Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 509 Ping Liao (3)

After conquering Ningyuan City, Zhao Yongping marched to the city of Jinzhou. After arriving at Jinzhou City, Zhao Yongping continued to bombard Jinzhou City with more than 60 heavy artillery.

At this time, there were still more than 7,000 Eight Banners soldiers in Jinzhou City. The Qing court initially had a total of 50,000 troops on the Ningjin defense line. Later, in order to stop Huang Cheng, 10,000 troops were withdrawn from Jinzhou. In order to surprise attack on Zheng Chenggong, Baiyintu took away more than 20,000 cavalry. Before that, they had been in a stalemate with Zhao Yongping for a long time, and the soldiers had been lost one after another, as well as the loss of troops after the fall of Ningyuan City. Therefore, these 7,000 people were the last troops of the Qing court in Jinzhou.

Outside Jinzhou City, there were trenches, caltrops, and pits everywhere, and the city walls were dotted with corner towers and arrow towers.

Zhao Yongping, who was at the gate of Jinzhou City, bombarded the city during the day and launched surprise attacks at night to wipe out the fortifications outside the city. However, the trenches dug by the Qing army outside Jinzhou City were very deep and wide, and it took a lot of effort to fill them up.

If the trench is not filled, all kinds of siege equipment cannot be pushed to the city wall. It is still early October and the weather is not cold yet. If it gets extremely cold, the soil will be frozen and it will be more difficult to fill the trench.

Just as Zhao Yongping was struggling with the defensive fortifications under Jinzhou City, there was laughter and joy in Shengjing City.

After defeating Zheng Chenggong, Baiyintu immediately sent fast horses to Shengjing City to report the victory. However, Baiyintu did not pursue the victory to recover the lost territories such as Haizhou and Gaizhou, but prepared to return to Shengjing first.

Although this battle was a remarkable victory for the Qing Dynasty, the cavalry also suffered repeated attacks from the Qian army's firearms soldiers. Of the 20,000 cavalrymen, more than 2,000 were killed on the spot and more than 2,000 were injured. Most of these injured were caused by bullets entering their bodies. These were not injuries caused by swords or guns, which could be treated with medicine and slowly recovered. Most of them would be infected with the evil gold disease due to bullets remaining in their bodies.

After cleaning up the battlefield and packing up the prisoners, firearms, and all kinds of military equipment, Baiyintu's cavalry began to withdraw to Shengjing. Jinzhou City was now under siege by Zhao Yongping. Baiyintu had just finished a battle and needed to rest.

Moreover, in Baiyintu's mind, although Jinzhou City is not an impregnable fortress, Zu Dashou was able to defend Jinzhou for two years despite being surrounded by heavy troops. Baiyintu believed that with 7,000 defenders in Jinzhou City, there should be no problem defending for three months, if not a year or two.

The messenger's voice announcing victory echoed in Shengjing City, making the few Eight Banners relatives who were still in Shengjing City happy. Some even thought that perhaps they could repeat the story of the Battle of Sarhu and defeat the enemy one by one, so that there would be hope for the Qing Dynasty to revive again.

However, Jirgalang was obviously wiser. He knew that the strength of the Qing Dynasty was no longer what it used to be, and the newly established dynasty was not comparable to the original Ming army. Therefore, he urgently ordered Bai Yintu not to kill the prisoners, treat the surrendered troops well, and sent envoys to prepare to surrender to Meng Jun and become his vassal.

Many people did not agree with this decision. Jirgalang's son Ledu strongly opposed it. Ledu persuaded Jirgalang and said, "Father, Baiyintu has defeated the pirates. There is no threat to Lushun. Why not let Baiyintu go north and defeat Huang Cheng and the coalition forces with Mandahai and Suksaha? As long as Huang Cheng is defeated, the Qing Dynasty can be saved!"

Jirgalang angrily scolded: "How can you speculate on military and national affairs like this? Regardless of whether Baiyintu can defeat Huang Cheng before Jinzhou falls, even if everything goes as you expected, the Qian army can occupy the world and be defeated once, twice, or ten times. How many people in the Qing Dynasty can fight against the Qian army? Go and see how many able-bodied men are left in Hetuala City?"

