Ma Xiaoquan stayed in Shanhaiguan for a month. If Ma Mu from Ningyuan hadn't sent a letter saying that Hua Yue was very unwell, Ma Xiaoquan heard the words and hurried to Ningyuan. When he returned to Ningyuan, Hua Yue was standing there perfectly fine.
In front of him, except for his increasingly pregnant belly, there was no special discomfort.
Ma Xiaoquan didn't say anything in response to Ma Mu's urging. He also felt that it was too much for him to have been supervising the repair work in Shanhaiguan these days and not go home all the time, so he wrote a report to Yuan Chonghuan stating that he would no longer go to Shanhaiguan.
The repair work at Shanhaiguan was almost completed. In view of this, Yuan Chonghuan approved Ma Xiaoquan's request and reported Ma Xiaoquan's achievements to the supervisor Wang Zhichen.
Naturally, Wang Zhichen followed suit and wrote an article. It wrote about how Mr. Ma Xiaoquan, the deacon of Jinyiwei, was so personally involved and so upright and upright. In order to supervise the renovation of Shanhaiguan, he never returned home and other official words of praise.
At the end of April in the seventh year of the Apocalypse (2nd year), the overall project of the Guanning Defense Line was basically completed. If the Jurchen Army came at this time, they would probably not be able to survive.
But Huang Taiji didn't believe in this evil. In other words, even if he did, he had no way out, because the Jurchen army's food shortage had reached its limit. If effective measures were not taken, a large area would probably starve to death.
Starving to death, his newly established prestige as the Great Khan will be challenged.
On May 6, Huang Taiji led an army of 60,000 men, numbered 250,000, and set out from Shenyang to attack Jinzhou. The Battle of Ningjin began.
Before the war, the scouts from both sides kept going back and forth on the front line. Although they had not yet met or started fighting, the atmosphere had already become tense.
Almost all of the Ma family's garrison in Ningyuan were deployed. They not only strengthened patrols and alerts every day, but were also fully prepared for battle.
In Yuan Chonghuan's view, if the two armies were to fight in an open area, except for Guan Ning's cavalry under Man Gui and some of the cavalry from Ningyuan's Ma family, although the other soldiers on the Ming army were brave, they would definitely not be as good as the evil ones.
Wolf-like Jurchen cavalry.
"Wolf" is not a description of them, but they really are wolves.
Because the current Jurchen army is generally short of food, under certain circumstances, as long as the Jurchen army catches a Han, no matter whether they are soldiers or ordinary Han people, they will kill them with one knife without saying a word, and then everyone will eat the human flesh.
.
It sounds very cruel, but it is actually so.
On May 7, an urgent report came from the front, saying that Huang Taiji had arrived only eighty miles away from Jinzhou.
The Jurchen Army did not only have cavalry, they also had a large number of infantry. However, compared to the infantry of the Ming Army, the infantry of the Jurchen Army, apart from having a slight concentration advantage in quantity, was not as good as the infantry of the Ming Army in terms of quality.
In order to deal with the Jurchen Army cavalry's charge and killing formation, Yuan Chonghuan specially ordered people to step up the arrangement of Hongyi cannons and prepare enough iron ball shells. As long as you, Huang Taiji, dare to come, I, Yuan Chonghuan, will never be polite. I will use these iron balls to "
For you".
At this time, Ma Xiaoquan, who was in Ningyuan, volunteered to go to Jinzhou to defend Jinzhou with Brother Yuan.
Yuan Chonghuan was naturally welcomed by thousands of people, but Ma Xiaoquan's family really gave him a headache for one day.
Fortunately, Ma Mu was reasonable in the end, and after repeatedly admonishing Ma Xiaoquan, she let him go to Jinzhou to join Yuan Chonghuan.
On May 10th, Ma Xiaoquan arrived in Jinzhou. At this time, the latest intelligence report came from the front, saying that the army led by Huang Taiji was approaching Jinzhou, and the distance was less than twenty miles.
Twenty miles, for the wolf-like Jurchen army, is almost a day's journey. In other words, tomorrow, May 11th, Huang Taiji's army will arrive at the foot of Jinzhou City.
At night, Yuan Chonghuan just squinted his eyes slightly to rest, while Ma Xiaoquan, his temporarily appointed adjutant, opened his eyes wide and looked at the latest information in his hand.
After a moment, Yuan Chonghuan opened his eyes, and Ma Xiaoquan handed him the information and said: "Brother Yuan, tomorrow Huang Taiji's army will press into Jinzhou. Our combat policy should have reached its limit. If we still can't let go of the Jurchen army,
, but it’s troublesome.”
Yuan Chonghuan patted Ma Xiaoquan on the shoulder and said with a smile: "We have done everything we can, and the rest is a human problem. There is a saying that man can conquer nature."...
"Okay, one person can win the battle." Ma Xiaoquan nodded, "Then let's be prepared."
...
On May 11th, Huang Taiji's army approached Jinzhou.
In Jinzhou City, Yuan Chonghuan had issued a death order earlier. No matter what, he was absolutely not allowed to leave the city to meet the enemy without his order.
The next moment, Huang Taiji ordered the army to attack the city.
The Jurchen army attacked the city from three routes on the left, center and right. Among them, Huang Taiji led four banners: Zhenghuang Banner, Xianghuang Banner, Zhengbai Banner and Xiangbai Banner. They attacked from the middle route and took the Daling River directly;
Dabeile Daishan, Erbeile Amin and others led the soldiers and horses with the red flag, the red flag and the blue flag on the right, heading straight to Jinzhou City. In other words, the Ming army officers and soldiers guarding Jinzhou City did not go all at once.
