Aspiration

Chapter 109
Forbidden City.

The gloomy air almost oppressed the people in the palace out of breath.The maids, eunuchs, and ministers all dared not even show their air.

In the Battle of Songjin, the hundreds of thousands of troops led by Hong Chengchou were wiped out, and as many as 13 were killed or drowned in the sea.It stands to reason that a big battle, not to mention protracted, would not kill all casualties within ten days.

What a shame, a shame!

Chongzhen has scolded countless times.

"Put Hong Chengchou and his family in prison!" Emperor Chongzhen sternly said to Chen Xinjia who was kneeling in front of him.

He hated all the civil servants and military generals who participated in the Songjin War, even the governor Qiu Minyang who was killed, the commander-in-chief Cao Bianjiao, Wang Tingchen and more than a hundred officials, he hated the same.

"Your Majesty, according to the reports from the spies, Master Hong did not forget the emperor's kindness after being captured, and he was quite upright. I wonder if I would like to ask the emperor to show his kindness by not letting their family members be imprisoned for the time being, so as to show justice. Also, governor Qiu Minyang, the general Hundreds of officials, including soldiers Cao Bianjiao and Wang Tingchen, sacrificed their lives for the country, shouldn't their families be appeased?" Chen Xinjia said tremblingly.

Chen Xinjia is in trouble for this introductory performance.

"Go to prison! Chen Xinjia go to prison!" Emperor Chongzhen said angrily.

Only Hong Chengchou, who held the title of Minister of the Ministry of War, was captured, and now another minister of the Ministry of War is imprisoned. I don't know what happened to Sun Chuanting.He also hung the title of Minister of the Ministry of War.

Chen Xinjia was accidentally convicted, but he did not fight. He knew that sooner or later he would be imprisoned, beheaded, or poisoned.Imprisonment now may be the best outcome.

The post of Shangshu of the Ministry of War in the Ming Dynasty was cursed by someone, and whoever did it was unlucky.

With one word from Chen Xinjia, who would dare to speak up after being beaten into heaven by Chongzhen?

Now, all the cities north of the Great Wall have been lost, and Jinzhou, which has been holding on for more than a year, has also fallen. The distance between the Qing Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty is only separated by the Great Wall.

Guarding the Great Wall, Shanhaiguan became an important pass for Qing troops to enter.With heavy guards, Chongzhen still trusted Wu Sangui, and now arranged for him to sit in Sanguan.

"Li Zicheng."

Emperor Chongzhen suddenly shouted.

For a long time, he didn't speak again.All the ministers lowered their heads in surprise and listened quietly to his next words.After a long while, he said: "Tell! Let Sun Chuanting attack with all his strength, and make sure to take back Luoyang City. This time the defense of Kaifeng was well fought, and Li Zicheng's more than 20 elite soldiers were eliminated. After Luoyang City is captured, we will reward you together."

Sun Chuanting received an order from Emperor Chongzhen. He ignored the rest and reorganized his troops and led his troops to attack westward.

Due to Zuo Liangyu's heavy losses in this battle, he had to go back to Huguang to rest and he was in charge of guarding Xiangyang.Xiangyang is a strategic city. Although it was destroyed by war last time, it was quickly restored and the city wall was raised by a foot.

Sun Chuanting marched westward with seven commanders, this time the main forces were He Renlong and Meng Feihu.He Renlong was an old opponent. Meng Feihu had rarely fought against the peasant army in the past. In his eyes, a mob should be vulnerable.However, Meng Feihu is not an arrogant person. He has the capital to be proud. He went to war with his father at the age of 16. He has already had 20 years of military career, and he has made numerous military exploits, from the officer to the general.

Meng Feihu used to guard Shanxi and fought many battles with the Manchus. He developed his skills and developed a sturdy and ferocious character.Since Luoyang and Shanxi are only separated by a river, they used to be the land of the Three Jins, so fighting in Henan is like being at home.

After receiving Sun Chuanting's secret order, Meng Feihu entered the attacking position earlier than He Renlong. He set up a camp outside Dengfeng City, and prepared to attack the city the next day before He Renlong came.

Dengfeng is an important strategic location on the outskirts of Luoyang, and Li Yan is stationed here.

Li Yan replenished his troops, and 2 people were waiting here.

As soon as Meng Feihu arrived, he began to attack the city the next day.He used [-] of his [-] soldiers and horses, and he was really willing to spend all his money, and he continued to attack continuously all day long.

Li Yan was originally in charge of local affairs, but Li Zicheng felt that this person had a different vision and wanted him to make more military exploits. In the future, whether he will be the prime minister or Niu Jinxing will be the prime minister. Now he has not made up his mind, so Li Zicheng He handed over the task of guarding the east gate to Li Yan.

Li Yanxin understood, and also intended to show a few tricks in front of Li Zicheng.

Today, I was secretly happy to see Meng Feihu attacking fiercely as soon as he arrived at the city, so underestimating the enemy.The strategy he adopted was to show weakness, never open the city gates to go out of the city to meet the enemy, and moreover, many soldiers pretended to be civilians to guard the city.

After attacking for three days in a row, Meng Feihu spent more and more capital, and almost all his troops were used.They didn't fight recklessly in the city, they waited for the enemy to reach the city wall before starting to fight. In this way, a situation was formed, Meng Feihu would always attack the crowd with less.Meng Feihu had fought tough battles many times before, and the most difficult thing in battling tough battles was not being able to climb the city wall. However, in the past three days, he was able to attack the city wall almost every time, but only a part of the people who went up each time Soon, those who went up turned into corpses one by one and were thrown down.

