Chapter 160 Blasting the city wall

In July of the 15th year of Chongzhen (1642), Li Zicheng led an army of 500,000 to siege Kaifeng for the second time!

In August, Sun Chuanting was ordered to mobilize Yutian General Cao Bianjiao, Ji Town General Bai Guangen, Shandong General Liu Zeqing, Shaanxi General He Renlong, Zuo Liangyu, as fierce as a tiger, Datong General Wang Puqilu, a total of 130,000 troops to untie Kaifeng's siege.

Wang Pu set out from Datong and passed through Taiyuan Prefecture, Zhangde Prefecture, and Weihui Prefecture to Kaifeng.

Cao Bianjiao, Bai Guangen and Liu Zeqing, who were stationed in Shandong, passed through Yuncheng and Caozhou advanced from Lanyang to Kaifeng.

Sun Chuanting personally led Zuo Liangyu and He Renlong, and the elite troops of the three towns, as fierce as tigers, came out of Tongguan and advanced along the Yellow River to Kaifeng. The three men agreed to meet at the end of September to attack the bandits.

Sun Chuanting's strategic concept is good, but it is too wishful thinking.

As early as in Datong, Wang Pu once told Sun Chuanting that the treasury of the Ming Dynasty is empty and the money and food are scarce. It is unwise to rashly mobilize a large army to suppress the bandits in the absence of logistical support. Even if the generals of each town reluctantly agree to send troops, the result will not be able to eliminate the bandits, but it will also encourage the bandits.

Facts have proved that Wang Pu's judgment was accurate.

The first thing that went wrong was the Western Army led by Sun Chuanting himself. Due to the lack of food and supplies, Zuo Liangyu, He Renlong and Feng Ruruhu could only plunder the troops. This happened. The military discipline of Guanzhong was corrupt. Not only did they rob the rich, but the poor people were not spared. They also killed innocent people and raped women at will.

Of course, Sun Chuanting could not tolerate such atrocities. As a result, fierce conflict broke out between the generals. The western army, which Sun Chuanting had high hopes, collapsed on its own before it arrived in Kaifeng. Zuo Liangyu led his army south to Xiangyang under the pretext of pursuing Zhang Xianzhong, and reunited Renlong, and was as fierce as a tiger. He also returned to Guanzhong under the pretext of pursuing Liu Zongmin.

The problem followed by Cao Bianjiao, Bai Guangen and Liu Zeqing's Eastern Army. Due to the lack of food and salary, a mutiny occurred when the army arrived in Caozhou. Liu Zeqing's Shandong soldiers almost ran away overnight, and many elite soldiers from Cao Bianjiao and Bai Guangen also ran away, so the three had to temporarily station in Caozhou.

Only Wang Pu's army had no problems, but after entering Fengqiu on the north bank of the Yellow River, Wang Pu did not dare to continue to move south, because Li Zicheng's 500,000 army was on the south bank of the Yellow River. If Wang Pu dared to cross the Yellow River, he would definitely be surrounded by bandits.

At this time, the thieves were no longer the ones that were a few years ago. Since a group of talents such as Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Li Yan, etc., the thieves have undergone earth-shaking changes. Moreover, after the eastern expeditions and western conquests have been fought in recent years, after annexing Luo Rucai and repelling the elites of the fifth camp of the Left, Li Zicheng already had an elite army of war-produced positions under his command.

What’s even more terrible is that this elite soldier is not 10,000 or 20,000, but hundreds of thousands!

No matter how brave and good at fighting in the Firearms camp, Wang Pu would not dare to use only 4,000 people to defeat Li Zicheng's 500,000 army!

In official history, the reason why Li Zicheng was defeated by Wu Sangui and Dorgon's coalition was not because the bandits were not elite enough. In fact, after conquering Guanzhong, the bandits' equipment was already very well-equipped. His combat power was already close to the Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing Dynasty. If the two armies fought head-on with the same force, the Eight Banners soldiers of the Qing Dynasty might not be able to win firmly.

The reason why Li Zicheng was defeated in a stone was entirely because he was too careless.

