Li Zicheng captured Luoyang and strengthened his team, and at this time he got an important information, now the defense of Kaifeng, the provincial capital of Henan, is very empty, so Li Zicheng decided to make persistent efforts and lead his troops straight to Kaifeng, he wants to take down this important town in the Central Plains, if it can succeed, the righteous army will have the ability to compete with the official army. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Although Kaifeng City did not have many defenders, it was not so easy to fight.

The solidity of Kaifeng City is famous, in the Song and Jin dynasties, there are two layers of earth city inside and outside, very strong, to the Ming Dynasty, the outer city was abandoned, the outer city was only used to prevent floods, and the inner city was reinforced, all rebuilt into a brick city, and built a perfect defense system, it is not an easy task to capture Kaifeng City.

Li Zicheng has his own magic in dealing with this kind of strong city, he ordered hundreds of rebel soldiers, pretending to be officers and soldiers to ride horses to approach the west gate of Kaifeng City, the city gate was calm as usual, people did not find anything abnormal, the leader of the rebel army led the team was secretly happy in his heart, and ordered the soldiers to speed up and rush into the city to occupy the city gate.

I didn't expect that people are not as good as the sky, just at this time a group of villagers also want to enter the city, and the rebel soldiers compete for the road, the two sides had a dispute, the road into the city was blocked by vehicles, the rebel team was not able to enter the city in time, and at this time an officer of the official army found that this group of people acted abnormally, immediately ordered people to close the city gate, when the rebels rushed to the city gate, the city gate was just closed. At the same time, the officers and soldiers in the city threw the masonry and gunpowder down the city, and the rebel army had to retreat, and the surprise attack failed.

Li Zicheng saw that the surprise attack could not succeed, so he could only order people to besiege Luoyang City, and sent troops to attack, thinking that there were not many defenders in Kaifeng, and it would not take long to capture Kaifeng.

Unexpectedly, Li Zicheng met a tough opponent here, and this opponent turned out to be a vassal king.

Kaifeng is the fief of Zhu Gongfang, the king of Zhou, the king of the Ming Dynasty, and this king of Zhou does not know whether he was stimulated by Li Zicheng's "Fulu Banquet" or different human nature.

Zhu Gongfang, the king of Zhou, was very generous compared to King Fu, and when he heard that Li Zicheng was coming to attack the city, he immediately took out millions of taels of silver and a large amount of grain to recruit the dead soldiers who were willing to defend the city. And a reward of 50 taels of silver for each thief who cuts down, 30 taels of silver for those who can shoot a thief, and 10 taels of silver for shooting or injuring a thief with masonry.

As soon as the reward of the king of Zhou came out, many people in the city themselves carried bows and swords to the head of the city to participate in the defense. For a time, the defensive strength of Kaifeng City increased greatly. Li Zicheng ordered his people to attack several times but failed to capture it, so he had to retreat and camp for a long-term siege.

Li Zicheng besieged Kaifeng with many soldiers and horses, and there was plenty of food and grass, so he was not in a hurry to attack, but set up camp and prepared to deal with the Ming army teams that came to rescue Kaifeng from all over the country.

The officials of the Ming Dynasty heard that Kaifeng was besieged this time, but they were really anxious, Kaifeng is located in the hinterland of the Central Plains, if Li Zicheng captures Kaifeng, he can establish a consolidated base in the Central Plains, and at the same time split the Ming Dynasty in half, and the north and south cannot be connected. At the same time, Li Zicheng's reputation will be higher, and more people will vote under King Chuang. What's more, there is also a vassal king King Zhou was besieged in the city, the last time Luoyang fell, King Fu was made into a "Fu Lu banquet", if this King of Zhou was eaten by Li Zicheng again, then the face of the Ming Dynasty would have nowhere to rest.

Li Zicheng dispatched troops outside Kaifeng to meet the reinforcements of the official army and defeated them one by one. During this period, the siege of Kaifeng City by the righteous army has never been lifted, and the siege of Kaifeng City has lasted for more than 100 days, and the siege of more than 100 days has made the originally rich Kaifeng become a hell on earth, and Kaifeng City has no food to eat. Originally, Kaifeng as a big city shortage of grain would not come so quickly, but the thing really happened, it turned out that before the war, the magnates and officials in Kaifeng saw that due to the soaring food prices in the surrounding areas affected by the disaster, they sold the grain stored in the city in the name of disaster relief and exchanged it for silver. So when Li Zicheng's army besieged the city for a short time, there was a shortage of food in the city. Later, there was really no food, and people began to catch rats for food. More ruthless people began to eat human flesh, and the population of the city continued to decrease.

An accident occurred when the rebels besieged Kaifeng, which deepened the tragic fate of Kaifeng City.

The attack of the rebels on Kaifeng has not been effective for a long time, and in a siege, Li Zicheng personally went to the city to observe the defense of the official army in the city, but he did not expect a burst of random arrows to shoot down above the city. Li Zicheng was shot in the left eye by a sharp arrow, but fortunately the soldiers around him desperately guarded and retreated.

The city did not capture the commander but was injured, and many people persuaded Li Zicheng to evacuate, but Li Zicheng resolutely stopped him. Because Li Zicheng has seen the hope of victory.

During the siege of the rebel army, Li Zicheng did not completely pin his hopes of capturing the city on the strong attack. He sent people to secretly dig the tunnel, and now the tunnel has been basically dug successfully, and a huge hole has been dug under the city wall. The rebels put several coffins filled with gunpowder into the hollow under the city wall, and with a loud bang, the wall of the city collapsed. The rebels, who had been prepared, entered the city through the gap.

The city of Kaifeng, which had been held for many days, fell, and Li Zicheng took revenge for being shot and wounded and ordered the city to be slaughtered. Li Zicheng's army that invaded the city was killed when they saw people, and most of them had starved to death, and the few remaining residents of Kaifeng were almost killed, and after this battle, few of the original residents of Kaifeng City survived.

In this harsh situation, the Zhou Wang family miraculously survived. They escaped from Kaifeng when the city was broken, and fled all the way south to the Jiangnan region.

Li Zicheng didn't have the heart to care about the fleeing king of Zhou, so he ordered people to clean up Kaifeng City, transport the corpses out of the city, and find the hidden gold and silver. Life is so sad, many rich families in Kaifeng City have accumulated for generations, whether it is cheating, cheating, stealing, or working hard to keep the family thrifty, the gold and silver in their hands have not been able to save their lives in the end.

Li Zicheng did not want to leave Kaifeng this time, but drove his team into the city to prepare for a long-term station. When the rebels heard that Li Zicheng had captured Kaifeng, they came over to defect, and Li Zicheng's team became the most powerful of the rebels.

Li Zicheng himself also felt very satisfied, the important town of the Central Plains was broken by him, his prestige in the rebel army increased greatly, and a large amount of gold and silver was looted in the city, and the rebel army finally did not have to worry about the lack of money. Li Zicheng's own army reached hundreds of thousands of people, which made him even more ambitious, and it was time to compete with the Zhu dynasty to see if he could replace him.

Li Zicheng's soldiers and horses rested in Kaifeng for a few days, leaving most of them stationed in Kaifeng, and he himself personally led the army north, and the front of the troops pointed directly at Beijing. (To be continued.) )