On the distant horizon, a small black dot suddenly appeared. They were like a group of foraging ants, vast and full of intimidation and oppression.
As the distance got closer, the silhouette of the cavalry gradually became clearer.
The armor on their bodies and the spears in their hands shone with bursts of cold light, and their unique masks revealed their unique identities.
Huang Taiji sighed, what should come will eventually come.
Azig, who was on the battlefield for the first time, seemed very excited. He said: "Sibeile, I see that the number of cavalry in the Ming army is not large, it should be less than 10,000 cavalry."
"Although we have lost more than 2,500 people in attacking the Ming army in the past few days, there are still 26,000 people. It is better to defeat this Ming army in one fell swoop and completely eliminate the crisis in Hetuala."
Huang Taiji looked at Azig as if he were a fool.
Counting the hundreds of horses who had just escaped, there were 26,000 people in Hetuala at this time.
But half of these people are Han army Niulu, and even Jianzhou Niulu has many Koreans.
Wouldn't it be fun to fight against the most elite Liaodong cavalry of the Ming army?
Even if you win by luck, if you lose thousands of people, how can you deal with the good people in the world?
Fortunately, those Franco machine artillery had been moved to the top of the city before, and now there was nothing to miss outside the city.
Huang Taiji said: "The Liaodong cavalry of the Ming army are very elite. Now most of the Ming army in the camp have been annihilated by our army. There is no need for us to take risks anymore."
"Send the order, everyone return to the city, no mistakes!"
Soon the Eight Banners soldiers outside the city retreated towards several city gates. Fortunately, the Ming army was still a certain distance away from them, otherwise they would have been forced to fight the Ming army's cavalry under the city.
Li Xianzhong dispatched a total of 9,000 cavalry.
Among them were 3,000 Liaodong cavalry led by Li Sanshun, 3,000 assault battalions led by Zhao Lijiao, and 3,000 plain guards led by Man Gui.
Although the Pinglu Guards were infantry, Li Xianzhong still equipped them with war horses and used them as dragoons.
Even the 6-pounder Franco field guns they used were pulled by horses.
Of course, the horses pulling the cannon were still lagging behind the main force.
Seeing the Tatar cavalry returning to the city, the Ming army couldn't help but cursed: "These Tatars are really eggless things. They also claim that the Eight Banners cavalry are invincible. But when they saw me, I actually ran faster than a rabbit!"
At this time, warm cheers broke out in the Ming army's camp!
Many Ming soldiers even hugged each other and cried. This kind of joy after the disaster was simply indescribable!
At this time, Wang Huazhen was in tears and said to Li Xianzhong: "Thanks to Uncle Ning Yuan for coming to the rescue in time, otherwise we would have to die for the country!"
Li Xianzhong glanced at the Liaodong governor who was covered in dirt and in a state of embarrassment, and said: "The Tatar Mardun stronghold is very strong. If the governor Wang and I attack the city from front to back and then besiege Hetuala together, the Tatars will not be able to do anything. No chance of winning."
"Why was there such a huge defeat?"
Wang Huazhen also blushed. This was indeed due to his utilitarianism. Both his generals and the Governor of Jiliao, Yan Mingtai and Li Xianzhong, all told him to go north to attack Maldun Village first.
But he insisted on going his own way, causing the Ming army to lose 16,000 people under the city of Hetuala.
This makes the "Miracle Doctor" whose mission is to treat illnesses and save people, become an executioner.
Why do you call him Doctor Wang?
Because Wang Huazhen was an official in the court, what made him most famous was not his political achievements and his ability, but his medical skills.
He can be said to be a doctor with very good medical skills, so many dignitaries come to him for medical treatment.
Moreover, Dr. Wang Shenzhen not only has strong practical ability, but also has great theoretical knowledge. Wang Huazhen used the "Compendium of Materia Medica" as a blueprint, and based on his many years of clinical practice experience, he divided various single prescriptions and prescriptions into stroke, tetanus, There are more than 150 categories of typhoid fever, plague, etc., each category lists prescriptions according to specific diseases and syndromes, and is written into the medical book "Pumen Medical Medicine", which has a total of forty-eight volumes.
That is to say, when Emperor Taichang Zhu Changluo was seriously ill, Doctor Wang was guarding Guangning.
Otherwise, Li Kezhuo's "red pill" wouldn't even have a chance to take action.
