I want to be emperor

Chapter 349 Jinling City Night (two chapters in one)

On the night of October [-]th, in Jinling City, Li Yuankui, the right servant of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry, came to the residence.

Wang Qi, the secretary of the Imperial Academy of the Great Chu Empire, and Li Yuankui, the owner of the place, sat on the left and right of the head.

And below them are the heads of the intelligence agencies of the Great Chu Empire and some civil and military officials of the Ming court who have decided to surrender to Great Chu.

They are discussing what to do tonight.

According to the resolution, at dawn tomorrow, they will open the Chaoyang Gate to welcome the main force of the Chu army outside the city into the city.

However, although the hundreds of troops in charge of the Chaoyangmen garrison are their subordinates, there are still many troops in the surrounding area who are not theirs.

In addition, the hundreds of troops in Chaoyangmen seem to be their subordinates, but when that time comes, no one knows if there will be any changes, especially if the middle and low-level officers will listen to them. The order of the officials to open the city gates is also unknown.

After all, so far, among the hundreds of troops in Chaoyangmen, including the middle and low-level officers, they don't know that their immediate superiors have decided to surrender to the Great Chu Empire.

In case when something happens, a fool comes out who disagrees and wants to resist, then it is easy to have an accident.

At this time, Wang Qi said to a middle-aged man dressed in strong clothes and dressed as a martial artist: "General Song, in order to avoid accidents at Chaoyang Gate, I will ask the staff of the Military Intelligence Department to cooperate with you, and the plan will start in the middle of the night." When the time comes, please be sure to completely control the Chaoyang Gate, and any voices of opposition must be completely suppressed, and absolutely no accidents will occur."

General Song Shen showed a hint of determination: "Master Wang, don't worry, the [-] soldiers of Chaoyangmen are all Song's subordinates. Even if there are some objections, Song still has [-] soldiers, plus three people supported by the Military Intelligence Department. Ten masters are enough to suppress any opposition!"

Wang Qi looked at General Song and nodded slightly.

He is very satisfied with General Song's attitude. As long as General Song can control the [-] Ming troops at Chaoyangmen, opening Chaoyangmen will be a foregone conclusion, and even if the next thing repeats, it will definitely not affect the overall situation .

Because Wang Qi has absolute confidence in the strength of the Chu army entering the city.

The Chu army attacking Jinling City this time did not have any low-strength garrison troops, but a uniform main force.

At this time, the three main divisions of the Wang Division gathered outside Jinling City. No matter which unit entered the city from Chaoyang Gate, it would be the absolute main force, and its combat effectiveness was definitely not comparable to that of the Ming army in the city.

The First Division of the Chu Army, this is the number one ace unit of the Great Chu Empire. It has participated in all previous wars, and its performance has always been very stable and excellent. There is no need to say more about the combat effectiveness of this unit.

The First Guards Division, His Majesty's guards, is the best-paid and best-equipped unit in the entire army. It has also participated in many battles and performed quite well.

The Sixth Division, although the division was formed a little later, it has been undergoing hard training since its formation until the launch of the Eastern Expedition, and it is one of the few Chu troops that has undergone complete training for more than half a year The elite of time, and after the Eastward Campaign was launched, the division participated in a series of battles in northern Jiangxi and the Battle of Anqing.

At that time, it was the elite troops under the Sixth Division that first attacked Jiujiang City.

The above-mentioned three main divisions, no matter which combat power they are, are just now, even if they are inside the Chu army, they are all first-class elites.

No matter which troop entered Chaoyang Gate, it was enough to reassure Wang Qi.

So the key to this battle is not the battle after entering the city, but whether they can successfully open the Chaoyang Gate.

Whether the Chaoyang Gate can be opened smoothly depends on whether it can successfully control the [-] Ming troops stationed in the Chaoyang Gate.

Looking at the appearance of General Song now, he should have a lot of confidence.

And even if in the end even if General Song Shen couldn't control the [-] Ming army, then Wang Qi would have a backup.

The power controlled by this group of people is not the [-] Ming army under General Song Can. It is only because Song Can is in charge of guarding the Chaoyang Gate that the [-] Ming army is more important.

In addition to the [-] Ming troops under General Song Can, the Ming generals who had defected to the Great Chu Empire had two guerrillas, three thousand households, and six hundred households.

The direct lineage forces controlled by these generals add up to nearly 200 people.

These troops of the direct line are all the personal soldiers of these generals, family members and the like, not including the ordinary Ming army commanded by them.

If you add up the ordinary civilian army under their command, young and strong, there are even more than 2000 people.

In terms of proportion, there are more than 2 Ming troops in the city, and one-tenth of the Ming troops have defected to the Great Chu Empire.

Well, just talking about their commander-in-chief.

