The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 50: Battle of Kaiyuan

"Lieutenant General Liu, how do we defend Kaiyuan?"

"Hold on tight."

"There's only enough food for the army for seven days. What will we eat after seven days?"

"Eat shit."

"You and Wei Zhongxian are sworn brothers? Ask him to persuade the emperor to send us more French aircraft..."

"dream."

"Liu Zhaosun, where is the eight thousand taels of silver I borrowed from you?"

"Gone."

On the night of March 23, the 47th year of the Wanli reign, on the top of Kaiyuan City.

Lieutenant General Liu Zhaosun looked at the defensive system that had been formed around the city, turned around and smiled foolishly at Qiao Yiqi.

The military supervisor was furious. He always felt that Liu Zhaosun was hiding something from him. He asked for a long time, but Liu Zhaosun knew nothing about anything. He wished he could draw his imperial sword and kill this warrior.

Qiao Yiqi stared at Liu Zhaosun with his eyes wide open for a long time. After a long while, he felt that he had nothing to say, so he turned away and went to find Mao Yuanyi to discuss the Red Cannon.

Kaiyuan City cannot do without this warrior at the moment.

Wei Zhongxian rushed back to the capital without stopping, not because he was afraid of the Jiannu, but because he wanted to go back quickly to raise food and money for his brothers.

The nine borders of the Ming Dynasty were all short of funds. The generals cried poor to the emperor every day and asked the court for money in various ways.

Wei Zhongxian only had one sworn brother. Although he had no ability to make money now, he still had many opportunities to flatter Emperor Wanli.

Liu Zhaosun remembered that he was still looking for Beizhai's younger brother Shen Lian, and asked Wei Zhongxian to keep an eye on this younger brother. If he thought he was capable, he could promote him.

If he could become the Ninth Thousand Year Old as smoothly as in history, Shen Lian's life in the Pacification Division would be much easier. He could at least become a Thousand Households, and it would not be impossible for him to control the East Factory in the future.

Stars hang low over the fields, the moon hangs over the western sands, and the earth seems like a dark and strange world.

At the horizon, campfires were lit on the four flags of pure red, pure white, pure blue and bordered blue, like red waves, eroding the Liaodong plains and people's hearts bit by bit.

