The big white flag on the head of Caomen City was finally cut down by the soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate Army, and the big white flag, which had been broken, was trampled under the feet of the laughing soldiers, and the white flag almost turned gray and black.

Huang Shu, who guarded Caomen, was unwilling to be humiliated, drew a knife and committed suicide, but was rescued by the soldiers of the Heavenly Mandate Army and tied up like a zongzi.

Fang Deng personally climbed to the top of the city, hundreds of soldiers surrounded him, and after several months, Kaifeng City was finally taken, and the first to climb the city was the second regiment of the independent battalion.

But Fang Deng understood that if it weren't for the Governor's clever plan to break the morale of the defenders, the Second Regiment would not have climbed to the top of the city so easily, he glanced at the city, gave Li Zicheng a military salute from afar, and then waved his hand, "Quick, open the city gate, and respectfully invite the Governor to enter the city!" ”

The soldiers of the second and first regiments outside Caomen were entering the city, and Li Zicheng had already received a message: Gao Ligong had taken the north city gate, Guan He, who was guarding the north city, was killed in the battle with Zhisang Kaidi, and Su Maozhuo was captured due to his injuries.

An army of 30,000 entered the city from Caomen and the North Gate, and then seized other gates from inside the city to meet the Mandate of Heaven army outside the city.

Li Zicheng knew that Kaifeng had been besieged for several months, and the city was already weak, and he couldn't toss anymore, lest individual soldiers enter the city and harass the people privately, after all, many of the soldiers who entered the city had just joined the Mandate of Heaven Army.

He ordered people to make a huge banner out of white cloth, with the inscription "Killing a man is like killing my father, and adulterating a person is like adultering my mother", with red letters on a white background, which is very eye-catching, which not only warns the soldiers who enter the city, but also appeases the people in the city.

White banners are hung on the head of the castle of Cao Gate, and anyone who passes by Cao Gate can see it.

When the commanders of the battalions heard of this, they immediately imitated them, and many of these banners hung not only at the gates, but also on the main roads in the city.

It is not enough to just appease, Li Zicheng knows that what is most lacking in the city is not these banners, but food.

He immediately set up porridge sheds in the five city gates, and began to give porridge after an hour, whether it was soldiers, people, or officials and merchants, they could all wait in line, regardless of whether they were young or strong, old and weak, women and children, each person had a big bowl of gruel, and a piece of pancake!

Kaifeng City, after being broken by the mortal enemy Heavenly Mandate Army, ushered in a vitality that was rare for several months.

The captured soldiers were temporarily detained in the barracks in the city, and Li Zicheng took over the list of captured civil and military officials, including Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan, Wu Shijiao, the prefect of Kaifeng Prefecture, Liang Bing, the political envoy of Zuobu, Su Maozhuo, and Huang Shu, the governor of Tongzhi, but Chen Yongfu, the chief military officer of Kaifeng, and Tan Guozhen, the chief military officer of Kaifeng, were nowhere to be found, and they did not know whether they died in battle or escaped.

Li Zicheng just asked the soldiers to search in the city, whether they could find it or not, in fact, it didn't matter, the main thing was that they couldn't be allowed to stay in the city and harm people.

Li Zicheng did not particularly embarrass these captured officials, but let them have a full meal, and then parade the streets in the city, so that they could see Kaifeng with a different perspective and a different identity.

For three days, the city was in the midst of disaster relief.

On the fourth day, Li Zicheng sent Niu Jinxing to contact the grain merchants in the city to discuss the sale of grain at a reasonable price.

The grain merchants naturally couldn't ask for it, and in Kaifeng City, there was no grain to sell, even the grain merchants, the grain in their hands was also very small, if it wasn't tightly hidden, it would have been searched by the government long ago.

They are not short of money, but they are short of food!

At the same time that Niu Jinxing proposed to sell grain, he also put forward strict restrictions, in order to ensure that the people in the city could eat affordable grain, the Heavenly Mandate Army strictly limited the price of grain.

