Chapter 81 The Great City "Beijing"

"According to the fact that Bianliang is the dividing line between Yuzhou, the center of heaven and earth, the hub of all directions, and the heart of the heart, its name is Daliang, Liangzhou, Bianjing, and Bianliang. It has been changed in different dynasties. It can be said that it has consolidated Jintang for hundreds of millions of years.

An unstoppable place." - "Rumenglu" (Ming Dynasty)

Han Jiu could hardly believe that Kaifeng would be attacked, and Zhang Qing didn't believe it a month ago either.

He still clearly remembered that one day, in the rain, he stood alone on the North City Wall of Kaifeng, looking at a jagged low earth embankment in the distance and a shadow that was almost as high as the Kaifeng City Wall in the distance. He was stunned for a long time.

I remember the scenes clearly, and then there were all the incredible things that I will never forget.

That day, all the guards on the city wall hid in their huts and towers, and he was the only one standing in the rain.

The rain had already soaked through his clothes, and his vision had long been blurred, but Zhang Qing seemed to have lost all feeling. His heart was very confused, and his thoughts were very confused. I don't know why, but the earth embankment seemed to be lying across his heart.

A wall made him feel uncomfortable.

But at that time, he didn't understand what that meant.

If his brothers hadn't kept calling him, Zhang Qing wouldn't have known how long he would have stood there.

He didn't know what he was thinking at the time. Anyway, he was just upset and always felt that something was wrong. This strong premonition had been hanging in his mind for a long time, and it was especially strong that day.

Zhang Qing knew something bad was going to happen.

His right eye also kept twitching during this period, and the strange feeling that had not gone wrong for many years made him very clear that something was going to happen.

But no matter how bad it was, how could it be any worse? He couldn't figure it out for the moment.

The city of Kaifeng, which has been besieged for almost five months, has begun to eat people. What could be more terrible than this!

They had nothing to eat, and the bandits who besieged them probably had nothing to eat either. In the past few years of wars around Henan, food had long been exhausted, so Kaifeng was able to replenish some food because of the royal palace and water transportation, and other places

Where did the surplus food come from?

Moreover, if the imperial court does not save other places, it will always save Kaifeng. Because apart from the capital and Nanjing, Kaifeng is probably the most important town in the Ming Dynasty. If we don't save it here, isn't it just waiting for the energy to run out?

Even if there are any changes, as long as you grit your teeth, the bandit army will always retreat. The bandit army has millions of numbers, and the food consumption is even greater. As time goes by, it will be harder to persist. How can they survive the city of Kaifeng, which was once known as "Beijing"?

.

As for Kaifeng being breached, Zhang Qing never even thought about it.

Kaifeng is the most majestic city that he, who has seen a lot of the world, has ever seen in his life except Beijing. "The thoroughfare of eight provinces is as powerful as two capitals" is not a joke, nor does it only refer to it.

The importance of commerce and roads.

Would Zhang Qing think this way? It was definitely not because he was short-sighted, but actually Kaifeng was a truly powerful city in the Ming Dynasty.

After all, Kaifeng has been called "Beijing" for ten years!

In March of the first year of Hongwu (1368), Zhu Yuanzhang designated Bianliang as Beijing and prepared to establish the capital here. Although he finally proclaimed himself emperor in Yingtianfu (Nanjing) that year, he also initiated the two-capital system in the Ming Dynasty. Moreover,

"Beijing" was still used as the companion capital until the eleventh year of Hongwu (1378) when it was revoked because the King of Zhou enthroned the vassal here and was renamed Kaifeng Prefecture.

Because Kaifeng was once designated as Beijing, the city of Kaifeng in the Ming Dynasty was built according to the standards of the imperial city from the inside out. Therefore, the city walls of Kaifeng were covered with bricks and became a solid brick city (previously it was made of earth, and in the Song Dynasty it was

The good walls have long since been destroyed).

Kaifeng City has a total of four layers of city walls: the Forbidden City, the Xiao Wall, the Brick City and the Earth City. The overall layout is similar to the four-layer structure of Nanjing City: the Palace City, the Imperial City, the Inner City and the Outer City. Later, due to the threat of flooding from the Yellow River, the city was

A protective embankment was built around the four-layered city wall, eventually creating a new pattern of layer-by-layer protection by the five-layered city wall.

So, how big is Kaifeng City?

Kaifeng Brick City has a circumference of 20 miles and 190 steps, a height of 3 feet and 5 feet, and a width of 2 feet and 1 foot. The moat is 1 feet deep and 5 feet wide. There are five city gates, and each gate has three urns.

There are five enemy towers in the city, all with holes for arrows and artillery, and there are sixteen evils in three directions. There are five large city towers, four turrets, and twenty-four star towers, all arranged according to the twenty-eight constellations. There are fifty-four nests and ten gun towers.

