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Before Lei Wanjun retreated to Xiguan, he met Li Zicheng, he turned over and dismounted, knelt on the ground, "Dadu Governor, his subordinates are incompetent, they failed to seize the city gate, ask Dadu Governor to punish him!" ”

Li Zicheng led the remaining seven hundred families of personal soldiers, rushed to answer, did not expect to meet Lei Wanjun here, no need for Lei Wanjun to ask for guilt, he also knew that the raid on the city gate, obviously unsuccessful, he used a horse whip, said: "Ten thousand troops get up and speak!" ”

Lei Wanjun got up and carefully explained everything that had just happened, "It was the defenders who were bold and reckless, wantonly closing the city gates, and ignoring the people outside the city!" ”

"When did the Ming army care about the people? If the imperial court cares about the life and death of the people, there will still be so many people following the Mandate of Heaven Army? Li Zicheng laughed and didn't care, "Victory or defeat is a common thing in soldiers, although the army failed to seize the city gate, fortunately, the brothers did not suffer heavy casualties, and there was no fault!" ”

Seeing that the Metropolitan Governor had no intention of punishing, Lei Wanjun calmed down a little, and said: "The Metropolitan Governor, his subordinates are incompetent and failed to seize the city gate, so ...... next."

"There is no need to be in a hurry, what we have is time," Li Zicheng turned his horse's head and said, "Go to Xiguan to set up camp first, and wait for the army to arrive." ”

Li Zicheng's personal soldiers, just set up a large camp in Xiguan Town, the infantry behind arrived, Niu Jinxing saw that Li Zicheng's personal soldiers were there, knew about the sneak attack on Kaifeng, and did not succeed, and hurriedly said: "The governor of the capital, it is his subordinates who are not careful, if the brothers gave up their horses and pretended to be homeless, maybe the chance of success is greater!" ”

The first time he gave the Governor of Dadu, he didn't expect it to fail, and Niu Jinxing's face was both embarrassed and ashamed.

Li Zicheng waved his hand and said, "Sir, don't mind, even if you pretend to be a homeless person, you may not succeed, if you have weapons on your body, won't the soldiers defending the city find out?" If you drop your weapons, how can you seize the city gates, and even if you succeed, how can you hold them? ”

Niu Jinxing nodded violently, secretly admiring in his heart, most of the wise people in the capital governor, thinking about the question is deeper than themselves, no wonder the Heavenly Mandate Army is invincible.

After pondering for a moment, he said: "Dadudu, Kaifeng is a fortified city, and now it is impossible to sneak attack, how can we overcome the city?" ”

Li Zicheng looked at the soldiers who were camping, and thought in his heart, "According to Mr., what method should we use to break the city?" ”

"Governor Dadu, we didn't carry too many siege equipment on this rapid march," Niu Jinxing said: "We came to the city, the Ming army of the Western Expedition Chen Yongfu will definitely come back to help, can we eat Chen Yongfu first?" ”

Li Zicheng was not interested in such a battle, otherwise he could first ambush Chen Yongfu's troops on the same day, and then attack and open the blockade after defeating Chen Yongfu's troops.

Defeating Chen Yongfu's troops, what can the Mandate of Heaven Army get?

The Mandate of Heaven Army has no shortage of soldiers, as long as there is food, they can recruit a large number of soldiers at any time, although they are civilians, the training time is longer, but they are more loyal than the surrender troops, the Mandate of Heaven Army recruits them to pull them back from the line of death, won't they be grateful to Dade?

Drain the imperial court's army? It seems also impractical, if there is enough food, the imperial court can also recruit soldiers, as long as a little training, you can go to the battlefield, although the combat effectiveness is poor, but after several battles, the big waves wash the sand, the rest will be elite soldiers, the Ming Dynasty is innumerable, theoretically the Ming army can recruit countless soldiers.

The key is food, and how many soldiers the imperial court can support is the crux of the problem!

Therefore, the defeat of Chen Yongfu's ministry does not have much practical value, the Mandate of Heaven Army came to Kaifeng, the first priority, naturally is to take Kaifeng City, if Kaifeng City is taken, the surrounding states and counties, will also look at the wind, and the Mandate of Heaven Army will occupy the entire Kaifeng Mansion.

It doesn't matter if you can't take it, Kaifeng is not only a strong city, but also the heart of the Ming Dynasty, even if you take it, there will be repetition, and the imperial court will definitely send more troops to encircle and suppress.

The second is for food, Kaifeng is the capital of Henan, and the provincial yamen are in Kaifeng, and the money and grain in the city are naturally richer than Luoyang.

Again, it is for the purpose of training, among the soldiers of the seven regiments who went out this time, four regiments were reorganized in Luoyang, which are basically considered new soldiers, and only after the test of blood and fire on the battlefield can they grow into qualified soldiers.

Seeing that Li Zicheng had been pondering, Niu Jinxing thought that the Metropolitan Governor was thinking about how to eat Chen Yongfu's department, so he further said: "Metropolitan Governor, since the way, his subordinates have been observing the terrain, and they can set up ambushes in the area of Putianze!" ”

"Let's prepare with both hands," Li Zicheng said lightly: "Chen Yongfu heard that Kaifeng was attacked, he must return to help, let's make this preparation first, at the moment, we are still focusing on attacking Kaifeng, there are not many defenders in the city, even if we recruit young and strong, the combat effectiveness will not be too strong!" ”

"All subordinates understand," Niu Jinxing arched his hand and said, "There is a way for subordinates to attack the city!" ”

Li Zicheng pointed at Niu Jinxing's head with his hand, "Mr. has a way to attack the city, why didn't you say it earlier?" ”

Niu Jinxing smiled and said, "The subordinates don't know if this method will work, and they have to ask the Metropolitan Governor to decide!" ”

"Say, I'll think about it," Li Zicheng said: "We won't have too much time, Chen Yongfu may return at any time, and the imperial court can't let us attack the seal!" ”

The moment he learned that Lei Wanjun missed, Li Zicheng estimated that this time Kaifeng, I am afraid it will be difficult to take it down, this is the first time that the Mandate of Heaven Army has come to Kaifeng, and Kaifeng is the core of the imperial court, and the strategic location is different from Xining and Lanzhou, and it is Chengdu in a corner, which cannot be compared.

