The main positions are responsible for Nanjing’s defense.

The first is the Minister of War of Nanjing. The current Minister of War of Nanjing is Yan Mingtai, who is similar to the Minister of War of Beijing, but he can only mobilize troops in the Nanzhili area and command wars in Zhejiang, Fujian and Jiangxi area, and has a lot of power.

The second is the eunuch in Nanjing. The current eunuch is Han Zanzhou. He came to power in the first year of Chongzhen and has certain rights.

Finally, there is the Nanjing garrison minister. Currently, the one who holds this position is Xu Hongji, the descendant of Xu Da, the founding father of the Ming Dynasty.

The Ming Dynasty founded many titles and granted many titles, but due to the four major cases and the Jingnan Campaign, most of the titles were removed or downgraded. Take the Duke as an example. Now there are only five dukes left in the Ming Dynasty.

The most well-known ones are Mu Tianbo, Duke of Qian, who guarded Yunnan forever, as well as Duke of British Zhang Zhiji, Duke of Cheng Zhu Chunchen, and Duke of Ding Xu Yunzhen. These three are all commanding the Beijing camp in Beijing.

Then there is Xu Hongji, the Duke of Wei. In fact, Xu Yunzhen and he were both descendants of Xu Da. During the rebellion, Xu Zengshou, as Zhu Di's brother-in-law, provided information to Zhu Di and secretly reported to the Central Beijing for deployment.

Later, he was discovered by Emperor Jianwen. Zhu Di led the Yan army across the Yangtze River. After the troops were approaching Nanjing, Emperor Jianwen questioned him in person, but Xu Zengshou could not answer. Emperor Jianwen was furious and killed him on the spot.

After Zhu Di ascended the throne, he posthumously named him Marquis of Wuyang, and later became Duke of Ding. His son Xu Jingchang succeeded him. Xu Zengshou and his group moved to Beijing with the Ming Dynasty court until now.

Xu Da's Duke of Wei was still transmitted to Xu Hongji through the lineage of Xu Huizu. As the person with the highest title in Nanjing City, he had certain means.

In fact, in addition to the Duke of Wei, Xu Hongji, there are many descendants of nobles, such as Liu Kongzhao, Wuding Hou Guo Peimin, Linhuai Hou Li Hongji, Huaiyuan Hou Chang Yanling, etc., who jointly participated in Nanjing's defense issues.

Generally speaking, these three bigwigs discuss and decide what happens when they encounter. As for who has greater power, they are constantly changing.

The garrison ministers were the nobles left in Nanjing. The garrison eunuchs represented the emperor's will, and the Secretary of War in Nanjing was also considered a representative of the civil service group.

The three-legged stalemate that no longer existed in Beijing after the Tumu Fort Incident continued in Nanjing, with checks and balances between each other and basically no chaos occurred.

The one with a little more powerful now is Yan Mingtai. He is a member of the Donglin Party, and Nanzhili is the territory of the Donglin Party. He naturally can make a fortune. Because of this identity, he barely surpassed the garrison eunuch Han Zanzhou.

Xu Hongji, Duke of Wei, knew that they could not fight, so he held the military power in his hands and made money and enjoyed it with peace of mind. His family has been a hero since the founding of the country. He has been in power in Nanjing for so many years, and has a deep root, so there are many ways to make money.

The salt merchants in Yangzhou City pay a lot of money to Xu Hongji every year.

Knowing this further deepened Kong Youde's idea of ​​going to Nanjing to make a fortune. As founding heroes, Xu Hongji and the others had already enjoyed enough wealth and glory. Now they are still so greedy, it is time to let them go.

In addition to the top management, Nanjing's defense power is actually quite good. After all, it is still the capital of the Ming Dynasty in name. Although its status is not as good as Beijing, it is still the second most important city at all, so there is naturally no shortage of defense power.

The core force is the Nanjing Jingying Camp, including the Yulin Forewar, the Mansion Forewar, the Jinwu Forewar, the Huben Left Guard and other many personal guards. However, the combat power of these guards is quite average, and the strongest combat power is still the three major battalions in Nanjing.

The first is the Nanjing Shenji Camp. There is a Shenji Camp in Beijing, and there are naturally Nanjing. They are generally responsible for guarding the imperial city, with a population of about 5,000, and their equipment is of various excellent weapons. They are completely different from the shoddy weapons used by the military guards. They are considered to be the most powerful combat power.

