The Wanli Emperor of the Ming Dynasty was extremely rebellious

Chapter 464: The Haixi Jurchens' Sarhu
While Wanli was mobilizing his troops, the troops of the four tribes of Tatars and Haixi Jurchens were also gathering.

On the vast grassland north of the Tieling-Kaiyuan line, groups of people and horses converged towards the Hada tribe, the southernmost part of the Haixi Jurchens, like a hundred rivers flowing into one another.

In the northwest direction, the Tatar cavalry was rushing towards this side like a long black dragon.

This battle was unavoidable because Nurhaci's ambition was too great.

The Jianzhou Jurchens originally did not have a large territory. The Nurgan Regional Command was very vast, but the Jianzhou Jurchens originally occupied only a small corner in the south.

Before Nurhaci unified the Jianzhou Jurchens, more than 90% of the territory of the Nurgan Regional Command belonged to the Haixi Jurchens and the Donghai Jurchens.

At that time, the Jianzhou Jurchens did not have many troops, and Wang Tai of the Hada tribe of the Haixi Jurchens was able to capture the Jianzhou Jurchen commander Wang Gao alive with the strength of his own tribe.

But after Nurhaci unified the Jianzhou Jurchens, he immediately began a crazy expansion.

This guy took over the entire Changbai Mountain area in less than five years, and the Donghai Jurchens had no idea how many people he had taken away.

If Nurhaci continued to expand so crazily, the entire Nurgandusi would be swallowed up by this guy sooner or later.

This was a battle for control of the Nurgan Regional Command.

Originally, Tumen Khan of the Tatar tribe intended to unite with the Haixi Jurchens to control the entire Nurgan Regional Command.

More importantly, the Haixi Jurchens and the Jianzhou Jurchens became mortal enemies because of the incident of Wang Gao.

Once the Jianzhou Jurchens became powerful, Nurhaci would certainly use revenge as an excuse to deal with the Haixi Jurchens.

The Haixi Jurchens naturally could not stand by and watch the Jianzhou Jurchens grow stronger, so they wanted to unite with the Tatars to destroy the Jianzhou Jurchens.

This has also been the case throughout history.

However, in history, the war between the Tatar and Haixi Jurchen coalition forces and the Jianzhou Jurchens broke out in September of the 21st year of the Wanli reign.

At this time, because Wanli used the Liaodong Town cavalry to deter the enemy, the battle was delayed for more than three years.

Historically, because the Tumed tribe was still in its heyday and Buyan Khan's main force was still dealing with threats from the west, not many troops were sent to reinforce the Haixi Jurchens.

Things were different now. The Tumed tribe was destroyed by Wanli, and the west and south of the Tatar tribe became the territory of the Ming Dynasty. Buyan Khan was trembling with fear that the Ming army would suddenly attack.

If the Ming army attacked him now, he would have nowhere to escape.

Therefore, he was eager to take over the Nurgan Regional Command, whether it was to develop and grow stronger or to expand the strategic depth. In any case, it was better than having nowhere to escape.

This time he sent a total of 40,000 to 50,000 cavalrymen, and the Haixi Jurchens also assembled 20,000 to 30,000 troops. The total number of the allied forces on both sides was 70,000 to 80,000.

So how many troops did the Jianzhou Jurchens have at this time?

According to historical records, during the first Korean War of the Wanli period, Nurhaci sent his envoy Ma Sanfei to meet with the King of Korea, saying that he had 30,000 to 40,000 cavalry and 40,000 to 50,000 infantry, and was willing to enter Korea to provide support.

Although King Lee Sun of Joseon was confused, he still knew how ambitious this guy was. He just wanted to take the opportunity to seize territory, so Lee Sun politely declined.

Of course, this is not the point. The point is the military strength of the Jianzhou Jurchens. Regardless of whether Nurhaci was bragging at that time, there should be a total of 40,000 to 50,000 infantry and cavalry.

In this battle, Nurhaci still used the strategy of waiting for the enemy to tire themselves out. He waited for the Tatar and Haixi Jurchen coalition forces to attack at Gule Mountain near Sarhu.

The war between the Haixi Jurchens, Tatars and Jiannu was destined to be fought in the Gule Mountain area, because this was the battlefield preset by Nurhaci.

The Battle of Gule Mountain was actually a rehearsal for the Battle of Sarhu.

The terrain in this area is too complicated, and Nurhaci is not only quite familiar with the terrain in this area, but also has set up many things in advance.

The troops under his command can appear and disappear in this area at will, and the Tatar and Haixi Jurchen coalition forces who are unfamiliar with the terrain are just here to deliver food, so no matter how many troops they have, it will be useless.

The outcome of this battle was already determined.

The Tatars and the Haixi Jurchens were mainly composed of cavalry, so they were at a disadvantage when fighting in the mountains. In addition, the terrain around Sarhu was complex, so it was lucky for them not to get lost when they came in.

More importantly, they were a coalition force, a coalition force of the four tribes of Tatars, Haixi Jurchens, which was similar to the historical Battle of Sarhu where Yang Hao divided his troops into four groups.

It is definitely impossible for the five of them to travel together.

This gave Nurhaci the opportunity to defeat them one by one.

I have to say that Yang Hao really has big problems.

Didn't this guy take any reference to previous battle examples when he led the army to attack the Jianzhou Jurchens?

Sarhu, where the Ming army suffered a crushing defeat, was only twenty miles away from Gule Mountain.