It was precisely with his medical skills that he became a disciple of the first assistant Ye Xianggao, which made his official career smooth and he became the governor of Liaodong.
His medical skills were not only well-known in the capital, but also gained him many confidants in the army.
At that time, the old mother of Luo Guanyi, the deputy general of Guangning, was seriously ill, and other doctors asked Luo Guanyi to prepare for his future life. However, he did not expect that Luo's mother could be saved from danger after a few decoctions by Dr. Wang.
Therefore, Luo Yiguan will risk his life to protect Wang Huazhen even if he loses his own life.
Seeing that Governor Wang was quite embarrassed, he quickly smoothed things over and said, "It was the general's incompetence and failure to withstand the Tatar cavalry that led to the defeat of our army. Now that Uncle Ning Yuan is approaching the city, do you think he will be able to turn the tide?"
The reason why Li Xianzhong saved the great doctor Wang was mainly due to two considerations.
First, Doctor Wang's abilities are limited and he does not pose much of a threat to himself in his position as governor of Liaodong!
The second is that this guy has no integrity. Historically, after the defeat of Guangning, Doctor Wang immediately betrayed the Donglin Party and joined Eunuch Wei in order to save his life.
However, it turns out that Doctor Wang was not wrong about the Donglin Party. He was more discerning than Xiong Tingbi in this regard.
After the fall of Guangning, Xiong Tingbi, the Liaodong manager who was abandoned by the Donglin Party, ended up being "passed to all sides", while Wang Huazhen, who defected to Wei Zhongxian, was still alive and well.
But now that the army is approaching the city again, if we don't make an attack, these people will definitely say that we support the invaders and respect ourselves.
At this time, the Ming army only had 6-pound Franco machine guns pulled by Pinglu guards on horses.
Soon thirty Fo Lang machine guns were lined up in sequence on the original Ming army's artillery position.
In order not to expose their firepower, the Pinglu Guards still used solid bullets.
The artillerymen of the Pinglu Guards were well-trained, and seven or eight shells hit the city wall in just the first round of test firing.
However, it is difficult to destroy the city wall with the power of the 6-pounder gun.
But what the Ming army didn't expect was that the Tatars on the city actually fired back.
It was obvious that the Tatar gunners did not have much experience. Most of the shells fell around the Ming army's artillery positions, just raising a burst of dust.
But by chance, a solid bomb actually hit the Ming army's gunpowder barrel directly. The gunpowder explosion detonated the explosive bomb on the side, sending a nearby Franco machine gun directly into the sky.
It also killed three civilian guard gunners.
The angry Li Xianzhong almost ordered the civilian guards to use explosive shells to attack the city, but in the end he suppressed his anger and asked loudly: "Why are there so many French artillery in the Tatar city?"
At this moment, Doctor Wang's face was red, and Luo Yiguan, who was standing beside him, said with some embarrassment: "The Tatar cavalry raided our artillery position. Although we have lit the gunpowder barrels, most of them were solid bullets, so the artillery was not completely destroyed. Part of it was Captured by the Tatars.”
"Don't worry, Uncle Ning Yuan, the mortar you left at Wuji Pass has been blown up!"
After hitting the Ming army's artillery, the morale of the Tatars on the city was even higher.
So the two sides launched artillery fire on each other.
To be honest, it would take a lot of luck for the cannons of this era to accurately hit the target on the city wall hundreds of meters away.
So we can only use quantity to make up for the lack of precision.
For a strong city like Hetuala, even with the Hongyi cannon, it would probably take many days to collapse the city wall.
It is estimated that the small-caliber Franco machine artillery will really take a month to achieve results.
After suffering a small loss, Li Xianzhong decided to teach the Tatars in the city a lesson, so the Ming army's gunmen were dispatched.
The Ming army's Lumi gun has been crushing the Tatars in various ways by virtue of its 120-step range advantage.
Soon the gunmen of the Pinglu Guards arrived outside the city under the cover of the Liaodong Iron Cavalry.
After all, the Tatar cavalry may attack at any time, and the Ming army did not dare to take it lightly.
"Bang, bang, bang"
As a burst of white smoke rose, the Ming army's firecrackers quickly shot towards the city.
Huang Taiji had long been confident, and he shouted: "Get on the iron shield!"
