Chapter 6 6. Conquering Luoyang, Li Zicheng killed the rich and powerful to help the people

Luoyang, the ancient capital, is an important town in the west of Henan Province, where King Fu of the Ming Dynasty established his vassal.Compared with the enfeoffment of the kings since the early Ming Dynasty, Zhu Changxun's feudal lordship in Luoyang was much shorter in time, but his possessions were "the wealthiest in the world".The extravagant life that King Fu lived in Luoyang formed a sharp contrast with the disasters suffered by the people of Henan at that time.This ugly reality of extreme incongruity in the world caused the peasants to suffer a lot, and at this time the vigorous development of the rebel army gave the peasants unlimited hope.

In the process of conquering Yiyang, Yongning, Lushi and other counties, Li Zicheng's rebel army not only wiped out the Ming army outside Luoyang, but also gave a large number of new fighters who joined the rebel army a preliminary combat training.Soon, Li Zicheng led the rebels to Luoyang. Li Zicheng led his army to set up camp 20 miles away from Luoyang City, and planned to attack Luoyang within seven days. It was early spring, the north wind was howling, the snow had not yet melted, and the weather was extremely cold.Li Zicheng stood outside the tent and looked towards Luoyang City. The vast night completely covered Luoyang City. He thought to himself: I had imagined Luoyang when I came here. Such a big city must be brightly lit at night.But in fact, Luoyang seems to have become a dead city, without the slightest popularity.

"King Chuang, are you still awake so late?" General Li Yan came over and asked. Li Zicheng sighed, and said: "Luoyang is not a small place. King Fu lives here and is guarded by heavy troops. I'm afraid it will take a lot of trouble to fight." Li Yan said: "Your Majesty has considered a lot. As far as I know, Luoyang's internal relations are very rigid. The generals who defend the city suffer from the court's arrears of payment and food, and have no fighting spirit. Fu Wang, a miser, refuses to use his own wealth. To support the soldiers. I think we can take advantage of this and conquer Luoyang without difficulty."

Li Zicheng immediately asked: "If you have any thoughts in General Li's mind, you might as well tell them." Li Yan smiled and said: "You don't have to be so serious, I also made a foundation in my heart and figured it out. If you want to stabilize the country, you must first win the hearts of the people. Now Luoyang City has lost the hearts of the people, and the protection of the court has long been lost. Confidence, why don't you start by winning the hearts of the people?" "General, please explain in detail." Li Zicheng didn't quite understand.

Li Yan said: "We can send a group of people to enter the city in disguise and secretly spread the news that the rebels are attacking the city. They say that as long as the rebels enter the city, the people will no longer suffer from starvation and can live a better life. In this way, the rebels will surely It will be supported by the people, and when it comes time to attack the city, cooperate with the people inside and outside, and you can break through the city smoothly." Li Zicheng was very happy with Li Yan's words. He said, "This is to appease the people. I've ignored the use of force to attack the city in the past few days. General Li's words made my heart light up."

The development of the rebel army in the west of Henan made the ruler feel like sitting on pins and needles, living in fear.Lu Weiqi, Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, Luoyang Ming, realized the seriousness of the situation and immediately wrote a letter to King Fu. The letter mentioned: Luoyang has been in drought for three years, which is a disaster unheard of since ancient times.The people in the villages and towns were almost starved to death, and in the cities there were even hungry people cannibalizing each other.The bandits in the city were rampant, and together with the collusion with the rebel army, the number of people reached tens of thousands. The rebel army successively broke through the three counties of Lushan, Jiaxian, and Yiyang, and within six days successively broke through the two counties of Yiyang and Yongning. I am afraid that it has been a long time since I spied on Luoyang.Although Luoyang was guarded by Cao Cao and Yi, the soldiers were not paid and had no fighting spirit.If this continues, when the rebels attack Luoyang, Luoyang will be in danger.

King Fu summoned Lu Weiqi and asked, "According to the Minister, what should I do?" Lu Weiqi replied: "My lord can order Henan governor Li Xianfeng to send troops to strengthen the defense; on the other hand, the guards have already cut off their food and pay. If your lord wants to keep Luoyang, please allocate some money from the government to solve the problem of food and pay for the army. " "This..." Fu Wang said vaguely. "My lord, money can be obtained again, but the current situation cannot be delayed any longer. The main reason why the two cities of Yiyang and Yongning were captured by the rebels was also the issue of food and pay for the army. I hope the lord will take a long-term view. If you don't If you do this, the consequences will be very serious." Lu Weiqi tried his best to keep his tone calm, but inadvertently expressed his intention to accuse King Fu.

King Fu grasped this point, and said angrily: "Can the two cities be taken over by the rebels because of the problem of food and payment? There are obviously other reasons. Even if this king pays all the money in the mansion, it may not be able to solve the actual problem. , you go back and think about it, the king is tired." After speaking, he ignored Lu Weiqi and fell asleep on the couch. Lu Weiqi blushed at Fu Wang's words, and returned home full of resentment. A group of people from Li Zicheng's faction had sneaked into the city in disguise at this time. They were either in the streets or alleys, or directly entered the houses to spread the news that the rebel army was preparing to attack the city and help the people escape the sea of ​​suffering.After hearing the news that the rebels were coming to attack Luoyang, the mansion of Prince Fu, open warehouses to release grain, and relieve the poor, people were all elated and hoped that the rebels would come soon.

