In the Chinese military tent of the Chuang Army camp outside Xiguan of Kaifeng City, Chuang King Li Zicheng was making arrangements for the siege. He said: "Erhu, you lead three thousand men and horses, plus the three thousand men and horses of the earthen jar, the total is six thousand men." Thousands of men were responsible for attacking the north gate;
Liu Fangliang leads two thousand men and horses, plus Yi Dougu's three thousand men and horses, a total of five thousand men are responsible for attacking the south gate; Gu Ying, you lead four thousand men and horses to attack the east gate and Cao gate.
Although these three sides of yours are not the main attack, you should not be careless. You must also attack seriously. You must contain the soldiers and civilians defending the city on these three sides so that they do not have any spare power to support the west gate. "
After everyone agreed, Li Zicheng said again: "All armies should hurry up and build ladders to climb the city. While climbing the city, they can dig the city. Each general will organize an old battalion to supervise the team. If there is no way to attack the city, fail to climb the city, or dig the city, there will be no bricks. Those who do so will be beheaded in public display to rectify the morale of the army."
"Yes." All the generals in the camp agreed in unison.
"After lunch tomorrow, the north, east, and south sides will take the lead in attacking the city to contain the soldiers and civilians defending the city. Although the west city is my main attack direction, I will launch the offensive last."
After the discussion, the generals ate their meals together in King Chuang's army tent, and then retreated to prepare for the siege.
King Chuang left Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Li Yan, and Liu Zongmin behind to discuss specific strategies on how to attack Ximen.
Li Zicheng asked: "Jixuan, is there any news from Li Xianfeng and Chen Yongfu?"
"There is no new news yet. When we set off, they were still in Meng County. After crossing the river, they still wanted to attack Luoyang. It will take at least five or six days until they know that we have transferred to attack Kaifeng and then lead the army back to support. ." Liu Zongmin replied.
Li Zicheng asked again: "There is no news about the army that attacked Yanshi before?"
Liu Zongmin replied: "Not yet. Two days before my army set off, they abandoned Yanshi and crossed the Yellow River to go north. Everyone speculated that their troops were not injured and they should have avoided the sharp edge of our army.
However, the Yellow River is wide and the current is fast, making it difficult to cross the river back and forth. Although some brothers were sent to the north bank for activities, the news was not delivered in time.
However, although this unit is a frontier army and has some combat capabilities compared to the local officers and soldiers in Henan, so what? With all the elite of our army gathered here, we can still be afraid of thousands of other officers and soldiers. "
Li Zicheng then asked Song Xiance, Li Yan and others for their opinions. They could not come to Kaifeng in vain. No matter what the outcome, this battle would have to be fought. However, the whereabouts of Zhang Cheng's border troops were uncertain, but they had to Defend.
Chuang Wang finally said: "Kaifeng must be attacked, but we also have to guard against Chen Yongfu and Naxuan Town Zhang Cheng.
Jiexuan, you choose two thousand elite infantry, plus the three thousand cavalry, to keep as a reserve force. They will not participate in the siege for the time being, in case Chen Yongfu or Zhang Cheng suddenly emerges. "
Niu Jinxing said at this time: "With this distribution, will the main attack force on Ximen's side be less?"
Li Zicheng smiled and said nothing. He turned to look at Liu Zongmin and heard Liu Zongmin say: "It doesn't matter. My five thousand will not participate in the siege for the time being, but if the siege goes well, they can also join the battle at a critical moment.
What's more, after we came from Zhongmou, we also gathered some people, so that we could send the sergeants to climb the ladder to climb the city, and drive the hungry people to dig bricks under the city wall, so that we would not have to worry about insufficient siege troops. "
He said it very naturally, as if it was a common and normal thing.
Although the expression on Gu Song Xiance's face was a little unnatural, it flashed by and returned to its original state in an instant, while Li Yan was hesitant to speak. Fortunately, he glanced at Song Xiance out of habit. Otherwise, it is very likely that someone will stop him verbally.
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The invaders outside Kaifeng City were piled up in piles, digging trenches to build strongholds, chopping wood to collect water, burying pots to make rice, cutting wood to make ladders and other siege equipment. They were very busy.
They were still immersed in the excitement of easily conquering Luoyang City, fully thinking that Kaifeng Fucheng would be captured in just a few days like Luoyang.
It was like this outside the city, and the soldiers and civilians inside the city did not have a moment to rest. They were all organized, and the pitifully few guards became the leaders of each team. They were leading the soldiers and civilians to assign various tasks on the city wall. The team's defensive position began to conduct some defense drills.
Many wealthy families had fled into Kaifeng City before, and there were also many wealthy gentry families in the city. Under the call of the King of Zhou and the government, they all contributed money and food to temples, temples, etc. in the city. In places full of refugees, porridge shacks were set up for relief. To calm the people's hearts.
On the streets in the city, there were also groups of armed soldiers parading around to practice their bravery. Other men who were not selected as soldiers were demolishing the houses near the city walls, and all the bricks, stones and wood were demolished. It was carried up the city wall to defend the city.
Every gate in the city was blocked with sandbags by the military and civilians. Only the north gate was left unblocked, but many sandbags were piled in the door opening to prepare for blocking the city gate at any time.
The reason why they left the north gate open and not blocked it was because the official Huang Shu went north from here to Taojiadian to beg for help. Once the reinforcements arrived, there was always a way to enter the city. Even if the reinforcements did not arrive, Huang Shu would still have to enter the city.
Even women were organized and began to set up tents, build stoves, grind flour, and pick vegetables on the streets to prepare food for the officers and soldiers guarding the city.
People in Kaifeng City are busy. In order to defend Kaifeng City, the people are very enthusiastic.
After all, these days, the government has been claiming that the bandits have invaded Luoyang, and that every tenth person in the city has been looted. The men have been chopped down, and the women have been taken into the bandit camps for the bandits and generals to do whatever they want. ravaged.
The warehouses of the government have been opened, and all kinds of equipment and ordnance used to defend the city have been carried out and transported to various city walls. Grain, rice and flour are distributed to the women gathered everywhere for cooking. vegetable.
Since most of the rebels gathered outside the west gate, patrol officer Gao Mingheng and others determined that the rebels were mainly attacking the west gate, so they moved a few artillery pieces from other walls to the west wall to strengthen the city defense.
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When night fell that night, the rebels were everywhere outside Kaifeng City. Although Kaifeng City could not be completely surrounded, all the gates facing the city were occupied by the rebels. It was almost impossible to get out of the city and enter the city.
Piles of bonfires were lit outside the city, the flames soared into the sky, and the red light illuminated the entire night sky. Bandits with loud voices kept coming to the city and shouting to the city, but the city was frighteningly quiet, without a single echo.
That night, the defenders and social soldiers patrolling the city wall kept patrolling back and forth. No one dared to take it lightly and spent a cold night in fear.
At nightfall today, Gao Mingheng, the patrol commander of Henan Province, Liang Bing, an old official in charge of Taoist affairs from the left governor of Henan Province, and Cai Maode, the right chief ambassador of Henan Province, were riding in a sedan chair to the palace of the King of Zhou.
