Although it was uncomfortable to watch his own people go to death, Li Yan did not dare to risk angering Li Zicheng to admonish him again, although Li Yan was relatively straight, but this did not mean that he was a two-hundred-five, and he would not do what he knew could not do.

Looking at the missing cavalry and the foot soldiers who had turned into small black spots, Li Yan closed his eyes in pain, he clearly knew that few of these people could come back, and what made him even more painful than this was that the current Li Zicheng had been carried away by the victory of the capture of Yanjing, he had forgotten that Emperor Chongzhen was still resisting stubbornly on the wall of the inner city, and the sudden appearance of the enemy army showed that his 200,000 troops were likely to be trapped and killed in Yanjing City.

Li Yan pulled Song Xiance to the side and said in a low voice: "Brother Song, the cavalry of the Great Zhou Army has appeared, which means that the opponent's large army is about to arrive, and the most important thing at the moment is to close the city gate tightly, in case the enemy army takes the opportunity to attack, and if you don't close the city gate quickly, it will be too late!" ”

Song Xiance smiled bitterly and said: "Gongzi Li, you have seen everything, the current King Chuang has been completely enraged, he believes that he has 200,000 troops in hand, where will he take the initiative to retreat into the city, it is useless for us to persuade him!" ”

"Stupid, stupid!"

Li Yan's face turned red, and he kept cursing in a voice that only he heard, and he didn't know if he was scolding Li Zicheng for his stupidity or Song Xiance's attitude of protecting himself.

And under the city, after Li Shuangxi led 2,000 cavalry and 5,000 foot soldiers to attack, the remaining tens of thousands of Dashun troops outside the city also slowly calmed down under the command of some low-level officers. Around Li Zicheng, none of the dozens of generals dared to step forward to dissuade him, for fear of suffering from the fish pond.

Time passed little by little, half an hour passed, and the soldiers outside the city also returned to the camp, but Li Shuangxi and the thousands of soldiers led by him have not returned, during which Li Guo, who was temporarily in charge of the city defense, asked whether to close the city gate, but was reprimanded back by Li Zicheng mercilessly.

Li Zicheng's original words at the time were like this: "Shuangxi is Lone's righteous son, his ability is Lonely, and he can be trusted by Lonely, so what can he do with thousands of thieves?" Li Guo, you should have confidence in it, isn't closing the city gate at this time making the world laugh at the cowardice of my Dashun army? ”

When everyone was getting anxious, a black spot finally appeared in the distance, and slowly these black spots got closer and closer, and they were coming quickly towards the city gate. Everyone on the city wall secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and someone laughed: "Okay, General Shuangxi is back, and he must return with a big victory!" ”

Slowly, the figure of the person who came slowly became clear, and suddenly someone screamed.

"It's not good, those people are not Double Happiness Generals, they are enemy troops!"

Soon, the faces of the people on the city wall began to change, they had already seen that the people at the front were not wearing the gray-brown armor of the Great Shun Army, but the pure black armor that Pang Gang's Great Zhou Army would wear.

There were more and more black-armored sergeants from the south, the cavalry was on the flanks, the foot soldiers were in the center, and the dense and overwhelming sergeants soon filled the eyes of everyone on the city wall.

"It's the Great Zhou Army, it's Pang Gang's brigade here!"

Looking at the overwhelming number of people coming from afar, Li Zicheng only felt that his hands and feet were cold, and at this time, even if his brain was filled with anger, he understood that Li Shuangxi, who had been ordered to attack just now, was finished.

"Bang Bang Bang"

There was a burst of fire outside the city, which came from the camp of the Dashun army, and the sound of fire guns became more and more dense, and the screams continued to reach the city wall where Li Zicheng and them were. Everyone's faces became ugly, Song Xiance sighed, walked to Li Zicheng's side and whispered: "King Chuang, now that we can't take care of the people outside the city, let's close the city gate first, otherwise let the enemy take advantage of the situation to rush into the city gate, then everything will be over." ”

Li Zicheng's face at this time was very strange, like anger, sadness, and shame, and finally, reason triumphed over anger, his hands clenched the city bricks in front of him, until a sharp pain came from his hands, he said in a voice that seemed to be squeezed out of his teeth; "Li Guo!"

