But her eyes were fixed on the phone on the coffee table, and she secretly glanced at the two guards beside the door. She hesitated for a long time, trying her best to divert their attention and make a call.
Let the guards in the fortress come to rescue you.
The two soldiers at the door were staring at Zhu Yourong. Zhu Yourong thought for a long time, but couldn't think of any good solution. She couldn't help but feel a little annoyed. She was the empress of the Ming Dynasty, and now she was in this situation. Not only was she under house arrest by her own imperial guards,
, and you have to make a phone call secretly.
Zhu Yourong directly picked up the microphone and stared at the two guards to see how they would react.
Fortunately, they just looked at me and didn't stop me. It seemed that they had kept me under house arrest, but they didn't even stop me from making phone calls. That would be easy to handle.
The operator's respectful voice came from the receiver:
"Your Majesty, what are your orders?"
"Well," Zhu Yourong glanced at the two soldiers and said with a guilty conscience, "Fetch me the commander of the fortress."
"As ordered, Your Majesty, please wait a moment."
After a while, the voice of the fortress commander Shi Bicheng came out respectfully:
"Your Majesty, I will listen to the holy instructions respectfully."
Zhu Yourong was excited for a while, glanced at the two soldiers again, covered the phone and whispered:
"Shi Aiqing, please bring a team of guards to my room to pick me up. I want to... inspect the fortress."
There was silence on the other end of the phone for a while, then Shi Bicheng whispered:
"Your Majesty, the fortress is now guarded by your imperial guards... There are also imperial guards standing here... Therefore, the fortress is very safe, you... you don't need to patrol..."
Zhu Yourong was startled, and carefully considered the meaning of his words, a chill rose from the bottom of his heart.
"Shi...Shi Aiqing, you mean..."
"Your Majesty," Shi Bicheng sighed, "don't think too much... The Yangtze River defense line has been broken, and the Qing captives have entered the city. You are the king of a country, and you cannot fall into the hands of the Qing captives! ...
…If you don’t retreat now, the entire Ming government and the headquarters will not be able to retreat…Now the headquarters is also preparing for the retreat, so just leave everything to your subordinates to arrange it…”
Zhu Yourong's mind went blank. She finally knew why she was not prohibited from making phone calls.
Originally, when I was stationed in Nanjing, although the people in the fortress were panicked, at least it was still stable and could continue to play a commanding role. Now that my uncle and wet nurse said that they were leaving, the people in the entire fortress suddenly dispersed.
Now everyone is thinking about retreating, and no one listens to them.
Zhu Yourong slowly hung up the phone, feeling weak all over, and leaned on the sofa.
She only thought about the words "enter Nanjing and burn and kill for ten days". Slowly, a huge fear seized her, and her eyes seemed to have turned into blood.
Zhu Yourong sat up and called like crazy. The chief of general staff of the headquarters, the chief of general staff of the army, the commander of the defense line of the eastern section of the Yangtze River... She searched for almost all the senior generals in the fortress. The results were all cruel, not powerless.
, very respectfully, and advised her to follow the arrangements of Zheng Gongyin and Mrs. Li.
Zhu Yourong threw the phone to the ground, went back to the inner room and cried loudly.
She bit the quilt and felt a burning hatred in her heart. Zhu Yourong herself was startled by this hatred. She had never hated anyone, especially her own relatives. But at this moment, she felt the hatred in her heart.
It was so intense.
She never expected that her wet nurse and her uncle would be so selfish and destroy the Great Wall in order to escape. They had already abandoned the entire city of Nanjing to the Qing captives.
After the fall of Nanjing, the entire defense line along the Yangtze River will surely collapse, and the Qing captives will march straight into the south of the Yangtze River.
Zhu Yourong bit the corners of his quilt, tears rolling down his cheeks. They usually hurt themselves so much, but now they did such a thing.
She suddenly got up and rushed outside. The tears on her face shocked the two guards. But Zhu Yourong ignored them, grabbed the phone directly, and said:
"Get me the chief minister."
After a while, Shen Rongxuan's voice appeared. Shen Rongxuan's voice was a little surprised:
"Your Majesty, haven't you set off yet?"
When Zhu Yourong heard this, her heart immediately went cold. She was quiet for a moment, and then said with a kindly smile:
"Mr. Shen Ge, who did you hear that I was leaving?...Did they...they discuss it with you?"
When she thought that Mr. Shen Ge might be involved, her heart felt sore again, hoping that he would say otherwise.
Shen Rongxuan sighed and said:
"Your Majesty, you don't need to blame your wet nurse and uncle. Of course they had some selfish motives, but in this matter... they acted very decisively."
Zhu Yourong felt dizzy after hearing this.
