Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 166 Troops Arrive at Zhenjiang

The next day, Jiangning City.

Mao Xiang stepped into the prison with heavy steps. In his mind, not only Mr. Shizhai was going to the execution ground today, but he was also going to the execution ground. The curses of the people in the world and the guilt in his heart lingered in Mao Xiang's mind all the time.

"Mr. Shizhai, I..." Mao Xiang came to the outside of Huang Daozhou's prison, wanting to say something but not knowing how to start.

"What? The Tartars can't bear it anymore and want to kill me," Huang Daozhou said with a sneer.

"The Regent has ordered that you be beheaded today... in the downtown area." Mao Xiang's voice was choked with tears in his eyes.

Huang Daozhou looked at Mao Xiang with disdain and said, "There is no need to pretend. The Ming Dynasty has nurtured scholars for three hundred years, but it has produced people like you who have no king or father. Even if I die, I have no regrets and my death is worthy!"

As the jailer was putting Huang Daozhou on the prison cart and preparing to leave, Hong Chengchou sent someone to pass on the order: "Mr. Shizhai is over fifty years old and has a great reputation in literature. Do not get on the prison cart."

"Haha" Huang Daozhou sneered. Since he didn't want to get on the prison car, he could just walk.

The group walked slowly towards the execution ground. The people of Jiangning along the way were all watching. When they saw Huang Daozhou's white-haired appearance, some of them showed pity, some shed tears secretly, and almost everyone looked at him with respect.

When he saw Mao Xiang, he was spitted at by people one after another. Wherever he passed, everyone looked at him with disdain. Mao Xiang was so ashamed that he wanted to die. He could only comfort himself in his heart: "This is sleeping on firewood and tasting gall, and losing reputation for the country."

When passing through Donghua Gate in Jiangning, Zhongshan Mountain was in sight and Xiaoling Mausoleum was vaguely visible. Huang Daozhou stopped and said, "Let's stop here. We won't go any further."

The jailer whispered, "Sir, we haven't reached the execution ground yet, please don't embarrass me."

Huang Daozhou shook his head and said: "I am very lucky to meet the Emperor Taizu Gao today. I can die now."

Seeing the situation was at a stalemate, Mao Xiang had no choice but to nod and agree to Huang Daozhou's request. Huang Daozhou then bowed again towards the Xiaoling Mausoleum. He tore his clothes, bit his finger, and left a letter in blood for his family: "The moral principles will last forever, and the integrity and righteousness will last for thousands of years. The heaven and earth know me, and my family has nothing to worry about."

At the last moment, Huang Daozhou said sadly with tears in his eyes: "Emperor Taizu, please open your eyes, the world will be in chaos again."

Normally, the prisoner should kneel down to be punished, but Huang Daozhou refused to kneel down and sat cross-legged to be punished. The executioner looked at Mao Xiang hesitantly, and when he saw him nod, he had to execute him. The executioner said silently in his heart: "Sir, I know you are a loyal minister, but I can't do anything about it. I just eat this bowl of rice. You can't blame me, and you can't complain to the King of Hell..."

As the sword fell, Huang Daozhou died heroically, Mao Xiang closed his eyes in pain, and the onlookers exclaimed in surprise. There was no scene of sparing life as shown in the novels.

……

The news that Changzhou City was abandoned by the Qing army had reached Meng Jun. Meng Jun knew that Hong Chengchou already knew the route of Meng's army. However, it was almost impossible for such a large army to hide. The two sides had already made their cards clear on the chessboard. Meng Jun wanted to capture Jiangning before Duoduo went south, while Hong Chengchou hoped that Meng Jun would be dragged under the city of Jiangning and wait for the Eight Banners soldiers to arrive, so as to recreate the scene of a thousand-mile collapse outside the city of Jingzhou.

Hong Chengchou first defended Zhenjiang to delay the pace of Meng's army and wait for the reinforcements from Lekedehun. Then the two sides would see who could move faster. Duoduo had not yet set out from Beijing, but it would not be long before he did.