Under such circumstances, if the Chu army cannot take out Jinling City, it will be unreasonable.

In addition, the civil servants who defected here can more or less pull out some nursing homes, servants and the like. For example, Li Yuankui can pull out at least more than 100 people, including his own nursing home and Fenghe. Guard of the firm.

Although these people are not professional soldiers, they can be used at critical moments.

In the end, it was the people secretly controlled by the Great Chu Empire. Several intelligence departments added up to hundreds of people directly under them. Excluding the civilian staff among them, there could be at least two hundred people who could fight with swords and guns.

In addition, some external intelligence personnel who have been recruited and bought can also be used.

The intelligence agencies of the Great Chu Empire have worked hard in Jinling City for more than a year. Although the power in their hands is relatively scattered, it is not small.

It is enough to confront the Ming army head-on, but it is enough to secretly seize a city gate to welcome the army into the city.

After Wang Qi made a few more arrangements, he turned his head to look at Li Yuankui: "Master Li, do you have anything to say here, please say something!"

Wang Qi still paid more attention to this Li Yuankui. Although today's meeting must be led by him, he still bought face for Li Yuankui.

After all, this person is the big boss behind Fenghe Commercial Bank, an important supplier of strategic materials in the process of the rise of the Great Chu Empire, but he is a person with a name in front of His Majesty, which is completely different from ordinary civil servants who surrendered.

If there is no accident, after the battle of Jinling City, this Li Yuankui will officially change into the official uniform of the Great Chu Empire and become his colleague, and there is a high probability that he will gain real power.

With the weight of Fenghe Trading Company and Li Yuankui's contribution, it is estimated that he can have a guaranteed position as a third-rank official, and if he is lucky, he may even become a servant of a certain department.

Therefore, his attitude towards Li Yuankui is quite respectful.

And Li Yuankui showed a smile at this time: "My lord Wang's arrangements are very appropriate. Even if Li wants to check for gaps, he can't do anything. He is worthy of being the imperial servant who is valued by His Majesty. This planning ability, Li is his own. It's better to sigh."

"According to Mr. Wang's plan, Li can already foresee the grand occasion of Shengjia's entry into the city."

With that said, Li Yuankui also gave Wang Qi a complimenting smile.

Just as Wang Qi valued Li Yuankui more, Li Yuankui also valued Wang Qi.

This Wang Qi in the Great Chu Empire seems to be only the fourth grade, but he is often accompanied by the emperor's servant, and the time and frequency of appearing in front of Luo Zhixue are more than ordinary servants.

This kind of emperor's close minister naturally cannot treat his political status with the usual high level.

According to Li Yuankui's understanding of the official system in the Great Chu Empire, after the Battle of Jinling City, Wang Qi, who made the contribution to welcome the army into the city, will be promoted in a short time.

At that time, there is a high probability that they will be transferred to a certain department as the director, or sent to other places as the chief envoy, that is, the second in command of a province.

It may not take long to be further promoted to a bachelor's degree attendant or governor of various provinces.

This is a rising political star on the verge of rapid ascension.

And although I have a special relationship with the Great Chu Empire, I have never been an official in the Great Chu Empire in the past. After the Battle of Jinling, even if I voted to get a high position of real power, I would still be isolated and helpless status.

At this time, being able to make friends with Wang Qi, who has a bright political future, in advance will also be of great benefit to him in the future to gain a foothold in the officialdom of the Great Chu Empire.

If at that time, I can get to know some other senior officials in the Imperial Academy through Wang Qi, especially the Bachelor of the Academy or the Bachelor of Attendance, the Bachelor of Attendance, or several other attendees.

Then, with the addition of several officials from the Ministry of Commerce and Trade that I have known before, and my high-level contacts in the Great Chu Empire, it can be regarded as initially established.

Now Li Yuankui has begun to pave the way for his official career in the Great Chu Empire.

After the two main characters, Wang Qi and Li Yuankui, had no objections, the group of people soon started their own secret operations.

The intelligence agency on the side of the Great Chu Empire began to mobilize the manpower that had been assembled secretly before, and made the best preparations.

The armed personnel directly under the four intelligence agencies and the peripheral members recruited, in addition to sending 200 people from the military intelligence department to support General Song, there are more than [-] people.

These more than 200 people gathered in a remote courtyard under the name of Li Yuankui, and their tasks will be divided according to the situation.

If the operation at Chaoyangmen goes well, the armed personnel of these intelligence agencies will cooperate with the guards, guards and other forces assembled by Li Yuankui and others to attack and protect several important official warehouses in the city.

To avoid the death of the defenders in the city, when the city is broken, they will directly set fire to burn food, or simply someone wants to take advantage of the chaos to rob money and food.

Not for anything else, just because it is full of money and food.

