Although Zhenjiang is the gateway to Nanjing, the Jianyu from top to bottom thought that the Ming army was still near Jiangyin. Even when Lu Shiyang led his army to Jiangyin and passed through Zhenjiang a few days ago, he also "easily" took away nearly 1,000 defenders here, so there were only more than 1,000 soldiers and horses in the city at this time.

Zhenjiang guard Guo Xiangliang didn't have time to button his clothes, so he hurriedly climbed to the top of the city to check the situation, and saw the fire jumping on the river on the north side, and the sound of cannonballs breaking through the air from time to time came from far and near, and finally turned into a muffled sound hitting the city wall.

"How did the Ming army come here?!" As he spoke, a piece of rubble from a cannonball smashed into his stomach, but he was still far from the northern wall, and only a piece of flesh was removed, but it did not hurt his bones.

"Your Excellency, are you alright?" When his subordinates saw him stumbling, they hurriedly reached out to support him, and said hurriedly, "My subordinates heard that the Ming army landed near Qiantang by boat and attacked with artillery on the ship, and many places were attacked by this tactic. ”

"Yes, yes!" Guo Xiangliang covered his wound and nodded repeatedly, and shouted loudly, "Then don't stand!" Quickly, gather people in the north of the city. As soon as the southerners' artillery stops, they will rush up to attack the city, so prepare early! ”

"Yes, my subordinates will go!"

After a short time, except for the captives guarding a few city gates, the remaining 700 soldiers in Zhenjiang City all gathered near the urn city in the north of the city. At the head of the city, dozens of people were left staring at the beachhead near the river, waiting for the Ming army to come ashore and immediately warn.

At the same time, Yu Xinqin led the main force of the Dragon Guard Army to touch the south of Zhenjiang in the night.

He listened to the constant loud noises coming from the river, and glanced at his pocket watch from time to time. After a while, he glanced at the lonely torches at the head of the city, got up and said to the herald: "It's almost over, herald, attack the city according to the A-word plan!" ”

"Yes!"

Several heralds quickly transmitted the order to the entire army. Soon, a large number of torches were lit in the south of Zhenjiang City, and the infantry of the Four Thousand Dragon Guards ran to the city as fast as possible, and did not form a formation, and immediately launched a suppressive volley of fire towards the city head according to the commander's order.

In fact, because of the long queue training, even though the stragglers charged in formation, these soldiers still vaguely lined up the infantry line. There were less than 100 captives at the head of the city, and they heard the roar of firecrackers under the city, and the sound of lead projectiles hitting the wall bricks all around, and they were so frightened that they did not even dare to look at them.

And more than 1,000 Ming soldiers rushed to the base of the city, and with the help of the fire of their teammates, the ladder was erected, and the hook claws were thrown on the city. Immediately, more than 1,000 people stepped forward quickly, stepped on the shoulders of the soldiers beside the city roots, climbed the ladder or grabbed the rope, and climbed to the top of the city in three or two clicks.

When the sound of guns under the city stopped, and the defenders looked up again, several guns were already pointing directly at them.

There was no suspense in the battle in the city, and the Qing troops defending the city were all the green battalion soldiers with the worst combat effectiveness, and as soon as they heard that the south gate was lost, they immediately lost their weapons and fled in all directions. Guo Xiangliang saw that the situation was not good, changed his clothes and prepared to slip away from the West Gate, but he was also arrested by the Long Weijun.

When Yu Xin saw the hundreds of captured captives defending the city, he couldn't help but shout that it was a waste, just now, he had knocked out tens of thousands of mini bullets.

……

Two days later.

Zhu Linmiao looked at the Nanjing city wall from afar, and couldn't help but be excited.

This is not the first time he has seen the city wall of Nanjing, he had also seen the ruins of Zhonghua Gate during his travels in his previous life, and the city wall at that time had long been lost in the surrounding high-rise buildings.

