Jilin Cliff.

Although he couldn't hear the movement in the direction of the Salhu camp in the distance, Juniper quickly realized that the main force of the Jin army coming south from the Zharkha Pass was going to attack the Salhu camp.

More than an hour later, the communication between Jilin Cliff and the Salhu camp was cut off by the Jin army.

Knowing that something was wrong, Juniper urgently ordered the staff general Chai Guodong and the guerrilla Bijie to lead his troops to attack the Jin Army's Zhenghongqi Department between Jilin Cliff and Daying, but the Jin Army's Zhenghongqi stubbornly counterattacked, and the battle was unsuccessful twice, and the guerrilla Bijie was killed.

Later, the banners of the Jin army arrived one after another, and tens of thousands of pigtail soldiers surrounded the Ming army all over the mountains, so far, Juniper headquarters was completely surrounded by the Jin army under the Jilin cliff.

In order to break the fighting spirit of the Ming army, the head of the Nu chief Hachi made the heads of more than 100 generals such as Zhao Menglan, Dusi Lin Taiyi, and other Ming commanders thrown in front of the Ming army along with dozens of Ming army flags.

This completely shook Juniper's headquarters, which was fluctuating because of the loss of the battalion.

"Big brother, it looks like the Ming army has been defeated?"

On the Jilin Cliff, Liu Xingxian looked at the Eight Banners army below, and then looked at the Ming army that was sandwiched at the foot of the mountain and shook his head.

"This Du general soldier is too brave and resourceless, what kind of soldiers are well divided, now the old nest is called the Eight Banners, what else is there to fight in this battle? ... It's a good thing we didn't vote for him, otherwise we would have died with him. Liu Xingzuo's third brother Liu Xingxian was a little glad that the eldest brother had chosen to descend Juniper after listening to his words, he would probably be surrounded and killed on the top of this cliff with Juniper.

Liu Xingzuo was silent, but the expression on his face showed that the Han general, who was affectionately called "Liu Aita" by Nurhachi, was very uncomfortable.

Ah Sitong said: "Big brother, there is no way to do it at this point, we only have two thousand people, we can't help Juniper and can't save the Ming army, why don't you take this opportunity to show it, let Nurhachi believe in you a little." ”

Liu Xingzuo was a little hesitant, although he did not vote for Juniper, but he was also determined to vote for the imperial army of Duke Wei, if he would lead his troops to attack Juniper, although Juniper's defeat was a sure thing, but in case in the future, which court will be full of money to turn over this account, and blame Juniper's death on him Liu Xingzuo, how can he explain?

Ah Sitong said in a low voice: "Big brother doesn't have to worry about the future, as long as the Wei eunuch fulfills his wish and gains power in the Ming Dynasty, we will have no merit." ”

Hearing this, Liu Xingzuo struggled again, and finally made up his mind to grit his teeth and give the order to attack the Ming army under the mountain.

Liu Xingzuo's active counterattack made the morale of Juniper's department even lower.

At this time, there was only one choice in front of Juniper, that is, to capture Jilin Cliff, and then the whole army would defend this cliff, waiting for the Malin Road on the North Road or the Liu Ling Department in the East to come to help.

"Today, there is no advance or retreat, but there are those who shake the hearts of our army, and they will not be forgiven!"

In order to fight for this only glimmer of life, Juniper personally went into battle and led the Ming army to repeatedly fight with the Jin army on the cliff.

All of a sudden, there was a loud bang on the cliff.

Jilin Cliff is so heavy, how can Nurhachi let Juniper occupy it. The two yellow flags were ordered to immediately rush into battle with the Ming army, and then two blue flags and red flags joined, and the total strength of the five banners of the Jin army was more than 40,000 people, so that Juniper, who was at a disadvantage, had to divide his troops to meet the enemy, resulting in another defeat in capturing the top of the cliff.

As a last resort, Juniper had no choice but to lead his troops to withdraw from above, wanting to repel the main force of the Jin army first.

Liu Xingzuo was uneasy out of conscience, and he didn't take advantage of the situation to flank the Ming army, giving Juniper more respite.