Since the last attack on the Ming army's fortress at Gule Village was frustrated, Huang Taiji had been thinking about ways to restrain the Ming army's artillery. Inspired by the use of iron plates to strengthen the carriages, he had people make this thickened iron shield.
They also conducted shooting experiments with firecrackers. Unless they were at a very close distance, it would be absolutely impossible to penetrate this thickened iron shield.
Although the lead bullets fired by the Ming army repeatedly hit these iron shields and made a loud noise, the Tatars behind the shields were unharmed.
Then Huang Taiji said again: "Get ready to fire!"
Soon the Han gunners on the city put lead bullets and gunpowder into the Tiger Crouching Cannon.
At this time, there were many gunmen and cavalry of the Ming army under the city. Although the accuracy of the Tatar tiger squatting cannon was not good, a lot of lead bullets still hit the Ming army under the city.
Hearing the painful groans of the Ming army being hit by the Tiger Crouching Cannon, the Tatars in the city were excited.
They have been suppressed by the Ming army's artillery and muskets for a long time, and now they can finally let out their bad breath and let the Ming army have a taste of the power of these weapons.
In fact, the Tatars captured the Ming Army's Crouching Tiger Cannon very early, but they didn't defend the city very much, so they never thought of using it.
This time, the Ming army had already reached their doorstep, and Huang Taiji had to dig out the captured equipment from the warehouse.
The Ming army did not gain any advantage in this attack, but instead killed and injured dozens of people.
At this time, Li Xianzhong's face was very ugly. He glared at Wang Huazhen beside him, and then reluctantly uttered four words: "Ming Jin retreats!"
It seems that all these methods of defending the city have been learned by the Tatars.
Originally I just wanted to put on a show in front of Wang Huazhen, but I didn't expect that it actually overturned. This was the first time that my attack was frustrated.
Wang Huazhen defeated the enemy, and the Tatars were now equipped with a large number of artillery, which greatly increased the difficulty of siege.
I definitely have to read another book of The King’s Miracle Doctor!
The Ming army had to rest outside the city. In order to prepare for the Tatar night attack, they even laid an ambush outside the camp overnight.
However, Huang Taiji seemed to be aware of the Ming army's intentions and had no intention of sending troops out of the city at all.
Just as the Ming army was looking for a way to break the city, the battle report from Kuandian Fort came the next day.
He crossed the Yalu River secretly with a red flag and successively captured several fortresses including Sumian Fort.
The Tatars in Kuandian Fort also took the opportunity to break out, and the Tatars outside the city joined forces to attack the Ming army. The Ming army suffered heavy casualties.
At this time, the Crow Falcon troops were empty. In order to hold off the Tatars, the veteran general Liu Wei led more than a thousand remaining troops to retreat to Changdian Fort.
Due to the huge disparity in strength, Changdian Fort was still lost after killing more than a thousand Tatars, and veteran Liu Wei was killed in battle.
Now that the Tatars have arrived at Crow's Pass, Governor Yan Mingtai of Jiliao urgently ordered Li Xianzhong to return to Crow's Pass to prevent the Tatars from attacking the hinterland of Liaodong.
After hearing the news, all the generals were shocked.
Doctor Wang's face turned pale at this time. It was obvious that Kuandian's defeat was caused by his failure to follow the original plan of attacking Hetuala after capturing Kuandian Fort.
Now that there are only more than 3,000 elites of the 30,000 Nanlu Ming Army left, he can only bear the blame.
What shocked Li Xianzhong was the death of veteran Liu Wei. He had asked the Intelligence Department to notify Liu Wei in advance of the Tatars' illegal crossing of the Yalu River.
Although he didn't have much advance, he should still have time to escape back to Crow Falcon Pass.
Li Xianzhong did not expect that Liu Wei would eventually choose to defend the Jedi Changdian Fort to hold back the Tatars.
This old general is really awe-inspiring, another star of the Ming Dynasty has fallen.
But this was not the time to be sentimental. After the army broke camp, he ordered Li Sanshun to lead the Liaodong cavalry to cut off the rear.
Fortunately, the battle situation in Kuandian had not been sent to Hetuala at this time. Huang Taiji thought this was a ploy by the Ming army to lure the enemy, so he did not send troops to pursue it, but only sent some sentries to detect the situation of the Ming army.
When the news came, the Ming army had already retreated to Maldun Village.
Although the northern city of Maldun Village had been bombarded beyond recognition by the Ming army, the southern city was still intact.
