weaving

Chapter 1582 Shall we go rob him...?
On the second day of the first month of the sixteenth year of the Chongzhen reign of the Ming Dynasty, He Chen Huang Xixian led his troops to Jinan Prefecture and met with Ji Du Zhao Guangbian to discuss the matter of blocking the Jurchens.

On the third day of the first lunar month, a group of Jurchens continued south from Rizhao through Jiacang Town and captured Andongwei in one fell swoop.

On the fifth day, the Jurchens who had captured Andongwei continued south into the territory of Southern Zhili, where they joined forces with another Jurchen group that had previously invaded Southern Zhili, and together they captured Ganyu County.

The magistrate of Ganyu County, Gao Lian, and students Huang Zongxian, Shao Jishi, Li Zhong, Zhang Yunshu, Zhang Yunqi, Zhang Bikui, Dong Zongchun, Cheng Yahua, and Yan Mingti were all killed while defending the city.

The Jurchens camped in Ganyu County for four days, looting the city's wealth, grain, and people. They also conducted a three-day search within Ganyu before destroying the city and heading south.

On the eighth day, a group of Jurchens attacked and captured Linhong Town.

On the ninth day, three groups of Jianzhou Jurchens gathered at Gaoqiaoji, plotting to seize Haizhou.

On the tenth day, at the hour of Chen (7-9 AM), the Jurchens arrived at the city of Haizhou and immediately began a fierce attack. By noon, they had breached the city's defenses, and Haizhou fell.

Afterwards, the Jurchens plundered extensively in Haizhou while sending out small groups of cavalry to continue exploring southwards. Their vanguard even penetrated as far as Andong, along the Yellow River.

Previously, the Jurchens who had captured Shuyang, after conquering ancient towns along the Grand Canal, sailed south along the Grand Canal to the Qinghe area on the north bank of Hongze Lake, and even coveted Taoyuan County on the west bank of the Yellow River.

Meanwhile, the Jurchens, who had previously captured Fengxian and Peixian in Xuzhou Prefecture, were blocked by Luo Rucai's troops from the north and west and could not advance an inch. They went south along the Grand Canal into Huai'an Prefecture, first attacking Pizhou but failing to capture it, and then attacking Suqian but also failing to break through. So they went to Shuyang.

…………

On the sixth day of the first lunar month, Li Jiyu led his troops into Huanglinzhuang in Huai'an Prefecture. After resting there for a day, they continued south along the Grand Canal and arrived at Yutouji, a village on the northwest bank of Luoma Lake, on the ninth day.

At this moment, Li Jiyu had already learned from the scouts that "Ganyu has fallen and the Jurchens are plotting to seize Haizhou."

However, he was currently more than 200 miles away from Haizhou, and rescue was no longer possible. Moreover, the military order given to him by the Earl of Yongning was to protect the smooth flow of the canal. Therefore, Li Jiyu temporarily stationed his troops at Yutouji and sent out scouts along the canal to investigate the movements of the enemy.

…………

On the thirteenth day of the first month, one group of Jurchens left Haizhou and headed north back to Ganyu, while another group headed southwest, plundering towns such as Xinba, Fangshan, and Ahu along the way before turning north back to Yanzhou Prefecture.

On the fifteenth, enemy scouts galloped from the east to Tancheng, circling the city to spy on it, but were repelled by Yuan Shizhong's troops stationed there, and did not dare to linger.

On the 16th, the scouts learned that "the Tartars were encamped at the foot of Maling Mountain, eighteen miles northeast of Tancheng." The intelligence was not comprehensive enough, and Yuan Shizhong did not dare to take any rash action. He could only order the scouts to continue their investigation.

On the 18th, more accurate and clear intelligence finally gathered in Yuan Shizhong's military camp.

Starting from Maling Mountain, eighteen miles northeast of Tancheng, and heading north along both banks of the Shu River all the way to Shenmazhuang, a distance of more than fifty miles, nearly thirty camps of various sizes were set up.

Cavalrymen entered and exited the Jurchen camps every day, wantonly burning and looting the surrounding villages, killing and injuring many civilians, plundering countless amounts of money and grain, and abducting tens of thousands of people.

