There were so many troops stationed around Kaifeng that most places were left bare.
Although Li Zicheng issued a ban prohibiting mules and horses from eating the people's crops, how could he stop it when fodder was so difficult?
Moreover, there are many horses in Cao's camp. If they are forbidden to break into the camp, they will not be able to stop Cao's camp.
Fortunately, Kaifeng City has become a ripe fruit, and the opening of the city should not be long. Today, Li Zicheng heard that Li Laiheng, who had been left in Suizhou to fight guerrillas, not only was not defeated by the official army, but instead captured De'an.
, the two prefectures of Huangzhou have developed to the point where there are 20,000 soldiers and horses, and they are even more happy.
Li Guo knew that his adopted son had performed so well, and he was very happy. He also emphasized to Li Zicheng: "When we returned to the Central Plains, we stayed alone behind the Heng Palace to attract the attention of the army. This was an extremely dangerous situation.
Task, the generalissimo also said that once defeated, Laiheng must try to disguise himself and sneak back to Henan. I never expected that he did so well. Not only was he not defeated, but he became more courageous as he fought. He also killed Song Yihe, the governor of Huguang, and today he gave him another
We sent back 10,000 shi of grain."
These 10,000 shi of grain had just been transported from Suizhou in the past few days. Because Zuo Liangyu fled back to Xiangyang, there was no official or military power in southern Henan, and the transportation from Suizhou to Kaifeng had been completely opened.
Li Zicheng looked at the cart after cart of grain and sighed: "Laiheng is really my horse, these ten thousand stones of grain and beans can solve our urgent need. He has done a great job."
However, given Li Laiheng's character, he is of course diligent in everything he does.
Sure enough, Li Guo quickly told what Li Laiheng had repeatedly emphasized when he sent people to deliver food: "Laiheng asked someone to bring a message, saying that there was a lot of food in Huguang, and he was going to break into one or two big cities and seize more food.
Sent to Henan. However, Laiheng's troops and horses are limited, and they can still compete with the official army in the field. It will be very difficult to attack the city. He hopes that we can do what we did before sending Gu Kecheng last time, and send more troops to support.
"
Li Zicheng agreed to Li Laiheng's request for people and cadres. Now that the insurgent army is besieging Kaifeng, food is relatively scarce, but there is no shortage of cadres.
The troops sent by Li Laiheng were not only to deliver food and recruit cadres, but more importantly, to inform Li Zicheng and others of his worries about the Peach Blossom Flood, and to remind everyone that the Kaifeng garrison might resort to breaking the dike if they jumped over the wall.
The method is to use water to attack and drive away the enemy.
This news immediately attracted Li Zicheng's great attention. He asked Li Guo to call Luo Rucai, Tian Jianxiu, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance and others to convene a confidential military meeting to discuss this important matter.
Luo Rucai didn't care about the Peach Blossom Flood. He believed that once the Yellow River broke its banks, the flood would inevitably submerge the city of Kaifeng, and hundreds of thousands of people would be buried in the belly of the fish. No matter how courageous Henan officials were, they would never do this.
It was a dangerous move. No matter what, they were officials, yamen or the imperial court. How could they do something that was a hundred times worse than thieves?
But Niu Jinxing was familiar with the atmosphere of Henan's officialdom, and Song Xiance had planted a large number of spies in Kaifeng City. They had not thought about this before. After receiving Li Laiheng's suggestion, they immediately discovered that this method was indeed the only way for Kaifeng civil and military forces to escape from the desperate situation.
A good strategy.
Song Xiance even thought of a strange thing. The spies he placed in Kaifeng City recently sent back a lot of information, saying that the governor, prefect, chief envoy, and inspector's home were all ordering servants to seize the time to tie the raft. There were also people from the Criminal Justice Department.
The official Huang Shu also ordered people to tie the raft overnight.
