A small soldier of the frontier army in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 404
Chen Yongfu agreed with Wang Dou's opinion that the time for a decisive battle with the thieves was ripe, but he hesitated for a moment and asked, "Can you tell King Fu and King Bingxian about Liu Jianyi and the thieves?"

Wang Dou shook his head: "It's still not necessary, so as not to startle the snake and leak the news. I will do it first, and let us know later after eradicating all the thieves."

Chen Yongfu knew the affairs of the government, and there were many things that could not be kept secret at all. He often discussed something with the officials in the morning, but in the afternoon, the streets and alleys would be heard.As an insurance policy, it is better to keep it secret for the time being, and play it later.Once Liu Jianyi and others died, the defense of Luoyang put himself and Wang Dou as the most important thing, and the Shangguan would not punish them in any way.

Both of them are decisive people, so this matter was decided. Regarding the night raid and shortage of food, from the information provided by Wang Dou, Chen Yongfu knew that Jianshan was heavily guarded and the land was heavy with food and hay. Everyone was very cautious, and Li Zicheng was no exception. , sent heavy troops to defend.

The leading generals are Li Zicheng's confidant generals Tian Jianxiu and Liu Xiyao, who stock up tens of thousands of troops, and there are many old battalion soldiers among them.Jianshan Mountain is dangerous and heavily guarded. In daytime, even the Shun Township Army might not be able to capture it.

Fighting at night will definitely not work for sergeants with night blindness. More importantly, in the dark at this time, the army's signals and drums for communication are useless. How to effectively command operations is a huge problem. It is difficult for elite troops to succeed, and it is not enough to have a large number.

However, night raids are the strength of the Shunxiang army. In terms of nutritional supplements, sharp eyesight, discipline and army organization, there are few armies in this world that can compare with the Shunxiang army.Chen Yongfu is self-aware, even if he sends his servants there, it may not be possible, he can only rely on Wang Dou's subordinates.

As for the candidate for the night attack that night, Wang Dou was the first to think of Wen Fangliang. This flamboyant guy looks cynical on the surface, but in fact he is careful, bold and calm, and he is the most suitable candidate for success tonight.Coupled with Wen Daxing's Yebushu teams, the chances of success are even greater.

The terrain around Jianshan Mountain had already been surveyed clearly by the Shunxiang Army. Before Li Zicheng's troops arrived in Luoyang, Wang Dou's intelligence department had already conducted a detailed survey of the surrounding areas of Luoyang, especially several possible grain storage places.The three-dimensional topographic map of Jianshan is now in the sand table in front of Wang Dou, and the relevant troop layout on it is also plotted in detail on the sand table.

For this sand table, Chen Yongfu is amazed every time he sees it. He has decided to follow Wang Dou's military training after returning to Kaifeng. Of course, the sand table is the place to learn.

But it is easier said than done. After Chen Yongfu made this decision, he found himself at a loss and had nowhere to start.If you think about it casually, it is an extremely complex and huge project. Not to mention anything else, the training of relevant detection personnel is not an easy task.

In the afternoon of that day, Wang Dou and Chen Yongfu gathered the generals in their army to discuss matters. At dusk, several knights from the Shun Township Army rushed into the city from the north gate.

The defenders of the North Gate did not think anything different. Of the four passes in Luoyang, only the North Pass is still in the hands of officers and soldiers. It is still guarded by General Wang Dou and Deputy Commander Chen Yongfu. It is quite normal for them to send some knights into the city to make contact. .

There was nothing unusual outside the city, so the defenders opened the city gate and let the knights in.

After these knights entered the city, they dispersed and went straight to the camp of Shun Township Army General Wu Zhengchun, Shen Shiqi, and Gao Xun. Not long after, these knights rushed out of the city again, and Shen Shiqi and Gao Xun also rushed to Wu Zhengchun. In the camp...

As night fell, Luoyang City, the ancient capital of thousands of years, gradually became lively. Today is the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. In previous years, Luoyang City was full of fire trees, silver flowers and flowers.This year everyone was unlucky, hundreds of thousands of thieves besieged the city, but fortunately they didn't attack again in the past two days, which made everyone more relaxed.

Outside the city there is still a heavy army besieging the city. This year’s Luoyang City is not as lively as in previous years. Many traditional programs such as dragon lantern dancing, lantern viewing, and lantern riddle guessing are no longer there. However, many wealthy families still hang some lanterns on the nine streets and eighteen alleys.

