Daming Yinghua

Chapter 471: Decisive Battle (VIII)

Hetuala.

Amin, the leader of the Bordered Blue Banner, walked out of Manggurtai's residence with a livid face.

This time, the Khan led five banners to the north to attack Kaiyuan, leaving the Zhenglan and Xianglan banners to guard the backyard of Hetuala.

The combined number of soldiers of these two flags is more than 10,000. In addition, Daishan of the Zhenghong Banner is near the Tumen River, and the elite cavalry can arrive in two days and one night. Therefore, these three flags are more than enough to deal with the sudden movements of the Ming army in Qinghe and Fushun.

However, Amin did not expect that on the third day after the Khan left, Dergelei, who was temporarily in charge of the Zhenglan Banner, led 5,000 elite soldiers of his banner and marched south directly to Aiyang Fort of the Ming Dynasty.

Amin hurriedly sent his trusted confidant Jiala Ezhen to chase Degelei and persuade him to return to Hetuala and guard the Jin Dynasty's base camp.

The Dege class turned a deaf ear to it.

Today Amin had to discuss with Manggurtai, who was recuperating in his mansion, and let him give the order to at least let Abatai, who was going with him, bring back two thousand elite soldiers first.

Abatai was born to Nurhaci's concubine. He is thirty-five or thirty-six years old this year. Because he was born out of wedlock, although he was good at fighting and made great contributions to Nurhaci's unification of the Jurchens, his status was not as high as that of legitimate sons such as Manggurtai and Huang Taiji. Therefore, if Manggurtai spoke, Dergelei and Abatai had to listen.

Unexpectedly, Manggurtai's body became weaker, but his temper became more violent. He scolded his cousin Amin and accused him of being jealous of the Zhenglan Banner's achievements in the south.

Amin was frustrated and returned to the office of the Bordered Blue Banner with a gloomy face. He ordered his clerk to write urgent reports, one to be sent north to Nurhaci, and the other to be sent east to Daishan of the Plain Red Banner, asking Daishan to send 3,000 troops to guard Hetuala with him.

After all this trouble, near the time of Shen, two scouts with yellow flags rushed into the city and informed Amin that the first batch of Han people, livestock and property that the Khan had looted outside Guangshun Pass had been escorted across the Chai River and were about to reach Jiefan Village northeast of Sarhu.

Amin breathed a sigh of relief.

The Khan's attack seems to be going very smoothly, and he may be victorious sooner than expected.

Just after the two yellow flag scouts, Amin's own spies, who were sent to the border wall to monitor the movements of Ming generals, also returned to Hetuala.

"My Lord, the Second Beile, Zou Chuxian, the garrison commander of Fushun, is holding a wedding banquet for his son these days. All the frontier army leaders from Ma Gendan to Qinghe Fort are attending the wedding banquet."

Amin's heart became more and more settled, and then he couldn't help feeling contempt: No wonder the Khan firmly believed that in the current situation, the Jin Dynasty was more confident than when it attacked Fushun six years ago. Look at what kind of people the Ming army is. There is an enemy in Shenyang, but the Fushun garrison commander who is so close is actually busy finding a wife for his son.

However, Amin's peaceful sleep was awakened after only two days by an urgent report from a fast horse from the Zhenglan Banner in the south.

"Second Prince, Master Degelei, please quickly dispatch two thousand troops to the north of Kuandian to provide assistance. Mao Wenlong of the Ming Dynasty, he, he led his troops from Yizhou to Aiyang Fort and surrounded our Zhenglan Banner!"

"What?!" Amin was shocked. "Wasn't Mao Wenlong taken back to the capital by the Minister of War of the Ming Dynasty?"

"Master, Abatai Beile said that this must be Nikan's self-torture trick, and the civil and military officials of the Ming Dynasty are acting. Second Beile, those Ming troops are real. The most capable ones among them are obviously servants of the Mao family. They have artillery. As soon as our Zhenglan Banner occupied Aiyang Fort, the artillery outside started to bombard it. This is a trap."

"How many soldiers are there in Mao Wenlong's army?" "Master Abatai went out to see, and there are at least 6,000 soldiers, and they are only the first ones to arrive. On the first day of the battle between our flag and the enemy, more than 20 Bayalas died."

The soldiers of the Zhenglan Banner who escaped to report the news and ask for help were so anxious that their voices changed. The white-armored Bayara soldiers were the strongest fighters selected from a hundred of the Jin army. The death of three or five Bayara would make the banner leader heartbroken.

Amin's eyes were as cold as ice, and he said in a pretentious tone, "You, my slave, are a brave warrior, but as the leader of the banner, I cannot divide my troops to save the young prince of the Zhenglan Banner. You said that the Ming people seemed to have set a trap, but who knows if Fushun garrison commander Zou Chuxian is also acting like Mao Wenlong?"

"Ah? Then, our Zhenglan Banner will be surrounded on the other side of Aiyang?"

Amin thought, who made your master so stupid? But what he said was, "Of course I will not sit idly by. I will send my soldiers to go with you to Huining in the east to ask Daishan Beile of Zhenghong Banner for reinforcements."

The messenger from the Zhenglan Banner was immediately disheartened. Not to mention whether Daishan would also make excuses like Amin, just the time wasted on the road would probably result in many deaths among the Zhenglan Banner members.

But what could a servant do? Moreover, as soon as he entered the city, he went to report to his master Manggurtai that it was the Third Beile who ordered him to ask for help from the Second Beile.

Amin had just complacently sent away the loyal servant of the Zhenglan Banner, but the next morning he received news that really made his hair stand on end.

"Second Prince, it's bad. To the north of Taizi River, from Yagu Pass to Fushun Pass, there are densely packed Ming troops, tens of thousands of them, with more cavalry than infantry."

"How is it possible!" Amin jumped up from the birch chair in the duty room, "Zou Chuxian and his group, how could there be so many people?"

"Second Prince, our scouts said that this was a foreign force brought by a fierce general from Shanhaiguan, Ming. The general's name is Du Song."

……

Near Kaiyuan City, 400 miles away, Nurhaci did not know that his old nest was in danger.

Due to the backward communication in that era, the old Khan had just received Amin's report about the Derge Lei sending troops to attack Aiyang without authorization.

Before he could get angry, the enemy situation in front of him became fierce.

The cavalry came rushing to report: There is a lot of smoke and dust in the direction of Tieling.

"Father, it should be Malin's troops." Huang Taiji said with excitement before killing.

But soon, the news brought by several other scouts slapped the Fourth Beile in the face.

"Your Majesty, there are three Ming armies gathering in the south. Only the central wing is under Ma Lin. The left and right wings do not look like the Liaodong army."

Nurhaci was startled and asked in a deep voice, "What's the situation with those two routes?"

"Reporting to the Khan, there are many chariots and firearms on the left, and there are also firearms on the right, but they are mainly lancers, and their spears are white."