Jingnan Strategy

Chapter 156
"Drive! Drive!"

April [-]th, early morning...

While thirty thousand guardsmen were guarding the city gate as usual, the sound of horse hooves suddenly sounded in the distance.

Before the soldiers at the city gate could react, more than a dozen cavalrymen on war horses appeared on the horizon, running towards the south.

If they hadn't been holding the banner of the Ming army, the soldiers on duty would have thought they were Hu soldiers from the north heading south to plunder.

But...Hu Bing?
Thinking of these two words, the soldiers guarding the city gate showed sneer on their faces.

Since the Prince of Bohai County stationed himself in Jilin City, the [-] guards have never been harassed by Hu soldiers and wild Jurchens from the north. What's more, this year Sandusi has assembled heavy troops to patrol the border, and the Hu soldiers in the north may have fled.

The soldiers guarding the city gate smiled, and the officials from hundreds of households were also ready to step forward to ask about the visitor.

But before he could get close, the dozen or so cavalrymen rushed over. The leader was known to Baihuguan. He was the son of Zhou Xing, the current chief military officer, and Zhou Ding, Qianhuguan of Shenyang Central Guards.

"Zhou Qian..."

"Order the guards to assemble their troops!"

Before hundreds of officials came to pay their respects, Zhou Xing halted his horse in front of the city gate and shouted orders loudly.

His military order made everyone's expressions freeze, and then they noticed their embarrassment.

The dozen or so riders on them all had two horses, their eyes were all bloodshot, their clothes were stained with mud and water, and they were in an extremely miserable state.

"Hurry up!" Zhou Ding immediately became angry when he saw that everyone was not moving:
"Send an urgent message to Long live and Commander Zhou, Wu Liangha enters Jilin City, and the army is assembled to rush to Jilin City's aid!"

He angrily threw out the token in his hand. It was the token of Zhu Gaoxu's Bohai Palace. It was obvious that Jilin City was really invaded.

"Ah?" Bai Huguan and all the officers and soldiers were shocked by the news, and everyone's minds went blank.

When they reacted, two of them immediately ran towards the city quickly, preparing to tell the commander of the guard the news.

Two other military households in charge of the Tang newspaper quickly picked up the token from the Bohai Palace, then ran all the way to the two military horses at the city gate, got on their horses and galloped away to the south.

Seeing his request for help coming, Zhou Ding also relaxed and almost fell off his horse. Fortunately, the hundreds of officials quickly caught him with their quick hands and eyes.

"Arrange a place for Zhou Qianhu and the brothers to rest!"

Hundreds of officials shouted after them, and then they took the officers and soldiers to the inverted room in the city to rest with Zhou Ding in their arms.

Zhou Ding could relax, but the entire Thirty Thousand Guards became tense.

After the commander of the Thirty Thousand Guards confirmed the authenticity of the news, he also sent Tangqi to provide double protection. At the same time, he ordered the troops and horses of the Thirty Thousand Guards to wait for the military order from the Liaodong Capital Division.

Tangqi ran around, but within half an hour, the whole city learned the news that Jilin City was besieged, and all the soldiers in the city were gathered, waiting to leave the border at any time.

"Go away, go away!"

"Give way to the front!"

"The Hu soldiers invaded Jilin, the merchants all gave way and returned to the post house, and the military households went back to their homes!"

The military is the place where news is conveyed the fastest. On the contrary, the people need the military to respond and announce the news before they can get the news.

When Tang Qi went to Shenyang, the Thirty Thousand Guards began to enter martial law mode.

Following the order from the Guard Office, the entire city of Thirty Thousand Guards entered military control mode, and officers and soldiers began to patrol and spread the news at the same time.

In a post house in the city, Yang Bin, who was drinking tea, heard that Jilin was being invaded by Hu soldiers. He was so frightened that his hands shook and the tea spilled over the table.

"Have invaded Jilin City?" The fat on Yang Bin's face was trembling, and the officials next to him also looked horrified.

Today, they were planning to follow the officers and soldiers of Liaodong Dusi to transport grain to Jilin City, but they didn't expect to learn about the emergency in Jilin City before setting off.

For a moment, several bosses put their eyes on Yang Bin's face. Yang Bin felt the eyes and pretended to be calm:
"Why are you panicking? Your Highness is His Majesty's grandson. The Liaodong Dusi will send troops to aid Jilin City even with all the strength of the Liaodong Dusi."

