Chapter 636 The situation is critical
The Liu family army has already possessed quite strong strength and has the ability to challenge the current imperial court. Even if the city does not surrender, they can capture it. No matter how strong the walnut shell is, it cannot withstand the meat of people eating it.
But Liu Jun was very happy because it meant that they saved time and reduced unnecessary casualties.
The most powerful war is of course a commander who will make a decision without fighting.
You should know that the Liu family army can achieve such great success in Jiangnan, that is, they fight slowly with fast and defeat mediocre with elite force. When the opponent is in chaos, they attack quickly and advance quickly. When the opponent has no time to react, they have already appeared in front of the opponent and defeated the opponent.
They delayed the city for one more day, which means that Nanjing would have more time to prepare. They would transfer more soldiers from other places, draw more servants and strong men from the city, join the army, and improve various defense facilities.
If they can advance quickly, they will achieve greater victory when the opponent's army is not formed and has not completed its defense.
So after the other party opened the city gate, Liu Bu immediately ordered the general Mao Shengli to accept the other party's surrender, and at the same time ordered several generals to lead their elite infantry and cavalry to set out in the direction of Nanjing immediately.
Zhenjiang was stuck at their only way to Nanjing. After taking this place, they had a complete dock and army, and they could officially siege the city. I believe that if they took this place, they would have hundreds of thousands of troops rushed to Nanjing City and besieged Nanjing City.
Liu Bu knew the significance of this place very well, so after taking it down, he did not celebrate. He just sent some troops to disarm the other party and take over the city defense. Then his troops immediately drove towards Nanjing, and at the same time they also sent a large number of logistics soldiers and civilians to improve the official road because he wanted to pull these cannons and various supplies over continuously.
The Liu family army's actions were still as fast as lightning. That was when they took over Zhenjiang, they took over the city defenses on all sides. Their army immediately passed through the city, just like they were heading towards Nanjing. The one who took the lead was their elite cavalry.
Zhenjiang and Nanjing City are just a few dozen miles away. If the cavalry charge with all their might, they can basically arrive in more than an hour.
Of course, they all knew that the other party had already known that they had begun to land here, and they also knew that they were rebelling. Nanjing City had already prepared defense and various persistent equipment. It was not easy for them to take down Nanjing City.
Nanjing has superior geographical conditions, with a rich water source and convenient transportation. The Qinhuai River flows around the city in the south, and is a water distribution center. It has been known as "dragons and tigers" since ancient times. Zhongshan is the dragon in the east, Shicheng and tigers are located in the west, and Xuanwu Lake is located in the north.
The main urban area is located at the intersection of the Qinhuai River and the Yangtze River. It is a key area for external transportation. It has dense residents and prosperous businesses. A large number of handicraft workshops serving the imperial court are also set up here.
Because the land is close to the imperial city, the ministers' houses are also concentrated in this area. For example, Xu Da's house is in Dagongfang, Chang Yuchun's house is in Changfu Street, Zheng He's house is in Mafu Street, etc. The sixteen large restaurants ordered by Emperor Taizu are distributed in the southwest of the old city where the market gathers.
The Huangcheng District is located on the east side of the old city, with Fugui Mountain in the north and Qinhuai River in the south. It is convenient for water transportation and closely connected with the old city. It is ideal in all aspects and is also in line with the Yang house that is pursued by Feng Shui, facing the water and facing the sun. The only disadvantage is that the terrain is low-lying, but surrounded by mountains on all sides, which is a must for military strategist.
The city wall is composed of four walls from the inside to the outside of the palace city, imperial city, capital city, and outer city. It does not follow the old city of ancient capital with square or rectangular design. It has unique design ideas, exquisite construction technology, and magnificent scale. Between the beautiful Nanjing mountains and rivers, the city wall winds for 36 miles, longer than the Beijing city wall. It is the world's largest city wall, and the outer city has a circumference of more than 60 miles. It is known as the world's largest city.
Its construction ideas are both inherited and innovative, and have a great influence on the construction of Fengyang, capital and Beijing City in the Ming Dynasty, and occupy an important position in the history of capital construction.
When Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang was building the city of Nanjing, he regarded it as the capital and mobilized millions of people in several surrounding provinces to build and work on it. It took twenty years to build such a huge city.
