There is a space for passenger planes in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 263 Implementing Operation Magpie Nest

In late April, east of Jiazhou City.

After more than ten days of preparation, Lin Feng is ready to officially carry out the "Operation Magpie's Nest" to capture Luoyang, which means that Li Dai will conquer the Magpie Nest.

Li Xiongzhen and Lu Jun led some reinforced officers and soldiers, carrying some of the newly produced Type 39 breech-loading rifles produced by the ordnance factory, and prepared to set off for Luoyang.

"Xiong Zhen, you must be careful when going to Luoyang. If you encounter outstanding difficulties in capturing the city, you can temporarily give up on capturing the city. Although capturing Luoyang is important, it is not necessary. Save your life first, otherwise my little sister will definitely Find me to settle the score." Lin Feng came over personally to see him off and explained.

"No way, the Luoyang operation must be successful, otherwise I wouldn't have the dignity to earn a living in the Zhenming Army, let alone serve as the deputy governor." Li Xiongzhen obviously didn't want to be criticized by others, saying that he relied on nepotism. Only those who occupy high positions.

"Okay, just be careful. If anything happens, send a message immediately. I will ask Song Xiaoyu's Second Mobile Combat Division to go south to support." Lin Feng ordered.

"Understood, don't worry Yuanshan, I will definitely pay attention to your safety." After Li Xiongzhen replied, he said goodbye to Lu Jun.

Lin Feng watched them gradually move away with their troops, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart. The two classmates from Taiyuan City had finally begun to officially embark on the road to conquer the world.

In early May, after more than ten days of rapid march, Li Xiongzhen and Lu Jun led the Shanxi Combat Brigade to the outskirts of Xin'an County, about fifty or sixty miles away from Luoyang City.

In order not to alarm the officers and soldiers, the Shanxi Combat Brigade avoided the city all the way. When it was really difficult to avoid it, they sent troops pretending to be peasant troops to symbolically attack the city and then evacuate. When the officers and soldiers defending the city saw that they had repelled the peasant army's attack, they were too late to be happy. They didn't care where the defeated army went.

After explaining the matters regarding the siege and clarifying the method of contact, Li Xiongzhen led the people down the mountain. While the city gate was not closed before the sun went down, he easily sneaked into Luoyang City.

After arriving at the outskirts of Xin'an County, Li Xiongzhen and Lu Jun discussed that they could not continue marching forward, otherwise they would definitely alert the defenders of Luoyang City.

"Sir, we have long been tired of staying in the mountains. We have long wanted to go down and do something big. But to attack Luoyang City, our numbers are too small, right?" Although Fang Tiedan wanted to fight, he felt that there were so few. It seems that people can't be beaten.

"There are more than 30 original guards in our village, and we have successively recruited more than 500 refugees. Currently, there are nearly 600 people." Fang Tiedan replied.

"Tiedan doesn't need to be polite, how many of you are there now?" Li Xiongzhen asked.

"Get ready and go down the mountain to attack Luoyang City in the next two days." Li Xiongzhen ordered.

Since the Tatars returned to the north and withdrew, there have been no military disasters in Luoyang for the time being. Occasionally, there are small groups of peasant troops, such as Fang Tiedan and others on the hill north of the city, but the defenders have not paid attention to them.

Luoyang City was originally built by General Lu Ling, the Henan envoy in the sixth year of Hongwu in the Ming Dynasty. The original city wall of more than eight miles around was rebuilt into a brick wall protected by large green bricks, four feet high, and four city gates were built.

The city wall was strong and magnificent, and a ditch was dug outside the city. The ditch was five feet deep and three feet wide, and led into the river. The city of Luoyang is strong and easy to defend but difficult to attack.

Currently, Luoyang City is garrisoned by Liu Jianyi, deputy general of the Henan General Military Mansion, with two thousand officers and soldiers. If it attracts the attention of the defenders and mobilizes some people to defend the city, the 3,000 men of the Shanxi Combat Brigade will definitely not be able to take it down.

