Brother Zhu Youxiao

Chapter 129

"Woooo~~~"

"Enemy attack!"

clang clang clang-

At three o'clock in the morning on the tenth day of March in the first year of Tianqi, with the melting of spring water, the entire land of Liaodong was completely thawed. Nurhachi, who had been waiting for a long time, finally ordered to send troops!
The Shenyang city gate and the iron bell were continuously sounded, and the horn was blown again and again.

Soon, the [-] white-armed soldiers and the [-] Liao soldiers who were guarding the root of the city wall put on their armor with the help of the auxiliary soldiers, and climbed onto the city wall one after another.

Two thousand auxiliary soldiers began to carry all kinds of gunpowder, stone bombs and other materials for defending the city.

Some defense equipment was also moved to the aisles of the city wall, horse faces and turrets.

A series of cannons were placed on the horse's face, and objects such as mace, yaksha, rolling logs, and rolling stones were all ready.

Not long after, Qin Bangping and others, who were wearing fish-scale armor and a hood, boarded the city wall and stood behind the female wall to look at the distance beyond the moat.

I saw that just four miles away from Yongning Gate in Dongcheng City, there were rows of dark crowds standing there, like one big mountain after another standing there.

This is not tall in stature, but majestic in momentum, intimidating.

They stood there, as indifferent as an ice abyss. The soldiers standing in the front row were wearing cloth face armor. Under the armor, some bloat could be vaguely seen, but the distance was too far to see the details.

At this moment, the suspension bridge over the moat has been hoisted, the four-foot-thick city gate has also been closed, and the thousand-jin gate has been lowered, and Shenyang City has entered a state of alert.

Looking at Shenyang City, Nurhachi on horseback and his sons were silent.

After a long time, between the various troops and horses, heavy shield carts were pushed to the front of the formation.

Immediately afterwards, a series of cumbersome artillery were also brought to the front by the horses.

This is the General Cannon imitated by post-gold craftsmen. However, it is not only heavier than the artillery made by the Ming court, but also has a far lower range than the Ming army artillery, and even the number is extremely rare.

"Daishan, leading the red flag to besiege the north gate."

"Yue Tuo, lead the inlaid blue flag to besiege Ximen."

"Du Du, take the white flag with you to Fengji Fort, and defeat the Ming army that Fengji Fort tried to support."

"Mang Gurtai, you take the Zhenglan Banner to stop the troops of the Wujing Battalion."

"Huang Taiji, take the men with white flags to the south to the Taizi River. If the Zhejiang soldiers from Liaoyang go north, don't confront them head-on, lead them to the north, and I will defeat them on the south bank of the Hun River!"

"Take orders, Great Khan!" Following Nurhachi's order, the large formation retreated to the east one after another, and then retreated a few miles away before dividing up to besiege the city.

As for Du Du, Huang Taiji, and Mang Gurtai, the troops leading the Xiangbai Banner, Zhenglan Banner, and Zhengbai Banner went south.

Unlike in history, perhaps because of the garrison of white soldiers, Nurhachi has been forbearing until now.

Siege is so stupid, especially attacking such an important town as Shenyang.

In the future, the population of Jin will not be able to afford such a loss.

Nurhachi has been the dog of the Ming Dynasty for nearly forty years, and he is very aware of the reasons why Yang Yinglong and others failed.

He couldn't devote his limited elite to the tug-of-war of siege, he had to find a way to lure the Ming army out of the city to fight, or wipe out all the soldiers and horses supporting Shenyang from all over the place.

Especially the Zhejiang soldiers in the south of Liaoning, as long as the Zhejiang soldiers are eaten, the rest will be simple.

Even if Shenyang cannot be captured, as long as Liaoyang and Liaonan are captured, it will be enough to sweep the Liaonan Peninsula.

Thinking of this, Nurhachi looked at Shenyang City in the distance, and at the same time, Qin Bangping on Shenyang City also spoke.

