Li Zicheng personally led his troops to attack Chenzhou, not to be greedy for merit, he had already aimed at Guide Mansion in the east of Kaifeng Mansion.

Chen Zhou and the counties under its jurisdiction, there was no heavy garrison, Li Zicheng divided his troops in Xiangcheng, and the four regiments to which Li Ji belonged were divided into four roads, Li Ji led the first regiment Zhao Lie's division to attack Chenzhou, Liu Zongmin's second regiment attacked Shangshui County, Niu Kejing's third regiment attacked Xihua County, and Li Zicheng led the fourth regiment Luo Tai Division, which was the closest to Xiangcheng to attack Shenqiu County.

The four-way army finally converged in Chenzhou.

From Xiangcheng to Shenqiu, it was only fifty miles, and Li Zicheng rushed to the outside of Shenqiu City at an early time.

Six or seven thousand soldiers surrounded Shenqiu City, and outside the four gates were the camps of the Heavenly Mandate Army.

Wu Jie, the county governor of Shenqiu, stood at the head of the city, looking at the Heavenly Mandate Army outside the city with strict discipline and orderly action, and between the two thick and dense eyebrows, a big word "Sichuan" had already appeared.

"The Heavenly Mandate Army is obviously a rogue, how can it be more powerful and majestic than the officers and soldiers?"

In the southern camp of the Mandate of Heaven Army, Luo Tai came to Li Zicheng's big tent, saluted Li Zicheng, and said, "Governor, when will we attack the city?" ”

"General Luo, don't be impatient," Li Zicheng pointed to the small horse on the opposite side, asked him to sit down, and said: "The information of the Han Qing Bureau, there are only three or four hundred soldiers in the city, and our army is more than ten times, General Luo said, how to break the city?" ”

Luo Tai knew that the Metropolitan Governor had the intention of teaching himself, thought for a moment, arched his hands and said: "The Metropolitan Governor, our army is more than ten times the size of the Ming army, when it can be attacked, in order to reduce losses, you can attack the city on three sides, and on the other side, set up a false camp tent, but leave an ambush in a critical place to lure the Ming army out of the city and defeat it in one fell swoop!" ”

"Circumference three que one!" Li Zicheng smiled faintly and said: "General Luo is good at military studies, but ......"

"The Governor ......"

"General Luo's use of the art of war did not take into account the military morale of both sides, nor did he take into account the people's will of both sides," Li Zicheng said: "In the eyes of the Ming army, we are rogues and thieves!" ”

"However, the military discipline and military rules of the Mandate of Heaven Army are stricter than those of the Ming Army, and they are from the perspective of protecting the people," Luo Tai seemed to understand something, "If the Mandate of Heaven Army occupies Shenqiu, the life of the people will definitely be better than before!" ”

"General Luo understands this truth, but it is still far from enough," Li Zicheng said with a smile: "The key is to let the people and soldiers in the city know!" ”

"Grand Governor, subordinate ......"

"General Luo don't worry, no accident, there are already people from the Han Qing Bureau in the city," Li Zicheng smiled faintly: "I'll fix another book and give Wu Jie an ultimatum, General Luo said, will the morale of the defenders be completely destroyed?" ”

"Dadu Du Guo is strategizing, his subordinates never thought of ......it" Luo Tai bowed his head again, he has always been a wise general, completely different from Liu Jianyi's bravery, usually a little narcissistic, but I didn't expect that in front of Dadudu, it was completely a three-year-old child.

If a letter from the Metropolitan Governor can persuade Wu Jie to surrender, it is much more clever than a bloodless soldier.

Go to war!

Li Zicheng smiled secretly, these Mao Taizu's hard work back then, Lao Tzu just came easily, could it be that he didn't use hundreds of years of experience, and he had to fight to the death with the Ming army?

I hope that Wu Jie is a good official and can consider the people.

In his letter, he made it clear that if Wu Jie was stubborn, once the Mandate of Heaven army broke through the city, none of the civil and military officials and their families in the city would be spared, and at least half of the soldiers would be slaughtered; On the contrary, the defenders took the initiative to open the city to surrender, and the Mandate of Heaven army not only did not commit any crimes, but also helped the people in the city who were short of food.

Li Zicheng naturally will not slaughter soldiers, whether he joins the Mandate of Heaven Army or stays to farm, they are all laborers, although soldiers are the main body of the battle, but the responsibility of the war has nothing to do with the soldiers, they just obey the generals!

Whether Wu Jie will open the city and surrender, Li Zicheng is not sure, this is the first time that the Heavenly Mandate Army has come to Shenqiu, and he doesn't know Wu Jie at all.

