The news that the Chinese army sent troops to conquer gold reached the Ming Dynasty officials, causing a sensation. Although everyone in the court knew about the destruction of the Xianglan Banner, most of them thought it was an "accident" caused by the outnumbered pirates and the lone army of the Eight Banners from the North. ". From Emperor Tianqi to ministers in various ministries, no one would have thought that the Chinese army would dare to take the initiative to send troops to attack Hou Jin.
After the new Liaodong manager Yuan Yingtai arrived in Liaodong, he initially carried out some rectification. He regarded the corrupt general Liu Guangxian and general Li Guangrong as scum and wanted to remove them from office and investigate. As a result, Liu was expelled and a riot took place. Li arrived in June of the next year. Dismissed from office. Yuan Yingtai always used "lenient" to correct Xiong Tingbi's "strict". As a result, he made mistakes in defense. Some Mongolians who were begging for food due to year-round hunger were surrendered by him and placed on the front line of Guangning. Some people raised concerns that they were enemy collaborators. Shai Yingtai not only refused to listen, but also got his own plan. He wanted to use them to disturb Hou Jin.
As a result, soon these Mongolian soldiers rebelled due to lack of pay, which triggered a response from other Ming army soldiers, causing wars to spread all over the western Liaoning front line. No matter how much food and salary the Ming Dynasty court sent to Liaodong, they were exploited layer by layer by the officials at the top and bottom until they reached the lowest level of soldiers. There will always be a shortage of pay here. The officialdom of the Ming Dynasty, which has completely institutionalized corruption, is like a black hole. No matter how much money and food is available, it cannot be filled.
Therefore, after the Chinese army launched an offensive against Hou Jin, the Ming army in western Liaoning was still in chaos. Because of the lack of pay and the lack of relief for the refugees from Liaodong, many mutinies and civil commotions had occurred in western Liaoning and the Guannei and Jingqu areas. The Ming army At this time, there were still doubts about self-protection. How could anyone dare to take the initiative to attack Liaodong? Therefore, when the Haizhou and Gaizhou lines were occupied by the Chinese army, the Ming army did not react at all.
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The Kuandian Camp where Zhao Tie is stationed is like a large warehouse of the Chinese Army. Now it is filled with all kinds of materials inside and outside. They are then transported to the east and west lines. Countless Korean civilians and Liaodong civilians are escorted by Chinese soldiers in black. Driving cattle, horses, mules, donkeys and other large vehicles, they shuttled across various roads like hard-working worker ants. Many of these roads were newly opened.
An announcement was issued from the Jinghai Palace in Yinfeng, Taiwan: All capable pioneering regiments can participate in the Liaodong War. Of course, they must be under the unified command of the Chinese Army. After participating in the war, the pioneering regiments can share the spoils with the Chinese army soldiers. After the war, they can be divided according to the Those who have made meritorious deeds will be allocated land in the newly conquered areas.
Therefore, in addition to the follow-up troops of the Chinese Army's regular army concentrated in Liaoyang and Kuandian, dozens of "militia battalions" formed by the pioneering regiment also headed to the battlefield. As auxiliary forces, these militia battalions were assigned to defend along the transportation arteries. There are Several "militia battalions" came to the front line of Hetuala and were ordered to sweep the hinterland of Houjin - the territory of the original Jurchen Jianzhou Guard.
Zhang Pan led 400 brothers from the Third Battalion of the First Regiment of the Fifth Division. After successfully completing the task of escorting the artillery, he rested for a few days. Zhang Pan discovered that Yan Siqi did not immediately launch the artillery unit, nor mobilized troops to besiege the old city of Hetuala.
Yan Siqi used the main force of the First Division to attack the last two copycat fortresses around Hetuala. He dispatched all of his own Fifth Division. It was divided into more than a dozen groups to sweep the birthplace of the Later Jin Kingdom. His order was clear: Anyone who did not immediately The Jurchen tribes that surrendered were all annihilated on the spot.
Yang Dacheng's West Route Army originally faced the main force of the Eight Banners led by Nurhachi himself. The Chinese Army's pre-war intelligence work was quite successful. It was found out that the main force of the Eight Banners was assembled in Shenyang and Kaiyuan. Therefore, the general manager of the march on Liaodong Road In the plan of the staff of the Old Battalion Operations Department, Yang Dacheng's West Route Army was the main force in the decisive battle with the Eight Banners. They estimated that Nurhachi would keep his new capital: Shenyang no matter what. Therefore, in Liaoyang and Shenyang, the West Route Army would There was a head-on collision with the main force of the Eight Banners. Therefore, the cavalry brigade, artillery brigade and other units were strengthened and given to the West Route Army.
However, the Hou Jin Eight Banners soldiers shrank back quickly. Liaoyang gave up without fighting. This made officers at all levels of the Chinese Army's West Route Army a little impatient and confused.
The commander of the cavalry brigade, Colonel Lu Xiaotian, personally led the directly affiliated Biao Battalion out to the outskirts of Shenyang for reconnaissance. Driven by the impatience that spread throughout the entire West Route Army, he went a little too far. In Baidu, south of the Hun River, Tapu. The Biao Battalion directly under the command of the cavalry brigade commander encountered 10,000 Eight Banners soldiers.
Lu Xiaotian turned around and ran south. But this was a wilderness suitable for cavalry battles. He was quickly overtaken by the overwhelming Eight Banners soldiers. The Biao Battalion directly under the Chinese Army's Cavalry Brigade was well-equipped and carried four six-gun rapid-fire guns. and two honeycomb guns. They were all pulled by light carriages. Lu Xiaotian set up a position by the woods on a river bank. He surrounded his troops into a hollow square formation. Concentrated rapid-fire guns, human-powered machine guns and honeycomb guns on To the northwest, facing the front of the Eight Banners' charging front.
