When the various units of the Ming army and the Liaodong rebels led by Huang Taiji were fighting hard in the Songshan area, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai had already begun to sweep the outlying strongholds in Henan, opening the seal for the second attack, and sweeping away the various military horses transferred to Henan by Chongzhen.

At the beginning of August, Fu Zonglong, the newly appointed governor of Shaanxi and the three sides, led 30,000 or 40,000 men and horses through Shangzhou, Neixiang, and Dengzhou, along the border areas of southern Henan and Huguang, and rapidly marched eastward, preparing to join Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding, north of Guangzhou (present-day Huangchuan), in the vicinity of Xincai and Runing.

Fu Zonglong and Yang Wenyue had already exchanged secret letters, and agreed to meet in Xincai first, and then make plans. Although these two governors were ordered to focus on "suppressing thieves", the emperor's edict and the military department urged the war to fight, and they were as anxious as a spark and a feather looked at each other. But none of them dared to rashly fight Li Zicheng. According to the detailed investigation report, they knew that Li Zicheng was going to attack Kaifeng again, but it was only because they learned that they were going to join forces north of Guangzhou, so they postponed their march to Kaifeng, and now they are stationed between Xiping and Suiping, preparing to fight with them. They agreed to avoid Li Zicheng's army after meeting their divisions, first go to Xiangcheng, and rush to Chenzhou (now Huaiyang) as far as possible to contain the Chuang and Cao armies that were heading north to Kaifeng from the flank.

Before the new Cai meeting, the two had already communicated with the messenger and determined the basic strategy, with stability as the best policy. Helplessly, Chongzhen urged the war in a hurry, and the two also received an edict to exterminate Li Zicheng within a time limit. Emperor Chongzhen was anxious in his heart, and he only knew how to urge the war, regardless of the consequences, so that these two ministers with troops were at a loss. They all understood that the emperor was very unclear about the overall situation of the Central Plains at present, and he was even more ignorant of the combat situation. If they march in accordance with the command, they will not be sure of victory over the thieves; If they do not obey, they will be punished. After settling the centaurs. Fu Zonglong invited Yang Wenyue to his military tent to discuss countermeasures. As a result of the discussion, there was still no good strategy, and according to their original plan, they did not fight lightly for the time being, and did not go to Runing. to avoid enemy fronts. They were afraid that as soon as they arrived in Runing, they would be surrounded by Li Zicheng's army. Although Zuo Liangyu and Ding Qirui are in the area of Xinyang and Guangshan, it is difficult to expect them to come to the rescue. So they agreed to march to Xiangcheng and Chenzhou.

"We want to take it, and we give it; Take one step back, then two steps further. In a war, we must always fight a real and false war, and we cannot fight a decisive battle with the enemy from the beginning. We temporarily avoided the enemy's front, in order to save these tens of thousands of horses for the imperial court, and wait for the enemy to take advantage of the gap. Then seek the way to win, it is a foolproof strategy. Yang Wenyue was so eloquent that he found a reason for his tactical arrangement to avoid the enemy.

It would be easy to say if the two subordinates were generals like Hu Dawei, but it happened that Fu Zonglong's subordinates were composed of He Renlong and Li Guoqi, two Shaanxi generals. How good can that be?

In order to appease these two old military leaders, Fu Zonglong, the governor of the three sides, had to make a wish to the madman He in a low voice: "It has been more than ten years since the thieves were suppressed. For the sake of the generals, they are unable to do their best, resulting in thieves flourishing day by day, and the overall situation of the country is in danger day by day. Today, the Governor and Yang Governor will join forces, and they can no longer avoid war as in the past. We must go all out to eliminate the troubles of the Central Plains for the imperial court. The two generals accompanied the Governor. Success or failure is blunt in this move, I hope to fight hard tomorrow, in order to atone for the past sorrows, strive for great merit, and never disappoint the court, but also live up to the old man's ardent hopes. ”

For this set of tricks and means. He Maniac He Renlong has also seen a lot. At the beginning, Yang Sichang promised to take Zuo Liangyu's "General Ping" seal and hand it over to him, what was the result? In his heart, he despised this governor who had been in the prison for many years and was confused, but He Renlong pretended to be moved on his face and said, "Yes, yes." Be faithful. Serve the court. Tomorrow will be a battle against the thief, and there will be no advance or retreat, please rest assured. ”