"Judging from this situation, it seems that all the Tartars from Southern Zhili have gathered here?" Yuan Shizhong looked at the map with a surprised expression.

Liu Jingyi stroked his beard and said, "General, although the Jurchen camp stretches for more than fifty miles, I'm afraid only thirty percent of them are Tartar soldiers."

"That's about twenty or thirty thousand people."

"Therefore... we must report to the commander-in-chief immediately and request that a large army be dispatched to provide reinforcements."

"Alright, Jingyi, write a letter now and report to the commander-in-chief about the Tartars' encampment along the Shu River."

"Yes." Liu Jingyi stepped back to the desk and sat down, then began to write furiously.

At this moment, Zhu Chengju said to Yuan Shizhong, "General, we should also send more sentries to Tancheng and strengthen our defenses."

"You mean... the Tartars will attack our Tancheng?" "Whether the Tartars attack or not, it's always good to be prepared."

"Hmm. That makes sense."

Yuan Shizhong raised his hand and stroked his beard, a sinister glint flashing in his eyes: "Chengju, you say the Tartars have so many troops, yet they just stand there watching us. Why don't they come and fight us?"

Zhu Chengju got up and paced around in thought. After a moment, he stood in front of Yuan Shizhong's desk and said, "I guess the Tartars must have seen that we don't have much wealth to rob here, and they're a tough nut to crack. They're afraid of breaking their old teeth, aren't they?"

"Brother Chengju is absolutely right."

At this moment, Liu Jingyi had already written the letter and was waiting for the ink to dry completely. Hearing the sound, he also came over and said, "The Tartars invaded our interior, nothing more than to plunder wealth and grain, and to kidnap our people."

"Tancheng has already been looted by them; there is neither wealth nor grain, nor any civilians left. When they came to spy on us before, they must have intended to take advantage of the situation and defeat us. But seeing the strength and power of our army, and their lack of fear towards them, they abandoned that idea, which is perfectly reasonable."

Zhu Chengju immediately chimed in: "We had already guessed that the Tartars' fifty-mile-long camp was mostly filled with the wealth they had plundered and the villagers they had abducted. And the Tartar cavalry might not even have made up 30% of that."

“So… shall we go and rob him…?” Yuan Shizhong blurted out.

Seeing the strange light in his eyes, which was filled with expectation, it was clear that these words were not something he had just thought of on a whim, but had been brewing in Yuan Shizhong's mind for some time.

Liu Jingyi and Zhu Chengju exchanged a glance, their hearts skipping a beat, fearing that Yuan Shizhong might actually make such a decision...

Zhu Chengju was the first to advise, "General, although the Tartars only occupy 30% of the troops that can be accommodated in the camp, they should still number between 20,000 and 30,000. Our army has less than 6,000 men and we cannot send out all of them."

"Now that the Tartars have stationed their troops at the Shu River, and they are not attacking us, we must not provoke them, lest we incur their retaliation, which our small army may find difficult to withstand!"

Before Liu Jingyi could offer any further advice, Yuan Shizhong smirked, “Heh… if the plan is well-thought-out, we might be able to make a move against them. Although there are more Tartar soldiers, there are even more civilians they have captured. If I can rescue them, it would be equivalent to tens of thousands of troops.”

Seeing the confident look on Yuan Shizhong's face, Liu Jingyi looked at Zhu Chengju again. Both of them were equally worried and were about to say something to persuade him again when they heard Yuan Shizhong say, "You two don't need to persuade me anymore. I haven't made up my mind about this matter yet, and I need to think about it carefully. I'm a little tired, so you can go back and do your own things."

Zhu Chengju wanted to try to persuade him again, but Liu Jingyi pulled him away to say goodbye.

…………

"Jingyi, why are you dragging me along to take my leave? If you don't dissuade the general today, do you know the consequences once he makes up his mind?"

Liu Jingyi smiled and said, "Don't you know our general's temper?"

"Tranquility, what does this mean?"

“If the general truly has such thoughts, it would be extremely difficult for the two of us to dissuade him. If Brother Yuchi were still here, perhaps we could give it a try.”

"Sigh. What's the point of saying all this now!"

"However, there is still one person who can dissuade the general."

"who……?"

"you guess……"

"You mean...Wang..."

"It is indeed Commander Wang!"