At this point in the battle, the Ming army was less than 7,000, and the Jin army was as many as 40,000 or 50,000, and it was a division that had just been victorious, and its morale was by no means comparable to that of the Ming army.

In the face of the braided soldiers who came under the pressure of the black, Juniper was still not afraid and led his troops to fight to the death.

The two armies fought against each other at the foot of the Jilin Cliff, and human lives were as worthless as mustard.

"That juniper is really the number one fierce general in the world!"

Nurhachi stood on a high place and could see clearly, Juniper, who was nearly sixty years old, was not afraid of the arrows of the Eight Banners, and went into battle shirtless, and the high strength of the martial arts made the Eight Banners generals who had to fight against him fall from their horses, and they couldn't help but praise.

"It's a pity that such characters can't be used by me!"

Knowing that it was impossible to persuade Juniper to surrender, Nurhachi ordered all banners to kill Juniper at all costs and not to allow him to escape.

If such a fierce general escapes, he will have endless troubles!

The horns were repeated, and the Jin army, which had the initiative and advantage, became more and more courageous, while the Ming army became weaker and weaker the more they fought. Liu Yujie led the cavalry of the capital division to fight desperately with the Jin two red flags, but was killed and wounded by the Jin army with many cavalry, and it was impossible to turn the tide of the battle.

General Chai Guodong persuaded Juniper to break through the siege, but Juniper saw that he could no longer support it, so he had to lead the remnants of his soldiers and horses to rush out, hoping to break out of the encirclement.

The sky was getting darker and darker, and the Ming troops who broke through were unfamiliar with the terrain and difficult to distinguish the road, and many soldiers fell because they couldn't see, making the breakthrough team a mess.

In desperation, Juniper had to order his soldiers to light torches, which immediately exposed the Ming army to the surrounding Jin army.

The pigtailed soldiers were very cunning, they did not directly go forward to fight the Ming army, but fired arrows at them in the light of the Ming army from a distance.

From the light to the dark, the arrows rained down, the soldiers of the Ming army were unable to defend themselves, and they kept falling to the ground, and the wailing and screaming were endless.

Juniper himself was also hit by several arrows in his body, and the arrows were bleeding, but he still shouted to the death and led his troops to retreat while fighting.

When they reached a hillside, there was a sudden shout of killing in front of them, and then hundreds of pigtailed soldiers appeared on the originally empty slope, blocking the Ming army's breakthrough at once.

"Good man, kill slaves!"

Juniper knew that if he could not repel this group of Jiannu, his troops would not be able to break through, so he reined in his horse and rushed up the slope with his gun.

But at this moment, a sharp arrow "swished" and roared, hitting the juniper door!

"Kill slaves!"

Juniper screamed and fell from his horse, and his own soldiers arrived to find that the chief soldier had lost his breath.

"Thirteen Elder Brother Shenwu!"

"Juniper is dead!"

The cheers of Jiannu resounded on the slope, and it was the thirteenth son of the slave chief Hachi, Lai Curtain, who killed Juniper with an arrow. The Ming army under the slope listened to the shouts of the Jin army, and when they saw that the main general Du Songzhen was killed, the soldiers immediately scattered and fled.

"Follow Brother Ben to cut off the head of Master Du!"

Lai Mubu led the men to rush down the slope, found the corpse of Juniper, cut off his head and carried it in his hands.

"The Taishi is dead, what am I still alive for!"

The guerrilla Yang Qin, who learned that the chief soldier was dead, jumped into the cliff dozens of feet beside him.

Staff General Chai Guodong, guerrilla Wang Hao, Guan Fushun guerrilla preparation Yu Yang Ruda and others are still leading their troops to fight to the death, but because of the large number of Jin troops, there are no reinforcements, and the generals died one after another.

At this point, the Ming army was defeated in the first battle of Jilin Cliff, and only a small number of soldiers broke out of the siege of the Jin army under the leadership of Liu Yujie, the capital division of the right-wing battalion in charge of guerrillas, and Zhang Daji, the capital division, and some of the Ming troops hid under the rocks or dead bodies.

Guerrilla Wang Hailong was captured by an arrow and was released to Nurhachi, who saw his brave face and intended to surrender, but Wang Hailong shouted: "How can my dignified general surrender to you, a Tartar traitor!" ”

Nurhachi was furious and ordered Wang Hailong to be cut into meat paste and fed to the horses.

