weaving

Chapter 1596 Liu Yuanqing, Facing Death Without Fear

On the third day of the second lunar month, at dawn, the Jiannu, who were stationed on the banks of the Shu River near Juzhou, began to launch a proactive attack.

Led by Gushan Ezhenzhumala, the Tatar soldiers of the Plain White Banner left their garrison in the morning light and sped eastward toward Shigouya.

Meanwhile, three Jurchen cavalry units also left the camp: the Shuo Tuo Bordered Red Banner, the Wu Lai Mongol Plain Blue Banner, and the Li Bayan Han Army Plain Blue Banner, which set off northwards.

Another group, consisting of Hushibu Mongol Bordered Blue Banner and Liu Zhiyuan Han Army Bordered Yellow Banner, left the camp and headed northwest; yet another group, consisting of Dulei Plain Red Banner, Tongtulai Han Army Bordered White Banner and Li Guohan Han Army Bordered Blue Banner, left the camp and headed west at high speed.

When the Jurchen army launched its four-pronged attack, only Abatai's Manchu Plain Blue Banner remained at the camp, along with the Baiyintu Bordered Yellow Banner, Suna Mongol Bordered White Banner, and Jinlihan Army Bordered Red Banner Tartars who were preparing to break camp. These were temporarily used as reserves.

Despite Abatai's usual disdain for the Ming army, when it came to actual combat, he did not show any contempt for them; on the contrary, he took them very seriously.

For example, on Liu Yuanqing's side, he only sent Zhumala to lead the Plain White Banner to meet the enemy, but he attached great importance to the three sides of the north, northwest and west, and sent eight banners of troops in the three routes, which was more than 20,000 Jurchen cavalry!

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Just after Chenshi (7-9 AM), Zhumala's Manchu Plain White Banner cavalry had already advanced to within five li of Shigouya, ambushing and killing four Ming army squads along the way. Liu Yuanqing had not yet discovered their whereabouts.

They crossed the Crane River silently. First, more than a hundred Tartars dismounted and approached the Shigou Cliff on foot. From a distance of seventy or eighty paces, they used bows and arrows to quickly eliminate the sentries on the watchtower and the camp wall.

There was no shout, only the soft creaking of people climbing the camp walls, and the gradually approaching rumble of horses' hooves outside the camp...

Although Liu Yuanqing led a group of newly recruited soldiers, he himself worked very hard, always waking up early to inspect the camp, and never delaying.

Today is no different...

A soldier fell from the camp wall and landed heavily on the ground with a "thud," less than forty paces away from Liu Yuanqing, who witnessed it almost with his own eyes.

"Enemy attack! The Tartars are coming! Quickly... quickly beat the drums... beat the drums to gather the troops..." As Liu Yuanqing's shouts fell, the sound of war drums rang out.

Although these new recruits had become accustomed to marching and setting up camp, and had even fought against small groups of Jurchens, they had never experienced a sudden Jurchen attack like this before.

"Fan Desheng, go and gather the cavalry!"

"Zhang Shan, go to the back and organize the ranks. Don't let anything go wrong."

"Liu Da, go find Li Dingxuan and get the troops ready to defend the city."

After giving the order, Liu Yuanqing grabbed a long-handled spiked club from a soldier beside him, darted forward, and rushed straight to the top of the camp wall.

Seeing this, his twenty personal guards, without thinking, followed closely behind him and rushed up the camp wall. Nearly a hundred Ding Yong soldiers around them were also inspired and picked up their weapons, rushing towards the camp wall.

Liu Yuanqing encountered an unarmored Tartar soldier. Without saying a word or even roaring, he swung his spiked club at the soldier.

The Tartar hurriedly used his short axe to block, and with a loud "bang," the spiked club was actually blocked by the Tartar's short axe and even bounced back. Liu Yuanqing exerted a great deal of strength and even took a step back to steady himself, and even then, he still felt a tingling numbness in his arms. But Liu Yuanqing did not retreat. After regaining his balance, he immediately charged forward again. This time, he did not smash the spiked club down from above, but swung it horizontally from left to right.

But the Tartar did not play by the rules. This time, instead of using his short axe to block, he rushed forward and lunged at Liu Yuanqing, bringing his short axe down on Liu's neck.

Seeing that there was no way to avoid or dodge, Liu Yuanqing was in a state of anxiety when several spears suddenly thrust out from behind him, piercing the Tartar's chest and abdomen. One of the spears even pierced through the Tartar's body, its gleaming tip protruding from his back...

The Tartar seemed extremely unwilling. He roared with a ferocious expression, and the short axe slipped from his weak hand and fell in front of Liu Yuanqing.

"That was close..."

Liu Yuanqing had no time to rest. Holding his spiked club, he roared "Kill the slaves!" and charged forward once again.

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There were only a dozen or so Jurchen soldiers from the Plain White Banner who had just climbed up the camp wall. To make climbing easier, they had all removed their armor. Although they were very good at close combat, they could not gain much advantage in a situation where they were almost one against ten.

Moreover, Liu Yuanqing and his twenty personal guards were all wearing armor. They closely protected Liu Yuanqing and followed him as he charged left and right, quickly killing off the dozen or so Tartar soldiers.

But the Tartar soldiers who had climbed up earlier had already rushed down and opened the camp gate. As Liu Yuanqing watched the fully armed Tartar cavalry charge into the camp, his eyes turned bloodshot and looked like they were about to burst.

"General, let's retreat! The Tartars are coming in, we can't stop them!" a guard advised.

Liu Yuanqing roared, "Where else can we retreat to? Follow me and charge forward, and kill the Tartars!"

"General, the Tartars are numerous. Let's go find General Li and then kill them." Without further ado, the guards grabbed Liu Yuanqing's arms and ran off to the other side.

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Although Liu Yuanqing wanted to kill the Tartars, the event was sudden, and most of his men were temporary recruits who were poorly trained, few were armored, and their swords and axes were not sharp enough. How could they possibly withstand the Tartars' attack?

Only the two hundred cavalrymen who originally followed him could barely fight the Tartars, but compared to the two or three thousand Tartar soldiers, they seemed extremely weak and powerless.

Li Dingxuan's Ding Yongcai's forces were routed shortly after engaging the Tartars...

Fan Desheng and his cavalry finally found Liu Yuanqing, intending to help him escape, but Liu Yuanqing was very unwilling. In the end, they had no choice but to lead fifteen riders to escape through the north gate...

Zhang Shan was originally organizing the troops at the rear, but before his troops could even launch a charge, they were thrown into disarray by the retreating soldiers at the front. Seeing that defeat was inevitable, he also mingled with the fleeing troops and escaped through the west gate...

Liu Yuanqing fought to the death, engaging the Tartars in fierce combat at Shigouya. He led his personal guards to kill eleven Tartars before finally being captured by the Tartars after exhausting his strength. Despite several attempts to persuade him to surrender, Liu Yuanqing continued to curse them. In the end, the Tartars beheaded him under their banner.

In the end, only one of Liu Yuanqing's personal guards, Liu Da, was killed while fighting alongside him.

(End of this chapter)