In the first year of Shaowu in the Ming Dynasty, it can also be said to the first year of Hongguang, and it can also be said to the second year of Shunzhi. In the year 1645 AD, several year names appeared on the land of China.

This year, the Mid-Autumn Festival was not as popular as in previous years. The reason was very simple. The Qing army outside the city had been besieging the city for several months, and the contact was cut off inside and outside the city. At the same time, Ma Cheng in the city caused resentment to the heavens and the people, so naturally no one was in the mood to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.

Although the people have no intention of celebrating the Mid-Autumn Festival, the officials still have to show a festive atmosphere, because this year is the first year for the new emperor Zhu Lunkui to ascend the throne. Mid-Autumn Festival is still one of the traditional Chinese festivals. If it makes it lifeless, does not mean that you, Zhu Lunkui, are unpopular?

So on August 14th, the palace issued an edict. Although the country is in danger and should be kept simple, in order to demonstrate my Ming Dynasty, most of the Mid-Autumn Festival is held specially. However, outside the city, the northern city is besieged, so the Mid-Autumn Festival will not be held. The emperor will celebrate with the people on August 15th.

The grandeur in the imperial edict actually means that the emperor gives the whole city a full meal. After all, Ma Cheng collects surplus grains. As long as there are no strong soldiers in the city, everyone's daily rations are only half a pound.

As soon as the emperor's imperial edict was released, the people felt a hint of warmth from the emperor. After all, I had been hungry for half a month, so it was good to have a full meal. In this way, citizens in Nanjing came to Shangyuan and Jiangning to collect their own little food according to their residence.

On the night of August 15, citizens in Nanjing could finally have a full meal, and the entire Nanjing city was shrouded in joy.

However, the Baoguo Duke Mansion near the Lion Bridge in North City does not have this mentality. The entire Baoguo Duke Mansion is in a tense and busy atmosphere.

It was dark now, and there were still a few hours before the agreed time between Zhu Guobi and the Qing army outside the city. Zhu Guobi sat in the lobby in military uniforms, and sat in the lobby with Xu Wenjue, Xu Jiujue, Liu Zuochang, Deng Wenyu and other nobles who participated in the rebellion. He sat in the lobby without a sound waiting for the news.

As early as half a month ago, Zhu Guobi transferred 800 people from several nobles to Dinghuai Gate through Ma Cheng's central officer Zhu Tong. Five days ago, Zhu Tong sent news that the servants and generals had already been integrated and were all gathered around Dinghuai Gate to wait.

Today is August 15th. The emperor is quite stingy with ordinary citizens, but he is not bad with the soldiers guarding the city. In addition to the new army's extra meals, the guards and civilians can finally have a full meal. At the same time, Ma Cheng, the guards of Nanjing, also asked for permission to win the privilege of drinking for his new army. Of course, it was not that he could drink hard, but that each person could get two taels of rice wine.

On August 15th, the temperature in Nanjing at night has dropped to 15 or 16 degrees. It is still very cold on duty at night, so it is good to take a sip of rice wine to warm up.

Everything was carried out in the direction Zhu Guobi had estimated in advance, but at the last moment, the most critical Chen Hongfan did not come.

According to the previous agreement, after dark on August 15th, all the core figures participating in the rebellion would meet at Zhu Guobi's house. Chen Hongfan, who led the way, naturally had to participate. He shouldered the heavy responsibility of liaison with the Qing army outside the city. How could he not come?

But at this critical moment, Chen Hongfan fell out of the chain. By the time of Xu, Chen Hongfan had not come yet, and Zhu Guobi couldn't help but feel very suspicious.

Zhu Guo

Bi looked at Xu Wenjue, who was like an ant in a hot pan and asked, "Duke of Wei, why haven't Chen Hongfan come yet?"

Xu Wenjue said anxiously: "Uncle, I don't know either! I was fine yesterday. I decided to gather at my uncle's house today at You. It's Xu. Why haven't it arrived yet?"

Zhu Guobi was the most cautious and thought for a moment and asked, "Did Chen Hongfan be revealed by Ma Cheng?" Thinking of this, Zhu Guobi quickly went out and called his own captain, asked him to send a few people to the city to see, and then sent someone to Chen Hongfan's house and ask why this guy hasn't come yet!

The sent out personal soldiers quickly sent back the news that there was no problem in the North City and there was no movement on the street. The personal soldiers captain was very dedicated and sent someone to take a look at Dinghuai Gate. There was no movement on the city gate. Except for the new troops who were drinking and eating, there was no abnormality at all.

However, Zhu Guobi's sixth sense told him that the situation today was a bit abnormal, and he didn't know if there was a mistake in that place. Just when Zhu Guobi was suspicious, he sent his personal soldiers to find Chen Hongfan back. The news was that Chen Hongfan was asked to drink by Ma Cheng. However, it was not Chen Hongfan who went there himself, but on the Mid-Autumn Festival, Ma Cheng invited all the officials of the yamen to drink in the fifth rank and above in the yamen to drink, so Chen Hongfan was not at home.

After hearing this, Xu Wenjue breathed a sigh of relief and said to Zhu Guobi: "Uncle, I just said nothing can happen. It turns out that Chen Hongfan was asked by Ma Cheng to have a drink!"

