On the afternoon of September 20, 13th year of Chongzhen, [] Zhang Linqi personally led most of the town to the Yujiadian Ferry on the north bank of the Yellow River. This place belongs to Kaifeng Prefecture, and not far from the Yellow River is Kaifeng City. Before he reached the Yellow River, he could hear the surging sound of water waves from afar.

Kaifeng is not far from Luoyang, only a few hundred miles away, and can be reached in a few days. According to the news sent by Li Sicheng, the vanguard troops have arrived in Zhengzhou, not far from Luoyang, and have fought with the small group of Li Zicheng's troops. However, they all left with one blow, and they did not really feel the strength of Li Zicheng's troops. However, in general, they can come and go with one blow, and the overall strength of these troops is still significantly higher than that of Zhang Xianzhong's troops...

The latest situation at this time was that Li Zicheng came to Henan and joined forces with Yidou Valley and Waguzi, with 300,000 troops. He defeated Lushan, Jiaxian, Lingbao and other counties in western Henan, and the officers and soldiers suffered a series of failures. The siege of Luoyang had formed a trend of siege, and Li Zicheng's attack on Luoyang became more and more obvious.

However, Zhang Linqi did not believe Li Zicheng's 300,000 troops. Like the government troops in various places in the Ming Dynasty, he had 10,000 soldiers. If he exaggerated dozens of times, he would dare to claim to have hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Zhang Linqi estimated that Li Zicheng sent troops to Henan and had about 100,000 or 20,000 troops. Even if he was a Dougu, the tiled jar, Li Jiyu and others surrendered. Even those hungry people who were desperate might have more than 100,000 people and 300,000 were just spreading rumors and hearing.

However, Zhang Linqi had a somewhat complicated relationship with defending Luoyang. Luoyang is a big city with nearly one million people, and these people absolutely need protection. However, Zhang Linqi sneered at the King of Fu who lived in it and the number of dragon sons and grandsons he reproduced. These people do not work in production, but only know how to enjoy the salary of the Ming Dynasty. They are typical borers.

People say that the vassal kings at the beginning were stronger than the other, like Zhu Di, or something. The vassal kings at the end of the Ming Dynasty were more like pigs. This King of Fu is a typical example. In the 13th year of Chongzhen, Henan was full of misery and fog. King of Fu was still living in the world, and he weighed 390 kilograms.

According to Zhang Linqi's break, his belly was so big that he was out of bounds. When King Fu stood up, he lowered his head and eyes and could not reach his feet because he was blocked by his stomach. Such people also had problems traveling, and he could not even sit in ordinary sedan chairs.

Moreover, this King of Fu is really as famous as his name. The people in western Henan are getting hungry and suffering. Li Zicheng is about to come to the city, but he is still only concerned about his own enjoyment. He lives a luxurious life and is full of money. He spends 100 gold every day. However, he refuses to take out grain and rice to provide relief to the victims.

In addition, King Fu also has another nickname, which the people call the Sanbuzhi Prince. The so-called Sanbuzhi Prince means that he does not know how much land he has, and he increases every day and does not know how much silver he has, and he increases every moment and does not know how many concubines he has. He often increases.

And what was the life of the people in western Henan at this time? According to records, in many places, it has reached the point where people eat each other. There are fathers and sons and wives and husbands, so guests who walk alone on the road do not dare to travel even in the east and west villages. Their clothes and movements are still the same, and their temperaments are shocked and suspected to be jackals...

Comparing King Fu’s flowers and wine, the huge King Fu Mansion, inside and outside the wall, there are two worlds. The road of the rich and the wine is frozen to death, which is a portrayal of the true comparison!

What about the soldiers guarding the city? Life is not good. But King Fu refused to use the money to motivate the soldiers guarding the city. Perhaps when he came and the court gave him a salary, these soldiers should sacrifice their lives to serve the country and defend Luoyang. Therefore, such a vassal king, regardless of the military and civilians, was very resentful.

The descendants of the Fu King's royal family in Luoyang are all birds of a feather like their ancestor Fu King. They are not only luxurious but also consume a lot of court salary. In the entire Luoyang, there are forty-eight princes, and there are many royal palaces in the city. In addition to the largest Fu King's Mansion, there are also the Qujing Palace, Huating Palace, Yuanwu Palace, Ruijin Palace, etc. They can be said to be a group of borers, and they are all rich!

Moreover, these dragon sons and grandchildren consumed the court's salary and bullied men and women, but they also owned a large number of fertile land. Their farmlands occupy at least half of Henan's land. Logically, these dragon sons and grandchildren originally had some fiefdoms, but they definitely did not have so many. However, if they had been entrenched in Henan for so many years, if they did not know how to use their privileges to capture land by taking advantage of their tricks, they would not be worms. Especially in the years of disasters such as drought or floods, it was a good opportunity for them to enclose land. And this kind of action was that even if the people sued the local government, no one would dare to care about them!

In addition, the taxes they set were extremely high. Basically, the farmers who farmed were able to barely fill their stomachs, and they would never accumulate surplus grain! These dragon sons and grandsons were like vampires, accelerating the poverty of the people in Henan. They were also a heavy burden for the Ming court!

