A low croaking sound echoed throughout the western Liaoning wilderness.
The endless black flags merged into a dark cloud that covered the sky and the sun.
The black dragon, tiger and unicorn inlaid on the Kaiyuan military flag rush towards Ningyuan Gucheng from all directions, giving people a sense of oppression of doomsday.
On February 26, the first year of Chongzhen, the majestic and powerful golden drums of the Chinese army beat in the suburbs of Ningyuan.
After two days of rapid march, Liu Zhaosun led his 450,000 soldiers and civilians from Wanghai Temple in Huludao to Ningyuan City.
Wang Zengbin led the cavalry battalion to quickly cross the Shanhaiguan Highway and drive some of the border troops who went south for reinforcements back to Shanhaiguan.
The cavalry battalion assisted the Guards in guarding here and intercepted any reinforcements coming from the pass.
Du Du, the leader of Jianzhou who arrived early, led 1,500 Jianzhou cavalry to patrol the west side of Ningyuan to guard against Dou Chenggong and Gao Rusong cavalry from Liao Zhen who were active in the west to prevent them from making a surprise attack.
Burhanggu was arranged to set up defenses in the eastern part of Ningyuan. Xicheng Baylor led two thousand Haixi elite cavalry to guard the east wing of the battlefield to deal with Zhu Mei, Ma Guang and other troops in the east.
The 400,000 strong men accompanying the army, excluding some of them to transport grain and supplies and assist in peripheral defenses, left a total of 150,000 people who could be used to attack the city.
Under the command of more than a thousand Zhenfu soldiers, 150,000 strong men were assigned to various battlefields according to predetermined plans.
Forty thousand people were responsible for pushing the cart to Ningyuan City.
Thirty thousand men worked to build the earthen wall at the west gate.
Twenty thousand people dug tunnels starting from the moat.
The remaining 60,000 people will advance towards the city wall with the shield chariot. After arriving at the city wall, they will use various climbing tools to attack Ningyuan City from all directions.
Two guards and town soldiers supervise the formation behind 150,000 people, acting as supervisors of the battle team.
According to the pre-plan, they would wait for the people in front to consume a wave of defenders before launching the final attack on Ningyuan.
Director Xie once again reminded Marquis Ping Liao that they had worked hard to plunder food and grass from Guangning, Jinzhou and other places. They had exhausted their budget, but the food was only enough for 450,000 people for ten days, not counting the refugees who continued to join.
If Ningyuan cannot be captured within ten days, more than 400,000 people will collapse on their own.
Liu Zhaosun, who was dressed in military uniform, listened to the report of the civil affairs official and said disapprovingly:
"Aren't you asking merchants to transport grain to western Liaoning in exchange for salt? They don't have any grain either?"
Xie Yang touched the top of his head, hesitated for a moment, and then said:
"Marquis Ping Liao, you don't know something. Right now, Kaiyuan's army is sweeping across western Liaoning. The fifteen or sixteen cities in the past have suddenly become the seventy or eighty cities now. There are also big cities like Liao, Shen, Guang, and Jin. The original There are not enough civil affairs officers at all, not to mention the war soldiers, town soldiers, and Fu soldiers, who have all been transferred to Ningyuan. Liao Town has been destroyed, and Kaiyuan has no energy to manage it. Bandits are rampant everywhere, let alone merchants transporting goods, even walking in broad daylight. They will be robbed by gangsters. In other words, no one in our Kaiyuan Army dares to rob, and we cannot send tens of thousands of troops to protect those businessmen..."
Liu Zhaosun's face gradually became gloomy. He was silent for a while and sighed:
"You can't have your cake and eat it too. If the army sweeps across the world, there will inevitably be a mixture of fish and dragons. The local government will not be able to control it, and all kinds of monsters and monsters will jump out. There is no way. I left too fast and did not have time to digest it slowly. But, no We can’t even leave. In the future, there will be another rectification movement.”
When Liu Zhaosun finished speaking, he suddenly looked up at Xie Yang, looking at his gradually balding forehead, and comforted him:
"Don't worry, I will conquer Ningyuan within ten days!"
