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Chapter 208 Li Zicheng killed the vassal king, and Song Xiance offered a clever strategy (please subscribe for monthly tickets)

After Emperor Dashun Li Zicheng proclaimed himself emperor, he has been busy stabilizing Shaanxi.

Shaanxi in the Ming Dynasty was very large, including today's Shaanxi, Ningxia, and part of Gansu!

Especially after the four towns of Yulin, Guyuan, Ningxia, and Gansu took refuge with Li Xianzhong, Li Zicheng lost control along the Great Wall!

Make him very insecure!

Fortunately, the Ming army along the Great Wall has no intention of going south to grab territory yet.

Prime Minister Zuo Zhong Guangdao said: "Your Majesty, although the Ming army on the nine sides has defected to the Hongguang court, they have to transport grain from Liaodong to Ningxia, Gansu and other places for four to five thousand miles, and the grain consumed along the way is Several times or even ten times the amount of food delivered. Food limits their garrison and the scale of sending troops, so for the time being they are unable to send troops south!"

"We should take the opportunity to seize Gongchang, Lintao, Minzhou, Taozhou and other places to the west of Fengxiang."

Zhong Guangdao's suggestion was quickly recognized by Dashun Emperor Li Zicheng.

Although Li Zicheng temporarily obtained a lot of money and food by killing King Qin and King Fu.

However, King Li Chuang did not pay taxes, so after Li Zicheng ascended the throne, he exempted Shaanxi and Henan from taxes this year.

Now he has an army of 60 people, and the food consumption of these people alone is 70 dan in a month.

You can still hold on without money, but you really can’t survive without food.

His Dashun regime basically only destroyed, not produced!

In order to raise food for the winter, Li Zicheng had to keep grabbing.

There are still many vassal kings in Shaanxi, except for the richest King Qin.

There are also King Rui of Hanzhong Prefecture, King Han of Pingliang Prefecture, King Qing of Yinchuan Prefecture, and King Su of Lanzhou Prefecture.

Yinchuan is located in Ningxia Town, and Li Zicheng is temporarily out of reach; when Gao Jie captured Hanzhong, King Rui Zhu Changhao had also been killed; so King Tongsu of Han became his target.

After killing King Zhu Shihong of Su and King Zhu Danji of Han, Li Zicheng temporarily topped the list by killing 7 vassal kings.

In addition, Zhang Xianzhong killed King Xiang and King Heng of the White Lotus Sect, King Xifan.

At present, a total of 9 vassal kings in the Ming Dynasty have been beheaded and their homes confiscated.

However, after the Dashun army captured Lanzhou, the Ming army from Gansu and Ningxia towns began to attack Lanzhou from the east and west.

Lanzhou cut off the connection between the two towns. In the end, the Dashun Army gave up Lanzhou under pressure, but they successfully transferred the property of Prince Su's Mansion.

In July, Zhu Yousong proclaimed himself emperor in Kaiyuan, and Chongzhen officially broke out with the Liaodong Army.

The king and ministers of Dashun were very excited.

Now that there is internal strife in his old Zhu family, this is really a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity!

Liu Zongmin and others petitioned Li Zicheng to send troops to attack eastern Henan and Shanxi.

However, Li Yan believed that Li Xianzhong and Chongzhen had just started to quarrel at this time. If Dashun sent troops too early, they would probably be counterattacked by the Ming army, which would give Li Xianzhong an advantage.

So they have been waiting and watching.

Unexpectedly, the battle was completely one-sided. Li Xianzhong reached Tongzhou in just five days, and then a large number of officers and soldiers began to surrender to the Liaodong Army.

Although the news of the fall of the capital did not come at this time, Li Yan keenly predicted that the capital would fall soon.

In the event that Chongzhen was captured or killed, Ming Dynasty would complete the transfer of imperial power in a short time.

They won't be able to get anything by then.

Not only can they not catch it, they also have to face the powerful Liaodong cavalry.

So Li Zicheng quickly sent troops.

Now Li Zicheng also has great experience in robbery, which means "kill the vassal king" in three words.

Over the past 200 years since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, these have spread all over the country, and the vassal kings, big and small, are all fat and oily!

Li Zicheng only needs to kill all the vassal kings in the country, big and small, and then the world will be almost defeated!

The main targets of his attack this time were King Zhou of Kaifeng, King Jin of Taiyuan, King Dai of Datong, King Zhao of Zhangde, King Lu of Wei Hui, and King Shen of Luzhou.

If Emperor Taizu Zhu Yuanzhang knew that the various vassal kings he had carefully arranged to protect the Ming Dynasty had actually become the "money bag" for the bandit rebellion, the coffin boards would almost be unable to hold it down!

