Chapter 25 Chapter 25 Frustration

The camp was full of people, and the uniforms were used in accordance with the colors of the Eight Banners as before, and the ranks also stood in separate banners as in the past, forming a uniform, orderly and brightly colored picture; but, on this day, all these However, there is an invisible and ineffable change in the picture as before. It seems that the colors of the Eight Banners military uniforms worn by people have become lighter, darker, and less. The momentum presented is not as strong and vigorous as before. The atmosphere at the scene was also relatively heavy, there was not even a single sound in the surroundings, there was only silence and silence, as if all the people were oppressed by the heavy atmosphere and stopped breathing.

From the high-ranking Nurhachi to the princes and ministers, Baylor of the Eight Banners—even to the soldiers of the sanitation battalion with the lowest rank, thousands of people were all as if they were suffocated, and everyone's complexion was gloomy, losing their usual brilliance . The only two people in the camp were absent. They were Daishan and Amin, who broke the record of defeat for the first time in their lives. They were pleading guilty and kneeling outside the camp gate waiting for the order of punishment... Most of the day passed, and the camp was still heavy and stagnant, with no sound at all; Nurhachi, the leader, despite the ups and downs of thoughts in his heart, remained silent on the surface, sitting upright like a clay sculpture; , the atmosphere became heavier as time went by.

This year is the eleventh year of destiny, and he is sixty-eight years old. Facing unexpected failures, setbacks and blows, he could hardly accept it in his heart. The first defeat in my life... "Since starting the army at the age of twenty-five, it has been more than forty years. It has experienced countless battles, big and small. It has been invincible and invincible—and now, it is defeated by such a small city of Ningyuan?" Gathering an army of 300,000 troops, his original goal was to go down Shanhaiguan in one fell swoop - the small and inconspicuous Ningyuan City and the little-known Yuan Chonghuan were not in his eyes at all, and he was not regarded as an opponent; He thought that it was just a stumbling block lying on the side of the road during his trip, he stretched out his leg and kicked it away; how could he know that he stumbled over this small stone?

When he heard the battle report from the front for the first time, he didn't believe it at all. The Qianfeng Whistleblower said: "The Ming army fired extremely powerful firearms from the city. As soon as they exploded, the people and horses flew into the air, and the explosion was bloody, so that the offensive was blocked—" He also heard the sound of rumbling and rumbling from afar, but he didn't take it seriously: "What kind of powerful firearm? It's just a cannon and a bird gun. What's wrong with it?" He is not unfamiliar with the firearms used by the Ming army, and he has seen many of them from Li Chengliang when he was a boy; During several battles in the Great City of the Ming Dynasty, the Ming army used firearms to fight more, especially in the battle of capturing Qinghe City. The firearms of the Ming army caused him to lose a lot of troops first, until he came up with the attack method of "topping the wooden plank and digging down the city wall" , Only then captured Qinghe.

"Our army has long had the experience of going to Qinghe City. How could it be hindered by the firearms of the Ming Dynasty?" He had already tasted the taste of victory, and he always believed that firearms were not to be feared at all; the subsequent battle of Sarhu confirmed his realization. "Which way did the Ming army not carry cannons and bird guns? What's the use? Let my Eight Banners cavalry beat them to pieces—" A lot of firearms were captured in the Battle of Saerhu. He also summoned soldiers from the Ming Dynasty to demonstrate how to use them, and sent soldiers from the Eight Banners to learn how to use them; It was not brought out.

What he was thinking in his heart was: "Daishan and Amin have already experienced hundreds of battles, how could they not be able to deal with mere firearms! What's more, the main force 'Iron Head' this time is several times stronger than when they attacked Qinghe! " Unexpectedly, the second wave of military reports was: "The firearms used in Ningyuan City are quite different from those used in the past, and they are extremely powerful. Hundreds of our troops have been killed and injured, and the casualties of the Mongolian aid soldiers are even greater; moreover, the firearms The horses were frightened and could not be controlled, and many of them ran around, making the attacking force even more unfavorable!"