Shen Rongxuan continued:
"Yes, last time the Qing captives crossed the river at Zimuzhou, I advised you to stay. First, that is because Zimuzhou is still far away from Nanjing, and there is still room to repel them. Secondly, I am not I advise you to stay still. I advise you to move into the Purple Mountain Fortress. Why? Just to be prepared for you to leave if the situation worsens. Now the Qing captives have broken through directly at Dinghuai Gate and have entered the city. So Your Majesty , I must say, it’s time to leave.”
Zhu Yourong listened to the words of the Chief Minister indifferently, and a helpless feeling of despair spread throughout her body. Tears fell from her eyes, and suddenly her head became hot, and she opened her mouth and said:
"Mr. Shen Ge, can you make arrangements? I want to have a phone call with Emperor Qinglu."
Shen Rongxuan was shocked:
"Your Majesty, what did you say?!"
"I want to ask him..." Zhu Yourong cried dizzily, "I want to ask him to let the people of Nanjing go. I... I give Nanjing to him..."
Shen Rongxuan said categorically:
"Your Majesty, you are the Emperor of Ming Dynasty, the highest symbol of our Ming Dynasty. Such a whimsical thing is simply impossible!... Well, Your Majesty, I can treat this as a casual remark made by you who is young and ignorant. Only Your Majesty and I know this."
Zhu Yourong sniffed, looked up at the two guards at the door, and said with a mocking smile with tears in his eyes:
"Don't bother Shen Ge for taking the trouble...two other people already know..."
He said and hung up the phone.
She stared blankly at the opposite wall and murmured:
"You tell me, why do I seem to be the only one who cares about the life and death of the people in Nanjing? Why don't others care? Am I stupid?"
The two imperial guards looked at Zhu Yourong, not daring to look directly into her tear-filled eyes, as if their souls were being tortured, they both avoided looking and lowered their heads in shame.
At this moment, they all understood what was going on and why His Majesty was unwilling to leave. Especially the sentence "I want to ask him to spare the people of Nanjing, and I will give Nanjing to him." When Zhu Yourong said it in tears, this The two soldiers were really moved.
One soldier winked at another soldier for a long time, and the other soldier lowered his eyes and pretended to be stupid. So he licked his lips and mustered up the courage to say to Zhu Yourong:
"Your Majesty, we...we are acting under orders, and there is nothing we can do..."
He looked at Zhu Yourong, his throat was rolling for a long time, and he blurted out:
"Your Majesty, if you really want to stay, there is a way to do it, but I don't know if it is feasible..."
Zhu Yourong raised his eyes and looked at him.
The soldier said:
"The Imperial Guard no longer listens to you, but the People's Guard still listens to you, right? I heard that they are fighting to the death in the city, and they are holding the fleeing troops at gunpoint, forcing them to fight to the death as well. I thought, such an army...
…I can definitely listen to you.”
Zhu Yourong's eyes lit up slightly, then dimmed:
"The commander of the People's Guard is outside the fortress and I can't contact him."
The soldier looked at his companion, but he kept lowering his eyes and pretending to be a fool, so he gritted his teeth and said:
"Your Majesty, if you have a confidant maid or something, you can let her go out to deliver the message... We won't stop you."
Another soldier also looked at Zhu Yourong and nodded in agreement.
Zhu Yourong couldn't believe it, surprise flashed in his eyes, and he hesitated:
"Is this... okay?"
The two guards looked at each other:
"It should... be possible, right?"
…
In Xinjiekou Square, Xiang Xiaoqiang has built a temporary headquarters here. In fact, it is centered on an armored command vehicle, surrounded by two armored personnel carriers, three military trucks, and a tank.
Xinjiekou Square is usually bustling with traffic, but now it seems empty. There are no trams, no cars, no rickshaws, only some pedestrians running past in fear. There are some broken cement blocks scattered on the ground, and thick smoke is floating in the sky.
The Monument to the Fall of Jiangbei still stands there. The bronze mother holds the broken Ming Dynasty territory in her arms and seems to be crying even more sadly at this moment.
Most of the buildings in Xinjiekou are still intact. This is the center of Nanjing, which is still far away from the river. Most artillery shells cannot hit here. Only some heavy artillery shells fall sporadically nearby, setting off explosions that shake the earth.
.
On several vehicles, the flags of the People's Guard were flying high, black and yellow, which were extremely eye-catching. On the armored command vehicle, the commander's command flag was flying high.
In fact, with such a close distance, the headquarters could be located in the Xiaoling Guard camp, but Xiang Xiaoqiang deliberately placed it in the center of the city in Xinjiekou, just to let people see that the People's Guard has not left and is still here.
