Chapter 236: Fierce battles in the mountains and seas

The summer and autumn of the first year of Jianwen was destined to be a turbulent time. First, the Battle of the Three Kingdoms of Qin, Jin and Yan in June ended with the retreat of the Qin and Jin coalition forces. In early August, the court unexpectedly made the first decision to reduce the vassal states. King Ning Zhu Quan took away the guards of the court for commanding troops without authorization. The army was handed over to King Zhi of Liao for temporary management, and the Ning Zhu Quan changed the title of Prince of Nanchang to Juliu.

Just when the people of the world's amazement at these two major events had not subsided, another major event shocked the world. On the tenth day of August, the King of Yan launched a large-scale attack on Liaodong on the grounds that the general of Liaodong was arbitrarily separating Goryeo. King of Yan Zhu Di personally led an army of 100,000 to attack Shanhaiguan. At the same time, he secretly ordered another general Zhang Yu to lead 50,000 Yanshan cavalry out of Zunhua and detoured to attack Liaodong in the north.

A fierce battle broke out at Shanhaiguan. At the foot of the majestic Yanshan Mountain, Shanhaiguan stood tall and thick. The tall and thick city walls were filled with Liaodong troops. There were about 10,000 people. They were brightly armoured, some holding bows and arrows, some holding muskets and spears, and their eyes were coldly staring at the city. Various defensive weapons were spread over the city. Hundreds of new breech cannons were already ready.

As the sound of attacking drums sounded, huge ladders rumbled forward, mixed with cannons carried by horse-drawn carriages. After the ladders and cannons, tens of thousands of Yan troops rushed towards Shanhaiguan like a tide. They held spears and shields, some held bows and arrows and muskets. Each of them carried a bag of soil and ran towards the city walls. The shouts resounded throughout the world. This was the first tentative attack by the Yan army.

The Yan army gradually entered the shooting circle. The cannons on the city suddenly roared, and white rose, and hundreds of shells flew towards the Yan army. They exploded in the enemy group in the ladder. The ladder shattered and fell down creakingly. The screams echoed in the explosion, and the broken limbs and blood clots flew around.

But the Liaodong Army's artillery did not cool down. Then the second wave, the third wave of offensive came violently, the flowering bullets exploded, roared, the earth was trembling, and large areas of soldiers screamed and died, blood flowing into a river, and corpses were everywhere. The Yan army could not resist the fierce artillery fire of the Liaodong Army and began to retreat. The tide retreated, submerging the cannons that were not too late to fire. The frightened war horse dragged the cannons and followed the fleeing soldiers.

On the wooden viewing platform two miles away, Zhu Di was watching the situation on the city with a thousand miles away. His face was extremely gloomy. He had discovered the uniqueness of the Liaodong Army, that is, their artillery, they fired in a very short period of time, and there was no time to cool down. This was unimaginable in his own army. He had long heard that the Liaodong Army had invented some new weapons and showed his power in Japan. He also sent spies to inquire several times, but returned in vain. The Liaodong Army kept this very secret and they could not even get a sample.

Now he saw that the Liaodong Army invented a new type of artillery. Zhu Di, who had been in a military career for many years, certainly knew what this meant. The shortening of the artillery interval means that the attack power increased exponentially, and the opponent was a relatively dominant defense, which made his siege more difficult.

"Aggress again!" Zhu Di issued a short order, and he wanted to take a look at other new weapons of the Liaodong Army.

The sound of the attack drums sounded again, and three thousand new forces were added to the attacking team. After simply marching, more than 10,000 Yan troops rolled in like a tide again. They formed fifty teams, and each team used several long ladders to barely reach the towering city. This time, they formed an offensive team and used shields to build a blocking defense wall.

"Boom!" The Yan army's artillery also roared with might. Hundreds of black shells hit the city head. Instead of using flowering bullets, they hit the city walls and gates with live ammunition. Small pits were smashed out of the city walls and large pieces of bricks peeled off. However, the strength of Shanhaiguan resisted the impact of the artillery. This was a powerful pass built in the 14th year of Hongwu. It was only a dozen years ago. Its young body could withstand the most fierce attack.

There was a loud bang, and a battlement was shattered by shells, and bricks and stones flew across, hitting the soldiers around. The two soldiers nearest were not as good as they were hit by bricks and stones. They all screamed and squatted down, with blood on their faces. They immediately carried them down.

Not far away, a piece of gravel fell at Li Weizheng's feet. He kicked away contemptuously and raised his eyes. He had already found Zhu Di on the gazebo, and Zhu Di also found him. The two of them were two miles apart and sneered at the same time.

