Xiang Xiaoqiang first went to the Changping Marquis Mansion to visit Zheng Gongyin, chatted with him about his visit to Princess Liaoyang, and briefly discussed his thoughts. As he expected, Zheng Gongyin was very satisfied with Xiang Xiaoqiang being so open and honest with him.
After hearing Xiang Xiaoqiang's reasoning, I felt that this was indeed the case. Zheng Gongyin wholeheartedly hoped that the People's Guard would grow rapidly, and he hoped that Xiang Xiaoqiang would get closer to him.
Zheng Gongyin also felt that Xiang Xiaoqiang was in great need of help now, and he promised that he would try his best to advise His Majesty on issues such as funds and manpower to help solve them. And in his opinion, Xiang Xiaoqiang's attempt to pull Princess Liaoyang's line seemed stupid at first glance.
, but after careful analysis, it turned out that the advantages far outweighed the disadvantages. The Ming Dynasty wanted her to take refuge. On the one hand, he wanted to use her as a flagpole to gain political benefits. On the other hand, Shi Shigege was indeed a rare talent. The Qing Empire
More than half of the secrets are in her mind. Da Ming is worried about how to get her to cooperate. If Xiang Xiaoqiang tries to cooperate with her first, then she can be used by Da Ming or reveal some of the secrets of the Qing Dynasty.
Already.
As for Dongchang, the royal family now supports a People's Guard, just to have a useful army at hand, and at the same time to check and balance Dongchang and the Shen cabinet. Therefore, expecting Dongchang to sincerely help the People's Guard is to seek skin from a tiger. Sticking with the stick and Dongchang
Like factories, they are large and comprehensive organizations, with both internal and external intelligence skills. Therefore, the talent of Shi Shige Ge is even more important.
Zheng Gongyin also believed that it was necessary to talk to His Majesty as soon as possible, so he and Xiang Xiaoqiang drove into the palace and discussed their ideas with Zhu Yourong. Zhu Yourong trusted his uncle very much and admired Xiang Xiaoqiang, so he immediately said carelessly
She nodded and said she knew it.
Xiang Xiaoqiang saw many Imperial Guards coming and going in the Royal Garden, carrying boxes with seals on them, carefully and with serious faces. There were several times more Imperial Guards beside them, holding submachine guns tightly.
Staring at these boxes, I felt as if I were facing a formidable enemy. Several old scholars with gray hair and spectacles were counting the numbers tremblingly and writing on the boxes with brushes.
Zhu Yourong clasped his hands and stood on the stone steps, staring blankly at everything.
Zheng Gongyin sighed from the side:
"Is this the last batch? There is going to be a war. These things can no longer be kept in the palace. They have to be put on trains and transported to the south. First to Hangzhou, and if not, they will be transported to Sichuan. Alas, these are all
It is the treasure of our Ming Dynasty."
Zhu Yourong said softly:
"It's not just a treasure of our Ming Dynasty, it's the essence of our thousands of years of Chinese civilization..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at these heavy boxes. The black characters on them read:
Yin Shang Dynasty - Bronze Taotie Zun... Western Zhou Dynasty - Bronze square tripod with animal face pattern... Warring States Period - Bronze and gold Zenghou Yi Chime Bell - No. 56 Yong Bell... Ming Dynasty - Xuande copper stove with gold and bronze soles... Tang Dynasty - Gilded
Golden seated Buddha statue...Song Dynasty-mutton fat jade pine and cypress figure penholder...Ming Dynasty-jade and red phoenix vase...
There are also some well-sealed steel boxes, with several guards nervously guarding each box. There are even priceless words written on the boxes:
Song Dynasty - Ru kiln - blue and gray glaze incense burner... Yuan Dynasty - blue and white sword and horse bowl... Daming - Jingdezhen official kiln celadon brush wash... Daming - Jingdezhen official kiln blue and white plum vase...
Zhu Yourong looked at these words on the box and said with some pride:
"There are only 67 and a half genuine Ru kilns from the Song Dynasty in the world today... One exists in Japan, three exist in the United States, four are in the British royal family's collection, one is in the British private collection, and half of the remaining items are in the Forbidden City in Beijing... the rest
58 pieces, all with me."
Then, there was a lump in her throat, and she choked with sobs:
"They have never traveled so far... It's a long way to transport them to Sichuan... The things passed down by our ancestors, I wonder if they will be damaged in my hands..."
