Chapter 14: First come, first served

"Fensi, you incompetent pig, did you eat your sorghum rice in vain? It's ok that you couldn't get back the bodies of your own bannermen, but don't you know to come back and take a look? Look, the four bannermen were eaten by dogs like this! Fensi, you waste food even more than a pig."

At noon on the 22nd, Daishan, the leader of the Eight Banners' vanguard, led his men to Tashan Fort. Then, led by the only remaining Bayala, they found the bodies of four bannermen who had been eaten by wild dogs, with only half of their bodies and bones left.

So Daishan, the great prince, whipped his personal guard and cursed him to vent his anger in front of five Jala Ezhens, twenty-five Niulu Ezhens of the Zhenghong Banner, and other nobles such as Jirgalang of the Xianglan Banner.

Retrieving the corpses was an important means of ensuring that the morale of the bannermen remained high. Now, before they even reached the first fortified city defended by the Ming Dynasty, many nobles and masters had seen this scene. Daishan was so furious.

It would have been better if it was just his Zhenghong Banner, but Jirgalang of the Zhenglan Banner also brought 15 Niulu to act as the vanguard. The Zhenglan Banner was the family of the son of Nurhaci's younger brother Shurhaci, so they were considered outsiders. Now the great prince was greatly embarrassed.

Moreover, the old slaves would most likely ask about this matter, and Daishan couldn't imagine how he would reply to his father Khan in front of so many beiles and jialas.

You can't say that your personal guards are less courageous than mice and don't even have the courage to return to the battlefield to check.

"Ezhen, I made an appointment with the two Abuqins. I was going to distract the Ming soldiers while they went to steal the bodies of the bannermen. I was chased by the Ming soldiers for half the night and was chased all the way to Songshan. Naturally, I didn't dare to come back to steal the bodies. I thought the two Abuqins stole the bodies and went back. In addition, the Ming soldiers who were very capable had been stationed in Tashan Fort. I kept an eye on the Ming soldiers and knew that they evacuated from the stone fort this morning. I didn't expect that the two Abuqins were killed in the battle!"

Abuqin means good younger brother in Manchu.

Bayala No. 20 probably knew that the two flag soldiers had died in the battle, but because he was afraid that he would be surrounded and killed if he returned, he hid in the north of Tashan Mountain, occasionally communicating with other vanguard scouts. He thought that the flag owner Daishan would go all the way south and would not ask about such trivial matters, but he didn't know who reported him and asked the flag owner to see him.

"Ming soldiers who are very good at fighting? How good are they? Since the Khan defeated four armies seven years ago, have my Eight Banners ever encountered a Ming army that could stand up to them? Not to mention a Bayala wearing white armor like you, which Ming soldier wouldn't stay away from you?"

Daishan became even angrier. He thought that this guard was just being lazy, so he whipped his hand even faster.

Of course, what he said was just bragging. During the bloody battle of Hunhe River, the Shizhu Tusi soldiers caused two to three thousand casualties to the Eight Banners. Daishan's Zhenghong Banner had only twenty-five Niulu and two thousand five hundred armored bannermen. The battle of Hunhe River almost wiped out an entire banner's armored men.

"Banner Lord, I am innocent. They are the retainers of the Ming generals. They dared to attack the elite troops of the Khan's central army. There are more than 20 retainers like them, and they have been guarding Tashan Fort. How can I deal with them?"

In the first month of the cold winter, Bayala was stripped of his armor and cotton clothes and whipped in the snow. Naturally, he was very depressed, but the flag owner's face turned red with anger. He was beaten for a long time but the flag owner did not stop, so he begged for mercy.

"Flag Master Beile, when we attack the city tomorrow, I will be the first to climb the ladder and the first to rush to the top of the city to fight."

The nobles from the two banners who were watching on the sidelines exchanged opinions in a low voice, and finally someone stepped forward to stop Daishan from being whipped.

"Daishan Ahhun, this guard is not a deserter. Let's forgive him this time. When we attack the city tomorrow, we will allow him to make up for his crime and make meritorious service."

The speaker was Jirgalang, the sixth son of the old slave's brother Shurhaci, and the most humane descendant of Shurhaci under Amin, the leader of the Bordered Blue Banner.

