Gou was a member of the imperial family in the late Ming Dynasty

Chapter 1107: Attack Panshan
When the military order was given, the whole army immediately began to prepare. After everyone left the tent one by one, Wang Jinwu also stepped out of the tent. At this time, all units of the Ming army's camp were mobilized in an orderly manner under the command of the generals, and the war was about to begin.

Watching this scene, Wang Jinwu was filled with emotion. As the commander-in-chief, he knew better than anyone what this battle meant. The Ming Dynasty had been preparing and planning for this battle for many years, with the goal of resolving the Liaodong issue in one fell swoop and completely eliminating this major concern for the Ming Dynasty.

Wang Jinwu was the executor designated by Zhu Shenzhui, and the heavy responsibility he shouldered was imaginable. Once the battle was won, the Jiannu problem that had troubled the Ming Dynasty for nearly 30 years would be completely solved, and Wang Jinwu would also reach the peak of his life, and his achievements would be remembered by future generations.

As a military commander, Fenglangjuxu is the highest pursuit in life, but now that Mongolia is gradually stabilizing, it is naturally impossible. But the achievement of pacifying Liaodong is no less than Fenglangjuxu in reality. As long as this is accomplished, Wang Jinwu will definitely leave a deep mark in history, on par with the founding fathers of the Ming Dynasty, such as Xu Da, Chang Yuchun, Li Wenzhong and others.

Thinking of this, Wang Jinwu could not help but feel heroic, but at the same time he was also somewhat melancholy. He knew clearly that this battle might be the last one he would lead. This had nothing to do with his age and health. Wang Jinwu was now in his prime, and his health was very strong. Moreover, after this battle, with his merits, Wang Jinwu would definitely be promoted from a marquis to a duke. Emperor Zhu Shenzhu had already given him this hint before the expedition, and his merits in destroying the Jiannu were enough for him to ascend to the position of duke.

But if this is the case, then Wang Jinwu will not be able to continue to lead the army, not to mention that he is now a cabinet elder. Although he is the emperor's cousin and a noble relative of the Ming Dynasty, it is precisely because of this that Wang Jinwu will no longer have the opportunity to go to the battlefield in person in the future. As a military general, his merits are too great, and once there is no more title to be given, this is not a good thing.

Wang Jinwu understood this very well, so he attached great importance to this war. Now it was finally the critical moment. He had not been putting all his efforts into taking Panshan these days. On the one hand, he wanted to use the Battle of Panshan to train troops and integrate the various armies. On the other hand, he also wanted to use Panshan to lure the main forces of the Eight Banners to gather here, and use the advantage of the Ming army's firearms to continuously consume the enemy and thus take the initiative.

As time went by, the Jiannu probably realized his intention, or because of Dorgon, the Jiannu were preparing to readjust their tactics before the main force returned. Facing such a situation, Wang Jinwu had already judged the Jiannu's thoughts. In addition, as the head coach, he had already made all the arrangements. Whether from the current situation or the planned time, the time was ripe to completely take over Panshan.

On that day, in addition to maintaining a partial-scale attack on Panshan, the Ming army had made subsequent preparations. The next morning, after Wang Jinwu issued the order for the general attack, Zu Dashou, as the vanguard, led the elite Liao army and launched a fierce attack on Panshan.

The intensity and severity of this attack were incomparable to the previous ones. The Ming army put in a lot of effort, and in just half an hour, the Jiannu army in Panshan could no longer bear it. Although the Eight Banners of the Jiannu army and their subordinate Han Army Banners fought desperately and intended to continue to defend Panshan as before, their efforts were in vain in the face of the powerful Ming army.

It was not that the Ming army was unable to capture Panshan, but that they did not use their full strength. In addition, in order to train and integrate the army, the Ming army's previous offensive force was not strong. This gave the Jiannu an illusion that although the Ming army was much stronger than before, its strength was limited. As long as they defended Panshan and had enough troops, they could block the Ming army at the exit of the Liaoxi Corridor.