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at these priceless treasures and sighed. He knew that in the 21st century, the world record for the auction price of a single piece of art has always been set by Chinese porcelain. It is hard to imagine that these national treasures in the Forbidden City in later generations,
Now they are all Zhu Yourong's private property. It seems that before the fall of the Northern Ming Dynasty, everything in the Imperial Palace in Beijing should have been transported southward as much as possible. Otherwise, it will definitely be like later generations, when all the treasures of the Forbidden City were cheapened by the Manchus.
Xiang Xiaoqiang sighed softly:
"Your Majesty, when will you leave?"
"I do not go."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned, thinking that he heard wrongly.
Zhu Yourong looked at the sky and said firmly:
"I will not leave Nanjing. I am the emperor of the Ming Dynasty, and the emperor of the Ming Dynasty has always lived and died with the capital."
Zheng Gongyin shook his head and said helplessly:
"Oh, we have tried to persuade you countless times, but it's no use..."
No way... is this Zhu Yourong? Is this still the pampered Zhu Yourong?
Xiang Xiaoqiang was quite surprised. "The emperor guards the country's gates" is indeed a tradition of the Ming Dynasty. Unexpectedly, today in the 20th century, this tradition is still preserved. More than 300 divisions of the Qing army are already pressing on the other side, as well as train guns.
When Zhu Yourong stayed in Nanjing, did he firmly believe that Nanjing could be defended? Or was he really determined to live or die with Nanjing?
If it's the latter, Xiang Xiaoqiang will really admire this girl's backbone.
However, if the emperor doesn't leave, he, the commander of the People's Guard, can't leave either... Xiang Xiaoqiang felt a chill to his bones.
…
After coming out of the palace, Xiang Xiaoqiang sat in the car and looked out the window at the civilians who were dragging their families to the train station outside the city. Many wealthy people's cars were packed with luggage, honking their horns and crawling slowly in the crowd.
There are also some ladies walking, holding puppies and kittens in their arms, and the servants behind them are carrying luggage...
Last night, the new cabinet announced the opening of several trains for residents of Nanjing who are willing to leave to move south. The elderly and children must leave, and women who do not hold important positions in Nanjing can also evacuate. Starting from this morning, Nanjing
You can see this flow of people fleeing everywhere.
The streets are full of scenes of families saying goodbye. Sons say goodbye to their parents, husbands say goodbye to their wives, parents say goodbye to their children... Couples, groups, hug each other and cry.
A father on the roadside took the big stuffed bear away from his little daughter and threw it aside. Regardless of his daughter crying, he just stuffed her into the already full car... The streets were full of discarded stuffed animals.
, rag dolls, and scattered quilts and cotton-padded jackets...
At the entrance of the tall bank on the street, more than 20 armed policemen suddenly rushed out and lined up in a row. Two soldiers from the bank came out carrying a heavy steel box and loaded it onto a military truck...and then another box...
…
Xiang Xiaoqiang knew that there were gold bars in the box. All the gold in Nanjing and Shanghai was now being transferred to the south.
Did you do all this by yourself?
He shook his head and comforted himself by saying that he was just giving the Manchus an excuse to lead the team north to rescue people. Emperor Guangwu came to power in a coup because he had made up his mind to invade the south. If he hadn't had this problem, he would have found someone.
Come up with other excuses. You may even create an "incident" as an excuse.
However, after all, he lit the fuse by himself, and now the consequences have finally come to bear on him. He and Zhu Yourong are the messengers and the executors. The little girl Zhu Yourong has the courage to stay and bear this responsibility. He asked Xiao Qiangshen
As a grown man, what do you have to fear and complain about?
Despite thinking this way, Xiang Xiaoqiang still felt his hands and feet were cold, cold sweat kept seeping down his back, and his hands were shaking gently.
…
Three more days passed.
Almost all the people who should be evacuated from Nanjing have been evacuated. Now the streets are empty even during the day, and there are no old people or children left. The civilians who remain here all have important positions. The streets are sparsely populated.
Among pedestrians, the proportion of women has also been greatly reduced.
At night, the city is almost dark. The neon lights along the Qinhuai River are no longer on, and the cruise ships and brothel nightclubs have been closed for several days. The streets are dark, and few windows of the buildings on both sides are lit.
, only the street lights were on quietly. The neat footsteps of patrolling gendarmes echoed on the streets.
It has been ten days since the mobilization of the Qing Dynasty. Countries around the world are not used to the fact that there has been no war for so long after the general mobilization. Everyone is speculating whether the Qing Dynasty really wants to go to war. Countries are speculating that Emperor Guangwu of the Qing Dynasty mobilized just to do something.
Just pretend to be prevaricating to Japan. After all, facing Nanming's strong Yangtze River defense line, the Qing emperor might not have the confidence either...