What he had thought before was that these people were making rafts, maybe breaking out to the north, preparing to cross the river and escape to the north bank of the Yellow River. At this time, when he heard the news that the Peach Blossom Flood was coming, and combined with the trends in the city, he immediately realized that this was clearly for excavation.
Preparation for the Yellow River embankment.
There have been more and more cases of cannibalism in Kaifeng City recently, and many people risked being executed by the army and fled to join the rebel army. The situation has indeed reached a critical moment.
Niu Jinxing even emphasized: "The Generalissimo's besieging Kaifeng this time is not just for the sake of his children, but he actually wants to seize Bianjing to command the world. The Generalissimo wants to use Bianluo as the foundation to manage the Central Plains, and Kaifeng officials and gentry will never do it.
I don’t know. If they diverted the water from the Yellow River to flood the palaces and government offices in Kaifeng in order to undermine the marshal’s plan, it would be reasonable.”
Niu Jinxing mainly emphasized that if the Yellow River breaks its banks, it will be difficult for Kaifeng to become the base camp for the invading army to run the world.
Song Xiance was even more worried about the soldiers and civilians in Kaifeng and the people of Henan. He said: "If the Yellow River breaks its banks, hundreds of thousands of soldiers, civilians and livestock in Daliang will be drowned near Kaifeng. Going southeast, people in many states and counties will be destroyed.
Flood disaster. If the Central Plains is devastated by this disaster, the famine will inevitably become more serious. The roads are full of refugees and the fields are starved to death. At that point, the rebel army is like a fish without water or a tree without roots. It will lose its foundation and will find it difficult to survive.
.”
Song Xiance said excitedly. He was already ugly, and now his facial features were crowded together, making him look even more funny and ugly. But Song Xiance's compassion and heartache were fully reflected on his face. He almost burst into tears as he spoke.
Later, thinking that he still had countless friends in Kaifeng City, he knelt down in front of Li Zicheng and asked him to allocate troops to guard the river embankment to ensure that there would not be any flaws in the Yellow River embankment.
Just as Li Zicheng nodded in agreement, Li Shuangxi pointed outside the camp and shouted: "It's raining!"
Everyone turned their heads and looked over. Unexpectedly, the rain started to fall heavily. The spring rain continued, and there was a haze. A bolt of lightning pierced the sky. The sound of rain, thunder and the nervous breathing of the generals in the tent were mixed together.
, heart palpitating.
Li Zicheng took action and stood up. Without waiting for Luo Rucai's opinion, he made a decision and said: "Shuangxi and my soldiers will rush to the river embankment now and guard it tightly to prevent any mistakes from happening to the Yellow River embankment. Make up for it, Chang Gong,
You go and rectify the cavalry of the invading army now, and be prepared to block all roads from Kaifeng City to the Yellow River Embankment outside the city... Kaifeng is about to be captured, and if there is any mistake, I will definitely hold you accountable!"
Li Shuangxi immediately led hundreds of pro-army cavalry to the river embankment. However, the rain was getting heavier and heavier, and the road was muddy and difficult to move. Their marching speed was much slower.
When Li Shuangxi led his troops to the vicinity of the river embankment, he discovered that the government troops had occupied a section of the river embankment. The officials and troops had obviously planned carefully in advance. They piled straw bags and sacks on the embankment for rescue purposes.
Low walls, various bows, arrows and crossbows were placed on straw bales and sacks. Another group of people, numbering about a hundred, began to dig the river embankment with hoe and shovel.
The embankment was more than two feet wide. They wanted to dig a ditch three feet wide and five feet deep to let the yellow water flow through the ditch, and then make the breach wider and wider, and finally collapse the embankment.
Seeing this situation, Li Shuangxi didn't care about anything, and immediately led his brothers to charge forward. However, the terrain of the embankment was very unfavorable to the cavalry. They fought as hard as possible as quickly as possible, but they were unable to break through the defense line set up by the government troops, and they died in vain.
Many brothers, including Dang Shousu, were shot by an arrow.
