scourge the qing dynasty

Chapter 294
If the forward of the fat army led by Gao Dejie happens to be under the gate of Shicheng, then the good friends Li Ya and Xie Dong will definitely open the gate at all costs and make a complete bet, life or death!But it is a pity that the vanguard cavalry of the fat army led by Gao Dejie, after arriving at Jubao Gate, headed from south to east to Chaoyang Gate at the easternmost end of Nanjing. It is dozens of miles away from Shicheng Gate ——Li Ya He and Xie Dong would open the city gates, not only would they not be able to welcome the Fatty Army into the city, but their lives would also be lost immediately.

So there was no other way, Li Ya and Xie Dong had no choice but to explain in a low voice to the Liu family brothers who had sneaked into Nanjing City together, and made them prepare for the fact that they would never come back, and then Li Ya and Xie Dong The unlucky pair of brothers and sisters bit their bullets, and with the determination that the wind is rustling, the water is cold, and the strong man will never return, he resolutely embarked on the road of rushing to the Jubaomen tower to die.

In the meantime, Li Ya also took the opportunity to confess to Xie Dong in a low voice: "My lord, if the identity of the villain is exposed, you can insist that you don't know much about the villain, it's just a fellowship, maybe Mangou won't treat you Kill me."

Xie Dong smiled wryly and nodded without saying a word, but muttered in his heart: "The only person who can expose your identity is Mu Futai. If Mu Futai, who knows my details, is determined to expose you, can I escape?"

"Also, my lord." Li Ya was still loyal enough, and warned: "If the villain's identity is exposed, and then the villain grabs the fire, or the villain rushes to the fire, then you will lie on the ground immediately! Don't stand up, remember! Don't stand up!"

"What do you mean?" Xie Dong was a little at a loss, but Li Ya didn't explain anymore, but urged Xie Dong to leave quickly with a serious expression, don't make Man Gou more suspicious, and don't forget his advice.

In fear, Xie Dong, Li Ya and the others had already arrived under the heavily guarded Jubaomen tower. They saw a large group of Qing soldiers standing proudly in front of the tower and on both sides of the road, and the mountains of knives and guns in their hands. Don’t say anything. Mr. Xie Dong, who has never been on the battlefield, even Li Ya, who has climbed out of the dead many times, has weak legs. This place is surrounded by thousands of enemy troops. Once his identity is exposed, Li Ya No matter how rich your battlefield experience is, no matter how many times you have gone through the test of life and death, nothing can escape.

"It's amazing to fight with Man Gou. Killing one is enough money, killing a pair to earn one!" Gritting his teeth, and gently touching the shoulder knife on his waist, Li Ya quietly winked at Xie Dong, and strode forward with Xie Dong. Going upstairs, I never thought that just as I took a step, a Qing army soldier stretched out his hand beside him, saying: "The governor has an order that no one is allowed to carry weapons upstairs. General, please hand over the waist knife to the villain for safekeeping."

The expressions of Li Ya and Xie Dong changed slightly again, and they looked around secretly. Li Ya finally took off the shoulder knife and handed it to the Qing soldier—there were hundreds of Qing soldiers staring at him. If you move around, you will immediately end up dismembering your body with knives.But after Li Ya handed over the shoulder knife, two more soldiers from the Qing army came up and searched Xie Dong and Li Ya respectively. As a result, the civilian official Xie Dong naturally did not find any weapons, but inside Li Ya's coat, the The Qing army found something wrong......

"General, there seems to be something wrong!" The searched soldier exclaimed, and before he could finish his sentence, dozens of Qing soldiers next to him immediately unsheathed their steel knives, choking and choking, and Xie Dong was almost scared again. Peed in the crotch.Then, the captain of the Qing army's guard officer shouted at Li Ya again: "Take off your armor!"

