Chapter 47 Both rain and dew are touched
In the afternoon of the 29th, at the northwest artillery position of Ningyuan City.

Man Gui and other Ningyuan defenders gathered together. To their right, Yuan Chonghuan, the military governor who was climbing the city wall for the first time to observe the enemy situation, was holding a single-tube telescope and observing the Eight Banners camp ten miles away.

On the 28th, Nurhaci led his army back to Ningyuan City, replenished some Han slaves, and tried to attack the city again. However, the great victory three days ago gave the defenders a lot of confidence. The two sides fought fiercely for two and a half days, and the Ningyuan defenders left behind two or three hundred flagmen and seven or eight hundred Han slaves.

Maybe the old slaves felt that the looted food was enough, or maybe too many bannermen died in the battle. In any case, the Eight Banners began to move out of camp in the afternoon. Thousands of ox carts were on the road, and new and old Han slaves clung to the ox carts, pushing the creaking wheels with all their might. On both sides of the ox cart team were the Eight Banners cavalrymen supervising the work. From time to time, a bannerman would raise the whip in his hand and reward the slaves pushing the carts with a few whips.

By this time, most of the Eight Banners had already set off, leaving only a few servants to clean up the camp and more than a thousand Plain Yellow Banner cavalrymen guarding the rear.

"At least 30,000 to 40,000 shi. The rest of the grain cannot be taken away by me, so it should be burned. The Tartars have also plundered 3,000 Liao people."

Yuan Chonghuan put down the telescope he bought from the Portuguese and told his conclusion to the generals.

This result was acceptable to the Ming court. According to the marching speed, the Later Jin army was delayed on Juehua Island for a day and a half. It would not take so long to load the food onto the trucks. It must have been a life-and-death battle between the Eight Banners and the defenders of Juehua Island.

There were nearly 10,000 soldiers and civilians on Juehua Island, but now only about 3,000 Han slaves had been added to the Later Jin army. The remaining nearly 7,000 people had either died in battle or were massacred after the Tartars broke into the city.

Although the Ming Dynasty lost tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians and the food and wages that had been stored on Juehua Island for several years, as long as the big city of Ningyuan was saved, coupled with the spoils of war and the heads of slaves beheaded in battle by Li Hao and other soldiers, the Ningyuan defenders and the provincial government could finally give an explanation to the court.

"Don't forget, there are also General Li's troops. According to the intelligence reports from Yebushou in the past few days, the Tartars were chased in a panic in the north. The Bordered Blue Banner and four or five Niulu didn't even take the post road, but headed straight for Tashan and Jinzhou. It's obvious that the Tartars think Jinzhou may be lost, so they sent more troops to help."

Man Gui took over the conversation.

Compared with the solemn expression on Yuan Chonghuan's face, Man Zhen looked much more relaxed.

Of the Liao military pay of four to five million silver coins each year, about one million was distributed to the soldiers of the Liaozhen camp. As the commanders of the Liaozhen camps were short of money, they generally lost the right to award merits, as well as the right to promote officers at the level of battalion commander and thousand commander.

The only benefit brought by the reduction of power is that military generals such as Man Gui only need to consider the responsibility of defending the territory, and all other matters will be handled by the Futai Yamen, the Dushi Mansion, and the Daoting Yamen.

"I am leading the army back north, but I don't know where General Li has gone. I always feel a little worried."

Yuan Chonghuan felt a little relieved when he thought of Li Hao, who was in the limelight.

With such a brave general around, this victory news looks much better.

"Since you are a little worried, why not send troops to escort me south to Shanhaiguan. After I arrive, I will urge Gao Jinglüe to send troops north to recover Jinzhou, which will also help General Li to enhance his reputation!"

The eunuch's unique shrill voice was heard. Apparently, after learning that the Tartars had retreated and the city was safe, Liu Yingkun brought his trusted eunuchs and attendants to the city wall to show his face.

Liu Yingkun had to be anxious. He had to return to the capital before the group of civil officials learned about the battle situation in Ningyuan and discuss the details with Wei Changgong.

It's too late, the merit of making the move in advance will be lost.

Yuan Bingxian pointed to the rear of the Tartars in the northwest and said, "Liu Dayang, the Tartars haven't left yet. It's a bit dangerous to set out now. It's better to set out around the evening hour. By then it will be close to night and the Tartars will need to eat and rest."

When he heard that they had not left completely, Liu Yingkun immediately gave up the idea of ​​leaving now and bowed to Yuan Bingxian and the other generals:
"The military officers and generals have worked hard to defend the city. Please forgive me if I have offended them in the past few days. After returning to the capital, I will report your contributions to the Weichang Lord and will never let those officials who are fighting for factions come to Ningyuan City to disturb us."

This is blatant solicitation of bribes.

If they don't show some respect to Wei Zhongxian and Liu Yingkun, the generals in Ningyuan will never get a good reward.

Yuan Bingxian stretched out his hand and motioned Eunuch Liu to go down to the city.

