Chapter 074 Loss of Left Arm
"Li Sizhong?" Chen Cao frowned: "As far as I know, your Li family doesn't seem to have such a figure?"
Li Waner looked displeased: "He is my grandfather's cousin. Fushun fell and my Li family suffered a great disaster. Their clan is in Fushun. After Li Ruzhen surrendered to the Tatars, Li Sizhong did a lot of things for the Tatars. He was involved in the fall of Tieling."
Only then did Chen Cao remember that Li Waner would look embarrassed at that time and would not answer questions. There were only two female dependents in the room, Zhang Chunyao and Xiaochun. Chen Cao then said: "In view of Uncle Ning Yuan's achievements, I don't think your Majesty will question you about the Li family's clan." You don’t have to worry about your sins.”
As he spoke, Chen Cao took off his armor with the help of Zhang Chunyao, and then he felt relaxed: "Chunyao, from now on Wan'er will be the same generation as your sister Xiang'er. You have to remember it well."
Zhang Chunyao knelt down and saluted Li Waner again: "Sister Waner..."
Li Waner was used to hearing bad things about Zhang Chunyao at home, and her impression of Zhang Chunyao was not very good: "You're welcome."
July 26
Chen Cao's troops, who had been swimming in the inner bay of Daling River, received a large number of defeated soldiers on the shore. Because there were too many people, they had to go to the nearby Juehua Island to resettle these people.
"I heard that Sun Degong ran back to Guangning City and talked about the big defeat ahead. The Tatar pursuers followed closely. Governor Wang ran into Lord Xiong in Luyang and was ridiculed by Lord Xiong."
Chen Cao still had reservations about Zu Dashou, a traitor in history. Although he repeatedly surrendered to the Qing Dynasty, he was forced by the situation. If the situation was favorable to the Ming Dynasty, Zu Dashou still would not surrender to the Qing Dynasty in Jinzhou.
"Uncle," Zu Dashou said with some embarrassment, "the last generals are all cavalry, so they run faster."
"You don't have to worry," Chen Cao waved his hand: "I also lost, I understand."
Zu Dashou was even more embarrassed because before the defeat at Xipingbao, Chen Cao was fighting against the Tatar attack, and he followed Sun Degong before he could draw his sword and ran away. Wang Huazhen spent tens of thousands of taels of silver on him. None of the three thousand cavalry built were used, and they all ran to Juehua Island.
"How is Guangning now?"
Zu Dashou said awkwardly: "Master Wang retreated first. Master Xiong covered the people of Liaodong to evacuate to the pass. The Tatar cavalry has been chasing behind. All the towns, forts, villages and other military strategic places have been evacuated."
"If Guangning is lost, the imperial court is like losing its left arm," Xing Shenyan, the economic advisor, sighed.
Due to panic during the retreat, a small number of family members were separated from Xiong Tingbi's large army. Fortunately, they were with Zu Dashou and were taken to Juehua Island under his protection.
The Tatars had no ships. Although Zu Dashou had three thousand cavalry, they were trapped on an isolated island. The Tatars only sent troops to guard the shore and did not care. After all, Guangning as a whole was important.
"Guangning is all over..." Chen Cao sighed, this is a butterfly effect. If Sun Degong did not rebel, he would not have sacrificed Guangning City, Wang Huazhen would not run away, and Xiong Tingbi would not follow suit.
Fortunately, Chen Cao knew some history. He knew that the Qing troops withdrew after reaching Shanhaiguan and plundered the people and food of the entire Guangning land along the way, turning the entire western Liaoning into a wasteland, and the Tatars and Mongols ran around at will.
"The hateful Uliangha Mongols actually joined forces with the Tatars to attack us." He ran away after the fall of Guangning City."
"Master Xing, if he is not of my race, his heart must be different..." Chen Cao sighed as he spoke.
"Uncle, when will we withdraw?" Zhao Xin asked.
"Withdraw?" Chen Cao looked around at the senior officials and generals present, and then shook his head: "Do you want to go back and be questioned?"
Civil officials have always said that losing ground will lead to death. Xing Shenyan did not imitate Gao Bangzuo and committed suicide in Luyang. Instead, he ran away because he was afraid of death. Chen Cao did not have a few serious confidant civil servants, but now was a great opportunity to bribe Xing Shenyan. .
Then he asked: "Master Xing, the people in western Liaoning are not guilty. I am going to regroup and make amends after the Tatars retreat. I wonder if Master Xing has any ideas?"
Zu Dashou immediately smelled the smell. He was not a fool. He was under the command of Wang Huazhen. As the governor of Liaodong, Wang Huazhen would definitely suffer if Guangning City was lost. He himself could not escape, so he handed it over first: "Uncle, As a warrior, my general's blind escape is an embarrassment to us warriors. I am willing to follow my uncle with three thousand cavalry under his command to make up for my fault."