He frowned when he heard this, and said to himself in surprise: "How could this be?" But he immediately ordered: "Let's 'Iron Head' hurry up and sprint, first dig down and knock down Ningyuan City, and the firearms on the city will no longer work!" But even though the order was issued, his mood was not as firm as before; especially when there were distant rumbling sounds in his ears from time to time, after a little concentration, he felt that these rumbling sounds were getting denser and denser, and he couldn't let it go in the end, so he ordered The guards on the left and right: "I'll go to the city to see for myself!"

However, before the guards answered "Yes" to this matter, they were stopped by Huang Taiji who was standing beside him: "Father Khan, let the child go!" The reason he held was of course not "I am too old to go to the front line in person", but "You are a great sweat, so you don't need to go to the battle in person"--Huang Taiji carefully stated: "Father Khan is the king of a country, and the battle is a matter of war." , it should be done by the child!" But these words were accepted, Huang Taiji resigned, and went to the battlefield with his bodyguards.

However, this has nothing to do with the actual battle situation. Not long after Huang Taiji left, the guards came to report, and Dai Shan came from the battlefield, eager to report the situation on the battlefield himself. As soon as Daishan came to him, he knelt down on the ground: "The battle situation is very unfavorable——" Daishan's voice was trembling, but he did not dare to conceal the truth and hit the point: "The artillery installed on Ningyuan City is much more powerful than the artillery used by the Ming army in the past, and our army cannot handle it! "

He asked calmly, "What kind of artillery is it?" Daishan replied: "My child has never seen it before, but this time because the front is full of smoke and flying sand, it is confusing, so I can't see it clearly - but the artillery fired is ten times more powerful than before. , causing heavy casualties to our army!" He subconsciously became angry: "I didn't see anything clearly, and I was beaten to death? Humph? I don't even know what it is that I died in!" Dai Shan repeatedly kowtowed: "My child is guilty!" And at this time, another battle report of a defeat came: "The Ming army used fire to attack, our 'Iron Head' suffered heavy casualties, and the wall can no longer be dug—"

