On the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month, the Ming army officially began to attack the city.
There are seven gates in the whole city of Pyongyang, Datong and Changqing gates in the east, Lumen and Hanzhi gates in the south, Dongfang and Qixing gates in the west, and Mitai gate in the north.
Among them, there is a highland called Mudan Peak at the north gate, which is very dangerous.
Li Chengliang ordered the deputy general Wu Weizhong to lead the southern troops to attack Mudanfeng, and ordered Yang Huan and Yang Shaoxun to lead the northern troops to attack the West Qixing Gate and Xipong Gate. Li Rusong led the northern troops to pretend to attack Lumen in the south, leaving only the east side for the North Korean defenders to retreat.
Wu Weizhong led the southern troops to approach the north gate first.
Although Zheng Che was a civil servant, he also knew that the North Gate was of vital importance, so he deployed heavy troops at the North Gate, prepared a large number of thunderbolts and caltrop cannons and other firearms introduced from the Ming Dynasty, and came here personally to supervise the battle.
The Ming army's southern soldiers had already pushed out the side carriages.
Sidecars with a height of more than nine feet and three-level platforms form a liaison chariot wall.
The back wall of the carriage is densely covered with cannons and muskets. The upper layer is the muzzle, the lower layer is the musket muzzle, and the top is covered with linoleum cowhide.
Then, behind the car wall were rocket cars and light cars.
Within each carriage wall, there are dense forests of five-square flags and various types of troops such as cavalry, firearmsmen, rattan players, etc., followed by rows of carriage walls like a moving castle, slowly approaching the north gate. .
The sound of the crunching wheels on the ground became more and more rapid, and the whole earth seemed to be shaking slightly for a moment.
North Korean guard Zheng Che, although he was still watching from a distance, could not help but clenched his fists and began to sweat on his forehead, because it was the first time for him to see such a large-scale vehicle formation.
Even Li Chengliang looked north at this time and saw the scene of the Southern troops going out. He couldn't help but be startled for a moment, and said to himself: "How much money will this cost?"
Therefore, Li Chengliang ordered Li Rushe: "Ask General Wu whether he needs Korean civilians to fill the trenches for them at the north gate!"
Li Rushe said yes and rode to the north.
"Report! The car formation is eight hundred steps away from the north gate!"
"Report! The car formation is five hundred steps away from the north gate!"
"Report! The car formation is three hundred steps away from the north gate!"
At this time, in the north, the southern army commander Wu Weizhong was in his Chinese army chariot. He was still listening to his own soldiers reporting on the progress of the chariot formation and reading the "Book of Han" without any expression. When there were only three hundred steps to the door, he put down the Book of Han and said:
"Issuing the order, after advancing another hundred steps, we will stop advancing!"
At this time, Li Chengliang sent Li Rushu, who knelt down and asked Wu Weizhong: "I am here to ask Commander Wu on the order of General Master Jun, does the North Gate need Korean men to help fill the trench first?"
"Please come back to Uncle Ning Yuan. We don't need civilians at the north gate."
Because manipulating artillery, steering chariots, and coordinating the various arms were beyond the capabilities of civilians, Wu Weizhong rejected Li Chengliang's kindness and continued reading.
After Li Ruzhen said yes, he mounted his horse and went back to report to Li Chengliang.
Li Chengliang said nothing after hearing this, and said to Li Rusong, Yang Huan and other Liaodong generals: "In that case, all the organized Korean civilians will be used by you to attack the city. Let them fill trenches and transport ladders, and lead camels for the gunners. To guard against them Run away, remember to stay home to supervise the battle!"
"clear!"
Li Rusong replied.
Therefore, not long after the southern troops set off, Li Rusong and other Liaodong cavalry drove the Korean militia organized by father, son, brothers, masters and servants in front, with bows and horses behind, and also attacked various cities in Pyongyang.
Different from the southern soldiers, the northern soldiers of the Liaodong and other Ming armies were simply equipped and valued courage and courage. Therefore, they did not like to use equipment such as blunderbuss and chariots. Instead, they only liked to use one or three eyed blunderbuss, bows and arrows, and a waist knife, while wearing heavy armor. .
It's just that when the northern soldiers rush to attack the stronghold, father, son, brothers, master and servants will rush to the stronghold together. That is to say, the leader of one side will often lead the army with his servants.
Nowadays, when the Ming Dynasty is strong, the generals of the Northern Army especially like to fight in person. Therefore, in the Battle of Biti Pavilion during the Wanli Korean War in history, Li Rusong and other brothers fought in this way.
Even during the Tianqi years, when Xiong Tingbi was conducting military campaigns in Liaodong, and before Nurhaci had defeated the Liaodong frontier army, the generals and generals of the Liaodong frontier army still loved to lead their servants into battle in person, and compared with the Eighth Army during the Songjin Battle in the Chongzhen period. The performance of the general soldiers is very different.
The same was true at this time. Under the bright sunshine after the heavy snow stopped, Li Rusong led Ma Shilong and other Northern soldiers and their servants to slowly increase their speed. When they increased their speed, they took out their heavy bows and waited for the organized Korean people. Ding quickly filled in the trench, and then lined up on the city wall to shoot and attack the city.