Because of the funding from the group branch in Luoyang City, Fang Tiedan and the others were not short of money and food, so they rarely went down the mountain to rob. The Luoyang City defenders were too lazy to go out to eliminate them, so they allowed them to survive.

In a simple wooden house in the village, Li Xiongzhen was meeting with Fang Tiedan.

After discussing with Lu Jun, Li Xiongzhen decided that Lu Jun would lead the Shanxi Combat Brigade to lurk in the suburbs of Xin'an County. Li Xiongzhen led a small group of elite soldiers to sneak into the city of Luoyang. Relying on the hidden power of the Zhenming Group, he opened the city gates and let the Zhenming army come in and occupy Luoyang.

"That's great, I'll make arrangements right away!"

"Understood." Fang Tiedan said.

"You just go and feign an attack. Governor Lin has arranged for another army to take charge of the main attack. Luoyang City will also cooperate." Lin Feng explained.

"Wait, you have to keep it secret and don't tell the refugees about other arrangements. Just say that you are going to harass Luoyang City. You can go to the north gate. It is close to here and it is easy to evacuate if there is danger."

To the east is Jianchun Gate, to the west is Lijing Gate, to the south is Changxia Gate, and to the north is Anxi Gate. They also built towers and moon towers around them. In order to resist the incoming enemy, thirty-nine enemy towers and four corner towers of the city were built.

Li Xiongzhen led the people first to a mountain in the north of Luoyang City, where Fang Tiedan and some of the Zhenming Group's escorts recruited some refugees to occupy the mountain and become king.

It's just that these small gangs are too poor. In the past, suppressing bandits was a waste of money and harvest, and they had little military success, so they had no motivation to suppress them.

"I've met the Deputy Governor!" Fang Tiedan saluted.

Therefore, during this period of time, the Luoyang defenders were very lax and the city defense was very lax. Li Xiongzhen and others went into the city and gave them a handful of copper coins. Seeing that there were not many of them, the defenders let them in after a few simple questions.

Luoyang City West Street, Zhenming Group Branch.

Li Fei, the new director of the branch, was having a headache. After Prince Fu's Mansion found out that Zhu Qikui, the manager of the foreign government, had come to Li's shop and planned to purchase the shop at a low price, he came here from time to time to find trouble.

It was not until he heard that the Zhenming Army had severely punished the Prince Jin of Taiyuan City that he stopped being scared for a while.

Until the sales of Li's shop hit new highs in recent months, the money-hungry Prince Fu's Mansion could no longer hold it in any longer. In addition, they heard that the imperial court had conferred Lin Feng as a Marquis, and they felt relieved. Who could Whether it was the Marquis of the court or not, Lin Feng would definitely not dare to offend their one-word prince.

So he sent the palace steward to come over personally and issued an ultimatum, ordering Li's shop to take responsibility for Zhu Qikui's disappearance and transfer the entire shop and merchandise to Prince Fu's Mansion for three thousand taels, otherwise Henan Mansion would be ordered to close the shop. .

Li Fei, Meng Xin, Fang Xiaolin and Tan Ze, the director of Tingfengwei Luoyang Station, discussed together for a long time. They felt that there was no good way. They couldn't let people from Prince Fu's Mansion disappear like before.

Not to mention that the stewards of Prince Fu's Mansion are now very cautious and bring several guards with them when going out. Even if they can do it, a fool will know that the case was done by Li's shop, and the next step is for the government officials to come.

At this time, the door of the Luoyang branch on West Street was pushed open, and Li Xiongzhen led people in.

After Li Fei saw the person clearly, he immediately stood up and greeted him, "General manager, you are back. Now Prince Fu's Mansion is forcing us to transfer Li's shop to them immediately. We don't know what to do."

After briefly asking about the situation, Li Xiongzhen said: "Don't worry, the governor ordered me to come back this time just to seize Luoyang City. Prince Fu's Mansion will become a chopping block. Let them be arrogant for a day or two for now."

"Really? Governor Lin is finally determined to capture Luoyang?" Li Fei asked happily.

"Yes, but this time we will not capture Luoyang in the name of the Zhenming Army. As we discussed last time, we will capture Luoyang City in the name of the refugees around Luoyang." Li Xiongzhen conveyed Lin Feng's opinion.