After it was completed, as the capital of the Ming Empire, he ordered all directions and no one dared to refuse. He was also a giant military fortress with great defense measures and various equipment. Even if he was surrounded by hundreds of thousands of enemies, he could resist the enemy's siege with his own strength. It is not an exaggeration to describe it as a solid and iron wall. However, this huge military engineering system did not play its due role. In this huge city, he was not defeated and dragged down the enemy several times when he was besieged.
For example, when Zhu Di fought here, the officers and soldiers guarding the city surrendered with equipment.
By the Qing Dynasty in later generations, they fought here and at the door. None of these officials had thought of using this most powerful defense system to resist the enemy, but instead took the initiative to offer the city and surrender.
Therefore, the giant city he built at that time, did not play the role he imagined when Emperor Taizu spent endless effort and endless manpower and material resources. Especially after Zhu Di moved the capital, Nanjing's status declined, and its prosperity was not as prosperous as the capital, but it was far inferior to that in military terms.
In the capital now, it was a mess, a mess. When they heard that the Liu family army took Yangzhou, they were already a mess.
Because according to past habits, Nanjing City was only in charge of more than a dozen prefectures in Nanzhili, and there was no way to take care of other provinces, so the court sent Wu Zongda as the supervisor of Jiangnan to be responsible for mobilizing the resources of the entire Jiangnan. Nanjing has always been in name only, but now, there is no such basic name.
The problem is that they completed the handover of open rights, and the Yangzhou Rebellion broke out.
They called Chen Wenruo's uprising the Yangzhou Rebellion. The disastrous consequence was not that Chen Wenruo captured Wu Zongda and others alive, but that they attracted Liu's army from Shandong, allowing Liu's army to advance west along the Yangtze River and swept across the entire Jiangnan.
The masters responsible for guarding Nanjing City were completely shocked and completely scared.
They understood the same thing, that is, Jiangnan has been living in peace for a long time, and the military equipment has been abandoned, so the soldiers have stopped training. In addition, there is no way to resist the wolf-like tiger-like Liu Jun.
When Liu's fleet advanced westward and shelled various cities, they were extremely frightened. On the one hand, they immediately rushed to report the emergency situation here to the court. On the other hand, they ordered officers and soldiers from nearby Huguang Province and other places to quickly transfer back to the Nanjing.
Because many people understand that Liu Jun came here fiercely this time, just for Nanjing. As long as you get a chance, the situation in Jiangnan will become corrupt.
Even in the prosperous times, the large amount of money, grain and utensils needed by the court in the north were supplied by them. Now, in the era of various disasters and wars, the dependence was even greater. Who knew that they knew that this actually brought Liu Jun's revenge, which made him extremely frightened.
The power of Nanjing City is in the hands of the Minister of War, the guardian general Xu Guogong, and the guardian eunuchs. Since they heard about the Yangzhou Incident, they have been planning and mobilizing all the troops that can be mobilized to guard the thirteen city gates and two water gates in the city.
There is a saying that it is said that if you have suffered from the suffering of raising soldiers for a hundred years, you will useless soldiers at the end of the battle. This is what they meant. The court spent a lot of military expenses every year, which became an extremely heavy burden. However, when they needed to use troops to fight, they found that there were not so many soldiers at all.
Nanjing City is the most vast city in the world, with a range of fifty or sixty miles. It has thirteen city gates and two water gates. Even if it is a large army of 100,000, it may not be sufficient. Now their troops are only tens of thousands, and they are mainly the elderly, weak, sick and disabled. So many troops are scattered in so many places and cannot defend them at all.
Even though they had issued an emergency call, ordering soldiers from all over the country to quickly enter the guards and support the place, they did not respond much. When the nearby prefectures heard that Liu's army was coming, there was a major change in Jiangnan, many people did not dare to take action easily, and they mainly focused on defending their territory.
What's even worse is that they finally gathered up an army to support Zhenjiang and support Zhenjiang's defense. As a result, they encountered a small group of troops sent by Liu Jun, and were defeated by the other party.
The big guys had no choice but to close the city gate, not to enter or exit, and then defended to the death. They believed that Zhenjiang was sufficient and solid, and could defend at least for more than half a month. With half a month, they could prepare calmly and transfer more troops from various places. At that time, they would not be as panicked and so stretched as they are now.
So they hurriedly gathered the troops they could gather, and studied day and night how to defend Nanjing and how to deal with the enemy.
Chapter completed!