Therefore, if Zhang Linqi had worked hard to lead the town and came from thousands of miles to defend such dragon sons and grandsons, Zhang Linqi would definitely be reluctant. In fact, Zhang Linqi had discussed this matter with Chongzhen.

Of course, Zhang Linqi said it more tactfully, and he tried his best to do it, but there were times when manpower was exhausted. If there was something unexpected happening to King Fu... Chongzhen was silent for a moment, and then the answer was to do his best and leave it to fate. With such an answer, Zhang Linqi had a clear mind.

This was just like his speculation. As a very thrifty emperor, Chongzhen tried hard to maintain the operation of the Ming court, but he watched the people of Fu Wang spend a lot of court salary and exploit a large number of Henan people, so that the people who could not survive could only surrender to the thief, and were also very angry.

But these words are hard to say clearly, so I can only keep them in my heart. Now, Zhang Linqi asked questions to reveal one or two of them vaguely. In this case, Zhang Linqi's heart will be clear. However, how to operate at that time will not hurt the people of Luoyang, but also let King Fu and others die of death. This is a question that needs to be studied. Of course, Zhang Linqi has already had a preliminary plan...

As for fighting against Li Zicheng's troops, Zhang Linqi had already set the tone. If he didn't move, he had to make the reputation of the town. If he moved, he would have to make the town famous. The attack was a thunder attack, which would make Li Chuang feel frustrated. In the future, he would run away when he saw the flag of the town.

Li Sicheng, Zhou Momo and others agreed with the tone set by Zhang Linqi. As part of the town, they knew the strength of the town best. Humph, is this something that Li Zicheng can match? They are full of confidence in Zhang Linqi and even more confident in the town!

According to the latest battle report sent by Li Sicheng, in addition to the increasingly obvious attack on Luoyang, Li Zicheng also vigorously cleaned up the cities around Luoyang to cut off internal and external contacts! A few days ago, the governor of Yuzhou Qian Zuozheng sent an emergency report for help. Tens of thousands of thieves attacked Yuzhou. The military situation was urgent, and the court hoped that the court would send troops to rescue immediately.

Yuzhou is a key transportation site, and it is a passage for peasant army to travel. At this time, some small counties around Luoyang City had fallen one after another, but the remaining Yuzhou Golden Roosters were independent. This must be taken down by Li Zicheng. This can also cut off the retreat path between the military and civilians in Luoyang City.

When Yuzhou was besieged, Henan's supreme leader, Li Xianfeng, the governor of Henan, was immediately panicked. However, when he received the troops of the general of Zhenguo who had arrived in Kaifeng Prefecture and the vanguard had arrived near Yuzhou, Li Xianfeng calmed down. While contacting Zhang Linqi urgently, he begged him to immediately join the battle against the bandits. While sending a messenger to inform the governor of Yuzhou Qian Zuozheng that reinforcements had arrived, there was no need to panic. Moreover, it was a famous town all over the world. I believe that wherever the army went, the bandits would be destroyed. As long as your troops held the city, it would be the greatest victory.

Zhang Linqi has also sent a visit to tell Li Sicheng that since bandits are rampant, give them some color. Don’t think that if I am the best in the world after winning a few county towns! So, the first formal battle between Zhen and Li Zicheng’s army officially started! This is also known as the Battle of Yuzhou in later generations!

On September 18, the 13th year of Chongzhen, after receiving a letter from Zhang Linqi, Li Sicheng led 5,000 towns and rushed to Yuzhou. Since the bandits overestimated their abilities, they would teach them a profound lesson. Li Sicheng arrived in Lushan first.

The local county town has long been razed to the ground, and the city walls on all sides are incomplete, with big holes everywhere, as if they were gnawed by dogs. Not to mention that one person can walk through these big holes, it is fine to drive a group of cattle through them. Not only that, even the houses in the county town were basically destroyed, leaving only broken bricks and tiles all over the streets. This is the "masterpiece" of Li Zicheng's army, commonly known as "shut down the city". This is also the experience obtained by Li Zicheng's generation through years of war. Every time he arrives, he will slaughter the barbarians, so as not to occupy the officers and soldiers again inconveniently attack them.

With such a scene, all the towns were filled with righteous indignation. Li Zicheng was so cruel. How could people survive in such a county town? Even if there were ordinary people who escaped into the mountains and forests by chance, they would not be able to survive when the bandits left. They became a pile of waste.

There are two ways to wait for these ordinary people to get out. One is to starve to death, and the other is to join the bandits to survive. Seeing a large army passing by, a group of ragged people emerged from somewhere. It would be more appropriate to say that they were like a group of ghosts. And they were all starving ghosts, all of whom were shaking in the wind, and they were hungry and there was no human being. If they weren't able to move, they would be almost the same as dead people!

"Ma disaster relief" Seeing this scene, Li Sicheng ordered his horse. Immediately, a gangster from the town began to make fires and cook to save these victims. This was also Zhang Linqi's explanation to Li Sicheng in advance. Not to mention humanitarianism, reliance on hungry people near the combat zone is very beneficial to the battle of Yuzhou. The hungry people in the areas where bandits are rampant often run away from each other. If the court gives them a bite of food, they will serve the court. If the bandits give them a bite of food, they will serve the bandits, and everything is just to survive.
Chapter completed!