Chapter 30 Take Liaoyang City and Capture Tokyo City

After Dai Shan found out that Shengjing's situation was not good, he sent people around to inform Liaoyang, Tieling, Fushun and other surrounding places to come to support quickly, how did he know that these places had long been too busy to take care of themselves.

After the Yaogang People's Army, which occupied the estuary, sent seven regiments of troops to Wei Xiang on the outskirts of Shengjing on two occasions, the ships returning from Shengjing (Shenyang) returned to the estuary, and when the sea ships of Yaogang brought the troops of another division of the 11th Infantry Corps, they transported their troops to Tieling and Liaoyang respectively.

The first to go was the road to Liaoyang, where they had two tugboats with two strings of barges to transport two regiments of infantry. They were also given four landing craft and five speedboats. They marched against the current in the southeast direction along the Hunhe River, and then turned south into the Taizi River, and went upstream, day and night, and under the guidance of their guides, when they approached Liaoyang, they slowed down their march, and in order to ensure the concealment and suddenness of the attack, they had to land in Liaoyang at night.

Leading the way was the commander of the 3rd Division of the 11th Infantry Army, whose tasks had been arranged long ago. This thirty-year-old man's name is Wang Yuncai, who turned out to be a small leader of Wild Boar Ridge, and later followed Zhang Zhimu and them down the mountain, and he also fought in the south and the north, and has been working from a small soldier to today's division commander.

After entering the Taizi River, this Wang Yuncai was a little excited. When preparing for the battle, he had already read a lot of materials. After Nurhachi occupied Liaodong, he renamed the Taizi River to the Taizi River. In fact, before the Qin Dynasty, the Taizi River was called "Yanshui", and it was also called Daliang Water, Liang Shui, Dongliang River, and Daizi River. Later, Prince Yan fled here, and renamed "Yanshui" to "Taizi River". When I arrived here, I can't help but think of the tragic historical events such as the farewell of Yishui, the assassination of Xianyang, and the self-slaughter of Yanshui in order to defend his family and country, resist the tyranny of Qin, and recruit chivalrous warriors.

Wang Yuncai thought to himself that I was just a useless waster who had no food to eat, and became a bandit in the mountains, thanks to following Mr. Zhang, I was on a right path, and now I have to compare what I do with those ancient heroes. The importance of this place in Liaoyang, second only to Shenyang, sent me to be in charge of this road, a big reason is because I am an old man in Yaogang, and I must not embarrass Mr. Zhang.

As Wang Yuncai thinks, the geographical location of Liaoyang is too important. Originally, the Liaodong Metropolitan Office of the Ming Dynasty was located in Liaoyang, and all the military pass castles in Liaodong were built around Liaoyang in the past. At the beginning, after Nurhachi conquered Liaoyang, he was very happy, and sent people to Shenyang (not yet renamed Shengjing), and took the queen, concubines and princes to Liaoyang, and built Tokyo City as an imperial palace on the east bank of the Prince River in the east five miles of Liaoyang, and changed Liaoyang to Tokyo.

In fact, Nurhachi, who calls Liaoyang Tokyo, is not the first.

Liaoyang is the first important town in the history of Northeast China, and has long become the economic center, military fortress, political stage, and the capital of the Khitan, Jin and other regimes.

About in the twelfth year of King Yan Zhao (300 BC), Qin Kai, the general of Yan State, led a large army to attack Liaodong, built the Great Wall along the border, set up Liaodong County, and governed Xiangping City (Liaoyang). After Qin Shi Huang unified China, he still followed the old system. When the general Meng Tian built the Great Wall, he further strengthened and improved Xiangping City, and then it took on a scale.

During the Three Kingdoms period, the Gongsun clan possessed Liaodong and built Xiangping City into an imperial capital. At that time, Xiangping had developed into a large city with 40,000 households, more than 300,000 people, and a "city" (business district), and became one of the 12 economic centers with "city" in the country in the Han Dynasty.

Subsequently, during the Liaojin period of the Two Song Dynasty, Yelu Deguang, the Khitan lord (Liao Taizong in 935 AD), regarded Liaoyang as one of the five capitals of Tokyo, and Liaoyang was the capital of its Dongdan State. (Today, the ruins of the Dongdan Palace can still be identified, and its architectural remains are now the Kannon Temple.) ）

The Ming Dynasty, like the Han Dynasty, also adopted defensive measures to reclaim the frontier, and built military projects such as castles and barriers. Zhu Yuanzhang in the fifth year of Hongwu (1372), ordered to rebuild the ancient city of Liaoyang. Ye Wang and Ma Yunjuan asked the Ming court to rebuild on the basis of the old city. Hongwu began construction in five years, and in three or four years, a magnificent and solid Liaoyang city was basically completed.