You can open the seal, you don't necessarily have to take it, as long as you plant the seeds of the Mandate of Heaven Army among the nearby people, Kaifeng will be the Mandate of Heaven Army sooner or later.

"Dadudu, our siege equipment is insufficient, we can use the method of digging the city wall, although Kaifeng is a stone wall, but as long as we chisel down the outer layer of stones, the inner layer of soil, it is easy to pick up," Niu Jinxing said: "If you can open a cave on the city wall, you can give full play to the advantage of the Heavenly Mandate Army in combat effectiveness in close combat." ”

Li Zicheng frowned and said, "However, the soldiers are digging the city under the city, how can they deal with the bows and arrows and rolling wood and stones on the city's head?" ”

"Don't worry about the Metropolitan Governor," Niu Jinxing smiled mysteriously and gestured with his hand, "Transporting the frames such as door panels and carts to the city, erecting them, and spreading quilts on them, you can block the arrows and rolling wood and stones on the city, because you are close to the city wall, you don't have to worry about the artillery at the head of the city!" ”

Li Zicheng frowned in contemplation and did not speak for a while.

Niu Jinxing said again: "Governor, in order to motivate the soldiers, each person chisels a stone from the city wall, and then he can return to the city to rest and change to another group of soldiers!" ”

"Sir, do you mean to let the soldiers get exercised?" Li Zicheng was overjoyed, he was most concerned about the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, whether he could take Kaifeng, it was not the main thing, he pondered carefully for a moment, and waved his right hand violently, "That's it, according to Mr.'s method, the siege will start tomorrow, with the west gate as the main breakthrough direction!" ”

That night, Li Zicheng summoned the commanders of each battalion and regiment, and asked Niu Jinxing to explain the method of digging the city in public, the third regiment and the fourth regiment of the fourth battalion, and the first, second, and third regiments of the independent battalion, each attacked a city gate, of which the west city gate was the main direction of attack, and Liu Jianyi of the third regiment of the independent battalion was in charge, and Liu Zongmin of the second regiment of the fourth battalion assisted with firearms.

After returning, each regiment prepared the equipment for tomorrow's siege.

After dawn, except for the fourth battalion of the first regiment Zhao Liebu had nothing to do, as a reserve regiment, the rest of the regiments began to attack the city, except for the west city gate, the rest of the troops outside the city gates, just to contain the defenders in the city, every time they go out to dig the city, but one or two hundred soldiers, the soldiers only need to chisel a stone from the city wall, you can return, replace with another soldier, and repeat!

Outside the West City Gate, the soldiers of the Third Regiment of the Independent Battalion had already prepared sufficient equipment, but they did not attack the city, and they were all itchy when they heard the movement from the other city gates, but Liu Jianyi did not give the order to attack the city.

In addition to sending a thousand gunners, Liu Zongmin also sent out all the artillery, twenty mountain cannons lined up, standing quietly two thousand steps outside the city, almost the limit of the range of mountain artillery, this is to avoid the tiger squat cannon at the head of the city.

Gao Mingheng had already come to Xichengtou, the Mandate of Heaven Army was tossing outside the city, all of them fell in his eyes, seeing the mountain artillery standing outside the city, his brows wrinkled into a big "eight", the Mandate of Heaven Army is just a rogue, how can there be so many artillery? These artillery pieces are neither like the red-coated cannons deployed by the Ming army in Liaodong, nor like the tiger squat cannons at the head of Kaifeng City, is this self-made by the Mandate of Heaven Army?

These cannons are placed two thousand paces away, basically outside the range of the Tiger Squat Cannon, can the range of these cannons be comparable to the red-coated cannons? These artillery pieces outside the city are obviously smaller than the Tiger Squat Cannon, and the structure is even simpler, could it be unexpected in terms of range?

In the east, south, and north directions, there was a sound of shouting and killing, and the herald also transmitted the battle situation of each city gate in time, although the Mandate of Heaven Army surrounded Kaifeng City with heavy troops, but the intensity of the siege was not large, the strange thing is that the Mandate of Heaven Army did not use siege equipment such as ladders, but chiseled stones on the city wall, is it a lack of engineering equipment, or is it to chisel the city wall?

Outside the West City Gate, the number of the Heavenly Mandate Army seems to be larger, why didn't they attack the city?

Gao Mingheng retracted his thoughts and looked at the soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate Army who were constantly busy outside the city, and he knew in his heart that the Heavenly Mandate Army was not giving up the attack on Ximen, but making more adequate preparations!

The longer you prepare, the stronger your attack will be!

Gao Mingheng gathered the tiger squat cannon at the head of the city, the gunners had already finished debugging, as long as the Heavenly Mandate Army took a few steps forward, they could fire the cannon at any time.

Although he has made sufficient preparations, he is still a little worried, among the defenders in the city, there are not many regular soldiers, 800 social soldiers, 800 guards of the Zhou Palace, 500 temporarily recruited young strong, 300 halal battalions, 300 Daobiao battalions, they are the main force of defense, and the regular soldiers in Kaifeng City have become reserves, and they cannot be easily used until the critical moment.

He walked from south to north, patted the soldier on the arm, and cheered with the soldier, seeing the terror on the soldiers' faces gradually subside, and the fear in his heart gradually faded.