Fu Zonglong felt satisfied, but he was afraid that the words and deeds of the two generals would be inconsistent, and they would just be perfunctory to him, so he said: "As long as the two of you make a little contribution tomorrow, even if you are kind to the emperor in the past, even if you cover it up with merit, you will not blame the past." The Governor will definitely go to the imperial court, and give special grace to the two generals and reward them for great achievements. ”

He Renlong and Li Guoqi said again and again: "You must obey the order and fight to the death to kill the enemy!" ”

Sure enough, having just engaged Li Guo's 8,000 cavalry, as the main force of the two armies, He Luozi not only did not move, but also secretly ordered his cavalry and infantry to line up around him, one to protect himself, and the other to prevent his elite soldiers from being scattered by the rebels. Seeing this, the experienced Hu Dawei acted in the same way.

After Fu Zonglong's repeated urging, Li Guoqi had no choice but to lead his own men and horses out of battle. However, as soon as he made contact with Li Guo's cavalry, his men and horses immediately lost their formation, turned and fled, and could not be stopped. As soon as He Renlong saw that Li Guoqi was defeated, he did not answer, and regardless of the governor's life or death, he led his own men and horses to flee to the northeast. When Hu Dawei saw that He Renlong was gone, he also hurriedly led his men and horses to flee. After Li Guoqi was defeated, he originally wanted to try to gather some men and horses and retreat to Mengjiazhuang, but now when he saw that He Renlong and Hu Dawei were fleeing to the northeast, he guessed that they were going to flee to Xiangcheng, so he led his remnants to flee to Xiangcheng. As the saying goes, "Defeat is like a mountain." "The three generals took the lead in running first, and the entire battlefield fell into a complete collapse situation.

The Battle of the Burning Shop ended with such a dramatic ending. The three general soldiers fled, and one of the deputy generals of the Chinese army fled with Yang Wenyue, the governor of Baoding, and Fu Zonglong, the governor of the three sides, to Li Guo, who was known as a tiger, and made him a prisoner.

According to Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai's original calculations, after killing Fu Zonglong, the next target is Zuo Liangyu, who is known as a strong man and a strong horse, the so-called Zuo Liangyu in the south and Li in the north. For this reason, the two supervised their subordinates to open a net and wait. However, under the pretext that the Ge and the Zuo Fourth Battalion had the intention of harassing Huguang, Zuo Liangyu did not move his troops in the areas of Guangshan and Gaocheng, and also sent a detachment of men and horses to the Yingshan and Qichun areas, so that the imperial court knew that he was fighting against the Ge and Zuo Fourth Battalions. Li Zicheng saw that Zuo Liangyu was cowardly, and even part of the left army stationed in Xinyang was withdrawn, so he decided to attack Kaifeng.

On the day of the twenty-third lunar year of the twelfth lunar month of the fourteenth year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng went outside Kaifeng City. According to the plan agreed in advance, he stationed the old camp in Yingcheng Junwang Garden, just east of Caomen, about five miles away from Caomen. Cao Cao then arrived, set up the old camp in the southeast corner of the city three miles away from the Fanta Temple, from the 24th of the lunar month, according to the predetermined strategy, from the Song Gate to the Cao Gate and the North Gate. All-out onslaught. The two families reassigned their forces and placed the main forces between the Cao Gate and the North Gate.

However, with the cooperation of the officials headed by Gao Mingheng and the clans in the city headed by the Zhou Wangfu, the soldiers and civilians of Kaifeng were extremely tenacious. There are a lot of gunpowder cannons in the watchtowers of the rocky grass factories in the city, and the people take turns to go to the city in the morning and evening. The reason is simple. "When Li Zicheng harassed Bianliang last year, he was blinded by our Kaifeng people, and he came to take revenge this time! When attacking Kaifeng, not only the living will be killed, but even the dead will be chopped three times. ”

Because of such rumors and fears, and the high rewards issued by the officials and gentry in the city, the soldiers and civilians of Kaifeng fought well in several small-scale contacts with the peasant army.

In the battle with Yuan Zongdi for the north gate of the urn city, Yuan Zongdi's troops had already rushed into the urn city with several hundred people. Some of them kept throwing arrows into the city; Some of the people brought the ladder and leaned against the urn city. Dozens of people climbed the walls of the urn city and ran straight towards the big city, and they were about to take the big city. Wang Xie, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, who was responsible for guarding the north gate, immediately offered a heavy reward: anyone who can knock the thieves out of the city will be rewarded with an ingot. At that time, there was a big man, holding a long stick, and a few sticks beat down several volunteers. Other officers and soldiers swarmed up, and the peasant army was immediately driven back. Some were beaten down into the city and were seriously wounded; Some fell to their deaths; Some were killed in the city. The battle to capture the city was short. But it was very fierce, and the soldiers and civilians at the head of the city also suffered many casualties.