In fact, the culprit responsible for this phenomenon was Chongzhen. He first deposed the Tang king who recruited troops to defend Nanyang, and then rejected King Heng's request for asylum.

Good fellow, if the vassal king is not allowed to recruit troops to defend the fiefdom and the vassal king is not allowed to escape, then the vassal king can only wait to die?

No wonder Zhu Yousong wanted to rebel against Chongzhen!

Originally, Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng first. After all, Kaifeng was a big city, and the King of Zhou was also an old vassal king, so he had a lot of money.

But not all feudal lords are stubborn!

When King Zhou saw Li Zicheng leading hundreds of thousands of troops to surround Kaifeng, he knew that after the city was broken, there would be only death.

Not only did he send his own servants to help in the battle, he also personally went to the city to boost morale!

They even ordered people to carry the silver box to the top of the city, behead one of the bandits' heads, and reward them with 20 taels of silver on the spot.

Originally, Kaifeng was garrisoned by 15000 Ming troops led by Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan, and Chen Yongfu, the general of Kaifeng.

After King Zhou offered a high reward of silver, tens of thousands of young men took the initiative to come to the city to help in the battle!

The Dashun army attacked for several days but was repelled by the official army.

Even Liu Zongmin personally led an attack on the city but was repelled by the Ming army. The Dashun army suffered nearly 10,000 casualties!

Obviously Kaifeng is a tough spot.

In fact, siege of a city, especially a fortified city heavily defended by the enemy, is usually considered successful within a few months, and it is normal to be besieged for a year or two.

But time waits for no one now. The Liaodong Army is attacking the city and plundering the territory. If Li Zicheng delays for a few months under Kaifeng City, he will basically get nothing!

Soon, at Li Yan's suggestion, they began to divide their troops in the northern mountains and cross the Yellow River to attack the northern parts of Shanxi and Henan.

The capital was in emergency before, and many of the troops and horses north of the Yellow River were transferred to the capital or the Shandong front line by Chongzhen.

In addition, Chen Qiyu's previous expedition to Xiangyang also mobilized Shanxi's garrison.

Nowadays, these places can be said to be empty of troops. As the saying goes, "If you move trees, they die, but if you move people, they live."

After the Dashun army crossed the Yellow River, they suddenly became extremely brave.

On July 7, the Dashun Army captured Weihui Mansion. Lu Wang Zhu Changzi had originally escaped from Weihui Mansion, but when he fled to Huaxian County, people reported him and was captured by Li Zicheng.

King Lu owned 4 hectares (400 million acres) of farmland, even more than King Fu, and the people were filled with resentment.

Li Zicheng beheaded him directly!

The 80 shi of grain seized from King Lu greatly alleviated the food shortage problem of Dashun Army.

Two days later, "One Tiger" Li Guo captured Zhangde Mansion north of Wei Hui and killed Zhao Wang Zhu Changyu.

At the same time, good news also came from Shanxi. Li Yan led his army to capture Pingyang Fucheng and Linfen, an important town in southern Shanxi.

Then Li Zicheng personally led the army northward into Shanxi and defeated Zezhou and Gaoping.

On July 7, the people of Luzhou took advantage of the chaos to open the city gate and welcomed Li Zicheng into Luzhou Mansion.

Li Zicheng also beheaded Shen King Zhu Xiaoyong in Luzhou.

Within a few days, Dashun's army broke through five mansions and killed three vassal kings and a large number of gentry, which directly shocked the entire Shanxi.

Li Zicheng's slogan of dividing the land won the support of all Shanxi people. Except for a few gentry in southern Shanxi who were willing to donate their property to join Dashun, the rest were almost killed by the Dashun army!

To the south of Taiyuan, officials and gentry from Qinzhou, Liaozhou, Fenzhou and other places that had not yet been occupied by Li Zicheng retreated into Taiyuan City under the slogan of protecting Jin Wang Zhu Qiugui!

So when Chongzhen and others entered Taiyuan Prefecture, the city was filled with gentry officials from other prefectures and those from around Taiyuan who had come to take refuge.

And the food supply in Taiyuan also began to rise crazily.

The normal price of rice, which was six yuan per stone, instantly increased to one or two yuan.

Moreover, all the inns in Taiyuan were also full.

Fortunately, Jin Wang Zhu Qiugui had the good sense to give up his Jin Palace to Chongzhen as a temporary palace, and this group of people finally had a place to stay.

Chongzhen said: "Yang Qing, the intruder Li Zicheng led an army of 600,000 people to the north and killed three vassal kings in ten days. His troops pointed directly at Taiyuan. What should we do?"

At this time, Yang Sichang was also extremely depressed. Originally, he could get rid of Li Xianzhong by going to Shanxi, but unexpectedly, Li Zicheng blocked him!