Command the battle. On the other hand, this place is only a few kilometers away from the Qing army's position in the city. This not only makes the soldiers of the People's Guard understand in terms of orders but also in actions: they cannot take a step back.
Now is the best time to repel the Qing army in the city. Although the exact number of Qing troops who have entered the city is not known, but according to estimates from various exchanges of fire, it is about 4,000-6,000. The People's Guard currently has a regiment in the city.
Supervising operations on the outer defense line, there are still three regiments in the city, with more than 7,000 people, giving them an advantage in strength. Moreover, the Qing army now only has light weapons, a small number of mortars and small-caliber mountain artillery, and its firepower is very weak, while the People's Guard has
There is a mechanized infantry regiment, tanks, and armored vehicles.
Xiang Xiaoqiang is now full of confidence. As long as the hole in the defense line does not expand, he has full confidence to push back the Qing army in the first round. Then he will establish a solid defense line on the west side of the city to block the Qing army's advance.
The People's Guard originally had 75 tanks, but 10 were destroyed in the battle in the southern suburbs. It originally had 45 armored personnel carriers, 5 of which were destroyed, and 10 were sent out to supervise the battle.
We now have a total of 65 tanks and 30 armored vehicles on hand for street fighting.
Xiang Xiaoqiang listened to the rumble of artillery in the distance, put a pencil on the map, and nodded. He was very satisfied with the number. You must know that the Qing army did not have any of these things, so they could only use people.
Li Gensheng next to him saw him so optimistic and was a little worried:
"Sir, our armored force is very strong, but my subordinates are worried that it cannot be used in the ruins of the city... You also said that tanks are not suitable for urban combat."
Xiang Xiaoqiang smiled and said:
"It's just not suitable! If the terrain is suitable now, such as a prairie, then what I want is not to block the Qing army, but to destroy the Qing army!"
He leaned back in his chair and smiled:
"When infantry faces tanks, no matter what the environment is, they are at a huge disadvantage. It can be said that in environments such as cities and forests, the disadvantage is relatively small. Hum, if it is the Great Plains, there is no chance at all. That's called
Dead."
Xiang Xiaoqiang stood up, pointed at the map and said:
"The best situation now is to try to block the Qing army to the west of the Siweitou-Ninghai Road line and north of Mount Wutai-Qingliang Mountain. We have already seized the commanding heights of Mount Wutai and are condescending to suppress the Qing army in the north. Alas, in fact, the west
Qingliang Mountain on the side is better, but it is too close to the city wall and will be attacked from both sides."
Wutai Mountain and Qingliang Mountain are two small hills in Nanjing. They are the place where the Nanjing Wutai Mountain Stadium was later built.
"If this line cannot stop us, our bottom line for retreat is," Xiang Xiaoqiang said, pointing downwards, "to the north of Wutai Mountain-Qingliang Mountain, to the west of Yanping North Road, relying on Xuanwu Lake. If it really comes to this point,
, that quarter of Nanjing city has fallen. This is our bottom line, we can no longer retreat. We must fight to the death with the Qing captives between these two lines. We must fight for every alley, every corner.
A building, even every house.”
He slammed his fist on the table:
"Mount Wutai must not be lost to me! ... This commanding height is too important. Once the Qing army takes it, even if they set up a mountain cannon or a mortar, they can hit every corner of Nanjing! We will stay in the city
Can’t stand it any longer!”
The officers under his command all felt nervous. Although what he said was a bit exaggerated, the facts were really serious. In fact, the real commanding heights of Nanjing are the Purple Mountain on the east side outside the city. Wutai Mountain is just a small mound. But the Purple Mountain Fort after all
It is too far away from the combat area, and it is difficult to carry out precise surgical suppression of street fighting.
Xiang Xiaoqiang continued:
"We must make flexible use of every weapon in our hands... In the combat area we selected, there are 15 anti-aircraft guns, including 6 75mm anti-aircraft guns and 9 small-caliber anti-aircraft guns. Now our people
The Guards have restrained those anti-aircraft artillery units and asked them to replace them with instant fuzes and convert their anti-aircraft fire into flat fire. Don’t underestimate those 75mm guns. Although the caliber is not large, because they are anti-aircraft guns, they have a fast rate of fire and a high muzzle velocity.
And it is accurate, which is our weapon against the Qing Dynasty."
Xiang Xiaoqiang doesn't know how good these 75-meter guns produced by Ming Dynasty are. But he is very eager for them to compete and reproduce the glory of the 88-meter guns in World War II in Nanjing street battles.
There were too many firsts in this battle. It was probably the first time armored troops participated in street fighting, and it was also probably the first time anti-aircraft artillery engaged in level fire combat.