On the same day, Marquis Ping Liao let the army rest for a while under Ningyuan City, and the next day, he released five Liaoxi prisoners into the city.
The prisoners carried a message, the content of which was roughly as follows:
"The Marquis of Ping Liao raised a million troops to capture Ningyuan. It was not a place that was greedy for size. It was just to avenge the innocent deaths of the Liao people in Kaiyuan! For my beloved wife, for my foster father, and for the millions of foreign soldiers! I hate this city. , I am determined to get it! I am also determined to get the head of Zu Dashou! The Liao people are pitiful, and the guest army is innocent. Anyone in the army, civilians, gentry, or anyone in Ningyuan City who can kill Zu Dashou and bring his head to sacrifice, I will worship him as the general of Kaiyuan. The soldiers will be rewarded with ten thousand taels of silver, thousands of hectares of fertile land, and three avoidances of death! I will report to the Emperor to tell you about your contribution to the whole Liao Dynasty, and grant you a high nobility. With one thought, all jade and stone will be burned, and no chickens or dogs will be left behind! Be careful! Be careful!"
Zu Dashou was furious when he heard this and beheaded all the prisoners to sacrifice to the flag.
However, the message has spread in the city, and people's hearts are floating.
~~~~·
The first day of March in the first year of Chongzhen.
Three thousand large carriages wrapped in rawhide and covered with Qinshui quilts were like a rolling torrent, rolling over the wasteland of western Liaoning with indomitable momentum, approaching Ningyuan City from all sides.
The carriage is nine feet high and made of pear and birch wood. It is shaped like a sedan with four large wooden wheels underneath. The front guard and roof are eight inches thick.
The top layer of cowhide is covered with soil and Qinshui quilt, which is impervious to water and fire. The front guard plate of the shield car is fixed with a movable pin. Sand and soil are added to the carriage. If ordinary artillery shells hit it, the guard plate will be able to unload the force. The sand and gravel behind the guard plate can act as a buffer to protect the auxiliary soldiers behind the shield car.
Groups of Jianzhou hunters and Mongolian herdsmen followed the huge cart. They held up their bows and looked warily towards the city in the distance.
Behind the foreign shooters were groups of refugees from western Liaoning, pushing small carts carrying soil, following behind the car body like tadpoles.
Under the cover of carts, more than 60,000 tadpoles approached the city wall from all directions. They carried crude weapons such as wooden sticks and knives in their hands, and each of them also carried a cloth bag containing earth and rocks. When he walked to the edge of the ditch and horse pit, he poured the earth and rocks into it.
In this way, the fortifications outside the city were filled with tadpoles at a speed visible to the naked eye.
At the front of the carriage, teams of sword and shield soldiers held up shields and carried ash buckets to erase the shelling marks left by the Ningyuan gunners in advance one by one.
Some of these signs are stones stained with white ash, some are circles drawn with white ash, and some are tree stumps with their trunks cut off.
When the carriage moves to the corresponding position, the red-coated cannon with the corresponding range will accurately bombard it.
~~~~~
The east of Ningyuan City is filled with smoke, soldiers and armor are like clouds under Hongluo Mountain, and Kaiyuan's army is like wilderness and weeds, covering the land of western Liaoning.
On the front line in front of the moat, it was like being in a sky shrouded in clouds and mist, with thunderous artillery roars constantly ringing around.
A flashing orange-red cannon flame penetrated the thick fog and appeared in the field of vision of hundreds of thousands of people.
Forty Hongyi cannons seized from Liaoshen, Guangning, Jinzhou and other places roared repeatedly, sending iron balls weighing twelve pounds into the air and hitting the Ningyuan city wall one and a half miles away.
The iron ball smashed the bricks on the outer layer of the city wall, and the bricks made a mind-numbing cracking sound. The bricks on the outer layer of the city wall were shattered, revealing the black rammed earth underneath.
After the bricks fell from the sky, the solid cannonballs continued to bounce between the city wall and the crenellations, and fell into the defenders who were shooting arrows and firing guns, splashing blood.
The Hongyi artillery set up at the top of Ningyuan City did not lose the slightest, and immediately retaliated and bombarded the Kaiyuan army.
