There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

Kaifeng Mansion, Xuzhou City.

Seeing that the strength of the Ming army in Henan was empty, Li Zicheng led the newly expanded army of tens of thousands and took advantage of the Chinese New Year to sneak in in advance and capture Xuzhou City.

In the newly occupied Xuzhou Yamen, Li Zicheng and several generals of Li Jun, regardless of the messy items in the lobby that were destroyed, found a few stools that were still intact and sat down, and began to discuss the next strategy.

Li Zicheng sat in the first place with a golden sword and asked first: "Zong Min, what are the gains from occupying Xuzhou this time?"

"The imperial government offices are still like birds, and there are no feathers in the treasury. But the families of those officials and gentry are very rich, and the concubine of the Jiazhou magistrate is really thin and tender. Tsk." Liu Zongmin replied carelessly, while Still remembering it.

"Zong Min, didn't you say you should pay attention to military discipline?" Li Zicheng frowned upon hearing this.

"Hey, brothers, you've all been holding yourself back. How about letting everyone relax. We're only looking for family members of officials and wealthy families, not ordinary people." Liu Zongmin said disapprovingly.

"General Liu, King Chuang has emphasized military discipline many times in order to shape my image as a king who strives for world supremacy. Once this military discipline is relaxed, it will be difficult to tighten it." Military advisor Song Xiance advised at the side.

"I'm working so hard in the front, and you have nothing to do with it. Now if you want to take care of me, there's no way." Liu Zongmin said nonchalantly.

"Zong Min, the military advisor said this for the sake of everyone. We can't always be rogues. Look at the Zhenming Army. When did they occupy a city and then plunder it?

But always putting the benefit of the people first? So their strength is increasing very quickly now. If we don't pay attention, we won't be able to compete with them in the future. You'd better pay attention. "Li Zicheng spoke out to dissuade him at this time.

"Okay, Brother Li has spoken, and I have to give you face." Liu Zongmin replied.

"Okay, let's not talk about this anymore. We have occupied Xuzhou now. Let's talk about where we should go next?" Li Zicheng changed the subject in time.

“Your Majesty, to the west of Kaifeng Mansion are Luoyang Mansion and Ruzhou, both of which are now occupied by Lin Feng’s Zhenming Army.

If we don't want to conflict with them in advance, we can only go to Kaifeng and south to attack Runing Mansion. "Another strategist Niu Jinxing analyzed.

After hearing this, Li Zicheng stroked his beard and said: "The Zhenming Army is powerful, especially with sharp firearms. Now is not the time to fall out with them. The military advisor should decide whether to attack the north or the south first."

Niu Jinxing pretended to be wise and continued: "Now the main force of the Ming Dynasty official army is divided into two parts. One part is commanded by Hong Chengchou to defend the Qing army in Liaodong, and the other part is commanded by Yang Sichang to exterminate Zhang Xianzhong in the Huguang area. .

At present, the Ming army in Henan is empty of troops, especially the number of defenders in Kaifeng City is very limited. So I suggest opening the city first. After all, Kaifeng is a provincial capital. There are vassal kings like King Zhou in it, there are many big families, and there is a lot of silver and grain in the city. After it is captured, it can very well supplement the consumption of our army. "

"I also agree to open the seal. Although Runing Mansion is easier to fight, it is too poor and the harvest will not be great, which is not conducive to our rapid expansion of troops." Song Xiance also agreed.

"How many of you are there?" Li Zicheng asked Liu Zongmin, Tian Jianxiu, Yuan Zongdi and other generals.

"Of course it's Kaifeng City. I've long wanted to taste the taste of the feudal prince and princess." Liu Zongmin couldn't do anything without thinking about his lower body.

"Let's open the seal. Taking advantage of the empty defense of the Ming army, it is definitely more cost-effective to attack a large city. Defeating it can also be the foundation of our foundation." Tian Jianxiu has always been good at thinking in Li Zicheng's team. He also wants to join the rogue bandits. Transformed into a bandit.

"Okay, since everyone agrees, let's open the seal!" Li Zicheng said calmly.

