Emperor Ming Fengyunlu

Volume VI The Battle of the Northern Frontier

Chapter 4 Recruiting Troops and Gathering Strength

Section 11 The Fall of Quang Ninh (2)

In the second year of the Apocalypse (the seventh year of the Later Jin Mandate of Heaven), the first month.

The strategic location of Guangning City is very important, not only the throat of western Liaoning, but also the gateway to guard the Shanhaiguan, and the first barrier to defend the capital. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the general army of Liaodong in all dynasties must be stationed here, Guangning City is the station of the highest military general of the Ming Dynasty in Liaodong, and it is an important town to control the Mongolian departments and suppress the Jurchen tribes. In order to seize this important place, Nurhachi also made a bloody investment, and personally led the 110,000 troops of the Jiannu Eight Banners to the west into the Liao River, preparing to capture Guangning City.

In the face of the menacing Jiannu army, Wang Huazhen ignored Xiong Tingbi's obstruction, and simply divided the remaining forces in eastern Liaodong into three parts, and established three lines of defense with Guangning City as the core: 1. Build the first line of defense with the help of the Liao River, 2. Construct the second line of defense by borrowing more than 10 castles of various sizes such as Xiping Fort, Zhenwu Fort, and Zhenning Fort on the periphery of Guangning City, and third, use the city defense of Guangning as the third line of defense.

Regarding the three lines of defense that Wang Huazhen thought were impregnable, Xiong Tingbi smiled angrily and asked: "The imperial army is far inferior to the Jiannu army in terms of strength and combat power, and now it does not seek to concentrate its forces in one place, but fortifies it everywhere, and divides the army into zero, how can it resist the enemy of tigers and wolves!" ”

Wang Huazhen didn't care when she heard this, and she still went her own way. And Xiong Tingbi was suffering from an empty official position and no soldiers in his hands, so he could only do it in a hurry to no avail.

At this time, Wang Huazhen's three lines of defense had not yet been fully formed, only the last line of defense of Guangning City and the second line of defense composed of the surrounding castles were barely in place, and the first line of defense along the Liao River had not yet been garrisoned, and Nurhachi had already led a vanguard army of 60,000 to cross the Liao River by surprise, and the front of the troops was directed at the line of Xiping Fort on the periphery of Guangning City.

After receiving the news, Wang Huazhen had no countermeasures except for being shocked; And Xiong Tingbi was also helpless, after all, the Jiannu army had already arrived, and there was no time to shrink his forces at this time, so he could only watch the Jiannu army break the defenders from all over the country.

Really! It didn't take long for Nurhachi to command two armies of white flags to surround the fort of Xiping and oversee the onslaught of the army day and night. In the face of the request for help from Luo Zhengcheng, the deputy general of the Xiping Fort, Wang Huazhen adopted the strategy of Sun Degong of the Chinese army, mobilized all the troops stationed in Guangning City, and asked Sun Degong and Zu Dashou to lead their troops to join Luo Chengyi, Qi Bingzhong and others, in an attempt to join forces to repel the Jiannu army. After Xiong Tingbi heard about it, he also had the mentality of giving it a try, and ordered his subordinates to guard Liu Quba's camp to go to help.

The twenty-second day of the first month.

More than 20,000 reinforcements supporting Xiping Fort encountered the main army of Jiannu at Pingyang Bridge, and the garrison Liu Qu and Zu Dashou were trying to lead the army to meet the enemy, who knew that the two sides had just clashed, Sun Degong and the general Bao Chengxian led the way to escape, and then the two surrendered to Jiannu successively; Liu Qu, Qi Bingzhong and other generals were alone and finally died in the battle at Shaling, while Zu Dashou led his troops to flee to Juehua Island.

Luo, the deputy general of Xiping, was always unable to wait for reinforcements, and then he was shocked to hear that the reinforcements had been defeated by the Jiannu army, so he knelt down on the city wall in the direction of the capital, and said: "The minister has done his best", and then killed himself. Generals such as Hei Yunhe, guerrilla Li Maochun, and Zhang Mingxian died one after another in the following siege battles. At this point, the main force of the Ming army around Quang Ninh City was completely annihilated.

