"Fortunately, there are no problems with Kaifeng." After reading the recital sent back from Kaifeng, Emperor Chongde let out a long sigh.

Yes, although Kaifeng City was "besieged", in fact, communication with the outside world was not blocked, because the number of revolutionary troops was not enough to really surround such a large city. In fact, outside of the North Gate and the West Gate, there are basically only a few rangers in the other directions. In addition, Huang Zide originally hoped that the imperial court would be able to send reinforcements, and then he would wait for work and defeat the imperial court's reinforcements in one fell swoop, and it was best to defeat the reinforcements coming from the direction of Huguang, and then he could rest assured that he could capture Huguang. Therefore, there was no arrangement for anyone to seriously intercept the messenger of Kaifeng. Therefore, the entry and exit of the messenger of Kaifeng is still quite free. Of course, this is actually the norm when larger cities are "besieged".

The battle report sent by Kaifeng this time is still a "great victory", but the process is nervous. It said that the thieves attacked the city with artillery, and under the artillery bombardment, many city walls collapsed, and the thieves took advantage of the situation to rush up the city wall and fight with the soldiers and civilians defending the city. The thief army guarded both ends of the gap with elites, and then forced the people to dig the gap in the city wall, if they could not recover the gap quickly, Kaifeng City would definitely fall.

As the saying goes, "the time is poor, and the plate knows the honest minister". At this critical time, the chief soldier Chen Yongshou put on a double layer of armor, personally led his own soldiers, braved the enemy's artillery fire, and launched five rounds of charges in a row. Chen Yongshou was wounded by more than ten wounds, and finally drove the thief army down. Then the whole city of soldiers and civilians worked together to rebuild the collapsed part overnight.

This battle killed thousands of thieves, but the thieves snatched the dead back, and only when they were finally driven down, they left a little corpse that was too late to snatch away, so the beheading was only more than ten levels. The officers and soldiers also suffered a lot of losses, nearly 200 people were killed in the battle, and the remaining more than 1,000 people who were involved in the battle were also wounded.

Of course, the real battle situation was not so fierce and dangerous, and the casualties on both sides were much less than what was said above. However, the war report must be written like this, because if the war report writes about the enemy army as too incompetent and the battle is too easy, isn't that belittling one's own merits? So, in any case, in the battle report, it is better to write more fierce about the battle.

At the end of this recital, there is such a tail: although the enemy army is very ferocious, the whole city is completely sure that it can hold Kaifeng City. Therefore, when the imperial court is allocating reinforcements, don't be too anxious, it's best to wait for the reinforcements to have a considerable scale before coming to Kaifeng to relieve the siege.

This tail is particularly good, first, it embodies the fearless fighting spirit of the Kaifeng military and civilians; Second, it also shows the spirit of Kaifeng focusing on the overall situation.

So after reading this recital, Emperor Chongde felt a lot of emotion. He said to Wang Chengen, who was standing aside: "It's not easy for Governor Gao. Although he said that Kaifeng was solid, the thief army had no possibility of conquering Kaifeng. But if the thieves were like that, how could they attack the city so many times? How could he get a civil official, and he had to put on armor? It's just that Governor Gao understands the overall situation and is unwilling to make more demands on the imperial court. Everything that can be withstood is withstood by himself. It's not easy! It's a pity that Governor Gao is indispensable in Kaifeng now, otherwise, there will be one more person who can take over the position of Governor Yang. ”

Wang Chengen knew that the emperor was just sighing. Gao Gaoping had just become the governor, and even if he performed well during this time, he had no reason to immediately ascend to such a high position. He also praised: "Governor Gao is not only talented, but also loyal." ”

Emperor Chongde said again: "It's just a matter of reinforcements, although Governor Gao said that there is no need to worry, he can still hold it." But don't I know how difficult it is for him? You see, the thief army went to the city several times, and General Chen suffered more than ten wounds, and Governor Gao himself put on armor and went into battle. If it weren't really critical, how could there be such a thing? But above the battle array, the sword has no eyes, in case a cannonball flies over and hits General Chen or Governor Gao, how can this city still be defended? Therefore, Governor Gao said that there is no hurry, but we can't really be in a hurry here, otherwise, maybe one day it will ......."

Wang Chengen said: "But the emperor, now that Governor Yang is no longer there, and the person who will take over has not yet been decided, how can he mobilize reinforcements?" ”

"Isn't the Fifth Battalion of Zuo Ge being cared for?" Emperor Chongde asked, "This matter should be done quickly, so that the Anhui army can go north as soon as possible, and by the way, let the five battalions of the appeased Zuoge also go north together to relieve the siege of Kaifeng." ”

"However, if the money is not enough, how can those thieves in the fifth battalion of Zuo Ge be willing to be appeased? Not to mention going to work hard with Huang. If the money is not enough, they will go to Kaifeng, and they will not do well, but they are afraid that they will turn around and run to Huang Zide's side. Wang Chengen said carefully.

