The messenger's words were like a bolt from the blue, making Nurhaci almost stunned on the spot.
The Ming army actually took the initiative to attack Jiefan City.
He originally thought that with the strength of Jiefan City, there would be no problem in blocking the Ming army for a few days. Even if the Ming army came to attack him, he would have enough time to return to support him.
But now the Ming army actually used new artillery, and almost collapsed the city wall of Jie Fan.
There were not many troops left on the northern front, and he knew very well that Hetuala was now extremely empty.
But now Kuandian has entered the final stage. Although the Han army cannot attack, he does not want to give up.
He said sharply: "Four Belles, is it possible to capture Kuandian Fort in one hour?"
Huang Taiji understood that time was urgent now. Although he was not confident, he could only grit his teeth and said: "Don't worry, Khan. The Ming army in Kuandian Fort at this time is only a few hundred. In an hour, The white flag inside is sure to capture Kuandian."
Just when Zhengbai Banner was about to replace the Han army and continue to attack Kuandian, another sentry rider arrived.
This time, there was no news that Jiefan City was captured by the Ming army, but Li Xianzhong's Liaodong cavalry had already left the border.
The Ming army left Crow Falcon Pass and is currently attacking Wuji Pass.
If Wuji Pass is lost, Li Xianzhong will definitely attack the city of Hetuala again.
Nurhachi was certainly not afraid of Li Xianzhong's surprise attack on Hetuala, despite the previous obstruction from the vassal city.
But now Jiefan City is in danger. If the Ming army raids Hetuala again, then his lair may really be destroyed by the Ming army.
Looking at the Kuandian Fort within easy reach, Nurhaci could only sigh.
Thousands of Han troops were left behind to continue besieging Kuandian Fort, and then led the main force of the Eight Banners to march toward Hetuala day and night.
The less than ten miles of mountain road from Crow Falcon Pass to Wuji Pass is very rugged and is called "Crow Crow Road".
Although the direct distance between Crow Falcon Pass and Hetuala is less than 30 miles, the Ming army rarely took this shortcut.
It's really because the road in front of Wuji Pass is too narrow. The cliffs here are hugging each other and can only accommodate one person walking. It can be said that one man can't pass through the pass.
At this time, Ming troops holding iron shields were charging towards Wuji Pass.
Although the iron shields of the Ming army could block the arrows fired from the gate, they could not stop the rocks and logs rolling down from the gate.
After a while, dozens of Ming army corpses were already lying under the pass.
This was Mao Yuanyi's first time participating in the Ming army's attack. He originally thought that the Ming army's attack on Wujiguan was just like the vassal city in the same realm, just to force the old slave to return to the army, but he did not expect that Li Xianzhong was actually serious about it.
Li Xianzhong said with a smile: "Nurhachi has been fighting for his whole life. If I don't personally lead the Liaodong cavalry out of the border, I'm afraid he won't return with all his troops."
Of course, the Ming army's attack on Wuji Pass this time was more to test their siege weapons, mortars.
In addition to purchasing the latest "Hongyi Cannon" from the Portuguese in Macau, the artillery factory in Pinlubao also manufactured this mortar based on the design provided by Li Xianzhong.
The mortar is a smoothbore artillery with a short barrel (the ratio of caliber to barrel length is usually less than 1:12 to 1:13), a large firing angle, a low muzzle velocity, and a high arc trajectory; it has a short range and powerful projectiles. , mainly used to destroy strong fortifications.
However, the gun body is heavy and the range is very short.
Therefore, the transportation of the mortar was very inconvenient, and it had to be pushed under the city gate before it could be fired.
After working for a long time, under the cover of a group of shield soldiers, the artilleryman finished loading the mortar's shells and gunpowder.
Then finally a huge cannonball was fired at Wuji Pass.
In March this year, the Ming army once conquered Wuji Pass and destroyed the city defense of the pass.
The current Wuji Pass was rebuilt after the Tatars. It is not very strong. It is just a low wall made of some stones.
As the huge cannonball hit the ground, the stone wall that Wuji had closed was instantly smashed down.
