The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 56 Wolf Soldiers
At dusk, the battle in Kaiyuan became stalemate.

The Kaiyuan defenders suffered heavy casualties.

Nearly half of the Liaozhen cavalry were killed in the battle, and the entire army under He Shixian was defeated. The White Spear Soldiers suffered almost all casualties, with 800 people killed in the battle.

If the attacking Later Jin soldiers continued to attack regardless of casualties, the Ming army would face the fate of being completely annihilated.

Of course, the casualties of the Later Jin army were even more severe.

The Bordered Blue Banner suffered more than 1,500 casualties, 500 Jurchen soldiers died in battle, and the loss of Jianzhou Zhenyi was 1,100. The entire banner suffered more than 5,000 casualties, and the morale of the army was low. If the Plain White Banner had not attracted the Ming army's attack at the east gate, the Bordered Blue Banner would have collapsed completely.

The second person with the most casualties was Daishan. His Zhenghong Banner lost 500 bannermen and 300 Zhenyi armored soldiers. Since their opponents were the most ferocious cavalry in Liaozhen, Daishan spent a lot of money to deal with these elite troops. He sent Bayaladu forward and surrounded more than 2,000 Mongolian cavalrymen, and only then was he able to barely encircle and annihilate the Liao soldiers under Yu Chengming in the southwest of Kaiyuan. In comparison, this casualty was already very light.

Huang Taiji led the Plain White Banner to attack the East Gate, and only 500 bondservants died. The Zhenyi leader suffered only a dozen casualties, with minimal losses.

It was not that Huang Taiji wanted to preserve his strength, but He Shixian was too weak and had to take the initiative to attack. He was killed by Bayara of the Zhengbai Banner shortly after the battle began.

Of course, things are different now. Liu Zhaosun is here and he wants to fight to the death with Huang Taiji.

The Zhenglan Banner also suffered little loss when attacking the west gate, with only one hundred Jurchen soldiers killed. The Jurchen armored soldiers had not yet taken the field, and the battle at the west gate was still going on. The Ming army defending the city was already showing signs of collapse.

After Huang Taiji captured the East Gate, he continued to send reinforcements, intending to stab Liu Zhaosun who was fighting at the North Gate.

The two thousand Ming troops left in the city were all deployed to defend the east gate, but they still could not stop the rapid defeat of the Liao soldiers under He Shixian.

Huang Taiji did not use the dead soldiers as cannon fodder to attract fire like Amin did. Instead, he formed the most elite Bayara into the vanguard and led the Zhenyi soldiers forward.

Huang Taiji had already learned that the Bordered Blue Banner had encountered a group of Tusi soldiers in the north of the city. All of them were armed with chain hook guns and were very powerful.

He knew very well that only by completely defeating this army could he truly capture Kaiyuan City.

Bayala, holding a heavy axe and a long sword, chopped his way through, killing the fleeing civilians and defeated soldiers. The armored soldiers of the Plain White Banner followed behind them, advancing along the street towards the north gate.

At the east gate of Kaiyuan, the Ming army's organized defenses had collapsed, and the streets were filled with the backs of fleeing Liao soldiers.

The general died in battle too suddenly, and the head of his retainers was also killed by Bayala at the same time. For a moment, the Liao soldiers were leaderless and their morale immediately collapsed.

The Later Jin gunners fired several cannons at the east gate, killing and wounding more than a dozen Liao soldiers. The Liao soldiers completely collapsed and fled in panic.

The North and South Streets were in chaos. The fleeing Liao soldiers fled to the west. At this time, fierce fighting was going on at the North and South Gates. They were afraid of running into Brigadier General Liu, who was ruthless in killing the fleeing soldiers.

Some defeated soldiers took the opportunity to rush into people's homes and rob property. The Jiannu spies who were not killed in Kaiyuan City also took the opportunity to act.

While setting fires everywhere, they spread rumors that Liu Zhaosun had died in battle. For a moment, thick smoke billowed in the east of the city, like hell.

Some crazy people ran and shouted: "The Tartars are entering the city! The Tartars are entering the city!", and all kinds of chaos exacerbated the chaotic situation in the east of the city.

Some of He Shixian's fierce and courageous servants did not choose to escape, but fought to the end with the Jiannu.

They rushed towards the approaching Bayala, and after killing one or two enemies, they were shot like hedgehogs by the dense heavy arrows from behind.

Niulu Ezhen Iktan looked at the chaotic street in front of him with a cruel smile on his face.

He was an old man under his master Huang Taiji. He had followed his master in battle since the old Khan started his army. He had captured at least a dozen cities over the years, but this was the first time he had captured a big city like Kaiyuan, so he seemed a little excited.