Most of the elite troops under Li Zicheng were scattered in Henan, Guanzhong, Shanxi, and the capital. He only brought less than 100,000 troops to Shanhaiguan, and his troops were almost half of the coalition forces of Wu Sangui and Dorgon. If Li Zicheng could gather all the elite troops scattered in various places, it would be easy to smash the hundreds of thousands of coalition forces of Wu Sangui and Dorgon.

Outside Kaifeng City, there is a camp of thieves.

Li Yan entered Li Zicheng's tent with a high fist and bowed: "Master, the firearm camp is ready."

"Okay." Li Zicheng's single eyes showed a burning look, and he waved to Niu Jinxing on both sides, Song Xiance and a group of rebel generals. He said loudly, "Let's go, everyone will go and take a look."

Li Zicheng took the lead and everyone followed him to the school grounds.

On the school ground, three thousand rebel soldiers had already been arranged in an orderly queue. Unlike other rebel soldiers, the grounds in their hands were not spears or big swords, but all the muskets. That's right. They were muskets!

This matter has to be said from the beginning.

After Li Yan returned to Henan from Shaanxi, Li Zicheng was originally planning to kill him secretly. Fortunately, with Song Xiance's support, Li Yan was able to survive. Of course, Song Xiance's support was also selfish, because Li Yan was a character, and keeping Li Yan could restrain the chief military advisor Niu Jinxing.

Li Yan didn't know that he was almost killed by Li Zicheng. After returning to Henan, he began to lobby Li Zicheng to form a firearm camp. As Li Yan said too much, some of the generals under Li Zicheng were a little moved. In addition, Song Xiance's encouragement, Li Zicheng agreed.

Li Zicheng allocated 5,000 elderly, weak and disabled people to Li Yan, and took out 100,000 taels of silver from the money he had plundered over the years to buy firearms and ammunition for Li Yan.

The Hongniang used the gangster relationship and used 100,000 taels of silver to buy nearly 10,000 muskets and hundreds of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder lead pills from the garrison troops of Nanzhili, Henan and Shandong provinces. The military disciplines of the garrison troops of Nanzhi, Shandong and Henan provinces have been extremely corrupt. They only need money, but they don’t care where these firearms flow?

The only thing that made Li Yan regret was that these muskets were all coercive guns. Compared with the muskets of Wang Pu Firearms, they were not only bulky but also of poor quality. There were less than 3,000 muskets that could be used. In addition, the rebels had previously seized, so they barely collected 3,000.

By mid-August, Li Yan's firearm battalion was finally formed. After more than a month of shooting training, it has now become a little bit like it, which is just a test of actual combat.

After Li Zicheng, Niu Jinxing, Song Xiance, Tian Jianxiu, Li Guo and other generals sat down on the parade platform, Li Yan strode to the parade platform, raised the flag and waved it left and right. Two thousand old, weak and sick in the firearm camp took two thousand puppets and went to the schoolyard with two thousand puppets and set up a square formation a hundred steps in front of the three thousand firearm camp.

Li Yan raised the flag in his hand again, and a rebel leader in front of the formation pulled out his waist knife and shouted sternly: "The first team... prepare!"

Two thousand old, weak, sick and disabled evacuated quickly.

The first row of five hundred soldiers raised the muskets in their hands, and the five hundred muskets were raised into a row. The black holes pointed at the square puppet array in front of them.

Li Yan waved the order flag down again, and the leader of the rebel army in front of the formation waved his waist knife, and shouted loudly: "Let's fire!"

Five hundred soldiers of the Rebel Army pulled the trigger at the same time, and the fuse clamped on the trigger was pressed into the drug induction room. The gunpowder in the drug induction room was burning, and quickly detonated the gunpowder in the gun chamber. "Boom boom..." There was a huge roar in the ears, and a dazzling ball of fire appeared at the muzzles of five hundred muskets raised into a row.

The square puppet formation tied in front of me suddenly sounded a "bangbang" sound. Hundreds of puppets fell to the ground.

Li Zicheng stood up suddenly and stared at the three thousand firearm battalions soldiers on the school field ahead. Unbelievable light was revealed in his eyes. Such dense musket volleys would definitely die. If the puppets in front were replaced with official troops, just this round of volleys would be killed, wouldn't it be possible to kill hundreds of people?

In front of the parade, the flag in Li Yan's hand was raised again.