Now the Qinhuai River under the city is rippling and soup, the bottom is not visible, the pine and cypress forests on the bank, stretching and stacking green, the Nanjing city wall is towering like a brown giant, standing on the long river and green trees, looking at them coldly.

Ying Tianfu, the original capital of the Ming Dynasty and the political and cultural center of the south, fell into the hands of Jianyu in the smoke of gunfire a year ago. Zhu Linmiao's eyes were slightly red, and the words "things are not people" surged in her heart.

It has been more than a year since he came to this world, and under his hard work and Zhou Gong's efforts, the Ming Dynasty in the wind and rain has finally stood tall.

Now, the old capital is in front of you, as long as you take this ancient city, the whole Ming Dynasty will have a soul and hope again! The Chinese people of the whole world will gather together tightly because of this, so as to prove to everyone that the Ming Dynasty will last forever!

This was his biggest dream a year ago, and now it can be realized, and his whole heart is beating hard. But he kept telling himself to be calm and patient! Half of the people who have traveled a hundred miles are ninety, and the main force of Jianyu is still there, and it is far from the time when it is time to relax.

He turned his head to look back at Zhenjiang, in the thirteenth year of Yongli in history, Zheng Chenggong also led an army of 170,000 troops to bypass Jiangyin to seize Zhenjiang, and then besieged Nanjing, which shocked the Qing court, and Shunzhi was so frightened that he almost ran back to his hometown in Liaodong.

At present, he has successfully copied the experience of Zheng Chenggong's Northern Expedition and hit the city of Nanjing with almost the same route. But in history, Zheng Chenggong has made a series of mistakes since then, which led to a sharp turn for the worse and finally failed.

In other words, all the "successful examples" that can be used up have been exhausted, and if you want to change the fate of Zheng Chenggong's failed Northern Expedition, you have to rely on your own strength to deal with it.

He took a deep breath and felt the weight of his shoulders weigh on him. He knows very well that the significance of this battle is extraordinary, and the national fortune of the Ming Dynasty is all related to this battle!

He clenched his fists hard, as if he was muttering to himself, more like vows, "In this battle, you can only win, not lose!" ”

"My lord, the front team has reported that it has reached fifteen miles outside Nanjing and is camping."

The voice of a hussar interrupted Zhu Linmiao's thoughts, and Zhang Jiayu on the side arched his hand and said: "My lord, according to the confession of the captured soldiers in Zhenjiang yesterday, Luck Dehun and Lu Shiyang and others led nearly 30,000 soldiers and horses to pass through Zhenjiang and rush to Jiangyin.

According to the speculation of his subordinates, Hong Chengchou did not know that the main force of our army had attacked near Nanjing at this time. And Lu Shiyang's headquarters should be the defenders of Nanjing, and there should be only more than 10,000 people in the city. ”

"What do you mean?"

"My lord, we should take advantage of Hong Chengchou's unpreparedness and the small number of soldiers in the city, and gather our army to break through Nanjing in one fell swoop, so as to achieve a great cause for all generations!"

Zhu Linmiao frowned and shook his head slightly, this Nanjing City is the strongest city in the Ming Dynasty, and even in the entire East Asia. He remembered that when he traveled to Nanjing in the past, he had seen a brief introduction to the construction of Nanjing City, and the Nanjing city wall was built by Zhu Yuanzhang with nearly 300,000 strong laborers in 27 years.

The foundations of the entire city were dug more than 20 meters deep and the foundations were laid with huge stone slabs. The construction of the city is made of huge stones, weighing thousands of catties, and even the most ordinary wall bricks weigh more than 20 catties, the thickness of the wall is up to eight zhang, and the height is about eight zhang!

During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, when the Japanese army attacked Nanjing, it mobilized 105 mm artillery to bombard it for two consecutive days, and finally blew up a gap. It was almost an impossible task for such a strong city defense to bombard with smoothbore artillery.