"What's more, judging from the situation in Jilin City before winter last year, even if some Hu soldiers are capable, it is impossible to break through Jilin City."

"Leave them alone to me. Maybe Jilin City will be relieved from the siege in a few days."

Yang Bin severely punished several uneasy chiefs and made Jilin City impregnable.

But only he knows that Jilin City is indeed impregnable, but Jilin City is now short of food and clothing...

Yang Bin felt extremely miserable in his heart, but he had to pretend to be fierce in appearance. He couldn't help but curse in his heart: "God, thief, do you think you don't see me, Fatty Yang, making money?"

Yang Bin knows better than anyone else that if Jilin City or Zhu Gaoxu really disappears, his wealth and prosperity for more than a year will soon become a thing of the past.

Without Zhu Gaojiu to protect him, the people in Jiangnan who were jealous of him would be able to carve up the fur industry in his hands immediately. The things he helped Zhu Gaoxu buy and sell in the past might become evidence of crime.

Thinking of this, Yang Bin couldn't help but pray in his heart: "Your Highness, Your Highness, you must be safe and sound. My wealth and life are all in your hands..."

Yang Bin is praying, but he is not the only one praying for Zhu Gaoxu.

The Thirty Thousand Guards, Tieling Guards, and Shenyang and other guards who had just learned that Hu soldiers had joined the invaders prayed for Zhu Gaoxu.

You must know that the Ming Dynasty has never had such a thing like the fall of a vassal king. If this thing really happened, the Liaodong Dusi would have to be fucked by Lao Zhu from top to bottom. If a few pieces of evidence were found during the fuck, Then their past petty deeds were enough to kill them a dozen times.

In such an atmosphere, the closer the guard station was to the frontier, the more worried it was about Jilin City.

At dusk, when the news about Tangqi arrived in Shenyang, Shenyang immediately sent people to notify Liaoyang, and at the same time sent Tangqi to Nanjing and Daning respectively.

But when their Tang cavalry rushed out from Shenyang City to deliver the message, a dozen cavalry also rushed towards the horizon in front of Jixi Fort in Jilin City.

"drive!"

"drive!"

On horseback, several Ming army cavalry shook their reins and looked behind them, as if there was something terrible behind them.

They rushed towards the gate of Jixibao, waving in advance and shouting: "Get ready to close the gate!"

"Get ready to close the city gate!"

"Beep--"

Screams, shouts, and wooden whistles sounded one after another, and dozens of Ming army infantry waiting at the city gate immediately got ready.

As the dozen or so cavalry rushed into the fort, the dozen or so infantrymen immediately closed the city gate and bolted it.

"Release the thousand-jin gate!"

The little flag officer who led the brothers out of the corridor shouted to the gate tower of Jixi Fort. The moment he shouted these words, a soldier in the gate tower holding a wooden mallet weighing dozens of kilograms immediately swung his mallet. Down.

With a "bang" sound, the iron gate weighing hundreds of kilograms fell, completely cutting off the enemy's chance to breach the city gate frontally.

"Woooo-"

The horn sounded, and at this moment everyone behind the wall of Jixi Fort stopped what they were doing. Zhu Gaoxu, Lin Su and others who were eating also ate their meals and wiped them clean. They rushed onto the horse path in three steps, and then Climb the arrow tower.

As the sun sets in the west, the dim afterglow of the sun shines on the entire Songhua River and Hadal Ridge.

The sun sets little by little, and the direction it sets is directly in front of Jixi Fort, which is also the only post road leading to Jixi Fort from the outside world.

The sunshine walked up to Jixi Fort little by little. After a quarter of an hour, the sunlight shining on Jixi Fort disappeared.

At the same time, a head began to appear on the horizon ahead, and the sound of horse hooves and the unique humming sound of the Mongols were coming from the front.

"Prepare for battle!!!"

Lin Su turned around and yelled at the foot of the arrow tower. More than [-] soldiers of the Bohai Navy immediately put on their armor with the help of their servants, and walked onto the horse path of the city wall wearing their armor.

Thousands of retinues gathered in six stone forts, waiting to board the city at any time to defend it.

"Woo rumbling..."

The sound of horse hooves became more and more frequent.

Looking into the distance, Zhu Gaoxu, who was on top of the arrow tower, could clearly see a variegated wave crashing towards Jixi Fort.

He put one hand on the handle of the mace, as if he had already known that he would meet the Ulyanha people today, so he put on his armor early.