The more he was like this, the more he wanted to attack fiercely, but no matter how fiercely he attacked, the city just couldn't be defeated.

After three days of fighting, I was tired.

Meng Feihu sent an order that Dengfeng City must be captured tomorrow.On that night, pigs, cattle, sheep, chickens, ducks, and fish were provided with plenty of food. In the army of the Ming Dynasty, it had long been a habit to deduct military pay. Such a feast was rare once a year.

Meng Feihu thought, Dengfeng City should not be difficult to attack, and it must be captured tomorrow.If he wants to win face and status in front of Sun Chuanting, he must have enough capital.

The banquet ended very late, the wine could not be drunk, the food was full, and everyone ate very full.When people eat too much, they want to sleep, so after they are full, there is a lot of excitement, and then tens of thousands of people sleep very deeply and sweetly.

While Meng Feihu's men were eating meat and singing songs, an agile infantry team waited quietly on a hillside.They are Li Laiheng's mountain warriors. Tonight, they were invited by Li Yan to let them have fun.

Li Laiheng and Li Yan stood on the top of the mountain, watching Gu Kecheng lead 1 people through the bushes, faster than monkeys, and they were happy.

Li Yan said: "Laiheng, after a period of training, one of your legions will be able to defeat 30 officers and soldiers. Sun Chuanting, life is bad. When he meets a genius like you, Laiheng, he must follow Yang Sichang's old path." .”

Li Laiheng said, General Li Yan is being polite, who doesn't know that you have a great strategy of culture and martial arts, and in the future, under King Chuang's command, you will surely show great ambitions.

Hearing this, Li Yan sighed softly.

At some point, Meng Feihu suddenly heard the commotion of people in the village, he was stunned for a moment, and suddenly remembered, isn't this a camp robbery?

He rolled over and got out of bed, shouting: "Come on!"

People came, there were many footsteps, and a group of people rushed in. Before he could wake up, his head left her body.

Li Laiheng's mountain warriors opened the way first, and then Li Yan rushed into the village with nearly 2 soldiers and horses. That night, they killed Meng Feihu's remaining 3 people without leaving any.

Meng Feihu's entire army was wiped out.

Li Yan's price was only a few hundred people killed.

At noon the next day, He Renlong arrived, and Sun Chuanting also came with his troops. When they arrived at Meng Feihu's original camp, they were terrified and speechless for a long time. More than 3 corpses are scattered all over the mountains and plains. If you are not scared to death, you are considered a hero.

"Whose troops are stationed here?" Sun Chuanting asked.

"Return to your lord, the guard here is Li Yan."

"Li Yan? Who is Li Yan?"

An aide talked about Li Yan's situation.

He introduced that Li Yan, a native of Qi County, has surplus money in his family, so he can be regarded as a middle-class wealthy family.A few years ago, the local famine was raging, and many farmers ran out of food.Li Yan took out some food from his family to help the poor who were short of food.Therefore, the poor people thought that Li Yan was a good man and called him "Mr. Li".Qi County has been suffering from famine year after year, and the poor have suffered so much that they cannot survive.However, the county magistrate still sent servants to tax debts to the poor.Li Yan went to see the county magistrate surnamed Song and advised him to suspend tax collection temporarily, and also hoped that he would allocate part of the official food to lend to the hungry people.The county magistrate said angrily: "The boss sent military salaries to the local area, and they are urgent. I don't ask them for tax or rent, what to pay for it. Besides, the grain in the official warehouse has long been empty, so what can I lend to the hungry people?" Li The county magistrate Iwami refused. He returned home, opened his granary, and took out more than 200 shi of grain for the hungry people to share.Seeing that Li Yan helped the poor, and Li Yan persuaded other wealthy households to donate some food, the wealthy households panicked and cried to the county magistrate.The county magistrate said: "Isn't this rebellious?" He immediately asked a master who handled the case to write an official document to his superiors, falsely accusing Li Yan of buying people's hearts and planning to rebel.The guards came to Li Yan's house, handcuffed him hurriedly, and took him back to the county government office for interrogation.When the people in Qi County heard that Li Yan was arrested, they said, "Mr. Li is in jail. Can we just watch him suffer and not rescue him?" At this time, a young and beautiful woman named Hong Niangzi heard the news and took Followed the team, opened the prison, and rescued Li Yan.Li Yan took the hungry people and defected to Li Zicheng.It is said that Li Yan is not only outstanding in martial arts, but also full of economics. Once he joined Li Zicheng's team, he gave him many suggestions. Among them, the strategy of "equaling the land and exempting taxes" came from him. Nursery rhymes and nursery rhymes, such as: eat his mother, wear his mother, open the door to welcome the king.King Chuang didn't pay for food when he came.Seeking promotion in the morning, seeking harmony in the evening, it is difficult for the poor to survive these days.Open the door early to pay homage to King Chuang, and discipline everyone to be happy.These demagogic words were written by him.

After listening to it, Sun Chuanting thought, Li Yan is not simple, he is indeed a talent.It seems that Li Zicheng's ambition is not small, and he has some means of recruiting talents.He also heard that even people like Luo Rucai had joined him.If this person is not eliminated, the Ming Dynasty will be hard to protect.

Sun Chuanting sent an order to set up a camp first and then bury the corpse.

He Renlong's [-] soldiers and horses were stationed in two places.One was camped at Wuxiu Mountain, five miles south of Dengfeng City, and the other was camped three miles east of the city.The two places form horns, echoing each other.

Sun Chuanting must capture Dengfeng.This is the only way he must go to destroy Li Zicheng.

(End of this chapter)