Originally, according to the drills of Li Laiheng and Miao Lichen, if the miner army attacked the city, it would mainly dig tunnels to the bottom of the city wall, and then use gunpowder to blow up the city foundation.
But time was tight now, and there was no way Miao Lichen could dig a hole slowly. So he directly led a group of miners from the Funiu Mountains in western Henan, each with a gunpowder bag that could be used by Yuan Zong.
Under the cover of the troops, they rushed under the city wall of Ruyang City, dug out a corner of the city foundation directly on the ground, filled it with gunpowder, and exploded.
Thousands of kilograms of gunpowder packets exploded at the hole in the wall at the same time, immediately shattering a piece of the city wall, and countless flying rocks splashed out. Although Miao Lichen had anticipated this situation after long exchanges and discussions with Li Laiheng, he let
The miners all put on door panels and used large shields to defend themselves, but nearly a hundred people were still killed and injured by flying rocks.
Fortunately, the wall of Ruyang City was not thick to begin with. Although the wall was not directly destroyed by the explosion, many militiamen on the wall were frightened. Everyone was worried that the rogue bandits would blow the wall down soon, and they felt like standing on it for a while.
Either they would be blown up or they would fall to death, so they all ran down.
The Baoding soldiers tried their best to stop them, even cutting off three or five heads, but they could not stop the general trend of the defenders in the city and countryside escaping from the city wall.
When Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai saw this change, they both said happily: "We can attack!"
The main force of the Cao Cao coalition immediately rushed to attack the city. Although they did not carry artillery due to the forced march, they were outnumbered. Their strength was ten times that of the Ruyang City defenders, and their morale was very high.
Therefore, the drums were fired immediately, and it took less than an hour to break through the city walls and gates.
However, although the Baoding soldiers were small in number, they were indeed much better at fighting than the general army. After the city wall was lost, several hundred Baoding soldiers retreated to Prince Chong's Mansion to defend. King Chong was a vassal king who was enfeoffed in Runing Mansion. The first king was the God of War of the Ming Dynasty.
Zhu Jianze, the sixth son of Zhu Qizhen, Emperor Yingzong of Ming Dynasty.
The current King Chong is Zhu You, who was granted the title in the 40th year of Wanli. He is a contemporary of Chongzhen, but his personality is completely different from that of Chongzhen. He can be regarded as a "hero" who is particularly "aware of current affairs".
Zhu You saw a large group of officers and soldiers running to his palace garden to defend himself, fearing that they would anger the intruders and harm him. He immediately sent the palace ministers to surrender to Li Zicheng with several carts of gold and silver treasures and letters of surrender, while he himself took
He led a group of royal servants to drive away the officers and soldiers who came to defend him.
All the Baoding soldiers were horrified. Many of them were the remnants of Lu Xiang's army, and they had a strong will to fight. In the 11th year of Chongzhen's reign, when the Manchus entered the pass to plunder, Chongzhen made up his mind to negotiate peace.
, tried every means to make things difficult for Lu Xiangsheng and the Tianxiong army. The Tianxiong army was surrounded by the Qing army and fought to the death in Julu day and night. They didn't even get a sip of water or a morsel of food. However, Chongzhen's trusted eunuch Gao Qiqian was with tens of thousands of soldiers and horses.
Stay put and watch the show.
Even though Chongzhen tried every possible means to embarrass the Tianxiong Army and regarded them as abandoned sons who negotiated peace with the Qing army, the remnants of the Tianxiong Army still fought indomitably on the front line of the Ming Dynasty.
But the Baoding soldiers didn't expect that if the city wall fell, they could fight in the streets and go to the palace to defend, but King Chong surrendered first?
You are a vassal king. What kind of joke is it to beg for your life from a bandit?
We are still fighting to the death, why did King Chong surrender first?
"Damn it, my biological father, two biological uncles, and an eldest brother all died in Julu for your Zhu family. How can you be so shameless?"
The soldiers of the Laotian Xiong Army built by Lu Xiangsheng were mostly fellow countrymen, friends, brothers, and family members. If one person died in battle, the entire team would die in battle.
But now they feel that their family's infinite contribution to the Ming Dynasty is extremely worthless. I don't know who shouted first, "If I kill you, you can still get rich with the thieves." The remaining Baoding soldiers
Then everyone's eyes turned red and they stared at Chong Wang Zhu You.
In fact, the servants of Prince Chong's Mansion were no match for the Baoding soldiers. Zhu You was able to drive these Baoding soldiers away just now, but he just bullied them into not daring to fight back.
Now that the last chord in the hearts of the officers and soldiers has collapsed, what dignity can the so-called vassal king have?
"Kill King Chong! Get riches from fellow thieves!"
The furious officers and soldiers bloodbathed Prince Chong's palace, and also searched out several royal servants who had previously deducted military rations from them, and hung them on the plaque of the palace with ribbons and silk from Prince Chong's treasury.
As for King Chong himself, there was a row of palace lanterns decorated with white marble and jade in the palace. I don’t know who came up with the idea to hang King Chong from the palace lantern with a jade belt.
