The sky is covered with lead clouds, and villages are burning in Yingzhou, Datong Town.
A huge wooden frame was piled up next to the well, and the stripped corpses were wrapped in mats and neatly placed into the wooden frame, and then burned and cremated on the spot.
There is a Cihang Temple on the Nanshan Mountain. Flags symbolizing the Eight Banners are placed all over the temple gate. The weather has turned cold. Huang Taiji is wearing a large fur robe that was paid tribute by the Harashen tribe. He looks down at the burning village at the foot of the mountain. His broad face is full of helplessness.
There was a lingering depression between his brows - what was burned at the foot of the mountain were not the corpses of the villagers, but the soldiers who died in the battle with two yellow flags and two white flags.
When the soldiers and horses set off from Shenyang, he did not expect that the battle would be so futile, or that the war would be completely different from what he had imagined.
In fact, the intrusion into the border wall from outside the Self-Xuanfu was very successful militarily for the Hou Jin Army.
The Eight Banners is a powerful force that has been trained in countless battles between white mountains and black waters. Its combat effectiveness is beyond doubt. More importantly, it has won many battles. The strong mentality brought by the surrender of Mongolia to the army will make any opponent carry any equipment and have any ability.
When force appeared in front of them, they dared to draw their swords and strike.
The war situation was indeed going smoothly. Since the floods rose in summer, Huang Taiji led his troops to declare war. He once again reiterated Hou Jin's status as the suzerain of the Harashen tribe outside the border. In July, he destroyed the wall and entered, winning the battle.
The fort entered Datong, and Azig and Dorgon entered Xuanfu from Longmen.
Later, Huang Taiji, Abate, Hauge, Kong Youde, and Geng Zhongming also led their troops from Xuanfu to Shuozhou. The three groups finally met in Yingzhou and besieged Yingzhou City.
In less than two months, it went very smoothly.
But this is the problem that makes Huang Taiji uncomfortable and even feels useless. When he sent troops from Shenyang this time, he only had two strategic purposes.
He didn't come to Xuanfu to conquer the city, but because there was a flood in his hometown of Shenyang, and we were fleeing with arms, in order to eat Monan Mongolia and bring blood back to Manchuria.
As for the second, it is to restore the blood while establishing the dominance of the Jin Kingdom in Monan, turning all the past allies into vassals.
In Huang Taiji's idea when he sent troops, he wanted to fight a big battle in the west this time, and wipe out all the disobedient tribal nobles in Monan Mongolia in one fell swoop. Obviously, the Red Yi artillery was not needed to deal with the Mongols on the Monan grassland.
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Therefore, there were fifty new Hongyi cannons cast in Shenyang, and Huang Taiji only brought two strong ones, and not many cannonballs. Anyway, these two men only wanted to frighten the frightened Mongolian nobles, and there was a high probability that they would not need to fire the cannons.<
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In the entire army, only two Han armies, Geng Laoer and Shang Laosi, Tianyou and Tianyou, carried some light artillery specially designed to fight the Mongolian soldiers.
But this world can always bring surprises to people. The Mongolian tribes on the Monan grassland are not just waiting for the wind, they are simply winning food and scenery.
No, sorry, there is no winning food, only Jingcong.
Huang Taiji almost cried. He traveled all the way to Monan, only to find that the Mongolians in Monan were even poorer and more miserable than Houjin, who suffered a flood.
There is a drought in the Horqin Grassland, and all the cattle, sheep, and horses have died; the rivers in the Xilin Gol Grassland have dried up, and the Ulanqab Grassland has been sunburned and turned into saline-alkali land, and even Xiaohaizi can boil salt; that is, Fengzhou in the Tumut Department
The beach is guarding the Yellow River, and the soil moisture condition is not bad.
But there has just been a locust plague over there. After all, the Great Wall was not built for locusts, so it cannot stop them.
Huang Taiji, Geng Laoer, and Shang Laosi led 30,000 to 40,000 Manchu tramps all the way from Shenyang to Zhangbei. They aggressively sought out the Mongolian tribes who disobeyed them, like dancing Harashen left and right, convincing their hearts and minds.
Those who are dissatisfied will have to make a big show and kill them!