The second is responsible for protecting the outer city and the Ming Xiaoling Mausoleum, which is the Chihe Camp where Zhu Yuanzhang's Mausoleum. The number of people in this part is slightly larger, about 7,000 people, but the stations are relatively scattered.

The second is the Zhenwu Camp selected from the various guards of the Beijing Camp, as well as the young and strong soldiers of the surrounding prefectures and counties, and trained. The number of people was nearly 10,000, and they were guarded in the outer city and surrounding areas of Nanjing City.

In addition to the three major camps in Nanjing, the second is the shifting officer army dispatched from various guards in Nanzhili to participate in the training, the left-behind guards stationed in Nanjing, the Shangyuan Guard, the Jinchuan Guard, the Shenwu Guard, the Xuanwu Guard, etc.

Take the present for example. The number of written guards in Nanjing City is about 100,000 to 110,000, but it is not clear how many are. However, according to the nature of the officers in the Ming Dynasty who were employed by empty servants, it would be great if they could have 60,000 to 70,000 people.

"Sir, I know so much. I have only been to Nanjing's city defense once and have not done any in-depth understanding!"

At this moment, Shang Hao didn't know Kong Youde's idea, and he clearly wanted to fight Nanjing City. His inner horror had not subsided. This idea was too crazy.

But thinking about it, although Yangzhou City is not as good as Nanjing City, it is not a soft persimmon. As a result, Kong Youde won the battle in an instant. If he really wants to fight Nanjing, he might be able to fight it.

Moreover, when Han Wenjing spread the news before, the troops from all over the country would inevitably concentrate on Yangzhou. If they attacked Nanjing, they would have plenty of time.

But he didn't think about how to stop these things now. He was powerless to do anything, and his life and death are all in Kong Youde's thoughts. Whether he can survive is still unknown. Let's take care of himself first.

Kong Youde looked at him with relief and said, "Very good, I like a smart person like you! Don't worry, I won't kill you! If you want you to remember what I said, it will definitely not harm you!"

"I understand! I must follow the instructions of my elders!"

For Shang Hao, this was his only way of life. Otherwise, even if Kong Youde could spare him, the court would not let him go.

An important town like Yangzhou was destroyed, which is not a trivial matter for the court. At that time, the relevant personnel must be held accountable. Han Wenjing has committed suicide. As the Tongzhi of Yangzhou and the second-in-commander of Yangzhou City, Shang Hao is definitely the only candidate to take the blame.

At that time, not only will he suffer, but according to the current emperor's temper, it is inevitable that disaster will be caused to his family.

Therefore, he could only say that Yangzhou City was not lost. He fought bloody battles to drive away the Japanese pirates. Yes, it was the Japanese pirates, so that they could survive.

He also knew that Kong Youde wanted to use him to hide his identity, but he could only help him. If the truth was revealed, he would be dead.

"You go down! If you have any questions, I'll look for you then!"

"I'm leaving!"

After Shang Hao retreated, the two guards followed closely.

"He Quan, go and call Xu Wenyi over!"

Not long after, Xu Wenyi was brought. At this time, Kong Youde was writing and drawing in front of a map, and it seemed that he was preparing for a new military operation.

"Sir, are there any new actions?"

Kong Youde pointed to the map and said, "Come on, come on, come and take a look at this picture!"

Xu Wenyi came to the map and suddenly found that it was the map of Nanjing City, which had many things marked on it, such as the garrison of each army, the defense force, the height of the city wall, etc.

He looked at the map and said, "Sir, are you going to fight Nanjing City?"

"Yes, what do you think of this plan? Can it be completed?"

After thinking for a while, he said lightly, "You can give it a try, but sir, what is the purpose of our fight against Nanjing City this time?"

"Continue to make money. Yangzhou City has made so much money. Although Nanjing City is not as good as Yangzhou City, it is still the capital of the Ming Dynasty. I believe that there are quite a few wealth gathered. If I can really make a fortune, I can make a lot of money!"

"And it can also be regarded as a practical training. Even if you can't make it, you will definitely be able to summarize the experience and lessons in the future!"

Xu Wenyi is not a stupid person, and she treats Nanjing as a practical training. So what is her real goal? It goes without saying.

He had long noticed Kong Youde's ambition, but he was not surprised. If Kong Youde could really do that, he would have gone further from his dream.

"Since that's the case, my subordinates think that this battle should be feinted by the navy and the army's surprise attack, so that it is most likely to capture Nanjing City. First of all..."