But who would have thought that after Zu Dashou launched the attack, the Jiannu defenders immediately felt something was wrong. The Ming army on the opposite side was fighting too fiercely. The Jiannu and Zu Dashou were old rivals. The two sides had fought for decades, but Zu Dashou had always been good at defending the city, but he had never been a match for the Jiannu in field battles. What's more, this time the attack and defense were reversed, and it was the first time that Zu Dashou led his troops to attack the fortress garrisoned by the Jiannu.

Zu Dashou was a great general of Liaodong and also a senior general of the Ming Dynasty. He was able to thrive under the command of Xiong Tingbi, Sun Chengzong, and Yuan Chonghuan, and together with Wu Xiang, he firmly controlled the Liao army. Naturally, he was not a waste as he became a giant of the Liaodong generals.

Even though Zu Dashou had suffered many defeats at the hands of Nurhaci and Huang Taiji, and even once was left with no alternative but to escape under the pretext of surrender, one cannot deny Zu Dashou's military capabilities.

Judging from military capabilities alone, Zu Dashou ranked among the top generals in the entire Ming Dynasty. In reality, his several defeats were not due to Zu Dashou's improper command or incompetence.

As a general on the front line, Zu Dashou could only take passive defensive measures when he was short of troops and had poor combat effectiveness. In defensive battles, Zu Dashou often led his troops in the encirclement of the Jiannu and fought hard. Even so, he did not give up. Instead, he boosted morale and resisted to the end. Even when the food was exhausted, Zu Dashou still tried to hold on with other means until he was finally at his wit's end and escaped by pretending to surrender.

From this point of view alone, Zu Dashou is impeccable in terms of both command ability and loyalty to the Ming Dynasty. There are very few generals who can achieve the same level as Zu Dashou.

In the original history, Zu Dashou finally surrendered to Huang Taiji, but his surrender was also forced. If it were not for the blind command of Emperor Chongzhen, who insisted on urging Hong Chengchou on the front line to underestimate the enemy and advance rashly, the Battle of Jinzhou would never have become what it was later according to Hong Chengchou's step-by-step tactics and Zu Dashou in Jinzhou. From the facts, the historical defeat of Jinzhou was fundamentally due to Chongzhen. He did not care about the actual situation on the front line, did not consider objective factors, did not listen to the explanation of the highest commander on the front line, and only urged Hong Chengchou to resolve the siege of Jinzhou as soon as possible based on the remarks of several officials in the capital and his own imagination. Hong Chengchou was also helpless. In this case, he could not help but obey the will from the capital. Knowing the huge risks of advancing rashly, he could only order a change in the previous tactics and lead the army to advance quickly to Jinzhou.

It was this action that ultimately led to serious consequences. Originally, Hong Chengchou's tactics made Huang Taiji helpless. As long as the Ming army could hold on a little longer, in a month at the shortest and two or three months at the longest, Huang Taiji's Eight Banners would collapse first. But Chongzhen intervened and ruined the good situation. When Huang Taiji learned that Hong Chengchou was advancing recklessly, he was overjoyed and immediately mobilized his troops to divide and encircle Hong Chengchou's main force, which eventually led to Hong Chengchou's army being disconnected from the front and back, being surrounded, and thus defeated and captured.

Hong Chengchou's reinforcements were gone, and Zu Dashou, who was stationed in the isolated city of Jinzhou, had completely lost hope. Zu Dashou knew that no one would come to rescue him. Facing such a situation, Zu Dashou had lost all possibility of saving the situation. He had only two options left: one was to wait for the city to fall and die, and the other was to surrender.

At this time, Zu Dashou had no other choice. Rather than defending the broken city, it would be better to surrender. At least this would avoid casualties among his subordinates and protect the soldiers and civilians in Jinzhou. More importantly, because of the fall of Hong Chengchou, Zu Dashou was completely disappointed with the Ming Dynasty. If there was any hope, Zu Dashou would never make such a choice. From this point of view, Zu Dashou's surrender to Huang Taiji was the utmost kindness to the Ming Dynasty.

