After Li Chengliang was killed, Wanli was promoted to deputy manager of Liaodong and Yang Gao was appointed as the manager of Liaodong. After nearly half a year of preparations, reinforcements from all walks of life had arrived in Beijing. Under the protection of Li Jinzhong, Mou Rongtian, Li Tianmu and others, the prince went to the east for the second time with the army.
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Before setting off, Yang Hao held a military meeting. His strategy was to target the city of Hetuala, Nurhachi's home base, and launch a combined attack in four directions to encircle and annihilate it in one fell swoop.
Li Rubai expressed opposition. He believed that if they attack separately and attack together, they may be defeated by Nurhaci one by one, he suggested that the troops should be united in one place, step by step, and fight steadily.
Yang Hao disagreed with this approach and insisted on his own strategy. He was the supreme commander and had decision-making power, and Li Rubai had to obey orders.
The Ming army totaled more than 86,000 people, including about 30,000 elite cavalry from Xuanfu, Datong, and Shanxi towns; Ningxia Town, Gansu Town, Yansui Town, and Guyuan Town, with a total of about 25,000 people;
There are about 25,000 people in Guangdong, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Zhili in the north and south; there are about 7,000 chieftain soldiers in Yongshun, Baojing, Shizhou, and native soldiers in the east and west of the river.
In addition, the allies of the Hercynian Jurchen Yehe tribe sent 10,000 troops, and Goryeo sent 13,000 troops. The three parties totaled more than 110,000 troops and claimed 800,000. Yang Hao wanted to scare Nurhachi from his momentum, thinking: "
Scared him to death."
But Nurhachi was not to be frightened. This veteran, who had spent half his life in the military and had experienced many enemies, had already figured out the details of the Ming army.
At the pre-war military conference, Yang Hao ordered Liaodong Commander-in-Chief Xiong Tingbi to lead 30,000 elite troops to serve as the main attack, leaving Fushun from Shenyang, entering the Suzi River Valley, and attacking from the west; he ordered Shenyang Commander-in-Chief Li Rubai to lead 25,000 elite troops to attack from the southwest
To attack from the front, Liu Wei, the commander-in-chief of Liaoyang, was ordered to lead more than 10,000 men to join the Korean army, pass through Kuandian, go north along the Dongjia River, and attack from the south.
He also ordered Li Rumei, the commander-in-chief of Fushun, to lead 15,000 men out of Kaiyuan, pass through Sanchaerbao, and enter the upper reaches of the Hun River to attack from the north. He also ordered General Mangui to garrison Liaoyang as a mobile reinforcement force.
Then he ordered General Li Guangrong to lead his troops to garrison in Guangning to ensure rear transportation; he ordered Liaodong Deputy Commander-in-Chief Dou Chengwu to garrison in the front camp to monitor the Mongolian ministries; and he ordered Wang Shaoxun, the garrison commander, to take charge of the transportation of grain, grass and baggage.
Yang Gao and Zhu Changluo were stationed in Shenyang, commanding from the center. In order to boost morale, Yang Gao played "Rewards for Capturing Slaves" before setting off for the expedition. Cui Chengxiu, the Minister of War, repeated the performance and Wanli approved it. The cabinet drafted an edict and promulgated it for implementation.
The reward stipulates: "Whoever captures and kills Nurhaci will be rewarded with 50,000 taels of silver and will be promoted to the commander of the capital; whoever captures and kills the four major Baylors will each be rewarded with 10,000 taels of silver and will be promoted to the commander; if the rebel generals such as Li Yongfang and Tong Yangzheng are captured, they will be rewarded.
If you offer Nurhachi or his four great belles, you can avoid death.
"Yehebel Golden Platform Stone, if Buyangu can capture and kill Nurhachi, he will be given the imperial edict of founding the state and be granted the title of General Longhu, with the second rank of Sanzhi. If he captures and kills Nurhachi's twelve relatives, uncles, uncles, nephews, and the middle army,
The vanguard, the big bosses who lead the troops, and the small bosses who are trusted and leading the troops at home and abroad, etc., will all be highly rewarded and granted worldly titles."
Yang Hao was well prepared and made quite a fuss. He was confident and well-informed and sat in Shenyang City, waiting for the good news. As a result, before the good news came, bad news came. The West Route Army responsible for the main attack was in Sarhu.
Almost the entire army was wiped out. Under the protection of Zu Dashou and Wu Xiang, the general Xiong Tingbi was seriously injured and escaped back to Shenyang. He managed to save his life.
When Yang Hao and Zhu Changluo heard the news, they were both shocked. Yang Hao slapped the table and shouted: "How could this happen?"
It turned out that after Nurhaci defeated the Ming army outside Hetuala City, he successively recovered the previously lost cities of Sarhu, Jiefan, Gule, and Xiema. Huang Taiji planted dozens of spies throughout Liaodong.