The strong wind blew, and the Bohai flag on the archery tower rustled. Echoing it, there was also the bear fur on Zhu Gaoxu's shoulders.

The variegated waves were still sweeping in, and the wide river beach in front of Jixi Fort could no longer accommodate them. Some cavalry even waded into the shoals of the Songhua River.

"There are more than ten thousand people..." Lin Su swallowed hard.

Such actions appeared on all the Bohai Navy at this moment.

Too much……

The crowds of people and soldiers and horses are endless, and even though a wide river beach has been opened up in front of Jixi Fort, it still cannot accommodate the continuous influx of Uuliangha cavalry.

The horseshoes are like dull thunder, dull and rumbling, pressing on the hearts of every Bohai navy, like an earth dragon turning over.

At a glance, not only the river beach was occupied, but also the Uliangha people were pouring out of some woods adjacent to the river beach.

They were short and thin, but now this shortness and thinness not only did not make people look down upon at a scale of tens of thousands, but made people feel their ferocity.

Even hundreds of steps apart, the Bohai Navy soldiers on top of the city could feel the opponent's greed to capture Jixi Fort and Jilin City.

"too many people……"

"This...this...this should be tens of thousands..."

"Didn't you say there are only ten thousand..."

For a time, the morale of the Bohai Navy was low, and their morale was suppressed by the Uuliangha people all over the mountains and plains.

In front of them, the Uuliangha people stopped one mile away from Jixi Fort, and the two armies faced each other under the dim sky.

A quarter of an hour later, a man wearing armor and black fur walked out from among the Wuliangha people on a tall horse.

He took a few steps forward and revealed his identity.

With just one glance, Zhu Gaoxu determined his identity.

"Halagu..." He grabbed his mace and squeezed out the name through his teeth.

"It's said to be a stone fortress, but it was built by the southerners like a pass..."

Almost at the same time, Haragu gave his evaluation of Jixi Fort.

His eyes were as sinister as a wolf's, and his gaze kept wandering around the three places of Songhua River, Jixi Fort and Hadaling.

In just a moment, he understood Zhu Gaoxu's arrangement.When many Taiji and chieftains from behind arrived, Haragu raised the whip in his hand and moved along the Songhua River towards Hadaling. At the same time, he uttered comments:

"Relying on the Songhua River, they built a mountain pass and extended up to the Hadal Ridge. As expected, the southerners deployed wooden and stone forts on the mountain."

"Khan, are we going to camp here?"

"Stand back a little. If the southerners have artillery, we will be hit."

Two Taijis stepped forward to express their opinions, but Haragu raised his wrist to signal them not to speak.

Seeing this, the two of them shut their mouths, while Haragu enjoyed the silence and quietly observed the defense line deployed by the Ming army.

“It’s well laid out, but it doesn’t work without enough people.”

"This line is too long and they don't have enough manpower to defend it."

After commenting, Haragu also turned his horse's head and left a sentence: "Camp here."

"Yes..." the two Taiji responded, and then began to order the army to camp here.

Not long after, tens of thousands of Ulyanha people began to dismount and set up camp. Their camp was more like a tent for grazing than a camp.

Tens of thousands of fur tents were set up, with carts seized from unknown sources placed around the middle between Jixi Fort and the camp.

"They don't take us seriously!" Lin Su gritted his teeth. After all, he had been in the north for more than a year and he knew how the Mongols and Jurchens camped.

Due to their sufficient horsepower, the Mongols usually only arrive at the front line in large numbers during battles. When encountering evenly matched opponents, they will retreat twenty miles to camp.

Because the Ming army had many infantry, the distance of forty miles back and forth would take at least four or five hours, or even six or seven hours.

After such a long time, the Mongolians had already rested.

Therefore, Haragu's behavior of not following the routine was undoubtedly a slap in the face of the Bohai Navy.

Lin Su was filled with indignation about this, but Zhu Gaoxu held his hands in front of his chest and did not think there was anything wrong with Haragu's approach.

There are too few soldiers and horses in Jilin City, and Haragu's army is stationed in front of the formation, which can suppress the Bohai Navy's momentum at any time and damage the morale of the Bohai Navy.

Once the morale of the Bohai Navy collapses, Jixi Fort will not be able to hold on for long.

