I want to be emperor

Chapter 333

The second year of Chengshun of the Great Chu Empire and the ninth year of Ming Chongzhen.

On August 24th, there will be a slight breeze, suitable for funerals.

Above the city of Nanchang, a group of people looked out of the city with worries and even a little panic!

In their line of sight, there were actually no thieves in gray military uniforms densely packed outside the city. There were only large moats and parapets, and a few gray figures looming in the parapets of the trenches.

Only two or three miles away can you see a camp of Chu bandits, but these camps are also built on the basis of terrain, and there are undulating low terrains separated from the direction of the south city wall, so even if it is on the top of the city, it is difficult. It's clear the whole picture.

Even though they didn't see too many Chu soldiers in sight, it didn't affect their panic!

Because at this moment, there are really tens of thousands of Chu thieves outside Nancheng!
Two days ago, a gray thief cavalry suddenly came outside Nanchang. This Chu thief cavalry did not attack the city after arriving in Nanchang, but completely blocked the outside of the city. Even the waterways were used first. artillery, and then moored with forcibly expropriated ships, directly blocking the Ganjiang waterway.

As a result, many dignitaries and gentry who wanted to flee the city to avoid the war could not get out.

Well, in fact, they can also go out. After all, there are so many places, and it is impossible for the cavalry of the Chu army to block it. It is impossible for one man to go every five steps, and one post to stand at ten steps. If you escape alone, the cavalry of the Chu army will not be able to find you.

But if he fled alone, he would not be able to take such a large amount of money and food with him.

For small households, gold and silver can be taken away with them.

But for those rich and powerful families, their property needs to be transported by horse-drawn carriage.

In fact, these rich and powerful families, to be precise, their gold, silver, soft food, etc., are the real targets of the Chu army's cavalry. As for those small households, the Chu army actually doesn't bother to care about them.

Even the individuals of the rich and powerful, in fact, the Chu army is not interested.

As long as you don't flee with a large amount of money and food, you can go there as you like.

So in the past two days, many people still fled from the city, and then fled alone through the blockade of the Chu army to other places to avoid the war.

but……

Most of the large amounts of gold, silver, soft money and food in the city are still in the city, except for a few that were secretly transported out.

And this is enough for Chu Jun.

Not long after the Chu thief cavalry arrived, nearly ten thousand Chu thieves arrived again, and this time the Chu thieves not only had a large number of infantry, but also a large number of artillery.

At this time, everyone in the city knew that if they didn't do anything else, Nanchang where they were located would soon follow in Jiujiang's footsteps and fall into the hands of Chu thieves, and everyone present might not have a good end.

Xie Xuelong, governor of Jiangxi, said: "The enemy is at hand, do you have any good strategies to retreat from the enemy?"

However, a group of civil and military officials around him and behind him were all silent and no one spoke.

Jiangxi Governor Xie Xuelong saw that no one was talking, he immediately looked at one of the generals and said, "Vice General Li, you are a veteran who has fought against the Chu thieves many times, and you know a lot about the Chu thieves, in your opinion, how should we retreat from the enemy? "

After hearing that, the middle-aged Lieutenant General Li faltered and said: "The Chu thieves are coming fiercely, and there are dozens of Hongyi cannons. We must not fight in waves, we must stabilize the city defense!"

Xie Xuelong, the governor of Jiangxi Province, said: "What if the Chu bandits bombarded the city walls with red cannons and attacked the city with heavy armor?"

Lieutenant General Li looked embarrassed at this moment. Seeing the governor staring at him, he immediately took a deep breath and said loudly: "We will fight to the death, if the Chu thieves attack the city, we will fight with all our might, and we will live and die together in Nanchang!"

As soon as he said this, someone beside him sneered and said, "Coexist and die? De'an has been dead for several days, and you, Li Congde, are still standing here in good order!"

When Li Congde heard this, his expression changed drastically, and he turned his head to look at the other party with an angry expression... But when he saw a civil servant in a red robe next to him, he immediately lowered his head!

That was Huang Xingwen, deputy envoy of the Jiangxi Procuratorate.

He can't afford to offend this fourth-rank civil servant!

As mentioned earlier, the status of military generals in the Ming Dynasty, especially in the middle and later periods, was very low. For the civil officials, especially those who managed military affairs, regardless of the opponent's grade, they were basically crushed to death.

And this Huang Xingwen, as the deputy envoy of the inspectorate, is only a fourth grade in terms of rank, and if the traditional deputy envoy of the inspectorate does not act as an agent for military preparations, he actually has no special rights, so Huang Xingwen can ignore it completely.

Even the immediate boss of the deputy envoy, the third-rank Jiangxi envoy, actually doesn't have much real power.

But Huang Xingwen is different... This person is acting as an agent for military preparations. He patrolled Ruizhou Prefecture, Yuanzhou Prefecture, Linjiang Prefecture, some counties of Ji’an Prefecture, and counties in the west of Nanchang Prefecture, etc., and supervised the troops stationed in the above-mentioned prefectures. It is to patrol the prefectures and counties in western Jiangxi and supervise the army.

