The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 448: The Battle of Shenyang and the Selection of the Capital of Daqi
Tong Puhan, the commander of Wuzhenhachao, came to the front of the Zhenghong Banner with an arrogant look on his face and said sarcastically:

"Master Sahalian, times have changed. Now, when fighting against Nikan, we cannot rely solely on brute force, but also need to use our brains. The emperor has asked me to ask you, who ordered the attack just now?"

Sahalian usually doesn't take these Han slaves seriously. In his opinion, Tong Puhan is just like his father Tong Yangxing, who got to the top by currying favor with the master. After the dog slave became successful, his tail was up in the air. In the past, when he saw the master of the shellfish flag, he nodded and fawned, more respectful than a dog. Now, relying on the favor of the emperor, he trained the Wuzhenhachao artillery and musketeers, became proud of his achievements, and became more and more unruly.

"I am your master!"

Like Sahalian and Duoduo, they are both the youngest sons of the Aisin Gioro family. They have been spoiled since childhood and would never tolerate a servant being so presumptuous.

"Snapped!"

The leader of the Zhenghong Banner slapped Tong Puhan in the face, causing Commander Wuzhenhachao to stagger and fall to the ground.

Tong Puhan's head was buzzing. When he raised his head, he saw a slap mark on his face.

"Get lost, you dog slave! I, a member of the Zhenghong Banner, can even chop down the walls of Nikan with my sword!"

Tong Puhan was beaten but did not dare to fight back. He glared at Sahalian, took a few bannermen guards, and left angrily.

Goshha, who was beside Sahalian, whispered:

"Master, are you still charging with the armor?"

Sahalian looked at the dead horses between the fortresses ahead and said unhappily:

"What the hell are you doing?! The Baoyi are strong, let them charge, call back all the Majia, and let Wu Zhenha take the lead."

Dorgon did not care about this little incident before the battle. He ordered the bannermen of the Plain White Banner to quickly clear the passage ahead and let the musketeers continue to move forward.

Wu Zhenhachao, who suffered a collision with the vest, rearranged his troops and divided the two thousand people into ten columns, with two hundred people in each team, and marched towards ten fortresses.

When they were three hundred steps away from the fortress, Wu Zhenha's column changed into a horizontal formation. Ten British instructors blew their whistles, and everyone stopped moving forward. They raised their flintlock muskets and fired at the Qi army musketeers hidden behind the battlements of the fortress.

At the same time, the red-haired instructor waved the red flag, and the Qing army's artillery positions immediately became boiling. Hundreds of artillery pieces covered the fortress group with fire, suppressing the Qi army's artillery fire.

Two thousand Wuzhenhachao fire gun soldiers were divided into ten teams, each with two hundred people, besieging a fortress.

The outer forts that came under attack had only five to fifty soldiers on each turret. The heavy artillery mounted on top of the fort had been destroyed, and only some small field guns and flintlock rifles were still hiding behind the battlements to fight back.

Such firepower certainly could not stop the attack of the Qing army, which was more than ten times its size.

As the musketeers on both sides fired their muskets at each other, the surviving trench fillers began to break through the breastwork, clearing the way for the shield carts and ladder carts to advance.

The Qi army was stretched thin, and its limited firepower was now dealing with the approaching Wuzhen Hachao. Only a few hundred defenders from the two forts tried to prevent the Baoyi cannon fodder from dismantling the breastwork obstacles.

The guards, carrying hoes and hatchets, came quickly to the last breastwork like a swarm of gray ants, dug the base of the wall with hoes, and cleared the caltrops on the ground.

"Pull the mine cannon! Quick! We can't hold it."

In a small fortress closest to the breastwork, a Qi army general gave the order.

"Lao Zhang, the mine cannon is used to deal with shield carts and Tartar artillery, you can't pull it!"

Captain Zhang grabbed the mine's pull rope and pulled it hard without saying a word.

"Once the wall falls, the Tartar artillery will come up and the shells will hit Shenyang City directly! Our mission is to defend the city, not these broken turtle shells!"

Before he finished speaking, there was a loud thunder outside, and the Qi army squatting behind the battlement was shaken by the shock wave and retreated repeatedly.

A giant mine was detonated, and a mushroom cloud rose from the ground. Thousands of iron nails and porcelain pieces burst out from the magazine, sweeping across the surrounding positions of dozens of meters like a rainstorm. The coated cannon fodder who rushed to the front and were concentrating on their work were immediately swept down. A gap appeared in the dense ant colony, and the ground was covered with limbs and remains. The coated cannon fodder who were not killed by the explosion fell to the ground, wailing in pain and rolling around.

"Go ahead and tear down this wall!"

