Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 402 Catching Wild Boars in a Urn
"Pah, pah, pah, pah—"

In the same month, when Zhu Di's idea of ​​​​the Northern Expedition was rejected, the sound of muskets like fried beans was also heard in the dense forests in the northeastern part of the Korean Peninsula.

"Shut up!"

Several cavalrymen reined in their horses on the narrow animal path. The four cavalrymen on the left and right looked warily at the forest on the left and right. The leading cavalryman turned over and dismounted and looked at a war horse that had been shot and fell to the ground.

The shot horse whined, and where it fell lay a lifeless body.

The Ming cavalry turned him over and saw that the top of his head was smooth, with braided hair hanging down his shoulders on the left and right sides of his head, looking like a Jurchen.

"He is a man who captured the chieftain. Search for his traces when he came. If you follow his traces and search there, you will definitely be able to find a suitable marching road!"

"Yes!"

The cavalryman turned around and ordered, and the other four cavalrymen also carefully explored the front along the animal path.

After walking for about a mile, something suddenly opened up in front of them, and a plain appeared in front of them.

Captain Tangqi ordered the young Tangqi behind him. Upon hearing this, Tangqi also turned his horse and galloped back towards the road he came from.

Soon, the news reached the ears of thousands of civilians in the former army, and they worked harder to cut down trees and raise their roots.

"You said it's Hezhou, north of Shuangcheng, less than five miles away?"

But they never imagined what kind of disaster their lie would bring to Jianzhou Zhongwei.

"They were leading their horses in the dark. After being discovered by us, they were a little confused at first, but then they started chasing us. We couldn't beat them and they retreated..."

Due to his lack of knowledge in the art of war, Timur's current experience is somewhat similar to what happened to his descendant Nurhachi when he first made his fortune.

Although the Ming army is very strong, it should not be much stronger than North Korea. Otherwise, how could North Korea be allowed to exist all the time?

In the stone house, Tamerlane, who had a Mediterranean hairstyle and braided hair around him, asked the several small bosses kneeling on the ground with a gloomy face. There were also several close subordinates of Timur, who were kneeling on the ground, in the stone house.

"A few hundred people?" Hearing this number, Meng Brother Timur touched his chin: "It should be their front army, preparing to strengthen the city defense."

At the same time, Chen Chang also learned about the combat strength of the Jianzhou Central Guards from Tangqi's report last night. Therefore, after leaving 3,000 soldiers and horses to guard the camp, he personally led 500 cavalry, 3,000 horse infantry and 5,000 infantrymen. Five hundred musketeers and gunners marched towards Jianzhou Zhongwei.

Such a large-scale search soon allowed Tangqi of the Ming Army to search for Jianzhou Zhongwei in the north.

Meng brother Timur learned the news, so he got up overnight, put on his armor, and summoned the small leaders who had fought with Tangqi of the Ming army and managed to escape.

In Meng Ge Timur's view, behind the front army of a few hundred people, there should be a middle army of three to four thousand people, and a rear army of more than a thousand people.

When the Ming army's attack on the city was thwarted, he led his army out in full force and beat the shit out of Chen Chang, the so-called Marquis of Zhaozhou.

Tang Qi left on horseback and walked along the wide post road that was opened up. It was not until a quarter of an hour later that the number of civilians in front of him began to gradually decrease, and they were replaced by soldiers wearing mandarin duck war coats and breastplates on their upper bodies.

At noon, as the horn sounded, all the post roads leading to Jianzhou Zhongwei were widened.

At the same time, Chen Chang began to order Tang Qi to search for the patrolling Jinghaiwei warship along the coast. At the same time, based on his own position, he formulated a task to search north for the location of Jianzhou Zhongwei.

If Chen Chang only brought this number of soldiers and horses, then he believed that he could repel Chen Chang. After all, he defeated more than a thousand North Korean border troops with more than 500 people last time.

Seeing this, Chen Chang said to the commanders beside him: "Order the civilians to work harder. If we can reach the plain to camp today, everyone will be rewarded two hundred!"

As time passed, just before dusk, the fifteen-mile beast road blocking the army was widened, and many tree stumps were dug out.

"Yes!"

