Late Ming Dynasty: Oops, I am surrounded by the Donglin Party

Nanjing City, Yingtian Prefecture, August 16th.

"We can't just sit there and wait for death! Sir, we have already found out that Huang Degong outside has only 22,000 soldiers!

And inside our Nanjing city, there are 60,000 elite troops from Jiangbei led by General Gao and General Liu.

Including our garrison soldiers, the number of soldiers in the city alone has reached nearly 100,000!"

"Master Zhang is right. How dare he surround Nanjing City with an army of 100,000 with only 22,000 men?"

"Sir, we must make a decision. Suzhou City has been under siege for two or three days. If we cannot provide support, Suzhou City will surely be breached.

By then, the entire Southern Zhili will only have Nanjing as the lone city left, and the morale of other prefectures in the south of the Yangtze River will also be greatly damaged. "

Qian Qianyi also echoed Zhang Shenyan in a stern voice.

In fact, Qian Qianyi and Zhang Shenyan had conflicts in the beginning. What's worse, there were conflicts among the Donglin Confucian scholars and among the bureaucrats. Although the officialdom in Nanjing was not as intense as that in the capital, it was not much different.

But at this critical moment of life and death, all the civil servants have become extremely united, and all the gentry and landlords have become extremely generous, giving money and food when asked for.

For example, now all the civil servants think that it is extremely stupid for Huang Degong to have only 22,000 men to surround the city of Nanjing with a defender of 100,000.

They only needed to send a large army to defeat Huang Degong, and then take advantage of the high morale to send tens of thousands of troops to rescue Liu Liangzuo in Suzhou City.

Zhang Shikang only has 30,000 soldiers. When the time comes, hundreds of thousands of troops will attack from both inside and outside the city. Even if Zhang Shikang has all the supernatural powers, he will definitely not be able to resist them.

If they win this battle, the morale of the Southern Army will certainly be boosted, and then they only need to pursue the victory and completely destroy the traitor who crossed the river.

Once Zhang Shikang was killed, the entire operation of clearing the court would be mostly completed. They could even launch a northern expedition and force the incompetent Chongzhen to abdicate.

Of course, if they don't want to continue, that's fine. Zhang Shikang is dead anyway. As long as they collectively submit a petition to apologize and have the military power in their hands, why would they be afraid that the emperor will not agree to their conditions?

If the emperor dares to disagree, it means he does not care about the lives of the people of the world. After all, if you are a wise monarch, you should maintain peace and agree to their conditions.

It can be said that it can attack when advancing and defend when retreating.

Everything is based on forcing Duke Wei Xu Hongji to stop being a coward.

In order to go out of the city to meet the enemy, a breakthrough must be made. This is the common demand of all civil servants and gentry in Nanjing.

Xu Hongji frowned and listened to the opinions of Qian Qianyi, Zhang Shenyan and other literati.

He was somewhat dissatisfied because at the beginning of the uprising, he had told Qian Qianyi and others that the condition for joining them in the uprising was that all the troops had to obey his command.

What's the reason? Isn't it because they don't want these intellectuals to interfere in the war?

Although Xu Hongji was a latecomer in the field of war and only had a half-baked knowledge of it, his ancestors had built their reputation through fighting in wars, and there were always some writings on the subject in his family.

In Xu Hongji's opinion, although there were 100,000 defenders in the city and sufficient money and food, Nanjing City had high walls and deep moats, and there were so many artillery defenses.

Why take the risk if you don't defend the city walls?

Besides, Zhang Shikang and Huang Degong are not stupid people, and the arrangement outside might be a trap.

However, this group of literati had been making noise for several days, and their words were becoming more and more intense. What made him most depressed was that Xu Hongji could not win the argument with this group of literati.

They always stand on the moral high ground, express their opinions based on quotations from classics, and never use any dirty words even when mocking his timidity.

They also always like to decide wars by numbers.

One hundred thousand versus twenty-two thousand, and I think the advantage is in my hands.

If you don't even dare to fight, you are a coward.

How can a war be won by having more soldiers? If that were the case, there would be no Ming Dynasty!

Huang Degong was also a guy who dared to fight the Tartars to death. Among the many generals in the city, which one could fight the Tartars head-on?

I’m afraid most of them have never even been on the battlefield?

“I understand what you all mean, but I have already made it clear to you before we started the rebellion.

All those involved in the war are under my command, so why are you doing this now?

If that is the case, I will hand over the military power to you, okay?"

Xu Hongji's words were already very serious. It was this group of people who first broke his promise, and he did not want an internal fight.

But one must make his attitude clear. The most taboo thing for military power is multiple orders. In the army, there can only be one voice.

This is the family motto left by our ancestor Xu Da, King of Zhongshan.

Qian Qianyi and Zhang Shenyan looked at each other. Although they were very dissatisfied, they didn't say anything in the end.

If they could lead troops to fight, why would they be sitting here? Everyone knows that the civil servants who hold military power have the most say.

But if a civil official who holds military power pretends to know something when he does not, he will only die faster, either at the hands of the enemy, at the hands of the emperor, or... at the hands of his own subordinates.

“I know you are all anxious, but this is a battle of life and death. The more anxious you are, the more likely it is that something will go wrong.

We have no chance to make mistakes!"

Seeing that no one objected, Xu Hongji began to comfort everyone instead.

"It's not that I don't want to break the impasse. Huang Degong's 20,000 men are not many, but I'm just afraid of the unexpected!

It would be great if I won, but what if it was a trap?

Besides, among all the generals present, which one of them is confident enough to fight this battle?"

Xu Hongji was about to continue speaking, but Gao Jie in the hall suddenly stood up.

"Please let my lord know that I am willing to go out of the city to fight!"

Xu Hongji's face immediately fell.

Qian Qianyi and Zhang Shenyan both showed joy on their faces. When Gao Jie came to the city a while ago, they both gave Gao Jie a lot of silver.

They had no other intentions, they just hoped that Gao Jie would do his best to defend Nanjing City, and this could be regarded as a reward for the troops.

But they never expected that Gao Jie would actually stand up and agree with them, which was a bit surprising to them.

"Are you sure?" Xu Hongji frowned.

He suddenly became very embarrassed and regretted what he had just said. He felt a little embarrassed for a moment.

"Sir, I need to work together with General Liu and choose the right time to launch a surprise attack. We will definitely be able to defeat Huang Degong."

Gao Jie said with great confidence, and Liu Zeqing also stood up to ask for orders.

Sizhou's escape without fighting made Gao Jie the target of ridicule in Nanjing, but this was not the most important thing.

During this period, he often drank with the Nanjing nobles who led the troops at their homes. Relying on his handsome looks and eloquence, he stole the wives and concubines of several of them.

He is quite lucky in love, but if you walk by the river often, you will get your feet wet.

As a result, he was doing import and export trade with the concubine of Lingbi Marquis Tang Guozuo, and was caught red-handed by Tang Guozuo.

If that guy hadn't been drunk, Gao Jie almost couldn't escape from Lingbi Marquis' Mansion.

After the truth was revealed, Xu Hongji suppressed the matter on the grounds that they could not have internal strife, but he was still very dissatisfied with him because of it.

Most of the nobles were hostile to him. Gao Jie had to endure the shame of defeat and the discrimination from the nobles. He was already full of anger.

The last time he escaped without a fight was completely because Huang Degong caught him by surprise and he was not prepared at all.

Now that he and Liu Zeqing have joined forces, they have a total of 60,000 troops, and they have been resting in the city for a long time. It is time to clear his name.

As long as he defeats Huang Degong outside the city, he can let the people present know who is the real pillar of Nanjing City!

……