From this day on, throughout the first lunar month, the battle for the city wall was carried out around dozens of holes dug for more than ten miles, and both sides above and below the city continued to grit their teeth and continue to suffer increasing casualties.

Except for the few days of the New Year, the cannon fire in the city and under the city has not stopped for a day.

According to the experience of defending the city for the first time, the soldiers and civilians defending the city laid down an empty tank on the inside of the city root in front of every place where a hole was being dug. This kind of jar is also called an urn, and the mouth of the urn is facing outward, and one person often listens to it. As soon as the peasant army began to dig a hole, a sound would come from the mouth of the urn, and the depth and shallowness of the digging could be distinguished from the sound. Judging by the sound coming from the mouth of the urn, the soldiers and civilians defending the city knew that the peasant army under the city was not eager to dig the city, and they often paused, so they relaxed a little.

But the rebels who were responsible for digging the hole remained in the hole in the wall. The wounded and the tired took advantage of the darkness to change and bring in the new force. I also sent some firewood for everyone to roast and keep out the cold. Quilts, cotton clothes, food and soup were also delivered. Excavation is still ongoing, but slowly. Originally, most of the people who dug the holes were miners, and now the new force is not as skilled as the miners, but the environment they face is not as difficult as those miners, at least, there is already a pit that can cover the body.

The soldiers and civilians defending the city knew that the city was still digging holes, so they did not dare to relax, and from time to time threw burning dry wood downwards. But now that doesn't work. The peasant armies who had dug the walls were already deep in their holes.

Because the peasant army concentrated a large number of artillery in the area from Song Gate to Cao Gate and North Gate, it occupied a superior firepower and posed a great threat to the city. Although there are also cannons in the city, most of them are fixed defense artillery, and their mobility is far inferior to that of the city. The peasant army digging the city wall also found a lot of iron and wooden forks, which could be forked away at any time by the burning cotton wool and firewood. Therefore, the city could only inflict casualties on the rebels by throwing bricks, stones, gunpowder packs, and "10,000 enemies". But there was no effective way to kill and injure the peasant army that had already dug into the walls. Seeing this, the peasant army under the city wall was even more demoralized, waving the shovel and pickaxe in their hands and digging desperately, digging and digging deeper.

To the north of Caomen, near the corner. A big hole has been dug. Although the battle between the two sides brought heavy casualties, it was the most successful after all. On the afternoon of the 16th day of the first lunar month, in the hole a few feet wide, he had dug more than two zhang wide to the left and right, dug more than one zhang deep inside, and dug more than one person high. Broken bricks and clods of earth dug out of the cave were piled up on the left and right sides of the mouth of the cave, along with the dead bodies, and were as tall as a man, like two hills.

Chen Yongfu originally wanted to send the next group of people to snatch this big hole. But he thought again: there were already twenty or thirty rebels in the cave, and the artillery fire outside the city was very fierce, and there were fewer people going down to the city, so it was useless; There were too many people, and they would be hit by artillery fire or killed by arrows before they hit the ground, so he simply gave up this plan.

On the seventeenth day of the first lunar month, from the Song Gate to the North Gate. On the fifteen-mile-long city wall, gunsmoke rose in bursts. It slowly dispersed again, and after many times the smoke rose and dispersed, dusk gradually came. There was a grey hail of twilight flowing in the wild. Chen Yongfu stood behind the battlements at this time, watching the peasant army bring new cannons from a distance to the edge of the city, at least a dozen of them, and several truckloads of artillery shells and gunpowder.

"Damn scoundrels! Fierce and stubborn! He cursed to himself. In his heart, he was envious of the seemingly endless stream of gunpowder and arrows in Li Zicheng's department. Being able to besiege the city for so long and still maintain strong firepower, Chen Yongfu is in a different place in his heart, if the Kaifeng army and civilians surround Li Zicheng, can he maintain such fighting spirit and material security?

The answer is clear. He himself shook his head and smiled bitterly. The gentry clan in the city. It's great not to be corrupt. If they are allowed to destroy their families and relieve their difficulties, I am afraid that they will immediately choose to surrender Li Zicheng.

He didn't know that Li Zi had become the material needed to ensure the siege of Kaifeng, and like gunpowder alone, he almost cut down the willow wood and charcoal within a radius of 100 miles. The Yellow River is full of boats.

