When the Apocalypse and the ministers were theoretically arranged in Beijing, in Ningyuancheng, Liaoxi, the Ming army and the Jurchens had already become a pot of porridge.

On the twentieth day of the first month, Dai Shan led 20,000 people to Ningyuan Pass. At first, Dai Shan was still very cautious, and when he found the Ming army castle on the way, he first surrounded it, then searched around to see if there was an ambush, and finally attacked the castle. When attacking Jinzhou, seeing the tall city wall and remembering the artillery power of the Ming army, many soldiers were very nervous, when everyone set up a ladder to climb the head of Jinzhou City, they found that there was no Ming army guarding quietly around, which made everyone on the wall feel incredible.

Of course, it was not completely without movement, a group of soldiers carrying wood to storm the city gate did not expect the city gate to be closed, due to excessive force, more than a dozen soldiers carrying wood could not hold their feet and fell to the ground, and one was crushed to death by the wood on the spot. The people who had just climbed the city wall heard the loud noise of the city gate and someone shouting below, thinking that the Ming army had set up an ambush and hurriedly opened their bows and arrows to aim below.

Later, everyone was more relaxed, and when they passed through Tashan, Songshan, Xingshan and other forts, they all pushed the door directly, of course, without exception, they were all empty inside, which made Dai Shan, who was responsible for exploring the way, happy and worried, until they came to Ningyuan Pass and found a Xiongguan standing between the two mountains, only to understand that the Ming army was defending here, and a heart was put down.

After carefully looking at the terrain, Dai Shan asked people to report the situation to Nurhachi in the back, and at the same time asked people to find a suitable place to set up camp. After resting for a while, Dai Shan sent people to the left and right sides to inquire about whether there were other paths. The next morning, the person in charge of exploring the path to the northwest of Ningyuan Pass reported that the mountain on the side of the pass was very steep, and there was no way to climb over it. Seven or eight miles further, there were a few miles of flatter sections, but the Ming army had already built walls and arrow towers, and people could pass along the way, but the cavalry could not pass.

In the afternoon, Nurhachi, who received the report, led the others to arrive, and after listening to Dai Shan's reply, Nurhachi didn't say anything, but just went to Ningyuan Pass to watch it for a while, and then gathered the generals and asked, "How do you see this pass?" ”

Dai Shan first said: "Father Khan, this pass is high and thick, there are nine deep and wide horizontal ditches outside, and the surrounding trees have also been cut clean, it seems that the Ming army completely wants to be a turtle with a shrunken head." Erchen means that there is no certainty of direct assault, to see if the detour from both sides can be passed, the people who explored the road to the northwest in the morning have returned, and the report said that the Ming army along the way is prepared and can not ride horses, and those who explore the road to the southeast have not returned, and they will make plans after they return. ”

Nurha's red tent under the fierce general Ao Bai said: "Great Khan, it is better to ask someone to fill in the ditch for him first, and then prepare chariots, ladders and other equipment to attack up and down, and see how the Ming army copes, just looking at it here is not a way." ”

Nurhachi said: "This city is built with great ingenuity, there are almost no dead ends, there must be a lot of casualties in a single storm, wait to hear the news of the probe, but you can first call people to carry soil and fill the ditch." ”

As soon as Aobai heard that Nurhachi had listened to his opinion, he immediately ordered someone to dig earth and add a ditch. In winter, the soil is frozen hard, and it is not easy to dig loose, but I can't bear the number of people for a while, so I load a lot of cars, only to see hundreds of people pushing dozens of carts of soil slowly close to the first ditch.

At this moment, only a few loud "knock knocks" were heard, and the cannon on Ning Yuan's gate rang out. The bowl-sized cannonball came with a huge roar and smashed into the front of the deep ditch, and when everyone smashed the car and cracked, it would change to the unpredictable direction after it bounced on the ground, and immediately killed and injured all over the place, and the undead and uninjured even crawled and rolled back.