Naturally, the Ming army would not let the Korean people being rescued eat in vain.
During this period, Li Chengliang had already arranged for his servants to organize these Korean civilians. After building ladders, ramming logs, trench vehicles and other siege equipment, they were responsible for filling trenches and lifting ladders.
At this time, these Korean civilians were being supervised by Li Chengliang and other servants of the Liaodong generals, carrying ladders or pushing trench carts and running quickly at the front.
These Korean civilians had to run, because if anyone was slower, the servants behind would shoot him decisively, or chase him on horseback and chop him to the ground directly.
The North Korean civilians did not expect that the Ming army who had rescued them before would suddenly be so ruthless, but now they could no longer escape, so they could only grit their teeth and insist on rushing towards the city gate.
When the Korean defenders saw these Korean civilians, they had no regard for their compatriots. They only fired arrows and blunderbuss at these civilians under the command of the defender.
After all, it's not like these North Korean defenders haven't killed good people and taken credit for their crimes in the past, nor have they ever killed and plundered ordinary people.
In their eyes, the only difference between these common people and the Ming people is that these common people are slaves that they can directly bully and exploit.
Therefore, these defenders were not merciless in killing these Korean civilians.
As a result, a large number of Korean civilians were shot and killed in large numbers by the Korean soldiers and fell to death in the trenches.
But this did not stop the forward momentum generated by the Korean people under the threat of the Liaodong cavalry's swords and arrows. As a result, these Korean people continued to push the trench trucks to the edge of the trench and began to fill the trench.
The trench-crossing vehicles were therefore able to continuously spit out mud and rocks to fill the trenches.
At this time, Li Rusong saw that a trench in Nanlumen had been filled up enough for war horses to pass. He immediately drove his horses to the outskirts of the city, drew his bow and fired continuously at the defenders on the city, leaving many Korean soldiers defending the city unable to do so. Dare to fire cannons again, or just dare to fire cannons while hiding behind the battlements.
The fire blunderbuss used by North Korea are still the front-loaded sky-shaped blunderbuss and earth-shaped blunderbuss used only in the early Ming Dynasty. Their range is only ten or twenty steps, and they cannot break armor at a distance. The same is true for artillery, which is also the technical level of the Hongwu and Yongle years of the Ming Dynasty. The shooting range is only about seventy steps, so the shooting range is naturally even worse.
Therefore, not to mention that many Korean soldiers did not dare to fight due to the long period of peace. Even if they dared to fight, they would only pose a limited threat to the Ming army, allowing Li Rusong and other Liaodong cavalry to roam outside the city at will.
At the same time, the Korean soldiers carrying the ladder behind them also lifted the ladder up under the supervision of Li Chengliang's family in Liaodong, and hooked the ladder to the city while Li Rusong and other Liaodong cavalry and the female virgins they hired were suppressing the court soldiers in the city. superior.
"dismount!"
The Liaodong cavalry under Li Rusong, who was responsible for the first wave of siege, did not follow their generals on the parade. They only lined up outside the trench on horseback. When they saw the Korean soldiers setting up the ladder, they began to prepare to dismount and climb the ladder.
In fact, the Liaodong cavalry is not only capable of cavalry raids, but also can attack fortresses, because many Jurchens in Liaodong will form strongholds to protect themselves. If Li Chengliang wants to lead the Liaodong soldiers to force these Jurchens to be afraid of him, he must capture them. The capabilities of these villages.
Historically, Li Chengliang led an army to capture Gule Village, the main stronghold of Nurhachi's grandpa Wang Gaobu.
Ma Shilong, the commander in charge of the siege, shouted to his troops at this time, then dismounted with Zhang Guozhong and other men, pulled out the three-eyed musket from the horse, and stuffed an excessive amount of muskets and gunpowder.
Zhong Changdong, who was also under Ma Shilong's command, saw countless corpses and rivers of blood in the trench. At this moment, his heart was in his throat. He looked around unconsciously and suddenly saw a forest to the east, and was about to wait for a while. Just escape from the east.
He is very confident in his ability to escape.
Because, otherwise, he would not have easily escaped from Tielingwei and worked as a groom in a large family in Shenyang, and then would not have easily escaped back to Tielingwei.
"The boss has an order. Whoever reaches the city first will be rewarded with a hundred taels of silver!"
At this time, Ma Shilong suddenly shouted. After Zhong Changdong heard it, he quickly turned his head back. His eyes began to only stare at the ladder that was being hooked outward by the North Korean soldiers. He swallowed his saliva and murmured: "My Mom, it’s one hundred taels!”
The difference between Li Chengliang's and Qi Jiguang's methods of leading troops was not only that they placed more emphasis on bravery and advocating that the generals take the lead, but also that they would take advantage of the generals' servants' desire for wealth and reward them to boost morale.
"kill!"
At this time, Ma Shilong drew his sword first and shouted "kill", then Zhong Changdong rushed towards Lumen selflessly.
(End of chapter)
