Li Zicheng led his troops to Luoyang City, and immediately blocked the east, west, north, and south sides of Luoyang City with the front camp, rear camp, left camp, and right camp respectively. The middle camp, old camp, and firearms camp were in the south, and the Chinese army camp was set up.
Hundreds of thousands of bandit soldiers and horses, together with millions of refugees accompanying the army, formed an endless ocean outside Luoyang City. The defenders in the city were all frightened when they climbed up to the city, and the morale of the Ming army dropped.
At this time, various groups of bandits captured many people around Luoyang City, and there were even many wealthy families who left the city and prepared to escape.
Li Zicheng immediately ordered these people to be interrogated, and the information was obtained from many people during the interrogation.
A few days later, Li Zicheng and others figured out the general defense situation of the Ming army in the city: Deputy Military Envoy Wang Yinchang guarded the west gate, Prefect Feng Yijun guarded the south gate, Magistrate Zhang Zhengxue guarded the east gate, General Judge Bai Shangwen guarded the north gate, and General Soldier Wang Shaoyu and Tui Guan Wei Jingzhong sent out troops to patrol, and there were 5,000 soldiers and horses stationed at Dongguan outside the city by deputy generals Liu Jianyi and Luo Tai.
At this time, there were more than 30,000 Ming troops in Luoyang City. However, due to lack of pay, the Ming soldiers guarding the city and some of the middle and lower-level generals complained and cursed: "The palace has millions of money and hates rice and meat, but let us Die on an empty stomach and at the hands of thieves.”
As a result, the morale of the Ming army was unstable, and the seemingly solid city defense was actually riddled with holes. Li Zicheng was ecstatic when facing Luoyang City like this, and immediately ordered each battalion to immediately build equipment and prepare for the siege.
Two days later, there was still no movement in Luoyang City. The deputy generals Liu Jianyi and Luo Tai stationed in Dongguan never received supplies, and the five thousand soldiers and horses began to become restless.
After some discussion, the two sent people into the city to report to the commander-in-chief, Shao Yu, saying that they were preparing to lead their troops into battle and kill some of the heads while the bandit army was not yet firmly established.
The commander-in-chief Wang Shaoyu was overjoyed and hoped that a small victory would improve the morale of the defenders, so he sent the two men a warrant to go to war.
Lieutenants Liu Jianyi and Luo Tai immediately led their troops to Qilihe, and then sent envoys to contact Li Zicheng and directly surrendered to the bandit army.
Li Zicheng expressed his comfort to the two men in the Chinese army's tent, and then ordered the two men to organize their troops and become the vanguard of the southern front, preparing to return to attack the next day. Although the lieutenants Liu Jianyi and Luo Tai were full of reluctance, the matter had come to this, and they had no choice but to bite the bullet and prepare for battle.
Early the next morning, Li Zicheng commanded hundreds of thousands of troops from each battalion to launch an offensive simultaneously. Lieutenants Liu Jianyi and Luo Tai also led their troops into battle. Five thousand surrendered troops were driven onto the battlefield. Behind them were countless hungry people and homeless people. The thieves and infantry attacked Luoyang City like a stormy sea.
The battle flags were waving, and the sound of killing shook the heaven and earth.
In the south of the city, a large yellow banner was rustling in the cold wind. Under the banner, General Li Guo was standing on horseback. Next to him were General Zhang Neng of Zuo Guoyi, and Generals Ma Chongxi, Helan and Lu of Right Guoyi. Ying Biao, Gao Yigong and others.
Gao Yigong looked at the five thousand surrendered troops who rushed to the moat, and said loudly with a smile: "These surrendered officers and soldiers are really good. They rushed to the moat so quickly. If they work harder, they can rush to the blockade on the ice." It’s over there at the horse wall!”
Lu Yingbiao seemed to be a little cold. He tightened his leather robe tightly and said angrily: "Let the hungry people behind follow and consume the defenders' strength with the five thousand surrendered troops. Let the infantry behind rush slower and use bows and arrows more often." Suppress the city garrison. If you run so fast, you are seeking death!"
Li Guo nodded without saying anything, as a sign of agreement with the road markings. Immediately, some of the knights from the battalion rode towards the battlefield. It didn't take long for the rogue infantry in front to stop charging, and only used their archers to shoot.
