One consequence of Li Zicheng's desperate efforts to kill the feudal gentry was that as long as the Dashun army besieged the city, almost all the gentry in the city resisted to the death.
All the gentry who had fled to Taiyuan paid money to recruit young men.
In addition to the 23,000 Ming troops, more than 30,000 young men from Taiyuan City came to the city to help in the battle!
Although Dashun's army continued to attack fiercely, they were still helpless against Taiyuan City.
In the end, Li Zicheng could only follow Song Xiance's strategy and continue to build dams to flood Taiyuan.
However, the terrain of Taiyuan City is relatively high. If you want to flood Taiyuan, you will not be able to just build a dam. You will also have to dig a large number of diversion canals!
This is a huge project.
However, Emperor Li Zicheng of Dashun is currently not short of men. The Dashun army killed the gentry to divide the fields and won the support of the people.
In addition to the 300,000 Dashun troops who besieged Taiyuan City, he also recruited more than 300,000 people from nearby Shouyang, Yuci, Qingyuan, Jiaocheng and other places through an imperial edict.
Looking from the west city of Taiyuan, the dust is flying!
Both sides of the Fen River are full of people digging earth to build embankments or dig trenches.
Chongzhen saw it in his eyes and was anxious in his heart!
Yang Sichang and Wen Tiren were also at a loss. Li Xianzhong had no intention of going south to rob Chongzhen with Li Zicheng!
When Chongzhen learned that Li Xianzhong had not gone south, even his last hope was shattered!
He said angrily: "Li Xianzhong has always been cunning. He wants to use Li Zicheng's hand to get rid of me. Then he will attack Li Zicheng in the name of revenge for me!"
"This traitor, I can say that he will definitely become self-reliant in the future!"
Yang Sichang and Wen Tiren looked at each other, Your Majesty has lost his temper!
As long as you understand this kind of thing in your heart, how can you say it directly?
They quickly knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, don't worry, I will do my best to defend Taiyuan City!"
Wen Tiren added: "Taiyuan is a famous place of Longxing in history. As long as we hold on to Taiyuan, I believe the current situation will definitely change!"
They have to hold on again, but now they really have no other way out except holding on.
Recently, Chongzhen's mood has been getting worse and worse. He has also changed his previous simple style and started drinking!
It turned out that there was still a Queen Mother, Zhang Yan, who could admonish His Majesty, but now that Zhang Yan was separated during the escape, Empress Zhou was unable to admonish Chongzhen at all.
I can only watch him drink away his sorrows!
After drinking, Chongzhen became more and more angry as he thought about it, so he said to Wang Chengen: "Go and find Li Xianzhong's wife, Haqiya, and let her drink with me!"
Seeing that Wang Chengen was hesitant, Chongzhen said: "He Li Xianzhong plots my empire and the Ming Dynasty. What's wrong with me venting to his wife?"
"Hurry up and go!"
In desperation, Wang Chengen had to briefly groom the handyman Haziya, change her clothes, and send her to Chongzhen.
Ever since Zhu Yousong became emperor, her life has been getting worse and worse, and Chongzhen took it out on their mother and son at every turn!
Moreover, they were closely guarded, even the Queen Mother Zhang Yan could get lost, but Hazia, the hostage, was taken with her immediately.
It's a pity that Chongzhen didn't know that the "trump card" he thought he had in his hand was just a useless card!
At this time, Chongzhen's face was red and he was smelling of alcohol. It was obvious that he had drunk too much!
After seeing Hazia arriving, he shouted loudly: "Sinful woman Hazia, why don't you pour me some wine!"
Although she was reluctant in her heart, Hazia still forced a smile on her face, picked up the wine bottle and poured wine into Chongzhen's cup!
Unexpectedly, Chongzhen grabbed her body and held her in his arms!
Chongzhen said proudly: "No matter how powerful Li Xianzhong is, his wife still has to serve me obediently!"
