Henan was known as Zhongzhou in ancient times, and it is the center of the world, and because of this, as long as the world is in chaos, the people of Henan will fall into blood mold.

Since ancient times, the forces of the south and the north, the east and the west, no one can avoid Henan, and they have to fight in Henan, which is called the Central Plains.

From the Spring and Autumn period when the great country Zheng was ravaged by the Quartet, to the decisive battle between the official army and the thieves in Henan, for thousands of years, the people of Henan have suffered from conquest and war.

At present, if the invasion army occupies Henan, it is equivalent to occupying the heart of the Ming Dynasty, and Beijing's connection with the south and northwest will be cut off by the invasion army, and the Beijing court will be unable to command the Quartet, like a paralyzed corpse, and eventually go to extinction.

Kaifeng City is the ancient Liang, located on the plain, the throat of Kyushu, the Yellow River enters the Huai River in the south through this, and is the most important land and water capital in the Central Plains.

If the army takes this place, it can take the Daimyo Mansion to the north, enter the north and threaten Beijing, and fight along the Yellow River to the south, and seize Shandong to the east, and the location is very important.

At this time, under the city of Kaifeng, a large flag embroidered with the word "Chuang" fluttered in the wind.

Li Zicheng was wearing armor, holding a war knife in his hand, standing on a hill with the generals, staring indifferently at the soldiers and soldiers in the wilderness, and attacking Kaifeng overwhelmingly.

Last year, Li Zicheng gathered a group of thieves to surround Kaifeng, the cave city attacked, seven days and nights, but the Ming Dynasty patrol in the city according to the high name of the official to defend the road, and the king of Zhou out of the treasury gold 500,000, buy rice and wheat to help pay, and reward the recruitment of the dead, the soldiers and people in the city enthusiastically killed the thief, the governor Li Xianfeng led the reinforcements to kill, Li Zicheng could only temporarily lead the troops to retreat, Kaifeng immediately lifted the siege.

However, although Kaifeng was encircled, the imperial court wanted to hold Li Zicheng responsible for making Henan bigger.

At this time, the governor Gao Mingyu and the governor Li Xianfeng shirked each other, and Chongzhen did not give the minister the opportunity to atone for his crimes, and issued an edict to arrest Li Xianfeng, the governor of Henan, forcing Li Xianfeng to commit suicide.

This is tantamount to a change of commander, and as soon as Li Xianfeng died, Kaifeng was difficult to support alone, Li Zicheng found an opportunity to re-encircle Kaifeng, and at this time, there was no longer anyone in Henan who could break the siege of Feng.

At this time, under the city of Kaifeng, hundreds of trebuchets were creaked apart by the homeless, and the boulders weighing forty or fifty pounds in the leather pocket were thrown to the head of the city, and the city wall was splashed with rubble.

Huge rocks flew in the sky, thieves like ants on the ground, approaching the city wall, arrows and projectiles roared on the city, the shields of the thieves could not stop the fire, a group of people in the army turned on their horses, and there were thieves everywhere who were shot down and killed.

More than 10,000 thieves rushed to the city, and the corpses were already piled up, and the blood flowed out of the corpses, pooling into a stream, dyeing the dry riverbed crimson, which was shocking.

Thousands of thieves under the city archers threw arrows to the city, and the arrows above and below the city rained down, intertwined into a black arrow net, and the thieves held their shields high, on top of the rolling logs and stones, stepped on the piled corpses, and climbed frantically along the ladder to the city.

At the head of the city, several officers and soldiers were guarding a battlement, and they were fighting fiercely with the thieves and soldiers who climbed up the city, while the officers and soldiers next to them hurriedly shot arrows at the thieves who climbed the city, or raised boulders and smashed the climbing thieves down, and the whole battle was extremely fierce.

A civil official in a scarlet official robe stood at the head of the city, waving his sword and shouting, "His Royal Highness the King of Zhou has one million gold out of the treasury, and those who capture one thief will be given twenty taels, and those who have been killed in battle will be given ten silver, and the war dead will be accompanied by their families, and the wounded will be hired as errand soldiers." All the soldiers kill the thieves~"

At this time, several soldiers carried a large box up to the city, and the soldiers in front of them accidentally fell, and the box fell to the ground, and the whole box of silver was scattered on the city.

In the case of King Fu of Luoyang, Zhu Gongfang, the king of Zhou, went out and stored the palace treasury gold directly in the city, so as to motivate the officials and soldiers to defend the city.

When the officers and soldiers saw the real money, several soldiers abandoned their bows and arrows, picked up a long log and crashed into the ladder at the head of the city, and the soldiers roared in unison, "One, two, three! Bump! ”

The ladder was knocked out of the city, and the thieves lying on it let out a long scream, and jumped down from the ladder one after another, and the ladder fell down heavily, with a loud "boom", the ladder was broken apart, and several thieves were killed.

From a distance, Li Zicheng watched indifferently as the soldiers fought with the officers and soldiers, and he drove the low-level refugees and the troops of Luo Rucai and others to attack the city, reduce the power of the army leader, and consume Kaifeng's military strength and money and food, which can be described as killing two birds with one stone.

He wanted to see how much silver could be distributed in the city, and Li Zicheng couldn't help but sneer.

"King Chuang, the brothers have suffered too many casualties, let them take a breath." Luo Rucai, who was on the side, saw that his subordinates were suffering heavy casualties, and said with some distress.

