Kaiyuan, General Military Mansion.
Liu Zhaosun, the garrison leader, looked calm. He stood at the door and looked towards the north with a look of compassion. He knew that Jingan Fort could not hold on for long, and at this moment he was worried about whether the North Korean general Jin Yinghe was dead or alive.
Lord Jinglue Yang Hao was sitting on the pear wood armchair. He still looked decadent, and his wrinkled old face trembled slightly from time to time, like fallen leaves in the autumn wind.
After Mr. Yang was "sent" out of Shenyang as a gift, he fell ill. The officials began a new round of impeachment. He was worried and his body was deteriorating. He was probably one step ahead of Wanli and entered bliss.
Next to Mr. Jinlue, stood Commander Ma Lin, General Yu Chengming, Guerrilla Shi Fengming, Commander Qianxun and others. The generals' faces were a little anxious, and they no longer had the heroic spirit of making achievements a few days ago.
After some discussion, several generals of the Ming Dynasty, based on the various intelligence obtained so far, determined that the North Gate of Kaiyuan would be the direction of the main attack on Jiannu.
The terrain around the north gate of Kaiyuan is flat and has a wide field of vision, making it easy for infantry to deploy. The moat in this section is shallow and the city walls are in dilapidated condition. Jian Nu Xizuo should have reported these situations to the four Baylors.
In addition, there are woods around the north gate, which facilitates the attackers to make shield vehicles, ladders and other siege equipment.
The woods surrounding Kaiyuan City have been preserved. Liu Zhaosun did not implement a thorough policy of strengthening the walls and clearing out the wilderness. He wanted to give the Hou Jin soldiers the illusion that Kaiyuan was rushing to fight.
The most arduous and dangerous defense task of Kaiyuan City naturally fell on Liu Zhaosun.
Liu Zhaosun gave up the field battle this time. He now has limited troops. The southern soldiers plus the white pole soldiers only have seven or eight thousand people, and many of these people are new soldiers. He does not dare to take risks easily.
Earthen walls, trenches, and other fortifications are being built around the north gate. The general plans to use the fortifications to bleed the four great Belles.
This kind of defense system (without barbed wire) similar to that of later World War I will cause horrific damage to the attacker in actual combat.
Of course, this requires the defenders to have a firm will to fight in order to achieve this.
The drunkard He Shixian is responsible for guarding the east gate of Kaiyuan. The east gate is as dangerous as the north gate. However, Mr. He threatened everywhere that he would capture Daishan Huang Taiji alive in this battle and cut off Daishan's head as a chamber pot to avenge Mr. Du.
Of course, he also has his own Xiao Jiujiu. He knows that Liu Zhaosun is powerful and wants to take advantage of the opportunity to be promoted to the commander-in-chief of Liaodong and take over Li Rubai's position.
This military leader, who is usually addicted to alcoholism, is not ambiguous at all when he fights Tatars.
He Shixian also has arrogant capital. He has a thousand servants under his command, each of whom is paid twice, so they are not afraid of death. Their combat power is as good as that of the white-armored soldiers of Jiannu. In addition, he has more than 3,000 soldiers, because of the food and salary. It is sufficient and stronger than the ordinary Ming army.
The east gate of Kaiyuan faces Jiannu directly. The city wall is basically intact and the moat has just been dredged. More than 200 steps away from the city gate is a small hill called Hutou Slope. This terrain is not conducive to the deployment of attacking forces.
He Shixian sent a thousand soldiers to occupy Hutou Slope to prevent Jiannu from condescending designs. However, the accuracy of artillery in this era was impressive. Even if Jiannu occupied this place, it would be difficult to completely suppress the east gate.
Yu Chengming and Shi Fengming guarded the west and south gates respectively. They had a total of 8,000 Liao soldiers under their command, 30% of which were horse soldiers.
The west and south gates of Kaiyuan faced Liaoshen, and the terrain was flat, which was conducive to the gathering of large groups of cavalry from both the enemy and ourselves. Among the several generals, only Yu and Shi had a large number of cavalry, so they guarded here.