After the rebels were repulsed, Wang Xie immediately ordered the scribes to write down the names of the meritorious service personnel and give each person an ingot, which greatly boosted morale. And he offered a great reward: Whoever was able to block the gates of the urn city was to be rewarded with a great reward. Thereupon. The soldiers and civilians defending the city carried sandbags and threw them down from the top of the gate of the urn city. One by one, sandbags blocked the gates. In this case, the rebels had no choice but to quickly withdraw from the urn city. Wang Xie also ordered people to light gunpowder and firewood and grass and cast the urn city from the great city. Suddenly, inside the urn city. There was fire, black smoke, and crossbow arrows, bricks and stones flew sideways, and the rebels who had not had time to withdraw died in the urn city one by one. After the inspection, as many as one or two hundred of Yuan Zongdi's elite subordinates died in the urn city.

Faced with the fortified city of Kaifeng and the morale of the soldiers and civilians defending the city, Li Zicheng decided to change a style of play.

"Lao Cao, take out all the artillery of your Cao camp, there are hundreds of cannons from our two families combined, aim at the city, and bombard!"

In order to select and arrange the artillery positions for the siege, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai deliberately led their subordinate generals to carefully survey around Kaifeng City, in addition to Zhang Nai, who was responsible for the unified command of the two artillery teams, and the Black Tiger Xingma Chongxi, there were also Li Zicheng collected in the Funiu Mountain, the leader of the mining soldiers, Ding Guobao and Niu Wancai.

He intended to use a combination of artillery fire and siege tactics. Blow up the Kaifeng city wall with gunpowder! Such siege tactics require the use of city digging tactics, and most of the rebels who are good at digging cities are miners from Funiu Mountain, and there are also farmers from Shaanxi who are good at digging kilns. This city-digging team was handed over to Ding Guobao and Niu Wancai to lead.

After the last attack on Kaifeng and the capture of Luoyang, Xiangcheng and other battles, Li Zicheng also accumulated rich experience in tackling tough battles. He no longer expected to rely on a surprise attack to successfully capture a fortified city like Kaifeng, nor did he expect his soldiers to be able to climb to the top of the city with a ladder.

From many detailed reports, he knew that since he attacked the city for the first time, the gentry, soldiers and civilians in Kaifeng City had experience in defending the city, and the other had continuously strengthened the strength of defending the city, and he must not take it lightly. Since the uprising, he has experienced a hundred battles, and he has seen any tragic battles, but he is not sure in his heart that he is not sure about the siege war like this time, especially if he wants to open a provincial city like Kaifeng, which is also a feudal land, and he relies on a tough attack to defeat such a city.

From the beginning of the fourth watch on the 25th day of the lunar month, the two sides began to fight a bloody battle in Kaifeng City.

The cold wind blowing from the Yellow River stabbed the soldiers' faces like knives. Everyone's ears and noses are frozen. There were thick clouds in the sky, as if it was going to snow. But the occasional moving cloud also cracked, revealing a few cold stars at first, and soon disappeared. The night was dark. There were many torches and lanterns on the top of the city, because the walls were invisible, and the endless lanterns and torches seemed to hang in the air.

At this time, under the cover of night, there were more than a thousand peasant armies, divided into two groups and quietly moving towards the city wall. One was led by Niu Wancai and waited outside the moat in Dongcheng, and the other was led by Ding Guobao and waited outside the moat in Beicheng. They took the pole heads, the hammers, and the iron hammers, and stood still. Although the wind was as cold as knives, they forgot about the bitter cold, and their mood was uplifted and nervous. Waiting for the agreed hands-on signal. After a while, I saw a rocket shoot in the distance, and the two men and horses galloped at the same time, crossed the moat, and then lifted the door panel on their backs to cover their heads. Quickly run towards the castle roots. When they arrived at the root of the city, they first used an iron hammer to drive the iron drill into the brick joints, and beat each brick all over the top, bottom, left and right, and then used the iron drill to pry out. As Liang Sicheng said, these city wall bricks, bricks and bricks have been pressed against each other for hundreds of years, and the joints were plastered with lime when they were built, and under the dual action of heavy pressure and time, a structure that is stronger than concrete has been formed. It's very difficult to dig.

