Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

"Hahahaha!"

Hearty laughter erupted, and the soldiers of the Liaonan Army cheered with joy.

Before the battle began, they had never imagined it would be so easy. Even their commander, Yang Jiamo, had prepared for the possibility of defeat and a retreat to the main camp—

Lu Xiang-sheng's 10,000-strong Tianxiong Army was prepared for this purpose. It ensured that even in the event of defeat, they would not collapse and could continue to defend by relying on their camps.

Who would have thought that the Jurchens were so cowardly that they fled on horseback before even getting past the first minefield.

If Yang Jiamo hadn't acted quickly and ordered Yang Yufan, who was overseeing Haizhou, to lead his cavalry into battle, they probably wouldn't have been able to hold off the Naiman and Aohan tribes, and they would have escaped.

At this moment, all the generals gathered together, and Yang Yufan said:

"General, what should we do with these Mongols? When should we annihilate them?"

Yang Jiamo thought for a moment and said:

"Send someone to call out first; if they are willing to surrender, it can be considered as submission."

"The court treated the barbarians who submitted with courtesy and preserved the status of their leaders."

Tian Jianxiu opened his mouth as if to speak, but finally couldn't help but say:
"And what about the soldiers' contributions?"

"How should it be calculated?"

Yang Jiamo laughed heartily:
"Of course, it's counted based on the number of prisoners captured."

“These barbarians surrendered when they were desperate, and even if their leaders were treated well, it would be impossible for them to give up their subordinates.”

"From now on, we'll see how many merits they make before redistributing the captured barbarians."

Tian Jianxiu and the others were now satisfied.

Because capturing prisoners in this way might earn more merit than fighting them.

After all, if a real fight broke out, they weren't confident they could annihilate all of these people without missing a single one.

Moreover, war inevitably results in casualties, which would increase their losses.

Therefore, Yang Jiamo's order was quickly carried out, and the Ming soldiers at the front shouted for Naiman and Aohan to surrender.

The two leaders were now at their wits' end. Their ancestral lands had been destroyed by the Ming-Mongol alliance, and all that remained of them were the few men under their command.

If all these people are lost, they will no longer be considered powerful and influential on the grasslands.

Finally, after the Ming soldiers practiced a volley, Gunchuk of the Naiman tribe, Sonamduleng of the Aohan tribe, and Sechenzhuoliktu, who had suffered heavy losses, sent envoys to express their surrender.

Yang Jiamo was overjoyed and immediately ordered his men to disarm the two troops. Furthermore, he treated the two leaders with the courtesy promised, without any intention of humiliating them.

His purpose in doing so was naturally to ascertain the strengths and weaknesses of the Jurchens and to know both himself and his enemy.

After questioning the two tribal leaders separately and promising to return the spoils to their subordinates according to their merits, the two tribal leaders quickly recounted everything they knew about the Jurchens.

From these people, the generals in Liaonan learned that Huang Taiji's troops left in the Khan's tent consisted of only half of each of the two Yellow Banners and half of the Plain White Banner under Dodo's command.

These troops, in total, numbered less than 20,000. The rest were Mongol, Korean, and Han Chinese, and they had little fighting power outside of the Jurchens.

Dorgon also had fewer than 5,000 men under his command, and after losing several hundred today, he had at most 4,000.

This accurate information is roughly in line with the Ming Dynasty's estimation.

After figuring out the situation, everyone was eager to fight and vowed to make a name for themselves and kill the enemy.

"General, just give the order!"

"Let's go kill the Tartars!"

Chen Jisheng, who had not earned any merit in the battle, spoke first.

He and Yang Yufan were ordered to monitor the two red flags inside Haizhou City. As soon as the Jurchens came out, they saw that the white flag had been defeated and retreated.

Afterwards, Yang Yufan, who was leading the cavalry, was transferred to besiege Naiman and Aohan, but he did nothing and just defended for a while.

Now they are eager to make a name for themselves and have volunteered to lead the encirclement and annihilation of the Bordered White Flag Army.

Yang Jiamo was also very pleased with the outcome of this battle, but as someone who was involved in the situation, he knew how dangerous it was.

If it weren't for Lu Xiang-sheng's timely intervention, the new army in Liaonan Town might have collapsed without a fight.

Even with landmines blocking their way, the Jurchens might still have risked casualties to pursue them.

Therefore, without other defensive fortifications, he was unwilling to engage the Jurchens in open battle. He smiled and said to Chen Jisheng:
"What are four thousand men with the Bordered White Banner?"

"The two red flags in the city are the real achievement!"

"You lead your troops to surround the enemy properly; this battle is entrusted to your command."

Chen Jisheng chuckled and happily accepted the order.

Indeed, just as Yang Jiamo said, after the rescue by the Bordered White Banner failed, the two Red Banners in Haizhou City were already trapped.

Even if they wanted to abandon Haizhou, it would be impossible for them to escape easily now.
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Huang Taiji also sensed this danger. After receiving news of Dorgon's defeat, he quickly realized:
The two red flags in Haizhou City are in danger; they could be swallowed up by the Ming army.

Even he himself was so angry when he learned that the Naiman and Aohan tribes had surrendered that he almost vomited blood.

Because he had previously used two disguised yellow flags to make the Ming army believe that he still had many troops.

Now that these two units have surrendered to the Ming army, their strengths and weaknesses will be thoroughly investigated by the Ming army.

Unconvinced that the two tribal leaders would rather die than keep the secret, Huang Taiji immediately gave the order:
"The entire army must break camp and immediately relieve Haizhou!"

Under the pretext of rescuing the two Red Flags, they abandoned the defensive line they had been building for many days and the entire army broke camp and left.

