It is said that Fang Yizhi has just met his father who has been convicted and detained today, and he should spend more time doing his filial piety and asking for warmth.

Fortunately, there are mothers and sisters to help take care of the bad things at home, and women generally pay more attention to family affection, and it is enough to have them accompany Fang Kongzhi.

Shen Shuren would not meet with them, Fang Yizhi knew that the country's major affairs were important, so he went back to the governor's yamen overnight to report the recent military situation in the north.

If you want to come to this Wuchang city, no one will find fault and say that he is "unfilial".

After a while, everyone rode back to the yamen, and Shen Shuren instructed someone to prepare a supper and send it to the study, no alcohol, just some refreshing drinks, so that it was convenient to stay up late and talk about business.

These days are tiring, the march is on the way, and I eat military rations like the soldiers every day, and I finally return to Wuchang, and I can finally have a good rest.

Fang Yizhi was not hungry, as soon as he entered the study, he sat opposite with a cup of tea, and made a statement while taking a few sips to refresh himself.

The Sinking Tree Man listened as if no one was around, and ate and drank on the eucalyptus.

Fang Yizhi: "The war in Henan is also ironic, in fact, until July, there was no problem with the two armies holding each other.

Li Zicheng was very anxious to attack Kaifeng in May and June, and also mobilized all the Franc machines and Hongyi cannons in his army.

However, it later proved that Chen Yongfu, the general soldier of Kaifeng, was indeed properly guarded, and counterattacked with Hongyi artillery in the city, and was able to accurately estimate the position, distance and distance of the artillery positions of the besieging thieves under the condition of concealing his own artillery positions, and repeatedly shot and killed the artillery of the thief army.

Although it was not possible to directly destroy all the artillery of the invading army, due to the small number of elite senior gunners of the invading army, after being killed and wounded by General Chen's soldiers, his artillery lost its accuracy, and the ammunition was insufficient, and it was no longer possible to continue to attack the city with artillery bombardment in July.

Throughout July, the Chuang army repeatedly attacked the city with ladder ants, with many casualties, and they were all the old troops of Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying. Li Zicheng also tried to dig tunnels under the city walls and plant gunpowder to blow up the city.

However, because the Kaifeng city wall is extremely thick, at most more than 20,000 catties of gunpowder was buried at one time, and the city wall could not be completely blown up, but the outer layer of the city wall collapsed, making the thickness of the wall thinner by about half.

Under the command of General Chen, the officers and troops still stubbornly defended the remaining thinning city walls and slowly filled them. The intrusive army tried to take advantage of the opportunity to rush into the gap, but was shot left and right by the officers and soldiers, killing and wounding many people, but never succeeded.

I heard that just to rush through this gap, thousands of people were killed in the battle, and the wounded were not counted, and in the end, they almost attacked the city with corpses, and the corpses were flush with the gap in the city wall. ”

When Shen Shuren heard this, he was optimistic for a while, and he almost forgot that Fang Yizhi had come to report the bad news to him.

He took a sip of the coffee that the Zheng family bought from the Indians to refresh himself, and then he remembered that there must be a turning point behind the matter, and hurriedly asked: "In this way, what I expected is not bad at all, the thieves really did not have the ability to storm Kaifeng, so why did the situation change again?" ”

Fang Yizhi couldn't help but sigh, and it could be seen that he was also very sorry in his heart:

Indeed, until the beginning of July, the situation was actually very good for the officers and soldiers. But later, because of the battlefield in southern Hunan, the news that Zhang Xianzhong had succeeded many times reached the capital at the end of June.

His Majesty was furious when he heard that so many cities had fallen and the vassal kings had been killed, and he put pressure on Yang Ge Lao again, ordering Yang Ge Lao to defeat the thieves Zhang Wei as soon as possible, and not to blindly take a defensive position.

Moreover, His Majesty also reiterated once again that the tragic situation of several kings in southern Hunan must not be repeated on the battlefield in Henan, and the vassal kings were killed too much, which dealt too much blow to the majesty of the Ming Dynasty and the dignity of the imperial court. ”

Shen Shuren chuckled in his heart and interrupted: "Elder Yang Ge agreed?" ”

Fang Yizhi pouted: "Of course it's not that simple!" Yang Ge Lao has also been using soldiers for many years, and he still knows the priorities, not to mention that he has long put life and death aside, even if disobedience will lead to him being executed by His Majesty, as long as the disobedience is right and conducive to the war situation in the world, Yang Ge Lao will also disobey.

