On the third day of the first month of May, Li Zicheng rushed to Kaifeng, and the garrison was in Yan Li Zhai in the east of Kaifeng City, in addition to Li Zicheng's personal soldiers, there was also the fourth battalion Li Jibu, and at the same time rushed to Kaifeng, Li Xin's independent battalion was stationed in Hengdipu in the south of Yan Li Village, southeast of Kaifeng City.

In addition, the cavalry of the first battalion of Liu Yunshui's department was stationed near the Yellow River embankment in the north of the city, and the Mandate of Heaven Army had formed an encirclement of Kaifeng City from the north, east, and south.

On the fourth day of the first month of May, the first battalion of the Song Wen Department and the Chengtian Battalion Gao Li Gong Department came to Kaifeng and stationed them in the southwest of Kaifeng, leaving only no garrison in the direction of the west of the city.

Different from the previous two sieges of Kaifeng, this time Li Zicheng adopted the "siege of three ques", and the camps were stationed far away from Kaifeng City, and Yan Li Zhai, where Li Zicheng and Li Jibu of the fourth battalion were stationed, was 20 miles away from Kaifeng City.

Li Zicheng has no plans to attack the city for the time being, he wants to besiege the city and trap Kaifeng City to death.

Henan's Mandate of Heaven Army, in addition to besieging Kaifeng, has nothing to do for the time being, wants to fight a decisive battle with the Ming army, besiege Kaifeng, and attract the Ming army, at least the Mandate of Heaven army does not have to travel long distances, waiting for the Ming army under Kaifeng City.

This siege of Kaifeng, highlighting the word "siege", until the last resort, there is no need to "attack", just under the city of Kaifeng, eliminate all kinds of reinforcements from the imperial court.

In order to investigate the marching routes of the various reinforcements and the order of rushing to Kaifeng, Li Zicheng issued a death order to Wang Anping, not to investigate the marching routes and times of the Ming army's reinforcements from all walks of life.

Although the Heavenly Mandate Army has rangers, the distance of the rangers to investigate cannot be too far, generally only fifty miles, and the expansion of the search range is only more than a hundred miles.

In Kaifeng City, Gao Mingheng looked solemn, the Heavenly Mandate Army went and returned, tens of thousands of troops surrounded Kaifeng City, and then there would be a bitter battle.

The Mandate of Heaven army has come to the outside of the city, and the news of the siege of Kaifeng is confirmed, and he immediately asks for help from the imperial court, hoping that reinforcements from all walks of life will arrive in Kaifeng as soon as possible and relieve the siege of Kaifeng.

Although great improvements have been made to the city walls and defensive fortifications, the weakness of the city defense is clear in his heart.

There are only more than 10,000 soldiers in the city, plus the social soldiers, it will not exceed 15,000, if the Heavenly Mandate Army storms Kaifeng, I really don't know how long it can last.

There is another reason, the food stored in the city is insufficient, once the war starts, the soldiers in the city must ensure that they are full, and the food in the city can last for a month at most.

Will the Providential Destiny Army withdraw in a month?

Gao Mingheng stood at the head of Dongcheng, looking at the camp of the Heavenly Mandate Army outside the city, and was very puzzled in his heart, also in Henan, why is the Heavenly Mandate Army not short of food?

In any case, we must defend Kaifeng City, and I only hope that reinforcements will come soon.

Like Gao Mingheng, Li Zicheng is also worried about the food problem, unlike the previous two sieges of Kaifeng, this time the Mandate of Heaven army is mainly besieging the city, and the time will be very long, 70,000 troops, as well as 30,000 young and strong transport teams, 100,000 people of grain and grass consumption, it will definitely not be small, relying on the prefectures and counties to transport grain, not only to cause huge pressure on the locality, just the consumption of grain in the transportation, is not a small amount.

When he was patrolling outside the West City, he accidentally found a treasure.

Now is the harvest season of wheat, around Kaifeng City, there are golden wheat waves everywhere, and I asked the soldiers to know that if you harvest now, you can barely do it.