"The old slave wants to besiege Shenyang, maybe he wants to annihilate the reinforcements who came to support us."

"President Qin, why don't you take advantage of the old slave's division of troops and let me lead people to break through, and tell the news to all the troops?" He Shixian was still a little straight-tempered.

Facing his proposal, Qin Bangping shook his head:

"Currently after Xiong Jinglue and Qi Zongbing adjusted the rations, the military rations in Shenyang City were [-] shi, and the Changping warehouse was [-] shi."

"The people in the city were also evacuated to Shenyang and Guangning. There are only more than [-] people left. With the grain stored in the Changping warehouse and the grain merchants in the city, it should be no problem to persist until winter."

"So after delivering the food, I sent a letter to the soldiers and horses of Fengji Fort and Wujing Camp. Once Shenyang is besieged, they don't need to support them, they just need to stick to the stone fort."

"No reinforcements?" You Shigong was stunned for a moment, and before he could think about it, He Shixian patted him and said:

"Shi Gong, don't worry. With the soldiers under my command and the Sichuan soldiers under President Qin, if the old slave dares to attack the city, he will give us money."

He Shixian laughed unconscionably, and subconsciously touched his waist to take a sip of wine, but it was empty.

As for You Shigong, his heart was heavy, and he felt that things would not be that simple.

But Qin Bangping asked someone to take out the map, walked into the tower and spread the map on the table, then pointed to various places in Liaodong and said:
"Shendan Fort, Fengji Fort, Wang Daren Tun, Wujing Camp, Liaoyang, Weining Camp..."

"If you want to break the morale of our army, unless the old slave pulls out all the stone forts except Liaoyang, he can only besiege our army for a long time."

"With Jianlu's strength and food and grass, it can't last until winter at all, but it is not ruled out that the barbaric Beilu will sell cattle and sheep to Jianlu."

Looking at the map, Qin Banghan said: "If the local barbarians sell cattle and sheep, I am afraid that there will be thousands or even tens of thousands of cattle at most."

"If there are more, it will be difficult for them to survive the next winter."

"Thousands of cattle and sheep are also a lot, enough to feed the Jianlu army for a month." Qin Bangping looked at the map and sighed.

The longer the Jianlu can survive, the more dangerous they will be.

With the size of the Liaohe River and the dry season soon to come, Guangning's grain ships would not be able to transport it to Shenyang, and the soldiers and civilians in Shenyang City would have to stick to it.

"Brother! Good news!"

Just when Qin Bangping was worried, he didn't want Qin Minping to lead someone into the tower, and then he took a handwritten letter and said:

"This is a letter sent by someone from Xicheng just now, and it was sent by His Royal Highness Fifth!"

"Let me see!" Hearing this, Qin Bangping quickly took the letter and opened it in front of everyone.

In the letter, Zhu Youjian analyzed the situation, and mentioned the possibility that Nurhachi would surround the spot to fight for aid.

He gave a message, that is to stick to it.

As long as he sticks to the rainy season in July, Zhu Youjian will order Sun Yingyuan to lead the seven guards including Wu Xiang and Teng Xiang to transport grain northward from Tianjin Wei.

At present, Guangning and Liaoyang have each sent a lot of food, and there is no problem for Shenyang to stick to it.

In July, as long as Shenyang City is still there, Xiong Tingbi and Qi Jin will cooperate with Sun Yingyuan's seven guards and horses to march towards Shenyang.

Not only that, but at the end of the letter, Zhu Youjian also talked about replenishing the source of troops.

Man Gui and Sun Yingyuan had already recruited [-] soldiers from Yongping Mansion and Shuntian Mansion, and they would cooperate with Sun Yingyuan to go to Shenyang by land when the water season was high.

"Okay, okay! With this army coming, is there any reason for Lao Nuan not to retreat?"

Qin Bangping laughed happily, which also attracted everyone's curiosity.