"Well, I think it needs to be improved here..."

In this way, the two discussed the specific combat plan. For this reason, Kong Youde also called Zhang Dong, Mao Chengfu and others over and agreed on the plan together.

He has decided to make a big news this time.

When the sun was about to set, Huang Guizhong came in and interrupted everyone's discussion.

"Sir, the property of the Liu family has basically been cleared out!"

“Is it? How many are there?”

"According to his confession, we found five places where silver was buried. The cash silver and gold found were equivalent to more than 1.9 million vehicles. The remaining treasures were estimated at 500,000 yuan. In addition to the previous search, the total amount was at least 2.8 million taels!"

This number is actually lower than Kong Youde's expectations. He originally thought that according to Liu Sigong's family business, it was not impossible to get five or six million, but it turned out to be so.

But it is normal to think about it. Their property is not all about depositing silver. There are also merchant ships sailing in various parts of the Ming Dynasty, various salt fields, fields in the south of the Yangtze River, shops, etc. These are assets that cannot be quickly cashed out. If these are included, there are really five or six million taels.

However, Kong Youde is already quite satisfied with the salt merchants who have gained so much. There are more than Liu Sigong, and there are other salt merchants who can press them.

"You guys continue to discuss the details of the battle! I'll go to Heyuan to take a look!"

After giving an explanation, Kong Youde brought some of the guards to Heyuan's martial arts performance venue again.

Kong Youde was naturally very excited to see this mountain of gold, silver and treasures. This almost three million taels of silver was very important to him, and there were other salt merchants who expected that this operation would be able to make at least tens of millions of silver.

Kong Youde is very short of money now. In the past six months after he took Dengzhou, the gold and silver materials consumed had already exceeded one million taels, with an average consumption of more than 200,000 taels per month, which was relied on the money and grain he had seized from Wuqiao and later in Dengzhou, as well as the materials he harvested during the land reform process. As for salt, the income of salt accounts for less than 20%, otherwise he would not be able to support it at all.

Now that the war is over, the next step is the stage of great development. Expanding the army requires money, continuing to build warships, building ports at Weihaiwei Port and Jiaozhou Bay requires money, developing weapons requires money, and manufacturing weapons and equipment requires money, in short, money is used everywhere.

Now that there is such a large income, the funds are not so short of money. These things are naturally easy to do, and you can also recruit refugees from various places to increase the population under your rule.

"Sir, what should I do if Liu Sigong's children?"

"As stated in advance, he himself has one million and one child has two hundred thousand. Since he confessed that he had more than two million taels of taels, he could live eight, and kill the rest! Concentrate the other salt merchants here and kill them in front of them!"

Kong Youde said calmly that for him, it was nothing to kill all these people, but for the sake of maximizing their interests, they could spare them from death.

The other salt merchants were quickly escorted over. The intelligence personnel sent by Li Yangxing in advance had already figured out the locations of these salt merchants. After attacking the city, they attacked their houses step by step, and basically encountered no obstacles.

Like Liu Sigong, they all have their own secret rooms, but they are useless. These secret rooms cannot throw everyone in. The servants would rather die than surrender, so they confessed casually, and then they were pulled out of the secret room.

Now they are all tied up, and some of them are still dripping from their crotch, in extreme embarrassment, no longer as arrogant as before.

"Sir, everyone is here!"

"Then let's do it!"

Kong Youde waved his hand lightly.

"Click!" "Click!" "Click!"

With three crisp sounds, the three heads flew out and blood spurted out.

This scene made the other salt merchants' hearts jumped, thinking that they would end up like this, and they begged for mercy desperately, but they had a cloth stuffed in their mouths and couldn't shout it out at all, so they could only have the "woof" sound of the legal officer.

The three dead people were all children of Liu Sigong. These salt merchants knew each other. Seeing the living life dead in front of them, they were not afraid of it.

"Tell me directly, this officer, Kong Youde, General Denglai, is the main purpose of attacking Yangzhou this time to teach you some lessons! You sell your salt, I sell my salt, everyone will not violate the river water, but you actually dare to ruin my good things! I can't sell my salt, so I'm here to ask for an explanation this time!

But I am not a scorpion-hearted person, so I still plan to give you a chance, it depends on whether you want to cherish it!"

Hearing these words, the salt merchants were all shocked. They did not expect that the rebels from Shandong came to attack them. The private salt that appeared some time ago turned out to be the rebel leader. (To be continued)
Chapter completed!