Chapter 16 7. Defeat each one, Saarhu wins

After Nurhachi led the Manchu army to capture Fushun and Qinghe, in the first month of the forty-seventh year of Wanli, he personally led the army to conquer Yehe and took down more than 20 large and small villages.Ye He has always been the most supportive of Ming Ting, so he immediately reported the news.The Ming court originally heard that Fushun and Qinghe had fallen, and had sent Yang Gao, the left servant of the Ministry of War, as the strategy of Liaodong, and employed Du Song, the general soldier of Shanhaiguan, and general Li Rubai, etc. to attack Nurhachi.Now that he received a report from Ye He, he couldn't hold back and urged Yang Gao and others to march in. They also mobilized troops from Fujian, Zhejiang, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Gansu and other provinces to gather in Liaoyang, hoping to wipe out Nurhachi in Liaoyang with heavy troops. Hetuala, restore the shame of defeat.

Yang Gao lived in Shenyang, and ordered the generals to attack in four ways: the left-wing north road, the commander-in-chief Ma Lin, went out of Jing'an Castle from Kaiyuan to attack the north; , Li Rubo, the general soldier, attacked the south from Qinghe and Yahuguan; Liu Ting, the general soldier, came out of Liangma Dian from Kuandian to attack the southeast of the right-wing south road.More than 88,000 soldiers of the Fourth Route Army (known as 470,000) marched straight forward, with an irresistible momentum.Among them, the commander-in-chief Jun Song is a person who underestimates the enemy. He does not listen to the advice of civil servants, and he fights with the courage of a reckless man.He led 30,000 people out of Fushun Pass and stationed his camp on Mount Saerhu, while he himself led 10,000 people to attack Jiefan Mountain.

On Jiefan Mountain, there were already 400 post-golden cavalry and 15,000 men who built the city.The two armies fought at Jilin Cliff, and the Ming army besieged on all sides, but failed.At this time, the army led by Nurhachi went straight to Juniper and came all the way to the Ming army. When Nurhachi learned that the Ming army was attacking in four directions, he immediately adopted Li Yongfang's suggestion of "you come all the way, I will only go all the way", and gathered all the main force of the Eight Banners, more than 60,000 people, in the direction of the Ming army in Juniper .

Nurhachi arrived at Jiefan Mountain and stopped his troops.He looked up the mountain, and he could clearly hear the fighting sounds of Jiefan Mountain defenders and Ming troops.He turned back to Daishan and Huang Taiji and said: "The Ming army is now fighting with the defenders of Fanshan Mountain in our realm. You two lead 15,000 troops to support and try to wipe out the Ming army in the shortest possible time. " Dai Shan and Huang Taiji received military orders and led the troops into Jiefan Mountain. Nurhachi immediately led the remaining 45,000 people and rushed towards the Sarhu camp in a mighty manner.

What Juniper took away was some elite soldiers who were good at fighting. At this time, the Ming army staying in Sarhu relied on guns, cannons and other firearms for defense, and the generals followed Juniper to attack Jiefan Mountain. Army Zhang Quan and some side generals and last generals. It was almost evening, and a large cloud of dark clouds rushed over from the horizon, so dim that it was almost invisible from a short distance away.Zhang Quan hastily called all the soldiers together and ordered them to light torches to guard the mountain to face the enemy.Nurhachi was overjoyed, and ordered all the soldiers to advance quietly, avoiding firearms through the willow forest, and approached the Ming army.Pitiful for those Ming soldiers holding torches and guarding guns, they were raided and wiped out by the Manchu army before they could react.This battle was fought very quickly, and the camp of Salhu Mountain was taken down.

Nurhachi didn't stop, and quickly joined forces and returned to Jilin Cliff for assistance. Jun Jun was fighting fiercely with Houjin cavalrymen and husbands on the mountainside of Jilin Ya, and Dai Shan and Huang Taiji, who had crossed the Hun River and came up the mountain to kill, also rushed over and rushed to Jun Jun's rear, forming a pincer attack trend.Juniper turned pale with shock, seeing that he was completely trapped on the mountainside, with troops all over the front and back, and cliffs and walls on the left and right, but there was no empty road to withdraw his troops, he couldn't help feeling sad.