Attacking the city is the bottom priority, and attacking the heart is the top priority. If you understand this meaning, it is not surprising that Haragu was canonized as a general by the Great Khan of the Northern Yuan Dynasty, Yesudier.

"Don't pay attention to them. Tomorrow they should test the strength of the city wall and Hadal Ridge so that the brothers can be prepared."

Faced with Harawu's scheming, Zhu Gaoxu didn't take it seriously. After all, for the scheming to work, everyone must still have a way to survive.

But in Jilin City at the moment, except for Liaodong Dusi's thousand soldiers and horses who were not determined to fight to the death, everyone else had their own wives, children and children living behind them.

They have no retreat, and even scheming will not work, not to mention that the treatment in Jilin City is much better than what they receive outside.

It would be of no benefit to them to follow Haragu.

After taking one last look at the Uliangha army outside the city, Zhu Gaoxu turned around and went down to the archery tower to rest.

For him, this day is probably the only day he can have a good rest in the next few days.

In a similar way, Lin Su also explained to the soldiers and subordinates in the army.

The academy's one thousand Jurchen followers received armor and weapons under Lin Su's arrangement. As a result, Jilin City still had nearly three thousand armored soldiers, while the Uuliangha people outside the city seemed to have few armored soldiers.

People living outside the customs all know the difference between having armor and not having armor, so when they get the armor, they feel a lot more at ease.

It's a pity that even though this is the case, there are still people who can't sleep due to tension and pressure.

That night, the fire inside and outside Jixi Fort was brightly lit, and many people could not sleep.

However, as time passed, no matter how stressed they were, they had to succumb to their body's instinct and slowly fell asleep.

Amid the roar of the river and the roar of the horses, the night passed quickly.

As the sky gradually grew brighter, everyone got up and prepared for the battle that might break out today.

The Bohai navy in the city made fires to cook and prepared water and firewood.

The Uliangha army outside the city cut down trees and supervised the construction of cloud chariots, ladders, Lu Gong chariots, Huihui artillery and other siege equipment.

However, before the two sides fought, Haragu still wanted to capture Jixi Fort and Jilin City at the minimum cost, so he released a Jurchen prisoner to send a message to Zhu Gaoxu.

"General Haragu said that if you are willing to surrender, he can petition the Great Khan to confer you the title of King of Wu, and continue to use Jilin City as your fiefdom. The only condition is that you provide food and grass to the Great Khan every year..."

In the gate tower of Jixi Fort, Zhu Gaoxu was peeling peaches with a knife. A Jurchen servant who had studied in the academy translated for him the words of the Jurchen prisoner in front of him.

He knelt on the ground and explained what Haragu asked him to say one after another, looking at the dull Bohai Navy generals around him with fearful eyes.

In response to Haragu's words, Zhu Gaoxu took a bite of peach meat and asked the prisoner nonchalantly: "Do you still have family members?"

"No more, they are all dead..." At the mention of his family, the prisoner was stunned for a moment, then painfully answered.

"Since I have no family, I will stay in this city." Zhu Gaoxu said, turning to Lin Su and telling him: "Give him a knife and see how many Hu soldiers he can kill."

"Yes!" Lin Su bowed in agreement, not showing much hostility to the prisoner.

After all, these people were once a Jurchen tribe under the protection of the Bohai Navy, but they lost their wives, children, and children because of the stupidity of their leader.

Now that the Bohai Navy is short of men, killing a prisoner will not improve their morale. What's more, this prisoner is a Jurchen. If he is seen by the other 24 Jurchens, it may affect their morale.

"woo woo woo woo……"

Not long after accepting this Jurchen, a horn sounded outside the city.

After observing the movements of the Wuliangha people, a Baihu official at the entrance of the city gate turned around and walked into the building to bow to Zhu Gaoxu:

"Your Highness, the Hu soldiers have begun to attack. They divided into two groups, and one group went to Hadaling."

"Where's the quantity?" Zhu Gaoxu continued to eat the peach without raising his head.

"There are more than a thousand people each. They should be testing our army's arrangements." Baihuguan lowered his head and answered. Zhu Gaoxu also responded after hearing this, and then ordered Lin Su:
"We've almost eaten, now it's time to work."

"My military order is that if any of the Jurchen guards kill one person, they can enter Jilin City and receive equal land."

"Anyone killed by the Bohai Navy will be rewarded with five acres of land and promoted to an official position as appropriate."

"For every officer and soldier from thousands of households in the Shenyang Central Guard who kills one person, he will be rewarded three times in cash!"