Under the command of twenty-five Franconian instructors, the Ming army gunners returned the iron balls several times that of the enemy.
Hundreds of red-coated cannons roared in unison, and iron bullets weighing six to twelve pounds slanted down like a meteor shower, covering a mile in front of the city wall.
You don't even need to aim, every time the iron ball hits the ground, it can hit the enemy formation that is as dense as a swarm of ants.
"Master Ba, the Kaiyuan bandits are brave and fearless of death. Let more of them die this time!"
"Mr. Luo Li, their cart can actually block the cannonballs of the Little Red Coat Cannon. They filled the cart with sand, thus reducing the damage caused by the ricocheting of the shells. Smart Easterners, it really opened my eyes!"
Ningyuan North Gate City Head.
A blond and blue-eyed Franji instructor looked at the approaching wave of carriages ahead with a worried look on his face.
Next to the moat, the front block of a cart was smashed by an iron ball, revealing the black sand inside. The Mongols behind the cart dispersed in a rush.
This Mr. Ba was one of the twenty-five French instructors hired by Zu Dashou from Macau with huge sums of money.
His real name was Barbras Brady. The soldiers couldn't remember this name, so they called him Lord Barbrady.
Babra knew a little bit of Chinese. He had been in western Liaoning for two months and had a close relationship with the Liao Town gunner named Luo Li.
"Master Ba, our cannons are powerful. The Kaiyuan thieves are just here to die, no matter how many people there are! If the little red cannon can't be broken, use the big red cannon! Look at this!"
Master Ba was still going to speak, but Luo Li had already inserted a red-hot iron rod into the medicine pool.
The gunpowder burned, and a thick white smoke rose around it.
The two gunners quickly took a few steps back and hid behind the crenel, watching the densely squirming wave of carriages a mile away.
~~~~
"Whoosh!"
An eight-pound Hongyi artillery shell passed over the Ningyuan moat like a ball of lightning, streaked a low trajectory in the air, and crashed into the densely packed group of carriages in front of the moat.
Like a pebble making a splash in the overwhelming tide of carriages.
There was a loud bang, and the iron bullet slammed into the front fender of an advancing truck. The iron ball was blocked by the eight-inch thick wooden board.
The slowly squirming carriage seemed to have been suddenly pushed from the front by a giant. The huge and heavy body shook slightly, and the body of the carriage took half a step back like a toad. The eight-inch thick guard plate could not stop the iron ball from violently impacting it, and it burst. Countless splinters of wood shot out, shooting around like a hail of arrows.
A dozen Mongolian herdsmen who were pushing the cart behind them let out screams that were not like human voices. Their eyes and faces were stabbed by flying sawdust, and they rolled around on the ground with their bodies covered.
Immediately after the sound of artillery, several fire soldiers carrying stretchers rushed up from the carriage behind. They hurriedly bandaged the wounds of the wounded, and then used the stretchers to carry the breathing Mongolians down.
More Hongyi artillery at the top of the city joined the bombardment. As the target got closer, more carts were hit by artillery shells. Fortunately, not all artillery can fire eight-pound iron balls. The eight-inch-thick rawhide planks and thick mud are enough to withstand most artillery bombardments.
The cart that followed from behind ran over the dead body in front of it and continued to move forward without stopping at all.
After losing 300 carriages and more than 2,000 foreign troops, the remaining 2,700 finally arrived at the moat and began a more brutal siege.
Under the command of the Kaiyuan Auxiliary Army, 20,000 refugees from western Liaoning quickly came to the moat carrying heavy timber. Countless people stepped on the icy cold river water, pushed the timber into the water, and quickly built a pontoon bridge.
One thousand Mongolian archers and 500 Korean gunmen provided cover.
After several rounds of bombardment, the iron red barbarian cannon set up at the top of the city finally became extremely hot and had to be stopped to dissipate heat.
The Ming army artillerymen retreated from behind the crenels one after another, and two thousand Liaozhen soldiers armed with muskets and large bows appeared behind the crenellations, aiming at the Kaiyuan civilians and auxiliary soldiers on the moat half a mile away and shooting fiercely.
