Chapter 68 All the way north

On the afternoon of February 22nd, Sarhu City.

In October of the first year of Taichang, this place became the capital of the Later Jin Dynasty. Six months later, Laonu moved the capital to Liaoyang, and only sent troops to guard Sarhu City.

Because it was built in a hurry, large sections of the city wall were only two meters high and were mainly made of earth, with some sections made of stones. It is not as good as the forts in the Liaoxi Corridor and should actually be called a fort.

This made it quite easy for Li Hao's troops to capture the big village. Needless to say, the various procedures after breaking into the village were very simple. Generals such as Zhu Yingtai and Zu Kuan were leading their men to count the seized supplies and livestock.

General Li was in a training ground littered with corpses. He had just captured Jiefan City yesterday, and the kills from the three big cities had caused his upper limit of health to rise significantly.

In the past two days, the Ming army was required to build ladders in the attacks on Jiefan City and Sarhu City, and the weapons needed to be repaired after the battle. General Li himself also participated, so his proficiency in the two skills [Forging] and [Engineering] increased a lot.

As for the skill cap, all of them will be unlocked when the number of kills reaches about 1,500.

In other words, as long as Li Hao actively participates in various affairs of marching and fighting, the relevant skill proficiency level will slowly increase until it reaches the upper limit of three hundred and three.

[Clearance rate: 0.7295%]

[HP: 1436|1489]

[Level: 27; Experience value: 79641|82950]

【Vigor: 10】

【单手武器47；双手武器68；长杆武器59；专精：5；5；5】

[Control: 10]

【弓53；弩17；投掷19；专精：5；5；5】

[Endurance: 10]

【骑术57；跑动33；锻造13；专精：5；5；5】

【Learning: 10】

【医术11；工程25；养殖14；专精：5；5；5】

General Li was very satisfied with the extra expertise and attribute points he gained from the kills, but his clearance level never broke one, which made him a little anxious.

The speed of character level upgrade has also slowed down. At the beginning, a single kill could give more than 40 experience points, but now it is only 7 or 8 experience points.

It seems that the efforts are not enough!

March was approaching and the cold in Liaodong had begun to thaw. By then, the Later Jin would not be able to mobilize large numbers of troops. This was a good opportunity for him to eliminate the Eight Banners' villages, forts, and manors one by one.

While he was daydreaming, two war horses came galloping towards him.

After finding the commander, the man reined in his horse and stopped suddenly. After getting off the horse, he rolled and crawled to Li Hao.

"General, a large group of Tatar cavalry has approached Fushun Pass, about thirty miles from Sarhu, and there are about two thousand cavalrymen."

Gou Quanzhong was gasping for breath, holding his knees with his hands. Yesterday, after the Ming army arrived at the confluence of Suzi River and Hunhe River, he and several Han soldiers were sent by the commander to the vicinity of Fushun Pass to monitor the movements of the Tartar army in the direction of Shenyang.

According to the original estimate, it would take at least until the 23rd for a large group of Eight Banners cavalry to appear near Fushun. Unexpectedly, a lot of Tatar cavalry arrived around noon today.

One day earlier than expected.

"How come it's here so fast?"

Li Hao was a little confused. Could it be that the Tartars had also learned how to use smoke signals to send messages?

"Quanzhong, which banners of the Tartars are coming? Did the commander see who they are?"

He continued to ask questions.

If two thousand blue-armored and red-armored Tartars came, he would still be willing to spend a week around the nearby Shaer Lake (Dahuofang Reservoir) with these Tartars.

"The two yellow flags are the main ones, and the blue flag seems to have seven or eight Niulu. The leader should be Manggurtai, but I am not sure."

Li Hao patted Gou Quanzhong on the shoulder and said, "Okay, take a break first."

Manggurtai was the fifth son of Nurhaci and the third among the four great beiles. The fact that such a high-ranking Tartar was leading the vanguard showed that the Eight Banners were serious about their actions.

The subsequent main force may be led by the old slave himself.

"Li Yongxi, Kong Youde, notify the other generals to set out in two quarters of an hour."

General Li ordered several people to pass on the message quickly. They could not stay in Sarhu Village any longer. The wall here was too low and could be broken by the Eight Banners. Although Jiefan City was better built, it could not be defended with the few people Li Hao had.

