The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 96: Mao Wenlong's bloody battle in Shenyang City
"boom!"

With a loud bang, under the astonished gaze of everyone, an iron ball weighing more than three pounds burst out from the barrel of the general's cannon, passed over tens of thousands of troops on both sides of the Hunhe River, brushed past the general's flag above the white-pole soldiers' shield formation, and whizzed towards the position of the golden dragon banner of the Later Jin Khan.

Li Yongfang Manggurtai's face turned pale, and for a moment he forgot to order the gunner to be killed.

Mao Yunlong grinned, dropped the torch in his hand, and said innocently:

"I'm sorry, everyone. My hands are shaking. How about letting me shoot you one more time?"

The white-armored soldier who had been in charge of monitoring the gunner had anger in his eyes at this moment. He swung his heavy sword and slashed it down fiercely, cutting off Mao Yunlong's arm with one blow. When the second sword was swung down, another large cannon just happened to fire.

The barrel made a muffled sound, as if a firecracker buried in the ground had exploded.

The General Cannon weighing more than 2,000 pounds suddenly jumped up on the spot like a toad, then somersaulted several times in the air, and finally fell from the top of the city wall and hit a group of white-armored soldiers.

The wooden gun carriage was shattered by the violent explosion of the barrel. Under the huge impact force, the flying wood blocks flew all over the city wall like cannonballs.

The two white-armored soldiers closest to them flew up into the air and back as if they were hit by a hammer. Their chain mail could not stop the flying wood blocks, which pierced their bodies with holes and they died before they even hit the ground.

"He, he lit the gunpowder."

Li Yongfang screamed and hurried to the steps of the city wall. Manggurtai pushed him away and ran to the front himself.

Explosions and screams of the Later Jin soldiers were heard one after another around.