When the Great Chu Empire attacked the city, the most important thing was to attack the city itself, and the second most important thing was money and food.

Therefore, it is one of Wang Qi's important tasks to ensure that a large amount of money and food controlled by the Ming court in the city will not be lost.

Of course, this is under the premise that everything goes well.

If Chaoyangmen's operation does not go well, they will change their plan and unite with other surrender forces to launch a strong attack on Chaoyangmen, and cooperate with Song Shen to forcibly open the city gate to welcome the army into the city.

But this is just a plan to prevent accidents.

If there were no major accidents, Song Shen would be able to win Chaoyangmen without their help.

After all, the [-] Ming troops stationed at Chaoyangmen were originally subordinates of General Song. The current military system of the Ming court has already collapsed. It seems that there are civil servants on top, but in fact they have already become generals.

These [-] Ming troops are directly under General Song Can, and General Song has great control over them.

Not to mention that General Song Shen himself has more than 50 personal soldiers. These 50 personal soldiers are the most elite force under General Song Shen. It's delicious and delicious.

Under normal circumstances, General Song Shen can defeat more than 50 ordinary Ming troops by relying on these more than 800 personal soldiers.

Not to mention, General Song Shen also has 30 people from the Military Intelligence Department to help. Although the people in the Military Intelligence Department are not professional soldiers, they are all strong and well-equipped. Except for ordinary weapons such as armor, swords and spears, He also had a sudden fire pistol that was still very small in the Great Chu Empire.

It's not a big problem to clean up some ordinary Ming army camp sentries with low morale and poor equipment.

After a breakthrough in the research and development of flintlock guns in the Great Chu Empire this year, the first production was not a sudden-fire rifle, that is, a two-year-style flintlock gun.

It's a two-year-style pistol.

Because of the breakthrough in the research and development of the flintlock guns of the Great Chu Empire, the first one was the Suifei pistol. The Hantian factory got inspiration from the Western-style spring wheel flintlock guns, and referred to the primitive guns that have been handed down from the west in recent years. The percussion-type flintlock gun changed the firing mechanism from the lighter type to the percussion type, and finally finalized the firing mechanism of the quick-fire gun.

It is worth mentioning that last year, an official of the Ming court, that is, Bi Maokang, the right servant of the Nanjing Ministry of War, also reported many Western-style firearms to the Ming court through the "Illustration of Military Weapons", including the early percussion-type firearms from the west. Fire the gun.

Speaking of which, Bi Maokang is still in Jinling City.

It needs to be made clear that Bi Maokang was only ordered to compile the report of many firearms in the "Illustration of Military Weapons", including the situation of the early percussive flintlock, and he did not invent the early percussive flintlock.

Flintlocks, perhaps the early percussion-type flintlocks, have also been passed down from the west of the maritime trade route.

The reason why the Ming court did not use it on a large scale after learning about this early percussion-type flintlock gun was definitely not because the Ming court was complacent. The Ming court’s monarchs and ministers actually had a very high acceptance of new weapons. The Hongyi cannon, the bird gun, and now the thief-killing gun and the thief-killing gun have all been imitated and used by the Ming court on a large scale.

The reason why they don't use flintlocks is purely because the early flintlocks handed down from the west are not very good.

The success rate of ignition is too low, and the cost is high, so it is not suitable for large-scale equipment as the main equipment of infantry.

Even in the West at the same time, people were not equipped with these early percussion flintlocks, and the rifles were mainly arquebus.

Some cavalry have flintlock guns, but they are more expensive and more complicated spring wheel flintlocks. They are not early percussion flintlock guns, but spring wheel flintlock guns are even more difficult to use. Equipped on a large scale.

The cavalry pistol produced by the Great Chu Empire is an improved percussion flintlock based on the two. Its performance is passable, but the price is still high and the output is limited because of the complicated process.

Even if the Great Chu Empire throws the design blueprints of the two-year-style flintlock gun developed by Ming Ting to Ming Ting, it is estimated that they will not be able to produce many, and there is no way to equip them on a large scale.

After the Suifa pistol was developed, Hantian Armory began to set up a production line for the two-year-style Suifa pistol, and began mass production and equipped cavalry.

However, the output has not been high, and so far only more than 1000 pistols have been produced, and these more than 1000 cavalry pistols were issued, some of which were equipped with the cavalry regiment under the newly rehearsed Second Guards Division, and some of them were equipped with pistols. It is a cavalry regiment equipped with the [-]st Guards Division.

There are also a very small number of intelligence agencies that have mission needs such as assassinations and small-scale killings. In this way, the Military Intelligence Department has dozens of quick-fire pistols.

The [-] officers of the Military Intelligence Department with Suifa pistols in their hands, their fighting power in the close-range melee is still very impressive.

