The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 48 The Imperial Envoy Arrives
Kaiyuan, the general's headquarters.

Liu Zhaosun stood at the doorway with a calm expression, gazing northward with a look of compassion. He knew Jing'an Fort wouldn't hold out much longer, and he was now worried about the fate of the fierce Korean general, Jin Yinghe.

Governor Yang Hao sat on a pear wood armchair with a dejected look, his wrinkled old face trembling slightly like a fallen leaf in the autumn wind.

After Yang Jinglie was "politely escorted" out of Shenyang by Liaozhen, he fell seriously ill.

The censors started a new round of impeachment against Yang Hao. Zhang Fengyi, the censor of Liaodong, was very skilled and bold. He went to Shenyang in person and demanded a huge extortion of 1,000 taels of silver. Otherwise, he would join forces with more than ten censors to fiercely impeach Yang Hao... Yang Hao had no choice but to pay the money with tears.

He is now worried and his health is deteriorating. He is just waiting for his son-in-law to perform another miracle. Otherwise, he will probably be one step ahead of Wanli and enter heaven.

Next to Yang Hao stood General Ma Lin, Lieutenant General Yu Chengming, Guerrilla Shi Fengming, Captain Qin Jianxun and others.

The military commanders all had anxious expressions on their faces, no longer showing the heroic spirit of a few days ago.

After some discussion, several generals combined the various intelligence currently available and determined that the Kaiyuan North Gate would be the main attack direction of the Jiannu army this time.

The terrain at Kaiyuan's north gate is flat, offering a wide view and making it easy for infantry to deploy. The moat at this section is shallow, and the walls are in dilapidated condition. The Jiannu spies must have reported this to the four great beiles.

In addition, the north gate was surrounded by trees, making it convenient for the attackers to manufacture siege equipment such as shield carts and ladders.

The woods around Kaiyuan City were not burned down, and dozens of houses were left, and there was even some food.

Liu Zhaosun did not plan to fortify his defenses and clear the countryside in order to create the illusion for the Later Jin soldiers that he was fighting hastily and was unprepared.

If you want to take something, you must give it first. Only an army that knows how to show weakness can unexpectedly and fatally strike the enemy.

~~~~~
The most difficult and dangerous defense task naturally fell on Liu Zhaosun.

He was ready to give up the field battle. After all, his military strength was limited. There were only seven or eight thousand Southern soldiers and White Spear soldiers. Many of these people were new recruits and he could not take risks easily.

Earthen walls, trenches, horse-guarding and other fortifications are being built around the north gate. The lieutenant general plans to use these fortifications to drain more blood from the four great beiles.

This defense system, similar to that used in World War I in later generations (without barbed wire), would cause terrible casualties to the attackers in actual combat.

Of course, this requires the defenders to have a firm will to fight.

The drunkard He Shixian volunteered to guard the East Gate, which faced the Jiannu directly and was as dangerous as the North Gate.

However, General He was quite confident. He put away the wine pot and said to the Southern soldiers:

"You idiot! I'm going to lead the Liao soldiers to capture Daishan alive, skin Huang Taiji alive, chop off Daishan's head and use it as a chamber pot. I'm going to kill all the Tartars and avenge Crazy Du!!!"

Liu Zhaosun looked at the elite cavalry of Liaozhen behind He Shixian, and thought that if old He didn't drink too much before the battle, it would not be impossible for him to use Daishan's head as a chamber pot.

Of course, Lao He also had his own plans for joining the war this time. He knew that Liu Zhaosun was very powerful. If he could defeat the Jiannu, he could take advantage of the situation and be promoted to the general of Liaodong, replacing Li Rubai as the number one in Liaozhen.

In any case, this military leader who was addicted to alcohol was not at all ambiguous when fighting the Tartars.

He Shixian did have the capital to be arrogant. He had a thousand servants under his command, each of whom received double pay. They were all fearless and brave, and their fighting power was comparable to that of the Jiannu white-armored soldiers.

Thanks to the smuggling trade, the 3,000 soldiers had sufficient food and wages, and their combat effectiveness was stronger than that of other border troops.

The east gate of Kaiyuan faces the Jiannu directly. The city wall is basically intact and the moat has just been dredged. There is a small hill called Hutoupo more than 200 steps away from the city gate. This terrain is not conducive to the deployment of the attacking forces.

He Shixian sent a thousand soldiers to occupy Hutoupo to prevent the Jiannu from taking advantage of the high ground. However, the accuracy of artillery in this era was very low. Even if the Jiannu occupied this place, it would be difficult to achieve complete suppression of the East Gate.

Yu Chengming and Shi Fengming guarded the west and south gates respectively. They had a total of 8,000 Liao soldiers under their command, 30% of whom were cavalry.

The west and south gates of Kaiyuan face Liaoning and Shenyang, and the terrain is flat, which is conducive to the gathering of large numbers of cavalry from both sides. Among the generals, only Yu and Shi have a large number of cavalry, so they guard here.

Kaiyuan is adjacent to the Mongolian Aitu and Subudi tribes in the southwest. These two fence-sitters have already defected to the Later Jin Dynasty and must be guarded against. Therefore, Yu Chengming sent out 500 cavalry early to patrol and scout in the southern part of Kaiyuan.

Two thousand new troops served as a reserve force, patrolling the city, investigating spies and providing support to various gates at critical moments.

Ma Lin was in command at the general's mansion, but of course it was only in name only. The actual command was given to the garrison Liu Zhaosun.

Several military leaders had no objection. After all, Liu Zhaosun killed the most Jiannu and volunteered to serve as cannon fodder. Even if they lost, the civil officials could hold this young man responsible for the blame.