But from his point of view, he would rather face Li Zicheng's 60 army than face the 3 Liaodong cavalry.

Yang Sichang said: "Your Majesty, don't worry too much. Taiyuan is one of the nine important towns with tall city walls. Now we have the Xuanda cavalry under Governor Liang and the elite cavalry from our Yulin camp. In addition, Taiyuan City originally The 2-strong frontier army can be said to be a strong force!"

"The intruders are just a group of rabble. Although there are many people, they are no match for my elite cavalry!"

At this time, Chongzhen's eyes turned to Liang Tingdong, the governor of Xuanda, and he asked: "Liang Qing, are you confident in defeating these bandits and opening a passage south for me?" At this time, Liang Tingdong was squinting out of the corner of his eye. Yang Sichang cursed in his heart: Yang Sichang, I'm so sorry for your grandma, you actually asked me to fight Li Zicheng's 600,000 troops at this time?

It seems that this "loyalty uncle" is not easy to seal. At this time, he regretted agreeing to escort Chongzhen south!

But now the arrow is on Xuan and he has to shoot it. At this time, there is only one way to get to the dark side.

Liang Tingdong said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, the rebel Li Zicheng's men are just a group of traitors. I will definitely attack the thieves under Taiyuan City!"

As the Governor of Xuanda, it was naturally impossible for him to lead his troops into battle in person. As for charging into battle, it was naturally a matter for the generals.

This time Liang Tingdong took Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu, and Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Datong, to go south.

Now only the two of them can lead the army to meet the enemy!

Seeing Liang Tingdong's confidence, Chongzhen was extremely happy!

He encouraged: "If you can help me escape this time, it will be a great contribution to saving the Ming Dynasty. Naturally, I will not begrudge the title!"

"Painting" has always been the only way for superiors to motivate subordinates, and this has been the case since ancient times!

Soon Liang Tingdong led 2 cavalry south to meet the enemy.

In fact, they had not dealt with the bandits for several years. In their impression, the bandits were still a group of peasant soldiers armed with swords and spears and wearing ragged clothes.

Even if there are cavalry, they are only a small number of light cavalry.

There was no way they could be the opponents of these elite frontier troops.

With 2 cavalry, they are a cavalry force that cannot be underestimated anywhere.

Therefore, Liang Tingdong believed that except for Li Xianzhong's "Liaodong Iron Cavalry", there was no force that could compete with them.

This is why he dared to march in the face of the main force of thieves.

It didn't take long for them to score their first victory.

Li Zicheng's general Liu Fangliang led more than 10,000 Dashun troops to march toward Taiyuan along Yuci.

Not all the Dashun army were rough guys like Liu Zongmin. Liu Fangliang was very handsome and was known as "Little Ma Chao", and he was Li Zicheng's favorite general.

But when the two sides met in the wilderness northwest of Yuci, Liu Fangliang knew something was wrong.

His vanguard only had 500 cavalry, and the rest were infantry. He never expected that there would be the main cavalry regiment of the Ming Army in the direction of Taiyuan.

The violent vibrations caused by the galloping of tens of thousands of war horses, as well as the dust they raised in the sky, caused fear in the hearts of almost every Dashun Army soldier.

While Liu Fangliang ordered the soldiers to flee quickly into the nearby woods, he also led his 500 cavalry to fight the enemy to buy time for the infantry to escape.

Wang Pu, the commander-in-chief of Datong, discovered that there were only more than 10,000 Dashun troops in front, most of whom were infantry. He quickly led his 10,000 cavalry and rushed towards Liu Fangliang and others.

How could he let go of such an advantage? But Liu Fangliang was very pessimistic here. His men and horses only had a face-to-face encounter with Wang Pu's Datong cavalry, and more than 300 of them were killed.

The deputy general shouted directly: "General Liu, leave quickly, the last general will stay behind. After saying that, he slapped Liu Fangliang's horse hard with the back of his sword!"

Liu Fangliang understood that even if his spear killed a few more Ming troops, it would not help. His vanguard battalion was definitely doomed!

It is better to report this important situation to Li Zicheng quickly.

Li Zicheng and Li Yan were also shocked when they learned about this situation.

Datong's tens of thousands of frontier army cavalry have moved south from Taiyuan.

In fact, there were a lot of cavalry in Dashun's army at this time. Li Zicheng currently controlled parts of northern Shaanxi and Gansu, and accepted a large number of surrendered troops from the Ming Dynasty.

60 people are the so-called troops, and the total number of people he went north this time was 32, including 3 cavalry.

However, his soldiers did not intend to use their precious cavalry to fight head-on with the elite cavalry of the Ming Army.

They quickly sent out several groups of about a thousand people, old and weak, to seduce the officers and soldiers.

