Chapter 126 Kaifeng

"Liu Fangliang, the thief general under the intruder, moved his troops to Zhuxian Town. It seems that he is coming to us."

In Xiangcheng County, three generals gathered together.

When the news arrived at night, Zhu Bingkun hurriedly asked someone to notify Zheng Wu. Among the four troops in Xiangcheng, one of them was directly under Ying Yi and had no generals. Therefore, including the newly promoted Zheng Jiu, there were only three generals. Zheng Jiu and Zhu Bingkun were stationed in Xiangcheng County, while Zheng Wu and Ying Yi were directly under their command and stationed in the Shoushan camp.

"According to the reports that were not collected at night, Liu Fangliang's band of traitors has more than 40,000 regular soldiers. Among them, there are 3,000 in the old camp, followed by 15,000 to 20,000. In addition, there are 50,000 to 70,000 in total. Wan's subordinates are old and weak, and the total number is nearly 100,000." Zhu Bingkun said: "Li Guo, Hao Yaoqi, and Liu Zongmin were all lost to the lord, leaving Liu Fangliang, Gao Yigong, and Tian Jianxiu. These few people are his last support and the main force in the siege of Kaifeng. Now that Liu Fangliang has moved his troops to Zhuxian Town, it is a good thing for us."

Zheng Wu and Zheng Jiu both agreed.

Zheng Wudao: "Our army currently has four units of 10,000 troops, of which nearly 2,000 are on the list. After two battles, the rest have been more or less tempered, and the soldiers are highly motivated to fight. Although Liu Fangliang has nearly 10,000 soldiers in his hands. Ten thousand people, but a ragtag crowd, you and I are confident that we can defeat this thief. The thieves have surrounded Kaifeng, and now that Liu Fangliang has been withdrawn, Kaifeng will be a little easier, and we will be able to hold on for a little longer."

Zheng Jiu laughed: "What Fifth Brother and General Zhu said are reasonable. At present, the imperial appointment has not yet come, so the lord is lingering. But the siege of Kaifeng must be lifted. There are millions of households in Kaifeng, which is what the lord needs." If Kaifeng can hold on for a little longer, the benefits will be even greater."

Zhu Bingkun nodded slightly: "We did not accept the news at night. Liu Fangliang's troops were traveling very slowly. Li Yan and Luo Rucai were in front of the car. I think the thief was also afraid and did not dare to advance. But we had to be on guard - he might be a thief. Is there some conspiracy?"

Zheng Wu smiled and said: "What kind of plan can a mere thief have? You and I will guard this place. No matter what, if he wants to fight, he must fight with real swords and guns. I think we should think more long-term."

Zhu Bingkun and Zheng Jiu's expressions changed, and Zhu Bingkun said: "If Old Zheng has any ideas, please tell me immediately. Please take note of the details."

"Liu Fangliang moved his troops to Zhuxian Town. I think the intention of these thieves is nothing more than a defensive strategy. Their main energy is still in Kaifeng. I'm afraid they want to defend us, defeat Kaifeng first, and then come back to compete with us. If you advance rashly, Li Yan and Luo Rucai will teach you a lesson. You might as well use Liu Fangliang's thieves as a whetstone, and let's have a good time with him." Zheng Wu smiled and said: "As for the long-term plan... My lord's ambitions are shared by you and me. You know. There are millions of households in Kaifeng in the Central Plains. If we can get them to return home, great things can be expected. But there are some people in Kaifeng city who don’t need to stay."

As soon as these words came out, Zhu Bingkun and Zheng Jiu were stunned for a moment.

Zhu Bingkun said after a moment: "Old Zheng is right! There is a prince in Kaifeng, as well as the governor's office, the inspector's office, etc. If the siege of Kaifeng is lifted and these people are still around, they will pose a restriction to the lord."

Zheng Jiuyi clapped his hands: "So they must die!"

Zheng Wu smiled and shook his head and said: "It is not necessary to kill. The intruders have been besieged for a long time, and I am afraid these people have long wanted to escape from this muddy pool. It is not difficult to kill, but after killing, it is easy to leave clues, so it is better to send them away. I think the capital should be a good place."