"Your Excellency has an order! Half of the officers and soldiers in the city and Ding Zhuang stayed in the city, and half hurried to the nest to rest, but they were not allowed to stay. He ordered his soldiers to pass down military orders at the head of the city, and Chen Yongfu himself immediately went down to the city, returned to the upper temple, and gathered his trusted generals, staff, and city guards to discuss secretly. It won't last long. After the meeting, they went to prepare for tomorrow's big war and hard fighting. In addition to more than a dozen of his generals, the civil officials and gentry who defended the city had a heavy look on their faces when they left. Everyone is worried: Kaifeng's fate may be decided tomorrow.

When Chen Yongfu convened a meeting in the upper temple, Li Zicheng and Song Xiance came to the outside of Kaifeng City and inspected several important places. After dinner, he held the same meeting in the old camp in the garden of the king of Yingcheng County. In addition to his own important generals and Niu, Song and others, Cao Cao and his advisor Ji Jue also arrived. The meeting lasted for a long time, and the matter of the siege of the city tomorrow was properly discussed, and the matter of entering the city was discussed. Who would enter the city first, how to occupy the major yamen and important streets in the city, and how to prohibit the soldiers from robbing and harming the people had already been discussed, but because the city might be broken tomorrow, everyone discussed it again, redetermined, and abided by it.

After the meeting ended, Li Zicheng left Song Xiance and asked him if he could break Kaifeng tomorrow. Song Xiance pinched his fingers, muttered to himself, calculated for a while, and after pretending to be a ghost, he raised his head and replied: "Attack tomorrow, and break the city at the end of the day." ”

"Can you break the city?"

"Although it is estimated that the city can be broken tomorrow, the hexagram is easy, and the change is also changing, and there are often changes. If the city cannot be breached tomorrow, it will not be breached until the middle of the first month of next year. "The soldiers are fierce and the war is dangerous, and Song Xiance, an old fritter who has been walking the rivers and lakes for a long time, of course, has to "Taoyuan Three Righteous and Lonely Branches", leaving a way out for himself.

At dawn, the army began to move. The cannon rang out in bursts until midnight. From between Song Gate and Cao Gate to the North Gate, the onslaught on the whole line began. First of all, in the northern city, the rebels bombarded the city wall with many cannons, and the soldiers shouted, but they actually confused the officers and soldiers, and did not really attack.

In the big cave north of Caomen, the rebels had already retreated at dawn. When he withdrew, he was loaded with 20,000 catties of gunpowder. The lead was settled. At the end of the hour, the lead is lit; Soon, an earth-shattering loud bang was heard, and the gunpowder exploded.

Taking advantage of the explosion of gunpowder, at least fifty cannons were concentrated, including twenty more than ten pounder guns. At the same time, it was aimed at the place where the big hole collapsed and bombarded. Some artillery also hit the city, the battlements were smashed one by one, and the enemy towers around the corner were also destroyed. Some of the officers and soldiers defending the city died in the enemy towers, and some escaped. The wall above the big hole had already partially collapsed, and it collapsed one by one under heavy artillery fire, forming a gap.

As early as after the eighth day of the first lunar month, Yuan Zongdi, Liu Fangliang, and Hao Shaoqi had already concentrated five or six thousand elite old battalion infantry and cavalry, and set up a new camp three miles away from the northeast corner. Let the soldiers rest well.

After the fourth watch, these elite soldiers were woken up from their dreams, waiting for them was a meal with plenty of oil and water, in addition to the meal, each person had a piece of meat porcelain jar fried on both sides and browned, a duck egg pickled with red oil, and you could also enjoy two taels of yellow wine. After a full meal, they began to assemble outside the city at five watches, and the cavalry and infantry were in position.

It's time to make a quick delivery. The walls of the city had been bombarded by cannons and had been made a gap several feet wide. Suddenly, all the cannons stopped shelling the gap. Hit only the sides of the gap. Liu Zongmin waved the red flag, and the two infantry led by Hao Shaoqi and Yuan Zongdi rushed straight to the gap, preparing to rush to the city wall from the gap.

Immediately, Liu Fangliang's cavalry also came to the dry bank of the moat, preparing to cross the trench once the infantry occupied the city wall. Rush into the city through the breach.

