Chapter 532: That's in Wuchang, it's in Xiangyang

The sale of land in Shandong is in full swing, and this matter has nothing to do with Li Chuang, but the news that the northern army camp is going to be formed on the side of Tianjin Sanwei makes Li Zicheng breathe a sigh of relief.

Li Meng, the king of Qi, did not lead the army to conquer Xiangyang, indicating that the main direction of the Jiaozhou battalion's next attack would not be put on the side of Xiangyang, which was really a contempt for the Shun army, and did not regard the Shun army as an opponent worthy of being taken seriously, and this contempt was quite awkward for the generals of the Shun army.

But this is always a good thing, although Chen Liu's Central Plains Army is also strong, there must be a gap compared to the core troops of the Jiaozhou battalion, and it is easier to fight.

Chen Liu was already preparing for the ship to cross the Han River, and the army had begun to clear some of the remnants of the Shun army in the north of Xiangyang, and when the combat power of Shandong's soldiers and horses was in Henan, the Shun army had already been taught, and Chen Liu had 15,000 soldiers and horses for local security and purging in Henan.

But the remaining more than 25,000 soldiers and horses, the more than 100,000 soldiers of the Shun army did not dare to underestimate at all, and they were strictly armed, and Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, personally presided over the arrangement of the defense battle.

As the commander-in-chief, King Chuang observes the terrain and surveys the battlefield in the vicinity every day, and the territory around Xiangyang is tightly controlled by the Shun army, and Li Zicheng's safety is also assured.

On June 29 of the first year of Hua, Li Zicheng led 300 guards to Lumen Mountain in the south of Xiangyang City to investigate.

Xiangyang City to Lumen Mountain, along the way are the military camps of the Shun army, now Liu Zongmin and other generals are mobilizing troops everywhere, on the one hand, there is no problem with security, on the other hand, there is no way to draw people, Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, is to lead the army to Lumen Mountain with Li Shuangxi to explore the terrain.

Dinghu took Henan, won the heart of the world and then took the world, and oppressed Li Meng to submit to the general trend, this is the policy of Niu Jinxing and a cadre of Wenchen to Li Zicheng, and it was indeed very smooth at the beginning, and the Shun army continued to occupy the territory step by step, watching it get closer and closer to this goal, and then all collapsed.

Such a good situation suddenly disappeared, although Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, knew that this was an irreversible momentum, but it was impossible to say that he had no complaints in the face of those civil officials and strategists in his heart.

And after this defeat, the Shun army's repeated defeats and battles, perseverance and spiritual temperament were also completely dispersed, and the Ming army, even if it was frustrated at the beginning, but in the end, the Shun army will always overwhelm the other party to achieve victory, but for the Jiaozhou battalion such an obvious advantage, even if it is tenacious, it is not a failure again and again.

Li Zicheng's resentment gradually arose, Song Xiance's words at that time "Eighteen children should be the main artifact", he almost forgot the ecstasy and pride when he heard it, but just thought, this Wei Wei obviously said that Li Meng, the king of Qi, has nothing to do with me, he has misunderstood for so long, it is really boring for himself.

The strategist Song Xiance has been silent since the defeat in Henan, Niu Yan is not in the chaos of the army, and he does not know whether he is alive or dead, Niu Jinxing is closed, but Li Zicheng is too lazy to pay attention to it, and now in such a situation, useless literati still care about what he does.

Niu Jinxing is closed, only some cronies and family members are active outside, and Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, is the supreme ruler of this sphere of influence, and his every move will be traced.

The news that Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, was going to Lumen Mountain to survey the terrain, many people knew it three days ago, and this naturally couldn't be hidden from Niu Jinxing's side, Niu Jinxing pondered in his house all night, and the next day, there was a family member of Niu Mansion, who was in Yunyang Mansion, said that there was something at home and wanted to go home to visit relatives.

Although the Shun army has already started martial law in this vicinity, Niu Jinxing's subordinate servants naturally have the privilege to be there, and the people outside the city will let them go after a little checking.

After Li Zicheng led the light cavalry from Xiangyang City, he didn't stop much along the way, and arrived at the area of Lumen Mountain, which is another pass, if he organized people and horses to cross the river in Zaoyang on the opposite side, the Shun army would organize defense in the area of Lumen Mountain, and he must look at the terrain in advance.

Baiyunzhai is near Yicheng, Liu Hongqi knew the news when Li Zicheng had not left the city, and he lit up the backbone of more than 3,000 descendants who could be mobilized and went down the mountain together.

There are various theories about what happened in the official historical records and local chronicles, as well as in the field history notes recorded by the literati.

One thing that everyone admits is that when Li Zicheng, the king of Chuang, came down from Lumen Mountain, he was ambushed by the landlord militia led by Liu Hongqi of Baiyunzhai.

The three hundred elite cavalry under his command tried their best to fight, but they could not stand the opponent's also strong soldiers, and none of them escaped, and when the nearby garrison arrived, there were no living people at the scene, and the landlord militia who came to ambush took away their own casualties and corpses when they left.