Seeing that everyone was curious, he explained everything, and then said:
"From this point of view, as long as I persist until July, then Yongping Mansion will send [-] troops, Shuntian Mansion will send nearly [-] troops, plus Guangning Xiong Jinglue, Liaoyang's General Qi, nearly [-] troops, what do you say? Will the old slave retreat?"

"That's good!" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief when they heard that it would be enough to stay until July.

Keeping it for four months and keeping it for seven months are two different difficulties. Keeping it for four months, the grain in the city does not need to be rationed, and it is completely possible to sell grain in regular warehouses at the usual grain price.

Although the common people are required to pay, this also shows that the matter is not that serious.

But after seven months, the rationing system must be implemented.

Once this approach is implemented, it will be difficult to keep the Liao people in the city from defecting to Jianlu and causing riots in the city.

One means controllable and the other means uncontrollable. Qin Bangping and others know the difference between the two.

Because of this, they breathed a sigh of relief.

But while they breathed a sigh of relief, Nurhachi also kept coming to report, knowing that the Ming army was different from the previous few defenses.

The Hou Jin army outside the city had already set up camp, as if they were going to besiege the city for a long time.

In Khan's tent, Nurhachi sat at the main seat, and other banner owners and Han generals sat below, and there were constant visits to report.

"Reporting to the Great Khan, Li Bingcheng, the defender of Fengji Fort, could not hold out. Du Du Beizi besieged Fengji. Han merchants reported that there were more than [-] soldiers and horses in the fort, and more than [-] artillerymen on the fort, so there was no one to rely on. close."

"Reporting to the Great Khan, Jiang Bi, the general guard of the Wujing camp, led [-] troops to defend the Wujing camp fortress, and did not leave the city."

"Back to the sweat..."

One piece of news was sent back, but it was not good news for Hou Jin.

"Khan Ama and the Ming army seem to be planning to defend to the death and drag us into winter."

Daishan, who had arranged for the siege of the city, had already returned to the camp, so after hearing the information from Tangqi, he immediately told Nurhachi what he was thinking.

Regarding this, Nurhachi nodded slightly, frowning tightly, not knowing what he was thinking.

But at this time, Mang Gurtai, the owner of the Zhenglan Banner, saw that he was silent, so he took the initiative to say:

"Khan Ama, let me try to feint."

"No, our artillery is not as good as that of the Ming army. If you pretend to attack, you will lose your shield chariot. Mang Gurtai, you can't just fight to the death." Nurhachi reprimanded Mang Gurtai very dissatisfied.

The Prince of the Eight Banners, who was very arrogant during the reign of Huang Taiji and Dorgon, shut his mouth like an obedient hunting dog at this moment.

Nurhachi's majesty is deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, and no one dares to challenge him.

But in the current situation, if there is no way to solve it, then Houjin's military operation of dispatching [-] troops and consuming tens of thousands of stone beans and tens of thousands of stone rice can only end in vain.

"Amin!"

"Sweaty..."

Suddenly, Nurhachi thought of something, and suddenly said: "Take the inlaid blue flag and go to Hupiyi, Shendanbao, Baitapu, Zhangyi Station"

"Liu Aita, Li Yongfang, the Han soldiers in your army followed Amin to attack the city, breached Hupiyi, Shendanbao, Baitapu and Zhangyi Station, and drove all the Han people to Shenyang."

"I obey, sweat!" Two tall Han people in the tent suddenly stood up and bowed to Nurhachi.

The two of them are Nurhachi's Han son-in-law and Hou Jin's Han son-in-law. Nurhachi trusts them very much, especially Liu Aita.

Therefore, after he gave the order, Amin immediately ordered the ten Niulu with the inlaid blue flag who went out with the army this time, and led thirty Han soldiers of Niulu to send troops to Hupiyi and other places.

As soon as the nearly [-]-strong team set off, Nurhachi's camp was only left with [-] Niulu troops each from the Zhenghuang Banner and the Xianghuang Banner.