~~~~
On March 20th, according to the report from Yebushou, the Later Jin army attacked Jing'an Fort at noon. All the Bordered Blue Banners were dispatched, and part of the Plain Blue Banner, Plain Yellow Banner, and Plain White Banner each participated. The total strength of the four banners was nearly 20,000.

Cavalry scouts in Liaozhen learned that the Mongolian tribes of Subudi and Aitu near Kaiyuan had cut off the post road between Kaiyuan and Liaoshen. Liu Zhaosun speculated that the Mongols had received some kind of promise from Nurhaci, which was what fueled their aggressiveness.

Two cavalrymen, covered in wounds, returned from Jing'an Fort and told their superiors how the Fort had fallen.

After the Later Jin army filled the trenches with refugees, the Zhenyi soldiers used heavy bows to shoot at the Ming archers on the watchtowers. After being counterattacked by the Ming army, the Jiannu army dispatched twelve French cannons from the rear. Under the cover of the archers, the French cannons approached the watchtowers less than 200 steps away and destroyed all the watchtowers on the city wall that were still shooting arrows from inside. The Baoyi climbed onto the watchtowers in the rubble and dust and quickly opened the fortress gate from the inside.

The Ming army, having lost the protection of the city walls, did not give up. The Xuanda and Zhejiang soldiers, armed with long swords and spears, fought a bloody battle with the Blue Banner soldiers who swarmed forward on the East and West Streets of Jing'an Fort.

All the Xuan soldiers who rushed into the Bordered Blue Banner formation were killed in the battle. The surviving Zhejiang soldiers formed a mandarin duck formation again to block the attack of the two Niulu (600 people) Later Jin soldiers on the opposite side.

They controlled the East and West Streets of Jing'an Fort and built barricades on the streets to keep the swarming Later Jin soldiers outside the fort.

Due to the lack of firearms, the Zhejiang soldiers could only shoot with bows and arrows. After the arrows ran out, they raised their spears again.

The Zhenyi of the Bordered Blue Banner on the opposite side did not dare to engage in hand-to-hand combat. In the last Battle of Hunjiang, they encountered a similar group of spearmen who fought to the death. Facing this cold-blooded and ruthless Ming army spearmen who fought like puppets, horrible memories flooded into the hearts of the Zhenyi warriors.

