There are two main reasons for Zuo Menggeng's misjudgment of the battle situation.
The first point is that he overestimated Hou Jin's battlefield reaction speed.
He captured Zunhua on the second day of the Lunar New Year, originally thinking that based on the distance, the main force of Jin would be able to get the news on the fifth day of the Lunar New Year at the latest.
However, I don't know whether to be happy or ironic that the battlefield cover of the rear camp was so well done.
As a result, the cities captured by Hou Jin around Zunhua did not react for a long time.
It wasn't until the fifth day of the Lunar New Year that General Houjin Sanhe never received the supplies from Zunhua, so he realized something was wrong.
He quickly sent scouts to conduct reconnaissance, only to learn that the king's flag had changed at the top of the city and Zunhua had been lost.
In this reconnaissance, three of the five scouts were gone.
If the scouts in the rear camp had not had horses, all five of them would have had to answer.
The retreat was cut off, and the guard of Sanhe was shocked and quickly sent a message to Liangxiang. As a result, it was already the seventh day of the Lunar New Year when Huang Taiji received the report.
Two more days of delay almost caused Geng Ruqi, Geng Zhangguang, Zhang Honggong, Dang Huanchun and others to die for their country.
Zuo Mengeng's second misjudgment was that he did not expect Huang Taiji's reaction.
At the foot of Liangxiang City and in Houjin Khan's tent, fierce generals gathered, but the atmosphere was depressing.
When the military news came, everyone was panicked.
The occupation of Zunhua means that there is no way back.
The senior leaders of Houjin became worried at the thought of being kept in the customs.
Huang Taiji, now 38 years old, has not yet secured his position.
At the beginning, Nurhachi formulated the strategy of co-governing by the four Baylors, which created four strong men.
Although the four Baylor administrations increased the available talents for Hou Jin, Huang Taiji felt constraints everywhere when he first ascended the throne.
Among the four great Baylors, only the great Baylor Daishan supported him.
But Daishan’s support is limited.
It was his two sons Yue Tuo and Saha Lian who persuaded Dai Shan that it was not the best choice for him to become the Khan, so he turned to support Huang Taiji.
Except for Daishan, the remaining two Baylors have nothing to say.
Amin was ambitious and not Nurhaci's son, so he always had trouble with Huang Taiji.
Mang Gurtai was unruly and did not take this great Khan seriously.
In addition, in order to gain support, the system of the eight major universities and the Baylor College of Political Science and Law was established to discuss national affairs together, leaving Huang Taiji with not much power in his hands.
After Yuan Chonghuan returned to Liaodong, he just huddled up and built the city like a hedgehog, and there was no room for change in the gold he gained.
As the situation became serious, the people below could not help but criticize him, the Great Khan.
Huang Taiji knew that the only way to secure his position and hold the power was to lead everyone to an unprecedented victory.
Only when he leads everyone to gain enough benefits, then everyone will loyally support him.
For this reason, Huang Taiji painstakingly planned a military adventure, which was the Jisi Change.
The early progress was very smooth. With the cooperation of the traitors, Hou Jin's attack on the city was very smooth and the results were very fruitful. However, after reaching the capital city, they encountered Yuan Chonghuan's stubborn resistance, and Hou Jin suffered heavy losses.
Although he defeated Mangui's army, Huang Taiji knew that if he did not kill Yuan Chonghuan, the Later Jin Dynasty would always be in crisis in Gyeonggi.
Huang Taiji's original idea was to temporarily abandon the capital, attack the surrounding areas, mobilize Yuan Chonghuan, and then eliminate him in the field.
But just after arriving in Liangxiang, I received good news.
Chongzhen actually put Yuan Chonghuan in jail!
Could it be that the Ming Emperor's surname was also Aisin Gioro?
Originally, when he learned that Yuan Chonghuan was imprisoned, Huang Taiji should have immediately led his troops back to spy on the capital again.
But after all, I came to Liangxiang. After all, I couldn't return empty-handed, right? In addition, I fought a few battles under the capital city and got nothing, so I didn't have much military supplies.
So Huang Taiji asked Mang Gurtai to lead the Zhenglan Banner to attack the city.
At first, everyone didn’t take it seriously, thinking that it was just a county town that wasn’t conquered in one fell swoop?
This was indeed the case in history.
Unfortunately, there are now more than 5,000 Shanxi elite troops in the city.
The arrogant Mang Gurtai suffered a big loss, losing more than 300 horses, and even he himself was hit by an arrow, so that he could hang up.
At this time, Hou Jinjun was also angered.
In the next few days, the Eight Banners took turns to fight, but after paying a heavy price, they were still unable to do anything to the small Liangxiang.
Originally, Huang Taiji didn't want to play until the seventh day of the lunar month.
After all, he brought the big guys here to rob, not to suffer losses. If the losses to each department are too large, it will damage his prestige.
As a result, at this moment, the report of the Zunhua battle came, and the whole army was frightened.
"Haha, when we first came to the west, the Great Khan said that the return journey was safe. Now it seems that this Ming Dynasty also has experts."
Mang Gurtai immediately became sarcastic.
He would never miss any opportunity to attack Huang Taiji.
The young Duduo was about to speak, but his brother Dorgon stopped him and signaled him not to speak out.
Compared to the violent Mang Gurtai, Dorgon is more like a poisonous snake in the darkness.
