Daming kill

Chapter 81 Xiongcheng "Beijing"

"According to Bianliang is the division of Yuzhou, the center of heaven and earth, the center of the eight directions, and the center of the heart. Its name is Daliang, Liangzhou, Bianjing, and Bianliang. It has been changed in different dynasties. A land that cannot be removed." - "Like a Dream" (Ming)
Han Jiu could hardly believe that Kaifeng would be attacked, and Zhang Qing couldn't believe it a month ago either.

He still clearly remembers that one day, in the rainy weather, he stood alone on the north city wall of Kaifeng, looking at a low uneven embankment in the distance and a shadow that was almost as high as the city wall of Kaifeng in a daze for a long time. I clearly remember the scene, and then there are piles of unbelievable moments that will never be forgotten.

That day, all the guards on the city wall hid in their huts and towers, and he was the only one standing in the rain.

The rain had already soaked through his clothes, and his vision had long been blurred, but Zhang Qing seemed to have lost his senses.His mind is in turmoil, his thoughts are in turmoil.For some reason, that earth embankment was like a wall in his heart, making him very uncomfortable.

But at the time, he didn't understand what that meant.

If it wasn't for his brothers who kept calling him, Zhang Qing didn't know how long he would have to stand there.

He didn't know what he was thinking at the time, anyway, he was upset, and he always felt that something was wrong.This strong premonition had been hanging over his heart for a long time, and it was especially strong that day.

Zhang Qing knew that something bad was going to happen.

His right eye has been twitching all the time, and the strange feeling that he hasn't made a mistake for many years makes him very clear that something must happen.

But how bad could it be?But he couldn't figure it out for a moment.

Cannibalism has begun to appear in the city of Kaifeng, which has been besieged for almost five months, what could be worse than this!

They had nothing to eat, and the thieves who besieged them probably had nothing to eat.The battles around Henan have been fought for several years, and the food has been emptied long ago, so Kaifeng can make up some food because of the palace and water transportation. Where can there be surplus food in other places.

Moreover, the imperial court did not save other places, but Kaifeng always wanted to save them.Because besides the capital and Nanjing, Kaifeng is probably the most important town in Ming Dynasty. If we don't save here, wouldn't we have to sit and wait until our energy is exhausted?

Even if there are any changes, as long as you bite your teeth, the bandits will always retreat.The number of thieves is millions, the food consumption is even greater, and it is more difficult to persist for a long time. How can they survive the city of Kaifeng, which was once called "Beijing".

As for Kaifeng being compromised, Zhang Qing didn't even think about it.

Kaifeng is the most majestic city he has seen in his life except for Beijing, who has seen a lot of world. The essentials of commerce and roads.

Would Zhang Qing think so?It's definitely not because of his short-sightedness, but because Kaifeng was a real heroic city in the Ariake generation.

After all, Kaifeng has been called "Beijing" for ten years!
In March of the first year of Hongwu (1368), Zhu Yuanzhang designated Bianliang as Beijing and planned to establish the capital here. Although he finally proclaimed himself emperor in Yingtianfu (Nanjing) that year, it also started the two-capital system in the Ming Dynasty.Moreover, "Beijing" was still used as the accompanying capital until the 11th year of Hongwu (1378) because it was revoked because the king of Zhou took up residence here, and it was renamed Kaifeng Mansion at the same time.

Because Kaifeng was once designated as Beijing, Kaifeng City in the Ming Dynasty was built according to the standards of the imperial city from the inside to the outside, and the city walls of Kaifeng were therefore covered with bricks to become a solid brick city (it was made of earth before, and it was built in the Song Dynasty. The good walls have long been destroyed).

Kaifeng City has four layers of city walls: Forbidden City, Xiaoqiang, Brick City and Tucheng. The overall layout is similar to the four layers of Nanjing City's palace city, imperial city, inner city and outer city.Later, due to the threat of flooding in the Yellow River, a moat was added around the four-fold city wall, and finally a new pattern of layer-by-layer enclosure by the five-fold city wall was formed.

So, how grand is Kaifeng City?
开封砖城周长20里190步，高3丈5尺，广2丈1尺。护城河深1丈，阔5丈。共有5个城门，每门各建瓮城三重。

There are five enemy towers in the whole city, all with arrow holes, three directions and four arrows, and sixteen evil towers; five big towers, four corner towers, and 4 star towers, all arranged according to 24 places; 28 nests, ten gun towers, and enemy towers. 54, police station 84, very strict.

