On the same day, Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, reported the victory to Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, and Yang Guozhu, the commander-in-chief of Xuanzhen, seconded the proposal.
At this time, most of Governor Hong Chengchou's Chinese army had just crossed Lianshan and were on their way to Tashan. When it was reported that the siege of Xingshan had been lifted, forward Liu Zhaoji's troops even beheaded nearly five hundred Tatars.
The whole army is excited.
In fact, Yang Guozhu also had a share of credit here, but it was downplayed in Liu Zhaoji's flying pass.
It turned out that before flying to report the victory, Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong, specifically asked Yang Guozhu to help cover him up, and reported to Governor Hong Chengchou that he had not been ambushed in this battle, and that the casualties in the army were all caused by the sudden attack of the Tatar army.
caused below.
As for the brutality of this battle, you will know it when you see the heads of the Tatars in hand. In order to show his sincerity, Liu Zhaoji also said that he could give more of the heads of the Tatars to Yang Guozhu.
Looking at Liu Zhaoji's expectant eyes, Yang Guozhu thought for a moment and then agreed. As the commander-in-chief of a town, he naturally knew the importance of military merit to a military general. Not only did he agree to cover for him, but he also did not want him to take advantage of the Tatar leader.
Level to yourself.
If you want to sell him this favor, you must sell it as a big favor!
After hearing the report of our army's victory, Governor Hong Chengchou of Jiliao, Commander-in-Chief Zhang Ruoqi and others were overjoyed. The generals who followed the army were also overjoyed. It was a great victory in the first battle. This was a good sign!
Moreover, there were nearly 500 levels of beheaded Tatars, which far exceeded the Ningyuan victory that year.
They were eager to move forward, and since Xingshan was still in the hands of the Ming army, the Tatar vanguard had been driven back, and the journey was safe, they accelerated their march.
On the second day, the governor-general Hong Chengchou, the commander-in-chief Zhang Ruoqi, the governor of Liaodong Qiu Minyang, the army officer Ma Shaoyu and other officials, as well as numerous troops and equipment, including the magistrates, the officials of the grain road, and the general soldiers of each town, etc., all led the escort battalion, as well as
The cavalry under his command rushed to Xingshan Fort.
Sure enough, the Tatar flags, weapons, and armor captured in Xingshan Fort were piled on the floor, and 478 Tatar heads were also placed together. When everyone saw these heads, they were all excited, and the military morale was greatly boosted.
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Commander-in-Chief Zhang Ruoqi personally went to the scene to check one by one and confirmed that all of them were real Tatar heads. He immediately credited Liu Zhaoji with a great contribution. Yang Guozhu also deserved a great credit for his timely rescue of friendly troops.
Immediately afterwards, Zhang Ruoqi discussed with Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, about reporting the victory to the capital. After they considered it word by word, they immediately sent a team of personal soldiers to report the victory to the capital on horseback, and exposed the cloth to hear it.
When the news of the great victory reached the capital, the whole city was buzzing with excitement. Emperor Chongzhen was also overjoyed and promoted Liu Zhaoji to the post of governor and magistrate. After the war, the Ministry of War would discuss rewards. Yang Guozhu deserved his meritorious service, and he received various imperial edicts and awards.
At the same time, Emperor Chongzhen also encouraged Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, and the generals who came to help, to make persistent efforts and take advantage of this great victory to boost the morale of the army and quickly relieve the siege of Jinzhou.
In fact, there are some doubts about this battle. When Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief of the Liaodong Army, first arrived in Xingshan, he reported that the Tatars were holding a red flag. There were no more than 10,000 soldiers and horses with red flags, and about thousands of slaves in armor.
How come they were later besieged by 30,000 Tatar thieves?
Is there any suspicion of underestimating the enemy's wave battle?
However, both Hong Chengchou and Zhang Ruoqi believed that the most important thing was to win the first battle and boost the morale of the army. After all, the real heads of the Tatars were placed here, so there was no need to take the details too seriously.
Zhang Ruoqi, on the other hand, valued the reputation of this great victory even more. This was his first victory since he came to supervise the army. Now his mind was filled with images of the great news flying into Beijing and the Holy Emperor beaming with joy.
In his heart, making Emperor Chongzhen happy was more important than anything else!
