Out of arrogance, the old general did not know much about juniors like Zhou Qingfeng. When he received the order to set off in Jie Fan, he was repeatedly warned by Nurhachi that this time they must eliminate the 'Revolutionary Army'. Even if they did not eliminate them, they must at least inflict heavy losses.
After the Kennu captured Fushun and Shenyang, they lamented the weakness of the Ming Army and were also frightened by the large number of Han people. The troops that went to the countryside to catch slaves would always have a harvest and they would never be able to catch all of them. From Nurhachi's point of view, if this huge advantage in population could be used by him, it would naturally be good. If it could not be used by him and was even used by the Han people themselves, it would be a great horror.
Hwang Tae-gil had already persuaded Nurhachi not to be too cruel to the Han people so that they would not resist to the death. Nurhachi also realized that it was not a solution to blindly suppress them. He instead ordered to 'nurture' the Han people, indicating that they would be treated the same as the Jurchen Zhu Shen.
But while he was roping in the Han people at the bottom level, Nurhachi could not tolerate the existence of a troop that was determined to resist him. He ordered Er Yidu to bring ten thousand soldiers of the Bordered Yellow Banner to support Hwang Tae-gil. He wanted to use the power of suppression to destroy this troop and show his military strength. If he could not suppress the 'Revolutionary Army', the Jin Kingdom would be in big trouble.
But no one expected that Zhou Qingfeng would run to Liaoyang to make a fortune and then leave. He strategically retreated and strengthened the defense to clear the field. The old but vigorous Er Yidu brought his troops to Liaoyang because he wanted to show off his skills in front of juniors like Hwang Tae-gil. But he found that there was not even a place to stay in the city. Huang Taiji lived in a temple in the city, the other places had been razed to the ground, not a single tile remaining.
The Ming Army calculated the strength of the Jurchen and often treated all the Banners in a Niu Lu as soldiers except for the slaves. But a Niu Lu had three hundred people and only fifty real soldiers.
Er Yidu brought twenty Niu Lu troops, a total of ten thousand people. This number sounded like a lot but in reality, there were only a thousand soldiers. The remaining 3,000 men were similar to the militia of the Revolutionary Army. However, the Jurchen Yu Ding could be seen as a Fighter with poor equipment. He didn't lack combat experience or skills.
In order to deal with Zhou Qingfeng this time, Nurhachi took out all the horses, weapons, and armor that he had seized from the Ming Army last year. After the three thousand soldiers were equipped, their battle prowess was not bad. Of the ten thousand people, the remaining six thousand were armed soldiers of the Bordered Yellow Banner. Most of these slaves only had some swords and spears. They didn't have any armor or horses. They had to fight for all the benefits.
In order to motivate these slaves to fight, Nurhachi also ordered that as long as they had a 'future' military merit in attacking the Revolutionary Army, they would be able to raise the flag and become a master. With the continuous encouragement, the morale of the ten thousand people of Yidu was extremely high. As soon as they arrived at Liaoyang, they rubbed their fists and rubbed their palms, wanting to charge to Haizhou along the official road. After all, up until now, the Jianzhou Nuzhen had not suffered a great loss in the hands of the Hans.
However, when they arrived at Liaoyang, Yidu found that things were more difficult than he thought.
The Revolutionary Army wasn't the useless Ming Army. They couldn't do things that were still ignorant in the face of a great disaster. The Revolutionary Army had already begun to mobilize. They fortified the walls and cleared the fields. They were waiting for the exhausted in Haizhou City, waiting for Dajin's troops to crash into them.
In the face of this great enemy that was bound to fight to the death, Hwang Tae-gil directly expressed that it was impossible to end the war quickly. If the Revolutionary Army hid in the city and didn't come out, the Jurchen Zhenren would have to station troops under the city. However, the Jurchen Zhenren's ability to attack the city was not high. What was worse was that if the war lasted for a long time, Hwang Tae-gil would have to transport food from Shenyang. This was not a joke. It had to be carefully planned.
"The city of Haizhou has a circumference of six miles. The city wall is made of mud and bricks and is three and four feet high. The moat is twelve feet deep and three and a half feet wide. However, this city has been in disrepair for many years. I don't know the current situation. "Fan Wencheng's head was shaved bald, leaving only a thin braid hanging on the back of his head. He was involved in military affairs, holding a book called Liaodong Annals in his hand and reading it non-stop.
