Before the First Regiment of the Second Division crossed the river, the reconnaissance cavalry sent by Yang Dacheng was intercepted by the Eight Banners soldiers along the Hun River. Almost all of them were driven back from the north of the Hun River. The staff of the West Route Army Operations Department unanimously believed that this was a concentration of Nurhaci. As a sign that the troops were preparing to counterattack the Chinese army, the Eight Banners soldiers marching eastward were suspicious soldiers, used to confuse the Chinese army's sight. Everyone believed that the decisive battle between the main forces of the two armies was just around the corner.
Therefore, Yang Dacheng has issued an order, requiring the first regiment that is crossing the river to maintain a defensive line after crossing the river and guard the bridgehead across the river. The leader of the first regiment, Zhao Cheng, has always been rebellious and did not fully obey the order, leaving only half of the troops. He stayed at the bridgehead and led the other half of his troops to attack Shenyang City.
He took the second division's only hot-air balloon reconnaissance post to the foot of Shenyang City. At night, he raised the balloon near the south gate to observe for himself. He saw that the northern half of Shenyang City had fallen into chaos, and countless torches were moving toward the north of the city. In the wilderness outside, a long and winding team carrying torches was creeping toward the northeast.
Zhao Cheng only brought less than 1,000 people to the south of Shenyang City, which was actually a very risky move. He had always looked down on his division commander Yang Dacheng, a rural farmer in Quanzhou, and thought he was too cautious. He sent a messenger south to report the news, but he went around without waiting for orders. He went north of the city in an attempt to intercept the Eight Banners soldiers who were leaving the city. When he arrived near the north gate, there was no Eight Banners soldier left in Shenyang City. Looking at the long river of torches gradually disappearing, Zhao Cheng was furious. He refused to give up, regardless of the fact that his subordinates had already Feeling very tired, he gave the order to pursue.
In the dark night, Zhao Cheng did not expect that the Eight Banners soldiers would ambush the covering force behind them, and was ambushed. Thanks to the timely arrival of several Chinese Army cavalry reconnaissance troops, he was rescued. After a night of melee, Zhao Cheng With only more than 500 men left, he had to return to Shenyang.
It was already dawn, and Zhao Cheng and several cavalry brigade commanders were surprised to find that the fire in Shenyang City was soaring into the sky, and half of the sky was already red.
The follow-up river-crossing troops of the Second Division have opened the south gate of Shenyang City and are entering the city to put out the fire.
The fire in the city was ignited by igniting objects that had been arranged long before the main force of the Eight Banners was evacuated by Nurhaci. The Eight Banners who finally lurked in the city ignited the fire after the Houjin Eight Banners left. They set fires in many places in the city at the same time, causing In a short period of time, fires spread throughout the city.
After the Eight Banners soldiers captured the north of Shenyang last year, there were still 40,000 to 50,000 Han people left in the city. Now a large number of Han people are fleeing in all directions to avoid the spreading fire. Nurhachi's Eight Banners soldiers completely evacuated Shenyang City, leaving nothing for the Chinese army. Any materials that could be used were set on fire to completely destroy Shenyang City and create tens of thousands of refugees.
Yang Dacheng led his old battalion combat department and directly subordinate Biao battalion across the Hun River at dawn. When he arrived at the south gate of Shenyang City, the fire in the city reached its climax, with flames soaring into the sky and smoke filling the sky. The dry summer climate coupled with the morning blowing The strong winds made the fire in the city unstoppable. The Chinese army promptly demolished the residential buildings near the south gate and finally maintained a safe area in the south of the city where they could rest.
"Grandma, I'm going to fuck the 18th generation ancestor of the Tatars," Zhao Cheng yelled, hopping and pointing to the north and shouting: "Mr. Yang, let me chase the Jurchen Tatars, I..."
Yang Dacheng was riding on the horse, with a livid face, interrupting his yelling: "Be honest and take your people into the city to put out the fire. You don't have to do the pursuit. The cavalry brothers have already set off."
After most of the cavalry brigade crossed the river, Lu Xiaotian assembled two regiments of more than 5,000 cavalry. Without waiting for Yang Dacheng's order, they had already gone north to pursue them.
