The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 208 The Death of Immortal Amin
"A few years ago, I went to Shenyang and sent some more silver. I told Wang Huazhen and the others to submit a joint petition impeaching Zu Dashou for colluding with the Jiannu, engaging in smuggling, and killing innocent people to claim credit. Once the Jiannu were destroyed, we could also destroy Liaozhen!"

"Zu Dashou is worse than a beast. He tried to attack us twice. The emperor used the Zu family to contain Kaiyuan. It was a good plan."

"Take advantage of the situation and enter the pass, occupy the capital! Marquis Ping Liao, do not hesitate!"

At the north gate of Hetuala, flames shot up into the sky. Marquis Ping Liao, clad in full armor, sat on a small stool, motionless as a mountain.

The central army's flag glowed blood red in the light of the fire. Liu Zhaosun looked at the flag and said in a deep voice:

"Before coming to Hetuala this time, I divined at Guiyuan Temple and got a hexagram called: Hidden Dragon, Do Not Use It."

Kang Yingqian, Sun Chuanting, Deng Changxiong and others stood around. A bonfire was lit on the top of the city wall, but it could not block the bone-chilling cold.

The old wound on his left rib ached slightly. Recalling the scene of being chased by Jiannu scouts during the bloody battle of Hunhe River, Ping Liaohou showed a look of forbearance on his face.

"The time is not yet ripe. It would be enough to destroy the Later Jin. Entering the Pass would be too hasty."

Kang Yingqian wanted to try to persuade them, but Liu Zhaosun waved his hand, cutting off their thoughts of going any further.

"Okay, let's go meet the envoy Huang Taiji first."

The brutal street fighting was drawing to a close. With the capture of Hetuala, the Later Jin Dynasty's demise was imminent. Thousands of divine fire crows, trailing orange-red flames, rose from the Kaiyuan artillery camp, illuminating the dark night sky of Hetuala like meteors.

The meteor slid into the Khan Palace, Huang Taiji's final lair. As the Jianzhou Jurchens panicked, the rockets erupted in brilliant fireworks and exploded with thunderous noises.

All four gates of Hetuala were captured, the two red flags and the white flag were destroyed, the blue flag suffered heavy casualties, the white flag surrendered, and the two yellow flags retreated step by step. Under the overwhelming superiority of the Kaiyuan army, any conspiracy and trickery of the Jiannu seemed insignificant, even ridiculous.

The Jiannu envoy was taken to the top of the city wall and stood in front of everyone. A Zhenyi was accompanied by two Han officials, and followed by several Jiannu armored soldiers.

The Zhenyi master nodded, and a Han official came out and saluted Ping Liaohou, saying loudly:
"I am Gao Hongzhong, the Minister of Finance of the Great Jin Dynasty and Grand Secretary of the Imperial Palace. My master has sent me here to bring a message to the Marquis of Ping Liao."

Liu Zhaosun didn't wait for him to finish speaking, pointed to the person behind him and waved his hand.

"Cut one first."

Wu Xiao immediately stepped forward, took Lin Yu with him and held down a soldier of the Zhenghuang Banner without saying a word, and in front of everyone, he raised his sword and killed him.

Liu Zhaosun stared at Gao Hongzhong, who was filled with shock, and said coldly:

"There's no Great Khan here. In my eyes, Huang Taiji is just a slave chief. I should have beheaded you too, but since you're a Han Chinese, if you dare to address me as the Great Khan again, there's no point in talking to him."

Several Later Jin envoys were furious, but they dared not move because weapons were pointed at their necks.

Gao Hongzhong suppressed his anger and whispered, "Marquis Ping Liao, the chieftain asked me to bring you a message."

Liu Zhaosun nodded, and this looked like a negotiation.

"What?"

