604 Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng twice

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On January 29, the fifteenth year of Chongzhen, Kaifeng.

"Kill!"

At this time, under Kaifeng City, tens of thousands of soldiers were storming Kaifeng City, shouting and killing.

Yesterday, with the defeat of Ding Qirui, he fled all the way to Kaifeng, and Li Zicheng, who had been chasing and killing him, also led his troops to Kaifeng City.

After resting for two days, after allowing his soldiers to get a full rest, Li Zicheng directly ordered an attack on Kaifeng.

The reason why Li Zicheng waited for two days before launching an attack on Kaifeng was mainly to build siege cloud vehicles, cloud ladders and other siege weapons.

At this time, Li Zicheng's original army of more than 300,000 people lost nearly half of the battle of Zhuxian Town, and the losses here included casualties, scattering and other reasons.

In short, at this time, Li Zicheng's men and horses have been sharply reduced to less than 150,000, of which less than 30,000 are elite soldiers, and the rest are co-conformists.

However, at this time, Li Zicheng's co-consort army is completely incomparable with a week ago.

After experiencing the baptism of the tragic battle of Zhu Xianzhen, these soldiers who came out alive exuded murderous aura and had cold eyes, they were really a group of veterans.

What's more, these surviving soldiers were full of hatred for the Ming army in their hearts one by one at this time.

It was this hatred that supported them to kill all the way to Kaifeng after they got out of Zhuxian Town, otherwise they would have been tired and down.

In addition, Li Zicheng achieved a counterattack in a desperate situation, and after defeating the hundreds of thousands of Ming troops in Zhuxian Town, he asked his soldiers to change their guns at once, and they were all equipped with sharp weapons and armor.

Although the armor of the Ming soldiers is also tattered, it is much stronger than the unarmored army of the displaced people who broke into the army before.

At this time, there were less than 20,000 Ming army defenders in Kaifeng City, led by the chief soldier Chen Yongfu, and after Ding Qirui fled into Kaifeng, he brought more than 5,000 horses.

In the back, the Ming soldiers who fled to Kaifeng one after another, adding up to almost 3,000 people, and the rest of the Ming army either died in battle, or did not know where to flee.

This also means that at this time, there are almost 25,000 Ming defenders in Kaifeng City, including more than 5,000 cavalry such as Qi Wei and Lu Teng, and the rest are foot soldiers.

After all, the reason why Ding Qirui and Yang Wenyue were able to escape the pursuit of the intrusive army and escape back to Kaifeng in the end was also because they still had these two cavalry under them.

Fortunately, Chen Yongfu urgently recruited nearly 50,000 young men in Kaifeng City and let them be responsible for all the logistics chores, which greatly liberated the shortage of defenders in Kaifeng City.

This allows these defenders to fully mount the walls and resist the attacks of the intruders outside the city.

At this time, there were hundreds of thousands of people in Kaifeng City, and it was easy to recruit 50,000 young people.

Of course, Chen Yongfu was counting on these newly recruited people to climb the city wall to fight against the soldiers.

"Kill!"

A sergeant holding a shield and stepping on a ladder climbed to a battlement of the Kaifeng city wall, and was about to jump into the Kaifeng city wall.

Poof!

As a result, a Ming sergeant held a spear and stabbed directly into the chest of the sergeant, screamed, and fell.

In other more directions, one by one, the archers of the Ming army, the firecrackers, were shooting arrows and firing wildly at the city.

A Ming soldier held a stone and smashed it down the sergeants who climbed up the ladder.

broke the bones and tendons of the soldiers on the ladder, and even smashed the head directly, and then fell down.

The most vicious trick of the defenders of the city was the gold juice they had made, the boiling water that had been boiled, and it was full of dung juice.

was poured on the head by the Ming sergeant on the ladder.

The boiling hot water poured on the body of the sergeant soldiers, making them let out a miserable scream, and the skin that was poured by the hot water would be burned directly.

And because of the fecal juice in these boiling waters, it carries a large number of germs.

Let these soldiers who are poured with gold juice not only temporarily lose their combat power, but even after they are saved, their wounds will be infected.

In this era of backward medical technology, once a wound is infected by germs, it is basically difficult to survive.

Bang bang bang!

A loud bang sounded on the Kaifeng city wall, which was also equipped with dozens of artillery, which also gave the intruding army huge damage.

Of course, there is also firepower output on the side of the intruding army.

For example, more than a dozen cloud chariots they made, carrying many archers on them, raised them high, attacked the Ming army on the Kaifeng city wall, and eliminated their height disadvantage with the help of cloud chariots.

At the same time, tens of thousands of archers under the city will shoot every wave of arrows that rain out, causing a lot of casualties to the Ming soldiers on the city wall.

