Ming Dynasty entry: I am Chongzhen, the greatest emperor of all time!

Chapter 21 Li Zicheng Arrives

Two quarters past noon.

The Deshengmen Wengcheng was bustling with activity.

Wu Xiang placed both the Yongwei Camp and the Shenji Camp at Deshengmen.

Teams of laborers transported boulders and wooden beams removed from houses in the city to the city walls.

One by one, the French cannons seized from Duke Dingguo's mansion were set up.

Wu Xiang and his adopted son and lieutenant general Wu Wei leaned against the battlements of the city wall and observed the terrain in front of the gate.

"General, there are eight gates in the old city. Why do you conclude that the rebels will definitely attack Deshengmen as the main attack?" Wu Wei asked doubtfully.

Wu Xiang did not answer immediately, but instead asked, "Do you know how many troops Chuangni has?"

Wu Wei pondered for a moment, "Although the rebels claim to have a million men, most of them are refugees, the elderly and the weak. The real hard fighting is still done by his fifty thousand veterans."

"Yes." Wu Xiang nodded. "If you were the Chuang army, how would you attack the city?"

"Of course we will surround it from all sides. There are only a few hundred thousand people in the capital city, and less than ten thousand of them are capable of fighting. We will use the elite troops as our blades and defeat them in one battle!" Wu Wei said without thinking.

Wu Xiang nodded again, "Yes, there are less than 10,000 soldiers capable of fighting, and the Chuang army will be defeated in one battle."

"But...how did the rebel army know that there were less than 10,000 soldiers in the capital ready to fight? Before you got the list, how many soldiers did you think were defending the capital?"

Wu Wei didn't understand Wu Xiang's words yet, and angrily hit the battlement.

"When the General was at home, we thought that the huge Beijing camp would have at least 70,000 or 80,000 men, and with the various royal armies and the defeated soldiers from all over the country, we could gather at least a hundred thousand troops! Who knew these nobles were so greedy that they couldn't even gather 3,000 elite soldiers!"

After hearing this, Wu Xiang finally laughed, "You don't even know how corrupt the Beijing army is, how would the rebel army know?"

"Just a month ago, General Zhou of the Yongwei Battalion took a bite out of the rebels. That city is known throughout the world as the largest. Do you think the rebel army would look down on it?"

"No... no... General, you can't be..." Wu Wei probably guessed Wu Xiang's crazy plan and was a little shocked for a moment.

"That's right, I just want to fight with Chuangni! Your Majesty is willing to release the three thousand troops, why should I be reluctant as an old man like me!" Wu Xiang's eyes were stern.

Then, as if talking to himself, he murmured, "Aren't you, Li Zicheng, going to be Huang Chao? Then I, Wu Xiang, will be Zhang Xun for once!"

Wu Wei seemed to see the arrogant General Wu in front of Song Jin again!

Just as Wu Wei guessed, Wu Xiang did not deploy any troops to other gates, only some civilians carrying the large banner hastily made by the Ministry of Works.

He placed all his elite troops and the city's firearms at Deshengmen.

Li Zicheng had too many troops. Once he discovered the capital's strength, he would attack from all sides.

Even if Wu Xiang was a military genius, he couldn't defend it.

But with the elite Yongwei Battalion and Shenji Battalion and numerous firearms in hand, Wu Xiang was confident that he could defend a city gate.

Using a city gate as a guzheng, he wants to sing a play about the empty city plan!

There are thirteen gates in the inner and outer cities of the capital, and he doesn't know which gate Li Zicheng will attack.

But he knew that the first place where he could see the rebel army would definitely be Deshengmen.

That's why he deployed troops at Deshengmen.

Just when Wu Wei was shocked by Wu Xiang's generosity.

Wu Sanfu came riding a fast horse, carrying the account books of the Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works.

"General! General! The Ministry of War and the Ministry of Works have a total of 3,340 kilograms of gunpowder left! The new Minister Zhang said that since the Tianqi explosion, the capital has stopped stockpiling gunpowder. This is the only batch left."

"Each cannon is loaded with three pounds of gunpowder... three thousand pounds is only enough to fire... less than thirty rounds..." Wu Wei was shocked.

In Wu Xiang’s plan, artillery is the key to defending the city!

However, Wu Xiang didn't even move his eyes, and directly spat out two words, "Not enough!"

"Go and petition His Majesty, demanding that at least 10,000 kilograms of gunpowder be delivered to Deshengmen within three days, otherwise all will be lost."

