Chapter 75 Straight to Xiangyang

Gao Mingheng, the temporary governor of Henan Province of Kaifeng Prefecture, was very sad during this period. At present, most of the counties outside Kaifeng Prefecture have been encroached on by the Xingtian Army. Even if the county has not been conquered by the Xingtian Army, most of the village castles around the county have also defected to the Criminal Heaven Army, and the rest of the counties have become lonely. The zero city can no longer provide any food relief to Kaifeng Mansion. Only 20 or 30 miles outside the city is still under the jurisdiction of Kaifeng Mansion. Because the people in the city can't get enough food supply, many people fled out of the city with their families, and a large number of people left behind fled from all parts of Henan to Kaifeng. Rich people in the house, and grain has become a scarce item. For a while, the price soared to the price of a bucket of grain for a taels of silver, or even higher.

Kaifeng was one of the most populous cities in the north in the Ming Dynasty. The population inside and outside the city reached one million, and there was a lot of prosperity of Bianjing in the Northern Song Dynasty. However, after years of war, the number of people outside the city fell sharply. Now there are less than 300,000 people left, and there are still 20,000 to 30,000 people who have fled from outside the city. The number of people in the city has also fallen sharply to less than 100,000. Nowadays, nearly 10,000 soldiers have been raised. However, these soldiers can only rob the food of the people when they are short of food. Outside the city, there are hidden posts of the Xingtian Army monitoring them, and there is a war camp of the Xingtian Army around Kaifeng Mansion, three The reserve camp is always monitoring the movements of the officers and soldiers in Kaifeng City.

At the beginning, the officers and soldiers of Kaifeng Prefecture dared to go out of the city for 20 or 30 miles or even 40 or 50 miles to grab food. However, recently, after being ambushed several times by the Xing Tianjun, they could only move within a dozen miles around Kaifeng City, and the people around Kaifeng City were afraid of being robbed of food by officers and soldiers, so they almost went further away. The place entered the territory of Xingtian Army to make a living, which made it extremely difficult for these officers and soldiers to grab food at the end of last year.

Xing Tianjun's method of encircling the city with the countryside has greatly limited the ability of the officers and soldiers of Kaifeng Prefecture, and caused a huge grain shortage in Kaifeng Prefecture. At present, Kaifeng Prefecture can only rely on a small amount of food imported into Kaifeng City every day on the canal, so that the price of rice and grain has soared, and the people can never afford it. To this extent, Gao Mingheng originally expected the imperial court to send troops to save Kaifeng and untie the siege of Kaifeng, but the entry of the bursts made Kaifeng Mansion break this idea.

But what he didn't expect was that even during the period when the court invaded the Tarots, it still thought of taking the opportunity to recover the land lost in Henan. After the Spring Festival, it sent several troops to attack Henan, which ignited a trace of hope for Gao Mingheng. During this period, like a strong shot, the rich and powerful officials in the city jumped up and down. The department collected grain and recruited soldiers and horses to go out of the city to recover the lost land and restore the jurisdiction of Henan.

However, it is very different from history that the Xing Tianjun at this time is not as good as Li Zicheng's army in history. The Xingtian Army has a small number of soldiers and horses, strong combat effectiveness, and the military discipline is strict. Although they also looted, their looting targets are mostly concentrated on those big tycoons and dignitaries in various places, and for ordinary people. The people have almost committed no crime in autumn. For this reason, they have repeatedly beheaded many generals who violated military discipline and harmed the people. As early as a year or two ago, Xing Tianjun launched the banner of suppressing the soldiers to settle the people and relieve the people, and sent a large number of detailed works to publicize in Henan and even the surrounding areas, so that in the vast majority of the people Everyone knows that Xing Tianjun is a benevolent and righteous teacher, so most people not only do not want to help the government deal with Xing Tianjun, but also secretly inform Xing Tianjun, and even simply help Xing Tianjun.

So at present, in Kaifeng Mansion, it is not like Li Zicheng's three surrounding Kaifeng Mansion in history. The soldiers and the people insist on resisting to the end, but the people all look forward to the Xing Tianjun coming quickly, so that they are killed by the officials and soldiers in the city, but the king of Zhou in the city than Luo. Yang's Fuwang was obviously much smarter. After learning that the Xing Tianjun was going to commit a large-scale crime, even if he took out 200,000 taels of silver in the house and the food from the king's house and sent it to the officers and soldiers in the city to fight desperately, at this point, he really mobilized the fighting spirit of many officers and soldiers.

With the lead of the king of Zhou, the gentry and magnates in the city are no longer stingy. Gao Mingheng has warned them many times that after the city is broken, they will end up with the destruction of their families. Therefore, these rich people grit their teeth with hatred for Xing Tianjun. At this time, they also know that there is no way out. At the same time, they spread their wealth and help them. The lockdown of the city recruited soldiers, while the children and nephews of the family also caught up with the head of the city to help defend the city.

