With the destruction of Zhang Chun's troops, the outcome of the Battle of Daling River has been determined.
After eliminating the Ming Dynasty reinforcements, Huang Taiji began the final attack on Zu Dashou.
On the seventh and ninth day of October, Huang Taiji sent two letters to Zu Dashou, He Kegang, and Zhang Cunren, urging them to surrender, but Zu Dashou refused.
At this time, there were more than 30,000 people in the city, and more than 10,000 of them had starved to death.
Is Zu Dashou really loyal and would rather die than surrender?
Obviously not.
At this point, there is a reason why Zu Dashou still dare not surrender.
He was frightened by Amin's massacre during the Jisi Incident.
In response, Huang Taiji wrote to Zu Dashou again, stating: It was indeed true to kill Liao people in the past. I deeply regret it, but I have stopped doing it now. As for the massacre of Yongping City, it was Amin who did it, and he did it because of it.
And if you are punished, I hope you will not be prejudiced.
Zu Dashou still didn’t believe it.
Huang Taiji was extremely sincere, and when he wrote to Zu Dashou again, he also sent Jiang Xin, the surrendered general, to the city for an interview.
In fact, at this time, Zu Dashou had no choice. He sent Han Dong to Jinying to negotiate.
On October 25, Zu Dashou killed He Kegang who refused to surrender and formally surrendered.
This battle had a great impact on the situation between Ming and Jin.
After this battle, the Ming Dynasty's effective force in Liaodong disappeared. The Guanning Iron Cavalry established later was nothing more than a watchdog.
Sun Chengzong was disheartened and resigned.
Chongzhen was also embarrassed, and he was too embarrassed to stop him. After giving him some benefits, he finally let the old minister go back to his hometown.
Huang Taiji also demonstrated extremely high political literacy and wisdom in this battle.
He forcibly stopped Hou Jin's habit of killing people and strictly abiding by his oath.
The surrendered Han people and the captured cities were all properly preserved and given preferential treatment, which greatly restored the losses caused by Amin's massacre.
In this battle, more than 70 Ming generals were captured, many of whom were senior generals.
For these demoted generals, Huang Taiji restored them to their posts, reused them and provided them with favor.
This approach brought about a chain reaction, so that when the later Ming army generals fought against Hou Jin again, they no longer had any worries and surrender became easy.
During Huang Taiji's administration, this strategy had been strictly implemented. So much so that the Manchu Qing Dynasty later entered the Pass and swept across the north, which was not unrelated to this strategy.
If Duduo had not carried out a series of horrific massacres such as the Ten Days in Yangzhou and the Three Massacres in Jiading, it would not have taken the Manchus so many years to conquer Jiangnan.
Zuo Mengeng, who was far away in Yimeng Mountain, received detailed information. After reading it, he sighed and looked for exploitable points.
After thinking about it, he circled the names of Mang Gurtai, Zhang Chun and others on the paper with a pen, and then handed it to Zuo Fu.
Zuo Fu read it, destroyed the note, and left.
The events in Liaodong were forgotten by Zuo Menggen. He picked up his telescope and observed the battle ahead.
Compared with Bai Dasheng, this Murong Cai is a loser. So much so that since the attack started in early October, the New Army West Group has already attacked near Dongtianmen.
After a month of fierce fighting, the soldiers grew up very quickly.
They have now fully adapted to the environment and fighting methods in the mountains.
Because the combat effectiveness of Murong Cai's department was far inferior to that of Bai Dasheng's department, after fighting for a period of time, Zuo Rong followed the advice of his staff and made bold adjustments to his tactics.
Each regiment of the New Army is organized into squads, with each squad being ten to twenty meters apart and conducting a wave-like attack rhythm.
The so-called crest attack means that when a squad is attacking, nearby friendly troops will not attack together, but will provide flank firepower and reconnaissance. After the attack of this squad is over, the next squad will advance forward.
The reason for this is firstly because the White Lotus Sect's combat effectiveness is so poor that even on a squad basis, they are not afraid of the attacks of the White Lotus Sect's thieves.
Another is that the mountain roads are winding and the terrain is rugged, making it impossible to deploy too many troops.
One of the fundamental reasons why the new army's tactics can be realized lies in the advancement of weapons.
The cap gun has a range of up to 500 meters and a fast reloading speed, ensuring that a squad can organize two waves of fire strikes.
In this way, it ensures that the attacking troops can bloom more, causing the White Lotus Sect to focus on one thing and not the other, and can only be eaten bit by bit and retreat step by step.
In today's battle, the Fourth Regiment of the Second Division received a relatively difficult task, which was to capture the top of Mengshan Mountain.
The summit of Mengshan Mountain is located to the west of Dongtianmen. It is not only the highest peak of Mengshan Mountains, but also the gateway to Dongtianmen.
Once you occupy the peak, you can use firepower to suppress Dongtianmen from above and help friendly troops attack.
As the last regiment of the Second Division to form an army, the qualifications of the Fourth Regiment are almost the same as those of the friendly forces of the Third Division. This time they were sent to attack the easily defended and difficult to attack peak, which was also a test given to them by Zuo Rong.
The regiment leader Zha Shubing and the political commissar Zhu Dingyan understood the thoughts of their superiors and naturally would not miss this opportunity to express themselves.