At the time of the Battle of Xipingbao, Xiong Tingbi had already left Youtun in Guangning and led 2,000 soldiers and horses to garrison Luyang. After receiving the news of the loss of Xiping Fort and the annihilation of the reinforcements, Senator Xing Shenyan advised Xiong Tingbi to rescue Guangning urgently, but was obstructed by Han Chu's order, and the two disagreed and argued. After careful consideration, Xiong Tingbi believed that his troops were insufficient, and even if he went to Guangning City, he would not be able to change the situation, so he led his army to stop at Luyang.

At the same time, Wang Huazhen, who stayed in Guangning City, was also frightened, and when he heard that Sun Degong, who was regarded as a confidant on weekdays, had surrendered to Jiannu, his face was like ashes and his brain was blank.

In this way, two days later, Sun Degong, who had been reduced to slavery, suddenly led the army of Jiannu to the city of Guangning, and the city was suddenly in chaos, and the people in the city fled separately. At this time, Wang Huazhen was closing the door to handle the military documents, and she knew nothing about the chaos in the city. The general Jiang Chaodong pushed the door and broke in, Wang Huazhen was startled and was about to reprimand loudly, when he heard Jiang Chaodong shouting loudly: "Jiannu has already come to the city, and now the city is in chaos, the matter is critical, please go out of the city and go south!"

After hearing this, Wang Huazhen was still dumbfounded, and did not react at all, Jiang Chaodong gritted his teeth in anger when he saw this, so he stepped forward to help Wang Huazhen out, and immediately sent a few family members to send him away.

Just an hour after Wang Huazhen abandoned the city and fled, Nurhachi concentrated the 110,000 troops of the Eight Banners of Jiannu to storm the city of Guangning, and broke through the city in an instant.

And Wang Huazhen, who fled south in a hurry, met Xiong Tingbi who came in a hurry in the area of the Daling River, and Wang Huazhen was so excited that tears rained down, and she had no longer had the same high spirits as before. Seeing this, Xiong Tingbi had already guessed that Guangning City had been lost, and he was extremely angry in his heart, and shouted at Wang Huazhen: "Lord Wang, didn't you once boast about Haikou, saying that commanding an army of 60,000 can wipe out Jiannu in one fell swoop, what will happen in the end?" Where is Quang Ninh City now! ”

Wang Huazhen was scolded by Xiong Tingbi and was red-faced and ashamed, and asked Xiong Tingbi what to do next, whether to lead the remnants of the troops to garrison Ningyuan and Qiantun first.

Xiong Tingbi sneered and said, "It's too late now, and it won't be long before the Jiannu army will invade the south." Now the only way to protect the people is to retreat into the pass!"

So Xiong Tingbi handed over the 2,000 soldiers and horses he led to Wang Huazhen to the palace, and set fire to all the baggage of the army in order to block the road and delay the movement of the Jiannu army.

On the 26th of the first month, Xiong Tingbi escorted refugees from all over Liaodong into Shanhaiguan, and Wang Huazhen also entered Shanhaiguan.

When Nurhachi was thinking about where to attack next in Guangning City, he received an urgent report from the scouts and learned that Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen had retreated to Shanhaiguan, and he couldn't help but be overjoyed, and immediately ordered the Eight Banners Army to divide his troops to capture all parts of western Liaoning.

In the next few months, the Jiannu army successively captured Yizhou, Pingyangqiao, Xixingbao, Jinzhou, Tiechang, Dalinghe, Jin'an, Youtunwei, Tuanshan, Zhenning, Zhenyuan, Zhen'an, Zhenjing, Zhenbian, Daqingbao, Dakangbao, Zhenwubao, Zhuangzhenbao, Luyangyi, Shisanshanyi, Xiaolinghe, Songshan, Xingshan, Zhangmaling, Qijiabao, Zheng'an, Jinchang, Zhong'an, Zhenyi, Dajing, Daning, Daping, Da'an, Dading, Damao, Dasheng, Dazhen, Dafu, Daxing, Panshanyi, Etuobao, Baituchang, and TashanbaoThere are more than 40 castles such as Zhong'an Fort and Shuangtai Fort.