Who would have thought that when these nobles saw him, they would be like a drowning man seeing a straw, clinging to him without letting go! One by one, they shouted and expressed their loyalty: Who among us is not a Manchurian anymore?
I'm hungry!
Now, Huang Taiji has nominally 120,000 homeless homeless people in his hands.
What to do?
Due to the situation, Huang Taiji was forced to change his strategic purpose before setting off. Of the 120,000 homeless people around him, only less than 40,000 were reliable manpower, and they were all screaming with hunger. He had to plunder the Ming Dynasty.
To strengthen the dominance of the Jin Kingdom in Monan and ensure that the Manchu-Han coalition forces can safely return to Shenyang under the watch of the hungry Mongols.
To a certain extent, Han soldiers are more reliable than Manchu soldiers, because at this moment, only Lianghuang and Xianglansanqi are Huang Taiji's direct descendants. The Han soldiers are different. Each of these Han soldiers has a wife, and they are all Huang Taiji.
Sent.
However, his army seems to be invincible. It should be smooth on the battlefield, but in fact it is just the opposite. It is difficult to move forward.
Of the castles behind them, none of them could descend smoothly. Many castles could not be conquered because their walls were in disrepair and there was no food in the city or soldiers on the walls.
Yin Erde of Zhenghuang Banner was a fierce man, Yangguli's clan nephew. He followed Huang Taiji several times and made many achievements. In the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, he besieged Daling River. When the defenders left the city, Yin Erde led the charge.
They kept pushing the troops out of the city back to the trench; a general under Zu Dashou galloped his horse and drew his bow to attack Huang Taiji's camp, but Yin Erde rushed over and beheaded him under his horse.
This time in Xuanfu, Yin Erde acted as the vanguard as usual. He and Xingne took one armored soldier from each cow, which was less than 300 soldiers. They then gathered more than 600 flag slaves, destroyed the border wall, and advanced all the way.
Very fierce.
As a result, the Xuanfu Ming army was also very fierce. When he saw the beacon fire, Kong Dengke, the general of the Zhongquan Battalion who was leading his troops to drill near Longmen Station, led his troops and rushed forward, buying time for tens of thousands of people in the countryside to escape into Longmen Station.
Another name for Zhongquan Camp is Biaoying. This name comes from the 12th year of Xuangong in "Zuo Zhuan". It refers to the fact that the Chu State sent troops and divided them into five armies, namely, Right Column, Zuo Zhuipei, Qianmao, Zhongquan,
Staying power.
The heavy baggage troops mowing the grass are the left army, the chariots are the right army, the front army holds Mao Jing to open the way, the middle army weighs strategies, and the rear army leads the rear with its elite troops.
Kong Dengke's Zhongquan Battalion was established to forge a blade to defend against enemy troops entering the wall. Their battalion was composed of Xuanfu vanguard soldiers who would move upon hearing the beacon and attack when Yin Erde's soldiers rushed forward.<
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He is in the middle position, while Yin Erde is only at the forefront. Kong Dengke knows this. There are beacon fire and cannons. If the enemy has more than 10,000 troops, five beacons and five cannons will be fired.
But what Kondenko didn't know was that behind Yin Erde was the main force of the Two White Banners led by Azig, Dorgon, and Duduo. Twenty thousand troops arrived on the battlefield one after another to join the attack on the Xuanfu Zhongquan Camp.
The outcome of this battle was satisfactory to both parties involved. Azig, who had the advantage in strength, did not win. Kondenko fought a battle in the wild, but when he saw that he was outnumbered, he retreated into Longmen Station, and the army attacked the city before it was captured. Although Kondenko did not lose, he suffered huge losses in a bloody battle. His standard battalion had a total of 3,000 people. In the first battle, two commanders were killed, more than 800 soldiers, more than 400 were seriously injured, and 400 mules and horses were lost.
Yu.
Nearly half of the most powerful Zhongquan Battalion in the Xuanfu was lost, and only Hou Jin Qianyu was killed in battle. The most critical thing was his head. Because he was unable to control the battlefield, Hou Jin's flag slaves cremated all the corpses on the spot.
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After a battle, they only had three heads obtained by servants in the outpost battle before the battle.
