Chapter 13 Blood Oath to Defend the City

Among the people at the banquet, Yuan Chonghuan was 42 years old, Man Gui was 45 years old, Zu Dashou was 47 years old, and the rest were around 40 years old. No one took the young man Li Hao's words to heart, and no one addressed him as a peer of Li Chengliang, so the little matter was just let go.

Although it was wartime and logistics were difficult, the banquet prepared by the provincial government was quite rich. The guests at the table were all military officers, so naturally, various hard dishes were the main dishes.

There are main dishes such as roast goose, steamed chicken with five flavors, roasted lamb's trotters, fried fish with two kinds of cooking, lamb with minced pepper, large pork elbow, beef with smoked bamboo shoots, Sichuan fried goose, and boiled meat.

There are also many kinds of soups, such as osmanthus cake soup, peony soup, pork and longsong soup, sauerkraut vermicelli stew, sour honey soup, etc., which are both beautiful and delicious.

Winter had just passed, so there was more goose meat than usual. In addition, there was a Foshan iron pot, and condiments such as chili and pepper. After Li Hao's meal, the taste of the food in the late Ming Dynasty was not much different from that of modern food.

Man Gui next to him is a Muslim. He doesn't eat the pork elbows of big-eared lamb, but he still picked up a few bites of other big-eared lamb meat that was not easy to distinguish.

Yuan Bingxian was alone in this hellhole of western Liaoning, and with the pressure of defending the city, he had no appetite. Yuan Man and the other two ate slowly, and the other battalion commanders and captains were too embarrassed to eat heartily.

This was a good deal for Li Hao, as he basically ate one dish at a time, and the main meat dishes went into Li Qianzong's stomach.

"Oh my goodness!" Halfway through the meal, the fat man Man Gui was shocked, "Does your appetite usually have such a big appetite? How did your father and mother feed a glutton like you?"

The Ningyuan generals watched with eager eyes as General Li Qian swept away the meat and vegetables like locusts sweeping away green leaves. In the second half, the generals and Yuan Bingxian stopped eating and stared at Li Hao who was eating to see where his limit was.

[HP: 30|30]

After eating a large amount, Li Hao's health finally recovered to full value. Even the dull pain from the two arrow wounds could no longer be felt. He should have recovered.

"Only when you are full can you have the strength to kill the Tartars!"

Li Hao was very excited about the discovery that eating a lot could heal injuries. Doesn't that mean that he could make the most of the enemy by chopping them up and then eating?
After everyone had their turn, the servants removed the empty plates, cleaned up the table briefly, and brought a few bottles of rice wine.

Yuan Bingxian toasted all the generals first, then poured himself a glass with the wine pot and raised it in the air, "Generals, the country has nurtured scholars for years, and they will die for justice in the next few days. Four years ago, I volunteered to come to the border areas, and was promoted from military supervisor to the military preparation department, in charge of the major and minor affairs of 30,000 soldiers and 100,000 civilians in Ningqian. I will never forget the kindness of Han Zuoshi's recommendation and Sun Ge Lao's support. The hundreds of thousands of people who have settled in the border areas are the result of Sun Ge Lao's years of hard work, and are also the key to the survival of 100,000 civilians in Liaoxi..."

He talked a lot of rambling, the main point of which was that all the generals should work together and defend the city to the death.

Li Hao did hear a heavyweight name, Han Yu, a cabinet minister from Shanxi.

This is the core figure of the Donglin Party. He was involved in the Red Pill Palace Relocation and Wei Rebellion. In the Donglin Generals Record written by Wei Zhongxian's followers, Han Ge Lao was given the nickname Tianweixing Jiuwenlong. In movies such as Embroidered Spring Blade, he also appeared as Han Kuang.

Although Wei Zhongxian was powerful enough, Han Yu was no less powerful. The so-called Liaoxiang Party was formed by the support of Han and Sun, two university scholars in the court. When Chongzhen came to power and dealt with Wei Yan's followers, Han Ge Lao attacked all the three hostile Qi, Chu and Zhejiang parties.