It seems that there are only [-] people, but if He Shixian and the others dare to fight, Nurhachi is sure to keep He Shixian and the others.

But speaking of it, Nurhachi only brought [-] soldiers and horses this time.

It's not that he doesn't attach importance to Shenyang, on the contrary, he attaches great importance to it.

But there is a problem that restricts him from mobilizing other soldiers, that is food and grass...

The current post-Jin Dynasty is completely unable to capture the Liaodong Peninsula, and can gather a large number of soldiers and horses to launch uninterrupted attacks on the Ming Dynasty.

In the Battle of Sarhu, Nurhachi used [-] troops and almost emptied Houjin's family.

According to Jianlu's own records in the "Manchu Old Documents": "April [-]th, Yin Day, Ji Ke, when one hundred thousand soldiers from the Eight Banners went to Nikan." It is not difficult to see that the war potential of the Houjin Dynasty is the highest. Ten thousand.

It's just that after the Battle of Sarhu, Nurhachi failed to attack Shenyang and wasted hundreds of thousands of stones, grain and grass.

With the reclamation in the remnants of the Changbai Mountains and the arable land in Tieling, Kaiyuan, Fushun and other places, Hou Jin simply couldn't pull [-] people to fight.

There is not enough food to eat, so some younger children, as well as the older, old and weak, can only be allowed to cultivate in the rear.

But this also shows in a disguised form that Nurhachi is coming forward with all his strength, vowing to take Shenyang.

Nurhachi sat in his sweat tent, waiting quietly. After a while, he spoke again:

"Ask a few teams of sentry cavalry to investigate and feint in the trenches under Shenyang City, and see if they can lure He Shixian and You Shigong out of the city."

"Take the order!" Hearing the order, Daishan called more than [-] riders from the Xianghuang Banner to go to the city of Shenyang to investigate and feign an attack.

After receiving Daishan's military order, they put on three-layer armor, then rode on the military horses of the native barbarians, rode out from the camp, and approached Shenyang City cautiously.

The defense of Shenyang City is very simple, but it can be called an iron wall.

In the city, artillery, guns, maces, yakshas, ​​rolling logs, and boiling water are all available.

Under the city, the [-]-degree wooden fence that prevents crossing the river protrudes outwards and sharpens. Once someone dares to cross the river by force, these wooden fences can stop them, enough for the artillery to adjust its position and bombard them.

Outside the wooden fence is a moat six to seven feet wide, and outside the moat are trenches, pit spikes, horses, firearms, shield vehicles and other objects.

Outside the city, the outermost periphery is a trench five feet wide and two feet deep, followed by chariots, firearms, wood and stones, and the city defense is solid.

In front of each city gate suspension bridge, there are troops ranging from [-] to [-], and the cannons at the head of the city have long been aimed at the trenches in front of them.

The city defense like an iron wall made Houjin's sentry cavalry frown upon seeing it.

However, just as they were observing, He Shixian, who was waiting for the end of the battle at the city wall, became anxious, and said to Qin Bangping next to him:
"President Qin, let me, Lao He, take three hundred cavalry out of the city, slaughter these sentry cavalry, and buy wine for the brothers in exchange for military pay!"

"No!" Qin Bangping directly refused, then frowned and said:

"Your Highness has already given us instructions on how to defend the city, as long as you follow His Highness's instructions to defend the city, that's enough!"

"Hey!" Upon hearing Qin Bangping's words, He Shixian anxiously hammered the female wall with his hands, and looked at the sixty sentinel riders outside the city, as if he had seen the white moving silver.

He just watched dryly like this, but after a quarter of an hour, the sentry cavalry saw that he could not lure people out of the city, so he left on his own initiative, leaving He Shixian distressed:

"One hundred taels per person, this is six thousand taels of silver..."

"Don't think about it, Lao He, the most important thing right now is to defend the city." You Shigong patted He Shixian on the shoulder, signaling him to stop being awkward.