For the sake of stability, Chen Chang did not order a rush due to the close distance between the two sides. Instead, he asked the civilians to build and widen the post roads left over from the Liao, Jin, and Yuan dynasties, and reinforced them with stone mills before taking fifty field cannons and nine thousand soldiers. The horse advances.

Most of his Tangqi were located more than ten miles away from Haiyang City, so when the Ming Army's Tangqi appeared, the entire Haiyang City panicked.

"General, take your orders!" After hearing Chen Chang's words, the commanders bowed in response.

When the Qianhu official learned the news, he quickly conveyed the information to Chen Chang who was resting in his tent.

With Timur's mind, he couldn't figure out this problem, so he chose to wait and see.

Upon seeing this, Chen Chang ordered the entire army to march for ten miles. The army completed the ten miles in only two quarters of an hour, and began to build a camp after reaching the plain.

"Uuuuuu——"

His method did indeed defeat many North Korean troops who went deep into the mountains and forests, but when faced with Chen Chang, who also had a background in training Jurchen troops, he seemed very pathetic.

Although the ground was still full of holes, it was finally ready for the army to march.

Thinking of this, Meng Brother Timur, who had been preparing for the whole night, fell into a deep sleep.

Chen Chang asked the Qianhu official, who nodded quickly after hearing this.

"We're finally here. When we get here, we're not far from Chief Lu's city. Wang San, go back and report to the Marquis!"

Not long after, he arrived at the position of the Chinese army, got off his horse and told the Qianhu officer in charge of commanding Tangqi the information obtained by his team.

Several small leaders spoke out in aggrieved manner, but Meng Brother Timur didn't think anything of it after hearing this. He just asked: "How many people are there?"

However, it took Chen Chang three days to walk the more than twenty miles of road. During these three days, Meng Brother Timur simply asked his troops to strengthen the city defense and at the same time sharpen their swords to prepare for war.

After the order was issued, all the men, women, and children in Jianzhou Zhongwei got up at night, lit torches, prepared wood and rolling stones, and even took advantage of the darkness to stock up on enough fresh water.

Although he had more than 2,000 armored soldiers under his command, his method of fighting was still the same as before, which was nothing more than launching a sudden attack on the enemy with him as the leader, just like a gang fight.

There were only five Ming soldiers, and they chased and beat dozens of them. If he said this, he would probably be beaten to death by Meng Brother Timur.

About half an hour later, Tang Qi jumped out of the beast's path. In front of him were thousands of civilians who were cutting down trees and digging tree stumps and roots, as well as a small number of cavalry responsible for guarding them.

"There are about a few hundred people, ten times more than us, otherwise we would definitely be able to defeat them." The little boss boasted about the number of Ming army Tangqi he encountered, but in fact the Tangqi they encountered was just a small group. Only five people.

In order to prevent being attacked by the Ming navy, Meng Ge Timur chose the location of Haiyang City five miles away from the coast. In his opinion, no siege equipment could reach such a far position, so it was considered a mistake by him.

However, he can defend against artillery at sea, but not artillery on land.

When nine thousand Ming troops appeared outside Haiyang City under the scorching sun and camped on the spot looking at the trees, Timur, the fierce brother in Haiyang City, also climbed to the top of the city and saw the overwhelming Ming army troops. .

"so much?"

Meng Brother Timur was startled, and subconsciously looked back at the wooden houses scattered throughout Haiyang City. Why did he feel that the soldiers and horses brought by Chen Chang were faster than his subordinates?

"General, what should we do?"

"Why don't you go out and fight them? After all, we have more than two thousand people."

Standing next to Meng Brother Timur, several cronies spoke one after another, and Meng Brother Timur was also very moved by the words.

Judging from the news reported by several leaders in the periphery, it is clear that the Ming army needs ten times the number to repel them, and there are two thousand brothers in armor here. Does that mean that he can lead his troops out of the city to defeat Chen Chang?

"It's better to defend the city first."

Meng brother Timur suppressed the impulse. After all, he was not familiar with Chen Chang. If the "front army" sent by Chen Chang a few days ago was just a sign of weakness, then he would fall into Chen Chang's trap.

