Big sacrificial altar.

The cheers of the three armies floated over from the east bank of the Qinhuai River. And the light of the torches began to flicker and swim.

Funing Marquis Zhu Guobi, wearing a loose Confucian shirt, stood at the window of a two-story building facing the east, holding a telescope and looking motionlessly at the east bank of the Qinhuai River.

The 10,000 to 20,000 Nanjing soldiers stationed at the Grand Sacrifice Altar are now commanded by Zhu Guobi. Among the nobles in Nanjing City, he is considered to be more combat-effective. He had earlier worked with Lu Zhenfei to rectify the situation in Huai'an Mansion. Liangjun also recruited hundreds of servants for himself, and conveniently stole 200,000 taels of silver that he was going to send to Dengzhou.

It is precisely because of these 200,000 taels of silver that he has fallen step by step to where he is now - otherwise, he might have worked with Lu Zhenfei to overcome difficulties.

But after he learned how Zhu Cixiang "forced donations" in Beijing and how Denglai rectified the guardhouse, he felt that a corrupt official like himself would not end well if he fell into the hands of the prince.

So I went to Nanjing and worked with Xu Hongji and Huang Shu to recruit King Qin. Before this afternoon, King Qin’s career seemed to be pretty good. He was also highly regarded and led his troops to garrison the Great Sacrifice Altar. If the military remonstrance was successful, the prince would be handed over. Quan, there is no doubt that he was a great contributor to Emperor Chongzhen. The previous problem of corruption no longer exists, and maybe he can become a little more corrupt.

But as soon as Zhu Cihong's army entered Qilin Gate, the situation became unexpected!

The prince did not go to the Xiaoling Mausoleum to pay homage to his ancestors, nor to the imperial city at Chaoyang Gate. Instead, he set up camp east of the Qinhuai River, and sent a large group of cavalry to occupy bridges, inspect the river banks, drive away idlers, etc..... .Is this a battle formation?

When Zhu Guobi received the report from his subordinates, he immediately panicked. He didn't want to drink and listen to music. He took out a telescope and found a high place to watch. As a result, he heard the cheers of the new army that had overcome the difficulties...

"Sir, what are they shouting?"

A woman came up from downstairs. She was about eighteen or nineteen years old. She was wearing a long white Suzhou embroidered satin dress. She had a graceful and charming posture. She had an impressive chest, an oval face, willow eyebrows, and a pair of big watery eyes. Her eyes were rippling, looking charming and romantic. As soon as the beauty appeared, she immediately attracted Zhu Guobi's attention.

He put down his telescope, turned to look at his beloved beauty, and sighed: "Bai Men, please go... I put three hundred taels of gold at Dou'er's place, which will be enough for a while. You and She will go back to Chaoku Street for a while first."

Speaking of sadness, Zhu Guobi burst into tears.

This woman is his concubine, named Kou Baimen, one of the eight beauties of Qinhuai, and one of the eight beauties.

Seeing Zhu Guobi crying sadly, Kou Baimen was a little puzzled, "Why is the master like this? During the day, the master told the slave that after the success of King Qin this time, he would be able to enjoy long-term wealth in the south of the Yangtze River..."

Zhu Guobi just shook his head: "Don't say more. If I can escape this death, I will go to Chaoku Street to find you. If not... you can find a good family to marry. Just remember, don't Entering the Hou family again."

Kou Baimen looked at Zhu Guobi's fearful look, and just sighed softly and made a blessing ceremony: "The slave family must be waiting for the master at Chaoku Street."

After saying that, he turned around and left.

Zhu Guobi watched her go downstairs, then turned his eyes again to the east towards the Qinhuai River. He just stared blankly, doing nothing and not knowing what to do?

Now that all the bridges on the Qinhuai River are controlled by the prince's new army, nothing can stop them from rushing towards the almost undefended altar.

The reason why the large sacrificial altar is undefended is because it has long been in disrepair, with most of the earthen walls on all sides collapsed, and few of the buildings inside are intact, making it difficult to fortify.

Moreover, Zhu Guobi did not dare to set up defenses outside the big altar. It was night now... Let those rabble out and they might escape!

Now I can only support the big sacrificial altar for a while. If I can wait until Huang Degong sends troops, I may be able to escape.

...

"Mount the bayonet! Mount the bayonet... If the enemy is not five steps in front of you, you are not allowed to fire!"

