A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 365 If Thieves Surround Luoyang, What Should I Do?

"At the beginning of this month, Li Ji, a Dengfeng thief, encountered a riot in the year of hunger. During the ten days, tens of thousands of people gathered to break through Dengfeng and went to join Li Chuang and the thieves."

"In the land in the west of Henan, there are many thieves rioting. I heard that there are many places, and there are many children singing folk songs."

Wang Dou asked, "What ballad?"

Those businessmen said that two of them are particularly famous: "Eat his mother, wear his mother, open the gate to welcome the king of Chuang, and when the king of Chuang comes, he will not pay the food." Live. Open the door early to pay homage to King Chuang, and all the disciplines, young and old, are happy."

Wang Dou thought: "Li Yan and others have surrendered to Li Zicheng."

Every word these businessmen say to me expresses concern about the Henan affairs. Businessmen are actually the most sensitive to the current situation.All kinds of news sources are better than the government.Wang Dou listened to them quietly. He had detailed information on Kaifeng and other places of the intelligence department in his hands, but it would be good to listen to these businessmen.

Everyone said that Li Zicheng had hundreds of thousands of people, but Wang Dou thought it was impossible. When Li Zicheng first entered Henan, he had more than 1000 core confidants, even if Yidougu, Waguanzi, Li Jiyu and others took refuge.Including those hungry people, there may be 10,000+ people, hundreds of thousands are just rumors from passers-by.

The possibility of besieging Luoyang is real. In history, Li Zicheng broke through Luoyang. In fact, he did not break through. The guards opened the gates themselves.Luoyang city is as strong as Kaifeng, including the general army. If the guards are a little more careful, just like Kaifeng city, Li Zicheng can only stare at Luoyang.

The fall of Luoyang may have been instigated by those two folk songs. Political offensives are sometimes more terrifying than military offensives.

Wang Dou then asked those merchants about storing grain in Kaifeng Mansion. Each of them bought more than 5000 stones of grain and grass, and spent a total of tens of thousands of taels of silver.The disaster in Henan was getting worse, and the merchants had already spent a lot of effort to buy these grains and grass, and Wang Dou couldn't ask for more from them.

When these grains are given to Wang Dou, they will pay a little more on the basis of their purchase price, as their hard work, and take the note approved by Wang Dou, and then return to the east road to give money.

Of course they believed that Wang Dou would not give money, and of course there would be many benefits in return.One of them is that after Wang Dou manages outside the Great Wall in the future, these merchants who have helped Wang Dou will be able to enclose large-scale land outside and occupy the pastures.

Then Wang Dou asked them about their business operations in Kaifeng and other places, and they all complained, saying that business is difficult, and that profitable industries are monopolized and controlled by others, and it is very difficult to get involved.

In fact, Kaifeng has a large population, and there should be many business opportunities. For example, there are Henan Chief Secretary, Kaifeng Fuzhi and government offices at all levels in the city. A large number of officials and their families are in the city. There are also a large number of retired officials and gentry residences.

In addition to these, there is also a special product in Kaifeng City, the Fanwang Mansion.

Among the feudal vassals, King Zhou is the most prolific, and his fiefdom is Kaifeng Mansion. Up to now, there are more than 5000 descendants of King Zhou's clan, and 48 of them have been named county kings. There are many palaces in the city. In addition to the palace, there are Qujing Palace, Huating Palace, Yuanwu Palace, Ruijin Palace and so on.

Every prince and county king has special civil and military officials and soldiers.The entire Kaifeng mansion can be said to be centered on the Zhou palace. The officials and soldiers serving them, large and small, and the common people and businessmen who revolve around them constitute various groups of Kaifeng population.

So it's no surprise that most of the businesses in the city serve the Zhou Palace and the officials and nobles. For hundreds of years, the businesses in the city have been monopolized by local officials and businessmen. It is very difficult for outsiders to get in.When these merchants from the East Road come here, of course they don't want to be those who walk around the streets and alleys, or do some small business.

Wang Dou also pondered, because his power had not developed to the Central Plains and other places, so he could not provide shelter for these merchants.Official merchants, official merchants, the most powerful ones in this era are official merchants. They are deeply rooted in various places. They are not high-ranking officials or high-ranking generals. The merchants under their protection cannot set foot in various places.

Moreover, at this time of troubled times, bandits are everywhere, and bandits are everywhere. Unless the army escorts, don't talk about long-distance transportation. Right now, the road conditions in Daming are not good, and the logistics cannot keep up.Most importantly, what can Donglu sell?

Food, ironware, and weapons may be the signatures of the East Road in the future, but Wang Dou will not sell these.

……

After the merchants left, Wang Dou summoned the generals to discuss matters in the big tent of the Chinese army. Those who gathered in the tent were Chi Dacheng, Xie Yike, Wen Fangliang, Gao Shiyin, Li Guangheng, Wen Daxing, Sun Sanjie, Zhao Xuan, Wu Zhengchun, Shen Shiqi, Gao Xun, etc. Gentlemen.There are also some staff documents accompanying the army.

Among them, Wen Fangliang, Gao Shiyin, and Sun Sanjie restrained Wu Zhengchun, Shen Shiqi, and Gao Xun, three second-rank army generals.

There are Zhong Xiancai, Yang Guodong, Zhong Tiaoyang, Lei Xianbin and other calm people sitting in the East Road. There are several first-class troops and second-class troops.Except for Wang Dou, no one can mobilize the Shunxiang army on the East Road. Anyone who dares to have any crooked minds will be mercilessly attacked by the Shunxiang army who stayed behind.