Li Ya didn't say a word, he untied the plate armor and took it off, revealing the coat on his upper body. As expected, Li Ya's upper body was wearing an underwear similar to a vest, but this vest was strange because it looked like a sandbag for training and running. , bulging capsule, the inner layer is filled with things.The Qing army guard pinched a few times, and found that the underwear was filled with sand and soil, and it was packed extremely tightly. He couldn't help wondering: "Why are you wearing sandbags on your body?"

"This general, you must have never killed Wu Gou on the battlefield, have you?" Li Ya asked back.

"Why do you ask this?" The guard captain who had never been on the battlefield asked doubtfully.

"General, if you have been on the battlefield, you will know the usefulness of wearing this kind of sandbag on your body." Li Ya bragged casually, pointing to his chest and said: "I was shot by Wu Gou in the chest, and I was also shot in the stomach." If I hadn’t worn such a sandbag on my body, I would not be able to live now. During the battle of defending the city, guns and arrows flew on the city wall, and I might be shot at any time. General, if you want to live a long life One point, it’s best not to be afraid of heavy weights, in addition to wearing armor or a coat, it’s best to wear such a sandbag inside, it can save your life at a critical moment!”

"So that's how it is." The guard officer suddenly realized.At this time, a voice suddenly came from the tower, and said with a smile: "Have you seen it? What is the old fried dough stick who has survived a hundred battles, and what is Lao Qiuba? Learn a little bit, don't think that you have been riding a horse on the school field for a few days After a few days of shooting arrow stacks and chopping straw men for a few days, I thought I was an elite soldier."

"Your Excellency, General Ha." Xie Dong hurriedly saluted. It turned out that Ashish, Halehaqi and others in the tower heard the movement outside, so they went out together to check the situation, and they happened to see Li Ya's shy face. Hu Chui, who was worrying about the serious lack of experience of the army under his command, Hale Haqi, the deputy capital of the south of the Yangtze River, greatly appreciated this, and couldn't help but praise Li Ya a few more words.

"Learn a bit, the decisive battle with Wu Gou is about to take place, learn more from these veterans, it can save your lives!" A Xixu also scolded in a decent manner, Li Ya and the Qing people around Xie Dong The soldiers of the army nodded quickly, bowed to Li Ya in fear and retreated, and carefully remembered the 'experience' taught by Li Ya.A Xixu waved again and said, "Master Xie, General Li, come up quickly, I'll wait for you two."

"Tie." Xie Dong saluted and hurried upstairs.Li Ya also breathed a sigh of relief, and went upstairs while putting on the plate armor again, and said happily in his heart: "God bless, if those two full dogs just touched the fuze and detonator on the waist, then I will die Already!"

Entering the city tower, all the important civil and military officials in Nanjing had arrived, and they were all seated according to their ranks. Seeing that A Xixu didn’t seem to be trapping him, Xie Dong breathed a sigh of relief. At the same time, he wondered how such an important meeting could happen. Li Ya was asked to participate in the promotion, but he didn't dare to open up and ask, so he had to sit in the front row of fellow acquaintance Zhang Hao honestly, and Li Ya stood behind Xie Dong.

"Everyone is here, let's start." A Xixu nodded, cleared his throat with a cough, and said very seriously: "My lords, my generals, before I give you my errands, this governor must first tell you a Bad news I received. Two days ago, on the night of April 400, Jiangning General Echu'e Junmen led the main force of Jiangning in the Qing Dynasty. On the way to reinforce Anqing by boat, they encountered Wu's rebel army in Nichakou. The navy ambushed and fought fiercely overnight, because our troop carrier team was not escorted by a warship, and was wiped out by the Wugou navy. General Echu was killed on the spot, and the life and death of General Lebei were unknown. More than [-] large and small troop carriers Of the ships, only one escaped back to Jiangning City to report."

"What? There is such a thing?!" All the civil and military officials of the Qing army present were ashen-colored, Li Ya also screamed, and his heart was ecstatic - the full dog troop fleet without the protection of warships could hit Going to the main fleet of our own navy, it seems that the luck of our army is really not just ordinary.

