RPAGF The circuitous encounter in Chapter 85
The circuitous encounter in Chapter 85
Chapter 86 A Thousand-Mile Detour Encounter
Chapter 085 On the sixth day of the ninth month of the fourth year of Tianqi, the autumn wind in Yongning City brought a chill, causing Chen Ying to shiver involuntarily. After nearly half a month of rest, Chen Ying realized that the decisive battle was about to begin.
Chen Ying did not mobilize the Shahe New Army at Yongning Port, nor did he announce the destination. Instead, he went directly to Shuangchengwei border market. Shahewei was not an ordinary garrison. They did not have much military land to cultivate. All the soldiers were combat soldiers and enjoyed the treatment of border troops.
Actually, the most convenient route from Yongning to Shuangchengwei is via the downstream Laibin River, which is later called the Suifen River. You can reach Shuangchengwei directly through this river. At present, Chen Ying's shipyard has not produced enough ships. He only has four 400-ton gunboats and two 200-ton fast ships.
Such a naval force was more symbolic than practical. Chen Ying led more than 4,000 men from Shahe New Guard and more than 2,000 conscripted laborers, totaling 7,000 men, carrying a large amount of supplies, gunpowder, and equipment, and began to move towards Shuangcheng Guard.
Three days later, Chen Ying and the Shahe Imperial Guard arrived at Shuangchengwei.
September 11th, 4th year of the Tianqi reign, Shuangchengwei, council hall.
"Greetings, Commander!"
Qin Siming, the commander of the Shuangcheng Guard, Xiang Hu, the deputy commander, and Hada, the cavalry captain, and other generals saluted Chen Ying.
"No need for formalities!"
Chen Ying cut to the chase: "Hamutai has held off the main force of the Jurchen right wing four banners for a month. According to the latest intelligence, Daishan's army is currently 200 li east of the Zhusheli Valley, pursuing the remnants of Hamutai's forces. Relying on Hamutai's troops won't allow them to hold out for long. This battle will require our attention. Our Shahe Army's first battle since its formation aims to ambush the Jurchens on the west side of the Zhusheli Valley before they can react!"
"But the problem is that the Jurchen scouts are spread out over a wide area. If our seven thousand men are spotted by their scouts, Daishan will immediately turn back. At that point, the ambush will turn into a direct confrontation."
Zhou Bin, the deputy commander of Shahe Guard, said: "Sir, we may not be without a chance of winning in a head-on battle. Our Shahe New Army is well-equipped, has sharp firearms, and the morale of our soldiers is high."
Zhou Bin, the former deputy commander of Xingzhou Guard, was not without combat experience. He was selected as an auxiliary soldier to participate in the Hunhe Campaign and also participated in the Liaoyang Campaign. Although he was not part of the main force, he was very clear that the Ming army was poorly equipped and severely lacked supplies during the Hunhe Campaign.
Taking Qi Jiguang's army as an example, their gunpowder equipment was less than 30% of what it was used to. If they had sufficient gunpowder, the elite Jurchen cavalry would not have been able to charge forward at all.
Although Qi Jiguang's army did not have cannons like those of Shahewei, they were equipped with a large number of tiger squat cannons. These tiger squat cannons, which had a range of only two or three hundred paces, were muzzle-loading cannons that fired scatter shots, more than a hundred lead bullets. One shot could kill a large number of Jurchens.
The key is that this tiger-squatting cannon is very lightweight; one person can carry it while running, and in an emergency, one person can operate and fire it.
The firepower density of Shahe Guard is now several times that of Qi Jiguang's army. Even if they encounter tens of thousands of Jurchen troops, they will not be able to break through the defense line of Shahe New Army. More importantly, they are also equipped with more than a hundred chariots.