As soon as they began to dig the city, the loud noise and rhythmic vibrations alarmed the soldiers and civilians defending the city. From the beginning of the city, bricks and stones were thrown down desperately. Some of the bricks and stones fell on the door panels, and some fell directly on people and heads, injuring many people when they landed. At the same time, gunpowder packs and "10,000 enemies" were left behind in the city. The most terrible thing is that there are 10,000 enemies, and after they are thrown away, as soon as they explode, they will be killed and wounded. So the peasant army of the city digging. While digging the city, there are people ready on the other. Quickly pick up the powder packets and the "10,000 enemies" that have just been dropped and throw them into the distance, although this is very dangerous, but it can reduce casualties.

The sudden and dense shouts and explosions made the entire ancient city of Bianliang wake up instantly. The palaces, official offices, mansions, and houses in the city, I don't know how many people were awakened in an instant, and a little light was lit. Nervously waiting for news from the city.

The Henan patrol who was responsible for guarding the city was named according to the imperial history, Wang Yinchang, the deputy envoy of the military garrison, Wang Xie, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, and Huang Shu, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, and others, immediately supervised and led their subordinates to defend the city according to their respective duties.

And Chen Yongfu, the deputy general of Henan, has been resting in the tower of the city since the day before yesterday, and he can hear the sound of shouting and killing on the city wall. jumped up from the bed: "Damn, it's really here!" ”

Guarded by dozens of pro-soldiers, Chen Yongfu and his son Chen De hurriedly rushed to the city wall. The city and the city have been burned into flames.

The peasant army under the city, in order to cover Ding Guobao and Niu Wancai, the two troops responsible for digging the city, in addition to placing hundreds of large and small artillery pieces outside Kaifeng City, divided into two artillery groups under the command of Zhang Nai and Heihuxing, took turns pouring cannonballs and gunpowder on the city, Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai mobilized tens of thousands of archers and firecrackers in the peasant army to stand on the edge of the moat, and fiercely shot arrows and fired firearms at the city.

The arrows, projectiles, and cannons flying from under the city made the soldiers and civilians defending the city constantly hit by these deadly little things and killed or wounded. In the darkness, a stray arrow, a projectile, or even a cannon flying from nowhere would make a strong man die in the blink of an eye, the fear brought by such darkness made people hide their bodies behind the battlements as much as possible, and did not dare to poke their heads out to look closely at the city.

Therefore, most of the bricks, stones, and gunpowder packets they threw were not very accurate. They also shot arrows out of the city, but because it was difficult to peek out from between the battlements, they could only shoot out from the edge of the arrows, and in the darkness they could not see the target clearly, so they shot high and low, and they were not sure at all. The peasant army under the city looked up at the city, although it was also relatively hazy, but the lanterns and torches at the head of the city gave them great convenience. Casting firearms and arrows from the dark to the light is naturally much more effective. While shooting at each other, both sides shouted loudly, up and down the city, shouting to kill the heavens.

According to the experience of digging earth kilns in northern Shaanxi and mining in the Funiu Mountains, the peasant army divided the men and horses into several teams, each team of about 20 people, and was only responsible for digging one hole. There were also many reserve squads in ambush in the dry trenches, ready to take over the dead and wounded brothers at any time, and to drag the dead and wounded brothers back to the outside of the trenches as much as possible. However, no matter how violently the arrows, bricks, stones, and gunpowder packs fell on the city, and how violently the enemy rained down, no matter how heavy the casualties were, the work of digging the city did not stop. The hammer and hammer were still struggling to drill deeper into the walls.

From the Song Gate to the North Gate through the Cao Gate, it was the main battlefield of siege warfare. Chen Yongfu, the deputy chief soldier of the Song Gate City, was a very experienced chief military officer, and Wang Xie, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, who guarded the north gate, and Huang Shu, the magistrate who guarded Caomen, were both very shrewd and capable figures. In the first Kaifeng siege battle, Li Zicheng mainly used the method of digging the city, which made them gain a lot of experience. I knew how to deal with the excavation of the city, protected the city walls, and made various targeted preparations.

