weaving

Chapter 431 Luoyang, save or not?
On November 21, Zhang Cheng led his army across Fengqiu County and camped in Chenqiao Town on the north bank of the Yellow River.

Suddenly seeing the majestic water of the Yellow River, Zhang Cheng couldn't help but stay on the spot. He has never seen the Yellow River in later generations, and it is the first time he has seen the Yellow River in this life.

People say that the Yellow River is the mother river of the Chinese people, and there is even a saying that people who do not have the Yellow River are not heroes.

The water of the golden river is so surging that it seems to be flowing on the land of China unchanged for thousands of years. It is like a weather-beaten old man walking forward calmly with his firm steps. Forever, forever.

Not only Zhang Cheng, but all the generals and officers around him, and even nearly ten thousand sergeants were shocked by the mighty river beyond the horizon.

They were on the North Road, in the Xuanfu, and in the land of Gyeonggi. Have they ever seen such a broad, mighty, turbulent river?

Thousands of horses and thousands of troops were frightened by the power of nature, staring blankly at the majestic and magnificent river in front of them, but they were speechless.

The turbid waves churned, and the turbulent torrential river seemed to hang over everyone's heads. Under the high embankments, there was an endless vast plain, and the cities and villages in the distance seemed to be dotted with stars.

"The water of the Yellow River comes up from the sky!"

Standing on the embankment of the Yellow River, Zhang Cheng muttered: "The ancients did not deceive me. This big river is really magnificent. It is really 'the Yellow River's angry waves come to the sky, and the loud noise is like Yin Lei'!"

The water of the Yellow River in front of us hangs so high above the heads of millions of living beings along the coast, making people worry whether the monstrous turbid waves will break through the embankment at any time and destroy all living things around.

Fortunately, none of this has happened yet. Zhang Cheng only knows that Li Zicheng besieged Kaifeng City three times in his memory, but he does not know the specific details. The only thing he remembers is the third siege of Kaifeng. The embankment was dug up and flooded the city, killing millions of people.

…………

On the same day, at dusk, generals and officials gathered in Zhang Cheng's tent of the Chinese army in the army camp of Chenqiao Town on the north bank of the Yellow River.

"Since the intruder Li Zicheng broke into Henan, he has absorbed soldiers and horses from Yidougu, earthen pots and other thieves on the border of Sichuan and Shaanxi. He is said to be hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses. There are only tens of thousands of refugees and hungry people who are coerced.

Today, intruders have broken through Lushan, Jiaxian, Yiyang, Yiyang, Yanshi, Lingbao and other counties in western Henan. Local officers and soldiers in Henan have suffered repeated failures. The king and all the nobles in the city died. "

Wang Yuanjing, who accompanied the military praise painting, was sitting on the first seat on the right hand, holding a stack of pond newspapers in his hand and talking. There was a table in front of his seat, with cups, dishes and plates inside. Steamed buns and rice wine.

At this time, Liu Jinhai said: "Right now, there are rumors that the thieves have the intention of besieging Luoyang."

At the beginning, Li Zicheng broke through Zuo Liangyu's defense and broke into Henan from Yunyang. Yang Sichang, the governor of the cabinet, and Chen Xinjia, the minister of the Ministry of war, were worried about this.

That's why Zhang Cheng was rushed to lead the army into Henan to help suppress the intruders, but he never expected that Li Zicheng would enter Henan with only [-] riders, and within a few months, he would grow to tens of thousands of troops.

"Marshal, there was an official document from the Ministry of War yesterday, asking our army to quickly move towards Luoyang to protect the safety of the provincial capital and protect the feudal area." Wang Yuanjing reminded softly.

Now, Zhang Cheng's layout in Henan has only reached the three prefectures of Zhangde, Weihui, and Kaifeng. This intelligence and logistics network not only consumes money, but also requires a lot of energy to operate. It can be established, especially if it is outside the sphere of influence, and it must be done carefully, otherwise it will be suspected of misconduct.

