At the end of July, Li Zicheng gathered 200,000 troops to launch the final blow to Kaifeng City.

The city walls continued to attack for five days, and corpses were everywhere under the city. The city walls on the west were bombarded with artillery. The rebels went up the ladders and attacked the city walls several times, but were repelled by the officials on the city.

Henan Governor Gao Mingheng and Deputy General Chen Yongfu personally climbed the city wall, motivated the soldiers and vowed to defend the city to the death. However, as the soldiers' losses continued to increase, they had to transfer troops from other places, and the situation became increasingly serious.

In the evening of that day, the main force of the rebel army took advantage of the misty night and suddenly turned from the west gate that had been attacking fiercely to the south gate. For a moment, artillery fired together, dozens of ladders and dozens of flying ladders were placed at the entrance of the city, and the soldiers quickly climbed up. The defenders of the south gate were caught off guard and were attacked by the rebel army to the top of the city.

The prefect of Kaifeng, Wu Shishang, led his troops to rescue him, but was defeated by the rebel army on the top of the city, and he died in the chaos. The official army lost the commander of the South Gate and was in chaos.

The rebel army took advantage of the situation and rushed to the city, opened the city gate, and welcomed the main force of the rebel army into the city.

For a moment, the shouts of killing were shocked by the sky, and the fires rose everywhere, illuminating most of the city. The defenders everywhere were confused and panicked. The city was in chaos, with scattered people and soldiers everywhere.

Seeing that things had changed, Chen Yongfu hurriedly led more than 2,000 troops to reinforce the south city. But as soon as he reached halfway, a large number of rebels came towards him. He commanded his soldiers to kill a rebel, but the number of enemy troops was too large. He finally sighed helplessly and led the remaining soldiers to retreat along the main street towards the north gate, and sent people back to the west gate, so that the guards on the city could break through immediately.

Halfway through the way, I met Gao Mingheng who came from the government office. The latter was wearing a red official uniform and walking all the way, and there were only more than a hundred ordinary yamen runners following him. Seeing Chen Yongfu, he was overjoyed and shouted loudly: "Deputy General Chen, Deputy General Chen... Go to the north gate, the thief army attacked the city from there, we have to drive them out."

Chen Yongfu's face was covered in blood and sweat, and he condensed into pieces. When he saw Gao Mingheng, he smiled bitterly. He immediately clasped his fists to Gao Mingheng and said, "Gao Futai, the main force of the thief army has entered the city, and Kaifeng City can't be defended. Fortunately, they just entered the city from the south gate, so let's go out of the city from other gates!"

Gao Mingheng was stunned for a moment and said sternly: "Chen Yongfu, do you want to abandon the city and escape?"

Chen Yongfu showed some shame on his face.

As the governor of Henan, Gao Mingheng knew people and was good at responsibilities, loved the people and respected the scholars, and was considered a good governor. When Chen Yongfu retreated to Kaifeng City, it was Gao Mingheng's guarantee that Chen Yongfu was spared from being held accountable and became the lord of the city guarding Kaifeng City. For a long time afterwards, Gao Mingheng asked for food and money. Without his strong support, Kaifeng City would not be able to be defended for so long. Chen Yongfu also repaid his kindness and fulfilled his duties and responsibilities in defending the city, but now, the city really cannot be defended.

Chen Yongfu blushed and said to Gao Mingheng: "Gao Futai is not because Chen wants to abandon the city, but because the situation forces it. He has to do it! The thief army has entered the city, and it is useless to stay here to lose his life, which is useless to the country. It is better to maintain a useful body and intend to serve the court in the future."

Gao Mingheng knew that what Chen Yongfu said was true. He was silent for a moment and finally shook his head and said, "The governor shouldered the responsibility of defending the territory and the city of Kaifeng was broken. Even if I escaped from the city, I will inevitably be held accountable by the court in the future. Instead of that, it is better to die in the city directly. Deputy General Chen, take them all away! I will stay alone."

Chen Yongfu was a little angry. If Gao Mingheng stayed and was killed by the thief army, he could still win the reputation of loyalty and righteousness, but wouldn’t he become a coward in the eyes of the world? No, he would have to leave with him no matter what.

He said again: "Hao Futai, the city is broken and the responsibility is also determined by the specific situation. You have been holding the lonely city for more than half a year, and the court has to consider the specific situation. Moreover, Your Highness of the King of Zhou is still in the city. After you die like this, you have fought for the name of loyalty and righteousness, but put Your Highness of Zhou in a dangerous place. This is not the work of the loyal minister. Please Master Futai and I will go to the palace to rescue the King of Zhou first, and then evacuate the city together."

Gao Mingheng's face changed slightly, and he murmured, "Yes, Your Highness of the King of Zhou is still in the city. We are going to the palace, so go now." After that, Dasaya ran towards the palace in the middle.

Chen Yongfu suddenly breathed a sigh of relief and shouted back: "De'er, you protect Gao Futai. If he had a few shortcomings, let's see how I deal with you."

Chen De responded, rode his horse forward, and gave his horse to Gao Mingheng. At this time, he found that Gao Mingheng could not ride a horse, so he could only help him up, while he led him forward all the way.

When Chen Yongfu heard the shouts of killing approaching, he turned to the left and right and ordered loudly: "All the soldiers followed me, and those who fell into the team died, so I will follow closely."

The entire army responded with a loud shout.

On this day, Kaifeng City was broken, and the killings continued until dawn to end. This water-system hub on the Huanghuai Plain, an important town in the Central Plains, and the Henan Provincial Government was eventually conquered by the rebel army.

Politically speaking, this was the first provincial government captured by Li Zicheng, and it was captured by his own strength. First, through field battles, destroying the official army, killing and capturing tens of thousands of official troops, and then breaking Kaifeng and forcing the first strong city in the Central Plains. This fundamentally made countless people start to think about whether Li Zicheng would create a new dynasty.

Therefore, after Li Zicheng took Kaifeng, the captured Guanhe and the magistrate Sang Kaidi, the reinvite Huang Shu, chose to surrender. Numerous other officials at all levels also chose to surrender to Li Zicheng.

Economically speaking, Kaifeng is a hub for water transportation, both from north to south and from east to west. One mansion has a population of one million, and there are nearly 300,000 people in Kaifeng City alone. Moreover, these people are mainly officials, gentry, merchants, rich, and not ordinary rich.

Compared with Luoyang that Li Zicheng had captured before, only King Fu's family was rich, there were too many wealthy families in Kaifeng City. The wealth of Bianjing in the late Ming Dynasty was ten times that of Luoyang, which was definitely not a false saying.

With such a large bank treasury in Li Zicheng, at least for a long time, no longer had any worries about food and grass.

Compared with political and economic aspects, the biggest impact of taking Kaifeng on the Ming Dynasty was its geographical location. Zhou Tengjiao, an official at the end of the Ming Dynasty, once said, "If Biancheng does not defend, there will be no Henan, if Henan does not protect the Central Plains, if the Central Plains is not protected, the throat of Hebei will be broken, and the world's general trend is very dangerous!"

This sentence directly points out the importance of Kaifeng's strategic position, and it is exactly the case. This is why Li Zicheng attacked Kaifeng three times in history.
Chapter completed!