Is the Li family's Liaodong cavalry strong? Of course strong. Traveling across Liao, Mongolia, and Manchuria for more than twenty years without a single defeat, if this is not strong, then what is?
But no matter how strong the Liaodong cavalry is, it is first and foremost a cavalry force. The key difference between cavalry and infantry is the war horse. If a cavalry does not have a war horse, what kind of cavalry is it?
The biggest problem for Li Chengliang's troops now is the war horses. grab, grab, grab
One characteristic of the city of Hetuala is that Nurhaci does not have many cavalry, so there are not enough stables in the city. To be precise, there is a serious shortage.
The garrison camp in Hetuala City was very spacious and could accommodate nearly 20,000 troops, but the stables prepared by Nurhachi could only house 2,000 war horses at most. The ratio of ten to one is roughly consistent with the ratio of infantry and cavalry in the Nurha Red Army, but this is obviously not enough for Li Chengliang.
Li Chengliang brought eight thousand cavalry. More than half of the cavalry consisted of one person and two horses. The scout battalion consisted of one person and three horses, and the artillery battalion was additionally included. The entire Li Chengliang's army brought about 20,000 war horses and slave horses.
Little Hetuala can’t raise 20,000 horses. What should we do? Of course, it is necessary to move them out of the city and raise them in temporary stables. You can't demolish the houses in the city to raise horses, right?
Although Li Chengliang never regarded ordinary Jurchens as human beings, Nurhachi was not an ordinary person after all, and there was still a close relationship between the two of them. Although Jue Chang'an and his son died under Li Chengliang's massacre, Li Chengliang believed that he was worthy of Nurhaci - if your father and ancestors are not dead, when will you inherit Jianzhou Zuowei? Besides, Uncle Li, I gave you the capital to raise an army.
Not only that, Nurhaci himself has a close relationship with Li Chengliang.
Written by Yao Ximeng: In the second year of Wanli, Li Chengliang's army attacked Wang Gao Village, and then killed Jue Chang'an and Tak Shi. "At that time, on the 15th and 16th years of the reign of Hachi, Li Cheng held Liang Mazu in his arms and asked for death. Cheng Liang Lianzhi , do not kill, but stay under the tent to protect him like an adopted son. He goes in and out of the capital, taking his slave Hachi with him every time."
Zodiac Zhou Zai: Tucker served as Li Chengliang's guide during his lifetime. After capturing Wang Gao, "he failed to reward him for his work. Ning Yuan looked at him as a human being. If he had any rebellion, he was taboo and attacked with fire. He set up counterattacks to burn him. When he died, Nu'er Hachi was four years old. Ningyuan could not cover up his achievements, so he cried with sorrow and caressed Nuer Hachi and his younger brother Su'er Hachi as children."
The Foolish Old Man on Tiao Shang wrote: Jue Changan and Tucker Shi were both Li Chengliang's guides, and died in the battle of Atai. At that time, "Nu'erha Chifang was young, and Li Chengliang looked down upon him."
According to the unofficial history of Haibin, Jue Chang'an and Tucker died together in the battle of Atai. "Hachi became a young animal in Liang Dynasty, and Hachi became a great leader in Liang Dynasty."
To sum up, the above records all record the same thing, but the specific plots are different: one is that Nurhachi’s father and ancestor died in Li Chengliang’s battle against Wang Gao, when Nurhachi was fifteen or sixteen years old, and he was adopted by Li Chengliang; It is said that Nurhachi's father, Takshi, was killed after helping Li Chengliang eliminate Wang Gao. Nurhaci was just four years old when Li Chengliang regarded him as his son; thirdly, Nurhachi's father and ancestor died together in the battle of Atai, and Li Chengliang regarded him as a young child. Nurhaci is like a child; the fourth theory and the third theory have the same meaning.
It is not surprising that there are so many different versions, because what the Ming Dynasty remembers comes from hearsay, and errors are inevitable. Moreover, since there are many rumors, it shows that everyone knows about it and it is not something made out of nothing. The question is which one is believable or neither is believable?
The verification process is rather complicated, and readers may not want to read it in detail, so here is the conclusion: when Nurhaci was sixteen years old, he experienced the tragic disaster of the entire village being destroyed at the home of his great-grandfather Wang Gao. Fortunately, because his grandfather and father served as Li Chengliang's guides, and he himself wisely "wrestled himself to death," Li Chengliang therefore "pityed him, did not kill him, and left him under his tent to protect him like an adopted son."
The record in this article is reasonable, authentic and credible. Therefore, it can be concluded that Nurhachi was indeed adopted by Li Chengliang when he was sixteen and lived under Li Chengliang's tent for a period of time.
As for how long he lived, there is no clear historical record found, but according to records, Nurhaci lost his mother when he was ten years old, and his stepmother was unkind to him. When he was nineteen years old, he instigated his father to separate from him, and "only gave him some household goods." "Due to his poverty, he had to make a living by himself, collecting hazelnuts, pine nuts, mushrooms and ginseng, and trading them in Fushun Horse Market. Judging from this record, he left Li Chengliang and returned to his own home before he was nineteen years old at the latest. After the separation, he began to make a living on his own.
