About the details of the war, in addition to White's Record of Wet Circles Outside the Border, another Li Guangcha's Journal of Keeping the Border can be used as information. Among them, Guangcha is the chief adjutant of guarding city. During the period from February 14th to September 15th in Chongzhen (1642), when Li Zicheng besieged Kaifeng for three times, he not only witnessed the whole process of the peasant army besieging Kaifeng, but also planned the guarding city action with Gao Mingheng and Huang Zhu, defenders of Kaifeng in Ming Dynasty. When Kaifeng was besieged for the second time, he served as the general headquarters of Zuosuo, leading social soldiers (local armed forces) to defend the city. The third garrison is the general patrol affairs of the volunteer society, patrolling the city with the guards day and night. In the biography of the sage in Zhongzhou, there is a description of his duty when he was besieged: "Guangcha and Huang Zhu, the official, stood at the head of the city, wondering if the snow stained his clothes." After the Yellow River burst and flooded Bian Cheng, Li Guangcha and his family fled to Hebei by raft, and later lived in Nanjing. In the 16th year of Chongzhen (1643), Li Luan, his son, dictated it in September, and wrote a book, The Border Guard Journal, which was recorded in detail every day. Because of Li Shoubian's meritorious service, he was later named magistrate of a county. "In the Qing Dynasty, he lived in seclusion in Xili Village, Tongxu County, Henan Province, and died at the age of 67."
I met Han Shunfa, director of the Shaanxi-Gansu Guild Hall in Kaifeng Mountain. I must read this book. It's an old book with a broken corner and a stain on the surface. Han Shunfa said: "I also found it from an old book stall. Don't make me talk. It's all in books. "
So, I began to "interview" an old man in a former life and how to kill two sides:
When the thieves attacked the west side, the battlements covered the guns with desktop and door panels first, which seemed to be unable to resist the bombardment of the guns, and the soldiers in Chengtou could do nothing. On 13th, Zhang Jian, a student, used his quick wits to bundle logs into a raft, which can span three to five stacks, four or five feet outside, and can accommodate ten people. "Our soldiers should show their hands and feet." Huang Zhu, the magistrate, ordered Zhu Guangzu of Aote to build a "suspended building" quickly, which became 50 overnight and lived in different cities.
14, the seemingly clumsy "suspended building" played a role in actual combat. It seems that the peasant army who attacked the city suffered a lot of casualties, which caused "the thief to be furious and shoot arrows all day, and the arrows were stuck in the wall like hedgehogs." 15, the peasant army attacked the city with a group of 48 people carrying ladders. A soldier guarding the city named Zhu Zhicang won a reward of 520 taels of silver for killing thieves in the city.
Li Zicheng's original plan to raid Kaifeng failed, and the recent storm was blocked. 16, Chen Yongfu, who went to Luoyang for aid, heard that Kaifeng was attacked and rushed back overnight. Before his men entered the city, he stole from the lonely soul altar and entered Xiaoxiguan. After a burst of slashing, he led his troops to the gate. According to Gao Mingheng's orders, the patrolman let Chen Yongfu's son Chen De see clearly in Chengtou and shut the boiling water door. This is a man loyal to the government. He continued to fight in Chen Yongfu at night and was killed by jealousy. At that time, he forgot to go back to the city and was surrounded by the awakened peasant army. Until the next morning, he continued to fight in Xiaoxiguan, with many casualties. A loyalist boarded a roof and killed seven people in a row. The peasant army did not dare to approach, so they had to shoot him at random.
/KLOC-On October 7th, Chen Yongfu's son Chen Deyi shot Li Zicheng in the left eye while patrolling outside the west gate. There is no historical evidence to prove whether the arrow helped the peasant army to save itself, but at dawn the next day, the peasant army striker withdrew westward until the evening. When Chen De shot himself, he saw that he "left with his head in shock, and only then did he know that he was a thief".
Chen De's arrow was later thought to have been shot by Chen Yongfu, so when the Dashun regime persuaded the company commander Chen Yongfu to defect, he heard that Yongfu was worried about the revenge of the arrow and came out to dispel his concerns. Later, in the anti-Qing War in Taiyuan, Chen Yongfu seriously defended the city, but in the end, he surrendered to the Qing army, which is another story.
