Song Nan and his entourage rode horses and crowded into the city. Huang Jue tried his best to invite Song Nan to sit in the yamen of the Ministry of War to discuss matters. Song Nan thought about it and agreed. The group of people marched along the street to the six yamen outside Zhengyang Gate in the city, watching. The street scene in Nanjing city brought old memories to Song Nan's mind, and Shen Yunyan's face appeared in his mind. ¡Í It¡¯s been a long time since I¡¯ve cared about Shen Yunyan¡¯s news. Now more than a year has passed. Song Nan has no way of knowing whether the leading figure in Yunxiao Pavilion has married according to his own wishes, or is still waiting alone in Yunxiao Pavilion. Song Nan really wanted to send someone to Yunxiao Pavilion to ask about Shen Yunyan's situation, but he quickly gave up the idea. One year had passed and he didn't want to disturb Shen Yunyan's life. Everyone has his own destiny. Since He didn't have any intention, so why bother with her? "Mr. Zhenguo, we're here. Please come inside." Huang Jue's attentive greeting interrupted Song Nan's thoughts. The magnificent gate tower with red door and black tiles and lion standing in front of him was the gate of Nanjing Military Department Yamen. Although it can be seen that the gray stone on the outer wall of the Yamen is peeling and mottled, and there are grass growing on the top of the gate tower, giving it an appearance of disrepair, but from the overall layout, it can still be seen that Nanjing was still the capital of the country at that time. At that time, the Ministry of War Yamen must have been such a magnificent scene. The lobby of the Ministry of War was crowded, and Song Nan naturally sat behind the case in the lobby. The Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing was over seventy years old and could not perform his duties in the early years. All the affairs of the Ministry of War were in the hands of Huang Jue, the right servant. This was also Huang Jue's decision. The reason why Jue's status in Nanjing is not low. Everyone knows that the old minister passed away not long ago, and the position of Nanjing minister of the Ministry of War has long been in Huang Jue's pocket. In fact, the current Huang Jue is no different from the minister of the Ministry of War. "My lords, please take a seat." Song Nan smiled and looked at the officials in Nanjing. After the officials thanked them and took their seats, before Song Nan could say anything, a white-bearded Hanlin from the Hanlin Academy stood up, raised his hands and said tremblingly: "Zhen Guo "Sir, I heard that the traitor Zhu Chenhao is about to attack our city of Nanjing with an army of 100,000 people. I originally thought it was a rumor, but Duke Zhenguo has arrived with an army. Does that mean it is true?" Song Nan said with a smile. "Who is this boss?" "Master Zhou, the editor of Hanlin Academy." Huang Jue rushed to ask. Song Nan nodded and said: "Mr. Zhou, this is indeed true. The news we received this morning is that the rebel troops have moved down the river and have occupied Tongling and Fanchang counties. At this rate, they will be able to defeat them in two days at most. They occupied Wuhu and Dangtu in one fell swoop, and arrived on the river east of Nanjing." Everyone was talking for a while, and Lord Zhou asked again: "I also heard that the army led by the Duke of Zhen was only more than 40,000, but I don't know what it is. There is a good strategy to resist the 100,000 rebels." Song Nan chuckled and said, "Master Zhou is quite concerned." The old man said, "To be honest with you, I'm worried about this. I can't defend Nanjing. It doesn't matter if they are infantry. Most of Zhu Chenhao's rebels are naval forces, and they are our nemesis of Nanjing City. Once Pukou is occupied, they can march to the city and fight against it with 40,000 to 50,000 troops. The old man is afraid of the town. It's hard for the Duke to resist." Huang Jue shouted: "What did Master Zhou say? What does it mean to be timid before fighting?" Song Nan waved his hand and said, "Master Zhou's worry is not unreasonable. , it is true that I only have more than 40,000 troops, but in fact Zhu Chenhao's rebels are not as many as he boasted. Holding Nanjing is the minimum requirement. My purpose is to completely eliminate Zhu Chenhao in Nanjing. This is the goal. The real purpose of my coming.¡± The officials were buzzing, some were happy, some were disbelieving, and most of them thought Song Nan was telling lies. Song Nan smiled and said: "Of course, we can't do without the help of you local soldiers and civilians in Nanjing. As long as we arrange it properly, it's not that difficult." Qian Taichang suddenly said: "Mr. Zhen Guo, Qian has something to say that I don't know what to say. It¡¯s not appropriate to talk about it.¡± Song Nan smiled and said, ¡°If you have anything to say, Lord Qian, there¡¯s no need to be rigid. You and I are old friends in the capital.