In October, the north wind lingers.

In the hall of the Prime Minister's Office, a charcoal stove has been burned, and the finest silver charcoal is burning, smokeless and tasteless. The hall was full of warmth, but at this time, the atmosphere in the hall was very tense, and the tension was suffocating.

The emperor wore a robe and sat on the top to listen to the government. Liu Jun sat on either side with the other three auxiliary ministers. Dozens of important ministers gathered, all of them frowning urgently, and the hall was very quiet.

"Didn't the thief die early?" Zhu Cihong frowned and looked at Liu Jundao.

"Your Majesty, it was the old thief Gao Yingxiang who captured and escorted him to Beijing Lingchi to death, and later his nephew Li Zicheng continued to lead his troops to wander. In the eleventh year of Chongzhen, he was defeated by Hong Chengchou and Sun Chuanting in Tongguan, and hid in Shangluo Mountain. After the Sichuan, Shaanxi and Hubei armies entered Liao last year, they took advantage of the situation to go out of the mountains. A few months ago, the current Huguang army led his troops to defeat the invading thieves in Yunyang, killing more than 3,000 of his troops, and the thieves retreated into Henan. ”

When Li Zicheng's army was defeated in Yunyang and retreated into Henan, there were still more than 30,000 people, but they were already seriously injured, and although the 3,000 men and horses lost under Yunyang City were not many, they were all soldiers.

"Why didn't Zhang Shan take advantage of the situation to exterminate the thieves?" Zhu Cihong asked again.

"Back to Your Majesty, Zhang Shan was only training in the Lianghu regiment at that time, and it was a training in the local township corps. Moreover, Zuo Liangyu, the chief soldier of Henan, refused to allow Zhang Shan to lead his troops into Henan to pursue the thieves. ”

Zuo Liangyu refused Zhang Shan to bring the Chu army into the country, but he did not have the ability to exterminate Li Zicheng. After Li Zicheng entered Henan, he and Zuo Liangyu started mobile warfare, and after more than half a year, Li Zicheng united many of the former guards officers and military households in Henan, and took advantage of the favorable situation of the great hunger in Henan to quickly roll a snowball.

By August, more than 50,000 people had gathered, and in September, they broke through the three counties of Lushi, Yongning, and Songxian, and conquered Yiyang a few days ago.

Li Zicheng at this time is already different from Li Zicheng in his early years. He no longer plundered everywhere. After robbing everywhere and even uniting with many officers of the former guard station in Henan, he played the banner of not killing ordinary people, but only corrupt officials and corrupt officials.

In October, Li Zicheng took advantage of the victory to attack Yongning, west of Luoyang, and used a coffin filled with gunpowder to dig a hole at the foot of the city to blow up the city wall and break through the city.

After the city was broken, Li Zicheng took the captured King Wan'an and more than 100 officials and gentry landlords in the city to the county government hall, where they were publicly executed after Li Zicheng's personal trial. Then they took all the money and food from the homes of the king of Wan'an and the gentry in the city.

Li Zicheng also took some grain and a lot of floating wealth that could not be taken away. All of them were taken and distributed to all the people of Yongning County, and won the praise of many people.

"A few days ago, the rebels were preparing to march into Luoyang, including Lian Keyanshi, Lingbao, Xin'an, and Baofeng Zhucheng!"

Before Li Zicheng attacked Yunyang, he was no different from the past. But when he was defeated in Henan by Yunyang, he quickly changed. In the past, the army was a bandit, but now it is under the banner of the righteous army.

No longer rob indiscriminately, but only rob the gentry of the official mansion, and even when they rob the gentry every time they break a city. They will also take out some grain money and those floating wealth and land deeds that cannot be taken away, and distribute them to the local people, so as to buy people's hearts.

It is this kind of transformation that makes the expansion of the general's power extremely fast.

This change in the army. From two sides. First, I have received a lot of defectors from readers, and I have been guided and advised by them. According to the information obtained by Liu Jun through Jinyiwei, there are now three famous literati in Li Zicheng's army, one is Niu Jinxing, one is Song Xiance, and the other is Li Yan.

It was the entry of these three scholars. brought about this transformation for the breaking army.

Niu Jinxing, a native of Baofeng County, Henan, was raised in the seventh year of the Apocalypse. Be generous and uninhibited. was dismissed from his reputation because of the incident, and he was sent to the army. He was not the first of the three to join the Chuang Army, Li Yan was the first to join. After Li Yan joined the gang, he recommended him to Li Zicheng. After Niu Jinxing joined the gang, he made a suggestion to Li Zicheng.

"Less torture and killing, help the hungry, and win people's hearts!"

Then he recommended Song Xiance to Li Zicheng.

Song Xiance is also a native of Henan, studied in his early years, and later became a diviner. It is a warlock who travels all over the world and divides fortune and misfortune for people.

After Song Xiance joined the army, he used his expertise to make up a proverb: "Eighteen sons are the main artifact"

Both of them became Li Zicheng's military advisors and advisers, giving him advice.

However, it was Li Yan who first joined Li Zicheng.