Zhu Bingkun stroked his palms and smiled: "In this way, not only is there no handle, but there are benefits!"

Zheng Wudao: "Exactly. After all, a prince or a group of frontier officials can be regarded as saving their lives. We don't expect them to repay their kindness. As long as they can say a word to the lord at a critical moment, there will often be unexpected benefits. .”

They all knew that Ying Yi needed a famous weapon from the Ming Dynasty. Hence the idea.

Zheng Wu has been with Zheng Yunzhi for many years, and he has been immersed in it and knows something about these things. Zhu Bingkun did not think that Zheng Jiu was too straight-tempered, nor did he think about it.

"The city of Kaifeng is very big. No matter how powerful the intruders are, they cannot be blocked. Let's discuss with Zhang Shi and see if we can send a few people into Kaifeng to facilitate this matter."

...

Liu Fangliang had 100,000 men and was originally the main force in the siege of Kaifeng. However, due to the successive defeats of Li Yan and Luo Rucai, Li Chuang had to withdraw him and move his troops to Zhuxian Town to guard against Ying Yi's troops in Xiangcheng at a distance. .

Just as Zheng Wu and others expected, neither the intruder nor Liu Fangliang thought of raising troops to attack Xiangcheng immediately. Li Yan and Luo Rucai were defeated too quickly, and coupled with the previous defeats of Li Guo and others, the intruders were already discouraged and did not dare to advance.

But he made up his mind to take root in Zhuxian Town and only use it for defense.

Li Chuang has been besieging Kaifeng for several months now. Although Kaifeng City is tightly guarded, it is time to run out of food and supplies. This allowed Li Chuang to see an opportunity to break the city.

Ying Yi's troops and horses were like awns on his back, which made Li Chuang more eager to attack Kaifeng.

Now he only needs to guard against Ying Yi, he needs to defeat Kaifeng as soon as possible, and then use the power of breaking the city to crush him in turn.

Of course, Li Chuang, reminded by Niu Jinxing and Song Xiance, did not forget the revolutionaries and traitors in Huainan. Although he was embarrassed, he still sent people to Huainan to contact the two bandits, hoping that Ma Huihui and Zhang Xianzhong could lead their troops to attack Nanyang westward and share the pressure for him to contain Ying Yi.

The intruder made a series of movements, making a lot of noise. Especially after the deployment of Liu Fangliang, the pressure on Kaifeng City's forces has eased, which attracted the attention of the Kaifeng defenders.

Since last year, this is the third time Li Chuang has besieged Kaifeng. Kaifeng is a piece of fat meat, but Li Chuang has never been able to eat it. He has his own reasons.

Unlike Luoyang, Kaifeng was united when facing Li Chuang. Luoyang has learned from the past. For the Zhu family royal family, the fate of King Fu is vivid in their minds. For the common people, the fate of the people of Luoyang is also vivid in their minds. No one in Kaifeng City no longer believes in the so-called benevolence of King Chuang - the vassals who were driven out of Kaifeng City to be used as cannon fodder to attack the city, and the large tracts of people who starved to death, how many of them were The original people of Luoyang?

The king of Kaifeng hung gold on the city, kept plenty of wine and meat, recruited warriors to defend the city, and even went out to attack and kill bandits. In addition, the Henan general Chen Yongfu was cautious in using troops, and the governor Gao Mingheng cooperated appropriately, so Li Chuang was never able to succeed.

After the intruder transferred Liu Fangliang, the pressure in Kaifeng eased. Chen Yongfu noticed the situation here and discussed with Gao Mingheng.

"The pressure in the south of the city has dropped sharply. Yesterday I saw a large camp of bandit soldiers surging on the city. Something must have happened." Chen Yongfu said.

Governor Gao Mingheng twisted his beard and pondered for a moment: "Could it be that reinforcements have arrived?"

Chen Yongfu said: "What the governor said is absolutely true. Non-reinforcements are not enough to contain the thieves. The leader of the thieves who attacked the south wall is Liu Fangliang. This man is extremely brave and violent. He has attacked the city many times before without any casualties, but today there is no movement. The last general Please fight, I am willing to go out of the city and give it a try."