At this time, there were no soldiers and civilians defending the city in the place where the gap was directed. The soldiers and civilians defending the city were on both sides of the gap, several feet apart, and they were all hit by artillery so that they could not raise their heads. Chen Yongfu and Huang Shu were both near the gap, threatening to behead the prime minister. The defenders were forced to raise their heads and fire arrows at the besieging rebels, throwing gunpowder and masonry. But almost as soon as the soldiers and civilians defending the city showed their heads, they were killed and wounded.

Chen Yongfu saw that the gap was about to be occupied by the rebels, and he shouted loudly: "I, Chen Yongfu, will die here, everyone hurry up and kill the thief!" ”

He led his own soldiers and his family members to personally shoot arrows and set off firearms at the rebels besieging the city. Suddenly, a firearm exploded, wounding the hands and face of the firearm man, causing a commotion, and the firearm was stopped. But Chen Yongfu's soldiers and family members are all excellent marksmen. A burst of arrows shot down the gap, which was very ferocious, killing and wounding the rebels who approached the gap.

However, in the midst of the chaos, the unskilled gunners once again created danger. A six-pounder gun, whose muzzle was originally pointed diagonally in the direction of the gap, filled the barrel with at least twice as much propellant because of the gunner's panic! As a result, the artillery of the official army, which was originally the artillery of the official army, became the blasting canister of the peasant army, which exploded in an instant, and the flying gun trucks, cannon barrels, and burning medicine bags turned the city into a mess.

Seeing the chaos at the head of the city, Yuan Zongdi even commanded his men and horses to pounce on the gap, trying to occupy the gap, open the opening, and attack the city along the city wall.

"Fire! Hurry up! Chen Yongfu stumbled with his sword and rushed to a big Buddha cannon arranged in front of the gap, staring at the gunner with red eyes, "Why don't you open fire!" Behind him, the charging men and horses of the peasant army struck like a storm.

"My lord! This cannon has also been fired several times, and the brothers are afraid that it will blow up, so let it cool down a little! A gunner with a gun in his hand looked at the bloody sword in Chen Yongfu's hand tremblingly, and replied to him in a bit of a panic.

Touching it with his hand, the barrel of the big Buddha machine was no longer very hot, and Chen Yongfu dragged it over the gunner, "Loader!" This town is standing here, if something happens to the cannon, let Lao Tzu and the cannon blow it up together! ”

The charging people were getting closer and closer to the gap, and the gunners were about to ignite the long lead, but Chen Yongfu cut the lead almost at the root with a sword, and someone handed the torch, and Chen Yongfu ignited the lead at once.

"Boom!"

Dozens of cannons galloped happily through the crowd, and the flesh and blood were open everywhere they went.

"God bless the Ming!" "God bless Bianliang!" "Mr. Chen is mighty!"

The soldiers and civilians defending the city at the head of the city saw Chen Yongfu do this, and a chief military officer was also courageous in disregarding the danger of his life. The morale that was almost collapsed just now was restored by Chen Yongfu. Some people threw bricks at the gap, others threw powder packets, and many more threw arrows and guns at the bottom of the gap.

The first wave of peasant soldiers who rushed up along the gap at the head of the city, suffering heavy casualties from this dense barrage of arrows and projectiles, rolled down the city. Immediately the second batch came up, and they were killed and wounded one after another, and rolled down. Then a third group attacked.

In times of tension, sometimes suddenly the battlefield becomes unusually terrifyingly silent. People just gritted their teeth and fought to the death. But suddenly, the shouts and war drums rang out again.

It turned out that Hao Shaoqi had a temperament, holding the banner of breaking into the camp in one hand and waving a sword in the other, surrounded by hundreds of old battalion soldiers, shouting and shouting to attack the gap. Under his leadership, the besiegers of the city rolled up a furious hurry. Pounce on the city.

Seeing that the big banner in Hao Shaoqi's hand was about to appear under the slope of the gap opened by the artillery fire, Chen Yongfu took the risk of leaning out and shooting arrows fiercely with his subordinates.

Caught off guard, he suffered this round of intensive blows, and Hao Shaoqi, who rushed in front, was hit by an arrow in his arm and thigh and fell. The people on the right and left also fell. This offensive in the camp was repulsed again.