Unexpectedly, Hazia said: "I am indeed the woman of Li Xianzhong, the prince of Liaodong County, but I am not the princess Hazia. My name is Sutai, and I was originally the third concubine of Lin Dan Khan."
"In the sixth year of the Apocalypse, after the prince of Liaodong County captured the city of Chahanhot, he took all the eight concubines of Lin Dan Khan as his concubines."
"I am the niece of Ye He's right guard Jin Taiji. Speaking of which, I am indeed related to Haziya!"
Although Luo Yangxing had reminded himself before that Li Xianzhong's two legitimate sons had probably been transferred by him, Chongzhen never expected that even Haqiya was a fake.
He pushed Su Tai to the ground.
Then he said fiercely: "So what? I just want to play with the woman that Li Xianzhong played with!"
Su Tai said: "Su Tai is lucky to be able to serve His Majesty. It's a pity that the King of Liaodong County has never touched me. Not only me, he has never touched Lin Dan Khan's eight concubines."
"He accepted us just to appease the Eight Tribes of Chahar Alliance!"
"Li Xianzhong, the king of Liaodong, has always had women around him, but we are just his tools to appease the Jurchen Mongolian tribes!"
"In his eyes, the only real wives and concubines are Haziya, Hai Lanzhu and Bumbutai."
Chongzhen asked back: "Since you know that Li Xianzhong only used you as a tool, why did you pretend to be his wife and come to die? This guy must have used some despicable means to force you to do something wrong, right?"
Su Tai smiled and said: "Your Majesty did not force Su Tai. I am Yehe Jurchen, and there is no support from the Chahar Eight Tribes Alliance. My son Ezhe can only rely on Li Xianzhong if he wants to gain a foothold in the Chahar Tribe." support!"
Chongzhen said disdainfully: "That's not to use your son's future to force you. Of course Li Xianzhong will not come forward personally. He has many 'legs' to hint you!"
Su Tai said: "It seems that His Majesty does not understand his opponent. Although Su Tai does not have much contact with the prince, he actually prefers to use conspiracy!"
"Whether the prince is marrying Haqiya from the Yehe tribe or marrying Hailanzhu Tongbumubutai in order to win over Horqin Mongolia, everyone on the grassland knows when he is hiding it!"
"Including his support of Zai Sai from the Huahua Club to fight against Lin Dan Khan, it was all done openly."
"But there's nothing you can do against him!"
"The Mongolian and Jurchen tribes regard him as the 'Khan of Heaven' because he can provide us with trade and security, but the emperor of the Ming Dynasty cannot do these things!"
"When he risked his life to rescue Ye He's tribe for Haqiya, he made everyone believe that a marriage with Li Xianzhong is far more reliable than a title from the Ming Dynasty!"
Su Tai's words made Chongzhen begin to reflect on Ming Dynasty's policy towards the Mongolian grassland for the first time!
The Ming Dynasty's policy of "not making peace with each other" has always been a sign of itself being stronger than the previous dynasty.
But if you don't want to make peace with others, you don't necessarily have to refuse others to make peace with you.
Li Xianzhong's "pull one, hit one" method is not very clever.
In fact, the Ming Dynasty has always used it. The Ming Dynasty often roped in Wala to fight against the Tatars, or did the opposite!
But it's really not as effective as Li Xianzhong's marriage.
For so many years, the Ming Dynasty never actually occupied the Yinshan Hetao.
But Li Xianzhong did it. Not only did he actually control a large area of grassland in Monan, but he also made various Mongolian Jurchen tribes work for him and worked for him wholeheartedly!
Not only Jurchen Mongolia, but also Korea and Ryukyu!
Su Tai was right, Li Xianzhong's conspiracy was more terrifying than the conspiracy.
Just like he supported Zhu Yousong to fight against him, couldn't these people who took refuge in him see the thoughts behind Li Xianzhong?
They just pretended not to see it.