Then General Zuo Guoyi Zhang Neng said: "General, although the morale of the defenders in the city is low, Luoyang City is the largest city in Henan. There are many artillery on the city head and the city is strong. It will not be easy to defeat it. In this battle, we Be prepared to pay a certain amount of casualties.”
Li Guo then spoke: "Luoyang City is bound to be captured. No matter how many casualties there are, we must defeat it!"
Everyone was puzzled. The army had finally achieved its current status, so why did it insist on fighting against Luoyang City?
Li Guo said: "Winter has come. Our army has rapidly expanded to hundreds of thousands of soldiers and horses, and there are so many refugees accompanying the army. Do you know how much food so many people consume every day? How many cotton-padded clothes are needed to survive the winter? We will not capture Luoyang. We don’t need the army to attack the city, this winter alone will kill us!”
Everyone was horrified.
On this day, an army of hundreds of thousands of thieves started a wheel battle and fought for a full day and night before retreating.
Lieutenants Liu Jianyi and Luo Tai's 5,000 surrendered troops were deliberately used as cannon fodder by Li Guo. They were defeated in just an hour. The remaining 3,000 defeated troops fled back in haste, but were fired upon by a volley of infantry from behind. Thousands of people were shot and killed.
Lieutenants Liu Jianyi, Luo Tai and the remaining more than two thousand remaining soldiers were disarmed on the spot. Li Guo ordered all the surrendered soldiers to be beheaded in public. As more than two thousand heads, including those of lieutenants Liu Jianyi and Luo Tai, rolled down, Li Guo roared loudly: : "The entire army will continue to attack the city tomorrow. Anyone who dares to retreat without authorization will suffer the consequences!"
For a moment, the whole army was in awe.
At the same time, after a day of fierce fighting, Li Zicheng also learned from the intelligence feedback from each battalion that the east side of Luoyang City was heavily defended and had stronger troops, while the northwest side was weakly defended.
Based on this information, Li Zicheng immediately changed his siege plan from surrounding attacks to focused attacks, concentrating his forces and mainly attacking the northwest corner of Luoyang City. Guarding here was 3,000 reinforcements led by General Wang Shaoyu.
The commander-in-chief, Wang Shaoyu, was always greedy and withheld military pay for a long time, which had long been resented by his subordinates. Early the next morning, the soldiers under his command looked at the endless army of thieves outside the city and launched another general attack, and they all had strange thoughts in their hearts.
It was another whole day of fighting. At night, hundreds of Ming soldiers responded, killing the guards on the city with their swords, tying Wang Yinchang to the city, burning the city tower, and opening the north gate of Luoyang City. Door.
In response to the internal and external cooperation, the army of thieves who were alerted by the fighting in the city quickly gathered. Under the command of former camp general Li Laiheng, tens of thousands of troops poured into Luoyang City like a tide.
In the dark night, a very ironic scene appeared. When countless people in the city heard the news that the bandit army was entering the city, they rushed to the streets and welcomed the bandit army like welcoming their own relatives. There were even many common people who took the initiative to serve as guides, guiding the bandit army to key points in the city and providing information on the deployment of the Ming army.
In the early morning of the next day, Li Zicheng led his army to completely occupy Luoyang City. Almost all the more than 30,000 defenders in the city were killed, and many officials at all levels were killed.
Fu Wang Zhu Changxun, who weighed more than 300 kilograms, did not have time to escape and hid in Yingen Temple under the cover of a group of servants and guards. In addition, the former Henan magistrate Kang Menghui had no time to escape, and the two were captured alive by rogue soldiers one after another.
When the brigade of rogue soldiers escorted them to see Li Zicheng, King Fu Zhu Changxun saw the former Henan magistrate Kang Menghui and shouted: "Mr. Kang, save me!"
Kang Menghui, the former Henan magistrate, said with a mournful face: "My life is also in an instant, how can I save you!"
Later, the former Henan magistrate Kang Menghui advised Zhu Changxun not to forget that he was the uncle of the current emperor, and not to give in even if he died, so as not to lose the royal face.
But when Zhu Changxun, who was greedy for life and fearful of death, saw Li Zicheng, he was frightened like chaff, and kept kowtowing and begging for his life. Li Zicheng sat in the main hall of Prince Fu's Mansion and personally interrogated Zhu Changxun, Li Guo, Liu Zongming, Li Yan, Li Dingguo and others. The generals and counselors stood on the left and right, glaring angrily at King Fu Zhu Changxun.