In addition, some people question that all records about Nurhachi being adopted by Li Chengliang come from the Ming Dynasty and may not be credible. In fact, this is not a doubt, because the Tatar Qing history compilation style is well known, and the historical facts that once belonged to the Ming Dynasty are kept secret. Naturally, such things will not be recorded in the annals of history.
However, later generations can still find some traces. For example, there is such a record in the Xu Qianxue of the Kangxi Dynasty: "In the tenth year of Renwu, in the ninth month of autumn, on the first day of Xinhai, Taizu was like Ye Heguo, and it was difficult to escape Li Chengliang at that time. And run to me." This means that before 1582, Nurhachi was detained by Li Chengliang.
In short, from the research of historical data, it is certain that Nurhachi lived under Li Chengliang's tent for a period of time and had a close relationship with Li Chengliang.
Therefore, in Li Chengliang's view, his relationship with Nurhaci was already very close. After Gao Pragmatic began to obviously suppress Nurhachi, the latter became more and more active in moving closer to him, and showed no mercy at all in giving gifts and so on. If it weren't for the fact that this battle was His Majesty's decision, Li Chengliang had no intention of meeting Nurhachi in battle.
He felt that Nurhachi's previous invasion of Dong'e tribe could be exploited. His original intention was just to shock Nurhachi by himself, so that the emperor would understand his importance in Liaodong. Gao Pragmatic also shocked Nurhaci, but Nurhaci calmed down a little and immediately He started making small moves again, but Li Chengliang thought that if he came forward, Nurhaci would not dare to do it.
Gao Jingshi had three major achievements in Annan, Dingbei and Pingxi. In terms of great achievements and outstanding achievements, he was indeed the first among the generals since the founding of the country. Although Li Chengliang was not convinced, he could not say anything. However, if we only look at Liaodong, Li Chengliang really feels that he is not arrogant and pragmatic.
Battle of Zhongzuosuo, Battle of Panshanyi, Battle of Zhuoshan, Battle of Pinglubao, Battle of Hongtu City, Battle of Liaohe, Battle of Azhou, Battle of Fushun, Battle of Shenyang, Battle of Kaiyuan, Caozigu The battle of Gule Village...Destroy Wang Gao, kill Hai Hai, behead Ah Da, Ah Hai and so on...
In terms of any single battle, it is indeed not as good as the highly pragmatic Annan and Beipingxi, but this is also the result of the emperor's sacrifice to the Ancestral Temple. If added up, it is not much worse than the high pragmatism.
And what about Liaodong specifically? The Jurchen tribes called Li Chengliang Uncle Li, but no one called Gao Jingshi Uncle Gao - the places where Gao Jingshi was most famous were Annan and Tumote.
All in all, Li Chengliang felt that his prestige in front of Nurhachi was higher than that of Gao Pragmatic. Nurhachi, who was frightened by high pragmatism, appeared to be submissive on the surface, but still dared to do small things in private. But as long as Uncle Li takes action, Nurhachi will not dare to do it again. grab, grab, grab
Therefore, although he was wary of Nurhaci, it was only the lowest level of wariness. It was just a subconscious reaction of "people who are not of my race must have different hearts." Once several secret observations revealed that Nurhaci showed no signs of movement, he completely relaxed.
This relaxation caused big problems.
As soon as Nurhachi relaxed, there were more than a thousand Bagala soldiers in the city, and hundreds more were transferred from outside - Li Chengliang promised five hundred. In fact, Nurhachi had the favor and acquiescence of the other Li family army generals, and transferred I made at least eight hundred.
As a result, Nurhaci's troops in the city already exceeded 2,000, and they were all elite infantry.
At this time, although the Liaodong Army had more than 7,000 people in the city, only 2,000 had horses. This statement is still problematic, because the stables in Hetuala City are next to the garrison camp. When the Nurhachi rebellion began He blocked the road between the two places, unbridled the Ming army's horses and let them run around in the city.
It's not that Nurhaci didn't know that war horses were precious, but because he didn't have the manpower to collect and take care of the horses now, he simply let them run around in the city. Anyway, the city gate was closed and they couldn't escape.
In addition, the random running of the horses will also block the roads, preventing the Ming army from effectively gathering. This is a double-edged sword, but since Li Chengliang's troops are elite cavalry and Nurhachi's troops are elite infantry, of course, when no one has horses, of course Nurhachi is more able to act at will.
Moreover, once the Ming army was reluctant to part with their war horses and gathered their war horses in the messy city, it would waste more time and make it easier for Nurhachi to move.
This was the scene Li Chengliang and Li Rumei faced when they ran out of Nurhachibeile Mansion. The garrison camp was blazing with flames, and people in the stables were shouting and neighing. On the road, there were disheveled Ming troops running around, Jianzhou soldiers organized in formation to pursue them, and stray horses rushing and ramming.