"All the supervising army eunuchs and the supervising army eunuchs were hoisted to the Yamen. The royal palace was responsible for hanging the plaques and worshiping the king... worshiping the king and hanging the palace lanterns!"
The red-eyed officers and soldiers all shouted "hanging palace lantern", "hanging palace lantern".
Why on earth do they, these loyal and brave people, have no ambition to serve the country? But for those civil servants who supervise the military, they can "expend" five points out of ten grains for you, and half of the remaining five points must be given to the eunuchs who supervise the military.
The remaining two and a half points will still have to be accepted by the prince who is a little demon and has a strong reputation for bribery.
How can such a war be fought? How can such a court be papered?
They should have died along with Marshal Lu on the battlefield against the Qing Dynasty. How come they were humiliated by eunuchs and fawned over on the battlefield to suppress the hungry people?
"If you don't keep me here, you will have a place to keep me. If you don't keep me anywhere, I will join the army!"
"Jiangchuang!"
Even Li Zicheng did not expect that the most difficult Baoding soldiers would take the initiative to attack.
Li Zicheng had no intention of killing King Chong. His last surprise attack on Kaifeng failed because the King of Zhou in Kaifeng desperately defended him. Therefore, Li Zicheng intended to treat King Chong well after capturing him, in order to reduce the will of other vassal kings to resist.
Unexpectedly, the mutinous officers and soldiers directly hanged King Chong on a palace lantern, and then chopped off his head and presented it to the rebels.
Li Zicheng couldn't laugh or cry, and sighed to Luo Rucai: "I didn't want to kill the king, but the king died because of me... Alas, alas!"
Luo Rucai smiled and scolded: "Killing Prince Zhu is better than building a seven-level pagoda. Let's pacify Ruyang City as soon as possible, and then go north to steal Yang Wenyue's ass, otherwise..."
"Otherwise, I'm afraid Uncle Luo and Yan Qing'er will do something wrong."
Thinking of the battle situation at Shang Caiying, Li Zicheng's expression became a little heavier. He said silently in his heart: Laiheng, Shuangxi, you must hold on. You are equal to half of my nephew, Lao Li, and I will definitely save you from the siege.
.
He looked at Prince Chong's Mansion, which had been set on fire by the Baoding soldiers, and nodded and said: "Miao Lichen's mine soldiers suffered a lot of damage, so they incorporated all the newly surrendered Baoding soldiers into their team, and then stayed in Ruyang...
…No, let’s pick some people from the surrendering troops and bring them with us, maybe they can have a miraculous effect in persuading them to surrender.”
Li Zicheng was worried about Li Laiheng, and he was also worried that his eagerness to attack the city had caused many casualties to Li Laiheng's Miao Lichen. Therefore, he added the newly surrendered Baoding soldiers with stronger combat effectiveness to Miao Lichen's command, which was considered as compensation.
Although Luo Rucai also coveted this new powerful force, after all, Miao Lichen had indeed made a great contribution to the siege. Deputy Commander Cao was still a man who could handle the situation and would not have any trouble with Li Zicheng at this time.
Li Zicheng also called an officer from the newly transferred Baoding army and asked him about the troop dispatches of Yang Wenyue and Hu Dawei. He told the names and situations of the generals under Hu Dawei one by one, and the number of officers and soldiers.
He also gave an overview and expressed his own views on Yang Wenyue's military rations and grass bundles.
Li Zicheng nodded frequently and said: "It's very clear, very clear."
Then he asked: "What's your name?"
The officer replied: "The villain's name is Li Polu. He was originally from the Tianxiong Army. He was lucky enough to survive the Battle of Julu, but he was humiliated at the hands of the villain. He is willing to join the army of King Chuang to avenge his revenge."
Li Zicheng saw that he spoke very logically, so he smiled and said: "Okay, you and Miao Lichen of the Chuang Army will stay in Ruyang and cut off Yang Wenyue's retreat. There are many loyal and brave soldiers in Baoding. If I defeat Yang Wenyue and Hu Dawei
, I will never humiliate them and the soldiers under their command. Anyone who is willing to join the camp can join, and those who do not want to join will also be given travel expenses to let everyone return to their hometowns."
Li Polu said in surprise: "Thank you so much, King Chuang!"
Li Zicheng waved his hand. Although his official title was Civil and Military Marshal Fengtian Advocating Righteousness, Henan officials and people still used to call him King Chuang, so he just accepted it.
Over there, Luo Rucai and Tian Jianxiuze had already ordered their troops and horses. The army did not rest and reorganize, but headed north from Ruyang to the Shangcai battlefield.
Yuan Zongdi, who was the most prudent in the use of troops among the Chuang army, rushed to Li Zicheng's side and said worriedly: "If Buzhi and Chang Gong can't save the vanguard army, it will definitely be too late by the time we get there."
Li Zicheng's face darkened and he whispered: "If something happens to Laiheng and Shuangxi, I don't have to kill the Baoding soldiers, but I will definitely sacrifice Yang Wenyue to the flag."