Chapter 144: Jinzhou changes hands again

According to Nurhaci's original intention, he wanted to attack the Liaodong region occupied by the Ming army after the complete winter was completely invaded, but the further deepening of the natural disasters against the Jurchens this year forced him to decide what day to send troops in the morning. In the spring of this year, a large area of ​​the Jin Dynasty suffered from drought, and countless cattle and sheep and other livestock could not survive. Now, as winter began, the temperature suddenly dropped, and many cattle and sheep of the shepherd who had no preparations were frozen to death.

The two disasters broke out at the same time, which finally made the Jin Kingdom unable to hold on anymore. With the collective advice of the chiefs of the tribes below, and with the unanimous request of other generals leading troops, Nurhaci finally decided to attack Liaodong and pass on the disaster he suffered to the Han people. The thousands of people who had returned from the previous defeat also brought some news, which made him know the current situation in Jinzhou and understand that it was a proper time to attack Jinzhou City.

This time, Nurhaci decided to use the whole country's troops, and only in this way could he win a big victory. However, because the people and horses of the Jurchen tribes were not together, it took some time to gather the people and horses, and the Jurchens were unwilling to wait any longer, so he finally decided to let his most trusted son Huang Taiji lead 50,000 elite troops to attack Jinzhou City. It would be best if he could directly enter Jinzhou City when he gathered other banners of men and horses together.

Among these 50,000 people, the Zhenghuang Banner, which Nurhaci valued the most, and the Blue Banner that Amin was forced to hand over after his defeat on that day. The former was the strongest among the Jin army guarding the Great Khan and the capital Shenyang, while the latter was determined to cleanse the shame of the previous defeat and shared the same hatred for the enemy. With these two teams with extremely high morale and combat power in their hands, Huang Taiji was also full of confidence in the attack on Jinzhou City this time.

Fifty thousand Jin soldiers headed south and found that they wanted to launch a surprise attack on them, so that they could not warn Jinzhou City, there was no one in the fortress fortress that could not be warned to Jinzhou City. This surprised Huang Taiji and was overjoyed: "Haha, the Ming army is only guarding Jinzhou City, and it is easier for us to take it off!" He immediately got off the horse and advanced at full speed, and must be at the city of Jinzhou before the Ming army found out that it had arrived. This order was just the same as the wishes of all the people who wanted to cleanse the shame and make contributions. The 50,000 cavalrymen rushed to Jinzhou City as fast as possible while changing to mounts.

Everything was as Yuan Chonghuan was worried. Because there was no pass ahead to repay the military information, the soldiers guarding the city immediately panicked when they saw the large number of Jin soldiers who suddenly came to kill. After all, they were not the original garrison of Liaodong trained by Sun Chengzong. Although they had been on the battlefield, they had never encountered such a powerful cavalry team. So they wisely chose to defend the city of Jinzhou. On the other hand, they lit the beacon to seek help, and on the other hand, they also sent light cavalry to ask for help. This missed the only opportunity to take the initiative in the war in their own hands, and did not catch them off guard when the enemy was not yet firmly established.

Fortunately, these generals were timid, so they failed to fall into Huang Taiji's plan. As the best person among the Jin people who were good at using their wisdom to defeat the enemy, Huang Taiji could not have made such a big mistake. When he set up the camp, he had already ambushed a lot of people on both sides. Once the Ming army came out of the city to fight, he might fall into his trap and suffer considerable damage.

However, after preparing for the Jin soldiers for a night, the Ming army did not leave the city to attack, which made everyone feel a little puzzled. As far as they know, the number of Ming soldiers guarding the city should be between 30,000 people. With this force, it is enough to fight with him, but why is the other party just huddled in the city? Huang Taiji came up with two inferences: one is that the generals of the Ming army saw through his strategy and did not dare to take this risk, and the other is that the other party did not have the courage to go out to the city to fight.

No matter which reason, Huang Taiji believed that this was a manifestation of the timidity of the Ming army. So after letting everyone rest for a night, he immediately launched an attack on Jinzhou City. He wanted to take down Jinzhou City before Nurhaci brought his men and horses to the point that his father would entrust the burden of the vanguard to himself.

However, the solidity of Jinzhou City was beyond the expectations of the Jin soldiers. Although they even used the sharp weapon of siege such as slashing arrows, the defenders in the city could still guard the gates and not give the Jin army a slight chance. In the three days of besieging the city, nearly a thousand people had died in battle, but the number of times they attacked the city was only a few. And the few times they attacked Shangcheng were beaten back by the musketeers laid on the city, which damaged many of them.

However, this is also because Huang Taiji refused to put all his troops in. If he was willing to put all his troops in like Amin, as long as the four walls attacked at the same time, the Ming army would inevitably lose sight of each other. However, he was not a person like Amin who only knew how to show off for a moment. He knew that although it was very important to capture Jinzhou City, there would not be too much casualties, otherwise it would be difficult for the city below to capture. Moreover, he also learned from Amin's previous lessons of defeat. In order to prevent the Ming army's reinforcements from suddenly coming, he always left most of his troops in the central army camp and sent only 15,000 people to attack the city in turn.

