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The construction of Fengyang, the Ming Dynasty's central capital, began in September of the second year of the Hongwu reign, gathering famous materials and skills from all over the country. The construction was stopped in April of the eighth year of the Hongwu reign, and it took a total of six years.
There were three city walls: the inner city, the second city, and the outer city. The inner city was called the "Forbidden City" with a circumference of about 9 li and a square shape; the second city was called the "Forbidden Wall" with a circumference of 15 li; and the outer city had a circumference of 60 li.
The entire city extends to Fangqiu Lake in the north, Dushan in the east, Laoren Bridge in the south, and Ma'anshan in the west. It has nine city gates, 94 blocks, 24 streets and alleys, 3 markets, and 2 busy streets.
The Forbidden City has the main hall, Wenhua Hall and Yingwu Hall, Wen and Wu Buildings, East Palace, West Palace and Back Palace, Jinshui River and Jinshui Bridge, etc. The layout is the most magnificent in the world.
On the fifteenth day of the first lunar month in the eighth year of Chongzhen, the peasant army led by Gao Yingxiang, Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong and others took advantage of the victory to capture Fengyang, the central capital of the Ming Dynasty. They destroyed the imperial mausoleum, burned Longxing Temple, killed more than sixty eunuchs, and beheaded Zhu Guoxiang, the garrison commander of the central capital of the Ming Dynasty, as well as several thousand officers and soldiers. The city of Fengyang suffered great damage.
However, the city walls of Fengyang are still there, and they are as strong as those of Jinling. They are all built with stone slabs as the foundation, and large bricks are piled on top. When building, lime, tung oil and glutinous rice juice are used as slurry, and key parts are even "melted with pig iron". The moat is 70 meters wide.
It is said that "to defend the Yangtze River, one must defend the Huai River". To defend the Huai River line of defense, the mighty city of Fengyang is indispensable. The Qin army has long been eyeing Fengyang.
Now Su Jin's cavalry harasses Fengyang day and night;
Before Duoduo returned, two thousand Green Camp soldiers in Fengyang mutinied;
The 20,000 troops brought back by Duoduo were in a panic, and many of them fell ill on the way. They barely managed to return to Fengyang. Their morale was extremely low, and they did not dare to fight against the Qin cavalry that was harassing them from the outside.
Occasionally, the Qin army would take advantage of the night and rush to the city gates, bombarding the city gates with powerful rockets. The violent explosions shook the entire city, causing the Qing army in the city to be frightened three times a night.
The situation did not improve until more than 30,000 troops from Sizhou retreated to Fengyang.
It was the first watch of the night. In the Fengyang Governor's Office, Duoduo was holding his black mink fur and coughing non-stop. Veins on his face bulged and black lines appeared from his coughing. The swaying light shone on his face, making him look extremely hideous.
His illness had never been cured, and after the disastrous defeat in Chuzhou, his condition became serious again.
"Your Highness, it's time to take your medicine." A doctor carefully brought tea and knelt in front of Duoduo.
Duoduo took the medicine, drank it all in big gulps, and threw the bowl against the door. Clang! The medicine bowl broke into pieces, frightening the doctor kneeling in front of him and kowtowed repeatedly, begging for mercy.
"roll!"
Duoduo shouted coldly, and the doctor crawled out of the door.
In the past few days, on the one hand, his condition has worsened, and on the other hand, bad news has been coming like snowflakes, making Duoduo extremely irritable and often inexplicably angry.
"Report! Your Majesty, Wuhe County has been lost. Yan Yingyuan and the rioters in the city are colluding with each other..."
The personal soldier who rushed in had only said half of his words when Duoduo, who was already furious, couldn't help but pick up a teapot and smashed it at him.
This time he was really furious. He knew that Yan Yingyuan had caused him heavy casualties in Sizhou City, which was fine, but now Yan Yingyuan only had two or three thousand infantrymen, and he easily captured Wuhe County.
What happened? What happened? How could the Qing cavalry, which once terrified the Han people, end up in such a state
Duoduo felt like a tiger in dire straits being bullied by a dog, so he was furious. The soldier was hit on the head and bled. He fell to the ground in panic and begged for punishment, although he didn't know what crime he had committed.
Although he was angry, Duoduo had to hold back his anger for the time being and summoned Ning Wanwo, Malaxi, Aobai, Gong Adai, Tong Tulai, Ye Chenlue and others to discuss countermeasures.
Everyone was heartbroken when they learned that Wuhe had fallen. Wuhe is located on the north bank of the Huai River, about a hundred miles away from Fengyang.
In addition, there were rebellions in Hong County, Mengcheng, Lingbi and other places on the north bank of the Huai River. Huaibei was in danger of being completely out of control. If that were the case, Fengyang would be in danger.
"I will not hide it from you. Jiang Ge of Shanxi has rebelled, and the eleven counties surrounding Datong have also rebelled. What should we do now? Tell me what you think."
"What? Datong also rebelled?"
Malaxi, Gong Acha and others could not help but scream. Duoduo had just received this news yesterday. He was worried that the already shaky morale of the army would collapse, so he had been hiding it and had not told anyone.
