For the Kingdom of Jin, Huosu Guancheng (Gaizhou City) cannot be lost, not only because it is at a strategic location.
"Hesu Hall" is the name of a Jurchen tribe, but these three words can be further broken down.
Hesu means iron.
Guan, the name of an institution in the Liao Kingdom, is similar to the field in the Song Dynasty.
Hesu Pavilion is the iron smelting yard!
Tangchi County under the jurisdiction of Hesuguan Road used to be Tiezhou in the Liao Kingdom.
Once the Hesuguan City is lost, the Ming army will continue to fight to the northeast and will soon occupy the second largest iron smelting field in the Jin Kingdom!
If the Ming army continues to advance north, it can still occupy Tongzhou, the former Liao state.
At this moment, Wanyan Zongfu and Wanyan Xiyin personally led their troops to take control of Huosu Guancheng.
There are more than 10,000 Jurchen soldiers here, including young men of thirteen or fourteen years old.
There was no other way, so we had to put all our efforts into it. Wanyan Zongfu was so mad with the ding.
There are also more than 40,000 Bohai, Khitan, Xi, and Han soldiers, including a large number of teenagers. Some recruits don't even have armor and only carry messy weapons.
"The Ming army is still increasing its troops and transporting food. On the sea side of Fuzhou, there are often large fleets approaching, often dozens or hundreds of ships," Wanyan Xiyin said. "The army of Guangning Prefecture must continue to
Bring some to defend the city."
Guangning Prefecture is probably Panjin City. The prefecture is located in the north of Panjin City. The first Privy Council of the Jin Kingdom was located there.
The Jin Kingdom was crazy about drawing Ding, but the Ming Dynasty was also crazy about increasing troops and transporting food.
Thousands of private merchant ships alone were recruited. Although the freight charges were not high, the maritime merchants were willing to earn hard money.
Once there is no shortage of military orders, you can make money by transporting them repeatedly.
Secondly, the waves in the Bohai Sea are small and there are no pirates, so it is relatively safe to go to sea.
The number of Ming troops stationed in Fuzhou City has exceeded 70,000.
And they are all elite field troops!
Wanyan Zongfu muttered: "If too many troops from Guangning are sent over, Jinzhou may not be able to defend it."
Wanyan Xiyin said: "Guangning City is far away from the sea, so there is no need to leave any troops. Seventy percent will be transferred to Hesu Hall and 30% will be transferred to Jinzhou. These two cities must be defended."
"Can Posulu send troops back?" Wanyan Zongfu asked.
Wanyan Xiyin said: "You can't move there. I heard that on the south bank of the Yalu River, the Ming army also deployed 70,000 to 80,000 troops. Once Posu Road is lost, the Ming army stationed in Goryeo will be able to drive northward."
The more Wanyan Zongfu thought about it, the more anxious he became. He already regretted agreeing to Wanyan Zonghan's plan.
In the two people's original assumptions, the defense of the Liaodong battlefield must be no problem. After all, soldiers of all ethnic groups still have fighting ability.
But now it is very embarrassing because soldiers of all races may rebel!
Wanyan Zongfu not only had to guard against the Ming army, but also had to guard against his own people. He did not dare to send troops out of the city to play tactics, for fear that the troops sent out would suddenly mutiny.
Now we can only defend the city and wait for Wanyan Zonghan's main force to come back for reinforcements.
“Woooooooo~~~”
"Dangdangdangdang..."
"The southern thieves are coming!"
What came was the vanguard cavalry of the Ming Army.
There are three thousand light cavalry and four thousand strong cavalry, for a total of seven thousand cavalry.
The chief general is Yang Yun, a Qiang general, and his deputy generals are Li Shifu and Yang Zaixing.
This is a newly formed cavalry unit in recent years. The horses come from the Hehuang Valley, the yellow-headed ighers, and a small amount of them from Xixia in exchange for tea.
Due to long-term trade with the Ming Dynasty, the Yellow-headed Uighur has expanded rapidly in recent years and has occupied the area from the southern foot of the Qilian Mountains to the surrounding areas of Qinghai Lake (except the Hehuang Valley).
If this trend continues, the Yellow-headed Uighurs are very likely to occupy Haixi and Hainan together, and then control the entire Qinghai except the Hehuang Valley!
…
There is a Shahe River blocking the road ahead, and there are two hills on the north bank of the Shahe River. The forts on the hills can be seen with a telescope.