Ao Bai was shocked when he saw it, but he was also a general with rich combat experience, and after estimating the distance, he shouted: "Don't panic, everyone, the range of the Ming army's artillery is limited, you don't need to run to the ditch to pour soil, stay away and throw the soil into the ditch." ”

At this time, Nurhachi also heard the sound of cannons in front of him, and sent someone to ask what was going on with Aobai, who hurried back to report the truth to Nurhachi, and was in a hurry to enter the tent and shouted: "Father Khan, great joy! ”

Nurhachi turned his head and asked, "What happy event?" ”

Dai Shan said: "The people who have explored the way to the southeast have returned, and they say that there is a small road that can lead directly to the sea five miles back, and if you find someone to repair the cavalry, you can also pass it." ”

Ao Bai glanced at Dai Shan strangely and said, "Is Erbeile going to let everyone swim through the sea on horseback?" ”

Dai Shan glanced at Ao Bai dissatisfiedly and said, "I'm afraid General Ao Bai doesn't know, because the weather is too cold, the sea has frozen. ”

Nurhachi asked, "Is the ice thick?" Can you withstand the cavalry walking? ”

Dai Shan said: "The explorers have explored carefully, and they dare not say that they are far away, they are walking on flat ground within four or five miles from the shore, and they have already sneaked to the city of Ningyuan before coming back." ”

Nurhachi was overjoyed and said, "So you can bypass this pass and go straight to Ningyuan City?" God help me! After saying that, he happily walked around on the ground.

After walking for a while, Nurhachi said: "You can't ride horses in the northwest direction, so I ordered 10,000 people to put on white robes and walk the path to climb over to see if we can climb the side wall defended by the Ming army, and if we can cross it, we will destroy the wall and break through it from the inside." ”

Dai Shan said: "Father Khan often asked everyone to see the way of using troops in the Three Kingdoms, when Wu took Jingzhou, he crossed the river in white, and Father Khan broke through the customs in white to make his sons admire. ”

Everyone likes sycophants and top hats, Nurhachi is no exception, after listening to Dai Shan's words, he nodded and said: "If you can break through the pass from the inside, you will break it, and if you can't break it, you will return the same way, the purpose of this Khan is to make it impossible to take care of each other, the main direction of attack is from the sea to the city of Ningyuan, and the overall situation of Ningyuan can be determined." ”

Ao Bai also said at this time: "This is a strategy in the art of war, the Great Khan really deserves to be the Great Khan, which is admirable!" ”

Nurhachi said: "The two of you led 50,000 people from the sea to Ningyuan City, and strive to break it in one fell swoop, Ben Khan led the remaining 20,000 people to fill in the earth to make a frontal attack, and we attacked in three ways so that the Ming army could not take care of it!" ”

Dai Shan said: "Is it too small to leave only 20,000 people around Father Khan? What if the Ming army comes out? ”

Nurhachi said: "The Ming army is already a frightened bird, and they don't dare to come out if they have ten guts, and besides, you see that two of their three doors have been blocked, how many people can come out of the remaining puppy hole?" And there are nine ditches. ”

Now that the discussion has been decided, we will immediately go our separate ways.

On the night of the 22nd day of the first lunar month, in the side wall seven or eight miles northwest of Ningyuan Pass, a cavalry patrol team of 100 people slowly passed by with torches, and the 100 households leading the team shouted to the arrow towers on the side wall: "The enemy has arrived at the pass, and everyone should defend the area for which they are responsible, so as to prevent the enemy from taking advantage of the darkness to climb over the side wall. He shouted as he went.

The terrain outside this side wall is a little gentle, although there is a side wall and an arrow tower and the gentle slope outside the side wall is cut into a steep slope, but he still does not dare to be careless, and every half an hour he will send a hundred households to lead a team of 100 people to patrol back and forth.

I don't know when it started, but before I knew it, snowflakes were falling in the sky, and at first the millet grains were sparsely falling one by one, and then like catkins in March and April, they flew one by one, and it didn't take long for a thin layer of snow to fall on the ground. Later, even the walls of the side wall were covered with white snow, which contrasted sharply with the black wilderness outside the side wall. There is an arrow tower in every half mile, and white snowflakes also fill the top of the arrow tower, and the arrow tower at this time also looks like a burly giant man wearing a white hat, standing neatly in the side wall.

On one of the many towers, a soldier in charge of the patrol was passing through the lookout and looking out of the side wall, and behind him were seven or eight soldiers dressed like him, baking a fire. Suddenly, the soldier in charge of the patrol noticed that the white snowflakes on a side wall were gone, and when he looked closely, he found that the white snow was still falling, and he shouted a little strangely: "Look, everyone, what's going on?" ”

At this time, a veteran rushed over and shouted, "Enemy attack!" Hit the gong! Hurry up and release the arrows! Fast! Fast! Fast! ”