I, Zhu Houzhao, join the US imperialist chat group

Chapter 216: Nine Border Attacks! The Poor Defense of the Capital! The Northern Cabinet: We are in danger!

Yongding Gate.

When Yang Tinghe arrived in the dark, the atmosphere at Yongding Gate was already tense.

In the light of the torches, the laughter of the officers and soldiers had disappeared.

Xu Pengju and Zhu Feng were already involved.

Seeing him coming, I felt more confident.

"Chief Assistant!"

"Chief Assistant!"

The two of them greeted each other quickly.

"Zhu Feng, Peng Ju, what's the situation outside now?"

Yang Tinghe subconsciously looked outside and it was pitch black and he couldn't see anything, which made him suspicious.

"They are the generals from the Nine Frontiers. We have already had a round of confrontation. They are now hiding under the cover of night. We don't know how many people there are on our side." Zhu Feng said seriously.

Only then did Yang Tinghe notice that a lot of arrows appeared in the open space ahead.

"Among the generals of the Nine Frontiers, is Yang Yiqing one of them?" Yang Tinghe asked hurriedly.

"Not sure, I don't know!"

"The one who just came to speak was Datong General Wang Xun!"

Xu Pengju also explained: "He wanted to enter the capital, but we repelled him."

"Why not let them in?" Yang Tinghe hesitated.

"Master Prime Minister, if he is here to help... there is no need for him to sneak around at night. He can just do it openly during the day."

Zhu Feng calmly analyzed: "In addition, according to our spies, they have about 30,000 people. Datong Prefecture originally only has 10,000 to 20,000 people. 30,000 people is abnormal! Once they leave, Datong will be empty. What if the Mongols come?"

"In any case, we can't let them enter the city!"

"If you want to go in, we'll talk about it tomorrow!"

Although both of them are young, they are still experienced and naturally would not make such a mistake.

Yang Tinghe quickly figured this out and was about to express his opinion.

Boom!

However, a loud bang and noise came from behind them.

"Chaoyang Gate!"

Xu Pengju and Zhu Feng subconsciously looked towards the Chaoyang Gate, and soon they saw fireworks rising into the sky.

"The enemy is attacking Chaoyang Gate!"

Just as they came to a conclusion, another burst of fireworks shot up into the sky.

Boom!

Boom!

Boom!

Immediately afterwards, fireworks shot up into the sky.

"Dongzhimen! Xizhimen, Andingmen!"

"Damn it, these guys really come with bad intentions, and good people don't come! Prime Minister, they are making tentative attacks in several directions!"

Zhu Feng and Xu Pengju's faces suddenly turned grim.

Sure enough, as they finished their words, the silent capital city became lively again, with the sounds of gongs and drums everywhere.

"Kill the cabinet! Kill the Prime Minister!!"

Before they could get used to the situation, there was another loud shout in front of Yongding Gate, and more than a thousand soldiers rushed out.

"Shoot! Shoot!"

Xu Pengju immediately gave orders, and countless arrows shot decisively into the darkness.

Dang Dang Dang...

Unfortunately, the rain of arrows was directly blocked by the shields, and the people who rushed over immediately turned and rushed to the next place. Under the cover of night, battles broke out outside the major city gates and walls.

but……

Rather than calling it a battle, it was more like a series of tests, which consumed the strategic materials of the capital and made the people of the capital completely nervous. It was a psychological warfare.

"This can't be done!"

"Don't waste your arrows!"

"These damn guys are just consuming our supplies!"

At this moment, Xu Pengju, Zhu Feng and the others reacted. It was obvious that the Nine Border Soldiers had much more experience in defending the city than them, so they would never make such a low-level mistake. They were clearly taking advantage of the darkness to make them panic.

Xu Pengju and Zhu Feng both quickly ordered to stop shooting.

But they had just stopped here with great difficulty, and arrows from other places were shooting out like crazy.

Obviously, these poorly trained soldiers from the Beijing Camp and the Imperial Guards were all frightened birds when they first experienced the battlefield. Once the battle broke out, they had no plan at all and just used whatever was available.

"Master Prime Minister! We can't let them waste it like this!"

"You must quickly gather the generals defending the city, and we will discuss countermeasures! They definitely don't have much supplies, nor do they have siege equipment such as ladders. Now, they are here to consume our resources..."

The two of them directly put the pressure on Yang Tinghe.

Yang Tinghe had no choice but to listen to their arrangements numbly.

In short, that night, as the siege of the city by soldiers from the nine frontiers began, everyone in the capital city suffered from sleeplessness.

Then, when they finally made it to dawn the next day, they were horrified to discover that the capital city was surrounded by soldiers from all nine borders.

Suddenly, the entire capital city fell into panic again.

Especially the soldiers in the nine borders have begun shouting to kill the cabinet, kill the prime minister, and eliminate the traitors, which has directly put everyone under maximum psychological pressure.

……

"Fool!"

"Wine bags and rice bags!"

"Haha, it turns out that the people guarding the city are all these people!"

"This time, we are sure to win!" Unlike the solemn atmosphere in the capital, the generals and soldiers who rushed over after a night of exploratory attacks looked relaxed.

They knew they couldn't break through the city gates. After all, the capital city was impregnable. If they wanted to break through, they had to attack the heart!
Therefore, after they discussed the war situation last night, they directly blocked the capital city on the spot, putting pressure on countless people in the capital.

As soon as they finished breakfast, they sent out troops to shout directly at the defenders of the capital, trying to persuade them with emotion and reason, saying that they were only responsible for suppressing the rebellion for His Majesty and only arresting ministers!

