weaving

Zhumala's Plain White Banner operation went very smoothly. In less than half a day, they defeated Liu Yuanqing's troops at Shigouya and even captured and killed Liu Yuanqing, the Shandong General Commander of the Ming Dynasty, on the spot.

In this battle, only a little over a thousand of Liu Yuanqing's men escaped, of whom less than a hundred were veteran soldiers who had followed him. Nearly three thousand men died on the spot, while the remaining four thousand or so men and soldiers were captured by Zhumala and became his spoils of war.

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However, the other three Jurchen armies were not as fortunate as Zhumala, as they were facing regular Ming Dynasty troops.

To the north, Li Bayan's Han Chinese Plain Blue Banner troops spearheaded an attack on Zhong Minggao's camp at Zhaoxianzhuang, while Wu Lai's Mongol Plain Blue Banner Northern Barbarian cavalry bypassed Zhaoxianzhuang and simultaneously attacked Xue Minzhong's camp at Tinggou, five miles behind.

Shuo Tuo, the general leading this army, led the main force of the Manchu Bordered Red Banner cavalry as a reserve force, ready to reinforce Li Bayan or Wu Lai as needed.

Li Bayan was the fifth son of Li Yongfang, a veteran traitor who surrendered to the Manchus during the Wanli era. He was born after his father Li Yongfang surrendered to the Manchus, so it can be said that he was already a Manchu when he was born.

Li Yongfang was originally a guerrilla general in the Liaodong army of the Ming Dynasty. In the 46th year of Wanli, when Nurhaci attacked Fushun, he surrendered to the Jurchens. He was the first border general of the Ming Dynasty to surrender to the Jurchen Tartars.

It was precisely because of the exemplary role played by Li Yongfang that Nurhaci trusted and favored him greatly, and even allowed him to marry the daughter of the royal prince Abatai.

As the fifth son of the veteran traitor Li Yongfang, Li Bayan was naturally given important positions by the Jurchen chieftain Huang Taiji and became the Gushan Ezhen of the Plain Blue Banner of the Jurchen Han Army.

In fact, among Li Yongfang's sons, the number one traitor, there were some who were loyal to the Ming Dynasty, such as his eldest son, Li Yangeng.

Perhaps because he was born under the sky of the Ming Dynasty, he was educated in the idea of ​​loyalty to the emperor in his childhood and had an understanding of national righteousness. Although he surrendered to the Jurchens with his father Li Yongfang, he still missed the Ming Dynasty. He was a typical example of "his body was in the slave camp but his heart was in the Ming Dynasty"!
Li Yangeng held various military positions in the Jurchen army, including guerrilla commander and brigade general. He even rose to the position of Han Chengzheng in the Ministry of Personnel of the Jurchens. Despite his high position, he gained the trust of the Jurchen chieftain Huang Taiji.

However, he actively participated in Liu Xingzuo's efforts to organize the Han Chinese of Fuzhou to escape from the control of the Jurchens. He actively assisted Liu Xingzuo and his brothers in their defection to the Jurchens. When the Jurchens launched an attack on Dalinghe and Ningyuan, he "sent his trusted servants to act as spies" to promptly report the Jurchen military situation to the Ming Dynasty.

As a result, after his plot was exposed, he was brutally murdered by the slave chieftain Huang Taiji. Li Yangeng's self-sacrifice also cemented his reputation for loyalty to the emperor and patriotism!
In Li Yongfang's lineage, only Li Yangeng could support them. Apart from him, there was no other Li family member with a conscience, nor any other clansman worthy of the title "Han Chinese".

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Li Bayan's real name was "Bayan". Whether in the Jurchen court or the army, everyone called him "Bayan" and never mentioned the "Li" that should have been placed before his name.

Clearly, Li Bayan himself had forgotten the surname "Li" that represented his origins and had completely regarded himself as a true Jurchen Tartar.

At this moment, Bayan was commanding the Han army of the Zhenglan Banner to launch a fierce attack on Zhong Minggao's Zhaoxianzhuang camp. He was very grateful for the trust and important position given to him by the slave chieftain Huang Taiji, so he was also very brave in leading his troops into battle.

At this time, Bayan's subordinates made full use of the power of cannons, muskets and other firearms. Amidst the smoke, cannonballs flew incessantly, all bombarding Zhong Minggao's camp.

Faced with such a fierce barrage of firearms, Zhong Minggao was completely stunned. He had never expected the Jurchens to possess such powerful firearms capabilities and was caught off guard. Zhong Minggao's troops were considered quite capable among the Ming army, at least stronger than the likes of Liu Zeqing. They had previously engaged in battles with small groups of Jurchens, but this was the first time they had directly faced the Jurchen Han Banner Army.

Although he commanded his men to fight bravely, they were still unable to withstand the attack. In less than an hour, Bayan's Zhenglan Banner Han army blasted a breach in the north side of the camp.

Shuo Tuo led the Bordered Red Banner, waiting for this opportunity. After receiving Bayan's report, he immediately led the Bordered Red Banner's Tatar cavalry to charge towards the gap and stormed into Zhongminggao's camp.

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The other side is completely different.

Xue Minzhong's troops were even stronger than Zhong Minggao's. They had previously repelled the Jurchens' attack in Anqiu County and had even launched a surprise attack on the Jurchens' camp at Jinduiji with Zhou Yuji.

Faced with the attack of Wu Lai's Mongol Zhenglan Banner, Xue Minzhong was unable to launch a counterattack, but he was able to defend with ease, and the reserve force he had prepared was never used.

However, the defeat of Zhongming High Command became the final straw that broke the camel's back...

Xue Minzhong's troops, who were originally in good spirits, would not have been defeated. However, when Zhong Minggao's defeated troops rushed over to beg for refuge, the officers and soldiers in Xue Minzhong's camp learned that they would be facing the siege of the Jurchen army alone, and their morale immediately collapsed.

However, Xue Minzhong, being a seasoned general, knew that he could not hold out against the Jurchens for long. He made a decisive move, personally leading his elite cavalry against the Mongol Plain Blue Banner's offensive, while ordering his deputy to lead the infantry out of the camp from the north gate and retreat northward.

Although they were defeated, Xue Minzhong's troops still maintained their organizational structure and were not completely scattered by the Jurchens. However, they lost all their military supplies and provisions, and their weapons and armor were also incomplete, temporarily losing their ability to fight.

In contrast, the government troops under Zhong Minggao fared even worse, with more than half of them lost. The remaining half scattered and fled, and the entire force was broken up. Only a mere four or five hundred government troops remained with Zhong Minggao.

However, although Zhong Minggao and Xue Minzhong were defeated in this battle, the Jurchens also suffered considerable losses. After all, the two of them resisted for nearly two hours. After such a fierce battle, how could the Jurchens have suffered no casualties?

Overall, however, the Jurchens were indeed victorious in this battle. They not only crushed the two battalions of government troops in the north, but also captured a large amount of grain and supplies, which was definitely worthwhile.

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However, things did not go so smoothly at the battlefields of Wang'erzhuang in the northwest and Sucunji in the west, because there were very tough opponents in both directions. Even though the Jurchens sent five banners of Tatar soldiers as their main force, they were unable to break through the Ming army's defenses in one fell swoop.

Cao Bianjiao and Zhou Yuji launched another attack. Although they failed to defeat the Jurchens, they held their ground and launched a counterattack, inflicting some damage on the Jurchens and successfully keeping them occupied for two full days. (End of Chapter)