However, most of the properties in Luoyang City are under the name of King Fu, and cannot be moved, nor can they collect taxes. Almost all of the property outside the city belongs to King Fu's Wangzhuang, and there is no money to collect it. This situation
It's worse than Sichuan. Even if you want to collect taxes, you have nowhere to start.
There was no other way but to ask the richest man in the world, Prince Fu. His old man had leaked his fingers. No matter how stingy he was, he had to spend money to keep his palace safe! So the officials in the city went to Prince Fu's mansion.
But King Fu just didn't want to spend a penny to pay the soldiers guarding the city. King Fu's reason was also very good: it was a matter of the court, not of Gu's family, so why should Gu's money be used to support the imperial army?
Woolen cloth?
This reason is indeed very sufficient. King Fu is really a model of "separating public and private interests"!
It wasn't until Li Zicheng's army besieged the city and there were several dangers that King Fu Zhu Changxun reluctantly took out tens of thousands of taels of silver as payment. But the funny thing was yet to come. When the money was taken out, the eunuch in charge of the palace withheld it as usual.
One, the Luoyang magistrate and others deducted one as usual, and the commander-in-chief Wang Shaoyu deducted another as usual, but there was not much left in the hands of the soldiers. It was really self-destruction!
If you don't treat the soldiers as human beings, will the soldiers guarding Luoyang City let King Fu and the officials in the city behave like human beings again?
On the evening of the 20th, the peasant army besieging the city made loud noises and riots in the northwest corner of Luoyang City. The officers and soldiers guarding the city wall, amidst the noise of the peasant troops below, killed the officers and civil servants supervising the battle on the top of the city.
The commander-in-chief Wang Shaoyu was very clever, and with the explosion of the small universe, he understood Qinggong and jumped over the city wall to escape. The officers and soldiers opened the west gate of Luoyang City, and the peasant army swarmed in. After King Fu and his son Zhu Yousong heard that the city had been destroyed, they were devastated and helpless.
There was nowhere to go, but in the end he had no choice but to take shelter in Ying'en Temple adjacent to Prince Fu's Mansion. Prince Fu Zhu Changxun was found by the intruders that day. The eldest son Zhu Yousong looked for an opportunity to escape.
The next scene is familiar. Although King Fu kowtowed repeatedly and begged for his life, how could Li Zicheng let him go? Li Zicheng said to King Fu, "As a prince, you are richest in the world, and you are in such a famine. But you refuse to distribute a cent."
If you use your property to help the people, you are a slave."
Then Li Zicheng ordered that King Fu be beaten with forty boards first, and then his head was displayed to the public. He also cut off the fat from the obese King Fu and cooked it with venison in a large pot, and drank wine together, known as "Fu Lu wine".
Lu Weiqi, the former Minister of War of Nanjing, was also killed after the city fell.
After Li Zicheng captured Luoyang and occupied Prince Fu's Mansion, he distributed a large amount of food, materials and money from the Prince's Mansion to the hungry people nearby for disaster relief. People from all over the country rushed to Luoyang after hearing the news, and the official roads were like running water, day and night.
.And ten days later, Li Zicheng's peasant army suddenly swelled to more than 700,000.
Yes, you read that right! In December of the 13th year of Chongzhen, when Li Zicheng entered Henan, the number of more than a thousand troops expanded to more than 700,000 in just two months.
On the second day of February, Li Zicheng decided to take advantage of the situation when Governor Li Xianfeng and Commander-in-Chief Chen Yongfu led the army to rescue Luoyang City, while Kaifeng City's defenses were empty. He led his troops to advance rapidly, preparing to take advantage of this opportunity to capture Kaifeng City.
On the sixth day of February, 5,000 cavalry and 60,000 soldiers of the Chu Army arrived at Kaifeng City and began to besiege it. Compared with the decay of Luoyang City Defense, Kaifeng City is the capital of a province after all, and it is one of the largest cities in the world.
They were quite effective. In addition, the King of Zhou in the city generously rewarded them, so under the leadership of the patrol and the prefect, all the strong men in the city mobilized and clung to the city wall until the ninth day of February.
Kaifeng City was not captured either.
By this time, Governor Li Xianfeng and Henan Commander-in-Chief Chen Yongfu had already led their troops back. Although the Ming army only numbered more than nine thousand, Chen Yongfu had been fighting the peasant army all year round, and the army's food and salary supply was guaranteed, so this army could be said to be
The strongest official army in Henan (not to mention Wu Shigong's Runing Army). Therefore, they were not afraid at all when facing the elite troops brought by Li Zicheng.
Although the commander-in-chief Chen Yongfu would never dare to lead his troops into a field battle with Chuangying, they entered the city at Xiguan of Kaifeng City and after re-deployment, they had completely stabilized the defense of Kaifeng City. The Chuangying dug trenches and built fortifications outside Kaifeng City.
, preparing for a long-term siege of Kaifeng City, the aftermath of the death of King Fu of Luoyang did not dissipate, and the news of the Chu army's siege of Kaifeng once again shocked the world.
At this time, the King of Zhou and the officials in Kaifeng City could no longer ignore the Runing Army. They sent three batches of messengers to the Runing Army to cry out for help. In the end, they promised that as long as the Runing Army sent troops, they would give them first.
The departure fee was 20,000 taels, and if the siege of Kaifeng City was solved, another 100,000 taels would be given. And these silvers were basically provided by the Zhou Palace. The murder of King Fu really frightened the King of Zhou.
After discussions, officials such as Deng Qifan and Xue Yongli who stayed in Runing also felt that the threat of Li Zicheng should be eliminated. After all, Li Zicheng's camp was too close to Runing and Guide, so if Kaifeng City was to be preserved, Li Zicheng's camp must not be allowed to attack.