After launching the Second Eastern Expedition, Huang Taiji got the news and informed Nurhaci.
Nurhachi asked Huang Taiji to pay close attention to the movements of the Ming army. Huang Taiji found that Liu Wei's army was the vanguard and marched north from Kuandian. Xiong Tingbi led the main force of the Ming army out of Fushun and marched eastward. Because they were moving too fast, the lone army stood out.
After Nurhaci learned of this, he decided to use 500 troops to contain Liu Wei's army in the south of Hetuala City. Taking advantage of the slow progress of other Ming armies, he concentrated his forces to attack Xiong Tingbi's troops.
At that time, Nurhachi's new army had been trained and formed, with about 10,000 people. It also formed an alliance with the Mongolian Horqin tribe and received assistance from 5,000 Mongolian cavalry from the Horqin tribe.
Although Xiong Tingbi had an army of 30,000, which was twice as powerful as Nurhachi, even though they were elite troops of the Ming Dynasty, their combat effectiveness was incomparable to that of the Jurchen-Mongolian coalition. In the battle of Sarhu, those who were killed were severely defeated, and their armor was incomparable.
Keep.
A few days later, bad news came again, and the Ming army on the North Road was almost completely wiped out.
It turned out that the Northern Route Army led by Li Rumei arrived near Shangjian Cliff in the northeast of Sarhu and learned that Xiong Tingbi's main force had been wiped out. They did not dare to go deep alone and stationed the army in three locations for on-site defense.
Anticipating that Nurhaci would attack soon, he ordered his soldiers to dig three layers of trenches around the camp, and lined up the firearms troops outside the trenches, followed by the cavalry.
He also ordered his two sons, Li Gengzhong and Li Chunzhong, to each lead 5,000 men and horses, and station them several miles away from the main camp to form a horn formation, and line up their chariots in a circle to block the enemy cavalry from rushing forward.
After Nurhachi annihilated the main force of the Ming army, his troops pointed directly at Li Rumei's troops. Although Li Rumei was well prepared, the Ming army's defenses were still vulnerable to the iron heel of the Jurchen and Mongolian coalition forces. After a battle, the Ming army was defeated
There was an uproar, and only Li Rumei, his father and his son, and a dozen generals fled back to Shenyang.
When Yang Hao saw that both groups of troops were killed by Nurhaci, he knew that the remaining two groups were also in danger. In order to preserve his strength, he discussed with Zhu Changluo and wanted to bring those two groups back and make a long-term plan.
Zhu Changluo nodded in agreement. Yang Hao sent a herald on Pegasus to inform. A few days later, the herald responsible for informing Liu Wei came back with a mournful face and reported: "Commander, the entire East Route Army has been wiped out, and General Liu has been killed in action."
It turned out that Liu Ping's troops were unable to reach the city of Hetuala as scheduled due to the rugged mountain roads and difficulty in traveling. Because they did not know the west route and the north route had been defeated, they still advanced as planned.
After Nurhaci defeated Li Rumei's Northern Route Army, he immediately turned to attack Liu Wei's tribe. In order to completely annihilate Liu's army, Nurhaci adopted the strategy of luring the enemy deep into the area and setting up an ambush to gather and annihilate them. He ambushed the main force near Abdaligaon south of Hetuala City,
A small number of soldiers pretended to be Ming soldiers, armed with Xiong Tingbi's command arrows, and falsely claimed that the main force of the Ming army was approaching the city of Hetuala and asked Liu Wei to rush to help.
Liu Wei did not realize the deceit and believed it to be true. He immediately ordered a light advance and was ambushed at Abdaligaon. The entire army was wiped out and he was defeated and perished.
When Yang Hao saw that all three groups of troops had been wiped out, his face turned pale, and he thought to himself: "Li Rubai's Southern Route Army is 80% lost."
Contrary to his expectation, Li Rubai's troops returned after a few days with few casualties. However, they were discovered by Huang Taiji during the retreat. The main force of the Jin soldiers had not arrived at that time. Huang Taiji ordered sentries to blow conch shells on the mountain to signal a charge.
After making loud noises, Li Rubai's troops thought it was the main force of the Jin army that was attacking. They fled in panic, trampling on each other, killing and wounding more than a thousand people.
The two supporting armies of Ye He and Goryeo were defeated by Nurhaci one after another. The commander-in-chief of the Goryeo reinforcements, Jiang Hongli, led his troops to surrender. In order to win over Goryeo, Nurhaci hosted a banquet for Jiang Hongli and others, treated them with courtesy, and released them all back to the country. He also wrote a letter to King Gwanghae of Goryeo as a token of appreciation.
friendly.
The King of Goryeo sent an envoy to express his gratitude to Nurhaci, and from then on he adopted a neutral policy towards Jin Ming. Like a white-eyed wolf, he put aside the kindness of the Ming Dynasty's parent country and ignored it.