A Xixu nodded helplessly, admitted that this statement was true, and said: "My lords and generals, the situation in Jiangning City is now more critical. I don't know when our reinforcements will arrive. It is possible to go down the river at any time and attack the four water gates in the north of our Jiangning City, so we have to mobilize our small force to deploy defenses on the water gates. But I believe that as long as we work together, relying on Jiangning City The dangerous terrain with tigers and dragons will certainly be able to stop Wu Gou's army of criminals from the east, and persist until our reinforcements from the Qing Dynasty reinforce it."

"The governor is right. As long as we work together, we will be able to stop Wu Gou and persist until the reinforcements arrive!" The inspector Chen Bingzhi quickly agreed, and other civil and military officials also scrambled to agree, but the tension and fear in my heart, But what they said was lingering, and many officials still had such thoughts in their hearts, "Would Wu Gou accept our surrender?"

"Okay, time is urgent, so I won't say anything unnecessary." A Xixu interrupted the oaths of all the officials with a wave, and said: "Just now, I discussed with General Halle Haqi, and the Wugou cavalry arrived. After Jiangning City, the main activities are in the south and east of the city. These two places are open, which is conducive to the gathering of Wugou's superior forces. Go to the south city and east city area."

"So, I'm making a decision now." Axixu dispatched an envoy: "From now on, I and General Halehaqi will lead the main force of [-] people to personally sit at the Jubao Gate and be in charge of the Jubao Gate, Tongji Gate, Zhengyang Gate and Sanshan Gate; Governor Mu Tianyan and General Dange led [-] main forces and [-] recruits to sit at Chaoyang Gate and were in charge of Chaoyang Gate and Taiping Gate in the east; One thousand soldiers, sit at the four water gates and Dinghuai gate in the north. As for the Shicheng gate and Qingliang gate in the west..."

Speaking of this, A Xixu pointed at Xie Dong and ordered: "Prefect Xie, I will leave these two west city gates to you. You lead two thousand new troops to defend these two cities for me." The door, Wugou must not be allowed to break through!"

"I obey." Xie Dong respectfully agreed, and a heart that was raised in his throat was finally put back into his stomach.

"Master Xie, although the Shicheng Gate and Qingliang Gate you are in charge of are covered by Mochou Lake, it is not conducive to the deployment of Wu Gou's troops. It is unlikely that Wu Gou will choose to break through from now on." A Xixu warned: "But Lu Yifeng That dog thief is notoriously cunning and cunning, and it is not ruled out that he will highlight the surprise soldiers and break through the two city gates you are in charge of, so you must be very careful. General Halle Haqi and I will be in the Sanshanmen area Deploy more troops, if there is a situation on your side, immediately light the beacon or light the fire to call the police, and I will rescue you immediately."

"My lord governor, please rest assured that the humble officials must stick to the Shicheng Gate and Qingliang Gate. If the gate is there, the gate will be dead." Xie Dong replied ignorant of his conscience.

"Li Ya, I have also discussed with General Halehaqi. You have rich experience in the battlefield. You must help your relative, Mr. Xie, and give him more ideas to help him defend the city." A Xixu pointed at Li Ya again He ordered: "When Wu Gou's attack is repulsed, I will recommend you as a guard."

"Slave, thank you Governor for your kindness." Li Ya hurriedly thanked him a thousand times.But at this moment, Mu Tianyan suddenly said: "Your Excellency, please wait a moment."

"Could it be that Mu Tianyan is going to betray me?" Xie Dong almost peed on his crotch again.A Xixu turned his head again and asked Mu Tianyan, "Master Mu, do you have any questions?"

Mu Tianyan pointed at Xie Dong, and asked, "Master Governor, Mr. Xie is in charge of the Jiangning treasury, and he also went to the city to help defend, so what about the food supply for the defenders?"

