The news that Li Xianzhong formally raised troops to conquer Jianzhou in Jiefan City made the atmosphere in Hetuala become tense.
Since the two sides fought against Kuandian Fort in Jiefan City last year, there has been a truce for more than half a year.
Although minor conflicts occurred from time to time between the two sides in North Korea and the Fushun Pass area of the border city, there were no major battles.
The main reason is that the Ming army's fire cannons have a very long range. They can kill Jianzhou's cavalry at a distance of 120 steps.
Even Bai Bai Ya La, who was wearing heavy armor, would be shot through the armor by the Ming army's Rumi gun at a distance of about 80 steps.
This resulted in the blunderbuss and bows and arrows they were equipped with unable to perform long-range attacks at all.
Jianzhou's cavalry could not get close to the Ming army's passes or city walls during the day.
Originally, they thought that the Ming Dynasty would fall into endless internal strife after losing two emperors within a month. Especially when they heard that Li Xianzhong was detained in the capital, they felt like they were on the receiving end of blood, thinking that the national destiny of the Ming Dynasty had arrived.
In order to prevent the Ming army from feeling threatened by Jianzhou, Nurhaci strictly ordered Jianzhou not to attack the Ming Dynasty.
He knew that a self-respecting general like Li Xianzhong could easily achieve great success and overwhelm his master.
It is said that Li Xianzhong was also involved in the succession dispute of the Ming Dynasty. As a favorite of Emperor Wanli, Li Xianzhong would naturally be feared by the new emperor.
At this moment, they wished that Li Xianzhong would be killed by their own people like Yue Fei of the Song Dynasty.
But the result was the opposite. Li Xianzhong not only returned to Liaodong, but also launched an expedition against Jianzhou as soon as he returned.
But Nurhaci is not afraid. After all, they have not been idle for more than half a year. After winning two territories in North Korea, Jianzhou's strength has also increased significantly.
First, he selected more than 100,000 Jurchen Koreans from the Koreans and asked them to join Jianzhou Jurchen. These people would become Jianzhou's core ruling force in North Korea.
After the Battle of Kuandian, Huang Taiji discovered that the "savage tribe" had the best riding and archery abilities in Jianzhou. Soon these "savages" were all incorporated into the Jurchens of Jianzhou. Due to their strong combat power, they became the members of various banners competing to snatch them. Object.
The name "Barbarians" was really unpleasant, and soon they had a new name "Salon Cavalry".
Although Nurhaci tried his best to incorporate other ethnic groups into Jianzhou Jurchen, the population of Jianzhou Jurchen was only about 600,000.
Moreover, due to the large number of young and strong soldiers killed in battle, the proportion of bannermen in the "Jianzhou Jurchen" was very low, and most of them were old and weak.
After desperate efforts to "inject water" and expand the recruitment age to 13 to 65 years old.
The total number of so-called Jianzhou Banners finally expanded from 25,000 at the end of last year to 40,000.
Of course, among the newly added Eight Banners of Jianzhou, North Korean Jurchen descendants accounted for more than 70%, which also significantly reduced the combat effectiveness of the Eight Banners of Jianzhou.
Last year, a large number of Han soldiers were temporarily put on the battlefield. Due to lack of training, the Han army suffered heavy casualties. Now the number of Han soldiers has once again been expanded to 40,000.
These Han troops have also undergone long-term training and are no longer the strong men who were temporarily pulled onto the battlefield before.
The Ming army's firecrackers left a deep impression on them, so the Han army also equipped its own firecrackers troops. In addition to the bird blunderbuss captured by the Ming army, a number of fire blunderbuss were also seized from North Korea.
And they also captured a group of Korean craftsmen who could make muskets for them.
However, North Korea's fire cannons have a shorter range than the Ming army's bird cannons.
Moreover, they also bought a batch of second-hand bird guns and new guns from the Ming Army through Fan Yongdou.
Now that all the Liaodong Army under Li Xianzhong have been replaced by Lumi guns, those second-hand bird guns must naturally be disposed of.
Rather than waste it, it is better to sell it to the Tatars at a high price.
Anyway, the Tatars did not have granulated black powder. The effective killing distance of these bird blunderbuss was less than half that of the Lumi blunderbuss, and they did not pose much of a threat to the Ming army.
