Song Wen knew Li Zicheng's thoughts, although he didn't see anything outstanding about Zhao Guangrui, but the governor of the capital had the intention to test it, so he stationed troops outside the southern city, and occasionally asked the soldiers to put a few shots at the head of the city to attract the attention of the Ming army, lest Ma Hongyuan gather heavy troops in the northern city, Zhao Guangrui is his subordinate after all, and Zhao Guangrui's military exploits also want his share.

Li Zicheng also made a feint attack in Xicheng, neither stopping nor wasting too many bullets.

Zhao Guangrui knew that the Metropolitan Governor was teaching himself, and he was a little anxious, although he followed Li Zicheng to the battlefield in Jingyuwei, but at that time he was only observing with the army, and did not participate in the battle, and the Heavenly Mandate Army at that time was basically defensive, relying on the advantages of the terrain to give full play to the combat effectiveness of firearms.

However, the form of today's battlefield has completely changed, the Mandate of Heaven army has become the besieging side, and the Ming army, relying on the cover of the city wall, has instead occupied the advantage of the terrain.

He asked the veterans, and only then did he understand that the basic steps of the Mandate of Heaven army to attack the city were: rifle strafing, using the range advantage, suppressing the defenders at the head of the city, and then blowing up the city gate with gunpowder bags.

Zhao Guangrui concocted the same method, first transferred a hundred households of soldiers, fired at the city from a hundred steps away, and took advantage of the gap when the Ming army retreated back to the city wall, and sent people to inspect the city gate.

To his disappointment, the north city gate is a thick iron gate, even if two gunpowder packs are used, they may not be able to blow up, of course, more gunpowder packs can also be used, such as ten, but such a small county town consumes ten gunpowder packs, so how can the battle be fought in the future? Sichuan is far away from Xining, and gunpowder is difficult to replenish.

Zhao Guangrui stood under the city wall, his heart was very anxious, the governor and the Song general were waiting for his message, in order to give him a chance, they were all feints, not only to attract the attention of the Ming army, to distract the Ming army in the city, but also not to launch a strong attack.

Looking at the empty city wall overhead, Zhao Guangrui's heart moved, since the Ming army in the city was already frightened by rifles, why not so?

He immediately came to Xicheng, "Governor, my subordinates have thought of a way to break the city!" ”

"What's the method?" Li Zicheng looked at Zhao Guangrui's face flushed, and couldn't help laughing: "Don't talk about using the water of the Fujiang River, once the water floods the Fujiang River, the city will become an ocean, and the people and property will be seriously damaged, don't forget, Jiangyou City will soon be ours." ”

"It's not water," Zhao Guangrui was secretly surprised, the Metropolitan Governor had already thought of using water, but why didn't he think of it? He smiled wryly, "Governor, my subordinates are here to borrow mountain cannons. ”

"Mountain cannons? Are you going to blow up the gates with mountain artillery? Li Zicheng was taken aback, "Guangrui, although mountain artillery is a siege weapon, we came to Sichuan, and the flowering bomb is very precious!" ”

"Don't worry, your subordinates won't waste flowering bombs!" Zhao Guangrui approached Li Zicheng and whispered a few words.

"Oh? In this way, you can give it a try. Li Zicheng is overjoyed, this Zhao Guangrui is worthy of being born in Jiangmen, and he really didn't see the wrong person.

Zhao Guangrui borrowed ten mountain cannons, twenty flowering shells, and an artillery of 100 households from Li Zicheng.

The artillerymen transported ten mountain guns to the north city gate, and Zhao Guangrui withdrew the infantry outside the city, allowing the Ming soldiers at the head of the city to poke their heads out of the battlements to watch.

Zhao Guangrui glanced at the magnificent city gate tower, and his heart moved, "Brother artillery, can you hit the city gate tower with one shot?" ”

"City Gate Tower?" The artillery hundred households made a gesture and said: "From the thousand households, the city gate tower is too small, and it is in the air, if it is hit by one shell, it is almost impossible." ”

"Huh?" Zhao Guangrui was a little disappointed, pondered for a moment, and said: "Brother artillery, either put the mountain artillery closer, anyway, there is no artillery in the city, if there is artillery, they should have used it a long time ago," paused, and said: "This is a once-in-a-lifetime good thing, the Metropolitan Governor is watching at the West City Gate, if it spreads, brother, aren't you the artillery god of the Heavenly Mandate Army?" ”

"Ah......" The hundred household officials were stunned, this was an impossible task, but Zhao Guangrui's words were too tempting......