"In!" Li Guo, who had been waiting for a long time, hurriedly stood up.

"Close the gates immediately!"

"Yes!" After hearing Li Zicheng's words, Li Guo hurriedly ordered the surrounding soldiers to close the city gate and put down the jack gate, in the piercing metal friction sound, the three city gates of the south gate were finally closed, and all the generals of the Dashun army, including Li Zicheng, also understood that from the moment the city gate was closed, the fate of tens of thousands of soldiers and horses outside the city had been decided.

With the closing of the city gate, there are more and more men and horses of the Great Zhou Army outside the city, and the military camp of the Great Shun Army outside the city is also in chaos.

When the sun completely set, Li Zicheng put 40,000 horses outside the city, except for more than 10,000 people who were killed, the rest of the people all knelt on the ground and became prisoners of the Great Zhou army.

Night gradually fell, in a forest outside Yanjing City, three miles away from Xibianmen, a team of thousands of people of the military camp was stationed here, in the middle of this military camp stood a huge tent, at this moment this big tent was brightly lit, reflecting more than a dozen burly figures inside. Pang Gang was sitting in the middle of the big tent, and he was listening to the report of Hao Dayong, who was the forward, with his eyes slightly closed.

"Lord Wang, today we have annihilated the seven thousand thieves who dared to go out of the city to pursue us, and captured their thief leader, after interrogation, he is Li Zicheng's righteous son, Li Shuangxi, the former deputy general of the battalion! In addition, after the arrival of our army, we also annihilated 40,000 thieves outside the city, of which nearly 30,000 were captured, which can be described as a brilliant result. ”

At this time, Pang Gang was wearing a pure black delicate soft armor, sitting on the seat in the big tent, at this time he was nearly thirty years old, he had a short beard, after growing a beard, he looked more calm, although a pair of eyes were not very big, but between the opening and closing was blazing, making people look intimidating.

Pang Gang glanced at Hao Dayong and said softly: "Hao Guerrilla, your desire to fight is understandable to this king, but we are new to the city, and we don't know much about the situation in the city, although the thieves have captured Yanjing City, but the inner city is still in the hands of Emperor Chongzhen, we don't know, we must figure out these things!" ”

Speaking of this, Pang Gangyou shifted his gaze to a general sitting at the end and asked: "Gu Chen, Leng Yan was founded by you and is also responsible, can you get in touch with the inside line in the city tonight?" ”

Gu Chen stood up and hugged his fists and said, "Lord Wang, please rest assured, tonight's humble position will immediately contact the city, and it will never delay the prince's major affairs!" ”

Pang Gang nodded and punched the table: "Well, that's good!" Now everyone go down and rest, the artillery battalion will prepare the artillery overnight, as long as it is sure that the inner city is still in the hands of the Ming Emperor, we will immediately launch an attack on Yanjing City and annihilate the thieves in the city in one fell swoop! ”

All the generals in the big tent responded in unison: "Obey the orders of the prince!" ”

Just when Pang Gang and others were sharpening their knives and discussing the siege strategy of the Ming Dynasty, Chongzhen, who had escaped by luck today, led Queen Zhou and others back to the Forbidden City.

Chongzhen, who moved the stone for a day today, was so tired that he could barely move at this time, and after returning to Kunning Palace, he lay on the dragon chair on all fours, and Queen Zhou and Concubine Yuan were so distressed that they burst into tears.