But another objection is that in the past ten days, the Qing army gathered on the north bank of the Yangtze River has only increased. From about 1 million standing troops before mobilization to the current 3.5 million troops, an average of 250,000 people have been added every day. It is so strong
The gathering did not seem like they were unwilling to fight.
As for when to fight? Analysts believe that with these millions of troops pressing down on the border, the daily military expenditures are astronomical. If it really drags on for half a month or a month, even the wealthy Nanming cannot afford it. So if we want to fight,
Just these few days...
As for the United Kingdom, everyone knows that the United Kingdom will not roll up its sleeves to help an ally far away. What Nanming can expect is some assistance, economic, technical, and diplomatic. Now the entire Europe
, No, it should be said that the entire West, except for Germany and Italy, is suffering from war phobia. The war of 1914-1918 left them too many horrific memories. Nowadays, people generally will not go there unless others hit them on the head.
Fighting for other countries.
The British Crown Prince Edward, who was coming to the Ming Dynasty to "spend New Year's Eve", was inspecting overseas colonies on the Hood. Originally, the last stop was the Ming Dynasty. He stopped in Singapore for Christmas some time ago. It was the Qing Dynasty's war mobilization, so he relied on the
Singapore will not leave. When interviewed by reporters, he said that his father King George V's condition has worsened and he is waiting for further news. If his father is critically ill, he may cancel his plan to visit Ming Dynasty and return to China.
But everyone understands what's going on.
These days, the Ming Dynasty's intelligence agencies continued to receive intelligence from the north about the Qing army's numbers, equipment, assembly areas, and most importantly, when to attack.
At this point, various pieces of intelligence conflict with each other, and there are many dates. From the farthest attack in February to the attack as recently as a few hours later. Every piece of intelligence is categorical. There are also many pieces of intelligence that say that the counterfeit Qing Dynasty did not exist at all.
They plan to attack, but this is just a show.
And that mysterious train gun has now disappeared from Nanming's sight. I don't know where it is hidden on the railway across the north bank of the Yangtze River in Beiqing.
As for its caliber, it is still unclear because several intelligence agents who saw it said that it was always covered with a gun jacket. But based on the length of the train gun, the caliber will never be less than 300 mm.
…
In just a few days, Xiang Xiaoqiang's Imperial People's Guard expanded to more than 2,000 people. Almost all of them were drawn from other elite units: the Imperial Guard, the Commando, the Imperial Guard, the Gendarmerie, and the Capital Garrison - to defend Nanjing.
The eight ace divisions.
They were told that Her Majesty the Queen has two direct guards, the Royal Guards inside the palace and the Imperial People's Guard outside the palace.
These young men understood the concept immediately. They all knew that it was a supreme honor to be selected to join the People's Guard.
When Xiang Xiaoqiang was brainwashing them as new recruits, he generously lectured:
"...The title of the People's Guard is very honorable, and it will bear many responsibilities. But it has only one right: to be the first to fight for the motherland."
This sentence was plagiarized from the Soviet Bolshevik mobilization manual. It seems to have a very good motivational effect. Many members of the People's Guard regard it as a motto. So far, no one has discovered its origin.
Now, the People's Guard has assumed the task of urban security in the capital. Its responsibilities include:
Patrol with the military police, maintain public order in the city, and supervise the military police forces;
Suppress all kinds of rumors and panic, and arrest the spreaders;
Detect and arrest latent agents and their agents;
Manhunt for North Shore infiltrators;
In cooperation with the work of Dongchang and the Military Intelligence Bureau, the suspects they detected are now handed over to the People's Guard for arrest;
In peacetime, a small number of Manchus in Nanjing, as well as those with pro-Manchu sentiments, are now arrested by the People's Guard according to the peacetime blacklist and placed under wartime custody.
Finally, once the Qing army broke through the defense line and invaded Nanjing, the People's Guards had to rely on the streets and alleys to fight to the death and never retreat.
…
It was already four o'clock in the morning, and the People's Guard headquarters was still brightly lit.
Xiang Xiaoqiang has been very busy these days, but he feels that his ability is improving by leaps and bounds. It's like learning to swim. Throwing you into the water and letting you choke and struggle, as long as you can't drown, you will swim at a miraculous speed.
Learn to swim.
The desk was piled high with documents, various reports, orders to be signed, military maps, lists... Xiang Xiaoqiang lay in the large easy chair in the commander's office, squeezing his brows, exhausted.
Two thousand people plus one city. I have never shouldered such a high responsibility. This was something I would have never dared to think about in my previous life. But within less than a month of coming to this world, I have experienced many tests and faced death several times. Leader
Strength, decisiveness, and courage have all been greatly improved. Maybe this is the legendary release of potential.