The east of the city was already a Shura hell. Some desperate Liao soldiers, ignoring the pursuit of the white-armored soldiers behind them, went to rob the wealthy families in Kaiyuan with knives. Some soldiers, who were afraid of poverty, wore Dongzhu and silk and walked out of the wealthy families with silly smiles on their faces. Before they had gone far, they were shot to death by the white-armored soldiers behind them.

Yiktan disdained such robbery. What he was most concerned about was the Ming army using chain hook guns at the north gate.

The most ferocious warrior of the Zhengbai Banner was ready to lead his troops to kill all these southern barbarians.

Suddenly, Lord Niulu Ezhen caught a glimpse of two burly Zhenyi men from the corner of his eye. These two Zhenyi men were both under his command.

They were kicking open a roadside house and dragging out a disheveled Han woman. The woman was struggling in pain and screaming miserably.

Yiktan quickly stepped forward, swung his heavy knife and slashed at the woman, blood splattering all over him. The ferocious Niulu Ezhen shouted loudly:

"Don't rob the silver and women yet. Go to the north gate and kill the southern barbarians. Kill all those southern barbarians who use spears! The east side of the city is open to you to rob!"

The two Zhenyi didn't dare to speak. They quickly left the dead woman behind and ran north with their heavy swords.

Iktan stepped on the bloodstains on the ground and said to himself:
"You useless people from the Bordered Blue Banner are preventing me from robbing silver properly and forcing me to help you kill the barbarians!"

The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. He couldn't help but curse a few times, then he put away his heavy sword and followed a group of Bayalas of the Zhengbai Banner to the north of the city.

A trail of bloody footprints was left on the bluestone street behind him.

"The Tartars are killing people in the east of the city, run away!"

North of Kaiyuan City.

Lieutenant General Liu Zhaosun was calling on the commanders of each battalion to speed up their pace.

He could already see the black smoke rising from the east of the city and was quite anxious.

Under the urging of the commanders of each battalion, 3,000 soldiers advanced from the North Gate City Wall to the East Gate Street at the fastest speed.

The Mandarin Duck Formation responsible for the assault in the front has approached the shops near Kaiyuan East Gate Street.

The shops on both sides of the street were vandalized, the goods inside were stolen, and there was smoke, dust and debris everywhere.

The Mandarin Duck Formation appeared on the street in front of the shop. A defeated soldier was still rummaging around in the house, and faint sounds of a woman crying could be heard from inside.

"Damn it! How are we going to survive if you steal our food?"

A skinny woman rushed out of the house, holding the grain bag tightly with both hands. The defeated soldier in front swung the handle of the knife and hit the woman's head hard.

The woman still refused to let go, and the soldier suddenly looked fierce, drew his sword, and yelled.

The passing Yuanyang Formation soldiers looked coldly at the scene before them. The new army had strict military discipline, and they were just waiting for orders from their superiors.

"Pacifiers, take this man's head!"

Liu Zhaosun waved his hand and pointed over there, shouting loudly.

Two pacification soldiers armed with Miao Daos stepped forward quickly, and before the fleeing soldiers could react, they raised their swords and chopped off their heads.

The heads of the defeated soldiers, their faces filled with terror, were hung in the streets.

Liu Zhaosun looked at everyone coldly and said loudly:
"Anyone who harms the people or steals their property will be beheaded!"

The soldiers looked heavy-hearted. The further east they went, the more debris they saw on the ground, and the bodies of civilians were everywhere.

At this moment, several heavy arrows suddenly flew out from both sides of the street, and the two spearmen in the front row fell to the ground after being shot.

Each captain immediately gave orders to split the Mandarin Duck Formation of thirteen people in front into two groups, forming a Small Three Talents Formation, and continue to advance towards the east of the city.

Just after moving forward a few dozen steps, they ran into several armored soldiers of the Zhengbai Banner at the corner. They were shooting arrows at this side from a distance. The people holding long shields hurriedly used the shields to protect the soldiers behind them. The musketeers in the Yuanyang formation immediately fought back with muskets. Some soldiers with bows in the back stopped shooting arrows at the Jiannu.

As the Ming army grew in number, the dozens of Zhenyi soldiers on the opposite side were quickly killed one by one.

Before the Ming army could continue advancing, a large group of Bayalas wearing white armor appeared on the street corner. When they saw the dense Ming army soldiers on the opposite side, they not only did not show any sign of retreat, but instead rushed towards the Ming army's Mandarin Duck Formation like crazy.

After approaching, these Bayaras did not engage the Ming army in a firefight. Instead, they raised their thick shields, roared like wild beasts, and quickly approached the Ming army's mandarin duck formation. When they were still twenty steps away from the mandarin duck formation, they took out their throwing axes, hammers, and other weapons from their waists and, using the momentum of their running, hurled them at the opposing Ming army.

