weaving

Chapter 1576 Night Raid on Jinduiji

In the course of the Jurchen invasion of the Ming Dynasty, there is one major battle that must be mentioned.

As early as December 19th of the fifteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, at the hour of Chen (7-9 AM), a small group of Jurchen cavalry, about fifty men, suddenly arrived at the west gate of Anqiu County, Qingzhou Prefecture.

Fortunately, the defending soldiers reacted quickly and closed the west gate in time. County Magistrate Liu Jinyin personally went up to the city wall to direct the firing of cannons and forced the enemy cavalry to retreat, thus preventing the Jurchens from launching a successful surprise attack.

By late afternoon, a large contingent of Jurchens arrived and set up camp in six locations outside the western city.

On the 20th, the Jurchens mobilized more than 2,000 men to carry ladders and attack the west gate of Anqiu. County Magistrate Liu Jinyin climbed the city wall and led the soldiers, civilians and laborers to work together to kill the Jurchens who climbed the city wall on the spot and behead eight enemy soldiers.

Unable to breach the city's defenses, the Jurchens withdrew their troops.

However, on the 26th, another thirty or forty Jurchen riders came to the city and demanded money from the officials, gentry, soldiers and civilians guarding the city, saying, "If you do not give it to us, we will attack the city and plunder it."

The guards on the city wall replied, "We have gold, silver, and grain, but we won't give any to the slaves. Instead, we're keeping them to reward the brave warriors who kill slaves. For each slave killed, we'll reward them with ten shi of grain and one hundred taels of silver."

Enraged upon hearing this, the Jurchens immediately led about a thousand elite cavalry to set up two camps in the northwest of the city. When a hundred cavalrymen circled around to the moat near the northeast corner tower of Anqiu City, the gunner Wang Zhian fired from the corner tower. One Jurchen cavalryman was hit, and both he and his horse were instantly killed. Three more Jurchen cavalrymen fell from their horses and dared not spy on the city's defenses any longer, retreating far to the northeast.

As night fell, a group of Jurchens quietly sneaked to the northwest corner of Anqiu City, intending to secretly climb the wall and infiltrate the city. However, the city was already on guard, and they were discovered by the patrolling guards as soon as they began to climb the wall.

Suddenly, flames erupted on the city wall, and a great commotion arose. Then, more than a dozen torches were thrown down, igniting the dry thatch at the base of the wall, resulting in heavy casualties among the Jurchen who had climbed the wall.

The enemy troops lying in ambush in the distance saw this and rushed over with a roar. They carried ladders and wanted to launch a strong attack under cover of night. Suddenly, a loud "boom" was heard. It turned out that the cannons on the city wall had been ignited and fired.

As torches and lanterns were lit, the entire western city wall was filled with soldiers and civilians defending the city. Seeing that Anqiu was well-defended and that the surprise attack had failed, the Jurchens retreated northward.

…………

On the 29th, Xue Minzhong, the commander-in-chief of the Central Army, led his troops from the direction of Muling Pass between Linqu and Yishui to the city of Anqiu. He was persuaded by the county magistrate Liu Jinyin to stay in Anqiu for the New Year and to investigate the movements of the Jurchens before making further plans.

However, on the second day of the first month of the sixteenth year of Chongzhen's reign, a large Jurchen force attacked again, setting up camps on the west and south sides of the city, seemingly preparing to besiege Anqiu. Xue Minzhong then dispatched soldiers to the city walls to assist in the defense.

In the following days, the Jurchens gathered in greater numbers and launched a fierce attack on Anqiu County for four consecutive days on the fifth, sixth, eighth and ninth days of the month. They were repelled each time by the county magistrate Liu Jinyin and the general Xue Minzhong.

Seeing that Anqiu County was too difficult to attack, the enemy troops retreated.

On the eleventh day of the first month, Zhou Yuji, the general in charge of suppressing bandits in Huaibei, heard the alarm that the Jurchens were launching a fierce attack on Anqiu. He led his troops from the direction of Changle County to Anqiu, but the Jurchens had already retreated.

At 9:00 PM on the 12th, the returning scouts reported that they had discovered the camp of the Tartars who had been evacuated the previous day at Jinduiji, more than 20 li west of the city.

Zhou Yuji has never been afraid of the Tartars' power. This time, he was unable to participate in the defense of the city because he arrived a little late to provide reinforcements. This was something he really regretted. Now that he heard about the Tartars' whereabouts, he wanted to sneak over and launch a surprise attack under the cover of night.

