Daming kill

Chapter 83

The Yellow River is surging, and the flood of the Yellow River has always been the greatest enemy of the people along the coast in ancient times, and the Yellow River on the fifteenth day of Chongzhen just meanders eastward 20 miles north of Kaifeng City.

But in fact, the Yellow River in the past was not so close to Kaifeng, otherwise the Northern Song Dynasty would not have chosen to build its capital here.

Before the Song Dynasty, the Yellow River was relatively far away from Feng. It was not until the Yellow River changed its course in the fifth year of Mingchang in the Jin Dynasty (1194) that the Yellow River approached Kaifeng, and Kaifeng began to be in danger of the Yellow River.

Why is it called the danger of the Yellow River?

Because in the Ming Dynasty alone, the Yellow River overflowed 86 times in Kaifeng, including 58 times in the suburbs of Kaifeng, and flooded Kaifeng many times.The turbulent Yellow River has become the biggest threat to Kaifeng.

When the flood of the Yellow River became the sword of Bodhidharma above Kaifeng's head, the management of the Yellow River also seemed to be the main responsibility of the local officials in Henan.

When Yu Qian was the governor of Henan, he completed a 11-kilometer-long moat on the west, north, and east sides of Kaifeng City in the 1446th year of Zhengtong (20).However, in the 13th year of Zhengtong (1448), the Yellow River broke through and diverted again, but Kaifeng was placed on the north bank of the Yellow River.So in the second year of Jingtai (1451), the governor of Henan, Wang Xian, built the south embankment of the city, making the moat 40 kilometers long.

But the Yellow River diverted again in the sixth year of Hongzhi (1493), and ran to 10 kilometers north of Kaifeng City, and people had to rebuild the dike again.

Zhang Qing, Shouhouer, and Yuanye, who had eaten enough, lay on a large bunk and couldn't sleep. The hot food tonight made them feel more comfortable and sad.

I don't know when I will be able to eat a hot meal again!
"Brother, if I can marry a woman like my sister-in-law in the future, this life will be worth it." The thin monkey rubbed his belly and sighed.

"She is a good woman, but she has a hard life." Yuanye also said.

"Yes! My brother's blessing, our family's blessing." Zhang Qing responded with some bitterness.

Her sister-in-law is a beautiful woman, a virtuous woman, a gentle woman, and a capable woman.All these years, she has been busy working outside the house by herself, she is both filial and intelligent.

Zhang Qing's eldest brother left early without leaving any heirs, but his sister-in-law did not remarry, but has been taking good care of her in-laws, taking care of her ex-husband's sister, and managing the family's livelihood.

In this family, it can be said that she has been relying on her inside and out all these years, and there are no neighbors who do not praise her.

Such a woman, such a sister-in-law, who would not be envious.Their Zhang family owed her too much, and he, Zhang Qing, respected him from the bottom of his heart and lamented the injustice of fate.

"Brother, someone followed Brother Shun today, and I cleaned up everything." Yuanye suddenly said something aside from everyone's beautiful imagination and sentimentality.

"How many?" Zhang Qing turned his head and asked in the dark, he was not surprised.Not hungry and out of shape, not a soldier, not a nobleman, he is already eye-catching.

"Three, freshmen, not around here, they're all starving." Yuanye said without any emotion.

"Hmm... Slender Monkey, you have spent a lot of time inquiring about the way the government and the outside world communicate, and you have the opportunity to explore the way outside the city!" Zhang Qing didn't continue the topic of the wilderness, but turned to the other side. This kind of thing doesn't take it too seriously, and he has great trust in the wilderness.

"Why? Decided to leave? Don't wait any longer?" Yuan Ye interrupted and asked.He knew very well that if he could leave early, but because he had to bring three women with him, no one could guarantee that it would be safe.

"I'm running out of food. In the past few days, my eyes are twitching violently, and I always feel that something is wrong." Zhang Qing said worriedly.

"Okay, big brother, I'll inquire about it tomorrow. If I stay any longer, I'm going crazy. But, where do we go from here?" The thin monkey said, patting his belly.