The Battle of Gule Mountain took place just over twenty years after the Battle of Sarhu. As the saying goes, even pigs cannot die from running into the same tree. Could Yang Hao be more foolish than a pig?

This is naturally unlikely, Yang Hao did it on purpose.

The two major battles commanded by this guy ended in disastrous defeat because of his deliberate actions!
Of course, these are all later stories, so we will skip them for now.

It is said that the Tatar and Haixi Jurchen coalition forces of 70,000 to 80,000 marched straight to the Jianzhou Jurchens' stronghold. What was the result?
Buyan Khan and the leader of the Haixi Jurchen tribe only knew Nurhaci's ambition, but they didn't know how sinister Nurhaci was.

This guy and his tens of thousands of troops are really elusive in the Gule Mountain area.

The Tatar and Haixi Jurchen coalition forces also marched along the Hunhe River Valley towards the Jianzhou Jurchen's stronghold, but they entered the mountains from the east because the Jianzhou Jurchen's stronghold was to the west of Fushun Pass in Liaodong Town.

In fact, it doesn’t matter whether you enter the mountains from the east or the west. If you want to reach the Jianzhou Jurchen’s lair, you have to turn southeast at the confluence of the Suzi River and the Hun River.

To the south of this intersection is the famous Sarhu in later generations, and the Jianzhou Jurchens' lair is on the banks of the Suzi River, a tributary of the Hunhe River.

The coalition forces were quite successful at the beginning. Nurhaci seemed to have given up resistance and did not block the enemy along the Hunhe River at all.

Even in Sarhu, which was easy to defend but difficult to attack, there were no troops from the Jianzhou Jurchens.

They actually broke into the Suzi River Valley so easily!

It is obvious that this is to lure the enemy deep into the territory. Nurhaci wants to lure them in to fight.

However, the generals of Tatar and Haixi Jurchen thought that the Jianzhou Jurchen were scared and even ran away!

Of course, even if the Jiannu didn't run away, they would not withdraw their troops.

They have gathered their troops and are coming to attack, so naturally they will not turn back just because they did not encounter any resistance.

The Tatar and Haixi Jurchen coalition forces marched along the winding river valley path for more than 20 miles and finally saw the Jianzhou Jurchen troops.

This guy, Nurhaci directly built a stone wall about ten feet high to block the river valley and mountain road. There seemed to be a huge mountain stronghold behind the stone wall. The hillsides on both sides of the river valley were also densely packed with stone barriers, and no one knew how many troops were hidden inside.

It was almost dusk when the coalition forces reached this point. More importantly, none of them wanted to lead their own troops to charge forward and take on such a tough challenge.

They had to discuss for a long time about who should go first or whether everyone should send some people to go together.

Therefore, the two sides did not fight on the first day they encountered each other.

They could only find a place to gather their troops and set up camp, and then discuss how to fight.

This busy work took most of the day, and they were still setting up tents with torches until late at night.

According to historical records, Nurhaci was actually sleeping soundly on the first night of the Battle of Gule Mountain!

Because all this was within his calculations, he didn't even take advantage of the fact that the Tatars and Haixi Jurchens had not yet set up their camps and assembled their troops to launch a surprise attack.

He just wants to let all the enemies enter the Suzi River Valley!
For the next few days, he stubbornly defended the intersection, pretending to be unable to fight back, allowing the Tatar and Haixi Jurchen coalition forces to attack in turns, causing these guys to suffer heavy casualties and low morale.

He wore these guys down until they were almost unwilling to attack the intersection, and then he launched his main force to attack.

Only at this time did the Tatar and Haixi Jurchen coalition forces realize that they had been deceived.

Because it seemed that both sides of the narrow mountain road were full of Jianzhou Jurchen troops.

Suddenly, a rain of arrows would come down from the dense jungle, causing heavy casualties among them. Countless huge rocks would suddenly roll down from the bare mountain top, not only knocking them to the ground but also cutting off the mountain road.

There was originally no one around their camp, but at night countless rockets would fly in for no apparent reason, making it impossible for them to sleep.

The Tatar and Haixi Jurchen coalition forces were exhausted and cut into pieces. Then, Nurhaci began to concentrate his superior forces to defeat them one by one.

The result of this battle was similar to that of the Battle of Sarhu in history. Of the 70,000 to 80,000 Tatar and Haixi Jurchen troops who rushed in, less than 7,000 to 8,000 escaped!

However, this time it was the Haixi Jurchen tribe that was unlucky.

Nurhaci took advantage of the great victory and pursued the defeated army all the way, rushed into the territory of the Haixi Jurchens, and quickly captured several small tribes that were affiliated with the Hada tribe.

If we follow the historical trajectory, the Haixi Jurchen tribe would have been slowly annexed by the Jianzhou Jurchens from then on, the Nurgan Regional Administration would have gradually been completely controlled by the Jianzhou Jurchens, and the Tatar tribe would have been destroyed by the Jianzhou Jurchens when it was passed to Buyan Khan's son, Ligdan Khan.

But history will not repeat itself.

Because Wanli has changed the course of history.

Moreover, those secret guards hidden in the Tatar army pretended to flee in all directions and fled into Fushun Pass and Liaodong Town!
Wanli already knew that the battle of Gule Mountain was over, and the main force of the Jiannu had taken advantage of the situation to attack.

(End of this chapter)