Liaoyang City was the first city in the northeast of the Ming Dynasty. Its scale is divided into two cities, south and north, in the shape of "day". The southern city is the main city, and the city walls are all made of bricks. The height of the city is three zhang and three feet (about 10 meters), and the circumference is sixteen miles and two hundred and ninety-five zhang (about 8 kilometers). There were six gates. The second gate of the south city: the left name Anding (small south gate), the right name Taihe (commonly known as the big south gate); The second gate of Dongcheng: the left name is Guangshun (Goryeo Gate), the right name is Pingyi (Dadongmen); One gate of Xicheng, named Suqing (Daximen); One gate in the north city, the famous town is far away (big north gate). A tower was built on each gate. Among them, there is a moon city outside the Pingyi Gate, and an urn gate is set up for defensive purposes. At the four corners of the city wall, there are corner towers. The southeast is known as the Kui Xing Building, the northeast is far away, the northwest is Pinghu, and the southwest is Wangjing.

In the twelfth year of Hongwu (1379), he ordered Pan Jingkai to expand the east city for one mile, and then extended to the north, attached to the earth city, that is, the north city. In the fourteenth year of Zhu Di Yongle (1416), he commanded Wang Zhen to rebuild the northern city, wrap the surrounding area, and open the city gate.

There is a proverb in Liaoyang: "Jiayimu in the east of the city, Bingding fire in the south of the city, Gengxin gold in the west of the city, and Renhui water in the north of the city." It refers to the large amount of timber produced in the mountainous area in the eastern part of Liaoyang, which is more than that in the east of the city, and is loaded at Gaolimen Wharf (northeast of the city) and Efang Wharf (southeast of the city), and transported to other places through the Taizi River; The south of the city is a kiln, where pottery and iron smelting are located; The area to the west of the city is full of handicraft workshops and workshops; The north of the city is the surging Taizi River, the water transportation is very convenient, all kinds of goods can be loaded and unloaded by the Donggan River, Xigan River, Bagua Head and other wharves in the north of the city. Merchants from other cities mostly enter the Taizi River through the Liao River and the Hunhe River, and go to the city of Liaoyang. Liaoyang's economic prosperity is very prosperous, and the water transportation is smooth, and it is in all directions.

The Taizi River runs from south to north from the east of Liaoyang City, and then goes around to the west, making half a circle around Liaoyang. Wang Yuncai and the others planned to land on the east side of Liaoyang City, and on the east and west banks of the Taizi River at the same time, because they wanted to solve Liaoyang City and Tokyo City at the same time.

Although the war has started and Liaoyang has also received an alarm, both the defenders and the people feel that the war is still far away from them. When Wang Yuncai and his fleet came to the Gaolimen Wharf with dazzling searchlights, they saw that there were many ships docked here, and those boatmen and coolies on the wharf had never seen such bright lights, nor had they heard such a roaring sound, until the tugboat docked on the wharf, and the lively people on the shore knew that it was a burning ship. But when they saw a large number of troops disembarking from the ship, they were so frightened that they ran away. Some of the brave ones did not run, and the troops who found that they were very disciplined, and they all gathered on the embankment, and did not harass them, and those who slowly ran away also returned. The landing craft grabbed the bow of the boat to the shore and also drove the gun truck ashore, and the other part of the boat leaned on the east bank of the Taizi River, and two landing craft also leaned on the east bank.

At this time, some people wanted to enter the city to deliver a message to the defenders, but the city gates were closed and they could not enter the city. Immediately, a company of infantry from the Yaogang army came to the front of the Goryeo Gate and set up an ambush. Because the gates of Liaoyang were opened at the same time, some people went in from elsewhere to report the news, and the Yaogang people also entered the city at the same time.

However, there is a moat outside Liaoyang City, and you must pass through a drawbridge to enter the city, so if you don't have a reinforced drawbridge, the gun truck can't drive directly into the city. Wang Yuncai made special preparations for this matter.

However, there is one thing that Wang Yuncai did not expect.

Liaoyang is a commercial center, every day into the city to do business people are very many, generally before the city gate, there are many people waiting in front of the suspension bridge, as soon as the suspension bridge is put down, they rush into the city. But a company of soldiers was ambushed in front of the drawbridge, and those who came to the city to do business were frightened away. Fortunately, the company commander who was guarding in front of the city gate was still very scheming, and when he found out about the situation, he immediately sent someone to tell Wang Yuncai. Wang Yuncai patted his head and said, "Oops! It almost broke the big thing. So he borrowed some old clothes from the coolies at the wharf, and sent people to dress up as people who had entered the city and wait outside the Goryeomun Suspension Bridge.

