Chapter 141 When you were away, the Central Plains would have been a mess
Ordinarily, Fang Yizhi had just met his father who was imprisoned today and should have spent more time fulfilling his filial piety.
Fortunately, there are mothers and sisters to help take care of the household chores, and women generally pay more attention to family ties, so it is enough to have them accompany Fang Kongzheng.
Chen Shuren would not meet with them either. Fang Yizhi knew that national affairs were important, so he went back to the governor's office that night to report on the recent military situation in the north.
I don't think anyone in Wuchang would find fault with him and accuse him of being "unfilial".
After a while, everyone rode their horses back to the Yamen. Shen Shuren ordered someone to prepare midnight snacks and bring them to the study. No alcohol was required, just some refreshing drinks so that they could stay up late and talk about business.
These days of hard work, traveling and marching, I eat military rations like the soldiers every day. I finally returned to Wuchang and could finally have a good rest.
Fang Yizhi was not hungry. As soon as he entered the study, he took a cup of tea and sat across from him. He took a few sips to refresh himself and explained at the same time.
Chen Shuren listened as if no one was watching, while eating and drinking on the bookcase.
Fang Yizhi: "The war in Henan is ironic to say the least. In fact, until July, there was no problem in the stalemate between the two armies.
Li Zicheng was very anxious to attack Kaifeng in May and June. He also mobilized all the Folangji and Hongyi artillery in his army. At that time, Yang Ge was worried and doubted what Brother Shen said, "Intruders will not be able to break out of Kaifeng."
Is there any suspicion of bragging?
However, it later proved that Kaifeng's commander-in-chief Chen Yongfu was indeed well guarded. He counterattacked with the red barrage artillery in the city. He was able to accurately estimate the location, distance and distance of the siege army's artillery while concealing his own artillery positions, and repeatedly fired straight shots to kill the enemy artillerymen.
Although it was not possible to directly destroy all the cannons of the Chuang Army, due to the small number of elite and senior artillerymen of the Chuang Army, after being killed and wounded by General Chen, the cannons lost their accuracy and lacked ammunition. By July, they could no longer continue to bombard the enemy with artillery.
Siege the city.
Throughout July, the invaders repeatedly attacked the city with ladder ants, resulting in many casualties, including Luo Rucai and Ma Shouying's old troops. Li Zicheng also tried to dig tunnels under the city wall and plant gunpowder to blow up the city.
However, because the Kaifeng city wall was extremely thick, at most more than 20,000 kilograms of gunpowder were buried at one time, it was not possible to completely blow up the city wall. It only collapsed the outer layer of the city wall, making the thickness of the wall thinner by about half.
Under the command of General Chen, the officers and soldiers still defended the remaining thinned city wall and slowly filled it. The intruders tried to take advantage of the opportunity to rush into the gap, but were shot by the officers and soldiers from left and right, killing many people and never succeeded.
I heard that just to break through this gap, thousands of people were killed in battle, and the wounded were not counted. In the end, they almost attacked the city with corpses, and the pile of corpses was as high as the height of the gap in the city wall."
When Chen Shuren heard this, he felt optimistic for a while, and almost forgot that Fang Yizhi came to report the bad news to him.
He took a sip of the coffee that the Zheng family bought from the Indians to refresh himself, and then he remembered that there must be a turning point in the matter, and quickly asked: "It seems that what I expected is exactly right. The intruders really do not have the ability to attack Kaifeng.
Then why did the situation change again?"
Fang Yizhi couldn't help but sigh, and it could be seen that he felt very sorry in his heart:
"Indeed, until the beginning of July, the situation was actually very good for the army. But later, due to the battlefield in southern Hunan, the news that Zhang Xianzhong had succeeded many times reached the capital at the end of June.
His Majesty heard that so many cities had fallen and the vassal kings were killed. He was extremely angry and put pressure on Yang Ge Lao. He ordered Yang Ge Lao to defeat the intruders Zhang Ni one by one as soon as possible and no longer be cautious and defensive.
Moreover, His Majesty once again reiterated that the tragic situation in southern Hunan where several kings were captured must not be repeated on the battlefield in Henan. Too many vassal kings were killed, which would have a great impact on the majesty of the Ming Dynasty and the dignity of the court."
Chen Shuren's heart skipped a beat and interrupted: "Mr. Yang Ge has agreed now?"
Fang Yizhi pouted: "Of course it's not that simple! Mr. Yang Ge has been in the military for many years, and he still knows the priorities. What's more, he has already put life and death aside. Even if disobedience will lead to his execution by His Majesty, as long as disobedience is right and beneficial to the world
In a war situation, Mr. Yang Ge would also disobey.
