Chapter 65 Beware
Yangguli knew about the fall of Fuzhou City and the land seizure in Fugai, and Dongjiang soldiers also appeared in Fuzhou City.

Therefore, he chose to lead his troops to Phoenix City, preparing to fight a big battle here with Li Hao's troops who were heading north to plunder the Eight Banners.

But I didn't expect to come up empty-handed.

"Prince, maybe Li Hao was injured too much, so he stayed in Dongjiang to recuperate. We can send people to investigate."

Jirgalang suggested.

As soon as Yangguli went south, he took away his and Dudu's command with the old Khan's order. Dudu was left behind to reorganize and deploy defenses in the two white flag garrisons, while he and the Niulu under his jurisdiction were taken to Phoenix City to participate in the siege of the Ming army.

"Tulai, tell me, we must give the enemy some leniency."

The old general of the Later Jin Dynasty pointed out the Later Jin general who had the most brilliant performance against Li Hao's troops.

Tulai pointed to the northeast and said, "Prince, it only takes five to seven days to march from Kuandian to Hetuala. Li Hao has seized enough horses, so the march can be even faster. According to the soldiers of the Bordered Blue Banner, they captured Fuzhou City around the 10th. By now, Li Hao should have fled to Fucha Plain. In another day or two, Hetuala will be exposed to his troops."

Yangguli paced back and forth angrily, perhaps Tulai's guess was closest to the truth.

Hetuala is the Khan's birthplace. If it is lost, he will be guilty of a great crime.

Jirgalang consoled him, "Prince, perhaps the situation is not that serious. I will send someone to Dongjiang to contact the secret sentry, and we will be able to find out the whereabouts of the Ming general."

He was very relaxed, as long as Li Hao didn't come at him with the axe.

After stopping suddenly, Yangguli pointed at Jirgalang and said, "Send someone to inform the Khan and the Fourth Prince immediately and ask them to be on guard against Liu Aita."

Liu Aita was Liu Xingzuo. This man married the daughter of the wet nurse of the old Khan's grandson Sahalian (Daishan's son). The old Khan adopted this daughter, so Liu Aita was also considered the son-in-law of the Aisin-Gioro family.

He didn't want to blame his brother-in-law, so he ordered Jirgalang to handle the matter.

The young prince nodded and agreed. This was an easy thing to do.

"Tulai, you are capable, so go to Shengjing. Be sure to persuade the Fourth Prince to send troops along the Hunhe River Valley to the Sarhu area to prevent any changes."

Tulai walked up to him and knelt on one knee, then asked, "Please advise, Prince Consort, how many troops should we send? Should we mainly send cavalry or Black Camp soldiers? Who should lead the army?"

The looting of Gaizhou City by the troops of Li Hao, a Ming general, made many nobles of the Eight Banners indignant. The Fourth Prince was very popular, and many of them were really willing to send troops to fight this hateful Ming general.

Yangguli paced a few more steps and gave his own estimate: "Two to three thousand is the best, more is fine, bring more dead soldiers and Solon soldiers. I recommend Ajige and Manggurtai as the leaders. The Khan and the Fourth Beile will make the decision. You can just pass on my words."

Tulai bowed his head and answered, then stood up and prepared to leave, but he didn't expect Yangguli to have more instructions.

"We must not let the Fourth Prince lead the troops to war alone. This winter is particularly cold. The Fourth Prince will easily have nosebleeds when he gets cold. I'm afraid he will be ill."

Among the old Khan's descendants, only the Fourth Beile and Dorgon had minor health problems. Dorgon suffered from shortness of breath and chest tightness before he reached adulthood, and Yangguli was really not optimistic about his succession to the throne.

Young generals like Tulai generally had a good relationship with the Fourth Beile. He nodded vigorously before turning and leaving.

After sending Tulai away, Yangguli began a series of military mobilizations.

Under his arrangement, five full-number Niulu were deployed around Fenghuang City to cooperate with the defenders in the city to prevent this group of Ming troops from bypassing the fortified city and heading north to take Shenyang.

Yangguli himself led his troops to the northeast, passing Qinghe Fort and Yahu Pass and heading straight to Hetuala.

"I hope I can make it in time!"

He could only hope that Li Hao's troops were not familiar with the road and could not march so fast.