This movement was quickly discovered by the Guan Ning army on the opposite side.

Sun Chengzong and his men were initially puzzled, but after receiving the battle report from Haizhou, they understood why the Jurchens were doing this:

"Haizhou has won!"

"No wonder the Tartars wanted to flee."

Sun Chengzong sighed deeply:

"The enemy chieftain is a wise ruler!" "He is so decisive."

It is lamentable that the Guan Ning Army has once again missed a crucial opportunity.

Although they said their camp wasn't far from Huang Taiji's, it was actually more than ten miles away.

With the Jurchens making prior preparations, they simply couldn't catch up.

Vice Admiral Zheng Zhihu said with great reluctance:

"Are we just going to watch the Jurchens escape without sending anyone to pursue them?"

You Shilu shook his head and said:

"The Jurchens were very well prepared for this withdrawal, and their armies were extremely disciplined."

"The only ones we can pursue are the cavalry, but not only will we fail to capture them, we may also be surrounded."

This is also the current disadvantage of the Ming Dynasty: it is more than capable of defense, but extremely weak in attack.

Even Yang Jiamo's side relied on defense and counterattack in this field battle. Once Dorgon led the Bordered White Banner to flee, he was powerless to stop him.

Zheng Zhihu ignored all that and shouted:
"If pursuing them won't work, surely dredging the river will?"

"You guys clear the Haicheng River, and I'll lead the fleet over there."

This was his biggest demand, and he led his fleet directly to the outskirts of Haizhou City.

After discussing it with his generals, Sun Chengzong immediately agreed.

They left 10,000 troops to guard the camp, while the other 40,000 soldiers went out together to dredge the waterways blocked by the Jurchens.

They hadn't dared to do this before because they were afraid of being surrounded and annihilated by the Jurchens after leaving the camp.

Now that he learned that Huang Taiji only had 20,000 genuine Tartars by his side, he immediately became fearless.

Upon receiving this news, Huang Taiji did indeed briefly consider seizing the opportunity to encircle and annihilate the Guan Ning Army.

However, after receiving the battle report from Haizhou and learning that the Ming army's warships had been following behind the Guan Ning army, he abandoned the idea.

No longer caring about the Guan Ning Army behind him, he was determined to go to Haizhou to rescue the two Red Banners.

Upon learning this news, Sun Chengzong and his men could only sigh in despair. They accelerated the dredging of the river while simultaneously dispatching Cao Wenzhao and Sun Yingyuan with 10,000 men to Haizhou as reinforcements.

These 10,000 men were all newly transferred troops from the capital, equipped with modern firearms.

After learning of the victory outside Haizhou City, they were now fully confident in their ability to hold their positions firmly.

If the Jurchens don't besiege them, that's fine. But if they decide to besiege them, they'll show the Jurchens the power of their new firearms.

The Jurchens led by Huang Taiji did not waste their efforts; they arrived outside Haizhou City ahead of the Ming reinforcements.

Yang Jiamo lined up his troops to meet the attack, but Huang Taiji ignored him.

After observing the tunnels of the Ming army outside Haizhou City, he said with a solemn expression:
"The Ming army is not only good at defending cities, but also at attacking them!"

"We can no longer hold out in Haizhou."

Dorgon agreed, as he shared the same view:

"The Ming army is extremely cautious, and our bows and arrows are ineffective, with a shorter range than our muskets."

“As Sahalian said, we must equip ourselves with cannons and ballistae to defend the city.”

Huang Taiji remained noncommittal, because he had deeper thoughts.

In the past few months, the Jin state had also produced cannons, but every time their cannons appeared on the front lines, they were destroyed by concentrated fire from the Ming army's cannons.

Today, Huang Taiji no longer harbors any illusions about defeating the Ming army in artillery battles; that is impossible.

If artillery were used to defend the city, it would certainly be destroyed by the Ming army with even more artillery. The so-called ballistae would also not survive; they would be bombarded by the Ming army after only one or two uses.

It's impossible to defend a city with these two weapons; Saharan is merely treating the symptoms, not the root cause.

Huang Taiji, as the Great Khan, thought even further ahead. He had already sensed the impending doom of the Jin Dynasty from the Battle of Haizhou:

"If Haizhou falls, how can Liaoyang be defended?"

"After Liaoyang, that's Shenyang."

"Is our Great Jin Kingdom destined to perish in my hands?"

Two years of campaigning, only to fail at the last hurdle.

This year, they were forced by the Ming army to abandon the Niuzhuang area.

Huang Taiji knew that with the Ming army's current defensive capabilities, once he abandoned Haizhou, it would no longer belong to him.

The Ming army would also use this as a base to move north and threaten the Liaoyang area.

He could choose to amass a large army in Liaoyang and fight another battle to defend Liaoyang.

However, after seeing the Ming army's siege tactics, he now felt that doing so was pointless:
"The Ming army's advance through tunnels may not result in a swift victory, but it also won't lead to a swift defeat."

"If our army goes out of the city to fight in the open field, we will encounter the Ming army's firearms formations."

"If the Ming army couldn't overcome the firearms formation, it wouldn't have been defeated."

"We must find a way to break this formation, or the Great Jin Kingdom will be defeated!"

Having deeply grasped the significance of the upcoming Battle of Haizhou, Huang Taiji felt that this was the decisive battle between the Great Jin and the Great Ming:

If I win, then everything will be fine.

If you fail, find a place to migrate to as soon as possible.

He wouldn't allow himself to wait to die in Shenyang, and the Ming Dynasty's siege technology meant he couldn't hold Shenyang indefinitely.

He wanted to find a way to break through the Ming army's firearms and battle formations before they were fully developed. (End of Chapter)