After dawn, one of the gatekeepers in the city looked outside and said to his brother next to him, "Fuck! There aren't many people today! ”

"I can't do as much as I can, and I won't give you some oil and water." The other muttered, and two men creaked and lowered the drawbridge. The gate inside the city gate cave was also pushed open with a "boom".

The soldiers of the kiln gang disguised as ordinary people came to the city gate with their burdens, and the soldiers in front of the gate did not speak, but habitually stretched out their hands. But instead of giving them money, they turned the handles of their rifles hidden behind them and threw them on the heads, and in a few moments several soldiers by the gate fell to the ground covered in blood, and the two gun wagons behind drove up and pressed the edge of the drawbridge with their tracks, so that the men on the gate could not lift the drawbridge. Immediately, the soldiers of that company jumped up and rushed into the city gates. They knew that there was an urn city inside, and they couldn't stop in this urn city, and they had to rush to the gate inside as soon as possible and take it down.

At this time, the soldiers on the gate tower noticed that something was wrong, why did so many people in colorful clothes rush into the city, their first reaction was to pull the drawbridge up, but suddenly they saw two guys with black smoke crawling over and pressing the drawbridge. Before they could understand what these two guys were, a string of flames appeared on these two guys, "bang bang bang" and "da da da" 12.7 mm heavy machine gun and 7.9 mm heavy machine gun bullets, which smashed the heads of the soldiers who were watching out into a colander, and some of them simply half of their heads were blown away.

At this time, they knew that it was not good, could it be that these were the legendary very powerful kiln people. At this time, the soldiers were lying on the tower of the city gate, and the soldiers crawled down the city, and they knew that they should report it.

They were pressed and couldn't lift their heads, and the sappers of the kiln came over with wheels pushing the materials for building the bridge. They jumped into the moat, lowered the drawbridge and erected support supports. I saw that the drawbridge slabs were quite sturdy, and some wooden flutes were padded, and four gun carriages drove through the moat by pressing the wooden flutes.

At this time, the soldiers of the company who entered the city had already occupied the city gate and the entire urn city, covering Wang Yuncai and his brigade to enter the city.

In fact, Dolgon also knew the importance of Liaoyang, and he sent a general of the second rank to garrison Liaoyang. However, he believed that Liaoyang would not be threatened, and in such an important Liaoyang, there were only more than 3,000 Qing soldiers, and more than 30,000 soldiers of the Han and Eight Banners. Guarding the Qing soldiers here is really pampered, and the Han army will do the things that are hard to endure. They were just responsible for leading the Han army to guard the city gates and so on.

This general, who turned out to be a thousand households, now got the fat difference stationed in Liaoyang, so beautiful that he didn't know what to do, and got a few little wives, who were tired of backache and legs every day, and didn't think about fighting at all. The matter of military training is also in the hands of subordinates. The general, who had not woken up that day, was very unhappy when he was woken up by the soldiers who were informed, and muttered that he got dressed and came out and shouted at the kneeling soldiers: "What's the matter! It's like a ghost! ”

The general's confused sentence is really right, this is the ghost of life: "My lord! Oh no! The kiln gang people have entered the city! ”

"What are you talking about, what?" The general suddenly woke up in fright, staring at him in disbelief and asking.

"The people of Yaogang have entered the city! Coming in through the Koryo Gate! The soldier said tremblingly.

"Someone's coming!" The general yelled, "Take my armor!" ”

At this time, the city of Liaoyang was already full of gunfire, and the generals below him were waiting for him in the hall, and he immediately ordered a thousand households to lead the troops to drive the Yaogang people out of Gaolimen. He also ordered his men to hurry back and kick the city without mistake. Then, coming to the courtyard, with the help of the guards, they boarded the war horses. Although his physical strength was not good, the general's spirit was okay, and he wanted to personally lead people to drive the Yaogang people out of the city. But before he could get out of the yamen, he saw a lot of Qing soldiers pouring in from the yamen gate. Then the earth shook and a "boom" was heard. The officers and soldiers who retreated shouted at the gates: "My lord, get out of the way!" I don't know what it is, we can't stop it! ”

Feeling insulted, the general waved the broadsword in his hand and shouted: "Bold! Death to those who dare to retreat! ”

At this time, the artillery truck of the kiln gang stopped at the gate of the garrison ya, and the soldiers of the kiln gang rushed in, and the soldiers who were forced to rush by the generals in front of the gate were knocked down with guns.