The white-armored soldiers supervising the battle waved their long swords and shouted from behind, urging more bannermen to come forward and push down the breastwork.

"Go away!"

The Qi army soldiers half-crouched behind the breastwork, patiently waiting for the enemy to approach, and threw grenades together.

Wooden-handled grenades fell like raindrops, landing on the frightened crowd of people. The explosions of the grenades once again set off a rain of blood, and the scene was like hell.

The newly organized bonded soldiers scattered in a hurry, leaving behind a group of wounded soldiers tumbling and wailing beside the muddy trench.

A Qi soldier with a childish face ignored his teammates' urging and stuck his head out to observe the battle results. After seeing the Baoyi people howling everywhere outside, he grinned and said:
"Hahaha, we've blew the second Tartar silly, now let's see who dares to come!"

"Heiwazi, come down quickly and stop showing off."

Before he finished speaking, there was a sharp whistling sound from the sky, followed by a thunderous explosion.

Endless white smoke rose from the Uzhenhachao position, and hundreds of artillery shells whizzed in and slammed heavily in front of this section of the breastwork.

Before Heiwazi and his teammates could react, they were hit by more than a dozen ten-pound iron balls at the same time and smashed into meat paste.

The adobe bricks fell off with a clatter and kept hitting the Qi soldiers under the wall. The armor made a dull thud and a small gap was soon made in the breastwork. The area around the gap was covered with blood and flesh and the limbs of the Qi soldiers... A large number of coated cannon fodder took the opportunity to rush forward and rushed to both sides along the gap. The thin defense line composed of more than one hundred soldiers could not hold the breastwork that was more than three miles wide. At the order of the captain, the remaining people retreated to the rear fortress and continued to resist.

Various light artillery pieces of the Qing army approached along the gap in the breastwork, bombarding the fortress as they moved. Compared with the huge red cannons in the rear, the light artillery pieces were less powerful but extremely accurate. Their presence posed a serious threat to the Qi army firing guns and arrows from the battlements of the fortress.

The soldiers of Wuzhenhachao formed a suppressive advantage over the Qi army, and people kept throwing grenades into the fortress. These grenades were also the product of the copycat Kaiyuan soldiers.

The two outer fortresses fell quickly, and the remaining eight bastions were still resisting desperately.

Under the command of British instructors, the Qing army took the front fortress and continued to advance the offensive line. The Qing army marched quickly with guns, maintained their formation, and did not disperse.

A group of soldiers from the Niulu's Zhengbai Banner attacked the captured fortress and wantonly killed the Qi army that was cornered. The defenders ignited the ammunition, and the two fortresses along with the dozens of Zhenyi soldiers who rushed in were blown to pieces by black gunpowder.

Dorgon put down his telescope and ordered the leader of the White Banner horse armor:
"Have the cavalry follow up. Once we capture a few more fortresses, all the Qi troops will flee. Don't let them escape! Kill them all!"

At the same time, Emperor Du Du personally led the Zhenglan Banner troops to the left wing of the fortress group and made a feint attack.

Du Du placed his elite troops within the range of his own red cannon. According to the plan made before the war, the Zhenglan Banner was ready to join the front battlefield at any time. If Dorgon's attack failed and he was expelled by the Qi army, the Zhenglan Banner would be responsible for covering the retreat of the Zhengbai Banner.

However, looking at the current situation, it is not the emperor's turn to take action. The Zhenghongqi and Zhengbaiqi alone can clear the outer fortresses and push the front line to the city of Shenyang.

Du Du's whiskers trembled slightly, revealing a satisfied smile. In his vision, the Qi army fortress was falling.

Du Du was determined to capture the city of Shenyang, not because he was arrogant, but because he had no choice.

In preparation for this decisive battle, the Qing army mobilized all the horses and food that could be requisitioned from all over Liaodong, and all the men over the age of thirteen from the Eight Banners went to the battlefield. The emperor even sent Oboi to Sakhalin Island to ask for help from the Qing Dynasty's allies, the Cossacks, hoping that those man-eating demons would send some musketeers to reinforce the Shenyang battlefield.

It is not known whether Baturu Aobai rushed to Sakhalin Island to ask for help from the Cossack soldiers before being beheaded by Wu Xiao.

Perhaps the 1,500 fully armed Cossack bandits on Sakhalin Island are now on their way to Liaodong, or they are still in Outer Manchuria continuing to engage in the pimping, no, fur business, which they are good at.

The situation in Northeast Asia in the first year of Wuding was confusing. Several political forces were involved in the struggle for Liaodong. Just like the fierce battle under the city of Shenyang, it was unknown who would win in the end.