Fu Wangfu, the government and the squires also organized some reward programs, sending Lantern Festival dinners to Luoyang officers and soldiers and village brave soldiers.On the Wenfeng Pagoda in Luoyang, people are also organized to set off fireworks to have fun with the people.From time to time, bursts of bright fireworks are set off in the various mansions, which complement each other with the bright moon in the night sky, which looks so beautiful.

From time to time, there were men, women, and children's laughter in the city. Even the officers and soldiers patrolling the streets looked up at the fireworks in the night sky and laughed.The noise of laughter brought a warm atmosphere to Luoyang City in the last days.

"Let's have fun, tonight you will know what it means that extreme joy begets sorrow."

On the east gate wall, Liu Jianyi was fully armored, and under the protection of several confidant generals and family members, he just looked at the scenery in the city coldly.The lanterns and torches on the poles flickered in the cold wind, making his face gloomy and uncertain.

The cold air permeated the air everywhere, and some small snowflakes fell from the sky from time to time. The snowflakes were not big, but fine.The cold caused a thin layer of ice to form on the city wall. If it weren't for some fine sand sprinkled on the city brick floor, it would definitely be extremely slippery and difficult to walk on.

The weather was so cold, everyone around him was panting and stomping their feet desperately, hoping to drive away the numbness in the whole body. At this moment, I felt that the time passed really slowly.

Liu Jianyi also felt that it was hard to suffer tonight, it seemed to be a little colder than before, but a few days ago, in such weather, he would have already shrunk into bed.But for the big event, for the sake of future wealth, no matter how unbearable it is, he will endure tonight.

There were few people on the city wall, and those who walked back and forth were all the servants and guards under Liu Jianyi's command.

Looking up, you can see that there are Yiyiye and Juma erected on the walls everywhere. The Yiyiye is a long log with sharp iron nails nailed on it. Like Juma, it is to prevent the enemy from A good recipe for stealing a city and attacking at night.In addition to the night watchmen on the city, and the torches and lanterns every few steps, generally speaking, it is very difficult to attack and steal the city at night.

However, house thieves are hard to guard against, and ghosts have appeared inside the city, so effective defense measures are useless.

In the past few days, the night patrols on the east gate city wall were all the country soldiers who assisted in the defense of the city. They changed every hour and took turns to keep watch at night.Tonight, Liu Jianyi found several excuses and replaced them all with his servants.

The soldiers of the village brave society guarding at the east gate only said that General Liu was benevolent, and they were all overjoyed. It happened to be Shangyuan night tonight, so they could have a good time and relax.

Things went very smoothly, except for a small episode in the evening, when Shen Shiqi, the commander-in-chief of the Shun Township Army who was assisting the East Gate, asked Liu Jianyi casually, saying that his army was working hard on the night watch alone, could some Shun Township troops be transferred for rotation?

At that time, Liu Jianyi slammed all over his body, and he was in cold sweat. He kept saying no, saying that the Shun Township Army came to help from afar, and the battle was difficult.This kind of trivial matter of defending the city should not be labored by the world-famous Shunxiang Army.They just need to keep their spirits up and wait for the thieves to attack the city.

Fortunately, Shen Shiqi didn't think too much, so he let Liu Jianyi arrange it.Although the incident has passed, until now, Liu Jianyi's whole body is still cold.

Shen Shiqi's fleshy face made him afraid at the first sight, and his bull's eyes were flashing fiercely all the time.What is even more frightening is that the nearly thousand Shunxiang sergeants under his command can be said to be killing gods alive.Shen Shiqi assisted Dongmen these days, and Liu Jianyi had a deep understanding of the combat effectiveness of the Shunxiang Army.

Although he has more people than them, Liu Jianyi has always been afraid of this army. What he hopes most is that what happened tonight will not disturb the soldiers of Shun Township in the camp.

Knowing that other than these people, King Chuang must be very happy, and he has made more contributions. Now they are also resting and sleeping in the camp, but given him 1 courage, he doesn't have the energy to rush into the camp and kill them.The matter of the Shunxiang army in the city should be left to the rebels who entered the city to solve it.

Time passed bit by bit, Liu Jianyi walked back and forth on the city wall in the cold wind, anxiously waiting for the arrival of Zi Shi.He looked inside the city from time to time, and then looked outside the city. Just like the fireworks that rose from inside the city from time to time, a few fireworks were also set off from time to time at the barracks outside the city.

It seems that both soldiers and thieves have to celebrate the New Year.

Finally, the fireworks inside and outside the city slowly faded, and the city of Luoyang slowly fell into silence.

