Nanjing had been occupied.
This was correct. On August 3rd, when Xiao Ruxun arrived at Zhennan Pass, Jiang Dahai led the main force of the navy to Nanjing after capturing Zhenjiang Prefecture, ready to take Nanjing in one fell swoop.
He succeeded.
This audacious move succeeded.
In fact, when Jiang Dahai launched the attack, Xu Hongji, who stayed in Nanjing, and Ye Mengxiong, the Minister of War of Nanjing, had already received the news that Zhenjiang Prefecture had been attacked, but they didn't react and couldn't believe it.
Ye Mengxiong searched everywhere for reliable information, and at the same time, asked Xu Hongji to prepare to assemble the army for a rainy day. In the end, the news didn't come, and the army didn't assemble. Instead, Jiang Dahai's navy arrived.
Nanjing had no effective defense at all. Before the drawbridge could be pulled up, the Zhennan Army seized the gate and broke into Nanjing in one fell swoop. Nanjing was in chaos. Officials, people, and soldiers ran everywhere. It was a doomsday scene.
In the face of this situation, the leaders of the Nanjing government, who didn't even know who the enemy was, had to evacuate Nanjing urgently. Otherwise, they would be wiped out by these unknown enemies.
Xu Hongji was scared silly at the time. He didn't even dare to return home and took the lead to escape. Ye Mengxiong planned to call for people to resist, saying that Nanjing was too important to give up. In the end, he was knocked out by his confidant and carried away.
The two leaders ran away, and the rest of the small fish and shrimps didn't care. They ran away while the Zhennan Army hadn't swept the city. In this kind of desperate situation, they were better than the other. In the end, twenty or thirty people were caught by the Zhennan Army.
That night, Nanjing was sealed off. The city was in a mess, and the outside was almost the same. It wasn't until Jiang Dahai saw the Nanjing Palace with his own eyes that he truly realized that the southern capital of the Daming Empire had been taken by him so easily.
Was this really a war? Wasn't this really a one-sided attack?
Was the Daming Empire's army so weak?
Were they so defenseless?
Were they not worried at all that they would be attacked? Were they so slow in grasping information?
Jiang Dahai didn't send troops south again. He didn't have many troops in his hands, and his task was to cut off the Grand Canal. After taking control of Zhenjiang and Nanjing, he had already completed his task. He also needed to take on some guard duties, such as blocking Shen Yicheng's way of transporting troops south through the canal.
But from then on, Jiang Dahai and the soldiers of the Zhennan Army lost their last bit of fear towards the imperial court. They boldly looked towards the north, full of hunger and thirst.
The city of Nanjing was under their feet, and it had only been a month since they started the war.
Jiang Dahai's doubts were really the answer. The military strength of the Inland Guards was so weak. Otherwise, how could there be 56 Japanese pirates running amok in the southeast?
The Daming Empire's elite troops were all in the north. Since the Japanese pirates were wiped out, there had been no major wars in the south. There had been several wars in the north, and a large number of elite troops had never returned. At this moment, the south was the military vacuum of the Daming Empire.
They didn't have any defensive forces, and they weren't worried about being attacked. Who would have thought that Nanjing would be attacked?
Who would have thought that Xiao Ruxun would be so bold as to directly flip the table and start a war? He even ordered the navy to attack Nanjing directly?
They didn't even know who the enemy was. The information couldn't be gathered and analyzed. They didn't know where the enemy came from or where they were going. It was a mess. The officials who were running for their lives didn't have time to gather the information to make a judgment. They weren't even sure of their own safety!
The quiet and prosperous south was ruthlessly stabbed by a tough military force.
After the Commander-in-Chief's Office of the Five Armies became a virtual power, the Ming government didn't have a professional military command organization or an emergency mechanism. Its mobilization ability was extremely poor. This was especially evident in Nanjing.
In their eyes, the south was a stable and harmonious back garden. Nanjing was a retirement home for the officials who couldn't survive in the capital. Since the Japanese pirates were quelled, they had been idle and comfortable for a long time. They couldn't respond to a sudden war.