Thinking of this, Meng Brother Timur became more determined in his tactics of defending first and then counterattacking.

"This city isn't that big. After setting up camp, we'll first find a way to hit it with two shots to test its strength."

Putting down the telescope, Chen Chang didn't think as much as Timur, the fierce brother, and all he wanted was to end the battle as soon as possible.

This is almost a common problem among generals born in the Bohai Sea. Except for Fu Rang, Yang Zhan, and Wang Xuan, who are good at surprise attacks, Wang Yi, Zhang Chun, Chen Chang, and others prefer to use a majestic formation to defeat the enemy frontally, and then the wind and clouds are over. Solve your opponents like this.

This style of play is simply not suitable for someone like Timur, who is thinking about defensive counterattacks.

Under the watch of more than 2,000 soldiers of Mengge Timur, it was already afternoon after the Ming army camp was set up. At this time, fifty field guns were pulled by horse-drawn carriages towards Haiyang City, causing a commotion.

If it weren't for the 3,000 soldiers following the fifty artillery pieces, they would have even thought that the Ming army was coming to give gifts.

"Beep--"

The wooden whistle sounded, and the 3,000-strong Ming army stopped a mile away from Haiyang City and began to build artillery positions in an orderly manner.

The muzzles of fifty field guns were turned towards Haiyang City, and after two hours of busy work, the order was given to open fire with the arrival of Chen Chang.

"Fixed fire loading, distance one mile, target Jianzhou central defender, test fire one round, ready... release!"

The sound of "chichi" burning match ropes was heard, followed closely by the sound of earth-shattering cannons.

"Boom boom boom——"

The smoke and the sound of artillery appeared at the same time. The stupid Jianzhou soldiers at the top of Haiyang City were frightened by the sudden sound of artillery and squatted down, while fifty five-pound artillery shells also hit Haiyang City hard.

The Haiyang City Wall in the south is less than a mile wide and is made of rammed earth and stones. It is one foot and three feet high and seven feet thick.

In the view of Mengge Timur and others, such a city wall is strong enough. In their memory, no siege equipment can break such a city.

However, the targets of the Ming army's artillery were usually the crenellations on the city wall, not the wall...

"Bang!!"

"Uh-huh!"

"The wall is down!"

When the iron cannonball hit the crenel, which was made of rammed earth and stones and was less than a foot thick, the seemingly indestructible crenel was shattered almost instantly.

The flying gravel injured many people, and even worse, the unlucky ones were blinded and kept wailing and screaming.

Although only 17 of the 50 shells hit the crenels, how could the rammed earth wall without Sanhe soil be able to withstand the power of the field artillery.

"My prediction is correct. They are short of food. Even if they build a city, it is only a simple wall of rammed earth and gravel, and the crenellations are very fragile."

Putting down the telescope, Chen Chang continued to order confidently: "Destroy all the crenels so that they will not dare to mount the horse road." "Yes!" The commander agreed and continued to order the artillery attack.

Therefore, in the next hour, the Ming army's artillery was rapidly clearing the wall stacks at the speed of one shelling per hour.

Most of the walls that took a lot of energy from the Jianzhou Zhongwei Jurchens to build were destroyed in less than an hour. The speed made all the Jurchens dumbfounded and they also kept running away like crazy.

Before the war, Tamerlane, who was still thinking about defensive counterattacks, was driven off the horse path by the Ming army's artillery, and watched helplessly as the wall stacks continued to disappear.

Without the wall stacks, they would become targets when they climbed up the city wall.

"Quick, take advantage of their rest time after the bombardment to go up and repair the wall stacks and block them with wood!"

Meng brother Timur ordered angrily, but the Jurchen soldiers all around were trembling with fear from the Ming army's shelling, and no one dared to go up and repair the wall stacks.

Seeing this scene, Timur, the fierce brother, could only forcefully drive them onto the horse path.

But the little time they delayed was enough for the Ming army to clear the gun barrels and continue the bombardment.

"Boom boom boom——"

"Run!"

When the cannon sounded, nearly a thousand Jurchen soldiers who had finally been driven up the city wall ran down the city wall in a swarm, making Meng brother Timur so angry that he wanted to vomit blood.