Naturally, Li Xianzhong would not spit out the meat that had already been eaten in his mouth. This place was less than 30 miles away from Hetuala. To occupy it would be to strangle Jianzhou's throat.
After leaving Mangui Pinglu Guards to guard here, Li Xianzhong personally led 3,000 Liaodong cavalry to aid Crow Falcon Pass.
Fortunately, Ji Liao Governor Yan Mingtai had arrived at Crow Falcon Pass in person at this moment. Although the closed Folang machine artillery was transferred away by Wang Huazhen, there were still a lot of squatting tiger cannons.
At this time, Shi Shan's energy was mainly focused on taking over the Eight Banners, and he had no intention of further attacking Liaodong.
If Liu Wei had not used a small number of troops to hold back the main force of the Tatars this time, the consequences would have been disastrous.
After Li Xianzhong arrived with his troops, he discussed with Yan Mingtai and decided to exchange Du Du's body for the body of veteran Liu Wei.
The veteran general fought for the Ming Dynasty for decades, fighting against Burma, pacifying Luoping, participating in the war against Japan and aiding Korea, pacifying the Yang Yinglong rebellion in Bozhou, and finally fell on the way to conquer Jianzhou.
He participated in three of the four major expeditions of Wanli. In the end, he was wrapped in horse leather to prevent his body from falling into the hands of the Tatars.
Therefore, Li Xianzhong would rather risk being suspected by the court in exchange for Liu Wei's body.
Then he ordered someone to build a good coffin and transport Liu Wei's body back to his hometown for burial in a new building in Jiangxi.
On the day when Liu's coffin was transported, almost all the civil and military officials in Liaodong rushed to Liaoyang to see him off.
Li Xianzhong's move undoubtedly won him great popularity. Hundreds of surviving Liu Ping's remaining troops knelt on the ground and expressed their willingness to follow Ning Yuanbo to annihilate Jianzhou.
Li Xianzhong once again stated his irreconcilable position with the Tatars.
At the same time, Wang Huazhen, the culprit of the Southern Route Army's defeat, was despised by the soldiers and civilians of Liaodong.
Under the propaganda of the Intelligence Department, Wang Huazhen adjusted the route of the troops without authorization and advanced rashly. As a result, the death of veteran general Liu Wei in the battle and the news that the Southern Route Army was almost completely annihilated spread like wildfire.
He was defeated at the city of Hetuala and sent a large number of artillery to the Tatars. The news that Ning Yuanbo failed to capture Hetuala completely ignited the people of Liaoyang.
The extremely angry people of Liaoyang gathered in front of the Liaodong governor's office several times, demanding that the national traitors be punished. Wang Huazhen almost became a street rat, and everyone shouted for beatings.
Of course, the public opinion of the people will not affect the final court's judgment on the matter.
Li Xianzhong captured Mardun Village and annihilated more than 8,500 Tatars.
Naturally, the story of rescuing Wang Huazhen from the city of Hetuala was also reported together.
As for Wang Huazhen's unauthorized change of the South Route Army's march route, the Ministry of War will naturally find out the serious consequences, and Xiong Tingbi will definitely not take the blame for him. After all, the plan for the north-south pincer attack was formulated by him, the Minister of War.
Next, it depends on how the cabinet handles this "wonderful doctor".
As for attacking Hetuala, Li Xianzhong has no such idea for the time being. Now Daishan and Huang Taiji will definitely fight overtly and covertly for the throne.
After Xianghongqi recaptured the Six Kuandian Fortresses, He Heli directly read out the Great Khan's will.
At this time, Ao Bai, Er Bilong and others, the Great Khan Nurhachi, had already passed away.
Ye Bilong's mind was still spinning very quickly. They were undoubtedly choosing sides at this time. It would not be a problem for Obai to be promoted with military merit.
For him, a young man whose father had just died and who didn't have much military success, this was definitely a good opportunity to follow the new Great Khan.
So he said: "Uncle, don't worry. The five founding ministers are of the same spirit. Although Ama is gone, Ao Bai and I will only follow my uncle's lead."
"Xianhuang Banner is willing to follow the leadership of Daishan Khan."
Oboi on the side also hurriedly said: "Ebilong also expressed my thoughts. The five ministers have always advanced and retreated together, but Oboi only followed his lead."
