Just when the Qing army broke through the defensive fortifications established by the Merchant Army and was about to pursue the Merchant Army in Nanjing City, a huge explosion occurred. There were dozens of Qing soldiers nearby, and almost none of them survived. They were either killed or wounded! Several Qing soldiers were even blown away.
This sudden incident also shocked the Qing army. They immediately retreated to the south bank of the Qinhuai River and did not dare to go forward. Even Azig, who was watching the battle at Jubaomen, was startled and did not understand what happened.
It turned out that when the Merchant Army retreated, several mines were tied to the chairs of the defensive fortifications, and the leads were tied to other furniture. When the Qing Army pushed away the furniture, they tripped the leads, which naturally caused an explosion. Fortunately, the suppressor The quality of the Huai Bridge is good, and it exploded at the end of the bridge, but it didn't collapse yet.
After a while, the smoke gradually dissipated. On the north bank of the Qinhuai River, the Merchant Army was no longer visible, and the defensive fortifications they had established had long been blown beyond recognition. The Qing Army then cautiously left again. Zhenhuai Bridge, and then tiptoeing through the defense fortifications that were actually in ruins, not daring to touch anything again.
This time, everything was finally normal, and there was no more explosion. Some brave Qing soldiers even kicked the damaged furniture a few times, but there was no reaction. This way, other Qing soldiers were completely relieved, so they all started They rushed across the Zhenhuai Bridge. However, at this time, the merchant army had already disappeared among the houses in the central city of Nanjing. It could only be vaguely seen in Azige at Jubao Gate. Deep in the streets far away, There were figures running through each other.
Azig couldn't help but smile bitterly. It seemed that the merchant army was indeed difficult to deal with. It seemed that it would not be easy to completely occupy Nanjing.
Similar things have happened in other places along the Qinhuai River defense line. The Xia Qing army was unable to take advantage of the merchant army's retreat to pursue it. At the same time, the Qing army's casualties were not small. From last night until now, the Qing army We have been fighting continuously for six or seven hours, and our physical strength is almost exhausted. After all, we are launching attacks from more than a dozen places at the same time. Our troops are too scattered and some chaos has occurred. It will take a certain amount of time to adjust. How? Attacking the urban area of Nanjing also requires careful planning. In addition, we still don’t know what the situation is like on the other front.
Although Azig had a violent temper, he was not ignorant of the art of war, so he ordered all troops to stop temporarily for repairs. At the same time, he ordered people to go to the palace to consult Han Dai to see how the progress was on his side.
However, before Azige could send people over, Han Dai had already sent people to report to Azige that the merchant army guarding the Yuhe defense line had also retreated. Now the Qing army had fully occupied the west bank of the Yuhe River. At the same time, please Azig went to the palace to check and receive the seized items and deal with the surrendered officials of the Ming Dynasty. At the same time, he also discussed the plan for the next march.
It turns out that the merchant army's battle to defend the Yuhe River was much easier than to defend the Qinhuai River. On the one hand, the battle line here was shorter than the Qinhuai River, and the Qin army had to allocate a force to guard the palace, and there were no firearms troops. Therefore, there was no way to deal with the tight defense of the Merchant Army, and he could only rush to die. Later, Han Dai simply stopped attacking desperately and just contained the Merchant Army guarding Yuhe. He only waited for Azig's side. Make a breakthrough first, after all, the firearms troops are concentrated in Nancheng.
However, in the afternoon, the merchant army guarding the Yuhe River retreated. Han Dai also knew that Azige must have conquered the Qinhuai River, so he mobilized the army to occupy various important intersections on the west bank of the Yuhe River, and also sent people
Go and deliver a message to Azig.
After receiving Han Dai's report, Azig thought about it and thought it made sense, so he also ordered Han Dai to take command of Nanjing's southern city and guard the main roads on the north bank of the Qinhuai River, and then rest temporarily in place to check the losses.
, and waiting for orders, he immediately rushed to the palace to deal with other matters.
The defense line in Nanjing that Shang Yi really prepared was established based on the two rivers of Pearl River and Yudai River, connecting Xuanwu Lake to the north and reaching Shicheng Gate to the west. It basically controlled the northwest area of Nanjing. At the same time, in the past few days,
, also built a complete fortification on this line of defense.
, this is not a simple temporary fortification made of furniture like the Qinhuai River defense line, but built according to the usual standards of the merchant army, using earthen sand bags and wooden fences. Each bridge is also equipped with a horse and a knife cart.
At the same time, twenty heavy three-inch six-cent caliber bronze field guns were also deployed here.
However, after Shang Yi led his army to retreat from the Qinhuai River defense line, he did not retreat directly behind this defense line, because the vast area in central Nanjing could not be given up in vain. It should still deploy defenses layer by layer, gradually retreat, and continuously inflict blows to the Qing army.
, so that every time the Qing army advances
Every step will cost a great deal of casualties. This is the ultimate goal of fighting in the city of Nanjing. The Qing army stopped attacking, which was also a chance to breathe for the merchant army, because the merchant army was also at this time.
After a fierce battle all night, the soldiers were exhausted.