He 'nan is the place where the Zhu Ming Dynasty built its vassals. There are seven kings here, and the imperial clan is rich, which is the richest in the world. Zhu lives in Luoyang and Zhou Wang lives in Kaifeng. Their different actions in wartime, although unable to control the war situation, decided their own destiny to a certain extent.
Zhu Gongyi, the king of Zhou Dynasty, is much more reasonable than Zhu and Zhu. On that day in Enemy at the Gates, he spared no effort and went all out. "He ordered people to reward those who can go out of the city to kill thieves with fifty taels of silver, those who can shoot thieves with thirty taels of silver, and those who shoot thieves or are injured by bricks and stones with twelve taels of silver." The move really worked, and the people who took the crossbow to the city were enthusiastic for a while, and Zhou Fu's 800 people also boarded the Xicheng defense. On the other hand, the axe king of Luoyang refused to accept the government's opinion, saying that he was "a miser". The soldiers in the city were poorly paid, hungry and complaining, which was one of the reasons why Luoyang defenders rebelled. After the fall of the city, the axe king lost not only his furniture, but also his life. On the way to Ying 'en Temple, the peasant army searched him and escorted him to "appear before the king". It happened that Lu Yu was tied up by flowers and Wei Qi Lv, a senior minister of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty who donated money to him. The axe king shouted "Mr. Lu, help me". "Son of a bitch, begging for his life" Axe King was ridiculed by Li Zicheng, and he made a fool of himself by playing forty boards. He also mixed his own meat with venison for the soldiers to eat, which is called "eating Fulu meat".
There are many reasons for the victory or defeat of the war, and the situation is complicated. Luoyang fell, not without soldiers and people to rely on; Kaifeng persisted, not because many soldiers were brave, but because in an extraordinary period, the government planned and deployed in place, and the people had their own brave people.
Take the initiative to withdraw from Li Zicheng to the west, including Liankemi County, Dengfeng County and Songxian County. In July of the 14th year of Chongzhen, Luo Rucai, nicknamed "Cao Cao", was at odds with Zhang, and led the army into Henan to join forces with Li Zicheng. Fighting seems to be getting easier and easier.
Since the peasant army cleared the west, the Kaifeng government supervised the restoration of the city wall the next day, and it was completed on 10. The people expected the peasant army to come again, but they didn't expect so many people.
In the 14th year of Chongzhen (164 1), on December 23rd, Li Zicheng joined forces with Luo Rucai to force Kaifeng to enter the city. In the afternoon, "the thief rode seven times to Caomen (East Gate) and posted two false notices on the gate, which were beyond the reach of the soldiers guarding the gate." That night, Luo Rucai camped at Fangta Temple in Jingyuan, Yingcheng County, about 5 kilometers away from the city, outside the earth embankment in Laoyingtun, Li Zicheng.
There are 30,000 elite farmers and more than 400,000 auxiliary personnel around Kaifeng. In the official documents of Ming history, "cooperation" is often the hungry people who newly joined the family. They lack combat experience and are lax in discipline. The "elite soldiers", that is, the "old revolution" who fought side by side with Li Zicheng for many years, are the main fighting force of the peasant army, with three meals a day, while "Xiecong" and their families can only eat two meals. The peasant army is just beginning to be in full swing.
However, after the interval of 10 months, Li Zicheng has learned to salute before the soldiers. The notice outside Cao's gate is a little less murderous and a little more gentle: "Open the door and surrender, you will forgive your sins and merits, and the civil and military officials will still be employed. Never kill again." Finally, he said sternly, "If you continue to resist, our battalion will kill the evil students."
Surrounded by the strong, the Kaifeng peasant army talked condescendingly to the city people and began to restrain the rapidly expanding army: "Those who hide women in the bunk beds will be beheaded."
Civil and military officials in the city felt that the army was weak, and Wang Xie, the magistrate of Xiangfu County, had no choice but to create a "social soldier", which was actually a temporary local armed force to organize citizens to participate in the war. Where there is a social soldier, there must be a president.
The peasant army, waiting to die, attacked the line from Caomen to Beimen on 24th.