What is the concept of this job?

You can refer to Shi Kefa. Before Shi Kefa became the governor of Anlu, he used the title of deputy inspector to patrol the state capitals in Jiangbei and supervise the Jiangbei Army.

They are also deputy envoys, but the power and status gap between them is huge.

The political status of the officials in the Ming Dynasty, especially the civil servants, has nothing to do with their grades and their positions. What matters is dispatch!

A vote of governor is no more than the fourth grade, and this official is just a small imperial censor.

And those officials who can control the situation in the court are only seventh rank!

Even the big bosses in the cabinet, many of them only have the fourth rank, the fifth rank...

And many second-rank and third-rank civil servants are actually like that. For example, the chief envoy said that he was from the second rank, but he didn't dare to breathe when he saw the governor of the fourth rank. .

This is the deputy inspector of the fourth rank, which is such a very special position.

The main reason is that this position can be used for several special assignments, such as education, such as military preparation.

This is what people often call Xuezheng. This position is a very noble position. It presides over the province's academic affairs and has extremely important authority, that is, presides over the rural examinations.

It is an important way for civil servants to recruit students during their political career.

If you want to be a boss, how can you do it if you don't have many students who can fight.

At the same time, the deputy inspector can also be sent to preside over military preparations. During the war, a small number of deputy inspectors will be appointed to patrol the various prefectures and act as military supervisors.

In this case, its political status will soar sharply. The nominally immediate boss, the inspector, and the nominally highest local chief executive, the political envoy, and the military commander will all command envoys in front of the deputy inspector who has the authority to supervise the army. Gotta step aside.

why?
Because the deputy envoy after supervising the army, if he does a good job and earns a reputation as a well-known soldier, he can go to the governor in minutes. Well, the governors of the Chongzhen Dynasty were changed very frequently, especially when wars broke out. In some areas, a governor will be changed every three days.

Even at the current speed of Chongzhen's replacement of six servants and ministers, it may be possible to be a right servant of the Ministry of War or even a minister of the Ministry of War after a few years of work.

The far-off minister, Shangshu, has a lot to say, let alone the governor.

This governor was a proper minister of the frontier in the late Ming Dynasty, and he was extremely powerful.

Today's Huang Xingwen is walking on this correct path.

And this person's position does not mean that Jiangxi, or even the governor of Jiangxi Xie Xuelong can decide, but is personally promoted and recommended by Wang Jiazhen, the governor of the military affairs of the provinces on the eastern front and who sits in Jinling City, Yingtianfu.

On the ground in Jiangxi, this person's political status can generally be ranked fourth.

It is second only to Shi Kefa, governor of Anlu, Xie Xuelong, governor of Jiangxi, and governor of Nanjiang.

Facing such a middle-aged man, a potential big man, even if Li Congde is already a lieutenant general, even if his status in the army is second only to the chief soldier, he still dare not show any presumptuousness.

Speaking of it, in fact, Li Congde's actual status in the army is not much different from those of the general soldiers.

After all, in the Ming court, the commander-in-chief and the deputy commander-in-chief are not in the relationship between superiors and subordinates. The relationship between them is that the commander-in-chief leads more soldiers, and the deputy commander-in-chief leads fewer soldiers.

It is impossible for a commander-in-chief to command a deputy commander-in-chief to fight, without that power.

After all, both of them have the same immediate boss, the governor;

There is also a common deputy boss, the supervising army who is the deputy envoy of the inspector or the official of the chief secretary who participates in politics.

Li Congde like this can be regarded as a fool in the army, but in front of Huang Xingwen, he still has to lie obediently!

So seeing Huang Xingwen reprimanding him, Li Congde just smiled awkwardly.

However, Huang Xingwen didn't pay attention to him anymore, but took another step forward to Jiangxi Governor Xie Xuelong and said, "Qian Xian, the bandit army is powerful now, so hurry up and mobilize the young and strong in the city, and swear to defend the city to the death!"

snort!
Xie Xuelong looked at the middle-aged civil servant in front of him, his expression remained unchanged, but he was extremely disgusted in his heart.

He didn't like this Huang Xingwen very much.

The reason is simple!
This broken place in Jiangxi seems to be a province, but in fact, there are not many places under the control of him, the governor.

Ganzhou and other state capitals in the south are the territory of the governor of Nangan.

Jiujiang Mansion in the north was originally the territory of his governor of Jiangxi, but since the imperial court established Governor Anlu, in order to coordinate the defense on the eastern front, Jiujiang Mansion and Nankang Mansion were directly placed under the jurisdiction of Governor Anlu.

In this way, Xie Xuelong, the governor of Jiangxi, is even more embarrassed, and only the central part of Jiangxi is left under his jurisdiction.

This was unlucky enough, but after Wang Jiazhen arrived in Jiangnan, he recommended Huang Xingwen as Jiangxi's deputy envoy, patrolling Ji'an Mansion and other places and supervising the army.