Zu Dashou is a smart man, and Chen Cao prefers people who understand current affairs. Moreover, although this guy's reputation in history is not good, he does have two skills in fighting, especially in the use of cavalry.
"Well, I was originally the governor of the Southern Army to aid the Liao Dynasty. If I go back without making any achievements, I'm afraid I won't be able to disgrace this noble man." Chen Cao nodded.
Xing Shenyan is still smart. Both Wang Huazhen and Xiong Tingbi have replaced the previous Liaodong officials. The court will definitely choose a few scapegoats for the defeat of Guangning. As Xiong Tingbi's counselor, to be honest, if something happens to Xiong Tingbi, he will not be able to escape at all. Dropped: "Uncle Dingwu, I am willing to follow Uncle Dingwu here to make up for my mistakes."
"Okay," Chen Cao clapped his hands: "It just so happens that I am missing a few people who are familiar with the situation in Liaodong. With you and Zu Dashou here, I feel that I have been helped."
"Uncle, you are really polite." Zu Dashou said with cupped hands.
"Uncle," Xu Kaixian walked into the tent: "Juehua Island Councilor Jin Guan wants to see you."
Jin Guan was also from Liaodong and guarded Juehua Island as a general: "Jin Guan, the last general, has met Uncle Dingwu."
Chen Cao raised his hand: "General Jin, you're too polite. I wonder who General Jin belongs to?"
"The last general will be under the command of the king's governor."
No wonder...
"General Jin, how many people do you have under your command?"
The golden crown cupped his hand and said: "Back to my uncle, the general has 1,800 boatmen on Juehua Island."
"What do you mean?" Chen Cao frowned and looked at him.
"In the end, we will be trapped on Juehua Island. There will definitely be no way out. It's better to follow my uncle." Jin Guan laughed as he spoke.
Love really comes to find a backer.
Chen Cao nodded: "Okay, we happen to be short of people. You have something to do in the future."
"Uncle Xie..."
Chen Cao took advantage of this free time and hurried to the military camp. The losses of the entire army were too great. Song Che was registering the casualties of each guard station.
"Shixiu," Chen Cao walked into the camp: "What's going on? Have you calculated the statistics?"
"I'm just waiting to find you later," Song Che held the booklet in his hand and handed it to Chen Cao: "One of our guards was killed in the battle, three were from one thousand households, seventeen were from one hundred, and thirteen were from the general banner. There were 124 flags; 1,762 soldiers of the whole bodyguard were killed, 238 were seriously injured, 722 were slightly injured, and 27 were missing."
Chen Cao frowned and looked at the booklet and said: "The total number of casualties in the whole bodyguard is 2,749, reaching two-thirds." Chen Cao raised his head and looked at Song Che: "There are still less than 3,000 people. We can fight, but the casualty ratio is too high, where are the other guard posts?"
Song Che continued: "There are 1,232 people left in the Songjiang Guards. The generals only have one commander, Comrade Wang Xiaojie, and one commander, Qian Shi. The remaining commanders, colleagues, and commanders all died in the battle. The commander Tian Xiaonian’s whereabouts are unknown;
There are 4,210 Yangzhou Guards left, no casualties among the commanding generals, and 17 casualties among the generals and commanders with households under 1,000 households at all levels;
There are 2,400 Zhenjiang Guards left. Zhang Da, the commanding officer, escaped before the battle and has been captured. The remaining officers and soldiers suffered 31 casualties;
The River Guards had 3,100 men left, and the Officer School had fifty-seven casualties;
There were 2,820 Guanhai Guards left, and the official school suffered 124 casualties. "
Chen Cao listened carefully, then looked at Song Che and said: "Command Qian Shi to escape before the battle and execute the law on the spot."
"yes..."
Chen Cao then thought about it: "By the way, didn't we gather a lot of defeated soldiers at all levels in Liaodong? I would like to add on the spot that they are all veteran oilmen. As long as they have money, fighting is a trivial matter. Except for our right guard, The remaining five guards have all replenished their troops."
"Okay..." Song Che nodded.
July 30
"Uncle," Zhao Xin came to Chen Cao's side: "Urgent report, the manager Xiong Tingbi, the governor Wang Huazhen, the supervisor Sun Chengzong and others have all retreated into Shanhaiguan. The Tatars have been fighting to the pass city of Shanhaiguan. Now the entire Liaodong city is It’s in the hands of the Tatars.”
"So fast?" Chen Cao frowned: "Where are the people?"
"My subordinate was just about to talk about this matter," Xin Zhao said with a serious look on his face: "The Tatars have robbed hundreds of thousands of people along the way and are on their way to Shenyang." After that, he lowered his head and said: "The news from Wanqing According to the news, the Tatars are likely to kill the old, weak, women and children along the way, and the locations mentioned are two places, the mouth of the Shuangtaizi River and the mouth of the Daliao River."
