In July of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), Li Zicheng led an army of 500,000 to besiege Kaifeng for the second time!

In August, Sun Chuanting was ordered to mobilize a total of 130,000 troops from Yutian's general army Cao Bianjiao, Jizhen's general soldier Bai Guangen, Shandong's general soldier Liu Zeqing, Shaanxi's general soldier He Renlong, Zuo Liangyu, fierce as a tiger, and Datong's general soldier Wang Puqilu to relieve the siege of Feng.

Wang Pu started from Datong and approached Kaifeng through Taiyuan Mansion, Zhangde Mansion and Weihui Mansion.

Cao Bianjiao, Bai Guangen, and Liu Zeqing, who were stationed in Shandong, passed through Yuncheng and Caozhou from Lanyang to Kaifeng.

Sun Chuanting personally led Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong, and fierce as a tiger to the three towns of elite soldiers out of Tongguan, along the Yellow River into Kaifeng, the three people agreed to meet at the end of September to Kaifeng City, to fight the thieves.

Sun Chuanting's strategic vision is good, but it is too wishful thinking.

As early as the time of Datong, Wang Pu once said to Sun Chuanting that now that the treasury of the Ming Dynasty is empty, money and food are scarce, and it is unwise to rashly mobilize a large army to suppress the thieves in the absence of logistical support.

Facts have proved that Wang Pu's judgment is accurate.

Due to the lack of food and grass supply, Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong and Mengruhu could only plunder the army, and then something went wrong, and the military discipline in Guanzhong was corrupted, not only robbing the rich, but also the poor people did not let go, but also killed innocents at will, and wiped out silver women at will.

Of course, Sun Chuanting could not tolerate such atrocities, and as a result, fierce conflicts broke out between the generals, and the army of the West Road, which Sun Chuanting had high hopes for, collapsed on its own before reaching Kaifeng, Zuo Liangyu led the army south to Xiangyang under the pretext of chasing Zhang Xianzhong, and He Renlong and Mengruhu also returned to Guanzhong under the pretext of chasing and suppressing Liu Zongmin.

The next problem was Cao Bianjiao, Bai Guangen and Liu Zeqing's East Route Army, because of the lack of food, there was a mutiny when the army marched to Caozhou, Liu Zeqing's Shandong soldiers almost ran clean overnight, Cao Bianjiao and Bai Guangen's two towns of elite soldiers also ran a lot, and the three had to be temporarily stationed in Caozhou.

Only Wang Pu's army did not have any problems, but after entering Fengqiu on the north bank of the Yellow River, Wang Pu did not dare to continue south, because Li Zicheng's army of 500,000 was on the south bank of the Yellow River, and if Wang Pu dared to cross the Yellow River, he would definitely fall into the siege of thieves.

At this time, the thieves are no longer the thieves of a few years ago, since they recruited a group of talents such as Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Li Yan, etc., the thieves have undergone earth-shaking changes, and in the past few years, after the annexation of Luo Rucai and the elite of the fifth battalion of the Revolution, Li Zicheng has a long-standing elite army.

What's even worse is that this elite army is not one or two thousand people, but hundreds of thousands!

No matter how brave and good the firearms battalion is, Wang Pu will not dare to use only 4,000 people to shake Li Zicheng's 500,000 army!

[In the official history, the reason why Li Zicheng was defeated by the combined army of Wu Sangui and Dolgon in a stone was not because the thieves were not elite enough, in fact, after the capture of Guanzhong, the equipment of the thieves was already very sophisticated, and its combat effectiveness was close to the Manchu Eight Banners.

The reason why Li Zicheng was defeated in a stone was entirely because he was too careless.

Most of the elite troops under Li Zicheng were scattered in Henan, Guanzhong, Shanxi, and Jingshi, and he only took less than 100,000 troops to Shanhaiguan, and his strength was almost half of the combined forces of Wu Sangui and Dolgon. 】

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Outside the city of Kaifeng, the camp of thieves.

