"You just asked whether Songshan was easy to fight, but you should actually be asking whether Jinzhou was easy to win." Ma Ke smiled bitterly and sighed: "Do you know how long the battle lasted?"
Ji Jike thought for a moment and then said: "It should have been three years of fighting. It is said that the siege of Jinzhou began in the thirteenth year and ended in the fifteenth year."
Ma Ke nodded: "Yes, it took the Tatars three years to capture Jinzhou, and they made many years of preparations before these three years, such as building Yizhou City, destroying the big and small Linghe City, etc. Now we want to take over Jinzhou." Come back, how long do you think it will take?"
Ji Jike looked solemn and silent.
Chief Ma took a breath and pointed toward the northwest: "That's it, that's where Huang Taiji's camp was stationed back then!" While speaking, he sometimes opened and sometimes closed his eyes, and his breathing became rapid, as if he was back to his former self. On the fierce and tragic battlefield: "In the thirteenth year of the year, the Tatars besieged Jinzhou. In March of the fourteenth year, Hong Chengchou was ordered to go from the capital to the outside of the pass by the governor-general of military affairs. On July 26, he led eight of our troops to swear an oath in Ningyuan and set off for Jinzhou. On the 18th, we arrived outside Jinzhou City and fought a bloody battle with the Tatars at Rufeng Mountain, killing them to pieces. On August 21st, we were trapped in a ditch and failed to break out. Later, Wang Pu led his troops to escape, which caused panic and the morale of the army. Unstable, Wang Pu and Wu Sangui fled into Xingshan, and Li Fuming and I entered Tashan. The remaining Hong Chengchou and others failed to break out and fell into Songshan. In the next few months, the Ming army was trapped in various forts and found it difficult to break out. On February 18, 15th, Songshan The city fell. On March 8th, Zu Dashou surrendered. On April 22nd, the Tatars bombarded Xingshan, and the defender Lu Pinqi surrendered without a fight. So far, the Songjin defense line has been lost!"
Although three years had passed since the war, it was still vivid in Ma Ke's mind, and he could even remember some important dates clearly. At this time, he only saw him speaking slowly, while Ji Jike was speechless for a moment.
"Songjin's defeat, we are all guilty!" Ma Ke sighed, Ji Jike hurriedly said: "The general once heard Lord Du Gong say that the Songjin defeat was not the responsibility of one person, there were many people involved. If there are too many constraints, the morale of the army is not uniform... Of course, it is more likely that some treasonous thieves will surrender before the battle... The last general is not talking about General Zu, the Governor has always said that General Zu was forced to have no choice!"
Ma Ke smiled faintly and sighed again: "Regardless of merit or demerit, the old friends who participated in the war...hehehe have changed their minds a long time ago! General Ji, do you know who was among the eight generals at that time?"
"I know." Ji Jike nodded without saying anything.
But Ma Ke couldn't help but said: "Wang Pu was beheaded by the court afterwards, Yang Guozhu died in the battle, Wang Tingchen and Cao Bianjiao were captured and killed by the Tatars, Bai Guangen later surrendered to the bandits and served as the governor's residence during the Baoding War. After being captured, he was executed, and out of the eight generals, only Tang Tong, Wu Sangui and my general were left!"
"Some people died worthy of heaven and earth, some died and deserved it! And most of them deserved it!" Ji Jike gritted his teeth and said. Marco knew that the people he said deserved to die were those who surrendered. The general couldn't help but sigh when he heard this: "You know, who died the most is a pity."
"It is a pity for those who die loyally to the country, but I heard the Governor said that it is most pity that Cao becomes a dragon!"
"Yes." Ma Ke nodded: "The Cao family is a family of generals, Cao Wenzhao is a famous general, and Cao Bianjiao can also be the most powerful general in the world!" Then he looked at Ji Jike: "The Du Gong has people like Tu Yuan, like you "They are all first-rate generals, but in my opinion, Shang Xunna Cao has made many mistakes."