These remarks quickly affected the capital city and the soldiers defending the city.

……

"That's it?"

"They still want to defend the capital like this?!"

"Are these the only ones we have in the Imperial Guards and the Beijing Garrison?"

Zhu Houzhao, who was far away in Jinling, naturally watched the live broadcast at the same time.

He actually waited for several days.

I thought the two sides would be able to engage in a fierce offensive and defensive battle.

However, the frightened soldiers of the imperial guards and the Beijing camp who were defending the city were played around by the soldiers from the nine borders, which made Zhu Houzhao very angry and disappointed.

"Some of the soldiers in the Beijing camp and the imperial guards did perform poorly."

Zhu Youlang also had to admit that there was indeed a huge gap between the Beijing Army, the Imperial Guards and the soldiers of the Nine Frontiers.

"Your Majesty, don't be angry. At least our Nine Frontier soldiers are still the elite of our Ming Dynasty."

"Oh, no more talking! We'll talk about it when they really start fighting. I've been guarding all night and it's been lonely. I'm very disappointed with them anyway. I want to train the new troops well myself this time!"

Zhu Houzhao saw that both sides had started to argue and immediately lost interest.

Instead of spending his time on this, he might as well train the new army himself!
……

Capital, Fengtian Palace.

"This is the situation!"

"Last night, the soldiers from the Nine Frontiers launched a feint attack on our various gates. We had stored up arrows for several days, but they consumed half of them! In addition... because some people encountered a battle for the first time last night, more than 200 people were killed by mistake."

"More than a hundred people were killed directly by arrows thrown by the enemy, and more than five hundred people were injured!"

"Then... early this morning, because of the instigation of Jiubian, one-third of the guards and soldiers at the city gates were missing, and some even broke free and escaped..."

"Now, it can be seen that the enemy wants to surround but not attack, and is preparing to attack the heart!"

In the main hall, Xu Pengju and Zhu Feng reported last night’s battle situation with serious expressions.

Logically speaking, they won the offensive and defensive battle last night.

But the result of this first war gave everyone a wake-up call.

Especially after today's battle, the performance of the Beijing Camp and the Imperial Guards directly put pressure on the teammates again and increased the intensity.

"Deserting from the battlefield! How can they serve as soldiers?"

"How can we defend the capital like this?"

"That's all? They don't deserve the good food and drinks that the Prime Minister gave them yesterday!"

"Is this how they repay the Prime Minister?"

After the two finished their reports, everyone fell silent, and then Zhang Sheng couldn't help but burst into cursing.

"Yes! We have squeezed out all the food for them, and this is how they guard the city gate?"

"These guys, they are so useless!"

Zhang Sheng's complaint immediately aroused the civil servants' hatred of the enemy.

"Master Zhang, all the lords! At least we defended the city last night, but what about you? We can't do it, how about you do it yourself?"

As soon as these words that were not conducive to unity were uttered, Zhu Feng and Xu Pengju looked unhappy and they responded directly and rudely.

"We are civilian officials! Fighting is your business!"

"But we can see it with our own eyes! You didn't hurt the enemy, did you? The enemy didn't suffer any casualties, but we suffered hundreds or even thousands of casualties. Are you the elite troops of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Right, right, right! With the advantage of the city wall, they can still cause so many casualties. It's almost laughable!"

Immediately, in the court, the civil servants who had been harboring grievances with the soldiers for days finally found an opportunity and started to criticize them one by one.

They are not good at fighting.

They are good at verbal battles.

Xu Pengju and Zhu Feng were just two juniors, how could they be a match for these people? They were so angry that they clenched their fists, wishing they could tear these guys' mouths apart on the spot!
"Shut up!"

"Shut up, everyone!"

"You have the strength to defend the city!"

Yang Tinghe exploded again and roared, and immediately the sharp-tongued civil servants shut up.

"Zhu Feng, Pengju, don't worry about it. Everyone is in a bad mood. What happened last night was also my fault... If you want to scold me, just scold me. What's the matter with Pengju, Zhu Feng and the others?"

Seeing Xu Pengju and Zhu Feng's clenched fists, Yang Tinghe hurried to comfort them. He was really afraid that these two would quit.

He had personally experienced that in the entire capital's defense, only Zhu Feng and Xu Pengju were capable, while the others were all sneaky and cunning. His subsequent plans still depended on these two people.

"Yeah! Let's all stop talking!"

"The question now is how do we defend the capital!"

"Those soldiers from the nine borders are shouting for war and killing, and they want to kill all of us civil servants. Do you really want the capital to be destroyed? Should we all be arrested as traitors and presented to King Xing?" The Minister of Revenue Han Wen also sighed.

"If you are dissatisfied, go guard the city gate today!"

Yang Tinghe also decisively interrupted and turned to the main topic: "Han Wen, now the people from the nine borders have blocked the capital. How long can our current supplies in the capital last? Will the situation like Liu Cong besieging Luoyang in the past return?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the atmosphere in the court became gloomy again.

When the Western Jin Dynasty fell, Liu Cong of Han Zhao also reached Luoyang, but had no time to break through the city gates, so they besieged Luoyang for several months, and cannibalism even occurred in Luoyang.

The current situation in the capital is very similar!
"If we save a little, we can last for three months...but in the current situation..." Han Wen gave a data.

"Three months! Can we hold out for three months?"

“This is just the beginning!”

Minister of War Wang Qiong felt the situation was very serious: "This is only the Nine Frontiers. Prince Xing's Southern Army has not arrived yet. Moreover... if the Nine Frontiers leave, the Mongols may also move south. Can we hold on?"

　I'm not good at describing war, so please be gentle!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)