With the tacit cooperation of all parties, even though Liu Shaoji had minor faults, everyone ignored them.
As the supreme commander of the army, Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, even warmly praised Liu Zhaoji. Not only did he promise to replace the lost troops and horses immediately, but also the meritorious officers and soldiers in this battle would also be recorded one by one.
Together with all the wounded and wounded soldiers, generous rewards and pensions were immediately given.
This made Liu Zhaoji feel extremely gratified and even a little excited. You must know that Hong Duchen has never been so kind to him as he is today.
At this time, most of the Ming army's cavalry had gathered and camped outside Xingshan City, and the infantry's baggage detachment was also heading this way. According to reports from sentinels and cavalry, a group of Tatar thieves were still storming Songshan Fort.
The city has been in the city for many days, and the situation is now very critical.
Xingshan Fort was less than 20 miles away from Songshan Fort. Liu Zhaoji, the commander-in-chief of Liaodong Province, took advantage of the remaining power of the great victory and volunteered, still willing to lead his troops to the rescue.
However, when the remaining generals saw that he had captured more than 400 heads of Tartar thieves, they all became red-eyed and eager to fight to move forward to rescue Matsuyama.
Hong Chengchou also felt that although Liu Zhaoji was commendable for his courage, the unit still needed some repairs after the great battle. Not to mention that the towns under his command were crowded with soldiers and horses, and Liu Zhaoji could not be allowed to take all the credit.
After much consideration, he decided to send Bai Guangen, the commander-in-chief of Jizhen, Wu Sangui, the commander-in-chief of the Ningyuan regiment, and Tang Tong, the commander-in-chief of the Miyun regiment, to lead the elite cavalry infantry battalions of the three towns to rescue Songshan. He also ordered the three of them to conduct strict sentinel inspections.
Underestimate the enemy and advance rashly to avoid being ambushed by the Tatars.
The three of them marched into Songshan that day and fought a bloody battle with the Tatars who besieged the city. Although they were only beheaded by dozens of people, they still solved the siege of Songshan and reported a great victory, which was reported back to the Chinese army.
The three men further stated in the Tang newspaper that Ninu was cunning and sent reinforcements from Xingshan to Songshan. The division set up an ambush at the east hill of Nanshan Mountain in Jinzhou, and also had elite cavalry ambush at the northern ridge of Songshan, hoping to lure the main force of the Ming army into battle.
However, Master Wang saw through his plan and remained unmoved. The Tatar thieves had nothing to take advantage of, so they retreated to Rufeng Mountain.
Tang Bao further stated that Wang Division also spied the Tatar bandits encamping densely in the loess ridge northeast of Songshan, digging deep trenches and cutting off Wang Division's main route to the Xiaoling River.
The Maojiagou Mountains in the northwest of Xingshan Mountain near the Nuerhe River also had a large Tatar army stationed there. There were even more camps on Rufeng Mountain. The road from Songshan Mountain to Jinzhou was full of slave cavalry and the situation was extremely rampant.
On July 29, the 14th year of Chongzhen, the exploding sun was scorching the earth. Hong Chengchou, the governor of Jiliao, and Zhang Ruoqi, the commander-in-chief of the army, led the officials and generals, braving the scorching sun and heat, to inspect everywhere inside and outside Xingshan Fort.
As early as the Ningyuan military meeting, Zhang Cheng reminded many times that both officials and generals, as well as Governor Hong Chengchou himself, now believe that Changling Mountain to the north of Xingshan is extremely important. Therefore, the land of this mountain is everyone's
Key places to inspect.
Changling Mountain is located on the south bank of the Nerv River, northwest of Xingshan, about ten miles away from Xingshan Fort, and to the west is a series of mountains that wind all the way to the south bank of the Nerv River.
Changling Mountain stretches from Tashan Fort to the bank of Xiaoling River in southwest Jinzhou. Its altitude is not high and the slope is gentle. However, at the foot of the mountain is the Pingchuan area, and there is a road from Xingshan to Songshan.
There are not many trees on the mountain, mostly grass and soil. There is also a fire road pier on the top that was destroyed by the Tatars. It was originally a lookout place for the pier army. A small path leads directly from the road at the foot of the mountain to the pier platform.