Li Xianzhong sold 1,500 second-hand bird guns to the Tatars at a high price of 20 taels. Many of the barrels of these bird guns were old. It is estimated that after 20 or 30 shots, the barrels and tubes will begin to explode. The Tatars were fooled. Take revenge.
In addition, he also ordered Pinglubao to create a batch of new bird guns with uneven thickness inside the barrel specifically for the Tatars.
Although these blunderbuss are brand new, they should not be shot more than 30 times.
Now these 2,000 muskets have also flowed into Jianzhou.
He earned 90,000 taels of silver from the Tatars just by selling these muskets.
The Tatars even have 8,000 firecrackers of various types. Today, 20% of the 40,000 Han army troops are firecrackers, which also provides "powerful" firepower support for the Eight Banners.
Today, the Jianzhou Eight Banners have a total of 80,000 soldiers, half of whom are Jianzhou Niulu and half of the Han army Niulu.
Although the quality of soldiers has dropped significantly, the number of bannermen under each banner has indeed reached its highest peak in history.
All men over the age of 13 in Jianzhou have been organized into combat soldiers, so Azige, the twelfth son of Nurhachi's favorite concubine Abatai, who was 16 years old, was promoted to a soldier with a blue flag. Flag master, to replace Jierhalang, who was previously captured and killed by the Ming army!
In addition to 80,000 combat troops, Jianzhou also formed 20,000 Korean auxiliary troops.
At Fan Wencai's suggestion, Jianzhou also began to learn from the Ming Dynasty in building border walls. With hundreds of thousands of Korean workers working day and night, they finally built two border walls along the north bank of the Suzi River and rebuilt the Gule Walled City. and Madun Walled City.
It is precisely because of the existence of these two walled cities that two more lines of defense were added to the north of Hetuala.
Mang Gurtai said: "To the Great Khan, I am willing to lead 10,000 people from the Zhenglan Banner to garrison the Gule Walled City and block the Ming army under the Gule Walled City."
Today, there are 80,000 people in the Eight Banners. Except for Daishan who leads the 20,000 troops of the two Red Banners who are stationed in Pyongyang and Kuandian respectively, the remaining 60,000 people of the Six Banners are concentrated around Hetuala.
The maximum size of Gule Village is more than 10,000 troops.
Nurhachi said: "Li Xianzhong's massive campaign against Jianzhou, and his morale is strong. You should use the terrain of Gule Village to prepare more rocks and rolling wood. Just defend the city, and do not attack to avoid falling into the Ming army's tricks."
After Mang Gurtai took the order, he ordered Du Du to lead 7,000 white flags to station in Madun Walled City to respond to Gule Village at any time.
He led more than 40,000 main troops to sit in Hetuala.
Soon the main force of the Ming army arrived at Gule Village.
Gule Village faces water on three sides. The Sukesu River flows through the south of the city, and the Shangjia River flows through the west of the city.
The west, south and north sides of the city are surrounded by natural cliffs, and the east side is connected to Qinglong Mountain, forming a natural barrier on three sides.
If the Ming army wanted to capture Gule Walled City, they could only attack this road from Qinglong Mountain upwards.
Although Li Xianzhong had captured Gule Village twice before and destroyed the walled city, this was all based on the premise that Jianzhou's troops were empty and Gule Village had almost no main defense force.
Now Gule Walled City has been rebuilt and has two walls.
It has to be said that the technology of the Koreans in building cities is slightly better than that of Jianzhou. Today, the outer city of Gule Walled City is 4 meters high and has multiple turrets. Two trenches were dug outside the city, forming a strict defense system.
"Damn stick!"
Li Xianzhong's sudden words made Li Sanshun and others on the side puzzled.
He quickly explained: "Bangzi are Koreans. These Koreans actually improved the level of Jianlu's city building. Damn it!"
There is only one mountain road outside the east gate of Gule Village that can be attacked from above. Since the mountain road is sloped, the stones and rolling logs thrown from the city can easily cause damage to the Ming army attacking the city. Even if the Ming army can fill in the trench, it will not be possible. It is difficult to push the mortar under the city and break it quickly.
Li Sanshun said: "The Tatar trenches are 50 steps away from the city wall. This distance is within the range of their bows and muskets. If we forcefully fill the trenches, we will probably pay a lot of casualties."