They directly faced the middle army led by Huang Taiji, but first had to fight against the right army led by Daishan and Amin.
Sanbeile Manggurtai led the soldiers and horses of the Zhenglan Banner to the left and captured the right Tun Pass.
Yuan Chonghuan had already thought that Huang Taiji would attack in three directions. In addition, the defenses at Daling River and Youtun Pass had not been completely repaired. Even if they defended to the death, they might not be able to hold on in the end.
Therefore, after a slight resistance for a while, Yuan Chonghuan ordered the withdrawal of Daling River and Youtun Pass, and concentrated all defensive forces in Jinzhou.
After the Jurchen army easily captured Dalinghe and Youtun Pass, the three armies joined forces and went straight to Jinzhou. They stopped and camped one mile away from Chenchi in Jinzhou.
When the troops approached the city, Yuan Chonghuan could not sit still. He immediately raised his flag and sent an order, sending troops and horses from Datong in Ji Town out to meet the enemy.
After the messenger received the order, he immediately rode forward to deliver the message. Within half a day, all the troops in the army had received the order. Immediately, all troops and horses came out and headed straight for the Jurchen camp in front of Jinzhou.
The front area is wide, and a head-on conflict with the Jurchen army is like hitting a stone with an egg. Therefore, under the orders of the various guards, a team of fire rifles was sent out to harass them from a distance.
After fighting for a while, Huang Taiji was frightened. He personally led the troops to destroy the Ming army in front of the city with a large army.
But at this moment, Jinzhou City suddenly rang with gold, and then the guards outside the city quickly retreated into the city.
Huang Taiji felt that this was a great opportunity, so he ordered his cavalry to charge forward, which would inevitably prevent them from closing the city gate. If successful, Jinzhou could be defeated.
What Huang Taiji didn't expect was that the Ming army that came out of the city to meet the enemy was actually a false shot arranged by Yuan Chonghuan. In fact, there were several groups of Ming troops who quickly left the city in batches, destroying almost everything that could be seen or felt outside the city.
Everything that can be used is burned and destroyed. In one word - strong walls and clear fields. In one sentence - I, Yuan Chonghuan, know that Huang Taiji cannot beat you in a head-to-head encounter. That doesn't matter, I will starve you to death.
By the time Huang Taiji reacted, it was too late, and the forward troops who were sent to attack the cavalry were frightened by the power of the Hongyi cannon on Jinzhou City and turned back.
After one round, Yuan Chonghuan won a small-scale victory. Huang Taiji was naturally upset. Looking at the empty land with nothing around him, Huang Taiji did not panic. Attacking the city was not something that could be completed overnight. He had already won it today.
After reaching Daling River and Youtun Pass, it's time for the soldiers to rest.
...
On May 12, there was an internal report from the Ming army, saying that the actual number of the Jurchen army had been ascertained, which was about fifty to sixty thousand.
Everyone was shocked when they heard this amount.
The total number of guards in Jinzhou City, including Ningyuan, is less than 20,000. The opponent’s number is three times that of mine, and the opponent is not led by a mindless general. If we fight hard to defend, Jinzhou and Ningyuan will fall.
It's a matter of time.
After an urgent brainstorming session by a group of garrison generals, the Ming army decided to send envoys to the Jurchen side to negotiate a fake peace, waiting for reinforcements and supplies from the rear to follow up.
Yuan Chonghuan gave this task to Ma Xiaoquan.
There is no way, the enemy army is approaching in front. Whichever one goes, Huang Taiji will probably lose his head if he offends Huang Taiji. The Jurchens are not like the Han people, and they still abide by the "traditional virtues" of "not killing envoys when two countries are in conflict" from time to time.
, offended these evil wolves, even if Nurhachi was still alive, they would still chop him to death and send his head back.
The generals therefore discussed: Instead of doing this, it would be better to let Master Ma Xiaoquan, the deacon of the Jinyiwei, who had returned from the Jurchen tribe twice and returned intact, go there.
Ma Xiaoquan cursed secretly in his heart, damn, the first two times we went to Shenyang City, the two armies had not yet fought against each other. Now they are at our doorstep. You want me to go alone to a camp of 60,000 people to discuss peace?
Damn it, you guys can figure it out
However, despite all the complaints, Ma Xiaoquan still had to go despite all the reluctance in his heart.
In the military, orders are above all else.
Fortunately, at this time, the source in the body suddenly woke up and told Ma Xiaoquan that you can go there without worries, but if it doesn't work, it will be fine if you open a rift in time and space and escape.
Ma Xiaoquan slapped his head and shouted: "Why didn't I think of that, haha"
When the generals nearby saw this, they all admired Ma Xiaoquan from the bottom of their hearts. Of course, most of these people's admiration was due to worry.
...
At noon, Ma Xiaoquan left the city alone and went straight to the Jurchen camp alone.
The Jurchens were at the front, and the person responsible for guarding them happened to be Cato.
Cato has been recuperating since his teeth were broken. Because he is young and strong, the originally shattered kneecap miraculously survived. Of course, because there are no good medical measures, the permanently damaged kneecap
It was not as good as before, walking was OK, but running and carrying heavy loads were impossible. Fortunately, Cato's horseback combat ability was excellent, so Huang Taiji ordered him to be the governor of the front camp and responsible for the escort work.