"I finally got to see the fucking city of Beijing!"
The man who said this was a man in his late thirties, broad shoulders, bulging cheekbones, a particularly plump nose, a high nose bridge, thick eyebrows, and a pair of deep-set eye sockets, only one of which was bright and bright. The big eyes staring ahead at the huge castle shrouded in moonlight.
He was wearing a white pointed felt hat often worn by farmers in the northwest, with the tip folded down. Because it was mid-March of the lunar calendar, it was already approaching summer, and the weather was relatively warm, so he only wore a half-old blue cloth robe outside his armor. In order to show his special identity, he also wore a large bright red cloak outside his robe.
He was not standing on the ground staring at the city of Beijing, but riding on the back of a tall dark gray horse with white spots and a short mane and tail.
This strong man is Li Zicheng, the King of Chuang who stands at the pinnacle of his life!
Li Zicheng came from a humble background, just a commoner in Mizhi, Shaanxi Province. His family was fairly well off when he was young, so he attended private schools for several years and also learned martial arts. But when he grew up, natural and man-made disasters continued, and his family's financial situation plummeted. But he was lucky. He finally became a postman because he knew how to read and had some martial arts skills. Although they are not developed, they can still make ends meet. He didn't have any dissatisfaction, he thought he could live in peace and quiet.
Who would have known that the Ming Dynasty had a shamelessly stingy Emperor Chongzhen. In order to save a few pennies, he abolished many post stations and Li Zicheng lost his iron job. Later, because he had no income and was unable to repay his debts, he had a conflict with a fellow villager and beat him to death. Then, his wife committed adultery again and was killed by him. With two lives at stake, Li Zicheng had no choice but to go to Gansu to join the army with his nephew Li Guo. Of course, he joined the army and became a general.
If Yuan Chonghuan, who was favored by Emperor Chongzhen, had not killed Mao Wenlong, so that Huang Taiji had no worries and detoured to Rehe to enter the Kou capital in the second year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng might have served as an officer and soldier in Gansu for the rest of his life, and maybe he could have been a moderate military attaché. , became a loyal man who defended the Ming Dynasty. But something unexpected happened. The court was in a hurry and mobilized troops everywhere to rescue Beijing. It didn't know how it was planned. Anyway, even Li Zicheng's troops who were far away in Gansu were also transferred to Beijing.
It doesn't matter. If you really want to transfer Li Zicheng to the capital to fight with Lu Chou, he might be beaten to death and become a loyal martyr of the Ming Dynasty. But the Ming Dynasty court had no money, no money to pay the opening fee, and no money to make up for the arrears. As a result, a mutiny broke out before the troops even left Gansu. Li Zicheng, who could have been a good officer and soldier of the Ming Dynasty, became a rebel in the mutiny...
However, Li Zicheng, who could not be a postman or a loyal hero of the Ming Dynasty, realized the value of his life in the high-risk cause of rebellion and became an outstanding rebel worker. After fifteen or six years of hard work, he not only established the country, but also led tens of thousands of troops to rush out the city and fortress, sweeping through most of the Central Plains and reaching the gates of Beijing, the capital of the Ming Dynasty.
The next step is to conquer the city of Beijing. The Ming Dynasty, which has ruled the world for nearly three hundred years, will most likely collapse, and a new Dashun Dynasty will be born in the hands of Li Zicheng.
Li Zicheng's rebellion will also have the most satisfactory ending...
The final victory is finally in sight!
It is already Yin time on March 17, the first year of Dashun Yongchang, almost three o'clock in the morning. Last night, Li Zicheng, who was in sight of victory, once again suffered from insomnia. He got up before the third watch. After breakfast, he left the Changping station and marched towards Beijing. His station in Changping was only more than 60 miles away from the Beijing city walls. After riding on horseback for about an hour, he had crossed the Shahe River, which was less than 40 miles away from the Beijing city walls. The huge Beijing city outline is vaguely visible.
However, the capital city under the morning light looked tall and solid, incomparable to any majestic city Li Zicheng had seen before.
Although Li Zicheng has destroyed many big cities in recent years, not many of them have succeeded in attacking them by force. The cities that fell into the hands of King Chuang's army either had few defenders or the defenders surrendered voluntarily. When encountering a fortified city that really resisted tenaciously, such as Kaifeng, King Chuang's army fought three times in a row and suffered a lot. Finally, they succeeded by breaking open the Yellow River dam and flooding the city of Kaifeng. Li Zicheng's left eye was also shot blind by a Ming army's arrowhead under Kaifeng City, and he became a one-eyed dragon.
And the city defense of the capital is obviously stronger than that of Kaifeng! Moreover, there is no water from the Yellow River to flood the city of Beijing. As for the surrender of the defenders, it should be impossible... The people guarding Beijing are Emperor Chongzhen and his Beijing soldiers! Will they surrender? Unlikely?