He decided to give it a try!

The artillery officer measured the distance with both hands and eyes, moved the mountain cannon forward by twelve units, aimed and aimed, and called his subordinates, totaling it, before he came to Zhao Guangrui, "From the thousand households, it's almost now, and the subordinates can't guarantee success, but they are fifty percent sure!" ”

This is a difficult job, and it is already very good to be able to be fifty percent sure, Zhao Guangrui said with a smile: "Looking forward to brother Yang Wei Sichuan!" ”

The artillery officer returned to the mountain artillery, calibrated the gun for the last time, and then asked the soldiers to load and ignite.

"Boom...... Long ......"

There were two loud bangs, one was a flowering ejection, and the other was a flowering bomb falling.

"Hit! Hit! He didn't know how many Ming soldiers he had killed or wounded, he only saw that after the blossom ejected the chamber, it first hit the city gate tower, and then an explosion occurred, which blew up a corner of the right side of the city gate tower.

Li Zicheng was also taken aback, from his direction, he could just see the broken city gate tower, "Who is this?" Can a mountain gun also be used as a rifle? ”

Zhao Guangrui just glanced at the city gate tower that was emitting black smoke, and immediately asked the soldiers to shoot a letter of persuasion into the city: See the firearms of the Heavenly Mandate Army? There are many such firearms, the Mandate of Heaven Army still has a lot of them, the Mandate of Heaven Army adheres to the will of God, but does not want to hurt the Holy Spirit, if they do not know how to advance or retreat, and try to resist stubbornly, once the city is broken, the chickens and dogs will not remain......

Ma Hongyuan really knew the current affairs, and when he heard the soldier's report, he was immediately frightened, and when he saw the letter of persuasion, he immediately waved a white flag.

At the same time that the seventh battalion took Jiangyou, the cavalry of Li Guo's second battalion, even frightened and coaxed, also broke through Zhangming County in the south, and the cavalry had already entered the city.

……………………………………………………………………

In leap April, Xiong Wencan took over the post of prime minister of the five provinces, hung the title of secretary of the military department, and stationed in Xiangyang to fight thieves, the main targets were the "eight kings" Zhang Xianzhong and "Cao Cao" Luo Rucai.

Zhu Youzhen was only happy for a while, there are still many things that plague him, the great drought in Henan, the land of the Central Plains, thousands of miles of red fields, the people are not able to make a living, and hunger is everywhere, and the local officials in order to complete the daily taxes and "salary", still force grain to urge the department, and the people in many places are also boiling with resentment, dry firewood, and it burns at the touch of a button.

The ministers openly asked him to sacrifice to the heavens and pray for rain for the people in the court.

Li Zicheng was originally reluctant to ask for rain by himself, then he said that the drought was because of his "loss of morality", and he reviewed the chapter every day until late at night for the sake of the Ming Dynasty, and never dared to slack off, except for the last time he went to the Qin Palace, he even held on when he was sick, is he not a Ming Jun?

But there are many ministers, and they are all in unison, it seems that the drought is only in Zhu Youzhen, as long as he asks, God will definitely give rain to Henan, if he refuses to ask for rain, it is a disregard for the people of Henan.

Zhu Youzhen had no choice, so he had to agree to suspend the court meeting tomorrow, go to the Temple of Heaven to worship the heavens, and pray for rain for the people.

But for several days, the sun was bright and bright, and there was no sign of rain? Zhu Youzhen was worried, but in the court, the ministers targeted him again, hoping that he would issue an "edict against himself"!

This is a blatant splash of dirty water on the emperor, and the ministers do not have to bear any responsibility! Zhu Youzhen was rarely furious, and he threw his sleeves away.

In the afternoon, he hurriedly finished reviewing the day's recitals, and after dinner, he left the eunuchs and palace maids and came to the palace alone to complain to Zhang Yan.

Zhang Yan shed two tears with him, but she supported his opinion: you must not make an "edict of sin" at will!

Zhu Youzhen wiped away Zhang Yan's tears with his sleeve, "Don't be sad Yan'er, with Yang Sichang overseeing the army and Xiong Wencan suppressing bandits in Huguang, there will be good news soon, the situation may not be bad, the drought in the Central Plains is just a temporary ......"

