On July 6, the twenty-fifth year of Chongzhen’s reign in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army arrived at the gates of Nanjing.
Nanjing, the ancient capital of the Six Dynasties, was formed by the merger of Shangyuan and Jiangning counties.
This city is quite big! Even bigger than Beijing. The city wall consists of four layers of walls: the palace city, the imperial city, the capital city, and the outer city wall. The outer city wall is more than 120 miles long and is the largest city wall in the world. The outer city gate alone is
There are eighteen.
Not only is it big, the city wall is also tall, big and strong! Calculated according to the later measurement unit "meter", the height is 14 to 21 meters; the top width is 4-14 meters; the bottom width is 14-19.75 meters.
The fortifications are all ready! There are moats outside the palace city, the imperial city, the capital city, and the outer city; each city gate has an urn city, of which the capital city gate has at least two urn cities, and most have three; other city defense facilities are all available.
It is necessary. This is the place where Emperor Taizu Gao built his capital. Naturally, all the Ming Dynasty’s national strength must be devoted to its construction!
Ordinarily, Lang Tingzuo, the governor of Liangjiang in the Qing Dynasty, should be very confident in guarding this world-famous city.
No, not at all!
His elite troops were almost wiped out in the Battle of Danyang in Jingxian County. The remaining more than 30,000 people were all defeated soldiers and rural warriors training. In order to recruit more troops, he even filled the capital city.
All Manchu men between the ages of 13 and 60 were recruited, and there were no more than 3,000 Manchu men under the Eight Banners. Nanjing was a big city, and so few people were scattered on the city walls, which was pitiful.
When he was at a loss, Jiangnan Admiral Guan Zhongzhong came to him and said, "Lang Duxian, the Ming army is strong, so we should use a false surrender strategy."
"Oh, how to pretend to surrender?"
"You can send an envoy to deceive King Mingjing and say that we are willing to surrender. However, our court has a rule that if the defender of the city has passed thirty days, the loss of the city will not be punished as much as his wife and children. The guard of the city and his family are all in Beijing. Please grant him thirty days of grace.
On the same day, we will open the door to welcome the surrender."
Lang Tingyou thought for a while and said: "This is a very good plan! Just send someone here."
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Zhu Hengjia set up camp outside Nanjing City. It was getting late and he was preparing to take a rest. A large number of officials including Guan Shouzhen, Sun Jinding, He Wuzuo, Zheng Feng, Gu Yi, and Yu Chaoxiang came to pay their respects. The outside of the big tent was crowded with people.
There are two or three hundred.
I felt a little sick and unhappy. What do these people want to do? Why don't they let people sleep? But their faces were not good, and they asked pleasantly: "Oh, it's so late, why are you looking for me?"
Guan Shouzhen, the chief assistant of the cabinet, took the lead and said: "I will please supervise the country to pay tribute to Xiaoling!"
As if rehearsed, hundreds of officials shouted in unison: "Please supervise the country to pay homage to Xiaoling!"
Xiaoling Mausoleum is the mausoleum where Emperor Taizu Gao and Queen Ma were buried together. Because the queen was named "Xiaoci", it was named Xiaoling. It is located at the foot of Mount Everest in Dulongfu, Nanjing Purple Mountain. It is surrounded by Chang Yuchun, Qiu Cheng, Wu Liang
, the five tombs of Wu Zhen and Li Wenzhong.
This mausoleum is incredible. Not only is it magnificent and took more than thirty years to build, it also represents the orthodox status of the Ming Dynasty. Whoever sacrifices to the Xiaoling Mausoleum dares to say that he is orthodox and is qualified to call himself emperor. Tang Dynasty
The kings, the kings of Lu, and the kings of Gui all wanted to sacrifice to the Xiaoling Mausoleum to prove that their regime was in line with the rule of law.
When Zhu Hengjia heard this, he understood that the ministers were looking forward to him offering sacrifices to Xiaoling Mausoleum, firstly to inspire the people of the world, and secondly to help him clarify his orthodox status. The intention was good, but King Jing, who was in charge of the country, had his own pride.<
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"My lords, please go back. We will discuss the matter of offering sacrifices to Xiaoling Mausoleum later."
When the ministers heard this, they were all dumbfounded. The other vassal kings were all quarreling, clamoring, and clamoring to offer sacrifices to Xiaoling Mausoleum. It's a good thing for you that they were all beaten to the gate of Nanjing, but you still didn't offer sacrifices to the mausoleum to prove the legitimacy!<
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"If the governor does not pay tribute to the Xiaoling Mausoleum, the minister will swear not to return to the camp!"
"Thump, thump, thump", some of them knelt down and hundreds of ministers, ready to fight you to the end if you don't obey.
"Woo~wu~wu~" King Jing of the prison country burst into tears.