Li Wei arranged five guards in Shanhai Pass, a total of 30,000 people. In addition, on the sea several miles away, two treasure ships were on standby, which was an advantage that the Yan army did not have. Even if the Yan army captured Shanhai Pass, the Liaodong army could throw the army behind the Yan army at any time. In fact, he already knew that the Yanshan Iron Cavalry would attack Liaodong from the north. He had sent his confidant general Han Wensen to lead 60,000 troops to defend the enemy. He would not fight head-on with the Yanshan Iron Cavalry. Only by defending the pass, the Yanshan cavalry would not attack Liaodong. In addition, he had written to the Duoyan tribe, asking them to defend the east entrance and prevent the Yan army from coming from Jianzhou. Even if the Yanshan Iron Cavalry entered Liaodong, he would use his most advanced weapon, flintlock rifle and new cannons to deal with the Yan cavalry. This was not enough. He had a more poisonous method.

"Sir General, the Yan army is attacking." The soldiers' report interrupted his thoughts. Li Wei was looking down at the city. Teams of Yan army were twisting their bodies, rushing towards the city wall, and entering the artillery shooting area.

"Add to fire the mother-child gun!" With his order, the cannons on the city roared again. Their new cannons, namely the Fran aircraft in history, can be replaced with the breeze. Not only is the firing frequency faster, but more importantly, the standard charge is the precise loading, which avoids the occurrence of a chamber explosion accident. In addition, the Liaodong Firearms Bureau has developed a mother-child bullet, that is, multiple cannons. Five shells can be fired from a cannon, which is even more amazing.

But its only disadvantage is that its range is slightly underdeveloped and its range is slightly less than that of the general artillery in the Yan army. However, as a defender, there is no big problem. If necessary, they will also launch long-barrel, large-caliber artillery with the same long-range range.

The addition of the mother-child cannon made the cannons on the city suddenly become even more violent. The overwhelming shells fell into the Yan army and exploded violently. The loud noise, tornado-like mud and flesh, made people suffocate. The Yan army fell down like a straw, its shields were penetrated, and the stairs were blown to pieces, but they were already numb to death. Thousands of Yan army were running through the cracks of the explosion, and finally rushed under the city wall. The huge staircase mounted a six-meter-high city wall. The well-trained Yan army began to climb along the ladder. On both sides of the ladder, more than one hundred Yan army fired poisonous crossbows upwards to cover the charge of the soldiers climbing the city. Hundreds of Yan soldiers held huge bumps and attacked the gate.

The Liaodong Army on the city began to suffer casualties, mostly injured by poisonous crossbows.

However, this was just a tentative attack after all, with insufficient troops invested. After the Liaodong army on the city left a large number of small sky-shaking thunders, thousands of Yan troops were engulfed by explosions and flames.

At night, smoke filled the sky above Shanhaiguan, and the battlefield became quiet. The first tentative attack ended with the deaths and injuries of 7,000 Yan's army, but the defense of Liaodong was only more than 200 casualties. In the area about one mile wide near the city wall, there were terrifying bodies of the Yan army. Almost none of them were intact. The fire on the corpse pile was still burning, and the battlefield was full of unbearable stinking.

The Liaodong military small stone thrower on the city hit the water bombs made of cow urine bubbles at the piles of burning corpses, extinguishing the open flames. In this way, after an hour, the burnt smell was completely emitted.

The Yan army's camp was three miles away, surrounded by huge fences, and dug four deep gullies along the outskirts of the camp, which were covered with deer antlers, caltrops, landmines and other hidden weapons. There were also sixteen three-meter-high guard posts. The soldiers in the guard posts were vigilantly watching the surrounding situation.

At this moment, the tent of the central army was brightly lit, and Zhu Dizheng wrote a letter at his desk, which was to Li Weizheng. The letter was full of threats and temptations. He first scolded him for not keeping his promises, surrendering to himself and betraying himself. If the Yan army captured Liaodong, his whole family would be turned into ashes, but he left room for him. If he was willing to surrender now, join forces with him to deal with Qin and Jin, and even overthrow the small court in the south together, he would promise Li Weizheng that he would allow him to become emperor in Goryeo, and also give Liaodong to him for jurisdiction, and would also acquiesce to occupy Japan.

This is the greatest sincerity he has made. He hopes that Li Wei can think carefully. He doesn't even need him to surrender from the city. As long as he sends his son to Peking, it will be regarded as an agreement they have reached.