Zhu Yousong gave them a "fig leaf" to continue to be loyal to the Ming Dynasty!
Chongzhen hated himself for not being able to see through Li Xianzhong's conspiracy earlier!
But now besides drinking to drown his sorrows and numbing himself with alcohol, what else can he do?
In the end, Chongzhen got himself so drunk that he fell asleep!
In his dream, he dreamed of the turbulent waters of the Fen River coming in, directly flooding Taiyuan City and breaking down the city walls.
The intruders took the opportunity to invade Taiyuan City.
They burned, killed, looted and committed all kinds of crimes. Countless soldiers and civilians of the Ming Dynasty were killed by these bandits, and the whole Taiyuan City was dyed red with blood.
Yang Sichang, Wen Tiren, Luo Yangxing and other ministers who were loyal to him all died in the battle!
In the end, the bandits invaded the Jin Palace, and Wang Chengen led a group of martial eunuchs holding swords and guns in front of him.
But they were eventually outnumbered and killed by the intruders!
Wang Chengen was stabbed several times and fell to the ground. He used his last strength to shout: "Your Majesty, run!"
There are thieves all around, where else can I run?
He ran as hard as he could, and he didn't know how long he ran, and finally he ran under a crooked-neck tree!
At this time, Li Zicheng and others chased after him and forced Chongzhen under the big tree!
Li Zicheng shouted: "Child Chongzhen, as long as you surrender to me, I will spare your life!"
"No, never, I will never surrender to the bandits! The Ming Dynasty only has kings who died in battle, not emperors who surrendered!"
After he finished speaking, the group of thieves laughed.
Finally, Chongzhen took off his belt and prepared to hang himself!
At this critical moment, Yu Qianyu Shaobao appeared. With a wave of his hand, countless Ming Dynasty elites in armor descended from the sky and beat away these bandits!
Yu Qian told him that there would be loyal ministers who would stand up to defend the Ming Dynasty.
But when Chongzhen asked who the loyal minister was, Yu Qian just responded with a charming smile!
No matter how he asked, Yu Qian remained silent!
Not long after, Wang Chengen woke Chongzhen up. He said anxiously: "Your Majesty, something is wrong. The bandits have begun to flood Taiyuan City!"
At this time, Chongzhen woke up from his dream. The dream just now was too real.
So Te pinched his thigh hard, and the intense pain told him that he was not dreaming now.
The thieves actually flooded Taiyuan. Could it be that my dream came true? He hurriedly came to the city wall, only to see that the bandit camp outside the city was directly washed away by the flood. Countless bandit soldiers were struggling in the flood!
I saw Yang Sichang saying excitedly: "Congratulations, Your Majesty, before the bandits' aqueduct was completed, the dam was washed away by the flood ahead of time. Now, instead of being able to flood Taiyuan, they have flooded their own camp!"
After Yang Sichang finished speaking, the officials in the city also said excitedly: "Your Majesty, your Majesty will bring great blessings to the sky, and the thieves will collapse without a fight!"
Chongzhen shouted excitedly: "Yang Qing, the enemy troops are in chaos outside the city. We just took advantage of the situation to rush out of the city and beat the bandits hard."
Yang Sichang said awkwardly: "Although the main force of the bandits is indeed in the south of the city, and they were indeed hit hard by the flood, the main force of the bandits in the other three directions is still there."
"Our army can still hold on relying on the city wall. Although a risky attack can severely damage the bandits, it is also likely to be besieged by the bandits! I suggest that it is better not to act rashly!"
Chongzhen asked helplessly: "Are we just going to miss this opportunity?"
Yang Sichang and others all bowed their heads and remained silent!
When several people were embarrassed, suddenly a soldier came to report: "A large number of Ming troops have appeared in the north of the city and are fighting with the bandits!"
Ming army, could it be that Li Xianzhong's Liaodong army has gone south?
In any case, Taiyuan has now ushered in a turning point?