Now everything has changed. With the emergence of Zhu Shenzhui, the original historical defeat of Jinzhou did not happen. When Huang Taiji surrounded Jinzhou City, Zu Dashou finally got through the difficulties safely under Zhu Shenzhui's tactics of crossing the sea to the north and taking steady steps. He not only defended Jinzhou, but also saved the main force of the Ming army in Liaodong.

Zu Dashou had been holding a grudge in Liaodong for many years. He and the Jiannu were sworn enemies. During the years of war, countless Zu family members died at the hands of the Jiannu. Even many of Zu Dashou's family members died in the Battle of Dalingh River.

As the Ming Dynasty's finances gradually improved, the emperor's logistical supplies for Liaodong became more abundant than before. The payment of military pay and the satisfaction of supplies gradually restored the combat effectiveness of the Liaodong Army, and Zu Dashou, as the main general on the front line, gradually gained confidence. After the subsequent adjustment of the military system, Zu Dashou not only got the military rank and position given by the court, but also became a nobleman of the Ming Dynasty. In addition, the strategic requirements given to him by the court in recent years were different from before, and the blockade policy of Liaodong during the period of Sun Chengzong was restored. This made Zu Dashou more comfortable facing the Jiannu and greatly reduced the pressure.

This time, Wang Jinwu let Zu Dashou serve as the vanguard of Panshan, which was to give Zu Dashou a chance, a good opportunity to redeem himself. As the leading figure of the Liao army, although the most powerful army of the Ming Dynasty was the new army, the combat effectiveness of the Liao army was not bad, and the Liao army had fought with the Jiannu for so many years, and was particularly familiar with the Jiannu's operations. The purpose of launching this war was to completely eliminate the Jiannu in Liaodong. Regardless of public or private interests, Wang Jinwu could not ignore the Liao army, so he used Zu Dashou as the main force to attack Panshan, and also let the Liao army win the first credit in this battle, to comfort the heroic spirits of the Liao army soldiers who had fought for the country in Liaodong for decades.

Zu Dashou knew this very well, so he used all his strength from the beginning, and his subordinates also attacked Panshan fiercely as if they were injected with chicken blood. Although Zu Dashou's Liao army was still slightly inferior to the Eight Banners in terms of combat effectiveness, don't forget that Zu Dashou had the firearms troops of the new army as support. Adding the two together, Zu Dashou fought very well at the beginning of the battle. After several fierce attacks, the Eight Banners army in Panshan was shaky and fought hard to barely hold the defense line.

"General Zu! This is not working! Our brothers have charged several times but were beaten back. Can you guys take a break? There will be too many casualties if we fight like this!" When the battle reached noon, Zu Dashou's subordinates stumbled to him and pleaded.

The armor of this general was covered in blood, with a feather arrow hanging on it, and there were holes on the sword he was holding, which was enough to show how fierce the battle was.

Zu Dashou raised his eyebrows and said coldly: "Take a break? If you take a break, won't the Jiannu take a break? I don't care about casualties! I'm going to take Panshan! If your troops are wiped out, you will take over for me! If you are wiped out, I will take over myself. You must take over Panshan for me! Otherwise, don't blame my sword for being weak!"

Zu Dashou's words left the general speechless. He smiled bitterly, saluted Zu Dashou, turned around and went back to the front line with his personal guards without saying a word.

After these generals left, Zu Dashou was silent for a moment, waved and called another general, asked him to take a thousand people to reinforce the front line, and reminded him not to relax the intensity of the attack and must maintain the current intensity of the attack. In Zu Dashou's view, this battle depends on who can hold on to the end. If he can't bear it, the Jiannu on the opposite side will not be able to bear it even more. If he relaxes at this time, all his previous efforts will be wasted.

(End of this chapter)