Chongzhen revived the Ming Dynasty

When Hong Chengchou set out, the Dongjiang leader had already started fighting with the Jianlu.

Although Hong Chengchou was prepared for the loss of Dongjiang Territory, he also instructed Dongjiang Territory to preserve its strength first.

However, in order to protect the harvest, the soldiers of Dongjiang put up a fierce resistance. After several months of training, they had a profound understanding of the principle of defending their country and realized that if they could not stop the Jianlu, the crops that were about to mature would be taken away.

With the assistance of Zheng Fengshou and other Korean volunteers, they defended Longgu Mountain City and forced the Jianlu to bypass the city.

Also because of the existence of Longgushan City, Jianlu had to allocate troops to guard this city before they could continue to move towards Tieshan and Xuanchuan.

Because he was in a hurry, after giving up on capturing Longgu Mountain City, Amin did not go to capture Tieshan, which was closer to Pi Island. Instead, he bypassed this place and went directly to Xuanchuan, hoping to go directly south to Dingzhou like last time.

But after arriving in Xuanchuan, they encountered Yang Yufan's stubborn resistance and saw the real elite of the Ming Dynasty.

As the son of Yang Zhaoji, the governor of three provinces, Yang Yufan had a family background in military studies and was well versed in various tactics. After receiving the transfer order from Hong Chengchou, he immediately began to renovate Xuanchuan City and prepared many traps according to Chen Zizhuang's instructions. He defended Xuanchuan so well that the Jianlu could not capture it despite a day's hard attack.

Under his command were only Amin and Hauge, who were from the Bordered Blue Banner and Bordered Yellow Banner, and they felt that their forces were insufficient. The soldiers they led barely reached 10,000, and another 1,000 were assigned to guard Yizhou and 1,000 to guard Longgu Mountain City. How could the remaining forces easily capture Xuanchuan City, which was guarded by tens of thousands of Ming troops?
And just at this time, news came from the rear that the Ming army had mobilized in large numbers to build a city in Gaizhou.

This caused a dispute within the Jianlu, and Hauge again requested to return to Liaodong to quell the rebellion:
"You said Mao Wenlong was harassing us in the rear, but this Ming army is already trying to build a city in Gaizhou."

"If we build a city like Xuanchuan, how many troops will we need to capture it?"

Amin was unmoved and said:

"Even if Gaizhou City is built, it will be easy for us to capture it."

"We were able to attack and destroy it before, but there will be a next time."

"But this may be our only chance to break through North Korea. North Korea's defense will become more and more perfect in the future."

Hauge also had the same feeling, that is, North Korea’s city defense technology and will to defend the city have improved compared to the last time.

More than a month ago, they could easily capture Longchuan, Tieshan and other cities, but more than a month later, they failed to capture even a single city.

Although the people in the city dared not come out, they only needed to send soldiers to guard the city. But if they kept dividing their troops like this, how could they reach Seoul?

Facing Amin's proposal to continue to divide the troops to guard and go south to Dingzhou, Haoge said:
"I will follow your instructions on how to divide our forces, but Dingzhou City must be captured."

"Otherwise, if we continue to divide our forces, both you and I will be in danger."

Amin nodded slowly, knowing the danger of continuing to divide the troops.

After three consecutive divisions, their troops had already numbered 3,000.

If his army was held up on the front line by the Ming and Korean troops, these 3,000 people might be eaten by the defenders in the city who ventured out.

So he made up his mind to capture Dingzhou.

However, Dingzhou City is the largest city north of the Qingchuan River and the current capital of Dongjiang Territory. How could he easily capture it?
Under the active defense of Dongjiang Town officers and soldiers including Chen Zizhuang and Chen Youshi, Amin and Hauge's surprise attack once again failed.

Amin was anxious and tried every possible means, including distributing the "Letter to the King of Korea" like last time.

It listed many crimes of the Korean royal court, such as sending troops to help the Ming in the Battle of Sarhu and harboring Mao Wenlong to set up garrison in Pi Island, etc., explaining that the troops were only sent to target the Ming army and reduce the hostility of the Korean military and civilians towards themselves.

They even planned to instigate infighting between North Korean soldiers and Dongjiang soldiers in order to achieve a quick victory.

However, the Korean military and civilians, who had experienced the Dingmao Rebellion, no longer had any trust in the Jianlu.

Especially after Mao Wenlong was enfeoffed here, he relocated the remaining Korean people on a large scale to the mountainous plains in the east or outside the Dongjiang Territory.

Most of the Korean people who remained in Dingzhou were willing to accept the rule of Dongjiang Ling, and they had a deep hatred for the Jianlu.

Not to mention the Dongjiang military and civilians, they were still thinking about defeating the Jianlu and taking the grain back.

If it weren't for Chen Zizhuang's strong pressure, they would even dare to go out of the city to fight -

For these people who have regained their land, anyone who dares to seize their land will be their mortal enemy.

This is also the reason why Amin and Hauge encountered increasingly stronger resistance along the way.

As the seeds sown in spring are about to be harvested, the will of the Dongjiang army and civilians to fight against the Jian invaders becomes more and more determined.

Amin didn't know where this change came from, but he became more and more anxious after he noticed the North Korean people's resistance to him.

Because this time he sent troops not to punish Korea as Huang Taiji ordered, but to capture Seoul and seize the throne to establish himself.

However, the resistance of the Korean people made him feel vaguely that this was a delusion, and the Koreans would never submit to him, a Jurchen.