Yang Yun, Li Shifu, and Yang Zaixing each led cavalry on patrol on the south bank of the Shah River.
They were waiting for the infantry to follow.
As long as the enemy cavalry on the south bank of Shahe River is driven away, the task of opening a road will be completed.
A large group of Jurchen cavalry, together with cavalry from various ethnic groups in Liaodong, were confronting the Ming cavalry across the Shah River.
The next day, noon.
Deng Chun, Zhang Xian, Gu San, Zhong Yanchong and other generals led the infantry and civilians and came slowly.
Mules pulled four-wheeled chariots, which were loaded with various baggage. Beside each chariot, there were soldiers and civilians following.
Wanyan Zongfu came with his soldiers and watched the Ming army gathering more and more on the south bank.
Shahe cannot be defended, it is only a few dozen meters wide.
Under the protection of soldiers, civilians have gone to the mountains to the east to cut down trees and transport the wood back to build temporary pontoons.
The Jin cavalry dismounted one after another and stood on the north bank across the river to shoot.
The Ming cavalry retreated one after another, and the giant shield bearers came forward to protect the fusiliers.
The huge shield was pushed toward the shore, and the fusiliers hid behind the shield to load ammunition. After the ammunition was loaded, they stood with their right half exposed and fired freely toward the other side of the river.
After a firefight, the Jin cavalry retreated one after another, leaving more than a dozen corpses by the river.
"Sure enough, the Ming army's muskets no longer require matches." Wanyan Zongfu put down his telescope, his mood becoming even more desperate.
Wanyan Chala said: "When the Ming army crosses the river, the vehicle formation has not yet formed, so we will attack them halfway across the river and charge to the death!"
This Wanyan Chala was not the younger brother of Jin Xizong, but the younger brother of Wanyan Cha's mother. He just had the same name.
After Wanyan's mother died of illness, her troops were succeeded by Wanyan Chala.
"This is the only way," Wanyan Zongfu said, "send more rangers to patrol the upper reaches to prevent the enemy from sneaking into the mountains."
Did the Ming army need to sneak across?
However, when the Ming army craftsmen were building the components of the pontoon bridge, another army continued to come from the south.
Gun carriage!
Two mules pulled a four-wheeled artillery cart, and there were civilian men pushing it behind. There were huge gun barrels on the cart, all of which were thick and bulky junk pig-iron field cannons.
This kind of field artillery looks majestic, but in fact it is cheap.
It takes more than a month to build one, and the cast iron mold can be used repeatedly. The pass rate is relatively low, and it is difficult to polish after casting. If there is a slight problem, it will have to be melted and recast, otherwise there is a risk of the barrel exploding.
In order to prevent the chamber from exploding, it was made thicker and thicker, and the outside was fixed with wrought iron hoops.
It weighs nearly twice as much as a wrought-iron cannon of the same caliber, but is less powerful than a wrought-iron cannon of the same caliber, seriously slowing down the overall speed during long-distance marches.
There are only two advantages: low cost and fast production!
This kind of thing is suitable for mass production and used as city defense artillery and coastal defense artillery. In the late Qing Dynasty, it was widely used for coastal defense artillery.
"All artillery?"
Wanyan Zongfu stood on the hillside and observed the Ming army from a high position.
The sight of those thick and mighty gun barrels and the numerous gun carriages made Wanyan Zongfu's scalp numb.
More civilians invested in the construction and cooperated with the artillery to build artillery positions.
Wanyan Zongfu originally wanted to prevent the Ming army from building a pontoon bridge, and waited for the Ming army to build the pontoon bridge before attacking halfway across the river.
But those muskets and artillery on the south bank made Wanyan Zongfu hesitate.
He said to Wanyan Chala: "You personally lead a thousand knights, go around to the upper reaches to cross the river, hide in the mountains and wait for the opportunity. Tonight, try to attack the enemy camp at night. If the night attack is successful, I will cooperate with the large-scale crossing of the river."
Attack the camp."
After saying that, Wanyan Zongfu ordered: "The entire army retreats three miles to guard against enemy artillery!"
The Jin soldiers retreated three miles and were right next to the two hills. They could also rely on the forts on the mountains for defense.
They didn't bring much baggage, and all the food and grass were in Hesuguan City. If the battle failed, they could quickly retreat to the city.