Xue Minzhong also felt this was an opportunity. Judging from the reports from the scouts, the Jurchens must not have expected them to dare to leave the city to pursue them, so the defenses of their barracks must not be tight enough.

However, Liu Jinyin, the magistrate of Anqiu County, did not support their decision, fearing that if the raid failed, it would trigger a greater retaliation from the Jurchens against Anqiu County.

Liu Jinyin's concerns were not unfounded. In his view, as long as Anqiu County was still standing and the people in the city were not lost, it would be a "meritorious act of defending the territory" and a "virtuous act of the whole city" under the invasion of the Jurchens.

As for how many Jurchen bandits were killed, it was of no use to Liu Jinyin. If the sneak attack failed, Zhou Yuji and Xue Minzhong could retreat, but Anqiu County was impossible to escape.

However, due to Zhou Yuji's insistence, Liu Jinyin could not stop him despite his reluctance. Moreover, Xue Minzhong was also eager to try—what general could resist the temptation of military merit?
Moreover, this time Zhou Yuji is leading the charge!

The final agreement was that Xue Minzhong would leave 1,000 soldiers to assist in the defense of Anqiu County, while the rest of the government troops would go out of the city to launch a surprise attack on the Jurchen bandits stationed at Jinduiji.

Of course, Zhou Yuji's men led the charge, while Xue Minzhong was only responsible for harassment and pursuit from the flanks.

The thirteenth day, at the beginning of midnight.

Hu Zichen led his infantry and cavalry to set off first, followed closely by Xue Minzhong's troops as they left the city.

Fearing that they might alert the Jurchens and cause them to notice, thus losing the initiative, they dared not advance rashly. They would rest every now and then and send out scouts on foot and horse to search the surrounding area.

In this way, both to avoid falling into the enemy's ambush and to eliminate the enemy's sentries to prevent our own whereabouts from being exposed, thus losing the meaning of the sneak attack and failing at the last minute.

The last quarter of the Yin hour.

Zhou Yuji and Xue Minzhong's troops finally arrived near the Jurchen camp. Although it was only a distance of twenty li, it took them almost three and a half hours to travel.

However, such a slow and cautious march also had its advantages; they marched all the way to the vicinity of the Jurchen camp without being detected by the Jurchens.

While ordering his soldiers to rest for a quarter of an hour, Zhou Yuji, along with Xue Minzhong and his officers, observed the Jurchen camp's layout from a distance, quietly exchanging ideas on attack positions and sequences.

The third quarter of the hour of Mao (5:45 AM).

The east had just begun to show a hint of milky white light, and the earth was still shrouded in darkness. People and horses were indistinguishable even ten paces away, and even at a distance of five paces, it was difficult to make out human faces.

In the Jiannu camp at Jinduiji, more than 20 li west of Anqiu County in Qingzhou Prefecture, Shandong Province, there were occasional lights, but they flickered weakly, as if they were about to go out.

Even the sentries who were still patrolling were tormented by drowsiness, moving mechanically through the camp like walking corpses. Their drooping heads showed that sleepiness had invaded their brains.

Right now...

One by one, strangely shaped black shadows were lurking about fifty paces northeast of the Tartar camp. From a distance, they appeared to be about the height of a person's chest, but were actually as wide as two or three people.

Even if someone sees it, they won't know what it is.
"Oh... um..."

A few muffled groans sounded particularly jarring in the quiet night sky!
Before the Jurchens could react, they saw dark figures suddenly leap up in the distance, like war gods riding on warhorses, urging their horses on with whips.

As the crisp "snap snap snap" sounds rang out, one could see black ropes, resembling long snakes, tightening instantly and forcefully pulling at the wooden fence surrounding the Jurchen camp.

As the "clapping" sound grew more rapid, the occasional neighing of a warhorse could be heard...

"Boom...boom..."

The wooden palisade outside the Jurchen camp... has collapsed...

"Enemy attack... Enemy attack... There's an enemy attack..."

"Quickly...send an alert...the Ming dogs...are coming to kill!"

The Jurchens finally noticed the change on this side and shouted at the top of their lungs—they seemed to have panicked as well!

Although the Jurchens discovered in time that the wooden fence outside the camp had been pulled down, it was too late. It was all too late to stop it. Even the powerful Jurchen invaders could not prevent tonight's sneak attack.

The thunderous sound of hooves came from the northeast of the Jurchen camp. A large contingent of Ming cavalry, wielding deadly swords, axes, and hammers, was charging towards the Jurchen camp...

The harvesting of Jurchen heads has finally begun!