Gao Hongzhong turned around to look at his master. Master Zhenyi winked at him, and Gao Hongzhong quickly said:
"When the birds are gone, the bows are put away; when the rabbit dies, the running dog is cooked. Ping Liao Hou has achieved unparalleled merits, surpassing his master. The imperial censors have long been keeping an eye on you. The Kaiyuan Army has seized land in Liaodong and Shandong, collecting extremely low rents, and even robbed the Duke of Yansheng. This has offended all the gentry..."

Liu Zhaosun looked at the bondservants calmly. Gao Hongzhong looked a little flustered, and his voice became lower and lower, until only he could hear it.

"My master, no, the slave chief asked me to bring you a message. The Eight Banners can cooperate with the Kaiyuan Army to jointly occupy Liaodong. The Jin Kingdom will follow the Korean example and pay tribute to the Ming Dynasty. Of course, as long as Ping Liaohou agrees, the slave chief will send troops to Shandong next year to assist Ping Liaohou in entering the pass. The Kaiyuan Army will be needed to provide ships."

Ping Liaohou chuckled. The Later Jin side was still using the same boring rhetoric, nothing new.

He waved his hand and was about to send the bondservants away, but Gao Hongzhong took the lead and said to him in a heartfelt tone:
"Marquis Ping Liao, as you've seen from the battles of the past few days, the Great Jin has been busy for the past two years. The Nu chieftains have been training their troops, and their fighting strength has been restored. The firearms and tactics of each banner have been improved, and the number of troops has increased by tens of thousands. To be honest, the further we advance, the stronger the fortifications of Hetuala become. Your army will not be able to take it unless tens of thousands of people are killed. My master is kind-hearted and cannot bear to see the suffering of the people, so he sent me to negotiate peace. If Marquis Ping Liao is stubborn and insists on fighting again, it will be a fight between two tigers, with both sides suffering losses. In the end, the court and Zu Dashou will profit. It will be a losing proposition. I hope Marquis Ping Liao will reconsider."

Ping Liaohou said angrily:

"I gave you a chance, but the Jiannu took advantage of me suppressing the rebellion in Shandong to launch a surprise attack on Kaiyuan and Fushun, slaughtering the people. And you still have the nerve to talk about mercy! Go back and tell Huang Taiji that when he broke the alliance and attacked Fushun last year, he should have thought of this day. Even if I perish with you, I will capture Hetuala! Kill him!"

Gao Hongzhong didn't dare to say much.

The Zhenyi master stepped forward and shouted angrily, "If you don't accept my toast, then we'll see who's better on the battlefield!"

Sen Ti grabbed Zhen Yi and said:

"Your Majesty!"

The envoy was quite arrogant. He ignored the sharp blades approaching from all sides and said proudly, "I am the envoy of the Great Jin Dynasty. If anyone should kneel, it should be you!"

The surrounding guards drew their swords and rushed forward, ready to chop down the Jiannu on the spot, but Ping Liaohou stopped them with a wave of his hand:

"You look very familiar, tell me your name!"

His tone was firm, not allowing the other party to refute, and he continued:
"Forget it, I have nothing to talk about with you! Go back and tell Huang Taiji to wipe his neck and wait for me to chop off his head." Just as he was about to wave his hand to send the guests away, Ping Liaohou suddenly remembered something.

"slow!"

Everyone looked up at Ping Liaohou, but saw a cold light flashing in Liu Zhaosun's eyes.

"Are you Amin?"

Suddenly, I remembered that the person in front of me was Amin, the leader of the Bordered Blue Banner, whom I met at the beginning of my journey. I didn't expect that this murderous maniac who had been killed countless times by the Ming army was still alive.

"Back in the bloody Battle of Sarhu, I spared your life, but you showed no gratitude. Instead, you slaughtered innocent people in Jing'an Fort, not even sparing children. I swore a solemn oath to avenge the people of Jing'an Fort!"

"Come on, push him down and chop him up!"

Amin came to negotiate on behalf of Huang Taiji this time. He thought it was safe, but he didn't expect the other party to kill the envoy.

"The two armies are fighting, and the envoy will not be killed."