By the way, there is also the first large-scale actual combat of a general-purpose machine gun. The Woodpecker - mg34, the world's first true general-purpose machine gun.
The People's Guard has the right to bypass the Ministry of War and place orders directly with Ming Dynasty's arms companies, which are paid for by the national defense budget. Because the People's Guard has only one boss, Her Majesty the Queen. And Zhu Yourong is so ignorant and trusting in military matters.
Teacher Xiang, you can imagine the result. Now Xiang Xiaoqiang can order whatever weapons he likes, just like ordering food, no one can care... At least this is the case with light weapons.
At least, with Xiang Xiaoqiang's leading vision, the People's Guard's equipment is absolutely guaranteed to avoid detours.
At present, the penetration rate of submachine guns in the People's Guard is already the highest among all the armies. Of course, the Thompson submachine gun is imported from the United States. This is the most useful one at the same time, but it is too heavy and too expensive. Fortunately, the People's Guard has not many people.
The more expensive it is, the more expensive it is. Why doesn’t Ming Dynasty still have its own submachine gun?
In addition to submachine guns, the most important order made by Xiaoqiang was for 200 Woodpecker general-purpose machine guns. How useful this thing is was fully proven when he robbed a train in the north. This is the usual problem with German goods: the process is complex and the cost is too high
But the biggest problem is not that they are expensive. The main problem is that when I ordered them, I only had two physical weapons and no drawings. At that time, it was the largest small arms dealer in the Ming Dynasty and one of the largest small arms dealers in the world: Lianfenghao Arms Company.
ordered.
Lianfeng Hao is worthy of being a time-honored brand of the Ming Dynasty. It adopted the "reverse deduction" technique that was common at the time, dismantled the actual object, and drew the drawings according to the parts. There must be many small differences from the original drawings of Mauser Company, but the produced
The finished product can still be used without any problems.
Of course, these "copycat" Woodpeckers have never said hello to the German government or Mauser Company from beginning to end, and have not paid a penny. They are pure piracy. This large-scale use will definitely be exposed. But now the Ming Dynasty
In a life-and-death crisis, we can't worry about so much. This means that we can order directly from Xiaoqiang. If we go through the Army Department, those old men will have more to think about.
Xiang Xiaoqiang estimates that Germany is now taking the initiative to stick to the Ming Dynasty. With Hitler's style, he will just pretend not to notice such "little things". After this war, if we can really cooperate extensively with Germany, we will definitely reintroduce the genuine mg34
The production line. There are also many good German stuff from the same period, such as Messerschmitt fighter jets and so on... Zhu Yourong must be encouraged.
…
"Report!"
"Come in!"
A People's Guard military policeman boarded the command vehicle and saluted Xiang Xiaoqiang:
"Your Majesty, Commander, there is a girl outside who claims to be His Majesty's personal maid, and says that His Majesty has a secret message for you!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang was startled, His Majesty's maid? How did you find yourself here?... Your Majesty is staying well in the fortress, what's the matter with you? You want to send your personal maid to tell me?
He looked around and saw that the subordinates in the car were a little embarrassed, some coughed dryly, and some lowered their heads.
Xiang Xiaoqiang suddenly felt his face burning up for no apparent reason, and felt annoyed: Where did you guys think they were?...That's the Queen!
He shouted:
"Bring it in!"
A young girl was taken into the command vehicle.
"You all stay here!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang stopped his subordinates who were about to move away and look at this "His Majesty's maid".
The little girl is sixteen or seventeen years old. She is also wearing a very tasteful little dress, shawl, gloves, and long skirt. Her dressing style is very similar to Zhu Yourong.
She was stained with mud in several places, her face was red, and she was panting:
"Who is... Mr. Xiang?"
"I am."
The little girl rolled her eyes and scanned around:
"I...did I say it here?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang said calmly:
"Just say it here! These are people I trust."
The little palace maid took a deep breath and recounted everything that happened in the fortress.
The command car suddenly exploded. The officers of the People's Guard were all cursing, saying that the People's Guard was working hard to resist the Qing army here, and that Zheng Gongyin and Mrs. Li were siphoning wages from the rear, and they were so rebellious that they put His Majesty under house arrest. These dead relatives should really be killed.
.
The little palace maid took out a pocket knife again, lowered her head and fiddled with the belt of her dress, and quickly pulled out a piece of paper two fingers wide, held it to Xiang Xiaoqiang with both hands, her eyes were red, and she said with a cry:
"Sir Xiang, this is... this is the... clothes belt... clothes belt edict written by His Majesty to you."
Everyone yelled: "The Clothes and Belt Edict!"
Everyone stood up solemnly. The car became silent.