In the current era, except for some powerful countries, other countries have almost no means of defense against stone cannons, let alone cannons that are more rationally designed and more powerful than stone cannons.

If Haiyang City was a concrete city, Chen Chang estimated that it would take him a month to capture it.

If Haiyang City was a brick-and-earth city built with triple rammed earth, Chen Chang estimated that it would take him half a month to capture it.

However, the current Haiyang City is just a city made of mud and gravel. Chen Chang feels that as long as he pays the price, he can win it within one day.

"Let the civilians build the cloud chariot. It will be used tomorrow."

Chen Chang gave an order to the commander beside him, and then ordered the troops to withdraw back to the camp after seeing with his own eyes that all the wall stacks on the south side of Haiyang City were destroyed.

The sky was already approaching dusk at this time, and Chen Chang did not feel that he was in a hurry to capture Haiyang City. In this case, it was more important to spend some time waiting to ensure the safety of his own soldiers.

"Dang...dang...dang..."

As the golden sound sounded, the Ming army's artillery positions began to retreat back to the camp. Meng brother Timur, who had waited for a long time but never heard the sound of cannons, also cautiously walked onto the city wall with his frightened brothers.

After climbing the city wall, what we saw was a mess.

The one-mile wall they spent more than half a month building was completely destroyed in less than two hours in front of the Ming army.

Looking at this scene, Meng brother Timur was frightened into a cold sweat, but his cronies wiped the cold sweat and said with a smile:

"General, the Han people can only knock down our walls because they have these weapons. They are no match for us compared to archery and short-range soldiers."

"Yes...yes..." Meng Brother Timur nodded subconsciously. After all, he had no way out now. Even if he wanted to surrender, he had to see whether the Ming army was willing to accept it.

Just the thought of surrender made Meng Brother Timur begin to waver.

"Would you like... to try?"

Thinking of this, Meng Brother Timur pretended to be calm and said: "Wurigen, take a few people out of the city and say that we have seen their power and want to surrender."

"If the imperial court is willing, then I can continue to guard the border for the imperial court, and I will also obey the imperial court's orders in the future."

"If they don't want to, just tell me to come back and discuss it with me, and then we'll attack them in the dark at night."

Meng brother Timur wanted to surrender, but saying it directly would be too demoralizing, so he came up with this best-of-both-worlds approach.

Wu Rigen was a short and stocky man in his forties. After hearing his general's words, he nodded without thinking and selected a few soldiers who were frightened. He hung them down from the city wall in a hanging basket and took them on foot. Arriving at the Ming army camp.

Standing on the ruins of the city, Meng Brother Timur watched with his own eyes as Wu Rigen and the others were disarmed by the Ming army's cavalry and brought into the camp. His hanging heart was finally relieved.

If Chen Chang can accept his conditions, then he can continue to be the commander of his Jianzhou Central Guard. If Chen Chang doesn't agree, then don't blame yourself for the dead end!

"What is your leader thinking?"

In the large tent of the Ming army camp, Chen Chang, who took off his armor, couldn't help but smile and picked up the water glass and took a sip after listening to Wu Rigen's words.

You must know that the reason why he came to quell the rebellion was because Timur, the fierce brother, was unwilling to move to the interior to serve as a commander like Ahachu and Fudaha.

Now this fierce brother Timur actually wants to be the emperor in the frontier. Who does he think he is?

"Okay, go and tell your leader that you can either accept the recruitment and go to the mainland to serve as a commander, or you can lead a casual rank and martial arts to enjoy the wealth, or you can wait for me to break the city tomorrow and capture him alive."

Chen Chang's calm and calm appearance made Wu Rigen feel ashamed. He could only bite the bullet and hug his chest: "I will convey your words to our general."

"Step back." Chen Chang leaned on the chair and waved his hand to signal them to step back, as if he didn't take them seriously.

Such pride made Wu Rigen couldn't help but feel angry. Then he thought of his own night attack, and couldn't help but turn his anger into a smile: "Resign..."

After a while, Wu Rigen exited the tent and was taken out of the camp by Tang Qi.

After he left, Chen Chang slowly put away the contempt in his eyes, replaced by his usual composure.

