Chapter 35: Surprise Attack

In July of the second year of Chongzhen, Yuan Chonghuan killed Mao Wenlong. In October, Hong Tai led his troops to break the border wall of Mingming. Just when the Houjin army invaded the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Cheng had already sent someone to contact Liu Aita, and after recruiting this patriotic general who knew the truth of the Houjin Dynasty, he made a surprise attack on Shenyang.

Liu Aita's real name is Liu Xingzuo, he is a native of Kaiyuan, Liaodong, when he was young, he was captured by the Jurchens as a slave, because of his outstanding talent, and "clever and understanding", he won the respect and appreciation of Nurhachi, and was assigned to the red flag of the Great Belle Daishan. He participated in the Later Jin attack on the Ming Dynasty and the battle of Liaoshen. With the defeat of the enemy, chasing and escaping and other merits, and quickly promoted, until the deputy general, he was ordered to govern Jinzhou, Fuzhou, Haizhou, Gaizhou, and the land of the four guards in the south, and became a famous Han official in the Later Jin Kingdom.

However, the cruel national oppression and enslavement of the Later Jin deeply shook his untouched conscience, aroused a strong sense of national righteousness, and began to take confrontational actions, "slaves want to hoe the Liao people, and Xingzuo protects them in many ways". Coupled with Yuan Keli's strategic advance of "single-mindedly governing the division, plugging key points, burning and stealing grain, contacting the islands, and recovering Lushun", Liu Xingzuo, who had been plundered by Houjin for 18 years, finally had the firm belief of escaping from Houjin and serving the country. Since then, he has embarked on the road of abandoning gold and returning to the Ming without hesitation. He is not afraid of danger and obstacles, and he is indomitable. In the third year of the Apocalypse (the eighth year of the Mandate of Heaven, 1623), that is, the second year of Yuan Keli's governor Denglai, Liu Xingzuo organized the people of Fuzhou to flee.

According to Zhou Wenyu's memory: "Liaoyang fell, Xingzuo embraced generosity, hoping to serve the country as soon as possible." The slave wants to use firearms, and Xingzuo designs frustration; Slaves want to hoe the Liao people, and Xingzuo is protected in many ways,...... In the spring of Guihai (1623), Zuo was ordered to guard Jin and Fu, and the person surnamed Jin sneaked to report to Shen Yourong and the person concerned (Yuan Keli) in the town, and wanted him to cross the division from the sea, and he was the internal response.

This anti-Kim incident, which involved a wide range of people and involved both inside and outside, was quickly suppressed by Nurhachi, and the people of Fuzhou paid a heavy price of 20,000 heads, and the close and harmonious relationship between Aita and Nurhachi also cast a shadow. In the course of the interrogation of the plaintiff Wang Bing and the defendant Liu Xingzuo's brothers, because Aita flatly denied it, Wang Bing, a national scum, was finally executed for false accusation, but in the same case, Aita's brother Liu Xingren was also killed, and Aita was demoted to a general in July of that year.

When Houjin sent troops to attack Ming twice, Liu Xingzuo "sent people to report first" so that he could "be prepared". In the end, he made up his mind to leave his old mother, wife and children in the first year of Chongzhen (the second year of Tiancong, 1628), and escaped from Houjin by self-immolation. After returning to the Ming Dynasty, he actively participated in the anti-Jin struggle, but at this time, Yuan Keli had left Denglai, and neither Mao Wenlong nor Yuan Chonghuan could treat Liu Xingzuo well.

Mao Wenlong and Yuan Chonghuan didn't look down on it and didn't trust Liu Xingzuo, so he never got reused in the Ming Dynasty. But when he heard that a group of pirates had captured Korea, claimed the title of king, and defeated the Jurchens in Pyongyang, he knew that the time he had been waiting for had come.

Liu Xingzuo infiltrated Seoul alone and took refuge under Chen Cheng. After Mao Wenlong was killed by Yuan Chonghuan, he helped recruit a lot of officers and soldiers of the Dongjiang Army. Among them, Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming and others were all persuaded by him to surrender. Of course, even if there is no such person, Chen Cheng can still hold the Dongjiang Army in his hands, but it will take longer.

Subsequently, Chen Cheng eliminated the Dongjiang Army from the weak and retained the strong, and the original tens of thousands of troops were divided into two parts: the garrison and the field army. Among them, the field army selected a total of 8,000 people, and the rest were arranged to go to Tuntian. In the past, the armor and equipment of the Dongjiang Army were very bad, so when they were fighting, they had to bring many people to strengthen their momentum.

Chen Cheng didn't need so many people to eat dry food, so he only gave the Dongjiang Army a quota of 8,000 people, and sent people to test it one by one. He came with a strong army and a large number of grains and weapons and armor, and after each song, he handed out food, weapons and armor, and then selected officers and generals and organized them.

This resulted in a maximum of 500 soldiers under each general, and even if they wanted to resist, they would not be able to do so. Geng Zhongming was the most brave and resourceful in the surrendered Dongjiang Army, and he was not willing to be absorbed by the Han State like this, and he wanted to make something happen, but after seeing Chen Cheng's ability to use a big stick in one hand and a carrot in the other, he could only dispel the little idea in his heart, and was ready to wait and talk about it first.

After the seizure of North Korea, Chen Cheng naturally did not forget about the high-yielding crops of potatoes and sweet potatoes. It is cultivated not only in large quantities on the Korean Peninsula, but also on Jeju Island, Seongdo Island and other islands. The yield of these crops is not comparable to that of traditional rice and wheat, and the problem of eating was solved that year, and hundreds of thousands of stones could be used to buy the Dongjiang army.

Chen Cheng gave Liu Xingzuo a qu of troops, equipped with a hundred flintlock pistols and two infantry guns, which can be regarded as Liu Xingzuo's own troops. Then he appointed Liu Xingzuo as a major general, and assigned three infantry songs and one cavalry song to his command, so Liu Xingzuo became a major general of the Han State.

The rest of Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming and others were also named brigadier generals, with 1,500 to 2,000 troops under their command. In this way, the original Dongjiang Army basically collapsed, and its combat effectiveness was greatly improved. When rectifying the Dongjiang Army, Chen Cheng sent people to Japan to recruit more ronin samurai, so that the number of troops under the command of Kawanaka Osaya also reached more than 2,000 people.

At the same time, troops were also sent to inspect back and forth along the Yalu River, and when they found people who had come and went, they all arrested them first. Those who do not obey orders will be killed directly. Therefore, although the momentum of the rectification of the Dongjiang Army here is relatively large, the Shenyang side has not received much news.

After Hongtai ventured into the hinterland of the Ming Dynasty, Chen Cheng immediately summoned his generals and began to implement the plan to attack Shenyang. In fact, there is no plan, anyway, there are only more than 20,000 troops dispatched, and it is directly pushed over. Anyway, he himself is a super mobile supply station, and he doesn't have to worry about the supply of food and grass for a month or two.

The army carried a part, the fleet transported a part, plus the Jurchens could be robbed, and it was still possible to maintain 25,000 people for a few months. Although Kong Youde, Shang Kexi, Geng Zhongming and others were quite worried, since Chen Cheng and Lin Mengchu had already made up their minds, they had no choice but to obey orders.

That Li Dan's son, named Li Guozhu, was also transferred to the army and marched to Shenyang with 500 men. The battle in the winter would have been very difficult, but Chen Cheng distributed cotton clothes or furs to most of the soldiers, plus a full tube of stewed sea fish with potatoes every day, so the morale was quite good.

Liu Xingzuo was the most excited and active general, he had been waiting for this day for a long time, leading the army across the Yalu River and heading straight for Shenyang. He knows the truth of Houjin very clearly, where there are garrisons, where there can be villages, it is all Men'erqing.

The Jurchens who remained outside the city were either killed or fled to the mountains and hid. The Han army marched all the way and killed thousands of Jurchens. When encountering an enemy who wants to defend the city, they will surround it first and not give the enemy a chance to escape. Then Chen Cheng summoned cannons, smashed the city gates, and the army swarmed in.

There was a blood feud between the Liao and the Jurchens, so the battle was very bloody, and every time the city was broken, the Jurchen men in the city were all killed. The former officers and soldiers of the Dongjiang Army didn't know what mercy was, and even those Jurchen children were killed cleanly.

The rescued Liao people were incorporated into the ranks of the auxiliary soldiers, helping to cook some rice and carry weapons. As the army moved forward more and more, many of the generals became uneasy, but the soldiers were more and more excited, and it had been many years since the Han army had been killed in the hinterland of Liaodong.

When they arrived at the city of Shenyang, the city had already prepared to defend the city. The Han people outside the city were slaughtered by the Jurchens, and the grain, livestock, and Jurchens were evacuated to the city. In the face of a fortified city like Shenyang, the original tactic of firing a few shots and then rushing in was not very effective.

Chen Cheng was not impatient, and first let the army be stationed five miles outside the city. The main force of the Jurchens all followed Hongtai to the Ming Dynasty to rob, and the people who stayed behind were either old people or children, and there were only a thousand people who could fight, how could they beat more than 20,000 elite soldiers with high morale? Chen Cheng was not afraid that the other party would come out of the city to sneak attack, and even wished that they would come out.

However, the Jurchens who stayed behind were cautious, and only held the city, preparing to let the enemies outside leave on their own because of the cold and hunger. After hearing the news of the enemy's attack, the Minister of Houjin who stayed behind had already urgently sent someone to report to Hongtai, but whether they could be contacted or not, only God knows.

At the time of the "change of self", the Ming Dynasty still had some elite soldiers. After receiving the news that the Houjin army had entered the Kou, these elite troops were transferred by Emperor Chongzhen to the vicinity of Gyeonggi to King Qin. Although the Houjin army was invincible, the main force did not dare to disperse, so the source of the news was much worse.

In fact, even after more than ten years, there were still troops in the Ming army who could fight tough battles. In the Battle of Songshan, the guest soldiers from Shaanxi once killed in front of Hongtai. Along the way, Dolgon and the others were beaten to the point of urine, and fled in a hurry.

In the final analysis, it is not that the Houjin army is too strong, but that the Ming army is too weak. Except for some family members who are still fighting and fighting, the rest of the army is like refugees. Not only do they not have good weapons and armor, but they usually can't even eat enough, let alone train. When such a unit encounters the Houjin Army, which has strict military law, of course, it has no need to fight.

Many Ming troops were originally fish belly, but as soon as they surrendered to the Houjin side, their combat effectiveness immediately increased by several grades, and this is the problem of the system. With the personality and ability of Emperor Chongzhen, and the erosive atmosphere in the court at the end of the Ming Dynasty, even if Qi Jiguang is reincarnated, it is useless.

Yuan Chonghuan was not innocent by a thousand cuts, and Zhu Youzhen hung his crooked neck tree, which can only be said to be self-inflicted.