The southwest of Kaiyuan is adjacent to the Mongolian Aitu and Subuti tribes. These two wallflowers have fallen to Hou Jin and must be guarded against. Therefore, Yu Chengming sent 500 horsemen early to patrol the southern part of Kaiyuan. After a few days, This sentry horse unexpectedly made a major discovery, which is a story for another day.
In addition, there are two thousand Liaodong New Army as the backing force, roaming in Kaiyuan City, responsible for tracking down spies and supporting the garrison at critical moments.
Ma Lin took command of the Kaiyuan General Military Mansion. Of course, this was only in name. At this moment, the actual command of Kaiyuan City was handed over to the garrison Liu Zhaosun. Several military leaders had no objections. After all, Liu Zhaosun killed the most slaves, and he took the initiative to serve as the commander this time. Cannon fodder role.
On March 20th, after occupying the night without receiving any returns, the Hou Jin Army attacked Jingan Fort at midnight. All the Xianglan Banners were dispatched, and one unit from each of the Zhenglan Banner, Zhenghuang Banner, and Zhengbai Banner participated. The four banners had nearly 20,000 troops.
In addition, the Liao Town cavalry sentinel learned that the Mongolian Subudi and Aitu around Kaiyuan had cut off the post road between Kaiyuan and Liaoshen.
Liu Zhaosun speculated that the Mongols had received some kind of promise from Nurhaci before they dared to be so aggressive.
Two wounded horsemen came back from Jingan Fort and told the superior officers how Jingan Fort fell.
After the Hou Jin army filled the trench with refugees, the Zhenyi soldiers used heavy bows to shoot at the Ming army archers on the archery tower on the pier. After being counterattacked by the Ming army, Jiannu transferred twelve furlong machine guns from the rear formation. , under the cover of the archers, the French cannon reached the position less than two hundred steps away from the archery tower, destroying all the archery towers on the city wall that were still shooting arrows from inside. Bao Yi climbed onto the pier amidst the rubble and dust, and quickly opened it from the inside. The fort gate.
The Ming army, which had lost the protection of the city wall, did not give up. The Xuan soldiers and Zhejiang soldiers armed with long swords and spears fought bloody battles with the soldiers with blue flags who swarmed forward on the east and west streets of Jingan Fort.
All the Xuan soldiers who rushed into the Xianglan Banner formation were killed. The surviving Zhejiang soldiers once again formed a mandarin duck formation, blocking the two Niu Lu (600 people) and Jin soldiers from attacking.
They guarded the east and west streets of Jingan Fort and built barricades on the streets to block the swarming Hou Jin soldiers from outside the fort.
Due to the lack of firearms, the Zhejiang soldiers could only shoot with bows and arrows. After running out of arrows, they raised their spears again.
The Zhenyi people with blue flags on the opposite side did not dare to fight hand-to-hand. In the last battle of Hunjiang, they encountered such a group of spearmen who would not retreat. Facing this cold-blooded and ruthless Ming Army spearmen who fought like puppets, it was terrifying. Memories flooded into the hearts of all Zhenyi War Armors.
Finally, Xianglan Banner pulled a dozen Franco machine guns from the rear formation. The soldiers pushed the artillery to the front of the Ming army's formation. The muzzles of the dozen Franco machine guns were pointed at the last hundred pikemen who had formed a stubborn resistance. , in the muffled thunderous sound of artillery, the Changpai, Palladium, spears, wolves, and the bodies of the Zhejiang soldiers were all shattered into pieces...
Everyone learned from the mouths of these two horsemen that Lieutenant General Li Ketai of Tieling died heroically in battle. Before his death, he lit tung oil in the warehouse. A team of Xianglan Banner Zhenyi rushed up to capture him alive, and were engulfed in the fire along with Lieutenant General Li.
The whereabouts of North Korean deputy general Jin Yinghe are unknown. The cavalry soldiers only know that after the fall of Tunbao, he led the remaining archers to break out and disappeared.
As for how many men and horses Xianglan Banner lost, no one can say clearly.
