Chongzhen four years of the twenty-fifth month of the month, Kong Youde rebels besieged Dengzhou, stationed in Dengzhou Denglai general soldier Zhang Keda led the troops to defend the city, the next afternoon, the rebels began to attack the city, Kong Youde pioneers made the exiles to carry out a tentative attack, the rebels carried the ladder and began to attack the city, the defenders in the city were strangled according to the city, first the bow and arrow long-range shooting, when the rebels approached the thunder stone rolling wood, the gold juice and oil took turns to fight, occasionally the rebels attacked the city, the defenders who had been waiting for a long time rushed up to kill it, the battle was extremely tragic, the siege rebels suffered heavy losses, When the battle was at its most intense, Kong Youde personally supervised the battle and could not stop the defeated soldiers, and the rebels lacked siege equipment behind the high walls of Dengzhou City, and after a whole day of fighting from early morning to evening, the rebels suffered nearly 3,000 casualties and did not attack the city.

On the twenty-seventh day of the lunar month, Kong Youde personally led the elite of Liaodong to begin to attack the city, the battle was extremely fierce at the beginning, the brave Liaodong army fell under the rain of arrows, rushed to the head of the city to start a fierce struggle with the defenders, the rebels came in a steady stream, almost occupied the city head position for a while, Zhang Ke personally went to the city head to kill the rebels, the Dengzhou soldiers suddenly boosted morale, and soon drove the rebels at the head of the city, and at the same time Zhang Keda had hidden the killer feature for a long time, and more than a dozen Franco machine cannons presided over by Sun Yuanhua began to fire, A salvo of solid iron balls weighing a few catties opened more than a dozen blood alleys in the rebel camp, splashing blood and stumps fell around, the rebels suddenly cried wolf, morale fell to the freezing point, the artillery fire continued, the rebels suffered heavy losses The camp was in chaos, and the huge fear swept the entire Kong Youde front army, even if the supervising team killed many fleeing soldiers, it still could not stop the soldiers from retreating, Zhang Keda immediately made a decision, and immediately led the elite of Dengzhou out of the city to attack the rebels, the rebels had no intention of resisting Dengshi, and Zhang Keda chased and killed for several miles before collecting troops and returning to the city.

After a fiasco, Kong Youde did not dare to attack the city rashly because of the artillery in the city, and ordered the soldiers to surround Dengzhou City, and only drove the cannon fodder troops to attack the city every day, consuming the ammunition and energy of the defenders so that they could not rest. Seeing this, Zhang Keda knew that something was wrong, and quickly sent someone to ask for help.

On the other side, Liu Fan, who was besieged in Dengzhou, was in a hurry, and what he was most worried about had happened. Liu Fan hurriedly asked Yu Dacheng to send troops, Yu Dacheng also got Dengzhou besieged and Zhang Keda sent a letter for help, he was also very anxious in his heart, on the one hand, he saw the strong combat effectiveness of the rebels, and was a little afraid that he would lose his life if he went to the rescue, on the other hand, if he sat and watched Dengzhou fall, the court could not spare him, and after thinking about it for a long time, Yu Dacheng decided to send troops on the second day of the first month after the New Year. Liu Fan had no choice but to agree.

On the 28th of the lunar month, Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, led more than 7,000 people including Liaodong generals Zhang Tao and Geng Zhongming to come to the rescue. After entering the city, Zhang Keda said to Sun Yuanhua: "Lord Sun, most of the Liaodong army and Kong Youde's rebels are old acquaintances, I am worried that they have contact with the rebels outside the city, in case they and the rebels should cooperate with the outside to deceive the city gate, and then Dengzhou is in danger, you must not let them enter the city!" ”

Sun Yuanhua said unhappily: "General Zhang is too worried, I believe that Zhang Tao will not betray me, besides, I led the Liaodong soldiers to rescue Dengzhou on the occasion of the New Year, if they are not allowed to enter the city, it is dangerous for the soldiers to be resentful!" ”

Zhang Ke said urgently, "But my lord...", before he finished speaking, he was interrupted by Sun Yuanhua, "I have made up my mind, you don't need to say more, open the city gate!" Zhang Keda had no choice but to obey orders, although he was the chief soldier of the first grade, but even he did not dare to oppose the order of the governor of Denglai, who let his money and food lifeline in the hands of others! In the afternoon of the same day, Liaodong reinforcements entered the city.

On the 29th of the lunar month, Kong Youde attacked the city, Zhang Keda, Zhang Tao was ordered to fight, 7,000 Liaodong soldiers and 3,000 Dengzhou soldiers totaled more than 10,000 people, went out of the city to meet the rebels, the defenders were elite and had artillery to help the battle just began to gain the upper hand, the rebels were defeated and retreated, the battle entered the most critical moment, Zhang Tao's Liaodong army suddenly turned against the battle, turned around and killed the defenders, Zhang Tao saw that the situation was not good and took the lead in escaping, Zhang Keda was defeated by the rebels and suffered heavy losses, most of the three thousand Dengzhou soldiers were killed and wounded, and the deputy general Guan Weicheng, Guerrilla Chen Liangmo, garrison Sheng Luo, Yao Shiliang died in battle, and had no choice but to retreat into the city. Zhang Keda returned to the city and angrily questioned Sun Yuanhua, but was reprimanded and ordered him to garrison Shuicheng and not to ask about the battle in Dengzhou.