He Shixian complained verbally, of course he knew that defending the city was the most important thing right now.

So he closed his mouth, and Qin Bangping who was next to him nodded his head when he saw this, thinking that He Shixian was fine when he didn't drink.

"Are there rumors in the city?" Qin Bangping asked You Shigong, and You Shigong said with a long sigh:
"Of course there are. The people in the city don't care about our battle with Jianlu at the moment. It seems that to them, who Shenyang City is is not important."

"They are only concerned about whether the price of food will rise. If there is no accident, if the price of food rises, or if we collect and distribute the food in the whole city, I am afraid they will help Jianlu to attack us."

"Damn! These Liao people are just white-eyed wolves who can't get enough to eat! When they go to the battlefield, they are cowardly, but they are quite arrogant towards their own people!" He Shixian cursed dissatisfiedly.

Not only him, but some Liao generals also looked very ugly, and some felt ashamed.

However, Qin Bangping, who had been exploited by eunuchs on mining taxes, understood it very well. He said to everyone:
"The Liao people don't trust us, it's the fault of Gao Huai's exploitation, and it has nothing to do with the people."

"If it wasn't for the picky Gao Huai who exploited Liaodong, how could the common people would rather turn to the thief than to the imperial court?"

Having said that, Qin Bangping sighed and said:
"Many of you are also Liao generals. You know how much Gao Huai exploited back then. The collapse of Liao Town was the fault of Gao Huai's cholera and Liao Dong."

"That dog eunuch! That means he's dead, otherwise His Highness the Fifth Prince must have killed him to repay the spirit of my brother-in-law!" Qin Minping cursed angrily.

In his eyes, Ma Qiancheng is such a qualified general and brother-in-law.

Asking for an order to fight against the Japanese, Pingbozhou, and breaking the Sangmu Pass, it can be said that he had just started his career, but because of poor reception, he was framed by Qiu Chengyun and imprisoned. Afterwards, he was in prison without treatment and recuperation, and became seriously ill. and die.

On the other hand, the dead eunuch Qiu Chengyun had nothing to do, and finally lived peacefully for a few years before dying of illness.

Therefore, thinking of these eunuchs with cholera, Qin Minping wished he could hack them to death with a knife!

However, no matter how much she said, she was just complaining, so after scolding for a while, Qin Minping shut up.

But it was his attitude that changed the attitude of many Liao generals towards Chuan Bing, Qin Bangping and others.

Among other things, at least they will not think that the Liao people are pure evil like the princes in the court.

Without a cause, how can there be an effect?

If it weren't for Emperor Wanli collecting mining taxes in the wrong way and using the wrong people, the current situation in Liaodong would not be worse than that of the other nine borders, and Nurhachi would not dare to oppose it at all.

But it is useless to say these now, so after a while, Qin Bangping arranged for the generals on duty at night, and then told the other generals to rest.

In this way, the generals dispersed, and the whole army was divided into three squads to patrol the city and the city without interruption.

Qin Bangping and the others have been waiting for Nurhachi and others to attack the city, but for three days in a row, Nurhachi has no plan to attack the city at all, which is considered to have responded to Zhu Youjian's conjecture of "surrounding the spot to fight for aid".

However, this situation was broken on the fourth day.

Accompanied by noisy voices appearing in the sky, Qin Bangping and others were quickly called to the city wall by the generals on duty.

"what happened?"

After the sleepy Qin Bangping came to the city, he took the time to wash his face by mixing the boiling water and cold water from the city.

"Damn! This old servant is indeed a beast!"

There was no response to Qin Bangping's words, and He Shixian, who arrived first, was already cursing.

Immediately afterwards, Qin Minping, Qin Banghan, You Shigong and others came to the top of the city one after another. After wiping his face, Qin Bangping also leaned on the female wall and looked outside the west city.

Seeing the dense crowd coming towards Shenyang at the edge of the sky, it made them nervous for a while.