It was because of his prudence that Jinzhou could still resist when facing 50,000 Jin soldiers, but even so, as time went by, the city's defenders became more and more nervous. In addition to the lack of morale as the troops under Sun Chengzong, the defenders in the city were even worse than those under Sun Chengzong's command. Not only did they not have the sharp weapon of offensive and defense, the Red Barbarian cannons and three-eyed firearms, but even the general cannons made by themselves in the Ming Dynasty were not transported for some reason.

The army was constantly killed and retreated and attacked again, and could only rely on the soldiers to force them to the head, or wait for them to hit them with muskets when they arrived on the city. This helpless tactic was not as sure as some generals could hold on to the city for how long. If it weren't for the clear provisions in the Ming Dynasty's laws, once the generals abandoned the city and left without mercy, they would have long escaped from the south gate while the Jin soldiers did not siege the city. Now they could only wait for the arrival of reinforcements in a torment.

Huang Taiji stood in the middle of the army and watched another wave of Jin soldiers being killed and retreated without blinking. He had already seen that the morale of the Ming army guarding the city had begun to shake. Although the Jin soldiers who attacked this time did not increase in their military strength, the Ming army had repelled them much longer than two days ago. He guessed that the muskets and gunpowder of the defenders in the city were about to be used and could not continue. He knew that the balance of the war had been drawn to him. But before he was happy about this, some of his generals came to ask for a battle.

Among them, the many quotas under Amin's former army of Inlain Lan were really anxious. They seemed to be making meritorious service now. How could they continue to waste such a waste? After hearing the crowd's request for battle, Huang Taiji also frowned. He could understand the desire of these people to make meritorious service, but letting them all participate in the attack at this time was not in line with his previous plans. So after weighing the pros and cons, Huang Taiji took a compromise method, which was to let them lead their troops to attack the city, and the more than 20,000 troops from Zhenghuang Banner remained in place.

These blue flag-inlaid people were more anxious than the Jin soldiers of the Zhenghuang Banner, so their offensive was more fierce than before. After another day, the Ming army's resistance in the city was a little weaker. Now, as long as the Jin army exerts its strength, Jinzhou City will be broken again. The defenders in the city also noticed this. They were all sitting and standing like ants on a hot pan, always looking south from afar, hoping that reinforcements will arrive soon. But the reality is very cruel, and there is no sign of troops coming to aid in the south.

At this time, Huang Taiji was very strange outside the city. Why did the Ming army not have reinforcements? If they were afraid that they would have ambushed on the road, there should be a small number of men to test it. Has the Ming army given up Jinzhou? After this conjecture, Huang Taiji combined the previous information and the strange thing that no troops were laid in the fortress outside Jinzhou City to analyze, and he finally reached the assertion: "The Ming army had already been determined to give up Jinzhou before we came to attack Jinzhou. So they would not have reinforcements coming this time. The three armies were sent to launch a general attack tomorrow and break the city in one fell swoop!"

The next morning, the Jin soldiers began to attack the city on all sides, which was most afraid of by the Ming army. Countless sharp arrows passed through the sky and shot into the city. Fifty thousand Jin soldiers killed them like a tide. The Ming army, which was already timid in the city, became even more stiff. The most intimidating muskets were consumed in recent days and became fire sticks due to exhaustion of ammunition. Therefore, after less than an hour of resisting, the Ming army finally could not kill the Jin soldiers who had climbed up again. Instead, because they were missing one another, the Jin soldiers kept rising from the bottom from the four walls, and finally lost the northwest at the same time.

After opening the gap, the Ming army's defense line finally collapsed. During the process of fighting with the Jin army, the Ming army continued to fall, and then the Jin soldiers who were killed in the city gate opened from the inside. More cavalrymen rushed in like a whirlwind. The Ming army guarding the city wanted to resist but had no choice.

Seeing that Jinzhou City had fallen, the generals guarding the city saw that things were not possible, so they had to take the remaining tens of thousands of troops out of the south gate and flee south. They had already done their best. Huang Taiji was not in a hurry to kill all the people. Instead, after sending a cavalry to chase them, he asked someone to count the food and supplies in the city, thinking that they would use it later.

"As I expected, the Ming army was no longer as strong as before without Sun Chengzong's command. The city below was not as strong as this Jinzhou city except Shanhaiguan. We might be able to break through Shanhaiguan and fight to the heartland of the Central Plains this time!" Huang Taiji was very excited when he thought of his willingness to plunder the Central Plains with his troops, and at the same time he increased his confidence in the future war. At the same time, his generals also had this view, and even the people with the blue flag were even more eager to make contributions, and he took the initiative to ask Huang Taiji to send him to follow the fleeing Ming army to take advantage of the situation to take a few more cities.

But at this time, Huang Taiji showed his cautious side. He was not blinded by the victory of taking down Jinzhou. He ordered all the people to stay in the city, and then sent people to report the victory to Nurhaci in the rear. After the subsequent troops arrived, he would attack other cities in Liaodong. Because he knew that the long-term war army in his hands might not be able to fight all the way to Shanhaiguan. If he insisted on attacking, he would probably lose. So he simply waited for the Khan to lead the army to come before making a decision. Anyway, the credit for taking down Jinzhou City would not be able to escape.
Chapter completed!