While the hungry soldiers were fighting fiercely with the defenders on the city wall, a loud noise suddenly came from the north of the city wall.
The city wall seemed to have been hit by a major earthquake. It shook violently several times, causing the crowds fighting on top of the city to shudder. The defenders in the back row looked to the north in panic, not knowing what was going on.
The hungry soldiers who were still climbing the ladder suddenly cheered and cheered.
Chen Yongfu's heart suddenly skipped a beat, and he ran up to an arrow tower nearby, stretched his neck and looked to the north.
It's okay not to look at it. When he saw the situation of the northern city wall, Chen Yongfu suddenly felt as if he had been struck by lightning, and his face turned pale.
In the middle section of the northern city wall, countless gunpowder was planted by the intruders at some point. The loud noise was the explosion of gunpowder. At this time, a section of the city wall that was more than 100 feet long was blown down, and Kaifeng City was destroyed.
This section in the north lost the protection of the city wall and was exposed nakedly in front of the rebels.
The hungry soldiers outside the city wall shouted in unison, their voices shaking the sky, as if they had seen the fall of Kaifeng.
At this time, Gao Mingheng, the governor of Henan, also understood what had happened to the north city wall. He seemed to have been poured from head to toe with a basin of ice water, and he stood blankly on the tower, unable to move forward or retreat.
Chen Yongfu roared fiercely: "Deploy 2,000 regular soldiers to guard the collapsed city wall, and another 20,000 civilians to repair the city wall!"
However, Chen Yongfu's order was already too late. Outside the collapsed city wall, 10,000 intruders, horse troops and knights rushed up. The elite of these intruders had long been ambushing near the north city wall, waiting for this moment. At this time, they were one by one
He jumped off his horse and rushed toward the collapsed city wall on foot.
These elites wore cotton armor, shuang armor or dark armor, wore helmets, and held sophisticated swords in their hands. They were completely different from hungry soldiers.
It was not until these elite intruders attacked the collapsed city wall that Chen Yongfu's two thousand regular soldiers who had supported them arrived. Two thousand regular soldiers and ten thousand elite intruders fought on the city wall.
But the winner was decided almost immediately.
Most of the elite cavalry, knights and other elites who rushed up the city wall were old thieves who had followed Li Zicheng for many years, or were officers and soldiers, or even servants of the officers and soldiers who defected to Li Zicheng. Their combat effectiveness was extremely tough. Compared with the regular soldiers under Chen Yongfu, these
The personal combat power of the elite troops was not inferior at all, and was even better.
Not to mention 2,000 people, even 5,000 people may not be able to stop these 10,000 elites.
However, Chen Yongfu could only mobilize 2,000 men. He, the commander-in-chief of Henan Province, was not as good as the commander-in-chief of the border army. He only had 5,000 regular soldiers under his command. Even including the local garrison, there were only 8,000 regular soldiers in Kaifeng City.
People. The city wall of Kaifeng is more than 20 miles long. Under the charge of hundreds of thousands of hungry soldiers, every corner must be defended. There is simply no way to spare more troops from other places.
What's worse is that Chen Yongfu's regular soldiers were exhausted under the charge of hundreds of thousands of hungry soldiers. It is not an exaggeration to describe the two thousand regular soldiers deployed at this time as exhausted.
Only then did Chen Yongfu understand that Li Zicheng's aggressive attack on the city of Kaifeng with hundreds of thousands of hungry soldiers was simply a feint to attack the exhausted troops. After the hungry soldiers attracted the attention of the officers and soldiers, Li Zicheng's real killer move was to bury the enemy in the northern city wall.
The gunpowder below is made up of these ten thousand elites.
As the saying goes, soldiers never tire of deception. Li Zicheng has been in the army for more than ten years and has mastered deception on the battlefield.
Chen Yongfu gritted his teeth and stared at the collapsed city wall of more than 100 feet, hoping that a miracle would happen. If the regular soldiers could disperse the intruders and the people could carry the earth to rebuild the city wall, then there would be hope for the defense of Kaifeng City.
However, the miracle did not happen. Kaifeng City, which had been strong for several years under the impact of Li Zicheng, finally could no longer hold on.
Ten thousand elite soldiers of the insurgent army faced off against two thousand regular soldiers, and the winner was determined in just a quarter of an hour. The two thousand regular soldiers were killed by several hundred by the intruders, and were defeated and fled south.
Once the regular soldiers on this section of the city wall collapsed, the entire city of Kaifeng was no longer safe to defend. The entire city defense fell in pieces like dominoes. The defenders on section after section of the city wall collapsed, surrendered or fled. The people in the city
How could Zhuang still have the courage to resist? One by one, they knelt on the city wall, kowtowed and begged for their lives.