"From dust to dust, from ashes to ashes, four great princes, tomorrow we will see the truth."

~~~~~~~~~
April 14, the 47th year of the Wanli reign.

Three months earlier than in history, the Later Jin army advanced rapidly and appeared on the Songliao Plain. After the Bordered Blue Banner removed all the garrisons around Kaiyuan City, it joined forces with the Plain Red, Plain White and Plain Blue Banners, as well as the baoyi and Mongolian tribes, totaling 23,000 people, and began to attack Kaiyuan City.

Amin commanded the main force of the Bordered Blue Banner, totaling 8,000 troops, as the main force in this battle, responsible for attacking the north gate of Kaiyuan.

Four thousand Zhenyi warriors of the Zhenghong Banner under Daishan served as a reserve force, lined up in the north of Kaiyuan City, and supervised the battle behind the Bordered Blue Banner.

Huang Taiji and Manggurtai each had 5,000 troops, responsible for attacking the east and west gates of Kaiyuan, covering the left and right wings of the army, and being on guard against possible reinforcements.

The East, West, and North gates were all occupied by the Later Jin army. No major forces were stationed at the South Gate. Only a section of Mongol cavalry was stationed in the woods south of the city, surrounding the city on three sides and leaving one side open. If the Ming army escaped through the South Gate, the Mongols would pursue them from behind, pinning them down until the four armies could converge and annihilate them. However, the four Beiles believed that Liu Zhaosun would not flee easily this time and would engage the Later Jin army in at least a few rounds of fighting. Therefore, the "Besiege the City on Three Sides and Leave the City on One Side" strategy was merely a backup plan for the siege, and its effectiveness was limited.

All four flags strengthened their scout cavalry, and their cavalry strength was far superior to that of the Kaiyuan defenders.

Before the siege began, the Ming army's reconnaissance lines around Kaiyuan were all cut off by the Later Jin army. The night warriors sent out basically never returned. Liu Zhaosun was unwilling to waste his elite troops, so he decisively gave up the scout battle with the Later Jin army.

On the morning of the 14th, the last two Ye Bu Shou who returned reported that they had discovered an infantry force of a thousand men near Tieling. Before they could go forward to scout, they were discovered by the white-armored soldiers of the Zhenghong Banner. The white-armored soldiers chased them all the way. Five or six of their brothers died, and only two of them managed to escape with their lives.

Liu Zhaosun arranged for the two night guards to rest and told them not to leave the city again, muttering to himself.

"The Tartars are sending reinforcements constantly. Where are our reinforcements?"

Wearing two layers of armor, he climbed to the top of the city wall and looked towards the north under the protection of his servants. As far as he could see, about five miles away from Kaiyuan City, four-flag tents were covering the surrounding area like dark clouds, stretching endlessly. Liu Zhaosun sighed slightly.

"What is the Eight Hundred Miles Camp? This is it! It's a pity it looks a bit like a refugee camp."

The Jianzhou Jurchen camps were mostly built with cowhide and sheepskin, and were all very small huts. From the outside, they looked no different from refugee camps.

With the support of General Ma Lin, Liu Zhaosun was elected as the commander-in-chief of the defense of Kaiyuan.

After all, the newly promoted Lieutenant General clearly had more say in killing the Tartars. At this point, from the White Spear Soldiers to the Liao Soldiers, all the troops had already entered their respective defense zones, leaving Liu Zhaosun with only his military supervisor, Qiao Yiqi, and his household servant, Pei Dahu.

"Sir, look! The thieves are leaving the camp!"

Following Pei Dahu's finger, three miles north of the city, some people dressed in civilian clothes were walking towards them. They were dressed in rags, and many of them didn't even wear shoes, walking barefoot on the cold ground.

A group of cavalrymen with flags on their backs waved whips at the back to drive the people towards the Ming army.

"The Tartars are going to use civilians to fill the trenches again?"

Military Supervisor Qiao Yiqi said angrily that he heard that in Jing'an Fort, the bandits also drove the people to fill the trenches, and many innocent people died.

"It shouldn't be filling the trenches," Liu Zhaosun muttered to himself, "There are too few people to fill the trenches."

The Ming soldiers on the city walls all looked up at the opposite side, wondering what conspiracy the Jiannu would play out next.

The cavalry of the Bordered Blue Banner drove the Ming people forward until they were four hundred steps away from the city wall. They knew that they could not be reached by muskets and it would be difficult to hit them with bows and arrows.

Hundreds of Ming Dynasty civilians had their hands tied behind their backs and were forced to kneel in a row. The cavalry dismounted, drew out their swords, and used them to strike the back of the necks of the kneeling people.

The Ming army soldiers on the city wall glared at the scene happening below. The soldiers responsible for guarding the north gate were the White Spear Soldiers and the Liao People's New Army. If it weren't for the strict military discipline of the Lieutenant General, the Ming army would have started cursing long ago.

Liu Zhaosun looked coldly at the slaughter that was about to begin outside the city. At this moment, he felt even more hatred towards the Later Jin army.

Amin, this Thousand Killers, is indeed a butcher. The Liao people have suffered enough, but this guy still wants to torture and kill them.

Liu Zhaosun secretly made up his mind that he must not spare Amin's life this time.

He immediately turned around and told Pei Dahu:

"Go and tie up those two Niulu Ezhen, the Zhenyi captives, and the captured Later Jin spies in the city and bring them all to the North Gate Tower."

Pei Dahu nodded heavily and turned to leave. At this time, there was a scream and wailing sound from the opposite side. Liu Zhaosun looked up and quickly lowered his head.

The cavalry of the Bordered Blue Banner on the opposite side began to kill the Liao people. Amid the Jurchens' grim smiles and the Liao people's wailing, heads rolled to the ground.

Liu Zhaosun gritted his teeth, clenched his fists, and slammed them hard on the city wall.

At this time, the three young Liao people at the back struggled to stand up, ignoring the loud scolding of the Later Jin soldiers, and ran desperately towards the moat.

The cavalrymen who were hacking and killing stopped beheading when they saw some people escaping. They took their bows from their horses, and dozens of them drew their bows together. They let go of the bowstrings with a grim smile at the three men who were still approaching the city wall.

The three Liao people had already reached the bank of the moat, but were easily pierced through the back by a dozen heavy arrows that were chasing them from behind. They stood there struggling for a moment and then fell to the ground.

The ground beneath his feet was stained with blood, which flowed slowly into the moat along the ditch.

Liu Zhaosun looked at the blood stain spreading in the water and said expressionlessly:
"For the first drop of blood in Kaiyuan City, I will make you pay a hundredfold!"

At this time, Pei Dahu led dozens of servants and escorted a large group of Blue Banner captives to the top of the city wall.

The Ming soldiers on the city walls looked at the Later Jin captives fiercely, their eyes spitting fire as if they could kill people.

There were more than a dozen captives killed by the Ming army these days. Pei Dahu counted them and said to Liu Zhaosun:
"Master Thirteen, there are still thirty-seven survivors. Damn it, there are still ten spies."

Liu Zhaosun waved his hand and said:

"Take them to the battlements and chop them all off! Hang their heads on the city wall and show the Tartars what happens if they offend the Ming!"

The servants carried the Later Jin captives to the front of the city wall like chickens. Most of these captives were already dying and had no strength to resist or escape, so they allowed the servants to play with their pigtails.

A servant who could speak the barbarian language shouted a few words loudly to the opposite side, which caused the cavalry on the opposite side to shout and curse.

Pei Dahu swung his sword fiercely, and dozens of servants attacked at the same time. The heads of thirty-seven Later Jin prisoners flew out of the city wall. This scene was seen by thousands of soldiers of the Bordered Blue Banner on the opposite side. There was silence on the opposite side. After a moment of silence, noisy curses soon rang out.

"No need to fill the trenches, order the baoyi soldiers to attack the city directly!"

Fei Yangwu turned his attention away from the group of headless corpses, looked back at Goshiha beside him, and said calmly.

Goshiha conveyed Heshuo Beile's order to the front line. Soon, three thousand baoyi soldiers pushed the shield carts and ladders that had been prepared in advance, and slowly advanced towards the Ming army's moat like giant turtles.

(End of this chapter)