soon approached the city gate. As they flew all the way, they blew a sharp whistle. Suddenly, a passage was quickly cleared at the originally crowded city gate, and the patrol guards guarding the city.
The first thing was to open the way with swords and sticks. After a while, a passage was opened before the military messenger's horse arrived.
The war horses continued to gallop on the streets of the city, and passers-by on the streets all fled when they saw them. The sharp whistle and the galloping horses marked the identities of these two knights: military messengers. When encountering these
Military messenger, you have to hide as far away as possible, otherwise you don't know how you will die.
Anyone who dares to block the military messenger will be killed on the spot!
The horses of the two military messengers galloped all the way to the outside of the Privy Council, and then they handed the several-layered and sealed letters in bamboo tubes to the officials of the Privy Council. At this moment, they breathed a sigh of relief.
Finally, no time was wasted.
The letter has been delivered, and they can walk back slowly.
But when they were just about to go back, they heard bursts of cheers from the Privy Council, and then saw a large group of officers rushing out of it, all with laughter, and they could still hear it from time to time.