Besides, even if Yang Ge Lao dared to attack directly on impulse and protect himself with Zuo Liangyu's wisdom, if he felt that he had no chance of winning, how could he send troops indiscriminately? ”

Shen Shuren is right to think about it, this is not to say how self-sacrificing Yang Sichang is, but his lifespan and health have reached this point (this chapter is not over!). )

Chapter 141: When you weren't there, the Central Plains would have already been in a mess

One step, a person who is already desperate and dying, where can he still fear the emperor's chaotic life?

As for Zuo Liangyu, if Chongzhen dares to directly let Zuo Liangyu go to death, then Zuo Liangyu will definitely disobey.

Therefore, if Yang Sichang and Zuo Liangyu really obey the orders to fight in the end, there must be other incentives for them to feel that they can indeed fight.

Thinking of this, Shen Shuren didn't wait for Fang Yizhi to say slowly, but took the initiative to draw inferences: "So, there must be some reason why they have to fight, and let them feel that they really don't have to wait for me to meet, they can have the power to fight?" ”

Fang Yizhi's heart sank, and he also cast an admiring look at Shen Shuren, Shen Nian's IQ and foresight were really visible.

Fang Yizhi said convincingly: "Who said no, Your Majesty gave Yang Ge Lao the will at the beginning, and Yang Ge Lao also didn't move, just want to urge Brother Shen to clean up Zhang Xianzhong in Hunan as soon as possible, and then draw troops to the north." Wait for the imperial court forces to assemble, and then fight a decisive battle with Li Zicheng.

However, His Majesty's decree in late June, because the court and the central government did not pay attention to secrecy, but for more than ten days, by the beginning of July, it was already so troublesome that even the thieves knew about it.

Li Zicheng heard that "if the vassal king is trapped again, Yang Ge Lao will be severely punished", and he heard that Zhang Xianzhong had succeeded in killing several kings in southern Hunan, prompted by these two news, Li Zicheng, who had lost his prestige under the fortified city for a long time, decided to change his strategy and find some other small goals to boost his morale and prestige first.

So, on the eighth day of the seventh month, Li Zicheng, who had been delayed for three months under the city of Kaifeng, divided tens of thousands of old camp descendants, with Liu Zongmin and Li Guo as generals, suddenly crossed the Yellow River north, and entered the Weihui Mansion and Hebei Daimyo Mansion across the river from Kaifeng Mansion.

Li Zicheng's goal is to follow Zhang Xianzhong's example, kill a few more heavyweight vassal kings, and accelerate the death of Yang Ge Lao. And Weihui Mansion is the location of His Majesty's cousin King Lu, which can be regarded as today, after King Fu and King Gui were killed, in addition to King Rui of Chongqing, the closest vassal king to His Majesty's blood.

What's more, there is another layer of benefit to attacking Weihui Mansion, that is, when Li Zicheng killed King Fu last year, everyone in King Fu Mansion had actually broken through and left Luoyang in advance, but King Fu himself was fat and heavy, too conspicuous, even if he changed his clothes, he was recognized and arrested by the people.

But at that time, Zhu Yousong, the son of King Fu, successfully escaped because of his poor appearance, so he crossed the Yellow River and went to King Lu's Mansion in Weihui Mansion to take refuge with his cousin. His Majesty later also made a decree that his cousin should inherit the title of King Fu.

Therefore, if Li Zicheng breaks through Weihui Mansion this time and the siege goes smoothly, he can kill King Lu and King Xinfu's uncle and nephew together! This is equivalent to killing a cousin and uncle of His Majesty, which is a great blow to the dignity of the imperial court, and it is far from being comparable to killing other vassal kings. ”

When Shen Shuren heard this, he could basically guess why Yang Sichang had to fight later, and he hurriedly confirmed with a little nervousness:

"So...... In the end, Yang Ge Lao was forced to fight, or was it because he needed to divide troops to rescue the vassal king? Can't let Li Zicheng pick soft persimmons and pinch them, and trap Weihui and other places? Is King Lu dead? ”

Shen Shuren originally didn't care much about the life or death of the vassal king, but for the people of Xiaofu and Lu, he still had to pay attention to them, at least an order of magnitude higher than the attention of other vassal kings, because after all, this would involve changes to the history of the future center -

Historically, after Chongzhen hanged himself, the Nanjing court supported his cousin Xiaofu Wang Zhu Yousong to succeed him, that is, Emperor Hongguang. Before King Fu was established, because of the deep hatred between the Donglin Party and King Fu's family, many people in Nanjing also had the idea of "supporting Lu".