Only then did the general understand that the soldiers were not scared nonsense.

The soldiers who came in from the kiln, looked at the courtyard, and found that there was a general, with a big knife in his hand in a helmet and armor, and looked at each other with a big knife, they didn't want to kill him immediately, they had the intention of capturing him alive, and then a platoon commander came in and said to the general: "Don't be stunned!" Do we kill you, or do you dismount and surrender! ”

At this time, the general was already sweating, and he didn't know whether it was sweating or nervous, he knew that today was over, and his heart was crossed, so he didn't say anything, and raised his knife to slash at the platoon commander who spoke. But just as he raised his knife, the automatic rifle in the platoon commander's hand fired a row of bullets at his horse's head, and the horse's front legs lifted and then lay on the ground, throwing the general down. The soldiers went over and saw him holding it down.

After several chariots from Yaogang entered the city, they rushed towards the west gate, the south gate, and the north gate respectively. The battle was as if it were taught in a textbook, and the armies entering the city moved separately according to their respective tasks. A lot of work done by Li Zhi's intelligence officers really played a very big role on the battlefield. By noon, the battle was over. In this battle, more than 2,000 Qing soldiers were killed, more than 5,000 Han Banner soldiers were killed, more than 1,000 Qing soldiers and more than 15,000 Han Banner soldiers were captured alive.

The battle for Tokyo City is also progressing well. As soon as the chariots of Yaogang came ashore, the defenders in the city of Tokyo could hear the sound of the roaring chariots, because the Taizi River in the city of Tokyo was only one mile, and there was hardly any interference at night now, and the sound traveled far away. The infantry and artillery wagons of the kiln did not stop, and drove directly outside the city of Tokyo.

The castle is built on a high hill facing the water, and is a brick and stone rammed earth structure. The circumference of the city is 3510 meters, 890 meters long from east to west, 886 meters long from north to south, there are eight gates on all sides, respectively called Neizhi, Fujin, Huaiyuan, Wai Zheng, Desheng, Tianyou, Fusheng, the ground, there are two doors on each side, the position of the door, the north and south are opposite.

As soon as the morning dawned, the artillery carriage drove to the Tianyou Gate, regardless of the Qing army on the Tianyou Gate shooting a dense rain of arrows, the "bang" at the Tianyou Gate was a cannon, and with a "boom", the gate of the Tianyou Gate was blown up. The chariot drove straight through the door. After the light and heavy machine guns outside the city covered the infantry to follow the artillery carts into the city, the infantry began to slaughter. The city of Tokyo is now the capital of Liu, and the guards are all Qing troops, there are more than 1,000 people, and in the end there are no prisoners here, these Qing soldiers are the most loyal soldiers of the Qing Dynasty, all of whom died in battle.

The city of Tokyo was originally not large, but Nurhachi moved the capital to Shenyang before it was completely completed.

In March of the second year of the Apocalypse (1622), Nurhachi convened a meeting of kings and ministers. He said: "The emperor saw that he blessed us and paid us the Liaodong place, but the city of Liaoyang was large, and it had fallen into disrepair for many years and had fallen into disrepair. There is Korea in the southeast and Mongolia in the northwest, both of which have not yet been conquered. It is necessary to build another city and send troops to defend it, so that we can confidently and boldly send troops to Quang Ninh without worrying about it. "Therefore, five miles east of Liaoyang City, about one mile on the right bank of the Taizi River, choose a place to build a new city. It was basically completed within a year, and it was called "Tokyo Castle". This is the place where Nurhachi's imperial government was located. After Nurhachi moved the capital to Shenyang, it was guarded by Qing soldiers as a stay.

It has always been a mystery why Nurhachi did not live in Liaoyang City and why he moved the capital to Shenyang.

One of the reasons why Nurhachi moved the capital to Shenyang was that it was convenient to attack the Ming Dynasty from there, and it was enough to cross the Liao River. However, when Nurhachi attacked the Ming Dynasty, he did not go all the way, but went to Haizhou (Haicheng) to cross the river to the west.

Nurhachi's reason is likely to be due to feng shui, but he can't say it.

Wang Yuncai didn't have the heart to visit this ancient city with a history of more than 2,000 years, and the next day he left a part of the soldiers to defend the city, and boarded the ship with the army, and went upstream, their goal was Weining Yingbao (Benxi), Qinghe Fort (Qinghe Town, Benxi Manchu Autonomous County), and Yaque Pass.

----------

New progress in "Memories of the Southern Song Dynasty": the Battle of Yashan, the defeat of the Yuan army, the counterattack of the Song army, and the landing in Fuzhou.