After Kaifeng City began to expand in the Later Zhou Dynasty, it had three layers of city walls: Luocheng, Inner City, and Palace City. Each layer of city wall was surrounded by a moat. Luocheng, also known as the New City, is mainly used for defense and has a circumference of thirty-eight miles. There are five gates in the south, four gates in the east and north, and five gates in the west, all including water gate.
The gates of Kaifeng City, both inside and outside, are equipped with barbicans, towers and watchtowers. Later Yuan Dynasty general Tai Buhua and others built gates on all sides of Bianliang, leaving only five gates to lead in, and the remaining eight gates were blocked. Eight of the original thirteen city gates were blocked, leaving only Lijing Gate, Renhe Gate, Nanxun Gate, Daliang Gate, and Anyuan Gate, which became Song Gate, Cao Gate, Dayan Gate, West Gate, and North Gate in later generations.
At this time, Li Zicheng led the army to form an array outside Daliang Gate, which is the west gate of Kaifeng City. Sixty or seven hundred thousand troops spread to the sky, extending from the west of Kaifeng City to the north and south, so that Liu Yan had to order Beicheng. , the defenders of Nancheng also strengthened their defenses, and the same happened in the east.
The flags of countless bandits outside the city were fluttering in the wind, cyan, white, black, yellow, and red. The flags of each battalion were clear. Li Zicheng used the soldiers and horses of the Firearms Camp as the forward center. Liu Fangliang led the Zuoying on the left wing of the Firearms Camp. Li Guo led The rear camp was on the right wing of the firearms camp, and the front camp led by Li Laiheng was located behind the firearms camp.
Behind these battalions of soldiers and horses, Li Zicheng personally led the elite troops of the Central Battalion as the Central Army. There were more than 200,000 elite soldiers of the Central Battalion, and their momentum was indeed extraordinary.
At this time, each battalion of the bandits was tightly organized into several, or even a dozen, small square formations. Between each square formation, there were many brave knights and scouts galloping continuously to deliver various messages to the army. throughout.
Liu Yan watched for a while and then said to Zhang Yi and Chen Yongfu beside him: "Li Zicheng has matured. In today's battle, we should hit the bandit army hard to weaken the enemy's arrogance!"
Chen Yongfu looked at the New Army's middle camp, artillery camp, cavalry battalion, and guard camp that had been formed outside the west gate. The artillery camp had deployed an artillery array in front of the army. Behind the artillery camp, the middle camp had 12,000 soldiers. The rest of the soldiers have completed their formation, followed by the guard battalion, which is arrayed against the city wall.
The soldiers of the cavalry battalion were also divided into two groups to protect the two wings of the army. Nearly 40,000 soldiers of the entire army were in full formation. Although they faced hundreds of thousands of enemy troops, the soldiers of each battalion of the New Army were as powerful as the enemy on the opposite side. The army is just a chicken and a dog, without the slightest hint of timidity.
At the same time, Chen Yongfu also ordered that most of the artillery on the walls of Kaifeng City be concentrated on the west wall. Liu Yan did not stop him. After all, more firepower would be a big help.
Kaifeng City is the capital of Henan Province. There are more than 200 artillery pieces of various types deployed on the city head, most of which are large and small Folang machine cannons, which have certain lethality against the army of bandits arrayed two miles away.
What Liu Yan values is the dozen or so Hongyi cannons on the top of the city. These Hongyi cannons are all heavy artillery weighing more than 5,000 kilograms. They can fire about ten kilograms of cannon. The range is three miles away, and they can effectively attack the bandit army. bombardment.
As the saying goes, veterans are afraid of guns and recruits are afraid of artillery. Although the strength of the bandit army has increased by leaps and bounds, there are still a large number of dead soldiers among them. There are still only a few elite soldiers who have truly fought in battles. Therefore, a large number of artillery can definitely effectively combat the bandits. The morale of the bandit army.
"grown ups,"
Chen Yongfu saw that the battalions of the new army had been formed, but the strength was a little thin, so he said: "Why don't the generals also lead their troops out of the city to fight. How can we fight against the bandits today? Our army's strength is a little thin."
Liu Yan looked at Chen Yongfu with a smile. Now Chen Yongfu was able to gather more than 4,000 people. However, the combat power of these people was uneven, and they still played a greater role in defending the city.
