Hetuala is a typical mountain city, located on a platform, with Yangbi Mountain to the south, Suzi River to the north, and Hulan Hada Mountain in the distance.
The city lies between the surrounding mountains and consists of two cities, the inner and outer cities. With a radius of ten miles, the terrain of the city is high in the south and low in the north, surrounded by city walls built of earth and stone.
Among them, the outer city is about 1,300 meters long from east to west, north to south, with a circumference of about 5,200 meters, and the city is more than 4 meters high.
Looking at the city of Hetuala in the distance, Wang Huazhen inevitably felt some contempt.
He laughed and said: "The city wall is only over 1 feet high, and the Tatar capital is no more than that. Our army can only break the city in a matter of seconds!"
Although the generals superficially agreed with the king's governor's statement, they knew very well in their hearts that Hetuala was extremely strong.
Although the city of Jianzhou itself is not high, it takes advantage of the surrounding mountains.
It is not a city in a plain area and needs to be protected by tall walls.
Take Wujiguan, for example, it is just a small fortress randomly piled with stones on the top of the mountain.
Without the help of mortars, even if all three thousand men and horses were mounted, they might not be able to get through the pass.
Luo Guanyi said: "Hetuala is built near mountains and rivers. There are still tens of thousands of Tatars' main force in the city. The last general suggested that our army immediately go north together with Ning Yuanbo to attack Maldun Village from the north and south."
"In this way, after our northern and southern armies join forces, we can concentrate our forces to attack Hetuala."
Luo Yiguan's suggestion was quickly endorsed by Liu Qu, the commander-in-chief of Guangning, Zhu Wanliang, the commander-in-chief of Hupiyi Station, and others.
Now that they are alone and deep in Hetuala, their troops are weak, so it is best to join forces with the Northern Route Army to conquer Mardun Village first.
Wang Huazhen thought that these warriors really didn't understand politics at all.
If after he and Li Xianzhong captured Mardun Village, and Li Xianzhong commanded the army to attack Hetuala as deputy economic envoy of Liaodong, then he would be the biggest beneficiary.
How could such great achievements in destroying the country be given away?
He said: "After conquering the city of Hetuala, the Jianzhou Rebellion was completely put down. For such a great achievement, even being granted a title is not too much. Don't you want to make contributions to your career and be granted the title of wife and son in the future?"
As soon as Wang Huazhen said this, the generals did not talk about going north again.
Seeing that there was something going on, he struck while the iron was hot and said: "Before the expedition, the chief minister of the cabinet, Ye Xianggao, once told me that whoever is the first to conquer Hetuala or capture and kill the thief chief Nurhachi, he will definitely ask for a knighthood in front of His Majesty. .”
As soon as they heard that they could be awarded a title, the generals' eyes immediately lit up.
The military generals of the Ming Dynasty had a low status, but the only advantage was that they could be awarded titles based on their military merits.
Moreover, the titles obtained by major military achievements are basically hereditary and non-replaceable, and they are not temporary titles.
Li Chengliang's Ning Yuanbo is already the third generation to be passed down to Li Xianzhong. Who wouldn't envy him?
Of course, it is not easy to get a title, but pacifying Jianzhou is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
If they really missed this opportunity, they might never get this kind of knighthood opportunity again in their lives.
After some discussion, several generals decided to follow Governor Wang.
However, the city of Hetuala is not so easy to fight, otherwise Li Xianzhong would not have withdrawn without trying to attack the city three times when he came to the city.
Luo Guanyi said: "There are many troops in Jianlu City. We may not be able to capture the city by force with our current troops. The last general relied on the mortars left by Ning Yuanbo to conquer Wuji Pass."
"This cannon is a powerful weapon for destroying the city, but now that the cannonballs have been used up, we still have to ask Governor Yan to ask Uncle Ning Yuan to allocate some more cannonballs."
Soon Wang Huazhen sent an envoy to Yan Mingtai, the governor of Jiliao, to request for continued supply of mortar shells.
In addition, he also ordered thirty French cannons to be transported from Crow Falcon Pass to Hetuala for the purpose of destroying the city.
However, before the artillery and shells were in place, Wang Huazhen decided to set up camp on a high slope in the west of the city.
