Huang Taiji looked at the small earthen town on the other side of the river with a gloomy look.
It has been three days, and this ordinary little town has not been conquered yet.
The guard of this small town has figured out that he is a slave of the Ma family, and his name is Ma Xi. Never heard of it. He had been working as an officer with Madeng Yun before. The general was only mentioned this year. Pinghu Fort is responsible for guarding the outpost of Chifeng City.
Huang Taiji regretted not attacking the city on the first day. After all, it is not easy to settle down with such a large team. Two hundred thousand people, if we don't handle it well, there will be big chaos.
Therefore, he ordered at that time not to worry about the Ming army in the city. First, send a messenger to persuade you to surrender. Then the army set up camp first.
What can a little-known little Karami be capable of? If you don't surrender, we will destroy this city in one go tomorrow.
Marching is a real chore this season. A strong wind blew in the snowfield in the northeast, and the snow foam poured directly into the mouth of the leader. They don't have clothes with tightened cuffs and collars like Yang Fan's troops. No hood either. All frozen into dogs.
My nose was red from the cold, and my beard was covered with ice chips. There is frost on my eyebrows.
Huang Taiji was tall, and after gaining weight in middle age, he became very fat. He has severe hypertension and heart disease, coronary heart disease, arteriosclerosis, pulmonary heart disease and other common diseases in Northeast China. Arthritis is also very serious. He suffered more than others. However, he couldn't do it without personally leading the expedition.
His position is far from consolidated now. Although Mang Gurtai brought the Zhenglan Banner and was destroyed by Yang Fan in Mongolia, Mang Gurtai was still imprisoned by Yang Fan. However, Amin and Daishan still put a lot of pressure on him. He must prove his ability with a victory.
That is to capture more slaves and supplies for the Eight Banners. Now they are so short of supplies that they can no longer survive. If this continues, I really have to go back to the old forest to hunt and replenish supplies.
The Han people in Liaodong could not bear the abuse and continued to resist, coupled with more than ten years of drought and cold. The famine wiped out millions of people, and four to five million people fled. They were tortured and massacred, and millions more died. Now there are only a few hundred thousand Han slaves.
Moreover, these slaves did not work hard, and the food they grew could not even feed themselves. Anyway, we don’t have our own share of the food grown. Only when the Eight Banners masters are full will they give them some leftovers. We must also praise their virtues in raising Nikan.
It’s amazing that Han slaves can farm the land well for them. Coupled with the already cold climate, there have been more than ten years of drought. In many cases, even the seeds cannot be retrieved due to the yield.
The Manchus entered the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty six times. According to Manchu and Qing records, they looted five times and robbed a total of 1 million people. But by the fifth year of Shunzhi, there were fewer than 230,000 slaves in the entire Eight Banners. It can be seen that they tortured many people to death.
Therefore, every time they entered the Ming Dynasty in large numbers. Although the Ming army pulled back, the people of the Ming Dynasty actively resisted because no one wanted to be captured and tortured to death by them. They don't know how to be slave owners at all, and they don't know how to use, feed, and reproduce slaves. How to let slaves exert their maximum labor power.
This is completely different from the slave owners in the American South. Their management and use of slaves was very clumsy and crude. In addition to killing all the slaves in a few years. It has no effect. Therefore, despite taking 1 million slaves, they were still not self-sufficient. We can only keep entering the border to rob.
Because you can't live without robbing. Until they entered the customs, they did not learn how to manage economic and social production. It's just that after entering the customs, the surrendered Ming Dynasty civil servants managed it for them. For the next two hundred years, Han officials were also responsible for managing the country's economy and administration.
Most of the Eight Banners still serve as military attachés. Although the governors, governors, admirals, and six ministers of each province. They all had a large number of Manchus, but they were almost always used to constrain Han officials of the same level. Their ability in this area is very poor. In Sushun's words, there are a lot of bastards among the Manchus, most of whom are uneducated and only know how to get money.
After Ma Xi saw the Eight Banners army on the first day, he immediately ordered the four city gates to be blocked with stones. Then light the beacon and report the news to the rear. He organized all the adult men and women in the city. Wait until dark. Water was drawn from the well and poured on the outside of the city wall.
The next day, what Huang Taiji saw was a shining silver ice city.
There are also the heads of envoys sent to persuade people to surrender hanging on the city gate. It made him furious.
Ma Xi spread all kinds of rumors about slave abuse in the city, frightening the people in the city. The people in this city are all sent here because they have committed crimes. There are probably more than a thousand households. Their men collected fodder, fed horses, worked as porters, and performed various labors here for the army. Women washed, mended, and made clothes to make money.
Ma Xi's remarks frightened them greatly. What Master Ma Xi meant was that men should bring a kitchen knife and women should bring a pair of scissors. When the time comes, they would rather die than be caught and suffer the unbearable punishment.
At this time, the whole city was frightened. They worked desperately all night, carrying water to the city wall and pouring it down. Overnight, the outer walls of the small town were covered with a three-foot-thick layer of ice.
During this season, the nights on the grassland are over minus 20 degrees Celsius, and it’s as cold as steel overnight. The ice wall is extremely smooth and extremely difficult for people to climb. The frozen ice is very hard. If you dig it down with a pickaxe, you will see a white spot. Unless it melts naturally by next spring. Otherwise, it won't be able to hit it with Fran machine cannon bombardment.
This time when Jiannu came out, he only brought Fran machine guns and general cannons below No. 3. After all, the red cannon was too heavy for them to move. They have thirty or forty red cannons including the Luzon Bronze Cannon. Not a single door was brought.
Huang Taiji didn't expect that after just one day's delay, the other party would do this.
"Li Yongfang, your Han army flag has firearms. First use cannons and muskets to hit them and see what happens." Huang Taiji said to Li Yongfang with water dripping from his face.
"Zhe, this slave is going to fire right now." Li Yongfang took out a set of command flags from his arms, picked out one, raised it and waved it.
After a while, an artillery team of five to six hundred people ran in front of the army. Fran machine cannons were aimed at the city walls and gates.
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