"Money, money, money! It's all money! Emperor Chongde sat down on his chair depressedly, "People say that I am rich all over the world, why am I so poor now?" ”

His words were just complaining to himself, and Wang Chengen also knew that he didn't say this to himself, so he stayed aside and didn't say anything.

Emperor Chongde asked again: "What does the cabinet suggest for the position of Governor Yang?" ”

"Slave and maid go and ask again?" Wang Chengen said.

"Forget it, if there's any news, they'll send it themselves." Emperor Chongde shook his head and said.

At this time, Wang Chengen saw the palm print eunuch Wang Dehua coming towards this side with two little eunuchs. Then he said: "Your Majesty, the eunuch Wang of the celebrant is here, there must be a candidate." ”

Emperor Chongde raised his head and said, "Let him in." ”

Wang Dehua walked in, knelt down and kowtowed, and said: "Slaves and maids see the emperor, may the emperor live long live, long live, long live." ”

"Okay," Emperor Chongde said with a frown, "Wang Daban, what is the matter with you coming here?" ”

"Your Majesty, the cabinet has given another suggestion on the candidate to succeed Governor Yang." Wang Dehua replied.

"Who is it?" Emperor Chongde asked.

"Ding Qirui, the secretary of the military department." Wang Dehua replied.

"Ding Qirui? His qualifications are barely enough. Emperor Chongde said, "It's just that he didn't have much experience in directly leading troops to fight before." But this matter can't be delayed any longer, and there is no better choice for a while. That's him! Let him arrive as soon as possible, and then take Zuo Liangyu and He Dalong to rescue Kaifeng! It's just that he is still in charge of the trilateral military affairs of the governor of Shaanxi, what should he do with this errand? ”

"The gentlemen of the cabinet feel that this matter can only be taken care of by him for the time being."

……

The siege of Kaifeng City is still tepid, every day, as soon as the day dawns, everyone will routinely attack and defend, and when it is late, everyone will go back to their respective homes to find their mothers. Anyway, every two or three days, the "thief army" can attack the city wall once, and then naturally the officials and soldiers fought desperately and finally drove the "thief" down before eating, and then everyone went back to finish eating.

During this period of siege drills, the level of both the offensive and defensive sides has been rapidly improved, of course, considering the foundation of both sides, it is the revolutionary army that has improved more obviously. For example, when the revolutionary army rushed towards the city wall with a ladder, as soon as the muskets on the city were stretched out, accompanied by a terrible whistle, the soldiers of the revolutionary army immediately crouched down and raised their shields at the same time. When the shots rang out, everyone rushed forward again. Of course, there was also a change in the city, they would divide the musketeers into two groups, the first wave would be finished, and when the revolutionary army was rushing forward, they would hurry to fight the second wave......

The skills of both sides have increased, but the impact after the rise is really different. For Kaifeng City, it is nothing more than that they have defended the city more steadily, and by the way, they have also continuously obtained money from Zhou Xiang. Besides, there is little more to it. But for the revolutionary army outside the city, the situation was completely different. The siege experience gained in Kaifeng can be used immediately in other places near Kaifeng.

As a result, some counties near Kaifeng have been unlucky. One day in early June, about 3,000 "thief troops" attacked Tongxu under the leadership of the "thief general" He Zhangqi, but in one morning, they captured Tongxu County. Before the city was broken, Ye Chaer, the county governor of Tongxu, ordered the soldiers defending the city to burn the treasury, but the soldiers refused to carry out the order because they were afraid that after burning the treasury, they would be retaliated by the "thief army". Then the city was captured, and the county magistrate Ye Chaer also died in the chaos.

Perhaps because the attack was too smooth, after He Zhangqi captured Tongxu, he saw that the losses of his army were limited, and he only practiced in Tongxu for one night, and then turned to the west the next day, and it only took half a day to capture Weishi County, and then he took all kinds of captured materials and swaggered back to the revolutionary army camp outside Kaifeng City.

After that, Huang Zide's subordinates continued to divide their troops and attack the surrounding counties. By July, they had conquered seven counties: Qixian, Xinzheng, Zhengzhou, Mixian, Yuzhou, Jiaxian, and Baofeng. For a while, the momentum was huge. The military strength has also expanded to about 100,000 in real terms.

And in this series of battles, more armies were tempered. Now, according to Liu Jiexuan's opinion, among the 100,000 people, there are more than 20,000 troops who can be dragged out to fight with the Jokhang official army, and the number of soldiers who can fight in the Mandarin Duck Formation has also exceeded 5,000.

"Don't look at the number of people we have now is not as large as when we were the most in the past, but if we want to say that we can fight, there are many more soldiers than in the past. Relying on these soldiers, we can walk sideways all day long. Liu Jiexuan said to Huang Zide very proudly.

"I can't say that yet." Huang Zide shook his head and said, "You forgot what the Taoist chief said, there are still Tartars outside the gate!" Besides, we are not running all over the world now, but we really want to build a foothold. ”

The two men were talking when they suddenly heard a commotion outside.

And they came out of the camp together, and saw another army approaching the camp. At this time, a probe Ma came to report: "Marshal, General Shang Yigong has returned from Baofeng. ”