The people all knew that there was about to be a big war in Kaifeng City, and they had already hid far away, and in the fields outside the city, they didn't see the people managing these ripe wheat.

Have the people given up their land and the harvest that is coming? Around Kaifeng Mansion, the people probably still don't trust the Heavenly Mandate Army!

Near Kaifeng, the drought is not as advertised by the government, if Kaifeng can be taken, the food of the local population is not difficult to solve!

Li Zicheng planned to harvest the wheat, but he hesitated at the thought of robbing the people of the interests.

Back to the big tent, and Niu Jinxing talked about such a thing, Niu Jinxing hurriedly arched his hand, "My subordinates want to congratulate the Grand Duke!" ”

"Where does the joy come from?" Li Zicheng said: "If we rob the wheat, what will the people do? But he said in his heart, the Mandate of Heaven Army has finally accumulated some reputation among the people of Henan, should it be lost in Kaifeng?

"The Metropolitan Governor doesn't have to worry," Niu Jinxing said with a smile: "As far as his subordinates know, outside Kaifeng City, at least within a hundred miles, is the land of various palaces, and the land of the people is less than half of it," after a pause, he said: "Even if it is the land of the people, in this case, do the people still dare to come to harvest wheat?" If you stay in the ground, you can only rot in vain! ”

Since it is the land of the palace, there is no psychological obstacle to harvesting wheat, and Li Zicheng immediately issued an order that 30,000 young men do not need to transport grain, and first go all out to harvest wheat in the east of the city.

However, 30,000 young men are too few, and the wheat fields outside the city are not visible at a glance, Li Zicheng discussed with Niu Jinxing, and asked each battalion to divide half of the soldiers to harvest the wheat, and half of the soldiers to guard the camp to guard against the surprise attack of the Ming army in the city.

Thirty or forty thousand soldiers, plus 30,000 young and strong, in the eastern half of Kaifeng City, there is no shadow of war, but it is full of the joy of harvest.

The spies immediately reported the harvest of grain by the Heavenly Mandate Army in the east of the city to Gao Mingheng, and Gao Mingheng came to the east again again, looking at the hot scene outside the city, he couldn't help frowning.

What is the Mandate of Heaven for? Is it to lure the officers and soldiers out of the city for a decisive battle?

Even if you add up the social soldiers in the city, the royal palace guards, and the volunteer social soldiers who have just been formed, the Mandate of Heaven Army is several times that of officers and soldiers, and only fools will go out of the city for a decisive battle!

Gao Mingheng returned to the West City, where he was stationed, while letting the spies continue to pay close attention to the movements of the Mandate of Heaven Army.

For three days in a row, the Mandate of Heaven Army did not attack the city, but harvested wheat outside the city, and Gao Mingheng woke up: The Mandate of Heaven Army did not lure officers and soldiers out of the city for a decisive battle, but harvested ripe wheat!

The food in the city is also insufficient, the court does not know when there will be reinforcements, and the food may be even more difficult, he disregarded the dissuasion of his subordinates, and also organized the army and civilians to go outside the city to harvest wheat.

Since the Mandate of Heaven army harvested wheat in the east of the city, the soldiers and civilians in the city went out of the west city and harvested outside the west city, which was regarded as avoiding the Mandate of Heaven army.

Although the big war is coming, the military camp of the Mandate of Heaven is far away from the city gate, and during the day, the gate of Kaifeng is not closed, as long as you avoid the cavalry of the Mandate of Heaven Army, you don't have to worry about the Mandate of Heaven Army attacking the city.

Li Zicheng learned that the Ming army was harvesting wheat in the west of the city, so he led his own soldiers to check, and when he arrived in the west of the city, he stopped from a distance, and sure enough, he saw tens of thousands of people harvesting wheat.

He Xiaomi said excitedly: "Governor Dadu, the Ming army is out of the city, as long as we use cavalry, none of these soldiers can go back!" ”

Li Zicheng frowned deeply, pondered for a moment, and said, "Let's go, go to the north of the city!" ”

More than 1,000 soldiers galloped up, bringing up countless dust, and the Ming army that was harvesting wheat outside the city was discolored, hurriedly put down the work at hand, and ran back to the city, closing the city gates, leaving only thousands of desperate people behind.