By dawn, the valley around Jilin Cliff was calm, and the corpses of the Ming army were everywhere in the forest, valley, and gangzhong.

Below Juniper, the Ming army killed 123 generals, more than 9,000 officers and soldiers, and only more than 1,000 escaped.

.........

After the defeat of Juniper, Nurhachi did not let the Eight Banners rest and quickly attacked the Malin Department on the North Road of the Ming Army.

The reason why Nurhachi is so urgent is that if he does not intercept the Marin Department, the Ming army will cross the Jiefan Mountain and go straight to Hetuala.

At this time, under the leadership of Ma Lin, the Ming army of the North Road had already entered the Shangjian Cliff more than 20 miles northwest of Jilin Cliff, but before Ma Lin decided whether to get in touch with Juniper and then cross the Shangjian Cliff, or cross the Shangjian Cliff and then contact Juniper, the scattered Tanma brought back more than a dozen juniper routs.

Shocked to learn that the Juniper army had been wiped out (Marin did not know about the existence of the Dali Aha Defense Battalion), Malin immediately ordered the whole army to immediately stop advancing and organize a defense on the spot.

Although he is considered by the outside world to be a gentleman and does not know martial arts, Ma Lin is a disciple of the general after all, and he has his father's old department in his early years, so he does not know anything about military affairs as the outside world says.

With the assistance of his father's old troops, the Marin Ring Battalion dug a three-tiered trench and lined up the firearms outside the trenches, followed by the cavalry.

He also asked Pan Zongyan and Kaiyuan Guan's deputy commander-in-chief to lead 10,000 people to each lead 10,000 people, divide the camp several miles away, and form a horn, and line up chariots to block the enemy's cavalry.

After that, two or three hundred juniper troops fled from the direction of Jilin Cliff to the Marin Department, and they brought more accurate news that the main force of Jiannu was rushing towards Shangjian Cliff.

At this time, Marin was also faced with a difficult problem, whether to continue to advance and carry out the original attack order, or to quickly withdraw to Kaiyuan.

The generals were also quarreling about this, and the faction led by the supervising army Pan Zongyan believed that although the Juniper army was defeated, the Ming army still had a three-way army and could still continue to exterminate the Jianzhou rebels. If you retreat at this time, it is equivalent to abandoning the two routes of soldiers and horses in the east.

Du Si Zheng Guoliang and others believe that the strength of the Fourth Route Ming Army is actually the strongest in the Juniper Division, and he is also the main force of the Fourth Route Ming Army, and now that even Juniper has been defeated, there is no point in them continuing to advance.

And the main force of Jiannu is rushing towards Shangjian Cliff, and the soldiers and horses of Liu Wei and Li Rubai in the east can still echo, but the Ming army here is a lone army, how can it deal with the main force of Jiannu.

"It's too late to retreat to Kaiyuan now, and if it's too late, Jiannu will bite us and we can't go!"

"Can't go! It would be better if Jiannu bit us, and the soldiers and horses of Liu and Li Erlu in the east just copied Jiannu from the back! ”

“......”

When the generals were arguing, Tanma brought back another person, who claimed to be the messenger of Zhou Tiexin, the overseer of the Juniper Army.

Marin hurriedly had the messenger brought to the tent.

After the messenger entered the account, he took out the letter of the prison army he was carrying, and Marin ordered someone to inspect the authenticity of the seal, and after careful identification, it was indeed the contact seal given by the army to all the soldiers and horses before it was sent.

"My family supervisor urgently told General Ma that although General Du was defeated, there are still thousands of soldiers and horses on my road guarding Dali Aha on the east bank of the Hunhe River, so please General Ma must hold on no matter what, if you really can't hold on, please don't go back to Kaiyuan!"

Zheng Guoliang, the capital secretary, asked the envoy: "Where are we going if we don't go back to Kaiyuan?" ”

It was Ma Lin who answered Zheng Guoliang, and he raised the letter to the generals and said, "Lord Zhou said that for the sake of the imperial court, he wants us to meet him." ”