Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 204 Imperial City

In the Zhou army camp, inside the central military tent.

Zeng Ying, Lu Zhenfei, and Liu Zhongzao came to see Meng Jun, followed by Zeng Daowei.

Zeng Ying was the first to speak: "Your Majesty is so powerful, you have recovered the Southern Capital. Please submit a petition to the court, asking Your Majesty to return the old capital."

Meng Jun was unhappy when he heard this, and said in a deep voice: "This king serves the Emperor Longwu, not Shaowu."

Lu Zhenfei shook his head and said, "Your Majesty, this is wrong. Emperor Xiang is a great man, and the country cannot be without a ruler for a day. How can we serve the late emperor but not the emperor? Moreover, the current emperor is the younger brother of Emperor Xiang, and the younger brother succeeds the elder brother, which is in accordance with the order of succession."

At this time, footsteps were heard outside the tent. Liu Jiyan and Zhang Kentang came in. As soon as they entered the tent, Liu Jiyan said loudly: "Your Majesty, there is an order of seniority. The bloodline of Emperor Shenzong is only the line of King Gui. According to the order, King Gui should ascend the throne. Moreover, when establishing a country, the heir should be the heir. How can we serve the distant ancestor instead of the nearby vassal!"

"Your Majesty is the brother of Emperor Xiang, how can you be a distant vassal!" Zeng Daowei said angrily, "Your Majesty took the throne before the King of Gui. The King of Gui has evil ambitions and is eyeing the throne. He knew that Your Majesty had ascended the throne, but he still dared to call himself Zhaoqing. He deserves death!"

"nonsense……"

There was a quarrel in the tent, and Meng Jun was annoyed. He said in a deep voice: "What are you quarreling about? The imperial city has not been recovered yet, and the southern capital has not been settled. What is there to quarrel about?"

After saying that, he ordered his men to expel them all from the tent. Outside the tent, Liu Jiyan and Zeng Daowei looked at each other, snorted coldly, and left in anger.

"Your Majesty, you don't need to pay attention to this group of corrupt scholars. Now that the inner city of Jiangning has been breached, victory is certain. We should eliminate the remaining troops in the imperial city as soon as possible." Gu Yanwu said excitedly.

The success of any cause is inevitably inseparable from the assistance of talents. If Meng Jun wants to create a new world in this era, he needs to discover the talents of this era. Over the long years, there has never been a shortage of talents, what is lacking is the eyes that can discover talents.

Although people like Lu Zhenfei and Liu Jiyan have different ideas and political concepts, they have served as officials for many years, and their connections and qualifications are much stronger than those of Meng Jun, who were born in a wild way. Since they defected to Meng Jun, they have made many contributions to Meng Jun's restoration of local rule and recommendation of talents. No matter what their political ideas are, whether they are loyal to the Ming Dynasty, Meng Jun, Yongli or Shaowu, at least these people can allow Meng Jun to rule the vast area of Jiangsu and Zhejiang, and make it function barely and obey his orders.

Meng Jun shook his head. Now was not the time to dwell on these trivial matters. He shifted his thoughts away from those annoying things, and then ordered Xia Wanchun beside him: "Pass on my order to immediately surround the imperial city and make sure not to let any enemy escape!

Xia Wanchun immediately responded loudly, then wrote the military order on the table, and then quickly turned around and left to convey Meng Jun's order.

As Xia Wanchun left, Meng Jun's eyes became more profound. Once the inner city was broken, although there were still two city walls, the imperial city and the palace city, unless a meteorite fell from the sky or a god of war of the Qing army was born, this battle would be won.

Under Meng Jun's command, the troops from various towns began to approach the imperial city, forming a tight encirclement. The soldiers were in neat formation and their morale was high.

……

The atmosphere in the imperial city was solemn. The inner city was easily breached by Zhou's army. Ke Yongsheng escaped from Jiangning, Zhang Guoliang disappeared, Wu Tiao rebelled, and countless gentry in the city colluded with the bandits. As Hong Chengchou withdrew the Qing troops into the imperial city, countless of them panicked and either scattered or surrendered.