In addition to the Tatars who were directly smashed into pulp by the cannonballs, the flying stones also smashed many nearby Tatars to the point of crying for their fathers and mothers.
The Ming army in Guanxia was also shocked by this huge power. With this city-breaking artifact, it will be much easier to destroy cities and strongholds in the future!
Of course, although the mortar cannon has a remarkable effect in destroying the city, its own shortcomings are also very obvious.
Not to mention that it is bulky, troublesome to load, and has a slow rate of fire.
Just stacking them near the city wall is not an easy task. This requires being able to completely suppress the enemy's firepower on the city and prevent the enemy from fighting out of the city.
You still need to have the ability to absolutely suppress your opponent.
But overall, the mortar experiment was successful. At least he could help win the Wuji Pass.
Sure enough, after three rounds of artillery shells were fired, the city gate was blown to pieces.
More than half of the hundreds of Tatars in the city were killed or injured.
Next, the Ming army rushed forward and captured Wuji Pass.
Li Xianzhong said: "Destroy Wuji Pass and demolish everything here."
Then he said to Mao Yuanyi: "Brother Mao probably hasn't been to Hetuala yet. It's only twenty miles away from here. Let's go to Jianzhou's hometown to take a look."
The mountain road in Wujiguan was very dangerous and impossible to ride on, so the Ming army could only lead their horses carefully over the mountain.
After spending nearly an hour, they finally crossed the natural danger of Wuji Pass.
If we build another city gate and side wall outside Crow Falcon Pass, and include Crow Crow Road within the scope of the side wall, then we can garrison Wuji Pass for a long time. "
"I'm afraid Nurhachi won't even be able to sleep by then."
In fact, the Ming Dynasty has been doing this for two hundred years, constantly encroaching on the Jurchen territory by building forts and side walls outwards.
Whether it is Fushun Pass, Crow Falcon Pass or Kuandian Fort, they were all originally the territory of the Jurchens.
The Ming Dynasty relied on its strong national power to expand outward little by little.
It is a pity that a country's national power cannot remain strong forever. The only solution is to completely eliminate Jianzhou once and for all.
Li Xianzhong said: "Brother Mao's method is good, but it is not as trouble-free as taking Hetuala directly."
"Don't worry, Tang Ruowang is already helping us improve the artillery casting process. Now we have no shortage of copper and can directly cast all-copper artillery. With the Hongyi cannon and mortar cannon, coupled with powerful firecrackers and cavalry, it can take up to a year I can take Hetuala in time!”
"Once Jianzhou loses its geographical location, there is nothing to fear."
Mao Yuanyi said: "According to the intelligence, Jianzhou's attack on North Korea was very fruitful. We obtained a large amount of silver and grain, and also looted a lot of clothing. Now the warehouse in Hetuala is almost full."
"It's a pity that Fan Wencai is not in Hetuala at the moment. If we can cooperate inside and outside and open the city gate of Hetuala, we will make a lot of money this time!"
Li Xianzhong and Mao Yuanyi single-handedly contributed to the results of Jianzhou's southern expedition to Korea through Fan Wencai. Li Xianzhong did not expect such a rich harvest from Jianzhou.
Originally, I just wanted the old slave to "return the blood", but I didn't expect that it would directly extend his life.
Although he made a lot of money after serving as the governor of North Korea, he also achieved his goal of using Jianzhou to open the country to North Korea.
However, if Jianzhou's power suddenly increases too fast, it will inevitably have a backlash on itself.
Li Xianzhong said: "Although Jianzhou can now liberate the Han people through the Korean army and add more Han troops. However, the problem of the scarcity of soldiers in Jianzhou itself has not been solved. This is his most fatal weakness."
"As for the silver, there's no need to worry. It's just a matter of keeping it in Hetuala for a while. Sooner or later it will all be ours."
Mao Yuanyi thought the same thing.
Jianzhou's silver cannot circulate at all within his own territory, and all of his foreign trade is now stuck in Li Xianzhong's hands.
After learning that Jianzhou had harvested a large amount of silver from North Korea, Li Xianzhong directly asked Liang San and Fan Yongdou to double the price of the goods sold to Jianzhou.