The Zhennan Army was different from the Japanese pirates. The Japanese pirates didn't have a specific strategic goal. They were generally a loose combination. However, the Zhennan Army was well-organized and had a clear goal. They were coming for you.
If Nanjing, the information center, the political center, and the economic center, was taken, the entire south would be in chaos for a while. At this moment, even if the north reacted, Shen Yicheng couldn't give orders to the south. Under the strong attack of the Zhennan Army, the local government in the south couldn't even organize a main force to fight the Zhennan Army.
Shen Yicheng could only mobilize troops from the north.
Shen Yicheng had already lost control of the southeast. He couldn't effectively mobilize any of the military forces in the southeast, and as time passed, it was inevitable that he would lose control of all of Jiangnan.
And did Shen Yicheng know that Xiao Ruxun had raised his troops?
On the third day of the eighth month, a month after the Zhennan Army had raised its troops, he didn't know anything when Nanjing was captured. He believed that the world was at peace and that he was still planning his political blueprint.
But on the tenth day of the eighth month, when Xiao Ruxun was sweeping through Guangxi, Yunnan was pacified, Guangdong was basically pacified, and Liu Chi and Ma Wei were triumphantly marching into Sichuan, Shen Yicheng finally received some unclear news.
It was a report that the Yangzhou to Zhenjiang section of the Grand Canal had been cut off by an unknown navy.
The report said that Zhenjiang Prefecture seemed to be under the control of this unknown Ming Army. A large number of grain shipments were blocked and couldn't go north. The situation was extremely critical, and even Yangzhou Prefecture was in danger.
The magistrate of Yangzhou had quickly organized people to sink ships and block the route to prevent this fleet from going north, but it was still very dangerous. He requested the imperial court to immediately send troops, and Yangzhou Prefecture would provide more information as soon as possible.
At that time, Shen Yicheng, who was planning to replace the commander-in-chief of Ji Town, was stunned.
Zhenjiang Prefecture had been captured?
The Grand Canal had been cut off?
The grain shipments had been intercepted?
An unknown navy?
Whose navy was it?
Whose navy was so daring?
Shen Yicheng was extremely astonished, and Shi Xing and Tsai Kuo-chen, who were working with him in the cabinet, were also stunned.
"An unknown navy had captured Zhenjiang Prefecture? Cut off the Grand Canal? How is this possible?! "
Tsai Kuo-chen walked in front of Shen Yicheng and picked up the urgent report. After reading it, he was shocked.
Shi Xing didn't dare to go over to read it, but it didn't matter whether he read it or not.
"How is this possible? Where did the navy come from? How dare they do such a disgraceful … "
Tsai Kuo-chen was halfway through his words when a very frightening conjecture suddenly rose in his heart.
He turned to look at Shi Xing and met Shi Xing's eyes. Shi Xing's expression immediately changed.
Tsai Kuo-chen knew that Shi Xing was thinking the same thing as him.
Then, Tsai Kuo-chen turned to look at Shen Yicheng.
"Grand Secretary, this can't be …"
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! "
Shen Yicheng slammed the table and shouted, "I've set up an inescapable net. He can't escape! Even if the Japanese pirates reappear in the southeast, he can't escape! Send a letter to Yangzhou Prefecture for me and ask Yangzhou Prefecture Magistrate what is going on!! "
Shen Yicheng's face turned red, and his eyes were fierce. He had completely lost his previous calm.
Cai Guozhen was startled and quickly left the Cabinet Duty Office to handle some matters. Shi Xing hesitated for a moment and also got up to leave. He planned to make a trip to the Ministry of War. There was something he needed to confirm.
Then, on the 15th of August, the clear news that Shen Yicheng wanted came.
To be precise, it wasn't military intelligence, but a declaration that could answer Shen Yicheng's current doubts.
A declaration to demand a rebellion.
The author's signature was enough to make the people in the capital tremble with fear.
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