The Eight Banners soldiers evacuated Shenyang very quickly. The Chinese army did not expect that Nurhachi would not even want his new capital, so last night they were still making plans to forcefully cross the Hun River and fight the main force of the Eight Banners.
"The old camp of the Sixth Division has crossed the river. Commander Huang Lue sent someone to ask if he should move closer to Shenyang City." A messenger came to Yang Dacheng and reported to him: "Commander Huang also encountered tens of thousands of Han refugees. The refugees It was said that the Eight Banners soldiers robbed all their belongings before leaving,"
Yang Dacheng's face turned from green to black, and his eyes could kill. A few days ago, the Military Intelligence Department found out that at least 50,000 Eight Banners troops had gathered in Shenyang. The Manchu nobles such as Beile and Beizi who lived in Shenyang City, the children of the Eight Banners and their There are nearly 80,000 family members of the whole family, including other Jurchen family members of the Eight Banners who moved to Shenyang from Jiefan City and the old city of Hetuala. So many people suddenly abandoned the city and left. They acted quickly and decisively. It can be seen that Nurhaci suffered a heavy rain. Determination, premeditated.
"Military Intelligence Department is a bunch of freeloaders," Yang Dacheng couldn't help scolding, "pass the order, gather the cavalry from all units, form a temporary cavalry regiment, and go north to pursue the Eight Banners. After the infantry troops crossed the river, the Second Regiment of the Second Division immediately went north. Puhe Institute and Tieling Guard, seize these areas; the remaining infantry units prepare to advance towards Fushun Guard,"
Zheng Zhihu, the on-duty officer of the Operation Department, recorded Yang Dacheng's order on paper and said: "Commander, Nurhachi abandoned the city and ran all the way to their hometown. I think it was probably because of Yan Zhenquan and others that Chief Nu was worried about his hometown. After being destroyed, they are eager to return to their hometown. Now, the 1st Division and the 5th Division will become the main force in the decisive battle with Nu Chief..."
Yang Dacheng looked displeased, waved his hand to interrupt Zheng Zhihu, who was eager to express himself, and said coldly: "Hurry up and deliver the order, no matter what, the entire army will turn to pursuit tomorrow,"
"The German mercenary Rod Ebel, the deputy commander of the cavalry brigade, and the Dutch mercenary Andre, the commander of the heavy cavalry battalion, came to report," a cavalry brigade messenger galloped over and reined in the horse in front of Yang Dacheng. It turned out that He walked around in a circle, and after finishing the message, he immediately drove away, leaving all the officers of the old battalion present to eat a lot of dust.
Chinese Jesuit missionary Zhong Mingren acted as an interpreter and followed Rod Ebel and Andre behind them. Two old mercenaries from Europe performed military salutes. Yang Dacheng was not polite, opened a map and said: "The heavy cavalry regiment and the cavalry rocket launcher battalion have not crossed the river yet. Please forgive me for now. There is no time for you to rest. The Jurchen Tatar soldiers have gone east. Our Eastern Route Army lacks cavalry and artillery support. Dealing with the enemy harassment in the Jurchens' lair, and then facing the main force of the Jurchen Tatars, I'm afraid there will be trouble. Therefore, you take your troops and set off for Fushun Pass immediately. Don't get entangled with the enemy. Keep heading east. If you are attacked by the East After the Route Army troops, you will be under the command of Yan Siqi, deputy general manager of the Liaodong March,"
The blond Lot thought for a while and said in blunt Chinese: "We need more horses to transport armor and weapons."
Yang Dacheng waved his hand, and an officer from the Logistics Department stood up and said: "The horses from the cavalry battalion directly under the Second Division and the horses from the baggage battalion have been mobilized. The Guangdong Merchant Development Corps also provided some horses. In addition, the Quanzhou Development Corps formed The first battalion of the militia is all cavalry and will set out together with the heavy cavalry regiment. They are all equipped with one man and two horses and can help the heavy cavalry regiment transport some supplies."