The loud voice of Hao Yaoqi, the First Coordinator of the Infantry Coordinator of the New Army to overcome the difficulties, kept ringing in the ears of more than a thousand gun soldiers. In fact, he didn't need to remind them. These veterans of the banditry knew what to do.

They were the heavenly soldiers who had defeated the Tatars! Later, when Zhu Cixiang reorganized the new army again, he specially awarded them the title of the First Association to show their bravery!

How could such "celestial soldiers" fire indiscriminately on the battlefield? Moreover, after several months of rigorous training and another actual combat in Zhenjiang not long ago, these "celestial soldiers" all know the benefits of approaching and firing.

In their opinion, what they are holding now is not a firecracker at all, but a long gun that can fire deadly projectiles - blasting one shot before engaging the enemy in hand-to-hand combat is the correct way to use a firecracker!

Moreover, they also discovered a new situation during the Battle of Zhenjiang. Their enemies were extremely afraid of a firecracker that had a bayonet and ammunition, but had not yet fired! The ordinary servants saw the new army defeat the new army. When the fire gun soldiers pounced on them, they all had to flee and didn't even have the courage to fight...

Using a big knife to fight hand-to-hand with a rifle with a bayonet is telling a story! Do you really think that people can't fire? If you fire one shot from a few steps away, isn't that just standing tall and dying?

Therefore, Hao Yaoqi had to suppress his men now and prevent them from opening fire. He just charged with a blunderbuss and reached the enemy.

...

Bang bang bang...

The sound of fire cannons sounded outside the east wall, south wall, and north wall of the great altar!

It was not the attacking New Army that was firing, but the defending Nanjing Camp troops that were firing. Of course they were firing indiscriminately!

In the dark, no one knew where the enemy was. They could only hear the shouts of "Wan Sheng! Wan Sheng" from the new army to overcome the difficulties. So the Nanjing Jingying fire gunners who were guarding the collapsed earth wall couldn't help but Fire started.

As the guns roared, casualties inevitably occurred!

The enemy was not hit, but there were many gunshot accidents! Heart-rending screams echoed on the east, south, and north fronts of the altar.

Almost none of the officers from the Nanjing Jingying Camp who commanded the operations had ever been to the front line, and they rarely trained troops. They were all n-generation officers selected from some guard troops and worked as errands in the Nanjing Jingying Camp to earn a living. They took Xu Hongji's Yinzi, just following King Qin, he thought he was responsible for making noise, but who knew he would actually fight!

Oh, actually there hasn’t been a real fight yet, none of the muskets fired by the new army have fired!

The casualties suffered by the Nanjing Camp now are all caused by the bombing!

These days, all the firecrackers supplied to the frontier troops have exploded. How can the firecrackers supplied to the Nanjing Jingying camp be any better? Moreover, the skills of the Nanjing Jingying camp's firecrackers are not good, and they do not have fixed ammunition. Many people are loading the ammunition. There is no definite number, it is either too much or too little. If it is too small, it will not hit far, if it is too much, it will explode.

Therefore, the new army did not fire a single shot, and Zhu Guobi's men had already been injured a lot...

The sound of gunfire from the Great Sacrificial Altar spread far in the quiet night, and could still be heard faintly at Linggu Temple.

"Mr. Huang, it seems like there's a fight!"

At this time, Ma Shiying was already dressed in military uniform and appeared in front of Huang Degong. Huang Degong looked at the attire of the Fengyang Governor and admired him deeply.

Are you going to fight for King Qin personally? What a loyal minister!

Huang Degong frowned and said: "It should be a fight. Zhijun, do we want to send troops?"

Ma Shiying shook his head, "Not yet... Wei Guogong is the commander-in-chief. Without his order, we cannot move, but we must be prepared."

"How to prepare?" Huang Degong asked.

"The first step is to set up the formation. The governor's Guizhou soldiers are good at marching in the mountains. They can take the lead and let them set up the formation outside the mountain gate."

"That's fine." Huang De nodded lightly. Ma Shiying was his boss, and there was Chongzhen's "Handkerchief Edict", so of course he had to obey.

Ma Shiying then took out another blank memorial and handed it to Huang Degong, "We have to jointly write a memorial to His Majesty, explaining why we raise the army... I will write the memorial myself, you can sign it first. "
Chapter completed!