Henan Cheng announced the Political Envoy Department, and Li Zicheng occupied almost two-thirds of the territory. Considering that Xinyang City is easy to defend but difficult to attack, Li Zicheng was not in a hurry to attack Xinyang at this time, killing Hongniangzi and Li Yan to take revenge.

His purpose was to take Kaifeng first, and then gradually occupy the entire Henan territory. Then reorganize troops and easily capture Xinyang City.

Now Li Zicheng's attack on Xinyang City is no longer a problem. First of all, he is not just as simple as soldiers. At this time, Li Zicheng had a large number of powerful weapons for siege.

Looking at the entire ancient history, there are only two types of national destruction, civil strife and foreign invasions. In many cases, national destruction is not just due to corruption among officials, government corruption, but because it is too rich.

Relaxation caused trouble. Emperor Taizu, who was at the beginning of the country's destruction, struggled from poverty. At that time, the number of soldiers was not high, and their combat effectiveness was extremely strong. On the battlefield, he was really not afraid of death.

However, after a long period of peace and prosperity, they began to enjoy peace. They valued culture and neglected military preparations, and the main reason for the lack of military preparations was the most common cause.

For example, the biggest feature of the Northern Song Dynasty was that it valued culture and neglected military affairs, and its economy was unprecedentedly prosperous. By the time of Emperor Huizong of Song Dynasty, there was nothing in the country, but there was no shortage of money.

However, blindly economic prosperity has completely abandoned the military equipment. In fact, the entire military equipment system has collapsed directly.

The Northern Song Dynasty was another era that focused on the development of science and technology. Many siege artifacts were stored in the warehouse and were moldy and rusted. The Jin people rushed into the Central Plains by siege artifacts they seized after capturing the city along the way. They entered Tokyo all the way, which directly led to the destruction of the Northern Song Dynasty.

On the other hand, isn't it the case in the Ming Dynasty? In today's Ming Dynasty, the combat effectiveness of the Ming army has long disappeared. If it were the time of Emperor Taizu Chengzu, how could it be that the Qing Dynasty was worth, and what would it be that the mere bandits fear?

Emperor Taizu directly killed the Mongolian Yuan and won the world. Emperor Chengzu entered the north of the Mo and greatly suppressed the two tribes of Oirat and Tatar.

In December of the 19th year of Yongle in the Ming Dynasty, the Ming court used the Tatars' tribe to disturb the border and gathered to discuss the northern expedition. Fang Bin, Minister of War, Xia Yuanji, Minister of Revenue, and Wu Zhong, Secretary of Justice, all said that the army was not sufficient for insufficient grain storage and the army was not successful, so they advocated that it was not suitable to promote the army. Chengzu Zhu Di was furious and forced Fang Bin to hang himself, arrested Xia Yuanji, and Wu Zhong was imprisoned.

If it were any emperor, he would not have the courage of Chengzu Zhu Di. Faced with the resistance of important officials in the court, Emperor Chengzu did not compromise at all and directly killed the three heads of Shangshu.

In March of the 20th year, Zhu Di led his army out of Beijing, using 340,000 donkeys, more than 170,000 chariots, and as many as 230,000 civilians, and transporting 370,000 stones of grain to follow the battle. The army passed through Jiwu Mountain, Yunzhou, Kaiping, and Yingchang, and went to Shahunyuan. Alutai heard the news and avoided fighting. In early July, the Ming army chased to Zibei, Kuoluanhai. He heard that Alutai had abandoned all the supplies and horses and animals went north, so he collected the cattle, alpacas and horses he abandoned, and burned his supplies to return to the army. On the way, Zhu Di led 20,000 elite cavalry and divided his troops into five groups to attack the Urya tribe that was affiliated with Alutai, and won a great victory. On August 17, he was in charge.

At that time, the Ming Dynasty was so powerful that it was invincible.

Now, after more than 270 years of baptism, it has long been declining. History is always surprisingly similar. The Ming Dynasty is following the path of the late Northern Song Dynasty. Although it is following the path of the late Northern Song Dynasty, the national strength of the Ming Dynasty is far inferior at this time.