The long card player held the long card upright and pressed it to the ground, with five or six teammates standing behind the long card.

The sword and shield fighter leaned forward, holding the sword in one hand and covering his legs and feet with the round shield in the other, looking vigilantly ahead, ready to deal a fatal blow to the Jiannu at any time.

These sword and shield soldiers are all teenagers of fifteen or sixteen years old. They are agile and fearless. They are suitable for holding round shields, approaching the enemy quickly and launching surprise attacks.

Qi Jiguang particularly emphasized that sword and shield fighters should be agile and fearless.

The hammer and flying axe hit the long shield heavily, making a dull sound. The people holding the long shield only felt numbness in their palms, and half of their shoulders were about to be shaken off, but they held on to the handles of the long shield tightly, not daring to relax at all.

This team of white-armored soldiers thought the Ming army was timid, so they rushed up rashly and prepared to chop off their heads.

These Jurchen hunters of the Zhengbai Banner had never fought against the Qi family army in their lives, so of course they didn't know how powerful the Mandarin Duck Formation was.

They had just taken two steps forward, entering the spearmen's attack range. Suddenly, two spears emerged from behind the opposing shield, one above and one below, striking at their target's vital points. The white-armored soldier dodged the attack on his throat, but the other spear had already pierced his lower abdomen. The white-armored soldier screamed and crouched down. A Ming army swordsman in the Yuanyang formation quickly stepped forward and chopped off the white-armored soldier's head.

Seeing this, the white-armored soldiers behind immediately threw several flying axes at the Ming army. The sword and shield fighter raised his shield to block the attack and quickly retreated behind the long shield holding the Jiannu head.

The two spearmen in front were unable to dodge and were hit in the face. They groaned and fell to the ground. Two musketeers followed behind and aimed their muskets at the white-armored soldiers on the opposite side. After two loud explosions, one of the white-armored soldiers' helmets was deformed, blood oozed from his head, and he collapsed to the ground with his limbs limp.

Just as the last man in white armor was about to flee, a hammer struck him from behind. The sharp teeth of the hammer easily pierced his chain mail. He was about to turn around and fight back when another spear stabbed him in the back of the neck, piercing him through...

The two sides fought back and forth, exchanging deaths in front of the shop.

A steady stream of Ming troops came from the north gate and eventually gained the upper hand.

Liu Zhaosun looked at the bloody battlefield in front of him with a calm expression, looking at the corpses scattered all over the street and the mess.

After this battle, Kaiyuan City will probably become a ruin.

Kaiyuan is the starting point of Liu Zhaosun's rise, and it will become the base camp for Liu Zhaosun's early operations.

Although the Bayara of the Zhengbai Banner were powerful and had high morale, their numbers were too small to withstand the continuous attacks of the Mandarin Duck Formation composed of more than 3,000 Ming troops.

The Ming troops in different Yuanyang formations had the same equipment and clothing. If someone in the front died, someone from the back would immediately take his place.

This gave Bayara the illusion that the Ming army could never eliminate or kill him.

"The endless number of southern barbarians!"

More and more Ming troops appeared near the east gate. They formed a small three-talent formation and attacked forward. Bayara could no longer resist and turned around and fled.

The Ming army shouted the slogan of victory and rushed towards the east gate. Liu Zhaosun looked at the soldiers passing by and a look of relief appeared on his face.

The new army suffered heavy casualties today, but at least they resisted the Jiannu's attack on Kaiyuan. After going through the test of iron and blood, they will be more calm in future battles.

Huang Taiji's face was gloomy and his fists were clenched. He had already prepared to enter Kaiyuan, but he did not expect to be counterattacked by the Ming army at the last moment. Even Bayara, the most ferocious among the flags, was killed and repelled.

Huang Taiji was feeling melancholy. He was eager to know the situation at the north gate of Kaiyuan and how many troops were left in the Bordered Blue Banner.

Huang Taiji originally wanted to let the Bordered Blue Banner attract the main force of the Ming army, and then he would stab them from behind through the east gate to gain a big advantage.

Unexpectedly, Liu Zhaosun actually abandoned the north gate and led his troops directly to the east city to fight against the Zhengbai Banner.

In the previous battle, the Plain White Banner had suffered a hundred casualties, blocking the Ming army at the East Gate Wengcheng, preventing them from advancing. Although Bayala had retreated, the Plain White Banner still had the upper hand overall.

Right now, fires are blazing in Kaiyuan City, and the three gates in the west, south and north are in danger. It won't be long before they are breached by the Later Jin army.

As long as Liu Zhaosun can be contained at the east gate and the army surrounds him, he will be unable to escape and will die without a burial place.

Huang Taiji pondered for a moment and sent another 2,000 Zhenyi soldiers to reinforce Bayala and continue attacking the Ming army.