Hong Chengchou had also thought about retreating the entire army to Jiangning, but it was too dangerous. On the one hand, Jiangning City was too large, and if one place was lost, everything would be in vain. On the other hand, Lekedehun's army had not arrived yet.

As for Zeng Daowei, the commander-in-chief sent by Emperor Shaowu, Meng Jun almost ignored him, but Zeng Daowei kept sticking to him like a dog-skin plaster. The achievement of recovering the Southern Capital was so exciting that he could not stop. Even if everyone ignored him, he would still keep coming.

However, the more than one hundred Jinyiwei who accompanied him suffered. When they went to the rear camp to ask for food and fodder supplies, they were looked down upon and their delivery was often delayed. Finally, after Xiong Ruolin, Lu Zhenfei, Liu Jiyan and other civil officials persuaded them in turn, Meng Jun ordered the supplies to be given to them.

The army rolled forward, and scouts along the way came from time to time to report various military situations to Meng Jun. At this time, Meng Jun looked at the military report and asked in a deep voice: "Where is Zhao Yongping's Wu'an Town?"

"Report to the Governor, Zhao Tongzhen has already set out from Jiangyin. He has sent a messenger to report that he will arrive in Changzhou the day after tomorrow to join the army."

"Commander-in-chief, Lord Shen sent an envoy to report that his navy has temporarily anchored at Xiaoshiwan, Jiangyin. Once food and fodder arrive, they will be able to advance to Zhenjiang..."

On February 20th, Lin Shiqi's troops arrived in Zhenjiang first. As soon as they arrived at the city of Zhenjiang, the auxiliary troops began to set up camp.

Lin Shiqi picked up the telescope and looked at the crowds of people on Zhenjiang City. Wood and rocks were constantly being rolled onto the city walls. Lin Shiqi put down the telescope, sighed, and thought to himself, "Looking at this situation, they will never surrender easily."

Lin Shiqi took out the letter of persuasion written by Lao Chu some time ago, smacked his lips, and said to his personal soldier Yang Yu: "Find a good shooter and shoot this letter up!"

After a while, several riders galloped out and headed towards Zhenjiang City.

Ma Deyang, the defender on the city wall, stopped his subordinates who were about to shoot arrows. He saw a rider under the city tied a letter to an arrow and then shot it towards the top of the city wall with all his might. The arrow was so powerful that it hit the gatepost of the tower tightly.

After the defenders pulled out the arrow, they took out the letter and handed it to Ma Deyang. Ma Deyang opened the letter and nodded, praising him: "Well, the handwriting is good. Read it to me and tell me what it means."

Ma Deyang said to the staff beside him, Ma Deyang, a native of Cangzhou, Hebei, was poor and lustful when he was young, gambled and drank, and was quite brave, but illiterate. After joining the army, he was promoted for suppressing bandits. When Chongzhen died for his country and the Qing army entered the pass, Ma Deyang surrendered to the Qing.

After listening to the letter of persuasion to surrender, Ma Deyang sneered: "How big is the territory of our Qing Dynasty? How big is the territory of Meng Jun? How many soldiers does our Qing Dynasty have? How many soldiers does Meng Jun have? You are so shameless and dare to ask me to surrender. Pah, write me a letter with only five words, shameless, get out!"

The staff felt a little ashamed. The other person's letter was written so well and elegantly, so why did their commander-in-chief reply so rudely? But under Ma Deyang's gaze, the staff wrote down five words helplessly. Then Ma Deyang sent a soldier to fall from the top of the city wall and run towards the Meng army camp.

After Lin Shiqi shot the letter, he never thought that the garrison commander would write back to him. At this time, he was observing the terrain of Zhenjiang with several generals, until several cavalrymen brought the frightened cavalry soldier over.

After Lin Shiqi finished reading the letter, he was furious and said, "The letter written by a scholar is really not impressive. I will write it myself."

After that, he picked up the pen and started writing. After a while, he finished the letter and said to the soldier, "Give this letter to Ma Deyang."

As the letter returned to Ma Deyang, he opened it and saw only a few words: "If you don't surrender, I will kill you when the city is captured! Believe it or not!"