Before Zhou Bin could finish speaking, Chen Ying interrupted, "But not now. The Jurchen Right Wing Four Banners have 30,000 to 40,000 men. After a month of fighting, their numbers will only increase. The Jurchen Haixi tribes, which were wiped out by the Jurchens, number no less than 30. They probably have no fewer than 40,000 to 50,000 men now. We have 7,000 men, only 4,000 of whom are new recruits with no combat experience. Even if we win, it will be a Pyrrhic victory. This battle, our first battle since the formation of our army, must not only be won, but must be a great victory!"
Hearing Chen Ying say this, Zhou Bin didn't say anything more. He knew that what Chen Ying said made a lot of sense.
Chen Ying looked at the hada: "Hada!"
"Your servant is here!"
Hada immediately knelt on the ground, prostrating himself completely, and said respectfully, "Please give your orders, Master!"
"In this battle, your cavalry bears a heavy responsibility. You must lead the way for the main army, avoid the main force of the Jurchens, and do not disturb them if possible. Reaching Zhusheli safely is the top priority!"
"Zhusheli? Master, I followed a route when my tribe migrated before."
Hada slowly said, "Starting from Shuangchengwei, we first head north, travel more than two hundred li along the Ussuri River, then turn east, pass through the old forest, go around the northern foot of Zhusheli Mountain, and then come down from the west. Although this road is long, it is entirely in the deep mountains and forests, so the Jurchen scouts should not go that way."
Chen Ying pointed to the map and said, "Draw this road out for me!"
"yes!"
The road drawn by Hada is about 1,600 li long on the map, which is 800 to 900 li longer than going directly north. Traveling 800 to 900 li longer means traveling at least 17 to 18 more days.
There are many variables in these seventeen or eighteen days.
Chen Ying pondered for a moment, his gaze sweeping over the crowd, and said in a deep voice, "Issue the order: the entire army will depart at dawn tomorrow. Hada, you and your men will act as guides. No fires are to be lit on the road, no noise is to be made, and no one is to fall behind. Anyone who disobeys will be executed."
"Yes, sir!"
The generals responded in unison.
On the other side, the main force of the four right-wing banners of the Jurchen Eight Banners, led by Daishan, achieved brilliant results. They swept through more than a dozen tribes around Lake Xingkai like an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves, seizing thousands of cattle, tens of thousands of sheep, and thousands of warhorses. As for the fodder they burned, it was impossible to estimate.
Like Vladivostok, Lake Xingkai was named during the Qing Dynasty. Since the Tang Dynasty, Lake Xingkai has been an inland lake within China's territory, dating back to the Western Zhou Dynasty. During the Tang Dynasty, it was called "Meituo Lake," and during the Jin Dynasty, it was called "Beiqin Sea." During the Ming Dynasty, the Henke Guard was established near Lake Xingkai.
However, Daishan never found a large number of Xibe tribes or a large Haixi tribe. So Daishan tried to launch a surprise attack on the Yiliyingka Plain. He advanced more than 300 li and robbed a lot of people, gaining more than 3,000 horses and more than 500 camels.
However, he still couldn't find the main force of the Haixi Jurchens. Apart from the four major Hulun tribes, the Haixi Jurchens had tens of thousands of excellent horse archers who seemed to have vanished from Haixi, and not a trace could be found.
Dai Shan was filled with worry. The battle was strange. They had looted a lot of spoils, but hadn't killed many enemies. Any experienced general would be wary in such a situation.
He was the Grand Prince of the Jin Dynasty and knew the customs of the Haixi Jurchens better than anyone. These people regarded their herds as their lives, yet they so readily handed them over to him. This could only mean that they were prepared, and perhaps a large nomadic cavalry was waiting for him somewhere.
Daishan summoned his princes and junior bannermen to discuss countermeasures: "Don't you all feel that this battle is too strange? We can't advance any further; we must turn back!"
"Return? Why turn back when things are going so smoothly? We could easily sweep through the entire Haixi region and plunder all their livestock!"
As the pursuit continued, the right-wing banners actually gained a significant advantage, even though Nurhaci established the Jurchen Eight Banners and stipulated the number of Niru (units) in each banner.