"General Shopkeeper, relying only on our people, the military strength is a bit tight, right?" Tan Ze from Tingfeng Guard said.

"Stationmaster Tan, I just want to tell you about the situation of the defenders in Luoyang City and analyze how many people we need to capture the city." Li Xiongzhen ordered.

"Okay. Currently, Luoyang City is guarded by Liu Jianyi, the deputy general of the Henan General Military Mansion. There are a total of two thousand officers and soldiers, and about three hundred King Fu's guards. Henan Mansion also has a thousand-household guard station, with about a thousand people. With the soldiers coming to guard, plus the miscellaneous servants and the like, there are still more than 4,000 defenders." Tan Ze has been in Luoyang for a long time and knows the situation very well. "Xiao Lin, how many people are there in the Ax Gang under our control?" Li Xiongzhen asked next.

"The Ax Gang now has more than 300 people. If there are too many people in the city, it will attract the attention of the government. Among these 300 people, there are about 1300 people under the direct control of our escort team, and there are about 1300 people who are absolutely reliable. People." Fang Xiaolin replied.

"Where are the four-way carriages and horses and our group's own security forces?"

"There are about two hundred people gathered in this area." Li Fei replied.

"Total together, we have about 300 reliable manpower in the city. This time I brought 50 or 60 elite Zhenming Army members and entered the city in three groups. There are 400 people in the city. I think there are already 400 people in the city. It’s enough for us to control a city gate." Li Xiongzhen said after summarizing his forces.

"It should be no problem to control a city gate. Although there are about 4,000 officers and soldiers guarding the city in total, not all of them are near the city gate. According to my observation, there are no warnings coming now. Usually there are only There are about a hundred guards. We should have no problem concentrating our efforts to capture them," Tan Ze analyzed.

"Then we will capture the West City Gate at midnight tomorrow night." Li Xiongzhen arranged.

"General Manager, even if we seize the city gate, it won't be enough just with the four to five hundred of us, even if we add the hundreds of refugees controlled by Fang Tiedan outside the city." Li Fei said worriedly.

"Haha, you don't have to worry, the Governor has asked me to lead the Shanxi War Team to Xin'an County in the west of Luoyang City.

Xin'an County is only fifty or sixty miles away from Luoyang, and the Zhenming Army is less than a day's journey away. As long as the city gate is taken, the Shanxi Combat Brigade can be let in, and taking Luoyang City is certainly a piece of cake. "Only then did Li Xiongzhen reveal that he was bringing troops.

"That's great! We need to plan carefully to ensure that we can capture Luoyang City." Several people replied in unison.

"Yes. Governor Lin has entrusted us with such an important task of capturing Luoyang City. We must think carefully and ensure that nothing goes wrong." Li Xiongzhen continued.

"General Manager, how will we contact the Shanxi Combat Brigade? They are in Xin'an now. Although they are not far from Luoyang, it is still too far to sneak into the city." Tan Ze raised the question.

"Stationmaster Tan, you take a few people out of the city early tomorrow morning, and one group goes to the mountains north of Luoyang City to look for Fang Tiedan. I have already told him to take the refugees to the north gate and pretend to attack the city. , attracting the attention of the defenders, and then we took the opportunity to open the west city gate at night.

You send another group of men to Xin'an to meet with General Lu Jun of the Shanxi Combat Brigade, and ask him to lead the team to the west gate of Luoyang before midnight. When he sees our signal to open the city gate, he immediately rushes into the city. All agreed upon. "Li Xiongzhen arranged the arrangements in an orderly manner.

"Understood!" Tan Ze accepted the order.

"Fang Xiaolin, you will control the Ax Gang tomorrow. Arrange the backbone to approach the west city gate first, and seize the city gate in the dead of night." Li Xiongzhen continued to arrange.

"understand!"

"Shop Manager Meng Xin, you will be responsible for dealing with Prince Fu's Mansion tomorrow. You agree to their request for the time being." Li Xiongzhen finally made it clear.

"I know, let's make them happy for the last time." Meng Xin replied.