They rushed to the north of the city immediately!
When Chongzhen and others arrived at the north of the city, there was already a melee under the city.
At this time, thousands of cavalry led by Liu Fangliang were fighting fiercely with the Ming army's cavalry.
Obviously, the flooding of the south camp of the city affected the morale of the intruders, and in addition, they were no match for the Ming army's cavalry.
I saw more and more cavalry falling down in the intruder army, and they would soon be unable to hold on.
What's even more exciting is that the person leading the army is actually Datong's Commander-in-Chief of the Army, Pu Tongxuan, and Liang Tingdong, the Grand Governor!
After Wang Pu's defeat, he originally wanted to return to Datong, but unexpectedly the Ming army in Datong had surrendered to Li Xianzhong. At this time, he happened to encounter Yuan Chonghuan's troops who had retreated from Zhili to Shanxi.
At this time, Yuan Chonghuan still had 20,000 elite Ming troops in his hands, so he persuaded Wang Pu to go to Taiyuan with him.
On their way south, they encountered Liang Tingdong's troops who had also retreated.
In this way, Yuan Chonghuan had 26,000 men in his hands, including 6,000 cavalry in addition to his 20,000 infantry.
However, to face the 300,000 Dashun Army, this force was still not enough. They could only wait for the opportunity in Xinzhou, north of Taiyuan.
After discovering that the bandits were preparing to flood Taiyuan again, Yuan Chonghuan knew that his opportunity had come.
So they took advantage of the Dashun army's unpreparedness and occupied the dike in one fell swoop. Then, while the diversion canal was not yet completed, they directly opened up the dike.
Then they took advantage of the flood raging in the south of the city and quickly sent troops to attack the north of the city.
When Chongzhen discovered that Yuan Chonghuan's army had arrived in Taiyuan, he became even more convinced that Yuan Chonghuan was the man who saved the Ming Dynasty as mentioned by Yu Qian in his dream.
The Dashun army in the north of the city was not large in number, with a total of 50,000.
But there were not many cavalry, only five thousand at most.
Both sides understand that the key to victory or defeat actually depends on the cavalry. As long as their cavalry can defeat the other party, they can easily crush the other party's infantry.
Obviously Xuanda's cavalry is better!
After gradually defeating the Shun army's cavalry, they began to attack the bandits' infantry.
Both Wang Pu and Liang Tingdong were actually holding their breath in their hearts. They had fallen into the bandits' scheme before.
I saw the Ming army's cavalry like several sharp spears constantly penetrating the intruder's infantry formation.
Wherever the cavalry passed, Dashun's infantry were constantly killed.
At this time, Yuan Chonghuan's 20,000 infantry troops also pressed forward, and Shun's army was about to collapse.
At this moment, a cavalry group of thieves came over.
The general leading the army was none other than "One Tiger" Li Guo.
However, since the main force of the Dashun Army was in the south of the city and was struggling in the flood, it was impossible to go north to support them.
So Li Guo only brought 5,000 cavalry.
Seeing the arrival of his reinforcements, Shunjun, who was already on the verge of collapse, regained his energy.
In addition, the Ming army's cavalry had already withdrawn to fight Li Guo's cavalry, and their pressure was suddenly reduced a lot.
Actually, they were in a stalemate with Yuan Chonghuan's infantry invisibly!
Yang Sichang saw the situation and knew that the opportunity had come.
So he took the initiative to ask for a battle and led three thousand cavalry in Taiyuan City to kill them.
The Shun army did not expect that the Ming army in Taiyuan would also come out. Suddenly they were attacked from both front and rear. They collapsed instantly and ran away.
However, Yang Sichang was not too entangled by these defeated soldiers at this moment. He quickly led his cavalry to attack Li Guo from a flank.
Li Guo didn't have the advantage to begin with, but now that the situation was over, he had no intention of fighting anymore.
