weaving

Chapter 1539: Deploying Reinforcements to the Capital?

Ye Chen led the Jurchen cavalry to withdraw that night. They joined forces with Wu Shoujin and Shi Tingzhu's troops who came from Xiongxian, crossed the Yudai River, and headed south by detouring eastward.

In fact, according to Ye Chen's idea, the arrival of Wu Shoujin and Shi Tingzhu's Han army flag made up for the weakness of his side's lack of firearms. He originally wanted to fight another battle, but Yibai, Suna and Wu Lai all advocated retreating. Moreover, Wu Shoujin and Shi Tingzhu were unwilling to attack Hejian City, which was heavily defended, so he had no choice but to retreat south.

In this battle, Ibai's Mongol Plain White Banner suffered the greatest losses, followed by Wu Lai's Mongol Plain Blue Banner, who encountered Zhang Guangda's Vermilion Bird Camp light cavalry and rangers south of Hejian City.

Wu Lai first discovered a force of over 300 Ming light cavalrymen, who were confronting him across the Yang River. Meanwhile, another force of about 700 light cavalrymen quietly crossed the Yang River from elsewhere and launched a surprise attack on Wu Lai's troops.

While Wu Lai was engaged in battle, more than 300 light cavalrymen on this side also rode across the river and joined the battle.

Even so, Wu Lai remained calm, after all, he also had a thousand elite Northern barbarians on his side, with equal strength, so what was there to fear?
Unexpectedly, not long after the battle began, Ming cavalrymen continued to rush out from all directions. They did not join the battle directly, but instead formed groups of thirty to fifty riders and mainly patrolled and harassed the perimeter.

They would shoot arrows, fire crossbows, and occasionally dismount to fire muskets; in short, they would not engage in close combat but would instead launch sneak attacks from a distance.

As time went on, Wu Lai's side could no longer hold out, and the number of these roaming cavalrymen was also increasing. They were clearly Ming scouts on the perimeter, gradually coming over to join the battle.

In the end, Wu Lai had no choice but to abandon nearly two hundred dead and wounded Northern barbarians and lead less than eight hundred cavalrymen in retreat and escape.

The one that suffered the least losses was Suna's Mongol Bordered White Banner. Jiang Xiang didn't even bother fighting them. As soon as he saw the shadow of Suna's Bordered White Banner, he immediately retreated back into Renqiu City to hold his ground.

Although Jiang Xiang's forces were stronger than Suna's, he resolutely refused to engage Suna in open battle.

Wasn't the Renqiu city wall already demolished by the Jurchens?

However, the sand and bricks could not be transported away. As soon as Jiang Xiang arrived in Renqiu, he immediately organized the infantry to build the city. The sand and bricks were readily available, and even the houses in the city were readily available. There were hardly any people to be seen. After dismantling some, a lot of large timbers were found.

The structure was quickly repaired and completed, and a large-scale earthen and timber-framed rescue facility was built, with defensive capabilities comparable to those of ordinary small county towns.

Even though Wu Lai was followed by Han troops led by Wu Shoujin and Shi Tingzhu, they still failed to capture Xinrenqiu City, which was garrisoned by Jiang Xiang.

…………

In the original historical records, the chaos in Hejian City was caused by a garrison mishandling a cannon on the northeast corner of the city wall, which ignited the gunpowder next to it, giving the Jurchens an opportunity to take advantage of the situation.

Although the soldiers and civilians inside the city were determined to fight to the death and continued to resist even after the city fell, without the protection of the city walls, how could they possibly be a match for the ruthless Jurchens who were as vicious as wolves?

One-sided bloody massacres, along with unbridled looting and rape of women, were once again being staged in Hejian City!
After being captured, Zhou Erchun, a censor in the Ministry of War, continued to insult the Jurchens. He was then hacked to pieces and his body was thrown into the city moat.