Hwang Tae-gil and Yidu were discussing how to conquer Haizhou in Liaoyang. They also pulled Fan Wencheng over to ask. But before Fan Wencheng could finish reading about the situation in Haizhou, Yidu interrupted impatiently, "You Han slaves are too lazy. How can you take books seriously when fighting a war? You've been in Liaoyang for more than half a month. Didn't you send someone to Haizhou to check it out? "
Fan Wencheng was speechless. Hwang Tae-gil couldn't keep his face any longer. He coughed lightly and said, "Uncle Yidu, after I arrived at Liaoyang, I sent someone to Haizhou to investigate. But the Revolutionary Army isn't like the Ming Army that defends the city to death. They have fortified barracks in the northeast and northwest of the city. They also constantly send out riders to sweep and prevent our scouts from approaching. Just in this half a month, I've lost more than ten soldiers. "
Fan Wencheng also bowed and said, "Master Yidu, I've also sent someone to the south to find some Han people who are familiar with the geography to ask. They know that Haizhou is heavily guarded and not easy to approach."
"Then we'll use this method. Send someone to seek refuge there and cooperate with them from the inside." Yidu had another idea.
Hwang Tae-gil smiled bitterly and said, "I've already used this method. I've selected many loyal Han slaves from Shenyang. Perhaps with a large sum of money or using their families as hostages, I've sent no less than two or three hundred people over. In the end, there was no news of them. Not long ago, someone escaped and came back to find out that Haizhou doesn't accept outsiders of unknown origin. All the people who sought refuge were sent to Gai Province or even Fu Province to farm. "
"Hiss …" Yidu also felt a headache. "This Revolutionary Army is really difficult to deal with. Then we can only transport food from the rear and build a camp all the way. "
Advance step by step? How long would it take to build the camp?
But if Hwang Tae-gil wanted to take a military risk and directly lead the troops to attack, he wouldn't do it. Was he going to retreat before the battle was won? That would be child's play.
But Jurchen was not child's play. The Ming Army became bold and began to act.
After more than half a year, the reinforcements from all over the country finally arrived at Shanhai Pass. Liaodong Military Commissioner Yang Gao had 85,000 men and horses in his hands, so his courage came up. In addition, two months ago, he did a deal with the Revolutionary Army and reported more than 370 Kennu beheadings. Emperor Wanli was very happy and even gave him internal funds as a reward.
Now, the troops were here, the food and money were in place, and the weather was getting warmer. It was time to fight, right?!
Otherwise, he couldn't get rid of the hat of wasting money.
Because Li Rubai died and Lushun was controlled by the Revolutionary Army. Yang Gao could only send troops from Shanhai Pass and rush over from Jinzhou by land. As for the question of who to fight, there was no need to think much about it — to fight the Revolutionary Army of Haizhou. It couldn't be helped since it happened to be blocking the way. If the Ming Army wanted to fight Nurhachi, they had to continue north to Guangning, which was a long way.
This time, Yang Gao didn't plan a four-way siege because there was only one road from Jinzhou to Haizhou. But he still prepared two groups of troops. One was led by Du Song to attack Gaizhou, and the other was led by Liu Gu to attack Haizhou.
Du Song and Liu Gu were currently Daming's fierce generals. Both of them commanded more than 40,000 men and horses respectively. In terms of numbers, they had an absolute advantage. With more than 80,000 men and horses, they claimed to have 470,000 men. They were going to kill the bandits, behead the generals and seize the flag, and leave a good name for the world.
Yang Gao advanced to Jinzhou, built a platform on the drill ground, and slaughtered cattle as a sacrifice to strengthen the momentum. He had an imperial sword hanging on his waist and wore an official robe bestowed by the emperor. On the high platform, he preached the 'Fourteen Punishment Rules', encouraging the officers and soldiers to fight the enemy bravely. The rules were about marching on time, not being lazy, not getting cold feet, not claiming sick leave, not hiding women, not killing innocent people, and so on.
If anyone violated these fourteen rules, they would be beheaded.
When his mouth was dry from all the talking, Yang Gao shouted from the platform, "Pull the healthy cattle up, kill them as a sacrifice to strengthen my army's prestige."