……

Because they had the Jurchen soldiers leading the way, the group of Ming troops that Yangguli was targeting actually advanced more smoothly.

"After all, I need a lackey to lead the way." Looking at the Jianzhou Acropolis that appeared in front of him, Li Hao felt full of strength.

Another afternoon of chopping!
The Jianzhou Guard had two walls, the outer one was about two miles long, and the inner one was about one mile long, which did not meet the standards set by Emperor Hongwu.

According to the rules, this kind of Acropolis would only be built to a single-sided wall of one and a half miles long at most.

"Gou Quanzhong, take twenty Jurchen soldiers to trick the city gate. Say it's the order of Jirgalang Beile that there are Ming soldiers and you are sent to assist in the defense."

Hetuala means "horizontal hill" in Manchu, which can be translated as a flat-topped hill. The city is surrounded by water on three sides and built on a mountain. The hill is high in the south and low in the north, making it easy to defend and difficult to attack.

Unfortunately, the water on three sides was frozen solid, so an attack could be launched from any side.

They are hiding in a forest in the south at the moment. According to General Li's own observation, there should be three to five hundred armored Tartars in the city, and there are also some civilians, craftsmen and so on, but not many.

"General, why don't we go together? The armor you are wearing is the armor of Bayala, the Tartar guard. As long as we don't speak, they can't tell the difference between us and the Tartars."

That makes sense.

Among this group of Ming troops, except for a few fierce generals and soldiers brought out from Ningyuan City who were still wearing Ming army's cloth armor, the rest were either wearing lamellar armor of the Later Jin guards or directly wearing the cloth armor of the Eight Banners.

As they fought their way from Fuzhou City, this group of Ming troops disguised themselves as patrol officers of the Eight Banners several times and then approached the villages and the Tatar army.

Tried and tried.

The reason was simple. The Eight Banners' backward communication methods were not enough to let the lower-level bannermen and bannermen know that a group of Ming troops were burning, killing and looting on their territory. Even the patrolling bannermen of the Bordered Blue Banner were only on guard against the Dongjiang soldiers.

The characteristics of the Dongjiang soldiers were very obvious. They were basically wearing red cloth armor newly made in Shandong and other places. Some generals' armor was embroidered with four-clawed dragon patterns, which were called dragon pattern armor.

The people of the Later Jin Dynasty were short of manpower, so it was good enough for them to have armor to wear. There were basically no patterns embroidered on the cloth armor, and there were often large amounts of fur decorations on the head and neck.

"That's right. Then I won't bring an axe, but only a heavy sword. Once the city gate is opened, you will follow me and charge. Just like before, General Cao Wenzhao will be in charge when I'm not here. Once the city gate is opened, you will prepare to seize the South Gate. Don't worry about the other three gates. Anyone who refuses to surrender, regardless of whether they are Han or Tatar, will be killed on the spot!"

After giving some instructions, Li Hao mixed in with the Jurchen soldiers, and the team advanced under the leadership of Gou Quanzhong and a wild Jurchen soldier named Baru.

To make it more realistic, they led their war horses and brought a dozen pack horses.

As soon as they came out of the woods, the guards at the South Gate discovered the sudden appearance of the flag bearer. They opened the city gate a crack and sent a rider to check.

General Li urged the Jurchen soldiers to advance quickly, and the two sides met about a hundred steps away from the city.

"Ahun, we are the bannermen of Jirhalang Beile, and we have been ordered to come and garrison Hetuala."

The cavalryman who was checking was suspected to be a Bashiku. He looked suspiciously at Li Hao, who was obviously taller than the other Jurchen soldiers, and asked Baru in Manchu: "Is this a Mongolian?"

"Yes, yes." Baru only dared to say these two sentences, fearing that he would be exposed if he said too much.

Li Hao replied at the right moment: "Bibala, your grandfather!"

Of course, the tone of "your grandfather" changed so that he wouldn't hear it as Chinese.

Although Bashiku felt something was wrong, he did not understand the Mongolian language of some tribes. Most of the people who came were Solon soldiers. This place was the heartland of the Later Jin Dynasty. The Ming army had never attacked this city before, so he did not think much about it.

So he led the troops to the South Gate.

After the door opened, Li Hao no longer concealed himself and shouted, "I am indeed your grandfather!"

After saying this, he killed Bashku with one sword, and a war was about to break out.

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(End of this chapter)