The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 9 Why panic?

The second Beile Amin followed the Khan to annihilate Dusong, defeat Malin, and returned to the capital Hetuala from the border vassal state ahead of schedule.

As soon as I returned to the capital, I heard from the ladies who stayed behind that another army from the east was invading, coming from Hunjiang River. They had captured many villages along the way and killed many Jianzhou people. They would soon come to Hetuala.

Although Jianzhou women were brave and good at fighting, they were women after all, and could not pull a bow or wield a club.

Especially the women of Huang Taiji, Daishan and other beile, their skills in bed are indeed good, but asking them to defeat Liu Jing is of course nonsense.

So when everyone heard that Yingming Khan was still in Sarhu and could not return for the time being, they panicked.

The Second Prince was surrounded by a group of concubines, and he could hear the chattering all around him, which was even louder than the firing of muskets by the southern barbarians.

"Why are you panicking?"

The Jianzhou Jurchens had a long-term marriage alliance with the Mongols, so all the beiles married the daughters of the Mongolian Taiji. Of course, the princesses were also married to various Mongolian tribes as political marriage tools.

Amin had no fondness for these Mongolian wives, as he could always smell a pungent smell of goat on them, especially Huang Taiji's wife, a woman named Borjigit Erdene Qiqige.

The Second Prince couldn't even remember the woman's name.

This woman was quite pretty, not inferior to the Han women in Liaodong, but Amin disliked her very much, just because she was Huang Taiji's wife.

"Why panic?!"

Amin pushed away Borjigit who rushed forward. This woman of Huangtaiji was the most active and her saliva sprayed on his face.

"The two Ming armies in the west, led by Dusong and Malin, numbering tens of thousands of men, were completely annihilated by the Khan in a single day. The Bordered Yellow Banner slaughtered every southern barbarian left, and they chopped Dusong's body into eight pieces! What's the panic?! This Liu Jing is also here to bring military merit to our Great Jin. Remember, Koreans can't do anything but eat kimchi! Let me tell you! The Khan is on his way back to Hetuala, with the Grand Prince as the vanguard, and he'll arrive tomorrow. I'll lead the Bordered Blue Banner warriors to the south to kill Liu Jing!"

After Amin finished speaking, he rushed out of the encirclement of Fu Jin with his personal bodyguard Goshaha, returned to his own yamen, and planned to send troops overnight.

As the second son of Shurhaci, and the commander of the thirty-three Niulu of the Bordered Blue Banner, Second Beile Amin would certainly not forget that his father was killed by Nurhaci.

At this time, the Jiannu Jurchens were still in the period of tribal rule, and the Confucian idea of revenge for one's father was not popular here. Fifteen years ago, Shurhaci, the second-in-command of the Jianzhou Jurchens and Nurhaci's younger brother, was executed by his brother for rebellion. His eldest son and third son were also killed.

Amin did not participate in the rebellion at that time and luckily survived. He was given half of his father's Niulu and became the leader of the Bordered Blue Banner.

Although he did not kill Amin, Nurhaci never relaxed his surveillance of the Bordered Blue Banner over the years.

Although Amin tried to avoid him everywhere, his uncle kept pressing him. Fortunately, there were two major threats, the Haixi Jurchens and the Ming Dynasty, so the wise Khan did not have time to take action against the second prince.

Of course, the most important reason why Amin was able to survive until now was because he had these thirty-three Niulu, nearly ten thousand soldiers.

In the battles to annihilate Dusong and defeat Malin, Yingming Khan did not let Amin participate much, but gave the military merit to Huangtai Jidaishan and others. The Jianzhou Jurchens valued military merit. Now that Liu Jing has arrived and the other beile have not yet arrived in Hetuala, Amin will certainly not miss this opportunity.

Under the persistence of his wives, the Second Prince had to leave thirteen Niulu behind to defend Hetuala. He personally led the remaining twenty Niulu and rushed to Kuandian, ready to give the southern barbarians a head-on attack.

When the main force of the Bordered Blue Banner passed through Dong'e Road, Amin received a report from a scout saying that the Khan led 4,000 troops back to Hetuala, and at the same time ordered the thirteen Niulu of the Bordered Blue Banner not to go south and to guard against the Ming army invading from Hulan Road.

The Khan was still too cautious in using his troops. At this time, both armies of the Ming Dynasty had been defeated, and the commander of the Ming army in Hulan Road was Li Rubai. As far as he knew, Li Rubai would never attack Hetuala.