After that, in order to prevent the people of western Liaoxi from hating Dajin and causing unnecessary casualties to the warriors of the Eight Banners, Nurhachi ordered all the people west of the Liaohe River to be forcibly driven to the east of the Liaohe River, and divided them into a group of 30,000 people to slaughter and poke the people, and the entire Liaohe River area suddenly became a hell on earth, a total of hundreds of thousands of innocent people were collectively slaughtered by Jiannu, and the west of the Liaohe River, which was full of flowers in the past, suddenly became a wild land without people.

After the results of the battle of Guangning were transmitted back to the imperial court, they immediately caused the Manchu civil and military to be shocked. The loss of Guangning City was not only the loss of a city, but also meant that the Ming Dynasty completely lost the entire Liaodong. Emperor Tianqi was extremely angry when he heard the news, and immediately ordered Xiong Tingbi and Wang Huazhen to be arrested and returned to Beijing to be imprisoned.

Two years later, Xiong Tingbi was executed for the crime of "losing Guangning", abandoned the city, and passed on the nine sides, although Liu Yunwei and Wei Zhongxian defended Xiong Tingbi in every way, but still did not save Xiong Tingbi's life. And Wang Huazhen did not end well, and was executed by the imperial court a few years later. Of course, that's all for later.

Emperor Tianqi and Wei Zhongxian, Huang Jiashan discussed who should serve as the post of Liaodong Economic Strategy, Wei Zhongxian and Huang Jiashan first recommended the Xuanfu Governor Xie Jingbang as the right attendant of the military department and the right of the Imperial History of the Imperial Palace, but Xie Jingbang was afraid of the military power of Jiannu, so he resigned from the important position three times, and was finally dismissed by the Emperor of the Apocalypse for the people, never to be used.

After that, Huang Jiashan recommended Wang Zaijin to pass Liaodong, but Wang Zaijin also refused, but the Emperor of the Apocalypse was not allowed, and ordered him to "immediately go to the road", Wang Zaijin had no choice but to go to Shanhaiguan to take office.

Wang Zaijin, who rushed to Shanhaiguan, faced the situation in Liaodong and wrote to the imperial court and said: "Liao affairs are separated from the cloth, one is worse than Qing and Fu, then worse than Kai and Tie, three is worse than Liao and Shen, and four is bad than Guangning. The initial bad is a crisis, and then the bad is a defeat, the third bad is the endgame, and as for the four bads - donating the whole Liao, there is no situation to cover! Gradually retreat to the mountains and seas, and there is no step back after that. Therefore, Wang Zaijin suggested that the imperial court stick to Shanhaiguan in order to contain the offensive of Jiannu and buy time to accumulate strength.

After inspecting the Shanhaiguan, Wang Zaijin suggested that the heavy city should be built in Balipu, outside the Shanhaiguan, in order to strengthen the guarding force of the Shanhaiguan. However, Wang Zaijin's proposal was strongly opposed by Yuan Chonghuan, the chief of Ningqian's military preparation, Shen Di, and others, and a fierce argument broke out between the two sides, and even the controversy attracted the attention of Emperor Tianqi and Ye Xianggao, the first assistant of the cabinet.

In the end, under the intervention of the Emperor of the Apocalypse, Sun Chengzong, the minister of the University Sergeant Management Department, invited himself to the border and went to Shanhaiguan to investigate the terrain. Emperor Tianqi was overjoyed when he heard this, and Sun Chengzong was the crown prince Taibao, and gave python jade and silver coins to show his honor. Sun Chengzong returned to the capital after a careful investigation, and said to the Emperor of the Apocalypse: "The king is not enough in Jin, and his pen and tongue are even more swift, but Shen Xiong is not able to be broad. "

Emperor Tianqi was furious when he heard this, so he reappointed Wang Zaijin as the secretary of the Nanjing Military Department. Sun Chengzong saw that the situation in Liaodong was critical, so he asked for a supervisor, and Emperor Tianqi immediately approved and appointed Sun Chengzong as the governor of Liaodong.