On the night of the 29th day of the lunar month, Kong Youde contacted Geng Zhongming, the defender of the city, and the Liaodong Army in the city and the rebels outside the city should open the city gate and let the rebels enter the city, and Dengzhou City fell into the hands of the rebels. Soon the rebels captured the Yamen of the governor of Dengzhou, killed most of the officials, and captured Sun Yuanhua, the governor of Denglai, alive. The war had just ended, and the chaotic army with corrupt military discipline rushed into the city and began to loot the people, at first there were sober officers to suppress, and finally the red-eyed rebels resisted and killed Shangguan, which even Kong Youde did not dare to stop, most of the officers were involved in the looting, Dengzhou suddenly fell into a sea of fire, the rebels first rushed into the big households, robbed property and killed their families, **** their wives and daughters, and then rushed into the homes of ordinary people to vent their ****, and when it was dawn, Dengzhou City was already full of corpses, Everywhere, insulted women died tragically at home or on the street, and the people of Dengzhou were already one in ten steps. At this time when the New Year is approaching, the people of Dengzhou have fallen into hell.

Chinese New Year's Eve, the rebels began to attack Shuicheng, is defending Shuicheng, heard that Dengzhou fell after the crying, heartbroken, at this time the rebels have begun to attack the city, Zhang Keda personally supervised the battle, helpless Dengzhou elite soldiers have already suffered heavy losses, where can they still block tens of thousands of rebels in turn, after holding on for a day, seeing that the city is about to be broken, Zhang Keda untied the official seal he was wearing and handed it to the flag bearer and drummer, let them take the path and hand it over to the boss in Jinan. When he returned home, he bid farewell to his mother, and asked his younger brother Kedu and son Lu Zheng to escort his mother to Tianjin. Then the sword was handed over to the general, all the maid rings were killed, Zhang Keda himself returned to the official office, and when the city was broken, Keda wrote on the wall of the Taiping Tower: "On the first day of the first month of the fifth year of Chongzhen, Zhang Keda, the general soldier of Shandong, is here. Then, he hanged himself. At this point, the city of Dengzhou has all fallen into the hands of the rebels.

When Liu Fan received the news of the fall of Dengzhou City, he was inexplicably sad, at this time he had not yet set off to support, Liu Fan was full of hatred for these selfish officials in Shandong in an instant, Zhang Keda did not have to die, it was the incompetence of these people who killed him, the Ming Dynasty has since lost a rare loyal general and a major opportunity, Zhang Keda can be said to be a rare good general in the late Ming Dynasty, Zhang Keda is the hereditary Nanjing Yulin Zuowei Qianhu. In the twenty-ninth year of Wanli, Wu Jinshi. In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, he was awarded the capital of Zhejiang, guarded Guazhou, and captured the thieves who robbed the tribute ships, and was successively promoted to guerrilla and general. Later, he followed the general soldier Wang Minghe to pacify the southwest and made meritorious contributions. He was transferred to Ningbo, stationed in Zhoushan, and defeated the invaders many times. Zhang Keda's life is filial piety, and erudite and talented, wherever he goes, Corporal Lixian. Although he was in the army, he led troops to train and fight every day, but he still had the style of a Confucian general. In the first year of Chongzhen, Zhang Keda served as the chief military officer of Denglai, Shandong. Denglai has always been the gateway to Shenjing, Zhang Keda devoted himself to coastal defense, and personally inspected the coastal terrain and the strength of the troops to draw the "Coastal Defense Atlas" and submitted it to the imperial court. In the winter of the second year of Chongzhen, tens of thousands of remnants of the White Lotus Sect besieged Laiyang, Zhang Keda led the army to attack, burned its six villages, captured its leaders Li Cheng and Xu Tang, killed them, and the siege of Laiyang was lifted. Soon there was a police in the capital, and Zhang Keda was ordered to defend and guard the gates of Xizhi and Guangning. In the third year of Chongzhen, Zhang Keda was meritorious to King Qin, and he was promoted to the governor of the capital. At this time, Liu Xingzhi rebelled in the Dongjiang River, and Zhang Keda returned to the town to seek peace. Chongzhen was promoted to the right governor for four years. In October, Zhang Keda was promoted to the right governor of Nanjing and the governor of the Chihe and Pukou Second Army, and he also invaded Shandong in the future and the Kong Youde rebel army, Zhang Keda had no choice but to stay in office and led the Dengzhou elite to quell the rebellion. Before the victory was achieved, he was pitted by Sun Yuanhua, and even if the rebels could not be defeated with the combat strength of the Dengzhou soldiers, it would be no problem to hold Dengzhou City for a few months, and it would not be in vain when the reinforcements arrived.

In fact, Zhang Keda could have escaped, after all, the blame was not on him, Zu Dashou had surrendered, and it was okay for Jianyu to suffer. But Zhang Keda chose to die with the people of Dengzhou City who loved him, I have to say that he is a hero, but the heroes have no good results, if he did not die in battle, go to Nanjing, and then Nanming will not have no generals available, and the situation will not be corrupted so quickly, there is no but, this is also the sorrow of Daming!