The Bordered Blue Banner had a total of sixty-one Niulu, making it the largest banner among the Eight Banners. The second largest, the Plain Yellow Banner, had only forty-five Niulu. Among the remaining six banners, the Plain Red Banner of Daishan and his two sons Yuetuo and Shuotuo had the most Niulu, with twenty-five in the Plain Red Banner and twenty-six and a half in the Bordered Red Banner. The remaining four banners had about seventeen or eighteen Niulu each.

There are as many armored bannermen as there are Niulu who can go out to fight. Amin and his brothers have a large number of troops and do not participate in the fight for the Khanate, so they have an exclusive status among the Eight Banners masters.

To put it another way, in the eyes of several beiles who have the potential to compete for the Khanate, the Amin brothers have the highest value in terms of united front work.

Daishan whipped for a long time and finally waited for Jirgalang to come forward, so he whipped him fiercely and said, "For Jirgalang's sake, I will remember this for now. There is no need for tomorrow. We will kill to the city of Ningyuan this afternoon. We will not attack the city, but surround the four gates first to kill the morale of the Ming army. Then you will lead the bannermen to fight. You can be exempted from punishment if you win. Otherwise, both new and old accounts will be settled together." The main purpose of the vanguard team of 4,000 bannermen and more than 2,000 bondservants under Daishan was to remove the obstacles to the advance of the old slaves' camp and ensure that the road for chariots and other vehicles was unobstructed, so there was no need to force an attack on Ningyuan.

The Great Prince was not a reckless man. He did this just to boost morale and take advantage of the Ming army for not having a large number of field cavalry.

Although there was no large-scale military interaction between the Later Jin and the Ming Dynasty in recent years, both sides were testing each other, and Daishan still knew some basic information about the Ming Dynasty.

Among the fifteen newly formed combat battalions of Sun Chengzong, basically all of them were chariot battalions, that is, they relied on easy-to-mobile artillery such as bird guns, three-eyed guns, and small general cannons. They gathered around the chariots and fired guns and cannons. When they encountered the Eight Banners cavalry that came and went like the wind in the wild, they could only passively take the beating.

They couldn't even retreat, as they would be scattered as soon as they did. Therefore, Sun Chengzong's combat troops were actually defending troops who could only stay in the fortified city and couldn't even fight in the field near the city.

Jirgalang is now 27 years old and has not experienced the "glorious years" of the Eight Banners. Daishan is 43 years old and has been through hundreds of battles with the old slave. Naturally, his prestige is much higher than that of the young man Jirgalang.

So the masters of the two flags discussed it and decided that each of them would leave a flagman from the Niulu to guard Tashan Fort to ensure that the road to the south was unobstructed. The remaining thirty-eight Niulu headed together towards Ningyuan City, sixty miles to the south.

……

"How brave the Tartars are!"

After learning the intelligence that the Jiannu vanguard was marching south in large numbers, Man Gui and Man Shuai immediately summoned various civil and military officials to the north gate to discuss the matter.

Although the gate had been blocked, and although nearly 50,000 shi of grain were stored in the city, and although the military and civilians in the city had become more motivated to fight after the oath of allegiance yesterday afternoon, when they heard that the Tartars were about to invade in large numbers, even a veteran like Man Gui, who had fought in more than forty battles of varying sizes, felt a little timid.

After all, the Ming Dynasty was defeated so thoroughly in the previous few times that all the field equipment in Liaodong was lost.

"According to the intelligence reports from various night raiders, only the Red Banner and the Blue Banner came today, with only about 5,000 cavalrymen, and no chariots or servants. The Tartars will arrive at Ningyuan City around noon."

A captain briefed the generals on the current situation.

Shenshi is from 3 to 5 pm, and Shenzheng is around 4 pm.

"When the two great generals He Shixian and You Shigong were here, Daishan didn't dare to come here with 5,000 light cavalry. It's a pity that I am no longer as brave as I was back then. Otherwise, I would have to fight my way out of the city and charge his central army to let him know that there are still powerful people in the Ming Dynasty."

Man Gui had the will but not the strength. He Shixian and You Shigong were both first-class generals from Yulin, and their servants were very brave and courageous. They had both defeated the Eight Banners cavalry head-on.

This remark sounded a bit provocative, and the generals did not respond.

The room suddenly fell silent. Man Gui was extremely disappointed. Just as he was about to say something politely about each department doing their duty, a man stood up.

"Let me go, Marshal Man. Please give me fifty brave servants. I will kill Daishan's spirit."

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(End of this chapter)