"Ask more about the south side. There is a big river in the north, and there are reinforcements. The bandit army must be strictly guarded. But don't be stubborn, whichever way goes smoothly." Zhang Qing said thoughtfully.

Ordinary people may not know it, but Zhang Qing is very clear that such a large-scale siege is impossible to kill the surrounding area, there are always many openings.The siege is mainly to block a large number of people and supplies, and it is impossible to be completely impenetrable.

The reason is simple: Kaifeng is so big, even if the besiegers stand on the earthen city, they would have to surround Kaifeng with a circumference of 40 kilometers. Even if only two people stand at one meter, it would take 8 people.Even if Li Zicheng's troops really had millions, they would stand in ten rows.If it were really surrounded like this, it would take only one set of soldiers to penetrate the city, and in the end nothing could be defended.

In fact it is.

Kaifeng City has always been in contact with the reinforcements of Liu Zeqing, the general soldier of Shandong on the north bank of the Yellow River, and Yan Yunjing, the patrol censor, and it went very smoothly.

In mid-July, General Liu Zeqing even led 5000 soldiers across the Yellow River to camp at Zhujiazhai, which is only eight miles away from Kaifeng. After three days of persistence, he was driven back to the north bank by Li Zicheng's troops.

With such a big battle and so close, it is not surprising that ordinary officers and soldiers guarding the city know about it.

Moreover, in order to solve the problem of hunger, the gates of Kaifeng City were often opened to let soldiers and civilians go out of the city to dig wild vegetables and collect firewood.And most of the peasant army will not go forward to attack. Most of them are stationed along the Tucheng, even though the Tucheng is only about five miles away from the Brick City.

Even the peasant army had to dig wild vegetables and collect firewood. When the two sides met, whichever side had fewer people fled.

Kaifeng has maintained a good connection with the outside world.Therefore, it is not impossible for a small group of people to cross the line of defense.

Of course it is not guaranteed.

……

Two nights later, Zhang Qing still remembered that it was September [-]th, and it was still raining that day.He and the thin monkey were squatting in a secluded den on the north city wall of Kaifeng and talking gossip, and their team was on duty that night.

Zhang Qing and the social soldiers in his team are not in the same alley. In fact, Zhang Qing and Shouhouer are volunteers who voluntarily defended. There are many people like them who volunteered to fight in Kaifeng City, including their chief president Li Guangbi.

Zhang Qing and Shouhou'er had already joined the social soldiers during the second Kaifeng siege at the end of December last year. They were known for their bravery and skill in fighting, and they also received a generous reward from the King of Zhou.

"A reward is offered, fifty taels of gold for killing a thief." King Zhou's rewards can be described as extremely generous, 50 taels of silver for beheading a thief, 30 taels of silver for shooting a thief dead, and [-] taels of silver for wounding a thief. Earn a lot.

Zhang Qing needed a bounty, and wanted to do his best to defend the city. After all, his only remaining family, old and young, were all in this city, which was also one of the important factors why he still had money to buy food later.

The strength of regular officers and troops in Kaifeng is too small, and it is really difficult to defend the city without recruiting community soldiers.Li Guangbi, the head office, became famous for leading the army when Kaifeng was besieged for the second time, and on the first day of May, the emperor decreed to give him a tribute.

On July 28, Li Guangbi was appointed by the governor to be in charge of the affairs of the Yiyong Taishe, and the soldiers also became the absolute main force of Kaifeng's city defense.

However, Li Guangbi is the son of an official, while Zhang Qing was born in a lowly merchant family, Zhang Qing is very clear that they are not comparable.

He is already very satisfied to be able to participate in the guards of Caomen, the most important gate that the enemy and us compete for, and become the captain of a team of social soldiers that he is not familiar with.

"A large number of soldiers came out from the north gate this morning, and returned at night. Most of them brought shovels and shovels, and there were civil servants in the middle. I also saw Huang Tuiguan on the city gate. It's so strange in this heavy rain. I don't know what happened? I asked a lot of people, but no one knows, not even the defenders of the city." The thin monkey was talking about today's events in a strange way.