Although the Han Qing Bureau has been expanded many times, it is still understaffed, and Wang Anping's main target is still a fortified city like Kaifeng and Luoyang, as well as the main force of the Ming army, and there is little energy to pay attention to the county town with a very small number of defenders.

This time, the Mandate of Heaven army divided its troops to capture Chenzhou and Xuzhou, and in order to cooperate with the army to attack the city, Wang Anping sent some people from the Han Qing Bureau to operate in the prefectures and counties that the army wanted to capture.

However, the time for the people of the Han Qing Bureau to be active in the Chenzhou area was too short, and no one could estimate whether they could plot against the soldiers and people of Chenzhou.

Li Zicheng sat with both hands and prepared, if after dawn, Wu Jie still refused to surrender, then he had to attack the city, there were only a few hundred soldiers in the city, even if he attacked it, he could also take Shenqiu City.

If you can't even take a small county town, how can you talk about a strong city like Kaifeng in the future?

Li Zicheng did not wait for Wu Jie's reply, and went to bed early after dinner, if Wu Jie refused to take the initiative to surrender, he would attack the city tomorrow.

There was nothing to say that night, Li Zicheng slept soundly, and when he woke up, the sky was already bright, Li Zicheng was about to take his own soldiers to move outside the camp, but Luo Tai came to ask for a meeting, "Governor, the south gate has been opened!" ”

"South Gate?" Li Zicheng was stunned, "Is it the city gate seized by the people of the Han Qing Bureau?" ”

"I'm afraid not," Luo Tai shook his head, "My subordinates went to the city gate just now, although the city gate is wide open, but the gate is empty, and there are no defenders or people from the Han Qing Bureau asking for help!" ”

"Could it be that Wu Jie wants to take the initiative to surrender?" Li Zicheng simply didn't go to exercise early, made a move, and rushed to the south gate with his own soldiers.

Thousands of horses are rushing, horses' hooves are clattering, soft grass is hanging beads, crystal clear!

Li Zicheng rushed from the west gate to the south gate, and sure enough, as Luo Tai said, the south gate was wide open, but the city gate was quiet, and there were neither officers and soldiers, nor soldiers entering and leaving the city gate.

What the hell is Wu Jie?

Li Zicheng restrained his war horse a hundred steps away, and the thousand horsemen stopped, and everyone looked towards the city, but they couldn't see anything on the city.

He Xiaomi has been following Li Zicheng's side, and when he saw that the Metropolitan Governor was hesitant, he said: "Metropolitan Governor, let his subordinates take a hundred soldiers to take a look!" ”

Li Zicheng nodded and said, "Xiaomi, get off the horse, use a rifle!" ”

The rifle of the Mandate of Heaven is difficult to aim on the back of a moving horse, even if it hits the enemy by luck, it is also difficult to load, that is, it is a one-time use, in order to give full play to the advantages of the rifle, only to dismount and switch from cavalry to infantry.

He Xiaomi agreed, and immediately lit up a hundred personal soldiers and went to the city gate.

The soldiers were cautious, their rifles were not only loaded, but the muzzles were all pointing forward, and they could pull the trigger at any time if there was any movement.

A pro-soldier gunner of a hundred households gradually approached the city gate, and suddenly there was movement at the head of the city, and the soldiers were raising their guns, waiting to pull the trigger, but He Xiaomi shouted: "Don't shoot!" ”

He took a closer look, and yes, the white flag had been raised at the head of the city, which was a signal to surrender.

As long as the city is not surrendered, Shenqiu City will be taken, don't make trouble because of misunderstanding!

He Xiaomi didn't quite understand that Wu Jie had opened the city for a long time, why he had only appeared in the city until now, but it was always a good thing that he took the initiative to surrender!

The guards neither fired nor walked, but looked at the city.

After a while, there was movement in the city gate hole, and the soldiers were startled, and quickly divided half of the muzzle of the gun and aimed it at the direction of the city gate hole.

To their surprise, the city gate cave was not a surprise attack by the Ming army, but a group of officials appeared, led by the officials, wearing black gauze long official hats, wearing cyan civil official uniforms, and embroidered with emu on the patch on his chest, obviously a seven-grade civil official!

Could it be that he is Wu Jie?

He Xiaomi knows that in a county seat, only the county is the seventh grade, and this emu official mansion shows that the person who is the leader is the seventh grade, not who is Wujie?

However, he didn't know Wu Jie, although he didn't shoot, the rifle in his hand was still aimed at the city gate!