Chen Yongfu stood firm on the west city wall, but failed to escape in the end, and was captured by the intruders together with Gao Mingheng.
The eyes of the hungry soldiers who swarmed up the city shone brightly. Although the invaders suffered some casualties in this battle, with their efforts, they actually captured Kaifeng and captured the largest city in the Central Plains. Kaifeng Attack
Now, is there any need to talk about the future of the Chuang army? The last doubts about King Chuang were abandoned by the hungry soldiers. The bandits excitedly raised their spears and swords and shouted on the city wall:
"Chuang King!"
"Chuang King!"
"Eat his mother! Eat his mother! If you don't eat enough, you will be the King of Chuang! You are not on duty! You are not paying for food!"
The hungry soldiers shouted for a while, and suddenly someone in the crowd shouted: "Kill the King of Zhou!"
"Kill those blood-sucking insects from the Zhu family!"
"Kill the gentleman!"
The intruders on the city wall reacted, shouted and rushed towards the palaces of the princes and gentry mansions in the city.
The city of Kaifeng not only houses the palace of the King of Zhou, but also has nearly a hundred princes and prefectures who have been passed down by the King of Zhou for generations. In the city, there are more than 3,000 descendants of the clan, including the generals who govern the country, the auxiliary country, and the generals who serve the country, and receive royal salaries. Each of these people is
He was so rich that he built high-walled compounds, palaces and gardens in the best areas of Kaifeng City. At this time, he became the best target for the intruders to kill and plunder.
The mansions of the gentry in the provincial capital of Kaifeng could not escape the massacre by the intruders. These gentry usually exploited the civilians too harshly. At this time, the hatred of the hungry soldiers of the intruders was unleashed, and no one knew how many people they would kill.
A bloodbath was taking place in the city of Kaifeng.
Li Zicheng rode his black barge horse and led the generals of the invading army into Kaifeng City.
The generals of the invading army were a little erratic. They had been on the run as thieves for more than ten years. They never expected that one day they would be able to capture a big city like Kaifeng. Liu Zongmin, Hao Yaoqi and other generals looked at the buildings in the prosperous Kaifeng city, showing greedy expressions.
Eyes. If King Chuang hadn't stopped in front, they would have rushed into the palace with the soldiers and looted it.
Thinking about the beautiful maids of the feudal clan and the gold, silver and silk belonging to the gentry makes people's hearts move.
Li Zicheng was riding a horse on Zhuque Street in Kaifeng City when he suddenly stopped. He seemed to be feeling a little emotional and looked at the city he had conquered again.
Counselor Li Yan was riding on his horse and said anxiously to Li Zicheng: "King Chuang, now that Kaifeng is under attack, it is a great opportunity for us to win over people's hearts. King Chuang Cheng should restrain his troops and appease the officials and gentry in the city and the clan. If the officials and gentry in the world
Knowing that we will not kill them all, it will be easy for King Chuang to conquer the world."
Li Yan's words were a bit off-putting, causing Liu Zongmin and others to snort coldly.
What do the hungry soldiers want to do by following King Chuang in their uprising? They just want to kill officials, gentry, and feudal kings, and rob food, grass, gold, and silver to live a happy life. If they finally capture Kaifeng without plundering, who else will follow King Chuang in the future?
?
Li Zicheng did not answer Li Yan's words. In fact, Li Zicheng did not turn around and look at Li Yan at all. Obviously, the leader of the peasant army was very disdainful of Li Yan's proposal.
Only counselor Song Xiance glanced at Li Yan, thoughtfully.
Not long after, Chen Yongfu, the commander-in-chief of Henan Province, was escorted in front of Li Zicheng.
Chen Yongfu once shot Li Zicheng in the left eye when Li Zicheng attacked Kai Feng for the first time, turning the king into a one-eyed man. Chen Yongfu secretly said that if Li Zicheng captured him today, a delay would be inevitable.
When he came to Li Zicheng, Chen Yongfu refused to kneel down and cursed sternly: "Damn you intruder! It's useless to talk more. If you want to kill me, come immediately!"
Li Zicheng looked at Chen Yongfu with his only right eye, and jumped off the black barge horse. He walked forward slowly, untied the rope from Chen Yongfu's body with his own hands, and said: "If Mr. Chen hadn't held on to Kaifeng City, Li Zicheng would have lost his life for several years."
We have already captured the city a long time ago, and General Chen is a good general in the world."
"The imperial court is dominated by fatuous and treacherous ministers. Why don't Mr. Chen abandon the dark side and join the bright side? Let's build a great cause together with him."