His face changed suddenly: "Even 'Iron Head'—" The following words could not be uttered, a surge of heat surged in his chest, and it hit violently, and he felt bursts of burning. Then, Huang Taiji came back in a hurry, and "desperately" asked him to issue an order for a truce. The failure of the siege is a foregone conclusion. After the inventory, Amin made a definite report: "Our army killed two guerrillas, two guards, and more than 500 soldiers; more than 1,000 soldiers from various Mongolian ministries were killed in battle, and about 500 were missing or fled—" The actual number of casualties and The loss was not great, but the bad thing was in other aspects. Morale was severely hit, and the worst thing that lay before our eyes was: "I don't know what kind of artillery it is. How can I deal with it?" What's the way?" That night, he couldn't close his eyes at all, and thought over and over again, but he still couldn't think of any way to break this unprecedentedly powerful artillery, and of course he couldn't think of a way to defeat the enemy; When it was almost dawn, I barely thought of a few other reasons for the failure of the siege: "This time, the strategy of the Ming army changed. They no longer went out to meet the attack, but changed to defending the city—our side has already The paid spies didn't do much either—" However, all of this is a self-examination, and it is useless; the fact of defeat cannot be changed at all. He was in an extremely bad mood, and he let out a strong roar from the bottom of his heart: "Ningyuan is not going down, how can we break through the Shanhai Pass, enter the Central Plains, and enter Beijing?" The overall plan that had been made was disrupted by this unexpected defeat. On the way to Beijing, a mountain fell out of thin air to block him; he couldn't crack the defense of Ningyuan City, so he couldn't go to Beijing... His heart fell into a depression and depression that he had never experienced in his life, and his hands subconsciously clenched into fists, but he couldn't shake them out. "A small city of Ningyuan, and an unknown Yuan Chonghuan, have actually become an obstacle for me to enter the Central Plains—" After dawn, he finally couldn't help but let out a deep sigh, and faced the reality and the setbacks he encountered with a heavy heart. He didn't close his eyes all night, his eyes were obviously not as radiant as usual, the white strands on his eyebrows and temples had increased, and the rosiness on his cheeks had decreased. Facing all the subordinates who were standing in the camp, he felt very heavy. Can't speak. It wasn't until near noon that he issued an order: "Split the troops and go to Juehua Island - not a single one will be left alive!" Juehua Island is located in the sea about 30 miles away from Ningyuan. Due to its convenient location, it became the loading and unloading place for the Ming Dynasty to transport military rations to Liaodong. Therefore, a granary was built and troops were stationed there. Up to Qiqian, led by the general Jinguan, also has the task of supporting, just like a sanitation point in Ningyuan. It was the first month of the month, and the sky was freezing, and the sea around the island was completely frozen, so it was connected to the land to form a complete land, and pedestrians, horses, and vehicles all passed like flat ground; there was no city built on the island, and the defenders of the Ming Dynasty Set up camp on the ice around the granary, and then surround it with chariots to form a fence-like fortification. After all, this is simple and simple, and the strength of the 7,000 defenders is too weak. Wunag sent by Nurhachi led the Mongolian cavalry who wanted to use this battle to revive their morale and confidence. It only took half a day to complete the task. All the 7,000 soldiers on Juehua Island were killed in battle, the accumulated food was robbed, and all supplies that could not be transported away were set on fire and burned together with the granary... From the first time he heard the news that the Houjin Army was heading to Juehua Island, Yuan Chonghuan was heartbroken. "Juehua Island is over—there is no way out—" He gritted his teeth and said to his left and right: "The defeated general, regroup, and of course kill again!" But as the chief officer, he could only watch the tragedy happen, unable to reach out to rescue... The battle of Ningyuan was a "great victory" in name, defeating the ever-victorious Nurhachi, and stopping the Houjin invasion of the Central Plains; however, it was a "tragic victory" in essence, and all parties suffered great losses; Ningyuan City is like a hunter who has fought hard and killed a tiger and has been seriously injured. He sits on the ground and gasps for breath, and it will take a long time to slowly stand up—while he is panting on the spot, how can he stretch out his fist to help others? ? Originally there were only over 10,000 soldiers in total, but only half of them survived the war, and everyone was wounded—from himself, Man Gui, Zu Dashou, Zhao Liaojiao, Zuo Fu, Zhu Mei and other generals, down to Soldiers and soldiers, there is no one who can't find a dishonorable person. However, Jin Qizheng, who invented the "ten thousand enemies" firearm and made a key contribution to this victory, unfortunately died—Jin Qizheng was igniting the gunpowder, and accidentally, with a "boom", first killed himself. It was blown up. Even though the battle is won, the excellent robe who died will not come back to life; what's more, Ningyuan City paid a very high price in the battle, and some urgent matters must be dealt with as soon as possible; the most important thing is to heal the wounded soldiers, Burying the bones, repairing the excavated, chiseled and bombed city walls, and preventing Nurhachi from making a comeback—the war is over, he is overdrawn physically and mentally, and his shoulders and arms are injured. After taking care of the aftermath, it is even more necessary to report the detailed battle situation to the court-for the military disaster on Juehua Island, he is really powerless to help. There was nothing he could do but grieve. When the bad news was reported, he had no choice but to personally write a sacrificial letter to express the grief in his heart, and to comfort the spirits of the fallen soldiers on Juehua Island... Fortunately, a few days later, the imperial court's imperial decree was delivered, which brought him some comfort and eased his mood... The miraculous victory he created, of course, cheered up the government and the people, and rewards and punishments were launched, and the personnel and affairs in Liaodong changed, and this new change was exactly what he was looking forward to. Gaodi and Yang Qi, who had been sitting on the sidelines of Ningyuan’s crisis, were dismissed and replaced by Wang Zhichen as the Liaodong strategist, and Zhao led the teaching as the general soldier of Shanhaiguan. After that, his Liaodong policy will not be constrained by conflicting opinions. . His position has skyrocketed even more - he was promoted to governor of Liaodong, and with his great victory, he was added the title of right servant of the Ministry of War, paid silver coins, and a thousand households in the shadow of the world...