weaving

Faced with the Jurchen army's massive southward advance, the frequent fall of famous cities, and their unstoppable momentum, the Ming court and the public were shaken. The cabinet and the Ministry of War ordered Zhao Guangbian, the governor of Jizhou, and Zhang Cheng, the admiral, to quickly join forces to suppress the Jurchen cavalry and prevent them from penetrating deeper into Shandong Province.

At the same time, the Ministry of War also dispatched 3,000 troops from Yingtian Prefecture, 5,000 troops from Zhejiang, 3,000 troops from Jiangxi, and 6,000 troops from the Sichuan General Wen Ruzhen's forces, all of which were deployed in the Huaiyang area to block the Jurchen army from continuing its southward advance.

He further ordered Shi Kefa, who was in charge of the Grand Canal transport and concurrently served as the governor of the four prefectures of Lu, Feng, Huai, and Yang, to immediately lead Liu Liangzuo, the general of Xuzhou, and other elite troops into Shandong Province to support Zhao Guangbian and Zhang Cheng's loyalist army and jointly attack the Jurchen cavalry.

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The 26th day of the intercalary eleventh month.

When Tan Tai, the Gushan Ejen of the Manchu Plain Yellow Banner, arrived at Guantao, the Jurchen cavalry immediately launched an attack. However, Guantao was prepared, and the first dozens of Jurchen bandits to scale the city walls were all killed, including a Niru Zhangjing of the Plain Yellow Banner. The morale of the Jurchen bandits suffered a heavy blow.

The magistrate of Guantao County stated in his battle report: "The Jurchens knelt around the city, begging for the return of the head of the slain Niru Zhangjing, and swore on the spot that they would never invade Guantao again. When their request was denied, they withdrew their troops and went to Guan County instead."

In this battle, Guantao reported killing 270 Jurchens, but only obtaining 37 heads, and capturing 7 Jurchens alive. This was a great victory!
Zhu Langheng, the magistrate of Guan County, was also well-prepared. He defended the city effectively, and the enemy attacked the city for a day without breaking through and retreated. They set up camp by the official road, preparing to attack Guan County again the next day.

However, after nightfall, Xin Wu, a brave villager from Guan County, led more than two hundred daredevil local militiamen, carrying several light cannons out of the city and lying in ambush outside the enemy camp. Xin Wu then led thirteen men to charge into the enemy camp.

As he set fires, he shouted, "The government troops are coming!" The enemy soldiers were jolted awake from their dreams and were about to retaliate when suddenly cannons roared incessantly around the camp. The enemy soldiers were thrown into chaos, not knowing how many government troops had arrived. They broke camp and retreated into the territory of Daming Prefecture overnight.

In this battle, the soldiers and civilians of Guan County reported that "120 enemy heads were killed in battle, and 5 enemy soldiers were captured alive."

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Ji Governor Zhao Guangbian led his troops south from the Wuqiang line and arrived in Dezhou on the 27th. He then received a report that a group of Jurchen cavalry was heading straight for Qihe, seemingly towards Jinan.

Concerned about the safety of Jinan, Zhao Guangbian immediately dispatched his fierce general Cao Bianjiao with his troops to reinforce the city's defenses. He also sent Lin Dengyou, the deputy commander of Xuanzhen, to assist in the defense of Qihe County.

Meanwhile, Chen Changyan, the Shandong Provincial Inspector, had also learned of the attack on Qihe by the Jurchens. Since Qihe County was the gateway to Jinan, although the city was weak and the soldiers were few, it was a strategic location and had to be defended.

Immediately, twenty cannons and three thousand catties of gunpowder were allocated to help Qihe County strengthen its defenses, and the county seat was ultimately saved.

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Also on the 27th day of the intercalary eleventh month, Tan Tai led about three thousand cavalrymen who had retreated from Guantao and Guanxian to the city of Daming. He immediately organized the enemy to attack the city, but they were repelled by the cannons on the city wall.

Unwilling to give up, Tan Tai set up camp outside Daming Prefecture and summoned small groups of bandits who were plundering outside to come and join him, preparing to attack Daming Prefecture again the next day.

What he didn't expect was that the garrison of Daming Prefecture was not only good at defending the city and firing cannons, but also dared to launch night raids outside the city.

As a result, the bandits led by Tan Tai were once again attacked by the Ming army at night outside the city of Daming. With no other choice, he had to cross the Wei River and head south to Nanle County.