Early the next morning, Tan Ze from Tingfeng Guard left Luoyang City and went to contact Fang Tiedan and Lu Jun's Shanxi Combat Brigade.

Morning time.

Zhu Hongxiang, the steward of Prince Fu's Mansion, led a team of palace guards and walked over with an arrogant pace that would not be tolerated by his relatives, and said to Li Fei:

"Shopkeeper Li, have you thought about it? Li's store will not be sold today. There will be no such store after passing this village."

"Manager Zhu Da, I have asked the owner of the shop for permission, and he agreed to sell it. Can you ask for a higher price at this price? Three thousand taels is indeed too little. It is not even enough for the store's real estate, not to mention there are so many best-selling items in it. Goods." Li Fei pretended to bargain.

"Hmph, you killed Zhu Qikui, the steward of our palace, and the debt has not yet been settled with you. I am here to inform you, not to bargain with you. Three thousand taels is already a lot, so I won't belabor it any longer. You won’t get a penny if you go down there.” Zhu Hongxiang thought he had frightened them, so naturally he refused to give in anymore.

"Here, how can I explain this to my boss?" Li Fei said with a pretending to cry.

"Then don't worry about me." Zhu Daguan Niu replied coaxingly.

"Then give us another three days. We will count the goods, make accounts, clean up personal belongings, and then hand over the store to you." Li Fei said, pretending to be heartbroken.

"Three days are too long. I'll give you one day. I will bring people to collect the shop tomorrow morning. And I warn you that you cannot take away the goods in the shop. If something is missing, I will only ask you." Zhu Hongxiang threatened.

"Understood! Butler Zhu, please rest assured." Li Fei replied, suppressing the smile in his heart.

"Hmph, I'm afraid you don't dare. Let's go back first." Zhu Hongxiang greeted.

In the afternoon.

A team of five to six hundred refugees led by Fang Tiedan arrived outside the north gate of Luoyang City.

The recent period happened to be when refugees from all over the country were fleeing after the Tatars invaded. Many refugees also gathered outside Luoyang.

Kang Mengqi, the prefect of Henan, naturally would not let the refugees enter the city, and Luoyang City did not want to spend money to organize disaster relief. Only a few well-meaning wealthy households organized some disaster relief outside the city to ensure that the refugees barely starved to death.

As soon as the refugee team led by Fang Tiedan arrived, the hungry people outside Luoyang City who had been hungry for a long time joined Fang Tiedan's team with a little incitement, and the number suddenly expanded to more than 2,000 people.

However, except for the more than 100 core members of Fang Tiedan who had iron weapons and other weapons in the team, the other refugees and hungry people basically only had weapons such as wooden sticks and bamboo poles.

It would definitely be impossible for such a team to attack the fortified city of Luoyang, but it would be no problem to make a noise to attract attention.

Sure enough, Henan Political Participant Wang Yinchang, who was in charge of the defense of Luoyang City, and Deputy General Liu Jianyi of the General Military Mansion came to the north gate and mobilized half of the troops in the city to this side to prevent the mob from rushing into the city.

Several other city gates were also closed immediately, and guards were arranged to go up to the city to guard the city. However, because half of the troops were taken away, the defensive force was greatly reduced.

Kang Menghui, the prefect of Henan, took the opportunity to visit Prince Fu and wanted to ask Prince Fu's palace to provide some money and recruit people to strengthen the defense of Luoyang City.

After King Fu inquired about the situation, he just cried out that he was poor. In the end, he only took out 500 taels of silver and asked Magistrate Kang to buy some food for the officers and soldiers.

The magistrate was so angry that he really wanted to go forward and beat up the pig-like fat King Fu. In the face of a great disaster, these rich and powerful feudal princes still had nothing to lose and Luoyang fell. The rogue bandits would not rob them of their belongings. Same.

However, Kang Menghui had no choice. He could not offend a superior prince like King Fu. Even if he wanted to avoid the five hundred taels of food, he had no choice but to find the treasury empty, so he had to endure the humiliation and take the five hundred taels back to work for the army.

(End of this chapter)