Ledu was unable to refute after hearing this, and Jirgalang waved Ledu away. To Jirgalang, the name of the country and the title of emperor were all illusions. As long as the Jianzhou Jurchens could continue to exist, it was not unacceptable to become a vassal.

If Meng Jun was unwilling to accept it, then Jirgalang would fight to the death with the Qian army in Shengjing City. Even if Jirgalang died, he would make the Qian army pay a heavy price. As long as the casualties of the Qian army were heavy enough, he would hand over the Liaodong Plain to Meng Jun, and the Jurchens would withdraw to Hetuala.

He just didn't believe that Meng Jun would risk wasting manpower, material resources, financial resources and national strength to come to the mountains of Hetuala to fight the Jurchens.

Just when Zheng Chenggong was suffering defeat along the way, Huang Cheng and the allied forces of 16 tribes captured Man Dahai in the northwest of Durbi City.

Huang Cheng used the Mongolian light cavalry as the vanguard and launched a fierce cavalry battle with Man Dahai. The Mongolian cavalry were all light cavalry, and Man Dahai was unable to get rid of them for a while and was forced to fight with the coalition forces.

Relying on the coalition forces' significant advantage in manpower and the mobility of the Mongolian light cavalry, Huang Cheng gradually formed a siege against Man Dahai.

Man Dahai was very brave. He led the cavalry to charge left and right. When his spear broke, he switched to a sword. When the blade of the sword was bent, he leaned over and pulled out a spear from the ground and continued to charge.

Although the coalition forces of the sixteen tribes were large in number, the coordination between the tribes was extremely poor. Therefore, even though they outnumbered the enemy by several times, Man Dahai was still able to seek a breakthrough in the gaps between the tribes.

Liu Kun watched from afar and saw how brave Man Dahai was, and he felt eager to take action, so he rode his horse forward and asked Huang Cheng to fight.

Unexpectedly, Huang Cheng rejected Liu Kun's request. In Huang Cheng's mind, the sixteen-unit coalition forces were not reliable. Therefore, unless it was absolutely necessary, he did not want to let his subordinates suffer unnecessary losses.

When Huang Cheng was young, he joined the army in Xuanda Prefecture and fought many battles with the invading Mongols. The first battle in his life was against the Mongols. Therefore, in his heart, he did not trust the Mongolian tribes.

As time went by, the Qing army's disadvantage in manpower began to show. The war horses had been running for a long time and their horsepower had begun to run out. The Qing cavalry fell one after another, while the 16-army coalition forces were able to fight in turns.

Just when Mandahai was in dire straits and somewhat hopeless, Suksaha led the cavalry to come to his rescue. He did not expect to reverse the situation of the battle, but wanted to rescue Mandahai and his remaining cavalry.

The brutal collision between cavalrymen is the most primitive aspect of war. Under the sunlight, swords flash and arrows fly. Here, even the most skilled knight may be killed by a sudden stray arrow.

The galloping war horses neighed continuously as they shuttled through the rain of arrows and smoke. The knights on both sides, holding spears and scimitars, fought hard against each other. They had never met each other before, but they were like mortal enemies and showed no mercy.

The appearance of Suksaha's new force quickly tore a big hole in the coalition of sixteen tribes. Suksaha's face was covered in blood. No one knew whose blood it was, but it suddenly splashed on his face, looking very scary.

Suksaha saw Mandahai's flag, rushed forward, and shouted in Manchu: "Go! Go!"

Man Dahai was not interested in fighting, so he turned his horse and shouted, "Retreat! Break out!"

Huang Cheng in the rear saw that the coalition forces could no longer stop Man Dahai, so he did not hesitate and personally led the Qian cavalry, dividing his troops into several groups, to stop the Qing army.

Huang Cheng cherishes the lives of his subordinates, but on the battlefield, when necessary, Huang Cheng can also risk his life. As long as he can completely wipe out these two Qing troops that have been circling around him for so long like rats, then any price he pays will be worth it.