However, no matter how fierce the fighting was, the officers and soldiers who broke the embankment still dug into the embankment. They dug a big hole in the middle of the embankment and put jars filled with gunpowder into the hole. This was a "big release" imitating the soldiers who invaded the mines and attacked the city.
Law".
Seeing that the river embankment was in danger, Li Shuangxi ordered all the cavalry to dismount and charge forward on foot. He took the lead and rushed to the front, killing three or four officers and soldiers in a row. The other soldiers were also elite soldiers in the army.
As soon as they swarmed forward, the officers and soldiers could not stop them at all, and they immediately dispersed.
But it was too late by this time. The officers and soldiers had already lit the fuse, and the jars filled with gunpowder exploded one after another. There was only a roar, and the water side of the river embankment collapsed. The outermost layer of the embankment cracked, and the flood burst into the gap.
Follow the dug trench and rush into the embankment.
Li Shuangxi almost despaired when he saw this, but Dang Shousu was stronger mentally. Regardless of the arrow wounds on his body, he roared and led his men and horses to rush towards the place where the flood was coming to block the gap.
The gap opened by the explosion was quickly widened by yellow water, and the water flow became larger and larger, pouring into the embankment. Li Shuangxi was at a loss what to do, and Dang Shouze shouted repeatedly: "Block it! Block it! Block it quickly!"
However, the river continued to rush through the gap, and the river embankments on both sides collapsed, making the situation almost out of control. Fortunately, Dang Shousu's decisiveness and bravery slowed the water flow more or less. At this time, Li Guo and Liu Fangliang also took two
More than a thousand cavalry arrived, and upon seeing this, they all ordered everyone to dismount and rush to block the gap.
The floods continued to rise. Li Guo took over the command from the helpless Li Shuangxi and personally supervised the soldiers to block the gap. The soldiers carried bags after bags of sand and stones and threw them into the gap. They were then washed away by the flood and fought hard.
Dang Shousu, who was ordered to do his job, even led hundreds of people to carry heavy objects in their arms and prepared to form a human wall to block the water, but the effect was also very poor.
When Li Shuangxi was thirteen or fourteen years old, he could kill people on the street without changing his expression. However, looking at the power of nature in front of him, his face turned pale and his legs trembled.
Liu Fangliang waded through the water on the ground and ran over, saying urgently: "Throwing all the sand, gravel, trees, and boats in, it's still not enough!"
Li Guo looked hard and said decisively: "Demolish the house! Collect as much wood and stone as possible, and everyone rushes to repair the embankment!"
The rain was like weaving, with white waves crashing like thousands of horses galloping and roaring like thunder. Even warriors like Li Shuangxi looked miserable. But Li Guo remained calm. The rain wet all his clothes, but he
He was still very calm and put all his energy into the important task of organizing the gag.
There are several types of levees on the Yellow River. The levees built by the government are the most important. In addition, there are also the levees built by the people, including the Linhuang dyke and the Ge dyke. During the Peach Blossom Flood, the river water surges, and many of the dykes built by the people have already been submerged.
The official army blew up a gap in the embankment, but the intruders arrived in time, and Li Guo immediately organized people to rush to build the embankment.
To fortify the embankment is to build an embankment at a dangerous point of the embankment or where the embankment body collapses for reinforcement. The water situation has not reached the point where it is completely uncontrollable, and the intruders' rushing to build the embankment can still play a certain role.
In addition to providing disaster relief, Li Guo also sent people to inform Li Zicheng of the situation on the embankment and asked him to quickly evacuate the surrounding refugees and people to avoid disaster and a devastating situation.
He stood on the embankment and looked sideways. The gloomy sky gradually turned white. In the desolate morning light, there were sounds of water mixed with cries and calls for help everywhere...
At this moment, Dang Shousu was standing in waist-deep water and suddenly burst into cheers: "The water is getting smaller! It's blocked!"