(One mile in the Ming Dynasty equals 360 steps, which is also equal to 180 feet, one foot=3.33 meters, so one mile is about 600 meters)
At this time, the Tucheng of Kaifeng was mainly built on the outer city walls of the Later Zhou and Song Dynasties, and most of them have been basically abandoned. In many places, only the city foundations remain, and the remaining city gates are all filled with soil. Soil foundation (that is, a soil slope).The circumference of the Tucheng is about 40 miles, and the dilapidated earth embankment that Zhang Qing looks at is the wall.

The Xiao Wall in Kaifeng, that is, the outer city wall of Zhou Wangfu (Forbidden City) is 9 miles and 13 steps, and the circumference of Wangcheng (Zhou Wangfu) is about 2520 meters (no ancient records, it is measured by modern archaeology).The scope of Wangcheng is in the area of ​​today's Longting Park, and Park Avenue is its central axis, which is roughly the scope of Song Gongcheng.

If it is still impossible to estimate the size of Kaifeng City at that time, it can be compared with other cities in Henan in the same period.

Luoyang, the ancient capital, was only eight miles and 340 five steps in circumference during the Ming and Qing Dynasties, and the entire city was not as large as Zhou Wangfu (calculated by Xiaoqiang).

The cities where other royal palaces in Henan are located, Nanyang City has a perimeter of six miles and 27 steps, Zhangde City has a perimeter of nine miles and 110 steps, Weihui City has a perimeter of six miles and 130 steps, Junzhou City has a perimeter of nine miles, and Huaiqing City has a perimeter of nine miles and 140 steps Eight steps, the circumference of Runing City is five miles and thirty steps.

The perimeter of Guangzhou Palace in Kaifeng is only nine miles and thirteen steps, and the Zhou Palace is already as large as or even larger than several important cities in Henan!However, the Zhou Palace in Kaifeng City only accounts for about one-fifth of the entire city area (calculated in the brick city, excluding the earthen city).

Compared with Xiangyang, the circumference of Xiangyang City is about twelve miles (7331 meters), which means that the area of ​​Xiangyang City is only about one-third of Kaifeng.

The vastness of Kaifeng City and the large scale of buildings can be seen.

The roads outside the five gates of Kaifeng (a total of twelve gates in the Song and Yuan Dynasties) lead to the counties around Kaifeng.Among them, the Cao gate is connected to Lanyang (now Lankao), the Song gate is connected to Chenliu, the south gate is connected to Weixian and Tongxu, the west gate is connected to Zhongmu, and the north gate is connected to Yanjin.

The ancients called Kaifeng the division of Yuzhou, the center of heaven and earth, the hub of the eight directions, and the heartland, which is by no means an exaggeration.Otherwise, since the Song Dynasty established its capital on this plain, the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties have continued to rebuild, improve, and repair such a majestic city. (Several generations of Kaifeng have been layered on top of each other from the underground to the ground, one city is pressing on another, and each generation is basically rebuilding)

In addition, Kaifeng is also so rich that it eclipses its surroundings. "The city is full of streets and streets, countless. All kinds of businesses are constantly involved." This is not a joke.

Only from the city of Kaifeng "there are three alleys of comb shops, and each alley has [-] to [-] stores, all selling Sichuan boxwood, Fujian lychee, and pine roots with clean teeth and delicate combs" to get a glimpse of the leopard.

Even outside the Wumen City Pass, there are many shops.

Outside the Song Gate, there are past inns, restaurants, bamboo pole shops, wool shops, etc.There are hotels, grocery stores, paper shops, etc. outside the south gate.There is a cotton market and a fresh fruit store outside Caomen.There is a small city built next to the Kaifeng city wall outside the west gate, and there are also five gates. There are various businesses in the small city.Outside the west gate, there is also a "horse market street, where cattle and donkeys are on the market in the morning, and mules and horses are on the market in the afternoon".Outside the north gate are hotels and alkali shops.

All of the above, put together, is the main reason why Li Zicheng opened the seal three times like a demon.He not only wants power, but also money.

As for the Ming court, as Zhou Tengjiao said at the time: "If Biancheng is not guarded, there will be no Henan. If Henan is not protected, there will be no Central Plains. If the Central Plains are not protected, the throat of Hebei will be broken, and the general situation of the world is very dangerous." Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen also spared no expense, and transferred troops to Henan, desperately trying to untie the crisis.

