The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 90 Liu Zhaosun Attacks

On September 27, the 47th year of the Wanli reign, Huang Taiji and Jirgalang led the main forces of the Plain White Banner and the Bordered Blue Banner respectively, set out from Fushun Pass, and quickly entered the Songliao Plain from the west and north.

Huang Taiji did not choose to rescue Tieling directly, but instead rushed to Kaiyuan City, Liu Zhaosun's old nest.

Since the Kaiyuan troops have left the city to attack Tieling, the city must be empty, which is a good opportunity to defeat it in one battle. By then, Liu Zhaosun will lose his foundation and become a real stray dog.

This is the strategy of besieging Wei to save Zhao.

Huang Taiji was well-versed in military strategy and was known for his intelligence and erudition. After he succeeded to the throne, his governing ability far surpassed that of his father Khan.

Huang Taiji's troops were at the gates of Kaiyuan City, preparing to surprise Liu Zhaosun;
Liu Zhaosun prepared the red cannon to give Huang Taiji a surprise.

Since both sides want to give the other a surprise, it depends on whose surprise is the real surprise.

"Capture this city within half an hour!"

South of Tieling City.

Under the twelve-foot-long general's flag, Kaiyuan General Liu Zhaosun stood on his horse, waving his whip and pointing at the city ahead.

The central army guards immediately raised a blue flag.

Three messengers ran to the two thousand commanders with command flags and conveyed the general's order to them.

The captain waved his flag, and the captains of each battalion immediately ordered the captains of each flag to organize the soldiers to advance.

The flute players in each camp blew the Boluo (1), and the soldiers stood up with their guns in hand. The sound of iron plates rubbing against each other could be heard all around.

Then, the drummer struck the dot drum, and the majestic drum sound resounded throughout the wilderness.

Three thousand six hundred soldiers marched in orderly steps, slowly advancing towards the moat.

These 3,600 elite soldiers are all veterans who followed Liu Zhaosun all the way from Hunjiang. Each of them is an elite soldier who can fight ten enemies with one.

This was all Liu Zhaosun's assets. Of course, Liu Zhaosun still had more than 4,000 soldiers stationed in Kaiyuan, but most of those soldiers were newly trained boatmen and Liao people. Although the training was also very rigorous, their combat effectiveness was definitely not as good as these veterans.

The Yehe Cavalry and the Kaiyuan Cavalry Battalion were stationed on the left and right sides of the combat troops, using the advantage of cavalry to cover the smooth advance of the combat troops and defend against possible threats on both wings.

Burhanggu stood on his horse and looked up at the tall and sturdy Tieling City three hundred steps away.

The tall watchtowers and wide moat of Tieling City made the Yehe general feel frightened.

He put the three-barreled gun in his hand back into the belt around his waist and adjusted the speed of his horse.

"Can we take it down in half an hour?"

Tieling City Wall.

There was chaos everywhere. The soldiers guarding the city pointed at the city and talked a lot, asking people around them about the identity of this Ming army.

When they heard that the people coming towards the city wall were the Kaiyuan soldiers who had defeated the Later Jin army and killed more than 3,000 Tatars in battle, many soldiers began to retreat unconsciously.

Tieling is only more than 30 miles away from Kaiyuan. Many people around Tieling have personally seen or heard about the bloody battle in Kaiyuan.

Few people who have witnessed the bloody battle of Kaiyuan are willing to fight to the death with the Kaiyuan soldiers.

Because in everyone's eyes, these soldiers are not human beings, but puppets. Of course, they are different from puppets. Puppets cannot kill people.

In order to "reinforce" Shenyang, Lieutenant General Ding took away 4,000 troops and all the elite servants.

No one would have expected that Liu Zhaosun, who had been staying indoors, would suddenly launch an attack, not to aid Shenyang, but to turn around and attack Tieling.

At this time, there were only two thousand defenders in Tieling City, basically the old, weak and auxiliary soldiers. These soldiers were poorly equipped and had insufficient food and wages. At this moment, many of them were not even wearing armor, and their morale was extremely low.

Ding Bi's trusted subordinate, a garrison commander named Jiao, was searching the city with his servants for able-bodied men, and driving them to the city walls to resist the Kaiyuan soldiers who were trying to take advantage of the situation to rob them.

At the street corner ahead, I could see from afar a burly middle-aged man who looked like a peddler walking around the street with a few servants.

Shoubei Jiao chased after him, whipped the merchant, and said angrily:

"Run, run! Stop right there! Where are you from?"