However, the number of Niru does not represent strength. For example, Huang Taiji's Plain White Banner was only assigned twenty-three Niru, but in fact, Huang Taiji, like Li Yunlong in "Bright Sword", concealed his actual strength.
He actually had more men than the Bordered White Banner. With 300 bannermen forming a Niru, he could organize at least 35 Niru, 12 of which were unorganized.
In fact, whether it was Daishan, Amin, or Yueji, they all had their own reserve of bannermen, which was to cover up any defeats they suffered.
It was precisely because each banner wanted to expand its power that they were unwilling to seize this opportunity. Although the banner chiefs did not express their opinions, the banner chiefs and their subordinates protested in unison.
"Shut up, all of you!"
Daishan roared, "It's precisely because the fighting is going too smoothly that we can't continue. Since I followed my father in raising an army, we've fought countless battles. Have you all forgotten how our Great Jin dealt with the Ming dogs?"
Now they're using the same tactics they used on Ming dogs on us!
The Jurchens and Mongols were essentially of the same ilk. Their tactics against the Ming army that marched across the border to attack them were either to lure the enemy deep into their territory, exhaust the Ming army's supplies, and then to ambush them like wolves hunting deer, tearing them apart until the Ming army was completely defeated.
This tactic is generally used against infantry and has proven effective time and again. However, the best way to deal with highly mobile cavalry is to abandon large herds to the Ming army.
The Ming army was unwilling to give up such a free advantage. Once they were traveling with a large herd, the mobility that the cavalry relied on to win would be completely useless, while the Jurchen cavalry, who were completely unburdened, could move around at will and eventually overwhelm their opponents.
The four right-wing banners led by Daishan were almost entirely cavalry, with superb mobility. Using this tactic against them was a perfect solution. The Jurchens had captured a large number of cattle, sheep and horses, which they were reluctant to discard.
In fact, although Daishan's analysis was correct, it was not Hamutai's plan. The Haixi Jurchens were relatively poor and were unwilling to give up their cattle, sheep and horses to the Jurchens. This was because, at the beginning of autumn, the various Haixi Jurchen tribes collectively migrated south and hid in Yongning City.
To solve the problem of these herders having no pasture to graze, Chen Ying collected soybean stalks in Beizhili and Shandong. In the Ming Dynasty, these soybean stalks were only used for cooking by the people. Chen Ying used the coal briquettes and coal stoves he made to exchange soybean stalks with the people of Shandong and Beizhili.
These straws were not initially intended to feed livestock for the various tribes of the Haixi Jurchen. Chen Ying collected them to make paper. Shawei Academy now has more than 2,600 students, and the books and paper they need are a huge number. More importantly, books and paper are very expensive in the Ming Dynasty.
Chen Ying has no shortage of manpower. This time it was a lucky accident. Otherwise, Yongning could let the various tribes of Haixi hide, but he would not be able to support their cattle, sheep and horses.
As the various tribes of the Haixi Trade Alliance migrated south, the Solon tribe discovered that the Haixi Jurchens had left. They could acquire vast pastures and Lake Henke, a lake where they could catch a lot of fish, without having to fight. So the Solon tribe led their cattle, sheep, and horses southward in a grand procession.
As a result, they ran headlong into the Jurchens led by Daishan. Daishan reacted very quickly, reminding the already confused Niru Ejen and Jiala Ejen. They realized that the first Jurchens had a strong fighting spirit, so they quickly retreated.
However, it was too late to retreat now. The Solon tribe was divided into three major tribes: the Solon main tribe, the Solon branch tribe, and the Solon reindeer tribe. The Solon branch tribe, including the old Namiyar, new Namiyar, and Tokongwoer, had fifteen clans, while the reindeer tribe had twelve large clans. The eastern Solon tribe had several large clans, including Dular, Aola, Merdile, Bulamu, Tukdong, and Nahata.
They did not actually belong to the Haixi Jurchen, but lived in the area from the Shilka River to the Jingqili River. This was a powerful tribe with a population of over 100,000. Although their strength was weaker than that of the Jurchens, they were still a tribe that could gather 30,000 to 40,000 elite cavalry.