The Fushun prince consort saw orange-red flames all over the sky.

~~~~~~
Shenyang East Gate.

On the top of the narrow and crowded city wall.

Mao Wenlong, the lieutenant general of Yiyang, looked up at a cloud of orange-red smoke rising from the north. The loud noise that shook the entire city of Shenyang dispelled all the battlefield noise that filled his ears.

The moment he heard the explosion, Mao Wenlong knew that his fourth brother might have died in the battle.

The 43-year-old Liaozhen general had a somewhat dazed look in his eyes.

The defenders on the city wall heard explosions in the distance and looked towards the north.

At this time, the only people still fighting in Shenyang were the White Spear Soldiers at the North Gate and the Zhejiang Soldiers at the East Gate.

Before the war, Mao Wenlong led 800 Liao soldiers from Yiyang to guard the east gate of the city wall. The Qi family army dispatched 500 soldiers to reinforce Mao Wenlong. After repelling two rounds of attacks from the Tartars, there were only more than 800 people left on the city wall.

The explosion at the North Gate made the desperate Liao soldiers at the East Gate even more frightened.

Mao Wenlong rubbed his red eyes and shouted to his subordinates:

"Don't look! Don't look! Those who died were all Tartars."

"The enemy is coming again, quickly fortify your defenses! Fortify your defenses! Guard your respective battlements, and don't show yourselves before the white-armored soldiers ascend the city!"

Mao Wenlong's hoarse and rough voice rang out from the wall of the city wall. More than 800 exhausted Ming soldiers returned to their respective battlements and lay down one after another, leaving only the red tassels on their helmets exposed outside the battlements. Some held muskets and bows in their hands, some held Wanren Di and fire starters, and some directly brought stones and rolling logs.

Everyone leaned against the city wall, hid behind the battlements, and waited quietly for the next round of attack from the Tartars.

With two whooshing sounds, Mao Wenlong on the watchtower of the city wall blocked the flying arrow with his iron arm.

A general next to him complained:

"Commander Mao, when will the reinforcements arrive? The White Banner soldiers are almost exhausted, and only the Zhejiang soldiers are left. General Xiong said the reinforcements would arrive in a day, but it's already the third day, and Qi Jin didn't send more Zhejiang soldiers to reinforce Wengcheng. I heard that more than 10,000 soldiers of the Bordered White Banner have entered the city..."

Mao Wenlong looked to the east. A few hundred steps away, on the bank of the Hun River, the Zhejiang army camp was surrounded by tens of thousands of Later Jin soldiers. Countless Zhenyi armored soldiers with small flags on their backs were running back and forth around the chariot camp. The black mass of Later Jin soldiers surrounded the chariot camp, shooting arrows and firing guns, bit by bit eroding the Zhejiang army's defense line, as if a colony of ants were gnawing on a huge corpse.

Mao Wenlong could vaguely hear the sound of muskets exploding from the other side, and turned to the captain and said:

"General Qi has sent 500 Zhejiang soldiers to help us, which is quite generous. Lord Xiong died for his country, and we must avenge him. If we repel this wave of attacks, there will be a turning point."

"Liu Zhaosun can't even take care of himself, so he won't come to Shenyang. No one will come to save us."

Mao Wenlong didn't explain any more to the general and hurried down the watchtower.

"If no one comes to rescue us, we'll have to save ourselves! Enough of the nonsense! Let's go down and supervise the battle. The white-armored soldiers are attacking the city again. It seems Dudu is really anxious! The Tartars are hurt by our attack."

Due to the rebellion of Ding Bi, the west gate of Shenyang, all the troops of the Zhenghong Banner and the Bordered White Banner of the Later Jin Dynasty poured into the city of Shenyang.

Daishan, leader of the Zhenghong Banner, led 3,000 Zhenyi armored soldiers to attack the north gate of the city guarded by the Baigan soldiers, and Dudu, leader of the Xiangbai Banner, led 4,000 Zhenyi armored soldiers to attack the east gate guarded by Mao Wenlong.

Due to Liu Zhaosun's intervention, many aspects of the Shenyang Defense War changed compared to history.

Xiong Tingbi increased his support for the Zhejiang troops and the White Spear troops, provided them with sufficient food and wages, and was not stingy with military supplies.

He provided the Zhejiang troops with more ample gunpowder reserves. Not only did he allocate all of the 5,000-jin (approximately 10,000 jin) of gunpowder stored in Shenyang to Qi Jin and his men, he also urgently procured 10,000 jin (approximately 10,000 jin) of gunpowder from Shanhaiguan to reinforce the Zhejiang troops. The Zhejiang troops' gunpowder reserves were more ample than ever before. This prevented the Zhejiang troops from running out of ammunition and food at the outset of the battle, forcing them into hand-to-hand combat with the Later Jin troops.

At Liu Zhaosun's suggestion, two months ago, Xiong Tingbi transferred Mao Wenlong, who was stationed in Yiyang, to Shenyang in the name of military rotation.

This small garrison commander was soon promoted to lieutenant general by Xiong Jinglie, and led a thousand Yiyang soldiers to garrison the east gate of Shenyang.

Ding Bi and Li Ruzhen quickly sent people to offer Mao Wenlong money and women, earnestly trying to win over this good brother from Liaodong to join their high-ranking baoyi team. Mao Wenlong, grateful for Xiong Tingbi's kindness and uninterested in being a slave to the Later Jin, rejected the offer, angering Ding Bi. Not only did Mao Wenlong refuse to become a baoyi, he also transferred his fourth brother, Mao Yunlong, from his hometown to Shenyang, stationed him at the North Gate, and promoted him to the position of Captain of the Artillery Battalion.

After two months, all the gunners at the North Gate were replaced by Xiong Jinglüe's men.

In the original history, in the bloody battle of Hunhe, the Later Jin soldiers attacked the 3,000 White Spear Soldiers with a force more than ten times their own, but failed to capture the city twice and suffered heavy losses instead.

"Thousands of men died from spears and crossbows," cavalrymen "fell off their horses one after another," and several Eight Banners generals were killed in the battle. ("Quanbian Lueji")
Finally, Fushun Prince Consort Li Yongfang bribed the North Gate gunners with a large sum of money and asked them to fire at the White Spear Soldiers.

Under the fierce artillery bombardment, a gap appeared in the White Spear Army's formation, and the Later Jin Army took the opportunity to launch a fierce charge.

In the end, after a day of fierce fighting, the White Spear Soldiers were exhausted and defeated, with most of them killed in the battle. The remaining soldiers crossed the river to join the Zhejiang soldiers and continued to resist.

However, now, the domino effect caused by Liu Zhaosun has appeared, and many factors that determine the outcome of the bloody battle of Hunhe are undergoing subtle changes.

