Late Ming Dynasty: Starting with the overthrow of the county magistrate, a rebellion was launched to

Rewinding to a few days earlier, on the tenth day of the eleventh lunar month, a biting north wind swept through Luoyang, bringing snow and chilling the bone. Outside the city, the foothills of the Funiu Mountains were shrouded in low-hanging, frozen clouds. Inside the city, withered trees and fallen leaves tumbled and rolled along the ground in the wind, much like the wavering hearts of people in a chaotic world.

Inside a long-established teahouse in the south of the city, several ragged "vagrants" held coarse tea and whispered among themselves.

"Brother, do you know? Last night I saw more than a dozen strange men loitering suspiciously near the city wall. Could they be spies from the rebel army?"

"Shut up! Are you out of your mind?!" A porter at the next table hurriedly stopped him. "I heard from the city guards that the rebel leader has declared that he will kill Prince Fu first when he takes Luoyang, and all the gold and silver treasures in the prince's palace will be distributed to us starving people!"

"Alas, Prince Fu is richer than a country, yet Henan is filled with starving corpses, and he refuses to part with even a single grain of rice. What's the point of guarding him? If the rebel Li Zicheng really comes, I bet many people will open the city gates to welcome him! I'll do the same."

"So it's a secret. Once the rebel leader enters the city, the good days I've been waiting for will begin!"

Their conversation was so clear and attentive that others overheard it, and the rumors spread like wildfire, cold and swift, throughout the entire city in a single day. People on the streets stopped and whispered amongst themselves, city guards looked at each other in bewilderment, and even the government officials were distracted.

Zhu Changxun was always afraid of death and used to only drink and make merry in the palace, ignoring all outside affairs. But today, he was disturbed by the rumors that the steward hurriedly reported. His fat body tossed and turned in the armchair, his fat jiggling.

"Rebellion! Rebellion! They're all a bunch of traitors!" Zhu Changxun slammed his hand on the table, shattering a gilded teacup. "Damn it! Didn't Zhang Da say Li Zicheng attacked Nanyang, not Luoyang?! What's going on? That Li Zicheng brat dares to covet my life! And those unruly commoners, I've been supporting them, and they're just hoping the bandits will break through the city!"

Faced with Prince Fu's fury, the prince's steward knelt on the ground and cautiously said...

"Your Highness, the city is in a state of panic. Many soldiers are whispering among themselves, saying... that instead of guarding the Prince's treasures and starving, they might as well surrender to the rebel Li Zicheng and seek a way out. If we don't find a solution soon, I fear there will be great chaos!"

Zhu Changxun was once again terrified by these words. Now Li Zicheng was coming again, and the army and civilians were plotting a rebellion. He felt dizzy and cried out again...

"Quickly summon Governor Li and General Wang! Hurry!"

In fact, the unrest in the city was related to Zhang Da.

At this time, Zhang Da returned defeated from the Prince of Fu's residence. He did not immediately head south, or rather, he had no intention of returning to Nanyang at all. After all, as everyone had predicted, Nanyang was very dangerous, and Zhang Da had no obligation to live and die with Tan En. Therefore, he could only desperately try to prolong Tan En's life in Luoyang, instructing his elite hundred cavalry to discuss how to ensure the safety of Nanyang.

The first step was to divide these hundred people into three groups, disguising them as refugees, porters, and merchants, and send them to teahouses, taverns, and streets throughout the city to spread rumors that spies had infiltrated Luoyang, thus disturbing public morale and intimidating Prince Fu.

Then, he boasted that on the day the rebel army broke into the city, he would first slaughter the Prince of Fu, confiscate his mansion and wealth and distribute it to the starving people, thus shaking the morale of the defending army. He also spread rumors that the Prince of Fu had hundreds of millions but did not reward the army or provide relief to the people. The soldiers and civilians in the city were already resentful and were just waiting for the rebel army to arrive before they opened the city gates and surrendered.

Everyone did this very well.

Then we began the next step of the plan.

At this point, Zhang Da had already spread out plain paper and, imitating Li Zicheng's handwriting, forged a secret letter from a spy.