Sure enough, once it was said, even Malachi and others exclaimed in surprise. If ordinary soldiers knew about it, it would cause great panic.
Tong Tulai said anxiously: "What should we do? There are not many soldiers left in the capital. Datong is the northwest gate of the capital. What if the rebels attack the capital?"
Ning Wanwo was worried and sighed, "Jining has been lost, Shouzhou is in danger, the civil unrest in Huaibei is getting worse, and the Central Plains is in flames. Liu Meng stopped in Dingyuan and did not move forward. Su Jin also adopted a harassing method. As soon as our army left the city, he fled far away. It can be seen that he is not in a hurry to fight a decisive battle with our army. Your Majesty, the situation is pressing now, we can't delay."
"How much food and grass is left in the city?"
"Your Highness, we don't have much food left. We can probably only last for ten days."
A fierce light flashed in Duoduo's eyes, and the word "two-legged sheep" appeared in his mind. If it really came to that, he wouldn't mind doing it.
Fengyang City has high walls and thick defenses, and there are still 60,000 troops in the city. Even if the morale is low, defending Fengyang is not a problem.
Originally, when the Qin army was about to arrive, Duoduo's plan was to rely on the strong city of Fengyang to wear down the Qin army first. After the Qin army was exhausted and his own morale was restored, he would launch a counterattack in one fell swoop and destroy Liu Meng's central army first, so that the other Qin armies would retreat without a fight.
But Liu Meng stayed in Dingyuan City and was not in a hurry to come to Fengyang. It was obvious that he was planning to compete with me. Now the situation in the rear was so pressing that I couldn't afford to waste time...
Gushan Ezhen Ye Chenlue said: "Your Highness, in the west, Meng Ke and Li Guo's 30,000 troops are advancing step by step along the west bank of the Fei River. It seems that they have no intention of stopping. I think that since Liu Meng is not coming, we might as well move our troops to Shouzhou and make all-out efforts to encircle and annihilate Meng Ke's 30,000 troops first."
Without waiting for Duoduo to express his opinion, Ning Wanwo shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it's not that easy. Meng Ke's marching route is quite particular. He is marching north along the west bank of the Fei River. If our army wants to attack him, we must first cross the Fei River."
As the saying goes, once bitten by a snake, one will fear ropes for ten years. We just suffered a great loss in Chuhe River, and now when we talk about crossing the river, everyone is still scared.
Ning Wanwo continued, "Moreover, if my guess is correct, Su Jin's 20,000 cavalry will definitely not sit idly by and watch us go west to besiege Mengke. There are also 20,000 Qin troops in Luzhou City who can rush to help. Judging from the distance, as long as our army goes west to besiege Mengke, the Qin army can immediately gather 70,000 troops.
Our army has just suffered a great defeat. Many soldiers are sick and morale is low. Facing the 70,000 infantry and cavalry of the Qin army, our chances of winning are not great. If the battle drags on for too long, Xuzhou will be in danger first. If Xuzhou is lost, the cities in Huaibei, which have been in rebellion, will probably fall one after another. If that happens, our army will be cut off in Huainan, and the consequences will be disastrous. "
Aobai said angrily, "Master Ning, are you asking us to give up Fengyang and Shouzhou?"
Currently, the only cities south of the Huai River occupied by the Qing army are Fengyang and Shouzhou.
With these two bridgeheads, the Qing army could cross the Huai River and fight at any time.
Once these two bridgeheads are lost, the Qin army will be able to form a solid line of defense on the Huai River, and the Qing army may not even have the opportunity to cross the Huai River to the south in the future.
Aobai mocked angrily, but Ning Wanwo did not say a word. In his heart, he really wanted Duoduo to give up Fengyang and Shouzhou. Theoretically, if the Qing army controlled the two bridgeheads of Fengyang and Shouzhou, they could cross the Huai River to the south at any time and head straight to the north bank of the Yangtze River.
But on the other hand, these two bridgeheads were also very likely to become the graves of the Qing army. Once the Qin army melted and cut off the Huai River, these two cities isolated on the south bank of the Huai River would be cut off from external aid and become two dead cities.
But he didn't dare to express his thoughts directly, so he could only hint at them and let Duoduo make the decision.
For the sake of the greater good, Aobai did not quarrel with him any more. However, he and Tulai kept a record of all the accounts, which would be settled one day in the future.
Duoduo also understood what Ning Wanwo meant. It would be a rational move to abandon Fengyang and Shouzhou, retreat to Huaibei, and suppress the rebellion in Huaibei and the Central Plains at the same time. At least this way, Huaibei could be saved and a complete collapse could be avoided.
However, Duoduo was unwilling to give up the two important cities of Fengyang and Shouzhou...
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ps: Brothers, you are awesome. I have tried my best. I recharged and voted for myself two or three times today. I barely made it into the top ten of the category list. Now, people can kick me down with just one or two votes. To be honest, the estimated income from June's royalties is only more than 1,000 yuan. I am just a poor author. I really can't afford to buy monthly tickets like some people do. I rely entirely on the support of readers.
Brothers, please support me with the monthly tickets in your hands. I bow my head in gratitude to you!
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