On the second day of the first month of April, after the combined forces of Chuang and Cao left Xuzhou, they rushed to Kaifeng along Fugou and Weishi in two ways.

Within thirty miles from east to west, there were men and horses and rangers of Chuang and Cao.

This situation alarmed the military and civilians of Kaifeng.

Encouraged by the prefectural order, they climbed the castle tower in batches and took turns patrolling day and night.

To their surprise, the first thing they encountered was not the Chuang army or the Cao army, but the displaced people.

A large number of displaced people flocked to the west gate.

Chen Yongfu, who guarded the West Gate, was a very alert person, and when he found that the hungry people were flocking to the West Gate, he immediately reported to the governor Gao Mingheng:

"There is a saying among the thieves' army, 'Eat the king, use the king, eat not enough to have the king, these homeless people must be sent by the thieves to lure the enemy.'"

Gao Mingheng doesn't think so: "If it is said that it is a thief army, most of them are a rabble. The homeless people don't have to be afraid, the government doesn't dare to let go of the farts when they are scared, and if they don't cut their heads at this time, when will they wait."

Chen Yongfu also wants to argue on the basis of reason. At the same time, he also knew that if the officers and soldiers who remained in the city ventured out of the city, they would be more than lucky.

Gao Mingheng was very angry and pressed people as the governor:

"Lord Ben has been guarding Kaifeng for so long, if there is no head to report to the Jingshi, will you bear the blame or me?"

Chen Yongfu had no choice but to remain silent.

The urn city was wide open, and the officials and soldiers rushed out of the city gate and rushed straight to the homeless people.

Then, they found that the displaced people had retreated in an orderly manner.

That's when I found out the scheme.

It was too late - the peasant army fought its way out from the flanks of the displaced people, with heavy cavalry as the front line, and the infantry followed in pursuit, dividing and surrounding the officers and troops who had left the city.

Gao Mingheng panicked and hurriedly ordered the soldiers to withdraw into the city.

Chen Yongfu disagreed: "Lord Governor, opening the city gate at this time will not only release the official army, but also let the thief army mix in, so it is better to be ruthless and completely close the gate."

Gao Mingheng was reluctant to let the soldiers who had worked so hard to train die outside the city, so he did not agree.

At this time, a group of men and horses led by Tian Jianxiu happened to arrive outside the west city of Kaifeng and saw the official army entering the city.

He thought it was a good time to follow behind the officers and troops and rush into the city.

When the officers and soldiers saw that the righteous army was coming, they were even more anxious to enter the city and did not want to fight.

If the peasant army wants to infiltrate the city, it does not need to fight with the official army.

Both sides scrambled towards the urn city.

Seeing this scene, Gao Mingheng sat down in his chair and said nothing.

He was blinded.

Chen Yongfu did not care about his identity, and immediately ordered the main city gate to be closed and sealed with stones.

I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to withstand it, so I piled up the sandbags prepared in advance in the city.

He himself stood at the head of the city, looking down on the urn city, and commanded the soldiers and the people of the city to shoot arrows downward, without distinguishing between friend and foe.

At this time, there were both officials and rebels who poured into the city, and they all desperately shouted to the city, asking them to open the city gates.

Chen Yongfu ignored them all.

Seeing this situation, the officers and soldiers in the city immediately collapsed and fled for their lives.

Tian Jianxiu took the opportunity to kill his troops, easily eliminated the officials and troops in the city, and immediately commanded the city.

Some of his men and horses brought ladders and leaned against the urn; Some have climbed up the walls and gone straight to the great city; Some of them were still in the urn city, constantly firing arrows into the city to cover their comrades to ascend the city.

Seeing that the situation was deteriorating, Chen Yongfu drew his sword in his hand: "Listen, brothers, whoever knocks the thieves out of the city will be rewarded with a large ingot; Whoever blocks the gates of the city shall be rewarded with ten taels of silver." Subsequently, he carried a knife to fight the peasant army.

There will be brave men under the heavy reward, and the officers and soldiers in the city will rush up.