Wang Dou looked at everyone one by one. It was an honor for all the generals to go out with the army this time. You must know that every time they went out, all the generals had their heads broken.Especially Wu Zhengchun, Shen Shiqi, and Gao Xun, all of them looked excited.

However, Wu Zhengchun is a silent person, Gao Xun is a restrained person in the city, and he doesn't show much expression on his face.Only Shen Shiqi's face was quite satisfied, and he sat upright proudly, and glanced at Wu Zhengchun opposite him from time to time.

In fact, after Wu Zhengchun and Chen Suniang got married in the 12th year of Chongzhen, Shen Shiqi was more or less relieved. This guy finally has a wife, should he give up?Although Shen Shiqi was proud of his love back then, he was always worried that his wife would break up with this guy.

Different from the evil spirits on the outside, Shen Shiqi is quite afraid of the inside and never dares to speak harshly to his wife.During these years, Shen Shiqi and Wu Zhengchun had a fierce competitive relationship. At first, Shen Shiqi climbed over Wu Zhengchun's head.After Wu Zhengchun worked hard, he climbed onto his head again.

Finally, the status of the two was equal, and there was another matter that made Shen Shiqi unhappy, that is, after Wu Zhengchun married Chen Suniang, Chen Suniang gave birth to triplets, all of them survived, and they were all sons.This was a surprise on the East Road, even Wang Dou went to see it himself.

Because Chen Suniang likes to eat meat every day, the rumor that a woman who likes to eat meat will give birth to a son is widely spread on Donglu.

In these years, Shen Shiqi only had one son and one daughter, which made him feel inferior to Wu Zhengchun, and felt uncomfortable at all.

"I heard that every time the thieves break through a city, they destroy it all. General, according to the last general's opinion, Li Chuang's thieves have never had great ambitions. The actions of these rogue bandits are not sufficient."

The Staff Department has sorted out information from all over Henan, and Wen Fangliang, the ambassador of the Staff Department, reported to Wang Dou.

Wang Dou smiled slightly: "I heard that the intruder is not a good drinker, and the millet is rough when he removes it. He shares the joys and sorrows with his subordinates. This person is tenacious and keeps attacking again and again, but he should not be underestimated."

In Wang Dou's view, Li Zicheng's nerves were ground into steel bars, and he was beaten several times until he fled desperately, but soon regained his strength and made a comeback.In the past ten years, I don't know how many times I have failed, but I have never been discouraged, like Xiaoqiang who can't be beaten to death.

After many years of war, he can be called an excellent tactician. Of course, his strategic vision is obviously lacking.After 14 years of Chongzhen, his military success should be attributed to the corruption of the Ming court. Willing to contribute to Daming again.

However, Li Zicheng regarded himself as invincible in the world. As a result, a pair of truly elite Manchurian troops immediately showed their original shape, and tens of 10 people were wiped out within a year.

The combat effectiveness of the Chuang army was far less than Li Zicheng imagined. In terms of combat effectiveness, Wang Dou believed that the Qing army was better than the Liaodong army, better than the Shaanxi Qin army, and better than the Chuang army.Li Zicheng overestimated his own strength.Entering Beijing too quickly is a fundamental strategic mistake, exposing its short-sightedness, and perhaps this is the common practice of most rogues.

The peasant uprising army in the late Ming Dynasty was not at the same level as Zhu Yuanzhang and other heroes in the early Ming Dynasty.

Of course, at present, Wang Dou attaches great importance to Li Zicheng and others, because he is responsible for the lives of thousands of soldiers under his command.

"The thieves have broken through Lushan, Jiaxian, Yiyang, Yanshi, and Yongning. They are encircling Luoyang. According to the students, it is imperative for the thieves to attack Luoyang."

Looking at the huge map, Qin Yi pondered for a long time, and spoke slowly while stroking his beard.

Wang Dou's eyes lit up. After the chief of staff finished all the enemy's intelligence, Wang Dou let everyone speak freely. Everyone said what they said, and only Qin Yi's words reached Wang Dou's heart.Wang Dou relies on foresight, but Qin Yi relies on "hard work". In this regard, Wang Dou is not as good as him.

"Why did Mr. Qin say that?"

Wen Fangliang said.

As a scribe of the General Staff Department who also admired paintings, Qin Yi was honored to accompany him. Few of the General Staff Department's art critics had such an honor.

Qin Yi bowed his hands to everyone: "Fu Wang's wealth is well-known all over the world. If Luoyang is captured, the robbers will have countless gold and silver treasures, which can be used to support the army. If they call for millions, they will not be able to start a prairie fire. All kinds of things in this area , the students thought that Luoyang thieves would take it!"

Wen Fangliang said: "The city of Luoyang is tall and thick, but it is not so easy to fight."

Qin Yi said calmly: "The hunger and suffering of the people in western Henan is increasing day by day, but King Fu still spends extravagantly, drunk on money, and refuses to give out food and rice to help the victims. Both the army and the people are very resentful. The thieves know that they have fabricated songs to incite the hearts of the people, and their troops are afraid. Talented people. If people's hearts are different, if the wall is broken, no matter how thick the city is, it will be in vain."

Everyone was silent, thinking deeply about Qin Yi's words, and Qin Yi is a native of Henan and knows Luoyang and other places quite well. What he said is likely to come true.

After a long time, Wang Dou said: "According to Mr. Qin's words, if intruders besiege Luoyang, what should our Shun Township army do?"

(End of this chapter)