Li Zicheng's army of more than 100,000 was divided into several waves, attacking from the eastern, western and southern walls of Kaifeng City, of which the South City Gate was the direction of their main attack.

Wave after wave of soldiers attacked Kaifeng City, but they were all beaten down by the Ming army, but the soldiers and soldiers behind them still rushed forward one by one without fear of death.

Their eyes were red, their eyes were full of hatred, and they wanted to bite the Ming army on the city wall to death at this time and devour their flesh and blood.

In the previous battle of Zhuxian Town, almost all of these homeless people had relatives killed in the battle, which is why they hated the Ming army so much at this time.

It is precisely because of the power of hatred that they are so fearless of death and desperately attack, because death is no longer terrible for them at this time.

Many of these homeless armies coerced by Li Zicheng were dragged by their families, of course, mainly young and strong men, and there were also many women, and they were all warriors.

"Report, General Liu at the South City Gate is in a hurry, the offensive of the thief army on their side is too fierce, and there are more than 3,000 people under General Liu, and more than half of them have been killed or wounded at this time."

At this time, a Ming sergeant broke into the Kaifeng Mansion in a panic and reported to the chief soldier Chen Yongfu.

At this moment, in the Kaifeng City Mansion, not only gathered Chen Yongfu, the chief soldier of Henan, Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan, Ding Qirui, the governor of Baoding, Yang Wenyue, Qi Wei and many other generals of the Ming army.

And Chen Yongfu couldn't have sent all of the 20,000 men and horses in his hands to defend the city on the first day of the invasion army.

He only sent out more than 14,000 people, taking turns to defend the city, leaving more than 6,000 foot soldiers as reserves, as well as Qi Wei and Lu Teng's more than 5,000 cavalry, and he didn't move.

After all, Qi Wei and Lu Teng's more than 5,000 cavalry, if they were sent to defend the city, would be too wasteful, maybe keeping them would play an unexpected role at a critical moment.

The Ming army stationed at the south gate was led by three Ming generals, with a number of 7,000 people, and was the largest defender among the three city walls attacked by the breaking army.

But Chen Yongfu often didn't expect that it was only in the afternoon, and there was a Ming general on the southern city wall who sent someone to ask for help.

"What the hell is Liu Yuanzhen eating, there are 3,000 people under him!

It's been less than a day, and no one else has asked for help, but he is the first to ask for help with the most troops, asking him if he can do it, and if he can't do it, he will give it to the official, and the official will send others up. ”

After Chen Yongfu listened to the words of the soldier who asked for help at this time, his face was gloomy, he was in a very bad mood, and he roared loudly.

"Yes."

The herald saw that Chen Yongfu was angry, answered the call, and prepared to go back.

The boss doesn't give reinforcements, and he can't do anything about this little soldier, he's just a mouthpiece.

"Wait!"

The Ming soldier was about to leave, but was stopped by Gao Mingheng, who was sitting on the side.

Immediately, Gao Mingheng stood up, walked up to Chen Yongfu, patted him on the shoulder, and said with a smile: "My Lord Chen, you should dissipate your anger first."

This can't be blamed on Liu Yuanzhen, he has a lot of men and horses, but don't forget, the middle city wall of the South City Gate he guards, which is the key place for the thieves to attack.

If it weren't for the point where he couldn't hold on, with Liu Yuanzhen's temperament, he wouldn't have opened this mouth.

Since he has sent someone to ask for help now, explaining the situation at the South City Gate, I am afraid that it is really not optimistic, you have to give this reinforcement! ”

After listening to Gao Mingheng's persuasion, Chen Yongfu's anger gradually subsided and he regained his senses.

Chen Yongfu knew that what Gao Mingheng said was right, Liu Yuanzhen was still a fierce general under him, and he fought bravely, so he naturally knew Liu Yuanzhen's temperament, and he would not be soft easily.

"Hmph, come on, let Chen De lead two thousand people to support Liu Yuanzhen, the south city gate must be guarded." Immediately, Chen Yongfu gave an order.

At this time, Ding Qirui, Yang Wenyue, Qi Wei and others, who were sitting on the side, watched Chen Yongfu give orders and did not speak.

Even Ding Qirui was even bigger than Chen Yongfu in terms of official position, but when he fled into Kaifeng, he took the initiative to hand over the few people under his command to Chen Yongfu to manage.

Ding Qirui promised that he would not dictate Chen Yongfu for commanding the Ming army and guarding Kaifeng.

Because, Ding Qirui is a smart person, and at this time he knows that if he wants to hold Kaifeng City, he can only count on Chen Yongfu.

Chen Yongfu has enough prestige among the defenders in Kaifeng City, and even if he is greater than Chen Yongfu in official position, he does not dare to rashly take over Chen Yongfu's position at this time.