"Why don't we use Hongyi artillery and Lumi gunfire to suppress the Gule Village first? Although this will waste some time, it can reduce casualties."
Li Xianzhong said: "There are no less than ten thousand Tatars in the city, and Gule Village has an inner city. If we use artillery bombardment, it will probably take several days to break the city. Moreover, we will inevitably have to carry out a strong attack, and I am afraid we will have to spend thousands of dollars. The price of eight hundred people.”
Li Sanshun said in confusion: "Does Uncle Ning Yuan mean that we won't attack by force?"
Soon Li Xianzhong took out a drawing.
Said: "This is the bastion that Uncle Ben and Tang Ruowang drew together. Do you see what's so special about it?"
Li Sanshun saw the "Taiwan Bastion Defense Engineering Map" written on the map.
Different from the traditional square city in China, this is a polygonal fortress similar to a pentagon.
However, Li Sanshun was a general with rich combat experience after all, and he soon discovered the benefits of this kind of fortress.
The advantage of this polygonal shape is that as soon as you reach the city, you will immediately encounter fire from at least two sides.
Moreover, there are a large number of trenches dug in front of this kind of fortress. Although there is a passage for the enemy, it is very narrow. If there are enough gunmen on the city, the enemy will have to pay a very heavy price to break through.
Although there is a long slope on each side of the fort to climb the city wall, you will encounter crossfire as long as you walk here.
It is simply more difficult to climb the city through the slope than to climb the wall with a ladder.
Even if you climb the first parapet, you still have to go around a bit to find the second slope, which has another parapet on it.
You have to climb two levels to get to the main fort, and then you can start attacking the main fort in a narrow place.
Who knows how many people will die along the way?
He took a breath and said: "If this fortress is jointly defended with firecrackers and artillery, even if there are only one or two thousand defenders, the opponent may not be able to attack the final main fortress if tens of thousands of people are killed."
"And with the range of the Rumi gun, if the enemy is not determined to attack the city and uses troops from several directions at the same time, even if it costs thousands of people, it will not be able to break through the trench in front of the castle, and there will be no chance to attack the city. .”
Li Xianzhong said: "The bastion is a type of Western fortress. Its essence is to change the city from a convex polygon to a concave polygon. Such an improvement will expose the attacker to more than one ridge regardless of attacking any point of the castle. On the fort side (usually 2-3), the defender can use crossfire to carry out multiple strikes."
Mao Yuanyi, who is very proficient in various military fortifications, said: "This kind of fortress is simply a nightmare for the Tatars. As long as they dare to attack, they will basically die!"
"Does Uncle Ning Yuan mean that we want to build such a fortress in Gule Village?"
Li Xianzhong pointed to a high ground at the foot of the mountain and said: "As long as a bastion is built at this location, it can block the Tatars in Gule Village and the Tatars in Hetuala."
At this time, everyone discovered that although the terrain of Gule Village was conducive to defense, there was only one road.
If the road is blocked by the enemy, they will become the turtles among others.
Li Sanshun said: "But aren't we going to capture Hetuala now? It will take a lot of time to build this bastion?"
Li Xianzhong said: "This attack on Jianzhou is difficult to end within one or two months. As time goes by, problems will easily arise in our rear."
"Nowadays, both the Mongolian Horqin Left Tribe Alliance and the hyped Zasai Tribe are relatively empty in terms of strength. I am afraid Lin Dan Khan will not miss this opportunity."
"Instead of leaving this trouble behind, it is better to lure Lin Dan Khan out first and defeat Chahar. Not only can we make a lot of money, but we can also completely solve our worries!"
"In addition, the Tatars have a lot of troops in Hetuala. After I return to the grassland, the Eight Banners of Jianzhou will probably come to break the siege of Gule Village. It is much easier to use the bastion to eliminate the Eight Banners of Jianzhou than us taking the initiative to attack the city! "
In fact, cavalry does not play a big role in the Jianzhou mountainous area. Infantry and artillery are mainly relied on to attack difficulties.
But Li Xianzhong actually mobilized 15,000 cavalry from Ye He and other Mongolian tribes to cover the flanks.
Originally, everyone thought that he was afraid that these Mongolian tribes would take the opportunity to cause trouble, so they placed some soldiers and horses beside him for supervision.
