Gong Chengkang would never have thought that as soon as he was transferred from Nanzhili to Xiangyang, he encountered Li Zicheng waving his troops to attack.

At this time, when Chongzhen, who was in Beijing, received the news that Li Zicheng did not go north, but led the army south, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Chongzhen happily said to Yang Sichang: "Li Zicheng, the thief, led his troops south to attack Xiangyang, so it's okay, let him and Mo ask dog to dog, Yang Aiqing, you take advantage of this gap to capture the recruitment and consolidate the Beijing Division." ”

"Yes!"

Looking at the back of Yang Sichang leaving, Chongzhen couldn't help but feel bad for a while.

Jinyi Wei secretly reported that Yang Sichang's family rode a fast horse out of Beijing and went straight to the south.

When Chongzhen heard the news, his heart was cold, he couldn't believe that one of the ministers he valued the most would betray him at the critical moment of the life and death of the Ming Dynasty.

The various strategies proposed by Yang Sichang almost won Chongzhen's heart, whether it was to negotiate peace or suppress bandits, almost all of the strategies proposed by Yang Sichang were successful.

Although Li Zicheng was resurrected from death, Lu Xiangsheng's previous strategy of suppressing bandits still made Chongzhen feel very relieved.

Now that the country has reached this situation, Chongzhen no longer knows where the road is, he can only pin his hopes on the ministers under him, hoping that these ministers can be loyal to him.

......

Li Zicheng took 500,000 horses to travel 20 miles a day, and finally arrived at the city of Xiangyang.

Seeing the towering city wall, Li Zicheng laughed confidently and said, "How many soldiers and horses are there in Xiangyang City?" ”

"Your Majesty, there are only 10,000 people!"

"There are only 10,000 people, I have 500,000 soldiers and horses, only 10,000 people, my army is a mouthful of spit, and they can drown them, come and shoot a letter of surrender to the city, telling the generals to open the city and surrender immediately, if they don't surrender, after the city is broken, the chickens and dogs will not be left!"

"Yes!"

On the city wall, Gong Chengkang looked at the black and oppressive Dashun soldiers and horses outside the city, and his head suddenly became numb.

He asked his subordinates on the left and right, "Have you counted, how many people are there?" ”

"Dashuai, I'm afraid there must be hundreds of thousands of people!"

"What? So much, quickly, immediately send a fast horse to Nanjing, tell the king, in addition, send someone to Wuchang to ask for help, and let Marshal Lu send troops to rescue! ”

Xiangyang is a long way from Nanjing, and it takes at least five days to deliver the message by horse, but it is much closer to Wuchang, and it will be there in one day.

Xiangyang's letter for help was sent to Wuchang the next day, and Lu Zhao, who was guarding Wuchang, had been reinstated and still served as the commander of Huguang.

Lu Zhao was demoted by Mo Qian because of the killing of prisoners, and he has been reflecting for several months, because Mo Qian moved the capital to Nanjing, and Wuchang did not have a single general, so Lu Zhaoguan was reinstated.

Lu Zhao re-served as the commander of Huguang, and he also thought about it in his heart, as long as he didn't make mistakes, when the day the king ascended the throne and became emperor, at least a marquis would not be able to escape.

Now he also asked for something, and he thought in his heart that he could sit in the position of commander of Huguang all the time.

On this day, Lu Zhao was teasing his adopted son at home, and suddenly the soldiers outside the door ran in and shouted eagerly: "Commander, Xiangyang is in a hurry!" ”

"Xiangyang? What happened to Xiangyang? ”

"Li Zicheng led an army of 500,000 to the south, and now he is outside Xiangyang City, storming Xiangyang!"

"What! Damn it, give me the order, and the army will assemble at once! ”

Lu Zhao immediately gathered 30,000 troops in Wuchang City, and quickly requisitioned the militia of several counties around Wuchang, gathered together in the east and west, and gathered 80,000 horses, and rushed across the river to aid Xiangyang with 100,000 stones, grains and grass.

The ninth day of September, Chung Yeung Festival.

On this day, the scorching sun was in the sky above the head of Xiangyang City, and outside the city, Li Zicheng put his elite 30,000 horses in the middle, and made 50,000 recruits who joined the way in front of the front, and a large group of military families in the rear.

Hundreds of thousands of horses lined up outside the east gate of Xiangyang, and the Han army on the tower of the city was sweating.

Gong Chengkang is also the first time to fight such a big battle with such a big disparity in strength, 10,000 against 500,000, although he is the defender of the city, but Gong Chengkang is really not sure that he can defend it.

One side of the simple Xiangyang City is close to the Han River, and the other three sides also have deep moats.