Concubine Yuan sobbed with tears in her eyes: "How do you say this, the dignified son of tomorrow actually guards the city in person, and looks at the emperor who is tired, what a sin!" ”

Chongzhen's arms were already tired and numb at this time, and he tried to squeeze out a smile and said: "Concubine Ai's words are also wrong, I am the son of heaven of a country, my Zhu family has been said to guard the country by the Son of Heaven since Emperor Gaozu, and I am the son of tomorrow, and I should personally guard the city." ”

The crown prince Zhu Cihong said hatefully: "Father, the sons and daughters have finally seen the faces of those civil and military officials, if it weren't for the timely arrival of that Pang, our whole family would have committed suicide and martyrdom in the city, but what about them, one by one, they will only hide at home as shrinking turtles, and we have to settle accounts with them when we defeat the thieves." ”

Listening to Zhu Cihong's words, Chongzhen tried to open his eyes and smiled bitterly: "Emperor, after defeating the thieves, my father will be on the throne, and the life and death of our family are still in the hands of Pang Gang, how can we settle accounts with them." ”

Everyone couldn't help but be dumbfounded, yes, although their surname was saved, but the country was lost, and the future future is still in the hands of others, how to settle accounts with others.

At this time, Zhu Yudie, the youngest of the people, said in a milky voice: "Father, don't be sad, you forgot, didn't you say that you want to marry your sister to that Pang Gang?" As long as he marries his sister, he will be my brother-in-law, and then I will let my brother-in-law arrest them all and spank them! ”

As soon as Zhu Yuandie's childish words came out, except for Princess Zhu Yuanjiao of Kunxing, everyone laughed, and Queen Zhou hugged Zhu Yuandie and smiled: "Okay, when your brother-in-law comes in, you will tell him to let him spank the butts of those ministers." ”

"Ah, what nonsense are you talking about, queen mother!"

Zhu Yujiao heard everyone making fun of herself, and her petite pink face was like a big red cloth, and she hung her head silently on the side.

After everyone finished laughing, Chongzhen sighed lightly, stretched out his hand and stroked Zhu Yujiao's hair and said: "Yujiao, in order to protect the surname of my Zhu family, I had to marry that Pang Gang, I really wronged you, you must hate your father very much, right?" ”

Zhu Yujiao hugged Chongzhen and cried: "Father, the sons are not wronged, as long as the father, the queen mother and the emperor's brothers and sisters are safe and sound, the sons and daughters can bear no matter how big the grievances are!" ”

Seeing such a scene, the eunuchs and palace maids who were waiting around everyone also wept.

After a long while, more than a dozen eunuchs and palace maids came over with more than a dozen food boxes and invited the emperor and queen to dinner. Chongzhen urged everyone to sit down, although the body was very tired, but Chongzhen, who was tired for a day, was hungry early, although the dinner was just a very simple four dishes and one soup and millet porridge, but the family ate very fragrantly.

Just when everyone was gobbling up and eating, Wang Chengen, who had just stayed at the head of the city to check the defense of the city, came in.

Wang Chengen bowed down and said: "The emperor is safe, the slave and maid have something to do with the emperor." ”

After seeing Wang Chengen, Chongzhen's face changed slightly: "It turned out that the big companion was here, could it be that the thieves were going to attack the city overnight?" ”

"Definitely!" Wang Chengen shook his head, and said with a strange look on his face, "Your Majesty, the ministers, nobles and other prefectures in Shicai City have sent their own servants to the city wall, saying that they want to defend the city for the Ming Dynasty, and even a few sons of the nobles have personally gone up to the city wall, and the number of these people is quite a lot, there are seven or eight thousand people, and the slaves and maids don't know what to do, so they have come to ask the emperor to decide!" ”

"Humph!"

Chongzhen put the bowl heavily on the table, at this time he was so angry in his heart, where did you all go when I led the whole family to the city wall to defend the city, and now you only came to offer hospitality when you saw the reinforcements coming, is it really me a fool to let you fool?

Looking at Chongzhen with an angry face, Wang Chengen was also secretly sneering in his heart, these royal relatives and princes and ministers are also shameless to a certain level, if it weren't for Pang Gang leading the army outside the city today, I'm afraid they would have been ready to meet the thieves.

However, although Wang Chengen was full of anger, he still looked at Chongzhen respectfully with everyone, waiting for him to decide.

