After a shower of arrows, Ni Tianxing was unscathed.
Liu Wei shouted, brandished his sword and led the crowd to charge towards them. Ni Tianxing flicked his left arm, and with the wind from his palm, Liu Wei and others fell in large pieces.
Seeing the crisis, Mou Rongtian shouted: "Swallow, carry the commander on your back."
Shi Yi was right next to Li Chengliang. After hearing this, he shouted: "Commander, I will carry you on my back!" As he said this, he grabbed Li Chengliang and bent down.
Li Chengliang hurriedly rode up, used the wind-chasing technique with his wings, leaped forward, and ran at full speed. Unfortunately, his lightness skills were not as good as Nitianxing, and he was caught up before he could run very far. Nitianxing stabbed out with an umbrella
, hit Li Chengliang in the back of the heart, and amid the screams, a general star fell.
After defying the will of heaven, he jumped away.
News of Li Chengliang's death spread, and the whole company was filled with cries. Zhu Changluo ordered Liaodong Commander-in-Chief Xiong Tingbi to temporarily take over the command of the army from Li Chengliang. Xiong Tingbi was afraid that Nurhachi would take the opportunity to attack, so he ordered all the soldiers to brace themselves and prepare for the attack.
Li Jinzhong was lying unconscious in the tent. Li Jiaoyue sat aside and cried. Shengming took off Li Jinzhong's coat and saw a red dot next to his heart. He pointed with his hand and said: "This should be caused by a flying needle. Er
Junior brother, quickly find some tweezers."
Hu Kan shouted: "Whoever has tweezers, please get one and use it!"
Xiong Tingbi ordered the soldiers to bring tweezers and handed them to Shengming. Shengming used a dagger to open the red dot, saw the tail of the needle, and used the tweezers to pull out the black iron needle.
Mou Rongtian staggered in and asked: "Jiaoyue, how is Uncle Li?"
Li Jiaoyue cried: "Daddy hasn't woken up yet."
Li Tianmu's acupuncture point was not clear and he had difficulty moving. He was carried in by Baiyun's double swords and asked: "Have you used the healing pill for your uncle?"
Li Jiaoyue said: "I have taken it, but I don't see any improvement. Cousin, what should I do?"
Li Tianmu said: "Don't worry, my uncle is blessed with great fortune and great fortune. He will definitely be able to turn bad luck into good luck. Everything will be fine."
Zhu Changluo said: "I want to send someone to escort the general's coffin back to Beijing. Eunuch Li is so seriously injured, so let's go back together to recuperate. Ask Master Luo to find an imperial doctor for diagnosis and treatment. I hope he can recover as soon as possible."
Li Jiaoyue said: "Thank you very much, Prince."
Li Tianmu was worried that Li Jinzhong would not be able to survive, so he was worried and wanted to accompany him back to the capital. Zhu Changluo was still counting on him to protect him, knowing that as long as Li Tianmu was around, he would be infallible and would not be afraid even if he encountered a strong enemy.
You can ride Li Tianmu and run away, but even if you go against the will of heaven, you may not be able to catch up.
Zhu Changluo wanted to persuade him to stay, but he couldn't open his mouth. He went to see Mou Rongtian and asked him to keep Li Tianmu. Mou Rongtian understood what Zhu Changluo meant, but he didn't speak, not wanting to force Li Tianmu. Seeing that Mou Rongtian didn't say anything, Zhu Changluo felt unhappy, but
Inconvenience occurs.
After Li Chengliang's grandsons escorted his coffin out of the camp, Xiong Tingbi held a military meeting and said: "Now that the commander-in-chief is gone, the morale of the three armies is low. I think this battle can no longer be fought. It is better to retreat temporarily and wait for the Holy Spirit to make a decision."
.”
Li Ruzhen said: "No, now that Nurhachi has insufficient troops, it is a good opportunity to destroy him. If the good opportunity is missed, it will be difficult to defeat him again."