Li Yan's real name is Li Xin, a native of Qi County, Kaifeng, Henan, and he is also a person in the year of the Apocalypse. Moreover, he was born in an official eunuch family, and his father Li Jingbai was once the governor of Shandong, and in the early years of Chongzhen, he was convicted of a punishment of "befriending close servants, and being inferior, three years in prison, and losing for the people".

However, the Li family is one of the best families in their hometown.

Li Yan was selected at a young age, and he was both civil and military. Generous and bold by nature, he often helps the poor, and loves to fight unevenly, and is known as Li Gongzi.

Li Yan was famous for his kindness and generosity in Henan, and his joining the army was completely forced. In the thirteenth year of Chongzhen, there was a great drought in Henan, and then a locust plague, and as a result, there was no harvest, and then there was a famine. Li Xin took out the food at home to help the villagers, but the local government still had to force taxes.

Even the imperial court has exempted the three salaries, but the servants of Qixian County still dare to openly levy the three salaries from the people, and even far exceed the original amount of the imperial court, and all the taxes that the rich households should pay are also added to the people. Seeing this, Li Xin went to see the county officials, hoping to stop the levy, and hoped that the government would open a warehouse and release grain to help the hungry people.

As a result, the county official refused, but borrowed grain from Li Xin.

Li Xin went home and donated more than 200 stone of grain, but this grain was just a drop in the bucket. The hungry people got the grain of the Li family, and after eating, they borrowed grain from other rich families, but the rich families were not as benevolent and righteous as Li Xin, and refused to release the grain. As a result, the hungry people rushed directly into the house of a rich family and robbed him of his food.

The rest of the rich families panicked and begged the county order to stop it. But as soon as the hungry people made a fuss, even the king's law couldn't control it. In the end, Li Yan came forward to mediate and persuaded the county officials to borrow grain from Dafu to help the hungry people, and the hungry people calmed down. But as soon as the hungry people dispersed, the county officials and the rich families repented. The county magistrate turned around and wrote a report to his superiors, saying that Li Yan had bribed the hearts of the people and incited rebellion, and requested that troops be sent to quell the rebellion and arrest Li Yan.

The official who went to deliver the letter by the county commander happened to be caught by a nearby bandit, and this team was also gathered by a group of hungry people, but the leader was a young woman, who was originally running the rivers and lakes to sell her art. Known as the Red Lady. The red lady also heard of Li Yan's name of benevolence and righteousness, and heard that the government wanted to take Li Yan.

led people to rob Li Yan.

The Red Lady kidnapped Li Yan and wanted him to stay and join the gang and lead the team. However, Li Yan is dignified, and his family is a famous local family, so how can he be willing to be a bandit leader. Looking for an opportunity, Li Yan secretly fled back to his home.

As a result, as soon as he returned, the messenger arrested him and put him in the county jail.

Not long after, the red lady heard the news and led the team to attack the county seat and open the prison to rescue Li Yan.

The hungry people of Qixian County also asked Li Yan to lead everyone to rebel and survive. At this point, Li Yan has no way out. can only be reversed, after the reversal, Li Yan did not think of setting up his own banner, he took people to vote for Li Zicheng, who had just entered Henan at that time.

After all, Li Zicheng is more famous, has higher qualifications, and has more soldiers.

Li Yan and the Red Lady took the people to vote for Li Zicheng, this is the first person to take the initiative to defect to Li Zicheng, and his family background is so good. The children of the official eunuch clan made Li Zicheng very excited, and he shouted and hated to see each other late.

Li Yan immediately recommended to Li Zicheng Niu Jinxing, a literati who committed crimes and was confiscated into the army. They robbed the bull Venus. used him as a military advisor, and then Niu Jinxing recommended Song Xiance.

After Li Yan joined Li Zicheng's team, he was not only a recommended talent, but also a strategist himself. And he also knows how to soldier. After he joined the gang, he advised Li Zicheng to reorganize the troops and strictly enforce discipline. In Li Yan's words. The Chu army was famous all over the world in a short period of time, and it was invincible in all battles, relying not only on guns, but also on their iron-like discipline.

Li Yan also proposed to openly raise the slogan of exempting Juntian from taxation in order to buy the hearts of the people. He deliberately selected many soldiers, dressed up as merchants and ordinary people, and blended into the cities of various prefectures and prefectures in Henan.

Li Yan even specially made up a ballad for people to sing around.

"Eat his mother, wear his mother, and open the door to meet the king. When the king came, he did not pay for food. Seeking ascension in the morning and seeking harmony in the evening, it is difficult for the poor to survive recently. Open the door early to worship the king, and discipline everyone to be happy. ”

Li Yan also made an important suggestion to Li Zicheng, that is, to take advantage of the opportunity of the Ming Dynasty's abolition of the guard post and take advantage of the Henan government's selfish and irregularities in the process of abolishing the guard post and rectifying the tuntian, which caused many of the original military attachés of the guard post to be resentful and many officers could not even occupy the land, to persuade these guard officers and military households to join the army and rebel together.

Li Yan even went to lobby in person.