The look on Chongzhen's face also changed from time to time, and after a long time, a faint sneer appeared on his face, and he said: "Great companion, since those ministers and nobles are so loyal to the country, let's not snub their kindness, do we lack the manpower to defend the city from time to time?" Let them guard the city for us, and let's talk about anything when Pang Gang enters the city. ”

As soon as Chongzhen said this, Zhu Cihong couldn't help but say: "Father, those ministers are just some villains who see the wind and steer the rudder, if they are allowed to defend the city, lest they open the door to meet the enemy!" ”

"Hehehehe"

Chongzhen smiled, "Emperor, if you said this before Pang Gang arrived, it might have been very possible, but now that Pang Gang has arrived outside the city and surrounded the thieves, I expect that even if they give them ten guts, they will not dare to do so." ”

Zhu Cihong, the prince, is not stupid, he understood after a little thought, now these ministers saw that the defeat of the thieves was decided, so they sent people to the city wall to help Chongzhen defend the city, how dare they turn against the thieves and seek their own death.

"Okay, let's sleep in peace tonight, I want to see how those traitors are annihilated!"

Chongzhen's words were filled with a trace of indescribable resentment, obviously, his resentment towards Li Zicheng and others who dared to dig the ancestral grave of the old Zhu family in Fengyang and almost forced his family [***] was deep in the bone marrow, but at this time, whether it was Chongzhen in the inner city or Li Zicheng outside the inner city, he didn't notice that a small carrier pigeon crossed the well-defended, high and thick city wall, and flew towards Pang Gang's camp

On the third day of July in the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, the sky gradually brightened, and Li Zicheng, who had not slept well all night last night, got up and hurriedly ate a few mouthfuls of breakfast before taking the generals to the outer city wall.

"Knock Knock"

Just when Li Zicheng led the generals to the city wall, the heavy and shocking drums slowly sounded, and slowly pieces of black "dark clouds" slowly converged from a distance to the city gate.

This is an army wearing black armor from head to toe, they slowly forced towards the city wall with heavy and steady steps, pieces of black and white tiger flags gathered from all directions, the heavy breath was so suppressed that it seemed to make people breathless, from Li Zicheng's point of view, tens of thousands of horses in the march in addition to the sound of footsteps, passwords and whirring wind there is no other noise, this army is strict in discipline, the degree of prohibition makes all the generals of the Dashun army can't help but change color.

Li Yan looked at the soldiers of the Great Zhou Army in front of him, his face was so grim that it seemed to have a layer of frost, and the faces of Li Zicheng and the surrounding generals were also very grim, and no one spoke up, only Liu Zongmin, who was known for his roughness and bravery, was muttering: "His grandmother's, the appearance of those Great Zhou army formations is really good, and we really don't have any battalion that can compare with this." ”

Although Liu Zongmin's words were not big, all the generals around him could hear them, but no one echoed his words, the people here are all old men who have led soldiers for many years, in all fairness, if they are allowed to bring out such a team, they don't have that ability to ask themselves.

Looking at the army under the city, Li Zicheng's heart was full of hatred and jealousy, that is, the team in front of him drove himself from Henan to Hubei two years ago, and then from Hubei to Shaanxi, and now he is facing himself when he occupies Yanjing and is about to destroy the Ming Dynasty. Sometimes Li Zicheng even wondered if the guy named Pang Gang was his nemesis, otherwise how could he jump out and make trouble with himself every time he was about to finish.

Slowly, the army outside the city is still in formation, because the south gate is the main direction of attack today, so Pang Gang today said that 40,000 troops were arranged here, and the entire south gate was densely enclosed.

When the formation was arranged, the artillery of a gate was also pushed out of the formation, and in less than a meal, an artillery battalion was arranged five hundred steps away from the city wall, and the muzzles of one hundred and twenty-six black holes were aimed at the city wall, looking at the guns of the black holes, everyone on the city wall changed color, and after seeing such a situation, they all knew that there must be a very difficult battle waiting for them today

(To be continued)