Since the roads are mostly in rugged terrain such as river valleys or valleys, when the front of the Ming army arrived at Shaji Walled City, the rearguard of the Ming army had only walked half the way.
Liu Ting, the former commander, saw through the telescope that there were clear flags on the walled city and there were many slaves there, so he did not rashly order to attack the city, but set up a defensive formation and waited for the arrival of follow-up troops.
Fortunately, Li Songping attached great importance to the tactical status of artillery. The fifty small Folan cannons weighing one thousand kilograms were carried alternately by the Ming soldiers, so they did not fall behind and quickly caught up.
The Jiannu Walled City was mostly built of wood, and even a small Folang machine gun weighing a thousand kilograms could completely destroy the wall of the walled city in less than ten rounds of artillery fire after the formation was set up.
When the Ming army cautiously entered the walled city, it was completely empty at first glance.
After careful inspection, not even a living creature was seen, let alone a slave.
The house where the slaves lived was even rummaged through. It was obvious that they had packed up their belongings and fled the place long ago.
Liu Ting was very depressed. He had clearly seen a lot of slaves on the walled city before, and they acted like they were guarding the city. However, in less than half an hour, it was completely different.
The Shaji Walled City came to nothing, and Li Songping did not dare to take it lightly at all. He sent more Ye Bu Shu to investigate the situation along the way, and only ordered to continue the advance after ensuring safety.
He would not think that Jian Nu was so frightened that he ran away quickly.
Half a day passed in a blink of an eye. The Ming army destroyed five fortresses in Jiannu. They were almost halfway to Hetuala, but they did not encounter any resistance.
However, every time the Ming army first arrived, they found that there were Jiannu defenders in the walled city. After they invaded the walled city, they all disappeared. The generals of the Ming army were puzzled.
The Ming army was advancing with great success, and its morale was at its peak. Some soldiers even said that Jiannu was vulnerable and as timid as a mouse, and they had become arrogant soldiers.
Fortunately, the generals and law enforcement teams of the Ming Army at all levels kept their heads clear and quickly suppressed this trend.
Li Songping, who defeated the fifth village, even ordered the entire army to rest and reorganize at the Zaka Pass they had just occupied, because he had guessed the true intention of establishing a slave defense without fighting.
"The Jiannu were afraid of the power of our artillery and did not dare to defend from the front. As a result, every time they saw our army attacking the city with artillery, they all retreated."
"The Jiannu knew that our army's march was difficult and the logistics supply pressure was high, so they used these fortresses as bait to force our army to attack with artillery to consume the gunpowder they carried with them."
"They are not fleeing upon hearing the news, but are paving the way for the final decisive battle. Once our army's gunpowder is exhausted, they will defend the city or take the initiative on the battlefield because of their geographical advantage."
"The closer our army is to Hetuala, the farther it is from Sarhu Pass, and the more difficult it is for our logistical supply."
"The most important thing is that the roads along the way are too narrow and rugged. It is already difficult for us to march with more than 30,000 troops, not to mention a large amount of gunpowder, food, grass, artillery and other heavy objects."
"It also greatly slowed down the marching speed of the various units, causing the marching team to get longer and longer, which invisibly dispersed the entire army and gave Jiannu the opportunity to defeat them one by one."
"In such a situation that is conducive to the establishment of slaves and not conducive to our army, if our army's scattered marching team along the way is attacked or harassed, it will fall into an extremely passive situation."
"Don't forget, everyone, how they were defeated by Marin Juniper in the Battle of Saarhu. We must not make the same mistake again."
After hearing this analysis, all the generals suddenly realized that the situation was indeed developing like this, and Jiannu might have planned this.
Some people secretly thought in their hearts that being able to be valued by the emperor as a confidant and serving as the commander-in-chief of an army was indeed not mediocre.
"The general is really thoughtful. We have indeed violated this taboo of military strategists without realizing it. Fortunately, there is still time to adjust. We can wait for all the follow-up troops to arrive, and then use this city as a foundation to continue to advance."
Li Songping also thought this way. As long as the entire army is not scattered and the main force is gathered together, even if Jiannu plays tricks, the situation will not be too bad.
But Amin, who was leading the way, as a native, thought Li Songping was too cautious and couldn't help but say:
"The general is overly worried. From Sarhu Pass to Hetuala, there is only this road that is feasible. The surrounding areas are either high mountains or dense forests. No one can go around the back."