"There is no need for this battle, but Vice General Chen also has a mission. I also ask Vice General Chen to sit at the top of the city, listen to the orders of the town's central army, and bombard the slave bandit army with artillery at any time. In addition, Vice General Chen's soldiers will take over the defense in the south of the city as soon as possible so that we can How about the officers and men of the New Army's Zuoying camp gather here at the west city wall and wait for orders?"
Chen Yongfu clasped his fists and said, "I will obey your orders!"
After the deployment was completed, Liu Yan said to Zhang Yi: "If the war does not go well, you can take the Zuoying soldiers out of the city to respond and follow my orders."
"yes!"
Liu Yan rode his horse out of the city. When Liu Yan's banner appeared in the formation, nearly 40,000 soldiers from the New Army battalions outside the city cheered, and the roar of "Wan Sheng" rushed into the sky.
In the distance, Li Zicheng rode his horse to watch the formation. He was surrounded by the Central Camp Quan General Liu Zongmin, Quan General Tian Jianxiu, System General He Jin and others, Zuoying System General Liu Fangliang, Deputy System General Liu Xiyao and others, and former Camp System Generals Li Laiheng and Zuo Guo. General Yi Gu Kecheng and others, Houyingzhi General Li Guo, Zuo Guoyi General Zhang Neng and others.
As well as the firearms battalion general Li Dingguo, Zuo Guoyi general Sun Kewang, and right Guoyi general Ai Nengqi, they all gathered around Li Zicheng, and everyone also observed the military appearance and deployment of Liu Yan's new army.
In addition, Li Yan, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, and Gu Junen were standing beside Li Zicheng, exchanging opinions in a low voice. It was obvious that the appearance of Liu Yan's troops had made these four people anxious.
"Liu Yan's department deserves its reputation!"
After watching for a while, Li Zicheng sighed and said: "King Chuang has been in the world for many years and has seen many elite soldiers and horses of the court. Lu Xiangsheng's tribe, Cao Bianjiao's tribe, Cao Wenzhao's tribe, Yang Sichang's tribe, Fu Zonglong's tribe, etc. are all rare and powerful. army, but compared with Liu Yan’s troops, these soldiers and horses are far behind!"
"Liu Yan is indeed a fierce general who has severely damaged the Qing army several times. His troops are so powerful that they are rarely seen in the world!"
Li Zicheng praised Liu Yan fiercely here. Although Li Guo, Li Laiheng, Liu Zongmin and others around him felt uncomfortable, no one refuted it because Liu Yan's powerful army was opposite, and everyone was watching. In eyes.
Before Li Zicheng assembled his army, Li Dingguo, Ai Nengqi and Sun Kewang were shocked when they heard the news that Liu Yan and his troops had arrived. The bloody battle at Agate Mountain was still vivid in their minds. Not only did Liu Yan Wenxiu and Zhang Xianzhong were killed by Liu Yan, and the Daxi Army was almost completely wiped out. Li Dingguo and the other three were forced to flee, and then defected to Li Zicheng.
It can be said that the shock brought by Liu Yan's new army to the three of them has not diminished at all to this day. This is why Li Dingguo urged Li Zicheng to build a firearms camp.
The reason why Li Zicheng has assembled an army in the west today is because of the efforts of Li Dingguo, Sun Kewang, and Ai Nengqi to persuade them. The three believed that although Liu Yan's troops were small, their combat power was ridiculously strong, and the rebels could only shrink their troops to one. Only by relying on the superiority of troops can they be defeated.
Although Li Zicheng was wary of Li Dingguo and the others, he had also heard about Liu Yan's various realities, and he had developed a keen intuition after traveling around the world for many years, so he adopted the three people's suggestions, and then gathered his troops here.
At this time, Li Zicheng looked at Li Dingguo and the others and thought to himself: "The Firearms Battalion has been practicing for a long time, and I don't know how different it is from Liu Yan's new army!"
"Woo!"
Suddenly, horns sounded in the formation of the New Army in Qinglai Town ahead. Then Li Zicheng and others saw a red banner coming out of the west gate of Kaifeng City. Under the escort of a group of armored knights, they entered the New Army's formation. In the formation.