Li Yan proudly entered Li Zicheng's big tent, clasped his fists and said, "King, the firearms battalion is ready. ”

"Okay." Li Zicheng's single eye showed a burning look, and he waved his hand to Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and the generals of the righteous army who were standing on both sides, and said loudly, "Let's go, everyone go and take a look." ”

Li Zicheng took the lead, and everyone followed him to the school field.

On the school field, the 3,000 volunteers have lined up in a neat queue, and unlike other volunteers, these 3,000 volunteers are not holding spears or broadswords, but all the same firecrackers, yes, firecrackers!

We have to start from the beginning.

After Li Yan returned to Henan from Shaanxi, Li Zicheng was originally going to kill him secretly, but fortunately, with Song Xiance's protection, Li Yan was able to not die, of course, Song Xiance was also selfish to protect Li Yan, because Li Yan is a character, and keeping Li Yan can contain the chief military advisor Niu Jinxing.

Li Yan didn't know that he was almost killed by Li Zicheng, and after returning to Henan, he began to lobby Li Zicheng to form a firearms battalion.

Li Zicheng allocated 5,000 to Li Yan for the old, weak, sick and disabled, and took out 100,000 taels of silver from the looted property over the years to buy firearms and ammunition for Li Yan.

The red lady used the relationship on the underworld to buy nearly 10,000 guns and hundreds of thousands of catties of gunpowder and lead pills from the Weisuo army in Nanzhili, Henan and Shandong provinces with 100,000 taels of silver.

The only thing that Li Yan regretted was that these muskets were all arquebuses, compared with the muskets of Wang Pu's firearms battalion, they were not only bulky but also of poor quality, and the 10,000 muskets could be used with less than 3,000 guns, plus the ones captured by the rebels in the past, they barely managed to get together 3,000 guns.

By mid-August, Li Yan's firearms battalion had finally been formed, and after more than a month of shooting training, it was now a little bit of a reality, and it was almost ready for the actual combat test.

After Li Zicheng, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Tian Jianxiu, Li Guo, and other generals sat down on the parade platform, Li Yan strode to the parade platform, raised the order flag, waved left and right, and the remaining 2,000 old, weak, sick and disabled people from the firearms battalion carried 2,000 puppets to the school ground, and set up a phalanx 100 paces away directly in front of the 3,000 firearms battalion.

Li Yan raised the order flag in his hand again, and the leader of the volunteer army in front of the battle turned over his hand and pulled out his waist knife and shouted: "The first team...... Preparation! ”

Two thousand old, weak, sick and disabled people were quickly evacuated.

The first row of 500 volunteer soldiers raised the fire guns in their hands, and the 500 fire guns were raised in a row, and the guns of the black hole were aimed at the puppet phalanx in front.

Li Yan waved down the order flag again, and the leader of the volunteer army in front of the formation followed with a waist knife, and at the same time shouted: "Fire!" ”

The 500 soldiers of the Righteous Army pulled the trigger at the same time, and the fire rope clamped on the trigger was pressed into the primer room, and the gunpowder in the primer room burned violently, quickly detonating the gunpowder in the chamber of the gun.......

The puppet phalanx tied up in front of him suddenly sounded with a "bangbang" sound, and hundreds of puppets fell to the ground.

Li Zicheng Huo Ran stood up and stared at the three thousand firearms battalion soldiers on the school field in front of him, with an incredible light in his eyes, such a dense volley of firearms, Da Luo Jinxian would definitely die, if the puppets in front were replaced by officers and soldiers, just this round of salvo fire, I was afraid that hundreds of people would be killed, right?

In front of the parade platform, the order flag in Li Yan's hand was raised again.

Another leader of the Volunteer Army flipped his hand and pulled out his waist knife, and shouted sharply: "Second team...... Preparation! ”

The second team of 500 volunteers quickly took two steps forward, and then raised the guns in their hands neatly, and the guns of the black hole hole were raised in a row again, and the first row of 500 volunteers who had already fired quickly retreated to the back of the queue and began to nervously reload their ammunition.

……

After the six rounds of salvo fire, Li Zicheng came to the crooked puppet phalanx surrounded by a group of rebel generals, and in the pungent smell of gunsmoke, he saw that the two thousand puppets had been beaten by lead shots, and the nearly 100 paces distance, the wooden planks that were several inches thick were completely penetrated by lead shots.

