Huangming

Chapter 295 A Hundred Schemes to Siege the City, Cannon Fire Resounds!
Shenyang City.

It was already night.

But the shouts of battle and the clanging of metal inside and outside the city walls showed no sign of abating; on the contrary, they burned even more fiercely, like wildfire ignited by the night.

"Boom~Boom~Boom~"

Three consecutive loud bangs shook the earth, and dust fell from the cracks in the city wall, splashing onto the armor of the defending soldiers.

That was the Later Jin artillery outside the city bombarding the northeast corner tower again. In the instant the firelight pierced the night, you could clearly see the rubble that flew up when the shells hit the city wall, scattering like a flock of startled birds.

Some of this artillery fire came from the Jurchens outside the city, while some came from the Jurchens' counterattack against the city of Shenyang.

Half a month has passed since the Jin army besieged the city.

In the past two weeks, the land outside the city has been repeatedly plowed, leaving behind broken halberds and ruins, and even the air is filled with the lingering stench of blood.

The first to break the deadlock were the Han army flags that Li Yongfang led.

These fearless lackeys, like a pack of hunting dogs with a keen sense of smell, led the Jin soldiers to rush towards the fortresses surrounding Shenyang.

Those scattered fortresses, which were originally the shield of Shenyang, storing grain and stationing elite troops, became lambs to the slaughter under the guidance of the Han army banner.

"Commander He, Hunhe Fort is under siege! Guerrilla Li has sent someone to request reinforcements!"

In the first few days, such urgent reports came in almost every hour.

Hunhe Fort, with its 300 elite soldiers, was a crucial transit point for transporting grain from Liaoyang to Shenyang and one of the most fortified outposts. Yet, it was on the verge of being breached by the Jurchens in just a few days.

He immediately volunteered to leave the city to provide assistance.

Hunhe Fort's location was special, so even though there was some danger in leaving the city, Xiong Tingbi agreed to let He Shixian leave.

After obtaining Xiong Tingbi's consent, He Shixian immediately mustered two thousand cavalry and personally led them out of the city to harass the enemy.

The hooves of the Ming army galloped out of the city gate, raising clouds of dust, like a sharp knife piercing straight into the Jurchen besieging forces.

Caught off guard, the Jin soldiers attacking the fortress were cut down in droves. Before the Ming army could press their advantage, a dense rain of arrows rained down from both flanks.

It turned out that Huang Taiji had taken precautions, and the ambush troops he had set up seemed to spring up from the ground, instantly surrounding the Ming army.

"Kill out!"

He Shixian brandished his horse-slaying saber, forcefully cleaving a bloody path through the air.

However, this harassment ultimately failed to save Hunhe Fort. By the time they retreated back to Shenyang, the thick smoke in the direction of Hunhe Fort had turned into towering flames, which was the Jin soldiers burning the fort after it had been breached.

The next ten days became the end for the outer fortresses.

The Jin soldiers, like ants gnawing at a bone, pulled out those "nails" one by one.

They spared no expense, using cannons to blast down the fortress walls, using shield wagons to block the rain of arrows, and even driving captured Han Chinese civilians to fill the moats.

He Shixian witnessed hundreds of civilians being forced by Jin soldiers to rush down to the fortress with knives. Among them were elderly people with white hair and women holding children. They cried out for help to the Ming army on the city wall. Anyone who dared to retreat was shot down one by one by the Jin soldiers' arrows into the trench.

The Ming soldiers in the fortress had no choice but to shoot the civilians to prevent them from filling the trenches and piling up their bodies on the fortress walls.

"Beasts!"

He Shixian punched the city wall.

He was furious.

But he was powerless to do anything about it at that moment.

Although the troops in Shenyang were sufficient, they were not skilled in field battles.

If we divide our forces to provide further assistance, they will only be defeated one by one by Huang Taiji.

By early July, all eighteen fortresses surrounding Shenyang had fallen. Except for Hupiyi and Jingyuanbao, which were far from Shenyang, and Fengjibao, which had a large garrison, the rest of the fortresses were almost completely captured by the Jurchens.

The Jin soldiers transported the earth, wood, bricks, and stones from the dismantled fortresses to ten miles outside Shenyang, where they built a continuous encampment.

The timber and stone that originally belonged to the Ming army have now become the shackles that siege Shenyang.

"Commander He, look!"

One of the guards pointed outside the city, his voice filled with disbelief and anger.

The Jin soldiers were building siege towers with timber from dismantled fortresses. The timber still bore the Ming army's sealing wax marks, and now it was placed not far from the city wall, resembling giant beasts with their mouths wide open.

He Shixian looked at the siege towers and then at the barren surroundings of Shenyang.

In order to implement a scorched-earth policy, all the trees within a radius of twenty or thirty miles around the city had long been cut down, leaving not even a thin branch that could be used to make arrow shafts.

The Jin soldiers, who wanted to build camps and manufacture siege equipment, should have traveled dozens of miles to transport materials. However, they solved most of the problems by using the Ming army's own fortifications.