He turned his head to look at the commander of the army and said, "Let the brothers sleep in their armor tonight. It will only be two days of hard work anyway."

"After this battle is over, I won't take any of the rewards. I will give them all to my brothers."

"General, take your orders!" After hearing Chen Chang's words, the commander felt admiration and spread the word throughout the army.

The lieutenant generals were only happy when they heard this. After all, it was not that they couldn't sleep while wearing armour, it was just that they were uncomfortable.

But if Chen Chang, who is the head officer, does not receive the reward, then each of these low-level soldiers will receive at least nearly a hundred coins, which is not a small sum.

Faced with this arrangement, all the soldiers in the army obeyed the general's orders that night and slept in their armor.

At the same time, Timur, the fierce brother, who learned about Chen Chang's request, also became more determined in his idea of ​​a night attack.

It was the dark cloudy environment at night that helped Meng Brother Timur's night attack.

He walked out from the north with two thousand armored men, thinking that no one had noticed him, but in fact there were still Tangqi from the Ming army at the north gate.

Therefore, not long after they left the city, the news reached Chen Chang's ears.

"He really dares to come?"

Chen Chang laughed and turned to the commander who came to report: "Xu Zhen, tell the soldiers of the three armies to wait for the trumpet to sound and let's catch the turtle in the jar!"

"Yes!" Xu Zhen agreed happily, and the officers and soldiers of the three armies also stood up and waited after learning that the Jurchens, who had been beaten during the day and dared not leave the city, tried to attack at night.

Braving the night, Meng Brother Timur and two thousand men rustled through the dense forest like a gang fight. The sound startled many birds.

With such a movement, even if there were no Tangqi, as long as the soldiers on night duty of the Ming army were not deaf, they would know that someone was trying to attack at night.

Fortunately, Chen Chang informed the three armies that someone would attack at night and asked them to cooperate. Otherwise, the soldiers on night duty would have blown the whistle long ago.

Therefore, in the face of such a move, they could only pretend to be blind and deaf. In order to facilitate Timur, some soldiers even walked down the guard post, showing that the camp was loose.

"This Han man is not nervous at all. He must be afraid that we will be beaten during the day."

"Just take advantage of their idea and kill them all tonight."

Meng brother Timur whispered to everyone around him: "When my bone whistle sounds, the whole army will attack."

"Yes!" Everyone agreed in a low voice, and then became quiet.

As time passed little by little, when the time came, Timur, the fierce brother squatting by the forest, also felt that the time had come.

"Beep--"

"Kill!!"

As the bone whistle sounded, more than two thousand Jurchen armored men swarmed towards the gate of the Ming army camp less than a hundred steps away from them, shouting for death.

With such momentum, I don't know if they thought they wanted to confront the nine thousand Ming army head-on.

"Kill! Whoever kills Chen Chang, give him fifty Korean slaves!"

Meng Brother Timur shouted, and the Jianzhou Jurchen men around him heard it and rushed towards the gate of the Ming army camp like a chicken blood.

Upon seeing this, the Ming army at the camp gate didn't even close the door, so they "hurriedly" fled into the camp.

"Haha! Fight in!"

Seeing this scene, Timur, the fierce brother, became more determined that the Ming army could not fight in short combat, and swarmed into the Ming army's camp with more than two thousand men.

It was only when they poured into the camp that they gradually realized something was wrong, because the movement in the camp was too quiet.

"Uuuuuu——"

In the darkness, when Chen Chang saw Meng Brother Timur and the others stopped and only less than half of the people poured into the camp, he knew that Meng Brother Timur had reacted, so he decided to blow the horn at that moment.

"kill!!!"

When the horn sounded, shouts of killing came from all directions. Five hundred Tangqi soldiers outside the camp also killed more than a thousand Jurchen soldiers outside the camp gate from the darkness. Thousands of Ming troops inside the camp even attacked Brother Meng. Timur and the others came to kill.

Their armor was bright, and the bravery on their faces was frightening. Many men from Jianzhou who had never seen such a battle couldn't help but become afraid.

Not only them, but even Meng Brother Timur, who was leading their night attack at this moment, had only one idea left in his mind.

"Damn, I fell into a trap..."

(End of this chapter)