¡± Qian Taichang nodded and said, ¡°Then I will tell the Duke about the situation in Nanjing. To report, I used to be in the capital and had no idea about the situation in Nanjing. It wasn¡¯t until I took up the post of Admiral of the Left-behind Department that I realized that Nanjing¡¯s defense was extremely weak. Although Nanjing is the remaining capital, there are nominally Jinwu guards stationed in the city, and there are still some outside. The three guards of Zhenjiang Guard, Jianyang Guard, and Jiangning Guard only have five guards and horses, and the number of soldiers is less than 30,000. It is difficult to garrison this big city with a population of one million, let alone fight against it? " Huang Jue said: "In addition to the more than 40,000 soldiers and horses of Zhenguo Gong, there are nearly 80,000 people. Isn't it enough?" Qian Taichang rolled his eyes at Huang Jue and said, "I only came here to know the difference in combat power of the guard here. , the equipment and weapons have not been changed for several years, the military discipline is lazy, the soldiers are old and weak, and the soldiers and horses are simply unusable. If the 30,000 soldiers and horses are carefully selected to fight, I am afraid that even half of them will not be enough to fight with these. It¡¯s better to have soldiers and horses join forces than not to join forces.¡± The leading officials in the hall all rolled their eyes. Ever since Qian Taichang was demoted to Nanjing, it seemed as if the whole world had a grudge against him. He was causing trouble everywhere, pointing fingers here and there, and at this moment he began to praise and criticize the local guards. It is really unpleasant to give a very poor evaluation of the military's combat power. Song Nan smiled and said: "I just said that soldiers are more valuable than more elites. It is not necessary to have the help of Nanjing's soldiers and horses to defeat Zhu Chenhao." Qian Taichang said: "I understand what Zhen Guogong means, but Zhen Guo If the Duke wants to defeat Zhu Chenhao, he may need Nanjing to provide a large number of warships. General Mao Shiba of the Nanjing Navy Yamen is here. You can ask him how many warships the Nanjing Navy has available. " Qian Taichang. As expected, he once commanded the capital camp, and he said exactly what Song Nan wanted. Zhu Chenhao's number of soldiers and horses must be as many as 89,000. Although the warships are not as exaggerated as the thousand ships he claims, to carry so many soldiers and horses, there must be at least 600 or 700 large ships. Once these ships pass directly through the mouth of the Qinhuai River and penetrate deep into the city of Nanjing, allowing the rebels to enter the city to fight, the consequences will be disastrous. Although there were battlements and walls at the gate of the Qinhuai River, and there were defenders on defense, what Song Nan knew was that there must be artillery devices on the bows of the warships, and the walls at the mouth of the river were absolutely unable to withstand it. The only way is to intercept them on the river, and it is best to defeat them on the river. Let ¡¯s do n¡¯t talk about how to fight back. First of all, there must be a ship. Otherwise, the soldiers and horses brought by the soldiers and horses are playing lightly on the turbulent river water on the rough river. Before coming here, Song Nan knew that there was a naval yamen in Nanjing. When Taizu and Chen Youliang fought for the world, thousands of warships were captured after the Battle of Poyang Lake, and a naval general yamen was set up in the capital Nanjing. In any case, this naval yamen There should be a lot of ships, and I need these warships. ¡° But from Qian Taichang¡¯s point of view, it seems that there is something hidden. "Which lord is Lord Mao, the commander-in-chief of the Nanjing Navy Yamen?" Song Nan asked. "Mao Shiba, a humble official, pays homage to the Duke of Zhenguo." A short, stocky middle-aged man with a mustache came out of the queue and saluted with clasped fists. Song Nan said: "Are you the commander-in-chief of the Nanjing Navy?" Mao Shiba said: "I dare not, it is just a humble position." "Then tell me, how many warships does your naval yamen have on hand now?" "Zi Guo Sir, thirty-three warships are available," Mao Shiba said. "What?" Song Nan thought she heard wrongly and asked in surprise. "Thirty-three articles, sir. Our Navy Yamen originally had jurisdiction over seven hundred warships, but that was decades ago. Now there are only thirty-three articles, and the rest are rotten and fester. In fact, the Navy Yamen has already It exists in name only. In fact, our yamen can only be responsible for patrolling the river and the rivers and lakes in the city, and has no combat power at all," Mao Shiba said quietly. Song Nan scratched his head and said: "How could this happen? Nanjing is close to the water and should be a place with a strong navy. Why is it like this? What about the ship? If it is rotten, why won't it be repaired?" "Thank you, Duke Zhen, this is It¡¯s still the amount after the repairs. Our navy is short of money. In addition to the salary and salary of officers and soldiers, the court only allocates 10,000 taels of repair expenses every year. This amount of money is not enough to repair two or three ships, so I have no choice but to do so.¡± Nan Moran, the imperial court's military expenditures are tight, and the war in the northwest has almost never stopped for decades. Naturally, the navy in a place like Nanjing will not be a key target of support, and only symbolic allocations will be given to them to fend for themselves. Such a little money With the repair cost, how many ships can be guaranteed to be in normal use? Song Nan frowned for a moment, and there was silence in the hall.