The guards don't matter, the key is the life and death of King Chuang, I searched here, and only found a headless corpse wearing King Chuang's robe, and the ornaments and weapons on the body were all gone.

In fact, there are people who have seen King Chuang himself, and they can already identify it from this figure and some features, but the matter is too big to make judgments without authorization.

I had to hurry up and report to Xiangyang, so that the people over there could send someone over there to check and make sure that Xiangyang in July was already very hot and humid, and the body of the "suspected" King Chuang had already decomposed a lot, so it could only be treated with lime urgently.

This matter is too sudden, Gao Yigong, the general in Xiangyang, personally led the team to come, of course there will be no surprises, this is the body of King Chuang, who is the murderer is not clear, but the strength of such a large number of troops can be mobilized in this vicinity is those big cottages.

However, the uncertainty of the body of King Chuang in the past has led to many folk tales and legends in the future that King Chuang did not actually die, but became a monk in the temples in the Huguang area.

In the scuffle, the Zhaiding of Baiyun Village shot King Chuang in the cheek with a bow and arrow, and after King Chuang fell to the ground, his head was cut off by the people who followed.

King Chuang's head was put into a wooden box, with lime and medicine in it, and someone was sent to take a small road and quickly delivered it to the Henan general Chen Liu.

Gao Yigong, who was full of revenge, now has no chance to retaliate, the local garrison heard the news and came to the foot of Lumen Mountain, and it took almost ten days to notify Gao Yigong to come and inspect, and on the fourth day of the news circulation, the Central Plains Army launched an attack.

Hanshui is not a natural hazard, Fancheng is just paper, the real difficulty is Xiangyang City, the Shun army also arranged a heavy defense between Hanshui and Xiangyang.

But after the battle, the firearms troops of the Jiaozhou battalion still quickly went ashore and arranged their positions, and the Central Plains Army had casualties in the Han River and on the shore, and compared with the normal battle of the Jiaozhou battalion, the casualties were not small, the reason was very simple, because the Yushun army of Xiangyang City had artillery.

Although these cannons are very backward and can be used for fortifications on the defense of the city and outside the city, they are not small, and when the boats and boats cross the river, they are also fired in unison.

After the Central Plains Army landed on the shore, the artillery began to be reversed, and the flexible and accurate Shandong soldiers and horses began to pull out the opponent's artillery array one by one.

After a large number of foot soldiers came ashore, the artillery fire of the Shun army no longer posed any threat, according to common sense, while the opponent's foothold was not stable, it was immediately sent to send troops to meet the head-on attack, which would definitely have an effect, but as soon as the Central Plains army came ashore, the position of the Shun army immediately collapsed.

Many of the soldiers of the Shun army fled directly from the position, and the officers could not stop it no matter how they pressed it, and the garrison near Lumen Mountain found the body of King Chuang, and when the news was being reported, in Xiangyang City, there began to be fragmentary news circulating, saying that King Chuang had been killed.

Gao Yi power soldiers to see, undoubtedly strengthened the authenticity of this rumor, the government and soldiers and horses in Xiangyang City, are all used to use the remaining officials of the Ming Dynasty, to maintain law and order is a reluctance, want to investigate the source of this rumor will definitely not work, everyone understands in their hearts, it is not possible to make this rumor flow from those people.

But when the Central Plains army on the other side suddenly began to attack, but there was still no news of King Chuang's whereabouts in the city, everyone understood in their hearts, if this matter is true, King Chuang is the leader of the Shun army, Liu Zongmin and Li Guo can not convince the public, not to mention that King Li Zicheng is also a symbol, as soon as he dies, the last trace of loyalty and hope of the Shun soldiers to Dashun is also gone.

In the history without Li Meng, after a stone fiasco, to Wuchang Li Zicheng was attacked and killed by an armed militia group, this series of fiascos did not affect the fighting spirit of the Shun soldiers, they have been fighting the most resolute struggle with the Manchu Tatars, but now it is different, the Jiaozhou battalion is not a foreign barbarian, the people under the rule of the King of Qi can eat enough, live a better life than before, the goal of the Shun army has been achieved, the king of Chuang Li Zicheng died, the goals and objects of the Shun army's combat and allegiance have suddenly disappeared, so don't talk about any fighting spirit.

The perimeter of Xiangyang City was quickly swept away, the area where it came ashore was cleared, and a large number of soldiers and baggage began to land under the ship.

Liu Zongmin and Li Guo were both in Xiangyang City, and they had already realized that the rumors about King Chuang in the city were not true, and there were still backbone troops in the city that they could grasp, and they might be able to support them for a while by relying on these troops and strong city fortifications.

However, after seeing the cannons erected by the Central Plains Army in the Jiaozhou camp outside the city, they all doubted their judgment......

This time, the Central Plains Army used 40 cannons of more than 10 pounds, including 12 16-pounder guns, and it is said that 18-pounder heavy artillery is on the way.