Only now did they understand that Li Xianzhong dug a big hole for Lin Danhan of the Chahar tribe.
Soon tens of thousands of Korean workers were building bastions as they came down from Gulezhai Mountain.
Originally, Mang Gurtai thought that the Ming army would attack the city immediately. After all, Li Xianzhong boldly announced to the world that he would attack Jianzhou, and it must be a fierce attack.
Unexpectedly, the Ming army only launched a long-range fire attack on Gule Village.
The Ming army built an artillery position 3 miles away from Gule Village.
Dozens of red cannons continue to bombard the Gule Walled City with solid bullets every day.
The failure to use explosive bombs was because Li Xianzhong did not want to expose his trump card in advance, otherwise they would not be able to encircle and annihilate Jianzhou's main force in Hetuala.
Round after round of solid bullets hit the city wall of Gule Village, causing large swaths of bricks outside the wall to fall off.
There was even a turret that was directly destroyed by the Ming army's artillery.
But just when Mang Gurtai thought the city wall was about to be blown down by the Ming army, their Hongyi cannon went out again.
The Ming army's gunmen used their range advantage to continuously shoot at the Jianzhou Eight Banners on the city outside the city.
At this time, the firecrackers in their hands could not reach the Ming army at all, and they could only be beaten passively.
After a few days, the Ming army had not yet attacked the city, but Mang Gurtai's Zhenglan Banner had killed more than 1,200 people.
In the end, he had to remove all Jianzhou Niulu and let a small number of Han soldiers Niulu stand on the city.
He was also worried at this moment. The Ming army was obviously bullying people. If the bombardment continues like this, the outer city of Gule Village will be destroyed by the Ming army in a few days.
Several times he wanted to take the initiative to attack several Ming army artillery positions, but at this time Nurhachi's warning, as well as Jierhalang's failed raid in the battle of Jiefan City, made him give up this risk. style of play.
Although Gule Village has been completely surrounded by the Ming army, the sentries in Jianzhou can still get a rough idea of the situation there by observing the mountains in the distance.
At this time, in Hetuala City, Nurhachi frowned.
The actions of the Ming army were beyond his expectation.
They began to dig trenches and build a city under Gule Village. Are they planning to encroach on Jianzhou step by step?
The Ming army's artillery was so sharp that it almost destroyed the outer city of Gule Village in just a few days.
Huang Taiji said: "Qi Khan, it seems that the situation in Gule Village is not good! Once the Ming army completes the construction of the city, Mang Gurtai's Zhenglan Banner will become the best among them!"
Azig had just been appointed as the leader of the second largest flag, the Xianglan Banner. He was also eager to prove himself at this time and said: "The Great Khan might as well let me go to support Gule Village. If I wait until the Ming army's city is completed, , Sanbeile will be in bad luck!"
Although Nurhachi was worried about the Zhenglan Banner in Gule Village and Manggurtai, he knew that the Ming army must be encircling the point for reinforcements.
Li Xianzhong set a trap and deliberately led himself to attack.
But if he didn't support Gule Village, he wasn't sure how long Mang Gurtai could hold on.
At this time, his eyes fell on Fan Wencai, and unknowingly, he relied more and more on Fan Wencai's strategies.
He said: "Mr. Fan, do you have any good ideas to solve the siege of Gule Village?"
In fact, the Intelligence Department had already given him the next instructions.
Fan Wencai finally waited until the old slave asked, and he said: "This is obviously Li Xianzhong's trick to lure the enemy. He left Gule Village unattacked, but built a city at the foot of the mountain. Obviously he wanted us to take the initiative to attack him. .”
Azig said: "Although this is a conspiracy of the Ming army, we can't remain indifferent, right?"
"If we sit back and watch Mang Gurtai's Zhenglan Banner being eaten by the Ming army, we will also be very passive in the future."
Fan Wencai said with a smile: "Of course we have to save him, but not now."
"As far as I know, Li Xianzhong was not at ease with the grassland tribes this time, so he recruited five thousand cavalry from the Horqin Tribe Alliance and the Zasai Tribe to go on the expedition together."
"Now that these troops are empty, Lin Dan Khan will definitely not miss this good opportunity to unify the grassland. As long as we send envoys to Chahar to tempt him with silver coins, we are not afraid that Lin Dan Khan will not be tempted."