Zhang Yan's heart moved, even if the bandit leader was destroyed, what would happen? The great drought in Henan, the Tartars outside the Guan...... The most important thing is that the court, the ministers and the emperor are obviously not of the same mind.

But she still comforted Zhu Youzhen, "The emperor is in the heart of the concubine, the emperor is the Qin Emperor, the rebirth of the Han Dynasty, the rebirth of Tang Zong and Song Zu, as long as the selfishness of the ministers can be suppressed, the Ming Dynasty will be able to live for a thousand years!" ”

"I know, so I have always personally reviewed the recitals, and I do everything myself, and I will never pretend to others," Zhu Youzhen took the opportunity to caress Zhang Yan's face, "Even to see Yan'er, I also completed the recital first, and then squeezed out time." ”

Zhang Yan had indescribable love and pity in her heart, and she couldn't bear to refuse this physically and mentally exhausted little brother, so she said lightly: "The emperor came to the palace of the concubines, if you let the ministers know......"

"They wish I was hiding in the palace every day," Zhu Youzhen snorted coldly, "If I abandoned the government, they could just fake the public and enrich their private pockets, and they thought that I didn't know their thoughts......"

"So the emperor must work hard to be a good emperor who is diligent and loves the people," Zhang Yan put her arms around Zhu Youzhen's waist, "The emperor's achievements have covered a thousand years, and the Ming Dynasty can stay for a long ......time."

"I know ......" Zhu Youzhen turned around and hugged Zhang Yan in his arms.

Zhang Yan muttered: "Your Majesty, what should I do now about asking for rain?" ”

"Don't worry about the rain in Henan," Zhu Youzhen picked up Zhang Yan, "I just want to ...... now A heavy rain on Yan'er's body......"

"The Emperor's ......"

Only in Zhang Yan's body, Zhu Youzhen is as powerful as an emperor......

In the southwest corner of Beijing, there is a family of ordinary people, there are dozens of chickens at home on weekdays, one of which is very strange, not only the cockscomb, even the claws are red, what is even more incredible is that an ordinary chicken, only seven or eight catties, can grow to ten catties is rare, but this big rooster is more than forty catties.

The family was proud of this, carrying this chicken around to show off, and many people rushed to come to hunt for curiosities, and it spread all over the capital for a while.

There is a Zhejiang man named Yanji, who happened to pass by Jingshi, heard the legend, and came to watch, and after carefully watching the rooster, he cried, "This is a rooster, not a rooster, and the country is ...... everywhere you see."

Rumors spread in Beijing, even the eunuchs were alarmed, and when they were discussing, Zhu Youzhen accidentally heard it, and he was arrested by the brocade guard, and Yanji had long since disappeared.

Zhu Youzhen was depressed in his heart, his spirit was a little sluggish, and when he was reviewing the chapter, he fell asleep unconsciously.

But he was worried about the unapproved passages, and only had a dream, so he woke up, and when he woke up, he only remembered the word "yes", so he asked a little eunuch to quietly break down the words and divinate the good fortune.

The little eunuch found a one-eyed man who set up a stall to tell fortunes in the market, wrote the word "yes", and did not reveal his identity, saying that he was asking about military affairs.

The one-eyed man only glanced at it, and then said coldly: "What other military affairs are you asking?" Half of the "Daming" country has gone! ”

The little eunuch was suspected of being a celestial man, so he didn't dare to ask more, and when he came back to 1510, he told Zhu Youzhen, who was horrified in his heart, his brain was dizzy, and he didn't even bother to review the chapter.

At the next day's court meeting, he took the initiative to admit his mistakes to the ministers, and for the second time, he made an edict to punish himself, taking all the blame for the drought and the lack of rain, increasing income and reducing salaries, etc.

In order to reform and establish a new one, Henan immediately stopped collecting and suppressing salaries, and after the harvest year, the people had enough food and clothing, and then levied it.

When Zhang Yan heard that Zhu Youzhen had issued another edict in the Qinqin Palace, she was stunned, leaned against the corridor wall and was silent, and did not move a step for a long time......

When Li Zicheng heard the news that Zhu Youzhen had issued another edict against himself, he had already taken Mianzhou and was heading south to Luojiang.