Moreover, this Huang Xingwen is a well-known person. He used to be an inspector in the south of the Yangtze River, and spent a period of time with Shi Kefa, saying that he is a well-known soldier.

To put it bluntly, Wang Jiazhen felt that Xie Xuelong, the governor of Jiangxi, was unreliable, and then sent Huang Xingwen over, saying that he was the deputy inspector, but in fact he controlled only half of the remaining troops under the governor of Jiangxi.

It would be strange if Xie Xuelong felt happy.

Now that this person is talking about recruiting young adults, Xie Xuelong is even more upset.

Now that the official warehouses in the city are empty, how can we recruit young people?Moreover, the recruiting of the young and strong in Huang Xingwen's mouth does not refer to the recruiting part. Last night, Huang Xingwen found him and said that he would recruit all the young and strong in the city, and he still planned to send these young and strong to the city directly. The head fights with the Chu thief.

This is simply crazy!

Not to mention whether we can afford to support so many young and strong civilian husbands, even if we can afford to support them, it cannot be said that young and strong are really sent to the city to fight against the Chu thieves.

Young adults who have not received military training can do some auxiliary tasks, such as helping to build fortifications, boiling water and throwing stones when defending the city.

But if you really let them fight the Chu thief, that is to let them die.

Under such circumstances, if all the young and strong are recruited and sent to the city, that is purely to let the young and strong in the city die.

Xie Xuelong has been governor of Jiangxi for many years. Although he didn't say that he really loves the people like his son, he can barely live up to his conscience. It can be regarded as doing a lot of practical things in the field, especially the extermination of many bandits, the pacification of the place, and a relatively stable life for the local area.

Such Chu thieves besieged the city, although he also recruited a group of young and strong peasants to help defend the city, but only a part of them were recruited.

But he didn't intend to be as frantic as Huang Xingwen and drive all the common people to the top of the city, just to consume the ammunition of the Chu thief.

He can't do this kind of thing.

So Xie Xuelong said: "All the young and strong in the city who are barely able to fight have been recruited, and the rest are all old, weak, sick and disabled. It is useless to spend money and food on recruits, so there is no need to mention this matter!"

Xie Xuelong knew very well in his heart that with the current situation in Nanchang City, whether or not civilian husbands were recruited would not affect the final outcome of Nanchang City: the city was destroyed and people died!
Can't even escape!

That being the case, why bother to waste lives!

Xie Xuelong sighed, then turned around and walked down the city wall with the officials.

And when these high-ranking civil and military officials in Nanchang City were frowning, in a courtyard near the west gate of Nanchang, several middle and low-level generals of the Ming army also gathered together.

I saw one of the middle-aged guerrillas said: "Now Nanchang can't hold it anymore!"

A young guard on the side also said: "Brother Wang is right, there are more than 1 thieves outside the city, how can we fight, we can't fight!"

The young guard continued: "Now there are less than [-] soldiers in our city. They are either broken soldiers with no morale or morale, or old and young, weak and weak. I am afraid that less than half of them can carry swords into battle."

"Besides, we don't even have Hongyi cannons now, let alone Hongyi cannons. Even if they are general cannons, there aren't many old cannons like Frangji. What can we use against the Hongyi cannons in the Chu bandits?"

"You have all seen it before. When the Chu bandits came, they pulled dozens of Hongyi cannons, and many of them were heavy cannons capable of hitting nine catties."

"Without Hongyi cannons to contend with, this city wall will be reduced to ruins overnight."

"Not to mention artillery, even infantry don't have many muskets, armor, swords and spears, not a single new musket, and only two hundred blunderbusses!"

"And the total number of armored soldiers is only four hundred."

"As for the Chu thieves, it's rare to wear thousands of armors. Even the musketeers among the Chu thieves are all wearing light armor."

This defense became more and more excited: "How to defend this? It is impossible to defend!"

"My brothers, like me, escaped from De'an all the way, and also saw the power of Chu thieves. Although the city of De'an was smaller at the beginning, its strength was much stronger than it is now, so we couldn't hold it. Now How could Nanchang be able to defend it!"

Speaking of this, the young guard looked around: "We also fought hard to kill thieves in De'an before, so many brothers were killed and injured, and we are worthy of the court."

"Now that Nanchang City is about to be destroyed, it's time for us to think about ourselves and our family members."

As soon as this person said this, several other people immediately looked at him, each with different expressions, and they didn't know what they were thinking.

After a long time, Wang Guerzilla opened his mouth and said, "Qian Shoubei, are you talking about breaking out of the siege? Now there are tens of thousands of Chu thieves outside the city, and there are more than a thousand elite cavalry. Breaking out of the siege is not easy."

Qian Shoubei shook his head slightly, looked around the crowd again, and then took a deep breath and said, "Why break out? We can directly sacrifice the city to Chu, and use the contribution of the city to exchange for a fortune!"

(End of this chapter)