Li Zicheng had an army of 500,000, and he sent troops on three routes to besiege Xiangyang City, except for the side of Hanshui, the other three sides were besieged to death.

Li Zicheng held a horse whip, straddled the war horse, pointed to Xiangyang City and said: "Today, if you don't break Xiangyang, you will never withdraw your troops!" ”

With the sound of war drums, the first stage of the 100,000-strong army began to march step by step, preparing to attack the city.

When Gong Chengkang saw this, he suddenly felt a little bottomless.

He only has 10,000 people, to guard the three city walls, there are tens of thousands of people in the city, Gong Chengkang mobilized the young and middle-aged among the people, but when added together, there are only 8,000 people.

Looking at the approaching Dashun soldiers and horses, Gong Chengkang pulled out his saber and shouted: "Brothers, swear to live and die together in the city!" ”

With the sound of cannons, the battle officially began.

Li Zicheng first sent 100,000 miscellaneous troops to rush forward, and these 100,000 people were all bandits and surrenderers from all walks of life who defected to him in Henan.

For these centaurs, of course Li Zicheng will laugh at them, after all, the cannon fodder sent for nothing, don't be in vain.

The ringing horses in Henan have all been rewarded by Li Zicheng, and those who come with fifty people can be named a centurion, and those who come with five hundred people can be directly named a thousand generals.

If he could bring thousands of people to defect, Li Zicheng would be more generous, and he would be rewarded directly with a general.

Anyway, these official positions don't need money, and if you want to reward silver, you have to rely on military exploits.

Seeing that Li Zicheng's power was so huge, these mountain kings felt that it was still very promising to follow Li Zicheng.

This will be sent by Li Zicheng to the front as cannon fodder, although he is reluctant in his heart, but because he has now become a soldier of the Dashun Dynasty, this emperor's order will not be able to obey.

The 100,000 horses roared and rushed forward with the ladder, and before they could rush out, the artillery on the city wall of Xiangyang opened fire.

"Bang!"

A cannonball fell in the crowd and instantly killed several bandits, and after killing people, although the power of the cannonball weakened, it still had strength, and rolled forward a few more times, and hit several bandits.

The clever bandits will be smart, they pretend to be shot, and directly hold their feet on the ground and scream, the painful appearance is like a real cannonball.

The 100,000 horses born as bandits have no military discipline or rules at all, and fighting a war depends on one person's courage.

Before they reached the city, thousands of people died under artillery fire and bows and arrows.

This made the bandits a little scared in their hearts, after all, everyone is an ordinary man, and no matter how strong this body is, it can't help the fierce fire of cannons and bows and arrows.

That iron pound hits people, that can really beat people's brains out.

The bandits are not stupid, although there is a reward for this Xiangyang City, but it has to be alive to get it, if they die, they will not get anything.

There is no such thing as a compassionate pension in the Dashun Imperial Court, and the reward for fighting is simply one word - rob!

If you want military salaries, if you want to reward silver, it's simple! valley

When the city is defeated, let you go and grab it, how much silver you can grab, how much food you can grab, it all depends on your own ability.

If you can't grab it, then I'm sorry, my Emperor Dashun didn't say that he would pay the army, unless one day Li Zicheng was so rich that he copied the prince's mansion and had food, he would send rice to the army.

Li Zicheng's subordinates can have good combat effectiveness, and they rely on this robbery system.

Robbery gave this group of bandits the most primitive motivation and desire.

As the emperor of Dashun, Li Zicheng naturally knows this in his heart, and he will not be stupid enough to whip his soldiers for a few people he doesn't know.

To fight the world, he still has to rely on this group of soldiers!

"Boom!"

Another cannon rang out, and a cannonball landed in the center of the charging army, killing a group of people in an instant, and for a moment, wailing was everywhere outside the city.

Li Zicheng looked at the batches of soldiers who died in battle, and his heart was not shocked.

He said to Liu Zongmin beside him: "General Liu, look, can you capture Xiangyang today?" ”

Liu Zongmin replied with a smile: "Your Majesty, within three hours, Xiangyang will be broken!" ”

"Oh? So sure? ”

"That's natural, Your Majesty, let this group of mountain kings fight first, and after two hours, the last general will personally lead the brothers of the old camp to rush a wave, and they will definitely go down to Xiangyang in a battle!"

"Okay, then it's up to General Liu later!"

Li Zicheng did not feel sad at all because of the soldiers who died in front of him, on the contrary, he felt very happy.

Why, because for every person who dies, he can save a portion of food and let his elite soldiers eat!

Li Zicheng's calculation in his heart is to play very well, first let these rabble in Henan to consume the defense force of Xiangyang City, and wait until it is almost consumed, and then send the soldiers and horses of his old battalion to attack, by then the Han army in Xiangyang City will definitely be exhausted, and at this time, as soon as his new force is on the line, he will definitely win the battle!