It's just that these are too far away for Zhang Qing.He can neither see nor imagine, but he has his vision.

"Zhangtou, Zhangtou..." That was Zhang Qing's good brother Shouhou'er calling again.

Zhang Qing glanced at the north again in a daze, then glanced at the continuous tall enemy towers on the city wall in the darkness, and finally went down the city wall.

It was long past the time for the changing of the guard, and it was raining again. There was indeed no need to suffer in vain in this impregnable city.

Zhang Qing is a captain of the social soldiers who assisted in guarding Caomen (the gate to the north). Because the social soldiers are only volunteers, there is no usual official and army structure, and there is no lower-level organization in his team. Get close to take control of the team.

When Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng for the first time, Wang Xie, the magistrate of Xiangfu County (Xiangfu County is located in Kaifeng City), conspired with the officials and gentry in the city to discuss the establishment of two societies in each of the 84 squares in the city, and each society drew soldiers to organize society soldiers ( Militia) guard the five gates, and this method of guarding has been followed.

There should have been 50 under Zhang Qing's men, but now there are less than 40.

During the long-term siege, the city has long been short of food. Even the community soldiers who help defend the city can only get a bowl of gruel every day, and the rest can only rely on their own food.Some people have no food at home and can only starve to death or die of illness. At this time, no one will look for them. Everyone knows what is going on, because too many people have died.

When going down to the city, Zhang Qing looked at the streets and alleys that could not be seen in the rain, and felt a little bit stuck for a while.Such a big city, such a bustling place, is now surprisingly quiet. People who lack food are reducing all unnecessary activities.

Because everyone else had already run away, after going down the city, there were only Zhang Qing and his brother Ma Xiaotian on the rainy empty street.

Ma Xiaotian is the big size of the thin monkey.

"Brother, do you think the court will not give up on Kaifeng?" The thin monkey asked abruptly, shrinking his neck.

"Give up on Kaifeng! How is that possible? Everyone knows that Bianzhong (Kaifeng) is the most feudal vassal in the world. Zhou princes are prosperous. It is said that there are more than 200 kings of Guangjun, and there are more than 70 living in Kaifeng. Let's come It has been in this city for almost a year, and I saw that there are probably thousands of mansions connected to the kings and generals in this city. With so many dignitaries, how can the court give up, and how dare they give up?" Zhang Qing asked back, frowning.

"Then why don't you see the reinforcements desperately coming to rescue? The Shandong army on the north bank came and retreated, and it didn't look like they were desperate! Food couldn't be brought in. If this continues, the thieves don't need to be beaten, and we will all starve to death. "The thin monkey said bitterly.

The news of Zuo Liangyu's defeat, the low-ranking officers and soldiers could not know at all, because it would shake the morale of the army.Junior officers and soldiers can only know what they have seen or heard from other ordinary officers and soldiers.

"Isn't there still food in my house? What trouble did you encounter today?" Zhang Qing asked suspiciously, the thin monkey's mood was abnormal today.

"It's nothing, it's just that I feel uncomfortable watching the dead all day long. Hundreds of soldiers guarding the city starve to death every day. How much do you think the people will die! I don't think the officials take it seriously. I'm afraid there will be Think differently." The thin monkey sniffled and said.

"How to say?" Zhang Qing turned his head strangely and asked.

Notes:

Note 1: Wopu is a cave built on the city wall to hide soldiers. It does not leak rain, keeps out wind and keeps warm, and has a wooden floor with a slope on one side.

It should be emphasized that the nest shop is not a "hiding cave" in the city wall, but is specially built on the city wall.It is about 2.2 meters high and less than 4 meters wide. This is the data of the nest shop on the city wall of Datong, Shanxi. Because each city is different, the shape and size may be different.

Note 2: In the Ming Dynasty, more than 70 prefectures were enfeoffed under the Zhou throne, and there were more than 270 prefectures in total, and there were 72 in Kaifeng alone.In addition, Kaifeng also has some palaces of the descendants of the founding fathers, such as the Xu Mansion of the descendants of Xu Da.Various generals, lieutenants, and Yibin Mansions are spread all over the main areas of the city.These noble mansions amounted to more than [-] at most.

Note 3: The data of Kaifeng City are mainly based on "Rumenglu" in the late Ming Dynasty and various modern papers and archaeological materials. There are some differences between them, so it cannot be said to be very accurate.

(End of this chapter)