The highly motivated invading army under Luoyang City was rushing towards Kaifeng from six hundred miles away like a roaring mountain and a tsunami. At this time, Kaifeng was like an empty city without defenders.
There were originally several official troops in Kaifeng City, including the Xiebiao Battalion led by Deputy General Chen Yongfu, and the guerrilla battalion led by guerrilla generals Gao Qian and Zhang Dechang.
However, the situation in Luoyang was critical at the time, and they had already rushed to Luoyang under the leadership of Henan Governor Li Xianfeng. In short, there were no officers and soldiers in Kaifeng at this time.
Chuang Wang Li had wanted to seize the opportunity to attack Kaifeng since he was born. After he learned that Kaifeng was an empty city, he was even more excited and firmly believed that the opportunity was not to be missed.
On December 21, the thirteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, the main force of nearly 30,000 intruders set out from Luoyang and marched for three days and nights without rest, heading straight for Kaifeng.
I am really impatient and my troops are very quick!
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In Kaifeng, a famous ancient city, when Li Zicheng led his bandits to besiege Luoyang, except for the governors, generals and other officers and generals in the city who were responsible for their duties, they were in panic and anxious all day long.
Other officials, gentry, merchants and common people in the city only used it as a source of conversation. No one thought that Luoyang City would be so easily captured by the bandit army.
Now we have just passed the Little New Year. As the old saying goes, "After the Little New Year, it is the New Year."
The city of Kaifeng is filled with the joy of celebrating the New Year. Colored lanterns are hung high in the streets and people are coming and going. As in previous years, everyone is preparing various items needed for the New Year.
What is slightly incongruous with this festive atmosphere is the constant stream of refugees pouring into Kaifeng every day.
Since the time when thieves invaded western Henan, the rich and powerful people from the surrounding areas of Kaifeng Prefecture, the "clothes clan", as well as the wealthy gentry and landowners, have all moved to the city to take refuge. Even the wealthy people from the surrounding counties and cities
Most households also avoid Kaifeng.
Nowadays, the poor people from the surrounding villages and towns are rushing to Kaifeng Fucheng with their carts and donkeys. They come in groups with large and small packages. Many people even rush outside the city gates at night to wait for dawn.
Just like in the second year of Tianli in the Yuan Dynasty, there was a severe drought in Guanzhong, Shaanxi, and the hungry people ate each other. When Zhang Yanghao, the Prime Minister of Shaanxi Province, went to Taichung to provide disaster relief, he passed by Tongguan and was inspired by it. He wrote the poem "Shanshan Sheep·Tong Caring for Ancient Times" that spans ancient and modern times.
As described in "
"The peaks and ridges are like clusters, and the waves are like raging. The mountains and rivers are inside and outside the Tongguan Road. Looking at the Western Capital, I feel hesitant. I am sad that wherever the Qin and Han Dynasties traveled, thousands of palaces and palaces have been turned into dirt.
When it prospers, the people suffer! When it dies, the people suffer!"
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For the sake of Kaifeng's safety, although the original officers and soldiers were taken away by Governor Li Xianfeng to rescue Luoyang, there were still a few officers and soldiers directly under the government offices in Kaifeng City.
Although they are not as capable as the officers and soldiers of the Xiebiao Camp and the Ranger Camp, they are much stronger than ordinary people. In addition, there are hundreds of guards at each city gate. This is the only military force in Kaifeng.
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However, Henan Governor Gao Mingheng was much smarter in his duties than Governor Li Xianfeng. He knew the importance of guarding Kaifeng City and the feudal vassal, and he was also someone who dared to take charge.
Since Li Xianfeng led Chen Yongfu and other generals to rush to Luoyang, he has been working with Liang Bing, the governor of Henan on the left, and Cai Maode, the governor of Henan Province, and Huang Shu, the official of Kaifeng Prefecture, and Sang Kaidi, the governor of Kaifeng.
The magistrate of the prefecture, Wu Shitao, and Su Zhuang, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, Wang Xie and other officials discussed the strategy of city defense.
In the end, it was agreed that although there were not enough officers and soldiers in the city, the people and strong associations could be organized to defend the city. Now there were hundreds of thousands of people in the city of Kaifeng, and there were many wealthy households and gentry. If you had money, you could contribute, but if you didn't have money, you would just contribute.
After the agreement was reached, Wang Xie, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, came forward to invite the city's prestigious officials, squires, and wealthy families to hold a meeting. There was a royal order from the King of Zhou, and there was a precedent for intruders to invade Luoyang. Naturally, everyone responded positively.
Finally, a plan was finalized to urgently organize the people to participate in the city defense.
There are a total of 84 folk houses in Kaifeng City. Each square is a community, and each community has fifty soldiers and civilians.
The principle of sending troops is that all the rich households in the community will bear the responsibility. The richer the family, the more soldiers will be sent out. If the family has one or two thousand taels of silver, one soldier will be sent out. It can also be done by two families.
One person will be sent out, and those with a family fortune of over 10,000 will be asked to send out two to three soldiers, and so on.
According to statistics, the eighty-four houses in Kaifeng City can produce a total of more than 4,000 soldiers and civilians. Each community then selects a president and vice president to lead the commune's soldiers.
In this way, all the soldiers of the eighty-four societies were divided according to the five city gates and designated to be responsible for assisting in the defense. If the intruders really came to attack Kaifeng, they would decide on a plan to deal with it accordingly.
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The sky is not bright yet, and there is only a glimmer of light on the eastern horizon, and then wisps of faint red clouds gradually appear.
The fires dotted outside the gates of Kaifeng City are still shining with unburned red light. Many poor people have endured the cold winter nights just to be able to enter the city early when the city opens for safety.
The sky gradually became brighter, and thousands of bright rosy clouds burst out from the eastern sky, illuminating half of the sky red.
The west gate of Kaifeng also slowly opened. The veteran soldiers guarding the gate led a group of social soldiers and began to check the people lining up to enter the city. These refugees in shabby clothes formed a sharp contrast with the colorful lanterns hanging high in the city.
But no one thought that this New Year in Kaifeng City would also be destined to be spent in a thrilling war.
And soon, we will have to go through brutal offensive and defensive battles. It is unknown whether Kaifeng will eventually be destroyed as it was in history, and hundreds of thousands of lives will be destroyed!
Perhaps because of the emergence of Zhang Cheng, history will not repeat itself again.
But who can be sure?
It's past midnight, and the sun is not as dazzling as in the past, but the places where the sun shines still make people feel the slightest warmth.
A group of about 300 official cavalrymen came galloping on horseback. They bypassed a small earthen city in the west of Kaifeng City and rushed straight to Xiguan.
When the people fleeing along the way saw them, they all ducked aside early and gave up the entire Zhongmou Avenue. The soldiers guarding the west gate tower also saw this official army from a distance, and they shouted: "Reinforcements, come on!"
Reinforcements are coming!"
The group of official cavalry rushed into Xiguan on horseback and could not go any further. At this time, the road was already crowded with refugees preparing to enter the city, and it was very crowded.
Even if those refugees wanted to avoid the menacing official cavalry, they had nowhere to retreat, and for a while they were crowded on the streets in Xiguan.
The defenders and soldiers in front of the west gate who were checking the civilian refugees entering the city also received the news from the city tower. Everyone thought it was the generals who had gone to Luoyang to help Luoyang and returned to Kaifeng, and they were all very happy.
While they hurriedly scolded the people entering the city to move aside to clear a passage for the cavalry to enter the city, they also sent people on horseback to report the good news to the officials in the city.