Southern Ming Rebel Army

Chapter 459: Battle of Shanhaiguan (Part )

Wang Fuchen, who was standing under the city, was stunned and confused. He was leading a team of people and they were so cautious and gentle in their movements, but how come more than a dozen rockets were suddenly fired and just hit a soldier.

Although only one person was killed, the scream he uttered before his death undoubtedly exposed Zhou Jun's actions, and their plan to launch a successful night attack became empty talk.

Wang Fuchen looked unwilling, but he still stopped the surprise attack and ordered, "Retreat!"

The night attack failed again. Although the Zhou army only lost one person, the tactical failure still had some impact on the morale of the army. At this time, the morale of the Zhou army camp was not as high as when they had just arrived at Shanhaiguan.

The next morning, the sun shone through the mist onto the earth. Zhao Yongping once again issued the order for a strong attack. The night attack failed, so he could only choose a frontal attack. There was no way to go around Shanhaiguan, a pass that he could not even bypass, so Zhao Yongping had no choice but to choose a head-on confrontation.

So he once again ordered his troops to launch an attack on Shanhaiguan, hoping to use the advantage in numbers to forcibly break through the city.

Not long after he gave the order, Zhao Yongping received another letter from Meng Jun. The letter did not urge Zhao Yongping anymore, but only asked whether he had any shortage of troops, gunpowder, or supplies.

After reading the letter, Zhao Yongping remained silent for a long time. After a long time, when the siege equipment had been put on the city wall, Zhao Yongping gave an order in a cold voice: "Pass on my order. I will not withdraw my troops until Shanhaiguan City is conquered!"

Zhao Yongping was furious. With one order, nearly 110,000 men from each town took turns to fight according to their numbers. Zhao Yongping angrily shouted at his generals who came to persuade him, "Shanhai Pass is the key pass of the Great Wall defense line. If we don't take Shanhai Pass, there will be no peace in Northern Zhili. Since the Northern Expedition, the army has never experienced a bloody battle. Can't we even have a bloody battle? Today, regardless of the casualties of the army, I only want Shanhai Pass! If I can't take Shanhai Pass, I will personally go to the city. Even if I die, I will die on Shanhai Pass!!"

On the city wall of Shanhaiguan, Ajige stood on the city wall and looked at the Zhou army swarming in. He felt heavy in his heart. The days of defense made him realize that the Eight Banners and the Han army were extremely exhausted both physically and mentally.

Ajige frowned and felt extremely uneasy. Faced with Zhao Yongping's resolute attitude, Ajige on Shanhaiguan immediately felt the urgency of the situation on the battlefield.

Under the city walls of Shanhaiguan, a bloody battle was in full swing. Siege engines were pushed onto the walls and then destroyed. Dense arrows were flying from above and below the city. As soon as the army reached the city, the artillery stopped, and when it was time for their rotation, the artillery began to fire again.

The sun was obscured by dark clouds, and the air was filled with thick smoke and the smell of war. The Zhou army attacked the city walls in waves like a tide, and each attack left behind batches of corpses. Most of them were Zhou army soldiers, but there were also corpses of the Han army flags and the Eight Banners of the Manchu army.

Seeing this bloody battle, Bai Yongfu said to Zhao Yongping hesitantly: "Marshal, such a bloody battle, the soldiers..."

Zhao Yongping waved his hand and said, "Your Majesty, you are already quite anxious for us to station our troops in the fortified city." At this point, Zhao Yongping shook his head slightly and said, "I can't wait to dig tunnels and bury gunpowder."

"…But your Majesty, you didn't say it clearly!"

Zhao Yongping turned his head and glanced at Bai Yongfu, and said: "General Bai, in the past, Li Zicheng was only a stone's throw away from unifying the world, and he lost the world because of the defeat in the battle of Shanhaiguan. So, Your Majesty is attacking Beijing again, just like the past, and once again approaching Shanhaiguan. If you can't defeat Shanhaiguan with your strong troops, how can you prove that Your Majesty's attack on the Qing Dynasty and Ming Dynasty is the destiny of heaven!"

Throughout the city, the land was dyed red with blood, groans and wails were intertwined, and the shouts and roars never stopped.