"Brother Mu, I was almost scared to death by you." Xie Dong heaved a sigh of relief again.

"Of course the governor has considered this matter, so I will trouble Mr. Zhou of Liang Dao to take care of it." A Xixu pointed to Zhou Lianggong of Jiangnan Liang Dao, and said, "Master Zhou, it is really inconvenient for you to be over seventy years old." If you go to the city to help defend, this officer will not arrange for you to defend the city, you will stay in the city to be responsible for the supply of food, grass and supplies for the defense of the city, and the military supplies used will be temporarily allocated from the Jiangsu Fan Treasury."

"Please Governor, even if I risk my life, I will ensure that the entire army will not be short of food and supplies, and there will be no shortage of military supplies." Zhou Lianggong replied with a cough.

"Then I'll leave it to Mr. Zhou." A Xixu nodded again, pointing to Zhang Hao, the magistrate of Jiangning Mansion, and said: "Mr. Zhang, I'll leave it to you to organize the people to go to the city to help defend and transport the supplies for the defense. Organize The more young and strong people there are, the better, and tell them that those who go to the city to help defend will be paid as soldiers, and those who died in battle will also be compensated according to official regulations."

Zhang Hao also respectfully agreed, and then A Xixu stood up and said: "Okay, everyone go back to their respective posts. From now on, no one is allowed to leave their posts without authorization, and all food and lodging must be on the city wall! Don't forget , once Jiangning City is breached by Wu Gou, none of us can escape!"

"Follow the order of the governor!" All the civil and military officials clasped their fists in agreement, and then left the Jubaomen tower as ordered, and returned to their respective posts to prepare for the battle.

"Master Xie, General Li, wait a moment." When Mu Tianyan left the city tower and went down to the city wall, Mu Tianyan suddenly called Xie Dong and Li Ya to stop, Xie Dong and Li Ya turned their heads back and agreed with trepidation, but Mu Tianyan came up, Said in a very low voice: "Thank you, General Li, this officer has helped you so much. In the future, I will ask you two to protect my family and life."

"He really has seen it through." Both Xie Dong and Li Ya's hearts trembled, but Mu Tianyan said loudly: "Master Xie, it's settled like this. If this official dies unfortunately, then the coffin of this official will be destroyed." I have to ask Mr. Xie to arrange people to send him back to his hometown in Gansu." After finishing speaking, Mu Tianyan cupped her hands and walked away in a swaggering manner.

"This guy is also staying behind." Xie Dong suddenly realized, and after thinking about it carefully, he felt that it was not surprising at all. Given Mu Tianyan's cunning and shrewdness, if he wanted him to be buried with the Mangou court, wouldn't that mean the sun would come out from the west?
........................

While waiting anxiously, when it was getting dark, military flags were fluttering at the dilapidated gate of Guofengtai outside Nanjing, and a huge army that could not be seen at a glance rushed in like a tide, and crossed the Qing army. The outer city walls of the Ming Dynasty that had collapsed and were forced to abandon gradually formed formations around Yuhuatai, and Fatty Lu's banner with Lu characters finally floated on the highest point of Yuhuatai.

The main force of the Fatty Army finally arrived. Brothers Gao Dejie and Gao Hongchen, who had already arrived at the city, hurried up to greet them. Together with them, there were Li Ya and other old lackeys of Fatty Lu who should be sent out of the city to contact the Fatty Army. On the note written by Xie Dong and Li Ya to Fatty Lu, there was only one line - Shichengmen, under the name of fireworks.

"Stone City Gate?" Fatty Lu showed joy on his filthy fat face, and hurriedly asked, "Where is the Stone City Gate?"

"In that direction." Gao Dejie first pointed out the location of the Shicheng Gate, and then said in a low voice: "After Brother Shen handed this note to me, I deliberately led the army to Patrol in the direction of the east city of Nanjing, looking for a breakthrough in the siege, but never took a step in the direction of the Shicheng Gate. Now judging from the banner of Man Gou, the main force of Man Gou has indeed been attracted by us to the south and east cities. rare."