So in mid-January, Li Zicheng organized an army of fifty to sixty thousand and marched towards Kaifeng City. Historically, Li Zicheng was born in February of the 14th year of Chongzhen, about a year later. Now because of the emergence of Lin Feng, the power of the Ming Dynasty has been weakened a lot, and Li Zicheng's attack on Henan and Kaifeng has also been advanced.

At this time, Henan Governor Li Xianfeng was leading thousands of troops to "suppress bandits" on the north bank of the Yellow River. He was afraid that he would be besieged when he returned to Kaifeng, so he refused to return to Kaifeng on the pretext that the war there was tense.

This is also the normal behavior of the generals of the Ming Army. They should consider themselves first in every matter, as long as there is a decent reason to stop it.

Chen Yongfu, the deputy general guarding Kaifeng, received orders in advance to lead thousands of people to the border of Henan Prefecture to monitor the Zhenming Army, but he was not there at the time.

As a result, Kaifeng almost became an empty city. Li Zicheng chose a very good time to attack. At this time, the hope of attacking was the greatest.

The first thing Li Zicheng wanted to do was to attack the city in a sneak attack. He sent his young general Li Guo with three to four hundred people to pretend to be Xuzhou's defeated army and sneak into Kaifeng City. However, he was discovered by the defenders and the sneak attack failed. .

So Li Zicheng could only adopt a frontal attack, hoping to take advantage of Kaifeng's lack of troops to launch a massive attack and capture Kaifeng City in one go.

However, he was unlucky. There happened to be a few sensible and capable people in Kaifeng Mansion, which ruined Li Zicheng's good plan to capture Kaifeng.

The first person to stand up was Zhou Wang Zhu Gongzhen. He has a smarter mind and is not a miser like King Fu Zhu Changxun who wants money rather than his life.

In the face of a powerful enemy, Zhu Gongzhen did not hesitate to spend hundreds of thousands of taels of silver as military pay. Kaifeng is the capital of Henan Province and has many wealthy merchants. Under the leadership of the King of Zhou, the wealthy merchants donated money one after another.

With sufficient military pay, the morale of the officers and soldiers increased and they were willing to work hard for the government.

Then there is Gao Mingheng, the patrol commander of Henan. The inspector is equivalent to the current provincial discipline official. When the governor Li Xianfeng refused to come back, Gao Mingheng took the initiative to step forward and take command of the overall situation.

There are also several lower-level officials who stand out, such as Huang Shu, the official of Kaifeng Prefecture, Wang Xie, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, and others. They are all young, promising, smart and capable, and they are the backbone of Gao Mingheng's main reliance.

Although Kaifeng City did not have many troops at this time, the army and the people were united. In addition, there were sufficient supplies in the city, the city walls were strong, and the generals commanded effectively. Li Zicheng sent troops to attack with no results.

On January 17, Li Zicheng went to the city in person to inspect. Chen Yongfu's son Chen De took the opportunity to shoot an arrow, hitting Li Zicheng in the cheek. It is said that his left eye was blinded.

After Li Zicheng was injured, the wound festered and he was unable to command operations for a period of time.

In addition to the tens of thousands of soldiers and horses he brought to Kaifeng this time, the real elite soldiers only brought a few thousand people, and the remaining tens of thousands were untrained civilians, so the combat effectiveness was not strong.

Therefore, Li Zicheng gave up his plan to capture Kaifeng and decisively withdrew his troops the next day.

Unable to defeat Kaifeng, Li Zicheng changed direction while recovering from his injuries and headed for Runing Mansion. Under the attack of Liu Zongmin, Yuan Zongdi and other generals, and because the Ming army in Runing Mansion was outnumbered, it was quickly occupied by Li Zicheng's troops.

The first battle to defend Kaifeng was just like in history. The Ming army won the victory. The trajectory of history is difficult to change easily.

The good news of victory spread to the capital. Emperor Chongzhen rewarded the former governor Li Xianfeng based on his merits. He dismissed the former governor Li Xianfeng for investigation and appointed Gao Mingheng as the new governor. Chen Yongfu was promoted to commander-in-chief, and his son Chen De was promoted to guerrilla. The remaining civil and military officials also received rewards.

(End of this chapter)