Wang Pu had previously defeated Liu Fangliang's vanguard battalion, and his morale was high at the moment. He was extremely happy when he found that the Dashun Army was moving northward in waves.

He won't let go of this opportunity to make money.

He ordered his troops to continue southward to attack the bandits, and was eventually lured into the vicinity of Mengshan Mountain to the west of the Fen River by the Dashun Army.

At this moment, he faced more than 100,000 Dashun troops, not only a large number of cavalry, but also many gunmen.

In fact, if they fight head-on, although Wang Pu's Datong Army has fewer soldiers, it may not be incapable of fighting with the good equipment of the border troops.

But he chose to run away.

His team soon became confused due to the narrow path.

When he retreated to Fenhe River, he found that the only bridge had been destroyed by the Dashun Army.

Although the follow-up troops of Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Xuanfu, were already on the other side of the Fen River at this time, they could only watch helplessly as Wang Pu's troops were surrounded and annihilated by the uncle's army because they were unable to cross the river.

In the end, Wang Pu only led 3,000 men to break out of the siege. However, he did not dare to go back to recover after this defeat. He simply felt disheartened and ran back to Datong with the remaining 3,000 men!

When Li Zicheng and Li Yan saw a large number of Ming army cavalry on the other side of the Fen River, they were also frightened!

Fortunately, the Ming army was blocked by the Fen River and had no way to cross.

If the more than 2 cavalrymen were asked to join forces, the hundreds of thousands of them might be pushed back by the Ming army.

However, after this battle, Li Zicheng did not dare to advance in the plains on the east bank of the Fen River.

Instead, they went to the mountainous area on the west bank of the Fen River to deal with Liang Tingdong and Yang Guozhu!

Yang Guozhu soon felt that something was wrong. He said: "The bandits have many soldiers and we have few. If they divide their forces to raid Taiyuan, we will be passive."

Liang Guodong disagreed. He said: "Taiyuan City is to the east of the Fen River. Now that we have guarded several ferries, they cannot cross the Fen River at all!"

"If they send troops to sneak across from farther upstream and downstream to attack Taiyuan, we are not afraid. We are all cavalry and can rush back to Taiyuan in less than half a day!"

Yang Guozhu thought the same thing. Taiyuan itself was one of the nine important towns, and the defenders were also very powerful.

What's more, Taiyuan's city is so tall that even if the invaders divide their forces, they won't be able to break through Taiyuan in a short time.

Their siege troops near Taiyuan were easily attacked by their own cavalry.

Just when the Dashun army was sighing at the sight of the Fen River, they were unable to do anything.

Li Yan's friend Song Xiance suddenly visited.

Song Xiance naturally came with a mission. Zhong Guangdao's level was limited, even though he was the Prime Minister Zuo of Dashun. However, Li Zicheng mostly left him in Guanzhong to guard the rear, and he trusted Li Yan more.

This makes it difficult for the Intelligence Department to grasp the movements of the Dashun Army in a timely manner.

So the advice was sent to Li Zicheng's side.

Fortunately, he and Li Yan were old acquaintances, otherwise it would be difficult for Li Zicheng to treat him with his appearance.

Song Xiance said: "When Taizu of Song Dynasty attacked Taiyuan, he built embankments and flooded Taiyuan. Why didn't your Majesty follow suit?"

Li Yan said: "This method will not work, not to mention that Taiyuan Mansion today is not the same place as Taiyuan City back then."

"With the current amount of water in the Fen River, even if we can build a dam, it will probably take several months. Li Xianzhong's Liaodong Army may have captured Taiyuan long ago!"

Song Xiance said with a smile: "If you want to flood Taiyuan City, it is naturally a big project, but what if Song just wants to flood the Ming army cavalry on the other side, making them trapped in the quagmire and affecting their mobility?"

Li Yan also had a sudden enlightenment at this time and said: "Brother Song, this is really a stroke of genius!"

So they asked people to build a dam at the upper and lower reaches of the Fen River.

Although some soldiers reported that the water level of Fenhe River had suddenly become low in the past two days, Liang Tingdong did not pay attention.

If he wanted to flood Taiyuan, he would not be able to do it within a few months. Since these thieves were willing to waste their efforts, he was too lazy to care about them.

But he never thought that what Li Zicheng wanted to flood was not Taiyuan City at all, nor even his military camp.

After being blocked by the downstream dam, the turbulent Fenhe River broke through the river channel on their side, and the river water surged towards them.

Although their camp was on a higher ground and could not be swallowed by the river, the surrounding area was flooded by the river.

Even if they ride their horses into the water, they will be trapped in an endless quagmire!

Li Zicheng's army, while they were trapped, swaggered across the Fen River from another ferry and headed straight for Taiyuan!

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(End of this chapter)