Soon Yan Mingtai passed the news of Wang Huazhen's request for mortar shells to Li Xianzhong.
Li Sanshun said: "This Wang Huazhen is really whimsical. He actually asked us for mortar shells. How can we help him conquer Hetuala?"
Li Xianzhong said with a smile: "Why don't you give him artillery shells? There are still many Tatars in Hetuala. Wouldn't it be good to let him take the lead for us and consume the Tatars' strength first?"
Wang Huazhen's actions had long been expected by Li Xianzhong.
If he really didn't want to give Wang Huazhen cannonballs, he wouldn't have given him mortars to conquer Wuji Pass.
Without this mortar, Wang Huazhen has no hope of breaking the city, so he will probably choose to go north to attack Maldun Village with him.
This is the situation that Li Xianzhong least wants to see, because then he can no longer use Maldun Village to delay time.
For him, what he needs most now is time. After all, Emperor Tianqi has been on the throne for less than half a year.
At present, the battle between the Donglin Party and Eunuch Wei has not yet reached a fever pitch, and Ye Xianggao and others still have the energy to deal with themselves.
According to the original idea, he used the Battle of Jianzhou to delay time. Ye Xianggao and others would naturally not touch him when they saw that they were fighting against the Jianlu.
From time to time, he sent them some surprises, such as the capture of Mardun Village and the sudden death of the thief chief Nurhaci.
As long as he persists until Eunuch Wei takes control of the overall political situation, he will naturally be safe.
When the time comes, I will conquer Hetuala and solve the serious problems in the Ming Dynasty, and maybe I can continue to be promoted to a higher position.
Then they deliberately moved the main force of the Tatars to Kuandian and North Korea to retain a certain degree of strength.
Then you can continue to use the Tatars to gain military merit.
Unexpectedly, Ye Xianggao actually created Wang Huazhen to steal the credit. Since Governor Wang was so eager to make contributions, he simply helped him.
Of course, Kuandian Fort must still be controlled by the Tatars, otherwise Hetuala will really become a turtle in the urn.
Wang Huazhen did not disappoint Li Xianzhong. He conquered Wuji Pass in one fell swoop and marched directly to Hetuala City.
Of course, in order to strengthen Governor Wang's determination to capture Hetuala, Li Xianzhong, while providing him with artillery shells, also asked Wang Huazhen to quickly march to Mardun Village and work with him to annihilate the main Tatar force here, and then attack Hetuala together!
After Wang Huazhen saw Li Xianzhong's request, he strengthened his determination to conquer Hetuala.
For the time being, the Ming army was not able to advance the mortars to the city of Hetuala, so they had to bombard Hetuala with the thirty Folang machine guns in hand.
The Ming army had begun to bombard Hetuala, but at this time the Eight Banners soldiers in the city still did not make any move.
Because at this time, all Baylor, flag owners, and civil and military officials were kneeling outside Nurhachi's bedroom.
And Dr. Liu was urgently treating the Khan.
After being tortured by the trauma behind him for several months, Nurhachi, who was once strong, has now become extremely thin.
Seven or eight days ago I was sweating profusely and could no longer swallow food, so I relied on ginseng soup to hold me up.
Everyone present understood that the end of the Great Khan was approaching.
He fell into coma again just now, and it is still unknown whether he can wake up.
Since Daishan's crown prince position was abolished, the Great Khan has not appointed a new crown prince.
Although Sibeile Huang Taiji is currently in charge of everything in Hetuala, after all, he is not the legitimate heir to the throne of Khan.
This also brought some variables to the succession of the Khan position.
Not long after, Liu Langzhong, sweating profusely, walked out of the dormitory.
He said softly: "The Great Khan has woken up. It is said that He Heli and An Feiyanggu have an audience."
At the last moment, the Great Khan summoned the minister instead of his son, which really made everyone confused!
Fan Wencai quickly pulled Liu Langzhong aside and said, "How is Dahan's body doing?"
Liu Langzhong shook his head and said, "I'm sure I won't survive tonight. You have to make preparations early!"
Soon after, Huang Taiji and Azige were also summoned into the dormitory.
Huang Taiji had not seen Dahan for some days. At this time, Nurhachi's cheeks were sunken and his eyes were dull. It was obvious that he was almost at the end of his life.