No armor can resist such penetrating power!

If these two thousand puppets were Ming officials, I am afraid that these six rounds of salvo fire would have been killed and wounded!

"Terrible, terrible!" Song Xiance lost no time in praising it, "If there are 30,000 such firearms under the command of the king, the destruction of the Ming Dynasty is just a gesture." ”

Li Zicheng was silent, he had not yet recovered from the huge shock.

Niu Jinxing, the chief military advisor, said disapprovingly: "Although these firecrackers are powerful, but we can't make them ourselves, if we buy them from the hands of the Daming Guard, the price is too expensive, if we want to form a firecracker battalion of 30,000 people, how much silver will it cost?" With this money, it is enough to recruit hundreds of thousands of troops. ”

"Nope." Li Zicheng Huo Ran raised his hand and said categorically, "No matter how much money is spent, the Fire Gun Camp must be expanded!" ”

Li Yan said: "King, there is a sentence that I don't know whether to say or not? ”

"If you have something to say, just say it."

Li Zicheng's tone of voice was much more polite.

Li Yan said: "Almost all the firearms we can buy have been bought, and we can't buy them even if we spend more silver, and the quality of the firearms used by these guards is too poor, and the last general has seen more powerful firearms, which are longer, lighter, longer, longer, more lethal, and faster than ours." ”

"Oh?" Li Zicheng said in a deep voice, "You're talking about Wang Pu's firearms battalion, right?" ”

"Yes." Li Yan nodded and said, "Our firearms battalion uses a six-stage shooting method, and there will be a short interval after the salvo is completed, so we must rely on other armies to protect the firearms battalion, but Wang Pu's firearms battalion can use the three-stage shooting method, and it can shoot one round after another, continuously!" ”

Li Zicheng said: "You mean that we must buy the muskets used by Wang Pu's firearms battalion?" ”

Li Yan said: "King, we can't buy the musket used by Wang Pu's firearms battalion, at least not now, so we can only make it ourselves!" ”

Niu Jinxing said: "It's light, who will make it?" Can you Li Yan make it? ”

Li Yan said: "Of course the last general can't make it, but there is an armory bureau of officials and soldiers in Kaifeng City, and those craftsmen in the armory bureau can make it!" Great King, the last general begs not to dig up the Yellow River, and not to flood Kaifeng. ”

Li Zicheng's brows furrowed for a moment.

"Wow." Niu Jinxing shouted, "Turning around, it finally turned to the destruction of the city by breaking the embankment, Li Yan, this is the strategy of the king to break the city, what is your intention in obstructing it in every way?" Do you want the king to be infamous for poisoning the people, but you, Li Yan, have a reputation for cherishing the people? ”

"The King." Li Yan hurriedly said, "Diverting the water of the Yellow River to flood Kaifeng, not only the people are killed or injured, but the king you can't get anything but a ruined city, why don't you try the strategy of breaking the city that the last general said?" Burying gunpowder at the foot of the city wall can really blow up the city wall, this is how Jiannu blew up the city wall of Datong in the first place. ”

"Nonsense." Niu Jinxing hurriedly said, "The Kaifeng city wall is so high and thick, it can be exploded with tens of thousands of catties of gunpowder?" ”

"The King." Li Yan hurriedly said, "The last general is willing to guarantee the head of the item!" ”

Li Zicheng couldn't help but be moved when he heard this.

Song Xiance lost no time in saying: "King, no matter whether General Li Yan's strategy to break the city can work or not, it always doesn't hurt to try, and if it doesn't work, it's not too late to flood Kaifeng." ”

"Hmm." Li Zicheng nodded when he heard this, "Then try it, Li Yan is fully responsible for this matter." ”

Li Yan was overjoyed when he heard this: "The last general will take the order." ”

Niu Jinxing's eyebrows were quietly covered with a dark cloud, looking at Song Xiance, and then at Li Yan, he suddenly felt an unprecedented crisis, Song Xiance and Li Yan faintly showed signs of joining forces, Li Zicheng didn't seem to trust him as much as before, and his situation was becoming delicate......

(To be continued)