Among the various preparations of the Zheng family now, the most critical and the least prepared is the preparation in Beijing. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info and has a vital task on the side of the Jingshi, that is, when there is an accident in the Jingshi, find a way to bring one or two of the sons of Emperor Chongzhen out, especially later renamed Wang Shiyuan, has been hiding in the people, never participated in any anti-Qing and Ming restoration activities, and finally it was the timid third prince Zhu who was delayed by Kangxi, that is, the current Yongwang Zhu Cihuan. Now this Yongwang is just nine years old and still a child. However, young age is not a problem for the Zheng family, and it is even an advantage. It's just that this kid hasn't built a mansion alone at this time, and he still lives in the palace, so it's not easy to master his actions, and of course, it's not necessary at this time.

At this time, the Zheng family's preparations in Jingshi were more about how to safely bring the target out of the chaos when that day came. For this reason, Zheng Sen has imagined a lot of tricks, such as hot air balloons or other things, but after repeated equalization, everyone still found that the safest and most reliable way to bring people out safely in the chaos of breaking the city is actually to rely on authentics.

The Zheng family had a lot of business in the capital, some of which were used to cover up such activities. This includes a carriage and horse shop and a dart shop. The carriage and horse shop can raise horses openly, and the dart shop is even more convenient for doing a lot of things. Now in the backyard of the "Kaishen Carriage and Horse Travel", he is also doing something similar to what Li Zicheng did outside Kaifeng City - digging tunnels.

"Kaishen Carriage and Horse Company" bought a large courtyard in the east of the city, the front half of this courtyard is a place for business and horses, and the back half is a place for the shopkeeper and his men to stay. The secret passage out of the city is also here.

According to the plan, when the situation is not right, a group of good horses with long strength will be sent to the chariot and horse shop, and the people of the dart shop will be responsible for bringing some important tasks here. Then everyone went out of the city through the underground secret passage, so this secret passage must not only be able to walk people, but even horses.

It is not easy to dig such a secret passage, because the city of Beijing has a moat. The tunnels had to be dug very deep, from under the moat. And this process is very dangerous, because it is easy to have accidents with water penetration during the process of excavation. In the event of a major flood, it is almost impossible for people digging tunnels to have a chance of escaping, so they must be extra careful. Therefore, although the tunnel has been excavated for a year, it has not been completed until now.

In contrast, Li Zicheng's side is much simpler. Relying on the great monk of Shaolin Temple, coupled with the black dog's blood, after breaking the "* array", Li Zicheng took out all the more than 100 cannons he collected from everywhere, and hit the city wall of Kaifeng with a fierce bombardment. However, Li Zicheng's so-called more than 100 guns, just like all the 98 barreled guns produced by KMT in the eight-year War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (this is all the guns produced by KMT during the entire eight-year war of resistance, and their caliber is only 37 mm) They all have a common problem - the caliber is too small.

As the saying goes, "range is truth, caliber is justice", the vast majority of Li Zicheng's cannons are actually just Fran cannons that have neither truth nor justice enough, although there are many of them, but the attack effect is really very average. Therefore, although the * array was broken, the effect of this type of cannon on the city wall was still limited. After a crackling afternoon, it was just a few small holes in the city wall of Kaifeng.

However, Li Zicheng was not in a hurry, looking at the Kaifeng city wall full of small pits, Li Zicheng laughed, he turned his head to Luo Rucai, who was watching the battle together, and said: "Cao Cao, you look at the city wall of Kaifeng, does it look like smallpox?" ”

"King Chuang, your cannon doesn't seem to be very useful, it doesn't seem to be able to knock on the city wall of Kaifeng." Luo Rucai said.

"It's not very easy to use." Li Zicheng also nodded and said, "It's okay to hit the county seat or something, this city wall is indeed a little harder." Fortunately, Lao Tzu didn't expect it too much. ”

"If you want me to say, don't bomb again." Luo Rucai said, "It's not bad to leave some archers to fight the city, and drag the rest to fight the surrounding counties." Why don't you lend me some of these cannons? ”

"Lend you some?" Li Zicheng glanced at Luo Rucai and said, "It's okay, but after you have conquered the county seat, you have to share with me what you grabbed." ”

……

"Lord Governor, the thieves have dug the moat. In addition, the thieves were a little out of range of our cannons. A Ming army general reported to Governor Gao Mingheng.

Gao Mingheng is a civil official, but it is not the first time that Kaifeng has been besieged, so he also has a considerable understanding of some basic skills of urban attack and defense. As soon as he heard the news, he knew that this was Li Zicheng's plan to play acupoint attack.

"The thieves probably want to dig a tunnel. Keep an eye on the dot and pay attention to where the thieves' tunnels are digging. The sight is ready for the pool, the earthen wall, and the firewood. Gao Mingheng ordered.