"Don't let the original thieves build a bridge! Kill them all! Quick!"
Zu Dashou's servants howled loudly at the top of Wengcheng.
They used their scabbards and wooden sticks to chop and beat the cowering archers and musketry soldiers behind the crenellations, urging them to shoot arrows and fire muskets to attack the Kaiyuan army on the moat.
~~~
On the east gate of the moat, under the cover of hundreds of trucks, the Liao people who crossed the moat began to dig hard with shovels and picks.
Like groundhogs, they dug tirelessly, and soon hundreds of large holes measuring one foot square appeared around them.
More and more people from the Liao Dynasty came to the entrance of the cave. Some were responsible for digging, while others were responsible for transporting soil. Every half a day after burning incense, there were people taking turns.
The originally flat river bank soon became bumpy and bumpy, and the pockmarked faces on the river beach looked as if they had just been bombarded by a million divine fire crows.
Under the anxious gaze of the city's defenders, hundreds of tunnels soon approached their feet from different directions.
~~~~~~~~~~
Three hundred steps away from the entrance of the tunnel, closer to the city wall, densely packed like a colony of strong men, under the command of countless civil officials, they picked up pots of freshly boiled water with buckets and poured it into a large hard open space. on the ground.
The hard ground soon became soft. Thousands of people, under the command of a group of plasterers, dug dozens of mud pits next to the open space and began to carry water and stir. In the distance, oxen and horse-drawn carriages transported bricks and stones from surrounding villages and towns to the open space.
The craftsmen shouted loud and earth-shattering chants and used wooden piles to re-tamp the soft ground. The refugees picked up bricks and stones from all directions and put them into the foundation. Oxen-horses pulled the stones and rolled them on the bricks and stones.
More than 20,000 people worked together to build the earth wall that overlooked the entire city of Ningyuan.
~~~~
Liu Zhaosun looked at the endless black dots in front of him, at the soldiers and civilians running back and forth like a colony of ants, and thought to himself:
"God has opened his eyes, don't let Nurhachi's fate happen again today."
History is always strikingly similar.
The Ningyuan defense line run by Wang Zai and Zu Dashou was almost identical to the original history of Yuan Chonghuan's defense of Ningyuan.
Historically, Yuan Chonghuan defied all opinions and defended Ningyuan, winning a great victory in Ningyuan.
The Ningyuan City in front of us must be stronger, with strong troops and sufficient food and grass. Facing this strong city, can it be captured within ten days?
"This officer is not Nurhaci, and the Kaiyuan Army is not the Eight Banners of Houjin!"
Liu Zhaosun's eyes were firm.
At this time, Buerhanggu and Dudu sent white-armored soldiers to the city to challenge Ping Liaohou.
The two Jurchen leaders requested that their cavalry be allowed to break through on both wings to cover the warriors' attack on the city!
This time Jianzhou and Haixi were recruited to assist in the battle, and Dudu and Burhanggu were very active.
Not only did they send troops to Ningyuan, they also brought a large amount of food supplies.
The two foreign leaders knew that this was a good opportunity to show their loyalty to Ping Liaohou.
The performance of the Jurchens in the Ningyuan War will affect the attitude of Pingliao Marquis towards their tribe in the next few years.
While Ping Liao Hou was still attacking Guangning, the elite cavalry from Haixi and Jianzhou had arrived in Ningyuan and began to strangle Liao Zhen Ye Bushou.
Jianzhou Haixi's elite cavalry, both men and horses are covered with two layers of ring armor, and are called "Iron Heads". It acts as a sharp knife on the battlefield. In field battles, when dealing with enemy infantry, the Iron Head usually adopts two-wing attack to cover up the enemy's infantry.
However, this kind of heavy cavalry was vulnerable to the Hongyi artillery. Letting them attack the city would not make much sense except increasing casualties.
Of course Liu Zhaosun would not let these foreigners die in vain.
"No need, let your leaders guard the outskirts of Ningyuan. The siege will rely on infantry. Look, the Liao people in front have begun to cross the river and will attack the city soon."
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