Li Zicheng angrily scolded: "As a prince, you are the richest in the world. In this year of such famine, you are unwilling to give even a cent to help the people. You are really a slave!"
Later, Li Zicheng ordered Zhu Changxun to be beaten with forty boards. After the beating, he cut off his head and hung it on the gate of Luoyang City for public display. The bandits and soldiers swarmed up, chopped Zhu Changxun's body into meat paste, and mixed it with Venison is mixed with wine, called Fulu wine, to relieve the deep hatred in the heart.
The next day, Li Zicheng held a mass rally at the Zhougong Temple in Xiguan, Luoyang City, and denounced the various crimes of "princes and nobles exploiting the poor and treating them as cold and exhausted". They also executed the former Henan magistrate Kang Menghui and other officials and gentry. Some officials and gentry who fled in Luoyang, such as Sun Tingsheng of Mengjin County, Wang Chaoshan of Xin'an County, and Wang Yiming of Song County, were also killed by the bandit soldiers.
After Li Zicheng captured Luoyang, he captured more than 2,000 officers and soldiers, confiscated a large number of weapons and baggage, greatly improved the equipment level of the bandit army, and gave himself a well-equipped army.
There were also a large number of firecrackers in the arsenal of Luoyang City, and hundreds of artillery pieces on the city's head also fell into Li Zicheng's hands. All these firearms were allocated to the firearms camps of Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang, and Ai Nengqi.
Later, Li Zicheng confiscated the gold and silver belongings and a large amount of food supplies in Prince Fu's mansion, issued a notice to open warehouses to help the poor, and provided large-scale relief to the hungry people, allowing the hungry people to eat far and near. With Li Zicheng's call and support, hungry people from far and near opened the government's warehouses, opened up the granaries and cellars of Fu Wang Zhu Changxun and wealthy households, and seized tens of thousands of dan of grain, hundreds of thousands of money, and various other financial items. The wealth of silver is incalculable.
In addition to part of the money and grain being used to help the hungry people and win people's hearts, most of it was used by Li Zicheng as military supplies. The bandit battalions also raided and looted the big houses and merchants in Luoyang City, and a few days later they even began to burn and kill ordinary people. Loot.
Fortunately, both Li Yan and Li Dingguo saw that the situation was a little out of control, and spoke to Li Zicheng one after another. Li Zicheng stepped forward to restrain the troops, and the situation was stopped.
"Luoyang's new location is shocking."
Then, Li Zicheng stationed the old battalion, the middle battalion, and the firearms battalion in Luoyang City. The front battalion marched to Kaifeng, the rear battalion marched to Heshuo, and the left battalion and right battalion also began to raid surrounding counties and counties. For a time, documents requesting troops and reinforcements from various states and counties in Henan flew to Kaifeng and the capital like snowflakes.
When the news reached Beijing, all the officials in the court were horrified. Emperor Chongzhen was furious. Especially after hearing the fate of King Fu Zhu Changxun, he cried so hard that he almost fainted. He ordered the family members of General Wang Shaoyu to be sent into the army, and Henan Governor Li Fengxian was dismissed from office. Punishment.
Emperor Chongzhen once again issued an edict urging Yang Sichang to gather troops and march north to Henan, but the reply he received was that Yang Sichang was terminally ill, the Ming army in Huguang was short of money and food, and mutiny had begun. Please ask the court to allocate money and food to appease the morale of the army.
Emperor Chongzhen was stunned.
Since Li Zicheng captured Luoyang City, thieves and soldiers from all sides have gathered one after another. Li Zicheng's soldiers and horses have quickly grown, with millions of troops, and the soldiers and horses of each battalion have swelled in a very short period of time. , the military strength more than doubled.
Historical records: "The hungry people from far and near, carrying flags, rush to respond like running water, day and night. A million people are called out at once, and their power sets a prairie fire unstoppable. From then on, there was no strong city, no powerful enemy, and all the generals were Watch the wind and go away. That is to say, those who hold the yue promise themselves in name and integrity, but they only use their bodies to fight against the enemy."
In early February, soldiers from the front camp of the bandits began to besiege Kaifeng Mansion.
Some people died, but not completely...