The army attacked and dug tunnels, which was different from Zheng Sen's people quietly digging tunnels in Beijing, and its scale was much larger, so its signs were more obvious. Diverting the water from the moat is the first step, otherwise the water from the moat seeps into the tunnel, and the entire tunnel will be wasted. Of course, even if you want to attack the city, draining the moat is the first step.

When Li Zicheng besieged Kaifeng last time, because his army was limited, there were only thousands of people who could really fight, so he played a disguised sneak attack, and did not play a time-consuming and labor-intensive cave attack. But this time the situation is obviously different, this time the power in Li Zicheng's hands has been greatly enhanced, so Gao Mingheng can't help but be on guard.

On the ground on the inner side of the city wall of Kaifeng City, every fifteen steps, there is a water tank buried. This is used to listen to the sound of digging tunnels. If the sound of digging at the foot of the wall is heard, the defenders will dig a tunnel in reverse, and after the two tunnels are connected, the defenders will use the tunnel they dug themselves to release water or poison smoke into the enemy's tunnel. In this way, those people in the other party's tunnel will die.

In fact, in addition to burying water tanks in the ground, there are many signs that the opponent is digging tunnels. The mound platform is one of the signs. Because it is impossible to dig such a tunnel secretly, and it is impossible to dig it from too far away. The reason why it is impossible to keep it secret is because this tunnel must be able to accommodate a lot of people, so the foot of the city wall can be quickly dug up, so the tunnel itself must be large enough, and the tunnel is large, and the excavated soil and stone are more, which is naturally easy to be noticed. Of course, this is not the most critical, the most critical thing is that so many people have to engage in high-intensity underground work in the tunnel, so the ventilation requirements in the tunnel are very high. And when everything is finally ready, it is necessary to set fire in the tunnels and burn the wooden stakes that are used for support, and the burning naturally requires a lot of oxygen. In this era, there were no blowers, so the ventilation method of this kind of tunnel was generally to insert a bamboo pole in the middle of the tunnel from the ground into the tunnel. Although the people guarding the city can't see the tunnels, they can see these bamboo poles. Although the besieging side can confuse the opponent by inserting bamboo poles everywhere, making it difficult for the opponent to determine which direction the tunnel leads, the bamboo pole itself indicates the existence of the tunnel.

The reason why it cannot be dug from a far away place that the enemy does not see is because the tunnel is already wide, and the amount of work is large, and if the tunnel is long, the amount of work will become larger and the time required will be more. And the longer the tunnel, the more difficult it is to ventilate. In addition, sticking bamboo poles or something will definitely be seen, and the enemy must know that he is digging a tunnel here, so there is no need to start digging from a distance that the enemy can't see.

Of course, the defenders won't be watching you dig tunnels, except for listening to the sound of the water tank to determine where the tunnels have been dug and then digging back-tunnels to fight, or building another inner wall behind a section of the wall that may have been hollowed out, and it is also common to launch a sudden counterattack. Especially in a big city like Kaifeng, there are many city gates. The defenders also had experience, and instead of stupidly blocking the city gates, they built a barracks outside the city gates against the city walls, which made their counterattack much easier. If the attacker does not protect the entrance of the cave well and the defender finds a loophole, they may also launch an attack quickly, and only need to occupy the hole for a short period of time, which is enough for them to throw a large amount of smoke and incendiary materials into the tunnel, and these can quickly kill the person digging the tunnel.

"Don't worry, you're ready for this." The general replied.

"Well," Gao Mingheng nodded, and said, "The official still has to see it with his own eyes, and take the official to see the earthen platform." ”

The general led the way in front, and Gao Mingheng followed him up to the city wall. Another general had been waiting there for a long time, and when he saw Gao Mingheng arrive, the man handed a brass tube telescope produced by the Zheng family to Gao Mingheng and said:

"My lord, look over there, the thieves are digging tunnels there."

Gao Mingheng didn't say much, took the telescope and looked at it. The intruders on the opposite side were indeed piling up a platform of earth, and some soldiers were pouring baskets of earth on it.

"Mr. Chen, the entrance to the tunnel should be there, right?" Gao Minghengdao.

Chen Yongfu nodded and said, "It should be there, so they are piling up soil there." This is to prevent us from recoiling. ”

Gao Mingheng knew that this earthen platform was not the final structure. Eventually, the thieves will use the soil dug up from the tunnel to build a wall of dirt around the entrance to defend the entrance.

He looked down at the moat beneath the walls, the water level of the moat had dropped significantly.

"In two days at most, this moat will be bottomed out." Gao Mingheng said, "When the time comes, it's up to you to be Mr. Chen." ”