Finally, the Bordered Blue Banner pulled over a dozen Portuguese cannons from the rear, and the baoyi pushed the cannons to the front of the Ming army. The muzzles of the dozen Portuguese cannons were pointed at the last hundred spearmen who were stubbornly resisting in formation. Amid the thunderous cannon fire, the long shields, halberds, spears, wolf mills, and the bodies of the Zhejiang soldiers were all shattered into pieces...
Li Ketai, the deputy general of Tieling, died heroically in battle. Before his death, he set fire to the tung oil in the warehouse. A group of Zhenyi people from the Bordered Blue Banner who rushed up to capture him alive were engulfed in the fire along with Lieutenant General Li.

The Korean deputy general Kim Young-ha led the remaining archers to break out and disappeared without a trace.

As for how many troops the Bordered Blue Banner lost, no one can tell for sure.

The Later Jin Dynasty attached great importance to their own corpses during combat. Military law stipulated that if a soldier transported the body of a comrade back home, he would receive half of the deceased's property.

This was also the case in the later Ming-Jin (Qing) Wars. The casualty ratio between the Ming, Jin (Qing) was astonishing. The Later Jin soldiers often won great victories and transported their own corpses back, giving people the illusion that the casualties were extremely low.

Yang Hao looked up at everyone and his eyes fell on Ma Lin. General Ma was the organizer of the Kaiyuan Campaign and the nominal commander-in-chief. Although General Ma had betrayed the governor last time in Sarhu, Yang Hao still trusted him quite a bit.

Ma Lin's impression of the Later Jin army has always remained on the battlefield of Sarhu.

The endless dead Jiannu soldiers attacked the formation like waves until their side collapsed.

"Yang Jinglue and Li Ketai are veteran generals from Liaodong. The 3,000 Ming troops they brought with them this time were mostly elite troops from Xuanda. Yet, they only held out for half a day. Could there be spies inside the fort?"

From Sarhu to Jing'an Fort, Ma Lin suffered two consecutive devastating defeats, and his former elegance and grace were long gone. He stared blankly at Yang Hao and spoke incoherently.

Yang Hao glanced at him and felt that he was going to be betrayed by this armchair general Ma. He no longer had any hope for his official career. The food and wages promised by the emperor had not arrived yet. In the eyes of the court, he had become a discarded pawn.

"Four of the Eight Banners have arrived, with more troops than when we fought Dusong. The Nu Chieftain is determined to win the battle. You will die here with me, too. What a pity."

Ma Lin shook his head, Yu Chengming and Shi Fengming looked at each other and shook their heads silently.

They fought against the Jurchens for many years and never backed down, of course, this was during Li Chengliang's lifetime.

The Jianzhou Jurchens, once beaten to a pulp, had suddenly become an invincible and unstoppable force. Hearing the depressing words from the General, the two men were naturally dissatisfied. Yu Chengming said indignantly:
"I, Lieutenant General Yu, and I are both Liao people. After the Battle of Sarhu, we all said that the Liao people surrendered to the Jiannu and harmed the southern soldiers. I can't control others, but I, Shi Fengming, will never surrender to the Tartars, nor will I become a slave. The worst that can happen is that I die in Kaiyuan!"

"The Tartars have managed to capture Jing'an Fort. If we send Li Ketai more French troops and let him hold it for another three days, it won't be a problem."

Yang Hao laughed coldly, coughed for a while, and then said:

"There's only enough gunpowder in Kaiyuan City for five days. If we give it to Jing'an Fort, and the Tartars continue to attack the city after three days, will you fire cannonballs with stones?"

After the middle of the Wanli period, Liaodong neglected its war preparations. Li Chengliang reported victories to the court every year, but the Jurchens became increasingly powerful.

It seems that Liaozhen never intended to fight the Jianzhou Jurchens, so it tried to save money on military equipment as much as possible and did things perfunctorily. No one knows where the silver that the court issued every year for the purchase of gunpowder eventually went.

After the Battle of Sarhu, Lord Yang Hao remembered to go to the armory to take inventory of his belongings. It would have been fine if he hadn't looked, but he was shocked when he saw it.

The gunpowder stockpiled in Shenyang City was only 5,000 kilograms, and the weapons, armor, bows and arrows were seriously inconsistent with the account books. You know, most of the military equipment in Liaodong was in Shenyang City.