He knew very well how powerful his fourth brother was.
The best way to avoid being killed by this fourth brother is to be patient.
Anyway, he is still young and will have plenty of opportunities in the future.
Hauge's eyes were on fire, but what he said made everyone laugh.
"Huh, what if Zunhua is lost? Just take it back. Please give me five thousand soldiers and horses, Father Khan. I will be able to capture Zunhua within five days."
Huang Taiji was very dissatisfied with his son, but on the surface he remained calm.
It was obviously a big crisis, but Huang Taiji still remained calm.
In addition to being accustomed to seeing storms and having a firm mind, another factor that promotes his composure is that he has a clear understanding of the strength of both the enemy and ourselves.
Zunhua is important and not important.
The important thing is that this is the main route back. Once the Ming army sends troops, Hou Jin will easily have no way to retreat.
The unimportant reason is that if Hou Jin wants to leave the customs, he may not necessarily need to go to Zunhua.
Gyeonggi is flat and there are naturally many roads.
No matter how large the Ming army was, there was a limit. In addition, Hou Jin was a cavalryman, so he could completely change the route and march while plundering.
The Ming army couldn't station tens of thousands of people in every place for defense, right?
What surprised Huang Taiji was who secretly attacked Zunhua?
He deployed countless eyes and ears in the capital, and even the Ming army managed to hide it from the enemy.
This general of the Ming army aroused Huang Taiji's interest.
After all, it was almost as difficult as climbing to the sky to avoid Hou Jin's eyes and ears with an army of nearly ten thousand.
Yes, Huang Taiji also made a mistake in judgment.
He estimated based on the combat effectiveness of the general Ming army that the number of Ming troops who captured Zunhua would be at least tens of thousands in order to break the city.
However, this matter is not important. The most urgent thing is that the food and grass supplies of Hou Jin's army are at the bottom. Not to mention that after marching more than 400 miles to capture Zunhua, they may starve early tomorrow morning.
At the critical moment, Huang Taiji once again displayed his superb military talents.
"Order the army to stop attacking the city and avoid unnecessary losses."
As soon as these words came out, all the generals could not help but heave a sigh of relief.
In today's Houjin, each flag is almost equal to the private property of the flag owner, and no one wants to lose too much.
After issuing the order to cease the war, Huang Taiji immediately began to plan the next move.
"Daishan, Manggurtai, Yuetuo, Hauge, Kulchan, Baigeyi, you lead the four left-wing banners and the Mongolian troops southward to Fangshan, Zhuozhou, Gu'an, Yongqing, Bazhou, Dong'an,
Strategy for the Wuqing area. Breaking the city is the second priority, and capturing the city is the priority."
The meaning is very clear, let half of the Hou Jin army find a place to feed the enemy.
At this time, most of the Ming army was near the capital, and the rest of the area was empty, so it was not difficult to plunder supplies.
Just one order made all the ministries happy.
Although the Hou Jin Dynasty destroyed many cities in Gyeonggi at this time, most of them were bullying the locals who did not have the power to defend the city, or using traitors to support them.
The only real tough battle in siege was this time when we suffered a huge defeat in Liangxiang.
Huang Taiji divided the army into two groups, with the left wing going south, while he personally led the right wing northward, sweeping through Baiyangkou, Huailai, Yanqing, Baoan, Chang'an Institute, Wandu Division and other places.
Most of the poor soldiers and horses in Xuanfu Town were transferred to rescue the capital, and the local area was extremely empty.
As if entering an uninhabited territory, the army of the Later Jin Dynasty attacked more than twenty cities in a row, and all the losses in Liangxiang and Zunhua were replenished.
Huang Taiji's change of battle plan made an old acquaintance of Zuo Menggeng miserable.
That was Zhang Zongheng, the governor of Datong.
Zhang Haogu's clan uncle, like all the governors who were depressed during the Jisi Incident, also lived a very difficult life.
Originally, Zhang Zongheng, like Geng Ruqi, received the same edict from King Qin. He did not dare to neglect it, so he quickly gathered his troops and rushed to the capital.
But as soon as he arrived, before his buttocks were still hot, he received an order to hand over the troops he brought to Man Gui.
As for him...
Go back wherever you came from.
After all, Datong is a border town, and Mangui, the general of Datong, has already left. If he, the governor, is no longer in office, if the Chahar tribe breaks through the border, Shanxi will also be corrupted.
After Zhang Zongheng returned to his post, he thought he would just keep an eye on the Chahar tribe outside the customs. Unexpectedly, Huang Taiji led an army of tens of thousands to sweep through Xuanfu and actually wanted to attack Datong.
Zhang Zongheng was about to cry.
He has no soldiers now.
It is already very difficult to defend against the Chahar troops. If Huang Taiji attacks Datong, he will have no other choice but to find a rope and hang himself.
In desperation, he quickly asked the court for help, and at the same time organized all the old, weak, sick and disabled who were left behind, preparing to do their best and obey fate.
Zuo Mengeng didn't know about Zhang Zongheng's crisis.
Even if he knew, there was nothing he could do. Zunhua and Datong were far apart and he couldn't fly there.
However, he did not stay in Zunhua. Instead, he took the captured things and retreated to the Niujiao Mountain area in the northeast of Zunhua to lurk.
He felt that for a long time to come, the war would have nothing to do with him.
But he didn't expect that the matter would come to his head.