After writing the letter, Zhu Di put down his pen and sighed softly. If there was a little hope, he would never let Li Weizheng go. He wished he could crush his bones and put them into ashes. But today he saw the sharpness of the Liaodong Army, his training was very powerful, and the firearms were extremely powerful. Especially the cobs of the sub-subs they fired in the second attack made Zhu Di really frightened. How many new weapons does Li Weizheng have?

He knew that Li Wei was advantageous in waterways, and he also saw the densely packed ships on the sea and two treasure ships like hills. He knew that even if the Yan army captured Shanhaiguan, they would evacuate from the waterways. When they headed north, they would reoccupy Shanhaiguan and lock themselves in the corridor of western Liaoning.

Moreover, even if he conquered Liaodong, Li Weizheng, Goryeo, and Shandong Peninsula, he spent money and food, and suffered heavy casualties. In the end, he might just be a piece of white land. This is not what he wants. He doesn't want territory. What he wants is Li Weizheng's army. The question is, can he get it?

With just one tentative attack, he knew that he might not even be able to conquer Shanhaiguan, but he would never be willing to retreat like this.

Xin had sent someone to see him off. Zhu Di slowly walked out of the tent with his hands behind his back. He silently looked at the dark Shanhaiguan city walls in the distance and the dark Yanshan in the distance. He felt very heavy in his heart. He remembered that military advisor Daoyan advised him not to make enemies on both sides, so as not to face the danger of attacking from east to west. However, he insisted that Li Weizheng was a wolfish ambition and that if he did not destroy it early, it would be a future trouble. Now, taking advantage of the opportunity of Qin and Jin to conquer Liaodong, which not only strengthened his troops, but also eliminated his worries. Although he found many reasons to discuss the necessity of attacking Liao, the reason why he decided to attack Liaodong was that the 80,000 elite Daning Army, which was about to belong to him, was taken away by Li Weizheng's sword, which made him furious. If he did not kill Li Weizheng, he could not swallow his breath.

And now, when he found it was not easy to attack Liaodong, he began to reflect on his mistakes in attacking Liaodong.

At this time, Li Wei was not in the city, but on the dock a mile away from the city, the dock was brightly lit, hundreds of torches illuminated the night sky like day, a huge ship of chasing was parked on the dock, and more than a thousand soldiers were busy carrying military supplies, boxes of shells were transported off the ship, and one by one, a fixed-mounted cannon bore with straw was carried on the shore. The dock was already piled up like mountains, and in the distance, there were two ships of chasing full of military products waiting to be unloaded.

At this time, a soldier rushed over and held a letter in his hand and said, "Sir General, the King of Yan has a letter!"

Li Wei was smiling. He stepped forward to take the letter and shook it away. He read it carefully on the light of the torch. The threat and temptation in the letter made him sneer and ask, "Has the sender left?"

"No, I'm still waiting for the adults to reply."

Li Wei was taking out a pencil from his pocket and wrote on the envelope: "I have sent someone to Taiyuan to deliver a letter. Liaodong has not been able to capture it for a long time. Qin and Jin soldiers are here again. What will your highness be? It consumes money and food, and loses soldiers and generals. But what your highness wants? The court has cut off the Ning Wangfu Kingdom, the arrows have been put on the strings, and they will have to send them again. Peking is empty, may it be that the enemy of the 200,000 troops of the imperial court?"

He folded the letter and handed it to his personal soldiers and said, "Send this letter back and take me the letter. Fight, Li Weizheng will accompany you, but he will not fight. Li Weizheng will send it respectfully, all in his thoughts."

The soldier took the letter and left. Li Wei was looking for a big stone to sit down. He couldn't help but fall into deep thought. This time he seized the troops of King Ning. He thought the court would remain silent, but unexpectedly, the court would order the vassals to be reduced. He believed that the court would not know what the vassals would mean, which means the formal beginning of the vassals.

It seems that the court discovered from the conflict between the three kingdoms of Qin, Jin and Yan that the strategy of expelling wolf and swallowing tigers was not feasible, but would strengthen the power of the King of Yan. They must have seen that the two kings of Qin and Jin will sooner or later be the flesh of the King of Yan, so the court changed its strategy and began to cut the vassals in advance. Since King Ning was reduced to the vassals this time, it was the best signal.

So, what would the imperial court do to reduce the vassal states? Should we directly chew hard bones, move Qin, Jin, Yan, or pick up the soft ones first? In history, pick up the soft ones first, but now history has been changed. Will the imperial court still follow the old path?
Chapter completed!