How can we fight a war without gunpowder?

He hurriedly asked for help from the capital, but before the news was sent out, Sarhu had already suffered a crushing defeat and the matter was subsequently left unresolved.

At that time, the Ministry of War insisted that the enemy did not have the ability to attack Liaoning and Shenyang, so it asked the general to be patient and not to be overly cautious.

Moreover, the imperial court had limited energy, so it should focus on raising food and money for Liaozhen.

To put it simply, gunpowder is not easy to circulate, so it is better to distribute silver and grain. It will be easier for everyone to share the money, right?
After the relationship between Liu Zhaosun and Liaozhen deteriorated, not even a pound or one ounce of the 5,000 kilograms of gunpowder would leave Shenyang.

The situation in Shenyang was like this, not to mention Kaiyuan. Liu Zhaosun personally inspected the military equipment a few days ago and found that there were only two thousand kilograms of gunpowder available in the city.

This amount of reserves is really too small, it is equivalent to the amount of gunpowder consumed by 2,000 musketeers in one battle.

Not to mention that there were more than 60 French cannons installed on the Kaiyuan city wall, and these cannons required gunpowder.

The war was fierce and dangerous, and there was a lack of war preparations. Passion alone could not stop tens of thousands of Later Jin troops.

After listening to the general's long speech about the difficulties of Liaozhen's military operations and hearing that there were only two thousand kilograms of gunpowder in Kaiyuan, several generals could not help but sigh.

These generals chose to fight the Tartars to the end and chose to die in Kaiyuan.

Now it seems that such a choice does not make much sense, and it cannot even cause significant casualties to the Later Jin soldiers.

If Amin insisted on using French machines to continuously bombard the city walls, what force could the Ming army use to fight back?

Shi Fengming was a native Liaozhen general and currently served as a guerrilla in Tieling. After listening to Yang Hao's analysis, he sighed slightly:

"The Jiannu's artillerymen were all Gong Suinian's subordinates. They were quite skilled in operating artillery. Back at Sarhu, our northern army's shield formation was penetrated by these artillery pieces."

The tall and strong Shi Fengmingming recalled the Battle of Sarhu. His face turned pale and fear from the bottom of his heart surged into the heart of this Liaozhen general.

At Shangjian Cliff, he witnessed with his own eyes the confrontation between Ma Lin's 20,000 troops and the Zhenghong Banner. Bayala held a heavy knife to the neck of the captured Du Song artillerymen, forcing them to fire at the Ming army's formation.

The shells landed among the crowd of Xuanda soldiers and their sword-wielding soldiers, splashing up a bloody mist. After a round of bombardment, the morale of the Ming army collapsed, and they scrambled to escape, only to be hacked and killed at will by the Zhenyi armored soldiers who rushed down from high places.

The atmosphere in the hall was extremely depressing. The faces of the generals were lifeless and the morale and military spirit were extremely low.

Liu Zhaosun looked at Qiao Yiqi beside him and motioned him to say something first, but Qiao Yiqi just shook his head. It was obvious that he had no solution to the Ming army's predicament.

If this continues, the Kaiyuan Ming army will be defeated before the Later Jin army attacks.

Thinking of this, Liu Zhaosun gritted his teeth and decided to tell his battle plan to at least give these generals some confidence, otherwise how could he continue to fight?
He was just about to speak when Pei Dahu, who was waiting outside the hall, suddenly rushed in and shouted:

"Yang Jinglie! General Ma! The imperial envoy has arrived."

All the generals in the hall looked at each other in bewilderment. A complicated look appeared in Yang Hao's eyes, and his fingers, like dry branches, were scratching on the pear wood. It was unknown whether the general was happy or afraid at the moment.

A bright light flashed in Ma Lin's turbid eyes. He raised his head and looked at Liu Zhaosun meaningfully. The other generals around him also looked at Liu Zhaosun. Everyone knew that this imperial edict must be related to the young Liu Shoubei.