First of all, thanks to the efforts of Yuan Chonghuan and Qiao Yiqi, the Zhejiang soldiers and the White Spear soldiers no longer fought independently, but cooperated with each other. They fought against the Later Jin at the same time in the east and north of the city, echoing each other from afar. The Later Jin army had to divide its troops to besiege them. In addition, Liu Zhaosun launched surprise attacks on Tieling and Hetuala. The Later Jin army divided its troops many times, and the Bordered Blue Banner and Plain White Banner were transferred away. There were less than 70,000 Later Jin soldiers under the city of Shenyang, and the pressure on the two powerful armies was much smaller than in history.

Secondly, the total strength of the White Spear Soldiers and the Zhejiang Soldiers soared from the historical 7,000 to 12,000. Moreover, they deployed their troops in advance, making their defense more solid.

Finally, before his death, Mao Yunlong fired a cannonball at the Khan of the Later Jin Dynasty, causing a large cannon to explode. He also detonated all the gunpowder on the city wall and died together with the Jiannu.

The Fushun prince consort was blown to pieces on the spot, and the life and death of the leader of the Zhenglan Banner and the Liaozhen rebel general Ding Bi were unknown.

In this situation, if Nurhaci wanted to break through the white-spear soldiers' shield formation, he would have to pay an extremely tragic price.

Although the two visiting troops were well prepared, the battles over the past two days were still extremely brutal.

Mao Wenlong had long been prepared for the rebellion of Ding Bi and others. He ordered the steps on both sides of the city wall to be blocked with French gun mounts and bricks, and buried hundreds of mines in the ruins to prevent the Jiannu from attacking the east gate city wall from behind with the help of internal forces.

The Bordered White Banner led by Du Du attacked the steps of the city wall twice, but hundreds of armored soldiers were killed by the Ming army. Finally, they gave up climbing the city from here and changed the direction of attack to the city wall of the city wall.

On the East and West Streets of Shenyang, teams of soldiers in armor with white banners holding shields rushed towards the city wall. They quickly passed through the corridor and rushed to the city wall. They did not carry shield carts or even ladder trucks.

"A few thousand people are trying to attack the city like ants. The Tartars have no internal support, so the only way to attack the city is to sacrifice their lives!"

Mao Wenlong sneered and ordered the defenders to prepare to meet the enemy.

"Archers and archers, get ready. Everyone else stay put!"

Of the five hundred musketeers Qi Jin had assigned to Mao Wenlong, only more than two hundred were still alive.

In the first round of attack, two hundred Bayalas climbed up to the top of the city wall through the steps on both sides.

On several occasions, Bayala planted his white flag on the watchtower of the city wall. Mao Wenlong and his retainers fought desperately, suffering over 500 casualties before finally driving the white-armored soldiers off the wall. After the Jiannu retreated, Mao Wenlong immediately dispatched men to completely block the steps of the city wall.

The steps on both sides were the only retreat route for the defenders on the city wall. Mao Wenlong's actions were tantamount to burning his boats.

Over the past two days, Mao Wenlong kept comforting his subordinates, telling these veterans who had followed him for many years that the eight thousand elite soldiers under General Xuanwu would soon come to rescue them, and defeat all the Tartars by attacking them from both inside and outside.

However, no one believed what Brigadier General Mao said.

The Liao soldiers all knew that Liu Zhaosun had already been unable to take care of himself.

Yesterday, Du Du sent several surrendered Liaozhen commanders to speak to the defenders under the city wall, persuading them to surrender immediately.

According to these surrendered captains, the Plain White Banner and the Bordered Blue Banner had just captured Kaiyuan and killed Liu Zhaosun, and were now massacring the city. This was the fate of Liu Zhaosun for his opposition to the Great Jin.

Fortunately, these Liao soldiers had followed Mao Wenlong for many years. On weekdays, Mao Wenlong was very kind to everyone. Not only did he not withhold their wages like other Liaozhen military leaders, but he also actively reported the merits to the soldiers when he made a victory, and never embezzled the silver rewards. In addition, Mao Wenlong always rushed to the front in every battle, so he was quite popular.

This is also the reason why everyone was willing to follow him from Yiyang to Shenyang to defend the city.

A Zhejiang soldier's musketeer raised his head cautiously and extended the loaded musket out of the battlement. As soon as he blew the fire lighter, several light arrows passed through the battlement and shot towards his face.

The musketeer quickly lowered his head, and the light arrow brushed past the red tassel on his Ming helmet and whizzed past. Behind him, a muffled groan was heard from a Liao soldier.

The swordsman was not wearing armor and was shot in the calf. Fortunately, the arrow did not penetrate deeply into the flesh. He looked at the arrow feathers exposed outside his leggings, roared angrily, cut off the arrow shaft with a heavy sword, bit the scabbard, and asked an archer to help him cut out the arrowhead.

When the musketeer saw this scene, his teeth felt a little sour. He felt that these Liaozhen soldiers under Mao Wenlong would be no worse than their Zhejiang soldiers if they really fought a war.

He returned to the battlement and raised the musket again. Several more light arrows flew towards him. He quickly pointed the musket at the densely packed Later Jin soldiers under the city without aiming. He lit the fuse of the musket. With a bang, a cloud of white smoke rose in front of him.

Fifty steps away from the wall of the city wall, a soldier with a white flag holding a round shield was hit by a musket. A round hole appeared in the middle of the shield in his hand. The lead bullet pierced through the shield and slammed into the soldier's body, knocking him to the ground.

The armored soldier lay on the ground for a while, then stood up again. He patted his body and found that nothing seemed to be seriously wrong, so he grinned, picked up his shield and continued to attack.

Just as he was about to bend down, a heavy arrow whizzed past, pierced his neck, and hit the breastplate of a white-armored soldier behind him. The unfortunate soldier never stood up again.

The white-armored soldier swung his sword to cut off the arrow shaft in front of his chest and looked at the top of the city wall with a cold gaze.

Mao Wenlong raised the two stone bows in his hands and continued to shoot the Zhenyi armored soldiers who were swarming forward.

The city wall lacked French cannons and could only rely on bows and muskets to deal with the Jiannu.

He didn't know how much longer he could hold on.

(End of this chapter)