The rolling logs and rocks on the wall of the city rolled down and hit the Zhou army, causing chaos. Countless lives were lost at this moment, but even so, the rapid sound of war drums in the rear stopped. The Zhou army continued to fight one after another, taking turns to fight, as if they would capture the city wall as long as they had their last breath.

The battle lasted until dark, but the Zhou army still did not stop its siege. The new battalion that came up was a battalion of Hao Yongzhong. After a hearty meal, these 3,000 men rushed forward again with roars. The bloodstains and blurred corpses along the way all showed the cruelty of war.

Almost all the generals of the Zhou army could not stand such a brutal and bloody battle, but after seeing Zhao Yongping's stern face and having killed nearly six hundred defeated soldiers, no one dared to persuade Zhao Yongping anymore.

The Zhou army could not bear it and suffered heavy casualties, but Ajige could not bear it either. The Eight Banners and the Han army had a total of 14,000 people. Zhao Yongping attacked for more than ten days, and there were more than 6,000 casualties on the city. There were more than 2,700 people left in the Eight Banners and more than 5,000 people left in the Han army. They did not care about casualties and fought for another day. Zhao Yongping was like a madman, and he tried his best to pile up people to exchange with Ajige.

By now, the Zhou army had some defeated soldiers, but the Han army flag defending the city also had some defeated soldiers. When they were gathered together, there were more than 200 defeated soldiers. Ajige ordered all of them to be killed.

The battle lasted until 6:8:6. Ajige believed that the city could no longer be held. Reinforcements had not arrived for ten days, and the defenders of Shanhaiguan had performed beyond their capacity. At 8::, Ajige opened the gate facing the Liaoxi Corridor and ordered the entire army to retreat to Ningyuan.

In Shengjing City, just after Ajige had led his troops to escape from Shanhaiguan, at the last moment, Jirgalang made a decisive decision to evacuate the garrison of Shanhaiguan. However, Shanhaiguan had been fought for so many days, and Jirgalang was worried that the Zhou army would rush straight to Ningyuan, so he sent Dorobernikan to lead 4,000 Eight Banners cavalry to assist Ajige in guarding Ningyuan City.

Nikan, a member of the Qing royal family, was the eldest son of Nurhaci and the third son of Chu Ying. In the past history, Nikan was one of the three kings in charge of government in the early Qing Dynasty. In that time and space, Nikan had a strong record of military achievements, or he followed the right people. He participated in the fights against Li Zicheng, Zhang Xianzhong, Shaanxi, Henan, the destruction of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and the destruction of Jiang Xiang. In the end, he was promoted to Prince Jingjin.

However, in this time and space, Nikan's luck was not so good. First, he and Bolo were defeated in Jiangnan and suffered heavy casualties. They almost died in Zhejiang. Later, he followed Duoduo but did not gain any merit. The same was true when he fought Jiang Xiang. Therefore, at this time, Nikan was still just a Doroberel.

Nikan led the Eight Banners cavalry and galloped all the way. When the group reached Jinzhou, Nikan stopped his horse to rest.

Nikan was deeply dissatisfied with the current situation. He had been strongly opposed to it since Dorgon shaved his head. The reasons for Nikan's opposition were different from those of many people.

Nikan did not think that Han culture was good. In a sense, Nikan should be a Manchurist. Nikan opposed the shaving order not because he was worried that the shaving order would lead to an uprising among the Han people, but because he believed that the Manchus were brave and the Han people were sour and weak, all of them a bunch of rotten stuff. Shaving their heads would only make them confused and make Nikan unable to tell the difference between Manchu and Han.

Until Dorgon lifted the order to shave the hair, Nikan would whip any Han people he saw with a horsewhip if they dared to leave their braids in front of him, and tell them to cut their braids quickly and not to pollute his eyes in front of him.

Just when Nikan was resting, a scout came galloping and handed him an urgent military intelligence. Nikan opened it and was stunned. There were only a few words in the letter: "Zhou army general Zhao Yongping attacked Shanhaiguan, Prince Ying retreated to Ningyuan, and there are only 2,300 of the 17,000 defenders left!"