Historically, the Solon tribe was conquered by Huang Taiji. However, it was only after Huang Taiji defeated Ligdan Khan of the Mongols and accepted the surrender of Ligdan Khan's son, Ejei, in the eighth year of the Chongzhen Emperor's reign that the Solon tribe saw that the Jurchens had directly annexed the Mongols, so they surrendered to Huang Taiji.
Chen Ying, this otherworldly butterfly, unwittingly attracted the Solon tribe to move south, and allowed Daishan to swallow up the vanguard of the Solon main force in one fell swoop. As a result, the Solon chief Bomubogor was furious. They quickly gathered more than 14,000 cavalrymen and went to other tribes such as the Horse-Horse Tribe and the Reindeer Tribe for help.
These Solon cavalry did not immediately attack Daishan's forces. Instead, they followed the Jurchen main force from a distance, only a few dozen or a few hundred cavalrymen, without attacking. They simply wandered around the Weili warning area, seemingly looking for weaknesses in the Jurchen cavalry.
Daishan sent out scouts to try to drive them away, but these Solon scouts did not intend to engage in a fierce scout battle. When they saw the Jurchen cavalry scouts charging over, they immediately retreated far away. As soon as the Jurchen cavalry scouts stopped pursuing, they immediately came back up. This feeling of being followed like a ghost, unable to hit them, was truly maddening.
Just as Daishan was about to be driven mad by the Solon cavalry sentries, Hamutai discovered that the Jurchens were entangled by an unfamiliar enemy. Hamutai saw that the Jurchen cavalry were getting further and further away from Zhusheli. How could this be allowed?
His agreement with Chen Ying was to lure the Jiannu into the Zhusheli Valley. If the Jiannu left, all the suffering he had endured for more than a month would have been for nothing.
Hamutai also became ruthless, and directly led more than 500 of his most elite plate-armored cavalrymen to launch a surprise attack while the Jurchens were preparing to set up camp and were fully on guard against the Solon cavalry sentries in the north.
The so-called "pig charge" is a classic scene in movies and TV dramas, where a large cavalry unit charges forward despite a hail of arrows and casualties. In actual combat, such a scene is almost rare because neither side can withstand such casualties.
To increase the efficiency of their charges, Hamutai draped his warhorses in raw cowhide. This untanned cowhide was extremely tough, and light arrows could not penetrate it, or even if they did, they could not penetrate it further.
Hamutai had over 500 men as his vanguard, followed by 6,000 to 7,000 cavalry from various Haixi Jurchen tribes. Without the harassment of dozens of Solon cavalry scouts, it would have been impossible for Hamutai to break into the Jurchen camp, given that the Jurchens had a large number of men and horses.
Now things are different. They have captured too many cattle, sheep and horses, especially those of the Solon tribe. They have not even undergone desensitization training and have never seen gunpowder explosions. By sheer coincidence, Hamutai rushed directly into the Jurchen artillery camp.
At this time, the Jurchens had not yet established a fixed-organization Wuzhen Chaoha Battalion, but the artillery of the Han army also accompanied the operation. They wanted to conquer the city of the Xibe tribe. However, this small artillery unit consisted of twelve cannons. Five or six hundred catties of gunpowder were detonated, and thousands of warhorses, thousands of cattle, and tens of thousands of sheep went crazy instantly. They ran wildly towards safety, and even though the Jurchens were all excellent cavalry, they were instantly scattered.
Bomubogor, the leader of the Solon tribe who was harassing the Jurchens, was not actually prepared to make a decision with the Jurchens. More than 20,000 reinforcements from the Solon tribes of the horse and reindeer had not yet arrived. He only had a little over 14,000 men at his disposal. However, the current situation was too good.
"kill----"
Bomubogor indeed ordered, "All troops, attack!"