He couldn't help but think that if he returned to the previous world now, even if he couldn't be a marketing director, he would definitely be a department manager. This would be quite good. He would travel back to Ming Dynasty for five days and take out devil training. As long as he didn't die, maybe five
When I go back in the next year, with my own ability, I won’t have to go to job fairs, headhunting companies will come to my door...
The sharp phone ring interrupted his chat. Xiang Xiaoqiang opened one of his bloodshot eyes and saw the phone ringing on a smaller desk next to him. Qiu Qiu flipped through the documents and grabbed the receiver clip.
On the shoulder:
"The Commander's Office...The Commander is here...Okay, wait a moment."
She put down the receiver, raised her head and said:
"Sir Commander, today is already the third day at the secret gathering place in Si Tiao Alley. No one has gone there anymore. Should we handle it as originally planned?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang lay still in the chair and made a gesture.
Qiu Qiu nodded and said into the microphone:
"According to the original plan. Yes, arrest everyone who has been to that house. What? Hey, don't you understand me? I said all! Is it eleven or twelve in total? Then arrest twelve
...Yes, arrest people directly without a judge's warrant...too many people? If there are too many people, arrest people directly. When has our People's Guard ever used a judge's warrant to arrest people? Well, okay, that's it!"
Xiao Nizi put the phone down with a click, smacked her lips, and started busy again as if nothing had happened.
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled, Qiu Qiu raised her head in confusion, pressed a hand to Xiang Xiaoqiang, and said with a smile:
"Okay, it's none of your business. I'm busy with your business. I'm busy with your business."
He couldn't help but sigh that not only himself, but also Qiu Qiu had also trained... However, he was originally a captain, so maybe he was born to do this.
Xiang Xiaoqiang was admiring Qiu Qiu who was busy. Qiu Qiu picked up a large stack of document bags, picked up his toes, and stuffed them into the upper layer of the filing cabinet. In this wonderful posture, his body curves were fully displayed, and his chest was lifted out in uniform.
The buttocks are raised and ready to come out.
Just as Xiang Xiaoqiang bit his pen and squinted his eyes to appreciate it carefully, a voice began to echo over the silent city:
"Woo————"
This deep, loud whistle is an air defense alarm.
Xiang Xiaoqiang jumped up from the easy chair, grabbed Qiu Qiu and rushed out of the office. He quickly locked the door and ran in the corridor.
All the male and female officers from each office in the corridor ran out, and everyone rushed downstairs. No one shouted, it was fast but not chaotic, and it was very orderly.
In the courtyard, at the entrance of the heavy cement fortification, a guard wearing a helmet directed everyone to file in. At this time, the air raid sirens were still ringing throughout the city.
After walking down the stairs two floors, the air became moist and warm, and I could smell the thick cement on the four walls. There was a dim red light on in the air-raid shelter, and many people were already crowded. When everyone saw Xiang Xiaoqiang, they were all making room for him.
place, while greeting:
"Lord Commander."
"Lord Commander."
"Adjutant Qiu."
"Lord Commander."
"Adjutant Qiu."
…
"Well, good."
Xiang Xiaoqiang hugged Qiu Qiu and nodded to the subordinates around him. At this time, Qiu Qiu would smile and return the favor, but always with a hint of shyness.
Because what she clearly heard from everyone's voices was not "Adjutant Qiu, Adjutant Qiu", but "Mrs. Commander, Madam Commander".
This is a city-wide air defense drill that has been going on for five days. The whole of Nanjing has gone from being in a hurry at the beginning to being orderly now.
…
But today, everyone felt strange.
Just now, the four concrete walls trembled violently. The red light went out for a moment, then came on again. Someone vaguely heard a muffled sound coming from the ground.
The earth trembled very strongly, and some dust fell from the top after a few seconds.
Just this one, and then it's gone. It doesn't look like a bombing, and it doesn't look like an artillery attack either.
Many people are whispering:
"earthquake?"
After a while, a voice said excitedly from the speaker above:
"Attention all units, the Yangtze River Defense Line has been bombarded, this is not a drill... I repeat, the Yangtze River Defense Line has been bombarded, this is not a drill..."
There was dead silence in the air-raid shelter. After a few seconds, it started to boil.
Qiu Qiu hugged Xiang Xiaoqiang and cried:
"cockroach!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang hugged Qiu Qiu tightly and put her head on his chest, letting her hear her heartbeat. He took a deep breath, calmed his breathing, and whispered in Qiu Qiu's ear: