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Chapter 115 New Year's Eve

(PS: There are two updates today, and the first one will be delivered.)
In the case of equal combat power, usually the attacking side must have at least twice as many troops as the defending side, in order to hope to break through the city.Of course, this is just an inference based on common sense. It is based on the fact that the morale of the two armies is equal and the commanders do not make mistakes. It is not uncommon to see a lot of battles, and there are a lot of variables-but Huang Taiji has no chance to defeat the strong with the weak. His Zhengbai flag has 25 bull records, and the total force is about 8000. He is not only facing more than 2 The high-morale Jinzhou defenders and more than 5 Jinzhou people who share the same hatred, and a Jinzhou coach who is more treacherous than a fox and more vicious than a jackal, Young Master Zhang, so although Huang Taiji broke the boat and spared no effort to pay attention to casualties, he always took this Jinzhou. There was nothing the city could do about it, but it paid a lot of money for the small military power it had in hand.

"One, two, three—that's it!" five or six soldiers of the Ming army chanted slogans, and lifted up a huge boulder weighing more than 300 kilograms, and threw it towards the iron-wrapped city cart under the city wall. The boulder fell with the wind , The Jiannu soldiers around the iron-wrapped cart were so frightened that they wailed and wailed, rolling and crawling to the left and right, and with a loud bang, a huge boulder hit the rear of the iron-wrapped cart, sending the iron-wrapped cart flying into the air, rolling and smashing again and again. On the heads of the slave soldiers at the rear, the two slave soldiers who were hiding under the iron carts and crazily chiseled the city were also quickly smashed by the stones thrown from the city, and their bones were broken, and they died miserably.And as the last iron-clad cart was smashed by the Ming army, Jiannu Zhengbai Banner's siege weapon was only like a ladder, but Huang Taiji had no choice but to bite the bullet and fight to the death. With a single stroke, he raised his knife and roared to urge the army to continue attacking, "Kill! Kill! The barbarians will be destroyed, and the big gold will win!"

"Kill!" Fan Wencheng, who was already covered in injuries, roared with bloodshot eyes, and led a team of echelons to rush towards the city wall of Jinzhou.But it is a pity that it is impossible for the Jiannu Zhengbai Banner army with nearly half of the casualties to pose any threat to the city walls of Jinzhou. Young Master Zhang, who is sure of winning, can calmly test his new weapons. A Hongyi cannon fort began to exchange shells, stopped using the original non-powder explosive shells, and replaced dozens of small iron shells with hemp ropes into cylindrical grape shells. , There was a loud bang, the grape bullets blasted out in response, the hemp rope was naturally broken in front of the powerful impact force, dozens of iron bullets turned into a rain of bullets, and fell on the heads of the Jiannu soldiers roaring, only to hear screams There was a continuous sound and a burst of bones breaking. Within a radius of more than ten feet from the impact point, there were blood-stained slave soldiers lying all over their bodies. One by one, they were either dead or maimed. The wounded soldiers rolled and screamed in the blood-stained snow. , the scene was horrible.

The power of the shells of the Hongyi Cannon suddenly increased dozens of times, and the Jiannu army was naturally frightened out of their wits, but Young Master Zhang, whose heart was darker than coal, was very dissatisfied—the power of the grape shells was stronger than that of solid shells and original gunpowder-free shells. It was much larger, but the shooting range was shorter by more than two-thirds. The left and right turrets fired crosswise, and there was a dead angle of nearly [-] miles between the nearest two bullet impact points, and the grape bullets could not cover this area at all.So Young Master Zhang quickly ordered again: "As a banner, stop using the iron ball grape bombs and replace them with stone ball grape bombs!"

"Boom! Boom!" A new bombardment started, and five or six stone grape bullets criss-crossed. Shrouded over the head of the Jiannu soldiers, amidst the heart-piercing screams, one piece after another of the Jiannu soldiers fell in a pool of blood, rolled and wailed again, and the dead angle of Li Xukuan's shelling was also covered by light stone grapes. The bombs made up for it, the left and right shells fell, and the effect of covering the attack was barely able to appear-the result was that a Jiannu Niulu team was covered by two pieces of bullet rain in a short time, and the Jiannu soldiers who escaped the first cloud of bullets by chance It was covered by the second bullet rain, and the casualties doubled.

"Well, it's still not as powerful as iron bullets, but it's okay to use." Young Master Zhang, whose heart is darker than coal, sighed, and shouted: "Send the order, continue to shoot stone grape bullets!"

"Boom! Boom! Boom!" One after another, the stone grape bullets were shot out of the gun under the order of the black-hearted commander, Young Master Zhang, and bullets rained down on the Jiannu soldiers. In front of the grape bullets whose individual lethality was dozens of times higher than that of solid shells, the morale of the Zhengbai Banner's slave army collapsed completely. No matter how the supervising team led by Huang Taiji personally slashed and blocked them, the Zhengbai Banner's slave soldiers still retreated like a tide , in the end, even the slave soldiers of the supervisory team couldn't bear the fear of death brought by the grape bullets. They dropped their weapons and turned around and ran away. Huang Taiji's desperate gambling by jumping over the wall ended in complete failure.

"It's over, it's over, I regret it!" Huang Taiji, who knew he couldn't escape, let out a long sigh, and prepared to commit suicide by slashing his knife across his neck, so as to save himself from going back and being humiliated.But at this moment, Fan Wencheng, who was covered in wounds from the Ming army's guns, iron sand and lead bullets, rushed forward, hugged Huang Taiji's arm tightly, and cried loudly: "Master, you can't! You can't! We There is still hope, there is still hope!"

"What hope is there? If Jinzhou can't be captured before dark, Ama will kill me." Huang Taiji replied tragically: "It's only afternoon, and my white banner has been completely defeated by the barbarians. What face do I have?" Seeing Ama? Is there any other way to wash away the innocence?"

"Master, although we were defeated, we did our best to attack the city. The Great Khan saw it with his own eyes." Fan Wencheng cried and said, "If we go back now, the Great Khan may not necessarily kill us." Master, slaves, the Han people have a good saying, if you keep the green hills, you will not be afraid of no firewood! As long as we keep this life and endure the humiliation, we will definitely have a way to make a comeback and settle accounts with Zhang Haogu! Master, don’t tell me Do you want Zhang Haogu to step on your body and become a bigger barbarian official to harm our Dajin soldiers? Master, do you want your beloved master Bumbutai to be a widow at a young age and be killed by others? People insulting at will?"

Moved by Fan Wencheng's advice, Huang Taiji put down his saber slowly, and said in a deep voice: "Good slave, you are right, even if I endure humiliation and steal my life, I still have a chance to seek revenge from Zhang Haogu, little savage. If I die , That’s the real end.” Fan Wencheng nodded with tears in his eyes, and said with a choked voice: “Master, that’s the truth, we’ve tried our best, let’s go back with a straight chest, if the sweat wants to kill someone, the slave is willing to die instead of the master!”

"What a slave!" Huang Taiji was moved, and he hugged Fan Wencheng and cried loudly. Fan Wencheng also burst into tears, crying and said: "Master, the slave is not good. It is the slave who has done something wrong, and put Zhang Haogu on the ground." The little savage is here, and this slave deserves to die. I swear that one day, this slave will cut off the head of Zhang Hao, an ancient barbarian, and apologize to the master!" The master and slave cried for a long time, and finally waited until they had cried enough. Tai Chi and Fan Wencheng took another sinister look at the city wall of Jinzhou, which had caused them so much humiliation, and at Zhang Haogu barbarian standing on the top of the city with a sword, then remounted their horses and ran slowly towards the place where Nuerhachi's commander-in-chief was. .

Trotted to the vicinity of Nuerhachi's commander-in-chief flag, after hundreds of steps, Huang Taiji got off his horse, took off his helmet, threw it away together with his weapon, walked step by step in front of Nuerhachi, whose face was sinking like water, and knelt down on his knees He kowtowed and said with tears: "Ama, my minister is incompetent. Jinzhou City, I really can't take it down." Nuerhachi had an indifferent expression. After a long time, Nuerhachi asked coldly: Eight, when you attacked the city, what did I say?"

"Ama said that if the son-in-law cannot attack Jinzhou before dark, the son-in-law will be punished." Huang Taiji replied honestly.Nuerhachi nodded and snorted, "Very good, you have a good memory." After finishing speaking, Nuerhachi suddenly raised his voice and shouted: "Come here, push Huang Taiji to the front of the battle, and behead him for public display!"

"Khan! Keep people under the sword!" Fan Wencheng rushed up, fell to his knees with a plop, walked up to Nuerhachi's horse, and cried loudly: "Khan, although Lord Baylor didn't take down Jinzhou, he did Khan, you have also seen it with your own eyes. Lord Baylor has tried his best to capture Jinzhou, and the casualties were over half before he was repelled by the barbarian's new firearms. This is enough to clear Lord Baylor's innocence! Khan, are you really because of Zhang Haogu? Is it true that a fake letter of nonsense will kill your own son unjustly? Khan, the truth will be revealed in the future, even if you want to regret it, it will be too late!"

"Dog slave, I still need you to teach me what to do?" Nuerhachi was furious, and he whipped Fan Wencheng violently with his horsewhip. Fan Wencheng raised his head and gritted his teeth to be whipped. Said: "Khan, I beg you, I beg you, give Lord Baylor another chance! If you want to kill, kill this servant, this servant is Sibeile's dog, and I am willing to die for Sibeile! Khan, please Already!"

Fan Wencheng's loyal performance finally paid off. Mang Gurtai and Tang Guertai and several sons of Nuerhachi also came to plead. The army casualties are so heavy, this is enough to prove his innocence, please spare the life of the tenth brother, Ama." Other generals and civil and military officials who built slaves also got off their horses one after another, and flocked to Nuerhachi and knelt down in front of Nuerhachi to plead for mercy. Erhachi showed mercy outside the law and spared Huang Taiji's life.Although Nuerhachi is still suspicious of Huang Taiji, but just now he saw with his own eyes that Huang Taiji did not hesitate to attack Jinzhou City with all his strength, so after thinking about it, Nuerhachi finally shouted: "Okay, look! For everyone's sake, spare Huang Taiji's life. However, the death penalty can be avoided, and the crime of living is inevitable. He will be deprived of the titles of Zhengbai Banner and Baylor, and demoted to Xiangbai Banner Jiala Ezhen (participant), Zhengbai Banner. The position is taken over by Tang Gu."

"Thank you, my son, for not killing Ama." Huang Taiji kowtowed heavily, thanking his forehead with tears on the ground, but screaming and cursing frantically in his heart, "Zhengbaiqi! My Zhengbaiqi army! It's just gone. , In vain cheap Tang Gu that idiot! Zhang Haogu, little savage, I won’t kill you, I swear I won’t be human—!”

…………

With the downfall of Huang Taiji, the plan proposed by Huang Taiji to send troops south to attack Juehua Island was aborted. After hastily rediscussing the military situation with the banner owners, Nurhachi decided to break through this island and let the Eight Banners of Jiannu eat it all. The city of Jinzhou, which has suffered and suffered all kinds of humiliation, will consider whether to continue going south after slaughtering the city and seizing food.In order to achieve this, Nuerhachi first ordered Mangurtai's Zhenglan Banner and Yuetuo's Xianghuang Banner troops to move to the Yanli Mountain south of the Xiaoling River to camp in order to prevent the Ming army from reinforcing Jinzhou and prevent the Jinzhou defenders from He also ordered Amin's bordered blue flag to be stationed five miles outside the north gate of Jinzhou, and Du Du led the bordered white flag and a Mongolian Niulu to station at the west gate of Jinzhou, encircling Jinzhou.At the same time, all the armies rushed to build siege weapons day and night, and healed wounded soldiers to accumulate strength and prepare to attack the city.Jinzhou City, which had been fighting bloody battles for four consecutive days, finally calmed down.

Two days later, the [-]th day of the twelfth lunar month is the last day of the fifth year of the Apocalypse, and it is also the most important New Year’s Eve festival for the Han people in a year. Although Jinzhou City is now heavily surrounded by the slave-building army, in order to stabilize people’s hearts and boost the morale of the soldiers and civilians in Jinzhou, we arrived at On the morning of the [-]th of the twelfth lunar month, as usual, a slave prisoner of war was executed late on the city wall and continued to anger Nurhachi. Young Master Zhang still ordered the slaughter of pigs and sheep, preparing to reward the army and the people of Jinzhou who took the initiative to participate in the war at night.When the order was promulgated, the soldiers of the Ming army in Jinzhou were naturally full of joy, and the people of Jinzhou were all overjoyed. Some wealthy households in the city also expressed their willingness to donate pigs and sheep to support Young Master Zhang to reward the three armies. thanks.