He Heli was very satisfied with the attitude of these two people. Although the 1,200 people in Xianghuangqi were not many, they showed the attitude of Xianghuangqi.
Although Fei Yingdong and Tongquan are deceased, their influence in Xianghuang Banner is huge, and there are still many tribesmen.
With their support, even Azig was unwilling to hand over the yellow flag.
At least the first step has been successful now.
The second step depends on Azige. As long as Azige can be persuaded, Huang Taiji will be unable to do anything alone.
Soon he took Shuo Tuo and five hundred red flags and headed north to Hetuala.
Daishan is the successor designated by the Great Khan. This time he went to Hetuala not to fight with soldiers. It would be useless to bring more soldiers and horses.
Even if all 10,000 troops with red flags were brought to Hetuala, the number of troops would not be as large as that of Huang Taiji.
Originally, he wanted to persuade Du Du, who was wearing a white flag, to support Dai Shan. After all, Du Du was close to Dai Shan and had expressed his support for Dai Shan.
It's a pity that now he has returned Du Du's body from Li Xianzhong.
After entering Hetuala, He Heli made his intention clear.
He said: "The Great Khan Daishan believed that Hetuala was under the attack of the Ming army at any time and was no longer suitable to be the capital of Dajin, so he decided to move the capital to Pyongyang."
"While Hetuala is not yet surrounded by the Ming army, quickly transfer Hetuala's property and population."
He Heli's words were like a bolt from the blue. Did Daishan want to give up Hetuala?
Huang Taiji said: "Hetuala is the foundation of my big gold. How can I give up so easily?"
"The corpse of the Great Khan has not yet been sweated. If the Great Beile Daishan does not come to Hetuala in person to worship the Great Khan and inherit the legacy of his ancestors, he only wants to pacify North Korea. This is not okay!"
Huang Taiji's words were immediately supported by Anfei Yanggu!
He said: "Although the Great Khan intends to let Dabeile Daishan inherit the throne, he has no intention of giving up his ancestral land."
"Besides, according to the rules, Great Beile should come in person to mourn the Great Khan, and then officially inherit the throne."
"Only when you become a Great Khan can you issue orders. If you give orders directly like this, please forgive me for not being able to obey them."
He Heli secretly thought that it was not good. Anfei Yanggu's current attitude had obviously been bribed by Huang Taiji.
So he said: "Da Beile is now ill and cannot come to Hetuala in person, so Shuotuo is sent to welcome the Great Khan back to North Korea."
"Besides, moving the capital does not mean giving up Hetuala. We still need to hold on here. It's just that it is now a dangerous place and will be attacked by the Ming army at any time."
"If the Ming army builds fortresses and slowly blocks Hetuala like they did in Gule Village, how can we hold on?"
"I dare to ask Sibeile, with the current population in the city, how long can Hetuala's food supplies last?"
"The Great Khan transferred the excess population to North Korea in order to better hold on to Hetuala."
He Heli simply stopped pretending. Now that food is the lifeblood of North Korea, you are just waiting to die if you stay in Hetuala.
Sure enough, as soon as this statement came out, many people fell silent.
He continued: "The Great Khan has ordered that the blue and yellow flags be withdrawn to North Korea first. He has prepared the city, land and clothing for you in Hamgyong Province."
"Sibeile will continue to lead the Zhengbai and Zhenghuang flags to stick to Hetuala. If they are willing, the families of the two flags can also evacuate to North Korea together. If they don't want to sweat, don't force it."
At this time, everyone's eyes were focused on Azig.
After all, the control of these two flags is now in his hands. As long as he lets go, they can take refuge in North Korea together.
Azig is now in a dilemma. After all, he is only 16 years old.
Huang Taiji had promised before that as long as he supported him, the Xianghuang Flag would always be in charge of him.
The two of them can jointly call Baylor, like Ye He's Jin Taiji and Feiyanggu, and jointly take charge of Jianzhou.
But now Hetuala is a dead land. Even if you can control the two flags, it will be of little use.
It would be better to go to North Korea and be happy. Even if one flag is missing, at least there will be land and a city.
When Fan Wencai saw Azig's hesitant look, he knew that he might betray him.
So he said: "Moving the capital is a major matter. We can discuss it slowly. I don't think there is a need to rush. Now that the Great Khan has passed away for a few days, the top priority is to pay tribute to the Great Khan first."
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(End of chapter)
