Chapter 2: The troops are at the city (I)

On the second day of the second month of the Chongzhen year, Emperor Taiji led a subsequent army of about 60,000 people to Pyongyang from Shengjing. After a brief period of time, the army launched a siege against Kaicheng. Four days later, Kaicheng fell, and the palace of the former Goryeo Dynasty in Kaicheng has now become Huang Taiji's palace.

"King, our army killed 3,247 people in battle and injured 5,602 people, and..."

"Okay, I don't need to know these numbers, so don't read them here!" Huang Taiji interrupted Luo Jinxiu, who was counting casualties and losses under his subordinates.

"Is there any situation in the south?" Huang Taiji stood upright and asked Fan Wencheng.

"Weichen just got the news that Chongzhen sent troops to the south!" Fan Wencheng replied with a smile on his face.

"Okay!" Huang Taiji stood up happily, "He couldn't take care of the North Korea if Chongzhen sent troops to fight in the south, which would be of great benefit to Ben Khan's plan!"

"What the Khan said is, although the Ming court did not give up on North Korea this time. Although they chose to fight south at this time, they sent dozens of generals headed by Zu Dashou to Seoul. Although our army easily captured the two capitals of Pyongyang and Kaesong, Seoul would not be so easy to conquer!" Fan Wencheng reminded that Fan Wencheng actually secretly complained in his heart. The Ming court played this trick very well. Not only did it appear that he did not give up the vassal state of North Korea, and had a joint spirit and gained the favor of the monarch and ministers of the North, but he also captured the military power of North Korea. If his Khan did not make every effort to capture North Korea, he would probably not be as simple as the vassal state of the Ming court in the future.

"Taking Seoul, North Korea is the thing in Ben Khan's pocket. At that time, Ben Khan will lead his army to the south to capture the Han people's splendor!" Huang Taiji revealed his strong ambitions.

Seoul is difficult to fight, at least several times more difficult than Huang Taiji estimated. Kaicheng's victory not only paralyzed the soldiers of the Later Jin Dynasty, but also paralyzed His Majesty the Supreme Khan of the Golden Tent. He believed that victory was within reach and obviously had to pay a certain price.

The King of Korea, Seoul, was not as chaotic as the Later Jin monarch and ministers imagined, but was in order. The preparations for the Seoul defense battle were proceeding in an orderly manner. Women, children and the elderly had already withdrawn from Seoul, and all the remaining young and strong men went into battle. Due to insufficient weapons, although Zhu Yinglong helped as much as possible, in the end, these young and strong men could only use a spear together.

The fall of Kaicheng in four days shocked the Korean monarch and ministers, but at the critical moment of life and death, all those who surrendered were cleaned up, and the rest were all vowed to defend Seoul to the death.

King Lee Nei of Korea authorized Zu Dashou to command the entire Seoul defense battle and handed over his sword to Zu Dashou. He could kill first and then report when necessary. He himself had to obey Zu Dashou's command during the war, which was equivalent to handing over the fate of Seoul to Zu Dashou. At this time, Li Nei had no choice. Zu Dashou was a brave general under Yuan Chonghuan and was famous in Liaodong. Yuan Chonghuan is famous all over the world for his good defense, and his generals are not inferior to that. Moreover, Zu Dashou was a general in the Ming court for his three generations, which can be called a family of generals. Moreover, his status today was fought on the battlefield, so of course it is trustworthy!

Zu Dashou was not sure. This time he was not facing someone else, but Huang Taiji, who was as powerful as his immediate superior Yuan Shishi. First of all, there was a huge gap in military strength. Although his nominal command was quite considerable, with more than 50,000 regular Korean troops and tens of thousands of young and strong, he knew in his heart that the 30,000 soldiers and horses trained by the court to assist Korea were all Ming-style equipment. However, although he had been trained for a year, his combat effectiveness was not as good as the elite Liaodong Army. It was not enough to attack the fierce Jin soldiers and Mongolian cavalry. If it were not for defending the city, he would definitely lose.

The leader was the Zhengbai and the two flags of Zhengbai led by Dorgon. Dorgon knew that Huang Taiji had weakened his strength in the next few years, but his military orders were as good as a mountain. If he did not follow the action, he could only ignite the troops and attack the first line of defense outside Seoul.

The two front lines of defense outside Seoul are mainly traps and iron thorns, surrounding Seoul in an arc. Although they do not have many troops, so many traps and mechanisms, and sometimes they can lay two cold arrows from time to time, and cooperate with the attacks of small teams, Dorgon was very troubled. Huang Taiji ordered him to advance to the city of Seoul as fast as possible. Although there are not many casualties now, the propulsion speed can be like a snail. Not to mention pushing to the city of Seoul in three days, it may not be completed in another three days.

Huang Taiji was very dissatisfied with Dorgon's advancement speed. After one day, a 10,000 army advanced for thirty miles, and five military orders a day made him speed up. Dorgon had to sacrifice the rest time of the soldiers and kept pushing forward. The death toll increased sharply. After working hard for more than half of the night, he advanced twenty miles forward. His officers and soldiers of the two flags of Zhengbai and Xiangbai were all exhausted.

Finally, under the constant urging of Huang Taiji, Dorgon spent seven days and lost nearly a thousand talents to push the team under the moat of Seoul. The two flags of Zhengbai and Fangbai lost all their strength, and the forward became a defender, which won time for the evacuation of the military and civilians of Seoul and strengthened the city defense.

At the same time, Zhu Yinglong captured Lan Lin alive, and did not care about interrogation, and led people into Yangzhou without stopping. The atmosphere in Yangzhou City suddenly became tense.

Tian Wan had already built a simple palace for Zhu Yinglong on the shore of Shouxi Lake in Yangzhou. As soon as Zhu Yinglong entered Yangzhou, he moved into it.

Half a year ago, Xiong Zhaolian received a secret order from Zhu Yinglong and built a simple large military camp on the banks of the Sancha River, which can accommodate more than 100,000 troops and actively prepared military rations. He raised nearly 300,000 dan of grain, which was enough for a 100,000 army to consume more than half a year. Therefore, the problem of food and accommodation in the army was basically completely solved.

Hong Chengchou arrived in Yangzhou in advance of Yuan Chonghuan. This time, the Dongting Lake Navy did not fall down except for the guardians, and all of them were pulled over. There were 1,200 ships of all sizes and sizes, and the total number of officers and soldiers was more than 10,000, which was still far behind the strength of the Yangtze River Navy, which still had more than 15,000. Nanjing also had a pirate fleet of Zheng Zhilong from Fujian. Although the number was small, only more than 2,000 people. Zheng Zhilong's younger brother Zheng Zhibao was commanded by two navy troops, from equipment to combat effectiveness. This was a huge obstacle. Whether the battle of crossing the river could be won is whether the leopard could be sunk.

As soon as he arrived in Yangzhou, Zhu Yinglong couldn't wait to hold a military meeting. The topic of the meeting was to determine the strategy of the army's southward combat, and how the Western Front Corps cooperated.
Chapter completed!