The main peak of Mengshan Mountain is called Guimengding. It is also the second highest peak in Shandong and is commonly known as Yadai.
There are three cliffs on this peak, and only one side can be climbed.
Murong Cai also knew that this place was important because more than 3,000 people were deployed to defend it. From the bottom of the hillside to the top of the mountain, dozens of walls were built and countless trenches were dug.
There was also an artillery piece in the hands of the defenders, which was placed on the top of the mountain, covering all areas from a high position.
Unfortunately, the New Army had nothing to do with this artillery, because the angle was not enough and the New Army's artillery could not hit it.
"There is nothing more than an old cannon on the left and right, and the firing rate can be imagined. There is only one road here, there is nothing to say, we can only attack by force."
Zha Shubing observed the terrain and made a quick decision.
Zhu Dingyan was worried.
"If we attack by force, I'm afraid there will be many casualties."
Zha Shubing had no such concerns.
"You were also transferred from another army, didn't you know? Isn't this how good soldiers are made bit by bit?"
How to get qualified generals and soldiers?
In addition to the necessary training and equipment, it is natural to be on the battlefield.
No matter how advanced the new army's weapons are compared to other armies of the same era, they will always encounter extremely difficult battles.
At this time, victory can only be won by relying on the quality of will and superb combat literacy.
What Zuo Menggeng fears most is that the whole army will develop a dependence on weapons, thus failing to develop a strong psychological quality and unable to fight tough battles.
Therefore, when he launched the Mengshan offensive, he hinted to generals at all levels to use as little cunning tactics as possible, and to fight more hard battles and more stupid battles. Through such battles, lower-level officers and ordinary recruits can be polished out.
Although the casualties are not small, there is no shortcut to building a strong army.
In Zuo Menggeng's telescope, the fourth regiment began to divide its forces, with one line each on the left, center, and right. Each line had about one company of troops. Behind the company responsible for the attack, there was also a company's reserve team.
The remaining troops built fortifications at the foot of the hillside, and all muskets and artillery entered the position to form fire suppression against the White Lotus Sect.
Following Zha Shubing's order, the fourth regiment's attack began.
The artillery fired first.
First, a round of explosive bombs was fired, which destroyed a lot of the walls of the White Lotus Sect. After the second round, special bombs were used.
When these shells landed on the ground, they did not cause much damage, but the thick smoke quickly enveloped the White Lotus Sect's camp.
The New Army was in a downwind position, so the thick smoke spread along the wind direction and spread all the way to the top of the mountain, effectively blocking the defenders' view.
Not only that, the smoke was also mixed with other things. After the White Lotus Sect rebels inhaled the smoke, they immediately burst into tears, coughed non-stop, and their internal organs seemed to be on fire.
This was a newly developed gadget from the arsenal and was sent to the front line for testing. It happened that the white lotus sect rebels became the first batch of test subjects.
Taking advantage of the thick smoke, the new army launched a three-pronged attack and began to approach.
It wasn't until they were almost close to the wall that the enemies inside reacted. Those who were still able to move immediately shot arrows outwards.
The New Army soldiers in the first row raised their shields one after another, without having to worry about being hurt by bows and arrows. The soldiers in the back also looked for various bunkers, but only one unlucky guy was shot through the calf, and the medical soldiers dragged him back for treatment.
"Shen Xun, tear down the village wall."
Zha Shubing happened to be on this road and issued an order to the commander of the first company.
The commander of the first company was none other than Shen Xun, who joined Zuo Maodi and others in Laiyang.
Zuo Maodi and others all chose to enter politics, but Shen Xun was very interested in military affairs and became a member of the New Army.
Although he was a talented man, he did not receive any preferential treatment in the army. He still started out as a top soldier.
But excellent people are different after all. Shen Xun is both cultured and intelligent. He can learn combat techniques very quickly, and he is also very methodical in fighting.
The new army expanded rapidly, and he is now a company commander.
After receiving the order, Shen Xun immediately made arrangements.
Several soldiers holding shields immediately ran towards the wall of the village.
When the White Lotus sect rebels on the wall saw someone approaching, they wanted to stand up and throw stones. However, they were called out with muskets and shot to death one after another.
These soldiers rushed to the base of the stronghold wall, took out explosive packets from their shields, stuffed them into the gaps in the stronghold wall, and ignited them one by one.
During this process, many iron spears suddenly shot out from inside the wall. Two soldiers were not noticed and were stabbed to death on the spot.
The others didn't care, they ignited the explosives and retreated quickly.
Ten breaths later, fire suddenly burst out from the village wall, rolling up countless sand and rocks and sweeping away everything nearby.
More than thirty White Lotus Sect rebels were unable to escape and died in the explosion.
A huge gap appeared in the village wall. Shen Xun was very excited and immediately shouted: "Follow me."
The morale of the soldiers of the first company was greatly boosted, and they quickly seized the village wall and established a stronghold.
Although through the smoke, the remnants of the White Lotus Sect thieves could be seen running back, the First Company did not blindly pursue them.
They always kept in mind the combat principles stipulated before the start of this battle.
Play steadily, step by step.
Anyway, even if the White Lotus Sect rebels here run further, they can only retreat to the top of Guimengding.
With a cliff behind them, they actually had no way to escape.