An unlucky cattle was tied up by four legs and pulled by a handcart to the drill ground. In front of everyone, the hot blood from its neck was extracted. But under the watchful eyes of everyone, the soldier who slaughtered the cattle tried to stab it for a long time but failed to stab it to death. The cattle, on the other hand, was in so much pain that it was about to break free.
Standing on the dirt platform, Yang Gao's expression turned ugly. He suppressed his voice and interrogated the soldier below him, "You can't even kill a cow, what are you all doing?"
The soldier who slaughtered the cattle said with a bitter face, "Daren, I'm innocent. It's not that I didn't use my strength, it's that the knife used to kill the cattle is too weak. I've used three knives, and all three are broken. I can't stab it at all. "
"Nonsense, I, the mighty Daming's army of tens of thousands, actually can't find a knife that can kill the cattle? Where did you get this knife? "Yang Gao was so angry that smoke was coming out of his seven orifices.
The soldier who slaughtered the cattle still had an aggrieved expression. He held a rusty knife in his hand and said, "I got it from the armory. There's only a piece of wood left on the handle and the blade has been embroidered. I really can't stab it in, it'll break with one stab. "
Armory?
Yang Gao took a closer look and saw that it really was a rusty knife.
The armory of the Daming Dynasty often had some junk that had been stored for over a hundred years. He didn't know which idiot had taken out such scrap metal on such an important occasion.
Not being able to kill the cattle was not a good omen.
"Quickly find a sharp knife. This cow must be killed today," Yang Gao urged anxiously.
But where could he find a knife in such a hurry?
The soldier who slaughtered the cattle immediately saw the treasure sword hanging on Yang Gao's waist. This sword was exceptionally luxurious and was obviously a good item. He smiled and said, "Daren, do you want to borrow this sword of yours?"
What?
Yang Gao followed the direction of the soldier's finger and immediately cursed in extreme anger, "This is the imperial sword bestowed by the Emperor. Officials below the rank of chief of the army can be executed first and report later. You bastard, you actually want to use this official's imperial sword to kill the cow? "
Yang Gao was so angry that he wanted to pull out his sword and stab this daring soldier to death. But the soldier said with a bitter face, "Daren, isn't it perfect to use the sword bestowed by the Emperor to kill the cow as a sacrifice?"
Perfect my ass!
Yang Gao trembled all over. He was the dignified Liaodong Military Commissioner, but he was actually stumped by such a trivial matter. But there were tens of thousands of soldiers watching, and he really didn't have the face to continue dragging this on. Now that the situation was urgent, he could only curse. He pressed the spring and unsheathed his sword. The bright sword light illuminated the drill ground, and the soldiers were incomparably amazed.
"Take it, quickly kill the cow."
"Daren, watch carefully."
The soldier took the imperial sword and with a light stab, killed the healthy cow, and even chopped off the cow's head.
Yang Gao thought, "Not bad, not bad. The sword bestowed by the Emperor has seen blood, maybe this is an auspicious sign. Nothing else should happen next, right? "
What was next?
Liu Gu's adopted son Liu Zhaosun was practicing martial arts on the drill ground.
Liu Gu was known as' Big Blade Liu '. Although he was old, he was quite strong. His adopted son Liu Zhaosun was also a valiant general. He casually picked up a spear and began practicing in front of the army. This kind of performance was quite worth watching, full of vigor like a dragon and ferocity like a tiger. Yang Gao repeatedly praised him, and the whole family of soldiers also had their horizons broadened. But halfway through the practice, pa … the spear head flew away!
Liu Zhaosun was in the middle of performing a powerful move when his hand suddenly felt light. Looking carefully, he discovered that this spear, which was made in who knows which year, had actually been damaged by insects and the spear head was broken.
F * ck!
The drill ground immediately burst into laughter, and the soldiers were overjoyed.
Yang Gao was infuriated! He felt that he really did not look at the almanac today, and that he was really unlucky to have organized this graduation ceremony. Before he could think of an excuse to cover up this embarrassing scene, suddenly a flying horse rushed over from outside the drill ground. A rider on horseback shouted at the top of his lungs, "Daren Yang, the imperial court has an urgent report, they want you to quickly lead the troops back to the capital to rescue the Emperor!"
What …? What the f * ck did you say? If you have the guts, say it again!
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