Because Ding Qirui also commanded the defenders in Kaifeng City, in this regard, I have to say that Ding Qirui did it quite right.

"Lord Chen, it seems that the attack of the thieves is very fierce, and the number of defenders in Kaifeng City is still too small.

The walls of Kaifeng City are too wide, and the pressure on defense is very high, and we need more soldiers. ”

Soon, Yang Wenyue took the initiative to speak and proposed to Chen Yongfu, Ding Qirui on the side didn't speak, in fact, that was what he meant.

Chen Yongfu glanced at Yang Wenyue, and then at Ding Qirui, Chen Yongfu was actually very dissatisfied with Ding Qirui in his heart.

You said that you led an army of more than 100,000 people, and you were defeated so badly, which directly led to the fact that it was now their turn to open the city and become precarious.

I sacrificed 3,000 defenders for you in vain.

Since you didn't have the ability to defeat the thieves at the beginning, you said that you would just bring half of the hundreds of thousands of Ming troops to Kaifeng.

As long as he is given another 50,000 trained Ming soldiers, Chen Yongfu will be sure to hold Kaifeng.

It's just that Chen Yongfu's dissatisfaction with Ding Qirui can only be kept in his heart, and it is impossible to say it.

Fortunately, since Ding Qirui entered Kaifeng City, he no longer manages anything, and the matters of guarding Kaifeng are all in accordance with Chen Yongfu's original plan.

Anyway, Ding Qirui's point satisfied Chen Yongfu to some extent.

"This officer also knows that we are short of soldiers now, but there are so many defenders in the city, and there are many young and strong, but it is difficult to train them in a short period of time!

It's too late! After those young people are trained, it is estimated that the thieves have already entered Kaifeng City.

But if we don't train those young and strong, and let them go directly to the city wall to face the fierce thieves, it is estimated that they will be directly scared to pee, and it will only cause us trouble. ”

Chen Yongfu shook his head helplessly, how could he not know that there was a lack of troops, but it was difficult for a good woman to cook without rice, and he couldn't change his troops!

However, at this time, Chen Yongfu looked at Yang Wenyue and said, "But this official remembers that General Yang still has a cavalry of 5,000 people in his hands, which is not a weak force. ”

Originally, Chen Yongfu planned to keep Yang Wenyue's cavalry, but now that the situation was grim, Chen Yongfu started the idea of this cavalry in Yang Wenyue's hands.

What Chen Yongfu said about the 5,000 cavalry under Yang Wenyue actually included nearly 3,000 cavalry under Lu Teng, as well as more than 2,400 cavalry of the Feiyu Battalion at this time.

After Yang Wenyue listened to Chen Yongfu's words, he immediately understood what Chen Yongfu meant, his face sank, but he still said: "When it is absolutely necessary, I will send cavalry to the city wall to defend the city." ”

"Thank you General Yang for understanding the righteousness, I won't let the cavalry go up the city wall unless I have to."

After getting Yang Wenyue's assurance, Chen Yongfu also had a smile on his face and made a promise.

The first day of the siege passed quickly, although the offensive of the army was very fierce, but the Kaifeng defenders were also very desperate, and the two sides fought very fiercely on this day.

But when it got dark, the army still failed to take the south gate of Kaifeng, and the city gate did not crash open.

Therefore, Li Zicheng could only order Mingjin to withdraw his troops.

As the golden gong sounded, the attacking soldiers slowly retreated like a tide, leaving only corpses all over the ground.

"General, we just fought a battle in Zhuxian Town, and the casualties are not small, and the soldiers are also very tired, just two days of rest and recuperation are not enough.

At this time, we attacked Kaifeng, and our subordinates thought it was not an excellent choice. It's better to retire first, rest for half a month, and it's never too late to come back! ”

After the Chuang army retreated, Niu Jinxing said to Li Zicheng again that night, thinking that the Chuang army at this time was not suitable for storming Kaifeng.

"The military advisor is wrong!

At this time, the morale of our army was like a rainbow, the armor was excellent, especially the soldiers under him were full of hatred for the Ming army, and this was an excellent opportunity for us to capture Kaifeng.

It's true that we don't have enough rest, but that's not a problem, the number of Ming troops in Kaifeng City is not much at all.

According to the intensity of our attack today, I believe that in less than a week, we will be able to take Kaifeng down. ”

At this time, Li Zicheng was determined to win Kaifeng, and he didn't agree with Niu Jinxing's statement at all, so he didn't listen to Niu Jinxing this time, and decided to act arbitrarily for a while.

"Well, I hope so!"

In the end, Niu Jinxing saw that he couldn't persuade Li Zicheng this time, so he could only choose to accept it.

But Niu Jinxing also had to admit that what Li Zicheng said was also reasonable, and he only let Li Zicheng temporarily withdraw from the army out of prudence.

(End of chapter)