Ming Empire

Chapter 11 Surprise Attack on Shengjing
A surprise attack on Shengjing, the capital of the Manchu Qing Dynasty --- this was an idea that suddenly came to Cao Yue's mind.

When this idea came up, Cao Yue himself was taken aback, but he immediately resolutely decided on it.

"Since the road back to the pass is cut off, there is no way to escape, and Jiannu is besieging Songshan with all his strength, maybe there is a chance to hit Shengjing. Even if there is no way to surprise Shengjing, and the Ming army almost attacked Shengjing, it is certain It will scare Huang Taiji into a cold sweat, and if possible, he will withdraw his troops from Songshan, and the danger of Ming Dynasty will be relieved." With this thought in mind, Cao Yue immediately made up his mind to lead his army to attack Shengjing for a long distance.

Cao Yue, who has read a lot of books in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties, knows that although the Manchu Qing seems to be powerful today, not only controlling Mongolia, but also defeating the Ming army in every war, they have a fatal shortcoming. It's just that the population of the Jurchens is too small, and their family background is too thin!

When Nurhachi raised his army with the Seven Great Hatreds, the Jurchens in Liaodong only had 10,000+ people. Because of the long years of fighting, the population of the Jurchens grew very slowly.During the reign of Huang Taiji, although a large number of Han Chinese, Mongolians and Koreans were incorporated, and the Eight Banners of Han and Eight Banners of Mongolia appeared, the total population of the Manchu and Qing Dynasties was still small, at most 30 million.

Jian slaves continued to fight abroad, and a large number of males died in the war. Among the population of 30 million, the number of males was at most 10,000+, including underage children, elderly people and those who were injured and unable to fight. The number of adult Jurchen men on the battlefield was only 7 to [-] at most, and with the addition of the Eight Banners of the Han Dynasty and the Eight Banners of Mongolia, the total number of troops was only in the early [-]s.

Building slaves will not allow the Eight Banners of Mongolia and Eight Banners of Han to exceed the Eight Banners of Jurchen, otherwise the situation will be out of control.

Due to the fatal shortcoming of a small population, when Jiannu fought the decisive battle with the Ming army, he went out with all his strength.In the Battle of Songshan, the first battle of Jiannu was unfavorable, and Huang Taiji was forced to order to recruit all the males of the "Great Qing Kingdom" who were over ten years old and under 60 years old to join the army.Cao Yue believed that the Manchu and Qing troops with combat effectiveness were already on the front line of Songshan, and there were not many elite soldiers left behind in Shengjing. Most of them were probably old people and children with low combat effectiveness, and the number of them was only a few thousand at most.

If the situation is really as expected, then leading an army to surprise Shengjing may achieve unexpected results.

The road back to the customs was blocked, and Songshan was still surrounded by the Qing army. There were not many options for escaping Songshan by chance, but to take a risk.

After hearing the decision announced by Cao Yue, the main leaders under his command couldn't help but gasped.

Cao Yue fought bravely and made many military exploits at a young age. This is obvious to all, but no one could have imagined that after Cao Yue came out of the encirclement of the Qing army, he did not expect to escape back to the pass. Surprise attack on Shengjing.

What a risky decision! They only have a thousand men and horses. Shengjing is the capital of Jiannu. It must be guarded by heavy soldiers and red-clothed cannons. They have more than 1000 riders. Maybe it is not enough for Jiannu. .

Seeing everyone's astonishment, Cao Yue immediately expressed his analysis, and finally said: "Everyone, Jiannu gathered all the troops to besiege Songshan, and the rear must be empty. Jiannu never thought that my Ming army would sneak attack Shengjing, there must be no precautions. Maybe we can succeed and make great achievements. Everyone, Shengjing is the capital of Jiannu. There are countless rare treasures and the most beautiful Jiannu women there. If we Breaking through Shengjing, all of this is at our discretion."

After telling these very big temptations, Cao Yue paused, and then said: "Everyone, you are all warriors who followed this general and this general's father from birth to death. For so many years, you have lived on the battlefield with your heads up. , My father has already sacrificed his life for the country. He died heroically. He is a bloody man. We can't shame him. If it is a man, follow this general and go to Shengjing to burn, kill and loot. .We let Jiannu also taste what it's like to have his wife and children humiliated, his relatives killed, and his home burned."

Cao Yue's words immediately aroused the pride of many people, but there were still a few who hesitated.

Without waiting for anyone to question him, Cao Jie, the leader of the Jia Ding army and Qian Zong, stood up and said loudly: "Since the general has made a decision, the humble rank must be respected. The general just commanded the brothers to achieve a great victory and rushed out of the encirclement of Jiannu , The humble ranks respect the general very much, no matter what, we are willing to follow the general, even if it is going up the mountain of swords or down into the sea of ​​fire, we will not hesitate."

"Mr. Cao Qian is right. We went to Jiannu's camp just now, and we have already beaten Jiannu to shame. Their combat power is no more than that," said another of Cao Yue's capable men, the deputy leader of the Jiading army. Cao Neng waved his saber and said excitedly: "General, I will follow you to Shengjing to burn, kill and loot, and let them taste the strength of our Ming elite."

Then several generals of the Jia Ding army, Cao San, Cao Qian, and Wu Xin also stood up and said that they would obey Cao Yue's latest arrangement.

