Chapter 31: Disgusting Nurhaci
General Li's request for battle did not receive a response from the Jiannu, but instead attracted a round of arrows.

There are thirteen or fourteen arrows in this round. They are not the beryllium arrows corresponding to the Qing bow, but normal feather arrows used for the Dashao bow.

The difference between the beryllium arrows used in Qing bows and the feather arrows used by the Ming army lies in their weight. The beryllium arrows can weigh three to four taels, while the heaviest feather arrows are only two taels, and the normal weight is a little more than one tael.

Converted into international units, the weight of a beryllium arrow is between 80 and 90 grams and 120 to 130 grams, while the normal weight of a feather arrow is 30 to 40 grams.

Because of its weight, beryllium arrows were only fired within 30 to 40 steps of the enemy, and normally only in a horizontal position. The specific method of fighting was to line up the infantry at a distance of about 30 steps, using a ten-force bow, which was a Qing Dynasty bow weighing about 100 pounds.

When archery is carried out on horseback, the arrow is shot from about ten steps away from the enemy. Ten steps is the distance at which the arrow can exert its greatest power. A five-force bow, which is a small Qing bow weighing sixty to seventy pounds, is used.

It is worth mentioning that the power of the Qing bow is positively correlated with the weight of the beryllium arrow. According to later data, a one-pound bow corresponds to an arrow weight of 1.4 or 1.6 grams.

This round of feather arrows were obviously the masterpieces of the bondservants of the Eight Banners, because the Eight Banners used 140-pound overweight Qing bows in their daily training, and they looked down on small bows such as the big bow and feather arrows.

Li Hao dodged left and right and avoided the rain of arrows.

A soldier stuck his head out to take a look, then immediately turned back and reported, "General, the Eight Banners have brought in a group of baoyi slaves who can use bows from somewhere, and I saw some baoyi with bows coming forward."

The baoyi and qiding of the Later Jin were very easy to identify. Those wearing four-color cloth armor and lamellar armor were qiding. The others, wearing cotton armor or straight iron armor captured from the Ming army, were all baoyi slaves.

The Caos, who had been idle for a long time, began to become active. Cao Wenzhao ordered the soldiers in the camp on the city to find twenty or thirty sword and shield men, that is, soldiers equipped with shields and waist knives, to form a shield formation to protect General Li and prevent more cold arrows from being shot up.

Cao Bianjiao ordered his soldiers to bring a large bow. After sticking his head out from the battlement to observe the situation, he also learned to shoot arrows downwards.

During this period, no flagmen climbed up the enemy tower where Li Hao and others were located, but four or five rounds of feather arrows were shot, and then the noise became smaller and smaller.

"The big Tartars are whipping the small Tartars, but no one is rushing to the city. It seems that the flagmen of the two yellow flags, the red flag, and the two blue flags have been convinced and dare not offend Master Li's majesty again."

A soldier from the camp stuck his head out and reported the situation outside the city to General Li.

Yes, there was a fierce battle this afternoon. The flag soldiers from several flags took turns to fight, preparing to wear Li Hao out with a rotation of weapons. However, after hundreds of flag soldiers were killed in the battle, the Tartars under the city were also beaten to the point of losing their temper.

I would rather be whipped than climb a ladder.

"They are burning the bodies. The Tartar attack should be over. Come here, find some oil and prepare to burn the ladder."

Cao Bianjiao, who was shooting arrows at the battlement, observed the new actions of the Eight Banners. Burning the corpses was a sign that the Eight Banners were preparing to retreat, so he ordered his soldiers to prepare to destroy the ladders.

In the past, destroying the ladder was a very dangerous act, because the Qing archers behind the shield carts under the city would aim at the Ming soldiers who poked their heads out from the battlements. The flag soldiers behind the first row of shield carts all used Qing bows, and poking their heads out was equivalent to being hit by a halberd arrow.

In addition, the top of the ladder is usually covered with iron, which is difficult for the Ming soldiers to deal with inside the city wall. Therefore, in addition to pouring oil to make it slippery, the most effective way to destroy the ladder is to throw stones at the crossbar.

"Gou Quanzhong, tell the Tartars and baoyi below the city in Manchu and Chinese that I am Huang Taiji's great-grandfather, and then persuade them to surrender. If there are bannermen or baoyi willing to surrender to me, I will give each man 40 mu of land."

The Later Jin Dynasty used the method of allocating land based on the number of people in the army, with each person being given 30 acres of land. Li Hao chose to give 10 acres more. This condition could not attract the men of the Eight Banners, but it was very tempting to some bondservants. Although it could not cause the bondservants to defect in the face of the enemy, it could make the bannermen more wary of the slaves' escape.