The grain merchants had no choice, and soon reached an agreement with Niu Jinxing: the grain merchants bought from the Heavenly Mandate Army at the price of two taels of silver per stone of grain, and the selling price should not exceed two taels and five yuan, and in the future, the price of the grain supplied by the Heavenly Mandate Army would be reduced, and the grain merchants must also reduce the price.

Niu Jinxing specially told the grain merchants that in Kaifeng City, military management is now implemented, and those who violate the order will be beheaded!

The grain merchants' favorite is naturally grain, but no matter how much food there is, they must have a life, and after several months of hell on earth, seeing a large number of dead corpses, they feel the preciousness of life.

All the grain merchants in the city have signed an agreement with Niu Jinxing, guaranteeing that they will be evaluated and traded, and if they violate the agreement, they will be willing to suffer any punishment!

After all, the Mandate of Heaven Army is a foreign force, and there are military means to guarantee it, in the face of swords and guns, the grain merchants have the heart, and they will not dare to raise prices at will, everyone understands that in Kaifeng City, how many pairs of eyes are staring at them, that is, the Mandate of Heaven Army did not find out, if it is reported by the person who bought the grain, it is also a matter of adjusting the head.

By selling grain to grain merchants, order in the city can be gradually restored, and the pressure on disaster relief personnel can also be reduced, but this grain can only meet about 20% of the population, and most of the people have neither food nor silver to buy food, and completely rely on the Mandate of Heaven Army for disaster relief.

Fortunately, the Mandate of Heaven army harvested a lot of wheat outside the city, and before Kaifeng broke the city, Li Zicheng transported a lot of grain from the surrounding prefectures and counties, and he would not run out of cooking for the time being.

Order in the city is being restored little by little, and the people who are waiting for disaster relief food have also learned the rules of the Mandate of Heaven: queue up! If anyone dares to cut the queue and is caught by the soldiers, the first disaster relief food will be halved, and the second time the disaster relief food will be completely canceled, and they will be left to fend for themselves.

However, there are also many problems.

First of all, some people who have surplus money will also wait at the disaster relief site to get food for nothing, who doesn't want it?

Secondly, whether it is disaster relief food or the food sold in the city, it is from the Heavenly Mandate Army, and hundreds of thousands of residents in the city rely entirely on the supply of the Heavenly Mandate Army, and Li Zicheng is under great pressure;

Thirdly, although the people received relief food, they were all in a half-full state, and could only sustain their lives, but could not restore their normal strength;

Thirdly, the Mandate of Heaven Army feeds the people of a city for nothing, and even if there is enough food, it will get the people used to bad habits and develop the bad habit of relying entirely on the Mandate of Heaven Army......

At present, it is necessary to restore the government of Kaifeng as soon as possible and leave things to the government to do.

For example, if a common person who has money to buy food receives relief food, the right to buy grain will be revoked, and so on, and these things can only be done by the government that is familiar with the people.

Li Zicheng made time to summon the captured Henan governor Gao Mingheng, Zuobu political envoy Liang Bing, Kaifeng prefect Wu Shijiao, Tongzhi Su Maozhuo, and Tuguan Huang Shu.

After they were captured, they were not imprisoned and could move freely in the city, but they had to accept the "protection" of the Mandate of Heaven and did not leave the city.

Li Zicheng believes that in the past few days, they should have a new understanding of the Mandate of Heaven Army, and if they continue to regard the Mandate of Heaven Army as "rogues" and "thieves", it means that their thinking has been seriously ossified, and there is no need for the Mandate of Heaven Army to cooperate with those who hate the Mandate of Heaven Army.

The five people were brought into the governor's yamen where Li Zicheng was temporarily stationed, and Gao Mingheng walked in first, looking at his original seat, there was a man in armor who looked like a general, no more than thirty years old, with tiger eyes and a smile on his face.

To the right of the main seat, sat a man of nearly fifty years old, dressed in a robe, who was supposed to be a civil servant, and his hand stroked a long strand of hair under his chin, although he did not speak, giving people a slight bow.

Directly behind the throne, there was also a man in his early thirties and dressed in armor, who was supposed to be a guard.