Even the powerful and rich people from all over Henan who fled to Kaifeng knew that they would not be spared if they broke the city. There was no way out when they arrived here, so they also took their relatives, Zhuang Ding's servants, to the city to defend the city, and scattered all their wealth and planned to fight with Xing Tianjun in Kaifeng.

And the whole counterattack of the Xing Tianjun against the court came very quickly. Just half a month after Xiao Tianjian led his troops back to Henan, Zhao Erlu led nearly 10,000 Xingtian Army to besiege the Runing Mansion for the third time and launched the last strong attack on Runing Mansion.

Although Runing Mansion has recovered after months of rest and recuperation, most of the officers and soldiers in the city are composed of ruffians. If they do bad things, they are all good at it, but there is no need to think about it. They have not experienced any serious training at all, and their equipment is also all. What's more, the Runing Mansion has been attacked by the Xingtian Army in recent years, and the city's guards have been consumed very much. Therefore, there are not only a lot of soldiers and horses in Runing Mansion, but its combat effectiveness is not strong.

Looking at the strength of the Xing Tianjun under Zhao Er Donkey's command, although Xiao Tianjian only gave him two barracks, he was allocated three reserve battalions. In addition, the people who came to help the battle temporarily had more than 10,000 troops. There was also a reserve artillery team sent to him by Xiao Tianjian, which pulled several Hongyi cannons that seized the officers and soldiers in Beijing. Far away, it is on the high hill built outside Runingfu City, and there are more than a dozen Dafu cannons to help the battle, plus the direct artillery of the two barracks, the firepower is very fierce.

Zhao Er donkey arrogantly sat outside the west gate of Ruzhou City and commanded the siege. This time, after Zhao Er donkey visited Runing Mansion, he finally chose the location of the main attack at the west gate of Runing Mansion. The wall here was soaked by the flood for a long time in the early years, although it was repaired after the flood receded. However, there is still no strong wall in other directions.

So on the day of February 23, Zhao Er Lv began a strong attack on Runing Mansion after the final persuasion failed. Several large-caliber Hongyi cannons fired in turn and bombarded heavy shells on a section of the wall of Ruzhou City. The power of the Hongyi cannon was indeed extraordinary, and each cannon landed on the wall. On the top, a big hole can be made to smash a large area of city bricks on the surface of the city wall, revealing the rammed earth covered under the city bricks.

And those big Fran machines were not idle. They were approached outside the city wall and also concentrated their firepower to repeatedly shell this section of the city wall. At present, the attack ability of the Xing Tianjun has even exceeded that of the Ming army, and the firepower equipment is also very high. In addition, they have been controlling it for half a year. More and more sites have been made, a large number of earth saltpetre has been collected, boiled into saltpeter, and a lot of gunpowder has been accumulated. After the beginning of spring, it is also a good time to collect gunpowder, so there is no shortage of gunpowder. Gunpowder workshops have been opened everywhere to continuously provide gunpowder for Xing Tianjun, which makes their firepower very strong.

The small three-pound guns of the artillery of each battalion were responsible for suppressing the artillery and generals of the officers on the city wall, and repeatedly shelling the mouth of the city. The officers tried several times to counterattack with cannons to suppress the artillery fire of the Xing Tianjun, but they were pressed down by the battalion artillery of the Xingtian Army for a short time, so they could only watch the Xing Tianjun. Repeatedly bombarded this section of the city wall and felt the vibration under his feet.

Although the guard general is not a mediocre talent, he knows that sooner or later the city wall will collapse and the Xing Tianjun will attack the city, so he sent a thousand officers and soldiers out of the city to counterattack, hoping to break into the Xingtian Army's artillery array to destroy the cannon of the Xing Tian Army. However, Zhao Erlu is now also an experienced general. How can he let the official The army was successful. When he began to attack the city, he had left a war camp as a reserve team responsible for protecting his cannons. As soon as the officers and soldiers came out of the city, they were hit head-on by this battle camp. Under the volley, they were suddenly beaten like birds and beasts. Many people did not even escape back from the city, so they were captured by the Xingtian Army on the spot, and Many people were killed outside the city.

As a result, the guards in the city no longer dare to go out of the city to fight against the war. They can only lie in the city and wait for the city to break, and have a street battle with the Xing Tianjun.

After two consecutive days of shelling, this wall finally couldn't stand it and collapsed. Then Zhao Er donkey sent troops to pour into Ruzhou City from this gap. The defenders of Ruzhou also made fierce resistance under the command of Fu Ruwei, but after several assaults, the officers and soldiers finally collapsed and passed through. After more than a day of fierce street fighting, Runing Mansion was finally conquered by Zhao Erlu.

