"No more words! There is an imperial mausoleum here. If we lose it, we will all lose our heads. I, Lao Zhu, have not treated my brothers badly since I came here. As long as we repel the rebel army this time, we will lose the money we need."
If everything is replenished, all the brothers will be rewarded with five taels of silver!" shouted Zhu Guoxiang, who was left behind in Fengyang.
Zhu Guoxiang's promise provoked loud applause from his own soldiers, but other soldiers looked on with cold eyes. Although the court reissued a batch of military pay after the last mutiny, the bulk of the money was divided among officials like Zhu Guoxiang, and those soldiers only
They got some living money that stuck between their teeth, so they didn't believe what Zhu Guoxiang said at all.
Because there was no city to defend in Fengyang, after seeing the peasant rebel army, on the 19th day of the first lunar month, Fengyang was left behind by Zhu Guoxiang, who led Yuan Ruizheng, Lu Chengyin and other 5,500 people to go out of the city to attack.
When the battle began, when a thousand peasant rebels approached and tried to attack, groups of Ming troops began to turn around and flee. Then the entire Ming army began to collapse, and seeing the situation, the main force of the peasant rebels also pressed forward.
In the subsequent battle, Fengyang's left-behind Zhu Guoxiang was killed, four thousand Ming troops were killed and fled, and the remaining Ming troops knelt on the ground and raised their hands to surrender. Fengyang no longer had the strength to leave the city to fight.
In the early morning of the 20th, heavy fog filled the air, making it impossible to see anything. The peasant rebel army deployed an attack strategy under the city. The internal agents who had previously sneaked into the city also cooperated vigorously. At night, the peasant rebel army launched a fierce attack.
At this time, the defenders also discovered the activities of peasant rebels under the Drum Tower and hurriedly reported it to the superior, but the superior thought it was demagoguery and scolded the person who reported it.
But just before the words were spoken, the defenders got into chaos. They didn't even know what was going on. They saw the soldiers kneeling down one after another and begging for mercy. The funny thing is that they didn't know where they were surrendering or asking for mercy.
You know, the main force of the peasant rebel army has not yet entered the city at this time.
In this way, Fengyang lost its last chance to resist. It didn't take long before the peasant rebels outside the city poured into the city. Fengyang, known as the central capital, fell into the hands of the peasant army. There were more than 3,000 defenders left in the city.
The Ming army had no time to fight back and was all wiped out.
Only the tomb supervisor Yang Ze and several other officials escaped from the city, and only a very small number of the gentry in the city fled toward the east and south of the city.
After Zhang Xianzhong entered Fengyang, he dug up Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral tomb out of resentment towards the Ming Dynasty. He set fire to the hall where Zhu Yuanzhang's ancestral tomb was located and the Longxing Temple where Zhu Yuanzhang had become a monk. A total of nearly 600 governor's offices, government offices, and drum towers were burned down.
, there are 67 Longxing Temples and more than 20,000 private houses.
Afterwards, they killed forty-one officials including Cheng Yongning, who usually acted arrogantly and resisted the peasant rebel army, as well as sixty-six people and more than sixty eunuchs.
Moreover, the peasant rebel army also opened the prison and released the prisoners, and the "criminal clan prisoners" imprisoned in the high wall were also released. The prefect Yan Rongxuan hid in the prison, changed into prison clothes, and pretended to be a prisoner.
He tried to get away with it. He was eventually found out by the peasant rebels and was beheaded after twenty strokes of a stick. He died an ugly death!
Then the peasant rebels began to plunder the entire city. Because the people in Fengyang were extremely poor, the concentration of wealth was quite astonishing. A total of millions of gold and silver, and more than 600,000 shi of grain were plundered. A large number of clan members, officials and gentry were looted.
The female family members of the family were so humiliated that Zhang Xianzhong and the others also had a good time.
In addition, although the Ming army in Fengyang was vulnerable, its weapons and equipment were quite sophisticated. Most of those weapons and equipment were stored in warehouses, waiting for officials to steal them, and basically they were not issued to soldiers to defend the city.
.
But now all this has come to the advantage of the peasant rebels. They have seized a total of more than 6,000 mules and horses, more than 4,000 livestock, more than 600 armors, more than 10,000 leather armors, cotton armors, etc. It is difficult to carry the artillery that defends the city.
, but more than 20 artillery pieces such as the Tiger Crouching Cannon were seized, and more than 800 eagle guns, three-eyed fire guns, bird guns and other fire guns were seized. In addition, countless weapons, gunpowder, etc. were seized. The entire equipment of the peasant rebel army was immediately
Improved several levels.
The peasant rebels also opened warehouses to release grain, attracting nearby poor people to take refuge. Coupled with the subsequent arrival of large groups of troops, the number of peasant rebels gathered in Fengyang soon exceeded 150,000.
Zhang Xianzhong also sat on the "Dragon Chair" and raised the banner of "Ancient Yuan True Dragon Emperor". For the first time, he revealed his ambition to overthrow the Ming Dynasty and change the dynasty. This also made Zhang Xianzhong become the only king of Chuang Gao Yingxiang.
The second giant owl.
On the 16th day of the first lunar month, Zhu Dadian and Zuo Liangyu, who had received the news from the Runing Army, immediately abandoned the remnant troops of Shetaotian in Xuzhou and headed towards Fengyang at full speed, regardless of the local authorities in Xuzhou.
After entering Guide, Zuo Liangyu's troops were uncharacteristically uncharacteristic. The entire army strictly abided by military discipline and did not harass Guide Prefecture at all. When his troops passed Guide Prefecture, Zuo Liangyu went to the city to kowtow to Mr. Hou.
Please greet me.
Yang Yipeng, the governor of Fengyang, was in a hurry. He sent messengers everywhere to mobilize troops to ask for help, even the cavalry soldiers in Linqing, as far away as the Grand Canal, were not spared. He only wanted to save Fengyang.
But then came the bad news that Fengyang was lost. So the disheartened Yang Yipeng stayed in his own governor's office in Huai'an and waited for his final fate to come.
After receiving the urgent report from Fengyang, the Nanjing garrison eunuch and the Nanjing Six Ministries dispatched a large army on the 19th, even at the expense of horses, and gathered 14,000 troops to rush to Fengyang.
As for Wu Shigong's Runing Army, after resting for two days, they joined the 2,000 auxiliary corps who arrived later. The entire army of 10,000 moved southward on the 16th of the first lunar month.
The Runing Army did not go straight to Fengyang. They followed the path of the peasant rebel army. After making a slight curve, the Runing Army marched for more than 200 miles throughout the day on the 20th of the first lunar month.
Suddenly appeared in Yingzhou at night.
At this time, there were only some stragglers from the peasant rebel army and local gangsters looting in Yingzhou City. Seeing the sudden appearance of the Runing Army, they dispersed in a rush. The Runing Army was unable to fight.
Recover Yingzhou City in a bloody battle.
As long as Yingzhou City is defended, the road for the peasant rebel army to return to Runing Mansion will be blocked. It is only at this time that the Runing Army is completely relieved about the safety of Runing Mansion.
In the original history, Zhang Xianzhong's troops captured Fengyang on the 15th day of the first lunar month, but now the Runing Army's continuous firefighting delayed their time for five days. However, the result of Fengyang's fall has not changed. The only change
The purpose is to allow those Fengyang officials to celebrate the last Yuanxiao Festival in their lives. This really makes people sigh: "The inertia of history is really powerful!" (To be continued...)