There are 84 enemy towers and 81 police stations. It is said to be very tight.

(One mile in the Ming Dynasty is equal to 360 steps, which is also equal to 180 feet. One foot = 3.33 meters, so one mile is approximately 600 meters)

At this time, Kaifeng Tucheng was mainly an outer city wall built in the Later Zhou and Song Dynasties. Most of them were basically abandoned. In many places, only the city foundation remained, and the remaining city gates were all filled with soil, which became a way to prevent river disasters.

The earth foundation (just an earth slope). The circumference of the earth city is about forty miles, and the dilapidated earth embankment that Zhang Qing looked at is this wall.

The Xiaoqiang in Kaifeng, that is, the outer wall of the Zhou Palace (Forbidden City) is 9 miles and 13 steps, and the perimeter of the Royal City (Zhou Palace) is about 2520 meters (no ancient records, it is a modern archaeological survey). The scope of the Royal City is today's Longting.

In the park area, Park Avenue is the central axis, which is roughly the scope of Song Palace City.

If you still cannot estimate the size of Kaifeng City at that time, you can compare it with other cities in Henan during the same period.

The ancient capital of Luoyang, the Henan Fucheng during the Ming and Qing Dynasties had a circumference of only eight miles and 345 steps, and the entire Fucheng was not even larger than the area of ​​the Zhou Palace (measured by Xiao Qiang).

The cities where other royal palaces in Henan are located include Nanyang City with a circumference of six miles and 27 steps, Zhangde City with a circumference of nine miles and 113 steps, Weihui City with a circumference of six miles and 130 steps, and Junzhou City with a circumference of nine miles.

, Huaiqing City has a circumference of nine miles and 148 steps, and Runing City has a circumference of five miles and thirty steps.

The circumference of the Guangzhou Prince's Mansion in Kaifeng is only nine miles and thirteen steps. The Zhou Prince's Mansion is already the same size or even larger than several important cities in Henan! However, the Zhou Prince's Mansion in Kaifeng City only occupies about the entire city area (calculated in brick city)

, one-fifth of Tucheng (excluding Tucheng).

Comparing it to Xiangyang, the circumference of Xiangyang City is about twelve miles (7331 meters), which means that the area of ​​Xiangyang City is only about one-third of Kaifeng.

The vastness of Kaifeng City and the scale of its buildings are evident.

The roads outside Kaifeng's five gates (a total of twelve gates in the Song and Yuan Dynasties) lead to the counties around Kaifeng. Among them, Caomen leads to Lanyang (today's Lankao), Song gate leads to Chenliu, Nanmen leads to Wei County, Tongxu, and Ximen

It leads to Zhongmu and the north gate leads to Yanjin, so it is called "five gates and six roads, the thoroughfare of eight provinces".

The ancients called Kaifeng the dividing line between Yuzhou, the center of heaven and earth, the hub of all directions, and the heart of the country. It is definitely not an exaggeration. Otherwise, it would not have been the capital of Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties since the Song Dynasty established its capital in this plain.

Continuously rebuild, improve, and repair such a majestic city. (Several generations of Kaifeng are layered on top of each other from underground to above ground, one city is pressing on the other, and each generation is basically rebuilding)

In addition, Kaifeng is also so rich that it eclipses the surrounding areas. "The city is full of countless streets and businesses. All kinds of businesses are involved." This is no joke.

We can get a glimpse of this just from the fact that "there are three lanes of comb shops in Kaifeng City, with thirty or twenty comb shops in each lane, all selling Sichuan boxwood, Fujian lychee, and pine root clean tooth combs."

Even outside the Wumen City Pass, there are many shops. "Passenger's shops line up door to door, and the business is as good as in the city."

Outside the Song Gate there are passing guesthouses, restaurants, bamboo pole shops, wool shops, etc. Outside the South Gate there are hotels, grocery stores, paper shops, etc. There is a cotton market and a fresh fruit shop outside the Cao Gate. There is a small town built next to the Kaifeng City Wall outside the West Gate. , there are also five gates, and there are various businesses in the small town. Outside the west gate, there is also "Mashi Street, where cattle and donkeys are marketed in the morning, and mules and horses are marketed at noon." There are thirty to fifty large shops dedicated to merchants who buy and sell mules and horses. Outside the north gate are hotels and alkaline shops.

All of the above, taken together, are the main reasons why Li Zicheng is like a demon. He not only wants power, but also wealth.

As for the Ming Dynasty, as the contemporary Zhou Tengjiao said: "If Biancheng is not defended, there will be no Henan. If Henan is not protected, there will be no Central Plains. If the Central Plains is not protected, the throat of Hebei will be cut off, and the general trend of the world will be extremely dangerous." Therefore, Emperor Chongzhen spared no expense and transferred troops to Henan in a desperate attempt to resolve the crisis.