The vendor had a big smile on his face, his fingers slowly pressing on his waist. A small man flashed out from the side, grabbed the man, and said in Sichuan dialect:

"Master Jun, we are tea merchants from Chengdu. What's going on?"

"Didn't you hear my command just now? Why are you running around? Hurry up and defend the city. If the thieves escape, I'll give you a reward!"

Shoubei Jiao waved to his servants, who rushed forward, pushing and shoving the tea vendors all the way, and drove them towards the top of the city wall.

Two cavalry battalion commanders rode their horses to the foot of Tieling City and shouted to the defenders across the moat:
"By order of the Minister of War, Xiong Jinglüe, Lieutenant General Ding was killed in battle at Hunhe yesterday. The enemy's Zhengbai Banner is invading Tieling. General Xuanwu Liu is now leading a 30,000-man army to take over Tieling. You must immediately open the city gates!"

Someone soon popped his head out from the top of the city wall and shouted loudly to the people below:
"Nonsense! Lieutenant General Ding is alive and well, so where did Liu Zhaosun get 30,000 troops? Also, whose orders are you following? Hand over Xiong Jinglüe's handwritten letter!"

"They don't have any handwritten notes. Quick, shoot them to death!"

"Who dares to shoot an arrow? It will be treated as treason!"

The two cavalry captains ignored the man on the wall, rode their horses a few steps below the wall, and said to the soldiers on the wall:

"Brothers of Liaozhen, listen up! The troops of the Bordered Blue Banner are at Jing'an Fort, fifty miles away, and will be here in an hour. This garrison commander Jiao has long colluded with the Jiannu and wants to take you all to Hetuala to be bondservants! To be slaves! General Liu is here with a large army to rescue you! Open the door quickly! Our Kaiyuan soldiers can even kill Amin, let alone a few rebels. If you want to have your entire clan exterminated, come and try!" Two light arrows whizzed down from the top of the city wall, neither of them was very accurate. The two captains pointed at garrison commander Jiao who was shooting arrows from the top of the city wall, made a beheading gesture, and then rode back to the camp.

At this time, the Kaiyuan army had advanced to a distance of less than a hundred steps from the city wall. The defenders on the city wall could already see that a number of falconets were set up under the city and were aimed at the city wall.

At this time, the situation on the city walls was even more chaotic. The young men who had been temporarily recruited to throw stones had never seen such a scene before. Hearing that it was Xiong Jinglüe's order and seeing that it was from the Kaiyuan soldiers, many turned around and tried to flee. Jiao Shoubei and several servants blocked the city walls and attacked two of them with his sword.

"If you can stop this group of bandits, each of you will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver! If you can't stop them, you will all die!"

Hardly had he finished his words when two loud bangs were heard from below the city walls. Two Portuguese cannons roared angrily, and two iron balls weighing one pound and seven ounces flew toward the top of the city walls, smashing the bricks and stones of the battlements into flying chips. Screams arose from all around.

Shoubei Jiao ordered the gunners on the city wall to fight back. These Liaozhen gunners had almost no training and were in a panic. They loaded the guns even more slowly, their hands trembling, and they stuffed lead bullets into the barrels before all the gunpowder was released.

"Useless thing, I'm going to kill you. What do I keep you for? Hurry up and load your guns. Shoot at the general's flag. Kill Liu Zhaosun! Hurry!"

Rong Touqiang slowly put his right hand into his left sleeve, grasped the scorpion tail hook, glanced at Peng Yong, the white-pole soldier standing next to him, and nodded slightly to him.

Peng Yong turned around and smiled at a few wolf soldiers dressed as vendors, hid a three-barreled gun in his wide sleeves, and walked towards Guard Jiao with a smile.

The wolf soldier also quietly walked to the side of several servants, pretending to stand on tiptoe to watch the fun.

Shoubei Jiao had his back to the others and was still whipping the unlucky gunner, while urging the other gunners to reload and aim quickly.

"Lieutenant General Ding is doing very well. He was still in Shenyang yesterday, killing Tartars from the west gate to the east gate, killing thousands of them. Don't panic, everyone. That damn Liu Zhaosun is crazy because he's poor. He wants to rob our Tieling. Don't let them enter the city. These Kaiyuan soldiers are worse than the Tartars. They will rob all the silver in your homes and kill you all. Tieling is stronger than Kaiyuan. Look at that moat, it's long and wide, and those shields are big and round! Let's hold on first, Lieutenant General Ding will be back soon..."

