Yuan Chonghuan heard the accent of the Jurchen envoy, nodded and praised: "You are a Jurchen, but you speak our language quite smoothly."
"Haha, I'm not talented. I studied in the capital for ten years..."
Ma Xiaoquan stood next to Yuan Chonghuan. When he heard the words "study for ten years", he couldn't help but said: "I'm afraid he will be an undercover spy in the capital for ten years, right?"
"Haha, whatever you say..." The Jurchen envoy calmly took out a letter and handed it over politely.
"This is a letter from my Great Khan. Please take a look at it, General Yuan..."
Yuan Chonghuan was also a cheerful person. He took the letter, unfolded it, read it, and said with a smile: "What did I think it was? It turns out it was really Nurhachi's letter to force him to surrender... Go back and tell him, if you want me to
Ning Yuan, just step over my body, Yuan Chonghuan."
"What?" The Jurchen envoy was stunned by what Yuan Chonghuan said. It took him a while to come back to his senses and said angrily, "You only have 10,000 people, aren't you afraid of my 200,000 Jurchen army? By then,
If we come here and massacre the whole city, you will be the only ones who can bear it."
"Haha..." Yuan Chonghuan and Ma Xiaoquan looked at each other and said, "Two hundred thousand? Do you think I, Yuan Chonghuan, am stupid? What you can come with is only 120,000 or 30,000 at most, plus the old man
Weak, sick and disabled, and how did you know that we only have 10,000 people? Go back and tell Nurhachi that I, Yuan Chonghuan, will wash my neck and wait for him to see if he has the ability to take away my head."
The forced surrender plan was shattered, and there was no need for the Jurchen envoy to stay any longer. He withdrew with a livid face. When leaving Ningyuan City, he did not forget to turn his head and take a look at the towering city wall behind him.
"Khan...can you really take this small town?" The Jurchen envoy shook his head, clamped the horse's belly, and the horse neighed and ran forward.
...
On the 24th of the first lunar month, the Jurchen envoy returned Nurhaci's orders.
After Nurhaci frowned and listened to the envoy's words, he immediately slammed the table and said angrily: "A little unknown person dares to provoke me so boldly. Huh, let's see if I don't take Ningyuan City.
All the people in the city were slaughtered..."
Nurhaci did not plan to pull all the elites out to attack Ningyuan. After all, it was a small town with only 10,000 people and no help before and after. No matter what he thought, it would only take him half a day to capture it. In addition, he brought 130,000 people with him this time.
Among the people, 40,000 were family members accompanying the army, and there were also some wounded and reserve troops. Therefore, Nurhachi roughly calculated the number of people who could actually be mobilized, which was 60,000.
Sixty thousand versus ten thousand is more than enough.
Nurhachi was very proud. In this battle, he wanted to fight it openly, with great momentum, and to show the prestige of his Jurchen Army.
...
On Ningyuan City, rows of Ming army officers and soldiers were waiting attentively, staring eagerly ahead.
Yuan Chonghuan stood in the center, holding a command flag in one hand and a broadsword in the other. He knew that from now on, there would be no retreat for everyone in this battle.
On the mountain-shaped city wall, the Ma family and his son each guarded one side. There were eight red cannons, three of which were placed on the three city walls, and the other five were placed on the southeast, northwest, and middle five city walls. Each red cannon
There were nearly twenty soldiers standing in front of them. Some of them had iron cannonballs in their hands, some had boring brushes in their hands, and some held a pre-kneaded cannon primer... all of them.
Their expressions were solemn, but there was no hint of timidity.
...
Ma Xiao, wearing light leather armor and an iron helmet, stood quietly beside Yuan Chonghuan.
The Jurchen Army's demonstrations came from the distance. Ma Xiaoquan turned his head and glanced at Yuan Chonghuan. The latter nodded, raised the sword in his hand, and shouted: "My soldiers of the Ming Dynasty... ahead...
.... They are the Jurchen thieves who invaded my territory. They burned, killed, looted and looted our people in the Ming Dynasty... What should we do?"
The Ming army soldiers responded angrily: "Kill, kill, kill!"
Yuan Chonghuan nodded and continued to yell: "I know that we have fewer people than them, but we are definitely not weaker than them. Brothers, are you afraid?"
"Not afraid~~~Not afraid~~~Not afraid~~~"
"Okay~ So today, let those group of Jurchen thieves appreciate the majesty of our Ming Dynasty! Strengthen the prestige of our Ming Dynasty!"
"Strengthen the prestige of our country, strengthen the prestige of our country..."
...
Not far in front of Ningyuan City, Nurhachi was riding a horse, looking towards Ningyuan City from a distance.
He squinted his eyes and vaguely saw the Ming army on the Ningyuan City Wall holding up their weapons and shouting slogans. He couldn't help but laugh and said: "It's only ten thousand people, watch me flatten Ningyuan City and wash Ningyuan with blood!"
After saying that, Nurhaci raised his hand high.
The Jurchen army, which was still a little restless at first, became extremely quiet at this moment.
Nurhaci turned his head and glanced at his subordinates behind him, with a proud smile on his lips, and then he suddenly put his hand down.
At almost the same moment, the Jurchen cavalry behind Nurhachi screamed and rushed toward Ningyuan City like a flood.
On the mountain-shaped wall at the outermost edge of Ningyuan City, the three fathers and sons of the Ma family who were guarding each side saw the Jurchen army attacking and ordered in unison in an orderly manner: "Fire~"
The Hongyi cannon, which had already been loaded with the first shell, made a "booming" sound almost at the same time under the orders of the Ma family and his son.
As soon as a puff of light yellow smoke dispersed, several soldiers holding cattail fans fanned the smoke away in twos and twos.
The Jurchen cavalry rushing at the front unfortunately encountered the first wave of shelling. Although there were only three rounds, they were actually iron balls. They were not the kind of terrible things that can be blown up by shells, but they were mixed with hot metal balls.
The smell of gunpowder turned the three iron balls falling from the sky into a sky curse like thunder.
"Boom, boom, boom, boom" three loud noises sounded one after another. The Jurchen cavalry who were unfortunately hit were smashed into pieces together with their horses and men in an instant. What made them feel frightened was that the iron ball falling from the sky hit them.
Behind one or two people or horses, not only did they have no intention of stopping, but they continued to roll forward "strongly", causing misery everywhere they went.
Facing such a devastating bombardment, the Jurchen cavalry was somewhat shaken.
Huang Taiji reined in the reins and stopped in the center of the cavalry. He was keenly aware that the morale of the soldiers was affected. He barked several times and roared the Jurchen language. While roaring, he did not forget to point the scimitar in his hand at the city wall.