Chapter 26: Exhausted
Among all the people present, Wu Sangui was the youngest, and his acting skills could not fool others.

Li Hao pretended to be angry, grabbed the boy's collar with his right hand, exerted force with his right foot, knocked Sangui's godson to the floor, and then kicked him hard several times.

"Your godfather whom you worshipped last night is no longer recognized today. All these uncles and aunts present here are men you would risk your life for on the battlefield. Why are you playing tricks on your uncles and aunts and godfather?"

"Godfather, stop kicking me. Ouch~ I'm telling you..."

General Li then stopped and watched his godson get up dejectedly.

Wu Sangui was kicked several times for no reason, and felt that he had lost face in front of his godfather and several powerful generals. He did not dare to raise his face, and whispered some of the things he knew.

"My ancestors only sold some cotton cloth and silk to the Tartars, and brought back some furs and ginseng, but the quantities were very small. We sold more in Dongjiang."

Hearing this, Li Hao raised his eyes again and slapped Wu Sangui's helmet hard.

"You are quite cunning, kid. Dongjiang can send people to collect ginseng and get mink fur. Why do they need to trade with the Tartars? Don't think I don't know that my ancestors sold food to the Tartars."

Li Hao probably knew that his ancestral family was doing business with the Tartars, but he just didn't know what they were selling to them. The grain they mentioned was just a trick to deceive him.

The upright Wu Sangui raised his head and defended himself with a look of injustice: "Godfather, it's not like that. My uncle's people never sell food to the Tartars. Selling food is aiding the enemy. He knows this very well. Those who dare to smuggle to the Tartars are all my true masters. They are not short of food at all, but of gorgeous clothes. A few pieces of clothes are certainly not aiding the enemy."

It is true that the ancestors did not sell grain, just like in later India, where the lower classes did not have enough food to eat, but they still exported a large amount of grain because the land was in the hands of the landlords. The situation in the Later Jin Dynasty was similar in that the people who could decide to smuggle did not lack grain at all, and the bondservants who lacked grain could not get involved in smuggling.

Li Hao sneered and looked at each other.

Both of them were dissatisfied with Zu's actions, but there was nothing they could do about Zu's family, the local boss of Ningyuan.

"The Tartars were wearing the cotton-padded clothes your uncle sold them when they fought us. It was your uncle's fault that the Tartars had the strength to attack us. If you have any conscience, you should cut ties with your ancestors and follow your godfather to fight the Tartars. Otherwise, I will not recognize you as my son."

Li Hao frightened the young Wu Sangui.

The boy got anxious and shouted, "I worshipped my godfather because he was a great hero who killed the Tartars. How could he be without conscience? I am the most loyal person in the Ming Dynasty. Sangui will draw a clear line with the Zu family from now on and have no contact with them anymore!"

These words were spoken with great righteousness, and General Li was quite pleased to see them.

Boom boom boom!

Suddenly, the four red cannons at the northwest battery fired a salvo. Li Hao turned his head and saw that several shells had landed a little over three miles away from the city wall.

It did not hit the Tartar cavalry or the bondservants who were working, but it frightened quite a few people.

Looking into the distance, he saw Tatar cavalry chasing the fleeing bannermen and whipping them, and the commotion in the camp was quickly quelled.

After a while, the four guns fired a second salvo, which reached about the same distance as the previous one, but caused even more chaos.

The Jiannu also had flag officers. After the flag bearers scattered everywhere waved their command flags a few times, the Jiannu brigade began to pack up. The ox carts that had not been unloaded moved slowly to the northwest, and the tents that had been unloaded from the carts were dismantled and loaded back onto the carts.

Li Hao watched for a while and ordered, "Go back and rest. After all this trouble, the Baoyi have no strength left to push the shield cart. We can't fight today."