Nurhaci was speechless and gestured with his eyes.
So He Heli said: "The Great Khan has an order to transfer ten Niulu from Zhenghuang Banner to Xianghuang Banner, and Azig will take over as Xianghuang Banner's Gushan Ezhen!"
Azig was very excited when he heard this, because Nurhachi had promoted him to Baylor before, and he currently holds two flags, blue and yellow. Could it be that the Great Khan wanted to pass the throne to himself?
But it soon turned out that he was overthinking it.
He Heli continued: "Sibele Huang Taiji will take over as Zhenghuangqi Gushan Ezhen and temporarily take charge of all affairs of Hetuala."
Huang Taiji seemed very excited when he heard that he was taking over the Zhenghuang Flag.
Because the Zhenghuang Banner is currently the most intact flag, with more than 11,000 people. Even if there are ten Niulu missing, it is still much stronger than my half-broken Zhengbai Banner.
After taking down the Zhenghuang flag, he finally became a powerful person.
But "temporarily taking charge of all affairs of Hetuala", why does this sound so awkward? At this time, his father Khan still occupies the position of Great Khan and is unwilling to pass it on to him?
Even if he hasn't died yet and is unwilling to pass on the throne, he should at least make himself the crown prince, right?
Not to mention Huang Taiji, Azig was also surprised. He couldn't hold it back after all and asked: "Who did Father Khan pass the throne to?"
He Heli glanced at Nurhachi, and after getting a look of affirmation, he said: "The position of Great Khan will be passed to Dabeile Daishan, and the position of Abahai's concubine will be restored, and Dorgon will be reunited with Dodo. Leave it to Daishan to raise him!"
Huang Taiji was shocked at first when he heard the news, but he soon felt relieved.
The purpose of his father Khan in letting Daishan succeed the Great Khan was to end Daishan's self-reliance and bring Daijin back into unification.
No wonder he handed the yellow flag to Azig. It turned out that he thought that the concubine Abahai, Dorgon and Duoduo were in Daishan's hands.
His arrangement was equivalent to making the yellow and blue flags in Azig's hands obey Daishan's orders.
But he never dreamed that Abahai's disappearance was just a way to make him suspicious of Daishan.
Soon Father Khan will be able to meet Abahai mother and son on Huangquan Road.
Although he was very angry inside, Huang Taiji did not show any dissatisfaction on the surface.
His father Khan misjudged the situation. At present, he, Daishan and Azig each control two flags, and he also controls the most powerful Zhenghuang Banner and the city of Hetuala.
The matter has not been settled yet, and he still has a chance, so he cannot let He Heli and others see any clues now.
He Heli asked again: "Sibeile, are you dissatisfied with the arrangement of the Great Khan?"
Huang Taiji said respectfully to Nurhachi: "The Great Khan arranged for Dabeile to succeed to the throne, all for the unification of Dajin. Please rest assured, Great Khan, I will definitely repel the Ming army outside the city and welcome Dabeile back to Hetuala. .”
Nurhaci was very comforted to hear that Huang Taiji understood his good intentions, and he could finally let go of his worries.
On November 14, the forty-eighth year of Wanli, Nurhachi, a powerful hero, died of illness in Hetuala at the age of 62!
After discussing with several people, Huang Taiji decided not to mourn for the time being for the sake of morale in the city.
Currently, Sibeile Huang Taiji is in charge of everything.
Before the Ming army attacked, Jianzhou was near Hetuala, and there were still nearly 40,000 people under the Five Banners.
Among them, Du Duzheng led 7,000 people from the Xiangbai Banner and 2,000 people from the Xianghuang Banner to guard Maldun Village, and Er Yidu led 3,000 people from the Xianghuang Banner to guard Kuandian Fort.
Twenty-eight thousand people from the three banners of Zhengyang, Zhengbai and Triangular Blue were guarding Hetuala.
Although more than half of the peripheral troops had been killed or wounded, the 28,000 men in Hetuala were still intact.
Facing the 20,000 Ming troops outside the city, they had an absolute advantage.
The reason why they did not take the initiative to attack was because the Ming army was very lucky. It happened that Nurhachi would drive to the west at any time in the past two days.