But when they saw clearly, there was endless anger.

The dense crowd were ordinary people who had been driven away, and those locked in prison cars were generals of the Ming army who had their armor stripped off one by one.

Among them, after being killed in battle, a cross was erected by the prisoner, and people were nailed to wooden stakes with iron nails to show the public.

"Old slave!"

Veins popped up on He Shixian's forehead, he wished he could lead his men and horses to rush out, snatch the corpses of the Ming army back, and kill some real captives along the way.

However, he knew that this was impossible, because with the current scale of tens of thousands of people, it was not like one or two castles being breached.

"Tiger Skin Station, Shendan Fort, Baitapu, and Zhangyi Station are lost!"

Qin Bangping saw the flags planted behind the dead bodies, so his heart sank.

These four places fell, and according to the current size of the people, there are at least [-] people.

What does the old slave want?Do you want to drive away the people to attack the city, or...

"Look! They let the man over!"

Suddenly, Qin Minping yelled, and Qin Bangping also recovered his senses and looked into the distance.

I saw that all the Houjin soldiers and horses withdrew, leaving more than [-] people rushing towards Shenyang City.

"Open the door! Master Jun!"

"Master Jun, open the door! We are not Jianlu, we are the people of Ming Dynasty!"

A group of people rushed to the camp in front of the suspension bridge crying bitterly, their faces covered with snot and tears, and they shouted to open the door in disgrace.

"President Qin! You can't open the door, there's no guarantee that there will be real captives in there." He Shixian persuaded.

"But if you don't open the door, and people from the Metropolitan Procuratorate find out about it, I'm afraid we all..." When You Shigong opened his mouth, everyone fell silent.

There are more than [-] people of Ming Dynasty who do not open the gates in the city. If the censor of the Metropolitan Procuratorate finds out about this kind of thing, all of them will probably be exiled after the war.

Therefore, no one spoke anymore, and everyone looked at Qin Bangping, hoping that he would make up his mind.

At this moment, Qin Banghan walked up to Qin Bangping and whispered:

"Brother, if more than [-] people enter the city, we will not mention whether there are real captives, but the pressure on Chang Pingcang will be too great."

Qin Banghan was worried that the reinforcements in July would not be able to arrive, and the [-] people would have to eat at least [-] to [-] shi of grain in four months.

Qin Bangping knew what Qin Banghan said, but the others were also right.

Whether to open the door or not to open the door is not the best choice. Instead of getting entangled, it is better to...

"Open the door!" Qin Bangping said in a heavy tone.

"General Qin!" He Shixian was anxious, but Qin Bangping said:

"Tell them to take off their hats and line up to enter the city. After entering the city, arrange them in the military camp, away from the gunpowder depot. Each person will have two catties of millet per day."

"This... alas!" He Shixian heaved a long sigh after being tangled, and then sent the order.

Then, under the order, the soldiers in the camp in front of the suspension bridge began to open the camp gates, asking people to take off their hats and enter the city.

During this period, Qin Bangping and others at the top of the city kept watching the outside of the city, for fear that the Houjin army in the distance would rush to kill them.

But it turns out that they were thinking too much. Nurhachi only wanted to drive the people into Shenyang, so as to achieve the purpose of consuming Shenyang.

Right now, he hasn't won Liaodong yet, and he doesn't dare to tear face with the Liao people, let alone create a large-scale massacre.

But if Liaodong is captured, the three million Han people...

"National affairs are difficult..."

Seeing the people below the city crying bitterly, and constantly bowing their hands, expressing their gratitude to his party at the top of the city, Qin Bangping felt very tired.

The opponent he faced this time exhausted him physically and mentally, and he already felt a headache before the battle started.

Right now, he only hopes that he can fight a hearty battle, or that Sun Yingyuan's troops will rush to Shenyang as soon as possible.

He, Qin Bangping, has never fought such an aggrieved battle in his life!
　just update today

　　
　
(End of this chapter)