In addition to the factors of the baoyi, the Tatar bannermen and horses also needed to rest. Shenyang to Ningyuan was 600 miles away, and the bannermen of the Eight Banners had to set out from their own garrisons to gather in Shenyang, and then drive another 600 miles to the city of Ningyuan. Although the Jiannu had many horses, they were definitely exhausted after all this tossing and turning.

So this group of people turned around and left, and Li Hao's soldiers did not have to take turns on duty on the city wall for the time being.

For the convenience of management, only the soldiers of Zhu Mei, Deng Maolin, and Chen Zhaolan were on duty at the north wall, and the rest of the scattered soldiers just followed the commander under the wall and listened to orders. …

At night, the Eight Banners Central Army tent.

Huang Taiji, Ajige, Manggurtai, Yuetuo, Shuotuo, Feiyanggu, Dudu, Jirgalang and other eight banner leaders and small banner leaders all arrived, young and old gathered together.

In addition to these Nurhaci's nephews and nephews, more than 40 Ezhen of the first level of the Eight Banners were also present to listen to their masters' arrangements for tomorrow's siege.

The old slave leaned on a soft couch, staring at everyone in the tent with an expressionless face.

Huang Taiji, who was in charge of commanding the general attack, stood in front of several square tables put together, on which was placed a feng shui map seized from the Ming Dynasty.

This geomancy map was created during the Wanli period, more than 30 years ago. The spheres of influence on the map have long since changed, but it does not affect its use, because the Ningyuan Citadel has not been moved, and the scale and style of the Ming Citadels are all the same.

"Then Laxita, where are the people you sent into the city? Why haven't they responded at all?"

Huang Taiji questioned a Jiala Ezhen from the Zhenghuang Banner.

This Nara clan Ezhen replied with a smile: "Fourth Prince, those people must have been recognized by the Ming Kingdom and may have been hacked to death."

Because the two yellow flags were stationed close to Guangning and Jinzhou, the task of infiltrating spies into western Liaoning had always been in charge of the two yellow flags.

During the previous siege, the Eight Banners had sent spies to open the city gates from the inside many times to reduce losses during the siege. When the old slave's reputation was still good, this trick worked every time.

"How do you, a servant, do your job? Can't you even do such a small thing?" Huang Taiji asked.

"Fourth Prince, I was quite clever in my work. When Ma Jia's bondservant Nikan was trying to flee, I sent people to blend in with them. In order not to arouse suspicion, I only sent about ten people. I estimated that with the bondservants I sent before, it should be enough. I didn't expect that they were all discovered by the Ming people. They should have all been chopped off by now."

Naraxita explained with a wry smile that he had originally wanted to use this to show off in front of many beile and khans, but he didn't expect to expose his butt.

He also felt aggrieved. This time he lost more than a dozen strong and loyal bondservants. They had not gone out to plunder in recent years, and the bondservants had become consumables. If one died, there would be one less.

Without these Nikans, his bannermen would have to work in the fields themselves.

"You have failed to carry out the task assigned to you in this way, and have delayed the important work of your father Khan. Tomorrow, your Jiala will be the first to climb the ladder. You will personally go to the foot of the city to supervise. All Ming Jiabayala must climb up and capture the top of the city."

These were the men of the three Dorgon brothers, and Huang Taiji felt no pity at all in using them up.

But there was only this one Jala, and with his father Khan watching from behind, Huang Taiji could only arrange the siege according to the usual rules.

The main attack direction was naturally the south, with the Blue Banner climbing up the city wall and attacking from the top, while the two Yellow Banners in the north attacked secondary. Huang Taiji arranged a large number of shield carts on the north, hoping to open a hole in the city wall by chiseling it.

"The two Yellow Banners have the most bondservants, so don't be stingy tomorrow and send them all out to dig up the city wall. The same goes for the Bordered Blue Banner. We must capture it in one fell swoop tomorrow to avenge Daishan Ahun."

Huang Taiji slapped his palm heavily on the Ningyuan City on the feng shui map, as if he was very confident of breaking into the city.

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(End of this chapter)