That night, Liu Zongmin and others came to Li Zicheng to discuss tomorrow's siege, so they also saw Zhang Nai's body. Everyone silently found some incense and candles to pay tribute, planning to wait for the opening of the seal before the funeral.

Early the next morning, Li Zicheng's troops were ready. As was customary, the other ministries began their attacks with artillery fire, driving the displaced people to dig bricks under the city walls. The difference was that in the northeast corner of the city, thousands of troops were slowly gathered. The infantry in front and the cavalry in the rear, all elite in armor, lined up outside the moat.

The officers and soldiers on the city wall finally discovered those thieves, so they immediately went to report to Wang Xie, the person in charge here. Wang Xie was not there, so Cao Kun, the courtier of the palace, and Zhang Wenguang, the squire, came over.

As soon as the two of them arrived at the city wall, they saw a puff of smoke rising from more than ten feet away. It was smoky, and it was running fast.

"What's that?" Squire Zhang Wenguang frowned and asked.

No one could answer his question, except for the gunners and crossbowmen, who were still firing hard, and everyone else was watching carefully from behind the planks of the battlements.

There was a loud "boom", followed by the earth shaking, the mountains shook, the masonry splashed, and the smoke and dust flew. The soldiers on the city wall were unsteady on their feet and fell on the wall. And the shelling in other directions also stopped, and the displaced people stopped attacking, and everyone looked at the place where the smoke was rising in amazement.

The soldiers on the city wall slowly got up and looked around in ignorance. But they didn't find anything abnormal, the city wall was still intact, and the comrades and soldiers on the city wall were all safe and sound.

But Li Zicheng's elite soldiers, who had gathered outside the moat, were in chaos. The explosion was so powerful that it threw all the bricks and stones on the city wall outward, the big ones the size of a grinding disc and the small ones the size of fists, and they flew towards them in the explosion.

The elites under Li Zicheng didn't expect this result at all, the masonry broke through the smoke and dust and flew towards them, they were completely unprepared, and they were beaten one by one and their heads were bleeding. Even though they were wearing armor, they were still broken by the heavy blows and their internal organs were injured.

Li Zicheng and the others were stunned when they saw this unexpected scene. Originally, these subordinates were going to rush into the elite of the city, they could take the city wall, take the palace, and take the official warehouse. But now it has suffered a huge blow and has no ability to attack.

"Transfer another 5,000 elite soldiers from each battalion!" Li Zicheng immediately ordered.

His own soldiers immediately went to give the order to the battalions to send elite soldiers.

However, before the soldiers and horses of the battalions came, the smoke and dust of the explosion slowly dispersed. Everyone saw that at the site of the explosion, a large crater several feet appeared in the city wall. 1,100 catties of gunpowder were put in, such a huge explosion actually only blew up a big crater in the city wall, although the big pit looked very dark and deep, but it still did not blow through the city wall, nor did it collapse the city wall.

Liu Zongmin rode over, looked at the big pit on the city wall, and asked in surprise: "This, this, how is this the result?" ”

Li Zicheng was speechless for a long time, looking at the section of the city wall and the big pit with one eye. After a long time, he muttered: "More than a thousand catties**, is this the result?" This Kaifeng, is it really impossible to knock it down? ”

He has such an exclamation, but he is also helpless. He was desperate this time, he was almost out of gunpowder. If there was no artillery suppression, how could he have attacked the city? Coupled with the news I received yesterday, Zuo Liangyu and Yang Wenyue are going to bring troops over, and he is in danger of being besieged.

After a while, Li Guo and the others also came, and even Luo Rucai, who had been avoiding them for the past few days, also came. They looked at the big crater that had been blown out of the city wall, and the wounded who were wailing in front of them, and they were speechless for a long time.

"God bless Kaifeng!"

"God bless Kaifeng! God bless the Ming! ”

……

The defenders at the head of the city suddenly began to cheer loudly, and this cheer soon became louder, and the hundreds of thousands of people in the entire Kaifeng City also cheered.

At this time, the elite soldiers transferred by the battalions also came over one after another, but when they saw the tragic situation in front of them, as well as the big pit on the city wall, and listened to the cheers of Kaifeng City, they were all dejected.

Li Zicheng gritted his teeth, and only ordered after a long time: "Suspend the attack today and let the sons and daughters rest." Sending wine and meat women to the battalions to boost morale. ”

The generals were silent. Luo Rucai saw that the big thing had been decided, so he planned to leave quietly, but Li Zicheng stopped him.

"Cao Cao," Li Zicheng said, "Don't be in a hurry to leave, let's discuss the future behavior together." ”

Luo Rucai smiled and arched his hand: "I'll go back to the camp first to make arrangements, and I'll come over immediately." ”

Liu Zongmin also smiled and said, "Let's go, I'll accompany you." ”

Luo Rucai's face was embarrassed, a little reluctant, and he smiled awkwardly: "Zong Min, what do you mean by this?" ”

"Zong Min don't laugh, let's just wait for Cao Cao to come back." Li Zicheng patted Liu Zongmin and said.

Luo Rucai clenched his fists and said, "Everyone, wait a minute, I'll be here in a while." After saying that, he immediately left with his own soldiers.

Li Zicheng said to Liu Zongmin dissatisfied: "Are you trying to drive him away?!" At this time, it is time to unite as one and deal with the officers and troops together. If he leaves with his troops, we will have to deal with the officers and soldiers ourselves. ”

"I'm afraid he'll run away!" Liu Zongmin was also dissatisfied and said: "He withdrew the army without authorization, so Zhang Nai died!" In the past few days, he has not been able to work hard to attack the city, and he has not been asked for some gunpowder. If he could come up with even three or five hundred catties of gunpowder, this city wall would have collapsed a long time ago! Do you still have to worry about those officers and soldiers?! ”

"And what do you want? Kill him?! Li Zicheng lowered his voice and shouted angrily. Although Luo Rucai had already run away, he still didn't want more people to listen to the sermon.

Liu Zongmin stared at Li Zicheng and said viciously: "He only has less than 60,000 people now, and there are only 20,000 elite soldiers. Kill him, and merge his soldiers, and we will really become a soldier, and we don't have to worry about dividing and merging things anymore. ”

Li Zicheng was silent for a while, although he also had such thoughts in his heart, he still had to resist this temptation. vetoed: "Now is not the time, the morale of our troops is low, and if there is another internal strife at this time, it will be unpredictable." ”

Gao Yigong and Yuan Zongdi also nodded and said, "Zicheng is right, I can't move it yet." ”

Liu Zongmin snorted angrily and said, "Wait! He's leaving in two days, and it's too late for you to do anything! ”

Li Zicheng hesitated, he originally wanted to send someone to keep an eye on Luo Rucai, but he still didn't give the order. He knew that if he really did this, Luo Rucai would definitely leave. What is needed now is unity, he still has to deal with the next pursuit of the officers and soldiers, and he has to complete his hegemony, and he can't mess up because of the death of a person. Without saying anything, he turned and walked towards his tent.

...