Chapter 5: The City of Sorrow in Nanjing (IV)

"Master Lefan, how about this person Yu Guangjie?" Zhu Yinglong asked Lefan, who was sitting upright.

"You can be a general, not a general!" Lefan opened his eyes and said calmly.

"Yu Guangjie is a talent, but I seem to be discouraged when I see him. I have no intention of being a general, which is a pity." Zhu Yinglong shook his head and sighed.

"Is there a place to go?" Lefan said.

"Oh, Master, please say."

"Tongzhou Military Academy."

When Zhu Yinglong heard this, he smiled and said, "Why didn't I expect that although Yu Guangjie had no intention of being a general, it does not mean that he was wasting all his knowledge. The master is indeed my Zuo Fu Youbi. I am glad to keep the master, otherwise who can share my worries?"

Lefan smiled indifferently and continued to close his eyes and recite his scriptures.

A year later, Yu Guangjie was transferred to Tongzhou Military Academy and served as vice principal and executive principal. He trained countless qualified middle and senior officers for the Ming Empire. After the empire implemented the military rank system, he was awarded the rank of marshal. He was the only marshal who did not fight on the battlefield.

The lingering night made Zhu Yinglong feel Magu’s deep love for him, let go of everything, and reach the peak of happiness, and then bid farewell and separate sadly.

It's time to solve the problem in Nanjing.

First of all, the comparison of troops. The two armies in the southern expedition were still 100,000. Any elite substitute among the prisoners who died in battle were selected, and the reorganized prisoner army maintained local public order or provided logistical support for the main army. The western front support army had 140,000 people, with a total force of about 240,000. In contrast, the total force of Nanjing City and some peripheral commanding heights and dangerous checkpoints was less than 200,000. This was also counted as the temporary recruitment of young and strong men, with roughly the same force, but the combat power was not the same.

The two artillery brigades of the Southern Expedition Army were not satisfied with the artillery. Now, with the artillery allocated to Xiong Tingbi and the production of the imperial court in the past two months, after the reorganization, the two artillery brigades were basically completed, with more than 400 artillery pieces of large and small. This firepower made Nanjing city tremble.

Xiong Tingbi was very dissatisfied with Zhu Yinglong's transfer of the artillery that originally belonged to him. After tasting the sweetness, he wanted to see the magnificent prospect of personally commanding artillery to attack the city under Nanjing. However, for the sake of the overall situation, he still handed over the artillery in his hand and the artillery he had worked hard to train.

In the minds of the Ming generals, artillery was used to defend the city. When Longtan and Pengze fought, they saw the huge power of artillery attacking the city. They all stared at the gradually growing artillery, the independent new soldier, with red eyes.

The city wall in Nanjing was surrounded by Zhongshan in the east, Shitou in the west, Qinhuai in the south, Houhu in the north, with a circumference of 96 miles, with a large scale and a majestic momentum. In 1366 AD, Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, listened to Zhu Sheng's suggestion of "building high walls" and started to build the capital wall. It was completed in 1386, and it lasted for 21 years. The building scale is grand, with a city foundation of 14 meters wide and 14-21 meters high, with 13,616 warheads, 200 walls, and city gates.

13. Among them, Jubao, Sanshan, and Tongji are the most spectacular. The city wall is made of huge stone foundations and huge bricks. It is very strong and has perfect defense facilities. In the past two hundred years, the military equipment has long been relaxed. Many sharp weapons for defending the city have been rusted in the military warehouse and turned into a pile of scrap iron. Although Wei Zhongxian held a strong city in his hand, he had no cities to defend the city. It would be very difficult to defend Nanjing.

A battle is hard to avoid, and Wei Zhongxian is unwilling to fail. Empress Dowager Xu Rongrong also knew that this battle was related to the lives of their mother and son. There was a glimmer of hope for the battle. If you don’t fight, you will die and surrender. Even if you temporarily save your life, it’s just another Empress Li. Instead of living in humiliation, it’s better to be vigorous.

It is true that the Empress Dowager Xu Rongrong and Wei Zhongxian in Nanjing abandoned all the rifts and joined forces, issued an edict to survive and die with Nanjing City, and swear to defend the city to the death. But it is said that Zhu Yinglong's side, how to deploy 240,000 troops to attack the city?

The military strategy is full of force, and it will be ten times more important to attack it. The king and his ministers are confident that they can conquer Nanjing City. They just say that they will only surround and not attack, and Nanjing City will not last long. But this is obviously unrealistic. It is certain that if they want to fight, they will be able to be killed. Maybe they will be solved in one day. Maybe a month. Although artillery is powerful, it is not omnipotent. The eunuch party has concentrated a large number of interests, and the strength of the dying struggle is also terrible.

Yuan Chonghuan suggested that a tentative attack be first, find out the weaknesses of each junction guarding the city, and then decide how to attack the city. This suggestion was approved by a large number of generals such as Xiong Tingbi, so Yuan Chonghuan ordered the entire army to conduct a tentative attack to find out the number of defenders, combat effectiveness and weaknesses of each junction guarding.

First, a round of tentative attacks are all-round and blooming. You can just catch the information you need at a touch. The attacking and defense sides are not very dead. When the defenders grow a little morale, then take turns to several rounds of tentative attacks, which are also reconnaissance types. Then they confirm each other with the secret information transmitted by Gao Qiqian, pick out several places with unknown information, launch actual combat attacks, and force them to expose their true power.

After completing the systematic tentative investigation work, the next stage will truly enter the actual offensive and defensive stage. This stage is the cruelest and coldest.

Yuan Chonghuan personally selected five strong city gates, allowing five generals Lu Haotian, Zhou Yu, Xiong Zhaolian, Xiong Tingbi and He Renlong to attack the city continuously and assist with a small number of artillery. The purpose is naturally to attract the defenders in the city to these five city gates and weaken the defending power of the other eight gates.

This is the most formal way of playing in siege battles, and there is no trick at all. No matter whether the offense or defensive side, as long as one side is not a stupid player, the winner will be the one who persists.

Whether it was the previous tentative attack or the subsequent phased siege, it was enough to completely bathe this new city of Nanjing, less than two hundred years old, in blood and fire. The sound of shocking shouts and strong fighting floated over Nanjing.

After repeated struggles over the city gate, one group of people died, and another group caught up. The corpses filled the entire city gate tower, and the air was filled with a strong smell of blood, which was disgusting.
Chapter completed!