Ji Jike quickly bowed and said: "I don't dare to compare with the previous sages, let alone be comparable to General Cao. The last general is far behind even General Ma. I heard that the general has the second best name of Xiao Cao."
Ma Ke laughed loudly: "Don't be humble, and I am not ashamed of being second. But in fact, Cao Bianjiao is extremely brave. Can you hear his bravery?"
Ji Jike shook his head lightly: "I often hear about his bravery, but I don't know the details. Please ask the general to tell me."
Ma Ke's eyes fell on the original place again: "I just told you that that is where Huang Taiji's Chinese army camp is, and it is also the most heavily protected place. It is protected by his most elite army, but you know that Huang Taiji was there at that time. Almost died there!"
Oh, Ji Jike suddenly became interested, and Ma Ke continued: "Songshan was besieged for a long time at that time. The soldiers failed to break through the siege several times, and the morale of the army was weakened. In fact, it was not only the soldiers who knew that they could not break out, but also Hong Chengchou and Cao Bianjiao. Knowing that it would be difficult to break out, almost everyone gave up on trying to break out and resigned themselves to fate."
But Cao Bianjiao was not convinced!
He led his elite troops out of the city to break out of the encirclement. At that time, everyone thought that he was going to break out of the encirclement. However, he actually went to the real yellow flag camp, which was where Huang Taiji's Chinese army camp was located! At that time, he already knew that there was no hope of breaking through, and he was determined to kill Huang Taiji. As you know, he only led a few hundred soldiers at that time, but he was invincible and fought to the front of the Tatar central army camp. At that time, the Tatar left collar badge Gu Li led his troops to stop him, and was the first to die under Cao Bianjiao's sword. Then the Tatar Zhenghuang Banner's central army tried to stop them, but all of them were killed by the sword. Dorji led his troops to block the attack, but was killed. Internal ministers Bu Yan and Ta Zhan led their troops to fight, but were defeated again. They went directly to Huang Taiji's tent. Huang Taiji's personal guards acted as the last line of defense and tried their best to block it. , stabbed Cao Bianjiao, but his troops were already red-eyed at this time, and they still went forward bravely and unstoppably killed all these guards. Huang Taiji's subordinates Gushan Ezhen Turge and his younger brother Yin Er, who were famous for their bravery, On Deng, the internal ministers Xihan, Yi Bilong and other Tatar generals saw that they could not resist bravely. In desperation, they occupied the camp gate and fired arrows desperately, injuring Cao Bianjiao. At this time, the surrounding Qing troops reacted in confusion and attacked from all directions. The army gathered, but Cao Bianjiao, who had lost too much blood, was close to fainting. Seeing that there was no hope of breaking into the Tatar inner camp, he retreated to Songshan.
"Courage, you are truly the bravest of all three armies, unparalleled in bravery!" Ji Ji couldn't help but cheer. It is said that a general can easily kill the opponent's commander in the midst of thousands of troops, but he hears more and sees less. There are only characters like Tu Yuan and Chang Yu, but compared to Cao's unnatural act of turning into a dragon, there is indeed a gap!
Seeing the admiration on his face, Ma Ke added: "At that time, Huang Taiji was so scared that he almost wet his pants. Afterwards, he was so angry that he reorganized his imperial army and even punished some people. For example, the prince-in-law Dorji was demoted. There are still people who have been convicted and imprisoned."
Although he was talking about other people's heroic deeds, Ma Ke talked about it with great interest, and his eyebrows were no longer as solemn as before. Ji Jike had a look of admiration on his face: "I will always admire General Cao's bravery, but I even admire his ability to unite the morale of the army. Under such circumstances, his subordinates can work together and move forward bravely. It is really respectable, admirable and formidable! The Governor said that among the many reasons for Songjin's tragic defeat, the generals were not in harmony and the soldiers were not in harmony. Qi was also one of them. It is said that at that time, the army was demoralized and had no intention to fight."
Marco looked ashamed at first, shook his head slightly and sighed: "It's hard to explain in words!"
After a long time, Ma Ke said again: "Everyone knows that it is a pity that Cao Bianjiao died. Do you know who deserves the most death?"
