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Chapter 598 Eight Banners
However, Nurhaci did not act rashly on how to fight and when to fight. The death of the eldest son Chu Ying and general Anfei Yanggu in battle provided lessons in this regard.

Attacking a fortified city is completely different from fighting in the field. It requires reliable siege equipment, and the most effective one should be artillery. This weapon introduced by the Western merchants is not only powerful and has a long range, but is also smaller than the trebuchet and has a strong structure. It can be carried by an army and used for many years.

But Jurchen craftsmen don't know how to cast cannons, and neither do Mongolians or Koreans. I tried casting several times and the appearance was almost the same, but the effect was very unsatisfactory. If you want to obtain enough range and power, the barrel will easily explode, but it will be useless if you put too little gunpowder.

Fortunately, the Han people are not completely united. Some of them are very greedy. They have been secretly collaborating with North Korea, Japan, and Mongolia, and smuggled goods that the court has banned from exporting to Mongolia and North Korea through camel caravans and sea ships. They are even sold in Japan and make huge profits from it.

Behind these Han people, there is more or less the assistance of Ming officials. Only those with money and power are qualified to do this kind of profitable business, so when the opportunity comes, go and ask them if they have artillery to sell.

There was a reply soon. The artillery was indeed available and the price was not too expensive. Even if you bought the artillery, you would get shells and gunpowder for free and be responsible for shipping them to the sea. The service attitude was really outstanding.

It's just that the artillery purchased is a bit small, and it is powerful enough to deal with people and horses. It seems that it is not interesting to use it to attack fortified cities. So the Jurchens spent a lot of money to find craftsmen who could cast cannons through Ming smugglers.

But the other party quickly replied, two words, no chance! The artillery of the Ming Dynasty all came from the royal factory, which was guarded by royal guards and royal horse supervisors. Outsiders could not get close to it, let alone the craftsmen who had mastered the casting technology.

Can a living person be choked to death by peeing? Since he couldn't find a ready-made cannon-casting craftsman, Nurhaci turned to the next best thing and looked for a craftsman who could cast a big bell. In his opinion, if the bell is made smaller or thicker, it will become an artillery piece. It doesn't matter if you don't know how to cast it, as long as you try it a few times, it will be ready.

So he ordered coal mining to be carried out and an ironworks to be established near Liaoyang, and he was ready to do a lot of work and cast larger-caliber artillery on his own. Once we have weapons to attack the city, we will send troops to Shanhaiguan.

But before the new artillery could be cast, two pieces of news came from North Korea almost at the same time. The Ming smuggler who specialized in providing artillery was caught, and the source of artillery and craftsmen was cut off. For some unknown reason, the Emperor of the Ming Dynasty dispatched the navy to travel thousands of miles to Nanyang to attack the ports of the Western Fans.

Nurhachi was very upset about losing the source of his artillery. Although the artillery he bought was a little thinner and less powerful, it was not unusable and was very easy to use. They played a decisive role in the attack on the Jurchen Walled City in Haixi. If I had known this, I should have bought more and kept them.

And the news that the Ming Dynasty navy was dispatched to fight in Southeast Asia was like a shot in the arm that drove away all the annoyance that had just arisen, and was replaced by a strong desire for revenge!

Chu Ying had lost his status as prince, but it was not anyone else's turn to kill him. After all, he was his biological son. And Anfeiyanggu is his right-hand man, this revenge must be avenged!
Chu Ying and An Feiyanggu died in the hands of the Ming Dynasty navy, and they were the ones who had the most artillery and were the most skilled in using artillery in the Ming Dynasty. It is said that most of the artillery used by the Ming Emperor in the capital were temporarily dismantled from naval ships.

Nurhaci really doesn’t know where Manila is and what strategic value it has to attack. But it is absolutely true that the Ming Dynasty's navy went out to Southeast Asia thousands of miles away, and each trip was measured in months.

Without this strong army to guard him, the Ming Emperor only had 30,000 army troops left. It sounds like the number is not small, and it has only been established for less than three years. It is completely different from the Jurchen soldiers and horses who have been trained in riding, shooting and slashing since childhood. They are basically a group of armed farmers who have never experienced any war.

As long as they can find a way to break through the border wall, the Jurchen army will be like no one. Since the son didn't capture the capital, let's see if the father has the ability this time. After gaining the support of all the Jurchen nobles, nearly 100,000 Jurchen elites gradually gathered in Jinzhou from all over Liaodong, and almost the same number of slaves served as auxiliary troops, transporting supplies to the front line non-stop.

At the same time, Nurhachi sent his second son Daishan and old Jiang Fei Yingdong to the Five Khalkha Divisions with a personal letter to meet with the leader of the Chaohua, and used the division of spoils and alliance as bait to persuade him to join the crusade against the Ming Dynasty.

If Chaohua does not agree to send troops to help, the last thing to do is to reach a tacit understanding of borrowing money. If you want to successfully break through the border wall of the Ming Dynasty, there are really not many places to choose from, and most of them need to pass through the territory of the fifth Khalkha tribe.

The result of the secret talks was pretty good. Although Lao Chaohua did not dare to bet on the rise and fall of the whole clan, he still agreed to form a secret alliance through the passage and marry his niece to Daishan to consolidate the relationship between the two parties through marriage.

"Great Khan, Great Belle is back from Shanhaiguan!" Nurhachi, who was taking a nap in the tent in Jinzhou City, was awakened by a soft call from outside the tent.

"Has Daishan come back?" Nurhachi rubbed his eyes, sat up from his fur, and put on a fur coat.

In recent years, as I have grown older, my body has become weaker and weaker. Spring has begun to bloom outside, but my whole body always feels cold. As a result, the Han people were unwilling to live in the existing houses in the city, as they disliked the lack of warmth provided by large felt tents.

"It's Da Beile who has returned from Shanhaiguan and is waiting in the front yard." The felt door was lifted from the outside, and Bagala, who was guarding the tent, repeated it again.

"Let him come, and ask all the flag lords in the city, Baylor, to come with him." After confirming that his second son was back, Nurhaci rubbed his face and tried to cheer up.

When Hetuala became emperor and founded the country, the original four flags of yellow, white, red and blue were no longer enough, so the four flags of bordered yellow, bordered white, bordered red and bordered blue were added, forming eight banners, each led by a flag leader.

Each banner is composed of several Niulu. One Niulu usually has about 300 people (in fact, it is more or less accurate). The Niulu is called Zuoling in Chinese and is responsible for the household registration, taxation, litigation, etc. of the banner. Military training, etc., almost everything.

In peacetime, Niulu is the most basic production and living unit for farming, gathering, hunting, and herding. In wartime, Niulu has become a military unit, sending out troops, grain, grass, and equipment, led by Niulu Ezhen. Go to the front line.

Five Niulu form a Jia La, and the leader is called Jia La Ezhen, which is translated into Chinese as Shen Ling. Five Jia La form a Gushan, and the leader is called Gushan Ezhen, which is called Dutong in Chinese.

In fact, Gushan'ezhen literally means the flag owner in Chinese, but it is really not the flag owner. The captain is only responsible for the daily production and life, household registration, and training within the banner. The real military commander is Baylor, the banner leader.

(End of this chapter)