Besides, even if Mr. Yang Ge dares to attack directly on impulse, with Zuo Liangyu's wiseness to protect himself, how could he send troops indiscriminately if he feels that there is no chance of winning? "
Chen Shuren was right when he thought about it. This does not mean that Yang Sichang sacrificed himself for others, but that his lifespan and health had reached this stage. How could a person who was already desperate and about to die fear the emperor's life?
As for Zuo Liangyu, if Chongzhen dared to directly ask Zuo Liangyu to die, then Zuo Liangyu would definitely disobey.
Therefore, if Yang Sichang and Zuo Liangyu finally obeyed their orders and went to fight, there must be other incentives that made them feel that they could indeed fight.
Thinking of this, Shen Shuren didn't wait for Fang Yizhi to say it slowly, but took the initiative to draw inferences: "So, there must be some reason why they have to go to war, and it makes them feel that they don't have to wait for me to meet up, they can have a fight.
The power of war?"
Fang Yizhi felt a shiver in his heart, and cast an admiring look at Shen Shuren. Brother Shen Nian's intelligence and foresight were indeed apparent.
Fang Yizhi said sincerely: "Who says otherwise? His Majesty initially gave Elder Yang Ge the order, but Elder Yang could not obey it. He just wanted to urge Brother Shen to get rid of Zhang Xianzhong in southern Hunan as soon as possible, and then send troops to the north.
Wait for the imperial troops to gather and then fight Li Zicheng for a decisive battle.
However, because the imperial court and the central government did not pay attention to keeping the decree issued by His Majesty in late June, within ten days or so, by the beginning of July, it had already caused such a fuss that even the intruders knew about it.
Li Zicheng heard that if he fell into the feudal lord again, he would severely punish Mr. Yangge. In addition, he heard that Zhang Xianzhong succeeded in killing several kings in southern Hunan. These two news prompted Jiudun to lose all his prestige under the fortified city.
Li Zicheng decided to change his strategy and find other small goals to boost morale and prestige first.
So, on the eighth day of July, Li Zicheng, who had been staying under Kaifeng City for three months, separated tens of thousands of his direct descendants from the old camp, with Liu Zongmin and Li Guo as generals, and suddenly crossed the Yellow River to the north and entered Wei, which is across the river from Kaifeng Mansion.
Huifu, Damingfu, Hebei Province.
Li Zicheng's goal was to follow Zhang Xianzhong's example, kill a few more heavyweight vassal kings, and speed up the death of Mr. Yang Ge. And Wei Hui Mansion is where His Majesty's uncle, King Lu, became a vassal, and it can be regarded as the King of Fu and King Gui in the world today.
After being killed, apart from King Rui of Chongqing, he was the closest vassal king to His Majesty.
What's more, there is another advantage to attacking Wei Hui Mansion, that is, when Li Zicheng killed Prince Fu last year, everyone in Prince Fu's Mansion had actually broken through and left Luoyang in advance. However, Prince Fu himself was fat and heavy and was too conspicuous. Even if he changed his clothes, he would be ignored by the people.
Recognize and capture,
But at that time, Zhu Yousong, the eldest son of King Fu, managed to escape because of his poor appearance. He crossed the Yellow River and went to Prince Lu's Mansion in Weihui Mansion to join his cousin. His Majesty also later made a decree for his cousin to inherit the throne of King Fu.
title.
Therefore, if Li Zicheng breaks Wei Hui Mansion this time and the siege goes smoothly, he can kill King Lu and the uncles and nephews of King Xinfu together! This is equivalent to killing a cousin and an uncle of His Majesty, which will have a huge impact on the court's dignity and will be far away. It can't be compared to killing other feudal kings."
When Chen Shuren heard this, he could basically guess why Yang Sichang had to go to war later. He quickly confirmed with a slight nervousness:
"So... In the end, Mr. Yang Ge was forced to go to war, or was it because he needed to divide his troops to rescue the vassal king? We can't let Li Zicheng pick the soft persimmon and trap Weihui and other places? Then is King Fu Wang Lu dead?"
Chen Shuren had never cared much about the life and death of the vassal kings, but he still had to pay attention to people like Xiao Fu Wang and Lu Wang, at least an order of magnitude higher than the attention he paid to other vassal kings, because after all, it would involve the control of the vassal kings. Changes in the history of the center in the future——
Historically, after Chongzhen hanged himself, the Nanjing court supported his cousin, Xiao Fu Wang Zhu Yousong, to succeed him, who was the Hongguang Emperor. Before Fu Wang was established, because of the deep hatred between the Donglin Party and Fu Wang's lineage, Nanjing Many people have even thought of "supporting Lu".