"Those damned Jurchens, they're really cunning!"

While the Ming army was indignant, Li Yongfang's camp was also in turmoil.

Before the smoke of battle had even cleared from the outer fortresses, Huang Taiji's military orders had already coiled around Li Yongfang like a venomous snake.

Military orders are absolute:

Huang Taiji ordered Li Yongfang and other Han Banner troops to use the Ming soldiers and civilians they had gathered as human shields to deplete the city's defensive equipment, and then let the Han Banner troops launch a strong attack while the city was vulnerable.

Although Li Yongfang harbored some resentment, she had no choice but to obey.

There is nothing we can do.

If they can't even be effective on the battlefield, then they really won't be able to stay in the Great Jin.

He immediately selected his elite troops and arrayed them in Shenyang, preparing to attack the city!

The Han soldiers behind him kept their heads down, none of them daring to look at the group of civilians bound by ropes in front of them.

Among those people were farmers with Fushun accents, merchants from Liaoyang, and even a few women holding children. At this moment, they were all like lambs to the slaughter, being forced by the Jin soldiers to move down the city wall with knives.

"Move forward! All of you, move forward!"

The Jurchen soldiers' whips lashed the backs of the people, making a crisp sound.

The cries of agony, pleas for mercy, and the wailing of children mingled together, like a dull knife cutting into the hearts of the Ming soldiers on the city wall.

"General He, shall we shoot an arrow or not?"

The captain on the city wall trembled, and the arrows in his hands were almost soaked with sweat.

He Shixian gazed at those faltering figures, the image of his wife and children flashing before his eyes. But he abruptly closed his eyes, and when he opened them again, they were bloodshot.
"Shoot the arrows! Send them on their way!"

He Shixian took a deep breath and gritted his teeth as he said:
"But don't forget how they treated us Han people!"

"We must remember this grudge. How these Jurchens treated our people is how we will deal with their people in the future!"

"A blood debt must be repaid in blood!"

"Yes!"

The captain's eyes were red-rimmed, and he muttered "blood for blood," before immediately issuing the order:

“Shoot!!”

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

Arrows rained down on the crowd like locusts.

The wailing stopped abruptly, replaced by even more frantic screams.

"Help!"

"I don't want to die!"

But the Jin soldiers ignored all of that and continued to force those behind them to charge forward with their swords.

The people surged towards the city walls like a tidal wave. They had no weapons and could only cry and scream, covering their heads. Most of the arrows and stones thrown down by the Ming soldiers on the walls landed among them.

An old man with white hair kowtowed towards the city wall, crying out, "Mercy, government troops!" but was hit by a rolling stone, and his brains splattered out.

He Shixian turned his face away, ignoring the scene.

On the battlefield, there is no room for mercy!
Just then, Li Yongfang drew his sword and roared at the Han army flag behind him: "Brothers, charge! Take Shenyang and the reward is ten thousand taels of gold!"

He was the first to charge out on horseback, and the Han soldiers behind him followed with gritted teeth. Under the cover of the civilians, they pushed ladders and shield carts down the city wall.

However, the defenses of Shenyang were far stronger than they had imagined.

The Ming army was clearly prepared; in addition to cannons and arrows, they also poured scalding hot molten gold and oil on the ground!
That was boiling excrement. When it splashed on a person, blisters would instantly form, and the screams would be more shrill than the sound of a cannonball exploding.

The ladder was barely placed on the city wall when it was pulled by an iron hook on the wall and then smashed down with a wooden mallet, causing the ladder and the person to fall to the ground below.

They poured kerosene on it and then fired a rocket, instantly turning one section of the city wall into a sea of ​​fire.

They burned countless Jurchen slaves who tried to climb up the ranks.

In no time at all, the Han army suffered heavy losses.

"Get out!"

Seeing that things were not going well, Li Yongfang turned his horse around and ran away.

This was his entire fortune; if he died at the gates of Shenyang, he would be finished.

But it was too late. The breech-loading cannons on the city walls were aimed at the Han army's troops. After several volleys, the charging Han army troops fell in droves like harvested wheat.

The attack lasted less than an hour.

But the casualties were enormous.

Huang Taiji, standing on the high platform, saw the carnage below the city walls and his face turned ashen.

More than a thousand civilians lay dead in pools of blood, their bodies piled up like small mountains; the bodies of the Han soldiers also lay scattered about, and more than three hundred armored soldiers alone had died.

"enough!"

Huang Taiji suddenly waved his hand.

He looked at the siege ladders that barely reached the city walls, and then at the Ming army flags still fluttering on the walls, knowing that continuing the fight would only increase casualties.

"Pass on my order: halt the attack!"

The bugle sounded mournfully, and the attacking Jin soldiers, as if granted a pardon, dragged their corpses and wounded soldiers back.

The area around Shenyang fell silent instantly, with only the crackling of the still-burning flames amidst the piles of corpses and the heavy breathing from both the city walls and the ground below.

The Jurchen army camp outside the city.