Outside the north city, there are 3,000 officers and men, Ding and Ming, who went from Nanyang to Bianbian and set up a base to defend the city. Reliable loyalists without walls, once in war, were completely defeated in Wengcheng. At the moment, the two armies are mixed. Wang Xie even added soil to plug the door, and the loyalist mourned for it. Rich Ting also begged Kaimen to put it in. At this time, Wang Xie, the magistrate of a county, shouted like a reflex: "How dare you open the door?" The peasant army is surging, and it has reached the urn, only a few feet away from the big city. To say that this urn has a defensive function, it can completely "beat the dog behind closed doors", but it happened that the two soldiers were mixed together, and the garrison soldiers above the city could not help, and there was nothing they could do at the moment. In times of crisis, Wang Xie proposed to use fire to solve the crisis. Inspector Ding felt sorry for his soldiers. While he was still hesitating, Wang Xie caused all the torches to be thrown together, and the soldiers at the gate could not escape, and suddenly caught fire.
Ding, a professional soldier, was dumbfounded by a scholar and then burst into tears. Although the parties Li Guang and White narrated afterwards, I still can't imagine the scene through the words on the paper. How strong the fire was, it collapsed in an instant, leaving only a pile of charred and messy flesh.
No one can tell why Kaifeng's father tried his best to defend himself in the face of the siege of the peasant rebel army. The efforts of officials and the "desperation" of literati may be interpreted as foolish loyalty and orthodoxy; Why do slaves, businessmen and citizens in Wang Fu go to the city to struggle and be heroes? At the north gate of Wengcheng, Cao Chengfeng led Zhou Fu's soldiers to guard the city gate. They blocked the city gate with earth, but it's not halfway there. "Thieves come to tear down the door." Zhou Fu-ren hooked the enemy soldiers from the inside out, dragged them in and cut off their heads like the enemy.
A few days later, the city was understaffed. Li Guang "set up a city with money, and hired able-bodied men temporarily. Every time, everyone gives a hundred pence and four cakes, and people flock to hire them. " The money and cakes actually come from donations from businessmen. War has become a red eye, regardless of "class" and "politics". Are you fighting for money?
"Unconscious, no position" veteran Kaifeng, almost became the main force to contain Li Zicheng and Luo Rucai's sharp offensive.
This battle was fought on the first day of the first month of the second year. This is the New Year in the old calendar. 1642, Kaifeng people forgot the peace and tranquility of the Spring Festival the year before. In the first month, it should be a frozen day. On that day, "the thief chased the woman, looked at the city naked and shouted abuse"; The city people refused to show weakness, so they told the monks to stand naked on the female wall and scold them, while both sides helped the artillery bombardment. This battle has been played for the sake of "romance", playing naked.
On that day, Li Zicheng moved the camp to Xu Li's account north of Li San because of his long-term attack. City people can vaguely see the exchanges in the camp, so they set up a "red cannon" and shot from a distance, hitting their camp and bringing up smoke. Li Zicheng survived and moved outside Tucheng.
When the two armies are at loggerheads, it is inevitable that they will be nervous. Two nights before the first day of the first month, a tenant named Wang Cai got drunk and set fire to three huts, which shocked the whole city. I'm afraid that Huang tuiguan is a spy, and I will kill Wang Cai in the city without careful study. On the third day of the third year, afraid that Inspector Ding would surrender to the rebels, he was lured to the old camp to call the roll, and all of them were killed and buried in Lianchikeng.
On the fourth day of the fourth grade, it suddenly snowed. In the city, "the snow is wet and the clothes are wet, and the soldiers are cold." According to Gao Mingheng, the patrol called Li Guang and built 20,000 quilts to keep out the cold. "If it's late, do it according to military law." Where does Li Guang have time to go door to door? He has to call social soldiers to raise money for everyone. So each commune soldier gave 10, 50 to those with shops and 30 to businessmen. As a tenant, the commune soldiers also went back to inform their owners and donated clothes and quilts. That night, quilts were given to the soldiers guarding the city.
White recorded such a dialogue between the government and the people in his Bian Wei Cry: "The government and the army need clothes and quilts, but why is Nair's wife cold?" Folk language: "A wife can bear it at home, but an official is pitiful." With these words, all the older men embraced and wept.
Throughout the history of peasant wars in the late Ming Dynasty, Kaifeng, Henan Province was the strongest. Where is the office? This can be seen. The peasant army is also desperate, and it is also a person who "the former dies and the latter succeeds." In the second attack on Kaifeng, it was not enough to ask peasant soldiers to rush into the city and cut down three wall bricks to complete the task and return to camp for rest.