After all, the peasant army that landed in the city was small, and some of them were beaten down into the city and were seriously wounded; Some were unlucky and fell to their deaths, while others died in the city.

The battle for the capture of the city was short, but fierce, with many casualties on both sides.

Tamihide was forced to withdraw from the Urn Castle.

Li Zicheng arrived with his own soldiers Pegasus, and when he saw this situation, he asked Tian Jianxiu to stop the attack:

"Three thousand officers and soldiers were wiped out by you

, you only lost one or two hundred people, what is there to be angry about? What's more, I didn't plan to attack the city today, as long as we wiped out all the officers and troops outside the city, it would be a victory!"

"This kind of opportunity is not easy." Tian Mixiu paused again and again.

"If you can't eat hot tofu in a hurry, you take the brothers back to rest, and we will first concentrate on eliminating the officials and troops outside, and then we will think of attacking the city."

Li Zicheng said goodbye and left.

Although the city cannot be attacked, there is no suspense outside the city.

The three battalions of the Ming army that Chen Yongfu had worked so hard to form were wiped out in the blink of an eye.

On the fourth day of the first month, all the coalition forces arrived outside Kaifeng City, and all the armies camped according to the designated place, set up nests, and built camps.

Those camps that were closer to the city gate also dug three trenches to prevent the officers and soldiers from sneaking out of the city at night to attack and harass.

On this day, because the peasant army needed to camp as much as possible, the area around Kaifeng City was almost peaceful.

Looking at the orderly camp, Governor Gao Mingheng was anxious.

He immediately reported to the king of Zhou.

The king of Zhou sent a minister out of the city with Gao Mingheng's envoy to ask Ding Qirui for help.

Ding Qirui is always on the go these days.

In the name of the overseer, he cannot command the armies of all stripes.

Unable to recover Nanyang, he was also very afraid of fighting Li Zicheng, which made him live in fear day and night.

After receiving the news that Kaifeng was besieged and the edict of King Zhou, Ding Qirui was also released.

He sent orders to Yang Wenyue, You Shilu, Fang Guoan and other major generals and officials to assemble at Wei's within ten days.

Weishi County is located in the south of Kaifeng, 90 miles away from Kaifeng, and 40 miles away from Zhuxian Town, the old camp set up by Li Zicheng.

The Central Plains Ming army gathered in Weishi County.

Ding Qirui did not arrange the next plan to rescue Kaifeng first, but took everyone to visit the Taiping Xingguo Temple Tower.

The faces of the crowd were solemn, and they were not interested in visiting.

Ding Qirui was full of interest: "The Taiping Xingguo Temple Pagoda was built in the Song Dynasty, and it is said that it was built during the reign of Taizong of the Song Dynasty. Taiping rejuvenates the country, these four words are good, good luck."

And when they heard, they did not speak.

Only Yang Wenyue smiled politely, occasionally nodding in agreement.

Ding Qirui felt bored, and he didn't want to lose face, so he led everyone to visit the entire temple in a daze.

When they arrived at the mansion, everyone was seated according to grade and status.

In a solemn atmosphere, Ding Qirui pointed out the plan for this operation: to concentrate 180,000 troops to attack Li Zicheng's old camp in Zhuxian Town.

And then, it's gone!

The generals looked at each other, and You Shilu couldn't help but say, "Our army has lost the Qin soldiers, and the field battle is not as good as the thief army. The correct approach should be to take advantage of the fact that the main force of the thieves is in the Central Plains, conquer the county towns occupied by the thieves one by one, and form an encirclement from the periphery."

"It's too slow. Kaifeng is in danger, and we can't afford to take the city so calmly."

Ding Qirui directly rejected.

The generals' faces became very solemn.

Ding Qirui smiled: "It's not necessary, it's really unnecessary. Our army has 180,000, and the thief army has only tens of thousands, and we can break the siege of Feng and eliminate the thieves by relying on the piles of people."

"If you can win with a lot of people, you need to spend more time here."

You Shilu muttered quietly.

Ding Qirui's face sank, and he deliberately asked him, "General You, what are you talking about?"

"I say, Inspector Takami!"