The generals followed suit. The usual amount of silver had been prepared long ago. There were unwritten rules about how much money should be presented as a tribute for different official positions. They just had to pay the silver.

At this time, generals such as Man Gui and Zhu Mei began to envy General Li, who had been fighting for a long time and no one knew where he was.

If General Li were present, the eunuch probably wouldn't have dared to do this.

Because the arrogant ones are afraid of the stupid ones!
... "Ah Choo!"

General Li, who was worried about by the generals in Ningyuan, suddenly sneezed.

At this time, he was near Guchengtun, 450 miles away from Ningyuan.

On the evening of the 26th, he led his men to Dalingh Fort. Because some Tartars had fled there, the flag soldiers who were originally on duty in Dalingh Fort knew that the killing god had come. So when they saw Li Hao and his group of Ming soldiers, they fled with their rations, beans and war horses.

The situation in Youtun City was similar. Dozens of Tartar defenders only symbolically shot arrows and stood guard on the city wall. After Li Hao rushed into the city alone, they abandoned the city to save their lives.

There were no big cities or large-scale Tartars on the road afterwards. General Li led his men to travel at a desperate speed. It took them nearly three days to cover 320 miles and finally reach the Tartar territory.

"General, this is the territory of the Bordered White Banner. Their banner chief is based in Haizhou, thirty miles away from us. There is an ancient castle nearby, which used to be our ancient city village. Now there are about a hundred households of Tartars and bondservants living in it." Zu Kuan reported.

Gou Quanzhong and Zu Kuan were fully responsible for surveying the marching route.

"The side walls of this ancient city village are not covered with bricks, and the four gates look like wooden doors covered with iron, so they are easy to attack. Master, I think we can capture this ancient city village first. Haizhou will not get the news in time tonight, so we can sleep well and rest our energy, and then kill the Tartars and Baoyi tomorrow."

Gou Quanzhong proposed.

This is a good suggestion. There are armored bannermen patrolling back and forth between the villages and forts of the Eight Banners. Once Li Hao and others attack the villages and forts, the nearby Tatar settlements will easily be informed of the changes.

"When I went south, I calculated that I walked 600 miles. Starting from around the 12th or 13th day of the first lunar month, his army marched for about 11 or 12 days, at 50 miles a day."

Li Hao began to calculate when the old slave would return to the army.

His group of brave generals and soldiers were not afraid of the Tartar cavalry of a hundred or so people, but they were afraid of the thousands of Tartar archers who would rush up and shoot with bows. Even Li Hao himself might not be able to withstand a round of beryllium arrows, let alone others.

He still had feelings for these elite soldiers and did not want them to die here, so he had to carefully plan the marching route of burning, killing and looting in order to avoid the old slaves' main camp and the large number of Tatar cavalry that stayed behind.

"I arrived at Juehua Island on the 25th. It will take a day to defeat the defenders on the island. I should be back at Ningyuan City on the 27th. It is unknown whether there will be another battle. Let's assume that he marches 40 miles a day after robbing the food. It will take 11 days to get here from Ningyuan."

The distance from Jinzhou to Ningyuan City is approximately 130 miles.

According to Li Hao's calculations, before Nurhaci's army returned, they had nine full days and half a day today to burn the village at the Bordered White Banner station.

"After Amin and this old slave learned about my presence in Haizhou, a large number of Tartars would gather to fight me. They would probably think that I would go back to Jinzhou after burning and killing people, but I won't. I will go to Fenghuang City and have a big fight. Then this old slave would definitely think that I would go to Dongjiang Town east of southern Liaoning and send people to the two blue flags' garrisons. I went against their expectations and went north, directly killing the two red flags in the north."

Li Hao gradually sorted out his thoughts. He wanted to start from the two white flags' garrisons, pass the two blue flags, and end at the two red flags. On his way back, he would stop at the two yellow flags' garrisons between Liaoyang and Shenyang.

The main feature is one that covers both rain and dew!
After hearing the commander's grand plan, everyone else was a little excited.

"That's settled. Let's follow Gou Quanzhong's suggestion tonight. Just like before, you shoot arrows to suppress the Tartars on the wall, and I'll rush over to attack the door. After breaking the door, don't block it. You all rush in together, regardless of whether you are a man or a woman, and spare no one! If there are people who surrender, you can gather together and I will judge their crimes one by one."

Li Hao did not think of keeping the news secret. He had to force some Tatars who could ride horses to escape tonight and inform the remaining master of the Bordered White Banner, and also let the Tatars in other villages and forts know that a general of the Ming Dynasty had arrived.

The more panic he creates among the people, the more likely he is to achieve his goal.

All the brave generals and soldiers responded in unison, and after making preparations, they acted according to the plan.

The internal defense of the Eight Banners was still very tight. When Li Hao and others appeared about four or five hundred steps away from the village wall, the Tatars in the ancient city village discovered the enemy situation and closed the iron and wooden door in time.

Afterwards, the crowd approached to about forty or fifty steps and began to suppress the enemy by shooting arrows. General Li, riding two horses, rushed towards the gate of Guchengtun.

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(End of this chapter)