Liu Wei said: "Commander Li is right, we cannot give Nurhachi a chance to breathe. Let's take down the city of Hetuala in one go and kill him without leaving a trace, so as to avenge the commander-in-chief."
Xiong Tingbi also knew that this was a good opportunity to wipe out Nurhaci, but he also knew that it would be impossible to capture the city of Hetuala with just tens of thousands of people. If Li Chengliang was there, it might be possible. Without Li Chengliang, they would not be able to do it.
Xiong Tingbi thought: "The generals are in charge of the battle. If I insist on withdrawing my troops, the Holy Spirit will definitely blame me." After pondering for a moment, he said: "Since everyone advocates continuing to attack the city, we will continue to fight Nurhachi. I don't believe it. This little
We can't take the city of Hetuala yet. In order to boost morale, we sent an order. After the city is defeated, the whole army will march for three days."
Mou Rongtian frowned and said: "General Xiong, is this inappropriate?"
Xiong Tingbi said: "This is an extraordinary period. We must take extraordinary actions. We must not be kind to women."
Mou Rongtian said: "It is not a pity that Nurhachi committed a crime and died in chaos, but the civilians in Hetuala City are innocent, and our army is a righteous force. How can we do such an unethical act as Dasuo, let alone..."
Before he could finish speaking, the prince said solemnly: "That's enough, Mou Qianhu, don't say more. How to command the three armies and how to boost morale are all decided by General Xiong. How can you be allowed to interfere?"
Mou Rongtian made a fuss, his face was solemn and his heart was unhappy.
At sunset two days later, the Ming army had a full meal and started the siege of Hetuala again. The fierce attack lasted all night to no avail, and the losses were still heavy. They withdrew their troops at the time of cockcrow the next day. A thousand soldiers were responsible for guarding, while the rest waited to rest.
After lunch that day, Li Ruzhen walked into the commander's tent and said: "Commander Xiong, the casualties have been calculated. Our army has a total of 5,832 killed and 3,751 seriously injured in this battle."
Xiong Tingbi frowned and said: "The casualties are so heavy! Including the previous ones, more than 10,000 people were killed." He sighed and continued: "If we continue like this, I don't know how many more people will die. If we leave these remaining
More than 30,000 people have joined us, and we still can’t take Hetuala, so what should we do?”
Zhu Changluo and Mou Rongtian were also worried when they heard this.
Li Ruzhen said: "Commander Xiong, how can there be no casualties in a war? Although our casualties are not small, the Tatars will not be cured. They definitely don't have as many people as we do. If we attack a few more times, the city of Hetuala will be destroyed."
Xiong Tingbi said: "I hope so."
Li Ruzhen said: "When will we attack the city next time?"
Xiong Tingbi said: "We'll talk about it in two days."
Zhu Changluo said: "Master Xiong, the casualties in the siege are too great. This is not the way to go. Don't you have any other better way?"
Xiong Tingbi, the commander-in-chief, was promoted while sitting in the office. He had never experienced fighting on the battlefield and lacked actual combat experience. Although he was familiar with military books and strategies and knew Sun Tzu's Art of War by heart, when he combined it with reality, he was a bit confused and it was difficult to understand.
Combining theory with practice.
Zhu Changluo stopped him by asking, and Xiong Tingbi muttered: "This..." He was speechless for a moment, unable to answer, and Dongyue was so nervous that he sweated.
Zhu Changluo saw that he was at his wits' end and enlightened: "This prince has also read a few military books, and I remember that one of them said that there is nothing more ruthless than... Oh my, there is nothing more serious than that. I can't remember it at the moment."
I couldn't remember it, I knew very well that I just wanted to test Xiong Tingbi.
Xiong Tingbi continued: "The most ruthless plan is to run out of food."
