On September 24, the fifteenth year of Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty, Kaifeng City was besieged for half a year, the grain and grass in the city were exhausted, everyone was cannibalistic, and Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan, still stuck to Kaifeng. Gao Mingheng and others decided to fill the Zhujiazhaikou River with Li Zicheng's army, which was carefully explored by Li Zicheng, Li Zicheng then moved the camp to the highlands, drove the refugees tens of thousands of days and nights to dig the soil and break the Yellow River, the river water from the north gate of Kaifeng into the southeast gate, the sound of the water rushed like thunder, millions of households in the city, all were flooded, but the princess of Zhou, the prince and the patrol pressed, less than 20,000 people were able to escape. Li Zicheng's army was also drowned more than 10,000 people, seeing that Kaifeng City was no longer available, so he pulled out the camp and left, Kaifeng Jiazhongzhou, when the city was besieged at the beginning of the city, there were millions of households, after the siege was long, the starvation and epidemic died twelve or thirteen, and they were all submerged in the water.

After the fall of Kaifeng, Sun Chuanting's army entered Henan, then approached Nanyang, and fought with Li Zicheng's army in Nanyang. Cao Bianjiao also led an army of 30,000 to Runing, and Sun Chuanting formed a strategy to respond to the horns, Cao Bianjiao's army went to Runing, and Yang Wenyue, who retreated to Runing after the battle of Zhuxian Town, joined up, and Li Zicheng sent troops to attack.

"Cao Shuai, after Li Zicheng broke through Kaifeng, he moved his division to attack Suizhou, and sent the old man of other departments to return to Ma Shouying, Liu Xiyao, the king of the reincarnation, and his general Hao Shaoqi and others led an army of 100,000 to attack Runing, and now the army has reached Yuncheng, there are only 10,000 soldiers and horses in Runing City, plus Cao Shuai's 30,000 people, and less than 40,000 people, how to deal with it, we all listen to Cao Shuai's dispatch."

Runing Mansion, Yang Wenyue is willing to delegate power, in the face of the pressure of the Liukou army, he really has no choice, his soldiers and horses are limited, the battle of Zhuxian Town, he has tens of thousands of elite Baoding soldiers who suffered heavy losses, and only three or four thousand people fled back with him, plus Runing's soldiers and horses, it is only worth 10,000, and now in terms of strength, Cao Bianjiao is a well-deserved big man, no matter whether they are reasonable or reasonable, they must respect Cao Bianjiao as a handsome.

"General Cao, the soldiers and horses in Sichuan are also at the disposal of the general, and if anyone does not obey General Cao's orders, the general can be dealt with according to military law." Kong Zhenhui, the supervisor of the army, also immediately said, he was a Yang Wenyue who retreated to Runing together, his losses were heavier, and there were only more than a thousand people who fled back with him, and veterans like Yang Wenyue bowed their heads to Cao Bianjiao, so why did he have to insist, the most important thing is to retreat from the enemy now.

"You really value Cao too much, on age, Cao is a junior, on official positions, Cao has no right to mobilize you, Cao was ordered to cooperate with Inspector Sun to exterminate Li Zicheng, at this time, since you have arrived in Runing, the thieves and thieves have raised troops to attack, it is reasonable, Cao is duty-bound, defending the land and protecting the people, this is the duty of a soldier, if there is something to discuss!"

Cao Bianjiao is also pretending to be a prevarication, it's very simple, at this time, they want to pull themselves to be the first bird for self-preservation, or really obey themselves in their hearts, Cao Bianjiao doesn't know, if he wants to be the first bird, it's impossible, he won't be so stupid, so if they obey themselves, they have to seize this opportunity and make a handful, of course, what he wants to make is not money, but soldiers and horses, especially Yang Wenyue's soldiers and horses, and Yang Wenyue himself.