"Yes!" After hearing the reward offered by Zhu Gaoxu, everyone returned the gift excitedly.

It is now the Hongwu period. Since the Ming army went out to the fortress many times and beheaded thousands of people at every turn, there was no great reward for beheadings.

The reward of three guan may not seem like much, but in this period when ordinary people only get about [-] guan a year, three guan is enough to do many things.

For the officers and soldiers in Liaodong, they were not interested in the fields in Jilin City, they were more interested in money.

Just killing a few Tatars would cover the family's expenses for a whole year.

For the officers and soldiers in Jilin City, being rewarded with five acres of land is undoubtedly the biggest incentive, especially for the Jurchen followers. As long as they kill three or five people, their whole family can live comfortably in Jilin City.

Jilin City's land equalization policy was no less than a singing serf who had been oppressed by his bosses.

As long as one person is killed, the whole family can get several acres of equal land at the end of the year, not to mention that this equalization of land is not a one-time event, but occurs every year.

"Kill! Kill! Kill!"

Not long after, as the military order was conveyed, the entire Jixi Fort defense line began to shout killing sounds, and everyone felt very motivated.

This situation was also noticed by Halagu in the Uliangha camp, but he did not take it seriously.

According to the information he had, Jilin City only had more than a thousand officers and soldiers, including only two to three thousand men.

Even if the Jurchens fled south to join their ranks, the number would not exceed four or five thousand at most.

Moreover, among this group of people, only the more than 1000 armored soldiers have combat effectiveness. As long as the armored soldiers are used up, the entire defense line will collapse immediately.

With this thought in mind, Haragu calmly waited for the 2000 people sent out to perform meritorious deeds.

He only needs to know how many defenders there are in Hadaling and Jixi Fort, so he can decide where to start.

Thinking of this, he quietly rode on horseback and watched more than a thousand troops of his own marching towards Hadaling and Jixi Fort.

The Hu soldiers who attacked Jixi Fort pushed the cannon to the front line, and then began to put the stones they had just arrived last night on the cannon and smash them down with their mallets.

"boom!"

Fifteen return artillery pieces were fired, and rocks weighing more than ten kilograms were thrown a distance of more than half a mile, and finally hit the cement wall heavily.

The cement wall mixed with cement and gravel was smashed with white marks and dust was flying.

Feeling the slight vibration under his feet, Zhu Gaoxu frowned slightly.

The cement he made was very rough. Even though he had put a thick layer on the city wall and added enough gravel, if the fifteen return artillery bombardments were allowed to bomb indiscriminately, they might really get smashed. open.

"These Hu soldiers actually still master the art of returning artillery..."

Watching the returning artillery fire outside the city, Zhu Gaoxu finally understood why Zhu Yuanzhang and Zhu Di failed to eliminate Bei Yuan in one fell swoop.

Being able to run is second, but the main reason is that the foundation left by the Yuan Dynasty is too strong. All tribes in the grassland have mastered certain Yuan Dynasty technologies. Whether it is sieges, battles, or armor production, they are better than those of the previous tribes such as the Xiongnu, Xianbei, Turks, and Uighurs. Too powerful.

The foundation of Beiyuan supported them through the most difficult Hongwu and Yongle periods, and then ushered in the development period of Renxuan's shrinking and weak development.

In the following Zhengtong years, although three Northern Expeditions were launched to attack the Tatars and Oaras, it was not painful in the end. Not only did they fail to severely damage them, they also contributed a large amount of ordnance and craftsmen to the Tumubao Incident, which made the Mongols It became powerful again, and then left the capital for the rise of Dayan Khan.

But after all, that is the history that happened in the previous life. In this life, the grassland tribes will no longer have a chance to breathe.

As for the moment...

Zhu Gaoxu stretched out his hand to feel the armor on his body. The cold armor provided him with enough sense of security.

"Bring me my armor..."

Zhu Gaoxu turned around and ordered the two guards around him. The two looked at each other in confusion after hearing this, and finally asked cautiously: "Your Highness, do you... want to wear double armor?"

They asked very carefully, but their eyes showed disbelief.

The armor of the Ming army was so heavy that an ordinary person wearing single armor would be exhausted after fighting for a quarter of an hour, let alone double armor.

But facing their disbelief, Zhu Gaoxu looked at the Wuliangha army outside the city: "Of course!"

(End of this chapter)