During the day, while the peasant army was preparing outside the city, the gentry and common people in the city were also stepping up their preparations. The gentry in the city had long expected that King Li Chuang would come to take revenge, especially when the news of the destruction of Nanyang City came not long ago, and the killing situation was exaggerated. They were very worried that if the king and his men invaded the city, they would be killed and the women would be humiliated, and no one would be spared. Because they were in this mood to defend the city walls, they kept throwing all kinds of things that could kill and injure the enemy, even though the defenders of the city were constantly being killed and wounded by the projectile arrows of the peasant army under the city.

The sound of artillery shook the sky, and the soldiers on both sides fell one by one under the city walls and by the trenches under the sound of cannons and shouts of killing, and rushed forward one by one over the corpses and blood of their brothers.

On the city of Kaifeng, Chen Yongfu stood on the arrow tower and looked down, from the Song Gate and Cao Gate to the north, there were righteous soldiers digging the city under the city, "Dong Dong" constantly knocked on the city wall to make a muffled sound, a slight vibration, in the early morning when the shouting and killing sound continued to appear so clear.

He rushed down from the arrow tower, between the two battlements, and was about to go out from the middle of the battlements to observe the digging under the city, when with a "whoosh" sound, a stray arrow flew by, hitting the upper part of his helmet, and shot the fiery red helmet down the city.

A general pulled his sleeve and said, "My lord, be careful! He didn't bother to pay attention to it, grabbed a brick, and smashed it into the crowded area of the city. Before he could see how effective the brick was, a buckshot flew past his helmet and knocked a strong man behind him to the ground with a muffled grunt.

Huang Shu, the pusher in charge of guarding Caomen, ran out of anger: "Lord Junmen, at present, the east city and the north city are digging cities everywhere. In the section of Caomen guarded by the lower officials, there were fifteen or sixteen places being dug, and no matter how they threw bricks, stones, and gunpowder, the thieves would not retreat. Please show me how to get rid of the thief? ”

Chen Yongfu just told him: "Don't panic, be calm, this town has its own way." ”

Before the words fell, an artillery cannon flying from afar beat the heads of the Minzhuang squad around Huang Shu to death, and the red and white things splashed on the robes and cloaks of Chen Yongfu and Huang Shu. (Is this Mr. Chen also an auspicious-level figure?) Why should whoever is near him hang up? ）

But at the moment, he couldn't care about decency, and several of Chen Yongfu's personal soldiers opened their throats and shouted orders in the city, telling the soldiers and civilians at the head of the city that the general soldiers would personally supervise the battle in the city, and that the soldiers and people should kill the enemy calmly and not panic.

This oracle soon spread from the eastern city to the northern city, and the officials, gentry, soldiers and civilians guarding the city everywhere listened to it, and suddenly their courage doubled, and a sound of killing sounded. A partial general came and excitedly begged Chen Yongfu to let him take 300 people down the city and kill the thieves who were digging under the city. Chen Yongfu shook his head and said, "No." Then he said to Huang Shu and one of his generals: "Order someone to go and get firewood quickly, the more the better, all the quilts and batting, and a few loads of oil." ”

At the moment he gave this command, many people ran down the city. There are many nests under the city for the soldiers and civilians who defend the city to sleep. For heating and cooking, a lot of dry firewood was piled up next to the bunk. At this time, people carried dry firewood to the city one after another, and even dismantled some of the nests and quilts. The cotton wool also hugged the city. Someone else brought a lot of sesame oil from the nearby upper temple. Chen Yongfu ordered the dry wood to be lit, thrown down the city, and burned to death the people who dug the holes. So, the dry wood was lit and thrown at the people who dug the hole. Some of the dry firewood was thrown down without being lit, and then the burning cotton wool soaked in oil was thrown down, and the dry firewood was quickly ignited and burned. After a while, from Caomen to the north gate, the city root of the fifteen-mile road was on fire everywhere, like a fire dragon.

Chen Yongfu said to a pro-general again: "Then pass on the town's message: This town is now in the city, and the army and the people defending the city are in danger, and I hope that the army and the people will work together to kill the thieves, and those who dare to go down to the city without permission will be killed!" ”

Li Zicheng looked at the black holes on the city wall, "Tell the little nail, when the brothers under the city dig the city in the future, they will concentrate artillery fire on the city head, and we must beat the people on the city head and dare not show their heads!" ”

The war in Kaifeng passed day by day in the attrition and perseverance of both sides.

The activities of digging and counter-digging the city above and below the city have not stopped for a moment. (To be continued......)