Yang Wenyue heard Cao Bianjiao say this, and immediately got up and arched his hand and said: "Cao Shuai, you can't shirk at this time, the thieves are only two days away, the three armies have no owner, you can't fight, if you can't work together and give a unified order, I'm afraid that this Runing will be difficult to save at that time, and I hope Cao Shuai will not shirk." ”

"Yes! General Cao, I, Wang Shicong, sincerely admire General Cao, the general defeated the Fifth Battalion of the Left Revolution and Zhang Xianzhong in Huainan, this is a thing for all to see, with General Cao here, we are also confident that we can defeat the enemy! "The governor and Wang Shicong also echoed.

"That being the case, then Cao is better to be respectful than to obey his fate, but ugly words can be said in front, since you respect Cao as a handsome and resist thieves, then this military order and military law should be based on Cao, if anyone violates Cao's law, then I will not show mercy to my subordinates, even if it is your relatives and friends, Cao will deal with it, and I hope you don't ask for mercy, otherwise Cao will not be able to do this."

"That's nature!" And all of them agreed.

"Governor Fu, please go to King Chong, ask him to reward the soldiers of the three armies, encourage the soldiers to fight against the thieves, and tell him that if Ru Ning is not protected, he will not be able to protect himself, don't forget the lesson of King Fu of Luoyang."

The first thing Cao Bianjiao has to do is to prepare military funds, he will not pay the military salaries of these people, he will feed so many people, that is hundreds of thousands of taels of expenses a year, he will not last long, and the court will not give much military salary, right now in Runing, the richest one is naturally Chongwang, Chongwang was first sealed in the Chenghua years, is the sixth son of Yingzong, it has been one hundred and fifty years, there must be savings, take out a little money, this is not a difficult thing, if he is interested, then he can save his life, if he is not interested, He took these people to withdraw, to see what he would do, Cao Bianjiao also specifically mentioned the precedent of the blessed king Zhu Changxun, that is, when Li Zicheng was besieging Luoyang, Zhu Changxun was unwilling to take out money to reward the soldiers, which caused many of them to defect to Li Zicheng, and finally was killed by Li Zicheng and made a Fulu banquet, which is miserable as you can imagine.

Fu Ruwei, the prefect of Runing, also responded at the moment: "The lower officials will do it, persuade Chongwang to scatter wealth and protect the people, Chongwang has always been benevolent, and he will not sit idly by." ”

"That's good! Governor Yang, how are your injuries? Cao Bianjiao asked, Yang Wenyue was killed with serious injuries in the battle of Zhuxian Town, what is the situation now, Cao Bianjiao must know, there are still many things counting on him in the future.

"It's fine, I've been recuperating for more than a month, and I've already healed!" Yang Wenyue moved his arms to prove that his body was fine, he was over fifty years old, although he was old, his body was still very strong, and he could still bear some small injuries.

"That being the case, we are ready to prepare the army and horses, tomorrow to send troops, to meet the battle, now Li Zicheng has just broken through Kaifeng, the army is flourishing, never imagined that we dare to take the initiative to fight, in addition to the old back to them, I know very well, if there is a cheap advantage, one by one are swarming up, if they can't fight, they will immediately withdraw, must give them a head-on attack, so they dare not underestimate us, now Inspector Sun has reached the boundary of Nanyang, Li Zicheng will go south to fight with Inspector Sun after breaking through Suizhou, We can defeat this group here, and we can also respond to Inspector Sun and boost the morale of our army. ”

How many troops does Li Zicheng have, millions, but there are only about 200,000 people who can fight a war, and most of these people are rebellious people who have not been in rebellion for a long time, and their combat effectiveness is not strong, and they still fight with confidence, after all, the main force this time is Lao Hui These people, I didn't expect that after Huainan was defeated by himself, they ran to Li Zicheng, and his subordinates were defeated, and Cao Bianjiao naturally would not be afraid.

Xiangyang, Zuo Liangyu just received a good horse sent by Cao Bianjiao, and he was also smiling, he knew a lot about Cao Bianjiao, but he didn't expect Cao Bianjiao to take the initiative to show him goodwill, for Zuo Liangyu at this moment, it felt like he had met a confidant, he was very happy, and he also sent someone to send some gifts, which was a response to Cao Bianjiao.