Amin was angry and pointed his whip towards the south of Dingzhou and shouted:

"The Cheongcheon River is just ahead!"

"We will cross the Cheongcheon River and fight our way to Anzhou."

"We massacred everyone in Anzhou last time, and we will definitely be able to take it down this time."

He was about to lead his troops across the river and continue marching southward.

But Hauge was no longer willing to accompany him southward, and shouted:

"Are you going crazy?"

"If we fail to capture a city, we will head south to Anzhou."

“What if they block the Cheongcheon River and we can’t come back?”

This was his biggest concern and the reason why he had said before that Dingzhou must be captured.

Otherwise, they might be blocked when they return after crossing the Cheongcheon River, and all the troops left behind in the north would be in danger. Amin also knew this, but he arrogantly believed that he could capture Anzhou.

The last time he attacked Korea, it took him only a few hours to capture Anzhou, which had a garrison of 20,000 troops, and he then massacred people in the city for four days.

He believed that the city of Anzhou would remember his reputation, and as long as he led his troops there, he would be able to capture it.

However, Hauge was unwilling to go crazy with him. He led his troops of the Bordered Yellow Banner and headed back directly.

Amin's anger rose, and he shouted:

"I am going to war on the orders of the Khan. Are you going to disobey?"

Hauge was not afraid of him and shouted loudly:
"The Khan wants us to drive out Mao Wenlong and teach North Korea a lesson."

"But what are you doing? You only want to take over North Korea!"

He directly pointed out the little thoughts that Amin had in mind.

Amin was furious and denied the matter in shame.

But Hauge asked him to go back, but he was unwilling to do so.

Seeing that the two men were about to stalemate here, their generals came over to persuade them.

Many people think that no matter what, they should grab the grain that is about to be harvested first.

And the previous plan was the same, which was to take advantage of the autumn harvest to force the Dongjiang soldiers hiding in the city and the mountains to come out.

They would be able to easily slaughter these people in a field battle.

Under their persuasion, Amin also believed that food and grass were important, so he restrained his anger and ordered his soldiers to capture slaves and rush to harvest food.

When Hong Chengchou led his troops to Pyongyang, he heard the news.

This made him breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that he had arrived in time.

Otherwise, he really had no confidence whether he could defend Anzhou.

As a city south of the Cheongcheon River, Anzhou did not belong to the Dongjiang Territory and was only guarded by Korean soldiers.

Hong Chengchou really didn't dare to have too high expectations on the combat effectiveness of these Korean soldiers.

Last time, it was them who were easily captured by the Jianlu despite their strong resistance.

If the Jianlu attack this time, they might be able to easily capture Anzhou City.

Once Anzhou City was captured, the Jianlu would not only be able to obtain food and fodder supplies, but would also be able to use the Korean people in the city as cannon fodder.

In that case, all the cities south of Anzhou would be in danger, and even Pyongyang might not be able to be defended.

This made him feel fortunate that the Jianlu did not know the difference between Dongjiang Territory and other places.

The Korean land south of the Cheongchon River was not completely fortified like the Donggang Territory. After crossing the Cheongchon River, the Jianlu could easily obtain supplies and capture civilians as cannon fodder.

Fearing that the Jianlu would notice this, Hong Chengchou immediately sent Liu Xingzuo to lead 300 Jurchens, 300 new troops and 3,000 Korean soldiers to Anzhou City. As the commander-in-chief, he ordered the Korean officers and soldiers in Anzhou City to obey Liu Xingzuo's command.

Cui Nanyi and Xu Litie are in this team.

Cui Nanyi was eager to make a contribution and free his family from the status of pariahs.

Xu Litie wanted more for revenge and requested to go to the front line many times.

After arriving near his hometown, his parents, wife and children appeared in his dream again.

This made him unable to concentrate on working in the rear, and he wanted to go to the front line to fight the Jianlu.

Cao Bianjiao could not resist his request and sent him into the team. His main job was still to repair firearms for the new army, and he was forbidden to fight in the battlefield.

Xu Litie felt deeply sorry for this, and often practiced shooting with Cui Nanyi in private under the pretext of testing the gun.

That day, after the two finished their training again, Cui Nanyi suddenly said to Xu Litie:
"Our sniper team is about to cross the river and fight on the north side of the Cheongcheon River."

"The Jianlu there have already started to rob food, and they need our support."

This was a new situation that occurred after the Jianlu stayed north of the Cheongcheon River. With the arrival of September, the crops in Dongjiang Territory had begun to mature, and the Jianlu began to rush to harvest the grain.

The Dongjiang soldiers and civilians in the city became increasingly impatient, and people kept asking to leave the city. Chen Zizhuang and Chen Shishi could not stand the pressure and had to send them out to collect food.

These small groups of soldiers and horses often encountered small groups of cavalry from the Jianlu.

Motivated by the desire to protect their harvest, the Dongjiang soldiers had both wins and losses in their battles with the Jianlu.

The musketeers who participated in the battle also concluded that firing arrow-shaped bullets at long distances was the most useful.

Therefore, the sniper team that is good at using arrow-shaped bullets was sent to provide support first.

Cui Nanyi was somewhat excited about the possibility of fighting against Jianlu so soon.

In particular, their sniper team was best suited for small-scale combat, which made him smell an opportunity to make a contribution.

Even without fire guns, he was confident that he could fight the Jianlu with bows and arrows. With fire guns and arrow-shaped bullets, he would have an even greater advantage.

He must kill more Jianlu and make meritorious deeds so that all members of his family can obtain Ming citizenship. (End of this chapter)