Chapter 81: Xuanzhen Zhang Cheng had to guard against
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: "Er Hu, you lead 3,000 men, plus the 3,000 men from the earthen jar, the total is six."
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 make a real attack. 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 make 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, all the generals ate their meals together in King Chuang's army tent, and then retreated to prepare for the attack on the city.
King Chuang also 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 yet 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 also couldn't 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 be
Defend.
King Chuang 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 and not to 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 the Ximen 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 come from Zhongmou, we have packed up some people, so that we can send sergeants to climb the ladder to climb the city, and drive the hungry people to dig bricks under the city wall, so that we will not worry about insufficient siege troops."
He said it very naturally, as if it was a very common and normal thing.
Although the expression on Song Xiance's face was a little unnatural, it flashed by and returned to its original state in an instant. Li Yan was hesitant to speak. Fortunately, he glanced at Song Xiance out of habit. If
Otherwise, they will probably stop you verbally.
…………
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 build 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 City 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 the teams. They were leading the soldiers and civilians to assign various tasks on the city wall.
The team moved to the city's defensive position and began to conduct some city 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 one after another to provide 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. The 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 doorway 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 would always be a way to enter the city. Even if the reinforcements did not arrive, Huang Shu would still have to enter the city.
Even the women were organized and began to set up tents on the streets, build stoves, grind flour, pick vegetables, and prepare food for the officers and soldiers guarding the city and the soldiers.
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 to do whatever they want.
ravaged.
The warehouses of the government have been opened, and all kinds of city defense equipment and ordnance have been carried out and transported to various city walls, while grains, rice and flour are distributed to the women gathered everywhere for cooking.
vegetable.
Since most of the rebel army gathered outside the west gate, patrol officer Gao Mingheng and others determined that the rebel army was mainly attacking the west gate, so they moved a few artillery pieces from other city walls to the west wall to strengthen the city defense.
…………
When night fell that night, the rebels were already swarming on all sides outside Kaifeng City. Although Kaifeng City could not be completely surrounded, all the gates facing the city were occupied by 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 soaring 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 eerily quiet, without a single echo.
That night, the defenders and soldiers patrolling the city wall kept coming and going. 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 as the chief envoy of Henan Zuo, and Cai Maode, the right chief envoy of Henan, were riding in a sedan chair to the palace of the King of Zhou.