A full-scale battle broke out instantly, with the Haixi Jurchen trade alliance army launching an offensive on one side and the Solon main force of more than 14,000 cavalry on the other.
To be fair, even if the elite troops of the Soren main force plus the Haixi Jurchen trade alliance army combined, the total force would only be 20,000 men, which is still only half the size of the Jurchens' forces. The problem is that there are now five or six thousand cattle, tens of thousands of horses, and hundreds of thousands of sheep causing trouble, so Daishan simply cannot organize a decent counterattack.
The melee lasted for nearly two hours, and finally ended with Hamutai being shot by an arrow and forced to retreat. The one who made this contribution was none other than Aobai, the first Baturu of the Qing Dynasty.
Although Hamutai was wounded by an arrow and retreated, the Jurchens, scattered by the mad horse, regrouped. The Solon tribe was also unable to hold on alone and took the initiative to retreat. After the battle, the casualties were counted, and Daishan's face instantly turned as black as the bottom of a pot.
Of the warhorses and cattle they captured, almost one-tenth remained. The six or seven thousand captured Solon youths and men, as well as several thousand Haixi Jurchen youths and men, all vanished without a trace. This chaotic battle resulted in the deaths of more than four thousand soldiers and injuries to six or seven thousand of the main force of the Jurchen right wing. Among them, more than 1,600 Han artillerymen were either killed or captured.
We've really lost out.
Fortunately, this battle instantly lightened the Jurchens' burden. Without the hindrance of camels, warhorses, and oxen, the Jurchen cavalry moved much faster.
There were a large number of dead horses, cattle, and sheep on the battlefield. The Jurchens did not waste them. They quickly skinned them, cut them into pieces, and roasted them over a fire to make jerky, preparing to pursue Hamutai.
At this moment, Daishan's hatred for Hamutai reached its peak, wishing he could devour him alive. He almost ignored the Solon tribe that had caused them huge casualties, and instead vowed that even if Hamutai hid in a rat hole, he would drag him out.
Chen Ying was aware of the chaotic battle. He was being led by Hada through the dense forest, which was really exhausting. Even if he risked his life, he could only advance thirty or forty miles a day, let alone fifty or sixty miles.
On September 27th of the fourth year of the Tianqi reign, it began to snow. Almost overnight, the snow on the ground accumulated to more than 1.5 feet. With this blizzard, Chen Ying, who was prepared in advance, had his men remove the wheels of the sleds. The sleds didn't even need to be installed anymore, as they had been prepared in advance to deal with the blizzard conditions.
Riding in sleds, Chen Ying's troops instantly gained speed, covering sixty or seventy li in a single day. However, their good fortune was short-lived. Just as Chen Ying's troops arrived at the foot of Zhusheli Mountain, Hada rushed over to report: "Master, something terrible has happened!"
"What happened?"
"Hamutai has lured the Jurchens here!"
"What?"
Chen Ying felt a surge of anxiety. They were now in a relatively flat open area, with no cover around them. More importantly, the Jurchens had come from the northwest and were rushing down the hillside, which made things even more dangerous.
How far are we from the Jurchens?
"No more than thirty li!"
"Form ranks to meet the enemy!"
More than a hundred armored vehicles—no, they should be called armored sleds now—had their wheels removed, and there wasn't enough time to reinstall them. Thirty miles was at most a quarter of an hour for cavalry.
Chen Ying issued a series of orders, with laborers leading the way to dig snow and build walls. Just as the Shahe New Army was in a flurry of activity, Hamutai, supported by his trusted guards, came to Chen Ying. Hamutai looked terrible; an arrow had struck his left cheek, shattering four of his teeth, and he was now unable to speak.
Her face looked much rounder.
"beat----"
Chen Ying turned to the military medic beside him and said, "Medic, come and treat Hamutai Taiji's wounds!"
"yes!"
Just as Hamutai was being treated for his injuries, Meng Gun was about to tell Chen Ying about what had happened during this time. Before he could even speak, the Jurchen army appeared in sight, covering the entire mountainside.