Zhu Changluo smiled and said: "Yes, yes, that's it. Mr. Xiong, although the Jurchens are brave and good at fighting, people are like iron and rice is like steel. Why don't you start thinking from this aspect and think about it carefully to see if there is any way to defeat the enemy."
.”
Xiong Tingbi pondered for a moment and said: "Your Highness, the strategy of depriving ourselves of food will not work. The old thief Nurhachi transported all the food and grass from other cities to Hetuala long before we came to attack, and was prepared for a protracted war with our army.
, there is enough food and grass in the city, it will not be a problem to hold on for a year and a half."
Zhu Changluo thought to himself: "This Xiong Tingbi is really stubborn and stubborn." He said: "Eating is important, but drinking water is also essential. Can we do something about the water source?"
After Zhu Changluo's reminder, Xiong Tingbi suddenly realized and said: "Now that Hetuala is besieged, the Tatars can only drink water from the wells in the city. As far as I know, there are only two wells in the city, one for the inner and outer cities. If we can
They poisoned the city and cut off the Tatars' water source. The Tatars could not hold out for a few days before they left the city and fought a decisive battle with our army."
Zhu Changluo hummed and said, "This is a good idea, you might as well give it a try."
Xiong Tingbi thought to himself: "This is obviously his idea, but he doesn't want to bear the infamy. He beats around the bush and asked me to tell him. His palace is really deep. He can come up with such a vicious plan. This prince is not an ordinary vicious one. He
He has not been favored by the Holy Father since he was a child, and has been ignored and looked down upon. It is no wonder that he behaves so viciously."
When Mou Rongtian heard what Zhu Changluo said, he frowned and said, "Your Highness, how can we do this? This is too despicable."
Hearing this, Zhu Changluo felt angry and thought about relying on Mou Rongtian for protection, so he did not have an attack. He laughed dryly and said: "This is a bit excessive, but you should not stick to small details when doing big things. It is urgent to eliminate Nurhaci as soon as possible. Deal with these dog Tatars."
, don’t talk about benevolence, righteousness and morality, you can do anything, even if you use any means, it is natural."
Mou Rongtian's heart felt cold and he thought to himself: "The prince is so vicious, will he rule the world in the future and be a blessing or a curse to the people of the country?"
Xiong Tingbi said: "Your Highness, although this plan is clever, it is not easy to implement. Now Hetuala is tightly defended and we can't get in at all."
Zhu Changluo smiled and said: "Who said you can't get in? A swallow can sneak in easily. It's up to him to do this. You are responsible for preparing the potent poison. It's time to get it done without further delay."
Shi Yi thought to himself: "This evil and smoking job has fallen on me, I won't do it." He said: "Your Highness, this is too evil, I won't do it, you can find someone else."
Mou Rongtian was startled and said in his heart: "Oh my God, Yanzi, how dare you talk to the prince like this?" Busy shouted sternly: "Yanzi, don't be so presumptuous!" He was from a family of officials, and had deep roots in his genes.
If you want him to die, he will not say anything and will die generously.
Shi Yi is not the same. He is completely unfettered by the idea of loyalty to the emperor. The foolish and loyal words of "If the emperor wants the minister to die, the minister has to die." are bullshit in his opinion.
Zhu Changluo suppressed his anger and said with sincerity: "Yanzi, we have no choice but to do this. If we don't do this, more people will die. In order to reduce the casualties of our army, we have to take this step."
Dong Fuyu said: "What His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said is absolutely true. We cannot be merciful to the Tatars."
Shi Yi originally thought that the prince would get angry and reprimand him. If that happened, he would throw the rake and stop serving the monkey. Unexpectedly, the prince did not get angry and seemed so approachable. In this way, he felt embarrassed and thought:
"He is the prince, and I have to give him some face. How can I talk to him like this?" He said with shame: "I have offended His Highness the Crown Prince with his unscrupulous words. I hope Your Highness will forgive me. Since the Crown Prince thinks highly of me, I am so committed."
With the heavy responsibility, I just accept the order."