Regardless of whether Jianzhou was spent in the end or was left in the warehouse of Hetuala and was captured by Li Xianzhong, it did end up in his pocket.
Moreover, Uncle Ning Yuan's methods were very sinister.
He also asked Fan Yongdou to sell counterfeit medicines to Jianzhou.
Not only were they inferior, but some herbs were even boiled in water first to reduce seven to eight percent of their potency, and then dried and resold to Jianzhou.
These means of economic warfare really opened Mao Yuanyi's eyes.
The journey of twenty miles was very fast, and in a short time the Ming army arrived at the city of Hetuala.
This was Li Xianzhong's third sneak attack on Hetuala, and it was also the second time that he led the Liaodong cavalry to the city.
Looking around, the city walls were already covered with Eight Banners soldiers in blue and white armor.
Li Xianzhong said with some disappointment: "It seems that Du Du has returned to the defense. We still can't capture Hetuala this time!"
With the development of the Intelligence Department, now it is no longer blind to the Ming army deploying in Jianzhou, it can be said that it is almost fully understood.
Originally, there were not many troops left in Hetuala, only 1,500 Eight Banners soldiers and 5,000 Han troops.
When he learned that the Ming army was attacking Wuji Pass, Du Du immediately led 2,000 white flags and rushed back to Hetuala.
But the choice was difficult for him.
Because Jierhalang in Jiefan City was also attacked by the Ming army.
At this time, his choice of Hetuala was naturally equivalent to giving up Jilhalang, the city of Jiefan.
But now that all North Korea's gains are in Hetuala, he has no choice but to give up Jilharang.
This was Mao Yuanyi's first time seeing Hetuala, even though the city was built on a high ground and faced water on three sides, and the terrain was quite dangerous.
However, a city that is only 4 meters high is nothing compared to the city of Ming Dynasty.
After all, it only takes one day for the main force of Jianzhou to get here from Kuandian.
It would probably take more than half a day to transport the mortars from Wuji Pass here, and the number of mortars was not enough. It was obvious that Hetuala was not their target this time.
After a demonstration under the city of Hetuala, the Ming army rushed to Gule Village without stopping.
Although there were other castles that could be destroyed along the way, they were running out of time.
Compared with causing some damage to Jianzhou, it is definitely more important to completely eliminate Jilhalang's three thousand blue flags and capture Jiefan City.
Now that Dudu has returned to Hetuala, Gule Village must not have many troops.
The city was full of old and weak people, and soon the Ming army invaded Gule Village and burned it again.
At this time, Jierhalang in Jiefan City had been fighting fiercely with the Ming army for several days.
Relying on the powerful firepower of the Hongyi cannon, the Ming army almost collapsed the northern wall of Jiefan City on the first day.
However, Jirhalang soon discovered the weakness of the Hongyi cannon, which was its slow rate of fire.
This kind of cannon is much slower than the previous Ming army's Fo Lang machine cannon. It takes the Hongyi cannon to fire once, which is enough time for the Fo Lang machine cannon to fire three times.
Also, this kind of artillery needs to dissipate heat. After firing for a period of time, the Ming army will stop shooting for a period of time.
This gave him the opportunity to strengthen the city's defenses.
In addition, there is some truth in the previous judgment that the Ming army did not dare to attack the city. Although the Ming army in the front carried out siege, they relied on long-range firearms such as artillery and firecrackers and did not dare to fight in close combat. .
Although more than 700 people under Jierhalang's Xianglan Banner were killed by the Ming army's artillery and firecrackers during the day, he finally managed to survive until dark.
Jiefan City finally got a chance to breathe. Of course, in addition to strengthening the city defense, more importantly, it was necessary to destroy the Ming army's artillery.
Otherwise, Jiefan City would be destroyed the next day.
So Jierhalang gathered all the Bai Bai Ya La in the city and formed a "death squad" of 800 people.
Led by Jia La E Zhen E Ji Tuo, they went out of the city to attack the Ming army at night.
Although the Ming army had 6,000 troops, which was twice as many as the defenders of Jiefan City, it was not enough to surround the city.
Therefore, Li Sanshun did not camp separately, but concentrated all his troops in the north of the city.