Another rebel leader pulled out his waist knife and shouted loudly: "The second team... prepare!"

The second team of 500 rebels quickly took two steps forward, then raised the muskets in their hands neatly, and the black holes were raised into a row again. The first row of 500 rebels who had already fired quickly retreated to the end of the queue and began to reload the ammunition nervously.

...

After the six-wheeled volleys, Li Zicheng surrounded the rebels of the rebels and arrived in front of the tilted puppet array. In the pungent smell of gunpowder, two thousand puppets were already riddled with lead balls, and a distance of nearly a hundred steps. The wooden board several inches thick was completely penetrated by the lead balls.

This kind of penetration power is not able to withstand any armor!

If these two thousand puppets were from the Ming Dynasty's official army, these six rounds of fire were probably all casualties!

"It's scary, it's so scary!" Song Xiance praised without a chance, "If there were 30,000 such musketeers under the command of the king, it would be a slight effort to destroy the Ming Dynasty."

Li Zicheng was speechless, he had not yet come back to his senses from the huge shock.

Chief Military Advisor Niu Jinxing disagreed: "Although these muskets are powerful, we cannot make them ourselves. If we buy them from the army of the Ming Dynasty, the price will be too expensive. How much money will it cost to form a musket battalion of 30,000 people? This money is enough to recruit hundreds of thousands of troops."

"No." Li Zicheng raised his hand suddenly and said decisively, "No matter how much money is spent, the musket battalion must be expanded!"

Li Yan said: "Master, there is a saying that you don't know whether you should say it or not?"

"If you have something to say."

Li Zicheng spoke much more politely.

Li Yan said: "Almost all the muskets we can buy have been bought. Even if you can't buy it, you can't buy it. Moreover, the muskets used by these garrisons are of poor quality, so you will have seen more powerful firearms. They are longer, lighter, longer range, stronger lethality, and faster loading speed than us."

"Oh?" Li Zicheng said in a deep voice, "You are talking about Wang Pu Di Fire Artillery Camp?"

"Yes." Li Yan nodded, "Our firearm battalion uses six-stage shooting method. After the volley is finished, there will be a long interval. At this time, other troops must be used to protect the firearm battalion. However, Wang Pu's firearm battalion can use three-stage shooting method, and can shoot one round after another, continuously!"

Li Zicheng said: "What do you mean is that we must buy the muskets used in Wang Pu's firearm?"

Li Yan said: "King, we can't buy the land muskets used in Wang Pu's Fire Artillery Camp, at least we can't buy them now, so we can only make them ourselves!"

Niu Jinxing said: "I said it lightly, who can make it? Can you Li Yan make it?"

Li Yan said: "Of course, the last general cannot build it, but there are government weapons bureaus in Kaifeng City, and the craftsmen in the weapons bureau can build it! King, the last general begs not to dig the Yellow River and not to flood Kaifeng."

Li Zicheng's brows frowned in an instant.

"Okay." Niu Jinxing shouted, "After or later, I finally turned to the dam and the city. Li Yan, this is the plan to break the city by the king. What is your intention to obstruct it in every way? Do you want the king to be a slander for poisoning the people, but you, Li Yan, have a name for cherishing the people?"

"King." Li Yan said anxiously, "The water from the Yellow River flooded Kaifeng. Not only did the people die and suffer indefinitely, but you can't get anything except a scrap city. Why don't the king try the last strategy to break the city? Build gunpowder at the foot of the city wall, which really allowed Jiannu to explode the city wall. This was how Jiannu exploded the Datong city wall."

"Nonsense." Niu Jinxing said anxiously, "The Kaifeng city wall is so high and thick, and it can be blown up with tens of thousands of kilograms of gunpowder?"

"King." Li Yan said anxiously, "I will be willing to use my head to guarantee it!"

Li Zicheng was moved when he heard this.

Song Xiance seized the opportunity and said, "King, no matter whether the strategy of destroying the city offered by General Li Yan can work, it will be okay to try it. It would not be too late if Kaifeng is not flooded again."

"Yeah." Li Zicheng nodded after hearing this, "Then let's try it, Li Yan is in full responsibility for this matter."

Li Yan was overjoyed when he heard this, "The last general will receive the order."
Chapter completed!