Li Zicheng looked at the sky, it was already approaching dusk, his mind of consuming dissidents could not be too obvious, he had to boil the frog in warm water, and he couldn't let others feel it obviously, so he waved his hand and said, "Summons the order to withdraw the troops and fight again tomorrow." ”

"Yes!"

Li Zicheng gave an order, and the golden sound of "Dangdangdang" sounded, and the attacking army suddenly retreated like a tide like a tide.

"The thieves are back! The thieves are back! The officers and soldiers defending the city immediately let out a burst of cheers.

The scarlet-robed man immediately walked to the city wall, took out a clairvoyant mirror, and took out the mirror tube to watch.

In the circular horizon, the soldiers retreated like a tide, but in the extreme distance, there were banners and banners, and large blue figures were all over the field, but the old battalion of the invading army never participated in the attack.

"Futai, how's it going?" Huang Shu, the magistrate next to him, asked.

The scarlet robe is a high-ranking person who has taken over as governor for less than half a year, and he put down the clairvoyant mirror with a melancholy face, "The thieves use the homeless people to consume us, but the old camp has not moved so far, if they join the siege, Kaifeng is afraid that it will be dangerous." ”

"Futai, you can ask Zuo Liangyu for help again." Zhang Mingbiao, a staff member on the side, arched his hand and said: "If there are no reinforcements, Kaifeng will fall for a long time!" ”

"Benfu sent three urgent documents to the Beijing Division, and the imperial court also urged Zuozhen to march into the army several times, but so far no soldiers and horses have come." Gao Mingyu's expression was gloomy, he estimated that the thieves were powerful, and the left army did not dare to come to help.

But for now, he still needs to give it a try, he turned around and instructed the two: "Lord Huang, you write another urgent document for Ben Fu, hand it over before the third watch, and Ben Fu will send it to Beijing quickly." ”

Then he said to Zhang Mingbiao: "Zonglin, you go out of the city tonight to see the governor Wen Yuegong, and ask him to urge Zuozhen to come and untie the siege of Feng." ”

"Obey the order~" Zhang Mingbiao solemnly clenched his fists.

······

Since the twelfth year of Chongzhen, Yang Sichang framed Sun Chuanting for saying that he was sick and unwilling to serve his life, Emperor Chongzhen was furious, and after demoting Sun Chuanting to a commoner, he was imprisoned for three years.

Sun Chuanting walked out of the prison in prison clothes, looked up and saw the sky, only to feel very dazzling, and his eyes were difficult to open.

"Master Sun, let's go! Kaifeng is in a hurry, and His Majesty is waiting for you. Wang Chengen saw that Sun Chuanting was standing at the door and didn't move, so he couldn't help but turn his head and urge.

Sun Chuanting listened, but still didn't move, but arched his hand and said: "Princess, is it inappropriate for the sinner to have such a holy face, besides, the sinner has been in prison for three years, and he doesn't know anything about the outside world. ”

Wang Chengen arched his hand and said, "Lord Sun, Your Majesty doesn't think about tea and dinner for the sake of Kaifeng, and I will ask our family to take you over immediately, let's face the saint first." ”

Sun Chuanting was helpless when he heard this, so he could only give it up, and then follow Wang Chengen into the palace.

In the imperial city of Beijing, in the Imperial Palace, Emperor Chongzhen, who was wearing a black winged crown and a cloth robe, stood on the main hall and walked back and forth, his face was a little pale, and his body was very thin, and his body had been crushed by years of fatigue and the burden of the whole country.

At this time, Sun Chuanting, who was dressed in prison clothes, was brought into the main hall by Wang Chengen, knelt down and saluted: "Sun Chuanting, the guilty minister, meet Your Majesty." ”

When Chongzhen heard this, he stopped, turned to Sun Chuanting, and asked directly: "The thieves have surrounded Kaifeng for several months, Gao Mingheng has been in an emergency several times, and several reinforcements have failed to rescue. ”

Sun Chuanting's prison clothes were not changed, and he was brought to face the saint without freshening up, which shows that the emperor is anxious, and the emperor put him out of prison, obviously not to hear him talk about any difficulties, but to hear him say that he can destroy thieves and save the situation.

Sun Chuanting lowered his head, whether he could or not, he could only choose one, he would be released from prison if he could, and if he couldn't, he would continue to return to prison.

He was silent for a while, but Chongzhen didn't give him too much time to think about it, and asked, "Why didn't Qing say anything?" ”

When Sun Chuanting heard this, his body slowly bowed down and bowed, "If Your Majesty trusts, give the minister 5,000 elite soldiers, appoint the governor of Shaanxi to soldiers and horses, and then give full power, the minister's liver and brain will be lifted from the siege of Feng." ”

"Good!" Chongzhen was immediately overjoyed when he heard this, but then he was worried, "The thieves are powerful, only 5,000 soldiers and horses and Shaanxi Qin soldiers, can the Qing family really break the siege?" ”

"The thieves are just a rabble, there are 5,000 elite soldiers and Shaanxi people, it is enough to defeat the thieves." Sun Chuanting bowed.

At that moment, Chongzhen issued an order to appoint Sun Chuanting to supervise the affairs of Shaanxi, relieve the siege of Feng, and then withdraw from the main hall.

Wang Chengen saw Sun Chuanting getting up slowly, but he couldn't help complaining, "Inspector Sun, now the thieves are not what they used to be, and it is really unwise for the Inspector to boast to His Majesty about Haikou." ”