weaving

Chapter 1592 Shanxi Ming Dog also has a hand cannon?
The battle at Wangjiazhuang ended quickly.

Lu Jiqing's right flank was left behind to clean up the battlefield and further reinforce the defensive positions of Wangjiazhuang, as a retreat route should the advance falter.

Liang Jingxuan's left flank was sent ahead to continue searching northeastward along the east bank of the Shu River, with their target being Heidoujian, eight miles away—intelligence indicated that over a thousand Jurchen cavalry were stationed there.

Yuan Shizhong personally led the central and rear armies as the central army, while Wang Shikui's vanguard served as the rear army.

Before the army departed, the garrison commander Wang Yuanjing coldly instructed, "Wang Shikui, I'm giving you a task. Take all the heads of the Jurchen Han soldiers we've captured with us, so that the Jurchen traitors can see what we're capable of."

Wang Yuanjing's words shocked Yuan Shizhong, Liu Jingyi, Zhu Chengju and others. They had never expected that this seemingly weak scholar would be so fierce.

…………

On the same day, February 3rd, the Ming army and the Jurchens were making tense troop movements around the banks of the Shu River within Yanzhou, especially the Ming army, which was the attacking side, and its troop movements were even more frequent.

To the south of the Shu River was Yuan Shizhong's small camp, whose main force had already been moved to the east bank of the Shu River; at the same time, Luo Rucai also led his troops, Yang Chengzhu's standard camp and Yang Shengzu's right camp, away from Honghuabu and advanced to the northern foot of Maling Mountain on the west bank of the Shu River, blocking the Jurchens' southward invasion route on the west bank.

Originally, there were only a few thousand men from Li Jiyu's Xuanwu Camp on the east bank. Now, the central camp soldiers led by Cao Cao's general Yang Mingqi have arrived at Wanggaozhuang, north of Daxing Town, forming a triangular formation with Yushan and Daxing Town.

To the north were two lines of defense formed by Li Fuming, the general of Shanxi; Ge Ruzhi, the commander of Xuanzhen Yangbiao; Pi Zhongyao, the commander of Xuanzhen Fubiao; and Zhang Guangda's Zhuque Battalion, which completely cut off the connection between Turgh and Abatai.

On the west bank of the Shu River, however, was where the main force of the Yongyi Army was located.

In the middle was a part of the Weiyuan Camp led by Zhang Cheng, the Earl of Yongning, under Lin Fangping and Xu Jinyong, 1,500 elite cavalry under Chen De, 2,500 infantry and cavalry under Hu Zichen, and all the troops of Wei Zhice's Tengshe Camp, with a total force of more than 10,000 men.

In the north, Jiang Xiang's Shanxi troops also came out of Yizhou and advanced to Shiqiaotouzhuang on the west bank of the Shu River, using it as a base to launch an attack on the Jianzhou Jurchens on the west bank at any time.

To the south, there were also two armies led by General Wang Pu and Vice General Jiang Jianxun from Matouji. They were stationed and arrayed fifteen li south of Earl Zhang Cheng of Yongning.

Besides the three teams led by Li Jiyu, Li Fuming, and Yuan Shizhong that had already clashed with the Jurchens, Jiang Xiang, who had driven from Yizhou through Li, also encountered a Jurchen scout...

However, following the instructions of the Earl of Yongning, Jiang Xiang was unwilling to reveal his strength too early. He only sent five hundred cavalrymen to drive away the forty or fifty Jurchen spies, and did not lead his troops to pursue and intercept them.

Then there's the Yongning Earl's central army. When Chen De led his cavalry out on a scouting mission, he encountered a group of less than a hundred Jurchen scouts. He didn't care about revealing his strength and immediately gathered several scouts from the surrounding area to join forces, forming a three-hundred-against-one-hundred flanking maneuver.