The Hou Jin Dynasty paid great attention to their own corpses in the war. Military regulations stipulated that if soldiers transported the corpses of their companions home, they could get half of the property in the name of the deceased.
This is also the reason why in the later wars of the Ming and Jin (Qing), the battle loss ratio between the Ming and Jin (Qing) was astonishing. The soldiers of the later Jin often won great victories and transported their own bodies back, giving people the illusion of extremely low casualties.
Yang Hao looked up at the crowd and his eyes fell on Marin. As the organizer of the Kaiyuan battle, General Ma was also the nominal commander. Although last time in Saarhu, General Ma had deceived Mr. Jinglue. Yeah, but now Yang Hao still trusts him quite a bit.
Marin's impression of the Hou Jin Army has always stayed on the Saarhu battlefield.
The endless killing of Jiannu's dead soldiers rushed forward like waves to attack the formation until their own side collapsed.
"Master Jinglue, Li Ketai is a veteran general from Liaodong. The three thousand Ming troops he brought this time, most of whom were elite troops from Xuanda, only managed to resist for half a day! Could it be that there is still some craftsmanship in the fortress?"
From Saarhu to Jinganbao, two consecutive disastrous defeats shocked the commander-in-chief Ma Lin. His former elegant demeanor was long gone. He looked at Yang Hao blankly and spoke incoherently.
Yang Hao glanced at him and felt that he was going to be tricked to death by the armchair general Ma Bing again this time. He now had no hope for his official career. The food and salary promised by the emperor had not been delivered yet. It seemed that in the eyes of the court, he was now dead. Became an abandoned child.
"Four banners have come to build the Eight Banners of the Slaves, and their troops are more powerful than when we fought against Jun Song. It seems that the Slave Chiefs are bound to win the battle. You young people will also die here together with me! What a pity!"
Ma Lin shook his head. Yu Chengming and Shi Fengming looked at each other and shook their heads silently. As Liao soldiers, they had fought against the Jurchens for many years and had never been afraid. Of course, they were all during Li Chengliang's lifetime.
In just a few years, the Jianzhou Jurchen tribe, which was once beaten, became invincible and an invincible powerful army in the world.
This made the general of Liao Zhen, who had fought against Jiannu before and felt nothing like this, a bit baffled.
Hearing Master Jinglue say such depressing words, the two of them were naturally dissatisfied. Although Yang Hao was a noble man and a lowly military man, Yang Hao was already a dying man in everyone's eyes, so the generals naturally did not take him seriously. Yu Cheng became famous and resentful. road:
"The last general and General Yu are both Liao people. After the battle of Sarhu, the people in Guanzhong said that the Liao people surrendered and became slaves and harmed the southern soldiers. Others can't control it. I, Shi Fengming, will never surrender to the Tatars, and I will never do anything like that. Servant! The worst he can do is die in battle in Kaiyuan! Let the world know that Liao Town is not deserted!"
"The Tatars were lucky enough to occupy Jingan Fort. It would not be a problem if they gave Li Kete some more furlong machines and allowed him to hold on for three days!"
Yang Hao laughed coldly, coughed violently for a while, and then said to everyone:
"There is not enough gunpowder. There is only enough gunpowder in Kaiyuan City for five days. If you give it to Jingan Fort, after three days, the Tatars continue to attack the city. You will use stones to fire?"
After the middle period of Wanli, Liaodong neglected its war preparations. Li Chengliang reported victories to the court every year, but the Jurchens became stronger and stronger.
It seems that Liao Town has never been prepared to meet the Jianzhou Jurchens, so they spared no effort in preparing military equipment, and they did it perfunctorily. It is not known where the money issued by the imperial court every year for the purchase of gunpowder ended up.
After the battle of Saarhu, Mr. Yang Hao thought of going to the arsenal to take stock of his belongings. It didn't matter if he didn't take a look, but he was shocked when he saw it.
The gunpowder hoarded in Shenyang City was only 5,000 kilograms, and the weapons, armor, bows, and arrows were seriously inconsistent with the account books. You must know that most of the entire Liaodong's armaments were in Shenyang City.
