The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 457: Lushun Beach Landing
On the first day of March in the second year of Wuding, the sky over Bohai Sea was covered with flags. Twelve warships of the Qi fleet escorted 300 large and small Fu ships, which set sail from Dengzhou Port and entered Bohai Sea.

As the weather warmed in March, the sea ice melted. With sails hoisted, the fleet, manned by thousands of sailors, rapidly sailed north. The next day, they crossed the border of the Yellow Sea and the Bohai Sea, passing Changdao, Penglai, Nanhuangcheng Island, and the Miaodao Islands, following the Laotieshan Channel and approaching Lushun in southern Liaoning.

The fleet of ships was fully loaded with soldiers and provisions. The first wave of troops participating in the beach landings were elite soldiers drawn from the fourteen Imperial Guards, many of whom had participated in the previous year's campaign against the bandits. The most elite of these were 500 men (mostly captains). These Kaiyuan veterans, seasoned by eight years of war, were the most elite troops available to Emperor Wuding. Their combat prowess and loyalty satisfied the harsh and cruel emperor.

The five thousand veterans acted as a sharp knife. Their mission was to tear open a gap near the landing point, allowing subsequent troops to land continuously and enter the Liaodong battlefield.

The landing point initially chosen by the fleet was Huayuankou, a small fishing village 40 miles away from Fuzhou.

After sending out bird boats for reconnaissance, Meng Jinbao reported to the emperor that the terrain in the Huayuankou area was flat, and the mudflats on the shore were bare, leaving no place to hide. Not only was there no harbor for shelter, but it was also easy to get stuck in the mud, making them a sitting duck for the Fuzhou defenders.

Liu Zhaosun asked several Liaodong sailors again, and after confirming that what Officer Meng said was correct, he immediately ordered to change the landing site from Huayuankou to Piziwo. Piziwo is located twelve miles south of Lushun, and the terrain is more rugged, but it is surrounded by deep-water ports, so there will be no problem of running aground.

The emperor ordered the beheading of the two Guards staff officers who had originally formulated the battle plan as a warning to others.

At this time, the Korean and Qing garrisons stationed in Jinzhou, Fuzhou and Lushun had a strength of about 7,000 people, most of whom were bondservants. The Zhenyi of the Bordered Blue Banner were transferred to the Shenyang battlefield. The three places had a total of less than 2,000 people. What is incredible is that the Qing troops in Lushun and surrounding areas were not only sparse in number, but also mostly new recruits, and many bondservants had not received any training at all.

At this time, the defense of Lushun and Jinzhou areas was mainly under the responsibility of the Bordered Blue Banner. The banner leader, Aierli, was Amin's eldest son. After occupying southern Liaoning, in order to reinforce the Battle of Shenyang, most of the Qing troops in Lushun, Jinzhou and Fuzhou areas were withdrawn. Several of Aierli's most elite Niulu also went to Shenyang as cannon fodder, leaving only a small number of troops stationed in southern Liaoning.

Due to insufficient troops, the leader of the Bordered Blue Banner had to repeatedly request Emperor Dudu to send reinforcements. Taking into account that there was no war in southern Liaoning, Dudu simply sent Baoyi Aha and Korean soldiers to send Aierli away.

Before the outbreak of the Qi-Qing landing battle at Lushun, the Qing and Korean armies stationed in southern Liaoning were mainly:

There were 5 people in the five Niulu camps stationed in Jinzhou, of which 1583 were real Yi armored soldiers and the other 582 were newly recruited Baoyi Aha.

The Joseon royal army stationed in Fuzhou consisted of three battalions: one cavalry battalion and one musketeer battalion, totaling 3 men. Only the cavalry battalion consisted of veteran soldiers of the Bordered Blue Banner (less than 1 men), while the infantry battalion and artillery detachments were all new recruits.

There were 7 people from the seven Niulu of the Bordered Blue Banner stationed in Lushun, including 3500 Wuzhenhachao artillerymen and 300 baoyi infantrymen. Only 1500 Zhenyi infantrymen were veterans, and the rest were recruits.