The seven-rank civil official glanced at the Heavenly Mandate Army in front of him, walked out of the city gate, shook the hem of the official uniform with both hands, turned over and bowed down.

He Xiaomi was taken aback, looked into the city gate cave, and saw that there were no soldiers defending the city gate cave, and his heart was a little settled, and when he looked back, Li Zicheng had already brought his own soldiers to urge the horse over, pointed forward with a horse whip, and said, "Who are you!" ”

"Xiaguan Shenqiu Zhixian Wujie!" The civil officials at the head will not knock on the ground!

"Wu Jie? Shenqiu Zhi County? Li Zicheng was secretly happy in his heart, Wu Jie took the initiative to open the city and surrender, the overall situation in the city has been decided, there is no need to waste the lives of his brothers, he smiled on his face, and said: "Get up and talk back!" ”

Wu Jie wanted to get up, but he swayed from side to side, like a candle in the wind, and with the support of the two officials, he stood up and stood in front of Li Zicheng.

Only then did Li Zicheng realize that Wu Jie's hands were tied, and he couldn't help frowning: "What does Wuzhi County mean?" ”

Wu Jie held his head high and said: "Xiaguan knows that there are few soldiers in Shenqiu County, and he can't hold it at all, so Xiaguan tied his hands and let the Heavenly Mandate Army deal with it, I just hope that the general will not poison the people and soldiers in the city!" ”

"Poisoning the people?" Li Zicheng sneered: "Where the Heavenly Mandate Army has passed, how can it poison the people? ”

"Even in Shenqiu City, there are also many people who recite the Heavenly Mandate Army's 'Juntian Light Endowment, Disaster Relief, and No Killing or Plundering'," Wu Jie said loudly: "But Xia Guan understands that if you don't kill or plunder, how can the Heavenly Mandate Army get food, grass, and money?" ”

"It turns out that Wuzhi County is working for the Heavenly Mandate Army?" Li Zicheng's face turned cold, but he maintained a faint smile, "The Mandate of Heaven Army not only will not plunder the people, but also distribute a lot of disaster relief food to the people of Luoyang and Ruzhou, otherwise, how can the people live in peace in the drought-ravaged southwest of Henan?" After a pause, he said: "As for the source of food, it can't be explained in a few words, so don't talk about it for the time being!" ”

"Disaster relief?" Wu Jie's eyes flashed with astonishment, "Could it be that the rumors in the market that the Heavenly Mandate Army distributed disaster relief food to the people are actually true?" ”

"There is no wind and no waves," Li Zicheng said with a smile: "How does the Heavenly Mandate Army treat the people, that is the military law and military rules that were set more than ten years ago, how can they be changed at will?" Outside Shenqiu City, has there ever been a disturbance of the people by the Mandate of Heaven? ”

"However, the lower officials heard that Governor Fu was defeated and died......

"Wu Zhixian's words are wrong," Li Zicheng said: "Fu Zonglong is an ordinary person? At that time, each was his master, either he died or I died, how could there be no casualties on the battlefield? It can only be said that Fu Zonglong is not good at governing the army! ”

"......" Wu Jie was speechless for a while.

Li Zicheng continued: "The governor of Pontus is strange, since Wu Zhixian has the intention to surrender, why did he hide in the city after opening the city gate and not come out? ”

"When the city gate is opened, the lower officials do have the intention of sacrificing themselves for the people, and the city gates may be closed at any time," Wu Jie said: "However, the lower officials are hesitant, if it is an ordinary rogue, maybe Shenqiu City can be def......ended."

"I wonder why Wu Zhixian finally decided to surrender?" In Li Zicheng's heart, he was still thinking about the Han Qing Bureau.

"Mighty and majestic, so majestic!" Wu Jie's eyes were slightly closed, only a glimmer of light appeared from the gap between the upper and lower eyelids, a little fear, but also a little reverence, "Seeing that the cavalry of the Heavenly Mandate Army is so powerful and majestic, Xia Guan knows that Shen Qiu City will definitely not be able to defend it, for the sake of the people, Xia Guan is ......."

Fall from the wind!

"Hahaha......" Li Zicheng laughed and let his soldiers untie the ropes that bound Wu Jie, "Don't worry, you can watch the Heavenly Mandate Army enter the city, if any soldier disturbs the people, Bendu will not be spared!" ”

Li Zicheng didn't think much about it, so he persuaded Wu Ming to serve as the commander of Shenqiu County, and reorganized the Ming army in the city into two hundred city defense armies, and then took the Luo Tai Department to the north, and rushed to Chenzhou to join the army according to the previous agreement.