How can we fight without gunpowder?
He quickly asked the capital for help, but before the Tang report was sent out, Saarhu was defeated miserably, and nothing happened after that.
At that time, the Ministry of War insisted that the slave thieves did not have the ability to attack Liaoshen, so they asked the governor to be calm and not to use all kinds of soldiers.
Moreover, the imperial court's energy was limited, so it should still focus on raising food and wages for Liao Town.
To put it more simply, gunpowder is inconvenient to circulate, so it is better to distribute money and grain, so that everyone can easily share the money, right?
After the relationship between Liu Zhaosun and Liao Zhen deteriorated, five thousand kilograms of gunpowder, even one kilogram or two, would not leave Shenyang.
This is true for Shenyang, let alone Kaiyuan. Liu Zhaosun personally inspected the weapons and equipment a few days ago and found that the gunpowder available in the city was only worth two thousand kilograms.
This reserve is really too small, which is the amount of gunpowder consumed by two thousand gunmen in one battle.
Not to mention that there are more than 60 artillery guns placed on the Kaiyuan City Tower. These artillery pieces all require the use of gunpowder.
The soldiers are fierce and dangerous, and war preparations are lacking. It is impossible to stop the tens of thousands of Houjin troops with their enthusiasm alone.
After listening to Master Jinglue's long speech about the military difficulties in Liao Town, and hearing that Kaiyuan's gunpowder only had 2,000 kilograms, several generals couldn't help but sigh.
These generals chose to fight the Tatars to the end and died in Kaiyuan.
Now it seems that such a choice does not mean much, and it cannot even cause significant damage to the Houjin soldiers.
If Amin insisted on using the Franchise to continuously bombard the city wall, what force could the Ming army use to fight back?
Shi Fengming was a native general of Liao Town and currently serving as a guerrilla in Tieling. After listening to Yang Hao's analysis, he sighed slightly:
"The artillerymen under Jiannu's command are all under Gong Suinian. They are quite skilled in operating artillery. Back in Saerhu, our Northern Route Army's shield formation was penetrated by these artillery pieces."
Shi Fengmingming, who was tall and majestic, recalled the Battle of Saarhu. His face turned pale, and fear from the bottom of his heart surged into the heart of the Liao Town general.
In Shangjian Cliff, he witnessed with his own eyes the confrontation between the 20,000-strong Marin tribe and Zhenghongqi. Bagara put a heavy knife on the necks of the captured Juniper artillerymen, forcing them to fire at the Ming army's formation.
The artillery shells fell in the crowd of Xuanda soldiers and soldiers, splashing blood mist. After one round of shelling, the Ming army with high morale collapsed and scrambled to escape. They were randomly hacked by the Zhenyi armor soldiers who rushed down from the heights... ···
The atmosphere in the hall was extremely depressed, the faces of the generals were lifeless, and the morale of the soldiers was extremely low.
Liu Zhaosun looked at Qiao Yiqi beside him and motioned for him to say something first, but Qiao Yiqi just shook his head. Apparently he had no solution to the Ming army's predicament.
If this continues, the Jin army cannot attack, and the Kaiyuan Ming army itself will have been defeated.
Thinking of this, Liu Zhaosun gritted his teeth and decided to tell all his battle plans to give these generals some confidence. Otherwise, how could he continue to fight this battle?
Just as he was about to speak, Pei Dahu, who was waiting outside the hall, suddenly rushed in and said loudly:
"Master Manager! Master General Soldier! Master Guards! The imperial envoy has arrived,"
All the generals in the hall looked at each other in confusion. Yang Hao had a complicated expression in his eyes, and his fingers like dead branches were clasping at the pear tree. I don't know if Master Jinglue was happy or scared at the moment.
A bright color flashed in Marin's cloudy eyes. He raised his head and looked at Liu Zhaosun meaningfully. Other generals around him also looked at Liu Zhaosun. Everyone knew that this imperial edict must be related to the young garrison master.