"As long as Lin Danhan attacks Zasai or Horqin, the backyard of the coalition forces attacking Jianzhou will be on fire, and the morale of the military will inevitably be in chaos."
"Even though Lin Dan Khan did not attack Kaiyuan directly, the troops at the three passes of Kaiyuan were empty at this time, and Li Xianzhong had to mobilize troops from the front line to defend Kaiyuan."
"Furthermore, Horqin, who is with Zaisai, is an ally of Li Xianzhong. He cannot remain indifferent and may even send the main force back to help them. In this way, we will have a chance to understand the siege of Gule Village!"
After listening to Fan Wencai's words, everyone felt that this trick was really good!
Nurhachi said even more excitedly: "Mr. Fan is indeed the 'Zhuge Kongming' of this Khan, as he said!"
Soon Fan Wencai, the envoy of Jianzhou, came to Lin Danhan's Chahanhot City.
Lin Danhan said: "I, Chahar, have nothing to do with Jianzhou Jurchen. Before, Nurhachi secretly colluded with Horqin to fight against this Khan. This makes this Khan very unhappy. Besides, we are now on good terms with the Ming Dynasty. If you want to ask this Khan to attack I came to rescue you, so I’d better give up on this idea as soon as possible.”
Lin Dan Khan, the Mongol Khan, was just a fierce and evil man. If he was asked to attack the Ming Dynasty, he would definitely not have the courage.
So Fan Wencai said: "Great Hutuktu Khan, our Khan Nurhachi of Dajin is willing to surrender to you. This time I brought three thousand taels of gold, and I, Dajin, will pay tribute to you every year in the future." "
Nurhaci is willing to surrender to himself. Lin Danhan naturally does not believe this nonsense, but these three thousand taels of gold are real.
He said: "If Nurhaci wants anything, just get straight to the point, right?"
Fan Wencai said: "The Great Khan does not dare to let you intervene in the dispute between Jianzhou and Ming Dynasty, but at this time the main forces of Zasai and Horqin are on the battlefield of Gulezhai. This is a good opportunity for the Great Khan to unify Mongolia."
"At this time, attacking them is beneficial to both the Great Khan and me, Dajin. As long as the Great Khan helps, I, Dajin, will never forget this kindness and am willing to offer three thousand taels of gold every year."
Originally, Lin Danhan was also considering this matter, so he specially invited Chaohua to discuss the matter together.
Now Zaisai's strength is getting stronger and stronger. He already has tens of thousands of cavalry, and there is also a heavy cavalry.
Not only did he beat the Chaohua, but he also felt unprecedented pressure on Lin Danhan.
Especially when Lin Dan Khan was about to intercept Li Xianzhong's wedding party last time, Zaisai ruined their good fortune.
They had been at odds with him for a long time, but the Liaodong cavalry who were afraid of Li Xianzhong did not dare to take action easily.
This time his main force helped Li Xianzhong to attack Jianzhou, which was a golden opportunity.
He was still a little hesitant at first, but the three thousand taels of gold would be in vain if he didn't take it.
Fan Wencai left with satisfaction after receiving Lin Danhan's reply.
Li Xianzhong's prediction was not wrong. Lin Danhan and Chaohua really chose to kill the game.
On one side of the hillside, wild flowers dotted the green grass like embroideries. Herds of cattle and sheep galloped on the grassland, gnawing on the tender green grass. Together with the blue sky and white moon, they formed a beautiful picture.
This pasture with rich water and grass is the hometown of Fu Yuwei. He is located in the middle reaches of the Liao River and is Zasai's territory.
But at this time, on the other side of the hillside, it was a completely different scene.
Lin Danhan wore golden armor and stared at the land with lush water and grass on the hillside.
Behind him was a coalition of 15,000 Chahar cavalry and 5,000 Chahua cavalry.
Densely packed Mongolian cavalry almost covered the entire valley, and the war was about to break out.
Soon Lin Dan Khan drew out his machete and shouted: "Warriors of Chahar, you are the most loyal guards of the Golden Family, let us restore the glory of the Golden Family!"
After that, 20,000 cavalrymen rushed towards Zaisai’s camp from all directions!
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(End of chapter)