Therefore, Amin had reason to believe that Nurhaci was weakening the strength of the Bordered Blue Banner and preventing him from making achievements.

He was furious and was about to lead his army in an all-out attack to destroy Liu Jing in one fell swoop when Li Yongfang, the son-in-law of the Western Imperial Court, arrived with Du Song's order.

Li Yongfang was originally a guerrilla in Fushun. When Nurhaci attacked Fushun, he surrendered without resistance, becoming a loyal minister of the Jin Dynasty and highly regarded by Nurhaci, who allowed him to continue garrisoning Fushun. Furthermore, an old slave married Li Yongfang to the daughter of his seventh son, Beile Abatai, leading to his nickname, "Fuxi Efu."

Li Yongfang rushed over from Hetuala at night, and before he had time to drink a sip of hot tea, he asked Amin to suspend the attack, saying that they could outsmart Liu Jing instead of attacking by force.

Although Amin was eager to make achievements, he also wanted to preserve the strength of the Bordered Blue Banner and not sacrifice the lives of the warriors in vain. After hearing Li Yongfang's plan to impersonate the Ming army and use Du Song's command arrow to lure Liu Jing into advancing rashly, he immediately arranged for a dozen cavalrymen to wear Ming army jackets and go south with Li Yongfang's bondservants.

So, there was the scene where Liu Zhaosun killed Du Songtangma.

By the afternoon, the bondservants had not returned to the camp to report, and the cavalry sent by the Bordered Blue Banner were nowhere to be seen.

Fuxi Efu was quite worried. At his suggestion, Amin ordered to set up camp on the spot in Dong'e Road and sent white-armored soldiers to scout to the south again.

At dusk, the scout finally returned and brought back shocking news.

The Ming army set up camp around the Shajianzi Hill on the Hunjiang River. The Korean troops who came from the southwest joined the Ming army. At this time, Liu Jing had about 30,000 troops under his command.

The surviving Bayara also told the Second Beile that the five white-armored soldiers he led were besieged by a group of Ming army servants on the way. He didn't know where these people came from, but they were very vicious and killed all his men.

After saying this, Bayala's head tilted and he died.

The sun was setting, and it was inconvenient for the army to move at night, so it was impossible to continue the attack.

The Second Prince's eyes were bloodshot as he whipped Li Yongfang with his horsewhip, not caring about the fact that he was a consort. He pointed at his nose and cursed, "I said this morning that we would just destroy Liu Jing, but you insisted on using some 'outsight' to take him. Now the pheasant on the chopping block has flown away, and so many warriors have been killed in vain. If it weren't for the Khan's favor for you, you son of a bitch, I would have skinned you alive today!"

Li Yongfang was whipped several times but didn't dare to dodge. Fortunately, he was wearing cotton armor and was not seriously injured.

Although he was the Prince Consort of Fuxi and Nurhaci's think tank, compared with these real Jurchen masters, he was just a talking dog, and the kind of dog that might be beaten to death by his master if he said the wrong thing.

Li Yongfang had no good feelings towards the leader of the Bordered Blue Banner. He repeatedly spoke ill of Second Prince Amin in front of the Khan and was always thinking about how to weaken the Bordered Blue Banner.

However, the situation is now critical, concerning the rise and fall of the Great Jin Kingdom and the reputation of the Eight Banners of Jianzhou. As a loyal minister of the Great Jin Kingdom and the son-in-law of Fushun, Li Yongfang, who is loyal to the emperor and patriotic, cannot sit idly by even if he is really skinned by this rough man in front of him.

"Master! Don't be angry! Of course, the warriors won't die in vain. Once we break through the southern barbarian camp and capture Liu Jing alive, you can cut him as many times as you want! But right now, we need to ascertain the military situation as quickly as possible. I'm afraid Liu Jing has learned of Du and Ma's defeat, so he's stopped his advance to protect himself."

Amin was furious and his head was buzzing. He had no feelings for the Khan. When Shulhachi was imprisoned and died, Amin was already 25 years old. The brutal power struggle among the Jianzhou Jurchen high-ranking officials gave him a great shock.

Amin commanded 33 Niulu, second only to Nurhaci's own 45 Niulu. These 33 Niulu were certainly not bestowed upon Amin by Nurhaci, but inherited from his deceased father. According to the Jianzhou Jurchen system, upon the death of a banner owner, the banner's property passed to his son, and the Khan had no power to easily deprive him of it.