Li Chengliang was experienced after all, and he knew the situation was out of control as soon as he saw this. If this was in the wild, it would actually be better. As long as you find a place with few people and high ground to set up your own banner, you can slowly gather the manpower and stabilize the morale of the army.
However, we are now in the city of Hetuala. The highest location is Baylor Mansion. However, this Baylor Mansion is definitely not a place to stay for a long time, because Nurhaci will definitely concentrate his forces to attack. Staying in Baylor Mansion at this time, there is no doubt that I will hold my head on a plate and present it to Nurhachi Xiaona.
Li Chengliang's only hope now is that his troops are in the city, and Nurhachi's troops are not superior. If he can gather his men, even if the cavalry is converted into infantry, there is still a chance to defeat Nurhachi.
However, Li Chengliang was "overworked" after all. There was one thing he didn't expect. Instead, Li Rumei reminded him very promptly: "Dad, we must first find a way to block the east and south gates, otherwise we will have to There is a serious problem!"
As mentioned before, Hetuara is surrounded by rivers to the west and north, so there are only two city gates on the east and south. In terms of ease of defense and difficulty of attack, it is only slightly worse than Haiyuan City, the hometown of the Huang family in Guangxi before moving to Annan.
Li Chengliang immediately understood that he was right. If the two southeastern city gates are not blocked now, Nurhaci will definitely open the city gates and let his troops outside the city in. By then, the situation will become even more irreversible.
So Li Rumei and his cronies escorted Li Chengliang to the east city gate and gathered some of Li Chengliang's servants who had stayed outside Baylor Mansion on the way, slowly gathering more than two hundred people.
Perhaps because they discovered Li Chengliang, the more than two hundred people's combat effectiveness was significantly improved than before. They broke through the Jianzhou soldiers' two encirclements and then met Li Ruzhen and Li Ning.嘘戅Read the Biququ
Li Ruzhen didn't have many servants around him, only a dozen people, but Li Ning brought more than a hundred people, and Li Chengliang had more than three hundred people around him. So with Li Rumei inside and Li Ning outside, the team of more than 300 people was victorious. They broke through the Jianzhou soldiers' encirclement once more and rushed to only one street away from the east gate.
However, their bravery attracted the main force of Jianzhou. E Yidu suddenly appeared with most of the red Baya La Niulu and stopped them. Both sides were able to kill them.
After all, the three hundred people around Li Chengliang were tired. Even with the bonus of the commander's prestige, they were all forced to move forward. They even retreated dozens of feet and were about to collapse.
Li Rumei was furious and fired an arrow with her bow. She almost hit the war supervisor in the head with one arrow. Although Er Yidu narrowly avoided this fatal blow because a good shooter must be good at avoiding it, the arrow knocked off his helmet, revealing his rat tail, which was quite embarrassing.
And there was also a roar from the east city gate: "How dare you, the man who leads the horse and holds the reins, to be so arrogant in front of you, Uncle Pinghu? Don't leave, I will give you a knife!"
This angry shout was very familiar to Li Chengliang. He turned around and saw Li Ping and Hu coming out of nowhere and chasing a Jianzhou general. The Jianzhou general didn't know if he had already fought with Li Pinghu. He didn't know where the scabbard fell, so he ran away with a simple sword in his hand.
The Jianzhou general ran closer and happened to see Eyidu. He was so happy that he shouted: "Zuo Ezhen, I am Iran, save me!"
Er Yidu also heard Li Pinghu's roar just now and knew that this man was Li Chengliang's general in the Chinese army. He was responsible for guarding Li Chengliang and had extraordinary military strength.
At this time, General Li Pinghu happened to catch up with Iran'a and slashed out with his knife. Iran'a tried his best to rush forward, but he still slashed him in the back. Although most of the force of this knife was taken away by his forward thrust, it still broke through the armor and scratched his back. The wound was as deep as one knuckle, and all the bones in Bai Sensen's back were visible.
Er Yi was startled, and quickly held the bow in his hand, shouting at Li Pinghu: "Are you Li Pinghu? Look at the arrow!"
Li Pinghu never wore heavy armor, and he knew the power of Jurchen's heavy arrows, so he subconsciously gave up the pursuit, put the knife in his chest and prepared to draw the arrow. Who knew that E Yidu's arrow was not aimed at him at all, but aimed at Li Chengliang from a distance and shot out with a "swish".
Li Pinghu broke into a cold sweat and shouted: "Thieves, don't hurt my handsome man!"
Li Chengliang himself was also surprised. He was not usually afraid of cold arrows, because he always wore two layers of armor, both inside and outside, when he went into battle. However, the situation just now was so urgent that he could no longer wear armor at this time. It is naturally very difficult for a sixty-two-year-old veteran to avoid E Yidu's arrow.
However, a figure suddenly rushed in front of Li Chengliang, and Li Rumei shouted angrily: "Jianzhou dog slave, you are worthy of hurting my father!" The sword flashed and he deflected the arrow impartially.