——

When General Song and the intelligence department of the Chu Army were making preparations, Li Yuankui, together with several other officials who had defected to the Great Chu, began to secretly summon Ding Qingzhuang, the nurse.

As one of the principals, Li Yuankui is the right servant of the Nanjing Ministry of Industry, and he is also a person with certain energy in the officialdom of Jinling City. Therefore, he is the head of the officials who surrendered in the Ming court.

After Li Yuankui gathered his own nursing home and some loyal and available servants, he also gathered dozens of people, plus the nursing homes and servants summoned by other officials, the total number was more than 200.

These more than 200 people gathered in Li Yuankui's mansion one after another that night.

With so many people gathered together, even those who didn't know what happened in advance, most of them guessed that they were about to participate in a major event.

Some are afraid, some are reluctant, some want to sneak away to report the news, and some have expectations for this, and want to change the fate of life with a big chaos.

Anyone has it.

At such a critical moment, Li Yuankui and the others showed great courage and distributed a large amount of money to everyone on the spot.

It also promised that once there are casualties, they will be responsible for the treatment of the injured and the rest of their lives, and the family members of the deceased will be properly arranged and so on.

More importantly, Li Yuankui promised that once the matter is completed, these people will get an official status on the side of the Great Chu Empire regardless of their background.

Either enter the garrison, or enter the patrol station, or enter the tax bureau, or become a clerk in an ordinary yamen, etc.

At that time, no matter what, they will leave the current life of servants and gain a new life, and it will be a very decent new life.

At the same time, the contracts of sale of some of those who were born as domestic slaves, including those of their families, were also torn up on the spot.

Give freedom, give money, give future!
Li Yuankui's combination of punches made many people dispel the last worries and even fears in their hearts.

As for the few people who still have other ideas, because only a very small number of people can't make any troubles, and they can't even leave this place secretly to inform others.

That night, at around five o'clock in the morning, everyone began to have a meal in advance, and then began to put on armor and distribute weapons to wait for the last moment.

At the same time, General Song was also wearing heavy armor, and his more than 50 confidants were all wearing armor and holding sharp weapons. armed men.

More than 80 people gathered in the courtyard!
General Song Shen looked at the clock on one side, took a deep breath and said, "Let's begin!"

Now that the time is almost up, it's time to get started!

After General Song Shen gave the order, he quickly began to gather troops. The first thing he gathered was about a hundred guards on duty at night.

The more than 100 people didn't know what happened, but after seeing General Song and his soldiers in heavy armor, they thought it was the Chu army who was about to attack the city.

However, they soon heard General Song's remarks about the brutality of the Ming court and the immorality of Chongzhen. Although they couldn't understand many of the words, they probably understood the meaning.

General Song Shen is going to betray the Ming court and is ready to take refuge in the Great Chu Empire.

"Brothers, I'm going to take you to Dachu today, and from now on, you will be popular and spicy!"

"Open the city gate and welcome the army to enter the city!"

During the whole process, it was not that no one raised objections. A hundred households jumped out and said a few nonsense words. General Song Shen didn't bother to talk nonsense with him, so he just picked up the strong bow in his hand and shot at him, killing him on the spot.

Ever since, the next people were all obedient.

After initially collecting these troops on duty, Song Shen will arrange for manpower to open the city gate and lower the suspension bridge, while continuing to gather and control other troops.

There are 800 ordinary battalion sentinels in the Chaoyangmen area, but now they only control more than a hundred people. If the remaining 700 people cannot be properly controlled, it will be a troublesome thing in case of any accident.

However, General Song's ability is not bad. The most important thing is that more than 50 personal soldiers and more than 30 personnel from the military intelligence department under him gave him great confidence.

Although a few people opposed or even resisted during the whole process, they were all ruthlessly suppressed.

In the darkest hour before dawn, a firework suddenly rose from the Chaoyang Gate and exploded!
Immediately afterwards, a large area of ​​torches lit up outside the originally dark city, and the torches formed a long dragon and quickly approached the Chaoyang Gate!
Just a few minutes later, hundreds of commando soldiers of the Chu army in heavy armor and holding torches arrived.

The leader was a major, who was wearing full-body heavy armor, and the mask under the helmet was pulled up, revealing the face of a 25-year-old man.

After this person arrived at Chaoyang Gate, he glanced left and right, and then walked towards General Song.

Before the person arrived, he opened his mouth and said: "You are the general Song Dalin, you have worked hard all night, leave the rest to us!"

Song Dalin is also a person who is used to strong winds and waves. At this time, he nodded slightly and said: "There are 800 people in my department, and there are about [-] elites among them. I will try my best to cooperate with you!"

By the light of the torch, Song Dalin could tell at a glance that the Chu army who arrived first must be the elite, and the elite among the elite.

(End of this chapter)