The power further expanded.
So Xue Yongli gradually gathered the main force of the Runing Army, 34,000 people, and mobilized them towards the north of Runing. But before sending troops, another news that shocked the world came.
After Zhang Xianzhong led his troops into Huguang, he first captured Xingshan County in the first month. When he heard that Xiangyang City was empty of defenses, he led his light cavalry to gallop 300 miles to the vicinity of Xiangyang. After that, Zhang Xianzhong first sent people pretending to be officers and soldiers to sneak into the city, and finally
On the night of February 4th, he raised a fire as a signal, cooperated with the inside and outside, and took advantage of the chaos in the Xiangyang defenders to successfully raid and occupy the base camp for the encirclement and suppression of the peasant army.
There was also a clan prince living in Xiangyang City - King Xiang Zhu Yiming, who was the ancestor of Emperor Chongzhen according to his generation. He was also captured alive by the peasant army.
Zhang Xianzhong treated this prince slightly differently from Li Zicheng's treatment of Prince Fu. He took Prince Xiang to Prince Xiang's palace, poured him a glass of wine, and said to him: "I want to chop off Yang Sichang's head, but Yang Sichang is far away in Sichuan, so today I have no choice but to chop off Yang Sichang's head."
I borrowed the prince's head to make Yang Sichang punish him for losing the vassal title. The prince still tried his best to drink the glass of wine." Of course, King Xiang was still beheaded, and Zhu Changfa, King of Guiyang and others from the Xiangfan clan were also killed.
Then, Zhang Xianzhong also opened a warehouse to release grain in Xiangyang to help the hungry people. The amount of relief silver distributed amounted to 500,000 taels, which far exceeded any large-scale disaster relief activities in the Chongzhen Dynasty. This move by Zhang Xianzhong also won the hearts of the people in Huguang.
With sincere support, his troops suddenly expanded to more than 500,000.
Because the main force of the Ming army in Huguang either followed Yang Sichang into Sichuan to suppress the bandits, or followed Zuo Liangyu to hide and seek in Shaanxi, avoiding Yang Sichang's command, Huguang's defense was completely empty.
Therefore, the officials in Wuchang and its surrounding areas were greatly frightened. They came to Runing non-stop and begged with tears and blood, asking the Runing army to send troops to relieve their crisis. To this end, the officials and gentry in Wuchang and other places promised to provide funds.
Eighty thousand taels.
The emergence of two major peasant army groups, one in the south and one in the north, made the Runing army a little overwhelmed. They had to weigh which direction of the peasant army should be dealt with first.
But at this time, inspired by the glorious achievements of the two peasant armies Li Zicheng and Zhang Xianzhong, the Fifth Gezuo Battalion hiding in the Dabie Mountains immediately started to make a big splash. They began to move eastward, while southern Zhili and other places were affected by severe drought.
Many refugees also came to seek refuge, and the number soon swelled to more than 300,000.
Although this peasant army was the smallest in number, it could threaten Fengyang and Nanjing. In addition, they were followed and supported by Zhang Xianzhong, so they immediately caused panic in the city of Nanjing.
So Lu Jiude, the garrison eunuch of Nanjing, once again led the army and led two officers and soldiers, Huang Degong and Liu Liangzuo, with a total of more than 40,000 people, to stop the Eastern invaders from the fifth battalion of Ge Zuo. However, he was deeply afraid of insufficient troops and could not mobilize the troops stationed in the camp.
Fengyang's heavy troops also set their sights on the Runing army.
Nanjing City and Yangzhou City were indeed wealthy. In order to persuade the Runing Army to encircle the 5th Gezuo Battalion and cut off the connection between the 5th Gezuo Battalion and Zhang Xianzhong's troops, they also sent messengers to Runing, promising to pay as long as the Runing Army sent troops.
The reward will be 150,000 taels.
In a matter of seconds, the Runing Army suddenly became a favorite in the surrounding areas, and officials from various places rushed to ask the Runing Army to be the savior.
But Deng Qifan, Xue Yongli and others were also confused by the sudden situation. Just half a year ago, the famous peasant army Zhang Xianzhong and Luo Rucai were still in Sichuan. At that time, Zhang Xianzhong only had a few thousand troops, and Luo Rucai could only have more than 10,000; Ge Zuo
The fifth battalion was hiding in the Dabie Mountains. The total number of men and horses in the five battalions was less than 10,000; Li Zicheng even thought he was dead.
But in a blink of an eye, Li Zicheng had more than 700,000, and he was in Kaifeng City, north of Runing; Zhang Xianzhong had more than 500,000, and he was in Xiangyang City, southwest of Runing; Ge Zuo's Fifth Battalion had more than 300,000
, just southeast of Runing, and with Luo Rucai, his troops also expanded to more than 40,000. Luo Rucai had a disagreement with Zhang Xianzhong this time. He broke up with Zhang Xianzhong again and was on his way to join Li Zicheng.
You must know that Luo Rucai's military strength has always been maintained between 10,000 and 40,000 or 50,000. He has always won by quality, so his real strength is no worse than the other three-way peasant armies.
How could this happen? Although the Runing Army formulated a policy of cultivating the bandits to respect themselves, they did not intend to turn these bandits into giant bandits? Moreover, these giant bandits are now surrounding Runing and Guide, giving the Runing Army
With a huge threat.
At this time, the Runing Army must make a decision. It is impossible for them to divide their forces into three groups and fight on three sides, so they must decide on a target to attack first.
But before Deng Qifan, Xue Yongli and the others could discuss it, another piece of news that shocked the world reached Runing, and this news completely paralyzed the Ming army's command system in encircling and suppressing the peasant army in the five provinces. And that news was