Ping Liao Hou laughed:
"Kill the envoy to boost our military might! Attack the city with all our might!"

~~~~~
The capital of the Later Jin Dynasty was engulfed in flames. After the city was breached, the soldiers from the three thousand headquarters gathered together and took turns to attack the Khan's Palace.

The divine fire crows turned night into day, the cannons shook the earth, and Hetuala fell into hell.

The baoyi Aha, who had defected at the last minute, rose up with valor and began slaughtering the Jianzhou Jurchens house by house. These baoyi slaves, like full-blooded thieves, mercilessly plundered the Jianzhou Jurchens' remaining grain and gold and silver. Half an hour ago, these victims were still their masters.

The woman's screams were drowned out by the sound of firearms firing, and countless figures flashed in the flames that shot up into the sky, with slaughter and revelry taking place simultaneously.

Everyone looked at Amin's bloody head. The former leader of the Bordered Blue Banner was inexplicably beheaded by Marquis Ping Liao.

Kang Yingqian laughed and said, "After this battle, Jianzhou's food and grass will be burned and looted, and many Zhenyi will starve to death, as will the Mongols."

Liu Zhaosun nodded slightly. He had no intention and no ability to prevent this disaster from happening. Under the Little Ice Age climate, it was not only the Jiannu who were short of food, but also Kaiyuan itself.

"Control Liaodong, continue to expand in Shandong, and increase the army by tens of thousands. I believe that we can march on the capital by the end of the year."

Whether it is entering the pass or ascending the throne, let’s talk about the future later and do the things in front of us first.

Ping Liaohou looked up at the northern sky where shouts and cries of killing were heard, and said to the crowd:

"We must capture the Khan's Palace tonight and kill Huang Taiji! End the war in Liaodong."

~~~~~
On February 15th of the second month of the second year of Taichang, Ping Liaohou led the main force of the Kaiyuan army to capture Hetuala, destroying the Zhenglan Banner, the two Hong Banners, the Zhengbai Banner, and surrendering the Xiangbai Banner. Among the eight banners, only the two Huang Banners and the Xianglan Banner remained.

The remaining three flags were also in a very bad situation. The two yellow flags suffered heavy casualties, and the blue flag had lost contact in Yehe City.

If the capture of Hetuala meant the demise of the Later Jin Dynasty, then on the 25th, the Later Jin Dynasty had already perished several times.

After this battle, the situation in Liaodong will change completely, and the Later Jin as a regional regime will in fact be completely eliminated.

As for whether Huang Taiji will live or die in the end, it depends on whether Changshengtian favors the Khan of Later Jin.

Obviously, God will not favor him.

If everything goes well, after the autumn harvest next year, the Kaiyuan army will cut off the canal and control northern Zhili. The next step will be to persuade local officials to ascend the throne.

From then on, the threat posed by the Later Jin to the Ming Dynasty would be replaced by the Kaiyuan Army.

In other words, Liu Zhaosun finally turned into the person he hated.

One day in the future, the time traveler will transform into a dragon like Nurhaci or Huang Taiji, waiting for the next dragon slayer to destroy him.

After nightfall, Hetuala was engulfed in flames, with Jianzhou Jurchens everywhere running for their lives, followed by the bannermen Aha who were frantically seeking revenge.

The Kaiyuan army actually condoned this looting. As long as the bannermen did not carry out a large-scale massacre in the city, the soldiers would not stop them.

Although Liu Zhaosun repeatedly ordered that the Zhenyi people should not be massacred, the Liao people's anger for revenge quickly got out of control once it was ignited.

After nightfall, various small-scale retaliatory actions were carried out in many places in the city, and the Later Jin's rule in Hetuala came to an end.

Those Jianzhou men who were lucky enough not to be killed took up their weapons and fled to the Khan's Palace.

At the highest point of Hetuala, Huang Taiji, the Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty, was leading nearly 10,000 Later Jin warriors in a final decisive battle with the Han people who were red-eyed with anger.

(End of this chapter)