"The only feasible option was to set up an ambush along the way, but the general used his troops cautiously and sent hundreds of scouts to serve as eyes and ears, completely eliminating the possibility of an ambush."
"No matter how long the general's battle line is stretched, as long as the front army is not lost, there is no reason for defeat."
Li Songping became interested when he saw Amin's rare speech.
"The way to use troops lies in the word "strange" and the word "stability". Both of them adapt to the situation of the battle. Our army's extraordinary troops are not here, so we should be steady."
"I heard that you love the Romance of the Three Kingdoms very much and study it as a military book. But now it seems that your ethics are not enough and you haven't studied it carefully enough."
Amin didn't know whether it was because he was semi-literate and couldn't understand the meaning of these words, or he wanted to flatter him, so he asked with an open-minded attitude:
"General, please speak clearly."
"Zhuge Kongming, the prime minister of the Han Dynasty, used the weak to defeat the strong. Even though he lost the opportunity to defeat the street pavilion, he was still able to safely return to Hanzhong. Isn't the key to it lies in the word stability?"
"I have learned a lesson from you. According to the general, Nuerhachi likes wonders rather than stability. The general's worries are not wrong."
Li Songping didn't pay too much attention to Amin's views on Nuerhachi, and said quite confidently:
"In the face of absolute strength, whether it is strange or stable, it is all in vain."
After resting for half an hour, the follow-up troops slowly arrived at Zakaguan. They ate the meals that had been prepared, and Liu Ting's former troops also set off.
In another two hours, the Ming army once again captured three strongholds, but not a single shot was fired to break through these three strongholds.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! Since Li Songping had already anticipated the plan to create slaves, how could he not make changes.
Jiannu could choose to retreat or defend the stronghold by waiting and watching. The Ming army would position their artillery in a conspicuous position and pretend to continue the bombardment.
At the same time, the infantry marched in formation. If they found any Jiannu defenders on the walled city, they would fire. If not, they would take advantage of the situation and capture it. It would be extremely easy without firing a single shot.
On the Jiannu side, it may have become a habit to retreat. As soon as they saw the Ming army's artillery, they ran away without any hesitation.
Daishan, who was personally stationed at Daimin Pass, may have acquiesced to his minions in order to preserve his strength, which was almost a deserter's behavior.
In fact, when the Ming army came to attack this time, he was pessimistic and was not optimistic about Dai Jin's victory. He could not see any hope of Dai Jin's victory.
In the past, they were able to defeat the Ming army's expeditions many times because they understood the Ming army's movements, strength and combat power.
From the generals to the soldiers, they all know exactly how much the other side has to offer.
On the surface, the Ming army took the initiative to attack, but in fact they really took the initiative and took the initiative on the battlefield.
But this time, they didn't know anything about the Ming army at all, so they knew that the troops coming were not the local Liao army and that they carried a large number of artillery, that's all.
Their only chance of winning was that Huang Taiji could successfully get behind the Ming army and reoccupy Sarhu Pass, leaving the Ming army alone, but this was not easy.
Just when he was worried, the front vanguard led by Liu Ting had already arrived outside Daimin Pass.
Daimin Pass is less than twenty miles away from the old village of Hetuala, and there is only a simple village behind it. It can be said that once Daimin Pass is lost, they will have no chance to defend it.
But he still had no intention of holding on. They had experienced the power of cannons in Liaoyang and Shenyang.
Dai Shan first ordered to continue to retreat in batches, and then ran to the wall in person to observe the movements of the Ming army.
He didn't believe that the Ming army's gunpowder had not been exhausted in nearly ten cities in a row.
But when he vaguely watched the soldiers of the Ming Dynasty arranging the artillery, filling the gunpowder in preparation for the attack, he gave up completely.
In this way, the Ming army easily occupied Daimin Pass, the last dangerous pass before Hetuala, without firing a single shot.
After Li Songping arrived, he did not continue to advance troops, but once again sent out a large number of people who stayed overnight in a fan-shaped formation to conduct carpet-like exploration and searches.
The main force relied on Daimin Pass as its core, deployed its troops and dug holes, assumed a defensive posture, and at the same time buried pots and made rice.
As Li Songping said before, first maintain stability and then seek victory.
He will not attack rashly until he has figured out where the main force of slave building is.
Compared with Li Songping's triumphant advance, Xiong Tingbi's Northern Route Army was even more successful.