Why couldn't Longmen Station be captured? Because when Huang Taiji went out, he didn't even think about knocking down the castle on the Xuanda defense line. He didn't bring a cannon. The only weapons that could be used as siege equipment were the iron hook pole for ripping out the wooden fence and the two weapons of Tianyou and Tianyou.
How to attack the city with the light artillery accompanying the Han army?
Of course, it is not impossible to use cold weapons to attack the city, but the casualties will be greater, and it will take some time to build siege equipment. But if there is time, wouldn't the Ming army encircle it? Even if there are many people, there is no fear of the Ming army encircling the city.
The key issue is that Huang Taiji is in a hurry.
The Hou Jin Army has very strong organizational skills, not to mention that after entering the border from Baishan Heishui, all they saw were acres and acres of fertile farmland. When they saw this thing, it was like a horse race and enclosure, and they wanted to make a fortune, and they just wanted to rob it.
, which further enhances combat effectiveness.
The most important thing is that the Manchu people are afraid of death. They will fight tooth and nail to avoid death. If you die on the battlefield after fighting this battle, you will die today. If you don't fight this battle, the entire clan will not survive this winter.
The same goes for Huang Taiji. He attacked the city for food and livestock. When the war broke out, the people nearby hid in the city. Only by attacking the city could he obtain food.
But as time progressed, the people throughout Xuanda knew that Hou Jin had invaded, and they all hid in the big city with their property. What else could he rob? So they were in trouble. If they wanted to rob the nearby food, they had to attack the city.
; When attacking a city, people from far away will take food and hide in the city.
However, the Xuanda border army has a very strong will to defend.
Kong Dengke was only at Longmen. In fact, Huang Taiji divided his troops into four groups, but he was frustrated at every turn.
The two yellow flags merged with the Han army and sent 30,000 troops to attack Shenjingbao. After two days, they had to withdraw from the siege after failing to capture it. The casualties suffered by the Manchurian and Han armies became meaningless. It was more difficult to fight a sand castle or earthen fort than to attack Shenyang or Liaoyang.
They could only burn down four houses and burn more than 400 corpses to evacuate the siege.
Along the way, the commander De Gelei led three banners to attack the Red Castle, but failed to capture it. He also burned houses and killed and captured the people. An eighty-year-old lady was kidnapped and jumped off a cliff. The soldiers and civilians were very angry, and there were murders of thieves everywhere.
The ambition made the Hou Jin army in enemy territory unable to sleep peacefully even when they were camping.
There was also the attack on Fort Chemarien. One of the people in the fort was so brave that he actually wanted to attack at night, and he actually found 170 people who were willing to give him ghost soldiers.
You said that this month's military pay is four cents of silver and you still owe half a year, why are you trying so hard?
This group of people ran to the Wanjun camp outside the city at night and made a big fuss. Although they only brought back seven heads, they frightened the Hou Jin army camped outside the city and trampled on each other. They withdrew and ran away overnight.
As for Wanquan Zuowei, the city was rotten and short, and there was no food in it. But in such a poor place, Zu Dabi, the second madman of the ancestor family, jumped out of the city with two hundred and fifty riders, like a dump truck.
, without saying a word, he killed the third-ranking Baron Turush, the commander of the forward battalion with a yellow flag.
The most interesting thing is not here, but the Great Wall in the north of Shanxi. Like Shaanxi, it has two, commonly known as the second side wall. Inside the second side wall are Xuanfu and Datong.
What is the situation at this meeting?
Huang Taiji's army was surrounded by the Great Wall in a circle. All the cities and castles in the circle were not conquered. The four armies were blocked everywhere. However, this situation was nothing to complain about for the Hou Jin Army, and it could actually be maintained.
The current situation just shows that the Houjin army is well-trained, has high combat effectiveness, and has very strong morale.
They have performed beyond their level. Although the fourth army did not control any city in Xuanda and failed to break any fortress, the third army was still able to maintain its organizational structure and gathered in Yingzhou, south of Datong. There was also a lone army on behalf of Shan.
One unit stationed troops outside Shuozhou City in the southwest of Datong to guard against reinforcements from the Ming army in the direction of Shanxi.
What is this called?