The Chronicle of Bygone Years records the deeds of General Sviatoslav, a medieval European general who traveled in a simple and unadorned manner, without a tent or baggage. Caesar also said that one must fight to support the war.

However, Dudu was faced with the Qi army's strategy of fortifying the city and clearing the countryside, a strategy the Qi army executed thoroughly. In the vast, fertile Liaohe plain, the Qing army was unable to obtain any supplies.

What’s even more terrible is that the more than 20,000 Korean soldiers led by Li Shunyi continued to hinder the Qing emperor.

The Eight Banners Army was stationed around Shenyang. The more concentrated the troops were, the more difficult it was to supply them. The food and grass looted from all over Liaodong were almost exhausted. Du Du now had no choice but to capture Shenyang City as soon as possible.

~~~~
While the defenders of Shenyang were fighting hard with various forces in Northeast Asia, Emperor Wu Ding, who was far away in Shandong, was also busy.

In October of the first year of Wuding, the Qi army in Linqing continued to advance rapidly. The army marched from Linqing to Ninghai Prefecture. After occupying Denglai, it turned south and attacked Yanzhou Prefecture.

The Qi army was invincible. All the five prefectures, fourteen states and eighty-seven counties in Shandong prepared food and drink to welcome the royal army.

The poor people in Qufu, Yuncheng, Pingdu, Wendeng, Linzi and other places even spontaneously arrested local tyrants and evil gentry, tied them up, and sent them to the Qi army camp outside the city.

Emperor Wuding sent Zhang Dong and others to conduct a rough interrogation of these local tyrants and evil gentry, and executed all those who were extremely resentful of the people and the richest people. Their property and land were confiscated. In two months, Baoqi slaughtered more than 700 households and confiscated the property of more than 3,500 households.

Just like what happened in Linqing, after this great purge, all the wealthy and powerful families in counties and prefectures were physically eliminated, and their private properties worth tens of millions were transferred to the treasury of the Great Qi. Farmers' associations, military units, and chambers of commerce took over all industries in Shandong.

As of the end of October, only Jinan Prefecture and its three subordinate prefectures, Tai'an, Dezhou, and Binzhou, had not yet been incorporated into the territory of Da Qi.

The reason why Jinan Prefecture was left behind was not because our emperor was merciful or because his butcher knife was not sharp enough.

Emperor Wu Ding planned to temporarily move the capital to Jinan. In order to ensure the absolute stability of the capital, he needed a "brand new" city of Jinan.

"Brand new" means killing more people and preventing any opposition forces from remaining in Jinan City.

Of course, establishing the capital in Jinan was just a temporary measure for the emperor. The capital was already in ruins. Looking at Jinan, Jining and Linqing, among these three cities, only Jinan was barely suitable as the secondary capital.

Before the Ming Dynasty, the entire western part of Shandong Province, including Dongping Lake, Daye Lake, and Weishan Lake, was covered by water. This made transportation difficult, hindering both the issuance of imperial edicts and the transmission of public opinion. Except for Murong De of Southern Yan, who fled to Qingzhou on the Shandong Peninsula and established a small country, no other unified dynasty in history had its capital in Shandong.

Shandong is also located in the Yellow River floodplain, where the river has repeatedly changed course. While Jinan's terrain is strategic, Shandong's rear is mountainous, with limited plains and a lack of depth, making it unsuitable as a strategic base. By land, Shandong is a peninsula separated from the Central Plains by Mount Tai, leaving few transportation options and vulnerable to containment.

According to Emperor Wu Ding's long-term plan, after suppressing the rebellions in the north and south and conquering Japan, Korea, Jiaozhi and Annan, Da Qi will choose to build a large city with a population of one million in the southern part of the Xiangwan Basin and north of Jingmen (center point coordinates 32.37N, 112E) as the new capital of the empire.

The boundaries of the new capital are connected by six state cities, namely:
Dengzhou Prefecture, Xinye County, Fancheng, Gucheng County, Junzhou, and Nanzhang County.

Establishing the capital here was the result of Liu Zhaosun's careful consideration.

The new capital had abundant water (near the Han River), convenient shipping (Han River, Danjiang River), sufficient food supply (Nanyang Basin, Jianghan Plain), and a strategic location (Xiangfan, the waist of China, and the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River).

The most important point is that this place is close to the geographical center of China (Ezhou), which makes it suitable to be the capital of a magnificent empire like Da Qi. For a super empire spanning the Eurasian continent, a central location is far more reliable than corners like Beijing, Nanjing, and Guangzhou.

To add, the new capital is close to Henan and Shaanxi, where Henan dialect is popular. In other words, in the future, hundreds of millions of people in China and even in Asia may all speak Henan dialect...

(End of this chapter)