Daming Yinghua

Chapter 467 Decisive Battle ()

On the west bank of the Liaohe River, when Man Gui saw He Zhuo, he was instantly filled with surprise, but it quickly dissipated.

The subordinates who took a break after their journey pretended to feed the horses, but actually glanced over from time to time.

After Man Gui drove them away with his eyes, he asked He Zhuo with a stern face: "Aren't you staying with Su Taifu Jin?"

He Zhuo crossed his arms, and said sternly, as if Ma Xianglin was explaining military affairs. "When Lin Dan Khan learned of your marching direction, he felt that he was teased by Madam Zheng at first, but was soon convinced by my aunt. He figured out that only by relying on the Ming army to defeat Nurhaci first, could Chahar unify the Mongolian tribes. Lin Dan Khan allocated 3,000 personal cavalry and allowed my aunt to take them, and join forces with her 2,000 elite troops from Ordoli, to block the territory of Khorchin and prevent them from rushing to help the Jianzhou people in the east."

After listening to this, Man Gui leaned over to check the hooves of the two horses and said in a muffled voice, "Are you here to report this military intelligence to General Ma? Why don't you send a scout from Chahar to report it? Why are you here yourself?"

"Come to see you." He Zhuo's tone was noticeably softer.

Man Gui's hand, which was fiddling with the horse feed in the grain bag, froze. He didn't expect He Zhuo to be so direct. The joy from a moment ago filled his chest again, but when he opened his mouth, his tone and meaning were still cold and hard.

"What do I have to see?"

As soon as he said this, Man Gui regretted it.

I cursed myself inwardly, wondering if my mouth had been soaked in too much coptis water. I couldn't say a single sweet word.

Sure enough, He Zhuo, who was about to bend down to help him get another grain bag, stood up straight, his eyes slipped across his nose, and he said coldly to the door-like back on the grass: "You always teach the kids in Dai County that swords and arrows have no eyes, so this time, I'm here to watch. If you are unlucky and get knocked off your horse by Bayala from Jianzhou, I have to take people to grab the body and transport it back to Xuanda for burial. Who asked you to save my life in the first place?"

"you……"

Man Gui jumped up holding a bean cake, stared at He Zhuo for a long time, and finally swallowed the words "You cursed me" and replaced them with a ridiculous sentence: "You speak Chinese very well now."

He Zhuo felt angry and aggrieved.

Madam Zheng asked her to spend some time thinking about her true feelings. Now she has thought it through and she knows that she really likes Man Gui. She also believes that two strong and opinionated people can live in harmony like General Ma and Sister Fengyi.

She never expected that when she came here excitedly, Man Guiduan would give her this attitude.

He Zhuo then stopped trying to please the cold butt and walked towards a group of Mongolian knights in the distance without looking back.

Ma Xianglin walked over.

Man Gui concealed his embarrassment and asked, "Master Ma, who did He Zhuo bring with her?"

"They are all Jurchens from the Yehe tribe, and are the dowry guards of Mrs. Su Tai. They can speak Mongolian very well. They will go to Kaiyuan and Tieling with us."

Man Gui smacked his lips and said, "Madam, will you please ask the court to drive the Jian tribe to the north after defeating the old chieftain and remove the Yehe tribe, and still station them in the old city of Yehe north of Kaiyuan?"

Ma Xianglin said frankly: "It should be so. The Yehe people are just like us, the Shiqu natives. As long as the court does not treat us unfairly, we are willing to guard the border for the Ming Dynasty."

After Ma Xianglin finished speaking, he caught a glimpse of the joy that flashed across Man Gui's face, and couldn't help but joked, "Are you relieved to hear that He Zhuo is going with you? If you didn't coax your wife today, there's still time to coax her when we fight the old chief and Huang Taiji?" Man Gui touched his nose embarrassedly and looked at He Zhuo who was surrounded by the Yehe people. His always carefree and rough look disappeared, and he muttered to himself.

"Damn it, let alone losing my life, I can't even let my arms and legs be hurt by the Jiannu. I have to keep my body intact and live a happy life with He Zhuo."

Two hundred miles away, Jing'an Fort.

Nurhaci looked grimly at the five or six men kneeling on the ground.

Among them, some were responsible for guarding Guangshun Pass, and some were responsible for guarding Jing'an Fort. They were all small leaders of the Ming army bribed by Huang Taiji in advance.

After the Jin army destroyed the wall of the main gate of Guangshun Pass yesterday, Bayala, who climbed the city wall on a ladder, was in a fierce manner. Seeing that the Jurchens were indeed powerful, the rebel general of the Ming army immediately took his twenty or thirty servants, went around to the south of the city gate, killed the guards, and opened the gate.

This morning, the scene of Guangshun Pass was repeated at Jing'an Fort, which was soon occupied by the Jin army.

Huang Taiji was very proud. He claimed that he understood military tactics better than his father and other beiles, especially when it came to sieges. He knew that the Jin army's advantages in charging on horseback and fighting in close combat on foot were not as good as those in direct confrontation in the mountains and plains, so artillery bombardment and ambushing of traitors were both indispensable tactics.

At this moment, Huang Taiji told Nurhaci the official positions of the Ming army spies who were supporting him.

The old chieftain slightly suppressed his ruthlessness and asked the garrison of Jing'an Fort, "Do you know how many troops Ma Lin from Kaiyuan took to Shenyang?"

"Reporting to the Khan, I estimate that we have taken away all the elite soldiers we can, because before they set out, they came here to transfer 300 people."

"Are there any artillery pieces on Kaiyuan City?"

The guard raised his upper body carefully and pointed at the Jin army's artillery not far away: "Reporting to the Khan, there are cannons, the thickness of the barrels is similar to those, about five or six."

"so little?"

The suspicious Huang Taiji didn't quite believe it. Although Kaiyuan was not like Tieling, the old nest run by Li Chengliang and his son for generations, the Ma family was not poor when they came from Xuanda Town. Didn't Ma Lin buy more cannons through Mao Wenlong and deploy them on the city walls?

The garrison of Jing'an Fort was a little nervous. He hurriedly talked to several other rebel generals before he said to Huang Taiji again in a firm tone: "Fourth Prince, these brothers went to Kaiyuan to ask for money half a month ago, and they really didn't see the new artillery. Ma Lin's servants are all cavalry and heavy infantry, and they don't use firearms."

Huang Taiji understood and said to Nurhaci: "Father, it seems that this Ma Lin is not as fast as our Great Jin in learning from their own people."

Nurhaci had already obtained the military intelligence he wanted, so he stopped talking and ordered the elite troops of each flag to replenish some dry food and then march another forty miles. They would arrive at the city of Kaiyuan today.

Two hours later, when some of the Jin army's baoyi who were in charge of setting up camp and guarding the baggage outside heard the deafening sound of artillery fire, they thought it was their own small cannons firing at the Ming city walls again.

It was not until a young Baoyi climbed up the hill and looked over that he exclaimed, "That's not right. The place where the iron lump exploded is far outside Kaiyuan City, in our own camp."

After hearing his words, everyone went to a high place to watch. After watching for a while, one of the old bannermen who had participated in the Battle of Fushun said with wide eyes, "The cannon on Kaiyuan City is much bigger than ours. It's the same as the one on Fushun City that year. One cannon can blow away half of the Niulu!"