"Don't be too happy just yet, only by being careful can you make the Ten Thousand Years Ship." Fatty Lu muttered cautiously, and then ordered: "Let the whole army rest in place for half an hour, eat enough dry food, feed the horses with fodder, and prepare to attack the city overnight." Xiao Erlang and others took the order to pass on Fatty Lu's order to all the troops. Fatty Lu pulled Shen Xin aside again and asked him about all the events that happened after his contact with Xie Dong, so as to judge whether Xie Dong used him or not. fraudulent.

Judging from the situation introduced by Shen Xin, Fatty Lu quickly analyzed Xie Dong's psychology. He wanted to repay his favor and save his life. At the same time, he was worried that after surrendering to Wu Jun, Wu Jun would be a grasshopper after autumn. , When the time comes, the whole family will be killed, so he hesitates until the last moment before making up his mind to surrender the city—this is also human nature.But analysis is analysis, but Fatty Lu can't decide whether this is a trick set by Xie Dong, who is going to use the blood of his [-] troops to stain the top of his official hat in the Qing court— — This is also Fatty Lu's favorite dirty trick. He judges others by himself, so naturally he dare not believe it.

"The matter has come to this point, I have to take a gamble." Fatty Lu gritted his teeth and said in his heart, "If it's really a trap, the worst is to escape to Taiwan or go to Fujian. With Brother Lu and my illustrious reputation , I am afraid that I will not be reused when I go there?"

Thinking of this, Fatty Lu stomped his feet and shouted loudly: "Command, thirty cannons will come forward, aim at the tower of Jubao Gate, and give me a hard bombardment!"

A moment later, the main force of the Wu army came forward with thirty sub-cannons carried by the army, adjusted the shooting angle to aim at the target, charged and reloaded the ammunition and ignited together. Amidst the loud rumbling noise, row after row of flowering shells came out of their chambers, whistling. They flew towards the Jubao Gate where the main force of the Qing army was guarding, and then, earth-shattering explosions exploded inside and outside the Jubao Gate.Hearing the sound of the explosion, Xie Dong, who was waiting nervously on the tower of Shichengmen, couldn't help being taken aback. He quickly pulled Li Ya's sleeve and asked tremblingly, "General Li, why are you hitting Jubaomen? Could it be that your messenger made a mistake?"

"Don't worry, this is our general's old routine." Li Ya replied with a sly smile: "The place where our general concentrates artillery bombardment has never been the main point of attack! Our general must use artillery to attract the attention of dogs, and then Taking advantage of the cover of night to reach the gate of Shicheng Gate, this is an old trick of our general, it is not new."

"Brother Sanhao is so cunning in fighting?" Xie Dong was even more surprised, and couldn't help feeling even more depressed. Why didn't he see through Fatty Lu's evil back then?
The violent shelling indeed played a role in attracting the defenders of the Qing army. The Qing army defenders who were seriously inexperienced were blown up to the point of howling ghosts and wolves. After leaving their posts, A Xixu and Halehaqi, who were sitting in Jubaomen, also kept sending orders to let Jiang Ning and Zhang Hao organize a team of civilians to help in the battle at Jubaomen.However, the experienced main force of the Wu army quietly detoured back to the Mochou Lake in the west of Nanjing under the cover of night, leaving only a small number of troops to continue shelling in situ. The main force of the Wu army is still outside the south gate.

At the beginning of the second watch, a red dot exploded in mid-air, blooming a huge beautiful flower. Seeing this firework, Xie Dong and Li Ya didn't hesitate any longer. Look, Li Ya stayed in the city just in case, Xie Dong led a dozen of his confidants and rushed down the Shicheng Gate tower, first asked the soldiers to open the inner gates of the two urns, and then rushed to the outer gates quickly, Holding the sword, he shouted at the gatekeeper, "Open the gate!"

