Shenyang, Han Palace.
Nurhachi, who had always given death and grief to his enemies, finally tasted the pain of his loved ones being killed. Amin's body was placed under his throne, wrapped in a straw mat. The honorable Commander of the Bordered Blue Banner of the Great Jin Kingdom had a pale face and stiff body. He was already a withered corpse.
Amin's fujin and son were crying in the hall. The ministers of the Great Jin Kingdom, Bei Lei, and Bei Zi were all stunned on both sides. Someone secretly looked at Nurhachi on the throne, only to see the monarch staring blankly out of the hall. His eyes were dull and out of focus.
Abate knelt beside Amin's body, weeping bitterly. He listed his sins and asked for punishment. When he talked about his brother Degler's death on the battlefield and even his body was confiscated, Degler's biological mother, Fucha, fainted on the spot.
Ever since Nurhachi's rise to power, many people have died in the decades of incessant wars. But this time, it was his direct descendant who died. When the Great Jin Kingdom was at its strongest, the commander-in-chief died on the battlefield where tens of thousands of people were fighting.
"Why are you crying?" Nurhachi said from the throne. "Why are you crying?"
Everyone in the hall was horrified to hear this voice. Nurhachi's voice had always been dignified, steady, and calm. But this time, his tone was calm, but when he spoke, his voice was hoarse and old. The meaning expressed in his voice was completely different from his tone. The hall echoed with a ghostly voice, making everyone tremble.
Nurhachi didn't seem to notice. He lowered his head slightly and asked Abate, "How did we lose? How did Amin die? How did the enemy come? Tell me these things clearly. "
Abatai looked up at his father and saw a gloomy face. This face used to be red and solemn, but now it was full of undulating black air. Countless age spots appeared under the skin of his face, and black blood vessels bulged like earthworms. All this had happened in just a quarter of an hour, which was shocking.
Abatai was frightened by his father's change, but he did not dare to say anything. He could only tell Nurhachi about the process of the Battle of Qingcheng in the Karaqin tribe. He talked about how Ah Min gathered the Mongolians to prepare to go south, how the Han army suddenly crossed over Mount Yan and appeared on the steppe, how Ah Min hastily responded to the battle, and all kinds of misfortunes on the battlefield.
"The reason for our defeat is that the Han firearms are far superior to ours. In particular, its cannons were light and powerful. Once the cannon is fired, my army's formation is like a landslide. Even the strongest soldiers have to flee. Ah Min personally led the troops to break the formation, but in the end, he was hit head-on by the Han cannons. His body was riddled with more than a dozen wounds, and he bled profusely. There was no way to save him. "
Abatai wept tears of blood as he spoke, but Nurhachi interrupted him, "How many Han soldiers have come to Qingcheng?"
"About …" Abatai stuttered. He knelt on the ground and looked at Ah Min's body beside him. "About forty to fifty thousand, maybe fifty to sixty thousand."
"We lost so badly that we don't even know how many people the enemy has." Nurhachi suddenly became furious. His face was like a ghost, and his voice was like thunder. "How many Han soldiers are there? Who is the commander? "
"Commander … About fifty thousand." Abatai did not know the specific number. After all, it was only half a day from the time they received the warning of the enemy attack to their defeat and retreat. The Han army had arrived too quickly, causing them to be in a sorry state. "We did not recognize the enemy's commander's flag on the battlefield, but some Mongolians who escaped from Qingcheng said that the commander of the Han army is … He Zhuo of the Yehe tribe."
Hearing this name, Nurhachi's pupils shrank. His eyes swept across the crowd in the hall. Soon, a middle-aged man knelt down in fear and said in a sad voice, "Great Khan, He Zhuo has betrayed my Yehe tribe and has nothing to do with me. We are also sad and angry about the defeat of Ah Min. We are only willing to go to the battlefield to kill the enemy and share the burden of the Great Khan. "
The one kneeling on the ground was He Zhuo's brother, Buyanggu. It was him and his father, Buzhai, who had married He Zhuo seven times. After the establishment of the Jin Kingdom, he had no choice but to join Nurhachi with the other Yehe tribe's Baylei. Now, He Zhuo had led troops into the grassland and killed Ah Min, who had attempted to invade the south. This was a great disaster for him. He could only beg for mercy and tremble.
Nurhachi fiercely glared at Buyanggu and asked Abatai, "Who said that there were only tens of thousands of Han soldiers? How come there are fifty thousand of them in the grassland? How many people does Zhou Qingfeng have? "
Everyone looked at each other again. Their understanding of the 'Revolutionary Army' was often from the public newspapers. Zhou Qingfeng liked to disclose some information in the newspapers, and most of the information was verified to be true. Therefore, no one had ever doubted whether the 'Revolutionary Army' had more troops than originally estimated. No one knew the difference between the regular army and the militia.
At this moment, Hwang Tae-gil was not in Shenyang. He had personally led his troops to the front line of Haigai, trying to break into the Liaonan Peninsula. But several Han officials in his library were in the hall. As soon as Nurhachi asked, these officials who had surrendered to the Jurchens were pushed out, but they could not give a reason.
After a long time, someone said the word 'mobilization', indicating that the 'Revolutionary Army' seemed to, maybe, maybe, toss out an army of one hundred to two hundred thousand in a very short time.
