"You don't have a backache when you stand and talk," Huang Ding waited for Yang Chengzu to gallop closer, glanced at him angrily, and spread his hands, "At the beginning of the month, my men and horses were still chasing the Ming army in the Tonglu area, and then Lord Dutang said that he wanted to take Pinghu, so I traveled more than 400 miles to attack the city.

"As a result, a few bricks were knocked down, and I was asked to go to Jiading to block the retreat of the southern army. I didn't say a word, the camp was not cleaned up, and I led the army north on the same day.

"I just walked to Songjiang, and I was urgently transferred back to Nanjing. In the past month, my army has been marching in a hurry almost every day, walking nearly a thousand miles, and its legs are thin.

"You're just coming from Huzhou, so you're naturally faster than me."

"Look at what you said, wasn't I also transferred from Fuyang to Changzhou, and when I arrived in Huzhou, I was ordered to turn to Jiangning, and there were always more than 500 miles along the way." Yang Chengzu smiled bitterly, "But the worst thing to say is Zhang Tianlu's department." He set out from Hangzhou, traveled more than 40 miles a day, and easily arrived in Wuxi, hoping to get some military exploits, but he didn't even see a shadow of the southerners. Doesn't this also have to rush to Jiangning non-stop, even if he has run more than 1,200 miles. ”

In order to show the difference from the Ming Dynasty, the Qing court had renamed Nanjing Jiangning last year, but even the southern captive army officers themselves often forgot and still called Nanjing.

"This southern army is really evil," Huang Ding frowned and shook his head, "There are nearly forty cannons in Pinghu City, and there must be more than 10,000 soldiers and horses." In this careless effort, he had another 30,000 or 40,000 people near Nanjiangning. It's not that Nanming's main force is only 30,000, where did these people get it?"

He leaned next to Yang Chengzu, and said in a low voice, "I said, Lord Dutang won't fall for Zhu Linmiao's plan."

"Impossible," the latter shook his hand and squinted at him, "Haven't you heard that the Ming army built more than a dozen swallow rocks and rainflower towers on the shogunate mountain alone, which are more than six zhang high, and they are also in a hurry to build forts and watchtowers."

In addition, several city gates on the northeast side of Jiangning have erected earthen walls that are higher than the city walls, and are surrounded by arrow towers. Behind it is a camp that stretches for miles.

"At present, the Ming army is bombarding the city with heavy artillery every day, and hundreds of cannons are set up on those earthen ramparts outside the city gate, which should be waiting for the opportunity to bombard Jiangning. The southerners have made up their minds to fight under Jiangning City."

Huang Ding was shocked when he heard this, "Could it be that the tens of thousands of Ming troops attacked Jiangning and repaired the earthen fortresses and watchtowers, and transported hundreds of cannons" He immediately remembered something, and said hurriedly, "Earlier, Lu Shiyang took the Jiangning defenders to Jiangyin to block the enemy, and there were less than 10,000 defenders left in the city at this time, no wonder Lord Dutang urgently dispatched all the people and horses to the north to reinforce, it turned out that the situation in Jiangning was already in danger."

"Not necessarily." Yang Chengzu shook his head and said, "Although the southerners went to attack when Jiangning was empty, the city wall of Jiangning was impregnable, and although there were not many defenders in the city, it was difficult to break through overnight.

"I think the intention of Lord Dutang must be to plan and take advantage of the Ming army's eagerness to attack the city, so that the army suddenly returns to Jiangning, and if it is attacked in front and back, the southern army will be broken."

Huang Ding nodded thoughtfully, "So, we still have to speed up the march." Otherwise, Zhang Tianlu's group of vicious dogs will return to Jiangning first, and we are afraid that we will not even be able to eat the scum. ”

"Exactly."

It was getting dark, but there was still a busy scene on the Shogunate Hill outside Nanjing.

More than 1,000 Qing prisoners were under the command of the engineer battalion of the Longwei Army, carrying pieces of sintered long strips of dry mud onto a "watchtower", and other sappers carefully brewed the "mud bricks" on the top.

"It's okay, you don't need it here, just get some reed poles to block it." Zhu Linmiao went to the "construction site" to guide the operation.

If Hong Chengchou comes here at this time to take a look, he will be so angry that the majestic "watchtower" that is six zhang high is actually only one side facing Nanjing City, which is piled up with clods of soil, but the back is completely hollow

However, in order to deceive the building captives and explore the horses, the second half of the "watchtower" is still hung with a kind of reed pole made of hard board covering, and the mud is coated on it, which looks no different from the real watchtower from a distance.

This reed pole board is made of aquatic plants abundant in the vicinity, and no one in the nearby villagers knows how to buy more than a dozen boards with a height of one person.

In addition to this "building material" on the watchtower, the bottom is even covered with only a curtain. Even the mud brick part of the front is also the maximum saving of materials, and it can only barely collapse without collapsing.

However, there are absolutely everything that should be in appearance, the gun windows, the arrow ports are neat, and there are even swarthy barrels sticking out. Of course, the so-called cannon barrel is nothing more than a bamboo barrel painted with black paint. However, it takes a lot of carpenter's time to make a passable "gun carriage".

Such a watchtower, with one hundred and forty or fifty people, can be built in less than a day. At this time, there were already nine such watchtowers standing on Shogunate Mountain.

As for the six-zhang high earthen fortress outside the city, as well as the fort on the swallow rock, they all look at a flower from a distance and look at the tofu dregs closely.

Just in order not to be seen by the city captives in the construction process, the engineer battalion can only pretend to be during the day, and start the official construction from dusk, and before it is completed, a large pile of "building materials" must be placed on the front to block the view.

However, in Hong Chengchou's eyes, it became a siege equipment for the southerners to build siege equipment day and night, and he became more and more sure that the Ming army was about to storm Jiangning in the near future.

These things were all the false targets such as inflatable tanks and paper-shell fighters that Zhu Linmiao suddenly remembered that day, and later generations used to deceive enemy bombers and missiles, which inspired people to also engage in these "war projects" around Nanjing.

In fact, this was still an important discipline of camouflage in the military in later generations. The Battle of the Northern Expedition to Nanjing of the Ming Dynasty can be regarded as the first application of camouflage in the 17th century.

"It's done, that's all. Put some mud on it after dark."

Zhu Linmiao was instructing Chen Yi to deal with the last "watchtower" on the Shogunate Mountain, when he saw Ma De, the commander of the infantry battalion, coming quickly, and saluted, "My lord, there is a woman who said that she has something important, and she must see you before she can say it." ”

"Nonsense." Shi Lin frowned and said, "This kind of thing is at most sent to the General Staff, how can you be alarmed casually?"

"General Shi doesn't know, this woman is not an ordinary person." Ma De hurriedly said, "Her name is Bian Sai. ”

Bian Sai Shilin and Chen Yi were both stunned. Seeing their expressions, Zhu Linmiao couldn't help but wonder, "Who is she, is she famous?"

"Don't you know," Shi Lin said a little embarrassed, "Bian Sai, Bian Yun." Seeing that Zhu Linmiao was still shaking his head, he had to get closer and whisper, "She is one of the famous Jinling Bayan, a famous prostitute in Qinhuai." ”

End of chapter

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