"My lord, are you crazy?" the city gate officer exclaimed.Without further ado, Cao Guoxing drew his sword and went forward to chop, but Xie Dong pierced the city gate official's heart with his sword, pulled out his sword, and shouted loudly with the bloody sword in his hand, "If you don't open the door again, cut it straight! Open the door!" "

Xie Dong, who was always gentle and refined, suddenly became vicious like a wolf and a hungry tiger. All the recruits of the Qing army guarding the city gate were frightened. They hurriedly took out the key from the corpse of the city gate officer, unlocked the door, pulled the bolt, and opened the gate. Door.Immediately afterwards, Cao Guoxing, Xie Dong's confidant, held up the torch and shook it to send out a signal. Brothers Liu Zhen and Liu Xu, who guarded the winch of the suspension bridge at the city gate, immediately released the winch without hesitation. There was cheering and shouting, "Brothers, the city gate is open, go!"

"I have already dedicated my city to the Great Zhou army. Those who follow me and rebel will be rewarded!" Xie Dong cut off the tail of the money rat on his head with his sword, raised his sword and shouted: "Those who do not follow will be killed immediately!"

"I'm waiting for you to revolt with the adults." The guard of the Qing army was a recruit recruited by Xie Dong himself. He had neither experience nor fighting spirit. When Xie Dong raised his sword, he immediately knelt down and knelt a little hesitantly. One was immediately chopped down by Cao Guoxing with a merciless swing of a knife, and the rest didn't dare to hesitate, and they all knelt down quickly.

"Get out of the way, please enter the city!" Xie Dong yelled again, the soldiers of the Qing army who guarded the gate hurriedly retreated to both sides of the road and knelt down, while the cavalry of the Wu army galloped into the city from their sides, and rushed past the first place. The first city gate, the second city gate and the third city gate.And when the first team of Wu Jun cavalry finally rushed into the third city gate, cheers resounded in and out of the city, "Long live the Great Zhou! Anti-Qing and Fuming! Kill!"

Amid the thunderous cheers, the generals of the Wu army cheered the slogan of the Great Zhou Dynasty. The tide flooded into the city of Nanjing, rushed through the three city gates, entered the street, and killed the Qing army on the city wall and the city wall. The screams and exclamations of the recruits were endless, and the sound of recruiting and shouting never stopped.But Xie Dong was unaware of this, he just stood blankly by the road, turning a deaf ear to the shouts and screams around him, and even turning a blind eye to the Wu army soldiers pouring into the city like a tide, as if they had already The old monk seemed to be in samadhi, and the past was like a phantom, constantly flashing before Xie Dong's eyes.

Suddenly, Xie Dong suddenly found a group of people walking in front of him. When he fixed his eyes and took a closer look, in the light of the torch, Fatty Lu's familiar but unfamiliar fat face had also appeared in front of Xie Dong.After staring at each other face to face for a long time, Fatty Lu suddenly showed a friendly smile on his fat face that had obviously lost a lot of weight. He cupped his hands and bowed deeply to Xie Dong, and said softly, "Brother Xie, I'm sorry."

Xie Dong threw away the sword, knelt down on one knee to Fatty Lu, clasped his fists in salute, his mouth hadn't opened yet, tears were already rolling down, and he choked up after a while and said, "Your benefactor, you are welcome, Xie once promised to benefactor back then, If benefactor has a mission, Xie Dong will go through fire and water, and he will not hesitate to do it—today, Xie Dong is fortunate to not break his promise."

"Brother Xie, if you keep your word and speak like a mountain, you are a real gentleman." Fatty Lu also burst into tears, holding Xie Dong up with both hands, and a pair of friends who had only met once looked at each other again, bursting into tears together.

They met six years ago.

Six years ago, they hated each other.

Six years ago, he saved him.

Six years later, he paid him back.

(End of this chapter)