The next day, a group of about a thousand enemy cavalrymen were summoned to join Tan Tai. They rushed over, but instead of meeting up with Tan Tai's forces, they were ambushed by the garrison outside Daming Prefecture and had no choice but to retreat south.

In fact, none of this was sudden. It was because Zhang Guangda's Yongyi Army had entered Daming Prefecture. The enemy had kicked a steel plate, so how could they not be defeated?

In this battle, Zhang Guangda and the garrison of Daming Prefecture beheaded 217 Jurchens and captured 38 Jurchens, including 19 Han Chinese bannermen, who were all beheaded on the spot by Zhang Guangda's orders. He hated not the Jurchens, nor the northern barbarians, but these traitorous scum who aided and abetted the Jurchens!
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Having suffered a setback in Daming Prefecture, Tan Tai encountered another thwart when he led his troops south.

Fu Zhenduo, a supervising secretary of the Ministry of War of the Ming Dynasty, led the central army officer Che Baoguang, the battalion commander Zhao Jinfan, and the former prefect of Daming, Gao Yugong, Luo Yimu, and Shen Jiao, along with the retainers He Mingwang led by the student Fu Chuan, and local military officers Zhang Wenhao and Yang Jike, as well as the local militia Qin Zhiyan led by the magistrate of Yuancheng, to intercept and kill the Jurchens along the banks of the Wei River.

Although their fighting strength was not as fierce as that of the enemy, they had the advantage of being familiar with the terrain along the Wei River. They would charge out one moment and then disappear into the wilderness the next, giving Tan Tai a huge headache, but he couldn't do anything about them.

Fu Zhenduo and others captured nine enemy heads, which deterred Tan Tai from crossing the Hebei River again.

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When Tan Tai attacked Daming Prefecture, he sent out several groups of scouts to the surrounding areas. These groups ranged from dozens to two or three hundred men, in order to scout while also raiding the smaller villages.

Among them, there were more than 500 bandits who went to explore to the northwest. Before splitting up to plunder, they first came to the city of Wei County.

The acting county magistrates of Wei County, Gao Erjian, He Guanguang, and Ma Wenchang, personally led the local militia to the city walls and defend the walls from all four sides.

When the enemy was still far away, they bombarded them with cannons; when they got close, they used rolling logs and thunderbolts to smash them down. Although they only managed to take one Jurchen head, they managed to hold the county town. The Jurchens attacked the city for a day without success, and then retreated the next day, disappearing without a trace.

Subsequently, reports were submitted from various localities:

The bandit scouts who entered Feixiang County were killed by the local villagers; the bandit scouts who entered Guangping County had their mules and horses seized by the local militia and retreated; the bandit scouts who entered Cheng'an County retreated because there was nothing left to plunder; the bandit scouts who entered Handan County were forced to retreat because the spy who was leading the way was captured by the local militia.

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The 28th.

The Jurchen Plain Red Banner Gushan Ezhen Shuo Tuo led his troops to attack the Jurchen bandits in Shen County. They passed through Guancheng County of Dongchang Prefecture and entered the territory of Daming Prefecture, arriving at the city of Qingfeng.

Without taking any rest, Shuo Tuo immediately ordered a fierce attack on Qingfeng County from all sides. The city was not breached in a day, and nearly a hundred enemy soldiers were killed or wounded. However, Shuo Tuo refused to retreat and vowed to take Qingfeng County.

Thus, the two sides remained locked in a stalemate until the first day of the twelfth lunar month. At dawn that day, the local gentry who had been holding the city walls all day led the way down the city walls. In an instant, the local militias who were defending the city walls scattered like stars, and the defense immediately weakened. The Jurchens finally climbed over the southeast wall and Qingfeng fell.

County Magistrate Zhu Shenfei was slashed by bandits and thrown into a well, but was later rescued and survived; Clerk Zhang Xianfang's whereabouts are unknown.

County Magistrate Niu Weiyu, academy professors Cao Yizhen and Dong Chaoyuan, administrator Lü Shiting, scholar Li Mingzhi, former principal Li Qiji, former judge Lü Heju, and others all died in this battle.

More than half of the people in the county also perished. The three gates of the east, west and south, as well as the official residences, clerks' offices and police stations in the city, were all burned down by the bandits, and more than half of the civilian houses were also burned down.

Then, Shuo Tuo divided his band of rebels into two groups, one attacking Kaizhou and the other fleeing to Puzhou. (End of Chapter)