However, the siege artifacts in the entire Huguang and Henan area were captured by Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng was even more powerful and used these siege artifacts to attack the city.

This directly led to the loss of two-thirds of Henan's territory. Li Zicheng pointed directly at Kaifeng Prefecture. This time, he wanted to lead a large army to attack and open the city.

Kaifeng City successively included the Xia, Wei during the Warring States Period, the Later Liang during the Five Dynasties, the Later Jin, the Later Han, the Later Zhou, the Northern Song and the Jin Dynasty successively established capitals here, and are known as the "Ancient Capital of the Eight Dynasties".

Taking down Kaifeng City is equivalent to conquering Henan. Li Zicheng is full of confidence and mobilized Dabo's army to encircle Kaifeng.

Since conquering Luoyang City, the ancient capital of the nine dynasties, Henan has almost become the world of Li Zicheng. After capturing Kaifeng, the remaining territory in Henan will only happen sooner or later.

Li Zicheng was full of confidence, and at this time it was Zuo Liangyu's troops stationed in Kaifeng City.

At this time, Kaifeng Prefecture, Fu County, Chenliu, Qi, Tongxu, Taikang, Weishi, Wuchuan, Yanling, Fugou, Zhongmu, Yangwu, Yuanwu, Fengqiu, Yanjin, Lanyang, Yifeng, Xinzheng, Chenzhou and others under its jurisdiction fell one after another.

At this time, Kaifeng City had almost become an isolated city. However, Zuo Liangyu was extremely capable of fighting.

It is undeniable that Zuo Liangyu has many shortcomings. This guy may not be loyal to the Ming Dynasty. He was first fighting against the Qing army in Liaodong and was promoted by Hou Xun. Later, in the war to suppress the peasant army, he continued to expand his troops, becoming increasingly arrogant and domineering, and he held his own troops.

But when he was about to fight, Zuo Liangyu was still very fierce. Even though he was fierce, he was beaten to retreat step by step when he met Liu Zongmin's troops, who were also known for his bravery. Finally, he retreated to Kaifeng City and defended Gucheng.

After Li Zicheng's last siege in Kaifeng City, he encountered trespasses again. The same is true this time. The officers and soldiers of Kaifeng City all knew that Li Zicheng's troops had already surrounded him. Even if they wanted to escape, they would find it difficult to break through.

The trapped beasts still fight, and they decided to hold on to the city, and when to guard it is what time.

Li Zicheng also considered surrendering, but the messenger he sent was hung on the city wall by Zuo Liangyu. Zuo Liangyu said that he vowed to live and die with Kaifeng.

Zuo Liangyu can see this clearly. The bandit Li Zicheng will never become a great man. If he surrenders and breaks through the thief, he will not only become a treacherous minister in the court in the future, but also bear the eternal infamy.

"Hao Xiaozhong, tell your brothers that I swear to live and die with Kaifeng. Once the thieves attack the city, everyone must work hard to fight for me. Only by defending Kaifeng City can we be worthy of the court and the ancestors. Look at the general's flag, as long as the general does not go down the city wall, the thieves in Kaifeng City will not be able to fight in!"

Hao Xiaozhong was Zuo Liangyu's subordinate general, and he immediately bowed: "Don't worry, General, no brothers are afraid of death."

Li Zicheng did not say nonsense and directly ordered the siege. He used all the siege equipment that could be used.

However, this time Li Zicheng encountered another tough guy. Zuo Liangyu's handsome flag was at the Xicheng Gate, and the Xicheng Gate was attacked the most violently by bandits.

Several times, Li Zicheng's troops had climbed up the city wall, but they were all repelled back by Zuo Liangyu's subordinates. From beginning to end, Zuo Liangyu's commanding flag stood firm in the west city.

The officers and soldiers of Kaifeng City saw General Zuo lead, and their morale was greatly boosted. Li Zicheng repeated the same mistake again, and Kaifeng City still could not be captured for a long time. This made Li Zicheng extremely angry. His subordinates claimed to be one million soldiers, but they could not even take over the small Kaifeng City.
Chapter completed!