Suddenly there was a loud bang, and the whip raised by Jiao Shoubei was hung in the air, and half of his head disappeared.

Almost at the same time, blood spurted from the necks of Jiao Shoubei's five servants, and they fell to the ground, covering their necks.

"I'm the captain of General Xiong's standard-bearing battalion. I entered the city yesterday. Are you trying to rebel? Let General Liu enter the city! General Liu can defeat the Tartars, but can you? Are you waiting for the Tartars to massacre the city? Open the city gates!"

"Whoever opens the city gate first will be rewarded with a thousand taels of silver and promoted to captain! If you dare to shoot arrows again! This will be your fate if you block General Liu from entering the city!"

Peng Yong swung his sword and cut off the head of Guard Jiao, and threw it among the group of gunners. The gunners who had just been intimidated were frightened and fled in all directions. Several musketeers nearby also dropped their muskets and knelt down to kowtow.

The remaining servants surrounded him, holding swords and ready to kill Peng Yong.

"You bitch, don't you?"

When everyone looked back, Rong Touqiang put the scorpion tail hook on the neck of a captain and slowly walked towards them, cursing in Guangxi dialect.

Although he didn't understand what Rong Touqiang was saying, the captain could feel that his neck was about to be cut by the hook, so he quickly told his servants to step back.

The sound of Portuguese cannons below the city became more intense, and more Portuguese cannons came in to bombard the top of the city, causing wood chips to fly everywhere from the city gate.

The conscripted civilians could no longer endure the situation and abandoned their weapons and fled.

Seeing that there were only a few hundred people left around and all the gunners had run away, the old and weak Liao soldiers all followed suit and fled.

The last few dozen remaining servants could no longer hold on and threw their weapons to the ground, kneeling on the ground to surrender to Xiong Jinglie's standard-bearer.

~~~
Burhanggu opened his mouth wide and stared blankly at the suspension bridge slowly descending in front of the moat. He watched teams of soldiers crossing the suspension bridge and entering the city wall. An incredible expression appeared on the face of the Yehe people.

"Changshengtian, it really only takes half an hour."

Liu Zhaosun rode past him and shouted:
"Beile Xicheng, your enemy Jirgalang is coming soon, along with Huang Taiji. When they arrive, you and Ligdan Khan will fight your way back to Hetuala and give them a surprise!"

North of Kaiyuan City.

A dense rain of arrows poured down on the watchtower at the north gate. The watchtower was densely packed with arrows, and the bodies of some Ming army archers lay on the ground.

Teams of Zhenyi armored soldiers crossed the floating bridge over the moat and appeared outside Kaiyuan City. These warriors of the Plain White Banner soon found themselves facing the same problems that the Bordered Blue Banner had encountered.

Behind the low breastwork is the War Horse City, a large slope made of earth. Two thousand spearmen are lurking on the slope, waiting for a new round of attack by the Later Jin soldiers.

Two soldiers held long shields and escorted the military inspector Qiao Yiqi onto the city wall. There were several heavy arrows stuck on the shields.

Wounded musketeers and archers were lying all over the city walls, some of them dead.

Qiao Yiqi had a gloomy face, endured the pain in his leg, and limped towards Mao Yuanyi on the other side of the battlement.

Behind the battlements on the city wall, Mao Yuanyi personally tore off a piece of black cloth, revealing a black gun barrel underneath, with the muzzle pointing at the main tent of the Zhengbai Banner Army three miles away.

A tall gunner used a ruler to measure the tent, which was much larger than the carriage, while another gunner kept marking the trajectory on paper with a charcoal pencil.

In front of the main tent of the Zhengbai Banner army, Bayala, with a triangular flag behind him, was moving back and forth, organizing the armored soldiers to continue the siege.

The intelligent and knowledgeable Huang Taiji sat down in the big tent, waiting for Jiala Ezhen, who was attacking the city, to come back and report on the battle situation.

He looked calm and confident about taking Kaiyuan.

Seeing that Mao Yuanyi and the two gunners were still hesitating, the motionless Qiao Yiqi finally couldn't stand it anymore.

He walked over angrily, picked up the short gunner, and yelled at him, just like he did during the Hunjiang bombardment:

"Fire! Fire for me!"

Note: (1) According to the Jixiao Xinshu, whenever the Boluo is played, all soldiers must stand up and hold their weapons.

(End of this chapter)