Yang Dacheng nodded and said: "The cavalry battalions of the Second Division and the Sixth Division will also set off tomorrow. Jiandao rushed to the location of the Eastern Route Army. I hope that these cavalry can join the Eastern Route Army before the battle between Nu Chief's army and Yan Siqi's troops begins. ,"
…
Nurhachi had been fighting for 40 years, and conquering Liaoshen was the pinnacle of his career. Giving up Shenyang and returning to Jianzhouwei territory was a very difficult decision for him.
Less than a year after the Jin Kingdom moved its capital to Shenyang, a large number of Eight Banners disciples and their families moved here. They had just begun to get used to the prosperous city life and had to leave this comfortable new home. Most of the Eight Banners disciples were dissatisfied. However, the news around Hetuala and Jiefan City was also irritating their nerves. Yan Siqi sent troops everywhere to burn and kill the virgin villages; he besieged Hetuala, burned the large fields belonging to the flag village, and massacred the Eight Banners disciples. The family members who stayed in their hometown... Such news made many Eight Banners generals make requests to Nurhachi: take the initiative to attack the Chinese army, first defeat the enemy forces in the direction of Liaoyang, and then return eastward to defeat the Chinese Army's Eastern Route Army.
Half of the family members of the Houjin Eight Banners remain in the Laochao area, and there are hundreds of thousands of acres of fields and hundreds of flag villages allocated by each banner in Jiefan City and Hetuala. At the same time, Jiefan City is also a coastal area. The Western Jurchen, the only way for the newly formed Eight Banners soldiers from the Savage Jurchen tribe to come for reinforcements. (At this moment, Nurhachi still doesn’t know that the Savage Jurchen and Haixi Jurchen tribe are being attacked by the Marines who land at the mouth of the Tumen River via a detour by sea. ,)
As the general rear of the Eight Banners Army, Nurhachi's original plan was to use a small number of troops to defend the Hetuala line and hold on to the tactics to delay the attack of the Chinese Army's East Route Army; his main force of the Eight Banners originally planned to first attack the Chinese Army's West Route in Shenyang The army fought a decisive battle, and after winning the battle, they marched eastward and defeated the Chinese Army's Eastern Route Army.
In the Battle of Baitapu, Mang Gurtai's 10,000 cavalrymen were unable to defeat the opponent's more than 1,000 cavalry in one charge. Nurhaci sent out a large number of spies and unskilled soldiers to investigate the situation of the Western Route Army on the opposite side, believing that compared with the Chinese Army, The West Route Army's combat capability was stronger than that of the East Route Army. The plan to attack the East Route Army after a decisive battle with the West Route Army was no longer feasible at this time. Nurhaci decisively decided to withdraw from Liaoshen, Fushun, and Kaiyuan and concentrate all his forces. To advance eastward, we planned to defeat the Chinese Army's East Route Army in one fell swoop, and then rely on Jianzhou Wei Laochao to resist the Chinese Army's West Route Army.
According to Nurhaci, after the pirate army, which is mainly composed of pirates and merchants, suffered a major defeat, it should be possible to feel that the Jin Kingdom will lose more than the gain if it attacks with heavy troops. Therefore, the two sides may be able to negotiate by then. To solve some problems, the thought of using political negotiations to deal with the Chinese Army was already an extraordinary display of Nurhaci's political ability.
However, all these ideas must be backed by a victory on the battlefield. Therefore, Nurhaci mobilized the maximum number of troops he could. In addition to issuing recruitment orders to the Jurchen tribes in the northeast, he also summoned nearly 10,000 troops from allied Mongolian tribes. The cavalry, including the Eight Banners soldiers who retreated from the Liaoshen line, when Nurhachi returned eastward to Jiefan City, the total strength of the Eight Banners main force led by Nurhachi reached 70,000.
As for the Chinese Army on Yan Siqi East Road, which was burning, killing and looting in the old city of Hetuala, the main force of the First Division and the Fifth Division plus a dozen militia battalions, as well as independent units such as the Ryukyu Regiment, had a total strength of about 30,000, of which
Part of the force must monitor the 10,000 Jurchen Eight Banners soldiers surrounding the old city of Hetuala, and there are thousands of Eight Banners soldiers in the direction of Jiefan City. There are also countless lurking Jurchen tribesmen in the mountains and forests around Hetuala.
The drastic changes in the battlefield situation made the situation of the Chinese Army on the East Route very critical.