Yang Hao quickly ordered the generals to tidy up the army, clean up the chainmail and cotton armor, and asked several servants to prepare an incense table to prepare for the imperial envoy.
A group of warriors immediately became busy. Except for General Ma, everyone else saw the imperial envoy for the first time. They were nervous and a little curious.
Liu Zhaosun packed up his mandarin duck war coat and wiped his face with his red sleeves. The blood stains on his face became slightly lighter. The blood stains were left by several Hou Jin spies. In the past few days, Liu Zhaosun was not only busy commanding and arranging the city defense, but also He takes his servants with him every day to catch spies in the city, and has killed more than a dozen Bao Yi.
He also wanted to ask who the father-in-law was, but Pei Dahu had already gone out to greet him.
Yang Hao's beard trembled slightly, his eyes closed and he didn't know what he was reciting silently.
Liu Zhaosun seemed calm and relaxed, and he even couldn't help humming a ditty he often sang before traveling through time.
These days, the stone in his heart finally fell. It seems that the military success of defeating Xianglan Banner last time has been achieved.
The imperial court finally remembered the young leader who had made meritorious service, and the old emperor personally arranged for the eunuch to come to Liaodong to announce the decree, which made Liu Zhaosun feel a little flattered.
I don't know what kind of official title I should give myself. Is it really a guard?
It is said that this imperial envoy is very courageous. Now that Jiannu is about to attack Kaiyuan, slave thieves and spies are all over Liao and Shen, rumors are flying all over the sky, and there are various versions. The most exaggerated is that Hou Jin has united with the Japanese country, marched by sea and land, and destroyed the Ming Dynasty. Later, the two sides used the Yangtze River as the boundary to divide the Ming Dynasty.
People in Liaodong are panic-stricken. At this time, there are still people who dare to go north and come to Kaiyuan to test their merits and announce the decree. They must not be ordinary people.
When Liu Zhaosun was thinking wildly, the door creaked, and the ferocious-looking Pei Dahu tried his best to smile, bared his teeth and respectfully invited the imperial envoy to come in.
A middle-aged eunuch wearing a black gauze strolled into the living room. His steps were flying, not as weak as ordinary eunuchs.
He glanced sharply at the generals in the hall, and finally his eyes fell on Yang Hao who was sitting on an armchair. He saw that Mr. Jinglue seemed to have some disabilities in his legs and feet, and it was hard to say anything else.
"How is Mr. Yang doing lately? Your Majesty is thinking about you very much!"
He took two steps forward and walked quickly to Yang Hao. Yang Hao knew that this father-in-law must be a popular person around the emperor, and he must not provoke him easily now.
"It's just the occasional cold weather. Thank you for your concern, father-in-law."
The eunuch didn't understand Yang Hao's nonsense. He turned around and looked at Liu Zhaosun, who was tall and handsome, and said with a smile:
"This is Liu Wei's adopted son, Liu Zhaosun, who killed Jiannu!",
Just as Liu Zhaosun was about to speak, he heard the eunuch continue:
"The heads of the slave thieves captured by your department have been inspected by the Ministry of War. They are all the heads of the real barbarians! Mr. Liu, you have made such great contributions to the Ming Dynasty. The emperor asked our family to reward you!"
The guard master, who had been called back for half a month, was suddenly called back to the commander. He was a little uncomfortable, but he still looked kind and cheerful. He looked at the eunuch respectfully and said kindly:
"The Emperor's favor is so great. In the end, I will definitely work hard to kill the thieves and live up to the Emperor's favor. I wonder what angels are called?"
The eunuch's expression remained unchanged, his eyes were focused, and he looked at Liu Zhaosun quietly. He nodded slightly and whispered something to the little eunuch behind him.
But the eunuch took two steps forward and stared at Liu Zhaosun for a while, which made Liu Zhaosun, a grown man, a little shy.
"Since ancient times, heroes have been born in young men. You, boss, are so majestic and majestic in appearance! You are much more handsome than those four young masters in the capital! Our name is Wei Zhongxian, and he just came from the Xixin Department! Our family Let’s declare the decree first!”
