How did things come to this?
On the wall of the northern city of Hetuala, Nurhaci stood facing the wind, repeating this question in his mind.
Defeating Li Chengliang, breaking the myth of Uncle Li's invincibility, and establishing a legendary image for himself among the Jurchen tribes in the future. This is the main reason why Nurhachi launched the "Night of Hetuala" regardless of his "personal friendship" with Li Chengliang. reason.
Nurhaci knew the danger of this approach, and it was not that he had not thought of a way out. According to Nurhachi's previous thoughts, Ming Dynasty is now very unwilling to spend energy outside Chahar. This can be seen from the fact that Ming Dynasty did not pursue Tumen after the Battle of Northern Liaoning, nor did it actually punish itself for colluding with Tumen. , so when he withdrew his troops and returned south, he destroyed the Zhechen tribe on the way.
As expected, Daming was indifferent to his efforts to destroy the Zhechen tribe, as if he didn't even know about such a thing. Obviously, this greatly encouraged Nurhaci, so he immediately remembered the revenge he had with Dong E's tribe, and turned around to attack Dong E's tribe again.
However, something unexpected happened this time. It was clear that they had only captured a small city in Dong'e's tribe, but Ming Dynasty immediately came to attack. Uncle Li even personally led the troops and mobilized four armies for encirclement and suppression. Looking at his posture, it seemed as if he was regarded as Wang Wutang and Wang Gao back then.
But as soon as Li Chengliang sent troops, Nurhaci noticed something was wrong. He discovered that Li Chengliang obviously planned to sell Ma Chengxun on the North Road. Nurhaci, who knew the elegant meaning of Xiange after hearing the song, did not hesitate to choose to ambush Ma Chengxun, but the result was not very good. From the perspective of battle losses, Jianzhou Left Guard lost money. Fortunately, he still accomplished one of his goals and curbed Ma Chengxun's advance, which delayed him a lot of time.
Nurhaci then asked Li Chengliang to surrender as planned. However, when Li Chengliang agreed too readily, Nurhaci suddenly regretted it, because he saw one thing from Li Chengliang's attitude: Uncle Li did not want to fight this war at all.
At this time, Nurhachi made a mistake in strategic judgment. He mistook Li Chengliang's mentality for the mentality of the entire Ming Dynasty, and mistakenly believed that the Ming Dynasty's battle itself was just to scare him, and he had no real intention to fight. According to Ming's usual style, there are not many reasons why it doesn't want to fight. The most likely reason at this time is that Ming has no spare power.
During this year, Ming Dynasty first put down a quite large-scale rebellion in the northwest, and then was forced to help Ye He resist Chahar's invasion and fight a battle in northern Liaoning.
Judging from the court reports learned by Liaodong, the center of the Ming court is now troubled by financial constraints. Gao Situ, who had forced himself to retreat honestly with a letter, was now in the eye of the financial crisis and should have no spare time to interfere in Liaodong's affairs.
At this point, Nurhaci decided to do nothing but defeat Li Chengliang, establish his heroic status in the eyes of the Jurchens, and then contact Cao Yu to accept "recruitment" again.
He believed that Cao Yu would accept his surrender because Cao Yu and Uncle Li were on different paths. If Uncle Li succeeds in something he failed at, then shouldn't he be looked down upon by the court and become Uncle Li's successor in the near future?
However, when the three armies of the Ming Army were getting closer and closer, and the envoy Nurhachi sent to ask for Cao Yu's surrender was driven back, he realized that his idea might be too wishful thinking - Cao Yu didn't give him any face, saying that unless The Jianzhou Left Guards "dismounted their troops and laid down on the roadside to wait for the court's disposal", otherwise he would not consider accepting any surrender.
Naturally, Nurhachi could not agree to this condition. After all, if he agreed, it would be completely man-made and I would be a fish, and there would be no room for resistance at all. If Cao Yan gives an order to kill prisoners at that time, the wealth accumulated by Jianzhou Zuowei over the past few years will be wiped out in an instant, and I am afraid there will be no chance to turn around in the future - you must know that Li Chengliang did not ask him to do anything before The army disarmed.
At the moment, Cao Yun was only about a day away from Hetuala, Yang Yuan was about two days away, and Ma Chengxun...he was the first to arrive, and he camped on the north bank of the Sukeshu River.
Standing on the wall of the northern city of Hetuala, Nurhachi could vaguely see Ma Chengxun's camp built against the mountain. The two tall wooden watchtowers were flickering with dim firelight, as the soldiers in the towers were keeping warm.
Even the cavalry units of the Ming Army now began to be equipped with specialized engineers. Thanks to the abundance of carpenters in the Ming Dynasty, although the proportion of engineers in Ma Chengxun's department was much lower than that of the Imperial Guard, they were still enough to quickly build temporary facilities such as watchtowers, horse stables, and deer firewood when they were on an expedition.