This also means that the Eight Banners of Jianzhou can leave the city from any city gate.
Soon Ejito led eight hundred cavalry out of the south gate. After a half circle, they quietly lurked near the north gate.
When he saw that there were not many troops left on the Ming army's artillery position, Ejituo decided to lead his cavalry directly to attack the Ming army's position, and then make a quick battle. Before the Ming army could react, he directly lit the gunpowder barrels and blew up their artillery. .
Following Ejituo's order, the eight hundred Jianzhou cavalry under his command suddenly appeared in front of the Ming army's position like a group of ghost knights.
Under the reflection of the moonlight, their armor shone with bursts of cold light.
The sound of the galloping war horses was particularly clear in the dark night, and soon there was a reaction from the Ming army camp not far away.
The patrolling soldiers of the Ming Army shouted "enemy attack"!
The rallying horn was also blown, and the Ming troops began to come out of their tents to assemble.
But at this moment, Ejituo and others had no time to pay attention to the Ming army's reaction. Everyone's eyes flashed with determination, and they had only one goal, which was to destroy the Ming army's artillery positions.
At this time, Jierhalang on the city was also looking ahead nervously, only to see Ejituo and others getting closer and closer to the artillery position.
100 steps, 50 steps, 30 steps.
The cavalrymen took out their weapons from their saddles, their breathing quickening.
As they approached, the ground suddenly collapsed, and the horses lost their balance and fell into the traps set by the Ming army.
The horrified shouts of the cavalry and the neighing of the horses resounded throughout the battlefield.
Suddenly a large number of Ming troops appeared on the artillery position.
In the front row were shield bearers holding huge iron shields. Behind them, spears flashing with cold light came into view.
Of course, the scariest thing is the gunman behind them.
"Bang, bang, bang"
As a burst of white smoke rose, the Ming army's gunmen were divided into three teams and launched a "three-stage attack" against the Eight Banners soldiers in front.
For a time, countless cavalrymen fell to the ground after being hit by fire cannons. Naturally, their cloth armors could not stop the Ming army's Lumi cannons at such a close distance.
The projectiles penetrated their bodies easily, and a trace of blood mist filled the air.
Ejituo himself even fell off his horse after being shot several times in a row.
The soldiers with blue flags even wailed.
Just when the sound of gunfire gradually subsided, thousands of Ming Army cavalry rushed out from all around, directly surrounding the remaining several hundred cavalry in front of the artillery position.
The general was killed in battle, and Xianglan Banner was ambushed by the Ming army. No matter how powerful they were, they were like turtles in a urn at this moment, unable to break out of the encirclement.
Ji Erhalang in the city was also extremely anxious, and immediately summoned the remaining Xianglan Banners to rush out of the city to meet this "death squad".
But as soon as he left the north gate, he discovered that the Ming army had dug several trenches to prevent his cavalry from raiding, and he could not get close at all.
The Ming army's gunmen shot at them one after another.
After leaving dozens of corpses behind, Jilhalang had no choice but to retreat into the city in dejection.
Without reinforcements, Xianglan Banner lost its last hope, although their personal combat power was far stronger than that of the Ming army's cavalry.
But at this moment, their low morale and numerical disadvantage made them unable to reverse the defeat.
A soldier with a blue flag had just killed a Ming soldier when he was pierced by several spears.
Although the battle was still fierce at this moment, the battlefield was filled with the sound of metal collisions and the neighing of war horses.
But more and more blue flags fell down, and eventually the 800-man "death squad" was wiped out.
However, the Ming army also killed more than 400 cavalry.
Jierharang really stole the chicken but lost the rice. The original three thousand troops were now less than half.
He knew that if the Ming army attacked by force, the vassal city would definitely not be able to defend it.
But he still can't retreat now. Now the main force of Jianzhou is not in Hetuala. Once Jiefan falls, the Ming army can bypass Gule Village and attack Hetuala.
Now he had no choice but to fight to the death.
The strange thing is that although the Ming army used Hongyi artillery to blow down the city wall at the north gate early in the morning, they only used fire cannons to continue shooting the soldiers on the city and did not attack the city.