On the thirteenth day of the first month, the peasant army dug a hole and blew up the wall. For several days in a row, the soldiers of the peasant army took turns flying to the northeast corner of the city wall, digging long caves, carrying cloth bags back and forth every day and loading explosives. A long line was drawn that day, and more than 1000 cavalry and infantry were ready to wait for the city to blast the gap before attacking. The sky is falling, bricks are flying and scattered for hundreds of meters. The ambushed peasant army suffered heavy casualties, but no one was injured in the city. The outer wall of the city wall collapsed, and the inner wall was only a few feet thick, still standing. Is this providence to help Kaifeng?
It was just a coincidence, but it made the morale of the peasant army dim and gave birth to the idea of resigning. The next day, "the old camp thief played five drums, but the siege thief did not move." At noon, the thief horse galloped and told the thief horse to leave quickly. From northwest to southeast, dust covers the sun. "
Li Guang and all the guards must see clearly in Chengtou, otherwise it is difficult to have the above description. The next day, the city gate of Kaifeng was wide open, and the guarding city officials visited the Fangta Temple where Luo Rucai camped. Cattle, donkeys and horses in the camp are intestines and lungs, with human bodies in the middle, which pollutes the camp.
More than ten miles from Caomen to the North Gate, "Bodies are everywhere, hair is broken all over the ground, and there is no worry about casualties." Huang Tuiguan ordered the local civilian workers to be buried on the spot, but it was not cleaned up on 10. There are still 30 thousand cows left outside the city, and the government forbids the soldiers and civilians to plunder. Sometimes it is sold to farmers at half price, and there are more than 3000 women left. After relatives claimed it, there were more than 300 left, and they were sent to buddhist nun for support.
After the peasant army was cleared, the city wall was repaired. Subsequently, other Ming armies still fought against Chu Zhuangwang, "but they couldn't put it out, which led to the third siege".
On the second day of May in the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng for the third time. Chongzhen urgently ordered Ding, Zuo Liangyu and other Ming troops to come to the rescue. The total number of Ming army is 6.5438+0.8 million, which is called 400,000. In Zhuxian Town, we fought a decisive battle with the peasant army. Li Zicheng main temporarily transferred to Zhuxian town. After a short battle, Zuo Liangyu's main force of 7,000 people fled, and Li Zicheng besieged Kaifeng on May 25th.
Zuo Liangyu's retreat was intentional. This man is domineering and difficult to use, but Chongzhen is inconvenient to "repair" him. The left side claims to have many soldiers, but the actual backbone troops are only 25 thousand, a considerable part of which are the former peasant army troops he recruited. Ming Ting understood that an improper handling might make him disperse in a hubbub and become a "rogue" again. At this time of the Ming court, the available troops were Liaodong troops in Wu Sangui, Zuo Liangyu troops in Hubei, and Sun Chuanting troops in Shaanxi. In order to prevent the Manchu from entering the customs, even when Beijing was under emergency siege until it was destroyed, it was also considered that the most elite Wu Sangui department was not mobilized because of border troubles. After the execution of the former company commander in Shaanxi, it is still necessary to stabilize the morale of the army and solve the urgent need of Kaifeng. Chongzhen first counted on Zuo Liangyu.
For warlord Zuo Liangyu, Chongzhen took the method of biting the hand that feeds him. When Liang Yu was young, he was dismissed for violating military regulations, and he bowed his head. Later, Hou Xun, a native of Guide House in Henan Province, took a fancy to granting military power, and made a name for himself in Liaodong Campaign, from which his official career flourished. Zuo is very grateful. Emperor Chongzhen knew this well, so he was released from prison, and entrusted the right assistant minister of the Ministry of War and other military posts to use his personal relationship with Zuo's family to mobilize the left department to attack Li Zicheng with Baoding, Shandong, Hebei and other officers and men.
Hou Xun can fully consider the current situation, and his strategy is "Don't rush to the whole country in Victoria", advocating that all provinces stick to their own conditions and wait for the opportunity. He felt that Henan was thousands of miles away and lacked food. Li Zicheng has millions of troops in Henan, and they can only squat and starve. Then they will lead Zuo Liangyu to the north and attack the peasant army with Shaanxi Governor Sun Chuanting.