Although he was able to fight his way out of the siege of several thousand cavalrymen, his subordinates could not escape.

It’s better to run away as soon as possible.

After the commander-in-chief gave the order, the Ming army hurriedly loaded the necessary supplies, took away all the livestock they could, and burned the city of Sarhu.

There was not even time to post notices like in Hetuala and Jiefan City.

Their destination was Tieling and Kaiyuan in the north.

……

On the 24th, outside the city of Hetuala.

The veteran general Yangguli led his subordinates and some flagmen of the Bordered Blue Banner and marched day and night for six days before arriving at the old village where the old Khan had lived for sixteen years.

But it was still a step too late.

Perhaps it was not just one step. The city had been burned into complete ruins. The smoke had already dissipated, and the dark surface was incompatible with the white world outside the city.

"Damn Li Hao~"

Yangguli, surrounded by a large group of cavalry, rode into the city. What he saw made him terrified. He gritted his teeth in hatred for a long time before he uttered these words.

In the mouths of the nobles of the Eight Banners, the city of Hetuala is called Laozhai. Since the old Khan proclaimed himself Khan and founded the country and established the reign of Tianming here, this city can be called the place where the dragon rises.

Yangguli couldn't think of a good solution, so he closed his eyes, leaned back, and pretended to be about to fall.

The guards on both sides immediately realized something was wrong, and seven or eight of them jumped off their horses and helped their master down.

Jirgalang followed into the city with a notice in his hand. He was about to let the old general Yangguli take a look at it, but he didn't expect to see the old general fainted as soon as he entered the city.

"If you fall, how can I lead the troops? This, this, this, what is written on this notice is not serious. I don't know what to do with it!"

The young prince complained and waved his hand to signal the guards of the Zhenghuang Banner to wake up the veteran Yangguli.

The notice made by Li Hao's troops did not have the effect they expected. The reason was very simple. There were not many ordinary Eight Banners soldiers who knew Manchu, but there were quite a few Han soldiers who knew Chinese characters.

But among the Later Jin army that arrived first was Jirgalang, a young prince who was close to Huang Taiji. He learned a lot of Chinese characters from Huang Taiji and was much more educated than his cousins ​​who could only guess the content of the Romance of the Three Kingdoms based on the illustrations.

As soon as he saw the notice, he ordered his men to tear it down from the city wall to prevent its contents from spreading among the Han soldiers.

The old general Yangguli was carried to a flat place by his personal guards and laid down. They pinched his philtrum for a long time, but the prince consort did not wake up.

Did he pretend to faint on purpose? Jirgalang wondered secretly.

But he did not point it out, but only ordered the army to prepare to set up camp and contact the north before deciding on the next move.

This Later Jin army brought with them a lot of bondservants and dead soldiers, so there were many auxiliary soldiers who took the lead in the work. Before dark, they had cleared several open spaces in the city and set up a simple camp.

Jirgalang's guess was correct, the old general Yangguli woke up around dinner time. After hearing the news, he ordered his guards to take the notices to the Zhenghuang Banner camp to find his cousin's husband.

"Prince, this old village is destroyed. There are two more villages to the north. What do you think we should do next?"

"Oh, yes, there are a few notices here. They should be left by the Ming general. They say something indecent. Should we send them to the Khan and others for review?"

Yangguli took the notice and looked at it. As there were no illustrations, he could hardly understand its meaning, so he asked his bodyguard who could read to read it to him.

Halfway through the reading, Nurhaci's old son-in-law finally understood.

"If this thing is not destroyed on the spot, should it be kept for the Khan to see?"

he snapped.

If the Khan saw this notice, his eyes might go dark and he might even choke.

Jirgalang smiled awkwardly, "I didn't mean to leave some evidence. At least we didn't let this thing spread, which is also a small achievement."

The old general lay back helplessly, saying with a sad tone: "No matter how many small merits we have, they can't make up for the fault of the destruction of the old fort. The next step... let's lead the army to stay here. This place is destroyed, and Shengjing may have already sent troops. We just need to wait for the order from the Fourth Prince."

If the Ming army wanted to return to the Dongjiang territory at the mouth of the Yalu River, they would have to pass through here. Holding on to it was an option, and it could also reduce the consumption of rations and beans.

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(End of this chapter)