Liu Jianyi rubbed his face which was about to freeze, waved his hand, and led the generals in the battalion into the tower.Hearing Diao Dou's voice, he looked at the hourglass intently for a long time. It was Hai time, that is, eleven o'clock in the evening in the later generations, and there was still half an hour in ion time.

Liu Jianyi ordered: "Let all the soldiers leave the barracks, and when the midnight arrives, hang up lanterns on the tower and open the door to meet them."

All the generals under his command promised in low voices, all of them were panting, rich and powerful, and they just fought here.

……

After Liu Jianyi delivered the order, more and more subordinates gathered outside the city gate, and there was also the East Gate Tower.

In the moonlight, everyone was extremely nervous.Liu Jianyi forced himself to be calm. He looked towards the south gate, thinking that Lao Luo should take action.Finally, he looked outside the city, from the east gate to the east gate, there seemed to be only a few people, and the rebels should have ambushed there.

At this moment, Liu Jianyi suddenly heard the sound of thousands of people running neatly on the East Street.Liu Jianyi and his subordinates looked at each other in blank dismay: "What's the sound, why is it so loud?"

Suddenly, a shrill voice in the street shouted in extreme panic, "It's the Shun Township Army!"

Hearing the voice, it was the soldiers in his own battalion, and everyone around Liu Jianyi was in chaos. The blood on Liu Jianyi's face disappeared in an instant, and he murmured: "How could it be, how could it leak..."

With a bang, the sound of a pistol slammed the whole city, and a voice with a Zhongzhou accent shouted loudly: "King Fengfu, Lord Bingxian Wang, General Dingguo, Liu Jianyi's wolf ambition, colluding with bandits , Kill on the spot. Anyone who dares to resist will be killed!"

The sound of firecrackers sounded like popping beans, and there was a horrific cry from the streets inside the East Gate. Countless officers and soldiers under Liu Jianyi's command rushed towards the head of the East Gate like chickens without their heads.It seemed that this was a signal. At the same time, around the south gate and north gate of Luoyang City, the sound of bird guns rising and falling kept ringing, and the sound of countless people crying and shouting faintly came from time to time.

The sound shook the whole city, and the whole city of Luoyang seemed to be quiet for a while, and then the whole city started to growl.

The horseshoes were rolling, but someone kept running along the streets and alleys of Luoyang City and announced: "The thieves Liu Jianyi, Luo Tai, Tian Wenzong, and Yang Hebian colluded with the bandits, opened the door to surrender the thieves, and issued an official order to kill and apprehend all the thieves. , the whole city is under immediate martial law, and no one is allowed to stay in the streets, and those who violate it will be treated as a chaotic party and will be killed without mercy!"

But at this time, suddenly, the east gate, the south gate, and the north gate of Luoyang city were all lit up with sparkling torches, and one after another, the army formations of invading soldiers appeared in front of them.Presumably, the outside of the city heard the movement of Luoyang City, and knew that the incident was a failure that night, so he showed up.

Our own battalion rushed to the top of the city like headless flies, and groups of armored Shunxiang troops under the city were on a rampage, bombarding with blunderbusses and charging with long spears. How could Liu Jianyi's subordinates stop it?Facing the prestige of the Shun Township Army and the panic when the incident was revealed, no one had the heart to resist. They either died or fled, or knelt down and begged desperately.

When Liu Jianyi was cold all over and lost his soul, when he saw the fire outside the city and countless intruders appearing, a glimmer of hope floated in his heart.He roared wildly: "Quick, quick, open the city gate and welcome the rebels to enter the city, otherwise we will all die, all of us will die!"

All the generals around Liu Jianyi had hopes of survival. They embraced Liu Jianyi and led their servants, desperately trying to escape to the outside of the city.Unexpectedly, there were several bursts of gunshots from below the city, and an unknown number of people fell down in front of them, and the shrill wailing sound immediately knocked out all their courage.

They crowded into a group, and finally fled back to the east gate tower. The Shunxiang army caught up with the city wall, and Liu Jianyi's servants on the city wall fled to the tower like flowing water. , Some people were even squeezed and fell from the inner wall alive.

More people knelt on the ground and begged, hoping that the Shun Township Army would spare their lives. After all, the order to surrender to the bandits in Kaicheng was ordered by the superior. They should be fine, right?
Liu Jianyi fled to the top floor of the tower, and when he heard the shouts of killing from the tower getting closer and closer, converging from both ends of the city wall, and finally the sound of countless footsteps rushing into the tower, his body trembled violently.Some of the generals and personal guards beside him were also pale, feeling the end of the world is coming.