In short, force is everything.

"Du Song and Ma Lin have been annihilated by the Khan, and the roads between the east and the west are blocked by white-armored soldiers. Liu Jing is not a god, how could he know? It must be the bannermen you sent who made the mistake! ...Where's the whip?"

Amin was furious and swung the horsewhip to hit Li Yongfang again, but the whip tip was grabbed from behind. When he turned around, it was his sixth brother, Heshuo Beile Jirgalang.

"Second brother, those Ming people are cunning. This matter requires further consideration. We should send someone back to Hetuala to report to the Khan. Whether to continue south or station troops there is up to the Khan to decide!"

Nurhaci's sixth brother, Amin, had close ties with Huang Taiji, Manggurtai Daishan, and others, earning him considerable trust. When the main force of the Bordered Blue Banner marched south, Jirgalang was assigned to the army, ostensibly to assist, but with the intention of somewhat restraining and supervising Amin. The 33-year-old Amin was well aware of the implications.

The Second Beile knew that he could whip Li Yongfang, the Han dog, but he did not dare to touch Heshuo Beile, otherwise Nurhaci would never let him off easily.

"Since Sixth Brother has spoken, I will have your subordinate Bayala go back and report to the Khan. You Niulu don't have to go!"

Amin looked at Jirgalang with disdain, and then he glanced at the surrounding Niulu Ezhen and said angrily:

"The rest of the troops! Set up camp on Dong'e Road tonight. Tomorrow, all the warriors will eat fried noodles and give the horses water. Then we'll seize Shajianzi Hill in one fell swoop. We'll use the old method: heavy troops in the front, light armor in the back. We'll occupy the high ground and attack from above, driving these southern barbarians into the Hunjiang River to feed the fish!"

Putting aside Jirgalang, Amin controlled twenty Niulu with a total of 7,600 people, plus the remaining men and bondservants, the total number of troops was nearly 10,000.

From the battles between Jiefan City and Shangya, it can be seen that the southern barbarians are vulnerable.

Amin thought that it should not be a problem to use 10,000 troops to defeat Liu Jing and Jiang Hongli's 30,000 troops.

In the original historical dimension, just as Amin expected, the Ming army and more than 30,000 Korean soldiers only lasted less than a day in total.

"Tomorrow, just charge with all your cavalry, hack and kill fiercely. Don't conserve your horses, and don't be afraid of the southern barbarians' firearms. I saw it with my own eyes in Jiefan City. Their explosions killed far more Dusong family servants than they hit the Bordered Yellow Banner soldiers!"

The Niulu Ezhen laughed loudly towards the sky, with bloodthirsty and murderous looks on their faces.

After arranging the battle for tomorrow, Amin took off his armor and rested at midnight. He fell into a deep sleep and dreamed of the woman, Borjigit. This Mongolian woman was still chattering in his dream, making endless noises. Amin yelled and the woman disappeared.

Suddenly, there was a muffled thunder in the camp.

"How strange! Why is there thunder here when it's snowing?" The Second Prince wondered to himself.

He was still surprised when the thunder became more frequent, one after another, like gunpowder explosions, and got closer and closer to the tent.

Outside came the sounds of chaotic footsteps, the neighing of war horses, and the terrified screams of the bondservants.

"The Southern Barbarians attack at night!"

"Second Prince, the southern barbarians are attacking!"

"Why are you panicking?"

Two bodyguards rushed into the tent and without saying anything, they grabbed Amin and tried to pull him out. Amin pushed them away and said angrily:

"Get out of here! You are a bunch of ignorant southern barbarians, how dare you come here to die! Beat the drums, summon the death squad, and block their retreat!"

Amin put on his armor and walked out of the tent with two Goshas. The soldiers with blue flags around him did not show any signs of confusion. They walked out of the tent one after another, holding weapons and looking towards the south.

Only some bannermen were running around like headless flies, shouting "The Ming army is coming! The Ming army is coming!"

Amin stared grimly at these frightened bannermen. At this time, a huge fire rose to the south of the camp, and a raging fire also started in the distant mountains and forests. There were continuous muffled thunder and explosions from all directions, and the entire Bordered Blue Banner camp fell into chaos.

"Damn you southern barbarians! We haven't killed you all yet at Sarhu, and yet you come here again seeking death! All soldiers, put on your armor and kill them all!"

(End of this chapter)