Thinking of the heavy losses in the offensive and defensive battle of Beijing, Li Zicheng couldn't help but cast his eyes on the high morale old battalion generals of the brigade passing by him. Li Zicheng's old camp soldiers were all dressed similarly to him, wearing white felt hats and blue shirts. Most of them were on horseback, and only a small part were on foot.
The so-called Laoying refers to the five elite battalions responsible for siege and field operations formed by Li Zicheng in the spring of the 16th year of Chongzhen's reign in Xiangjing. They are the Zhongquan pro-army led by Quan General Liu Zongmin, the left camp led by Control General Liu Fangliang, Yuan Zong's right camp led by Control General Liu Xiyao, and the rear camp led by Control General Li Guo.
However, Li Zicheng did not bring all the elite soldiers of the five battalions with him. Among them, the right battalion led by Yuan Zongdi was sent to Huguang and Henan due to Zuo Liangyu's restraint. The First Division of the Zhongquan Pro-Army led by General Quan Liu Zongmin and Liu Fangliang's Zuoying left Taihang in the west, entered northern Henan and southern Zhili, attacked Baoding, and surrounded the capital from the south.
Therefore, the only old battalions following Li Zicheng now include the two battalions at the front and the front and the First Division of the Zhongquan Pro-Army, with a total strength of only more than 40,000 people. In addition, there were newly attached troops led by Ming generals such as Tang Tong, Wang Chengyun, and Chen Yongfu, plus the rebels and local bandits who joined the Dashun Army during Li Zicheng's march. The total strength was only more than 80,000. After joining forces with Liu Zongmin and Liu Fangliang, Li Zicheng's total military strength was only a little over 100,000.
If a hundred thousand troops were stationed under the fortified city of Beijing and could not be conquered for a long time, and reinforcements from the Ming Dynasty arrived one after another, there would be variables in the battle of Beijing.
Li Zicheng's thoughts had been seen through by his counselor dressed as a Confucian scholar. He saw this man riding his horse forward, came to Zicheng's side, and asked in a low voice: "Is your Majesty worried that the capital city will be insurmountable?"
Li Zicheng smiled: "Jun En still knows what I'm thinking, but do you have any clever plans to break the city?"
The counselor's name is Gu Junen, who is from Zhongxiang, Hubei. The policy policy adopted by Li Zicheng after he established power in Xiangjing was "take Guanzhong first to establish the country, then attack three other areas to capture Shanxi, and then attack the capital, with more than enough room for advance and retreat", which was proposed by Gu Junen.
So far, this route to conquer the world seems to be quite correct. Therefore, Li Zicheng trusted Gu Junen very much and regarded him as a confidant.
"Your Majesty," Gu Junen said with a chuckle, "The art of war goes like this: attack the city from the bottom, attack the heart from the top. Since your Majesty's Eastern Expedition, almost all the big cities that have been conquered have been to attack the heart. Only Ningwu failed to attack the heart and had to fight bloody battles. Attack the city and suffer heavy losses.”
Li Zicheng nodded: "Well, I'm worried that the Ningwu incident will happen again in Beijing! We only have so many elite veterans in the old battalion. If we lose too much in Beijing, I'm afraid that all our previous efforts will be wasted. Besides, the Emperor of the Zhu family has already withdrawn the Wu family soldiers outside the pass, and he doesn't know. I’ll call you anytime.”
The news that Chongzhen had withdrawn Guan Ning's army and returned to aid the capital was reported to Li Zicheng by Tang Tong and Du Zhizhi. Moreover, Li Zicheng also knew that Guan Ningjun was more powerful, so he was worried. Don't let yourself be beaten to death in the city of Beijing. Guan Ning's army happened to kill him over there and wiped out his old camp. This is a big loss for Dafa!
"Your Majesty can negotiate peace with the Emperor of the Zhu family." Gu Junen offered his advice.
"Negotiating a peace?" Li Zicheng was stunned, "We have already killed all the people in the capital, why do we want to negotiate a peace? On what terms?"
"The conditions are not important," Gu Junen said with a smile, "What is important is that through the peace negotiation, the officials in the capital and the soldiers in the capital will know that His Majesty is kind and unwilling to kill more, and is also willing to recruit surrenders and rebels.
Now in the city of Beijing, I am afraid that only the Emperor of the Zhu family cannot surrender. Others will more or less have the idea of opening the city gates to welcome the new Lord. What they were worried about was whether they could save their lives and wealth after surrender. If His Majesty can reassure them, I am sure that Beijing will be able to do so easily. "
Li Zicheng laughed loudly when he heard this: "You are really kind to Zhuge Kongming! Just as you said, we will negotiate peace with the Emperor of the Zhu family. But who should be called?"
Gu Jun'en said: "Of course we should call Du Xun or Du Zhizhi, who are favored by His Majesty... If people in Beijing see that such despicable and dirty eunuchs can be used by Your Majesty, what else should they worry about?"