After all, the position of the Great Khan has not yet been determined, so Huang Taiji naturally has no intention of meeting the Ming army.
As long as the Ming army did not attack the city, he would simply ignore the Ming army.
At this moment, outside the western city of Hetuala, there was already a mess.
The Ming Army's thirty Folang artillery guns continued to fire shells at the city. Although the Ming Army's solid bullets were far less powerful than Li Xianzhong's blooming bullets, dozens of shells hit the city wall, inflicting heavy losses on the city walls. The Eight Banners soldiers caused some casualties.
The Ming army's Folang machine gun barrel overheated due to continuous firing. At this time, they had to stop firing and let the gun body gradually cool down.
This time he didn't directly become the Great Khan. Huang Taiji was already unhappy. How could he let the Ming army outside the city be so rampant?
Huang Taiji, who was full of anger and had nowhere to vent, directly targeted the Ming army outside the city.
Soon the west gate of Hetuala opened, and two thousand cavalry in yellow armor were seen running straight towards the Ming army's artillery position.
The range of the Ming army's Folang machine artillery is about 700 meters, which is only a moment for the cavalry.
However, the Ming army was not defenseless. After all, they were all elites from all sides and had no shortage of powerful cavalry.
Soon, three thousand Ming army cavalry rushed towards these cavalry with yellow flags.
I saw two groups of cavalry colliding fiercely like two waves!
Soon the sound of metal clashing and the neighing of war horses resounded throughout the battlefield!
The two thousand Zhenghuang Banner cavalry did not have any advantage against the three thousand cavalry composed of the powerful frontier troops of Xuanfu Datong.
Most of the Ming army also wore heavy cloth armor and did not suffer from equipment.
Once the two sides fought, they fell into a stalemate!
An Eight Banners soldier just stabbed a Ming soldier, and was soon chopped down by another Ming soldier around him.
After all, the distance was only a few hundred meters, and the impact of the war horses was not strong. Even with comparable equipment, the two sides could only tangle together.
When the Ming army saw that the so-called main force of Zhenghuang Banner was nothing more than this, their morale became even higher.
There is a tendency to push back!
So Wang Huazhen ordered the Ming cavalry on the left and right wings to rush forward quickly to defeat the Jianlu in one fell swoop.
Seeing that the Ming army gradually gained the upper hand, Huang Taiji, who was watching the battle on the city, was not worried but happy.
Half of his two thousand cavalry were Han cavalry. Now facing the numerically superior main force of the Ming army, it was still far beyond his expectations to be able to keep up with the situation.
Of course, his original purpose was not to defeat the Ming army in front, but to attract as much as possible the cavalry on the side of the Ming army who were responsible for guarding.
Because he had ordered Azig and Anfeyangu to each lead five thousand cavalry to attack the Ming army from the north and south gates.
When he saw another two thousand Ming army cavalry entering the battle, he knew that his goal had been achieved.
Just as Wang Huazhen was gearing up, expecting the Ming army to defeat the Jianlu cavalry.
But I heard the sentry cavalry report: "Oh no, a large number of Tatar cavalry are coming from both wings. Our vigilant cavalry cannot resist them."
No matter how stupid Wang Huazhen is, he knows that the infantry has no chance of winning against the cavalry in the wild. Fortunately, their main camp is nearby at this time.
In order to prevent Tatar cavalry from sneak attacks, the Ming army set up several trenches around the camp and artillery positions.
Soon the infantry of the Ming Army rushed back to the camp not far away.
As soon as he retreated, the two thousand Ming army infantry on the artillery position became a lone army.
Taiyuan General Wang Huaiyuan shouted: "Hurry up and form a formation. The shield soldiers come forward, the spearmen are in the middle, and the gunmen are last."
As soon as he finished speaking, a group of blue armored cavalry appeared to their north.
Before the Ming army could complete their formation, a hail of Tatar arrows roared towards them.
Although the shield soldiers in the front row blocked some of the bows and arrows, many Ming soldiers in the back row were still shot by Tatar bows and arrows.
This made the already chaotic formation even more chaotic.
Some gunmen even opened fire before the enemy came within range due to excessive nervousness.
The chaotic firecrackers did not cause many casualties to the Tatars.
After a few cavalrymen fell off their horses, they came to the Ming army's formation.