Before Yang Sichang's cavalry came to encircle him, he quickly retreated.
His retreat turned into a rout.
The Ming army's cavalry pursued them closely and covered them up all the way to the west of the city.
Although there were 300,000 people in the Chuang army, most of them were improvised ragtag groups or surrendered troops from the Ming Dynasty.
Such an army can fight smoothly with more people, but once Li Zicheng's old camp is defeated, they will have no fighting power at all.
The five thousand cavalrymen who followed Yang Guozhu before were forced to surrender to Li Zicheng and did not sincerely surrender!
Now that they saw the Ming army counterattack, they also took the opportunity to rebel and charge into the Shun army's formation.
When Li Yan and Song Xiance saw this situation, they knew that the battle was bound to be defeated, and quickly dragged Li Zicheng to retreat.
They first retreated to Yushe, and then fled south to Qinzhou.
After gathering the defeated troops in Qinzhou, there were only more than 30,000 people left.
Fortunately, Li Guo, Liu Fangliang and other generals were not damaged.
At this time, Li Zicheng still had Liu Zongmin's 100,000 troops outside Kaifeng, as well as more than 200,000 troops from Shaanxi and Henan, and the total force was still no less than 350,000.
However, he did not dare to stay in Shanxi any longer. He left a small number of troops to garrison several prefectures in Shanxi and Henan on the north bank of the Yellow River, then crossed the Yellow River and retreated to Luoyang!
Chongzhen, who survived the disaster in Taiyuan City, ordered the construction of Yu Qian Temple in Taiyuan.
Yuan Chonghuan was also named Zhongyi Bo in recognition of his impressive record of rescuing the enemy in Taiyuan and defeating the 300,000-strong army.
At the same time, Liang Tingdong and Yang Sichang, who had made great achievements in defeating the enemy, were also named Zhongyongbo and Zhongqinbo respectively.
After receiving the title, several people were filled with gratitude to Chongzhen.
Now Chong Chongzhen finally figured it out. He had to use his title to win over these people under his command, so that they would be willing to work wholeheartedly for him.
If he still sticks to the rules, then sooner or later these people will go to Zhu Yousong. No matter what, he has to return to Nanjing first.
Naturally, he no longer mentioned Fengyang at this moment. Fengyang was so close to Shandong controlled by bandits, how could he stay still?
Although Wen Tiren, the first assistant, was a little angry, there was nothing he could do about it. The ancestral system of the Ming Dynasty had always been that no one could be awarded a title without military merit.
Although the knighthood of these people was a bit excessive, after all, they had contributed to the rescue, and it was hard for others to say anything.
When the time came, Chongzhen said: "If you can defeat the thief with 30,000 yuan and 300,000 yuan, I will also grant you a title!"
However, Taiyuan was not a place to stay for a long time, and Chongzhen soon started his journey south from Taiyuan.
After the news that Yuan Chonghuan defeated Li Zicheng's 300,000-strong army in Taiyuan reached Beijing, Li Xianzhong was also very shocked.
He did not expect that Yuan Chonghuan, who ran away from Zhili, would become the key to the final break!
At this time, Zhu Yousong had arrived in the capital from Kaiyuan and officially settled in Qianqing Palace.
The Hongguang court, which was originally located in Kaiyuan, has also moved to the capital!
Now that Zhili has been basically taken over by them, Shandong has not yet been completely resolved.
Originally, he had planned to let Li Zicheng kill Chongzhen, and then take advantage of the situation to regain the country under the banner of revenge against Chongzhen.
Now it seems that things have changed. Chongzhen's fate is quite strong, so he decided to take action himself!
On the first day of September in the first year of Hongguang (the fourth year of Chongzhen), Li Xianzhong, the king of Liaodong County in the Ming Dynasty, invited Hongguang Emperor Zhu Yousong to personally lead an army to the south to completely eliminate the puppet emperor Chongzhen.
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(End of chapter)