Immediately afterwards, tens of thousands of soldiers of the New Army roared like mountains and tsunamis, and the sound of "Ten Thousand Victories" resounded through the sky. The already high morale of the army was even higher. The soldiers of each battalion continued to pound the ground heavily with their weapons, making waves after waves. There was a loud noise, and hundreds of thousands of bandit soldiers and horses looked on with horrified faces. Many dead soldiers and infantrymen in each battalion retreated in fear. Captains, brigade commanders, headquarters commanders, and sentry commanders at all levels suppressed them one after another. He killed hundreds of people before stabilizing the morale of the army.
At this time, Li Zicheng and others were also shocked. The strong military posture of Liu Yan's troops shocked Li Zicheng and other bandit leaders. It seemed that this battle was difficult to fight!
"King Chuang, should our army continue to besiege Kaifeng City for the time being? The student expected that the stock of grain and grass in Kaifeng City will not be too much. Now that Liu Yan has tens of thousands more troops, the food consumption will definitely be faster. As long as our army continues to besiege , there will definitely be changes in Kaifeng City!"
On the side, Song Xiance shook his head and said, obviously not optimistic about the start of the war at this time, and hoped that Li Zicheng would withdraw his troops temporarily.
Niu Jinxing and Gu Junen also nodded in agreement. It was obvious that Liu Yan's toughness had made them want to quit.
Gu Junen said more directly: "Our army only gained its current momentum after being reorganized by King Chuang. It was hard-won. We cannot easily fight bloody battles with Liu Yan's troops. Even if we defeat Liu Yan's troops with superior strength, our rebel battalions will surely be defeated." There will be heavy casualties, and it will affect the process of becoming the king and dominating the world, and the gains outweigh the losses!"
Li Zicheng was noncommittal, looked at Li Yan, and asked, "What do you mean, Mr. Li?"
Li Yan thought for a while and said: "The student is thinking that there may not be much food in the city's treasury, but there are many palaces in Kaifeng, and each one is a huge granary. Maybe Henan Governor Gao Mingheng and deputy general Chen Yongfu did not dare to do anything, But students have heard about Liu Yan. He is a ruthless character who dares to think and do things. It is impossible to let the money and food of many princes go unused. He dares to rob it!"
"Liu Yan has all the money and food, Kaifeng City's strong defense, and tens of thousands of elite troops garrisoned. How long can he hold on? A month, a year, or a few years? Our rebel army, including the women and children accompanying the old camp, has a strong force With a population of over one million, the amount of money and food consumed every day is astronomical. If we don’t fight for the siege of the city, it’s our rebels who won’t be able to survive!”
Everyone had different expressions when they heard this. Song Xiance and Niu Jinxing even showed jealous and dissatisfied expressions, but they each covered it up.
Li Zicheng nodded after listening and said: "When Liu Yan's troops arrive in Henan, our army will have to fight with them sooner or later. Otherwise, with such a strong army on its side, our rebel army will not be able to accomplish anything. Therefore, today's bloody battle is here It’s inevitable!”
With Li Zicheng setting the tone, the generals of each battalion came to the battlefield to obey orders.
"In this battle, the firearms battalion took the lead. After the firearms battalion made progress, the left and rear battalions entangled Liu Yan's cavalry at all costs. As long as Liu Yan's cavalry was entangled and his artillery was suppressed by the firearms battalion, the front battalion began to attack Liu Yan's cavalry. The military formation!"
Li Zicheng looked around at everyone and said coldly: "In this battle, Liu Yan's tribe must be severely damaged. No one is allowed to retreat without the order of King Chuang. Anyone who disobeys the order will be killed without mercy!"
"Woo!"
Then the trumpets sounded in the bandit army formation. Starting from the middle camp where Li Zicheng was located, the flags of each battalion spread out like waves and shook violently. The knights of the brigade began to gather, and the scouts of each battalion began to mount their horses. Running wildly, the soldiers and horses of the brigade also began to cheer, and the battle was about to break out.
Liu Yan held up his telescope and looked ahead. He saw a large red flag advancing forward. It was the firearms camp of the bandit army. There were three large flags next to it, namely Li, Ai, and Sun. Liu Yan couldn't help but sigh: "Li Dingguo, the famous king of both worlds, I hope you won't die here in this battle, otherwise I will be very sad!"
Some people died, but not completely...