After hearing this, Nurhachi became even more annoyed and cursed, "How is it possible to pull out an army of one hundred thousand in less than a month? How do we raise the provisions? How do we prepare the bedding? How do we allocate the ordnance? Could it be that the 'Revolutionary Army' has great magical power? Are you Han officials still thinking about your old country and unwilling to serve the Great Jin loyally, that's why you are saying such crazy words? "
The officials immediately knelt down and cried, expressing their deep hatred with the 'Revolutionary Army' and their irreconcilable hatred. They also said that after they surrendered, they had always been loyal and had absolutely no intention of betrayal.
It's just that Nurhachi was a very suspicious person. Now that the war was unfavorable and the Jurchens had suffered great losses, someone had to come out and take responsibility. He was already angry, so when he heard those Han officials crying, he immediately ordered the guards to drag these useless people away and behead them. When seven or eight mouths were delivered to him, he smelled the smell of blood and felt a lot more carefree.
"The Han people have always been crafty and like to play tricks. If Zhou Qingfeng has fifty thousand people in the grasslands, he must have less people in other places. "Nurhachi shouted to the guards," The Han people's firearms are very powerful, they are indeed better than our Great Jin. How is the imitation firearms going? Bring those craftsmen here and ask them. "
In a short while, several Han craftsmen were pushed and shoved into the main hall of the Han palace. The leader was still wearing the Great Jin's deputy general uniform, but he looked a little disheveled. When he saw Nurhachi, he was about to kneel down when Nurhachi asked in a stern voice, "Bao Chengxian, have you finished making the new firearms? Our Great Jin is in urgent need of superior firearms, are you working hard? "
The one kneeling was Daming's surrendered general, Bao Chengxian, who was in charge of making firearms and organizing the Han army. When he heard Nurhachi's question, he did not realize the seriousness of the problem and answered honestly, "Reporting to the Great Khan, your servant has thousands of craftsmen working day and night to make firearms non-stop, not daring to delay the Great Khan's war."
"I'm asking you, have the new firearms been made?" Nurhachi did not have much patience at the moment, he raised his voice, wanting to know the result.
Bao Chengxian felt that the Great Khan's tone was unfriendly today, very different from before. He looked at the few people kneeling in front of him, especially Ah Min's corpse on the ground, and realized that something was wrong. But he did not dare to hide anything, he could only say meekly, "There are many difficulties in making the new firearms. Your servant's craftsmen are still working on it, but they have not succeeded yet."
"Isn't it just lighting a fire?" Nurhachi's tone became harsher as he sat on the throne. "Haven't you used a fire lighter before? How difficult is that? It's been a few days, and you can't even do such a small thing? Our Great Jin soldiers are waiting for this self-igniting weapon to kill the enemy, but you are dragging your feet. What's the reason for this? "
Reason? Great Khan, I'm really trying to reason with you.
Bao Chengxian's forehead was sweating, but he did not dare to wipe it off. He knelt even lower, his head touching the ground, and continued to reason, "Great Khan, it's not that your servant is not working hard. It's just that the self-igniting firearm looks simple, but it's actually quite profound. Not to mention that its components were of excellent quality, its trigger was especially hard to come by, and its strength was extremely great. We've tried to find the same kind of steel, but we can't find it. "
He was talking about spring steel.
But Nurhachi did not understand.
"Isn't it just a fire lighter? I can understand it with one look, but why can't you understand? I think you Han officials must have received some news that the Great Jin is not doing well, so you're waiting for the Jurchen people to be defeated and not willing to listen to orders. "The more Nurhachi spoke, the angrier he became. The more he spoke, the more he felt that he had guessed the Han people's thoughts.
Bao Chengxian was so frightened that his legs went limp. He kept kowtowing and defending himself, "Great Khan, please understand! Ever since we pledged our allegiance to the Great Jin, we have been loyal and selfless. "
But how could Nurhachi believe him? He could not help but mock, "You useless thing, you can't even do such a simple thing, and you still dare to deceive me. Daming has treated you well, but you still betrayed him. What loyalty is there to speak of? If you can betray Daming, you can naturally betray the Great Jin. Since you're not willing to do your job well, then go to hell. Guards, drag him out and behead him! "
"I'm innocent!" Bao Chengxian felt very wronged. He raised his hands and was about to crawl toward Nurhachi to beg. But the guards behind him did not say anything. They grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the hall. He struggled and cried, "Great Khan, I'm really innocent! I'm a loyal official of the Great Jin, I'm not disloyal! "
With a click, another bloody head was sent in for Nurhachi to examine.
Nurhachi felt very happy, and his heart felt much more comfortable. This must be because of his wisdom and martial prowess, seeing through the crafty Han people's tricks, naturally his servants would be more diligent in their work. But at this critical moment, the guards outside the hall came to deliver an urgent report, saying that Fei Yingdong, who was stationed in Jinzhou, had sent an urgent report, saying that the 'Revolutionary Army' had launched a surprise attack on Ningyuan and Suizhong in Liaoxi Corridor.
Ningyuan and Suizhong were occupied, which was equivalent to blocking the retreat of Mangurtai's 30,000 men in front of Shanhai Pass. This situation made Nurhachi furious again. He shouted angrily, "Didn't those Tessian Dutchmen say that they would send a big ship? Why are they so untrustworthy? "
Amin had died, but Mangurtai could not die as well.
Nurhachi could not sit still in Shenyang. He slapped his throne and shouted fiercely, "Call back the 30,000 men of Daishan. I'm going to attack Ningyuan myself!"
。
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