"My lord, that's Hao Shaoqi, a bandit among the thieves!" Someone knew Hao Shaoqi and immediately pointed it out to Chen Yongfu. How can such a huge credit be spared? If a famous leader among the thieves can be captured in a siege. Whether it is for the defense of the city or for Chen Yongfu's military exploits, the significance is huge.

Chen Yongfu's son led 200 soldiers from the city and rushed down the gap, preparing to take the fallen Hao Shaoqi and the wounded peasant soldiers prisoner.

Fortunately, Yuan Zongdi followed closely and rescued Hao Shaoqi.

Yuan Zongdi led the infantry, in groups, and rushed towards the gap. Everywhere there were shouts and shouts, and the drums of war rang out violently. Many rushed and shouted, "Attack!" Attack in! Fill it! Fill it! ”

Seeing that the infantry rushed to the gap, Liu Fangliang's cavalry was also ready to rush towards the gap. Everyone thought the gap was about to be grabbed. Li Zicheng said repeatedly: "Okay." Good! Soon, soon! ”

Suddenly. Another dense burst of artillery rang out in the city, and a cloud of gunpowder rose up. The officers and men of the peasant army, who were about to climb into the gap, were hit by the shotguns from their heads, and in an instant they lay down, and those who continued to climb up were also hit by the shells, and those who were hit by the cannons, the dead and the wounded, crushed each other and fell on the road of the charge. Others continued to rush towards the gap. But in the end, it was hit by shells and firebolts and rolled down. This was done several times, but without success, and the dead and wounded filled the road.

Li Zicheng saw that the soldiers of the old battalion suffered heavy casualties, but he could not attack it. He already had the heart to collect troops, and asked Song Xiance: "How about collecting troops?" ”

Song Xiance also saw that Chen Yongfu personally supervised the battle in the city, and the defense was strong, and today the peasant army was weakened and it was impossible to attack the city, but because he said that "the city is broken in time", how to find a good excuse to go down the steps for himself is a problem that he urgently needs to solve. Song Xiaozi didn't answer immediately, and looked up at the sky. Li Zicheng knew that he was looking at qi, and he also looked up at the sky. At this time, the sun was bleak, and the head of the city was filled with gunsmoke, but there was a puffy cloud on the smoke that was affected by artillery fire, slightly red, and there was a thin cloud high in the sky, very white, slowly moving southward. Song Xiance first watched from the high sky, and then looked at the low-altitude clouds, his face was stern, and he nodded silently, if he had a heart. King Chuang asked, "How is the cloud qi?" ”

Song Xiance said: "The book says: 'Those who are white in the clouds will be fierce and cowardly. The soldiers and civilians defending the city were already frightened, and they could have attacked the city, but when they encountered Chen Yongfu was a fierce general, they tried their best to save the defeat, causing many casualties to our army, and they could not attack the city. He pointed to a cloud not far from the city, and then said: "Behold the generalissimo, the cloud that covers the city, as it is written: 'He who is naked before him will not be victorious.' 'The heavens are like this, and the time has passed, let the army be collected and the city may be broken after ten days.' ”

Since this is the case with the heavens, then it is enough to retreat.

Liu Zongmin ordered Zhang Nai to use cannons to bombard the left and right sides of the city gap, and at the same time ordered Ma Shiyao: immediately personally lead an infantry to take back all the wounded soldiers under the city. After about a meal, Ma Shiyao snatched back all the soldiers who were lying under the city and had not yet died, and he himself was wounded twice, and the soldiers who followed him were also killed and wounded. After Liu Zongmin waited for Ma Shiyao to complete the task, he waved a blue flag, the gong sounded, the cannon stopped, and some of the infantry who were preparing to attack the city half a mile from the trench remained, and some slowly retreated. The cavalry all retreated to a distance of three miles. Some of Zhang Nai's and Black Tiger Star's firearms battalion retreated to the embankment with cannons and gunpowder, and some stayed behind to cover the soldiers digging the city. The excavation of the city continued, and from Caomen to the North Gate, there were still shouts of killing and artillery from time to time.

In this siege battle, the elite of Li Zicheng's old battalion suffered heavy losses, and three or four hundred people were killed and wounded outside the main attack on the outside of the big cave. Liu Fangliang's cavalry was not used. But they were also hit by the artillery fire at the head of the city, and more than 20 people. Luo Rucai's Cao camp was slightly better, but it also lost two or three hundred elite men.