Officials including Zhang Xianyu, the Vice Prefect of Guanhe, Zhang Zipu, the Assistant Prefect, Jing Guozhi, the Registrar, and Tian Jining, the Clerk, as well as the commanders of the three guards of Hejian, the county magistrates, the post station officials, and the granary officials, all perished after the city fell. Yan Yinshao, the Prefect of Hejian, even committed suicide by setting his entire family on fire!
Seven or eight out of ten houses on the main streets of Hejian City were burned down by the Jurchens, while two or three out of ten of the smaller streets and alleys were damaged. The city towers and gates were burned down and demolished, and the crenellations and parapets of the shops were also completely destroyed by the Jurchens.

After the Jurchens crossed the border, the once vast city of Hejian was completely destroyed!

…………

However, in this present timeline, Hejian City has withstood the Jurchens' attack because reinforcements have arrived to save the city and its inhabitants.

Even during such a turbulent time of war, Prefect Yan Yinshao's banquet was still very lavish. In addition to local officials such as Zhou Erchun, Supervising Secretary of the Ministry of War, Zhang Zipu, Assistant Prefect, Jing Guozhi, Registrar, and Zhang Xianyu, Prefect of the Yellow River, two local gentry were also invited to attend.

Wei Zhice only brought two men with him: Zhenfu Qin Dazhong and Zhongjun Yu Deshui. His deputy general Jin Yong and two captains were busy with military affairs and could not participate. Tang Xiancheng and the three captains stationed outside the city dared not leave the camp.

During the banquet, Prefect Yan Yinshao and Zhou Erchun, among others, praised the bravery of Wei Zhice's soldiers. After all, they had witnessed firsthand the fierce battle fought outside the city that repelled the Jurchen cavalry.

It can be said that over the past ten years, the Jurchens have invaded the heartland of the Ming Dynasty six times, and Hejian City has been besieged by the Jurchens several times. The Ming army has never seen a government force that dares to fight the Jurchens in the open field.

Today—they really had their eyes opened by a knife poking their buttocks!
During the banquet, Wei Zhice also brought Yan Yinshao and the others some new information—the Earl of Yongning might not come to Hejian Prefecture.

…………

It turned out that when Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, arrived in Suning County, he received news that an angel was on his way and asked the Earl of Yongning to stay in Suning and wait for the angel to read the imperial edict.

Moreover, there is another piece of news—the imperial court is going to send someone to the Yongyi Army to assist in military affairs!

Since this message was able to reach the Earl of Yongning's desk, it can be almost certainly concluded that it is very reliable; otherwise, Niu Sheng and his men would not have rushed it all the way from the capital.

Furthermore, the candidate has already been revealed, and it turns out to be an old acquaintance of Zhang Cheng, the Marquis of Yongning. Even the contents of the imperial edict have been leaked in advance and have now been delivered to the Marquis of Yongning's desk.

On the eleventh day of the intercalary eleventh month, the day the Jurchen army crossed the Hun River defense line, Emperor Chongzhen finally could not sit still any longer. He issued an edict to all the cabinet members and the Minister and Vice Minister of the Ministry of War, summoning them to the palace for an audience.

The topic was nothing more than how to deal with the Jurchens!

If there were a way, everyone would have come up with one by now. And when the Jurchens invaded the capital region before, weren't we also powerless to deal with them and always resorted to stalling tactics?
It's nothing more than throwing out two or three people to take the fall in the end!
Today was no different. The ministers spoke one after another, saying quite a lot, but not a single word was of any use. They were just wasting time.

Since Zhao Guangbian, the governor of Ji, and Feng Yuanbiao, the governor of Jin, have already been brought to the forefront, even if the Jurchens penetrate deep into the heart of Qi and Lu again, it will be the fault of these two men who are afraid of the Jurchens and are incompetent in fighting.

However, during the audience with the emperor today, one person stood out—Zhang Ruoqi, the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War—and made a very bold suggestion: to grant the Earl of Yongning the power to command the troops sent to aid the emperor and to lead the war against the invaders.