The sound of the bang of the blunderbuss, the penetrating sound of the spear piercing into the body, and the crying and moaning of one's servant before dying, sounded from below layer by layer.Finally, the sound of rumbling footsteps sounded from the stairs below, and I don't know how many pairs of feet stepped on it.

In the evening, several tall and pointed iron helmets protruded from the stairs. The helmets were divided into eight parts, and there were shining red tassels on the tips of the helmets.Under the brim of the helmet, there were several murderous faces.These eight-petal iron helmet sergeants were all wearing cotton armor, and all held black and thick bird guns in their hands. The matchlock behind the bird guns had already been lit.

Liu Jianyi and others collectively screamed, but they saw more and more Shunxiang army birds and musketeers coming upstairs.They crept forward, their black muzzles aimed at Liu Jianyi and the others over there.Seeing them approaching step by step, Liu Jianyi and the others shrank into a pile, shaking like chaff.

"Don't shoot..."

The general in front of Liu Jianyi shouted loudly, and then thunderous firecrackers rang out, and amidst the flames and whistle smoke, the general was beaten staggeringly and flew away.Those who were knocked down at the same time as him were many servants or officers in front of Liu Jianyi.

Then, also wearing an eight-petal iron helmet, it was the pikemen of the Shun Township Army who were wearing iron armor and flashed forward.Looking at their spear stabs with a cold light, Liu Jianyi's mind went blank, and he couldn't feel any resistance in his heart.Tears rolled down his eyes, he just cried and begged: "Don't kill me, I don't want to die..."

The group of pikemen ignored them, screamed a few times, and the people in front of Liu Jianyi were stabbed to death by them.Then these spearmen continued to press forward Liu Jianyi step by step with bloody spears in their hands.In the face of the irresistible death, all the schemes and viciousness of the past have become in vain.

Liu Jianyi murmured, "Don't, don't kill me..."

Suddenly he felt a chill in his stomach, but a long spear pierced through the armor and pierced deeply into his body.He stared blankly at the lower abdomen for a while, and the spearman drew back his spear, bringing out a cloud of blood.Unspeakable pain welled up in his heart, and Liu Jianyi cried out loudly.

He wanted to run away, but he heard a puffing sound, and several spears pierced his body again. He fell to the ground powerlessly, but the hope of survival still made him crawl forward desperately.A dense crowd of spearmen surrounded Liu Jianyi, who was crawling on the floor, stabbing wildly.

More than a dozen long spears pierced and pulled out, pierced, and then pulled out, bringing out pieces of blood mist and flesh and blood.

Liu Jianyi's howl gradually decreased from high to low, and finally fell silent.

……

The civil strife in Luoyang City caught many people by surprise. It can be said that the whole city was shaken, including Prince Fu's Mansion, the sub-guardian, and the Yamen of the prefect of Luoyang.

Countless officials got up in their clothes and kept asking what happened. King Fu hurriedly sent people to Wang Yinchang, the deputy envoy of military preparation, Lu Weiqi, the former minister of the Ministry of War, the prefect of Luoyang, and Wang Shaoyu, the chief soldier.

But how did Wang Yinchang and others know what happened? They only knew that someone on the street was yelling over and over again, saying that Liu Jianyi and others were colluding with thieves and intending to open the city. Dou and others ordered to capture and kill.Afterwards, the whole city was full of killing sounds, and the sound of gunfire was loud, which was inexplicable and frightening.

Wang Yinchang hurriedly contacted the prefect of Luoyang, Yang Shoubei, and some leaders of the society to ask for details. These people were also confused.

They gathered at the west gate tower and watched the fierce fighting at the east gate, south gate, and north gate of Luoyang City, and they were all in a state of confusion.They were eager to know what was going on there, so they repeatedly sent people to inquire, but the people they sent were afraid of encountering stray bullets, so they didn't dare to get too close, and the news they got out was vague.

However, many people saw the tens of thousands of thieves holding torches outside the three gates. In addition, Wu Zhengchun came quickly, escorted a group of Liu Jianyi and Luo Tai's personal guards, and explained the matter clearly.Wang Yinchang and the others understood what was going on, and couldn't help being furious.

Liu Jianyi, Luo Tai, and Tian Wenzong's thieves dared to offer their support in the city. If the Shun Township Army hadn't suppressed it in time, Luoyang City would have fallen.Looking at the tens of thousands of bandit soldiers outside the city, everyone was dripping with cold sweat.

(End of this chapter)