Nurhachi looked at it gloomily for a while, then suddenly let out a long sigh. A short and sturdy man next to him saw it. He hesitated for a moment and said, "Ah Hun, let's fight to the death. It's no big deal. Uncle Li was defeated by Ah Hun, let alone people like Cao Yun?"
Nurhaci turned his head slightly, glanced at him, and said: "Mulhaqi, if the Ming Emperor withdraws my commander, you can follow Shuerhaqi from now on. He is also a capable person, and he will definitely be able to make people Let’s establish a state and reunify it.”
Mulhaqi's eyes widened: "What do you mean by Ahun's words? I, Mulhaqi, have only listened to your words since I was a child. Shuerhaqi...even if he has some abilities, how can he compare with Ahun?" If it hadn't been for Ahun and you in recent years, who have been fighting in all directions and fighting in the north and south, how could our Jianzhou left guard have the power it has today? Even Uncle Li almost lost his life in Hetuala!"
Nurhachi shook his head and said: "Don't mention the past, I'm afraid I made a mistake this time. The emperor in Yanjing City is very young and energetic. I'm afraid that my defeat of Uncle Li this time will make the emperor feel embarrassed, so he must do whatever it takes." Come and take my life.”
Mulhaqi was furious: "Since Nikan wants to fight, then fight with them to the end! Nikan only has more than 10,000 soldiers now, which is less than twice as many as us. Let's defend the city..."
Nurhaci waved his hand: "The Han people's military book says: Ten means to encircle it, five means to attack it, and if it is doubled, it divides it. But the 'ten' in 'ten means to surround' and the 'five' in 'five means to attack' are not necessarily the same. Real numbers. From what I read in the military book, it should be that if the force is sufficient, then surround and attack me. Now when you look at the Ming army, you think that it does not have enough troops to surround and attack me, but that is not the case."
Mulhaqi was stunned: "Why is it 'otherwise'?"
Nurhaci sighed and said: "Let me ask you first, his three armies have already pressed into our old village. If we send troops to attack one of his armies, are we sure we can win?"
Mulhaqi said: "If the other two routes of rescue fail, I think it is safe."
"Humph, really?" Nurhachi nodded in the direction of Ma Chengxun's camp and said, "I ambushed Ma Chengxun before, and he was unprepared. What was the result? Was it captured?"
"Uh..." Mulhaqi scratched his head and said: "There are many elite soldiers of the Ma family among Ma Chengxun's elite cavalry. I heard Anfei Yanggu say later that when he fought with us, he The person in front happens to be Da Bing, this one... is naturally a little more difficult to fight."
He paused and then said: "Even if Ma Chengxun's troops are more difficult to fight..."
Nurhaci interrupted: "Isn't it difficult to fight Cao Yu's side? The Qi family's army is famous all over the world for its good defense. We can't even defeat Ma Chengxun, so we still want to touch the Qi family's army?"
"We can go and fight Yang Yuan!" Mulhaqi said with wide eyes: "Uncle Li has been defeated. Yang Yuan is just a pawn under his command. Are we still afraid that we can't win?"
"Uncle Li, we outmaneuvered the cavalry without horses, so we were able to defeat them. But Yang Yuan's side had well-prepared infantry. He didn't need any clever strategies, he only needed to be prepared. If you obey the rules, won't Cao Yun and Ma Chengxun rescue him?"
Mulhaqi was a little discouraged, but still said: "Then we will defend. Hetuala built the city with its back to the water. Ma Chengxun in the north and Cao Yu in the west cannot attack on the ice. We only need to defend the east and south sides. Delay them for several months. Since the Ming court is short of money, this battle will definitely not last long."
"Ma Chengxun is still in the north. That's just because Cao Yun and Yang Yuan haven't arrived yet. When they arrive, I bet they will all gather in the east and south. By then, there will be hundreds of Ming troops. When the general fires his artillery, tell me how to defend it?"
Mulhaqi was stunned for a moment, and then said angrily and helplessly: "These Nikans have no ability at all. They only rely on these crooked ways to win. They cannot be called warriors."
Nurhaci suddenly stretched out his hand to stop him, with a thoughtful look on his face. Mulhaqi was a little surprised and whispered: "What's wrong, Ahun?"
Nurhachi did not answer immediately, but thought carefully for a while, and then slowly said: "I heard that the Ming troops under Gao Situ's command have a habit of concentrating their generals and cannons together..."
Mulhaqi was startled for a moment, then suddenly realized, and said, "Ahun means that you can take advantage of their unpreparedness and sneak attack on the artillery camp where they are gathered together?"
Nurha Chidao: "This is just the best situation. Cao Yun is very cautious now. I always feel that he will not be caught by us in any unpreparedness."