However, Yebucha in Chen Zhong's cavalry department went deep into the border of Henan Province in the west of Henan. In recent days, news has been sent back one after another. I only heard him say:
"According to the report from the investigation, at the beginning of this month, Li Jiyu, the leader of the Dengfeng thief, gathered tens of thousands of people to riot because of the hunger of the year. In ten days, tens of thousands of people gathered, and even broke through the county seat of Dengfeng. He even exchanged messages with the robbers. There is a possibility of joining forces."

He paused, and then continued: "Nowadays in various parts of Western Henan, there are many thieves taking advantage of the chaos to coerce hungry people into riots, and I heard that there are many children in various places singing some folk songs."

Sitting behind the first big case, Zhang Cheng was originally calmly listening to everyone's reports, but now he was surprised to hear Chen Zhongzhi's words, and asked eagerly, "Tell me, what kind of folk song is it?"

Chen Zhong didn't take it seriously, and said calmly: "Oh, there are many, such as 'Don't kill the people, only kill the officials' and so on, but the most widely sung one is 'Eat his mother, wear his mother, open his mouth' Open the gate to meet King Chuang, but when King Chuang came, he didn’t pay the food.’ and ‘Seeking promotion in the morning, seeking harmony in the evening, these days it’s hard for the poor to survive. Open the door early to worship King Chuang, and all the disciplines are happy.’ These two sentences.”

Zhang Cheng was startled in his heart, and said softly to himself: "Could it be that Li Yan has already surrendered to Li Zicheng?"

It's no wonder that Zhang Cheng was startled. It was precisely because of these two folk songs that Li Zicheng's name of "Chuang Wang" spread in the land of Henan. I hope that this "King Li Chuang" will come to rescue them as soon as possible.

Regarding the bandits in the northwest of Henan, the Kaifeng local government tried its best to conceal the news, just because they were afraid that the local people would panic, and the public resentment caused by the disaster would further boil.

However, there are still many rumors about bandits in the city. Hearing that Kaifeng's King of Zhou and Governor Li Xianfeng, the chief envoy Liang Bing was also worried about this.

King Zhou was worried about the safety of his own family, and wondered if the traitor Li Chuang would make trouble in Kaifeng Mansion.

Governor Li Xianfeng and chief envoy Liang Bing were even more worried about whether Li Chuang's rebels would besiege Luoyang. If so, what should they do?
Li Zicheng's resurgence this time is even more powerful. It is rumored that he now has hundreds of thousands of troops, and Kaifeng Mansion has less than [-] troops. Even if he wants to rescue Luoyang, he will be powerless.

Now everyone is praying that Luoyang will rely on the deep city and stick to it to consume the strength of Li Chuang's rebels. If the rebels attack by force, if it lasts for ten days or even several months, the rebels will be cut off from food and grass, and they will have to move their troops to other places. Eat anywhere.

But everything is just in case, after all Yongning City was raided by intruders before, King Wan'an was killed, and Luoyang is even more serious, that is the seat of the vassal king, King Fu is the uncle of the current Holy Majesty!

While eating steamed buns, drinking broth, and sipping rice wine, the generals and officers in the tent talked about the bandits in Henan, while Zhang Cheng quietly listened to their discussions.

Regarding what everyone said that Li Zicheng now has hundreds of thousands of people, Zhang Cheng knew it was impossible. When Li Zicheng first entered Henan, his backbone confidantes were only less than a thousand.

Even with the gangsters under Yidougu, Crockpot, Li Jiyu and others, plus the hungry people who were coerced by them, the maximum would be around [-].

The hundreds of thousands are just rumors from passers-by!

But the possibility of burglars besieging Luoyang is real. In history, Li Zicheng easily broke through Luoyang City.

The strength of Luoyang city is not weaker than that of Kaifeng, including the general army of Henan. If the guards are a little more reliable, just like Kaifeng, Li Zicheng can only stare at Luoyang.

Even looking at Luoyang and sighing!
As for the fall of Luoyang City, I am afraid it was the instigation of those two folk songs. Political offensives are sometimes more terrifying than military offensives.

(End of this chapter)