Fu Ru, the governor of Runing, died in the chaotic army after the destruction of the city. He was loyal to the Ming Dynasty to the end, and finally ended up with a dead body. Zhu Youcai, the king of Chong in the city, was captured by Zhao Er donkey. After asking Xiao Tianjian for instructions, Xiao Tianjian was angry with the two guys to the end, so he ordered Zhao Er donkey to be The two of them were about to be killed outside the city of Runing Mansion. This battle completely took Runing Mansion into the hands of Xing Tianjun.

In this battle, in addition to killing the two kings in the city, more than 2,000 officers and soldiers were killed and nearly 3,000 officers and soldiers were captured. After screening, Zhao Erli ordered the nearly 1,000 of the 3,000 officers and soldiers captured in the city to be killed immediately in line outside the city, killing a man's head rolling, which also saved a lot of trouble. After these ruffians return to the Xing Tianjun in the future, it is difficult to settle down and there are unstable factors at the same time. At this time, the heavy code of chaos was completely implemented by the Xing Tianjun. Those who should be killed will never be soft. In this way, it also greatly detered the armed of the surrounding squires and other places that are ready to resist, so that they only Those who can bow down are under the rule of Xing Tianjun.

And Zhao Erlu captured Runing Mansion. After the count, he left a small number of reserve troops to garrison. Then he rushed to Nanzhao, and Luo Rucai's division immediately strengthened the strength of Luo Rucai and Li Shuanzhu. After they were together, they immediately began to fight against Zuo Liangyu in Nanyang at the end of February. The Ministry launched a fierce attack.

Although Zuo Liangyu has attracted a lot of soldiers and horses in the past year, he is also a lot of desperado in the local area. Although he also has a lot of combat effectiveness when dealing with ordinary rebels, otherwise he can't fight Nanyang Mansion, but when he met the regular army of the Xing Tianjun and fought in the field, Zuo Liangyu's These soldiers and horses under their command are much more unbearable.

Several times, Zuo Liangyu and Luo Ru fought, and they were all sent by Luo Rucai to fight. At this time, Zuo Liangyu boasted about defeating Henan in two months and deceiving the court. After being serious, it became a joke. Not only did he take advantage of the situation to expand the results after defeating Nanyang Mansion, but he was beaten by Luo Rucai. Li Shuanzhu's Xingtian army was suppressed inside and outside Nanyang Prefecture and was not allowed to enter.

This time, Luo Rucai was furious. Although he also knew that his status in the Xing Tianjun may not be as good as Luo Li, Li Shuanzhu, Liu Bao and other brothers who followed Xiao Tianjian all the way, Xiao Tianjian gave him a deputy commander of the Xing Tianjun. At least, Xing Tianjun also respected him very much. After Xiao Tianjian went north, he nominally handed over Henan to him to be in charge of the house, but Zuo Liangyu brazenly sent troops to fight down Nanyang Mansion, and killed many generals in the Xingtian Army reserve battalion, creating a bloody case of Nanyang Tucheng.

For Luo Rucai, this was undoubtedly like a slap in his face. Luo Rucai was a little angry and angry. Immediately, he and Li Shuanzhu led the soldiers and horses to kill Nanyang Mansion. He wanted to find Luo Rucai desperately. This time, Xiao Tianjian came back, he did not return to Luoyang to meet Xiao Tianjian. He held his breath and wanted to restore Nanyang Mansion. Get the lost face back.

But because of the great disparity in strength, although he and Li Shuanzhu resisted Zuo Liangyu's troops in Nanzhao and continued to attack and plunder the control area of the Xingtian Army, because he had to hold several directions, his troops were insufficient. The war was in a stalemate for more than a month, and he had no strength to recover Nanyangfu.

This time, after Zhao Er donkey conquered Runing Mansion and rushed to meet them, Luo Rucai and Li Shuanzhu had enough troops to launch a counterattack on Nanyang Mansion.

On the fourth day of March, after several battles, Zuo Liangyu's soldiers and horses lost several battles in a row. He was beaten by Xing Tianjun. Seeing that the situation was not right, Zuo Liangyu, an old slick, suddenly gave up Nanyang Mansion, bypassed Dengzhou, which was still controlled by Xing Tianjun, and went straight to Jingxiang.

Zuo Liangyu, a slippery guy, is a guy who meets the wind and rudder. He can get it cheaply and run away if it is not cheap. As a result, in early March, Nanyang was defeated again by the Xing Tianjun. However, after this battle, Nanyang was also completely broken and almost became an empty city. The tragedy of Nanyang's slaughter in history was finally staged here. However, the protagonist of the murder was replaced by Zuo Liangyu.

After Luo Rucai and Li Shuanzhu recovered from Nanyang, they took a little rest and got the order of Xiao Tianjian, so that they immediately began to attack Xiangyang. After Luo Rucai was ordered, he did not dare to neglect. With a breath, he immediately led his troops to fight towards Xiangyang and began Xing Tianjun's use of troops against Huguang.

(There are more than 8,000 words in two chapters today, which is interesting enough! From tomorrow, there will be seven updates every day, and there will be a super outbreak! Three days in a row!)