Just as the Jin soldiers were setting up camp, Wanyan Chala led a thousand knights around the mountain and quietly lurked to the mountains further upstream to cross the river. This was preparing for a night attack!
Soon, Wanyan Zongfu gave up on the night attack.
Because the Ming army continued to increase its troops, at least 10,000 infantry were encamped at the mouth of the valley against the Shah River. After blocking the exit of the valley, Wanyan Chala's 1,000 cavalry could not get out at all.
Clumsy reborn iron cannons were set up one after another and lined up along the south bank of the Shah River.
Wanyan Zongfu sent his soldiers to count them with binoculars. The soldiers came back and reported: "There are a total of two hundred and fifty large cannons. In addition to those large cannons, I also saw many small artillery pieces (crouching tiger cannons)."
"Two hundred and fifty doors..."
Wanyan Zongfu had the urge to surrender directly. He recruited his own soldiers as messengers: "If you go and urge again, let Nianhan lead the main force to come back at full speed for rescue! Just tell him that this place won't last long. If you can't come back within a month and a half,
, then he shouldn’t come to collect the body for me.”
That night, Wanyan Chala led a night attack with fine cavalry, but was killed by the Ming army blocked at the mouth of the valley and fled in panic.
In the golden camp.
Gao Jingshan took advantage of the opportunity to inspect the camp and called his nephews Gao Song and Gao Bai into his tent.
"The Jin soldiers will undoubtedly be defeated," Gao Jingshan analyzed. "The Ming army is all elite, and they have countless firearms and more troops than us. However, our elites have suffered too many losses in the past few years. This year, even underage children have been beaten."
Ding Weibing. The big families in Liaodong all have evil intentions. How can we win such a battle? But Nianhan sent his elite main force to fight over Yanshan, but let us defend the city here at our own risk."
Gao Song said with a depressed look on his face: "But our Chengzhou Gao family and family members were all sent to Liaoyang as hostages."
Gao Jingshan remained silent.
Wanyan Zongfu and Wanyan Xiyin led the army to Huosu Pavilion and immediately summoned the generals of each city for a meeting.
Everyone went there without thinking too much, because they had been waiting and watching, and had not yet made up their minds to betray their money and surrender to the Ming Dynasty.
As a result, he was detained as soon as he arrived and had no choice but to hand over his family members.
Wanyan Zongfu's sudden move made the generals of all clans feel chilled, but it also disrupted the plans of the aristocratic families.
I don't know what to do.
Gao Jingshan said: "If something cannot be done, we can only take risks."
Gao Song and Gao Bai looked embarrassed. They really didn't want to give up their loved ones.
The three of them went back to their tents to sleep, and they all wore armor to prepare themselves for any unexpected events. All the soldiers under their command also slept in armor.
At dawn, there was a sudden noise.
The exclamation woke Gao Jingshan up. He grabbed the spear and ran out to check, but saw a large fire burning in the distance.
"The mother-in-law is crazy!"
It was obvious that someone did not care about the life and death of his family and caused trouble on the first night of the confrontation between the two armies.
"Uncle, the armies are noisy and chaotic, what should we do?" Gao Song came running with his soldiers.
Gao Jingshan shouted: "Take the clan troops and retreat to Hesu Guancheng!"
"Aren't you going to surrender?" Gao Bai asked.
Gao Jingshan said: "If we surrender now, all the family members in Liaoyang will die!"
The three uncles and nephews gathered with their own soldiers and blew trumpets. They were far away from the fire place, and they could barely gather most of the soldiers to escape in an organized way.
The generals of all tribes were actually very cautious and all required their soldiers to sleep with their armor on.
But there were too many newly recruited militiamen, and the teenagers had never actually been on the battlefield. They were panicked and had great fear, and fled randomly without obeying military orders, leading many experienced militiamen to flee.
Gradually, it turned into a flight of the whole army, even the core elites were running away.
In the chaos, Liu E led hundreds of ethnic soldiers to the north bank of the Shahe River and shouted: "Long live the Ming Dynasty, long live the Ming Dynasty, we are here to surrender and submit! Don't fire cannons and artillery, we are here to surrender and submit!"
Not only did this guy not care about his family, he even gave up all the redundant country soldiers and came with only a few hundred elite clan soldiers.
He is the one who is setting fire to the camp!
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This chapter has been completed!