Seeing what Cao Yue's most trusted subordinate said, Zhao Liang, who was still worried in his heart, didn't dare to say anything: "The humble officer obeys the general's order, and must follow the general to fight the enemy to the death, even if he loses his life, he will not hesitate. "

"Okay!" Cao Yue was very satisfied when everyone said so, "Then our troops will go out day and night and attack Shengjing by surprise."

Everyone also made preparations immediately, and Cao Yue left his most confidant general Cao Jie alone.

"Third young master, although the number of slaves staying in Shengjing will not be very large, they are not so easy to break through. I think we must make a good plan and come up with a comprehensive plan." Without others, Cao Jie also directly stated his point of view.

"That's right. We must make a good plan. When you tell us to go on, we must not let Jiannu know our whereabouts. If we meet anyone on the way, we must not stay. If we are not arrested before arriving in Shengjing I found out that our plan was half successful, "Cao Yue had a general idea of ​​how to raid Shengjing, but because he didn't know the specific situation of Shengjing, Cao Yue couldn't make a decision on how to attack Shengjing. , "Also, if we arrive at Shengjing safely, we must find a way to investigate Shengjing's city defense situation. After all the situation is clarified, we will discuss how to attack."

"Yes, young master, the little one understands, so the little one will make preparations."

Cao Jie, who has followed Cao Wenzhao for many years, is loyal to the Cao family, and he is quite intelligent, and has won the trust of Cao Wenzhao and Cao Yue. This is why Cao Yue asked Cao Jie to lead the family troops.

Cao Yue also knew Cao Jie's abilities, and with Cao Jie around, he was much less worried.

After motivating Mr. Qian and the general manager, Cao Yue called all the soldiers together, announced his decision, and said some encouraging words.Most of the more than 1000 sergeants are Cao Yue's family troops, and they all obey Cao Yue's orders. Wherever Cao Yue takes them, they will follow.The other [-] sergeants were also dead soldiers left by Cao Wenzhao, and their loyalty was no worse than that of the family troops.A few simple words of encouragement aroused the man's blood.

Most of the troops were resting in the valley, replenishing food and drinking water, and the general Cao Qian of the servants sent out with a few of the most agile soldiers to inquire about the situation.At noon, Cao Qian came back to report that there was no one in a radius of dozens of miles.

After listening to Cao Qian's report, Cao Yue thought about it and immediately decided to set off now before it got dark.

In fact, Cao Yue's worries were superfluous. At this time, due to the bloody massacre of the Manchu slaves, Liaodong had already become a white land, and there were no human settlements for hundreds of miles. As long as you don't follow the official path, you will hardly meet people .

In the 14th year of Chongzhen, there was a severe drought in the whole country of Ming Dynasty, and the rivers in many places stopped flowing.

From the outskirts of Songshan, across the Daling River, and then to the Liaohe River, it took several hundred miles to travel in three days, but there was not a single inhabited village along the way.There are ruins and ruins everywhere, traces of being burned can be seen everywhere, and some originally prosperous cities have become ruins.These are the achievements of Jiannu in the Qing Dynasty. In the wilderness, numerous bones can be seen everywhere silently telling the brutal crimes of Jiannu.

There used to be 300 to 300 million Han people living in Liaodong, but now, there are basically no human settlements. Except for some of the two 30 million Han people who fled back to the customs and a small number became slaves of the Manchus, the rest were killed by Jiannu.In terms of cruelty, the Japanese who caused the tragedy of [-] innocent souls in Nanjing in later generations are far from comparable to the Jiannu before entering the customs.Not to mention that after the Manchus entered the customs, there were countless appalling massacres, such as the Three Massacres in Jiading, the Ten Massacres in Yangzhou, etc., and tens of millions of Han people died tragically under the sword of Jiannu.

The ridiculous thing is that in the era before Cao Yue traveled, you can see the praises of the Manchu everywhere. On the silver screen, the love of Elder Brother, Baylor, and Gege is loved by many people. As the noble dress of women in that era, it was regarded as the national dress and national soul.The bloodless Chinese seem to have forgotten their hatred for the Japanese who also committed crimes.

"If you meet Jiannu, regardless of men, women, old or young, you will be killed without mercy," Cao Yue, who was completely enraged after seeing too many tragic scenes, issued a new order viciously. "Blood debt must be paid with blood, kill all Jiannu, remember: no one, Han Daochang."

He didn't expect that the decision he made out of excitement would have such a far-reaching impact.

It was not until he crossed the Liao River and traveled several tens of miles to the northeast that Cao Yue saw the cooking smoke for the first time.Based on the estimation of Cao Yue's position in comparison with the Liaohe River, this place is only a hundred miles away from Shengjing, which is the location of Shenyang in later generations.The Manchu Qing occupied Liaodong and turned Liaodong into a barren land. Cao Yue estimated that the people living in places with smoke from cooking houses would not be Han people, but probably Jiannu.

Cao Yue didn't take any risks, he took all the horses to a nearby valley to hide, and then ordered Cao Qian to take people to scout the situation.

About an hour later, Cao Qian came back to report that the people living in this village were mainly Manchurians, and some were Han Chinese.These Han people were slaves who were forcibly taken over by the Jiannu Banner people. Now the Jiannu are not engaged in production, and the slaves are responsible for all the rough and heavy work.

"Wait until after dark and kill all Jiannu," Cao Yue gave the order viciously, and then added, "It's best to leave a few alive to inquire about the situation. Put them in custody, ask about the situation and then deal with it.”

"Yes, General," his subordinates Mr. Qian and Mr. Ba agreed, and immediately started to make preparations.

(End of this chapter)