Han people have New Year’s Eve, but Jiannu barbarians who have not been sinicized do not have this festival. In order to prevent Jiannu from attacking Jinzhou during the festival, Master Zhang dispatched troops to double the number of sentries and ordered the soldiers to drink no more than three cups Even the New Year's Eve banquet of the Ming army generals, Young Master Zhang also moved to the east gate tower of the main gate of Jinzhou, and celebrated the New Year's Eve with the Ming army generals while closely monitoring the enemy's situation, and did not give Jiannu any opportunity opportunity.And the self-consciousness of the high-morale soldiers of the Ming army really surprised Young Master Zhang. At night, all the soldiers of the Ming army went up to the city wall of Jinzhou to celebrate New Year’s Eve with their companions on duty, while eating hot hot pot While guarding against sneak attacks by Jiannu, there was no delay, the city walls were brightly lit, the smell of wine and meat, and the voices of people were buzzing, which made those Jiannu soldiers who were ambushing in the ice and snow ready to attack helpless, and they were so greedy that they drool.

"Damn barbarian, you're so cunning!" After receiving the report from the scouts about the situation in Jinzhou City, Nuerhachi, who originally planned to take advantage of the festival to attack overnight, was so angry that he kicked over the charcoal basin in front of him. The cautious Young Master Zhang has nothing to do.At this time, the guards came in to report that it was Fan Wencheng, who had been demoted to an ordinary soldier, asking to see him. Nuerhachi, who was in a bad mood, refused and asked the guards to drive Fan Wencheng away.But not long after the guards left the tent, they came back to report to Nurhachi: "Khan, Fan Wencheng barbarian refused to leave, he said he had figured out a way to attack Jinzhou, please be sure to see him. "

"The way to break Jinzhou? Then let him in." Nuerhachi said with a cold snort.The guards led away, and after a while, Fan Wencheng, who was wearing an ordinary soldier's armor and whose eyebrows and beard were covered with icicles, was led into the big tent. Without hesitation, Fan Wencheng knelt down on the ground and kowtowed as soon as he entered the tent. Said: "Slave Fan Wencheng, kowtow to the Great Khan, the Great Khan will be blessed and safe, and rule China."

"You said you came up with a way to attack the city, what kind of way?" Nuerhachi asked directly.Fan Wencheng took out a pair of sketches from his bosom, put his hands over his head, and said respectfully: "Khan, this is a siege vehicle that your slaves have painstakingly figured out. You only need to order the army to rush to build a few vehicles, and it will be easy to break through Jinzhou."

Nuerhachi got up and walked in front of Fan Wencheng, took the sketch and opened it, but saw that the siege ramp drawn by Fan Wencheng was very huge, the height of only four feet was exactly the same as the city wall of Jinzhou, and the width was three feet. It is ten feet long, and the bottom of the car has multiple wheels for easy driving. One end is high and the other end is low, and it slides down like a slope, somewhat like a huge hillside that can be pushed.Fan Wencheng boldly stood up again and explained: "Khan, after this kind of siege ramp is built, it needs to be pushed to the edge of Jinzhou city wall, so that our soldiers and horses can step on the slope of the siege ramp." , go directly to the city wall of Jinzhou, leaving the Jinzhou barbarians defenseless."

"But this siege ladder is so big, where do you go to find so many suitable materials?" Nuerhachi replied thoughtfully.Fan Wencheng smiled and replied: "Khan, don't worry, this kind of siege ladder vehicle does not need many materials, just a few pieces of wood as high as the Jinzhou city wall, and then use shorter pieces of wood to gradually descend to form a frame, and tie the top of the frame The grass rope is connected, and horse grass is spread on the grass rope. When the horse grass is covered with snowflakes, we then water the snow. The water and snow mix together to form an ice slope, which will not be broken by people or horses stepping on it. —The reason is the same as that of Zhang Haogu’s watering and strengthening of the city wall. In this way, our Dajin soldiers can not only step on the ice slope to attack the city wall directly, but also the weight of the cart is very light, and it is easier to push than a wooden slope cart It’s going to be a lot faster.”

"Wonderful!" Nuerhachi was overjoyed, and when he was about to order the construction, Nuerhachi suddenly remembered something, smashed the sketch on Fan Wencheng's face, and cursed: "You dog slave, idiot! You forgot that Jinzhou barbarians have Hongyi Cannon? As long as Jinzhou Manzi’s cannon hits this kind of ramp, the ice surface on this ramp will not be smashed?"

(End of this chapter)