In the end, it is Shi Kefa, the number one person in Donglin, who still has a bit of blood kinship and close ethics, knowing the blood relationship between King Lu and Chongzhen, after all, it is a generation farther than King Fu, and it is really unreasonable to cross King Fu Lilu, so he made a compromise plan "Ligui", and wanted to go to Liangguang to welcome back Zhu Youlang, the king of Xiaogui.

Because King Gui and King Fu are both cousins of Chongzhen, and King Lu is Chongzhen's cousin after all, King Gui and King Fu are completely equal in blood relationship with Chongzhen, and choosing King Gui to establish will not lead to a crisis of legitimacy.

It's just that Shi Kefa's operation, after all, the water is far away and the thirst is not quenched, and the country cannot be without a king for a day, and at that critical juncture, he still wants to wait a few months to transport people from thousands of miles away from Liangguang to Nanjing, of course, it is not as fast as Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng directly instigating the four towns in Jiangbei to support them by force.

Although these are later words, as long as any of the vassal kings such as King Lu and King Xiaofu are because of the history (this chapter is not finished!) )

Chapter 141: When you weren't there, the Central Plains would have already been in a mess

The butterfly effect died in advance, and the follow-up layout of the Shen Shuren had to be changed, which was a major event in the country, so it must be seriously concerned.

Of course, Fang Yizhi didn't understand the real reason why Brother Shen Nian was suddenly so nervous, but he still sighed unhurriedly in such a tone:

"Even if it doesn't hit, it's not far away. King Lu and King Xiaofu were not dead, it was not that Weihui Mansion was well-defended and could block the strong attack of Liu Zongmin and Li Guo's army. It was Liu Zongmin and others who covered up the past all the way, and tried to outflank them in advance, but they didn't act secretly after all.

On the way to attack Weihui Mansion, they first had to pass through Huaiqing Mansion, but as a result, they burned and plundered in Huaiqing Mansion, killing all the rich families, gentry, and officials, and also killed the family of Zhu Yiduo, the king of Zheng who was in Huaiqing.

At the same time, in order to prevent King Lu and King Fu from fleeing north to the capital, they outflanked the Weihui Mansion on the north side and went to Zhangde Mansion in Hebei in advance, and killed the officials in Zhangde Mansion and Zhu Chang, the king of Zhao.

As a result, during the killing of King Zheng and King Zhao, King Lu and King Fu were given time to react, and they learned that the road to Zhangde Mansion and Daimyo's Mansion to Beijing had been outflanked and cut off by the thieves and cavalry, so they abandoned the city and fled before the thieves and horses arrived, leaving only the defenders to defend the city.

King Lu and King Fu's uncle and nephew arrived in Yanjin County by land route to Weihui County, entered the Yellow River from Yanjin, fled by boat by water, and entered Guide Mansion from the east of Kaifeng, trying to continue to flee south.

After the vassal king fled, the Weihui Mansion had little garrison ability, and it was easily broken under the heavy attack of Liu Zongmin at any cost. After the city was broken, Liu Zongmin learned that King Lu and King Fu had abandoned the city in advance and fled, and he was so angry that he slaughtered the whole city of Wei Hui. ”

When the Sinking Tree Man heard this, he figured out the cause and effect in his mind a little.

From this point of view, King Fu and King Lu escaped without being hanging, because in history, these two cowards also fled in advance before the thief army entered the realm of Weihui Mansion. The vassal king of the Ming Dynasty, as long as he is willing to give up his wealth and manor, and is willing to run with the softness, he can actually run away.

For example, King Zheng and King Zhao mentioned by Fang Yizhi just now, in fact, King Zheng, who bore the brunt of the incident, was caught off guard and killed the whole family. And King Zhao, who was killed on the way to the roundabout, escaped with a son, and theoretically inherited the title of King Zhao in the future.

Unless it is surrounded in advance and several surrounding prefectures are surrounded, it is to deliberately destroy the door, or it is a sudden sneak attack. Otherwise, as long as he is not a top-level miser, his life can still escape.

However, thinking that King Fu and King Lu had escaped like history, Shen Shuren had a greater puzzle: "Since King Fu and King Lu have fled, why do Yang Ge Lao and Zuo Liangyu have to find Li Zicheng for a decisive battle?" ”

Chapter 141: When you weren't there, the Central Plains would have already been in a mess