But it didn't say whether the loyalists could hold on to their own territory and prevent the peasant army from maneuvering. Hou Xun's idea just goes against the original intention of Chongzhen. Hou Xun's proposal was rejected as soon as it was put forward. In desperation, Hou Xun ordered Zuo Liangyu to go north, knowing that it was no match for Li Zicheng, and the north might be wiped out, but he had to perfunctory Hou Xun's face, and marched with five thousand shillings, claiming that three hundred thousand troops would follow suit. The meaning of this 300,000 troops is the cost figure. Hou Xun, who was quite clever, understood the intention of the left and quickly replied that he could not solve the expenses of 300,000 people, and asked him not to go north. Chongzhen Hou Xun is ineffective, but Kaifeng House is helpless. At the end of the same year, Hou Xun was removed from office and put back into prison.
Later, it was the Sun Chuanting Department of Shaanxi Province that followed the command of the Ming court. More than 65,480,000 troops swore out of Tongguan at the Anguandi Temple on the first day of August. On the way, they learned that Kaifeng had fallen and turned south to Henan. Li Zicheng went west to meet them, and the two armies fought in Jiaxian. Sun Chuanting was almost completely annihilated, but it took more than a month to wave after Kaifeng flooded.
Outside the wall of Kaifeng North City, sand dunes are obviously piled up. It stretches for miles, almost as long as the north wall, which stands out from the four walls. With this landform, the green vegetation along Tokyo Avenue is the green vegetation of the green cage. It has always been regarded as a barren land formed by alluvial silt of the Yellow River, which is lush and has become an excellent amusement place for Kaifeng people.
With the north gate as the boundary, there is Yiyuan Garden in the west and Forest Park around the city in the east. The name and vegetation are undoubtedly a well-thought-out plan of the city: around the root of the city wall, afforestation and reclamation will follow the ups and downs of sand dunes. If it weren't for the reminder of modern Kaifeng people, who would have thought that this landform was actually the remains of a fierce war?
Surround the city, don't fight the trapped city.
In the fifteenth year of Chongzhen (1642), on the second day of May, we took Guide House (Shangqiu, Henan Province), and after clearing the periphery of Kaifeng, we led troops to occupy the city. From Li Zicheng to Xicheng, Yan Lizhai and Luo Rucai spread horizontally, and the two camps were about fifteen miles wide.
"After the thief team went to the embankment, thieves and horses kept coming and going. Sometimes they ride down the embankment and turn to the city. " This time around Kaifeng, the peasant army besieged and surrendered without fighting. In the meantime, the peasant army went to Zhuxian Town, dozens of miles south of the city, beat off the Zuo Liangyu Department and returned to the besieged city. Until the city was flooded in mid-September, Kaifeng defenders actually only had 10 days of "rest time".
If there is no "caution" after the initial and lasting encirclement, it is definitely not the temper of the peasant army to encircle without fighting. When Kaifeng was surveyed, there were already seven or eight cities in Henan Province, most of which were controlled by the peasant army, and the balance of military power undoubtedly moved to the peasant army side. Li Zicheng knew that Kaifeng Acropolis had made up its mind, but it was trapped for a long time. Without food and assistance, it would be breached. Unexpectedly, the will of the officials and people in the city once again surprised them.
The problem of eating has been bothering the soldiers and civilians guarding the city.
Haowai dike wheat will be ripe, and the two sides will compete for harvest. When we met, "when there are many soldiers, thieves will leave and thieves will avoid them." In a few days, all the wheat fields on the edge of the city were harvested, except the wheat fields on the edge of the earth embankment.
On May 26th, all the doors in Kaifeng were opened, and soldiers were released from the city to mow grass and collect wild vegetables. The soldiers mowed the grass to feed the horses, and the people mowed the grass for a load, and the price was 200, which later rose to 300 or 400. Wild vegetables are edible, and the price per catty starts at 50 and ends at 500. For seven days in a row, Kaifeng officials and people opened the city gate to save themselves.
On the fourth day of June, the government found six ingots of gold and silver from a woman named Cui Maipo. After the trial, it was learned that the girl went out of the city to pick vegetables, went to the old camp in Chu Zhuangwang to talk about things in the city, and came back with a silver reward. Presumably Cui Maipo is just a clever trick. What kind of information can women sell? Cui Shi was beheaded in the city, and the court forbade women to leave the city.