Wu Sanfu was stunned for a moment, "Your Majesty, can you do it..."

"You underestimate His Majesty too much. Ever since Luo Yangxing was imprisoned, there has been nothing in the entire capital that His Majesty cannot do!" Wu Xiang said expressionlessly.

Wu Sanfu had no choice but to obey the order and rush back again.

Wu Wei wanted to say something else.

But I saw smoke and dust billowing in the distance.

The two of them looked tense at the same time and leaned over to look.

Less than five miles away, on a loess slope, hundreds of flags with the Chinese character "闯" (Chuang) fluttered in the north wind. Barefoot young men lined the flagpoles, their ragged cotton coats revealing reed catkins, their frost-purple toes digging into the frozen earth, their ladders still stained with fresh bark.

Two riders on swift horses came quickly, carrying Ye Bushou, who was holding a small bright yellow flag.

He kept drinking loudly.

"It's the bandit general Liu Zongmin's children's camp!"

Wu Wei hurriedly ordered, "Open the city gate quickly!"

Two Yebushou horses galloped to the foot of the city, spitting out dust from their mouths. They didn't care about their extremely tired bodies and hurriedly informed Wu Xiang of the information.

"The main force of the enemy troops is less than twenty miles from Deshengmen and will arrive before dark. The vanguard of the enemy troops is Liu Zongmin's troops, approximately 10,000 cavalry and 30,000 infantry, and they are less than ten miles away."

Wu Xiang fell into deep thought. Li Zicheng was faster than he thought.

"How many people are there in those children's camps outside? What is the marching status of Liu Zongmin's main camp?"

Ye Bushou responded without hesitation, "The children's camp has about 6,000 men. Liu Zongmin's troops are marching in a disorganized manner, and they haven't even sent out scouts."

Hearing this, Wu Xiang finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Let someone take Ye Bu to rest.

Then he turned to look at Wu Wei, "Beat the drum to gather the troops!"

"As ordered!"

……

Four large drums were struck, and dozens of generals gathered in the central military tent which was temporarily converted from the Deshengmen tower.

On the left are the Wu family's personal troops led by Wu Wei.

On the right are the volunteer army generals headed by Li Guozhen, the Earl of Xiangcheng.

Wu Xiang stood in the center of the hall, wearing silver armor and holding a sword.

"Left Lieutenant General of the Front Army, listen to my orders!"

Wu Wei's expression immediately became serious and he bowed.

"I order you to take 3,000 cavalry battalions to Anding Gate and wait for orders. When the cannon fires, fire the cannons and march out. When the cannons stop, charge the battle line. After breaking through the children's camp, withdraw and rest, waiting to harass Liu Zongmin's reinforcements!"

"The general will obey your orders!"

"General of the Divine Machine Battalion, listen to your orders."

Li Guozhen also stepped out immediately.

"I order your troops to guard Deshengmen and the top of Wengcheng. When the flag is raised, the cannons will fire. When the flag is lowered, the cannons will stop. No mistakes!"

"I obey your command!" Li Guozhen was a little flustered when he heard that he was asked to guard the top of Wengcheng City.

But because so many people were watching, I still agreed to it.

Wu Xiang saw this scene but said nothing. After all, among all the generals present, only Li Guozhen knew how to give artillery orders.

"General of the Brave Guard Battalion, listen to my orders!"

Wang Erhu took two quick steps forward, his eyes determined as he shouted, "I will be your subordinate!"

"The Brave Guard Battalion will guard the gates of Wengcheng. When the Three Thousand Battalion charges, the Brave Guard Battalion will follow closely behind. There's no need to linger in the battle; the priority is to drive the enemy out!"

"The general will obey your orders!"

Afterwards, Wu Xiang divided his adopted sons from the imperial army into different sections to lead the militia, and the first meeting on the defense of the capital was finally over.

Before the generals could disperse, a commotion broke out outside the city wall.

Wu Xiang frowned. Could it be that these defeated soldiers were frightened when they saw the arrival of the rebel army?

If this is true, it will greatly affect his plans.

As Wu Xiang walked out of the door with doubts, his eyelids trembled twice.

A large number of naked bodies of women and children were seen floating on the moat outside Deshengmen, and babies in their cradles were tossing up and down in the river.

A piece of paper was nailed to each body.

Written on it were the body's hometown and name, as well as the crime of resisting the rebels...

(End of this chapter)