That night, Li Zicheng summoned some important generals to secretly discuss with Song Xiance and others to decide the method and time of the next attack. With a heavy heart, he said: "Our soldiers are so desperate, Kaifeng will definitely be breached." If I don't break Kaifeng, I will never be reconciled! ”

But. As the siege went unwell, bad news came one after another.

First of all, the thousands of officers and soldiers who were sheltered in the Battle of Huodian were unstable and planned to mutini and escape. Unexpectedly, the incident was not secret, and was noticed by the main general Liu Tichun, and even if he mobilized men and horses, he surrounded and disarmed these thousands of people.

After some severe interrogation, dozens of people led by the general were found out, and three or four hundred people related to these people were pushed out and beheaded by Liu Tichun and Liu Erhu. He also disorganized the rest of the men and horses and mixed them with the men and horses of each battalion. This is the calming down of a storm.

But when Luo Rucai brought the strategist Ji Qi and Sun Shenzu and other generals to Yingcheng County Wang Huayuan to discuss the military situation, another bad news was brought by Luo Rucai.

"Generalissimo." After saluting Li Zicheng. Luo Rucai, who was named the general of Weide on behalf of the heavens, had a sad face, and wrinkles were stacked on his chubby face.

"The little ones have found out a new military situation. said that Zuo Liangyu led more than 100,000 horses to rescue Kaifeng ,......"

This heavy change in the military situation immediately attracted Li Zicheng's attention: "Is it reliable?" Zuo Liangyu, didn't he fight back and forth between the old Hui and the five battalions of Ge Li and Ge Li in the area of Macheng and the mall? ”

"Yes! But after making a detailed report, he received a hurried command from Chongzhen and ordered him to come to Kaifeng quickly. Otherwise, it will be done by military law. He didn't dare to slack off, and immediately put the people in order. And he came to Kaifeng. ”

Zuo Liangyu, who originally thought that he was being restrained by the party of Lao Huihui and Ge Liyan in northern Shaanxi, came so suddenly, and marched so fast. When the enemy situation was received, the advance of the left army had already arrived in Gwangju, and in the past few days, I am afraid that the brigade has already arrived in Gwangju.

What's even worse is that Zuo Liangyu has fought against Zhang Xianzhong and the so-called Fang Jun Ninth Battalion and other peasant army units in recent years, and has won more victories and fewer defeats. By means of annexation, surrender and rebellion, and strong soldiers, his troops not only far exceeded the number of personnel that a general army should have, reaching nearly 100,000 horses, but also because of the many "thieves" of his subordinates, the combat effectiveness was far from being comparable to that of ordinary Ming troops.

There was a fortified city in front of it, which was difficult to conquer. Behind him, Zuo Liangyu's army came. No wonder Cao Cao and Luo Rucai, who have always been known for their resourcefulness, are also full of gloom.

"This Zuo Liangyu has also calculated, we are in a dilemma right now, so we listen to Emperor Lao Tzu! Otherwise, he would have more people than He Maniac. He madman dared to leave the governor and run away, why did he listen to Chongzhen so much?! Could it be that he is Li Shouhan? ”

"However, Lao Zuo's guy is indeed different from ordinary generals now, since he was named a general of the thief, he is no longer the status of the original chief military officer. Not only are there more people, but there are not so many fathers-in-law and mothers-in-law on their heads, so they don't have to be constrained by the governor, the prime minister, and the superintendent, and they can fight more according to their own will. This person was born in the army, has a lot of experience, is brave and strategic, and is good at entrapping soldiers. We are not afraid of him, but we are not to be underestimated. At present, we must be ready to break through Kaifeng as soon as possible, and then concentrate on fighting against Lao Zuo. After defeating Lao Zuo, there will be no more strong opponents in the Central Plains. ”

Li Zicheng ruthlessly set the tone for the meeting and made strategic arrangements for the next military action. As a partner, Luo Rucai had no choice but to follow his intention to discuss the next action arrangement.

As he spoke, he responded to the words of the Negative Pole. Wu Ruyi, the Chinese army, hurriedly walked in.

"Generalissimo! General! There's a new military intelligence here! ”

"Say!"

"That is, when the sky falls, there is also a king on top!"

"Not a bad thing! Great news! Our little tiger and Wang Lung brothers are back with more than 100,000 people! (To be continued......)

PS: Continue to ask for the amount of the monthly pass!