His pen flew across the paper, each character imbued with an arrogant and ruthless spirit: "Secretly order the spies in Luoyang that the main force will soon launch a major attack on Nanyang. After capturing Nanyang, we will immediately turn back and launch a surprise attack on Luoyang. You are to secretly contact the starving peasants and deserters, and seize the opportunity to rebel. The Prince of Fu is stingy, the governor is cowardly, and the general is greedy. The three of them will surely hold their troops and not come out. I can then look to both the north and the south, keeping everything under my control. Agreed on the secret signal: light a fire outside the city as a signal, and the city will immediately open its gates to provide support. There must be no mistake."

After writing it, Zhang Da read it over and over again, thinking that Prince Fu would be terrified and very satisfied upon seeing the letter. So he crumpled the letter, stained it with mud and snow water, and pretended to hide it in his bosom. He then summoned an elite cavalryman: "You will pretend to be a spy for the rebel leader, deliberately acting suspiciously near the city gate to lure the guards into capturing you. Find this letter and deliver it directly to Wang Shaoyu. Remember, it's better to be tortured than to give yourself away."

Even after learning his fate, the man still accepted the order with composure and turned to leave.

Before half an hour had passed, a commotion arose at the city gate. A spy was pinned to the ground by the guards, and a secret letter was found in his pocket and rushed to the general's mansion.

Wang Shaoyu was overwhelmed by the rumors, and as he held the mud-stained secret letter, his hands trembled like leaves.

It's that trick again!

He had long heard of Li Zicheng's ruthless schemes, and his use of spies, infiltration, and coordinated attacks from within and without was commonplace. The more he looked, the more frightened he became; cold sweat poured down his forehead, and his fat face turned ashen.

"It's over... the rebel leader actually had spies inside the city, and they even agreed on a secret signal! Luoyang can't be defended!"

Wang Shaoyu dared not delay and hurriedly rushed to the governor's office with the secret letter in his hand.

Li Xianfeng, who was timid by nature, slumped into a chair after reading the secret letter, his face ashen.

"It's over...it's all over! That damned scoundrel! Taking Nanyang wasn't enough, he actually wants to take Luoyang too! Wang Shaoyu! We can't stand still, if Li Zicheng comes, we'll all die! You personally lead the troops to resist Li Zicheng!"

Hearing Li Xianfeng say this, Wang Shaoyu was so frightened that he shook his head repeatedly, saying how ruthless Li Zicheng was, and that he dared not...

Li Xianfeng cursed him as a good-for-nothing. Then the two exchanged a glance, no longer daring to harbor any hope, and immediately rushed to the Prince of Fu's mansion to report this "earth-shattering bad news".

At this moment, inside the Chengen Hall of the Prince of Fu's Mansion, Zhu Changxun originally intended to summon the two for a meeting, but when he saw the secret letter, he felt a sudden darkness before his eyes and almost fell off his armchair.

"Damn it! Why am I so unlucky!"

He was already tormented by the rumors, unable to eat or sleep. Now, with irrefutable evidence and the rebel's spies right beside him, the day the city fell would be the day he died and lost all his wealth. He no longer cared about being stingy or cowardly, and roared in a trembling voice:

"What are we going to do! What are we going to do! You two are both high-ranking officials of the imperial court, are you just going to sit here and wait to be slaughtered by the rebel Li Zicheng?!"

Li Xianfeng bowed deeply and pleaded, "Your Highness, now that things have come to this, the only option is to send troops! Perhaps, as Zhang Da said, we can launch a surprise attack on the rebel strongholds of Lushi and Luoning, cutting off their supplies and retreat. Li Zicheng will be attacked from both sides and will certainly not dare to attack Nanyang, thus resolving the crisis in Luoyang! If we do not send troops now, once Nanyang falls, the rebel army will press in, and spies will cause chaos within, and Luoyang will surely fall. Your Highness, you..."

Ignoring the drastic change in Wang Shaoyu's expression beside him, which looked as if he had resigned himself to his fate and was about to agree, Zhu Changxun was about to speak when a stern announcement suddenly came from outside the hall.

"Zhang Da, the Assistant Military Supervisor of Henan and Military Advisor to the Commander-in-Chief, requests an audience with the Commander-in-Chief's token!"