The result was successful, and many military attachés and military households of the Henan Guard Station, whose interests had been seriously touched in the clean-up and rectification of the Tuntian Tuntian, rose up one after another to rebel and join the invading army.

Although many of the guards in the Ming Dynasty were in ruins, many of those officers of the guards were born of generations, and many of them had studied in the martial arts of the guards, and they had also received family training in the art of war and martial arts.

As soon as these military attachés, who had a certain degree of military literacy and knew how to march and arrange troops, joined with their families, the combat effectiveness of the invading army immediately increased exponentially. Especially these people are all local snakes in Henan, with them as guides, Henan's virtual and real army is immediately clear.

The addition of the literati and the military attachés and family members of the guard office changed the army greatly.

Henan General Zuo Liangyu is also a veteran of bandits, but in just a few months, when facing this brand-new army, he has been defeated in successive battles.

Zuo Liangyu's soldiers, a few of them were the original border troops, most of them were drawn from the original local guards, and most of them were former bandits who were later recruited.

Their perception of the invasion army is still stuck in the past, and they still use the same old-fashioned tactics.

Zuo Liangyu still believes that the thieves rely on wandering to fight, avoiding the real and making up the void. Frontal combat is not an opponent of the official army at all, and as a result, the military discipline of the intruding army has been improved, and the morale has been enhanced, especially after the professional military attachés and those elite family members have joined, their combat effectiveness has also increased exponentially.

Especially now that Li Zicheng has also learned the tactic of filling gunpowder in a coffin and then digging a hole under the city wall to blast it, those small county towns in Henan can't stop this tactic at all.

A gap was blown open in the city walls, and the intruders rushed in, and the fierce melee began, and the officers and militias collapsed almost immediately. In just a few months, Li Zicheng broke more than a dozen cities in Henan.

lost more than a dozen cities and was killed by a clan king, Zuo Liangyu repeatedly covered up the news. But now, the Chuang army is ready to besiege Luoyang, Zuo Liangyu can't hide it anymore, and the officials in Luoyang City directly report to the Beijing Division and ask for reinforcements.

Luoyang, the ancient capital, is an important town in Henan, and it is also the place where King Fu of the Ming Dynasty built a domain.

Fu Wang Zhu Changxun was born to Zheng Guifei, the favorite concubine of Mingshenzong, and her son was precious to her mother, and she was very favored by Shenzong back then. Wanli once intended to make him the crown prince, and around this matter, a fierce struggle broke out in the imperial court that year, and finally Wanli couldn't withstand those big trolls in Donglin, and finally agreed to make the emperor's eldest son Zhu Changluo the crown prince.

But Wanli really liked this son very much, and failed to make him the prince, and finally sealed him to Luoyang, and gave Chang Xun preferential treatment economically, not only to give a large amount of property accumulated in the palace, but also to the Fu Wang's begging farmland, salt, commercial taxes, etc.

Zhu Changxun was in Luoyang, and although the time was much shorter than that of the kings who had been divided since the beginning of the Ming Dynasty, the wealth he owned was "rich in the world".

The poor and extravagant life that King Fu lived in Luoyang was in stark contrast to the disasters suffered by the people of Henan.

A palace wall separates the two worlds.

Inside the wall is a drunken gold fan, endless extravagance; Outside the wall, it is desolate and miserable, which is like the hell of Fengdu.

The Chuang army won victories in Henan, successively conquering Yiyang, Yongning, Lushi, Yanshi, Lingbao, Xin'an, Baofeng, Yiyang and other counties, and successively cleared the periphery of Luoyang.

At the same time, through these battles, a large number of newly recruited soldiers have received actual combat training. And in the process, they also snatched a large amount of money and grain from the hands of the landlords and gentry in various places, and seized a lot of swords, guns, armor, gunpowder and other materials.

Tens of thousands of soldiers and horses under the command of Zuo Liangyu, the chief military officer of Henan, were defeated one after another during this time, and they lost their armor and abandoned their armor.

Faced with the fact that the intention was already very obvious, and the next step would be to besiege Luoyang, the officials in Luoyang City were panicked and hurriedly asked Zuo Liangyu to go in to exterminate the bandits.

It's a pity that Zuo Liangyu has suffered defeats under the Chuang army one after another, and he has already doubted his life.

Zuo Liangyu used the excuse that the army was in arrears for several months, lacking food and wages, lacking weapons and armor, and the army had no morale and no will to fight. He asked the governor of Henan to settle the food and salary of the Yu army first.

In the face of Zuo Liangyu's request, Lu Weiqi, the governor of Henan, also had no money and food to pull, so he finally had to borrow money from the rich king of the world.

And Zuo Liangyu couldn't get money and food, so he didn't send troops at all, but retreated in the direction of Kaifeng.

Lu Weiqi had no choice but to ask the court for reinforcements.

"There is nothing to worry about in the city, there is a danger of exhaustion and dew, please send troops to rescue as soon as possible!" (To be continued.) )

PS: Thank you for the support of Mu Yuchen and Paolaba, thank you!