In this battle, Chen De single-handedly killed four Jurchens, one of whom was a Jiala Zhangjing (a high-ranking military officer), and even captured a Jurchen Niru Zhangjing (another high-ranking military officer), making him quite the sensation!
…………

"What did you say?" Turg looked somewhat flustered. "Say it again?" Buyandai hurriedly said, "The Ming dogs appeared out of nowhere in droves, there seemed to be two or three thousand of them. Although my Bordered Red Banner warriors numbered only five hundred, we were not afraid of them. We fought them back and forth for two hours. Then another two or three thousand Ming dog infantry came. Their muskets can shoot very far. I knew that we could not fight them head-on, so I withdrew my troops and rushed back to report to Turggushan."

Turgh glanced sideways at Buyandai, toying with the empty teacup in his hand, wondering how much of Buyandai's words were true and how much was false.

Seeing Turg's expression, Buyandai became somewhat nervous and quickly added, "These Ming cavalrymen don't use three-barreled muskets; they all use single-handed muskets with a single shot. Our Red Banner warriors also captured a few alive and found out they were General Li's troops from Shanxi."

"Shanxi? General Li?"

Turgh repeated Buyandai's words, muttering to himself, "Isn't this Zhang Cheng's army from Xuanfu? How come... the Ming dogs in Shanxi also have hand cannons?"

Zu Zerun, the Gushan Ezhen of the Plain Yellow Banner of the Jurchen Han Army, spoke up at this moment: "Deputy Commander Turge, the General Commander of Nangou Mountain is Li Fuming. During the last battle under Jinzhou, he was favored by Zhang Cheng of Xuanfu and was bought off by him. Now he seems to have become Xuanfu's wing. The fact that his cavalry is equipped with hand cannons is proof of this."

…………

Zu Zerun was originally a general of the Ming Dynasty. His original name was Shirun, his nickname was Zhaoge, and his courtesy name was Yinxi. He was from Ningyuan, Liaodong, Ming Dynasty. He was originally the fifth son of Zu Yujun. Later, he was adopted by Zu Dashou, a distant relative, and thus changed his name to Zerun, with the courtesy name Yinyuan.

He was originally the deputy general of Jinzhou in the Ming Dynasty. In the fourth year of Chongzhen's reign, the slave chieftain Huang Taiji besieged Dalinghe. Zu Dashou was forced to use a "feigned surrender" when his food and supplies were cut off.

Although Zu Dashou feigned surrender to gain the trust of the Jurchen chieftain Huang Taiji and managed to escape back to Jinzhou City, Zu Kefa, Zu Zerun, Zu Zeyuan, Zhang Cunren, Pei Guozhen, and others who had been sent to the Jurchen camp as hostages were detained in the Jurchen camp.

From then on, their feigned surrender became a genuine surrender!

Perhaps they had no choice but to accept the official positions appointed by the slave chieftain Huang Taiji in order to survive, but it must be said that their hands were indeed stained with the blood of the people of the Ming Dynasty...

Today, Zu Zerun is the Gushan Ejen of the Plain Yellow Banner of the Jurchen Han Army. He has also been granted the title of Third-Class Viscount by the Jurchen and serves as the Right Vice Minister of the Ministry of War of the Jurchen. He can be said to hold both military and political power, and his position is extremely high and powerful.

Even Tuerge, the deputy commander of the Jurchens who led the expedition against the Ming Dynasty, dared not show disrespect to Zu Zerun in public, which shows how much the Jurchen chieftain Huang Taiji favored him.

Of course, his father Zu Dashou deserves credit for this. Although Zu Dashou is now dead, Wu Sangui, the pillar of the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong and the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, is still Zu Zerun's younger brother.
As long as Wu Sangui is alive, the Zu brothers' lives in Liaodong with the Jurchens will likely not be too bad, especially since they are genuinely and sincerely working for the Jurchen chieftain Huang Taiji!

…………

Turg looked at Zuzerun with a rather intriguing expression, and then asked in a friendly tone, "Oh. So, according to you, the Ming dogs that are currently around us must have been sent by Zhang Cheng of Xuanfu?"

Zu Zerun replied, "Vice Commander, according to the current intelligence, Zhang Cheng of Xuanfu seems to have some ulterior motive. I think the Vice Commander should also make some arrangements to head north as soon as possible to get closer to the General's garrison, in case of any unforeseen circumstances."