Since entering the army, they have basically encountered no decent resistance.
Apart from the villages and towns along the way where there were civilian slaves living there, they did not see even a single soldier of the slaves.
But even so, the Northern Route Army has achieved great results, killing more than 4,000 people.
These were naturally not young men who were slaves, but mostly women and children, as well as some old people and disabled people who were no longer able to fight on the battlefield.
Although Xiong Tingbi was a scholar and a scholar, his murderous intention and ruthlessness were beyond the reach of many generals.
He even hated Jiannu more than most local Liao people. It can be said that his inner thoughts were the same as Zhu Youxiao's, which was to destroy his race.
Except for a small number of slaves who are needed to lead the way, he doesn't keep any of the rest. No matter you are an old slave or a young slave, a female slave or a male slave, they will all lead the way.
But after all, some fish slipped through the net. When the Northern Route Army was still on its way, Nuerhachi finally learned that there was another Ming army, which was very close to his base camp Hetuala.
At this time, Nuerhachi finally panicked, and could only let Yue Tuo's red flags quickly gather up to defend the Ming army along the way to avoid being surrounded and attacked.
He also quickly summoned the other three of the five ministers under his command and the remaining middle-level servants to discuss matters.
After Fan Wencheng, Li Yongfang and other Han slaves learned about it, they were even more uneasy and could not think of any way to deal with it for a while.
After deliberation for a long time, they found that they only had two options left.
Either a life-and-death battle with the Ming army, or a quick retreat, completely abandoning Hetuala, and waiting for the Ming army to retreat before making plans.
But these two options, whether it is a decisive battle or retreat, are extremely difficult to execute.
The first thing to do is fight. Even Nuerhachi, who is usually very arrogant and doesn't take the Ming army seriously at all, can't guarantee that he will win.
The two red flags faced off against the Ming army in two directions. The two blue flags and the Xiangbai flag had long been wiped out. The Zhengbai flag was not around, and although the Xianghuang flag was organized, it had no soldiers.
He only has a few thousand mobile troops in Zhenghuang Banner, and his military strength is completely weak.
And if you want to run, where should you run?
With such a large population, the people around Hetuala have already been organized, but just giving an order is enough.
But what about other areas? At this time, how can he have extra troops and time to organize a retreat?
Moreover, the Ming army would soon be able to catch up with the family and their families, and it might turn into a big chase, and the losses would definitely not be within Nuerhachi's ability to bear.
In the end, it was still Nurhaci, the great khan, who made the final decision, with Hetuala as the center, waiting for an opportunity for a decisive battle.
Now he can only hope that Huang Taiji's Zhengbai flag can smoothly go around and attack the Ming army in front.
At that time, he can imitate the Battle of Saarhu, defeat them one by one, and achieve a great victory.
However, the idea was beautiful, but the reality was cruel. After only one night, Li Songping calculated the time and ordered Liu Ting to lead the front seven thousand troops to set off from Daimin Pass and march towards Hetuala.
At this time, Huang Taiji, even if he marched with all his strength without stopping for a moment, had just walked out of the mountainous area, and was still a long way from Salhu Pass.
With this time difference and the Ming army already in a state of preparation for attack, they already had a huge advantage.
At noon, the main force of the Ming army arrived at Hetuala and had already set up its formation.
Looking at the small-scale walled city in front of him, and seeing many Jiannu standing on the city wall through the telescope, Li Songping guessed that Jiannu would not retreat anymore.
Dang even ordered Qin Bangping's Taishan Battalion as the front vanguard, and later launched the attack with artillery as support.
Nurhachi was no longer in Hetuala at this time, and those who stayed here were still Daishan and his soldiers and horses of Zhenghongqi.
Daishan looked at the Ming army, which was far more powerful than himself. He wanted to continue to retreat, but he could no longer retreat.
Although the number of fifty Folan cannons is not large, they still have some power and shock when fired in salvo.
Daishan also rarely experienced the feeling of being bombed in his hometown.
But after all, Hetuala is not comparable to the previous small towns and villages. It is the "capital" of the slaves after all, and the Ming army's artillery is too small. After more than ten rounds of bombing, it is still stable as usual.
If you want to imitate the attack on Sarhu Pass and directly destroy the city wall, it may not be possible even if you use up all the gunpowder.
Seeing this, Li Songping immediately ordered to stop the attack, thinking about changing his tactics, and waiting for Xiong Tingbi to attack from the side.