"Then... a forceful attack?" Mulhaqi frowned slightly and said: "A strong attack is not impossible, but it depends on whether they arrange the artillery camp far away. If it is far away, they will still have elite infantry in front. , then it will be very difficult for us to hit their artillery camp. Even if we can barely kill it, it may be difficult to destroy it. As for robbing, it is even more difficult to climb to the sky."
Nurhachi nodded, but it was obvious that he did not give up thinking. Instead, he considered carefully and paced back and forth on the city wall.
After a while, Nurhaci suddenly spoke, as if talking to himself or analyzing for Mulhaqi: "It is useless to stick to the old village. If Cao Yun does not agree to appease and we are not willing to sit back and wait for death, then The only way to survive is to fight to the death. But fighting to the death also has its merits. Now that the enemy is strong and we are weak, a forceful fight is tantamount to hitting an egg against a stone. Only by surprising and defeating the artillery battalion that poses the greatest threat to me can we have a chance of victory.
But with Cao Yun's caution, these artillery battalions must be guarded by infantry. Although our Jianzhou warriors are brave, they are still made of flesh and blood. It is impossible to defeat the infantry first and then the artillery battalion. Therefore, we must find a way to bypass these infantry and attack the enemy artillery camp from the flank, or we must find a way to mobilize these infantry..."
Mulhaqi scratched his head and said: "This method seems not very easy to think of."
Nurhachi thought for a while, then suddenly his face changed, his two small eyes turned, and he said slowly: "I have thought of a way, but I don't know... whether to agree or not." There was a name at the end of his sentence. It was said very vaguely, and Mulhaqi obviously didn't hear it clearly.
Mulhaqi couldn't help but ask: "Who will agree or not?"
Nurhaci was silent for a moment, then sighed and said, "Who else could it be? Of course it's my good brother - Shuerhaqi."
Mulhaqi was startled when he heard this and said hesitantly: "Er Beile? What does Ahun want him to do?"
"Let him..." Nurhaci narrowed his eyes and said word by word: "Rebellion on the battlefield, open the city gate, and surrender to the Ming army."
Mulhaqi's eyes almost popped out of his head: "Let him rebel and surrender on the battlefield? This... what is going on?"
But Nurhaci did not explain. Instead, he made up his mind in an instant and said, "Let's go. I'll go find him and talk to him."
Mulhaqi stretched out his hand to stop him, but unfortunately Nurhachi walked too fast and Mulhaqi didn't stop him.
Nurhachi went directly to Shuerhaqi's camp - Shuerhaqi did not live at home recently, but lived directly in the military camp. He said he was ready to listen to Ahun's orders at any time, but Nurhachi always suspected that he was just worried about himself. Suddenly his military power was taken away, so he simply lived in the camp to avoid changes.
Shuerhaqi heard in the camp that his eldest brother was coming. He was surprised at first. After asking about the situation, he found out that Nurhaci only brought a few accompanying guards, and then he felt relieved and went out to greet him.
Nurhaci didn't say any polite words. When he saw Shuerhaqi, he said that he had military affairs to discuss and asked him to choose a quiet place to talk.
Shuerhaqi himself is also a brave general, and he is currently in his own camp. He is not afraid of his elder brother's conspiracy. He immediately takes him to his tent, and then sends all his men out, leaving only himself and Nurhaci face to face. .
Nurhachi didn't bother to see how he arranged it. After everyone left, he said to Shuerhaqi: "Dou, have you heard about the rumors outside?"
Shuerhaqi's eyes flashed, and he nodded: "I heard it, it must be a counter-intentional plan."
Nurhaci laughed: "Yes, it's a counter-intentional plan. You understand in your heart, so I feel relieved."
Shuerhaqi also smiled and said: "Ah Hun, don't worry, this foundation was built by Ah Hun. If Mingren wants to sow our relationship, it is just a daydream."
"I didn't do it, it was done by us two brothers together." Nurhachi smiled and patted Shuerhaqi on the shoulder, saying: "When I die in the future, only you can inherit this legacy."
Shuerhaqi's expression changed and he said seriously: "What Ahun said is wrong. Not to mention that Ahun is not much older than me. Even if there is an eventuality, this inheritance belongs to Chu Ying. How can I inherit it? That's not right. wrong."
Nurhachi shook his head and said: "If I live longer, you can't say that your words are completely unreasonable, but it's hard to say how long I can live now. As long as this inheritance is not destroyed, only you can inherit it... Chu Yingcai How old is he and what can he inherit?”
Shuerhaqi said seriously: "If this is the case, I will also assist Chu Ying to protect this foundation for Ahun."
Nurhaci glanced at him and suddenly smiled: "Let's not talk about it for now. Although our current situation is critical, there is no need to be so pessimistic. I have a plan that may turn defeat into victory."
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