The shield bearers in the front row were knocked over by Jianlu's horses, and the spearmen in the back row of the Ming army failed to stop the enemy.
As the Tatar cavalry continued to wave their machetes and spears.
The battlefield was filled with the screams of Ming army infantry.
At this time, three words appeared in Wang Huaiyuan's head: "It's over"!
But he still made the most important decision.
He shouted hysterically at the artilleryman: "Hurry up and light the powder barrels and cannonballs!"
Then he picked up a spear and rushed towards the Tatar cavalry.
The Tatar cavalry quickly tore apart the Ming army's infantry formation.
At this time, the trenches of the Ming army were all dug in the direction of the city gate, and there was no barrier from the trench behind them.
Just when they were about to rush to the Ming army's artillery position, they heard a loud noise, and a mortar broke through the air like a fire dragon and suddenly rose into the air. The power of the explosion rolled up the surrounding dust, forming a huge plume of smoke.
When the artillery fell, it directly smashed a Tatar into a bloody mess.
Then there were the sounds of explosions one after another.
Seeing this scene, Huang Taiji in the city gritted his teeth and slammed his clenched fist on the city wall.
After all, it was still a step too late. These cannons were too important to Dajin. They were of great use whether they were used to bombard the Ming army's camp or to defend Hetuala.
At this time, the five thousand Ming army cavalry outside the west gate also suffered heavy casualties after being attacked by several Jianlu cavalry.
Except for the seven or eight hundred horsemen who tore a hole in the siege of Xianglan Banner and escaped, the rest were all killed by the Jianlu.
In this battle, the Ming army lost more than 2,000 infantry and more than 4,000 cavalry.
All artillery was also lost, including thirty Franco machine guns and one mortar.
The Eight Banners soldiers also suffered more than a thousand casualties, most of which were the Zhenghuang Banners used to lure Ming cavalry outside the west gate.
The remaining 13,000 Ming troops could only retreat to the camp outside the west gate.
Wang Huazhen was also in shock at this time. Fortunately, he made a prompt decision and ordered the main force to return to camp in time.
Otherwise, the Ming army would have been completely wiped out in a battle with the Tatar cavalry in the wild.
But at this time, his situation was not optimistic. First of all, he did not carry much military rations, only enough for about ten days.
And fell into heavy siege by the Tatars.
Luo Guanyi on the side said: "Fortunately, our army ignited the gunpowder and cannonballs in time, otherwise this camp would not be able to hold on."
But when Wang Huazhen heard what he said, he was stunned on the spot, and his face looked extremely ugly.
Luo Guanyuan ignored one thing. Except for the mortar shells sent by Li Xianzhong, the other Ming army's shells were all solid shells and could not be blown up at all.
At this time, Azig said excitedly: "Sibeile, great. After our inspection, most of the Ming army's Franco machine artillery has not been blown up."
After reassembly, the Ming army actually had twenty Franco machine artillery pieces that could be used, and the Ming army only burned the gunpowder and left hundreds of shells.
Although Jianzhou could not manufacture cannons and cannonballs, there was no shortage of gunpowder.
Soon these Franco machine artillery were repositioned and their muzzles were pointed at the Ming army's camp.
At this time, some of the Han troops were Ming troops who had surrendered with Li Yongfang, and these people could still operate the Fo Lang machine artillery.
After several rounds of debugging, these shells finally landed in the Ming army's camp.
Fortunately, these were only solid bullets. If they had been explosive shells, if these hundreds of rounds had been fired, there would have been almost no survivors among the more than 10,000 people under Wang Huazhen.
Even so, after suffering hundreds of cannons from Jianlu, the already demoralized Ming army was on the verge of collapse.
There were six to seven hundred brothers killed by shells in the camp, and the screams of the Ming army were everywhere.
At this time, Wang Huazhen's face was full of despair, and he even pulled out his sword and prepared to wipe his neck.
At this time, Luo Guanyi firmly held his sword and said: "Governor Wang, please don't look for the dagger. Uncle Ning Yuan is only thirty miles away from here. Maybe he has broken through Maldun Village and is heading here!"
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I've been playing outside for the past two days, so I posted a little late. I’m going home tomorrow, so I’ll try to post after 0 o’clock.
(End of chapter)