Therefore, although the total strength of the Qing army in southern Liaoning reached more than 7000, in fact only of them could actually fight. In order to attack Shenyang with all his strength, Du Du had withdrawn all the main forces of the Bordered Blue Banner, and many Niulu were just empty shells.

Piziwo is a hill in the southern mountains of Lushun Port. It has a dangerous terrain and controls the land route between Lushun and Jinzhou.

The Bordered Blue Banner set up a battery here and pulled the two huge red cannons sent by the Red-haired Barbarians to the top of the mountain as the commanding heights of the port battery group. Because the cannons were too heavy, more than 30 Baoyi died of exhaustion during the transportation of the cannons.

Piziwo was strategically located, and the Blue Banner had invested heavily, concentrating their limited artillery in this area. Elli knew that if the Piziwo artillery fort fell to the Qi army, the entire Liaonan defense system would be in tatters.

The forts here had serious defects due to their hasty construction. There were no defense facilities on the landward side, and the distances between the forts were far, making it difficult to respond to each other.

Of course, considering the accuracy of artillery in this era, it is too optimistic to think that you can control the entire battlefield with just a few cannons.

After learning of the Qi army's massive attack, Elli, leader of the Bordered Blue Banner, immediately began to remedy the defects of the Piziwo Fort.

He asked Bergtayl, an observer of the East India Company who was accompanying the army on an inspection tour, to organize the bannermen to intensify their artillery training, and at the same time to speed up the repair of fortifications and build rammed earth breastworks to protect the gunners as much as possible.

Elli was very clear about the power of the Kaiyuan Army Navy's artillery. When Liu Zhaosun led the expedition to Japan, some of the cavalry of the Bordered Blue Banner participated. That was three or four years ago. God knows what new naval guns the Qi Army has developed now.

Seeing the Qi army approaching, Aierli summoned several Niulu Ezhen of the Bordered Blue Banner, and followed Huang Taiji's design in the Battle of Hetuala. He ordered the baoyi soldiers and the nearby Nikan people to dig day and night, build breastworks around the artillery positions with rammed stones, dig trenches outside the breastworks, and pile up trees as stakes to protect horses... The entire defense system was completely in accordance with the Kaiyuan army's defense style.

Unfortunately, the incident happened in a hurry, and the Qi fleet could not allow the Bordered Blue Banner to make adequate preparations before landing operations. After all, the two sides were old enemies.

On the fifth day of March in the second year of Wuding, the Dingyuan, Pingyuan and Weiyuan ships, which had arrived at the battlefield earlier, formed the first wave of attack fleet and took the lead in launching an attack on Pizi's nest.

The newly formed Second Guards Army, First Guards Army and Fourth Guards Army of Qi Army, totaling 23,000 men, were divided into three routes, left, center and right, under the cover of warships. Pu Gang, Liu Zhaosun and Chen Xin landed at Laotieshan on Longxu Island and entered the battlefield in southern Liaoning.

On the sixth day, at the hour of Chen, the Qi army's central army, under the personal command of Emperor Wuding, first launched an attack on the Nanbangshan artillery fort.

Three battalions of 1,500 soldiers, plus troop and artillery units, were divided into several groups and advanced on the Qing artillery batteries from the flanks.
At the same time, eight warships of the Da Qi Navy, including the Weiyuan, Dingyuan, and Pingyuan, docked at the sea on the southern foot of Laotieshan Mountain and began to launch a fierce bombardment on the Nanbang Artillery. The naval guns with astonishing caliber tore through the sky of southern Liaoning, like the arrival of Thor. The entire Laotieshan Mountain seemed to be shaking. Shrapnel shells exploded in the Qing artillery, and countless Wuzhen Chaoha were killed and wounded.

The three armies set out at the same time at night, cutting off the roads between Jinzhou, Fuzhou and Lushun, and preventing the cities in southern Liaoning from providing assistance to the Qing army in Lushun.

At the same time, the right column approached the Qing army's Nanbang artillery position and formed an encirclement with the left column.

The Central Army immediately launched an attack on the Qing army's artillery positions. Teams of soldiers, assisted by engineers, climbed up Laotie Mountain one after another, and the tragic and heroic battle for the artillery positions began.

(End of this chapter)