In this battle, the Ming army lost more than 50,000 people, including more than 300 generals, more than 30,000 horses, more than 20,000 muskets, and hundreds of artillery pieces. It can be said that the Ming army suffered heavy losses and suffered a serious loss of vitality.
Yang Hao acted improperly and knew he was guilty. He took the blame and resigned. He wanted to escape and keep his reputation, but failed. Luo Sigong and Zhao Nanxing seized the opportunity and instructed the princeling ministers to submit a memorial to impeach Yang Hao. Wanli also felt that
Yang Hao bore unshirkable responsibility for this defeat and ordered him to be detained and handed over to the ministry for discussion. Xiong Tingbi, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, also served as Liaodong's manager.
After this battle, Nurhachi took advantage of the victory to pursue the victory and attacked the three cities of Fushun, Tieling and Kaiyuan. Then he conquered the Yehe tribe of the Haixi Jurchen, and the chiefs Jin Taiji and Buyangu were killed, and the rest of the tribe surrendered.
Nurhaci was ambitious and wanted to overthrow the Ming Dynasty and seize control of the Central Plains. Xiong Tingbi saw this and was anxious. If Nurhaci committed another crime again, Shenyang City would bear the brunt. Xiong Tingbi had a way of resisting defense by relying on the city, but it is difficult for a clever woman to make a meal without rice.
, In the last battle, the Ming army lost all its firearms. Xiong Tingbi thought to himself: "Without muskets and artillery, how can I resist the enemy?"
He wrote a memorial, asked the court to purchase firearms, and sent someone 800 miles away to rush to the capital. Zhao Nanxing took it very seriously. After receiving the memorial, he immediately went to the palace to meet the emperor. Wanli agreed and asked the Ministry of Household Affairs to allocate money. The Minister of the Ministry of Household Affairs
Wu Chunfu was a member of the Zheng Party. Under Yan Shoufeng's instruction, he said: "There is only rat shit left in the bank of the Ministry of Household Affairs, and there is no money to transfer." Xiong Tingbi was asked to find a way by himself.
Zhao Nanxing was furious and went to Wanli for comment. Wanli summoned Wu Chunfu and asked, "Is there really no money in the Treasury of the Ministry of Revenue?"
Wu Chunfu was well prepared. He brought the account book and calculated it for Wanli. He said it was watertight. Wanli still didn't believe it, so he ordered his confidant Cao Huachun to go to the household department to check the treasury. When he opened the bank, he found that only
Rat poop is everywhere.
Wanli was now in a big hurry. The mountains and rivers belonged to his family, so how could he not be in a hurry? The court had no money, so he had to use his own small treasury. The royal family had millions of taels of silver in savings, and Wanli gritted his teeth.
Stomping his feet, he appropriated one hundred thousand taels of silver from his internal funds to purchase firearms. He was a money-obsessed man and a complete miser. He was reluctant to put money in but couldn't bear to go out. He was so distressed that it was as if the money was tied to his ribs.
Being able to come up with one hundred thousand taels of silver at once is already a blessing.
Although one hundred thousand taels of silver is not a small amount, it is only a drop in the bucket when it comes to purchasing firearms and does not solve the problem at all.
After Xiong Tingbi heard the news, he became very angry. Overnight, his mouth was full of blisters and his throat was sore and hoarse.
The next morning, Zhu Changluo saw Xiong Tingbi's behavior and asked, "Commander, what's wrong with you?"
Xiong Tingbi frowned and said in a hoarse voice: "Hey, don't mention it. Last night, news came from the capital that the Ministry of Household Affairs was out of money. The Lord, in His grace, allocated one hundred thousand taels from the internal funds to purchase firearms, but such a small amount of money is not enough.
Solve the problem? If Nurhachi comes to invade, we don’t have firearms, how can we defend the city?"
Zhu Changluo took a deep breath and thought to himself: "Father, Father, you are really good. This is so urgent, but you still don't want to part with the money. How can you keep the millions of taels of silver in your own money to have children?" He also
Follow the anxiety and get angry.
Mou Rongtian said: "Commander, I wonder how much silver is needed to purchase firearms?"
Xiong Tingbi said: "At least one million taels."
Mou Rongtian said: "I have a way to get this money."
Xiong Tingbi's eyes lit up when he heard this and asked: "Mou Qianhu, what can you do? I would like to hear the details."
Mou Rongtian said: "Last year, Huang Taiji merged the Salt Gang into Hell Gate and robbed the Salt Gang of more than one million taels of silver, hundreds of thousands of taels of gold, and three large boxes of jewelry, jades, antiques, calligraphy and paintings. Huang Taiji wanted to use the sea
The ship was transported back to Liaodong by water, but the ship was sunk by me.
"If nothing else happens, these things are still at the bottom of the sea. I can ask the people from the Giant Whale Gang to salvage them."
Xiong Tingbi was overjoyed and said: "Great, great. If we have this gold and silver, we can solve a big problem."