The ministers were puzzled: "Why do the supervisors make mournful noises?"
Zhu Hengjia choked up and said: "The two capitals were lost, and the Xiaoling Mausoleum was humiliated. Nanjing has not been restored, so how can I have the face to worship the Xiaoling Mausoleum and meet Emperor Gao? I have decided that if Nanjing is no longer restored, I will never worship the Xiaoling Mausoleum!"
As soon as these words came out, Yaque was silent.
All the ministers sighed: Your Highness Prince Jing is a real hero! He is much stronger than other vassal kings! They are competing to worship the mausoleum, but our Highness has sworn a grand oath not to return to Nanjing and not to worship the mausoleum! What is this called? Heroic pride! When guarding the gate, Sun Jinding and others were filled with shame and said, "I have not thought carefully, please punish me."
Zhu Hengjia quickly comforted him, "I know that you and others are doing this for your own good. It's getting late, so go back to camp and rest. I believe that the day of offering sacrifices to Xiaoling is not far away!"
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"Are you saying that Lang Tingzuo, Guan Zhongzhong and others all want to submit to our Ming Dynasty?"
Zhu Hengjia looked at the envoy sent by Lang Tingzuo with a smile.
The envoy said in a servile manner: "When the prison army arrives here, it is time to open the door and move in. However, our court has a rule that if the defenders of the city pass thirty days and the city is lost, the crime will not be as great as that of their wives and children. Now all the officials and their families are in Beijing, begging for prison.
The country will open its doors within thirty days to welcome the surrender.
Upon hearing this, Zhu Hengjia was extremely angry. Are you trying to delay the war with us and pretend to surrender? We are time travellers, and we know all about your dark history. If we fall into your trap, then our time travel will be in vain.
Return.
On the surface, he pretended to have fallen into the trap and rewarded the envoy generously. He also ordered the envoy to go back and tell Lang Tingzuo, Guan Zhongzhong and others: "My army can only attack this isolated city with one foot. Since I have come to surrender, I will allow you to show mercy. I hope to win the trust of the world."
Also. If they do not surrender at the end of the day, not a single blade of grass will be left when they attack."
The envoy kowtowed and left, returned to Nanjing and told Lang Tingzuo: "The fake Ming King Jing has fallen into the trap!"
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"The generals listened to the order and spent three days to fill up the moat of the outer city, concentrate the artillery on the north city, and storm Nanjing at the first quarter of the eleventh day (three o'clock in the morning)."
There is a reason why Zhu Hengjia chose to bombard the North City. Because there are four moats in Nanjing City, of which the North City only has a moat on the outside. Outside the Taiping Gate of the capital, no moat has been dug. Among the thirteen gates of the capital, the wall on the east side of the Taiping Gate is called the "dragon's neck"
, is the location of the Ming Dynasty Dragon Vein, so it is the only section without a moat.
Seeing that the Ming army had filled up the moat outside the city, Lang Tingzuo sent people to ask questions. Zhu Hengjia replied that it was just a rainy day. As long as you sincerely submit, you will be fine. Lang Tingzuo was afraid of affecting the implementation of the false surrender plan, so he did not dare to fire to stop it.
When he thought about it, Nanjing had four moats anyway, so missing one would not have much impact.
With a large number of people, the Ming army filled in the outer moat in just three days, and the fort outside the north gate was also built.
At Yin time on July 11th, "Boom, boom, boom", with the deafening sound of cannons, more than 150,000 Ming troops rushed towards Nanjing from all directions, and the siege of Nanjing began.
"Liar, the fake Prince Mingjing has no faith! Didn't he promise not to attack the city within a month?" Lang Tingzuo was furious.
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
What responded to him was an earth-shattering cry of death.
The Ming army numbered more than 150,000, and they were all elite soldiers. The Qing army only had more than 30,000, and most of them were remnants of defeated generals. The Ming army attacked suddenly, and the Qing army was caught off guard.
Soon, the outer Yaofang Gate, Qilin Gate, Cangbo Gate, Gaoqiao Gate, Fangfang Gate, Jiagang Gate, and Fengtai Gate were all breached, and the Ming army swarmed in and headed toward the capital.
The heavy artillery of the Ming army aimed at the moat-less Taiping Gate and bombarded it for two days. The Ming army captured Taiping Gate. A large group of Ming troops entered the capital through Taiping Gate, and took advantage of the situation to seize Tongji Gate and Jubao Gate, and occupied the capital.
In despair, Lang Tingzuo committed suicide, Guan Zhongzhong, Jiang Guozhu died in battle, and Xu Dengdi surrendered.
The Ming army captured the capital, but the imperial city and palace city were still in the hands of the Qing army. There were nearly 30,000 family members of the Eight Banners of Manchuria living in the imperial city, which was called Jiangning Mancheng.