In the end, it was Shi Kefa, the number one figure in Donglin, who still had a sense of distance and distance between blood relatives. He knew that the blood relationship between King Lu and Chongzhen was, after all, one generation further away than King Fu. It was unreasonable to surpass King Fu and establish King Lu, so he came up with a compromise plan. "Li Gui", I want to go to Guangdong and Guangxi to welcome back Zhu Youlang, the king of Xiaogui.
Because King Gui and King Fu are both cousins of Chongzhen, and King Lu is Chongzhen’s uncle after all. The blood relationship between King Gui and King Fu is exactly the same as that of Chongzhen. Picking King Gui to establish the throne will not lead to a crisis of legitimacy.
It's just that Shi Kefa's operation, after all, water far away cannot quench the thirst of the near, and the country cannot be without a king for a day. At that critical moment, he still wants to wait for several months to transport people from Guangdong and Guangxi thousands of miles to Nanjing. Of course, it is not as good as Ma Shiying and Ruan Dacheng to directly instigate it. The four towns in Jiangbei were quickly supported by force.
Although these are things for later, as long as any of the vassal kings such as King Lu and King Xiaofu dies early due to the butterfly effect of history, the subsequent layout of Shen Shuren will also have to be changed. This is a major national matter, so it must be taken seriously. concern.
Of course, Fang Yizhi didn't understand the real reason why Brother Shen Nian was suddenly so nervous. He just heard him sighing in the same unhurried tone:
"Although it missed, it was not far away. King Lu and King Xiaofu were not dead. It was not that Wei Hui Mansion was well-defended and could block Liu Zongmin and Li Guo's strong attack. It was Liu Zongmin and others who covered them all the way and tried to outflank them in advance. , but after all, nothing is done secretly.
On the way to attack Weihui Mansion, they first had to pass through Huaiqing Mansion. As a result, they burned, killed, and looted in Huaiqing Mansion, killing all the rich households, gentry, officials, and the family of Prince Zheng Zhu Yiduo who had joined the vassal in Huaiqing.
At the same time, in order to prevent King Lu and King Fu from fleeing north to the capital, they outflanked Weihui Mansion in the north and went to Zhangde Mansion in Hebei Province in advance, killing the officials in Zhangde Mansion and Zhao Wang Zhu Chang?.
As a result, during the period when they defeated Huaiqing and Zhangde and killed King Zheng and King Zhao, they gave King Lu and King Fu time to react. They learned that the road heading north to Zhangde Mansion and Daming Mansion to Beijing had been outflanked and cut off by intruder cavalry. So before the bandits and soldiers arrived, they abandoned the city and fled, leaving only the defenders behind.
King Lu and his uncle and nephew, King Fu, traveled by land from Weihui County to Yanjin County, entered the Yellow River from Yanjin, escaped by water and took a boat, and entered Guide Mansion from the east of Kaifeng in an attempt to continue fleeing south.
After the vassal king escaped, Wei Hui's Mansion had little defensive ability. Under Liu Zongmin's heavy attack regardless of the cost, it was easily defeated. After the city was broken, Liu Zongmin learned that King Lu and King Fu had abandoned the city in advance and fled. He was so angry that he massacred him again.
Weihui the whole city."
When Chen Shuren heard this, he sorted out the cause and effect in his mind.
From this point of view, the escape of King Fu and King Lu is not considered cheating, because in the original history, these two cowards also escaped in advance before the bandit army entered the territory of Weihui Mansion. The vassal king of the Ming Dynasty,
As long as he is willing to part with his wealth and manor, and is willing to run away with Xinrou, he can actually run away.
For example, the King Zheng and King Zhao mentioned by Fang Yizhi just now, King Zheng was actually the first to bear the brunt. He was caught off guard and killed his whole family. However, King Zhao was killed on the way around, but one of his sons escaped. In theory, in the future, the
Can inherit the title of King Zhao again.
Unless they were surrounded in advance, surrounded by several nearby mansions, deliberately went to exterminate the family, or made a sudden attack. Otherwise, as long as you are not a top-notch miser, you can still escape with your life.
However, thinking about King Fu and King Lu escaping just like history, Shen Shuren had an even bigger puzzlement: "Since King Fu and King Lu escaped, why did Yang Gelao and Zuo Liangyu have to fight with Li Zicheng?"