Chongzhen was immediately delighted. Speak of Cao Cao and he would appear.
"Xuan!"
Li Banghua walked in with steady steps.
After seeing the things on the ground, he looked at Chongzhen in surprise: "Your Majesty, what is this...?"
"Mr. Li, come and taste the fine salt!"
Li Banghua did not give Chongzhen face at all. He directly refused and said, "Your Majesty, wait a moment. I will talk about business first. Damingfu Tangbao!"
Chongzhen was stunned and had a bad feeling.
According to convention, local governments would only send reports to the imperial court when the following three situations occurred.
1. There is a serious enemy situation.
2. Engage the enemy and win.
3. Engaged in battle with the enemy but lost.
He said solemnly, "Master Li, please speak."
Li Banghua took a deep breath, took out a report from his sleeve, and explained: "The bandits Li Chuang have surrounded Daming Prefecture. This report was brought out by Li Xingzhong who sent someone to Qiaozhuang to disguise himself as a disaster victim and sneak into the bandit camp."
After seeing Chongzhen nod, Li Banghua slowly unfolded the report and read it word by word: "Li Chuang and Liu Fangliang have joined forces and brought 60,000 troops to the city of Daming. They have dug deep trenches and spread deer horns for days, only besieging but not attacking. It seems that they are imitating the strategy of the third attack on Kaifeng. The summer grain harvest is imminent, and there is not much grain left in the city, which can only support it for more than a month."
"I (referring to Li Xingzhong) respectfully request Your Majesty to think of a good strategy to relieve the siege of Daming Prefecture."
hiss--
After listening to the contents of the newspaper, Chongzhen turned around and walked to the dragon desk, sat on the dragon chair with a frown on his face.
After the defeat in the first battle of Beijing, Li Zicheng became much more cautious than before. This time, he gave up the siege of Damingfu and used the strategy he used in the third attack on Kaifeng.
In the 15th year of Chongzhen, Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng for the third time.
Because the previous two failures had caused him to lose many soldiers and generals, he adopted the strategy of besieging but not attacking when he attacked Kaifeng for the third time.
The Shun army remained motionless outside the city. They dug trenches, set up various obstacles and traps, and surrounded Kaifeng completely.
At the same time, since the summer crops were ripe, the Shun army harvested all the crops nearby and used them as military rations.
Moreover, they would go to nearby states and counties from time to time to rob money and food.
Since there were no available soldiers nearby, the Shun army did not encounter any resistance when they collected the grain. In this way, Li Zicheng's peasant army ate the newly harvested grain while gloating over the misfortune and continued to besiege Kaifeng City.
Three and a half months later, the Yellow River burst its banks.
Li Zicheng did not take advantage of the situation to enter the city, but led his troops away.
At this time, Kaifeng City had become a hell on earth.
In the first month of Li Zicheng's siege, the people in the city ran out of food. In order to survive, the people ate everything they could, not to mention weeds, even leaves and tree bark were eaten up.
In the second month, as more and more people starved to death, the government began to use the grain reserves in the treasury.
The already limited amount of government grain was not enough to satisfy the hungry people. The cats, rats, insects, grass roots and even horse manure in the city were snatched and eaten.
In the third month, people started to eat each other.
For the remaining half month, except for the government troops, the living people in the city were like dead people, and the dead were only left with white bones.
Chongzhen sighed again and looked at Li Banghua: "What do you think, Lord Li?"
"This..." Li Banghua was at a loss.
Even if the emperor wanted to rescue Daming Prefecture, there were no troops in the capital to send.
Wu Sangui was guarding against the Jiannu at Shanhaiguan and could not move.
Wang Yongji and Gao Di formed a second line of defense in Jizhou and could not act rashly.
Huang Degong was confronting Dorgon in Miyun and could not move.
Tang Tong was at Juyongguan, guarding the northern gate of the capital. Once Yan Yingyuan's Xuanfu Town was lost, Juyongguan would be the last barrier of the capital.
Still can’t move!
It’s too difficult…
Li Banghua had a feeling that life was hopeless. The bandits and the Jiannu were in the north and south, one outside the Great Wall and one inside the Great Wall, and they had turned the Ming Dynasty upside down.
what to do?
Should we allow Li Zicheng to grow stronger and stronger? Or should we take the risk and send troops to help him?
It was fortunate that the reinforcements defeated Li Zicheng. If they failed, the Ming Dynasty would suffer the consequences.
More importantly, even if the reinforcements repelled Li Zicheng.
Once the Jiannu broke out of Huang Degong's encirclement, or Xuanfu Town was lost, the capital would be in danger.
Li Banghua hesitated for a long time and then shook his head and said, "If we must send troops to support us, only Wang Yongji and Gao Di from Jizhou can be used."
"But...except for Wang Yongji's 3,000 cavalry, the rest of Jizhou's troops are defenders, and they don't stand much chance of winning a battle against Li Chuang."
Li Banghua’s meaning was very clear: the current Ming Dynasty could not afford failure.
If Wang Yongji and others had to be sent to rescue Daming Prefecture, the impact of Zhou Yuji's defeat might happen again.
Chongzhen understood this well.
He closed his eyes tightly, thinking about how to deal with the enemy.
Li Zicheng used the strategy of besieging but not attacking. Daming Prefecture had a month's worth of food in stock, so even if he sent troops to rescue, there was no need to rush.
Although Jirgalang of Shanhaiguan was only making a feint attack, once he discovered that Wu Sangui had made any unusual movements, he would give the order to attack without hesitation.
Although Dorgon of Miyun had a small-scale conflict with Huang Degong, there was no sign of his desire or timing to attack.
Duoduo of Xuanfu besieged Xuanfu Town with all his might, vowing to crush Yan Yingyuan and Xuanfu Town to the ground.
Chongzhen opened his eyes, looked at Li Banghua and said, "Lord Li, I think Daming Prefecture can be saved."
"His Majesty..."
"Don't be anxious, Lord Li. Listen to me first!" Li Banghua was about to speak when he was interrupted by Chongzhen.
Li Banghua nodded helplessly, standing there respectfully and listening carefully.
"Your Majesty, I..." Li Ruolian was about to leave when Chongzhen stopped him.
"Just listen here, you don't have to leave."
Chongzhen looked at Li Banghua again: "Lord Li, my intention is to first defeat Dorgon or Duoduo's troops and force them to retreat outside the Great Wall, and then send troops to support Damingfu and fight a decisive battle with Li Zicheng."
Li Banghua didn't say anything.
He understood the principles, but the question was how to defeat the Jiannu? Who could defeat the Jiannu?
They defeated the elite troops of the Ming Dynasty several times outside the Great Wall, and their fighting power can be imagined. As for the soldiers near the capital, except for Huang Degong who had the strength to fight, the others had basically no chance of winning.
Chongzhen continued, "I intend to give Dorgon a plan to deceive the world."
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