Fortunately, Jierhalang directly withdrew his troops from the city wall, leaving only a few sentries on the city to observe the situation.
He no longer defended the city, and planned to lead the remaining thousands of people to directly engage in street fighting with the Ming army.
But on the third day, the Ming army uncharacteristically began to attack the north of the city.
The archers with blue flags quickly climbed onto the city wall, but found that the Ming army was only feinting to attack, with the purpose of trapping and killing the archers on the city.
Just as Jierhalang was scolding the Ming army for being shameless, the Ming army suddenly entered Nancheng.
Only then did he realize that he had been deceived by the Ming army.
Since the Ming army only attacked Beicheng for several days, and the current military strength was tight, he did not leave many soldiers in the other three gates.
The Guangshun army under Mao Wenlong had already secretly moved outside the south gate.
After the Guangshun army opened the city gate, Li Xianzhong's Liaodong cavalry quickly entered the city.
Although Jilhalang immediately organized a counterattack on the south gate, the soldiers with the blue flag simply could not withstand the impact of the heavy armored cavalry, and they were beaten to pieces before long.
The Ming army's gunmen shot the blue flags on the city wall, while the Liaodong cavalry killed the enemies wantonly in the city.
Jierhalang fought and retreated, and in the end there were only a dozen soldiers left around him.
Knowing that he could no longer break out of the siege, he wanted to commit suicide with a knife, but was hit in the right arm by a firecracker, and was eventually captured alive by the Ming army.
Li Xianzhong didn't expect that Jianlu actually stored more than 20,000 shi of grain in Jiefan City. Now they didn't even have to transport military rations.
Soon Li Sanshun will use the prepared cement to forcibly repair the part of the city wall that was destroyed by the bombing of the north gate, and ten Hongyi cannons will also be placed on the south gate of Jiefan City.
At this time, the Liaodong cavalry had arrived, so Li Xianzhong asked Li Sanshun to return to Kaiyuan with the remaining Ming army cavalry, leaving Man Gui to command the remaining infantry to defend the city.
Although Mangui knew that Uncle Ning Yuan was very young, he was still shocked when he saw him.
Although the constant battles have made Li Xianzhong's skin no longer so fair, this handsome appearance cannot be associated with the God of Death.
But he refused to accept it. In the first battle that Mangui participated in, he captured Jiefan City, which was heavily defended by Jianlu troops. He also captured Jierhalang, the leader of the Xianglan Banner alive, and wiped out three thousand defenders.
The Ming army's own casualties were less than a thousand.
What surprised him even more was that Li Xianzhong actually sent troops from Crow Falcon Pass, destroying Wuji Pass and Gule Village along the way, and directly killed Jianzhou.
After the Ming army rested for a night, Nurhachi led the main force to the gate of Jiefan City.
I saw the Eight Banners soldiers in the distance densely packed, with more than 20,000 people.
After wiping out these 3,000 people, Li Xianzhong estimated that there were only 25,000 Jurchen Eight Banners soldiers left in Jianzhou.
The 20,000 people were probably almost the entire property of the old slave.
At this time, they did not know the range of the Ming army's Hongyi cannon, so they habitually lined up their troops two miles away.
Because before, the range of the Ming Army's Folang machine artillery would never exceed two miles.
Although he has been fighting Jianlu for a year, this is the first time Li Xianzhong has faced Nurhaci directly.
So he decided to welcome him directly with a "gun salute". With the roar of the city's artillery, shells flew directly into the Jianlu formation.
Although solid bullets could not cause too many casualties, they did not expect that the Ming army's retreat could hit such a distance, which still caused panic in their formation.
Nurhachi suddenly discovered that Jierhalang was tied to the tower by the Ming army, and his face suddenly became very ugly.
Although Amin and Abatai died in battle before, Baylor, who had not yet established Jianzhou, was captured alive by the Ming army. This was undoubtedly a huge blow to Jianzhou's morale.
Huang Taiji said: "I report to the Great Khan that the bright general wearing silver armor on the city should be Li Xianzhong."
Although Jianzhou had fought against Kaiyuan Army many times, this was the first time he met Li Xianzhong, and he knew that this was a difficult opponent.
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