At first there was a grain business in the city, and profiteers took the opportunity to hoard it. Cheng Nan had a businessman named Yuchun, who paid two barrels of grain and one or two pieces of silver. It happened that Huang Zhu went to Cheng Nan and took Yuchun away. Before his execution, Yuchun begged: "There are 800 stones of wheat, and I am willing to redeem my life." Huang tuiguan snapped at him, "Don't be like wheat, be like your head." Killing a profiteer suppressed the price of wheat. But that was after June 2008, "the guest grain was exhausted, and the people's grain was not sold, and there was no grain from then on."
Huang Shu sent silver and entrusted social soldiers to buy people's food. At first, the official was polite and came to persuade them to buy food at high prices in people's homes. Later, the people had basically run out of grain and refused to sell surplus grain. The courtesy of the government has turned into bullying, and government officials have been breaking into houses, rummaging through cabinets and grabbing food. Except for Zhou, this is inevitable. By the turn of August and September, people's food was gone, and hunger was trapped in the desperate situation of "everyone eating".
Killing people to satisfy hunger, seeing strength in weakness.
To the point where everyone eats each other, that kind of situation can't be spoken, and no matter how it is rendered, words are dull. Kaifeng city is lifeless, and many families have run out of food, unable to go out and walk around, so they can only wait for death behind closed doors. In broad daylight, sometimes strong people will take people to a quiet place, kill them, cut their meat and share them. Although someone sued the government, the government could not detect it.
At this point, the loyalist guarding the city was allowed to kill the horse and pay back. In fact, horse meat is mixed with human flesh, which costs two yuan per catty, and a Kyle is worth 1000 yuan. As the saying goes, "selling a dog to hang a sheep's head", there were unprecedented crimes such as "selling people to hang a horse" and taking ill-gotten gains in Kaifeng during the war.
The weak can't kill. How do carnivores survive? You can only eat almost everything you can't eat. Such as aquatic plants, soil, leather, traditional Chinese medicine, and even new horse manure. Looking at the page of the "Guardian Log" will make people dumbfounded, and then they will feel sick. There are many puddles and shallow ditches in the city, and there is a small red bug in the water, which is the kind we feed goldfish today. At that time, hungry people also fished it up and fried it with scallion oil, which was called "goldfish seed". A rider followed a group of people, vying for new horse manure, taking it back and frying it into light yellow, and swallowing it with water. I can't imagine the story of my ancestors. How to import horse manure?
Huang Zhu, the magistrate, went to Caomen on the first day of September and saw one or two people under the wall, knocking on people's bones and sucking people's bone marrow. He couldn't bear to see it, so he turned and left. Soldiers starve to death every day from Caomen to Beimen. At night, there are few city heads and ghosts everywhere. Huang Zhu, who is also a clank man, cried in the north, so he wrote down 30 desperate words. After the fall of Bian Cheng, the book The Story of the Plexus Muscle was lost, and it is impossible to read it today. It was this retired official Huang who raised the flag in Caomen alone in three rounds, recruited 10,000 people to form associations under his banner, drank wine with big copper in Guandi Temple, and vowed to drink chicken blood with the hero of the capital of song dynasty, thus forming a courageous society. It's Huang Zhu. He often cooks beef, pies and big meals, and often goes out of the city to fight the peasant army, but he always comes back with a small victory. On one occasion, Cao Guan and Gao Lu led the troops to attack the enemy camp at night, and their hands were cut off by the other side. The soldiers carried him back to the city. When Huang tuiguan saw this, he burst into tears and gave wheat a stone, five taels of rice and fifty taels of silver.
Not to mention the decay of the imperial court, only Kaifengfu, only Huang Zhu, if incompetent, how can we stick to the isolated city for several months? It can be seen that most of the major events in ancient and modern times are "human effort."
Kaifeng was destroyed by river irrigation.
In history, only the king of Qin could not attack the girders of Wei for a long time, so he began to pour water into the girders for three months. In 225 BC, the state of Wei was breached. Like a flood, the Qin Dynasty quickly wiped out the six countries and unified China. After 1867, it was the "Qin people" from the west who poured water into the city again, completely destroying Kaifeng, the hometown of Daliang.