A series of red firework bombs calling for help exploded over the woods on the river bank.
At the same time, 400 cavalrymen began to shoot at the Eight Banners soldiers with their lances and rapid-fire guns.
Due to the restrictions of river banks and woods, the Eight Banners soldiers could only attack this small Chinese army position head-on from the northwest.
The leader of this group of Eight Banners soldiers was Mang Gurtai, the fifth son of Nurhaci, the leader of the Zhenglan Banner. He was known for his fierce fighting. He ordered the forward ten pure Manchu Niulu to attack Lu Xiaotian's position directly. After he It seems that such a small group of Nanman soldiers is just an appetizer.
The consultant of the cavalry brigade training department, the old German mercenary Locke, was riding on his Arabian war horse. Looking at the dark Eight Banners cavalry in front of him, he laughed and said to Lu Xiaotian: "Victory on the battlefield always belongs to the dense mass of troops. The troops are fighting against the scattered galloping cavalry. The practice of the Turks and Mamluks has fully proved that it is impossible to deal with the infantry with rapid attacks. Any other cavalry cannot pass any place where the long strides of lancers or cuirassiers cannot pass. Don't even think about passing. If the rapid impact is compared with the large-footed impact, its superiority is only shown in dealing with infantry that is on the verge of running out of food and ammunition. Therefore, it has completely fallen into chaos. If you want to break through a solid square formation, you still need muskets and lancers. .It would be better to have cuirassiers equipped with spears. I didn’t see these barbarian cavalry on the opposite side having these things.”
Lu Xiaotian's face was livid. He looked at Locke as if he were a monster: this old mercenary in his forties with scars on his face seemed to have never known what fear was.
Lu Xiaotian decided not to pay attention to this foreigner with a red beard and a big nose. He shouted to his subordinates: "The enemy has entered 200 steps. Shoot with rapid-fire guns. 50 steps. The whole army shoots."
When the Eight Banners soldiers approached the woods on the river bank, the team appeared to be very scattered because they encountered the obstruction of sparse trees.
The soldiers of the cavalry brigade of the Chinese Army used the lying war horses as a cover. Relying on the horses, they squatted half-crouched with their guns in hand and prepared to shoot. At this time, the firing sound of "ta da da da" was heard from the honeycomb guns, and there were also six-gun repeaters. A quick "bang bang" sound followed immediately.
This is the first time that the Chinese Army's manual repeating machine gun has been put into combat in a field environment. The improved honeycomb gun, coupled with skilled gunners and loaders, can reach a rate of fire of 200 rounds per minute; the six-gun can also Achieving fifty rounds per minute.
Under the dense rain of bullets from two honeycomb guns and four six-gun revolvers, swarms of Eight Banners cavalry were knocked to the ground like fallen leaves swept by the autumn wind. Then, soldiers from the Biao Battalion directly under Lu Xiaotian fired a volley of carbine. Smoke quickly filled the air.
Mang Gurtai was shocked to see that his ten most elite Manchu Niulu were defeated by a mere 400 men from the opponent. After losing nearly half of their troops, they retreated in panic and confusion.
He heard the intensive gunshots. He was very puzzled how such a small group of people could fire such a dense number of bullets. He executed the leader of the forward troops on the spot. Then he personally led the troops to attack this small Chinese army. His The cavalry of the troops directly under the Zhenglan Banner were beaten to pieces by the opponent's intensive firepower in the first attack. The so-called heavily armored cavalry could not stop the bullets. The war horse and its owner were knocked to the ground.
At this moment, the cavalry troops of the Chinese Army who saw the red distress signal came from all directions. Several other infantry sentries of the Chinese Army that were patrolling nearby also arrived. They took the initiative to attack the Eight Banners soldiers. So the sounds were heard from all directions. There was gunfire.
Mang Gurtai was startled by this formation. He thought he had fallen into a "trap" arranged by the Chinese army.
If the opponent was an official army of the Ming Dynasty, he wouldn't care at all. He would immediately concentrate his forces to kill a small group of people on the river bank, and then deal with the surrounding enemy reinforcements.
However, in front of him was the Chinese army that had almost wiped out the Xianglan Banner.
Therefore, Mang Gurtai, who had always fought bravely, cautiously ordered the entire army to gather, turn around and go back. His troops were originally a partial division covering Shenyang's flanks. He had no intention of confronting the Chinese army. He sent several troops to attack. Troops coming for reinforcements. Taking advantage of the opportunity
That night, Mang Gurtai's troops returned to Shenyang City. He told Nurhaci the exact news about the Chinese army's strong combat capability.
One day later, Yang Dacheng's vanguard reconnaissance cavalry discovered on the line north of the Hun River that the Eight Banners soldiers originally posted on the river bank had disappeared. Large groups of troops appeared on the line in Shenyang and Fushun, marching eastward from Shenyang City.
Yang Dacheng frowned when he heard the news: "What? Could it be that the Jurchen Tatars want to return to Hetuala. Are the Shenyang cities not defended?"
Zheng Zhihu, the new staff officer of the Second Division Operations Department, said: "It's very possible. The Tatar cavalry's harassment of our army camp has been reduced a lot in the past two days. Our army's cavalry went deep into the north of Shenyang City without encountering enemy troops. It's very likely that Nu Chief Once again we abandoned the city and failed to defend it."
The West Route Army sent a forward that day: a regiment of the Second Division crossed the Hun River and arrived at the foot of Shenyang City.
The First Regiment released a reconnaissance hot air balloon outside the south gate of Shenyang City. The leader of the First Regiment personally watched the balloon for a long time. After coming down, he told the messenger: "Report to Manager Yang immediately. Shenyang City is empty. Chief Nu has run away."