Now the Shang army has gathered two brigades and one regiment in Nanjing, and outside the city, there are still two regiments relying on Mochou Lake to garrison the Shicheng Gate. Therefore, Shang Yi first met with Duan Peng to check the strength of the troops.
In the battle last night, the Merchant Army killed a total of 627 people and injured 418 people. The casualties were not large and had no impact on the combat effectiveness.
In the end, Shang Yi decided to withdraw the 6th Brigade behind the defense line, rest and defend, and leave the Special Forces Brigade to station in the central city. Because the purpose of stationing here is not to defend the central city, but to take advantage of the dense alleys and streets in the central city.
The characteristics of the net were to continuously attack, harass the Qing army, and cause damage to the Qing army. Therefore, there was no need to leave too many troops.
After the assignment was completed, Shang Yi led the Sixth Brigade back to the established defense line, and asked Yang Wucheng to arrange the garrisoning of the defense line, while he returned to the Bell and Drum Tower, the preset command center in Nanjing City.
At this time, Shi Kefa and Wu Di were waiting for Shang Yi here. They had not slept all night. At this time, there were already twenty or thirty other officials gathered at the Bell and Drum Tower. They were all arrived by Lu Ji later. The more important ones were
The officials included Jiang Yueguang, Gao Hongtu and others. However, such a big thing happened last night, and everyone had no intention of sleeping. They sat together and sighed.
As soon as they saw Shang Yi coming back, Shi Kefa and Wu Di immediately went to greet him and asked, "Yi Heng, how is the war going?"
Shang Yi also told the two of them the progress of the battle, and they felt a little relieved. It seems that the Shang army can still hold on in Nanjing for a while. Shi Kefa said again: "Yiheng, Lu and I discussed it last night.
, although Nanjing has been captured, it has not yet completely fallen into the hands of the Qing invaders, and there is still a place thousands of miles south, so it is not necessarily unavoidable. But now that the emperor's frame has collapsed, the Ming Dynasty has no master. The most urgent thing is to establish a new king with Ma Tui?"
Shang Yi nodded. He knew that in another time and space, after the demise of the Hongguang court in Nanming, no fewer than ten descendants of the Zhu family were elected to proclaim themselves emperors or supervise the country and continue to resist the Qing army. Among them, the King Lu, King Tang, and King Gui are more famous. So he nodded and said: "What Mr. Ge said is reasonable, but who does Mr. Ge prefer?"
Shi Kefa and Wu Di looked at each other, and Wu Di said: "We thought King Lu could be the king."
King Lu's name was Zhu Changqi. Before Zhu Yousong succeeded to the throne, he was the favored supporter of the Donglin Party. In another time and space, after the collapse of the Hongguang regime, he was elected as a supervisor in Hangzhou by the Ming Dynasty ministers. But he did not sit down. After a few days of stabilizing his position, he was attacked by the Qing army in Hangzhou and surrendered immediately. He was then escorted to Beijing. In May of the next year, he was killed in Beijing. Because his time in the limelight was too short, there were no kings of Lu or Tang. , King Gui was famous. Therefore, as Shi Kefa and Wu Zong of the Donglin clan, after Zhu Yousong's death, they first thought of supporting King Lu as emperor.
Of course, for Shang Yi, it doesn't matter who he establishes, so he said: "I can't say anything about the important matter of supporting the establishment. It's up to the two elders to make the decision. But where is King Lu now?"
Seeing that Shang Yi had no objection, Shi Kefa and Wu Di breathed a sigh of relief. Shi Kefa said: "It will be placed in Huizhou."
Wu Gang said: "The country cannot be without a king for a day, and things will change if it is too late. Xianzhi and I discussed it and planned to leave Nanjing immediately and rush to Huizhou to welcome King Lu to Hangzhou to succeed him as emperor, and then call on the whole south to join him. Together we resisted the Qing army."
Shang Yi nodded again. If he brought King Lu to Hangzhou, he would be able to control it in his own hands. Then he could also control the emperor and control the princes. This would not be bad, so he said: "Two pavilion elders What I said is absolutely true, but now the city of Nanjing is blocked by the Qing army, and only waterways are accessible. I will immediately arrange ships to take you out of Nanjing, detour to Zhejiang, and go to Huizhou to welcome King Lu to Hangzhou. But now the war is urgent. , I can’t get away from here for the time being, so I can only help the two elders.”
Shi Kefa hurriedly said: "The war in Nanjing is important. Yiheng does not need to be distracted by other things. We will do these things."
At this time, the fleet that attacked Longshan Shipyard had returned. Shang Yi immediately asked Huang Zhen to arrange to keep all the combat soldiers on each ship as a reserve force to guard Nanjing. At the same time, he invited Shi Kefa, Wu Di and other officials to carry Zhu Yousong's coffin. ship, leaving Nanjing. In addition, there are still hundreds of thousands of people gathered in the northwest area of Nanjing City. Because Nanjing has become a battlefield, the people do not dare to stay here, so Shang Yi also plans to send them all Zhejiang went to live in peace. The first batch of people from Nanjing were transported with Shi Kefa, Wu Zong and other officials.