Huang Taiji stood on the high platform, his anger from the thwarted attack long since subsided, replaced by a hunter's calm.

Since we can't force it, let's try a different approach.

That night, the defenders of Shenyang experienced the power of the new tactics.

Just after midnight, a series of rapid hoofbeats suddenly came from Desheng Gate.

"The Tatars are coming!"

The sentries on the city wall roared and banged on the gong. The sleepy Ming soldiers sprang up from their huts, grabbed their weapons, and rushed to the city wall.

The torches illuminated the scene below the city: a hundred or so Later Jin cavalrymen were shooting arrows around the city gate. The arrows whizzed and struck the gate panels, but barely scratched off much of the paint.

"Fire arrows!"

The captain roared and gave the order, and a rain of arrows poured down. But the Later Jin cavalry, like startled rabbits, turned their horses around and fled, disappearing into the night in the blink of an eye.

Before the soldiers on the city wall could catch their breath, shouts rang out again from Yongchang Gate at the hour of Chou (1-3 AM).

This time, the Jin soldiers went even further, not even bothering to draw their bows. They simply surrounded the city gate, banging drums and gongs, and even firing muskets. The lead bullets "crackled" against the city wall, but they couldn't even create a gap.

"Another feint attack!"

He Shixian climbed onto Yongchang Gate and looked at the Jin soldiers who were making a fuss in the distance. He gritted his teeth in anger.

This is clearly a deliberate attempt to torment people!
But he dared not be negligent and could only order the entire army to be on high alert.

In the following days, Shenyang was completely thrown into chaos.

The Jin soldiers, like a swarm of buzzing mosquitoes, harassed the Jin forces day and night: at midnight they beat the drums at Desheng Gate, at 1-3 AM they fired cannons at Yongchang Gate, and at 3-5 AM they fired several rounds of arrows outside Anding Gate.

They never actually attacked the city, but they always managed to make a commotion when the defenders were most tired, forcing the Ming army to stay up all night.

If it's like this at night, there's no peace during the day either.

The Jurchen cannons would occasionally roar, and the shells would aimlessly hit the city walls, sometimes only splashing up a few pieces of stone, and sometimes knocking down a small section of the city bricks.

The most ruthless aspect of this tactic of exhausting the enemy lies in the difficulty of distinguishing between the real and the fake.

On one occasion, the Jin army suddenly mobilized more than a thousand elite soldiers at noon and launched a fierce attack on Chaoyang Gate for half an hour. They even built ladders to the city wall, which frightened He Shixian so much that he personally led his personal troops to the rescue.

Just when the Ming army thought the decisive battle was about to begin, the Jin soldiers seemed to have received an order and suddenly withdrew completely, leaving only arrows scattered on the ground and a few corpses.

"This is deliberately trying to make things difficult for us!"

An old soldier rubbed his bloodshot eyes and shoveled murky rice porridge into his mouth.

The continuous day and night vigilance for several days left the soldiers on the city walls with dark circles under their eyes and unsteady gait.

A young soldier fell asleep while on guard duty.

In response to this situation, Xiong Tingbi immediately ordered the infantrymen guarding the city to be divided into three groups and take turns resting.

Even with staggered rest periods, the extent of rest is still significantly reduced under the city's heightened state of alert.

In addition to exhausting the enemy, Huang Taiji also ordered people to spread rumors to demoralize the Ming army!

He dispatched guerrillas to completely cut off Shenyang's connection with the outside world.

Jurchen cavalry guarded key roads and patrolled within a 20-mile radius of Shenyang City, making it impossible for even a bird to enter or leave, let alone a messenger.

They cut off the post roads outside the city, burned down the post stations along the way, and even set up hidden sentries near water sources, killing anyone who approached them without mercy.

Facing this circumstances.

Xiong Tingbi naturally understood Huang Taiji's intentions. He didn't want to starve Shenyang to death (the city had enough food to last for half a year), but rather to cut off the garrison's connection with the outside world and let rumors take root.

Sure enough, a few days later, a traitor shouted from below the city walls, spreading rumors in Chinese:

"Liaoyang has been captured by the Jin! Sun Chengzong has been beheaded!"

"The reinforcements to Liaoyang were intercepted and slaughtered by our Prince, not a single one was left alive!"

Even more insidious, they wrapped strips of cloth inscribed with rumors on them onto arrows and shot them into the city.

However, these tricks had little effect on the defenders of Shenyang at this time.

After all, the emperor's reward is not given for nothing!

Although the Ming soldiers on the city wall were exhausted, the light in their eyes did not go out.

Having witnessed the brutality of the Jin soldiers, they knew that once the city fell, death was the only outcome. Rather than believing rumors and losing their composure, they decided to hold their swords tightly.

Huang Taiji watched all this from the high platform, his brows furrowing slightly.

He hadn't expected the Shenyang defenders to be so determined, but he wasn't in a hurry.

People have plenty of patience; if you keep at it, even the hardest bone will soften.

Moreover, he has many more siege tactics!
(End of this chapter)