This is called the autumn of the seventh year of Chongzhen. The most powerful bandit leader in China has changed hands. Aisin Gioro Huang Taiji is the most powerful bandit leader at this time.
Xuanda has always been an important town in the north of the Ming Dynasty. It is not an exaggeration to say that it is impregnable, but in the Chongzhen Dynasty, this was no longer the case.
As the threat from Mongolia, the ancient enemy in the north, gradually weakened, the imperial court shifted its defensive focus to Liaodong. Under the pressure of military defeats, it continuously mobilized troops from nine sides to send blood to Liaodong. The Xuanda defense line was actually very empty.
Moreover, the Ming army did not dare to go out of the city to fight in the field. In June, when Huang Taiji was still on the Horqin Grassland, Emperor Chongzhen issued an order to the border fort and the city: if he was attacked by the Hou Jin Dynasty, the defender would set up a heavy ceremony and execute him.
This order made the Ming army defenders behave passively against the enemy, but each one of them was extremely diligent in defending the city, so that the two sides became awkward.
Huang Taiji wants to attack the city, but it is nonsense to say that he does not want to attack the city. Who does not know that the greatest wealth is in the city, but the problem cannot be conquered; then he has to change his strategy and settle for the next best thing. First, rely on Hou Jin's soldiers to get used to the battle.
The Ming army was weak in large-scale battles. It eliminated the Ming army's heavy military groups through field battles and then captured the city.
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Huang Taiji was forced to feel extremely uncomfortable by this situation. The longer the time went by, the harder it was for him to return home. Moreover, he could not give orders to go home at this time. More than a thousand people were tied up, and the cattle and sheep could not be snatched.
It's a small amount, but it's not enough for him to go home.
Not to mention the tens of thousands of newly attached Mongolians from the Foreign University. He has already received news that the Three Khans of Mobei are also leading troops to watch in Ordos and other places. In addition, there are heavy Ming troops stationed in Xuanda. These guys are waiting for him to withdraw his troops.
Go home.
As long as he gives the order to withdraw his troops, his troops will not be able to perform as well as they are now on their way back, and they will be beaten on all sides.
At this moment, he was stationing troops in Yingzhou in order to attract two heavy Ming army groups in Datong and Yanghe to fight with him in the field, but Zhang Zongheng, the governor of Xuanda, ignored him at all.
So Huang Taiji made two preparations. The first was to write a peace proposal to Zhang Zongheng in Datong City to buy himself time.
The other side sent horse soldiers to rush out of the customs to convey the news to Shenyang that the war was not going well and that the troops and horses had suffered heavy losses. They ordered the Jin Kingdom to move all the people from Gaizhou, Haizhou, Jinzhou, Fuzhou and other places to Shenyang.
The cavalry was left on patrol to guard against a sneak attack on Phi Island, and each cow was steamed and cooked to prepare fried noodles to support the army's return.
At the same moment, Zhang Zongheng in Datong City had the same idea as Huang Taiji, and he was also prepared with both hands.
While he was writing to the emperor, he stated that the battle was not easy to fight. The forts within the second border wall and the battalion generals who defended the city were able to fight, but they paid for their lives. The fight was very hard, and the field troops could not gather in one place and go out.
It means defeating a large number with a small number, so it needs to be delayed for a while, waiting for reinforcements to arrive. Huang Taiji wants to negotiate a peace, so it is recommended to use this to delay him.
The emperor's reply was quick and calm: "Don't panic, reinforcements are on the way."
To be honest, when Zhang Zongheng saw this list of reinforcements, his heart was a little broken and he had mixed emotions.
The front of the list is quite normal. Shanxi Commander-in-Chief Zhang Quanchang is rushing over with Pingyang General Fu Renxi.
In addition to the Shanxi army, the imperial court also planned to ask Fu Zonglong, the governor of Jiliao, to prepare a reinforcement army of 30,000 people, including 10,000 troops from Jizhen and Miyun, 10,000 Guan troops, and 10,000 Ning troops. The situation seemed to be very good.
But what is outrageous is that the reinforcements are not only coming from the east, but also from the west. There are many names on the list that are both familiar and unfamiliar to Zhang Zongheng.