Li Hao remembered that this old man lived to the time when Li Zicheng rose to power. If he had the chance, he wanted to go to Shanxi and kill all nine clans of Han Yu.

"...I am determined to swear an oath of blood tomorrow in front of the Guandi Temple with the soldiers, civilians, and merchants in the city to fight to the death. Anyone who breaks the oath will be punished by heaven."

His words were full of sorrow, and the generals were filled with grief. They raised their glasses and drank a lot before discussing various matters concerning the defense of the city. "The current plan is how to defend the city gates. In the battles of Kaitie and Guangning, it was the spies who opened the city gates, which caused the troops to lose their composure and led to the great defeat."

Yuan Bingxian felt that the generals should first come up with a way to prevent the city gates from being opened by spies inside the city.

The biggest difference between ancient city defense battles and modern wars is the absence of street fighting.

Street fighting is a technical job that tests one's organization. During the Ming Dynasty, the only army that could afford to fight in street fighting was the Qi Family Army under the rule of Qi Jiguang. The Zhejiang soldiers trained according to Qi Jiguang's "Jixiao Xinshu" did not have such organization.

Therefore, once the city is captured, it means that the situation is hopeless and there is no chance of reversal.

As for the siege, the Ming army was not afraid. The food transported from Juehua Island in the past few days was enough to sustain the defenders in the city for three or four months. When the Later Jin army fought in areas outside Jinzhou, they would only bring about one month's rations. If they could not loot, they would withdraw.

"Just block the city gate with soil. The Jiannu artillery is not good and cannot be transported from Shenyang. We can only climb ladders and fight hard. If we still can't hold it like this, we'd better retreat to Guanmen as soon as possible." Li Hao said vaguely after pouring half a pot of wine into his mouth.

Before the Wuqiao Mutiny, the Jiannu had no decent artillery at all. During the Battle of Dalingh River, Zu Dashou's seven or eight cannons were able to defeat the Jiannu's dozens of cannons.

Even if Kong Youde and others brought their artillery to surrender to Huang Taiji, the Jiannu's artillery was far less light than those built in the south. For the same cannon, the one built by the Jiannu was much larger than that built in the south of the Ming Dynasty.

In the area south of Jinzhou, the Jiannu cavalry and artillery units set out from Shenyang at the same time. The cavalry arrived more than a month earlier than the artillery. The camel power and livestock consumption required for the artillery movement were so great that the Jiannu could not bear it.

This is also the reason why the Eight Banners were unable to take over Jinzhou and Youtun in the ten years between the Battle of Dalingh River and the Battle of Songjin. Without artillery, they could not capture the city. With artillery, their activity radius was only the large area from Shenyang to Jinzhou. It happened that this area was their own territory, and they could not plunder to replenish logistical supplies.

When Yuan Chonghuan heard the talk of blocking the door, he was a little skeptical, so he looked at his confidant He Kegang.

The latter nodded vigorously, thinking that this strategy was feasible.

The generals also thought highly of the strategy of blocking the door and agreed with it one after another.

"Then tomorrow I will have the Ministry of Health mobilize the people to block the South Gate and the West Gate first. The day after tomorrow, when the people and food supplies outside the city have been gathered, we will block both gates."

Yuan Bingxian then praised Li Hao and acknowledged his contribution in blocking the gate. They then agreed on the specific duties of defending the city. Man Gui, Zuo Fu, Zhu Mei, and Zu Dashou were assigned to lead their respective camps to guard one side. Yuan Bingxian led the Daobiao Camp and some idle servants and camp soldiers to the military training ground in the city to support whichever side could not hold on.

"The lights in the north are bright and clear, and the warriors are full of enthusiasm. Suddenly, the soldiers are fighting, and the ministers are burning themselves. The generals are willing to fight, and the soldiers are crying for the beauty. It's a pity that the beauty has gone into the well, Liao is her hometown and the water is her grave."

At the end, Yuan Chonghuan recited a poem written by a southerner about the Shen-Liao War, and then said:
"I would rather die on the city wall and kill the Tartars to the last moment than burn myself to death. If the governor dies to show his determination, how will the people and soldiers in the city cope with it? You generals should also have the same mindset."

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(End of this chapter)