Li Zicheng stopped in front of the city gate for a while, and then looked at the frightened people in the wheat field, and then galloped towards the north gate, leaving the people looking at each other.

He Mi was puzzled, "Governor, why don't we snatch the city gate?" It's good to snatch the wheat harvested by the Ming army! ”

"Didn't Xiaomi see it? The Ming army has fled back to the city," Li Zicheng said while beating his horse: "Those who stay outside the city are all people, do we have to get along with the people?" ”

"Metropolitan Governor ......" He Xiaomi wanted to say something more, but seeing that Li Zicheng had already gone away, he was busy flying horses to catch up.

Outside the northern city, thousands of cavalry of the first battalion were also harvesting wheat, from the city wall to the Yellow River embankment, almost golden, close to the city wall, only bare wheat straw remained.

Liu Yunshui was directing the soldiers to harvest wheat, when he heard the sound of horses' hooves, looked up, and saw Li Zicheng coming, he hurriedly flew over to greet him, "Governor!" ”

"Yunshui doesn't need to be polite," Li Zicheng looked at a wheat wave in the distance and said, "Isn't there enough manpower?" ”

"Yes, there is too much wheat," Liu Yunshui grinned, "Governor, after harvesting these grains, there is no need to transport this year's military rations, but there are not enough manpower, and I don't know when the harvest will be!" ”

"Don't worry, take your time, when the wheat outside the East City is harvested, the young men will assist you in harvesting the wheat here," Li Zicheng said with a smile: "Do you know that the Ming army is harvesting wheat outside the West City?" ”

"I just learned today that my subordinates are about to ask the Metropolitan Governor how to deal with it!" Liu Yunshui didn't like to harvest wheat, he preferred to fight, used to go to the cavalry like the wind, annihilating the Ming army outside the western city, if it wasn't for the Dadu Governor's request to harvest wheat, his cavalry would have been dispatched a long time ago.

"Send a thousand cavalry every day to drive it outside the West City, and try not to fight!"

"Why?" Liu Yunshui was puzzled, "Since the Ming army dares to go out of the city, why don't they annihilate it?" If you're lucky, you might even be able to grab the city gates! ”

"Don't think about snatching the city gate, once the cavalry appears outside the West City, the Ming army will close the West City Gate early," Li Zicheng said with a smile: "The people who harvest wheat outside the city are mainly the people, don't make it too difficult for them!" ”

"Dadu Governor, the wheat they harvested is brought back to the city, and it is difficult to guarantee that it will not become the military food of the Ming army in the future......"

"If there is a shortage of food in the city, won't the soldiers rob the people of food?" Li Zicheng could imagine with his fingers that if the Ming army in the city was short of food, they would definitely rob the people, and no matter whether the officers issued such a military order or not, the soldiers would do so!

"That'...... Do you let the Ming army in the city grab the wheat? ”

"So let you send cavalry to harass from time to time," Li Zicheng said: "As long as you put pressure on the west of the city, there will not be too many Ming troops who go out of the city to harvest grain, and when we have completely harvested the wheat in the east, south, and north, we will send a large army to the west city to harvest grain, and then drive all the Ming troops away!" ”

"Subordinates understood!"

When Li Zicheng returned to the big tent, he immediately issued a military discipline to the whole army, and thirty percent of the soldiers in each battalion remained vigilant, and seventy percent rushed to harvest grain, and the grain outside the city was harvested as soon as possible.

The Mandate of Heaven Army and the Ming Army were almost at peace with each other, both sides were grabbing the wheat outside the city, outside Kaifeng City, there was no war, but there was a rare wheat harvesting competition, which was more lively than in peacetime.

Although there are hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the city, they are afraid of the cavalry of the Mandate of Heaven, and the people who really go out of the city to harvest wheat are not more than 10,000 people a day, in addition to harvesting, they also have to bring wheat back to the city, and the number of each harvest cannot be too much, back and forth, and the time is mainly consumed on the road.

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