On the wall of the East Gate, Gong Chengkang cut off a poked head with a knife, and suddenly a winter melon-like thing fell.

Gong Chengkang's face was splashed with blood, and his whole body turned red.

"Brothers, kill, kill the intruder!"

Although the Han army has the support of the city wall, Li Zicheng has too many soldiers and horses, and the 100,000 rabble is piled up by people, and it is also piled up under the city wall at this moment.

From time to time, sporadic intruders began to climb the city wall, Gong Chengkang personally took a knife, one by one, and sent the intrusive army to the west to see the Buddha.

But as time progressed, the disadvantage of the Han army's insufficient numbers began to appear.

On the three city walls, there are always places that cannot be defended, and the Han army is crazy to draw their knives and slash, but there are more and more troops who climb the city walls.

"Quick, pour the hot oil down!"

Gong Chengkang commanded the soldiers and poured down the hot oil that had been boiled on the city wall beforehand.

The hot oil was heated to the point of smoke, and after being poured by the soldiers, the city was in mourning.

Many Dashun soldiers who were splashed with hot oil screamed in pain, and the screams resounded in the sky.

As soon as the hot oil fell, many torches were suddenly thrown out of the city wall, and when the open flame met the oil, it suddenly caught fire, and the city was immediately in flames.

The sea of fire immediately dispersed with the hot oil, causing a large burning area, and the entire moat was surrounded by fire on both sides.

Where did the rabble under Li Zicheng go through such a vicious battle, and the people behind were suddenly frightened and stopped, looking at their comrades rolling in the sea of fire and wailing.

"Damn, what are you doing, don't rush me yet!"

Behind him, the supervising officer sent by Li Zicheng struck the soldier with a horse whip, and the soldier was whipped by the whip, and he immediately jumped up in pain.

"General, such a big fire, you can't get through it at all!"

"Damn, you stupid pigs, don't you know how to put out a fire if there's a fire?"

This suddenly woke everyone up, and everyone brought wooden barrels and began to fetch water in the moat to extinguish the fire.

As soon as the water was poured on, the oil floated directly on top of the water, and the fire not only did not decrease, but the smaller the area, the larger the area.

The veteran in the back suddenly scolded his mother angrily: "You stupid pigs, this is an oil fire, you can't use water, you have to use soil!" ”

The soldiers hurriedly grabbed the soil on the ground with their hands and threw it on the fire, which weakened the fire.

However, after such an operation, the defenders of the city have almost cleaned up the Dashun army that has climbed the city wall.

Li Zicheng looked at the defeated soldiers who had retreated, and his face was expressionless.

"Let the brethren rest for a while, and send the second team up!"

500,000 people, Li Zicheng naturally has a follow-up move, and after the 100,000 soldiers and horses in front of him are finished, it will be his turn to recruit the people on the road.

These people are all recruits recruited from the three prefectures of Nanyang, Ruzhou, and Henan, although they have no combat power, but at least the number can still be made.

As long as they can consume the defending forces on the city walls, they can be considered to have made a difference.

As for the dead, for Li Zicheng, how can there be no dead in war!

There were more than 100,000 soldiers who died with him, and Li Zicheng didn't feel guilty at all.

In Li Zicheng's view, Zhu Chongba defeated the Yuan Dynasty back then, and hundreds of thousands of people died.

Soon, the second wave of the offensive was organized.

Just as Li Zicheng was about to give the order to attack, suddenly the herald rushed over.

"Your Majesty, a troop of soldiers and horses suddenly appeared in the south, with more than 80,000 people!"

"What? Eighty thousand? Where did the soldiers and horses come from? ”

"Look at the flag, it looks like the garrison in Wuchang City, playing the banner of the Han army, and the Lu character handsome flag!"

When Niu Jinxing on the side heard this, he immediately said to Li Zicheng: "Your Majesty, this is Lu Zhao, the number one general under Mo Wen, this person is now the commander of Huguang of the Han army, in charge of Huguang's defense, Xiangyang is besieged, as the commander of Huguang, he must lead troops to rescue, otherwise it will be a dereliction of duty!" ”

"Commander Huguang? Where did this Lu Zhao come from? ”

This person is an ordinary farmer in Yuanzhou, Jiangxi, who followed Mo Wen to fight fiercely with the official army in Mingyue Mountain in Yuanzhou, and defeated 3,000 officers and soldiers with a few hundred people, so he became famous in the first battle, and since then, he has become Mo Wen's right-hand man.

This person has a scar on his forehead, I heard that he was born in a practicing family, and he is good at martial arts! ”

"Yo, it seems that the background is not good, come here, give me some soldiers, I will meet him in person!"

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