In the 15th year of Chongzhen in the Ming Dynasty (1642), on the 14th night of September, the Yellow River burst, "Hebo was furious, and the sound of water was far heard". At dawn the next day, the water reached the gate of Kaifeng. "The thief in the southwest is far away, and the thief in the southeast is drowning." According to historical records, Li Zicheng besieged Kaifeng City, and the peasant army could not escape, drowning 10,000. On September 16, two battalions of Kaifeng defenders held the soil and blocked the door. "Water entered through the gap, and the situation was unstoppable." "On that day, the south gate broke first and the north gate burst open. At night, Caomen and Dongmen disappeared one after another. The sound of water is like tens of thousands of minutes a night. " At dawn on September 17, "the whole city becomes a river", leaving only two floors of the Bell and Drum Tower, the roof of Zhoufu Zijin City, the roof of Suoguo Temple, Yanqing Temple and Tujie. After a lapse of more than three years, that is, the second year of Shunzhi from Ming Dynasty to Qing Dynasty (1645), Governor Ning of Henan Province "went boating from the river to the city gate, and the city wall was half immersed in sand." Twenty years later (the first year of Kangxi), Zhang Zide, the governor of Henan Province, and Xu Huacheng, the minister in charge, began to rebuild Kaifeng City.
About who is the culprit who is bankrupt and unemployed? The historical materials of Ming and Qing Dynasties mostly condemned the peasant army, but Li Zicheng's Dashun Dynasty failed to sit down and had no right to speak. White and Ri Kwang chon are not very firm. For example, White said, "Although the Yellow River caused a disaster, it is true that the river suddenly rose. This is heaven, not a curse."
Today, my answer is more like a rhetorical question: "It's even harder to say now, who knows?" At this point, let's hang up this cold case and go back to the historical statement.
County magistrate Huang Zhu was trapped in Shuicheng. He immediately sent two servants, carrying a tree to the north, and began to reach the earth embankment in three days and three nights. Wang Xie, from Hebei army, cried bitterly in the south after he got Huang Zhu's calligraphy. More than 20 big ships of the night governor sailed straight into the city from the north gate, and went to Zijin City with Gao Mingheng and Huang Zhu to save Zhou Wang. Several people saw the film. After Zhou Wang arrived, he wept bitterly and took a boat to the north with 500 people from Zhou Wang. Later, Wang Xie urged several boats to transport people gathered on the city heads, roofs and trees to Hebei one after another.
It seems inevitable to rob people in "water" Some evil soldiers and traitors set sail by boat, snooped on their belongings, and pushed refugees into the water to kill them when no one was around. Refugees crossing the river sometimes carry belongings, and most of them are searched and robbed by soldiers. The people called Wang Xie, the supervisor of the army, and Wang Xie immediately bowed his head to clear the way for the people and protected them.
In fact, thousands of soldiers were stranded in the city when the water was not turned on. Patrol according to the timely delivery of grain, generous remuneration, ordered the ranks to perform their duties, unremitting defense. A few days later, the peasant army also built boats or rafts, and thousands of people boarded the West City. In fact, the two armies fought on the city wall for two days. Later, because the loyalist was weak, they boarded the ship and went north.
The number of peasant troops entering the city is gradually increasing, and the walls are narrow, so the military strength cannot be exerted. Wang Xie, the army supervisor, is determined to fight again. On September 26th, he secretly sent 3,000 troops and sneaked into Xicheng. The peasant army was scattered and unprepared, and most of them were unarmed. Suddenly, they were attacked by the official army and forced to drown themselves. If the figures described by White did not contain water, there is no doubt that the loyalist army was a rare victory: thousands of people were drowned, more than 500 people were beheaded, 62 people were captured alive, and then escorted to Liuyuan on the north bank for beheading.
No one can say for sure the number of people who died, starved to death and drowned in Kaifeng. Nine times out of ten, it is the estimate of the ancients. White said that there are millions of people in the city, and less than 65,438+10,000 people receive relief after ordering; Today, Tiankai Feng Ren said: "After the city was broken, there were 27,000 people left, and the population of Kaifeng was as high as 300,000 at the end of the Ming Dynasty." Numbers are not the key to summing up a war, but perhaps the most important thing to know is the historical significance after the end of that war: whether Kaifeng City is there is equivalent to the demise of the Ming Dynasty. 1March 644 19 At noon, Li Zicheng entered Beijing from Deshengmen, and the capital was fragile. This date may have been doomed two years ago, no matter how magnificent the Beijing wall itself is, Gao Shuo.