Yang Hao quickly ordered the generals to tidy up the army, clean up the chain mail and cotton armor, and asked several servants to prepare an incense table and get ready to welcome the imperial envoy.

A group of warriors immediately got busy. Except for General Ma, all the others were seeing the imperial envoy for the first time. They were nervous but also a little curious.

Liu Zhaosun put away his mandarin duck battle jacket and wiped his face vigorously with his red sleeves. The blood stains on his face faded a little. The bloodstains were left by several Later Jin spies. In the past few days, Liu Zhaosun was not only busy commanding and arranging the city defense, but also taking his servants to capture spies in the city every day. He had killed more than a dozen bondservants.

He wanted to ask who the eunuch was, but Pei Dahu had already gone out to greet him.

Yang Hao's beard trembled slightly, and he closed his eyes, muttering something silently. Liu Zhaosun, on the other hand, seemed calm and composed, and even couldn't help humming a little song he often sang before crossing over.

These days, the stone in his heart finally fell. It seems that the military merit of defeating the Bordered Blue Banner last time has been realized.

The imperial court finally remembered this young captain who had made great contributions. The old emperor personally arranged for eunuchs to go to Liaodong to announce the imperial edict, which made Liu Zhaosun feel flattered.

I don’t know what official position I will be given. I hope it can’t be a garrison commander.

It is said that this imperial envoy was quite bold. Before the Jiannu army was about to attack Kaiyuan and their spies were spread all over Liaoning and Shenyang, rumors were flying everywhere, with various versions. The most exaggerated one was that the Later Jin had allied with Japan and advanced by land and sea. After destroying the Ming Dynasty, the two sides divided the Ming Dynasty with the Yangtze River as the boundary.

The people of Liaodong were in a panic. At this time, there were still people who dared to go north to Kaiyuan to verify their achievements and announce the emperor's decree. They must be no ordinary people.

While Liu Zhaosun was lost in thought, the door creaked open. Pei Dahu, with a ferocious face, tried hard to force a smile and bared his teeth to invite the imperial envoy in.

A middle-aged eunuch wearing a black hat walked into the living room. He walked very fast, unlike the ordinary eunuchs who were weak.

He glanced coldly at the generals in the hall with sharp eyes, and finally his gaze fell on Yang Hao who was sitting on the armchair. He saw that the general seemed to have some disability in his legs and feet, so he didn't know what to say.

"How is Yang Jinglie these days? The Emperor must be worried about you."

He took two steps forward and walked quickly in front of Yang Hao. Although Yang Hao did not know this man, he knew that this eunuch must be a favorite of the emperor, and he must not provoke him easily.

"I just caught a cold. Thank you for your concern, eunuch."

The eunuch didn't waste time talking to Yang Hao. He turned around and looked at the tall and handsome Liu Zhaosun, and said with a smile:
"This must be Liu Qianzong, Liu Jing's adopted son, the one who killed the Jiannu!"

Liu Zhaosun was about to speak when he heard the eunuch continue:
"The Ministry of War has inspected the heads of the slave bandits captured by your unit, and they are all genuine barbarian heads! Captain Liu, you have made such great contributions to the Ming Dynasty. The Emperor has ordered us to reward you handsomely."

The garrison commander, who had been called the captain for half a month, was suddenly called back to the position of captain. He was a little uncomfortable, but he still looked at the eunuch respectfully with a pleasant expression and said in a friendly manner:
"The Emperor's grace is immense. I will do my best to kill the thief and live up to His Majesty's grace. I wonder what the name of an angel is?"

The eunuch's expression remained unchanged, his eyes focused as he looked quietly at Liu Zhaosun. He nodded slightly and whispered something to the young eunuch behind him.

The eunuch took two steps forward and looked Liu Zhaosun up and down again. Liu Zhaosun's lips trembled slightly, and he tried hard to keep a smile on his face. No one knew what he was thinking.

"Heroes have always emerged from youth. You are truly magnificent and majestic! ... Much more handsome than those four young masters of the capital! My name is Wei Zhongxian, a newcomer who just came from the Xixinsi! Let me announce the decree first!"

(End of this chapter)