"Sarhu has been breached, you should surrender!" Suddenly someone shouted from the foot of the mountain.After the shout, Nurhachi led the Six Banners army and rushed over in a murderous manner. After receiving the report of the defeat of the battalion and seeing the three forces of the Manchu army gathered together, the soldiers of the Ming army couldn't help but lose their spirits.Juniper took off his battle armor, shirtless and shouted to the soldiers behind him, "Get out!" Before he had gone far, he was shot by an arrow from one of Daishan's generals. neck, died instantly.Juniper, Wang Xuan, Zhao Menglin and other generals were all killed in battle, and the remaining soldiers were littered with corpses and blood flowed like rivers.Only a small number of Ming troops escaped from the encirclement and ran for twenty miles. When it was dark when they reached Shuqin Mountain, they stopped.

On the second day after the left-wing center of the Ming army was settled, Nurhachi immediately launched an attack all the way to Kaiyuan Marin.Seeing Juniper's defeat, Marin hurriedly switched from offense to defense, forming a "bull head formation".Marin personally led the army to station on the edge of the cliff, relying on the mountain to form a square formation, and ordered the soldiers to dig three layers of trenches, lined up cavalry outside the trenches, deployed guns around the cavalry, and deployed elite soldiers inside the trenches; Pan Zongyan camped in Feifen Mountain, and Gong Niansui, the back of Juniper, camped in Wohui'e. The two camps were several miles apart and formed a horn shape.Marin loves poetry and is good at reciting poems and fighting against each other, but he is very mediocre in fighting and using tactics on the battlefield.He thought that the "Bull Head Formation" could not only rescue each other, but also stop the offensive of the Manchu cavalry with chariots and trenches, and subdue the bows and arrows of the Manchu army with guns and rockets.However, he defended passively, dispersed his troops, and formed a situation of being passively beaten, which provided Nurhachi with an opportunity.

Although Nurhachi had three times more troops than the enemy, he did not divide his troops to besiege the three battalions of the Ming army.Participating general Gong Niansui and the cavalry led by elite soldiers, under the cover of guns, carried out a tight defense.When Nurhachi attacked Gong Niansui camp, he did not surround it on all sides. Instead, he personally led a thousand fine cavalry, rushed towards the weakest defense side, attacked in, overturned the chariot, and broke through a gap.The Eight Banners soldiers poured into Gong Niansui camp from the gap like a flood, and the cavalry rushed forward step by step, stepping on the dead and the living, clashing, chopping, galloping, and trampling.Gong Nian was defeated.After Nurhachi's victory in Wohui'e, he hurriedly turned his troops to Shangjianya.

The Marin Battalion at Shangjianya was heavily defended, and Nurhachi decided to take advantage of the mountain and rush down to the enemy.When he saw that the forces inside the Marin camp were meeting with those outside the trench, he immediately ordered: "Stop attacking up the mountain, and all cavalry dismount to meet the enemy." He sent two Baylors to lead the troops and began to rush into the Marin camp.Seeing that the full army was attacking, the Ming army began to fire shotguns and cannons, but their weapons had not been used much, and the full army had arrived, and the Ming army was in chaos.The two armies began to fight hand-to-hand with short soldiers, and a large number of cavalry fell.Many of the Manchu soldiers were wounded. General Yang Guli was wounded on his arm. He tore off his clothes to wrap up the wound, and then led more than 100 troops to attack Marin.Marin, who was fighting fiercely, was terrified and hurriedly led his soldiers and horses to retreat first.