At the same time, he ordered the artillery to mount the French cannons on the top of the city wall and bombard the city.

In Huang Taiji's view, the French cannons were invincible. Once the Ming army was defeated and the warriors were allowed to charge forward, Liu Zhaosun would be defeated immediately.

Huang Taiji now feels more and more that the French machine is indeed a magical weapon and will be of great use in the future.

After returning to Hetuala, he decided to suggest to the Khan that craftsmen should imitate and improve the French machine for use in attacking cities and strongholds.

Half an hour later, the Later Jin army's artillerymen aimed their French machine guns at the Ming army in the city wall at the east gate and fired at them. The shells shattered the long shields of the Mandarin Duck Formation into pieces. All the Ming soldiers who were hit were torn to pieces and died in extremely tragic ways.

Liu Zhaosun ordered the front-line soldiers to retreat and hide at the corner of the street to temporarily avoid the bombardment of the French cannons, and let the soldiers in the back kill the spies who were setting fires everywhere.

Huang Taiji looked at the results of the French cannon in the city wall and smiled. This Ming army was short of artillery and had no ability to fight back. Once their morale was taken away, he would let the soldiers charge and they would be defeated in one fell swoop.

He was watching with great interest when his personal bodyguard, Goshiha, suddenly ran over and shouted:
"Master, it's bad! A group of southern barbarians came from the west and broke into our camp. They killed everyone they saw without saying a word. They killed quite a few of the Baoyi soldiers and the whole camp is in chaos!"

"Southern Barbarians? Why would Southern Barbarian soldiers come from the west at this time?"

Huang Taiji looked to the west in astonishment. The Liaozhen cavalry had suffered heavy casualties, and the Mongolian cavalry had blocked the passage out of Kaiyuan.

"Where are the southern barbarians attacking the camp?"

Huang Taiji saw that Geshiha was silent, so he comforted him:
"Just a few cavalrymen, ignore them. Let the warriors kill them all with their bows and shields!"

Just as Goshiha was about to speak, several Niulu Ezhen rushed over from the direction of the main camp, stumbling towards this side.

One of the Niulu Ezhen was not wearing any armor. When they saw Huang Taiji, they were all terrified.

"Master! The spearmen are so fierce. I don't know where they came from, but they killed dozens of our white-armored soldiers!"

Another Niulu Ezhen also said:
"Master, the Bayalas have all been sent out, but the soldiers can't kill them. Their spears are like scorpion tails, sweeping across the Baoyi and knocking them down. A Baoyi from Liaoyang said that these are Ming Dynasty wolf soldiers, just like the white-pole soldiers at the north gate, all of them are fearless..."

"Master, the Ming army is coming from the south, carrying a large banner with the word 'bear' on it. There are tens of thousands of them, all soldiers. Forget about the blue banner! Leave!"

Huang Taiji shouted loudly to stop the strange cries of the Niulu'ezhen. He looked up towards the east gate. The Zhenyi soldiers were still fighting with the spearmen. Both sides used heavy arrows, flying axes, muskets and spears to exchange lives in front of the collapsed city wall of the east gate. The ground was littered with the corpses of the Ming and Jin sides, and it was impossible to tell the winner for a while.

The sky above the Zhengbai Banner camp was filled with smoke and dust, and the beast-like howling of wolf soldiers could be faintly heard.

The nearby Zhengbai Banner soldiers joined the battle and surrounded and killed the ferocious chieftain soldiers.

Huang Taiji looked up and looked around. Chaos had already broken out in Kaiyuan City. The Ming army was now at the end of its strength. As long as the siege lasted another hour, Kaiyuan would surely be captured.

But now this Ming army suddenly came to support, and we don’t know how many troops they have, and the chieftain soldiers behind them have to be eliminated.

If they get entangled here, even if the Zhengbai Banner can kill the Guangming Army, there will be heavy casualties, and I will be the next Amin. Daishan and Manggurtai are unwilling to attack the Ming Army with all their strength. Why should I risk the lives of thousands of warriors to make wedding clothes for the Khan?
He pondered for a long time, a look of unwillingness appeared on his face, and he suddenly waved his hand and said:

"Sound the retreat! Send the white-armored soldiers to inform the Second Prince to withdraw the Blue Banner immediately! There will be plenty of opportunities to deal with this Liu Zhaosun later!"

A Niulu Ezhen said anxiously:

"Master, what should we do with these wolf soldiers? The warriors have killed and wounded hundreds of them. They can't escape!"

Huang Taiji said this, then turned around and looked fiercely at the wolf soldiers running around in the camp, gritting his teeth and saying:
"Withdraw the soldiers from the East Gate, call back Bayala to provide cover, and kill all these southern barbarians!"

(End of this chapter)