The officers and soldiers guarding Luoyang City panicked at this moment. They heard the words that the rebels were coming to invade Luoyang all over the city, but they didn't know if it was true or not.Someone reported the news to Lu Weiqi. After hearing this, Lu Weiqi looked very calm and said, "I am afraid that Luoyang will fall sooner or later." The guards and soldiers of the city were already full of anger. They knew that the money and property in the treasury of King Fu's mansion were piled up like a mountain, but they told themselves to defend the city hungry.At this time, when he heard the news that the rebels were going to attack Luoyang, he immediately began to consider whether he should join the rebels.

The general situation has been determined, and Li Zicheng's army has already approached the city and surrounded Luoyang.The officers and soldiers defending the city had no fighting spirit, and were quickly transferred to the ranks of the rebels after negotiation.On the evening of the 20th, the soldiers of Wang Shaoyu, the commander-in-chief, revolted at the top of the city, arrested Wang Yinchang, the deputy envoy of the Ming army, and opened the city gate to welcome the insurgents into the city. In the early morning of the 21st, the rebel army finally occupied the whole city of Luoyang.

Fu Wang Zhu Changxun and his eldest son Zhu Yousong hurriedly escaped from the palace during the chaos and hid in Ying'en Temple.During the search by the rebel army, Zhu Changxun, who was hiding behind the Buddha statue, was captured alive. The eldest son Zhu Yousong escaped by taking advantage of the loophole.Lu Weiqi, Minister of the Ministry of War in Nanjing, was also captured. When they were escorted to present prisoners to Li Zicheng, the leader of the rebel army, Zhu Changxun shouted to Lu Weiqi: "Lu Shangshu, save me!" Lu Weiqi sighed after hearing the words: "My own life is in danger, how can I save you. If I knew today, why bother. As the uncle of the current emperor, I should maintain some dignity and show a good face." But Zhu Changxun, who was greedy for life and afraid of death, was frightened when he saw Li Zicheng, his knees were shaking like chaff, and he knelt on the ground begging Li Zicheng to spare his life. Li Zicheng sat in the palace and personally interrogated the prince of the Zhu Ming Dynasty. He angrily said: "As a prince, you are the richest in the world. Now there is a famine everywhere, but you refuse to distribute food to refugees. Are you still worthy of being a prince? Even a slave Not as good!" After speaking, he ordered Zhu Changxun to be severely punished with forty boards, and escorted to the middle of the street to beheaded for public display. When interrogating Lu Weiqi, Li Zicheng walked up to him and said sarcastically: "Lu Shangshu is going to recruit soldiers today and pay tomorrow. He wants to wipe out all our troops. I don't know what the result is now?" Lu Weiqi stood up straight without kneeling and said: "If you want to kill, you can kill, if you want to cut, you can cut into pieces. Why use words to ridicule me. As a court official, even if I die, I will not bow my head to you!" Li Zicheng waved his hand, and the executioner beside Lu Weiqi swung his knife, hacking Lu Weiqi to death in His Royal Highness. The rebel army had won a great victory in Luoyang. They confiscated gold and silver goods and a large amount of grain and supplies from the Fuwang Mansion, and issued notices to relieve the hungry people.Disaster victims from far and near gathered in Luoyang City overnight. They chanted Li Zicheng's name and celebrated the victory of the rebel army. Due to the large number of victims, Li Zicheng divided several groups of points in Luoyang City to distribute food, which lasted for two days and two nights before the distribution was completed, which shows that there were a large number of victims at that time. In addition to opening warehouses to relieve the victims, the rebel army also transported a large amount of money and materials to the mountainous areas for military use.For the remaining gold and silver property, when Li Zicheng was preparing to move troops to attack Kaifeng, he appointed Shao Shichang, a scribe from Luoyang, as his deputy general, and asked him to recruit soldiers to guard Luoyang.At the same time, Luoyang students Zhang Xuanji, Mei Dingsheng and others were appointed officials.After Shao Shichang and others were ordered, they recruited soldiers with a monthly salary of five taels of military pay. After hearing the news, the hungry people rushed to sign up to join the army. "Open the city gate to welcome the King Chuang, who will not pay the food when the King Chuang comes." This ballad is the slogan of Li Zicheng's army, and it is also the core of Li Zicheng's strategy when he attacked Luoyang.At that time, both civilians and soldiers were facing a crisis of survival.It is not uncommon for the people in Luoyang City to starve to death, even the soldiers in the city were starved to death.At this time, one can imagine the appeal of the slogan "kill corrupt officials, open warehouses and release food".Propaganda to win the hearts of the people before the war, cash in after the war, and distribute the food to everyone.The hungry people from hundreds of miles around heard the news and came to surrender, which is why the rebel army grew rapidly.