Seeing Chen Cao's frown, Zhao Xin added: "What Wan Qing means is that the Tatars think these people are wasting their time and wasting food. They do not need to bury them after they are executed at the mouth of the river, but they are thrown directly into the mouth of the river and then washed into the sea."
Chen Cao raised his head: "When will our baggage ship arrive?"
"It should be soon. After uncle got on the ship, he asked them to go back to Jinling to transport ammunition. If everything goes well, they should be able to arrive in ten days."
Chen Cao looked at Zhao Xin and said: "The Tatars can't move quickly with so many people carrying their baggage. Go contact Wanqing and see if you can find out which river mouth they are attacking at. We can save them if we can."
"yes..."
August 10
"Uncle," Zhao Xin walked quickly to Chen Cao's tent: "Our baggage ship has arrived, and," he said, taking out the secret letter from his arms: "The Tatars drove the people to the mouth of Shuangtaizi River yesterday. According to the uncle's instructions, we sank many civilian ships there. Wan Qing said that the Tatars have decided to massacre our people at the mouth of the Daliao River tomorrow, a total of more than 40,000 people..."
"So many?" Chen Cao raised his eyebrows: "Is the information accurate?"
Zhao Xin nodded: "It's absolutely true, that's what the letter said. The Tatars know that we are on Juehua Island, but it seems that there are spies on the island who told the Tatars about our actual situation. Wanqing said that the slave chieftain was in front of a group of people. The generals told me directly that my uncle's army did not have artillery, muskets and ammunition and did not dare to go ashore. They also knew that our organization was crippled, so their large army had already left and only sent 5,000 cavalry and 20,000 coated troops to escort them. common people.”
"It is said that every military defeat of our Ming Dynasty was aided by traitors. I didn't think so before, but now it seems that there are quite a lot of people behind the scenes." Chen Cao rarely used expletives, but he was also so elegant: "Let Wan Qing carefully examine the traitor issue. By the way, have any of our people broken into the Tatars?"
Zhao Xin looked around and saw no one in the tent, so he whispered: "My subordinates have asked Liu Shouwen to lead a group of people to shave their heads and change clothes, and sneak into the Tatar team. Wan Qing is secretly helping to arrange to their banners.”
"Okay," Chen Cao nodded: "You did a good job, is there any valuable news?"
"This time the three guards of Ulyanha sent 40,000 troops to help the Tatars take advantage of the situation and looted four cities, six forts and seventeen villages in Guangning. Because they were too greedy, they had a conflict with the slave chief. The slave chief took advantage of this opportunity and wanted to In order to solve the Hetao area occupied by Wu Liang Ha in one go, he has already led a large army to conquer Wu Liang Ha." Zhao Xin said and added: "Because Lin Dan Khan sent 10,000 troops, the slave chief held a grudge and was preparing to conquer. Wu Liangha then went to conquer Lin Dan Khan."
Chen Cao felt that Nurhachi was a little bold: "How dare they, a tired army, be so bold?"
Xin Zhao shook his head and said: "Unknown to me, the Tatars attacked Shanhaiguan City and the Mongolian tribes went to surrender."
"Oh..." Chen Cao suddenly realized: "The Tatars attack the three guards of Duoyan to scare the Mongolian tribes. Zhao Xin, it seems that I have other plans."
"Uncle, when should we take action? The fastest trip from Juehua Island is one day." Xin Zhao handed over.
Chen Cao stood up and said: "Immediately send an order for all troops on Juehua Island to board the ship and head to the mouth of Daliao River immediately."
"yes..."
...
When the massacre was ordered, the two brothers who were responsible happened to be Cherge and Adahai. The two brothers suffered a big loss from Chen Cao, and they could only express their anger among these unarmed civilians. Cherge was the first to find a place. Do it once.
Fei Yingdong's son couldn't seek revenge, so he was assigned the task of massacre. In short, he was killing people, no matter who he killed.
"Suo Hai," Cherge found Suo Hai who was escorting him: "The Great Khan's order is to complete the task within three days. There are too many people. It is better to drive them all to the mouth of the Daliao River and drown them."
Suo Hai thought for a while and nodded: "It makes sense. Let's end the matter here as soon as possible and then return to Shenyang. Amma's funeral affairs still need to be dealt with."
"In this case, act quickly. I will ask my servant to find Ada Hai and deal with these Ming Gou as soon as possible."
The entrance to the Daliao River is relatively wide. As soon as Chen Cao's fleet arrived, he saw the Tatars driving people into the sea.
When Adahai saw the fleet on the sea, he immediately went to find Cherge: "Brother, Minggou's fleet."
Cherge looked up, and then smiled: "They dare not land. The Great Khan said that Ming Gou's fleet has no artillery supplies, and they dare not go ashore without cavalry. Besides, if they dare to land, we will Stay here, don't forget, all their cannons were thrown at Xiping Fort."