After all, the supplies on the Later Jin side were too scarce. The bannermen could still be guaranteed, but the bondservants had to make do with whatever they could. They were short of oil, salt, sauce, vinegar and tea. If any bondservant went back and publicized the policy of granting 40 acres of land, some Han slaves who couldn't stand it might flee to Liaoxi.

The main purpose of this point is to disgust Nurhaci.

When Gou Quanzhong received the order, he first spoke it in Chinese, and then shouted something in Manchu.

Unexpectedly, there was a response from the city, with some flag soldiers shouting loudly in Manchu in response.

After listening for a while, Gou Quanzhong translated for his general: "They said they are willing to give me the status of a banner leader, and the other three beiles will also become sworn brothers with me, marry an old slave's daughter to me, and swear in front of the Lama Buddha that they will never fight each other." Li Hao was confused, "No, we have fought so hard with them, and the Tartars still have the nerve to mention this? Find out clearly what the other side is, and then tell them that sooner or later I will kill all the Eight Banners. If they are willing, they can tie up the old slave or Huang Taiji and surrender to save their lives."

Gou Quanzhong shouted out General Li's intention again and replied: "The Tartar who shouted claimed to be Tan Tai, Gushan Ezhen of the Zhenghuang Banner. As soon as I told him to tie up the old slave, the Tartar got on his horse and ran away with his men."

Li Hao smiled in silence. There was no sincerity in Tan Tai's attempt to surrender.

On the other side of the city gate tower, Zhu Mei, the commander of the northern city wall, also discovered signs of the Eight Banners' retreat, so he mobilized the soldiers in the reserve camp under the city to come up and use various means, including cannons, small guns, hot oil, manure juice, stones, etc., to destroy as many of the Jiannu's siege equipment as possible.

As long as the Tatars left, the Ming army had plenty of ways to completely destroy the ladders and shield carts abandoned by the Jiannu, and even send people to the foot of the city to carry back the stones.

General Li commanded his soldiers to start collecting the Tartar heads. The hundreds of Tartar heads in the afternoon and those in the morning were piled together to form a pyramid-shaped hill, which was very spectacular when viewed from near or far.

"The general's spoils are enough to build a Jingguan."

After a day's rest, Cao Wenzhao was completely impressed by the young General Li.

After finishing their work, the servants and soldiers in the surrounding camp all ran over to kowtow to Li Hao and express their gratitude in a polite manner.

Many of them were refugees from Liao, whose homes were in Guangning, Tieling, Kaiyuan, Liaoyang and other places. In the hearts of these people, the act of killing the Tartars gave them a sacred sense of recovering their homeland.

General Li deserves to kowtow to as many people as he can for being able to kill so many real Tartars at once.

Li Hao calmly accepted the gifts from these people. His military exploits were building up a huge prestige for him. When he raised the flag of rebellion in the future, these Liao soldiers would be the most likely to be won over.

……

"Congratulations to Manzhen, congratulations to Manzhen, this is the first time since Sarhu that a big city has been defended."

At the foot of the south city wall, a eunuch wearing a three-peaked hat was congratulating Man Gui in a shrill voice for defending the city.

As the chief military commander of Ningyuan City Defense, the credit for defending the city naturally went to Man Gui, who was in charge of all four directions.

"Liu Dayong, since we are receiving your salary, we should share your worries. It is our duty to defend the city."

A total of 64 Tartar heads were captured in this section of the south city wall today. Man Gui got three of them for himself, which gave him credit for both command and killing the enemy.

He stroked his beard and said with a smile: "We have captured 64 real Tatars in the south city, and fewer Tatars in the other three areas. We estimate that there are a total of 140 to 150. This is a rare victory."

The current general of Liaozhen is Yang Lin, the general of Shanhaiguan. Before the Liao incident, Shanhaiguan was the territory of Jizhen. After Liaoyang and Guangning fell one after another, the general of the branch town separated from the Shanhai Road of Jizhen took over the duties of the general of Liaozhen and held the seal of the former general of the expedition against the enemy.

The two nominal generals outside the Great Wall were actually in charge of a route or an assistant regiment under the town.

With such a great achievement, Man Gui could overwhelm Zhao Lushio in the front camp, be promoted to the rank of general, and even get the seal of the general who conquered the enemy from Shanhaiguan.

"Reporting to Manzhen, in the afternoon, news came from the north that General Li Hao had obtained more than 40 heads of Tartars before morning. The news from the afternoon has not yet arrived, so there should be some more. The number of heads captured in the north reached more than 80 before morning."

Man Gui was surprised, "Why are there so many?"

The eunuch named Liu Yingkun screamed, "Isn't it the heads of the baoyi who are being counted?"

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(End of this chapter)