After Marin withdrew most of his troops, Lieutenant General Mayan was immediately killed by the Manchu army, a few escaped, and the rest of the army was wiped out. After Nurhachi captured the Marin camp, he immediately led his army towards the Pan Zongyan camp in Feifen Mountain without stopping. Feifen Mountain Pan Zongyan camped on the mountain, and lined up many chariots in front of the formation for defense, and cooperated with firearms and warlords to hold fast inside.Nurhachi ordered the Eight Banners troops to order half of the heavy armored troops to hold knives and guns in front, and the light armored soldiers and archers to follow behind; then he ordered the other half of the troops to surround Feifen Mountain and let the infantry rush forward desperately. Pan Zongyan shouted: "The whole army gives me courage to fight! We are condescending and are good at distributing firearms. It is not difficult to defeat the Manchu army!" The Manchu army who rushed up really suffered countless casualties, but the latter was still extremely brave and rushed towards the mountain. .Seeing that Pan Zongyan couldn't hold on, almost all the Eight Banners army overwhelmed him.The two armies fought, circled, fought, and fought hand-to-hand. Artillery greeted infantry, cavalry rushed artillery; the battlefield was winding and turbulent, and flesh and blood flew everywhere.Marin's other horn was also cut off, and Pan Zongyan's battalion was finally defeated. At this time, Ye He led his troops to support, and after hearing the news that the Ming army was defeated, they rushed back to the camp. In fact, before that, someone persuaded Yang Gao that Ma Lin was a reckless man who never listened to the suggestions of civil servants, and hoped that the Ming army could replace other generals with this important task.Yang Gao refused to listen, and Marin was finally defeated. After Nurhaci defeated the Jun Song Army on Fushun Road and the Malin Army on Kaiyuan Road, he immediately received news from scouts that Liu Ting, the commander-in-chief of the Ming Army, had marched from Kuandian to Dong'e Road, and Li Rubai, the commander-in-chief, had also entered Huzhan Road from Qinghe.Nurhachi first arranged the next pre-war measures, and then ordered an army to march south to defend Li Rubai's army on Qinghe Road.He personally led the main force to march eastward, and set up an ambush on the road that the Ming army must pass, waiting for the arrival of Liu Ting's army. Liu Ting was a brave general who was as famous as Juniper in the Ming Dynasty. After he was ordered to leave Kuandian, the weather suddenly changed, and the soldiers were blinded by the wind. Although the valley was not far away, it seemed far away. The soldiers' equipment and weapons were not perfect, they didn't have heavy weapons such as cannons and muskets, and because of the unfamiliar terrain, they encountered the problem of insufficient food and grass, so they didn't arrive at Hunhe River until three days later, which was still 60 miles away from Maoniu Village.At this time, Liu Ting didn't even know the news of Juniper and Marin's defeat.During this march, they encountered many small groups of Manchurian troops.After Liu Ting conquered more than ten fortresses, his army "strengthened greatly", but they did not expect to fall into Nurhachi's trick to lure troops. Nurhachi said to his army: "We can't take advantage of Liu Ting's open battle, so I decided to send an elite army to lure Liu Ting and other troops to Laodaogou Ridge at the watershed between the La'a River, Jiaha and River. It is good for laying an ambush. As soon as Liu Ting's army steps into this area, they will fall into our ambush." Liu Ting's army pursued the retreating Manchu army all the way to Abdaligang, where the terrain was complex and easy to fortify.As soon as Liu Ting's army arrived, they fell into an ambush set up by Nurhaci in Abdaligang. Nurhachi ambushed part of his troops in the jungle of Abdari Gang, and the other part of his troops in the southern valley of Gang.Liu Ting was fighting vigorously, and Nurhachi's troops began to attack from the tail of the Ming army; Daishan led four cavalry to carry out a frontal assault in the wilderness in front of the gorge of Gang; Liu Ting surrendered. Nurhaci used the cannon he had just captured from the Juniper army to ignite the "report".At this time, Liu Ting was on his way to Abdaligang, when he heard a few loud cannons, he thought that Sergeant Juniper from the West Road had arrived.Liu Ting was a little eager for quick success, fearing that Juniper would win the first prize, he hurriedly urged the army to march forward quickly. Due to the overlapping peaks and peaks around Abu Daligang, the journey was difficult, horses could not stand in line, and soldiers could not form an army. Liu Ting then ordered: "Don't swarm forward and squeeze together, form a line." Liu Ting's troops had just advanced halfway to Abdaligang, and the Manchu troops hiding on the top of the mountain, in the jungle, and under the valleys ambushed everywhere, broke Liu Ting's troops at the waist, and gathered all their forces to attack the tail of the Ming army.At this time, Huang Taiji also led a musketeer to rush up the mountain, and the formation was like a flood, rushing towards the Ming army. The Manchu army joined forces inside and outside, and the valley was full of ambushes. Liu Ting fought hard for dozens of rounds, and was finally exhausted and defeated. After the defeat of Liu Ting's army in Abu Daligang, Dai Shan and others moved to Fucha to attack Liu Ting's remaining troops under the command of the supervisory army Kang Yingqian. In the battle of Saerhu, which was determined between the later Jin Dynasty and the Ming Dynasty, it ended with the victory of the Jin army and the defeat of the Ming army.In this battle, the Ming army suffered heavy losses. More than 310 civil and military generals died, more than 45,870 soldiers died, and more than 28,600 horses, mules, and camels were lost.The failure of the Ming army in the Battle of Sarhu was certainly due to political corruption, military laxity, discord among generals, and miscalculations in command, but the most important thing was the use of Nurhachi's war strategy.Facing the enemy army surrounded on all sides, he did not divide his troops to intercept them, but concentrated his superior forces to defeat them one by one, just like Li Yongfang said, "You come a few ways, I will only go all the way."