Kaifeng City has a very strange characteristic that "five gates are wrong". The east gate (Cao Gate) is north, the Song gate is south, the south gate is west, the west gate is upright, and the north gate is east. The nearest to the Yellow River in the north is not the north gate. It is Dongmen (Caomen).

What the thin monkey said is indeed very unusual, especially when the gatekeepers in wartime don't know what happened to those who leave the city in a group, it is very inappropriate.

But what's beyond the north gate?They are not easy to guess.

So Zhang Qing thought for a while and said, "Maybe he thought of some magic method to connect with the outside world and avoid people's eyes and ears in order to prevent spies! If you can inquire about it, we may use it."

"Well, I think so too. It has been raining for days, and I heard they said that the Yellow River has reached the big autumn flood, which is the time when the water is in danger. At this time, no one can cross the river. Thinking about it, I started to think about going east." Skinny Monkey The son also guessed blindly.

"Great autumn flood?"

Zhang Qing muttered the word for a while, but he couldn't understand it. He had been away from home for ten years, and he was only 15 years old when he left. He was relatively unfamiliar with the autumn flood of the Yellow River in his hometown.

"It is estimated that the water is so fast that it is difficult to sail a boat. Stealing a boat to cross the north is probably even more difficult. Even crossing this moat is also a troublesome thing. See if the water rises." The thin monkey speculated that he, a person from the north of the Great Wall, had no idea about autumn floods.

"However, Zhangtou, you don't have to worry too much. If you still want to go north, it won't be too difficult. It's the same thing when they dug the river in June. It's just that the rain doesn't stop, but it's annoying. I really don't see it. It's been like this." Looking at Zhang Qing's frowning and thinking, the thin monkey continued.

He also habitually called Zhang Qing Zhangtou.

As for the officers and soldiers digging the river at the end of June, the two of them knew about it, but they didn't really impress them at that time, so it was even harder for them to understand the big autumn flood.

In order to break the siege of Kaifeng, in June, the governor of Kaifeng City, Gao Mingheng, the Tuiguan Huang Shu, and the patrol censor Yan Yunjing on the north bank of the Yellow River agreed on a plan to flood the bandit army.

At that time, they believed that the city walls of Kaifeng were tall and strong, and the terrain outside Kaifeng was flat. The terrain of Yanjiazhai, where Li Zicheng's old camp was located, was relatively low, and it was still on the old course of the Yellow River's burst water.Once the Yellow River is allowed to burst, the peasant army will be flooded and the city will be safe, and the siege of the seal will be untied.

Therefore, at the end of June, Yan Yunjing sent Bu Congshan to lead his troops across the river to the south bank by boat, and dug the embankment of the Yellow River.

As a result, the amount of water in the Yellow River was not large at that time. Although the river flowed out a little, it neither flooded Li Zicheng's army nor flooded Kaifeng City.

Hearing the thin monkey's chanting, Zhang Qing's heart was still in turmoil. He hadn't made up his mind yet.What he was worried about was his old lady, there were wars everywhere, so what if they ran out?Perhaps the outside of the city is not as good as the inside of the city. There is a strong city to rely on inside the city, but what is there outside the city?Thousands of miles away or swarms of thieves?

Zhang Qing brought his family to escape into Kaifeng City at the beginning because he couldn't see where there was any way out around him.

In the dazed confusion, Zhang Qing fell asleep at some point.

When the distant roar woke him up, the sky was still dark and the rain was still falling, but the wind was more violent and the lightning was more dazzling.

When Zhang Qing got up and got out of the bunk, he saw the thin monkey wearing a big bamboo hat standing by the crenel of the city wall, staring at the north in a daze, so he hurriedly leaned up to look at it.

At this time, the thin monkey murmured: "The bandits bombed the camp. I don't know what happened? The sound is so weird. I've never heard it before. I don't know what made it?"...

Notes:

Note 1: Since no information on the organization structure of Kaifeng society soldiers was found, in order to highlight the needs of the characters, the organization structure of the lower layer borrowed part of the organization structure of the Peasant Army, which was not true.

Note 2: The right and wrong of flooding Kaifeng has been relatively controversial in history. This article uses the needs of writing, and it only represents personal preference.

(End of this chapter)