Zhu Guobi thought about it and was still not relieved: "I still feel something is wrong. Why did this bastard Ma Cheng treat a meal at this time? Is it our business?"

Deng Wenyu, Hou Dingyuan, is Xu Wenjue's uncle, and is also considered an old man. He said from the side: "Duke Baoguo said it right. Otherwise, isn't Duke Baoguo Zhu Tong's uncle? Just send a family member to find Zhu Tong and ask him if he can?"

Zhu Guobi thought about it and found a confidant family member and asked him to go to the yamen to find Zhu Tong. He said that today's Mid-Autumn Festival, his uncle would invite his nephew to dinner and let him come over.

The family member received the order and it took only one hour before the family member returned.

When Zhu Guobi saw that his family came back, he quickly asked, "What's the matter with Zhu Tong?"

"Go back to the grandfather, Mr. Zhu is drinking in the yamen. The villain waited for a while before seeing him! Mr. Zhu said that he was having dinner with the governor and could not eat with the grandfather. He would definitely come to the mansion to pay his respects tomorrow!"

"Did you see Ma Cheng?"

"The villain saw it from a distance. The guard was bringing a bunch of military generals to drink. He drank a lot. Mr. Zhu also drank a lot, and his tongue was big!"

When Zhu Guobi heard this critical moment, Zhu Tong drank too much and scolded angrily: "This bastard, what wine did he drink at critical moments? What else did he say?"

"Go back to the grandfather, Mr. Zhu said that he couldn't leave. He had arranged everything on the city gate, so he let the grandfather do what he wanted!"

After hearing what the family said, everyone in the room felt relieved. Deng Wenyu, Hou of Dingyuan, said: "Duke Baoguo, don't worry now. It should be nothing. Zhu Tong and Chen Hongfan should have delayed something. Let's take action!"

Zhu Guobi waved his hand and asked the family to go out, and then said, "My brothers, it's not that I was accidentally. I almost had to ask the whole family for a killing of such a thing, but it's not careless!"

Xu Jiujue was brave but not resourceful, so he looked down on Zhu Guobi's hesitant character and said dissatisfiedly: "Uncle, there is no way back now. If we don't do it, can the emperor and Ma Cheng spare us? So we can only go one way to the dark!"

Although Xu Jiujue was rude, the fact was so in fact that they could no longer turn back. Even if Zhu Guobi repented and ran to Zhu Lunkui to cry bitterly, the crime of treason was already done, and the whole family would be punished for the fate of Zhu Guobi's family.

When Zhu Guobi heard Xu Jiujue say this, he knew that he could not turn back now, so he had no choice but to stand up and say, "Since that's the case, let's do it!"

With Zhu Guobi's order, all the Baoguo Duke's mansion mobilized. Most of the servants gathered by several nobles were already in Dinghuai Gate. There were still 100 people left in Baoguo's family to protect the safety of several brains.

Zhu Guobi, Xu Wenjue and others put on the clothes of ordinary soldiers and left the Duke Baoguo Mansion through the back door under the protection of their personal soldiers.

Back then, Zhu Guobi had no money and could only buy a house in Beicheng. However, Zhu Guobi's home was not far from Dinghuai Gate, only less than two miles away.

The current time is already three o'clock in the morning, which is equivalent to the night of the night. A curfew was imposed in the Ming Dynasty, so there was no one on the entire Gulou Street.

Zhu Guobi and others walked back to Longqiao and entered Dinghuai Gate Street under the escort of their personal soldiers. The number of soldiers patrolling the night on the way here began to increase. After all, they had already entered the area of ​​the city gate. Fortunately, Zhu Guobi and others had the waist sign signed by Zhu Tong, and came to Dinghuai Gate without any danger.

Dinghuai Gate is located in the northern city, and there are two small hills, Gupinggang and Ma'anshan, so Dinghuai Gate is sparsely populated and has few houses.

Zhu Guobi and others came to Dinghuai Gate. A hundred households under the city saw an army coming to the door, and went up to ask, "Which part are you from?"

Zhu Guobi's personal captain took the waist sign given by Zhu Tong and said, "We are here to change the defense according to the order of the Central Army Officer Zhu Zongzhen!"

Hearing the order of the Central Army officer, the Baihu was not sure about him. He stepped forward and was about to ask in detail, but he knew that a person behind him reached out to cover his mouth and inserted it into his ribs with a dagger. The knife was in the center of the body, and the Baihu struggled for a few times and stopped moving.

When Zhu Guobi saw his success, he quickly waved his hand, asked his personal soldiers to touch it, and killed more than a dozen soldiers at the Dinghuai Gate, so he got the first urn city gate of Dinghuai Gate.

The city gate in Nanjing is not like the home's own home gate, and it can be accessed after opening it. The city gate in Nanjing is a complete defensive facility. Although Dinghuai Gate is not like Jubao Gate, there are three-story urns on the Zhengyang Gate, there are still two-story urns. In addition to these urns, there are three city gates. These city gates are made of thick wooden boards and iron plates. In addition to these three main city gates, there are also Broken Dragon Gate.

This kind of thing is a whole piece of iron plate, which is as large as the city gate. After the city gate is broken, this kind of gate can be put down to isolate the enemy's follow-up troops. This is just the city gate. There are also a large number of hidden soldiers in the city wall, which are used to kill and injure the enemy troops entering the city wall and store materials to defend the city.
Chapter completed!