But these are too far away for Zhang Qing. He can neither see nor imagine, but he has his own vision.

"Zhangtou, Zhangtou..." That was Zhang Qing's good brother Shohou'er calling again.

Zhang Qing glanced at the north again in confusion, then glanced at the tall enemy towers on the dark city wall, and finally climbed down the city wall.

It was already past the time for the changing of the guard, and it started to rain again. There was really no need to suffer in vain on this impregnable city.

Zhang Qing is one of the captains of the social soldiers who help guard Caomen (the northern gate). Because the social soldiers are just volunteers, there is no usual official and military structure, and there is no lower-level organization in his team. He relies entirely on Get close to control the team.

When Li Zicheng first attacked Kaifeng, Wang Xie, the magistrate of Xiangfu County (Xiangfu County is located in Kaifeng City), conspired with the officials and gentry in the city to establish two communes in each of the 84 lanes in the city, and organized soldiers from each commune. Soldiers (militia) assisted in guarding the five gates, and this method of assisting defense was passed down.

Zhang Qing's men were supposed to have fifty people, but now there are less than forty.

Due to the long-term siege, the city began to lack food. Even the soldiers who helped defend the city could only get one bowl of gruel every day, and the rest had to be eaten at home. Some people had no choice but to starve to death without food at home. , died of illness, no one would look for him at this time, everyone knew what was going on, because too many people had died.

When going down to the city, Zhang Qing looked at the endless streets and alleys in the rain, and felt a little heartbroken for a moment. Such a big city, such a prosperous place, is now so quiet that it is scary, and people who lack food are everywhere. Reduce all unnecessary activities.

Because everyone else had already run away, after leaving the city, only Zhang Qing and his brother Ma Xiaotian were left on the rainy and deserted streets.

Ma Xiaotian is the big size of Shouhouer.

"Brother, do you think the imperial court will not give up on Kaifeng?" Thin Monkey asked coldly, shrinking his neck.

"Give up on Kaifeng! How is that possible? Everyone knows that there are as many vassals in the world as Bianzhong (Kaifeng). The princes of Zhou Dynasty have prosperous heirs. It is said that Prince Guang alone has granted more than 200 vassals, and there are more than 70 people living in Kaifeng city. Let's come This city has been here for almost a year, and there are probably thousands of mansions connected to the kings and generals in this city. With so many dignitaries, how can the court give up, and how dare they give up?" Zhang Qing frowned and asked.

"Then why don't we see the reinforcements trying their best to save us? The Shandong officers and soldiers on the north bank came and then retreated, but they didn't look like they were desperate! Food can't be transported in. If this continues, the thieves don't need to be beaten, and we will all starve to death.

"Skinny Monkey said bitterly.

The lower-level officers and soldiers could not know the news of Zuo Liangyu's defeat at all, because it would shake the morale of the army. All the lower-level officers and soldiers could know was what they saw with their own eyes or heard from other ordinary officers and soldiers.

"Don't I still have food at home? What trouble did you encounter today?" Zhang Qing asked doubtfully. Skinny Monkey's mood was very abnormal today.

"It's nothing. I just feel uncomfortable seeing dead people all day long. Hundreds of soldiers guarding the city starve to death every day. How many people do you think must die! I don't think the officials take it seriously, I'm afraid there will be death.

I have a different idea." Skinny Monkey sniffed and said.

"How do you say that?" Zhang Qing turned his head and asked curiously.

Note:

Note 1: A den is a cave built on the city wall to hide soldiers. It is waterproof, windproof and warm, and has a wooden floor and a slope.

It should be emphasized that the den is not a "soldier cave" opened in the city wall, but a specially built one on the city wall. It will be no more than 2.2 meters high and less than 4 meters wide. This is the data of the den on the city wall of Datong, Shanxi.

Each city is different and may have different shapes and sizes.

Note 2: In the Ming Dynasty, there were more than 70 princes and princes under the throne of Zhou Dynasty in the Ming Dynasty. In total, there are more than 270 princes and princes. There are 72 in Kaifeng City alone. In addition, Kaifeng also has some royal palaces belonging to the descendants of the founding fathers, such as Xu Da

Later generations of the Xu Mansion, various generals, lieutenants, and Yibin mansions were spread throughout the main areas of the city. At most, there were more than 4,000 mansions of these nobles.

Note 3: The data on Kaifeng City is mainly based on "Ru Meng Lu" of the late Ming Dynasty and various modern papers and archaeological data. There are some differences between them and cannot be said to be very accurate.
Chapter completed!