Gao Mingheng frowned lightly, snorted coldly, looked away, and looked sideways at the beam on the right.

Li Zicheng's heart moved, the people who were imprisoned under the stairs still dared to shake their faces, and they were really temperamental, but those who dared to love and hate, they were easy to retract, and they were more trustworthy than those who were insidious and hypocritical.

His face was indifferent, and he said softly: "Is this the Governor of Henan, Lord Gao?" ”

"This official bank doesn't change its name, it's Gao Mingheng," Gao Mingheng glanced at Li Zicheng and said loudly: "Who are you?" Talk to this official, you are not qualified enough, let Li Zicheng come! ”

"You ......" He Xiaomi was furious and wanted to draw his knife, but Li Zicheng waved his hand to stop him, but Niu Jinxing looked at Gao Mingheng, stroked his long beard, and bowed his head slightly.

Li Zicheng's expression remained unchanged, and he said, "Why did Lord Gao want to see Li Zicheng?" In Kaifeng City in the past few days, you have seen everything with your own eyes, do you have to see Li Zicheng? ”

"Hypocrisy, buying the hearts of the people!" Gao Mingheng snorted coldly: "Hundreds of thousands of people in the city, how long can you use the method of disaster relief?" The people are not half fed every day, they cannot farm, they cannot engage in business, and you plan to support them for the rest of their lives? ”

This Gao Mingheng really paid attention to the situation in the city, yes, as long as there were people in his eyes, if he wanted to break the Yellow River embankment, I am afraid it was a last resort, and the problems he raised were indeed big problems, if the Mandate of Heaven did not come from the predicament of Xining, it would be difficult to solve it for a while.

Li Zicheng smiled faintly and said, "Is Lord Gao worried about the people in the city, or is he worried that the Heavenly Mandate Army will not be able to maintain order in Kaifeng City?" ”

Gao Mingheng said angrily: "Since this official has been captured and only wants to die quickly, what else is there to worry about?" ”

Li Zicheng laughed: "Isn't Lord Gao worried that the Heavenly Mandate Army is angry and slaughtering the city in Kaifeng?" The infamy behind this ......"

"You ......" Gao Mingheng pointed at Li Zicheng's nose, but quickly put it down, breathed a long sigh of relief, and said: "In Kaifeng City, there are banners everywhere, 'Killing a person is like killing my father, and lewdness is like adulterating my mother', what does it mean?" ”

"In the past few days, Lord Gao has seen soldiers killing, plundering, and insulting women in the city?" Li Zicheng said: "The military discipline of the Heavenly Mandate Army should not be worse than that of the Ming Army, right?" ”

Gao Mingheng squinted his eyes, thoughtful in his heart.

"According to Lord Gao, can the Heavenly Mandate Army solve the food problem of the people?" Li Zicheng said lightly: "When the Mandate of Heaven Army came to Henan, it was indeed starving everywhere at that time, and it is true that there is a drought in Henan, but it is not as serious as the government advertises, right?" ”

"What do you want to say?" Gao Mingheng's gaze suddenly became sharp, and he said angrily: "Who are you?" ”

Li Zicheng said lightly: "Li Zicheng, the Governor of the Mandate of Heaven!" ”

"Li Zicheng? Are you Li Zicheng? Gao Mingheng seems to have discovered aliens, the legendary Governor of the Heavenly Mandate Army is haunted and cunning, but he didn't expect it to be this inconspicuous person in front of him, who is only thirty-five or sixteen, and even has a faint childishness on his face, if he is put in the officialdom of the imperial court, I am afraid that he is not as good as the county.

This is the person in charge of the 100,000 Mandate of Heaven Army? defeated the imperial court's reinforcements many times, and finally conquered Kaifeng City......

"Under Li Zicheng, if it is fake," Li Zicheng said: "Do you want to hear it, how does the governor of Pontus solve the food problem in Kaifeng?" ”

Although Gao Mingheng didn't speak, he nodded, maybe he didn't care about Kaifeng's grain, but was more interested in Li Ziwei himself.