At this time, the remaining defenders on the city walls were in a panic, while under the walls, a huge black army was surging like a tide and had surrounded the Jiangning Imperial City. Hong Chengchou and others could no longer escape.

Fu Ersheng's chest was heaving violently, his eyes were red with anger, he glared at Hong Chengchou and shouted: "I told you a long time ago that you should kill all the citizens of Jiangning, otherwise how could you let these bastards open the city gates!"

Hong Chengchou frowned and sighed, "Wu Tiao surrendered to the enemy, Ke Yongsheng fled..." Before he could finish his words, he was interrupted by Fuersheng's angry roar: "What's the point of saying this now? Once the city wall is lost, the treasury is empty, and the troops are scattered, how can we defend the imperial city!"

Hong Chengchou responded coldly: "Let alone the enemy's presence in the city, whether you can massacre the city, even if you start fighting, I'm afraid it won't just be Wu Tiao who will rebel."

"Whoever dares to rebel, I will kill his entire family," Fulesheng cursed.

Hong Chengchou took a deep breath. He no longer wanted to pay attention to this madman. There was no point in arguing with him at this moment, so he tried to speak calmly: "Now that things have come to this, we should find a way to deal with the current situation."

Fulesheng snorted coldly and turned his head away without looking at Hong Chengchou. Ever since he lost his arm and became half disabled, Fulesheng's emotions were extremely unstable. When his concubine in the mansion just complained, he stabbed her to death with a knife.

As Meng Jun's military order was issued, the army surrounded the imperial city. The soldiers held sharp weapons, showed fierce looks, and issued deafening shouts of killing. The war drums sounded in unison, as if they were going to shatter the imperial city.

While waiting for the various siege weapons outside the city to be slowly dragged to the foot of the imperial city, time passed quietly and night fell. However, despite the darkness of the night, when the artillery arrived at the foot of the imperial city, they were like ignited monsters, firing projectiles continuously.

Each artillery attack brought a deafening noise. The shells, with blazing flames and powerful impact, hit the city walls like raindrops. For a moment, the air was filled with smoke and bricks and stones were scattered, as if it could collapse at any time.

Below the city, the Zhou army’s tents stretched out endlessly, with fires in the tents flickering in the night, and the air was filled with noise and murderous intent.

The next morning, the sound of Zhou army's war drums shook the earth like thunder. The army rushed in from all sides of the imperial city. The imperial city held by the remnants of the Qing army was like an isolated island, surrounded by the waves of Zhou army.

On the top of the city wall, the Qing soldiers held their weapons tightly, their faces solemn, their eyes filled with fear. Under the city wall, the vanguard of the Zhou army swarmed in, like a tiger descending from the mountain, extremely brave. As the Zhou army's siege ladders were placed on the city wall, countless warriors climbed up like ants. The Qing army on the top of the city wall tried their best to resist, with swords and sabers, blood and flesh flying everywhere, but the Zhou army's offensive became more and more fierce, and their morale was high, like a raging fire that could not be contained.

Liang Sanhu stood at the foot of the city, waving his sword and shouting, "Brothers, hurry up! The imperial city is inside!"

When the soldiers heard his shout, their morale was boosted and they climbed forward one after another, with fanatical gleams in their eyes, as if they had seen the dawn of victory.

Seeing this, Liang Sanhu roared, led his guards to climb the city wall, and countless soldiers followed closely behind him, fighting bravely. For a moment, shouts, screams, and the sound of weapons colliding resounded throughout the battlefield.

At this critical moment, a loud cry of "The city has been breached!" was heard. The city wall was breached, and Zhou's army poured into the imperial city like a flood. The remnants of the Qing army struggled in despair. On the walls of the imperial city, the battle continued, but the outcome was decided, and Zhou's army's flag flew high.

Hong Chengchou closed his eyes in despair and led the remaining troops to retreat into the palace. Ever since he learned that Lekedehun was defeated, Hong Chengchou had known that this day would come!